Hilton has unveiled an exclusive  programme ‘Namaste’ for its Indian groups designed to deliver a tailored experience for those travelling from India to Europe. The programme caters to three major segments—destination weddings, meetings and incentives, and film shoots giving guests the confidence that Hilton will meet all their needs and expectations every time, no matter the occasion or destination. Fiona Robson, Senior Director— Sales Operations Europe, Hilton, said, “Huge population, rising incomes and improving infrastructure, among others offer a strong growth opportunity. India is one of the biggest growth markets, with Indians now preferring luxury and overseas stays with their improving financial status. Exceptional quality, impeccable service and always the warmest of welcomes, no one knows hospitality like Hilton. We pride ourselves in understanding the needs of our Indian guests and ensuring that we deliver a truly memorable stay; this precisely is the thinking behind ‘Namaste’, our uniquely designed programme for group travel.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has awarded VFS Global the global tender to provide visa services in eight out of nine regions worldwide. It will operate for the Netherlands government in Africa, North America, Central and South America, Asia and Pacific, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Western Europe, and India. VFS Global has worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 2006 and will provide Schengen visa services, Caribbean visa services, long-stay national visas, Dutch Travel Documents and Civic Integration Exams under the new contract. Chris Dix, Head—Business Development, VFS Global, said, “VFS Global is delighted that we will continue to serve the Netherlands Government. We have enjoyed a strong partnership with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs for well over a decade, and welcome this opportunity to enhance our service capabilities on their behalf. We look forward to opening our facilities in 40 new locations to offer Netherlands visa applicants best-in-class visa solutions and a seamless application process.” Since August 2018, VFS Global has signed visa service contracts with nine existing and new clients, and governments from Europe to extend their visa service network. This includes contracts to provide additional visa services for client governments such as Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia and The Czech Republic.

Chennai and Bengaluru have been among the top source cities from South India for visitor arrivals from India to Singapore in 2017. Cities like Coimbatore, Trichy, Hyderabad and Kochi registered growth in traveller numbers to the city. The factors contributing to the strong visitorship numbers are the short three-plus hours’ travel time, increased direct flight connectivity of nine cities to the city and quick weekend holidays. In January 2018, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) organised a consumer-centric mall activity in Bengaluru, featuring the various travel offerings one can indulge in while in Singapore. In the middle of the year, it conducted, together with key trade partners from Singapore, an extensive travel trade roadshow series across Trichy, Coimbatore, Kochi and Visakhapatnam.

Travstarz Global Group has announced their entry into cruises by partnering with Genting Cruise Lines as their new Preferred Sales Agent (PSA) for both Dream Cruises and Star Cruises. Announcing the development, Pankaj Nagpal, MD, Travstarz Global Group, said, “We had been eyeing the cruise business for some time now and are elated with our new partnership with Dream Cruises and Star Cruises. This completes our product portfolio as we will get cruises on our online reservation system in.rezb2b.com which already has flights, hotels, tours, transfers, insurance and visas. “Cruising is definitely picking up at a fast pace in India and we hope to see some robust numbers from our Cruise vertical as well. We already have Vani Singh with us who had been a part of Star Cruises in the past and will help drive this vertical, along with Ramanpreet Singh, our GM – Sales, in North and East India and Hema Manghnani leading the team in Mumbai for West and South India. I would specially like to thank Michael Goh,  Naresh Rawal and the entire Genting C ruise Lines team for their faith and trust in Travstarz and look forward to a long partnership”. Naresh Rawal, VP – Sales, GCL, said, ‘Travstarz is one of the fastest growing B2B company in India and we are very glad to have them onboard with us. We are sure that with their dedicated approach and a strong top leadership, this partnership will prove mutually beneficial for us. We assure our full support to Travstarz Team and wish them luck in this new endeavour.”

Delegates at the 65th Travel Agents Association of India’s convention and exhibition were warmly welcomed in Kunming, China. The three-day convention highlighted the theme ‘Tourism Beyond Boundaries’ and hopes to further strengthen tourism ties between India and China. Located in the Yunnan province of China, Kunming is an ideal golf destination and the TAAI Convention started with a golf tournament with players participating from both the countries. Known for popularising unknown destinations, TAAI has brought Kunming on the tourism map.

