The fourth edition of the global culinary event, ‘Goût de France’, an initiative of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs in collaboration with French Embassies worldwide and Atout France, will amass a staggering 3,300 restaurants in 150 countries and five continents that will all serve French-styled menus to its patrons on March 21, 2018. Each participating restaurant will donate 5 per cent of the proceeds of this evening towards a local NGO. This year, 63 restaurants across India will be celebrating the flavours of French cuisine. As a prelude to the event, networking soirees for the travel trade fraternity and media are hosted by Consular services in different Indian cities and on the day of the event, a reception is hosted in New Delhi at the Residence of France under the patronage of His Excellency, Ambassador of France to India. Goût de France will also pay homage to legendary chef Paul Bocuse who was symbolic to French cuisine for half a century. Participating chefs will be invited to present a dish from his repertoire or an inspired creation. The event will honour the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region renowned for its exquisite French wine, with the global brand of Bordeaux, rich in various gastronomy and wine experiences.

Celebrity Cruises has announced the launch of two new ships – Celebrity Edge and Celebrity Flora in Mumbai with operations beginning from December 2018 and May 2019 respectively. Capable of hosting about 2952 guests onboard, Celebrity Edge has an innovative design with an infinite veranda, magic carpet and a suite. Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO, Celebrity Cruises said, “The first itineraries of Celebrity Edge will be in the Caribbean this year followed by Europe in April 2019. Based on the travel patterns and desires of the Indian market, we plan to work here to bring Indian guests onboard throughout the itineraries we will be offering in Europe from Barcelona and Rome. Celebrity Flora is also a brand new ship purposefully built for the Galapagos Islands, a bucket-list destinations for many people around the world. The ship is an environment friendly ship with 50 suites for 100 guests. The design of the ship is like a yacht and the sailing starts from May 2019 for seven-night cruise itineraries.” Celebrity Cruises also revealed it will be investing USD 400 million to modernise its fleet of ships between 2019 to 2023. Four of the ships will undergo complete renovation of the staterooms and bathrooms. Redesigning the public space on the ships will also be part of the modernisation.

In line with major airlines reducing agents’ commission on airline ticket bookings, SriLankan Airlines too has followed suit. According to a statement released by the airline, from April 1, 2018, SriLankan Airlines will reduce its commission to 2 per cent from the earlier 5 per cent applicable to any/all tickets issued in India and move given to IATA agents. All tickets issued prior to April 1, 2018 will be eligible to avail 5 per cent commission. When asked about the details on the same, Chinthaka Weerasinghe, Manager—Northern India, SriLankan Airlines said, “We are awaiting further clarification from the Head Office. The trade partners will be kept abreast about any further development in this announcement.”  

Vietjet has unveiled plans to launch direct flights between Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) and New Delhi. The airline is set to introduce four flights per week in the third quarter of 2018 to serve travel demands of the two countries and contribute to the region’s integration and trade exchange. The introduction of the new route will present Vietjet with an opportunity to not only tap into the growing tourism market but also facilitate trade integration and exchange between Vietnam and India.

The GVK-led Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIAL) has announced the appointment of globally renowned firm Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) to design the airport’s Terminal 1 and ATC Tower. The London-based firm was selected on completion of a challenging and intensive 12-week fast-track design competition amongst the best international architecture firms that were shortlisted by GVK. ZHA is known for its dynamic, innovative and iconic architecture with a portfolio of over 950 projects spread across 44 nations. This will be ZHA’s first major project in the Indian sub-continent. Commenting on the occasion, Dr GVK Reddy, Founder and Chairman, GVK and Chairman, NMIAL, said, “Our vision is to establish one more landmark airport that would exceed the benchmarks that GVK had set through MIAL whilst creating Terminal 2 at Mumbai airport. We are committed towards bringing the best global practices from the industry to design, engineer and build this most awaited airport project in India and hence we decided to go with ZHA, a firm known for its pathbreaking and remarkable architecture. It also has the expertise of delivering a world class airport design through a highly professional team.”  

Continuing its focus on growing its domestic presence, Jet Airways will introduce 144 weekly flights in the first phase of its forthcoming summer schedule. Jet Airways will strengthen connectivity between the country’s capital and the North Eastern region via a bouquet of non-stop services including thrice-a-week flights to Aizawl and Jorhat and four times-a-week flights to Silchar from New Delhi. The airline also commences four times-a-week non-stop service to Imphal from Delhi. The airline is also commencing direct, one-stop services between Mumbai and the North Eastern cities of Jorhat and Imphal, marking its return to the capital of Manipur. Imphal will also be connected with Pune with direct flights via Guwahati and Kolkata, enhancing access and connectivity between the North-East and its hubs in Mumbai and Delhi. Raj Sivakumar, Senior Vice President, Network Planning and Revenue Management, Jet Airways, said, “The burgeoning demand for air travel pan-India is increasingly witnessing guests travelling to more than one destination. Our summer schedule has therefore been designed to facilitate the above developments via a mix of new services – non-stop as well as direct flights, between emerging cities, key metros and our hubs in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, in an endeavour to promote faster, easier and more efficient movement of guests throughout our network, both pan India and worldwide.”

