The Austrian capital Vienna received a record number of travellers from India in 2016, contributing to 115,531 overnight stays, a 28 per cent increase from 2015. Home to legendary composers like Mozart and Beethoven, this smart metropolis with an incredible musical heritage attracted a host of music lovers, families, honeymooners and conference attendees from India during the year, according to the Vienna Tourist Board. “A young traveller choosing to visit Vienna can lose herself in music. Should she want to step back in time to imperial history, she can. Should she want to go bungee jumping by day and dance all night, she can. All of this adds to the typically Viennese blend of tradition and innovation,” says Isabella Rauter, Public Relations Manager for Vienna Tourist Board. “Vienna provides the experiences of a metropolis without the stress factors of a big city. Vienna looks forward to welcoming 20 to 30 per cent more young Indian travellers, looking to experience the contemporary and vibrant facets of life, in 2017.” says Isabella Rauter. A favourite destination for Indian honeymooners, Vienna has hosted many Indian weddings, including at the Belvedere Palace, one of the palaces of the former imperial family of Austria. The palace now serves as a museum and an event location. Vienna also attracts more than 3,500 conventions and corporate events a year, Vienna is one of the world’s leading meeting destinations.

At three events held simultaneously across Canada in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, Air Canada unveiled for its customers and employees, a bold new livery inspired by Canada for its entire fleet, new uniforms for its employees, and a taste of some of the new onboard menu offerings that its customers can look forward to. “Air Canada’s new livery signals a pivotal inflection point in our 80-year history,” said  Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines. On the occasion of Canada’s 150th anniversary year, with our new livery, new uniforms for our employees, the award-winning international cabin standard introduced with the launch of our Boeing 787 aircraft, and enhanced onboard offerings, the future Air Canada represents the strength of our nation and the future-looking spirit of our airline.” Air Canada’s fleet of 300 mainline and regional aircraft are being repainted in a bold black and white design that highlights its iconic red maple leaf encircled ensign, or “rondelle,” that returns to the tail of the flag carrier’s fleet after an absence of 24 years.  The new look reflects Canada’s vastness and contrasting seasons, with references to its wildlife and First Nations heritage. With the new livery providing a sleek, contemporary backdrop, Air Canada premiered elegant charcoal grey and black employee uniforms with red accents and accessories by Canadian designer Christopher Bates. Air Canada will receive its first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft at the end of 2017, marking the start of its narrow body fleet renewal program, to be followed in 2019 with the delivery of its first Bombardier C Series aircraft.

Booking.com launched its new accelerator programme, Booking.com Booster, a three week programme taking place in June 2017 in Amsterdam which will culminate in a chance to pitch for grants of up to €500,000 from Booking.com. The program is designed to identify, mentor and fund enterprising startups from around the world that are seeking to have a positive impact on the global tourism industry. As an extension of the company’s existing Booking.com Cares programme, an internal company initiative where employees partner with local NGOs on projects that help improve destinations worldwide, the goal of the new booster programme is to support startups dedicated to sustainable tourism in the following areas: protecting the environment, preserving cultural heritage and/or promoting inclusive growth in tourism that supports and develops local economies and communities. “At Booking.com, our mission is to empower people to experience more of the world. There are thousands of beautiful, unique destinations to explore in every corner of the globe, but that’s not something we should take for granted. Through Booking.com Booster, we want to help ventures in sustainable tourism accelerate their growth in order to maximise the impact they can have globally. By identifying and funding these outstanding startups, sharing our expertise and working together, we can explore and learn how best to protect the future of the destinations we love so much so that our great-great-grandchildren can continue to enjoy them for years to come, said Gillian Tans, Chief executive Officer, Booking.com.   The three-week booster programme has been co-designed with partner organisation Impact Hub and will consist of a series of workshops, lectures, and coaching sessions with industry experts, as well as the opportunity to pitch for grants from Booking.com’s …

