OYO Hotels has announced its foray into China with a strong focus on strengthening its hotel chain in the country. With this launch, OYO Hotels is all set to substantiate its leadership in the market while working towards its mission of bringing great living spaces in the country in the form of well-designed small hotels while introducing best-in-class training and education in the sector. Its current chain comprises of over 11,000 exclusive – franchised or manchised – rooms in 26 cities including Hangzhou, Xian, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Kunming among others. Commenting on the development, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO – OYO said, “After our successful overseas expansion and operations in Malaysia and Nepal, we are thrilled to offer OYO hotels hassle-free and standardized stay experience to guests in China. The country’s tourism industry is on the cusp of booming and flourishing wherein it enjoys a strong influx of both domestic and international tourists; also the market is as fragmented as the Indian hotel market. With our expertise in managing chain of hotels backed by technological innovations, we will further continue to strengthen our footprint while empowering neighbourhood hotels to emerge in the same league as the big boys of hospitality.” China is the third overseas market for OYO, after its successful venture into Malaysia and Nepal where it has grown multifold. The company will be working towards transforming the region’s hospitality industry by introducing its strong hotel brand and operating solutions for ensuring a seamless experience for both guests and asset partners while generating lucrative job opportunities for locals in smaller tier provinces.    

Leisure Hotels Group has added 30 new rooms to its luxury wildlife resort making it the largest capacity resort in the Corbett Park & Ramnagar Area. The Riverview Retreat has now become the largest MiCE Resort in the Corbett National Park. ‘The Riverview Retreat’-a wildlife resort situated along with the banks of River Kosi, spread over nine acres, now offers 90 well-appointed rooms and private villas of two, three, four bedrooms or independent and duplex rooms. Almost every room in the resort has a breath-taking view of the hills. The sloping tiled roofs, cool stone floors with throw rugs, and block wood furniture creates a wild natural ambience. The rooms are very tastefully designed & decorated with plenty of daylight. The resort offers an intimate ambience with private sit-outs and garden, offering a complete family holiday experience. Emphasising that The Riverview Retreat, makes for a key Mice destination, Vibhas Prasad, Director, Leisure Hotels Group said, “Corbett is well connected with many major North Indian cities, which enables convenient travelling. It could be thrilling for corporate employees to mix business with pleasure by lazing around, meditating and playing etc., in luxury accommodations such as this – The Riverview Retreat”. The villas have private garden and entrances. Besides invigorating meeting sessions amidst scenic & serene environs surrounded by nature & wildlife, the luxury wildlife resort has on offer Activities & Leisure, all in one location, for everyone to indulge in entertainment nights with live performance, cocktails and bonfires, bird watching, fishing, safaris, nature walks/ treks/ hikes, and much more.

Choice Hotels India has announced the opening of its new property in Varanasi – Comfort Inn Benaras, located in Cantonment area overlooking Varuna corridor. With this property, Choice Hotels India has expanded its footprint of over 30 hotels in India. The Food and Beverage options include The City Spoon, serving  multicuisine restaurant with a choice of Oriental, Northwest Frontier, South Indian, Chinese and tandoor delicacies to tickle the best of foodie’s taste buds; The Café Hashtag, a rooftop restaurant with views of the entire city with an open kitchen serving  barbeque, Continental with innovative mocktails and beverages.  The Café by Corridor offers a variety of tea and coffee with snacks. The hotel has a modern architectural structure with banqueting facilities to cater for meetings, conferences and social gatherings. Vilas Pawar, CEO, Choice Hotels India, said, “We are committed to offer international experience with world-class services at best value proposition. The warmth of international hospitality at Comfort Inn Benaras will help redefine the service standards offered to travellers.”  

MSR Hotel and Spa Bangalore, which until the end 2017 was operational as Movenpick Hotel and Spa Bangalore Hotel has now been bought over by Gokulam Hotels and Resorts. The Gokulam Hotels and Resorts are owned by Sree Gokulam Chit & Finance Co have ambitious plans for the hotel group to have a strong brand presence built on robust operational services and hotel offerings, amenities and facilities. AM Gopalan, Managing Director says, “The Gokulam Group’s leap into the five star segment is a huge boost for the company. Bengaluru has always been a favourite destination and a start in Bengaluru is like a dream come true. Baiju Gopal, Executive Director says, “We are known for our excellent service standards and stellar properties across South India. Gokulam Grand is our foray into the IT city of Bangalore. We are firmly committed to strengthening, structuring and increasing the reach of our Hospitality division in the country, by standardizing our brand SOPs, deliverables and creating a niche brand in the market. We believe in becoming better with every guest feedback, and this premise of honoring our guest loyalty is our USP in every city that we operate in. Under their hospitality division, the company has properties across South India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) under the brand name ‘Gokulam Park Hotels and Resorts’. With the addition of the MSR Hotel and Spa Bangalore to their portfolio, the group aims to strengthen its presence in the Southern region further and establish their brand in Bangalore.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has revealed its initiatives and achievements in the last four years at a press conference, where Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Civil Aviation, said that the aviation sector in India has reached new heights in the last four years. “In the last four years, we have thoroughly transformed the aviation sector and India has emerged as the third largest domestic aviation market. The connectivity has improved and flying has become affordable for every Indian. This started with the launch of Nationla Civil Aviation Policy in 2016, followed by the highly successful UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme, under which air services have started at 30 additional airports. The airlines in the country have ordered 900 new aircraft under different categories. We are working to increase our system capacity threefold in the next 10-15 years through the NABH (Next Generation Airports for Bharat) Nirman capacity expansion programme. Apart from that we will release new Cargo Policy in the near future along with working on the Make-in-India and Drone Task Forces. We hope to take this sector to new heights.” Also present at the conference were Jayant Sinha, Minister of State, Civil Aviation; RN Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, along with senior officials from Airport Authority of India (AAI); DGCA, Air India and Pawan Hans.

