Millennial business travellers in India are changing the landscape of corporate travel by demanding both cutting-edge digital support throughout their trips and on-demand advice from human consultants, according to a recent independent global study commissioned by Travelport. For the research, 11,000 travellers were surveyed in 19 countries who took at least one return flight in the last year. The results showed that half (47 per cent) of India’s millennial business travellers now count being unable to access booking information across their devices 24/7 as one of their biggest gripes, compared to two fifths (40 per cent) of Gen X2 travellers and one third (35 per cent) baby boomers. The research also revealed that three fifths (56 per cent) say they get frustrated when companies don’t use data analytics to provide highly personalised travel recommendations based on their past preferences, compared to two fifths of both Gen X (43 per cent) and baby boomer (41 per cent) travellers. Two fifths (43 per cent) say not being able to get expert advice from human consultants during the booking process is a major pain point. Sandeep Dwivedi, Chief Operating Officer, InterGlobe Technology Quotient, said, “The findings demonstrate the digital shift among Indian business travelers before and during their journeys. And the necessity of $7.6 trillion global travel and hospitality industry to adapt continually to provide responsive, relevant and timely services for customers. More importantly, in an age where Gen X and Millennials are increasingly becoming tech savvy, they want relevant and timely content at their fingertips, at the very moment, from the time they search to their return from the trip.”

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went live recently, making it exigent that every business in India dealing with an EU counterpart pledges compliance. The legislation raises the standards of personal data privacy across the world by changing the rules of companies that collect, store or process user information. VFS Global, at the individual level, any outbound traveller to any of the Schengen and UK destinations, irrespective of nationality, is now covered under the sweeping data protection and privacy rights regulation. Barry Cook, Group Data Protection Officer, VFS Global explained that, as of May 25, 2018, businesses dealing in travel and visa facilitation services had to have critically evaluated and reinforced their information management systems to avoid the risk of data breaches, which can now attract heavy fines. The law was enacted two years ago while its enforcement across all 28 EU countries came into effect at midnight on May 25, 2018. The scope of GDPR is sweeping and encompasses right to access data, modification and erasure, right to object to automate processing or even to restrict processing, among others.  It also forbids targeted emails unless there is explicit consent from an individual at the receiving end. “We process millions of visa applications to EU nations from 139 countries world over, and it is imperative for us to put in fool proof systems to abide by the legislation. In general, travel and visa facilitation companies, by virtue of the nature of their business, are heavily exposed to personal data, which means that the industry as a whole needs to have imminent readiness to be GDPR-compliant,” Cook said.

Around 300 attendees from over 55 countries are attending the International MICE & Wedding Forum taking place in Antalya, Turkey from May 28-June 1. India is represented by a strong contingent of 120 participants. The third edition of  the event is taking place at the  Titanic Deluxe Golf Belek, Antalya, Turkey.  Speaking at the event, Necip Fuat Ersoy, MD, IMWF said, “Our journey for this event has been hard, consistent and totally exhilarating. We pursued our dreams and each step we took propelled us to where we are today. I am so happy we dared to make this journey come true. Along the way, we met some incredible people and they all helped us. Friends, friends of our friends. I thank them all and without you this could not have happened.” IMWF brings together professionals, opinion leaders with strategic innovative ideas and partnerships in the industry. While the participants have the chance to communicate one-to-one with the world’s best MiCE and wedding planners, they establish long-term friendships and communication networks with industry trend makers from  different countries.

Alphons Kannanthanam, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism along with a delegation of senior officials attended the 108th session of UNWTO Executive Council from May 23- May 25  in San Sebastian, Spain, in which it was decided that, in order to address new challenge and trends, UNWTO will pay special attention to scaling up innovation and digitisation in the tourism sector. During the three day Executive Council meeting, the minister chaired the ‘Programme and Budget Committee’ meeting of UNWTO.  Kannanthanam highlighted the role of tourism in socio-economic development through job creation, enterprise and environment development and foreign exchange earnings. He also brought out the impact of innovation and new technology, which have become key factor for competitiveness of every economic sector including tourism. The minister also had a meeting with the Secretary-General of UNWTO,  Zurab Pololikashvili and discussed on developing a Joint Action Plan focused on Tourism Innovation and Digital Transformation including the positioning of India on this Action Plan of UNWTO. The discussions also included involving UNWTO in developing tourism as a strong agent for the better future of the world and establishing the Global Public Private Partnerships. The subject regarding strengthening the relationship between India and UNWTO was also discussed in this meeting.

In a bid to drive innovation to offer customer-centric products and service, Vistara has created a robot using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist customers, address their queries and entertain them. Called ‘RADA’, the robot will help the airline in offering a seamless experience and an ‘intuitively thoughtful’ on-ground service to its customers, keeping with the changing consumer behaviour. Initially, RADA will be placed at Vistara’s Signature Lounge at Delhi Airport’s Terminal 3 from July 5, 2018 to assist customers using the lounge before they board their flights. ‘RADA’ will be further developed over a period of time in terms of functionality and features for future use cases, after gauging customer feedback. Currently, the robot can scan boarding passes and further provide information on the terminal, departure gates, weather conditions of destination city, real time flight status as well as information about Vistara’s products and services. RADA can greet customers and interacts with them using basic hand movements, and can move around in the lounge on predefined pathways. Additionally, it can engage with kids and adults alike by playing games and other multimedia content such as songs and videos. Leslie Thng, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara said, “Innovation is one of the core values engrained in the DNA of Vistara’s culture, which we have fostered within the organization in many ways. RADA is a manifestation of this endeavour. Vistara has disrupted the market through several innovations with the sole objective of redefining air travel in the country, while making its processes more robust and resources more effective.”

