The Fern Hotels & Resorts has started managing The Fern Residency, Yeshwanthpur-Bengaluru in Karnataka. With this opening, the tally of the hotels managed by the group under The Fern Residency brand goes up to 22 hotels. Located 30 kms away from the Kempegowda International Airport, The Fern Residency, Yeshwanthpur is a mid-scale business and leisure hotel with 64 well appointed rooms. Suhail Kannampilly, COO, The Fern Hotels & Resorts, said, “The Fern Residency, Yeshwanthpur strives to offer excellent services with affordable pricing. I am happy that guests to Bengaluru and local residents will be able to experience our ​services at our second hotel now open in the Garden City.” ​The hotel has large banquet facilities and latest business services​ for the discerning  business traveller​. Guests can enjoy various facilities such as high-speed Wi-Fi, LCD TV, digital in-room safe, in-room tea and coffee, minibar, etc.

OYO Hotels has inked MoUs with the State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda for extending its support to budget hotels and creating jobs across levels. Signed under the aegis of the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojna, the MoUs will enable financial support for OYO’s existing and potential hotel partners for fuelling transformation and standardisation at their properties. This will also allow OYO to spearhead the creation of thousands of jobs in Tier II and III cities by nurturing micro-entrepreneurs in the hospitality sector. Speaking on the development, Jayant Chauhan, SVP – Fintech, OYO, said, “We are thrilled to join hands with banking powerhouses – the State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda and achieve the mission of job creation in the country by enabling the youth to emerge as micro entrepreneurs and run their own successful businesses. These MoUs will help us in shortening the demand-supply gap of quality accommodation by offering hoteliers a platform to transform their property and enhance the business by creating beautiful living spaces.’’ As a step towards enabling convenient financing for its asset partners through banks and NBFCs, OYO has also established an in-house Fintech division. These loans will help individuals hailing from Tier II and III cities to be self-employed and run their own budget assets with OYO’s diverse brand portfolio.  

Thai Airways has  started broadcasting ‘LIVE TV’ on Board’, which allows it to broadcast streaming television programmes on its aircraft. The airline is fully aware that passengers need to keep informed of the latest news while traveling on board and has launched a new ‘LIVETV’ on Board” service that enables passengers to watch broadcast television programs, such as news channels and sports competitions. Available television channels are CNN, BBC, NHK, and Sport 24. Passengers can watch real time news with viewers around the world and enjoy exciting live telecast sport matches just as they did at home, a press release by the airline said. ‘LIVE TV on Board’ started on June 14 on twelve Airbus A350-900 aircraft that operate flights to and from Chiang Mai, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, Beijing, Shanghai, Rome, Milan, and Brussels and on eight Boeing 787-8 and Boeing 787-9 aircraft that service flights to and from Tokyo, Taipei, Dubai, Vienna, Brisbane, Auckland, and Manila. Panasonic Avionics Company is entrusted to provide inflight connectivity via satellite transmission from the ground. ‘LIVE TV on Board’ makes it possible for the national carrier, to offer more products and services for passenger comfort and satisfaction. Passengers can watch real time news and sports competition for free, while some airlines may require additional payment for such services. This service helps strengthen THAI’s marketing strategy and increases ticket sales. Passengers who board THAI’s flight can enjoy the added convenience of keeping abreast of world news, the statement said.

Bhubaneswar-based Mayfair Hotels & Resorts has appointed Bjorn DeNiese as Vice President, Business Development. In his new role, he will be responsible for spearheading the group’s future plans as it aims to deploy a new sub-brand into the market. The new vertical will initially keep the focus on the East and subsequently look to make headway to central and Northeast India. The new vertical will be responsible for the further development and expansion of the group which will establish itself through lease, management and franchise models under a yet to be named brand and aims to add on another 100 rooms to the current portfolio of 515 rooms by the end of this financial year and double the number of rooms within three years. Bjorn, who played a significant role in the group’s growth story post 2007, headed the sales, marketing and revenue for the group with key contributions in the setup of central reservations, the restructuring of the sales network and various other technological developments including the soon to be rolled out one touch virtual assistant app enabling bookings, a loyalty program for guests, corporates and agents and an integrated guest feedback system.  

