In an attempt to boost cruise tourism from North Kerala, the state government has drawn the Maland-Malabar Cruise Tourism project which aims at linking rivers and backwaters in the region. Funds to the tune of Rs. 300 crore have been sanctioned for the same. This was informed by Kadakampally Surendran, Tourism Minister, Government of Kerala. He said, “The aim is to ensure that the project is ready by early next year.” Surendran further added that this project is expected to be a milestone in the region’s development. A committee with Kannur’s district collector as chairman will be constituted to monitor the project which also envisages development of basic amenities and tourism infrastructure facilities. Walkways and boat jetties will be constructed at Parassinikadavu and Pazhayangadi for which the state government has sanctioned Rs 15 crore. The River Bank tourism project envisages linking of the rivers and water bodies at Valapatnam, Kuppam, Perumba, Anjarakkandy, Mahi, Thalassery, Nileswaram, Thejaswini, Vilaya, Paramathadakkam and Chandragiri and their art forms and places of natural beauty has been drawn up. In order to provide homestay facilities for tourists, Kerala Institute of Travel Tourism Studies has been assigned the task to provide basic training to the owners. As part of responsible tourism, three islands will be brought under the Malabar Cruise tourism project. (Source: PTI)

PATA India Chapter’s Secretary Jatinder Taneja has been elected to PATA(HQ) Industry Council Member for the term 2017-19 and PATA India Treasurer Vikram Madhok, is heading the council in the capacity of Chairman, Industry Council. A travel enthusiast himself, Taneja is the Managing Director and moving force behind TSI- Luxury Holidays. A Post Graduate, gifted with strong business acumen, he has continued to keep miles ahead of the competition by emphasizing on well planned, focused business strategy and by offering value added services to the customers.

Hahn Air Systems is introducing a new online tool, the H1 Carrier Portal, to help airline partners keep track of H1-Air reservations with the aim to ultimately improve customer service. The global consolidation service generates incremental bookings for airline partners of all sizes and business models by connecting them to all major GDSs and therefore making them available for sale via over 100,000 travel agencies worldwide under the H1 code. The Hahn Air Systems H1 Carrier Portal allows the company’s 67 partners to access clearly arranged lists of all bookings generated via the H1 code, including useful information such as date, the booking number of Hahn Air Systems or the respective carrier, the GDS PNR, origin and destination. A detailed view shows the names of all passengers booked under the Hahn Air Systems code H1, their booking classes, compartments and HR-169 ticket numbers. At the same time, the H1 Carrier Portal features a convenient search functionality that allows retrieving details of a specific booking based on the booking number or the GDS PNR. Information provided include the ticket status (valid or invalid for travel), connecting flights, special service requests such as wheelchair or pet in cabin, as well as contact details from passengers or travel agencies, if available. “We designed the H1 Carrier Portal to support the staff of our partner airlines in further optimising their passenger service”, explains Alexander Proschka, Head of Hahn Air Systems. “By having easy access to all details related to a booking, the operating carrier can inform passengers in advance in case of delays or cancellations and proactively re-organise their itinerary. At the same time, our tool helps our partners’ check-in staff to identify H1-Air …

India remains one of the strongest markets for Carlson where they have 84 hotels in operation and 140 hotels in the pipeline. The brand will soon be launching its new brand- Radisson Red in the Indian Market. Raj Rana, Chief Executive Officer, South Asia, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, says, “Radisson Red is the newest addition in our portfolio. The first flagship property is under construction in Mohali, Chandigarh. It’s a beautiful hotel and we expect that to open in the first quarter of 2018. We believe that it will be a very successful brand because the cost of investment in building a Radisson Red is less than a typical upscale hotel and also it has been planned in such a way that the cost of operating the hotel is also lesser. For example, F&B services are all on a single plate and there is no concept of multi-kitchens. A lot of planning has done to make sure ease of operation and therefore better margins for the investors and good success for us.”

Rashmi Verma (IAS), of 1982 batch from Bihar Cadre, has joined as the new Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. Before this, Verma was serving as the Secretary in Ministry of Textiles. Not new to tourism, she has previously served as the Chairman & MD of Bihar Tourism Department as well as Additional Director in Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. She will be replacing N. K. Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, who had taken up the additional charge as Secretary Tourism after Vinod Zutshi retired from the position.

OYO has launched OYO Townhouse in Hyderabad. This is the first launch of OYO Townhouse – a brand-new category of “friendly neighbourhood hotel” – outside Delhi-NCR. This will be the 5th hotel in the Townhouse portfolio since it was launched in January this year. After Jubilee Hills, the company plans to introduce OYO Townhouse hotels at other popular locations in the city such as Banjara Hills, Hitech City, Gachibowli and Panjagutta. The rooms will be priced at INR 2,500 and upwards. Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO – OYO, said “This is our first Townhouse offering outside Delhi NCR and we are excited to choose Hyderabad for our debut outside home turf. Hyderabad has transformed into a cosmopolitan city representing a millennial outlook towards experiences and expectations. OYO Townhouse’s efficient hospitality and multi-utility concept fits perfectly into this millennial lifestyle. It delivers a seamless experience through a format that operates as 25% hotel, 25% home, 25% cafe and 25% merchandise store in one place, providing a perfect complement to our guests’ lifestyle. OYO Townhouse represents our ongoing commitment to innovate and create world-class hotel experiences from India.” Elaborating on the philosophy behind Townhouse, Ritesh added, “Townhouse will deliver an all-encompassing experience to guests. We are excited to showcase and deliver this proposition in Hyderabad today. We are confident that our guests will love the experience of these tastefully done hotels staffed with Managers trained to deliver authentic and unique Townhouse service.” The hospitality industry in India suffers from a major disconnect between demand and supply of quality living space, forcing travellers and city-dwellers to compromise on decision variables of location, comfort and pricing. OYO Townhouse addresses this gap by creating a …

