VisitBritain recently conducted an educational trip for 10 Indian travel agents in partnership with ACP Rail to promote the BritRail pass to travel around Britain by train. The trip was part of a B2B campaign which the national tourism organisation of Great Britain has launched with ACP Rail in India. Agents started their trip in Edinburgh, before travelling north for a two-day tour of the Scottish Highlands. They further headed across the border into Northern England, finishing their trip in the medieval town of York. Rail travel within UK is one of the most important part of the strategy to promote destinations beyond London amongst Indians. All hosted agents are considering sign-ups with ACP Rail and will soon begin installing their software to enable sale of UK rail passes along with sector tickets to promote rail itineraries and thus, give a fresh approach towards the UK holiday experience. With over 2,500 train stations in Britain, visitors have the chance to discover both cities and countryside throughout England, Scotland and Wales.

GoAir has announced new additional flights for the winter schedule, effective from November 23, 2017. The airline will operate 22 of these flights on new routes apart from increasing the frequencies by eight flights on existing routes during winters. With the new additions, GoAir would operate an average of 240 flights a day, strengthening its market presence at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolktata, Lucknow, Nagpur and Patna. The airline is also inducting new A320 NEOs, taking its fleet strength to 31 aircraft. To commensurate its 12 successful years in the domestic skies, GoAir has also announced an exciting anniversary fare offer starting from Rs 1212 plus taxes on all new sectors. The booking period will be from November 18-21, 2017 for the travel period from November 24, 2017 to October 28, 2018. Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir said, “The induction of four new aircraft will cater to the enhanced seasonal demand whilst offering flexibility to customers with more flight options to choose from. It is our constant endeavour to provide more flexibility of choice for our customers and offer them seamless connectivity, hassle free and affordable flying experience.”

The 8th Annual Convention of Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) held at Hotel Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach received over 300 delegates from across the country. The convention was inaugurated by Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh; Bhuma Akhila Priya, Minister of Tourism, Telugu Language and Culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh and Mukesh Kumar Meena, Secretary-Tourism and Culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh along with other dignitaries from the state and ADTOI. The event initially saw over 340 registrations but had to refuse many due to logistical concerns. Naidu commented, “I really appreciate the efforts of the domestic tour operators in promoting their country by bringing to forefront the unexplored jewels of India.” Priya added, “Vizag is the City of Jewels, the crown of the sunrise state—Andhra Pradesh. We are planning to make the state a favourable tourist destination by not only promotional activities but also by creating adequate infrastructure.” P.P. Khanna, President of ADTOI, shared, “The idea to hold our convention in Vizag was to identify newer destinations that domestic tour operators can add to their portfolio and promote the state of Andhra Pradesh with its wide variety of offerings from beach tourism, agritourism, ecotourism, MICE, weddings, spiritual tourism and the Buddhist circuit.”

Expanding its network of Cyprus Visa Application Centres in India, VFS Global has launched new centres for applicants in four additional cities of Thiruvananthapuram, Goa, Gurgaon and Jaipur. The centre in Thiruvananthapuram was inaugurated by Demetrios A. Theophylactou, High Commissioner of Cyprus to India. Theophylactou said, “The opening is quite timely, also due to a noticeable increase in visa related queries from Kerala. I believe that this centre would further enhance visa services and also promote people-to-people contacts, thus contributing to our bilateral relations. The centre would work in close cooperation with the Consular Department of the High Commission to achieve the goal of efficient issuance of visas.” Vinay Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer – Middle East and South Asia, VFS Global said, “Cyprus is fast emerging as a popular destination of choice for leisure and business travellers from India due to its abundant natural beauty and historical heritage. We are proud to expand the network of Cyprus Visa Application Centres across the South Asia region as a whole.”

WelcomHeritage has launched its first farm-stay property, Ranjitvilas in Amritsar. The property has been developed and approved by the Punjab Heritage & Tourism Promotion Board under its Farm Tourism Scheme. Sunil Gupta, CEO, WelcomHeritage shared, “Ranjitvilas is a boutique property and true reflection of Indian hospitality and inheritance. bringing the perfect amalgamation of rustic feel of India with Indian hospitality values and rich heritage of the country.” The property features 20 exquisitely designed executive rooms each with a personal courtyard and two suite rooms. All rooms and suites are equipped with mini bar, LED television, temperature control, satellite channels, in-room tea and coffee maker, safe box and Wi-Fi broadband connectivity. The farmhouse boasts of handcrafted furnishings inspired by the traditions of Indian culture. “Our culture is one that empowers every individual to be his or her best, and such authentic connection inspires the way we care for each other and for our guests,” said Vikram Singh Makhni, owner, Ranjitvilas.

