Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has inaugurated new free Wi-Fi facility across 28 stations of Konkan Railway along with improved amenities at the Kudal and Chiplun stations. Konkan Railway has tied up with the network provider Joister to provide free Wi-Fi at its stations. Unlimited free Wi-Fi will be provided from Kolad to Madure in the initial phase with a peer to peer speed of 2 mbps. The larger stations will be able to provide access to 300 users whilst the smaller stations will be able to sustain a 100 users. The network covers the station entrance and surrounding area. The scheme has been launched in line with the Government’s Digital India campaign and Joister has undertaken the project of providing free Wi-Fi to the rural area along the Konkan route as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. According to the statement, “This facility will help commuters and tourists on Konkan Railway to access essential information and they could use their time productively while waiting for trains at railway stations.”

Indian Railways has introduced the new high speed Tejas express between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Mumbai and Karmali in Goa. The train was flagged off by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on May 22 on its inaugural journey to Goa. The train is equipped with many modern facilities such as on-board infotainment, Wi-Fi, CCTV, coffee and tea vending machines, etc. It is a state-of-the-art train with an average operating speed of 130 kmph and a maximum running speed of 200 kmph. The train sports a reasonable fare that extends between 1155-2680 inr and it will operate five times a week during the non-monsoon period and three days a week during the monsoon period. The express has also introduced some new amenities for passenger such as bio-vacuum toilets, sensor taps and a GPS-based passenger information display system and a digital destination board has also been installed for the convenience of the passengers. The train will have automatic doors and is wrapped with a special graffiti proof vinyl that gives the train its distinctive orange and yellow colour. The express train is also expected to be pressed into service in the Delhi-Lucknow and Delhi-Chandigarh sectors according to the railways.

Indonesia AirAsia Extra has started a direct flight from Mumbai to Bali (Denpasar) from May 19, 2017, with a 45 minute layover in Kuala Lumpur. It will operate this route using A330-300 with 377 seats (12 flatbeds and 365 economy seats). The flight departs from Mumbai at 22.50 hours and arrives in Bali at 10.45 hours the next day. Indonesia AirAsia Extra is the 4th airline under the AirAsia Group to operate to Indian destinations. Commenting on the occasion Suresh Nair, General Manager, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, AirAsia, said, “The flight has got good response and we are happy with the current response from Mumbai and Maharashtra market. We will have daily flights from Mumbai making seven flights a week. We expect good number of people to travel from India to Indonesia and vice versa. We started the flights with an introductory fare of Rs. 2,552 (plus taxes) which was well received by everyone. We continue to offer low fares on all sectors. Currently we are offering a return fare of Rs 14,999 and we continue to strive to keep the fares as low as possible.”

RCI recently published a new global industry white paper on the shared vacation ownership industry to help educate, inspire and support potential new entrants into the business. It is also designed to assist the media, legislators and hospitality groups to better understand the leisure real estate industry. Created to support industry growth, the Leisure Real Estate Trends & Opportunities handbook demonstrates the credibility of shared vacation ownership products and markets, helping to demystify one of the fastest-growing and established industries in the hospitality sector. “RCI has been involved in facilitating the swapping and sharing of residential leisure real estate for more than four decades,” said Dimitris Manikis, Vice President of Business Development, RCI Europe, Middle East and Africa. “We have worked with developers and investors from every walk of the hospitality and leisure real estate sectors and have seen firsthand what a resilient and robust business this is. We at RCI understand the shared vacation ownership model’s potential to grow a business base, as well as making a significant contribution to tourism revenues. For all these reasons, we felt it was important to draft a white paper that makes absolutely clear how the products work and where the opportunities lie. We see a great future for a product that offers access to a property asset – it is the perfect fit for today’s Millennial consumer mindset.” This handbook is designed to be an A-to-Z guide to the shared ownership and leisure real estate business. It contains valuable business insights into the European marketplace, as well as analysis of the global industry.

