The Nijhawan Group has been appointed as the Tourism Representative in India for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Commenting on this partnership, Ankush Nijhawan, Managing Director, Nijhawan Group, added, “With Indian nationals looking for newer experiences and destinations, the demand for relatively new entrants like Bosnia and Herzegovina is only poised to grow. It is an exciting time for outbound tourism, and the Indian traveller will only benefit from this trend. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina is a new destination in the Indian market, we will actively work with the trade community to enhance their knowledge about the destination as well as help them in curating exciting itineraries for their clients since the country is a treasure trove of history.” Dr. Sabit Subasic, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to India, said, “Bosnia and Herzegovina is predicted to be, according to World Tourism Organization, one of the fastest growing tourism destinations of the world in the period till 2025. And that prediction is getting confirmed and visible. Bosnia and Herzegovina is already known as a very attractive tourism destination and many tourists from all over the world come to this country. From India, however, we would like to welcome more tourists since we see potential in this market. Therefore, we decided to develop a strategy and promote Bosnia and Herzegovina as a tourism destination for Indian tourists.”

Strengthening its corporate travel segment, Yatra.com has launched a self-booking platform for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) providing corporate customers with comprehensive and convenient travel solutions. Dhruv Shringi, Co-founder and CEO, Yatra.com says, “Yatra’s latest self-booking platform significantly reinforces our position in the large and growing corporate travel market in India. The platform will revolutionise the way business travellers search and book flights and hotels, ultimately saving both time and money in the process.” The newly launched, easy to use online platform includes a range of enhanced features which will empower the SMEs to automate their process to fulfill end-to-end travel business needs. SMEs shall get curated hotel options, best corporate deals and nil to economical cancellation and rescheduling charges. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) complaint system will allow the user to search through a range of flight and hotel options as per the company travel policy and follow the in-built trip approval process to seek their supervisor’s approval. They shall also have access to real time Management Information System (MIS) reports to enable them to monitor their travel expenses. Furthermore, the invoices will be instantly mailed to the registered email ID. There is also a 24×7 support helpline available for support required on visas, passports, and other offline requests. Using this platform, SMEs can manage their company and employee profiles, travel policy compliance, and approval workflow. “We believe that this technological advanced platform will empower SMEs to control their travel needs, while at the same time making it inherently easier for their employees to make bookings in an easy and convenient manner,” Shringi added.

The Park Hotels enters Jodhpur with the launch of its second hotel in Rajasthan – ‘Zone by The Park’. With 90 guest rooms, the latest Zone by The Park Jodhpur is located at the city centre in close proximity to popular tourist destinations such as Umaid Bhawan Palace and scenic Kalyana Lake. The city airport and railway station are minutes away from the hotel making it convenient for the guests. Zone Jodhpur boasts of 7,600 sq. ft. banquet hall with a spill over 14,000 sq. ft. outdoor lawn for large weddings, exhibitions, social gatherings, celebrations and conferences. The hotel has two restaurants and a discotheque. Speaking at the launch, Vijay Dewan, Managing Director, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels said, “We are extremely delighted to launch our second property in Rajasthan, especially in Jodhpur as it is a discerning tourist’s destination with a reflection of history. The hotel is designed to meet the requirements of the price-conscious, design-conscious urban traveller. Witnessing the success of Zone Jaipur, we are confident that this hotel will play a key role in strengthening the brand. We are certain that the hotel will appeal to customers with its design and format.” Zone Jodhpur has 90 rooms in three categories at an average tariff of Rs. 3,000 – Rs. 7,400 per night. Zone by The Park is present in Coimbatore, Jaipur, Chennai ORR, Raipur, Bengaluru with upcoming hotels in Pondicherry, Igatpuri & Goa. The brand will have 17 properties by the year 2020; this will be about 1,500 keys in the next 4 years.

In order to promote cruise tourism in the country, the Ministry of Home Affairs has, on request of the Ministry of Shipping, exempted cruise tourists arriving with e-visa from the requirement of biometric enrolment for a period of three years i.e. till December 31, 2020. This will make immigration clearance of such passengers faster, leaving them with more time to spend on shore.  The shipping ministry has been working towards simplifying the immigration clearance procedure and providing passengers a customer-friendly and hassle-free logistics process at Indian ports. E-visa has been in the place in five major ports of Mumbai, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin and Chennai. Till now biometrics of passengers were required at port of first arrival for immigration clearance. However, with the existing facilities at the cruise terminals at these ports, the immigration procedure was taking more than the internationally accepted norm of clearing immigration for all cruise passengers in a maximum of 90 minutes. This is especially significant because, as per the schedule of arrivals of cruise ships for the current cruise season 2017-18 and 2019-20, many of the cruise ships coming to India are mega ships with 2000-4000 passengers on board. Most of these cruise passengers are expected to arrive on E-Visa, and biometric enrolment of all these passengers would slow down immigration clearance. Hence the need for the exemption.

