Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism released figures showing that during the first four months of this year, 12 million visitors came to Thailand spending around 620 billion Baht, an increase of 4.71 per cent when compared with the same period in 2016. The kingdom also witnessed a growth of 17 per cent in the number of Indian arrivals compared to 2016 in the same period. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor said, “Thailand attracts many tourists because it offers experiences that are new and unique, no matter how many times you visit. In the first few months of the year, the combination of lovely weather and amazing festivals; such as, Songkran or the Thai New Year celebrations means there’s much to enjoy for travellers, not to mention locals.” The ministry projects Thailand’s tourism-related revenue in 2017 will reach THB2.71 trillion. Of that, THB1.78 trillion will come from foreign visitors and THB930 billion from domestic travellers. In 2017, Thailand intends to focus on specific tourism segments such as sports, medical and wellness and weddings.

IndiGo has opened a fully-equipped gym for the police officials in Jammu as part of its FitToFly programme. Commenting on this initiative, Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole-Time Director, IndiGo said, “We are absolutely delighted to see our FitToFly programme being extended to different parts of the country. After a successful launch of FitToFly gyms in twelve cities, we are happy to collaborate with the Jammu police force. At IndiGo, we feel for our police force who work day and night to provide us the security we need. Setting up gyms for them is an important move to encourage them to start making choices to live a healthier life by choosing to be holistically fit.” The FitToFly gyms will be fully equipped with multi-purpose machines, cross trainers, treadmills, bench press and other facilities. As a part of this multi-city campaign to promote fitness and a healthy lifestyle – IndiGo launched its first gym at Jaipur international airport, in February this year followed by Gurugram, Dimapur, Chennai, Dehradun, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Goa, Udaipur, Guwahati, Indore, and Varanasi.

In one of its most momentous steps, Sarovar Hotels launched The Lazizi Premiere Nairobi, a luxury hotel positioned inside the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). The hotel, managed by Sarovar Hotels, was inaugurated by H. E. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya. President Uhuru Kenyatta officially opened the 144-room premium hotel as part of the government’s tourism and hospitality transformation strategy. Conveniently located inside the JKIA airport, The Lazizi Premiere Nairobi is designed to be the best and most luxurious hotel in the area. Speaking at the launch, Ajay K. Bakaya, Managing Director, Sarovar Hotels, said, “Kenya is the business hub for Africa and has one of the most diverse accommodation facilities. Nairobi being the hub of East Africa offers a great launch pad for our expansion and growing our footprint in the African region. Travellers in transit, airline crews and other local and international visitors intending to avoid traffic enroute to the airport have not had much luck as most hotels are still quite a distance from the main international airport in the capital city. We are aiming to tap that segment with The Lazizi Premiere”.

Various national travel trade associations in the country are rushing to conduct workshops on GST for their members and inform them on how the tax structure will impact their business. The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has organised a seminar with noted Service Tax expert, Manish Gadia, Partner, GMJ & Co to talk on Service Tax and GST and to reply to member queries. The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has also conducted a speaker session on GST. Following close on its heels will be the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). Revealing this is Jay Bhatia, National Treasurer and Chairman (Tourism Council), TAAI, who said that the association will be doing a series of workshops on Service Tax and GST along with consultant Manish Gadia across the country.

The Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) Regional Connectivity Scheme, in its second phase starting in August, would help link smaller towns with bigger cities, revealed R.N. Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation. He said, “There are various routes like Lucknow-Varanasi, where there is no connectivity. During the second phase, we are expanding the scheme to unserved routes too. We have not decided on the number of unserved routes and we would like to leave it to the market and the airlines to decide on it. These routes, however, do not necessarily have to be between two unserved airports and could be between two well-connected airports too.” The ministry also proposed more changes, which include reductions in the minimum distance for an RCS flight to below 150 km, and the number of years of exclusivity to one from three years in the first phase.

Ark Travels recently organised a training workshop for travels agents in Mumbai. The event was organised in collaboration with United Travel Agents (UTA) and witnessed the participation of over 100 travel agents. Agents were informed about the products and services offered by Ark Travels, which included a presentation on Star Cruises, Dream Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Regent Seven Seas, Oceania Cruises and Club Med, a French resort vacation company. The training workshop is part of Ark Travels’ strategy to connect with their network of agents. The event was organised keeping in mind the current trends and demand for cruise vacations. The highlight of the event was the announcement about Singapore Airlines as the official airline partner for the second edition of ‘The Big Bang Nautical Fiesta’. Kishan Biyani, Managing Director, Ark Travels Pvt Ltd. said, “Today training workshop has become immensely important as industry is witnessing tremendous demand and supply gap. Travel agents are aware about cruise tourism as a segment, but are unable to encash on such a booming travel niche. We intend to start our pan-India training workshop from June 15, 2017.”