Park Plaza Noida has announced its rebranding as Radisson Noida, the first Radisson hotel to be inaugurated in Delhi-NCR. Strategically located, within proximity of Noida’s corporate hub as well as the central business districts of Ghaziabad and New Delhi, the hotel has completely reinvented itself to better serve its discerning guests with its signature Yes I Can!  service. “I am delighted to welcome this hotel to the Radisson brand family. Delhi NCR is a key market for us and Noida remains a promising destination due to its thriving corporate suburb. We appreciate the investment that our strategic partner, Bestech Group have made in upgrading this hotel and the trust they have demonstrated in the Radisson brand” said Raj Rana, Chief Executive Officer, South Asia, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. “We have enjoyed working with Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group for 15 years where a high level of dedication and expertise is demonstrated in managing brands and hotels successfully. We are confident that the rebranding of Park Plaza Noida to Radisson Noida with new facilities and services would be greatly appreciated by our guests” said Dharmendra Bhandari, Managing Director, Bestech Hospitalities.

Vistara has launched self-service kiosk check-in at Delhi’s Terminal 3, Indira Gandhi International Airport and Mumbai’s Terminal 2, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Vistara is set to launch the same service across 17 other airports that it operates from by the end of June 2017. Customers will now be able to check-in, select preferred seats and print their boarding passes for their flights at the self-service kiosks without having to queue up at check-in desks. Customers with check-in baggage can simply print their boarding passes using the kiosks and drop off their baggage at the check-in desks before proceeding to security check. The self-service kiosk check-in is also available for Singapore Airlines and SilkAir customers who are flying on Vistara-operated aircraft under code-share tickets. Vistara will soon also extend the functionality of the service to offer greater convenience of opting for ancillary products/services on the self-service check-in kiosks to its customers. Vistara continues to grow and gain accolades as it redefines air travel in India by challenging the status-quo in the Indian aviation sector by offering seamless and personalized services to its customers. In a short span of a little over two years, Vistara has grown to expand its network to 19 destinations with over 530 weekly flights and a fleet of 13 aircraft, having flown close more than 4 million happy customers already.

The Lemon Tree Hotel Company opened its twin properties in Gurugram—Lemon Tree Hotel, Sector-60 and Red Fox Hotel Sector-60, taking the count to 6 properties by the brand in the city. The 3.2 acre property follows the accessibility criteria to the T and offers specially designed rooms and suites for people of all abilities. Targeting the business sector in the area, the property boasts a separate convention centre spread over 20,000 sq. ft, which actually is one of the largest accessible MICE destination in Delhi NCR. In fact, 70 per cent of the work force in Lemon Tree Hotel, Sector-60 will be Opportunity Deprived Individuals (ODI), which are either differently-abled or come from economically and socially marginsalised sections of the society. Vikramjit Singh, President, Lemon Tree Hotels, said, “It is out sixth property in Gurugram, which continues top attract business and leisure travellers throughout the year and the twin property launch, along with the Convention Centre, proves how successful our brand has been in this market.”

Policy leaders, statisticians, academicians and private sector will convene in Manila, The Philippines, from June 21-24, 2017, to discuss new methodologies to measure the full impacts of tourism. The 6th edition of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) International Conference on Statistics, an official event of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017, will address the topic of ‘Measuring Sustainable Tourism’. Supported by the United Nations Statistics Division, the UNWTO initiative ‘Towards a Statistical Framework for Measuring Sustainable Tourism’ (MST) underlines the need to measure the full effects of the tourism sector. The UNWTO International Conference to be held in Manila will serve as a platform to discuss the first draft of the MST framework and its future implementation. The Philippines has become a reference in the region with regard to tourism measurement and a role model in the development of effective inter-institutional collaboration to develop tourism statistics. The commitment of the country, shown in the development of the Tourism Satellite Account framework, explains the decision to host the discussion on the MST initiative. A Ministerial Roundtable will inaugurate the Conference in order to align efforts to advocate among governments the relevance of integrated and reliable data to manage and promote a more sustainable tourism sector. Afterwards, a Panel of Statistical Institutes will provide the opportunity to share experiences and practices implemented at global, regional and national level. Other technical sessions will focus on understanding data demands, the link between the economic, the environmental and the social dimensions of sustainable tourism, including job creation, sub-national measurement, Sustainable Development Goals  (SDGs) indicators, and data sources including big data. Besides policy leaders, statistical experts and private sector, representatives from international organizations …