Cox & Kings has collaborated with VisitBritain to promote Great Britain in India. The joint marketing collaboration will publicise Great Britain through advertisements and contests in the Indian market. The campaign focuses on the varied offerings of Great Britain including its signature Rail Journeys, delectable cuisine and experiential tours. To popularise the campaign further and garner participation across digital platforms, a unique contest with hashtags #LoveToTravel and #ExploreFourCorners were launched. Cox & Kings along with VisitBritain rolled out the #LoveToTravel contest to encourage travellers to share their travel experience on social media. Special prizes including a free trip to Great Britain were announced for those with the most innovative travel video and pitch. Karan Anand, Head, Relationships, Cox & Kings said, “Indians love Great Britain for its picturesque countryside and most alluring experiences. We bring to our clientele a wide range of travel experiences that largely remain undiscovered. The campaign has successfully attracted the attention of the discerning travellers in India. We are glad to promote Great Britain not only as a summer destination but a year-round one.” VisitBritain’s Interim Director APMEA Tricia Warwick, said “VisitBritain is excited to continue our global partnership with Cox & Kings and further raise Britain’s profile as a great place to visit for Indian tourists.”  

flydubai will now operate Dubrovnik as a seasonal summer route, offering four flights a week between April 10 and October 25, 2018. Emirates will codeshare on this route as part of the Emirates-flydubai partnership announced in July 2017. Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President Commercial Operations (UAE, Middle East, Europe & CIS) at flydubai, says, “flydubai is the first airline to offer passengers convenient, direct flights from Dubai to Dubrovnik. Our new service reflects flydubai’s commitment to open up 71 previously underserved markets on our network of more than 90 destinations. We offer affordable travel options in both Business and Economy classes together with an enjoyable experience on board our young fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft.” flydubai’s first flight touched down in Dubrovnik with a delegation of representatives from the airline on board. The delegation was met by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Tonči Glavina; the Managing Director of Dubrovnik Airport, Frano Luetić; the airline’s representative in Croatia, Predrag Popovic and the Country Manager, Austria and Croatia for Emirates, Martin Gross. On arrival, the inaugural flight was met with a traditional water cannon salute.

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) will conduct a training programme on sustainable tourism in Delhi on April 27-28, 2018. The two-day interactive programme is designed for travel and tourism industry professionals interested in learning about sustainability best practices for businesses and destinations. The training covers tourism as a tool for sustainable development, sustainability best practices and the GSTC criteria for tourism sustainability, as well as key topics such as global trends in sustainable tourism, sustainability marketing, and sustainable tourism product development and management. Green Dreams for the Planet (GDP) is the training partner for India for GSTC. The training will be conducted by CB Ramkumar, Board Member of the GSTC and Chair of the Education & Training Working Group of the GSTC. He is also the Country Head for India and the Regional Representative for South Asia. Ramkumar says, “At the end of the training, a Certificate of Completion will be given to all who have completed the two-day training. This certificate will then make the participant eligible to earn the ‘GSTC Certificate in Sustainable Tourism’ after they take and pass the online examination. The exam fee is US$75 per person and participants will have to register separately for the exam.”

Starting from April 16, 2018, Wyndham Hotel Group brands is set to unite its family of hotel brands under one umbrella by adding ‘by Wyndham’ suffix to their names. Brands adding the hallmark are Super 8, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, AmericInn, Baymont, Ramada, Ramada Encore, Dolce, Dazzler, Esplendor and Trademark – representing 7,074 properties across the globe. The move not only unites the company’s diverse hoteliers under a common mission and name, but is also expected to favourably impact guest trial and brand awareness throughout the company’s portfolio. “As the leader in midscale and economy lodging, the Wyndham name has become synonymous with making hotel travel possible for all,” said Barry Goldstein, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Wyndham Hotel Group. “This new designation for our brands is a celebration of the accomplishments we’ve made in our mission to make travel possible for everyone, revolutionising Wyndham Rewards and elevating our brands through a laser focus on quality, technology, and sales and marketing,” he said. The updated brand names and logos will appear across Wyndham’s digital placements from brand websites to mobile sites and third-party listings.

The 4th Global Exhibition on Services is set to take place from May 15-18, 2018 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai. A curtain raiser for the event was held in New Delhi at the Shangri-La hotel. Organised by Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt of India, GES is meant to promote the services sector including tourism as well as education. This year, the focus is on Northeast India and ASEAN region as it is themed on ‘The Northeast India-ASEAN Opportunity’.