Czech Tourism has appointed VFS Global as its India representative. Ing. Tereza Matejkova, Head-Trade Fairs, Czech Tourism, said, “We are very happy to announce that we appointed VFS Global as our India representation for a year. We are looking for Indian travel agents and tour operator cooperation through our India representation. We will also be organizing familiarization and press trips to introduce our destination to the India market. We will also conduct roadshows and other marketing activities to boost the numbers to Czechia.” 66,000 Indian tourists visited Czech Republic last year which was a 20 per cent increase, added Matejkova. Arzan Khambatta, Head-India, Czech Tourism and Head-Tourism Representation, VFS Global, said, “We are happy to represent Czech republic in India and we hope to work in close collaboration with Czech tourism Board partners as well as Indian partners to grow the number of Indian tourists to Czechia.” He further explained that the tourism board will first start with cooperation with travel trade in India. “We feel there is a lot of scope to increase awareness about Czech Republic as a tourist destination and develop new products for the destination from the India market. We will also work to promote Czechia through social media and other consumer platforms which will be done at a later stage,” added Khambatta.

In a move to boost Indian arrivals, Malaysia has launched a 15-day e-visa for travellers on a short visit. This was announced at a press conference in New Delhi by Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism and Culture, Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz. “India and Malaysia share great relations that go a long way back and we want to foster these ties. We decided to launch this e-visa for the benefit of travellers who visit the country for a short while and since it takes only 48 hours for approval, it is also useful for those who require it urgently,” he said. The e-visa includes a single-entry and costs $20. Tourism Malaysia and leaders from TAAI, TAFI and OTOAI also signed a commitment plaque fortifying each other’s commitment to promoting travel from India.With a focus on sustainable tourism, Malaysia is also pushing its special interest packages for premium shopping, luxury travels, sports tourism such as golf, and Malaysia as a wedding and honeymoon destination. India is the sixth top tourist generating market for Malaysia with a total 722,141 Indian visitors recorded in 2015. Last year, from January to October, Malaysia received a total of 540,530 Indian tourists. Malaysia hopes to achieve 1 million arrivals from the India market this year.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, in January 2017, a total of 9.83 lakh foreign tourist arrivals were recorded in India as compared to FTAs of 8.44 lakh in January, 2016 and 7.91 lakh in January, 2015. The growth rate in FTAs in January, 2017 over January, 2016 is 16.5 per cent as compared to 6.8 per cent in January, 2016 over January, 2015. MoT also informed that a total of 1.52 lakh foreign tourists arrived on e-Visa to India in January, 2017 as compared to 0.88 lakh during the month of January 2016 registering a growth of 72.0 per cent. The share of tourists availing e-Visa facility in January 2017 reached 15.5 per cent as against 10.4 per cent in January 2016. The percentage share of FTAs among the top 15 source countries was the highest from USA (15.01%) followed by Bangladesh (14.91%), UK (11.11%), Canada (4.63%), Russian Fed. (4.46%), Australia (3.65%), Malaysia (3.15%), Germany (2.92%), France (2.89%) and China (2.54%), Sri Lanka (2.45%), Japan(2.15%),Afghanistan (1.84%), Rep. of Korea (1.61%) and Nepal (1.60%). The percentage share of FTAs among the top 15 ports was the highest at Delhi Airport (28.30%) followed by Mumbai Airport (18.23%), Haridaspur Land checkpost (8.17%), Chennai Airport (7.32%), Goa Airport (6.51%), Bengaluru Airport (5.32%), Kolkata Airport (4.32%), Cochin Airport (3.73%), Ahmedabad Airport (3.37%), Hyderabad Airport (2.74%), Gede Rail Land checkpost (1.77%), Trivandrum (1.62%), Trichy Airport (1.38%), Ghojadanga land checkpost (1.08%) and Amritsar Airport (1.02%). The percentage share of top 15 source countries availing e-Visa facilities during January, 2017 was highest from UK (22.9%), followed by USA (13.6%), Russian Fed (8.3%), China (6.3%), France (5.6%), Australia (4.4%), Germany (4.1%), Canada (3.6%), Korea (Rep.of) (3.2%) and Ukraine …

