The government has urged the US to ‘withdraw or modify’ its advisory against travelling in India, which was issued after Zika cases were reported in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, saying the outbreak has subsided. Last month, US Government’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention had taken out an advisory for pregnant women against travelling to the two states in India to avoid Zika risk. Raising concern over the advisory, Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, said it has created an impression that the outbreak of the disease is still continuing. “I wish to bring to your attention that Zika virus outbreak in both Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have now subsided completely. There are no reports of fresh cases and vector indices are also well within acceptable limits. I urge you to take up the matter with the concerned authorities at CDC and withdraw/modify the travel advisory,” Dr Bhargava said in the letter. The withdrawal of advisory is crucial, especially in the inbound season.  

Yatra Online has announced the acquisition of the corporate travel business of PL Worldways Limited (PLW), a Chennai-based corporate travel services provider. This acquisition will help strengthen Yatra’s foothold in the southern India region along with adding over 100 corporate clients to its existing client base of over 700. Commenting on the acquisition, Dhruv Shringi, Co-Founder and CEO, Yatra Online, said, “PL Worldways has an unparalleled reputation in corporate travel in the southern part of the country due to its strong customer focus and unmatched service. With this acquisition, we not only strengthen our position in the growing corporate travel market in India but also in Southern India, which has been in our cross-hairs for some time. Our endeavour will be to deliver best-in-class service to PLW’s existing customer base, through our self-booking platform and expense management solution software. We look forward to welcoming PL Worldways team to the Yatra family.” Anil Pathak, Chairman, PL Worldways, said, “We are excited for PL Worldways to join Yatra family. PL Worldways’ local connect and customer service expertise will complement Yatra’s technology platform and leverage the largest hotel network in the country; helping clients optimise their travel spend and improve their travel processes.”

The sixth edition of the three-day India International Travel & Tourism Exhibition (IITT) kicks off in Mumbai’s MMRDA Grounds in BKC today. The exhibition has over 500 exhibitors from more than 25 countries showcasing their products and services. IITT 2019 will be driven by its content which includes workshops, training academy, speed networking lounge, panel discussions, and much more. IITT has also associated with Cox & Kings which has created specially-designed experiential zones for visitors. Day one will have an expert panel discussion on developing new destinations through film tourism with travel specialists such as Karan Anand, Head – Relationships & Supplier Management, Cox & Kings sharing their perspective. Day two will see many more business sessions focusing on diverse topics such as cruise tourism, outbound MiCE and data privacy. The key sponsors of the exhibition includes Powered by Partner – Cox & Kings, Partner Country – Indonesia Tourism, MICE & Wedding Destination Partner – Sri Lanka Tourism, Host State – Maharashtra, Partner State – Kerala, Platinum Sponsors – Ark Travels, Akquasun Group and Club7. Some of the featured countries include Bhutan Tourism, Malaysia Tourism & Fiji Tourism. Apart from them, the other key partners on the board are Guideline, dnata, Yatra, Urvi travels, Ottila and many more.  

Nepal Sales Mission 2019, an eight-city event, is underway and will run up till February 1, 2019, in Lucknow, Agra, Jaipur, Bhopal, Indore, Kochi, Coimbatore and Madurai. The Mission aims to bring all travel trade partners together to update them about Destination Nepal, educate them on what the country has to offer that will be of great interest to their Indian clientele and allow them to explore opportunities that lie within. Nepal recorded a growth of 25.1 per cent in visitor arrivals from India in 2017, attaining a remarkable surge over the previous year. In Lucknow, the Mission will be held at Hyatt Regency on January 10. It will then proceed to Agra on January 12 to be held at the Clarks Shiraz hotel, followed by Jaipur on January 14 at Hotel Crowne Plaza. Marriott Hotels in Bhopal, Indore and Kochi will host the Sales Mission on January 21, 22 and 28, respectively. It will proceed to Coimbatore on January 30 to be held at Le Méridien Hotel and conclude in Madurai on February 1 at the Poppys Hotel. The Nepalese delegation is looking forward to interacting with over 80 agents from each of the eight cities, where participants include destination specialists, fence sitters, and other key trade partners. Nepal Sales Mission 2019 will witness participation from several private players from Nepal, including Apoorva Tours & Travels, Kathmandu Holiday Tours & Travels, Fishtail Tours & Travels, Heritage Tours & Travels and Outdoor Expeditions.  

U&I Holidays has launched a mobile app for the end customer, enabling them to travel without their vouchers along with giving instant feedback. Shyam Upadhyay, Director, U&I Holidays, revealed, “Innovation is most important today, and every wholesaler or retailer has an online portal now. The latest addition for our portal is mobile application, to be used not by the operator but by the end user. We will start this from Bali. A guest travelling to Bali now need not carry any hard copies. He can simply download the application and have all his itinerary and vouchers on the mobile phone. At the same time, we have connected the driver and the client directly, just like in Uber or Ola cabs, allowing guests to track the location of the driver. At the same time, most of the Indian restaurants, shopping places have been marked and mapped in the application. Hence, wherever the guest is, he or she can see which is the nearby Indian restaurants or shopping area in the app.” Upadhyay further added that it is advantageous for them to get instant feedback as well. “Most important for us as a DMC is real-time feedback. If clients get convinced on tour, it’s fantastic. But if anything is wrong and he comes back to India, one can probably lose the client or bear a compensation. Now with this real-time feedback, everyday once the tour gets over, client will automatically get a pop up, and if they have a complaint they will definitely put it. That will straightway goes to the Bali office or head office and all the senior management at U&I Holidays. We have a dedicated quality control team who’s going to …

