Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS), part of the Lufthansa Group, completed 10 years of operations on the Delhi – Zurich route. To celebrate this milestone, SWISS hosted a special walk titled ‘The Delhi Seductress’ featuring Mehrauli Archeological Park on December 17, 2017. The walk explored the by-lanes of Mehrauli, its multi-faceted history and architecture through visits to mausoleums, step wells as well as several other structures modified during its history. SWISS and experts from Darwesh – a travel and culture studio jointly led the event. Paurus Nekoo, General Manager Sales, India, Lufthansa Group, on behalf of SWISS said, “We are proud to add another milestone to our history with India. As an airline deeply rooted in tradition and culture, we are delighted to celebrate this occasion with a unique activity that pays tribute to Delhi’s rich cultural heritage.” Nekoo adds, “India is a key market for SWISS and over the years, we have constantly innovated to elevate travel experience for passengers to and from India. From special meals, Indian flight attendants to Bollywood movies onboard, we are committed to deepen our connect with our customers by extending the very best of Swiss warmth and hospitality onboard.”

Royal Orchid Hotels has announced the opening of its new hotel ‘Regenta Inn The Dwarika’ in Dwarka, taking the number of properties under Royal Orchid group to 46. Chander K. Baljee, Managing Director, Royal Orchid Hotels, said, “We are taking continuous steps towards expanding our presence in India. The new hotel launch in Dwarka is one such move towards our aim. By now we have added five properities – Mysore, Ahmedabad, Dehradun, Kanpur and Dwarka in the current fiscal year. We are on target to take the number of properties to 50 under the Royal Orchid Group before the end of this fiscal year.” Situated at a walking distance from the main shrine of Dwarikesh Temple in Dwarka, the hotel offers a range of category of rooms including Deluxe Rooms, Executive Rooms, Royal Suites, Club Rooms and Family Suites.

Emphasising on the importance of sustainable tourism at CII’s Annual Tourism Summit, Alphons Kannanthanam, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism, said that it is important for tourism to boom in India and be sustainable at the same time. Citizens need to keep their country clean, so that tourists get to explore a habitable environment, he added. The summit, held at ITC Maurya, New Delhi, focused its agenda on the year 2017 being the International Year of Sustainability. Other dignitaries present at the summit included Deep Kalra, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, MakeMy Trip; H.E., Jozef Drofenik, Ambassador, Embassy of Slovenia; Arjun Sharma, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on Tourism & Hospitality and Managing Director, Select Group; and Mandip Singh Soin, Founder & Managing Director, Ibex Expeditions and Honorary Founding President, Ecotourism Society of India (ESOI).

The Department of Tourism, Philippines, branded taxis and buses in Mumbai and Delhi in order to increase the visibility of the archipelago. Her Excellency Ma. Teresita C.Daza, Ambassador, Republic of Philippines to India, inaugurated the promotional campaign with 50 taxis in Mumbai and two HOHO buses in New Delhi. Addressing the gathering, she said, “DOT Philippines has been very active in India in promoting it as a tourism destination. We have launched around 50 taxis, and it will hopefully raise interest and awareness about the Philippines as a tourist destination. We have been doing pretty well in terms of tourist arrivals and we are hoping to increase the numbers further in the coming years. Currently India is at 12th rank in terms of arrivals to the Philippines. During January-July this year, 72,498 Indian tourists travelled to the Philippines as compared to 60,658 tourists for the same period last year, registering a growth of 28.41 per cent. It was made possible by the hardwork of Buzz Travel Marketing India and also the growing interest of people about the Philippines as a tourist destination.”    

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is keen to conduct an educational seminar on the Northeast for its members. The association feels that there is a need for its members to learn about the Northeastern destinations and know about the ground realities of the same, to be able to sell it to their clients. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, said, “We are willing to organise the educational seminar for our members around India with the help of local members in Northeast, so that they are well aware of the region’s destinations. We are waiting for our members to show interest for the same to take forward the idea soon.”

