Jet Airways has appointed Discover the World to provide sales and marketing in Switzerland. Jenny Adams, CEO, Discover the World, says, ““Discover is delighted to partner with Jet Airways for the first time. Our team in Switzerland, headed by Director Richard Gugerli, will expand the airline’s visibility, helping to increase its revenues especially through its code share partnership with Air France/KLM.” From 2017 end, Jet Airways will fly to India 54 times a week from London Heathrow, Paris CDG, and Amsterdam to Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai. This includes new services from Amsterdam to Bengaluru and Paris CDG to Chennai which will commence on October 29, 2017. Jet Airways also flies daily from Amsterdam to Toronto.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Western Region Chapter has chosen Sameer Karnani, Director, Arunodaya Travels, and currently serving as the Secretary for the Chapter, as the new Chairman for the Western Region for the new term. Revealing this is Sampat Damani, current Chairman – Western Region, TAAI. “The election for the Western Region was conducted on July 24, 2017. Madhuri Kanga, Treasurer, TAAI – Western Region and myself have stepped down. Sameer Karnani has been elected as the new Chairman and Rajesh Poddar, has taken over as the Secretary. Dharmesh Shah of Dadyson Travels, will be the new Treasurer,” he says. He added that the national elections will be held around the third week of September 2017. He continues to serve as the Chairman of the region until the national elections are held, post which the new team will take over.

The Badung Regency of Bali in Indonesia is increasing its focus on India and putting extra efforts to develop it as a bigger source market. It was the highlight of the ongoing India Sales Mission 2017 that kick-started in Mumbai with sellers only from Badung participating in it. Sellers from the rest of Indonesia will join the sales mission for the rest of the five cities: Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Chandigarh. Apart from participating in the sales mission, the Badung Regency has also appointed an India representative – Delhi-based Air Guru Travel Solutions – to promote the destination. Dhiraj Kumar, Managing Director, Air Guru Travel Solutions, is an ‘Honorary Representative for Badung Regency Bali’ appointed by BPPD Badung Tourism Promotions Board, Indonesia. The agenda of this sales mission, as underlined by Vinsensius Jemadu, Director, Asia Pacific Tourism Promotions, Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Indonesia, who was leading the Indonesian delegation, was to develop 10 more Balis with the idea of moving away from Bali and promote newer destinations in Indonesia for Indian travellers.

According to Boeing Co, Indian airlines are expected to order up to 2100 new aircraft worth $290 billion over the next 20 years. “The increasing number of passengers combined with a strong exchange rate, low fuel prices and high load factor bodes well for India’s aviation market, especially for the low-cost carriers,” Dinesh Keskar, Senior Vice President-Asia Pacific and India Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes reportedly said. The company expects passenger growth of about eight percent in South Asia, dominated by India, over the next 20 years, compared with the world average of about 4.7 percent. Keskar added that Boeing could increase the projection next year depending on how India’s regional connectivity scheme pans out. The company also said that it expected single-aisle planes, such as the next generation 737 and 737 Max, to account for the bulk of the new deliveries, with India likely to take 1,780 such aircraft. Boeing expects worldwide demand for 41,030 aircraft over the next 20 years, putting India’s share of the total at about 5 percent. Source: IANS

Seychelles Tourist Office, India recently conducted a seminar for local hoteliers, DMCs, tourism board head office and other establishments in Seychelles. The seminar is aimed at defining the Indian market and presenting its nitty-gritties to the local travel trade fraternity of Seychelles. The event witnessed speeches on the cultural and behavioural differences between the two countries by three eminent speakers from India. These included Ashutosh Mehere, COO Alliances, Cox & Kings, India; Jai Bujhwala, Founder, Holidays Box; and Parthip Thyagarajan, Founder, WeddingSutra.com. Sherin Francis, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board, was also present at the event. She said, “The seminar was one of its kind and highly informative for all our private sector partners. It created awareness about the diversity of India and answered many questions about the trade and tourist behaviour. It certainly created a high inquisitiveness about the market among the locals which is a great sign for developing further relations with the Indian market.” Lubaina Sheerazi, COO, Blue Square Consultants, Seychelles Tourist office India, explained the cultural diversity and uniqueness of the Indian market setting stage for the speakers. She says, “We were happy with the reception of the seminar and glad that our agenda of bringing out the differences between any other market and India for Seychelles had been met. The speakers gave some highly thought provoking inputs which will certainly better equip the private sector to cater differently to the Indian audience and allow us to further expand our vision for the destination.”