Adventure Tour Operators’ Association of India (ATOAI) is all set to organise Adventure Tour Summit from April 26-28, 2018. Captain Swadesh Kumar, President, ATOAI, reveals that they had requested the Ministry of Tourism to declare 2018 as the ‘Year of Adventure Tourism’. He claims that it took them almost three months to convince MOT, and now they will organise activities related to this every month of this year in India. “Under this, we have requested the ministry to put adventure as the theme as part of its advertisement. We are doing a mega show where we are inviting 500 tour operators, travel agents and media from across the world from April 26-28, 2018. The aim is to make India’s incoming business for adventure tourism double in three years. The celebration will start from Delhi in January when we will be doing a roadshow, where we wish to have a seminar on an industry level and talk about adventure tourism. February we will be going to Maharashtra, and we will be carried on. One important thing we will be doing is that we will be launching the guidelines for adventure tourism in this country—guidelines for sustainable tourism, good practices and safety,” he elaborated.

Kapil Chopra has stepped down as the President of The Oberoi Group. He began his journey with the group in 1994 as a Management trainee with OCLD. Chopra has run the group efficiently and has always been admired by his peers and colleagues. He will be leaving a legacy behind as he has run the group successfully for more than two decades. It is believed that Chopra will be starting his own venture post his stint with The Oberoi Group.

The Oberoi, New Delhi reopens after an extensive renovation of two years. The interiors of the hotel have been redone including the refurbishment of its soft furnishings. The hotel is open for reservations and the basic room category is available from Rs. 18,000 onward. Despite being contemporary, the hotel has managed to retain the essence of heritage within its premises.

At the sixth edition of Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) Nagpur two new products will be launched—RainbowCTM and Trip38—informs Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, GPS. A new membership card ‘GPS 10X Membership’ will also be launched at the show. The card will allow its holders to avail discounts on various products and services across India. “This will be a virtual card which would not be required to be carried physically but will be stored on the cardholder’s smart phones. Currently, GPS has a following of over 15,000 travel professionals across India and this would be a good opportunity for hotels, restaurants and FMCG industries to offer discounts to the GPS members. Those enrolling for GPS membership will have a full year access to the GPS App at no additional cost. All new tie-ups, offers and benefits would be available to the registered members. Exhibitors not only in India but overseas will also be able to promote their services and products to the Indian travel trade through the App and through the RainbowCTM platform. Trip38 would be a travel assistant tool for the agent’s client database,” says Anand.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has now made it mandatory for travel agents to mention their registration number in advertisements. Justice AB Chaudhari has directed Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh to make it compulsory for travel agents to mention their registration number in any advertisement that is being issued by them in any medium, whether it is in the electronic or print media. Even insertions in newspapers or pamphlets and posters on walls or vehicles will need to include this number. Justice Chaudhari also made it clear that the publisher would have to verify and retain the registration certificate’s copy. The move comes after incidences of travel agents, not registered or licensed by the government, taking money and sending people abroad were reported. Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh have been asked to initiate action against TV channels and advertisers in case the advertisements broadcast are not by registered agents. The Judge has also directed these three states to issue immediate instructions to district magistrates to publish “a list of registered agents and to warn the citizens not to go to unauthorised agents”. The list is required to be made public on a regular basis.

The Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) is planning to open up a slew of citizen-focused facilities being built at a cost of up to Rs 300 crore over the next six months, a senior official has said. “Many projects are in different stages of development and nearing completion. Works of around Rs 250-300 crore will be opened before the onset of the monsoon,” said Sanjay Bhatia, Chairman, MbPT. The port remains one of the biggest land owners in the cramped megapolis and is undertaking a slew of projects aimed at benefiting the citizens and also the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors. The projects to be completed include starting the ropax ship, which ferries both passengers and motor vehicles, from Mumbai to Mandwa for which a separate jetty and break water is being built, a ferry service connecting south Mumbai with Belapur in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai and beautification of the waterfront at Princess Dock. Bhatia said a domestic cruise terminal with restaurants will also be inaugurated, which is slated to handle a cruise service between the financial capital and Goa that will be starting soon. The projects to be inaugurated also include water taxis on the eastern waterfront, two floating restaurants at Gateway of India and one at Marine Drive, he said, adding that for deepening the tourism potential, a ferry service to the Kanhoji Angre island at Khanderi will also be started. The port is planning an event for the Rs 3090-crore International Cruise Terminal on January 11. It will take up to 18 months to complete the project that is aimed at upping the calls by global cruises to the country. MbPT is also working on starting …