Singapore Airlines has announced the introduction of its A350 services to India. Mumbai will be the 16th destination within its network to receive the Airbus A350-900 aircraft. The daily scheduled Singapore Airlines flight SQ421 will be served by this new aircraft and the inaugural A350 service will depart from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai at 1145hrs on 01 July 2017. With advanced technology and superior operating efficiency, the A350-900 offers customers an improved travelling experience with features such as higher ceilings, larger windows, an extra wide body and lighting designed to reduce jetlag. Customers will also be able to enjoy our latest-generation cabin products as well as the award-winning, KrisWorld inflight entertainment system. The aircraft is fitted with 253 seats, in a three-class configuration – 42 in Business Class, 24 in Premium Economy and 187 in Economy. Singapore Airlines took delivery of its first A350-900 in March 2016 and now has 15 of the aircraft type in its fleet, with another 52 on firm order, including seven of an ultra-long-range A350-900ULR variant. Singapore Airlines is the launch customer for the A350-900ULR, for which deliveries will begin in 2018. The aircraft will be used to re-launch non-stop flights between Singapore and both New York and Los Angeles. “Singapore Airlines continually looks for opportunities to enhance the travel experience of our Indian patrons. The launch of A350 services to India is a testament to our commitment towards operating a modern and young fleet across the world,” said David Lim, General Manager India, Singapore Airlines. In conjunction with Singapore Airlines 70th anniversary, travellers from Mumbai can enjoy the A350 experience with special fares starting from Rs 22,070 to Singapore.

Indian passenger travel market is projected to grow at 11-11.5 per cent to $48 billion by 2020 with the biggest contributor, air travel expected to grow at 15 per cent to $30 billion. Hotels will grow at 13 per cent to $13 billion by 2020 while railways will remain $5 billion. This was revealed in a report on the growth opportunities in the Indian hospitality market over the next four years, released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Google India. The report titled, ‘Demystifying the Indian Online Traveler’ charts the decision making journey of the Indian traveler and provides insights on the potential growth opportunities for travel businesses till 2020. Additionally, as more people come online, smartphone penetration increases and use of digital payments goes up, the report estimates that India’s online hotel market will grow to $4 billion with 31 per cent penetration at a CAGR of 25 per cent. Speaking about the key findings of the report, Vikas Agnihotri, Industry Director, Google India, said; “India’s domestic travel market is on an acceleration path. One of the key findings of the report is that by 2020, one in three hotel rooms will be booked online – a clear indicator of the growing importance of digital in travel research, planning and booking. There are several actionable insights for domestic online travel players including the role of mobile and the level of curation and personalisation that Indian travelers are looking for.” Demystifying the travel planning journey of the typical Indian consumer, the report shows that for many Indian consumers, a vacation is an event planned in advance as opposed to being an impulsive purchase. Consumers typically spend 46 days on average …

Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) organised a session on GST in Mumbai for its members. The event was attended by 75 plus travel agents. The session was conducted by CA Yash Parmar, from Gabhawala & Company. Commenting on the occasion Jagat Mehta, President, ETAA, said, “We had a lot of queries coming in regarding GST and we decided to keep a session on GST to answer doubts of our members. Our expert brought some clarity on how GST is an effective tool and an inevitable truth for all industries, he highlighted the GST implications on the travel trade. We also plan to do GST sessions in Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Pune where we have member presence. We are worried with competing with OTA’s as they are not registered in India and how that will affect us as agents due to GST and will be doing more such sessions on GST until things are clear.”