Westin Hotels & Resorts, part of Marriott International, opened The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat, its eighth hotel in India. The property, featuring 314 guestrooms and suites, is located eight kilometres away from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. Neeraj Govil, Area Vice President, South Asia, Marriott International said, “The opening of the second Marriott hotel in Kolkata and the first under the Westin brand marks a great milestone for Marriott International. After tapping the luxury market, it was but a matter of time before we presented one of our premium brands to Kolkata.” The hotel features over 50,000 sq ft of flexible function spaces, ideal for meeting, conferences, corporate events and weddings. From large-scale events in the ballroom to smaller gatherings in one of the function rooms with state-of-the-art facilities, the professional conference and banquet team will make sure every detail is taken care of. The hotel boasts of a helipad to provide easy VIP accessibility.

Cox & Kings has opened its first Holiday Club store in Mumbai to cater to the increasing demand for holiday products. The centre, located at Dadar, is the fourth Holiday Club store in India with the other three in New Delhi. The stores aim to attract a diverse set of customers through innovative offers and customised solutions, and offer a range of domestic and international holiday packages. In keeping with recent travel trends, the company has forayed into niche segments such as Enable Travel for the physically challenged, Trip 360 for adventure enthusiasts and Getaway Goddess for the women-only travel segment. Karan Anand, Head, Relationships, Cox & Kings said, “Central Mumbai is now the hub of retail activity and our Holiday Club store is perfectly positioned to engage with customers on a one-on-one basis, as they seek personal engagement in making sure they have a memorable holiday.” The Holiday Club stores will complement the existing points of sales that Cox & Kings has in Mumbai.  

Haveli Dharampura, Delhi, the property restored by Union Minister Vijay Goel, has been recognised by UNESCO 2017 for Cultural Heritage Conservation in Asia-Pacific region in 2017. He shared the news at the property situated in the heart of Chandni Chowk in Delhi in the presence of Rashmi Verma, Secretary Tourism, Government of India; Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Tourism, Government of India; Usha Sharma, DG, ASI. He said, “This has been possible due to sheer hardwork spanning six years in which took us to restore the haveli. We built it from scratch without distorting its original beauty and old-world charm, which continues to entice the visitors.”

Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-October, 2017, were 954.45 lakhs as against 813.70 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year, thereby registering a growth of 17.30 per cent. In Oct, SpiceJet continued to lead passenger load factors at 93.7 per cent, closely followed by GoAir at 87.6 per cent and IndiGo at 87.3 per cent. Air Asia came close at  83 per cent while, Jet Airways and Vistara recorded 80.5 and 80.2 per cent, respectively. The passenger load factor in the month of October 2017 has shown slightly increasing trend compared to previous month primarily due to the onset of tourist season. During October 2017, a total of 656 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of Oct 2017 has been around 0.63.

Kuwait-based low cost airline, Jazeera Airways, inaugurated its daily flights to Hyderabad. Kochi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad will follow in early 2018 as the airline expands its network to serve its Indian sub-continent targeting the nearly 1 million Indian nationals residing in Kuwait. Flight J9 608 departed November 16 at 18:40 hours from Kuwait International Airport and landed in Hyderabad at 01:35 hours. The return flight J9 608 will depart Hyderabad at 02.20 hours and arrive in Kuwait at 05.10 hours. The new evening route has a weekly capacity of 4,000 seats and allows passengers to conveniently enjoy a full day at their destination. To mark the special occasion, all 165 passengers flying from Kuwait to Hyderabad received a gift box of traditional Kuwaiti sweets. Rohit Ramachandran, CEO, Jazeera Airways, said, ‘This is a proud moment for us marking the expansion of our network in to India. We are delighted to start with Hyderabad, a 400-year old city and a technology hub, bringing more choice to Indian travelers, connecting them to Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah, Bahrain and Dubai. In addition, we offer for religious travellers connections to Taif in KSA, Najaf (Iraq), Mashad (Iran) and Amman. He further commented, “This new service will address surging travel demands with low cost fares at convenient frequencies for leisure, business or religious travel. India is a financial and tourist powerhouse and we are eager to capitalize on the enormous opportunities ahead.” SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL, said, “We welcome Jazeera Airways to Hyderabad and we are very happy to note that they have chosen Hyderabad Airport as their first Indian destination. We are confident that this will further boost the tourism potential between India and various …