Avalon Waterways is set to expand in India in 2019, offering cruise tours that visit the country’s Golden Triangle and sail on the Ganges River. Avalon’s 13-day India itineraries will begin in Delhi and also visit Agra and Jaipur. Passengers will then fly to Kolkata, where they’ll board their ship and travel north on the Hooghly, a tributary of the Ganges. The river portion of the cruise will visit small cities such as Kalna, Matiari, Murshidabad and Mayapur. The line will charter Ganges Voyager, a 36-passenger vessel formerly used by Vantage Deluxe World Travel for its India trips. The cruises begin in February 2019 and will also run in September, October and November 2019.  

Virgin Hyperloop One has announced Maharashtra’s intent to build a hyperloop between Pune and Mumbai beginning with an operational demonstration track. Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Hyperloop One announced the framework agreement in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to begin the development of the route. Recognizing the Maharashtra government’s contribution to the country’s economy, Modi said, “51 per cent of total investments in India have come to Maharashtra, and the state is attracting global investors. The state’s overall development in the past few years is a shining example of improving conditions in the country.” “I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century. The Pune-Mumbai route is an ideal first corridor as part of a national hyperloop network that could dramatically reduce travel times between India’s major cities to as little as two hours,” said Branson. The hyperloop route will link central Pune, Navi Mumbai International Airport, and Mumbai in 25 minutes, connecting 26 million people and creating a thriving, competitive mega region. The high-capacity passenger and cargo hyperloop route will support 150 million passenger trips annually, saving more than 90 million hours of travel time, and providing citizens with social and economic mobility.  

Royal Orchid Hotels has announced the opening of its new hotel in Nashik named Regenta Resort Soma Vine Village. The property has 32 rooms offering boutique accommodation with varied dining and banquet facilities. On-site amenities at the hotel include a restaurant, winery, state-of-the-art fitness centre, outdoor pool, business centre and spa services. Chander K. Baljee, Managing Director, Royal Orchid Hotels said, “The hotel is the perfect complement to our recently refreshed Regenta portfolio of hotels across India. We are taking continuous steps towards expanding our presence all over India. The new hotel in Nasik is one such move towards achieving our aim. The government push toward tourism sector is giving us the much needed enthusiasm to go aggressive in adding new properties to our bouquet. Till now, we have added eight properties – Mysore, Ahmedabad, Dehradun, Kanpur, Dwarka, Indore, Pushkar and now Nasik in the current fiscal year taking the number to 49 hotels. We will continue our efforts in expanding our presence all over India.”

Travel Tours, the flagship leisure-travel brand of FCTG Australia in India, announced ‘Cruise Week’ that aims at providing an opportunity to Indian travellers to plan their cruise holidays. ‘Cruise Week’ showcases several cruise holiday products available for Indian travellers while changing the perception of cruises as luxury holiday options. From a platter of experiences to select from, Cruise Week offers limited period deals on more than 20 cruises. Cruise Holidays starting from INR 48,999 are available across all 27 Travel Tours stores in 17 cities countrywide. Itineraries include economy class airfare, visa, insurance, cruise and transfers with standard and luxury stay options to suit the needs of every type of traveller. Cruise packages are available for travel destinations such as Asia, Europe, United States, etc.

Air India has introduced a non-stop flight from New Delhi to Amritsar in Punjab and Amritsar to Birmingham in the United Kingdom. The inaugural flight was flagged off from Amritsar airport by Vijay Sampla, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in the presence of other dignitaries including Pankaj Srivastava, Director, Air India along with Shwait Malik and Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Member of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively. The direct flight is scheduled to operate twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays on the Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham-Amritsar-Delhi route. The Dreamliner aircraft AI 117 will take off from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at 11:20 am and is scheduled to reach Amritsar at 12:25 am. After a break, the flight will then depart from Amritsar at 1:55 pm and is scheduled to reach Birmingham at 5:15 pm. The return flight will take off from Birmingham at 6:45 pm and reach Amritsar the next day at 7:45 am. After a brief break, the flight will depart for Amritsar at 9:15 am and will arrive at Delhi at 10:30 am. Source: ANI  

Niraamaya Retreats, a Jupiter Capital Venture, has announced its expansion in Nagaland with its management lease of Classic Inn, a charming boutique property at Kohima in Nagaland. It has now rechristened Niraamaya Retreats Aradura. Manu Rishi Guptha, CEO, Niraamaya Retreats, says, “This expansion is the first in the series of many more that Niraamaya Retreats has envisaged for this year. In Aradura, we saw a perfect alignment to our philosophy of Niraamaya Retreats being a selection of bespoke experiences in spectacular locations that our clientele expects from us.” The property has a total of 12 accommodations with expansive views. The suites are equipped with modern amenities and are a fusion of tribal and contemporary design.

TAAI’s limited edition convention in Srinagar has gathered keen interest from the trade. “Within 24 hours of opening registration, we received over 100 forms. Registrations for the TAAI Convention opened on February 19 and more than 200 delegates have already confirmed their participation. The hotels are in huge demand,” confirms Sunil R. Kumar, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). Set to be held from March 27-30, 2018, the TAAI Convention is being organised in association with the Ministry of Tourism, Jammu & Kashmir with a view to promote a more visible J&K and its outstanding attributes that extensively support tourism and culture.

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has announced plans of hosting its 18th Regional Convention in Colombo, Sri Lanka. HRAWI, for the first time ever, is going to host the Regional Convention overseas. Scheduled to take place from June 27-30, 2018, the convention will integrate business sessions on specially curated topics for hospitality professionals with evening gala over cocktails and dinner. With over 300 participants expected to gather at one place, the convention will offer business networking opportunities for industry players. As an added attraction, HRAWI will also organise post-convention tours for delegates to unwind and relax in the paradise beach destination of Sri Lanka.  

BirdRes has appointed Shashikant Jugran as Chief Operating Officer. In his current role, he will be responsible for managing the company’s B2B conglomerate known as birdres.com. Prior to this, Jugran was GM & Head—B2B Business & Partnerships at Yatra.com, where he built the B2B business in the country and introduced new product verticals. With around 18 years of experience in building up businesses, Jugran possesses skills in e-commerce, quality and process management, account management and market development.

Travelport has launched its product roadmap to extend its content offering to airline customers using the International Air Transport Association (IATA) New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard. The new products will enable travel agency customers to access such content via Travelport’s platform. The company is now extending its lead by industrialising its NDC capability and incorporating NDC content within its suite of products for airlines and travel agencies. These products will allow travel agencies to connect through Travelport’s platform in a single workflow combining traditional content and new NDC content. Stephen Shurrock, Chief Commercial Officer, Travelport commented, “Building on our unique NDC Level 3 status, we are extending our range of products ready for the new mixed-economy era of airline distribution. Travelport has a rich history of innovation and, with our NDC-enabled products, we intend to maintain this as we seamlessly, speedily and accurately deliver the broadest range of bookable content to our customers.” Yanik Hoyles, Director-NDC Program, IATA added ,“Following its achievement as the first GDS to become NDC Level 3 certified as an aggregator, we congratulate Travelport on its continued progress in developing products for this new era and look forward to their initial launch later this year.”