VisitBritain has announced the launch of the new VisitBritain trade website. The new website provides essential information about Great Britain for the International travel trade and UK suppliers, offering an easy way to access tools, insights and data to help to grow business, including ways to facilitate new partnerships between suppliers and buyers. The website design offers clear navigation throughout the site and has been developed in a responsive design layout, so that it can be viewed on all devices. The new website offers: new product development initiatives such as Food & Drink and Discover England fund project, themed itineraries, destination information, promotional opportunities, top level research on Great Britain, and VisitBritain’s events calendar for the year. They will also be translating the site for some key regional markets over the coming months.

Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) has launched a new vertical, a first of its kind – Educational Destination Workshop-International (EDWIN), in order to offer education and first-hand experience of various destinations across the globe to the travel agents and tour operators from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The first workshop will take place in Ladakh from October 11-16. The workshops will be exclusively available to the attendees (exhibitors/ buyers) of GPS 2017 at any of the six cities on first-come-first-serve basis, informs Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, Global Panorama Showcase. He says, “These workshops are not familiarisation trips and are intended for educational purposes. The aim is to give first-hand experience of the destination to the tour operators and help them add new destinations to their product portfolio so that they can diversify their offerings for the travellers. There is a highly subsidised registration fee of Rs. 17,000 per person, which includes airfare ex Delhi; accommodation on twin sharing basis; meals; sightseeing and transfers and ground handling.” Singh further adds that the participants will be given an EDWIN Destination Specialist certification upon completion of the workshop. The upcoming destinations under EDWIN include Bali, Zanzibar and Malaysia, and many more are in the pipeline.

Air India’s Alliance Air plans to start the much-needed Jaipur-Agra flight. Madhu Methen, General Manager – Sales and Marketing, Air India, said, “Our future plan includes a Jaipur to Agra flight under the UDAN scheme. The aircraft that will be used will be an ATR. We also plan to introduce a Delhi-Bikaner direct flight on an ATR. Alliance Air will announce the dates and other details of these routes soon.”

Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma has said that the Government of India will soon announce a new ‘Adopt a Heritage’ campaign in association with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). With an aim to encourage the corporate and private sectors to adopt a heritage monument, the campaign will give a boost to the heritage tourism circuit through public-private partnership. Verma announced this on the sidelines of IATO Convention underway in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She also announced the second edition of Incredible India campaign, which will be market specific and will be based on India’s thematic circuits.

A high-level government delegation inaugurated the 33rd IATO Annual Convention in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, at Mayfair Convention Centre. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik along with Union Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism, Alphons Kannanthanam, Odisha’s Minister of Tourism and Culture Ashok Chandra Panda and Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma were present during the inauguration. They announced that the 34th IATO convention will be held in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The Tourism Secretary spoke about the new campaign that the Government of India will announce soon. Called ‘Adopt a Heritage’ the campaign is aimed at the corporate and private sector to adopt a heritage monument in association with ASI.

Japan Airlines and Vistara have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to pursue commercial operations between India and Japan. This MoU will help the two airlines pursue significant cooperation in the near future, such as codeshare, frequent flyer partnership as well as other operational arrangements, allowing them to leverage each other’s network, expertise and assets, subject to necessary approvals from authorities. Commenting on the same, Tadashi Fujita, Executive Vice President, Japan Airlines (JAL), said, “The strengthened partnership with Vistara represents a significant milestone for the two airlines to provide customers better access to destinations between and in Japan and India, and we believe it will open up commercial opportunities on the two airlines’ networks.” He informed that JAL recorded 75 per cent PLF last year between India and Japan. “Out of the total passengers from India to Japan, 20 per cent are business travellers while 30 per cent are leisure travellers. We are hoping to increase the leisure market from India to Japan, primarily in cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka etc.,” said Fujita. Earlier this year, Vistara and Japan Airlines entered an ‘Inter-Airline Through Check-in (IATCI) partnership, enabling customers to enjoy a seamless ‘Through Check-In’ facility, when connecting to or from a Vistara flight in India and more than 50 countries across the globe on Japan Airlines’ network, using a single ticket. Phee Teik Yeoh, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, added, “Vistara and Japan Airlines share a great deal in common, key among which are the focus on excellence in operations and delivery of exceptional service to customers. We are delighted to enter the next phase of our association with Japan Airlines, and we believe this is only the beginning of …

