The Tourism Department of Seychelles has launched a new leaflet providing tips to hikers, especially tourists, keen to explore Seychelles’ walks and trails. The leaflet has been produced by the Risk Management Section within the Tourism Department, in collaboration with other partners including the Seychelles National Parks Authority and Seychelles police. Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, said, “This goes well with the Seychelles brand as the country is a champion of a clean environment and when we engage in activities such as trekking this also helps us to maintain a healthy lifestyle.” The leaflet is available on the Tourism Department’s website. Physical copies are also being distributed to the various stakeholders including the tourism establishments, SNPA, police, tourist information office, among others. It has taken around five months to produce the document. The leaflet also has a list of essential numbers to be contacted in case of emergency. According to Chief Superintendent Sean Jacklin, the police records at least one incident of tourists being lost on trails every two months, but they are usually provided with assistance within 12 to 24 hours. The Seychelles National Parks Authority is also collaborating with the Seychelles Tourism Board to design a smartphone app, which will present the new Seychelles Hiking Guide launched by STB in a digital format, also allowing hikers to access a host of other features.

Clarks Inn Group of Hotels has added another feather to its growing portfolio with the opening of Clarks Inn Srinagar. The 41-room property is strategically located at a stone-throw distance from the commercial hub of Lal Chowk and Srinagar’s scenic Dal Lake and just about three kilometres from the Mughal Garden. Located in the city centre at Jawahar Nagar, Clarks Inn Srinagar boasts of 41 rooms across different categories to cater to the needs of discerning business as well as leisure travellers. Speaking on the latest addition, S. N. Srivastava, President & Co-founder, Clarks Inn Group of Hotels, said, “The opening of Clarks Inn Srinagar is the culmination of long cherished dream of the company. We have always strongly believed in the potential of Srinagar as well as Jammu & Kashmir as a destination. And our presence today is a testimony to that. Not only we promise to offer our guests one of the finest traditions of hospitality that is in line with the Kashmiri ethos of incredible warmth, but we would also like to leverage our network strength and resources to promote the state of Jammu & Kashmir beyond just our own business interest here.” With the latest addition, Clarks Inn now boasts of a portfolio of 80 hotel properties, including 43 in operation, spread across 17 states in India and one in Kathmandu, Nepal. The hotel has a multi-cuisine restaurant brand ‘The Bridge’ besides meeting rooms and halls that can cater to various corporate and social events.

The entire erstwhile team of HVS India will cease to exist under the HVS trademark, and will operate under the new brand identity of Hotelivate. Manav Thadani, Founder Chairman, Hotelivate said, “As HVS, we were able to bring in systems and processes never seen before in the region, and that helped us establish a niche for ourselves as consultants. It’s with great pleasure that we announce the expansive role of Hotelivate, adding more services to our portfolio as we begin a new journey in consulting. A change in name does not change our commitment to excellence and passion for all things hospitality.” Specifically, Hotelivate will assist clients right from inception to divestment of their hospitality ventures, by offering an entire spectrum of services that are focused, practical and tangible value-adds for clients. In addition, some of Asia Pacific’s most successful conferences, previously hosted by HVS, will now continue under the Hotelivate banner. Megha Tuli, Partner & Co-Founder, Hotelivate added, “We are enthusiastic about the road ahead. With a team of consultants having over 250 years of collective experience, Hotelivate is well-entrenched to service client needs through empathetic and tailor-made solutions that are focused on adding value to their projects.” Source: The Economic Times  

Four Points By Sheraton Tiruchirappalli is set to open doors on February 1, 2019. The hotel will consist of all the modern facilities and a worry-free stay, just minutes away from the city’s stations and airport. Opening with 110 rooms, the hotel will offer 830 square metres of function space, including a ballroom that can accommodate up to 400 people. The hotel will have four meeting space areas.

