InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) opened the doors to the first Kimpton outside of the Americas, with the Kimpton De Witt in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Sudeep Jain, Vice President-Development, South West Asia, IHG, says, “The concept of lifestyle hotels is about stimulating a diverse, innovative environment enhanced by a sense of belonging and style. It is encouraging to see the signature Kimpton experience being introduced to Europe. Lifestyle hotels have been trending for over 20 years, and now is the right time to accelerate our growth in India through the lifestyle segment.” Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants was acquired by IHG in 2015. IHG announced the further expansion of the brand across Europe with its second Kimpton hotel set to open in Paris in 2020. There are currently over 60 Kimpton hotels and more than 70 Kimpton restaurants, bars and lounges in 33 cities across Europe and the Americas. The hotel, which is in the heart of Amsterdam’s vibrant city centre and near the city’s Centraal Station, marks a milestone for IHG as it brings the Kimpton brand to Europe for the first time. This is IHG’s 20th hotel in The Netherlands and is an addition to the 675 IHG hotels across Europe. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants introduced the boutique hotel concept to the United States when it opened in San Fransisco in 1981. “Europe was the original inspiration behind Bill Kimpton founding the brand and now we’re bringing the brand home again. Opening in Amsterdam, gives us the perfect opportunity to indulge in the playful, creative and innovative approach to luxury that the city inspires in Kimpton’s unique and special way,” comments Angela Brav, IHG’s CEO, Europe.  “Amsterdam as a city …

Dubai-based airline, flydubai, has launched its new holidays division titled ‘Holidays by flydubai’ which will become its tour operating arm. It aims to simplify travel by providing customers with the choice to customise packages including flights, hotels and other ancillary services such as airport transfers, sightseeing packages, car rental and more. “Holidays by flydubai will represent a new milestone in flydubai’s journey as we enter a more mature phase of our operation,” said Hamad Obaidalla, Chief Commercial Officer at flydubai. “We continue to challenge the conventions of travel in the region and exceed our customers’ expectations. Holidays by flydubai will enhance the overall travel experience as we give customers the freedom to design their own holiday in one convenient place.” As part of the offering, a new online portal for Holidays by flydubai, will allow customers to browse, book and pay for flights, accommodation and services all within a single booking process. The portal will also allow travel agents, distributors and flydubai-authorised travel shops to design and book tailor-made packages. Around the clock sales support will be another feature available to customers. Nelson D’souza, Vice President-Holidays, said, “By combining internally sourced wholesale hotel rates and rates provided by third parties along with our competitive airfares, Holidays by flydubai will aim to provide affordable packages making travel more accessible to more people. We will work closely with travel trade experts to ensure the customer interface and the functionality of this portal is user-friendly, enjoyable and reliable.” Holidays by flydubai will offer holiday packages around the flydubai network including popular destinations such as: Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Egypt, Georgia, India, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey and the UAE.

Langkawi is the venue for PATA Travel Mart 2018 (PTM 2018) with the signature Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) event being hosted by Tourism Malaysia and Langkawi Development Authority. The announcement was made by the Association’s CEO Dr. Mario Hardy during the PATA Annual Summit in Negombo, Sri Lanka on May 21. Dr. Hardy said, “Tourism Malaysia and Langkawi Development Authority have been a valuable PATA member and partner since 1959 and 2017 respectively and we look forward to the opportunity of showcasing the culture, heritage and beauty of Langkawi. Delegates to PTM 2018 will experience one of Asia’s most remarkable and attractive destinations.” Tourism Malaysia Director General, Datuk Seri Mirza Mohammad Taiyab said, “Malaysia is proud and honoured to be given the opportunity to host another PATA event again, this time in the beautiful island of Langkawi. We are pleased to be co-hosts of PATA Travel Mart 2018 with Langkawi Development Authority and look forward to welcoming all PATA members to Malaysia for a fruitful and memorable meeting and networking session.”

Karnataka Tourism is planning to intensify its 2017 campaign ‘The Year of the Wild’ by installing intelligent displays at 279 railway stations, which will enable it to reach 10 crore people a month. The campaign is running across 7 states including Maharashtra, Telangana, Bihar, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka. This has been made possible as Karnataka Tourism has entered into collaboration with outdoor media company, Vyoma Technologies. From eco-trekking along the scenic Western Ghats, to celebrating the iconic Golden Chariot, tourism in Karnataka is definitely on the uptake, recording a 15.5% growth in tourism in 2016 as recorded by the Ministry of Tourism.

