FITUR 2019 opens with a quest for specialisation and to promote key segments for the tourism industry. This year, the show contains a new B2B area focusing on MiCE tourism. This networking tool lays emphasis on incentives, meetings and business travel tourism and provides FITUR exhibitors the chance to establish contact with 100 highly-qualified international buyers. FITUR 2019 has become the global meeting point for tourism professionals and has once again become the leading trade fair for the incoming and outgoing markets of Latin America. The last edition brought together 251,000 participants, with over 6,800 business meetings. Madrid welcomed this international show with the launch of FITUR IS MUSIC, a new cultural event that was created within the framework of FITUR FESTIVALS.

Taiwan considers India as one of its focus markets, and from January to November 2018, it recorded 10.8 per cent growth in Indian arrivals to Taiwan, against 4.2 per cent growth in the previous year. Speaking at its recent roadshow in New Delhi, Trust HJ Lin, Director, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, said, “We feel great that we have double-digit growth from India and for the 2019-2020, we have a new strategy which is called ‘2 20:20’. In this campaign, the ‘2’ means that we focus on the top 2 per cent of higher income travellers who have the purchasing power to travel overseas. Then the first ‘20’ represents our aim to cooperate with top 20 tour operators in India, while the second ‘20’ in the campaign means that we want to reach 20 per cent growth by the year 2020.”

India once again earned the distinction of being the fastest growing inbound market for Australia. Arrivals for the year-ended November 2018 stood at 352,500 – a growth of 18 per cent over the previous year. During October 2017 to September 2018, Indian tourists spent $ 1.6 billion on their Australia trip, a growth of 10 per cent over the previous year. India is now on track to achieve fifth consecutive year of double-digit growth in arrivals, as well as spend. Over the past few months, TA executed few marketing activities to raise Australia’s appeal and attractiveness among the Indian high value travellers: launch of #UnDiscover Australia campaign on television and digital media, showcasing unusual and unfamiliar experiences that Australia has to offer; partnership with ESPN cricinfo with television presenter and model, Shibani Dandekar, visiting five Australian states, and interacting with five Australian cricketing talents, showcased their hometowns and Australia as a holiday destination to their Indian fans and followers through a series of 22 destination videos; leveraged the popularity of our Friend of Australia — Parineeti Chopra and Harsha Bhogle, and Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan, who showcased why there’s truly nothing like Australia among their followers; launched the fifth iteration of the Airline Marketplace campaign that delivered over 16,400 bookings in just 3 weeks; Strengthened relationship with the travel industry through the launch of the Premier Aussie Specialist Program, online webinars and face-to-face training initiatives.

EbixCash has announced that it has signed agreements to acquire the assets of Delhi-based Pearl International Tour & Travels and Mumbai-based Lawson Travels & Tours. The two companies cumulatively conduct a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of approximately $140 million. Both these companies will be integrated into EbixCash’s Via travel Division. The acquisition of the assets of the two companies will increase EbixCash’s travel expanse across its two travels brands Via & Mercury, to a total GMV of $ 1.16 Billion. Besides increasing EbixCash’s travel foothold by 10,000 agents, it will also add 300 corporate clients and key B2C portals like www.sastiticket.com to the EbixCash travel spectrum of products and services. Ebix believes that the two acquisitions, once fully integrated into its Via division will generate operating margins of 30 per cent or more, over the next few months. Robin Raina, Chairman, President and CEO, Ebix, said, “We have set up a very simple goal for ourselves in 2019 as far as the travel industry goes. We want to be India’s most profitable travel company besides being a clear No 2 in terms of top line by the end of 2019. With GMV of approximately 8,000 crores ($ 1.16 billion) including Pearl and Lawson at present, we are clearly getting very close to that goal. We are in the unique position of having a rich portfolio of other services like travel insurance, health insurance, foreign exchange, outward remittances, visa services etc., that perfectly complement our travel portfolio leading to extensive cross selling opportunities for us and a one-stop service experience for our B2B and B2C travel clients across the globe.”

SpiceJet, which is all set to start its international operations, will reportedly start flying to London from Delhi and Amritsar starting this summer. According to reports, the airline will be operating its wide-body A330 planes on these long-haul routes, which would range between 6-12 hours in duration. It is believed that the Amritsar-London Heathrow flight may commence from March-end, the services to Gatwick are expected from May. Currently, SpiceJet has a fleet of 45 Boeing 737s and 737 Max planes. The airline flies to eight international destinations, which are of up to 4-hour duration.  

With around 1200 registrations over two days, the 7th edition of the Global Panorama Showcase Nagpur concluded on January 22, while setting a new benchmark in Tier II and III markets. The show witnessed buyers from more than 85 cities with 100 exhibitors showcasing their products and offerings. The event was inaugurated during a glittering ceremony amid the presence of chief guest, Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dato’ Richard C K Koh, Founder & GMD, Only World Group, Malaysia and other dignitaries including Gulshan Pal Singh Anand, Chairman, GPS; Claude Blanc, Portfolio Director, Reed Exhibition; Sunil Kumar R, President, UFTAA & TAAI; Anil Parashar, President & CEO, Interglobe Techologies; Jagat Mehta, President, Enterprising Travel Agents Association; Arun Anupam, Country Head & Senior Vice President, CVENT; Vishal Bhatia, Country Manager, Visit Britain and Manish Gadia, CA, GMJ & Company. Tweaking the format this year, GPS has created a forum called KIT (Knowledge-Inspiration-Training) Talk.