Private equity firm, AION Capital has acquired InterGlobe Technologies, the business process outsourcing (BPO) services arm of InterGlobe Enterprises at an undisclosed amount. A joint venture of ICICI Venture and US-based buyout firm Apollo Global Management, AION Capital said in a statement that it will support InterGlobe Technologies (IGT) in its next phase of growth as the company accelerates service expansion in current and new verticals in the travel industry. It didn’t disclose financial details of the deal. InterGlobe Enterprises, the parent company of IndiGo airlines, had been looking to sell its back-end services unit for the past few months. “With its strong customer base and deep domain expertise in the travel sector, we believe that IGT is uniquely positioned. We expect IGT will continue to leverage and further strengthen its digital capabilities and global footprint to meet the growing demand for differentiated customer experience,” said Utsav Baijal, Partner, AION Capital. IGT was founded in 1998 by InterGlobe Enterprises. It is focused on the travel and hospitality industry and has more than 70 marquee customers globally. It provides digital contact centre services, digital services and solutions including chatbots, robotic process automation, travel analytics and social media services. Source: VCCircle

A total of 139 cruise ships carrying 1,62,660 passengers visited India in 2017-18 at six major ports namely, Mumbai Port, Mormugao Port, New Mangalore Port, Cochin Port, Chennai Port and Kolkata Port. These major ports of the country have been developed to attract cruise ships with dedicated terminals and other related infrastructure for berthing of cruise vessels and embarking and disembarking of cruise passengers. The Ministry of Shipping has brought out a Vision Document with a view to develop India as a cruise shipping destination. The document envisages to develop supporting infrastructure for cruise tourism at ports, to give special focus on developing the domestic cruise industry through policy supports, incentives and port infrastructure development. Separately, Ministry of Shipping & Ministry of Tourism has jointly appointed a consultant for ‘Preparation of Action Plan for Development of Cruise Tourism in India. The cruise tourism operations augment local economic activities as business opportunities arise for supply for provisions, transport, hotels, bunkering, etc to cruise ships which generate direct and indirect employment and help in growth of local economy.

Ebix has announced that its EbixCash World Money subsidiary in India has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 per cent assets of India-based Essel Forex for approximately US$8 million. Ebix will be funding the entire transaction in cash, using its internal cash reserves. The acquisition of Essel Forex following the recent announcement of the Weizmann acquisition, further strengthens EbixCash’s position as the largest financial exchange in India, besides being the undisputed leader in the inward remittance, outward remittance and foreign exchange markets in India. With a national network of 44 branches in 31 cities serviced by 400+ employees, Essel Forex has been one of the five largest foreign exchange providers in India with a wide spectrum of related products including sales of all major currencies, travellers’ checks, demand drafts, remittances, money transfers and prepaid cards primarily for the Corporate clients. Besides being a foreign exchange business partner to leading banks such as ICICI, Axis, Indus Ind, Yes and HDFC Bank, Essel Forex has been associated with Western Union and MoneyGram for inward money transfers. Essel Forex will be tightly integrated into the EbixCash Financial Exchange offering in India and abroad. The retained Essel Forex executives will become an integral part of the combined EbixCash remittance and forex leadership team headed by EbixCash World Money Managing Director TC Guruprasad. Ebix believes the Essel Forex business can generate operating margins of 40% or more, once fully integrated. Ebix expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to its earnings. Robin Raina, Chairman, President and CEO, Ebix said, “Essel Forex has a rich focus on the corporate clientele with strong partnerships with many leading banks. Their geographical, product and client overlap with EbixCash made the …

Air Italy and Vistara have signed an interline commercial agreement to offer single tickets for all customers from Italy to a range of Indian destinations with effect from January 7. Under the agreement, Air Italy will offer its customers the opportunity to fly to and from Chennai, Goa, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Kochi, Kolkata and Hyderabad, in connection with its Milan Malpensa-Delhi and Milan Malpensa-Mumbai flights launched respectively on December 6 and 13, 2018. Rossen Dimitrov, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Air Italy, said, The commencement of our partnership with Vistara is great news for passengers of both airlines. We are glad to strengthen our relations with our Indian partner which has rapidly expanded its network and services in a very short time. Our India-bound customers departing from the US and from Italy can now benefit from a wider selection of cities in addition to Delhi and Mumbai within a single ticket. Our aim is to ensure our passengers a smooth and enjoyable flight and along with our commercial partner to enable them to discover every part of this magnificent country.

Facilitating the movement of passengers during Kumbh Mela (January 15 to March 4), Air India has announced the launch of new flights to Allahabad from Delhi, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. The new flights will operate from January 13 to March 30, according to an official statement. Air India said the new flight on Delhi-Allahabad route will operate on five days of the week–Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, while flights on Ahmedabad-Allahabad route will operate on Wednesday and Saturday. The flight on Kolkata-Allahabad route will operate on three days of the week–Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, the airline said. Source: PTI