The Ministry of Tourism is increasingly focusing on promoting Buddhist tourism, for which not only are they working on promotion, but also infrastructure development. MOT recently concluded a roadshow to a few ASEAN countries, and is all set to organise the International Buddhist Conclave in August. Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, said, “Buddhist Tourism is our priority area and in line with the same, we just concluded a roadshow in four countries–Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. We saw a lot of interest in people from these countries for coming to India and visiting these sites. We are also organising the International Budddhist Conclave from August 26-28, in which we will have business meetings and will also be inviting prominent monks from these countries. The inauguration will be held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, and then by charter flights we will take all the delegates to Ajanta and Ellora caves. This  is the first time we will be showcasing other sites related to Buddhism. From there, we will be take them to Bodhgaya and Sarnath. With this, we are hopeful that after this, the delegates would be able to see the improved infrastructure at these sites, which will encourage them to make visits to our country.”

IndiGo has announced the launch of 20 new flights from July, which include introduction of the first direct flight from Kolkata to Chandigarh and Indore.  A non-stop flight between Chandigarh and Srinagar, and a daily flight between Indore and Nagpur will also be introduced, the airline said in a statement. From July 1, IndiGo will operate a second daily flight between Bengaluru and Varanasi, Bengaluru and Chandigarh and a third daily flight between Ranchi and Bengaluru, and between Indore and Bengaluru. An additional flight will also be operated between Cochin and Tiruchirappalli, and between Tiruchirappalli and Bengaluru effective June 28. “IndiGo is reinforcing its commitment to on-time performance by announcing new frequencies from Chandigarh, Varanasi, Ranchi, Indore and Tiruchirappalli connecting Bengaluru.  Kolkata-Chandigarh, Kolkata- Indore and Chandigarh- Srinagar have also emerged as sectors that have started attracting both leisure and business passengers in the recent past and hold immense potential for IndiGo,” the airline’s chief commercial officer Sanjay Kumar said. Source: PTI    

Ministry of tourism is set to organise its Global Travel Mart from September 18-20, 2018 in association with Federation of Associations of Indian Travel and Hospitality (FAITH). Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, said, “We are taking a number of new initiatives. For a long time, it was the demand of the industry that we should also have a Global Travel Mart in our country on the lines of WTM and ITB, and this year we have finalised the mart in partnership with the industry. MOT will be organising this Global Travel Mart from September 18-20 in Delhi and we will be getting participants from all over the world and about 200-250 foreign delegates and media will be participating in it. The entire travel trade industry will be partners in this and their apex organisation FAITH will be doing it with us in partnership. This new initiative would give opportunity to the entire travel trade and will give a lot of fillip to the tourist traffic to India.

Delta Air Lines has announced that it will resume non-stop flights to Mumbai in 2019 after the US, UAE and Qatar reached an agreement to end rows between carriers. The airline said the governments’ agreement addresses “the issue of government subsidies provided to state-owned carriers” in the UAE and Qatar – something a coalition of US-based airlines claimed caused unfair competition and made flights to certain markets “unviable”. Delta claims flights between the US and India have been impacted by government-subsidised Middle Eastern airlines. While schedule details have yet to be announced, Ed Bastian, Delta CEO says the carrier is ‘excited’ to be returning to India. “We are thankful to the president for taking real action to enforce our Open Skies trade deals, which made this new service possible.” Delta also intends to expand its existing codeshare agreement with Jet Airways. Last week, low-cost carrier Wow Air announced it would launch flights between Delhi and nine US airports via Iceland this December. Source: buyingbusinesstravel.com

As Russia looks forward to welcoming football enthusiasts for the FIFA World Cup 2018, VFS Global offers extra convenience to football fans by providing access to more than 165 of its Visa Application Centres across the globe as distribution points for Fan IDs. A Fan ID is a personalised spectator’s card, which provides fast and convenient access to the stadium. Fans have the option of selecting their nearest most convenient Visa Application Centre for delivery of their FAN IDs. In addition, with a Fan ID foreign spectators can enter Russia visa-free. It also entitles spectators to free travel on special trains connecting the host cities and on public transportation of the host cities on match days. Entry and exit to the Russian Federation with a Fan ID will be possible starting ten days prior and after to the date of the first and last matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Prabuddha Sen, Chief Operating Officer – CIS & Eastern Europe, VFS Global, said, “We are delighted to be working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and offer our services to facilitate Fan IDs for the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup. Fans can collect the spectator’s card from our 165 application centres across 72 countries worldwide. Vast network of centres, easy accessibility, online tracking, amongst other advantages, will make it much more convenient for visitors, providing them with greater speed and transparency in the process, thereby enhancing their overall World Cup experience.”