Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) has announced a multi-year distribution agreement with British Airways (BA) and Iberia Airlines (IB), enabling CWT customers to avoid the airlines’ proposed surcharge on bookings created within participating global distribution systems (GDS) that agree to these terms with IAG. The agreement, effective November 1, 2017, applies to CWT business travel and leisure clients. CWT continues to work with all key parties to provide further surcharge-free BA and IB content for its customers. “This agreement further strengthens our long-standing partnership with BA and IB and highlights our mutual commitment to the concept of new distribution capabilities (NDC) to drive improved product differentiation. While we believe GDSs provide the best technology platform available for CWT to enable best-in-market user experience and operating efficiency, we will continue to monitor and assess new technologies and capabilities,” said Brian Mogler, Senior Vice President, Global Supplier Management, CWT.” Ian Luck, Head of Distribution at British Airways, said, “We are delighted with this new agreement which will bring both immediate and longer-term benefits. We are particularly pleased with the strong undertaking CWT has made to work collaboratively with us, GDSs and other technology partners in delivering NDC content and other benefits to our customers.” In May 2017 International Airlines Group (parent company of BA and IB) announced it would add a US$10 ‘distribution technology charge’ on each airline fare component of a booking, effective November 1, 2017.

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has announced the 41st PATA Travel Mart at Langkawi, Malaysia, from September 12-14, 2018. This event has been held at a variety of venues across Asia Pacific bringing global tourism to the doorstep of a new country every year. Langkawi promises to be a very interesting destination located in the heart of Asia. PATA India Chapter has been officially appointed as the nodal office for all PATA events. PATA Travel Mart has successfully attracted international buyers and sellers to a common platform year on year. It is amongst the few international travel and tourism marts where buyers and sellers meet with pre-arranged appointments, making the event extremely productive and mutually beneficial. In 2017, PTM recorded 293 hosted buyers while delegates from 281 organisations and 51 source markets attended the mart. Out of these delegates, 32 per cent belonged to Northeast Asia; 29 per cent to Europe; 13 per cent to Southeast Asia; 10 per cent to North America; 7 per cent to South Asia; 5 per cent to the Pacific while 4 per cent where from other regions.

The World Economic Forum’s white paper on India’s tourism industry outlines the country’s $20 billion tourism opportunity that lies untapped. One of its recommendations is the formation of a tourism board. According to the White Paper titled ‘Incredible India 2.0 India’s $20 Billion Tourism Opportunity,’ a proposal to create a tourism board is put forward. It says, ‘India has more than 50 active foreign tourism boards, yet the country does not have its own tourism board. While it has a number of industry associations and state-level bodies, no public-private organisation represents the industry, and these bodies work independently to drive forward their own agenda. The industry is fragmented and hindered by poor coordination between the state and central government as well as within the central government itself. No single ministry is responsible for all the policies affecting the aviation, travel and tourism industry. The Ministries of Civil Aviation, Tourism, Home Affairs, Culture, and Road Transport and Highways, among others, have all been actively involved in the industry’s policies.’ The paper released in September this year goes on to add that this gap must be filled by bringing the public and private sectors together under an empowered and proactive body. ‘To fuel its success, the board would consider the structure, objectives and best practices implemented in other countries, keeping in mind India’s strengths and limitations.’ Speaking on the scope of implementation that this White Paper has, Tiffany Misrahi, Community Lead, Aviation, Travel & Tourism Industries, World Economic Forum, says, “The Minister of Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju, as well as Minister of State Jayant Sinha, along with the Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, have been actively involved in …

The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) has elected its new team with Nakul Anand, Executive Director, ITC, as the Chairman, who was nominated by Hotel Association of India (HAI). The Vice Chairman is Akshay Kumar, CEO, Mercury Himalayan Explorations, who was nominated by Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI). The association also created an additional position of Vice Chairman, for which they have elected Sunil Kumar R, CEO, Travel World, who was nominated by Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI).  Subhash Goyal, Chairman, STIC Travel Group, who was nominated by Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), is the new Honorary Secretary, while Garish Oberoi, Partner, Hotel Uberoi Anand, has been declared as the Treasurer. Aashish Gupta continues as the Consulting CEO of FAITH. All the above positions have been unanimously elected by the FAITH Board.

