Aurora Expeditions appoints Mazda Travel its GSA in India. Aurora Expeditions is an Australian-owned polar voyaging company founded by renowned mountaineer and explorer, Greg Mortimer, and his wife Margaret. Over the past 27 years it has gained expertise in small-group, expedition-style travel to the polar regions and other equally wild and remote location in both hemispheres. With this new partnership, travellers from India will be able to book Aurora Expedition voyages through their local travel agent. Air services from India operating via Middle East and European cities, will makes both the Antarctica and the Arctic regions more accessible to the India consumer. Mernoz Shastri, Director, Mazda Travel, said, “Mazda Travel’s partnership with Aurora Expeditions will provide travellers in the region with a chance to experience something truly special – an expedition voyage to the Polar Regions. Our research shows travellers from India are looking for unique travel experiences to exceptional destinations, which each of Aurora’s voyages fulfils.” Craig Upshall, Europe, the Middle East and Africa – Sales Director, Aurora Expeditions, said, “Mazda Travel’s extensive experience, along with its superior customer service, makes it the perfect partner for Aurora Expeditions in this region. We look forward to bringing Aurora Expeditions unparalleled expertise and unmatched travel experience to guests from India.” Some of their voyages offer sea kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, camping on the ice, polar diving and snorkelling. Others offer skiing and snow-shoeing, mountaineering and trekking and even expert photographic tuition. Aurora Expeditions expert guides including naturalists, geologists, historians and polar specialists.

SpiceJet has announced a direct flight connecting Mumbai to Bangkok becoming the first Indian LCC to introduce a daily flight on the Mumbai-Bangkok-Mumbai route. The flight will commence from May 17. The budget carrier also introduced six additional domestic flights on the Mumbai-Kolkata-Mumbai (third frequency), Mumbai-Chennai-Mumbai (third) and Mumbai-Varanasi-Mumbai (second) route from April 18. SpiceJet will use its Boeing 737 NG aircraft on both the international as well as domestic routes. The Thai capital is SpiceJet’s second international destination after Dubai with a direct flight from Mumbai. The airline already operates non-stop flights from Bangkok to Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Delhi and Kolkata.

IndiGo is has announced six new routes, out of which four will be serving Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) RCS scheme, starting June 22, 2019. The UDAN routes include Kolkata-Allahabad, Allahabad-Kolkata, Raipur-Allahabad, Allahabad-Raipur. On the other hand, the airline launched new flights between Kolkata, Allahabad, Raipur and Jabalpur, while developing regional hubs at Allahabad and Kolkata. The new routes will be serviced by an ATR aircraft. The new flights will boost IndiGo’s connectivity in the Tier II cities with fares starting from INR 1,999. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “We are pleased to have the opportunity to be able to fly on these RCS routes and enhance connectivity amongst the Tier II cities including Kolkata, Allahabad, Raipur and Jabalpur. Launching flights on these routes will enhance our point to point connectivity, enabling customers to save both time and money. IndiGo will continue to expand its network to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travellers. It is our constant endeavour to provide more flexibility of choice to our customers as IndiGo continues to offer them on-time, affordable, courteous and hassle-free flying experience always.”

The IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) welcomed its new committee members for its Maharashtra chapter in Mumbai recently. The new team includes, Manish Synghal, Dimaz Aviation as President, Rajesh Acharya, Balaji Travels as Vice President, RT Iyer, Farsak Travels as Secretary, and Sarosh Parakh, Aero Agencies as Treasurer. The Managing Committee members include Arvind Tandon, Ark Travels, Rosita Haribal of Travel Forte, Neelu Bhat of Welcome Travels, Chetan Gandhi of Travel 360 Tours & Travels and Siddhartha Shah of Primark Travel House. Presided over by Biji Eapen, National President, IAAI, the team conducted its Annual General Meeting followed by a networking evening. Eapen said, “The previous Maharashtra Committee headed by Chetan Gandhi and Siddharth Shah couldn’t get enough time to actively take forward IAAI matters due lack of time and support. So an extra-ordinary AGM was called on 29 December, 2018 to form an ad-hoc committee to take up the responsibility and nominated  a committee headed by Manish Synghal and team.” Since it was a nominated ad-hoc committee, he requested the floor to acknowledge and ratify the nominated committee so that they can officially take over the chapter responsibility. As the floor unanimously accepted and welcomed the new committee, Eapen requested Manish Synghal to proceed with the new team to preside over the meeting.