Carnation Hotels, the wholly owned subsidiary and management arm of Lemon Tree Hotels, has signed an operating agreement for the groups’ first Red Fox hotel in Morjim, Goa with Unicorn Real Estate. With this signing, Lemon Tree Hotels doubles its consolidated inventory in the city. Red Fox Hotel, Goa will have 111 rooms and cater to leisure travellers looking for a pocket-friendly experience in Goa. The hotel is strategically located just a stone’s throw from the Morjim beach known for the fabled Olive Ridley Turtles and the golden sands. The hotel will be refurbished and renovated as per the Lemon Tree brand standards in the next few months and is expected to open doors to guests by October 2018. With the signing of this contract, Lemon Tree Hotels now has a development pipeline of 3096 rooms in 27 hotels across 22 new cities of India.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) has appointed Bird Travels, the Airline Management Services arm of Bird Group as its local representative in India. The association marks the airline’s latest step in developing its sales distribution network within the Indian market. The appointment of Bird Travels is part of the intensive preparations undertaken by Philippine Airlines to realise its firm plans to commence operations to India by winter 2018. Reinforcing the airline’s growing confidence in the market, Bird Travels is responsible for all the airline’s sales, marketing and ticketing activities in India through its centrally located headquarters in New Delhi. “India’s tourism industry is expanding rapidly and we’re already seeing a steady flow of leisure and business travellers flying between India and Philippines. Bird Group is a veteran in air travel management and we are challenging them to capitalise on their strength and capabilities to help launch our upcoming flights to New Delhi and Mumbai,” said Ryan Uy, Vice President – Sales, Philippine Airlines. “Armed with our extensive local knowledge and experienced team, Bird Travels is well-equipped and committed to promote the airline’s presence in the country,” said Vijay Bhatia, President, Bird Group. PAL’s planned services from New Delhi and Mumbai to Manila will enable India-based travellers to easily access over 31 destinations in the Philippines, out of PAL’s hubs in Manila, Clark, Cebu and Davao.

The 17th Kailash Sankhala Memorial Lecture organised by Tiger Trust in collaboration with World Wide Fund for Nature – India, raised awareness about the world of snow leopards. Organised in memory of the Tiger Man of India, the esteemed gathering was addressed by Dr Koustubh Sharma, Senior Regional Ecologist, Snow Leopard Trust; Dr Tsewang Namgail, Director, Snow Leopard Conservancy India trust and Ravi Singh, CEO, WWF. Anjana Gosain, Chief Functionary Officer, Tiger Trust, helped put together yet another insightful lecture while trustee Amit Sankhala added some food for thought. Tiger Trust was founded by Padmashri Late Shri Kailash Sankhala, in 1989 to protect endangered tigers in their natural habitat. The Trust functions in a three-way approach, namely capacity building programmes, awareness campaigns and working with the ground staff.      

Having witnessed close to 60,000 Indian tourists visiting Israel last year, marking a record growth of 31 per cent, Israel Ministry of Tourism office in India is confident of achieving its target of 1 lakh Indian tourist visitors this year. To support the forecasted growth, the Ministry has launched its summer campaign in India to attract the April-June peak holiday season. The advertising campaign incorporates varied media platforms including television, print and digital spaces. The integrated advertising campaign ‘Begin your journey to Israel’ which includes the television commercial (TVC) showcases Israel’s famous cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Talking about the advertising campaign and investments made in the Indian market, Hassan Madah, Director, Israel Ministry of Tourism – India & Philippines said, “Over the past three years, Israel has recorded a strong double-digit growth in tourist arrivals from India. In 2018 January to March, we have recorded a growth of 15 per cent in Indian arrivals compared to the same period last year. In order to keep this momentum going and to tap into the upcoming summer holiday season, we have launched our advertising campaign. Our campaign highlights the reasons why Indian travellers should choose Israel as their next holiday destination.”  

Speedwings has recently signed an exclusive MoU with Verteil Technologies to access NDC-listed airline products through its direct connect platform ‘VDC’ (Verteil Direct Connect) and provide NDC-based training programme to travel agents and other aspirants in the industry. NDC (New Distribution Capability) is a travel industry-supported programme launched by IATA for the development and market adoption of a new, XML-based data transmission standard. The NDC Standard enhances the capability of communications between airlines and travel agents. According to Biji Eapen, Chairman and CEO, Speedwings, “This is a newly developed cutting-edge concept in our teaching-learning process to help the travel industry to become more professional and helps freshers to be employable. Speedwings and Vertiel will jointly issue certificates to the successful candidates.” NDC Training programme is innovative and unique in the history of IATA and travel industry. This NDC-aligned innovative tool allows to display and connect airline inventories directly to its host reservation system providing access to availability, pricing, shopping and ticketing plus facilitating ancillary sales of excess baggage, visas, chauffeur service, etc. NDC ticketing in India started issuing tickets on BA, EK and LH during the first quarter of 2018 only. It is currently facilitated through I-Top (Indian Travel-Agents Own Portal developed by IATA Agents Association of India), integrated through Verteil Direct Connect.