The German National Tourist Office (GNTO), India launched its online destination training programme in India on December 14, via an online webinar attended by over 450 operators. The step comes in the light of the increasing number of Indian visitors to Germany and a request from the travel fraternity for a training module on the destination. The online programme would provide Indian tour operators and travel agents with an in-depth knowledge required to market the destination persuasively to their clients. Romit Theophilus, Director Sales and Marketing, GNTO, India said, “Over the years, we have repeatedly received requests from our trade partners to start an online training programe, which could be referred to by them whilst planning itineraries and travel programmes for their clients; hence the launch of www.germanyspecialist.com. The program consists of four informative modules: Module 1 – Introduction to Germany, Module 2 – Discover the German Federal States/ Regions; Module 3 – Theme-based Travel and Module 4 – Special Scenic Routes. We expect this module to serve as a one-stop shop for all the operators’ queries on destination Germany.”

Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it has finalised preparations to start five weekly flights to Buenos Aires, Argentina from March 8, 2018. The flights will be operated on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. This will be Ethiopian Airlines sixth gateway to the Americas and will help provide efficient connections to its network in Asia, Middle East, Africa. Tadesse Tilahun, Regional Director – India Sub Continent, Ethiopian Airlines, said, “The new flight services will be operated five times a week with Dreamliner 787 aircraft. This will be the shortest connection from India to Argentina connecting the three continents in the shortest possible time. To promote the new destination, we are offering attractive promotional Business and Economy class fares which will be valid for the coming three months. We are also on the final process of approving additional commission and incentives for travel agents as well.” Set to launch on International Women’s Day, the inaugural flight will be an all-women operated flight marking the airlines’ commitment of mainstreaming gender into its core business.

The Annual General Meeting of the World Travel & Tourism Council, India Initiative (WTTCII) held at New Delhi on December 12 saw new appointments for the year 2018. Sunder G. Advani, Chairman & Managing Director, Advani Hotels & Resorts (India) Limited has been appointed as board’s Chairman while Rajeev Talwar, Chief Executive Officer, DLF has been named as the Vice Chairman of WTTCII. Advani said, “As WTTCII members facilitate the movement of millions of people around India every year,  we see the growth of tourism in generating economic opportunity, social cohesion and pride. While GST has been a welcome move, we urge the government to reconsider the GST on hospitality and bring it at par with India’s competing destinations like Sri Lanka, Thailand, etc.” Talwar said, “WTTCII has been championing convergence between Government of India and states to facilitate tourism in India. Our role will be to encourage the state governments – the political leadership and bureaucracy – to take a more favourable stance towards the tourism sector. We will continue to work with the states to improve access, address infrastructural gaps and remove policy bottlenecks for tourism to flourish, and most importantly create jobs, employment and provide a vigorous boost to tourism’s contribution to the state’s GDP.”

The Ministry of Finance announced December 27, 2017 as the late date for filing the TRAN-1 form under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to avail input tax credit. The Ministry, in a release, informed that a taxpayer could file Form TRAN-1 and avail input tax credit on the basis of closing balance of the input tax credit declared in the last return under the pre GST regime. In keeping with the philosophy of voluntary compliance, revision of Form TRAN-1 has also been provided. The last date for revision of TRAN-1 is also December 27. The Ministry noted that some taxpayers have availed extraordinarily high transitional credit of CGST. Such behaviour leads to breach of trust between the taxpayer and the tax-administration, the release said. Taxpayers who have claimed transitional credit erroneously are advised to avail of the opportunity to revise Form TRAN-1 within the deadline, failing which the tax administration would be constrained to initiate audit and enforcement action against the identified units, the release mentioned.

The Indo-American Business Chamber of SME in association with Lords Hotels & Resorts recently organised a comprehensive forum on Goods & Service Tax (GST) for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai. The forum witnessed a number of entrepreneurs from various industries including manufacturing, real estate, hospitality and banking. Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, Government of India who was the chief guest for the evening addressed many concerns expressed by the attendees and clarified nuances around the latest GST resolutions announced last month. While applauding the Govt. and its revolutionary tax reform, P R Bansal, Chairman & Managing Director, Lords Hotels & Resorts, also raised a few concerns affecting the real estate and hospitality sectors. In his speech, he appealed to the Minister to consider the pleas and convey the concerns to the GST Council for deliberation. “The reduction in GST rate for restaurant was made by the GST Council based on the feedback we received from people. We are happy that we not only reduced the GST rate from 18 per cent to 5 per cent but also made it uniform for all restaurants,” Shiv Pratap Shukla concluded.