After a successful Carnaval celebration, Goa is set to usher in Shigmo – a festival of colour, costumes and culture scheduled from March 3-17, 2018, beginning with the celebration of Holi. During the Shigmo parades, one gets a chance to take a glimpse at the life of a Goan which is depicted in elaborate folk performances by local men and women dancing tirelessly in huge processions. Traditional folk dances and performance of mythological scenes is the highlight of this parade. On the day of Shigmo, people in Goa are dressed up in colourful outfits, holding multi-coloured flags and playing musical instruments like the Dhol Tasha and flutes in processions across the cities along with floats that parade through the streets. Folk dances like Ghode Modni and Fugdi are performed on the streets in massive troupes along the procession. An interesting element of the Shigmo is the tradition of covering each other with colourful powder and bright paints. The float parade is organised across different cities of Goa like Ponda, Margao, Vasco, Sanguem, Sanquelim, Valpoi, Bicholim, Panjim, Mapusa, Pernem, Canacona, Quepem, Curchorem, Cuncolim and Dharbandora.  

Residents of Goa planning a visit to Cyprus can now apply for their visas at the new VFS Global Cyprus Visa Application Centre in Panjim. The centre brings Cyprus visa services closer to home, eliminating the need for applicants from Goa to travel to a neighbouring state to submit their applications. The centre in Goa was inaugurated by His Excellency Demetrios A. Theophylactou, High Commissioner of Cyprus to India. Theophylactou said, “The Cyprus Visa Application Centre in Goa is one out of 16 VFS global centres serving Cyprus in India. The opening signifies a steady increase in visa related queries. Consequently, this centre would further expand and enhance visa services, and promote people-to-people contacts, thus contributing to our bilateral relations. The centre would work in close cooperation with the Consular Section of the High Commission to achieve the goal of timely and efficient issuance of visas.” Vinay Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer–Middle East and South Asia, VFS Global said, “VFS Global has served the Government of Cyprus in India since 2015, and the expansion of our services on their behalf to 16 cities in India is a testament of their faith in our ability to offer applicants best-in-class visa services.”

Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) has announced its foray into Bhopal with the signing of a new hotel – Vivanta Bhopal, through a management contract with Genex Hotels. This will be IHCL’s first hotel in Bhopal, expanding its presence across key state capitals and having a network of hotels in all the key commercial centres of India. Suma Venkatesh, Senior Vice President, Real Estate & Development, IHCL said, “We are delighted to partner with Genex Hotels for Vivanta Hotel in Bhopal. Consolidating presence in key capital cities is an important pillar of our domestic expansion strategy. With rapid urbanisation and growth, Bhopal offers immense potential for both leisure and business travellers.” Vivanta Bhopal will be located near Van Vihar National Park, a 25-minute drive from the Bhopal International Airport. Spread over four acres, the hotel will comprise 150 guest rooms and other features including multi-cuisine restaurants, recreation facilities, meeting spaces, conference rooms and large banqueting facilities. Commenting on the partnership, the spokesperson for Genex Hotels said, “We are proud to partner with IHCL and introduce the Vivanta brand to Bhopal. Through this association with the pioneers of the Indian hospitality industry, we aim to enhance the guest experience in line with the highest international standards.”

Uttar Pradesh Government has revealed its new Tourism Policy 2018, with an enhanced budget of Rs 687 crore from the earlier Rs 347 crores. An additional Rs 650 crores will be provided by the Centre for different schemes. The new policy promises to generate 5 lakh jobs annually by investing Rs 5000 crore per year for the next five years. The policy will also aim to achieve an annual increase of 15 per cent domestic tourists and 10 per cent foreign tourist arrival in the state. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Tourism Minister, Government of Uttar Pradesh, informed that the policy will grant the status of industry to all activities of tourism sector. “The tourism policy will lay a foundation to make UP the most preferred tourism destination in the country by increasing tourist arrivals and recording highest tourist receipts, develop tourism circuits and providing other facilities. Safety and security of all tourists, especially women, will remain the utmost priority for the state government.” “The state government has assured to provide Rs 1000 crores for the implementation of the new tourism policy of which Rs 70 crores have already been sanctioned,” said Joshi. The new policy also promises to offer a wide range of financial incentives and benefits to investors. As of date, the state tourism department has received an investment of over Rs 10,000 crore as 23 companies have shown interest. “All benefits would be offered within 20 kms of all tourist sites of 10 tourism circuits including Ramayan circuit, Krishna/Braj circuit, Buddhist circuit, wildlife and Eco tourism circuit, Bundelkhand circuit, Mahabharata circuit, Shakti Peeth Circuit, Aadhyatmik circuit, Sufi/ Kabir circuit and Jain circuit,” added Joshi. Salient features of the new …

