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.    

Nine leading travel agents from India were among 130 other agents from 16 countries to attend the 7th Israel ‘Where Else’ Tourism Conference held by the Israel Ministry of Tourism for the world travel industry. The travel agents from India were accompanied by Hassan Madah, Director, Israel Ministry of Tourism, India and Philippines. The group explored beach tourism in Eilat and Dead Sea, tours in the North focusing on religion and history and city breaks in Tel Aviv- Jaffa and Jerusalem. In addition, business meetings were held between the Indian delegates and Israeli wholesalers and hoteliers. Elaborating on this Fam, Madah said, “Israel has witnessed another year of record breaking tourist arrivals with over 55,000 Indians who have travelled to the country through November 2017. It was important for us to showcase Israel to key Indian travel trade through our biggest annual tourism conference in Israel. The conference was a wonderful experience that exposed the Indian travel trade to varied offerings and experiences in Israel.” The week-long convention aimed to expose attendees to the tourism brands in Israel along with the country’s recreation, entertainment and leisure options.

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.

Cox & Kings announced the ‘Free Fly to Kashmir’ packages in its bid to promote Kashmir Tourism under its domestic brand ‘Bharat Deko’. The initiative offers free airfare ex New Delhi, thus making the package attractive. ‘Glorious Kashmir’ and ‘Kashmir Delight’ are the two packages announced for travellers. The special packages were formally launched by Mahmood Ahmad Shah, Director Tourism, Kashmir along with Yusuf Poonawala, Senior Vice President, Cox & Kings at the Nigeen Club, Srinagar. The packages that span for a week have been specially crafted to offer a holistic Kashmir experience with price starting from only Rs 22,099. The Free Fly tours will allow the tourists to explore Kashmir’s nature, local culture and history. Sonamarg, Thajwas Glacier, Pahalgam, Awantisvamin and Betaab Valley are a few of the many sites that have been included in the tour. Poonawala said,”Kashmir is on the priority list of travellers. This offer will further boost tourist influx into Kashmir.” Bharat Deko has also created theme-based videos besides other marketing materials to promote the snow-state of India. The package offer is valid for travel period January 1 to June 30, 2018.

Azamara Club Cruises has entered into an agreement to purchase the Azamara Pursuit, a ship that will complement the brand’s proposition further by taking travellers to destinations hitherto unexperienced. Come March 2018, TIRUN Travel Marketing, the exclusive India representative of Azamara Club Cruises will provide Indian travellers the opportunity to enjoy the most uniquely-curated destination experiences in the sister ship of Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest. Commenting on the acquisition, Ratna Chadha, Chief Executive, TIRUN Travel Marketing, said, “Azamara Pursuit will further add to the brand’s value as a cruise line that guarantees the best of aesthetics, experience and extravagance to travellers, bringing its guests the experience of a boutique hotel at sea. We are pleased to extend the opportunity to our guests to travel to destinations as exciting as Uruguay, Buenos Aires, Belfast, Akureyri and many more on this ship.” The Azamara Pursuit will be covering a total of 61 destinations, out of which 15 destinations have not been visited yet by any of Azamara’s ships. The ship will be travelling across all the seven continents, allowing travellers to experience an assortment of geographies and cultures.