Treebo Hotels has announced its association with TripAdvisor, which will open up a global audience of 390 million monthly users looking to make hotel reservations for budget hotel chain. Commenting on the partnership, Sidharth Gupta, Co-founder, Treebo Hotels, said, “TripAdvisor is one of the key touch points for us to connect with our users. These users have already been posting and reading reviews of Treebo’s top-rated properties on TripAdvisor. Now they’ll also see be able to see the best available prices and book hotels on TripAdvisor itself. We are expecting TripAdvisor to contribute close to 5 per cent of monthly bookings in the next three months, becoming a key distribution channel for us.” This partnership will allow TripAdvisor users search and book – via meta – quality hotel experiences across over 50 Indian cities. Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, TripAdvisor India, commented, “TripAdvisor’s aim is to help the Indian traveller save time and effort when planning their travel with tools that make it easy to find the best hotel offering that suits their needs wherever they are going. With Treebo on board, both local and international travellers will be able to find good quality budget accommodation in India they know they will have a good experience at.”

The Thomas Cook India (TCI) Group has announced the completion of the acquisition of a significant part of Kuoni’s global DMS network. As a part of this acquisition, the Thomas Cook India Group will now include leading Destination Management Specialists (DMS) like Asian Trails (APAC), Desert Adventures (MENA), ATM-Australian Tours Management (Australia), Allied T Pro (North America), Private Safaris (Eastern Africa) and Private Safaris (Southern Africa) under its network creating a seamless delivery capability for the group and its B2B and B2C customers across 21 countries and 4 continents. Post the acquisition, The Thomas Cook India Group, with over 6500 employees across 21 countries and a combined revenue in excess of Rs. 8700 crore (over $1.34 billion) has been -transformed into one of the largest travel service provider networks headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region. With this move, The Thomas Cook India Group’s travel business network has now expanded with the addition of 17 new countries, increasing its footprint to now cover 21 countries. The Group, which prior to this acquisition, comprisied Thomas Cook (India), SOTC Travel, TCI-SITA and Kuoni Hong Kong had a network spanning 4 countries – India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Hong Kong. Commenting on this development, Madhavan Menon, Chairman & Managing Director, The Thomas Cook India Group., said, “This acquisition of a significant part of Kuoni’s Global Destination Management network represents an important milestone for a rapidly growing Thomas Cook India Group, as we deliver on our stated strategy of rapid expansion in the Asia Pacific region. Now with a significantly enhanced global footprint across 4 continents and 21 countries, we have over 6500 employees serving customers across the world under some of the most respected brands …

The Government has given ‘in principle’ approval for considering strategic disinvestment of Air India and five of its subsidiaries. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its approval to fourth tranche recommendations of NITI Aayog on strategic disinvestment of CPSE (strategic disinvestment of Air India and five of its subsidiaries) based on the recommendations of Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment (CGD). Constitution of an Air India-specific Alternative Mechanism headed by Minister of Finance including Minister for Civil Aviation and other Ministers will guide the process on strategic disinvestment from time to time and decide the treatment of unsustainable debt of Air India, hive off of certain assets to a shell company, demerger and strategic disinvestment of three profit-making subsidiaries, the quantum of disinvestment, and the universe of bidders.

Royal Orchid Hotels announces the opening of one more hotel under its brand ‘Regenta’ in Deharadun, Uttarakhand slated to open on 25 June, 2017. With this, it will now have a total of 44 hotels. The 74-key Regenta LP Vilas is a luxurious hotel spread over a lakh sq. ft. area with a capacity to cater to 4,000 people. It is centrally located among other Dehradun hotels within the city and close to the famous business hub Selaqui, international airport and railway station. The hotel offers a picturesque view of the forest and features a multi cuisine restaurant and a bar. The hotel is also, first of its kind to offer luxurious and spacious venue to host any kind of event with eight unique venues. Chander K. Baljee, MD of the Royal Orchid Hotels said, “Uttarakhand has always been an important market for hoteliers in terms of both business and leisure segments. Whereas under Narendra Modi’s Government, tourism is going to witness a boost and we intend to tap this segment with our existing portfolio along with our newly launched property in Dehradun.”

