The relocated France Visa Application Centre was inaugurated by Yves Perrin, Consul General of France in Mumbai, on February 27, 2017. Residents of Pune can now apply for visas to multiple countries, including France, under one roof, at the modern and centrally-located Joint Visa Application Centre in Viman Nagar. The Centre also serves 15 other Schengen countries besides France, including Italy, Germany, Austria, Greece, Latvia, Sweden, Swiss, Portugal, Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Norway, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Estonia. In addition to this, the centre will also cater to the client governments of Australia, UK, Ireland, Canada, USA, Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey and UAE. Many of these centres were earlier located in Tadiwala Road and Kalyani Nagar areas of the city. With the launch of the new Joint Visa Application Centre, VFS Global has consolidated all visa requirements under one roof. With a larger space and state-of-the-art infrastructure, the new Joint Visa Application Centre has an increased number of application counters making the visa application process quicker and more convenient for applicants. The centre is equipped with dedicated counters for individuals, representatives and travel agents making the visa application experience hassle-free and convenient for all.

Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines recently held training sessions for travel trade partners in New Delhi with an aim of achieving 100,000 mark in 2017. A 25-member delegation, comprising hoteliers, airlines, and representatives of tour attractions, interacted with over 100 key travel and tour operators, MICE providers and up-market leisure operators, and provided first-hand information on tourism products. Along with interactive B2B sessions, education programmes, workshops and destination awareness was the key area of focus to aid trade members in planning itineraries. Leading the delegation, Raymund Glen A. Agustin, Chief Tourism Operation Officer, Market Development Group- Russia, India & the Middle East, DOT Philippines, said, “The numbers have been very encouraging the past few years. We registered a growth of 21.37 per cent and are aiming for better numbers this year. The fact that Indians have to pay a fee for the visa and that there is no direct connectivity yet, the growth has been extremely positive.” Highlighting the importance of the Indian market, he affirmed that India has jumped into the list of top 12 source markets for the Philippines and such roadshows would be highly effective in boosting the rank even further.

Earning the position of being Asia’s third-biggest market for Eurail after South Korea and China, India has chugged its way into the ‘key’ market category for the rail pass company. To underline how important this market has become to them, Yi Ding, Market Manager Asia, Eurail, was visiting Mumbai from Utrecht recently. She elaborates on this exciting growth and says, “In 2015, we saw that India had the highest growth rate globally for us – it was 50 per cent over the previous year. It continued to grow in 2016 by almost four per cent. In short, India was the best performing market for us the last two years.” She expects about eight to nine per cent growth in 2017 year-on-year because of the growing outbound to Europe. Much of this growth could be attributed to Eurail’s Family Discount of free travel for children under 12 it had introduced in 2014. This alone led the children’s share to double by 2015. In 2016, the market share of children was seven to eight per cent already – highest among all its markets.

After associating with the movie ‘Dear Zindagi’ recently, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has yet again rubbed shoulders with glamour. Together with SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, STB has now announced its collaboration with Dharma Productions for Bollywood movie ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’. The movie features key scenes and songs filmed in Singapore. Talking about Singapore’s association with the movie, G.B Srithar, Regional Director for South Asia, Middle East & Africa, STB said, “This movie will appeal to all segments of Indian society with its over-arching theme of love and the joy of life. Over the past few decades, Bollywood movies have helped build an emotive connect among the Indian audiences with Singapore. We believe through Badri and Vaidehi, they will re-discover Singapore’s variety of experiences and evolving cityscape. Keeping in line with the movie’s theme, we are pleased to welcome Indian travelers to begin their endless love affair with Singapore, by visiting and re-visiting Singapore for memorable holidays.” The film, directed by Shashank Khaitan and starring Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan, will hit the screens on Friday, March 10, 2017 across India. Currently, SilkAir and Singapore Airlines have combined operations from 11 Indian cities, namely Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Visakhapatnam connecting to over 100 destinations via its hub, Singapore.

In line with the strategy of aggressive promotional campaign, Jammu and Kashmir Tourism organised various events in Maharashtra and Pune. The event titled Shaam-e-Kargil focused to promote the unexplored regions in the state which special focus on Kargil, informed Farooq A Shah, Secretary Tourism and Managing Director, Jammu and Kashmir State Tourism Development Corporation (JKSTDC). Addressing the travel fraternity in Maharashtra as dost-e-Kashmir, Shah explained how the trade in this region has always been a supporter and taken initiatives in promoting Jammu Kashmir as their priority destination. The delegation from the state tourism department interacted with various trade associations and travel agents and displayed publicity material about the products and services on offer in the state. The Secretary also conducted a series of meetings with the airlines and other allied sector representatives in order to ask for better facilitation and balanced fares to the destination.