More than 120 travel fraternity members from across India will mark their presence at ‘Focus Philippines’ organised by Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines, at the LaLiT Golf & Spa Resort, Goa. Over 20 exhibitors from the Philippines are showcasing their products, which include various Department of Tourism regional offices, attractions, hotels, integrated resorts, destination management companies as well as national and global air carriers. Through Focus Philippines, travel operators will witness exclusive, one-on-one meetings and gain a better insight on the destination. This will enable them to further customise their product offerings, based on exhibitor inputs, thereby taking Indian arrivals to the Philippines to the next level. MA Teresita C Daza, Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines, said, “Focus Philippines is a good opportunity for different stakeholders in the tourism industry in the Philippines to interact with travel operators in India. It will be a good opportunity from both the sides to actually see what packages, can be presented and promoted highlighting different attractions in the Philippines.” Dakila F Gonzales, Head, Office of Product and Market Development – India, Department of Tourism Philippines, said, “The inspiration behind the creation of the event is the huge increase in tourist arrivals of Indian nationals to the Philippines. In 2017, we had reached almost 107,000 arrivals, with a growth of 22 per cent and this growth is being sustained. We have realised that there is a further potential to increase this growth. Therefore, we want to stay committed to our current partners, giving them more knowledge on new segments of Philippines tourism.”  

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has appointed Suhas Diwase as its new Managing Director. Currently, he is also working as the Chairman and Managing Director of Maharashtra State Warehousing Corporation. Prior to taking up his appointment as Managing Director, MTDC, Diwase worked in various districts at several positions. He was Director of Disaster Management and CEO of Pimpri-Chinchwad New Town Development Authority and Collector of Bhandara district. Diwase said, “It’s a pleasure to take over in my new role at Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation. Tourism is one of the most important and rapidly growing sectors in India contributing significantly to the economic development of our country. Therefore, my focus would be to develop and analyse and understand the present tourism avenues in Maharashtra through new programmes and policies aimed at developing and sustaining tourism in the state.” Diwase holds a Master’s degree in Horticulture. He has also done Public Administration from The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore. Currently he is perusing Ph D in Disaster Management.  

Egypt Tourism, led by Ismail Amer, Egyptian Tourism Counsellor, Egyptian Tourism Office in Mumbai, is conducting a four-city roadshow which includes the cities of Mumbai (July 23), Ahmedabad (July 24), Bengaluru (July 26) and Cochin (July 27). The Mumbai leg witnessed a huge response from the travel trade who attended to meet their counterparts from Egypt to explore the opportunities of cooperation and extend their knowledge about the uniqueness and variety Egypt offers to visitors. The Mumbai roadshow included two separate segments on the sidelines of the main show – an Experts Meet, which was the corporate MiCE workshop followed by an Experts Meet on film workshop which invited key individuals from the film and entertainment industry. Speaking at the event, Amer said, “In 2017, we received 1,03,000 visitors from India and this was a 30 per cent increase in numbers as compared to the previous year. In 2016, we received about 79,000 tourists from India. It’s a very good growth and I believe it is the largest growth we have achieved since 2014, when we had received only about 60,000 tourists from India.” He added that according to the latest figures, Indians are the second-highest spenders in terms of the international market, preceded only by Japanese tourists.

The Ministry of Tourism has identified 17 sites in 12 clusters for development under Iconic Tourist Sites Development Project. The sites include Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri, Ajanta & Ellora, Humayun’s Tomb, Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Colva beach, Amer Fort, Somnath, Dholavira, Khajuraho, Hampi, Mahabalipuram, Kaziranga, Kumarakom and Mahabodhi. The Ministry shall be developing the sites with focus on issues concerning connectivity to the destination, better facilities for the tourists at the site, skill development, involvement of local community, promotion & branding and by bringing in private investment. The monuments taken up for development fall under the jurisdiction of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and State Archaeology Departments. The Ministry will carry out interventions at these monuments in collaboration with the ASI and State Government, and all development plans will have elements of universal accessibility, cleanliness at the monuments, use of green technology and enhanced security for the tourists.

As the term of the current Skål National Committee Board came to an end, a new Skål National Committee Board for the term 2018-20 was elected at the Skål India AGM held recently at Hotel Grand Hyatt Bolghatty – Kochi. Sk Ranjini Nambiar, CEO, Footloose Yatra Consultants, Bengaluru has been appointed as the President.

As GST applicable on room tariffs created much confusion for the hotel industry and its guests, trade associations had appealed for the rate categorisation for hotels to be done basis the transaction value or actual value rather than on the Declared tariff. The GST was mandated to be levied on the Published tariffs or the Declared tariffs on hotel rooms. However, hotels are known to offer discounts on room tariffs to patrons which alter the Declared rates and which could correspond to a different GST rate as per the prescribed rate slabs on room tariffs. Applying GST rate on Declared Tariff was incorrect and caused confusion for guests. For instance, if declared tariff on a room stay is Rs 8000 and the stay is charged at Rs 5000, hotels are required to levy a GST of 28 per cent instead of 18 per cent. This is unfair and it increases the tax burden drastically. 18 per cent GST is applicable for room tariffs ranging between Rs 2500 and Rs 7500 and tariffs of Rs 7500 and above attract 28 per cent GST.