Lords Hotels & Resorts has added a new property in Jamnagar, Gujarat to be launched under the ‘Eco Inn’ branding. It is the brand’s 15th hotel property in the state and overall, its 28th. The property is expected to commence operations in the fourth quarter of this year. Lords Eco Inn – Jamnagar will have 65 rooms with modern amenities and full-services. The property will have an elegant banquet hall attached to sprawling green lawns and will also have its trademark multi-cuisine restaurant – Blue Coriander. “We are pleased to officially announce the sign-up of Lords Eco Inn – Jamnagar and congratulate our partners for their new venture with us. From our first hotel Lords Plaza in Surat back in the year 2007 to the latest, Lords Hotels & Resorts has created a niche for itself in the region and is Gujarat’s ‘numero uno’ hospitality brand today,” says P R Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director, Lords Hotels & Resorts. Lords Eco Inn – Jamnagar is a partnership venture with entrepreneurs Sunil Lodaya and Kuldeep Sinh. “Our presence dots the western coast of Gujarat roughly at intervals of 130 km of each other. Lords Eco Inn – Jamnagar will be our seventh property in the region and with it, we will have created a complete beach circuit in Gujarat. All properties in the circuit cater to a mix of business, leisure, pilgrimage and adventure tourism, and Lords Hotels & Resorts enjoys a lion’s share in the region. Once launched, we are expecting Lords Eco Inn – Jamnagar to capture a significant part of business tourists visiting the city,” says Rishi Puri, Vice President, Lords Hotels & Resorts.

The Government of India has digitalised the process of FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office) registration, visa extension, etc. for foreign nationals visiting India. The government has now introduced an e-FRRO portal with an aim to provide faceless, cashless and paperless service to foreign nationals. There will be no requirement to visit FRRO office. Earlier, foreigners could book appointment and upload documents online but they had to be physically present on the appointed date at the FRRO office for processing of the application. With effect from February 12, 2018, a mandatory visit to the local FRRO office located at Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai has been done away with. Online submission of documents in respect of all visa and immigration related services (such as the Indian FRRO registration, visa extension, change of address/passport, visa conversion, exit permission, etc.) has been enabled. Client will be informed through e-mail/SMS alerts for service granted or rejected. Registration certificate will be sent by post and on the registered email ID. Alternatively, it can be downloaded from the portal.

Sabre Corporation has been recognised by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as NDC Level 3 capable as an IT provider. Reaching this milestone less than two months after announcing Level 2 capability, Sabre accelerates its commitment to leading the evolution of retailing and distribution technology. By granting Sabre ‘NDC capable’ Level 3 status under the NDC certification programme, IATA recognises that Sabre supports deployments using offer and order management messages whose schema are compliant with the standard NDC message schema. Sabre has therefore demonstrated its ability to provide a broad range of retailing capabilities to a variety of sellers, including end-to-end offer and order fulfillment and servicing. Along with the ability to create and personalize offers, Level 3 capability indicates that Sabre is now positioned to fulfill and service those orders throughout the entire process in both direct and indirect channels. A major component of this includes verifying offer integrity and ensuring that the order management system can accurately enforce orders based on the rules of the original offer. It is Sabre’s leading position at the centre of the travel industry that empowers it to leverage data from a variety of sources, ultimately reinforcing offer integrity and fulfilment. Going forward, Sabre is actively working to deploy these capabilities in the coming months through close collaboration with its customers. Sabre is also certified as an NDC Level 1 aggregator, with a roadmap to reaching Level 3 in 2018.

Singapore Airlines has announced a fifth weekly flight from Ahmedabad to Singapore in a bid to cater to the increased travel demand during the summer holiday season. The additional flight will operate every Friday from April 27 – May 25 2018. The airline has also introduced Economy Class return fares starting from Rs. 27,800 to Singapore for travel until 31 March 2019, for which the booking needs to be done by March 31, 2018. David Lim, General Manager India – Singapore Airlines, said, “Ahmedabad continues to be a key market for Singapore Airlines and we are pleased to offer an additional, seasonal frequency to meet the growing demand. The new flight will provide travellers an additional departure window to travel to Singapore and to onward destinations.”

Cygnett has signed two hotels in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh. Cygnett Lite with 41 rooms and Cygnett Inn with 40 rooms are set to open in April and June 2018, respectively. “We are delighted to announce the signing of two hotels in Andhra Pradesh at Vizag – Cygnett Lite 41 keys and Cygnett Inn with 40 keys, a brilliant location, proximity to airport, Cygnett marking our farther foray. Hotel is opening April and June 2018- our success story continues, we are now 27 hotels, 21 cities and 1400 rooms,” says Sarbendra Sarkar, Founder & Managing Director, Cygnett Hotels Group. “Cygnett Inn is the budget brand that does not adhere to the “budget” definition in any way except in its prices. It is a full-Service hotel with modern design, next generation in-room technology and helpful staff. The Cygnett Signature quality is uncompromising and exceeding guests’ expectations is always supreme,” he adds.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the groundbreaking ceremony of Navi Mumbai International Airport. At a function in Navi Mumbai, he also dedicated the fourth container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. The Prime Minister said that the Navi Mumbai airport project has been pending for years. He said delayed projects cause many problems, and the PRAGATI initiative had been initiated, to give priority to completion of projects. Also present were Maharashtra Governor C. V. Rao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, and Ramdas Athawale. He said India’s aviation sector is growing tremendously, and there is a sharp increase in the number of people flying. This makes quality infrastructure in the aviation sector of prime importance, he added. The Prime Minister said that the Union Government has brought an aviation policy that is transforming the sector. He added that a strong aviation sector also gives more economic opportunities. Better connectivity leads to more tourists coming to India, he said. The Prime Minister said that the Government of India is devoting significant efforts towards the development of waterways.