The Border Police & Immigration department at Baiyun Airport, Guangzhou continues to revise the transit regulations until further notice. Passengers transiting Guangzhou and any other city in China before taking a connecting flight for their overseas travel will not be allowed to transit without valid China visa stamped on their passports prior to the commencement of journey from Delhi. The transit policy was undertaken in view of expediting security arrangements for the dignitaries in BRICS Summit held in Xiamen, China.

While the tourism sector in India has gained huge impetus in recent times, the lack of infrastructure to support the surge in tourism has now caught the eye of the sector. In a recent statement, Tourism Ministry officials have revealed that India has a shortage of nearly 2 lakh hotel rooms and is struggling to manage the acceleration in tourist arrivals. “We are plagued with a huge shortage of hotel rooms and instead of building new ones, we are trying to encourage homestays and exploring other alternatives like tying up with existing known brands with operational hotels and accrediting them,” said a senior official. The MOT is also working on creating five special tourism zones in the country so that these areas can be developed into tourist hotspots, officials said. According to a report of the working group on tourism for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), for a projected annual growth of 12 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs), the projected requirement of additional hotel rooms in 2016 over 2010, was estimated to be 1,90,108.

In a historic move, an aircraft carrying perishables arrived at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) from Kabul, Afghanistan, marking the launch of a dedicated air freight corridor service between the two cities. An initiative implemented with the joint efforts of Danish Sarwar, Vice President of Afghanistan and Chennamanneni Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra, this connectivity will provide the land-locked Afghanistan greater access to markets in Maharashtra. Additionally, it will allow Afghan businessmen to leverage the economic growth, enhance trade networks and offer Afghan farmers direct access to the markets in western India for their perishable goods. The event was presided over by the Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra, diplomats from the office of Governor of Maharashtra and officials of the Consulate General of Afghanistan. The dignitaries along with officials of CSIA welcomed the inaugural flight routed Kabul-Mumbai-Kabul which carried 40 tons of fresh apples on the inbound and 20 tons of bananas along with 20 tons of fresh tomatoes on the outbound.

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) hosted Vigilance Study Circle (VSC) NCR meet at The Ashok, New Delhi to discuss various vigilance related issues. The meeting was chaired by Praveen Sinha, Additional Secretary, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC); M R Krishna, President, VSC; Vinayak Garg, Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO), ITDC. Sinha delivered a lecture on vigilance related issues in the meeting. The best practices followed by any of the organisation were also shared for implementation in other organisations. Vigilance Study Circle NCR is a group of CVOs of various organisations or PSUs in NCR, who meet on regular basis and holds meetings on vigilance.

The Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned an amount of Rs.95.67 crore for the Development of Coastal Circuit in Dakshin Kannada dist., Uttar Kannada dist. and Udupi dist. in Karnataka under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, as per information by K.J. Alphons, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism. MOT has launched the Swadesh Darshan Scheme for developing 15 identified theme based tourist circuits and the National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) Scheme for developing 25 identified pilgrimage destinations. The Ministry develops tourism related infrastructure and promotes India as a tourism destination to increase tourist arrivals which, in turn, creates job opportunities in the country.    

Establishing the growing importance of emerging domestic sectors from South India, IndiGo has announced Vijayawada as its 50th destination on its route network. Effective March 2, 2018, the airline will operate daily direct operations connecting Vijayawada to Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. In line with company’s growth strategy, the airline has also inducted a brand new Airbus A320 NEO aircraft into its existing fleet, taking the overall count to 150 aircraft. Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director, IndiGo said, “It gives us immense pleasure to introduce services from Vijayawada. 2017 has been a great year for growth and expansion as the airline clocked many milestones. In the coming years, we will continue to expand our network to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travellers.” The launch of Vijayawada comes just after the carrier’s first ATR flight on Hyderabad-Mangalore sector on December 21, 2017; boosting regional connectivity. IndiGo will also commence operations from Rajahmundry and Tirupati in January 2018.