Air Asia recently announced new routes from Mumbai to Kochi and Kolkata, and additional flights on the Mumbai-Bengaluru route, four times a day. Mumbai-Kochi route will fly six days a week except Tuesdays. Operations will start from April 15. In the wake of the recent Jet Airways crisis, Air Asia and Vistara are adding more aircraft to fill in the unused slots. The capacity shortage and Delhi airports have led to the hike in the airfare to 40 per cent.

Tourism Australia has recorded Indian arrivals to Australia for the year-ended December 2018 that stood at 357,700 – a growth of 18 per cent over the previous year. India once again was named as the fastest growing inbound market for Australia. During the year-ended December 2018, Indian tourists spent A$ 1.7 bn (approx. Rs 8,300 crore) on their Australia trips, a growth of 21 per cent over the previous year. In fact, 2018 was the fifth consecutive year of double-digit growth, with arrivals and spend growing at a CAGR of 16 per cent and 19 per cent respectively over the 5-year period.

Today, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) e-ticketing service accounts for approximately 66 per cent of reserved rail tickets booked online. A total of 434 million passengers were booked through e-tickets on the IRCTC website in 2017-18, translating to around 132,500 tickets per day as compared to 40,752 tickets per day in 2016-17. Currently, the mobile app accounts for 20 per cent of the total rail tickets booked online in the country. There are several modernisation initiatives being implemented to improve rail travel in India, such as upgrading railway stations and signalling, expansion of the Wi-Fi facility, electrification of network, introduction of high-speed trains (like Train 18) and wider use of energy-efficient equipment, among others.  

Medical tourism in India by international travellers is expected to grow to USD13.3 bn by 2022, according to a report jointly published by KPMG India and Google. About 1.5 million medical tourists are expected to visit the country in 2022. The medical tourism market in India has grown rapidly over the past decade with India becoming one of the largest global medical tourism hubs. Growth has been driven by a rise in international awareness of India’s affordable healthcare, qualified healthcare professional base, coupled with investment into healthcare infrastructure and privately funded healthcare. Foreign tourist arrivals on medical visas are increasing at a CAGR of 51 per cent. Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries are the leading source geographies accounting for more than one-third of visitors. Africa and GCC countries are expected to drive larger inbound volumes in the coming five years. The key growth drivers are alternative medicine (AYUSH), cost competiveness driving medical tourism inflow and quality healthcare and travel options at affordable price points. Indian ayurveda market is growing at approximately 16 per cent CAGR, backed by approximately 1 million traditional medicine doctor base and proactive government promotion. Medical procedures in India cost 70-80 per cent lower compared to average treatment costs in the US. A robust private healthcare sector and budget friendly travel destinations ensure lucrative India travel options for the international tourists.

Thomas Cook India has announced the added benefit of contactless payments on its prepaid cards (the Borderless Prepaid Card and One Currency Card). With this feature, the company’s prepaid card users can now shop with merely a tap. Contactless payment is a secure method that enables consumers purchase products and services by using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology or near-field communication (NFC). To make a contactless payment, the user merely needs to tap his or her card near a point-of-sale terminal. Contactless payment has steadily become a popular payment method for smaller purchases, with the prime advantage of enhancing the speed of transactions. It also help shorten the queue. Speaking at the launch, Kailash Gupta, Senior Vice President and Head of Payment Solutions, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd., said, “Throughout its pioneering journey, Thomas Cook India has always focussed on innovation and technology to maximise customer experience, and hence, the ‘contactless’ feature on our Borderless Prepaid Card and One Currency Card serves to reiterate our customer centric philosophy. The tap-and-go solution has been made possible by leveraging smart technology, driven by our aim of enhancing convenience and speed of transactions, an essential ask of today’s new age global traveller.”

Rapid urbanisation in India is increasingly making Tier-III markets more relevant in the eyes of the hotel brands, according to a ‘India Hospitality Industry Review’ report by HVS Anarock. Nearly a third of new hotel signings emerge from these markets despite hotels being much smaller than those located in Tier-I markets. This is also happening on account of newer hotel management companies setting shop as also the smaller ones looking to grow rapidly through franchise or management agreement of smaller stand-alone hotels in Tier II, III cities.