Yatra Online has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for the archaeological researches and protection of the cultural heritage of India.  This MoU will enable overseas and domestic tourists to conveniently book their tickets online for 141 historical monuments, museums and sites in India, such as the Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar, Ajanta and Ellora caves, Red Fort, Sun Temple, all of which fall under the purview of ASI. This move, aimed towards supporting Government of India’s ‘Digital India’ initiative, will facilitate digitisation of ASI’s service offerings, thereby providing fast track access and a world-class e-ticket booking experience to visitors. The partnership with Yatra, the only OTA to provide this facility, will also be significant in promoting tourism and cultural heritage in India. The online booking services comes at no additional cost to a customer. Speaking on the partnership, Dhruv Shringi, Co-Founder & CEO, Yatra.com said, “India has an extraordinary and diverse pool of cultural heritage and footfalls to such destinations are astounding. Therefore, we want to provide a high quality visitor experience, which will empower the visitors (both Indian & International) to book their tickets to these monuments online. In addition to providing online booking services, Yatra will be extending its platform for promoting cultural heritage and featuring all the essential information that a tourist needs, to plan their visits along with a synopsis of the monuments.”

IndiGo has recorded the highest on-time performance of 80.9 per cent in May 2018, according to a report by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). On-time performance of the scheduled domestic carriers has been computed for four metros including Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai by the regulator. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “On-time performance is core to our business and is one of the three values that IndiGo stands for. We are indeed happy to record 80.9 per cent OTP for 6E flights operating out of country’s busiest airports including Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. We thank our over 48.53 lakh passengers who flew with IndiGo in May 2018.  IndiGo will continue to provide an on-time, courteous and hassle free service, and affordable fares to our customers, as always.” IndiGo was also ranked as 4th most punctual airline globally in the mega airline category by OAG, air travel Intelligence Company. In its annual review – Punctuality League 2018, OAG included on-time performance for the world’s Top 20 busiest domestic and international routes. IndiGo was ranked 4th amongst Top 20 mega airlines and 9th amongst Top 20 Low-cost carriers (LCCs) by OTP.

The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) has announced the signing of a Vivanta in Katra with Delhi-based DMG Group. Speaking on the signing, Suma Venkatesh, Executive Vice President – Real Estate & Development, The Indian Hotels Company Limited said, “We are pleased to partner with DMG Group in bringing the Vivanta brand to Katra. This announcement is aligned to our strategy of expanding our footprint and driving growth across popular pilgrimage and tourist destinations.” Located in Katra – the base camp for the holy pilgrimage of Vaishno Devi, the hotel is conveniently located 42 kilometers from the Jammu airport. The 80-room hotel, spread over eight acres, offers charming views of the Holy Shrine and Trikuta Mountains. The hotel features an all-day restaurant, banqueting and recreation facilities including a gym, swimming pool and badminton court. Commenting on the partnership, Sushen Gupta, Managing Director, DMG Group said, “We are delighted to partner with The Indian Hotels Company Limited. We look forward to working with them to bring their unique Vivanta brand and legendary experience to visitors to the holy shrine.” The DMG Group hotel at Katra is an existing property. The owners will further invest approximately Rs 10 crore to bring the hotel to Vivanta brand standards by early 2019. Vivanta Katra will be the third IHCL branded hotel in Jammu and Kashmir, strengthening the company’s presence in the state.  The company also manages the Vivanta Dal View in Srinagar and Ginger in Katra.

Europamundo Vacations has started a pre-sale offer under which patrons can book for their vacations for 2019-20 at the prices quoted in their brochure for 2018-19 for the corresponding week and month. This means that one can freeze the rates from March 2019 till March 2020 for travel till March 2020 from the company’s 2018-19 catalogue for any destination. The company ensures guaranteed departures on the same day of the week, during the same corresponding month and season of the year.

New Zealand has announced plans to introduce a tourist tax and increase other fees for international visitors to fund infrastructure development in the face of a tourist boom. Tourism numbers in the country of 4.5 million have surged by nearly a third in the past three years to 3.8 million in April this year. “This rapid growth has impacted the costs and availability of publicly-provided infrastructure,” said Kelvin Davis Tourism minister. “Many regions are struggling to cope and urgently need improved infrastructure, from toilet facilities to car parks,”Davis said. A tax of NZ$25-35 (US$17-24) would be imposed on international visitors from the middle of next year while price hikes for immigration fees and visas will take effect this November. Australians and most Pacific Island forum countries will be exempt from the new charges. Tourism is a key pillar of the New Zealand economy and the new tax is expected to raise up to NZ$80 million in its first year, which will be split between tourism infrastructure and conservation initiatives. The main opposition National Party claimed the new tax system would make New Zealand a “less attractive” destination. But Davis believed the impact on tourist numbers would be minimal. “When you’re talking about the additional cost to, say, someone coming from the United States who are already paying about NZ$1,200, an extra NZ$25-NZ$30 isn’t going to make that much of a difference,” he said. Source: AFP