The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given ‘in-principle’ approval for strategic disinvestment of CPSEs including Pawan Hans Limited based on the recommendations of the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment. CCEA has approved the recommendation for disinvestment of 100 per cent shareholding of Government of India to strategic buyer identified through two-stage auction process in the CPSEs including Pawan Hans Limited (PHL). This was revealed by Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, in a reply in Lok Sabha.

Tourism Minister (I/C) Dr. Mahesh Sharma has given directives to allow purchase of monument tickets in Agra in bulk with payments through Demand Draft with immediate effect. The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) had urged the Ministry of Tourism and ASI to suggest alternatives regarding purchase of ASI Monument tickets after December 15, 2016. As for all the other monuments, tickets are available for purchase online, except for some monuments in Agra, especially Fatehpur Sikri, Agra Fort and Itimad-ul-Daula’s Tomb. Also, there will not be any passport details required for bulk purchase, revealed Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO. He added that installation of Debit/Credit Card swipe machines at the monuments are also being explored.

Sabre Corporation’s board of directors has appointed Sean Menke as President, CEO and a member of Sabre’s board, effective Dec 31, 2016. Menke will succeed Tom Klein, who has served as president, CEO and board member since 2013. “After an extensive search of qualified candidates, the board unanimously concluded that Sean is the right choice to lead Sabre. Since his arrival last year, Sean has demonstrated that his strong industry knowledge and expertise coupled with his decisive, results-oriented management style are an effective combination. These traits will help Sabre drive innovation as the travel industry’s technology leader and serve the needs of airlines, hotels, travel agents and travelers alike.  I look forward to working with Sean to make this happen,” said Larry Kellner, executive chairman of Sabre’s Board of Directors. Menke joined Sabre in October 2015 and currently serves as executive vice president of Sabre and president of Sabre Travel Network, Sabre’s largest line of business.  Under Menke’s leadership, Sabre Travel Network has won major new business opportunities, increased global market share and secured Sabre’s position as the leading global distribution system in three of its four major operating regions (North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific), and successfully extended new multi-year agreements with many of its largest global travel management companies, online travel agencies and travel retailers.  In addition, he has led the innovation that enables the sale of more customized fares and ancillary products through Sabre Travel Network and strengthened the technology solutions that will be offered to travel agencies next year as part of the launch of the new Sabre Red platform.  Prior to Sabre, Menke served as CEO of Frontier Airlines and held senior executive positions at …

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has issued directions to the respective car parking licensees across all AAI controlled airports for evolving a mechanism of e-payment transactions in the form of debit/credit cards, digital wallets (PayTM, Freecharge, Mobikwik, Reliance Jio etc.). This was revealed by Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, in Lok Sabha, AAI has also keep sufficient change of currency in small denomination of Rs.10, 20, 50 & 100 to smoothen the process of parking at all airports. Besides Car Parking Licensees, AAI is evolving a mechanism so that digital payment alternatives through various modes is available at all concessions providing passenger facilitation services at airports (such as Food & Beverage Outlets, General Retails, Car Rentals, Pre-paid Taxi Services etc.

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) is conducting the Turkey Mega Educon Programme with Turkish Indian Tourism Council (TITC) from March 12 to 15, 2017, in Istanbul. The pre tour programme will be held from March 9-12 in Turkey. The main Istanbul programme would include the destination training and meetings with local suppliers. March 15 to 18, will be the post tour programme in Turkey. The pre and post tour destinations proposed are a selection from 4 cities – Antalya, Cappadocia, Izmir-Kusadas, Pamukkale, and Bodrum-Marmaris-Fethiye. TITC will also be arranging with the Turkish Embassy and its consulate in India to assist the OTOAI members for their visas ex New Delhi and Mumbai. The deadline for application for OTOAI members is December 19, 2016.

Effective December 17, VFS Global in India and Nepal will no longer accept Schengen visa applications on behalf of the Embassy of Spain or Consulate General of Mumbai in India. Applicants who have confirmed appointments with VFS Global up till December 16, 2016 shall continue to have their applications processed at the VFS Global office in and Nepal. The VFS Global website stated, “For all other queries from 17 December 2016 onwards, please get in touch directly with the Spain Consulate General OR Embassy of Spain in your city. For queries regarding visa applications submitted on/before 16 December 2016, please note, our website, online appointment system, call center line and helpdesk email support will be operational until December 26, 2016. VFS Global will continue to process Schengen visa applications on behalf of the other European member states served by VFS Global.”

