GoAir is set to further expand its international footmark with the launch of direct flights on the Bengaluru-Phuket and Bengaluru-Male routes effective December 9, 2018. The airline recently announced its direct services to Phuket and Male from Delhi and Mumbai. GoAir will operate three direct flight services per week between Bengaluru and Phuket at an attractive return fare starting from Rs 16,999 (all inclusive); two direct flight services per week between Bengaluru and Male at an attractive return fare starting from Rs 15,199 (all inclusive). The flight schedules are designed to provide flexibility of choice, passenger convenience and customised travel options. GoAir also provides GoHoliday packages, whereby customers can choose from 3/4/5/7 holiday options to both Phuket and Male. The addition of this new connectivity will bolster GoAir’s offering between Bengaluru with Phuket and Male. It will further strengthen the airline’s growing international network and significantly enhance connectivity for passengers. The sector has been introduced in response to the growing demand from leisure travellers from Bengaluru. GoAir had recently announced India’s first-ever direct service to Phuket from Delhi and Mumbai followed by connecting Mumbai and Delhi with Male, Maldives.  

According to the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, the number of bednights by Indians in Sweden in 2016 was 175088 nights which went up to 216058 nights in 2017, a 23 per cent increase from the previous year. Michael Persson Gripkow, Chief Brand & Communications Officer, VisitSweden says, “We have noticed a rise in ‘bleisure’ travel trend. In addition, according to Statistics Sweden, 17,000 Indian passport holders resides in Sweden today. This along with other factors has led to an increase in tourism from India.” Today more than 170 Swedish companies are registered in India among the likes of Ericsson, Volvo, H&M, Scania, DeLaval, Tetrapak and the latest entrant being global home furnishings giant IKEA. This growing bridge between India and Sweden has impacted tourism positively. Ruth Dolla, Project Manager – India, VisitSweden adds, “We look forward to further growth this year. Air India’s direct flight from Delhi to Stockholm completed one year since its first flight in August 2017 and continues to bring incoming traffic from India to Sweden.” In addition more and more airlines are launching new routes to Sweden. Qatar Airways is slated to launch a direct flight in December 2018 from Doha to Sweden’s second largest city – Gothenburg that will provide better connections to passengers from India.  

With an average load factor exceeding 80 per cent and the increased demand on Air India’s New Delhi-Tel Aviv flight services, the national carrier has added a fifth weekly flight starting November 26, 2018. The airline will now fly five days a week including Monday in addition to Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday on the 256-seater Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft departs from New Delhi at 16:50 pm and arrives in Tel Aviv at 20:45 pm (local time). On its return leg, the flight departs from Tel Aviv at 22:15 pm and lands in Delhi on the following day at 8:15 am. In addition to Air India’s announcement, Israeli carrier El Al has introduced a new Boeing 777-200ER aircraft on its Mumbai-Tel Aviv route. The new airplane has a capacity of 279 seats in a four-class configuration of First, Business, Economy Plus and Economy. El Al is the only airline currently servicing the direct Mumbai-Tel Aviv sector with three weekly non-stop flights. The aircraft departs at 12:20 pm every Sunday, Monday and Thursday from Mumbai and arrives in Tel Aviv at 16:50 pm (local time). On its return leg, the plane departs from Tel Aviv at 20:15 pm every Saturday and Sunday to land in Mumbai on the following day at 7:30 am. On Thursdays, the flight takes off at 8:30 am from Tel Aviv to reach Mumbai at 19:45 pm. These announcements have come at a time when Israel Ministry of Tourism has recorded a growth of 58 per cent with 48,800 Indian arrivals to the country from January to September 2018 vis-à-vis 30,800 Indian visitors during the same period in 2016.

ITC Hotels has announced the opening of its 13th luxury hotel in India, ITC Grand Goa, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, formerly known as the Park Hyatt Goa Resort & Spa, on Arossim beach in Cansaulim, South Goa. Celebrating the spirit of Goa, this 252-keys beach-side, village-styled resort’ s architecture draws inspiration from the Indo-Portuguese vintage and comprises six signature dining options, indoor and outdoor meeting and banquet spaces and Kaya Kalp- The Royal Spa. Speaking on the occasion, Nakul Anand, Executive Director, ITC said, “With this resort ITC Hotels has expanded its footprint in a globally sought-after leisure destination in Asia. The addition of ITC Grand Goa Resort & Spa to our luxury hotel portfolio further reinforces ITC’s vision to consolidate its portfolio in key business and leisure destinations in the country.” Each of the 252 well-appointed rooms and suites feature private outdoor spaces in the form of a balcony or patio providing picturesque views of the Arabian Sea, lush landscaped gardens, lagoons or the multi-level swimming pool. Underscoring ITC Hotels’ ethos of ‘Responsible Luxury’, ITC Grand Goa Resort & Spa endeavours to showcase the culture and ethos of the destination through unique, enriching experiences reflected in bespoke services, indigenous cuisine and engagements that foster partnerships with local artisans and communities.  