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) has made a foray into the Indian market starting 2017 to tap the increasing Indian outbound travel segment. The tourism board recently participated in a travel show in Mumbai to jumpstart its three-year-strategic plan. GNTO’s target is to create increased destination awareness about lesser-known cities of great geophysical, historical and cultural importance and to position Greece in the top five list of European destinations, for Indian tourists. Elena Kountoura, Honourable Minister of Tourism of Greece, says, “With the entry of Greek Tourism in the Indian market we aim to associate with the travel trade industry and offer our audience a customized product. Our strategy aims to promote 365 days tourism in Greece and we are confident that we will see a positive boost in the number of Indian arrivals to Greece with our initiatives. India is a promising market for us and this year we plan to reach out to affluent Indians through a well planned marketing and advertising campaign. GNTO is looking at promoting Greece as an ideal destination for film tourism, destination weddings and celebrations, apart from the existing popular segments like honeymoons, MICE and FITS.” Dimitrios Tryfonopoulos, Secretary General, Greek National Tourism Organization, adds, “Establishing a GNTO Office in India is the ultimate aim. Until then we will associate with our Indian counterpart to bring out the dynamic perspectives of Greek Tourism in the market of India. We are in talks with representatives of large air carriers such as Emirates, Qatar, Etihad and Jet Airways to improve the connectivity to Athens from India.” Greek Tourism recorded a double digit growth in 2016 from India. It is currently represented in India by …

Making visa application facilities convenient for travellers, the Chinese Visa Application Centre was inaugurated at Shivaji Stadium metro station, Connaught Place, New Delhi by HE Lua Zhaohui, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to India; Wei Xiaodong, Vice Director-General, Service Bureau for the Foreign Ministry and its Overseas Missions of China; and Zubin Karkaria, Chief Executive Officer, VFS Global Group. Commenting on the launch, the Ambassador said, “This is going to facilitate tourism between the two countries even further. Both countries boast of a huge population and want a better two-way exchange of tourist arrival numbers.” Adding on, Zubin Karkaria stated, “We anticipate strong tourism growth between India and China and this spacious centre will enable us to cater to the rising demand for China visas and simultaneously enhance the applicant’s experience.” On the occasion, the very first ‘China in Luxury’ outlet was also launched in the centre where travellers can avail of premium packages on exclusive travel experiences.

Jet Airways and Hong Kong Airlines have entered into a codeshare partnership in a move that will help them significantly enhance connectivity between India and the Asia-Pacific region. As part of the reciprocal agreement, Jet Airways will place its marketing code ‘9W’ on Hong Kong Airlines’ flights operating between Hong Kong and Okinawa and Tokyo in Japan; Denpasar in Indonesia; Hanoi in Vietnam; Bangkok in Thailand; and Auckland in New Zealand. Hong Kong Airlines in turn, will place its marketing code “HX” on Jet Airways’ flights between Hong Kong and Mumbai as well as Delhi in India. The agreement will allow Hong Kong Airlines to offer its guests a daily service connecting the key business cities of Hong Kong, Mumbai and Delhi. The codeshare will provide opportunities for both airlines to expand their reach and cater to guests across the region. It will also enhance connectivity for Jet Airways guests from Mumbai and Delhi via Hong Kong to multiple destinations in the Asia-Pacific region including to first time codeshare destinations – Okinawa in Japan and Auckland in New Zealand thus enhancing the proposition for travelers who are increasingly seeking newer and more varied travel experiences. Guest can also enjoy the multi-gateway travel flexibility of travelling to/from India to Hong Kong in one direction and via Bangkok in the other direction. Additionally, Jet Airways’ Jet Privilege members will also be able to earn frequent flyer miles when they travel on Jet Airways marketed flights on these codeshare routes, which will not only be available for redemption but also count towards their tier status in the programme.

PATA India Chapter is conducting roadshow to USA and Canada, in partnership with India Tourism from May 30 to June 8, 2017. Runeep Sangha, Executive Director, PATA India Chapter, said, “We are pleased to inform you that we have received necessary approvals to conduct Roadshow to  USA and Canada, in partnership with India Tourism. More details will be communicated in the coming week.” The roadshow will begin in Toronto (Canada) on May 30, then move to the US with Boston on May 31, Chicago on June 1, Houston on June 6, New York on June 7 and 8. Participants must confirm their participation by March 3.

Internet Moguls, a leading tourism and hospitality focussed digital marketing agency, is coming up with one of its kind on-the-job learning programme – Winners Tribe. It is an advanced and comprehensive programme for learning digital marketing for working professionals and people interested to make a career in Digital. Winners Tribe is a broad programme which will enable one to learn, conceptualise, strategise, execute and be a master in digital learning. The course has 21 Modules which will be covered in 80 hours. Apart from training students, freshers and entrepreneurs this programme is also focused on providing training to the working professionals. On the launch, Avijit Arya, Chief Mogul(Founder) at Internet Moguls, said, “In the year 2017, we are witnessing an increased demand for specialised talents with special impetus on upskilling. However, this space is ever evolving and talent needs to be upto-date with the new trends. Therefore, we at Internet Moguls believe that theoretical knowledge alone in digital marketing is not sufficient. One needs to be abreast with the latest trends and follow the drill practically. Our latest initiative called ‘Winners Tribe’  is an attempt to fill the gap from theoretical to practical knowledge. We aim to impart advanced skills to not just freshers but to working professionals as well who are keen to pursue this stream. The distance between having no job or a disappointing job to getting your dream job is eventually about having the right knowledge about it. As it works in golf, when you shift your grip merely by  two inches, the shot lands up right on the target. In the same way, I promise to change people’s lives by teaching them the right lesson to …