Against the backdrop of a high growth potential in Indian Travel & Tourism market, an organized tax structure is vital, claims Anil Parashar, President and CEO, InterGlobe Technology Quotient. He adds, “The implementation of the unified tax structure is a huge step towards preparing the nation that is expected to grow at $160.2 billion by 2026. Although, the industry presently has mixed reactions towards the introduction, going forward, this step would attract more industry growth as the GST has been planned according to the tax player’s capability. For example, GST Council reduced service tax on economy class from 6 to 5 per cent while increasing business class to 12 per cent from the current 9 per cent.”

P. K. Anish Kumar, President, ATTOI, was quite disappointed with the GST announcement. “Most of the foreign travellers have concerns regarding safety, security, cleanliness in India and thus choose 4 or 5 star hotels to stay in. This does not mean they are rich but prefer safe, quality accommodation. Now with 28 per cent tax on hotels and 5 per cent GST to be paid by agents kills the industry as the effective tax to be paid will be 33 per cent. How will we compete with destinations like Hong Kong ,which has no tax on hospitality industry? Earlier tax in Kerala was 19 per cent even on 4 and 5 star hotels and now competitiveness of the industry is thrown off with direct 28 per cent. A houseboat in Kerala costs above Rs. 6000 and the tax will deter the USP of the destination. India will not be seen as a long haul destination any more as packages will become shorter due to the expenses to be incurred by the foreign tourists. Tourism has to be seen as an employment and revenue generator and government’s approach to penalise tourists and earn money from them will ruin the tourism industry overall,” he claimed.

Rajan Sehgal, Chairman–Northern Region, TAAI, claimed that there is not much difference in air travel apart from the taxes on economy and business class being separate. However, he said, “Since the hotels will be subjected to 28 per cent tax for over Rs 5000 room rate, this will be a huge blow to the industry. We were expecting about 18 per cent, which has been applied, but for hotels in the Rs 2500-5000 range. Our aim is to get more foreign tourists to India, and not just domestic tourists, and by hiking up the main part of travel will not benefit the industry in any way. Our price needs to be competitive in comparison to the European market or other markets in Asia where the rates for such services are much lower.”

Debjit Dutta, Chairman, IATO East Chapter, said that the announced tax slab on tour operators is satisfactory but because hotels are a major component of their business, the 28 per cent tax on hotels above Rs. 5000 will hit them in a bad way. “Most inbound tourists want to stay in properties that are well above the Rs. 5000 bracket. The business model for inbound is also different from that for domestic – we create our deals and packages about a year in advance and with the new tax rate for hotels, we will have to pay the 28 per cent and five per cent, in addition to the standard rate of the hotel room. This barely leaves us with any profit margin. The tax rate needs to be reconsidered since it will kill a lot of business where most of the hotels will benefit from direct booking. In addition, with neighbouring countries coming up in a big way such as Sri Lanka, the products and tax rates need to be competitive,” he added.

Claiming that applying of CENVAT credit with 9 per cent service tax was cumbersome, Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, said, “ GST was awaited for a long time and we were demanding from the government that since there is a lot of multiplicity of taxes in the tourism sector, the taxes should be rationalised and reduced. Thus, we were hoping to be put under the lowest GST slab and get some relief. I am glad that the government has agreed to both of them and has given us the same status what we wanted with 5 per cent GST rate. Also, there is no CENVAT credit on that. We are only concerned about one aspect of hotels, as they have put 28 per cent GST on hotels over Rs. 5000 which should not be more than 18 per cent. However, the hotel industry should come out and take up this issue. The government should encourage more tourists to come and not only look for more taxes. Rather, it should look for more tourists and get a bigger chunk of foreign exchange, which will not only generate revenue but also a lot of employment opportunities in the hospitality industry.”

Chander Mansharamani, Vice Chairman, ICPB, shared that the GST slabs announced for hospitality industry will negatively affect inbound tourism immediately, deterring tourism especially when the country is in competition with neighbouring countries. “The MICE industry will be terribly hit as most of the convention facilities are only available in 5-star hotels which have room rates of Rs. 5000 or above. The high tax rate of 28 per cent will negatively impact conventions and conferences in the pipeline as well. I feel scope for manipulation has been left for the hotels where one can charge Rs. 4990 for a room and pay only 18 per cent instead of 28 per cent. Also there is confusion whether the tax will be charged on rack rate, published rate or on the negotiated rate. The whole purpose of one tax one India is defeated,” he added.