Flight Shop, the flagship retail leisure business of Australia-headquartered Flight Centre Travel Group, opened its first retail store in Hyderabad. This is the first franchise outlet in India and was inaugurated by Rakshit Desai, Managing Director, FCM Travel Solutions and Shravan Gupta, Managing Director, Travel Tours Group. With the launch of this store, FCM now has a total of 17 operational Flight Shop stores across India. Spread over 1500 sq. ft., the Flight Shop outlet in Hyderabad is based at a prime location at Nagarjuna Circle catering to the needs of up market urban consumers – families, business travellers, honeymoon couples and groups of travellers. The new retail outlet will offer travellers Flight Shop’s range of products and services viz., Leisure Travel (Domestic and International Flights, Holidays – Group and Customised, Hotels, Car Transfers, Visa, Cruise holidays, honeymoon holidays, adventure holidays and more) and Foreign Exchange (under the Travel Money brand). Flight Shop’s footprint now extends to a total of 17 stores across Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Kochi and Vadodara, via a combination of owned branches and the newly opened franchise outlet.

MRS Group has launched its newest property- Narendra Bhawan Bikaner. It is the third property by the Group and the second in Bikaner, where it also operates Laxmi Niwas Palace. With a full inventory of 82 rooms, the hotel opens with 58 guest rooms and suites. Speaking on the launch, Manvendra Singh Shekhawat, Managing Director, MRS Group, said, “With the opening of Narendra Bhawan, we endeavour to put Bikaner on a traveller’s map. The hotel aims to offer discerning travellers, an oasis of tranquillity with service that is personalised. The experiences curated by the hotel will bring alive the vignettes of Narendra Singh Ji’s lifestyle and history of Bikaner.” The Hotel is a retelling of the legend of the last reigning Maharaja of Bikaner-Narendra Singhji (1948-2003). The facilities include outdoor areas like the Gaushala and the Verandah; indoor dining venues like the Mad Hatter Bake House and P&C; infinity swimming pool; Clinic Spa; large meeting spaces with banquet rooms and a courtyard for business and social events. A Reveille breakfast, Sundowners at the pastures, Royal Ascot and White Nights of the Rajputs are a few experiences for the guests at the new hotel.

As many as 1,36,876 foreign tourists arrived in November 2016 on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 83,501 during the month of November 2015 registering a growth of 63.9 per cent. The UK continues to be the biggest market availing the services with a 22.3 per cent share, followed by USA (12.9 per cent), Russian Fed (8.7%), France (6.3%), China (6.1%), Germany (4.6%), Australia (4.1%), Canada (3.6%), Netherlands (1.8%) and Ukraine (1.8%). New Delhi Airport served the most number of eTV applicants with a 44.99 per cent share followed by Mumbai Airport (18.53%), Dabolim (Goa) Airport (14.19%), Chennai Airport (5.26%), Bengaluru Airport (5.23%), Kochi Airport (2.99%), Kolkata Airport (2.32%), Hyderabad Airport (1.94%), Trivandrum Airport (1.32%) and Amritsar Airport (1.11%). During January- November 2016, a total of 9,17,446 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 3,41,683 during January-November 2015, registering a growth of 168.5 per cent.

Air India and VietJetAir have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) over their proposed cooperation on flights between India and Vietnam. Under the terms of the partnership, VietJet and Air India will both commence direct flights between the two countries with the first route to be Ho Chi Minh City-Delhi Int’l. Moreover, both airlines will also cooperate in the expansion of their sales distribution capabilities, the implementation of tourism and trade promotions between Vietnam and India; and the exchange of expertise through collaborative personnel training. “We are very delighted at the agreement with Air India,” VietJetAir Vice President Dinh Viet Phuong said “We hope that Air India’s aviation experience and capabilities will help Vietjet to better our access to India – a potential market with a young and dynamic population of more than 1.2 billion people. The cooperation is also expected to contribute positively to a higher development of partnership in economy, trade and tourism between Vietnam and India.” The move comes amid warming ties between India and Vietnam. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Hanoi in September he and his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, signed twelve MOUs covering the sectors of defence, space, IT, health, mutual recognition of standards, and cybersecurity.