Mauritius has recorded an 8 per cent increase in visitors from India during January-June 2017, as compared to the same period last year, revealed Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority. Vivek Anand, Country Manager, MTPA India, dedicated the increase to strategic industry partnerships to boost market awareness about Mauritius as a leisure, MICE and wedding destination “Our brand positioning emphasises on Mauritius’s natural beauty, luxurious indulgence and a range of activities for different types of travellers. We are working closely with India’s leading trade stakeholders to promote the destination as an ideal choice for the discerning consumer and this activities will continue in the second half of 2017,” he added. As part of the promotional plan, MTPA India has already organised roadshows in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, and seminars for travel agents; hosted familiarisation trips for travel agents, wedding planners and media in the first half of the year. Starting July, MTPA will organise a four city roadshow in August 2017 in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. OM Tourism was set up to handle outsourced sales, marketing and media relations for luxury hotels chains and National Tourism Boards. Amongst OM Tourism’s clients are Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, Visit Indonesia Tourism Office, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation, in its meeting with industry stakeholders, invited suggestions for designing AirSewa 2.0, which would be the upgraded version of the AirSewa web portal and mobile app that was launched in November last year to make air travel convenient and hassle-free. Nodal Officers of all stakeholders like airlines, airports, immigration, customs, DGCA, etc. attended the meeting. All of them shared valuable suggestions for service improvement, enhancing user comfort and quick redressal of complaints, which will be considered for  incorporation in the design of AirSewa 2.0. This comes in line with the success of AirSewa1.0 which has been well received, with around 19,000 app downloads and over 65,000 web portal hits since its launch. More than 92 per cent of grievances have been resolved and most of them within the stipulated time limits.

After close to two weeks of relative uncertainty, many misconceptions, and quite a few incorrect assumptions, hotel and restaurants in Mumbai will have an opportunity to clear the cloud over GST and receive clarity on any doubts regarding the new tax law. For this, the Hotel and Restaurant Association Of Western India (HRAWI) has organised a seminar on ‘GST Law – 2017’ on July 13, 2017, at the Trident, Nariman Point. The seminar, open to both its members and non-members, will be addressed by eminent experts who also will help resolve any queries with regards to the new tax and billing systems. “The GST is a big change to the taxation system for our country and to get familiarized with any change takes time. Over the last one week the association has been trying to identify the most common issues and queries posed by hoteliers and restaurateurs and also by customers. Through this seminar we intend to put to rest any ambiguities and address any grey areas with respect to GST. We have brought on board the best minds and experts on matters of taxation and who would be happy to help us bridge any gaps in our understanding of the GST. We are positive that participating hotels and restaurants will greatly benefit from this seminar,” says Dilip Datwani, President, HRAWI.  

The Board of Vistara (TATA SIA Airlines Ltd), and the two promoters of the company, Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, as part of the plan, have named Leslie Thng to succeed Phee Teik Yeoh as Chief Executive Officer for Vistara, effective October 2017. This is subject to approval of the Government of India. Phee Teik Yeoh, currently the Chief Executive Officer of Vistara, will be returning to Singapore Airlines (SIA) to take up a senior appointment. Yeoh, who has been an SIA veteran, is credited with successfully leading Vistara since its establishment in January 2015. Thng, who started his career in SIA, has held many senior positions in the airline, and has significant experience across international markets and various businesses. Prior to being appointed Chief Commercial Officer for Budget Aviation Holdings (BAH, a Singapore Airlines owned holding company), he was Chief Executive of SilkAir. Leslie will lead Vistara in its next phase of growth, including international operations.

The second leg of this year’s GPS starting July 13 will bring with it another unique programme. Announcing this is Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, GPS, says, “We have started working with international tourism boards to do an educational workshop for travel agents starting this September-October. Titled ‘GPS Educational Destination Workshop – International’ (EDWIn), it will involve interested agents signing up to travel to a particular international destination to learn about the country at a highly subsidised participation fee.” GPS has already tied up with Singapore Airlines as its international airline partner as well as Genting HK. It is also in talks with various NTOs including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Korea, UAE, Egypt, Turkey and Greece. GPS will soon launch a similar programme for domestic destination in partnership with various state boards. Agents are requested to register for the same at GPS will shortlist about 20-25 travel agents from each city that GPS travels to. The selection will be based on their level of participation, the number of meetings they do, their level of networking and the amount of business or leads they generate during GPS shows. Anand explains further, “They also have to attend all presentations and sessions. These agents will be chosen to attend these educational workshops that we will conduct in association with the tourism boards. The visits will include hotel inspections, meeting local DMCs and travel agents from that destination and doing activities that they can include in their itineraries. It will turn out to be very cost-effective for them. This will be open only to tier II and tier III travel agents as they are the ones who don’t get enough exposure to …

The biennial election for Travel Agents Association of India’s (TAAI) Northern Region will be held on July 21, 2017, at The Claridges, New Delhi. Revealing this was Rajan Sehgal, Chairman Northern Region, Travel Agents Association Of India (TAAI). “The nominations are open till July 18, post which we will come to know the final list of nominees,” he said. Neeraj Malhotra, Hon. Secretary Northern Region, TAAI,also revealed that the elections will take place after the annual general meeting of the association and the new executive committee will be announced on the same day.