Realising the potential of the Indian wedding industry, FICCI organised the first-ever Wedding Tourism Summit at The Lalit to give impetus to the booming segment. The gathering was welcomed by Dr Jyostna Suri, Past President, FICCI and Chairperson – FICCI Tourism Committee. Also present at the inauguration were Ajay K Sharma, Deputy Director – Tourism, Govt of Rajasthan, along with Siddharth Chaturvedi, CEO, Eventcrafter and Secretary, EEMA. The Wedding Tourism Summit will conclude on May 26, 2017. The two-day summit gives buyers and suppliers an opportunity to interact and explore potential business opportunities under one roof and also address issues and concerns pertaining to the wedding segment. Suri said, “Weddings not only benefit the hotels where the events take place, but also the destination as well as ancillary services like florists, caterers etc. We need to tap countries like UK where there are many tourists looking for good destinations to get married in and what better place than India, with its historic hotels and other sites. The objective of this platform is to create a bigger awareness of India and the various destinations as a sought-after wedding location.” Suman Billa, Joint Secretary – Tourism, Govt of India delivered the inaugural address where he stated, “If we want to achieve our target of attaining 2 per cent of global international tourist arrivals into India by 2025, we need to address all segments that have the potential to grow, and weddings is definitely one of them. People who come for weddings stay longer and spend more so there is a need for us to come up with a game plan on what we need to do to promote it. We need to look …

Phoenix-based Best Western Hotels & Resorts has acquired Sweden Hotels, a collection of 59 hotels across Sweden, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition makes Best Western the largest hotel chain in Sweden, with a total of 135 properties. Sweden Hotels, which has been in business since 1977, now gets access to Best Western’s loyalty program, Best Western Rewards, its distribution channels, and its customer relations, marketing, and purchasing services. Best Western said the deal will help the company grow its newly formed SureStay Hotel Group brand, as well. In a statement, David Kong, CEO of Best Western said, “Best Western is always on a quest to grow our offerings around the globe. The opportunity to broaden our footprint with a quality partner like Sweden Hotels is one that we couldn’t turn down. We look forward to what I’m confident will be a longstanding and prosperous venture.” In another press statement, Jenny Bänsch Larsson, chairman of Sweden Hotels said, “It feels good to be part of BWHR (Best Western Hotels & Resorts). With the merger with BWHR, we will now be able to help hotels better in areas such as distribution, marketing, purchasing and sales.”

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its ‘In Principle’ approval to transfer the property of Hotel Janpath, New Delhi to Ministry of Urban Development. The property can be considered for construction of Government offices and similar purposes which would save government funds spent in hiring of government offices. Details of implementation of the project, land usages, etc. would be taken subsequently by a Committee of Secretaries to be constituted under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary. The building of Hotel Janpath has to undergo major rehabilitation work since the building structure of Hotel Janpath has been found to be unserviceable, in distressed condition and deficit in the context of seismic requirements, according to the inspection report of IIT Roorkee. The Government of India has initiated the process of disinvestment of hotels / properties of the India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. (ITDC). The decision on disinvestment-has been made, keeping in view that running and managing hotels on professional lines is not the work of the Government or its entities. In the first stage of the disinvestment process, it was decided to disinvest three hotels, viz. Hotel Lake View Ashok, Bhopal, Hotel Brahmaputra Ashok, Guwahati and Hotel Bharatpur Ashok. Hotel Janpath, New Delhi is next in the list.  

Vistara has taken delivery of its first Airbus A320neo (new engine option) at Airbus Headquarters in Toulouse, making it the 14th aircraft in the airline’s fleet. Apart from the technical advancements that come with the A320neo, Vistara has unveiled several enhancements to the product on the aircraft, including mood lighting (first time in India for an Airbus A320 operator), more comfortable seating with a new seat bottom and seat-back design, softer cushions, and a refreshing new look across all three cabin classes. The aircraft also carriers the Vistara and Airbus A320neo logos on the underbelly of the aircraft, a first for Vistara. The Business Class cabin exudes a luxurious ambience with a fine blend of airline’s brand colors, Aubergine and gold. Features such as wider seat backs, softer cushions, enhanced literature pockets and softer leather upholstery promise a premium experience onboard. The rich color scheme of Aubergine and Gold continues into the exclusive Premium Economy cabin, with improved seat cushions, softer seat leather, re-designed height four-way adjustable headrest. Economy Class in the new aircraft has a calm Grey and rich Aubergine color scheme with enhanced cushioning for seats crafted in soft leather and with padded head support.