Indonesia-based travel and destination management company, Pacto, in collaboration with its India partner, AHS India, recently concluded the first leg of its annual two-city roadshow in Mumbai and is now headed towards Delhi. The 22-member delegation of Pacto represented 29 products in Mumbai, which included various hotels and attractions. Umberto Cadamuro, COO (Inbound), Pacto Ltd Indonesia, said, “This is a stable number as we usually get around 30 every year. This year we also have Indian restaurants and plenty of activities and attractions, apart from hotels, cruises, safaris and cultural shows in our kitty.” He also claimed that India is one source market that Indonesia cannot ignore. “While Australia and China are still a long way ahead, it is reasonable to assume that Japan which was number three for Indonesia for a very long time, will be overtaken by India this year. If this does not happen this year, then definitely by 2018. This is because of the increased airlifts with Malindo Air, Garuda Indonesia and AirAsia X,” Cadamuro commented.

Vistara, one of India’s full-service carriers, recently announced the addition of Ranchi, capital of the Jharkhand state, as the 21st destination to its steadily expanding network. Effective October 29, 2017, Vistara will operate two flights a day between Delhi and Ranchi, providing a convenient same-day return option to travellers from both cities. Bookings are now open through all channels, including Vistara’s website, its iOS and Android mobile apps, and through Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and travel agents, with one-way fares starting from Rs. 2,199, inclusive of taxes. Commenting on the addition of the new destination, Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO, Vistara, said, “Jharkhand has immense potential for industrial development, with sectors such as steel, cement, electric, rubber, khadi, handicraft and textile flourishing here. It is also emerging as an educational hub for the region. So, there is now a consistently growing number of corporate travellers as well as tourists and educationists emerging from this state to whom Vistara brings world-class air travel with the addition of Ranchi as a destination to our network. Further, as we operate from the state-of-the-art terminal in Delhi, travellers to and from Ranchi will get to enjoy the superior experience of T3, and those connecting to and from international flights at Delhi will appreciate the convenience of same-terminal connections.”

The much-awaited Singapore’s Changi Airport Terminal 4 will officially open on October 31, 2017. The new $985 million, two-storey T4 is the airport’s smallest terminal at just half the size of Terminal 3. Transport Minister, Khaw Boon Wan, said, “After endless rounds of testing and fine-tuning, we are ready to open T4… Another big step forward in our journey as a global air hub.” Both full-service and low-cost carriers of nine airlines, including the AirAsia Group (which comprises four airlines), Cathay Pacific Airways, Cebu Pacific Air, Korean Air, Spring Airlines and Vietnam Airlines, will operate from the new terminal. Cathay Pacific and Korean Air will be the first two that would move on October 31, followed by Cebu Pacific and Spring Airlines on November 2, and then, the AirAsia Group and Vietnam Airlines on November 7. With a capacity of about 16 million passengers, T4 will bring the airport’s overall capacity to 82 million passengers a year. Automation is touted as one of T4’s major breakthroughs, especially the Fast and Seamless Travel (FAST) system installed here. This system includes automated check-in kiosks for the retrieval of flight bookings as well as the printing of boarding passes and bag tags. Also, it features automated baggage drops, immigration clearance and boarding gates—all equipped with facial recognition technology, wherein passengers’ identities will be verified by matching their faces with their photos in passports. Besides the FAST system, the airport is introducing new technology in security, retail and housekeeping—sectors which employ 80 per cent of all Changi Airport staff. The new terminal will also showcase elements of local heritage and culture, a mini theatre show in collaboration with composer Dick Lee, as well as designs inspired by the orchid. There is to be …

India Sales Associates has been appointed as the GSA for five-star luxury resort Nusa Dua Beach Hotel & Spa, Bali, and will represent their services in the India market. “The Nusa Dua Beach Hotel & Spa, Bali, trade marked as ‘Authentically Bali’, is an iconic Balinese resort, with 200m of white sandy beach, 382 rooms in varied categories, unique design and architecture, world-renowned spa, superlative personalized services, and multiple leading restaurants, along with a meeting and wedding venue that has a capacity of 30 to 1000 persons; which make it an undoubtedly superior choice for Indians travelling to Bali, and hence a resort for us to build an association with,” said Manas Sinha, Director, India Sales Associates, GSA – Nusa Dua Beach Hotel & Spa, Bali.