Travkart, the travel service portal from Holidays by Sahibji, has collaborated with Planet Abled to offer specially designed itineraries for travellers with disabilities. The first travel brand to enter such a collaboration, Travkart will introduce an ‘Accessible Travel’ tab on its website which can be used by the travellers with disabilities to browse and book curated holiday packages. Manheer Singh Sethi, Co-founder, Travkart.com, said, “Awareness about special travel needs is highly inadequate in India and people with disabilities find it difficult to be accepted as a part of the society. We are enthusiastic about syncing our synergies with such a unique organisation as Planet Abled and bring about a big social change in the travel industry. This collaboration will make Travkart the first travel brand to introduce a dedicated section offering accessible and curated travel packages for disabled individuals, and will set a new service benchmark in the Indian travel and tourism industry.” Planet Abled is a first-of-its-kind travel company that provides inclusive and accessible travel solutions and leisure excursions for people with disabilities modified to suit their special needs. Planet Abled works with the concept of “Universal Design”, focusing on giving people with different disabilities and non-disabled, a platform to come together, so as to create an inclusive group for a unique human interaction. The underlying belief being, our Planet is our common inheritance and ‘Everything Is For Everyone’. It organizes scheduled group tours, customized tours, romantic tours and local city day tours where persons with disabilities can travel alone, with groups or with friends and family. Neha Arora, Founder, Planet Abled, commented, “Travelling to new locations always brings a sense of apprehension for people with disabilities as well …

Recognising the potential in the Indian outbound cruise market, Global Anchor Cruises has partnered with Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the world’s largest cruise industry trade association, to impart cruise training and offer CLIA’s accreditation programme to Indian agents. Ian Banerjee, Partner Global Anchor Cruises, says, “I am happy that we are associated with CLIA to impart its world-class cruise training and accreditation programme to Indian agents and ensure that they are well equipped to meet the arising demand for cruise products and sales knowledge. Global Anchor Cruises will now promote the CLIA membership to all current and new travel partners. As a member of CLIA Asia agents become an active partner in a global organisation representing the fastest growing segment of the travel industry.” CLIA Asia’s Managing Director, Joel Katz, says, “India’s cruise market is the youngest in the world with an average passenger age of 37, and continues to grow with more passengers now coming from tier-two and even tier-three cities. Global Anchor Cruises understands, as we do, that a well-educated cruise travel agent is paramount to the growth of cruise in the region, and together we are dedicated to ensuring that this education is available to all agents across the Indian landscape.” CLIA recently entered the Indian market, providing travel agent members in India who join CLIA access to an extensive range of cruise industry training at no further costs outside the annual membership fee. A membership in CLIA will allow agents exclusive access to the CLIA Accreditation Program, the industry benchmark for consultants wishing to specialize in the cruise sector. It will also extend unlimited usage of the CLIA Learning Academy, including cruise sector training, destination …

The 25th edition of Moscow International Travel & Tourism Exhibition (MITT) will be held from March 13-15, 2018, at Expocentre, Moscow, Russia. The 2017 edition, held from March 14-16, witnessed 1971 companies from 187 countries and regions of the world, comprising 23,047 visitors from 79 regions of Russia and 89 other countries in 40,000 sq.m. of exhibition area. For the first time, MITT was a B2B-only event. The exhibitors included leading operators of outbound, domestic and inbound tourism, national and regional tourism organisations, hotel chains, airlines and transport companies, and operators of search systems and tour booking services. Among the visitors at the event were 39% representatives of travel agents, 21% tour operators of search and booking systems for tour services, 11% hotels and accommodation and 8% corporate customers. A.U. Manilova, Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, said, “MITT has established itself not only as the place for presenting the tourism potential of dozens of countries, but as the place to meet professionals in the tourism industry: from tourism administrations to representatives of national governments. I wish that the hope that both international exhibitors and the Russian regions (more than 60 Russian regions are exhibiting, which is very important for us) have come here with is realised. Now is a very good time for developing international tourism – both in Russia and throughout the world. Tourism never creates barriers, it only eradicates them. I wish everyone success.” O. P. Safonov, Head of the Federal Agency on Tourism, said, “I am confident that constructive dialogue, sharing experience, and expanding partner relations at MITT 2017 contributes to the further establishment of tourism as a high-revenue and dynamically growing industry of …