At a recent pre-budget meeting with the Finance Ministry, FAITH proposed a tourism strategy — Holiday in India — on the lines of ‘Make in India’. FAITH has done a scenario analysis, which shows that under this strategy, Indian tourism can impact up to an estimated 12-16 crore jobs directly or indirectly from the current levels of approximately 4-5 crores. The tourism GDP can get impacted directly or indirectly up to 40 lakh crores from the current levels of around 7- 8 lakh crores. In a document released to its industry members, FAITH has said that the objective behind ‘Holiday in India’ is to make India a multi- season, multi-product, highly preferred tourist / business / conference destination for both the global and domestic tourists.

In the backdrop of the demonetisation drive, Goibibo has launched a feature for its partner properties to collect online payments from their walk-in and offline customers. There is no requirement of POS machines. This is a secure and scalable feature launched by Goibibo for its partners. Goibibo has enabled 9000 properties in the first phase. There is a significant volume of properties in India that have a large percentage of walk-in guests. Also these properties do not have access to POS machines or digital payment instruments. Properties range from budget hotels, guest houses, BnB’s, alternate accommodation, homes, villas, cottages, houseboats etc. It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 such long tail accommodation units in India that lack access to digital payment solutions. Walking in customers can pay at the hotel via Credit and debit cards, EMI linked payments, Net banking and a host of wallets. Unlike wallets, this channel does not have any payment limits.  Ashish Kashyap, Founder & CEO, ibibo, says, “We at ibibo welcome demonetisation and digitization of transactions. Our mission is to organise the accommodation and transportation industry. This payment feature for offline use case is a step in this direction. Online travel is one of the few industries that has 100% of its transaction in a digital format. By launching this feature, we are catalyzing the movement from offline to online and at the same time solving problems for the hotel industry”

Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) has appointed Ankush Nijhawan, MD of Nijhawan Group, as its Executive Director with immediate effect. Talking about this development, Harmandeep Singh Anand, Co-founder, GPS, said, “We are pleased to announce the appointment of Ankush Nijhawan as Executive Director of GPS and I am sure this move will help us in making GPS one of the leading travel shows in India in Tier-II & III market space.” Anand added that his expertise will further assist in elevating GPS’ position and achieve its objective to educate and empower the travel fraternity in Tier-II and III markets. “GPS is all about innovation, involvement, engagement and excelling to reach acommon goal, which is to explore and unleash the tourism potential that lies in the Tier II & Tier III cities of India. Commenting on his appointment, Nijhawan said, “I am happy to be on board with GPS and our collaborative efforts as a team will further strengthen GPS to establish it as India’s only B2B travel show for the Secondary markets of recognition. We will offer our expertise in bringing more number of quality buyers to GPS as there is a new generation of travellers in Tier-II and III cities and educating and reaching out to travel trade in these markets become important. With our agent network, we are confident that, we will achieve in getting the right buyers to the show. Also with our international relationship and exposure, we are confident in influencing global exhibitors to participate in GPS. Anand says, “For GPS Nagpur(scheduled for January 19 to 21, 2017), the first event for the GPS 2017 calendar, nearly 70% of exhibition space has been sold with confirmations from …

Greater Malabar Initiative (GMI) formed by industrialists, healthcare professionals and eminent persons to promote development of the Malabar region called upon Union Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju’s intervention for securing DGCA’s speedy approval for landing of wide-bodied jets at the Calicut airport – thereby strengthening  its international connectivity. A GMI team led by Chairman Dr. Azad Moopen submitted a memorandum to the Hon’ble Minister at his office in the capital. The appeal sought to point out that augmenting Calicut’s international connectivity  is critical for promoting exports and tourism in the region. Currently wide-bodied jets are not allowed to land in the airport hindering international connectivity, especially with Gulf countries. Final work on the runway is expected to be completed by March next year. Dr. Azad Moopen, Chairman of GMI said, ‘’Calicut’s economic development hinges on international connectivity. The withdrawal of wide-bodied aircraft services has caused considerable hardship to travellers from Kozhikode, Malappuram and Wayanad districts. Insufficient cargo movement hasalso hit farmers and exporters who send perishable goods to the Gulf countries.We have requested Hon’ble Civil Aviation Minister for his support to ensure that the necessary DGCA approval is accelerated as soon as the final re-carpeting work is completed in March next year. We are hopeful of a speedy clearance.’’ Calicut Airport commenced operations in 1988 with a short 6,000 feet runway. After four years, the runway length was extended to 9380 feet to enable bigger aircrafts to operate to Calicut connecting with Gulf countries through erstwhile Indian Airlines. In 2006, more international flights including Hajj flights were being operated using wide-bodied aircrafts. The airport was partially closed for re-carpeting and pavement strengthening since May 2015.

Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) has setup a Soft Adventure Park at Garden of Five Senses Said-ul-Ajaib Village. The park was inaugurated by Kapil Mishra, Minister for Tourism, Art, Culture & Languages and Water, Govt. of Delhi in the presence of Dr. Pooja Joshi, General Manager, DTTDC and other senior officers of Govt. of Delhi. While inaugurating the Adventure Park, Mishra said, “This Adventure Park came up as a blessing for people of Delhi and will provide children with space to play and get enthralled with adventure activities which this park has to offer. It will also act as a catalyst to promote Garden of Five Senses as an eco friendly project and bring more families to spend their time in the Garden”. The sprawling park is designed keeping nature lovers in mind in the area of 22 acres of the Garden. The games are such that one would feel close to the nature. Some of the highlighting features/activities the Adventure Park has to offer are :- Paint Ball, Rock Climbing Wall, Zip Line, Burma Bridge, Commando Net, Running Bungee, Sumo Wrestling, Zorbing, Air Rifle Shooting, Archery and more. The Adventure Park will commence its operations for general public from tomorrow. The entry ticket to the Garden of Five Senses has been kept Rs. 30 per person only (for adults) and Rs. 10 only (for children) and the price for activities ranges from Rs. 100 to Rs. 120 per person.

Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) will inaugurate its Rajasthan Chapter in Jaipur on December 10. Mahender Singh, Director, K K Holidays N Vacations, has been appointed the Chairperson, informed P. P. Khanna, President, ADTOI at the General House Meeting of the association. He said, “This is being coordinated with India Travel Mart-Jaipur 2016 which is being held from December 9-11. The ADTOI website is under construction and we will be launching the same around next month in order to improve connectivity between association members, the Ministry of Tourism and state tourism bodies. We are also in talks with various state tourism bodies to organise specialised programs for the members and are trying to reach out to the remotest corners of places like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to introduce our members to newer destinations and allow them to sell the products better.” Akshay Kumar, President, Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) was also present at the meeting. Khanna informed, “We are trying to collaborate with various associations in order to explore sectors that have not been focused upon till now like adventure travel”. He also added that that the association was joined with 30 members during Sept-Nov and more members are being enlisted in the organisation.

Indians visiting the Netherlands in the past year has crossed the 100,000 mark, informed Carola van Rijn, Project Manager, NBTC Holland Marketing. “There has been a steady rise in Indian travellers the past year and we expect a growth of 30 per cent in 2016,” she said at the Holland Club meeting, held in New Delhi. Along with representatives from Schiphol airport and Jet Airways, Alphonsus Stoelinga, Ambassador of the Netherlands to India was also present on the occasion and highlighted the bond shared between the two countries in terms of investments and trade. The Netherlands is promoting destinations such as Utrecht, The Hague, Rotterdam etc, apart from the capital, Amsterdam and is also working towards digitalising its visa services. With the relocation of Jet Airways’ hub from Brussels to Amsterdam eight months ago, the move is expected to give a boost to arrival numbers with direct connectivity from Mumbai and New Delhi.

Sunil R. Kumar has been re-elected as the President of United Federation of Travel Agents’ Association (UFTAA) for the term 2016-17, at the association’s golden jubilee congress. UFTAA members gathered  in Istanbul on November 25 for the event. Welcoming the attendees at the congress, Kumar thanked TURSAB to invite them to the destination and arranging the event in Istanbul and assured that it would help boost inbound in the country. The theme of the congress is ‘Celebrate the Connect’. Kumar said that its necessary for different associations around the world to connect with each other and grow together. UFTAA also plans to have its global office in Doha, Qatar.

Mumbai, the financial and entertainment hub of India, may be set to witness an increase in domestic and international tourist footfalls as new research from Booking.com sees the city rank among the world’s top trending destinations for 2017. The data experts at Booking.com analysed the top 300 destinations based on growth in search and bookings to find the most up-and-coming places to visit in 2017. When analysed against wider trends, Mumbai has recorded increased volume of travel and higher than average growth in bookings, while  moving up  ten places among the most searched destinations relative to last year. The other top trending destinations recorded are Reykjavik in Iceland, Cairns in Australia, Savannah in US, Puerto Rico, Kyoto and Jericoacoara in Brazil. The experts at Booking.com also shed light on 8 major travel predictions for 2017 by harnessing the wealth of data, traveler endorsements, reviews, preferences and insights and inspired by industry leading understanding and innovation in e-commerce travel technology.

Under a new agreement with the IndoCanadian Bus Service, Jet will provide bus services to passengers wanting to connect between Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and the Punjabi city of Jalandhar. The service is also available to passengers in several other cities in north India, including Amritsar, Chandigarh and Mohali. “Our agreement with IndoCanadian Bus Service illustrates the way in which Jet Airways goes the extra mile to set new service standards for its guests,” said Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways. “We’re confident that the added convenience of being able to book their first-mile or last-mile connection to [and] from Jalandhar via Delhi, simultaneously with their flight booking.” IndoCanadian will operate the services using air-conditioned tourist coaches. The company will also provide free pick-up and drop-off services via shared cabs for passengers in other cities.