As cruise tourism gains momentum in India after a successful trial of cargo movement to Bangladesh via the inland waterways protocol route, a transboundary river cruise operation is expected to start from Kolkata in March next year through Sunderbans to Bangladesh first, and then towards the Northeast, a senior official said. SVK Reddy, Member, Inland Waterways Authority of India, during a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the city recently, said, “Bilateral secretary-level meetings between India and Bangladesh were held in October. It has been decided that one of the river cruise operators would be starting operations from March 2019 from Kolkata through Sunderbans via the protocol route to Bangladesh and then to northeast.” Abdus Samsah, Shipping Secretary, Bangladesh had earlier said that private players will be allowed to operate river cruise between the two countries, which will cover about 1,539 km. Both sides also agreed to allow private operators to run cruise to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. Reddy also informed that night navigation facility has been installed up to the Indian border, while Bangladesh is expected to do the same. He said India has agreed to fund up to 80 per cent of the dredging cost in some identified stretches within Bangladesh in the Indo-Bangla protocol route to make it navigable.

SpiceJet has launched a daily non-stop flight between Delhi and Hong Kong effective November 22, 2018. Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet said, “SpiceJet is delighted to announce the launch of our daily non-stop service from Delhi to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is SpiceJet’s eighth international destination and we are the only Indian budget carrier offering direct connectivity between India’s national capital and Hong Kong. “We are confident that the flight will be a big success with both business and leisure travellers as well as the Indian diaspora and student community in Hong Kong. Our convenient flight timings will ensure that our guests will have multiple options for connecting flights both in Delhi on SpiceJet’s vast domestic network and Hong Kong thus offering them a seamless connectivity.” The airline’s flight SG 31 will depart from Terminal 3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport at 10.45 pm (all local times) and will arrive in Hong Kong at 6:40 am the following day and the return flight SG 32 will depart at 7:40 am and reach Delhi at 10:50 am.

Passengers travelling via Indigo and SpiceJet will now have to pay for web check-in. According to a statement released by IndiGo, the pricing is for advanced selection of seats and that airport check-in will remain free. It added, “Advance seat for a small fee helps consumer reserve the seat of their choice on the flight.” The minimum charge for Indigo web check-in is Rs 100, for the middle seat in the last row, and the maximum is Rs 800, for a seat in the first row. SpiceJet’s lowest seat fee is Rs 99. Indigo further said that those passengers who do not have any particular preference for seats can check-in online for any free seats available. The airline had revised its policy on November 14. After the decision by both the airlines was criticised by many Twitteratis, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) also took to the social networking site saying, “MoCA has noted that airlines are now charging for web check-in for all seats. We are reviewing these fees to see whether they fall within the unbundled pricing framework.”

FCM Travel Solutions, the Indian subsidiary of Flight Centre Travel Group Australia, has launched its two new stores in prime locations of Nashik and Aurangabad in Maharashtra. This strategic expansion augments FCM Travel Solutions’ distribution and reach to seven outlets in the state of 40 Travel Money outlets and 32 Travel Tours stores across India. FCM has identified Maharashtra as a high-potential market and the company has thus chosen Nashik and Aurangabad and the state as a key driver of its all-around strategic plan. This includes focused expansion in viable metros/mini-metros and tier II and III markets of Maharashtra, and offering consumer-empowering Product-Service portfolio. Commenting on the aggressive expansion, Gagan Malhotra, Vice President- Foreign Exchange, FCM Travel Solutions, India, says, “The latest additions in Nashik and Aurangabad is a reinforcing of our strategic intent at FCM Travel Solutions- to expand our footprint across key markets. Maharashtra has been a powerhouse in our success story and these new outlets in prime retail locations will take us a step closer to our consumers’ doorstep! With our distinctive and innovative consumer-centric services witnessing a strong uptake, our foreign exchange business is witnessing an impressive 133 per cent growth over last year.”

SriLankan Airlines has completed 25 years of its operations to Delhi. Speaking at the press conference to announce the celebrations,  , Chinthaka Weerasinghe, Manager- Northern India, SriLankan Airlines, said, “We started operations way back in 1979 to start with Chennai and Mumbai. Delhi was the fifth destination that we started operating in 1993. We started with two flights a week and now we have expanded to two flights a day. In fact, Delhi has become one of the highest revenue generating areas for SriLankan Airlines network. Indian market is doing very well and it is the highest revenue generating and tourism generating market for us. We are expecting about 4.5 lakhs of arrivals this year with the growth of 15 per cent, which is very good and the growth has also been very encouraging.” Subhash Goyal, Chairman, STIC Travel Group, GSA- SriLankan Airlines, said, “It is a historical day for SriLankan Airlines because we complete 25 years and we are happy that we had a very successful inning as a GSA for the airline.”