India ranked third among the top growth markets for international visitor arrivals in Singapore in terms of absolute growth in 2016, registering a growth of 8 per cent. While China (+36%) topped the growth markets, Indonesia (+6%) finished a close second. The growth was due to more visitor arrivals from Tier-I and Tier-II cities in China, India and Indonesia, where STB had intensified its marketing efforts. India also overtook Australia to become Singapore’s 4th largest source market for visitor arrivals. The largest declines in visitor arrivals were posted by Hong Kong (-12%), Malaysia (-2%), Australia (-2%), South Korea (-2%) and Japan (-1%). From January to September 2016, there was good growth in tourism receipts across Singapore’s top ten source markets. For the second consecutive year, China (+41%) ranked top in tourism receipts, followed by Indonesia (+14%) and India (+37%). Both visitor arrivals and tourism receipts exceeded forecasts to hit historical highs in 2016. While visitor arrivals grew by 7.7 per cent to 16.4 million, tourism receipts rose even higher by 13.9 per cent to $24.8 billion. The strong tourism receipt results came on the back of visitors spending more on Food and Beverage, Shopping and Accommodation. On the business tourism front, STB supported more than 410 business events held in 2016, a 15 per cent year-on-year growth. These events garnered around 343,000 visitor arrivals, and generated approximately $611 million in tourism receipts, a 20 per cent and 28 per cent increase year-on-year respectively.

Singapore Airlines has announced the launch of its fourth weekly flight from Ahmedabad to Singapore, starting March 26, 2017. All flights will be operated by the Airbus A330-300 wide-body aircraft. David Lim, General Manager India, Singapore Airlines, commented, “Travel to and from Ahmedabad has steadily increased over the years. Singapore Airlines is pleased to offer an additional frequency to meet the growing market demand. The new service will provide travellers a much sought after weekend departure window, to travel to Singapore and to onward destinations.” Furthermore, travellers from India can redeem a complimentary S$20 Changi Dollar Voucher for use at all participating shops, restaurants and lounges when they transit at Singapore Changi Airport. Indian nationals can also avail of one-way, Visa Free Transit Facility for up to 96 hours in Singapore with a valid onward ticket and a valid visa from selected countries. The transit facility will be provided at the discretion of the immigration authorities.

Having grown its annual roadshow from five cities to six now, Mumbai-based U&I Holidays is keen on adding Tier-II cities from next year. Shyam Upadhyay, Director, U&I Holidays, says, “This time, we wanted to include a new city so we added Kolkata, which to our surprise was a hit. Most of the participants found good potential there. Every city got more than 100 attendees but Kolkata was at 150 which is really good for a city like that.” The six cities were Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai. The roadshow had 32 participants from Bali of which 31 were hotels plus one caterer. Speaking about Kolkata, Ashish Indulkar, Director, U&I Holidays, adds, “Although we have been doing some activities in Kolkata, we never ventured full-fledge into the market. We were very happy with the turnout. It is a very interesting market because there are whispers that AirAsia India is planning to launch a direct Kolkata-Bali flight via Kuala Lumpur.” Upadhyay adds that next year’s roadshow will continue to travel to six cities but a new set of cities which will include a Tier-II city like Nagpur, Jaipur or Pune. U&I Holidays sent 15,000 Indian pax to Bali last year. “In 2015, it was 12,000, and this year we are expecting bigger numbers. We are focusing more on MICE as well,” Indulkar adds. U&I has its own office in Bali and they are also a DMC for Maldives. Last year, U&I Holidays entered the wellness segment by opening Ashoka Spa outlet in Mumbai. It opened another one in Bali in December 2016. It will now focus on hotel spas in Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra and are already in talks …

After a long spell of dearth of good quality guides in Maharashtra authorised by India Tourism, the Western Chapter of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is happy to welcome the new batch of guides who have just graduated. N.S. Rathor, Chairman, Western Region IATO and Regional Chapter Chairman, shared, “The good news is that we now have a new batch of guides after their course got over. About eight of them will get their licenses by around middle of February 2017. However, the trouble is the students from western India were made to sit with those from the north. So they have only studied monuments in north India. We have now requested the Ministry of Tourism, Regional Director, Vikas Rustagi, to give them an orientation here once they graduate and get their licenses. We also want them to interact with the older, more experienced guides so they also understand and learn how to converse with the foreign tourists when they ask questions about India, its economy, culture, etc. Many times, the foreign travellers, specially Europeans have more knowledge about India than us.”