The Maintenance, Repairs & Overhaul (MRO) Association of India (MAOI) has appealed to the Finance Ministry to, on priority, fix the lop-sided tax policies to create a level playing field between the Indian MRO industry and foreign MROs. The MAOI has stated that in the current financial year 2018 -19, the industry has registered negative growth. With 90 per cent of the MRO requirements of India being imported, the import driven policy has lost 90,000 direct jobs to countries like Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, France and Germany. The MAOI has made recommendations to the government for the future and growth of the Indian MRO industry: reduce GST for Indian MRO services to 5 per cent to bring it on par with foreign MRO services. Alternatively, customs duty on MRO services (where such capabilities exist in India as per DGCA CAR 145 approved organisations list) should be applied at 18 per cent on all imports and grant of ‘infrastructure’ status to MRO industry. Bharat Malkani, President, MAOI, says, “Based on data from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), the current fleet of 550 airliners is expected to grow to 1000 by 2023. The government is focused on creating new infrastructure and is encouraging domestic carriers to expand their fleet size. While this is a positive development for Indian Aviation, it has no bearing on its immediate ancillary MRO sector. This is because the present GST for importing MRO services to India is levied at 5 per cent, whereas the same services offered at home are taxed at GST of 18 per cent. Of the several requests we are making to the Ministry through the pre-budget memorandum, our highest priority is to have the GST …

Fortune Park Hotels has unveiled its 47th hotel, ‘Fortune Select Forest Hill, Solan. Owned by M/s Forest Hill Resort, the property is located amid a forest and on a hill that offers a wide range of guest services and facilities to today’s traveller. Set in the Solan Valley, the hotel is 300 km from Delhi and 50 km from Chandigarh. With easy navigation by Google Maps, the property can be reached in less than 20 km of hilly drive. Commenting on the launch, Samir MC, Managing Director, Fortune Park Hotels, said, “We are extremely delighted to partner with the Owning Board of M/s Forest Hill Resort. This is a crown jewel in the brand’s collection of hotels in leisure destinations. We are excited to present a new destination for holidays and are confident of its success as a preferred destination for family getaways and social celebrations. Fortune, member ITC’s hotel group, is known for providing contemporary accommodation and great value for business and leisure travellers.” The hotel offers guest rooms that are grand and spacious. It is planned with a fusion of classical, colonial and contemporary architecture, with a tasteful sprinkle of art deco. Guests can enjoy majestic mountain views from the rooms and live in the comfort of idyllic bliss. It offers 3 signature food and beverage destinations – Zodiac an astral coffee shop, Neptune bar and lounge, and Fortune Deli. It also has plenty of recreational activities like trekking, cooking classes, bonfire and more to keep the guests engaged. Other in-house facilities include: infinity swimming pool, pool table, football, table tennis, lawn croquet set and board games, among others.

Hahn Air has celebrated the 20th anniversary of its ticketing business which was launched in 1999. It is the leading provider of ticketing and distribution solutions for other airlines and travel agencies that includes seven international travel agency events, sponsorships of leading industry events and special competitions for travel agents. Nico Gormsen, co-founder, co-owner and General Manager, Hahn Air, said, “Our ticketing business has certainly come a long way. In 1999, we saw a business opportunity: many airlines were eager to sell tickets outside of their key markets through travel agencies but could not shoulder the costs of participating in the settlement systems that exist in almost every market, so-called BSPs. Over the years, Hahn Air joined almost all BSPs and established connections with all major GDSs that are used by travel agents to book and issue tickets. This infrastructure enables other airlines to sell their flights on Hahn Air’s HR-169 ticket.” Today, Hahn Air has over 350 air, rail and shuttle partners and it reaches more than 100,000 travel agencies in 190 markets. With its services, Hahn Air creates business opportunities for all parties involved, as Nico Gormsen explains, “The airline gains more passengers and incremental business in additional markets, the travel agents can sell tickets of more carriers and the customers benefit from greater choices of airlines and destinations.” “For the future, our main ambition is to continue to provide leading services and solutions to our transportation and travel agency partners”, continues Gormsen. “We are especially looking, for example, to expand our offer of interline EMDs which enable our partners to sell additional travel-related services and thus increase their revenue. Moreover, we are working on solutions to support …

VisitBritain India has partnered with Reliance JIO to promote tourism to Britain, as the date gets closer to the biggest celebration of Cricket, which will be hosted by England and Wales. VisitBritain and Reliance JIO have created a five-part Travelogue series with celebrity and social media influencer Tridha Choudhury to promote the best of Britain, which shows her travelling around the country experiencing the culture, food and drink as well as its sporting offer. The series is scheduled to be aired on JIO TV from January 21-25, 2019. Tricia Warwick, Director, APMEA, VisitBritain, said, “India is a very important market for VisitBritain and we want the UK to be the number one destination globally for Indian travellers. A shared passion for cricket is a very strong connection between our countries. With this year’s ICC Cricket World Cup being hosted by England and Wales, it provides us with a fantastic and valuable opportunity to promote our associated destinations and tourism activities as well as the amazing experiences that Indian travellers can only have in Britain. We are working with partners in India including tour operators, OTAs, content partners and airlines to amplify our marketing reach and convert the aspirations to visit Britain this year into bookings, promote regional destinations and make it easier for visitors to explore more of our nations and regions. It is a great time to book a trip.”