Aviareps has been appointed by Sky Express to represent the Greek domestic airline as its General Sales Agent (GSA) in eight markets around the world including Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. The appointment, made with immediate effect, is the result of the airline’s initiative to expand its sales and marketing outreach internationally to travellers and travel industry leaders in key strategic markets. Operating out of its three domestic hubs of Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion in Crete, Sky Express connects travellers to 29 major tourist, cultural and business centres throughout Greece including Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Milos, Paros, Naxos, Kos, Mytilene, Ikaria, Zakynthos Kythira, Chios, Karpathos, Syros and Skyros to name a few. The fleet, which consists mainly of ATR aircrafts, is available for scheduled and charter flights, for individual passengers or groups. All Sky Express passengers departing from Athens or Thessaloniki are also provided free access to Business Lounge facilities.

The second edition of Travel Wedding Show concluded with over 2000 meetings conducted among 32 exhibitors and nearly 64 buyers from July 8-9, 2017, at Jaipur Marriott Hotel. Representatives from hotels and tourism boards exhibited their various products for wedding tourism. On day one of the show, travel agents and tour operators from across the country interacted with exhibitors while day two of the event saw the bigwigs of the wedding industry in India attend the show to meet and network with various exhibitors. Stalwarts of MICE, wedding tourism and hospitality industry like Hemant Mendiratta, Senior Vice President-Sales, The Oberoi Hotels; Saurabh Bhargava, AVP Sales-North, Taj Hotels Palace Resorts and Safaris; Hema Hariramani, Director, National Sales- India, Marriott International; Rajeev Jain, Vice President and Treasurer, EEMA and Vinod Bhandari, Partner, Wedding Xtraordinaire LLP, addressed various challenges faced by these industries in a panel discussion at the show. Sarika Rawal Bhambani, General Manager, Travel Show said, “The show was sold out and this is a positive sign that travel shows are making headway in connecting the right partners to take the industry forward. According to the feedback received, the buyers and exhibitors found the show very fruitful for their businesses and the connections they built at the show are seeds for their progress. There were around 2050 pre-scheduled speed meetings and with the kind of support we have received from the trade, we are sure that we will be able to take this show to greater heights.” She further informed that the next edition of Travel wedding Show will be held on July 7-8, 2018 in New Delhi.

Royal Jordanian Airlines has announced that it has been removed from the laptop ban for carry-on bags to the US. Even Kuwait Airways has had the electronic ban removed in flights to the US. The flagship carrier of Jordan was amongst the nine airlines flying from 10 airports in eight countries where electronic devices larger than cell phones in carry-on bags were banned. Etihad Airways was the first airline to announce the lifting of the ban on July 2, followed by Emirates Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways. The airlines that are still listed in the March laptop ban include EgyptAir, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Royal Air Maroc.    

Ministry of Civil Aviation, hosted the first edition of WINGS 2017 – ‘Sab Uden, Sab Juden”- Expanding Regional Connectivity in New Delhi.  The plenary session was chaired by  P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Union Minister of Civil Aviation.  Around 338 delegates from the government and civil aviation sector participated in the event which included key stakeholders from all states, tourism departments and tour operators. The stakeholders interacted amongst themselves in 112 one to one discussions (G2B meetings) with the airlines operators in an attempt to showcase their destinations and routes as viable business market for the airlines. They represented airline consumers to facilitate interaction with various airlines, airport operators, cargo operators and other ecosystem players at a common forum. Jayant Sinha, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation;Rajiv Nayan Choubey, Secretary, MoCA; B S Bhullar, Director General of Civil Aviation; Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman, Airports Authority of India; Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Pratyush Kumar, Chairman, FICCI National Aviation Committee also attended the sessions. 19 states made presentations emphasising the incentives or special packages to the airlines other than the support offered by Government of India under RCS- UDAN. The closed-door event entailed incentives to the airlines operators such as underwriting of seats, reducing the tax on ATF, additional VGF, night parking, concessional electricity and water charges, infrastructural support etc. and routes and airport wise benefits. This event proved to be an ideal platform for states to project themselves as a viable aviation market and showcasing the strength and opportunities in the aviation sector to the potential airlines.