DOT Philippines, along with prominent travel partners from Philippines, is all set to host Philindex 2017 in four cities in India. Representatives from Philippines and DOT Philippines will educate over 600 travel trade partners from Hyderabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Lucknow, about the tourism offerings of the Philippines. Participating delegates will get an overview of the booming tourism industry during the interactive sessions. Other partners from Philippines, would include Cathay Pacific, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts, Thai Airways, Philippine Airlines, Shroff International Travel Care Inc., and VFC Travel and Tours. The B2B meetings at Philindex 2017 will offer an insight to the travel trade partners on Philippines being an ideal destination for scenic wonders, adventures and business pursuits.

M. M. Sadana, Dy. Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has been promoted to the post of Joint Director General . He will continue to operate from India Tourism’s Delhi office.

Tourism department of Uttar Pradesh is planning to release its Tourism Policy by November this year. The draft policy will be placed under the Cabinet’s consideration and then will be released thereafter, informed Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Minister of Women Welfare, Family Welfare, Maternity and Child Welfare and Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh. According to Joshi, the private players play a major role in tourism development in the state and the policy will offer a host of incentives and concessions to them. “We have everything in the state, be it religious tourism, spiritual tourism, eco-tourism, wildlife, landscape, festivals, heritage and culture etc. The government is very aggressive to develop and promote this sector in collaboration with the private players. We hope with such vision and efforts, UP will become the number one state in terms of tourism.”

The Travel Trade Association of Uttar Pradesh (TTAUP), a Lucknow based, local travel trade association organised its first Travel Trade Mart (TTM) 2017 in Lucknow. As many as 30 exhibitors showcased their products to the travel agents and tour operators of UP. These exhibitors encompassed all segments of tourism and hospitality like cruises, tourism boards, destination management companies, hotels, airlines etc. The show was attended by over 200 travel agents and tour operators from various cities in Uttar Pradesh like Lucknow, Kanpur, Bijnor, Allahabad, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Agra, Mau, Muradabad etc. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Minister of Women Welfare, Family Welfare, Maternity and Child Welfare and Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh, inaugurated the mart. Vivek Pandey, President, TTAUP, says, “This is the first time we have hosted such a show. We felt that many times it was not possible for the trade in UP to attend shows in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and other metro cities and unfortunately not many shows come to UP. The purpose is to offer a platform to the agents of the state to gather product knowledge, information and be connected to the various suppliers directly rather than route it through bigger cities. This would allow us to contain business of UP within UP and grow the tourism industry in the state. This year was an experiment and it turned out extremely well. Next year we will increase the scale and scope of this show manifolds.”

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) will start the operations at the revamped Terminal-2 of Indira Gandhi International Airport on October 29, 2017 and GoAir will be the first airline to shift its entire operations to Terminal 2 with effect from 00:01 hours of 29th October 2017. The move has come as a mutual decision between DIAL and Go Air to shift operations from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 until the completion of the expansion of T1. However, it’s a temporary move to ease the pressure of fast growing traffic at Terminal 1, so that the expansion works can be carried out at Terminal 1 effectively and efficiently. The Terminal 1 is set to be expanded from the current capacity of 20 million to 40 million per annum with 22 aerobridges, and state of the art infrastructure. The expansion process will encompass all major areas of the airport i.e. Landside, Terminal and Airside and will be completed within four years. I Prabhakara Rao, CEO-DIAL said, “In view of the robust growth in passenger traffic and upcoming airport expansion works, DIAL has revamped and is recommissioning the Terminal 2 of the IGI Airport with effect from 29th October, 2017. We welcome GoAir in its new home terminal in Terminal 2. This will enable us to start the expansion works at Terminal 1 and carry it on seamlessly.” Jeh Wadia, MD, GoAir, said: “ in order to support the government and DIAL’s plans to upgrade and expand the airport facilities as well as continuously improve the customer experience and the seamless integration of international and domestic passengers, we are delighted to move into a newly furbished Terminal 2 at IGI Airport. The move …

Mahendra Vakharia, Managing Director, Pathfinders Holidays, has been declared the DDP Trailblazer at the West India Travel Awards 2017. A travel enthusiast, Vakharia did his hotel management from Mumbai and then went on to help thousands make their dreams a reality. He is also the founder member of the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) where he is the executive committee member and also the chairman of the western region of OTOAI. He is also the voice behind the mandate that requires all outbound agents to complete at least 25 hours of training a year to retain their active status. His first hand knowledge from personal experience is what helps him make magical itineraries for his customers and it is this self experience before selling a destination that makes him a Trailblazer. .