The Royal Oman Police (ROP) has announced that visas will only be granted electronically, effective March 21, 2018, and there will be no more hand-processed visas at the airport. Royal Oman Police, Sultanate of Oman said, “The migration to electronic visas is due to its simplicity and effectiveness, its alignment with modern technology and is in line with the e-government project of the Sultanate. Further, it will save tourists and visitors’ time by avoiding long queues at the airport. The system has been thoroughly tested and more than 12,000 users have already benefited from it. The system is considered to be one of the safest and most confidential in the world, having achieved an ISO certification.” The e-visa application explains clearly the process of obtaining visas either individually or collectively such as obtaining a visa through a tourism company in a simplified way. Additionally, the application clarifies the visa formalities for various groups of countries. In addition, specialists at ROP are available 24 hours a day to provide support. Applicants can obtain visas via the URL- evisa.rop.gov.om, and seek assistance through the official account of eVisa system on twitter- @OmanEvisa. The new e-visa system, coinciding with the opening of the new Muscat International Airport, supports the Oman Tourism Strategy in attracting more tourists and tourism investment into the country, whereby the number of tourists to Oman in 2040 will reach over 11 million by 2040.

As part of its mandate to further enhance India’s digital drive in the travel and tourism industry, FICCI is set to organise the third edition of Digital Travel, Hospitality & Innovation Summit from March 21-22, 2018 at Federation House, New Delhi. The Summit will witness the presence of who’s who from the travel and hospitality industry, and will cover various topics related to the future of travel and innovation. FICCI and KPMG India will also jointly unveil the knowledge paper ‘Expedition 3.0- Travel & Hospitality Gone Digital’ at the inaugural session of the event. The paper looks at unravelling the technology trends in travel and hospitality segment that will help better define the future of the industry, how digitalisation has impacted the evolution of this industry and what can be achieved by overall technology inclusion across the stakeholders in the industry ecosystem. The Summit will also offer an opportunity for travel startups through Travel Tech Launch Pad, a platform for travel start-ups to learn from experts in the field of travel, exhibit their business ideas, and display their products and services in addition to providing a unique opportunity to connect with the right set of ecosystem partners.

Blue Square Consultants has been appointed as the sales and marketing representative for ‘Australia & Beyond Holidays’ in India. Formed by Simon Bernardi, Australia’s inbound travel management operator provides global solutions to Indian travel agents, from both DMC products and FIT. Through its online Agora booking system, the company offers thousands of land products and hotels worldwide, many with allocations. Simon Bernardi, Director, Australia & Beyond Holidays, said “India continues to be an important tourism market for Australia, with growth of over 15 per cent in arrivals over last year and a 30 per cent increase in travel spend. The Indian market spends on average 13 nights in Australia allowing us to develop itineraries to inspire our customers from India. Blue Square Consultants is the apt partner to have in India because of their highly professional team and undisputed knowledge of the travel trade in India.” Lubaina Sheerazi, COO, Blue Square Consultants, added, “Our emphasis has always been to associate with reputed clients and we have achieved this once again with our recent alliance with Australia & Beyond Holidays. We are confident that our association will not only be beneficial for the client but also for Australia as a destination.”  

Andaz Delhi has been awarded the ISO 22000:2005 certification, a food safety management system, which can be applied to any business in the food chain from farm to fork. Andaz Delhi ensures that they follow the established code of food hygiene practices that are applicable nationally as well as internationally. The hotel follows food safety and hygiene regulations through close monitoring, verifications and training of employees, involvement of people and delegation of authorities. “Achieving the ISO 22000:2005 is a testament to the Andaz Delhi’s commitment to excellence. This indeed a matter of pride and the credit for this this outstanding accreditation goes to our entire team and I am grateful to them for all their efforts,”said Madhav Sehgal, General Manager, Andaz Delhi. ISO 22000:2005 also requires a business to have created a fully documented system in place and implemented which includes: programmes to ensure a clean sanitary environment, hazard analysis and critical control plan to prevent food safety hazards, and established food safety standards throughout the organisation at all levels.