With Bali constituting a major chunk of their destination wedding business, Tamarind Global has entered into a joint venture with Innaz Communique, a reputed wedding management company in Indonesia. This partnership is expected to boost cross-tourism as Innaz will also promote India as a prospect for destination wedding to Indonesians. Mahesh Shirodkar, Managing Director, Tamarind Global, says, “This strategic partnership will open up opportunities for our clients in India to explore Indonesia, which is perfectly suited for Indian weddings, along with social events like landmark birthdays and anniversaries. With destination weddings becoming bigger, more demanding and elaborate than they were in the past, we feel that the incredible choice of  venues in Bali  have a lot to offer. The island has some amazing hotels, great hospitality, and value for money and some fabulous outdoor venues. Added to this, the local on ground expertise and experience that Innayat and his team will bring to the table is a huge asset in every way.” Tamarind Global had 700 guests flown from India to Bali for a destination wedding last year with Innaz Communique as its local partner. Jakarta-based Innayat Khubchandani, owner, Innaz Communique, says, “Bali as a destination is ideal for an Indian wedding. The culture, food and exotic locales all lend a very unique yet comforting environment, which has a lot of similarities with Indian traditions and values. With this JV with Tamarind Global, we hope to create awareness of what Bali has to offer to host weddings and events from venues, hotels, food, entertainment, hospitality and great value for money. I am excited to join forces with Tamarind to work together to open up some fabulous untapped opportunities.”

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) announced the host property for its annual convention- Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach. Rajat Sawhney, Vice President, ADTOI, is the Chairman for the convention, while Dalip Gupta, Hony. Joint Secretary, ADTOI will be the co-Chairman for the convention, which is scheduled for Nov 17-19, 2017. While the convention hotel is finalised, ADTOI is currently in talks with other hotels in Vizag as well as with airlines to come up with final packages for the delegates.  

The IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) will conduct its national convention – ICON 2017 – from September 14-17, 2017 at the picturesque Cherai Beach located 25 km from Kochi City. It will be held as a three nights-four days event with the theme ‘Travel Agents by 2030 – Protocols Redefined’. Biji Eapen, National President, IAAI, says, “As travel agents are just coming to grips with the newly implemented GST, it will form one of the prime issues for discussion since airline commission is going to be crucial for their survival. The additional BSP charge of US$30 per month imposed by IATA since April 2017 has come at a time when airlines are still denying commission to their own appointed travel agents. As implied by the ICON 2017 Theme, IAAI is all set to launch ‘i-Top’ (Indian Travel-Agents Own Portal), a new revenue model that would safeguard the interests of its members from all the present challenging market conditions.”

Tourism Fiji is on a 6-city roadshow in India, which they brought to New Delhi as well. Matthew Stoeckel, Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Fiji, spoke regarding the growth from India, and said, “India is a very good market for us and has huge potential. The connectivity has increased via Fiji Airways’ twice weekly flight between Singapore and Fiji and their code share with Jet Airways to cities like Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. Owing to this, the growth has been great, and in the last 5 years, the numbers have risen to 20 per cent. In 2017, the numbers have increased to 28 percent. There is high growth, and we expect it to grow it further with a whole range of consumer activities that we are doing, including special promotion with Indian actress Ileana D’Cruz.”

Ravneet Kaur, has been appointed as the new Chairman and Managing Director of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC). Before this, Kaur was Joint Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. She is from the 1988 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre and has now been promoted to Additional Secretary level.