K J Alphons, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism, along with a delegation of senior officials is attending the 109th session of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Executive Council in Manama, Bahrain. During the opening day of the Executive Council meeting, Alphons chaired the ‘Programme and Budget Committee’ meeting of UNWTO. The three-day session of UNWTO Executive Council began on October 30, 2018. The Executive Council will discuss several topics on the agenda that are related to the development of global tourism sector. In his opening remarks, the Minister highlighted the role of tourism in socio-economic development through job creation, enterprise and environment development and foreign exchange earnings. As the chair of the committee, the Minister informed the session that for the first time, UNWTO had a surplus budget and most of the arrears due have been paid. India will be the chair of Programme and Budget Committee of UNWTO Executive Council till 2021. At the sidelines, the Minister also met Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary General, UNWTO, and discussed on involving UNWTO in developing tourism as a strong agent for the better future of the world and establishing the Global Public Private Partnerships.

Amaravati, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, is set to host the fifth round of F1H2O World Championship from November 16-18. Hosted by Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority, the event is believed to position Amaravati on the world map. Mukesh Kumar Meena, Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh, along with Marco Pietrini, Director of Logistics, F1H2O and Sandeep Mandava, CEO, India Xtreme Adventure Activities, organised a press conference in New Delhi, to share updates about the event. Speaking at the conference, Meena revealed, “The F1H2O World Championship is going to be held in India for the second time after 14 years. With a global event like this, Amaravati will be recognised world over. In fact, there will also be a Team Amaravati with two key race drivers from Sweden—Jonas Anderson and Erk Edwin, who have been participating in all the legs of the race. In Amaravati, the race will be held in River Krishna and all the logistics and arrangements will be of international standards.”

The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has unveiled India’s first engine-less, semi-high speed train in Chennai. Called ‘Train 18’, the special train will replace Shatabdi Express in the coming months after being inducted in the Indian Railways and undergoing mandatory safety checks. Flagging off the special train, Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani said Train 18 will be a game changer for the Indian Railways. The fully-air-conditioned 16-coach train can clock up to 160kmph compared to the 30-year old Shatabdi Express and can save travel time up to 15 per cent.

TBO Group hosted its first roadshow for its preferred hotel partners in India. The roadshow, with 30 hoteliers from Las Vegas, Baku, Dubai, Maldives and Thailand,  travelled across three cities starting with Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai. The event brought together 700 decision makers from the Indian travel fraternity resulting in almost 8,000 business meetings across the three city footprint. Ankush Nijhawan from TBO Group said, “This is a first initiative from the TBO Group to engage our India B2B partners first-hand with our preferred hotels to enthuse a sense of confidence and transparency. This one-on-one interaction with hoteliers will ensure a seamless experience for our partners, their groups and FIT requirements as facilitated for them through the TBO online Portal.” The roadshow was spearheaded by Andy Tan, Global Director –Contracting and Supplier Partnerships, TBO Group who led the delegation of hoteliers comprising Sales Directors and General Managers from leading hotels Like Wynn – Las Vegas and Encore, Pan Pacific Hotels group, AccorHotels, Park Hotel Group, Hilton London Metroplole, Papillon Group, Fairmont Baku, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts, to name a few. All roadshows featured 30 raffle draws, conducted for all attending B2B partners. 85 lucky winners won for themselves hotel room nights coupled with special privileges at various partner hotels.

Travel Tours, the flagship leisure travel brand of FCM Travel Solutions – Indian subsidiary of Flight Centre Travel Group Australia, recently inaugurated its fifth store in Bengaluru. The store was inaugurated by Rakshit Desai, Managing Director, India at Flight Centre Travel Group. With the launch of this store, FCM Travel Solutions now has 30 operational Travel Tours stores across India. The new store in Bengaluru aims to fulfill the diverse needs of travellers in the city by offering both personalised vacations and group tours. The store will cater to the needs of high-end urban consumers such as families, business travellers, honeymoon couples and large groups of travellers. Expressing his thoughts on the launch, Desai said, “The launch is a further development of our expansion and strategic intent at Travel Tours across the Southern India. Bengaluru contributes to 22 per cent of leisure travel at Travel Tours overall and 35 per cent in South India. This year has been exciting for us and as we expand rapidly into the year, we plan to open 50+ stores by 2020.” Travel Tours current footprint extends to a total of 30 stores across Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Anand and Nagpur via a combination of owned branches and newly opened franchise outlets.

Treebo Hotels has come on board as a preferred hotel brand on Atlas Travels Online platform offering exciting deals to Atlas’s 20,000 agent network. The campaign kick-starts with roadshows for travel agents across the country with Treebo hosting lucky draws where winners get four-days and three-nights stay at Treebo properties. Atlas Travels is running a month-long campaign for its agents network offering 5 per cent cashback for booking Treebo properties through Atlas’s platform. Vikas Mulchandani, Business Head, Treebo Hotels, says, “With Treebo’s widespread reach in more than 80 Indian cities with 400 hotels and Atlas’s large network of travel agent partners, this partnership is just the beginning of many exciting things which can be done together to create value for the guests and travel partners alike. There is a great fit between the two brands where both Treebo and Atlas are committed towards delivering superior service level without compromising on the quality and I truly believe that the two brands coming together provides a great platform for the B2B agents to cater to the customer’s both travel and accommodation needs. I would like to congratulate both the teams and wish all the best for the success for the campaign.” Talking about their relationship with Treebo, Param Sidhu, COO Atlas Travels Online, says, “Our constant endeavor is to bring best deals, bouquet of varieties across the verticals of air, hotels, visa, foreign exchange that we offer to our agents network helping them to expand and grow their business. Our excellent tech and process driven support helps agents and suppliers to transact seamlessly. We are excited about our alliance with Treebo, with whom we are expanding our existing hotel inventory and running a …