IndiGo has announced its first non-stop flight and 5th overall flight between Singapore and Bengaluru, which will start from June 30, 2017. The launch of the daily direct flight would offer an affordable and a convenient option on two of the busiest business sectors. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo, said, “Both Singapore and Bengaluru are strong business and tourism hubs and attract significant passenger traffic.  It gives us pleasure to introduce a direct flight on Singapore-Bengaluru route which will save flyers upto three hours of travel each way. We have been witnessing an encouraging traffic to Singapore from the cities in the south of India. There is a large Indian diaspora that resides in Singapore and regularly travels to their home to connect with their heritage and loved ones. Increased to and fro flights will not only boost tourism but also provide an affordable fare and a superior travel experience to flyers.”

Tourism Australia, in partnership with Destination New South Wales, marked the 38th year of its annual travel and tourism business-to-business event – the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) at the brand new ICC (International Convention Centre) in Sydney. The event took place from May  15-18, witnessing an attendance of over 2,500 travel industry delegates from over 30 countries with participation from 20 Indian travel companies. This is also marked Tourism Australia’s 50th anniversary. Commenting on the occasion, Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager, India & Gulf, Tourism Australia, said, “ATE plays a critical role in facilitating productive links between Australia’s tourism providers and the global distribution network and has an enormous economic impact. Arrivals from India have seen a significant hike in the last few years and platforms such as the ATE play a huge role in making that happen. Over 20 buyers representing as many companies from India attended ATE17 providing them an incredible opportunity to connect with Australian tourism businesses. We believe this platform will help them curate the best of Australian holiday experiences for our Indian travel enthusiasts. We’re confident that ATE will continue to bolster Australia’s inbound tourism sector and grow visitor economy.” India is currently Australia’s ninth-largest inbound tourism market, with over 260,000 visitors spending A$ 1.24 bn as on December 2016. Companies such as Ascon Travels, Cox & Kings, Cutting Edge, Discover your World, FCM Travel Solutions, Grand Travel Planners, Pathfinders Holidays, Peekay Holidays, Pristine Travels, SOTC, Vibrant Holidays, Voyageur Lifestyles, among others, represented India at ATE17, a testimony to the growing popularity of Australia as a tourism destination for Indians. ATE is Australia’s annual business-to-business tourism travel trade event, focussed on building future tourism opportunities for …

According to the data released by DGCA, passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-April 2017 were 364.13 lakhs as against 309.35 lakhs during the corresponding period of the previous year, thereby registering a growth of 17.71. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) for the month saw a considerable increase because of the beginning of the holiday season, with SpiceJet recording the highest PLF of 93.4 per cent as against 91.4 per cent in March. The On-Time Performance (OTP) for Vistara was the highest (87.4 per cent).

GoAir starts two additional flights out of Pune. Effective May 19, the airline will start daily flights from Pune to Bengaluru and Kolkata. The airline will now provide non-stop connectivity from Pune to Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Nagpur, Delhi, and Kolkata. The city of Pune and state of Maharashtra both play an important role in GoAir’s network. The new routes aim at connecting Pune across its network and providing passengers flexible options in planning their travel.

Sampat Damani, Chairman Western Region, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), has urged members from the Western Region Chapter to come forward and file for nominations for the upcoming elections. He said, “The elections will be in July 2017 but the dates are not yet fixed. We will announce the last date for filing the nominations once we firm up the election dates.” Speaking about his term as the Chairmain for the region, Damani added, “I am grateful to my members of the region for the support they extended to me in my tenure. They are keen on me continuing for another term. But its time I moved out and made space for some young blood from our association. My earnest request to all members is to please come forward for the elections. Being part of the MC entails hard work but gives a lot of satisfaction of doing good work. It’s their chance to give something back to the association and the industry at large.” He also said that when his team took charge in 2015, TAAI Western Region had 375 members. “In this term, we added 22 members but also terminated 35 memberships because of inactivity. We now have interested and committed members. TAAI credentials means agents whom travellers can trust,” Damani added.

IndiGo has announced the expansion of its network by adding 10 new direct flights. Effective June 10, 2017, the airline will operate ninth flight between Hyderabad and Chennai, its third flight between Hyderabad and Raipur, its sixth flight between Chennai and Mumbai, a second flight between Hyderabad and Pune, and its first flight between Pune and Kochi to strengthen connect between metro cities. With its fleet of 134 Airbus A320 family aircraft, IndiGo now operates 934 daily flights connecting 46 destinations.