The Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Mumbai organised a two-day expo in the city that brought a huge delegation of Indonesian sellers from various industries together under one roof.  ‘Expo Indonesia 2016’ saw 35 companies participate from industries like travel and tourism, furniture, handicrafts and food. Also participating in the expo was Garuda Indonesia which has announced a direct flight between Mumbai and Indonesia sometime in December 2016, making it the first direct flight to Indonesia. It is considering Bali and Jakarta for this connection. The airline is still working on the schedule and will be loaded in the GDS for sale soon. The Consul General added that they are pushing for more cities between the two countries: Bali – Mumbai, Jakarta – New Delhi  and Chennai – Medan.  On the sidelines of the expo was a seminar dedicated to tourism. Saut Siringoringo, Consul General, Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, said, “We want to do everything to push relations between the two countries. Indonesia has huge potential in the India market. The achievement of 16 billion USD in trade value between India and Indonesia is no small achievement. We can see this growth even in tourist arrivals from India which grew 68 per cent last year with 2,70,000 Indian tourists visiting Indonesia. This year we expect 3,50,000 – 4,00,000 Indian arrivals into Indonesia.”

In an emergency meeting last night, the government has extended payments in demonetized 500 and 1,000 currency notes at all utilities and ASI monuments till November 24, as confirmed by Pronab Sarkar President, IATO. Earlier, based on the advice of Ministry of Finance, the Director General of ASI had issued orders for accepting demonetized 500 and 1000 currency notes till the midnight of November 11, 2016, for entry tickets to centrally protected monuments.

Air fares will be capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights on unserved and under-served routes and flyers will have to shell out more as air fares are likely to increase as per the government’s ambitious Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS). The RCS, unveiled on Nov 11, was mooted in the New Civil Aviation Policy as part of the government’s plan to serve smaller cities, has been put up for stakeholders’ consultations including state governments, airlines and airport operators. It will target 90 airports. The stakeholders have been given three weeks time to submit their comments and suggestions on the draft scheme, which is expected to be finalised by August. Also as part of the proposed scheme, a new category of airlines, scheduled commuter airlines, is being created where a new operator may be allowed to start operations with just one plane. Under the proposed scheme, the government would be providing Viability Gap Funding (VGF) – which would be financed through Regional Connectivity Fund (RCF). Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju while unveiling the draft policy said RCF would be created for funding RCS “through levy on certain flights.” In this regard, the government would be charging a levy in the form of per domestic departure from the airlines on certain routes, a move which is expected to push the airfares marginally higher. The Ministry would contribute 80 per cent of the VGF, while respective state governments would chip in with the remaining 20 per cent to the fund which will have a corpus of Rs 500 crore each year. When asked how much levy is likely to be charged, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said, “We are giving …

Facing shortage of currency notes of lower denominations coupled with heavy rush at booking counters, the railways has reportedly stopped giving refund for cancellation of tickets in cash and is issuing ticket deposit receipts (TDR) instead. “So we are giving TDR to those who are cancelling tickets and if the refund amount is Rs 10,000 or more then it would be returned to the bank account of the person,” a railways official said. In case of refund amount touching Rs 10,000 or above, the railways will only transfer the amount to the customer’s bank account and the person concerned is required to furnish account details for receiving the amount while cancelling the ticket. According to IRCTC, the online ticketing arm of the railways, total 5,55,587 e-tickets were booked on 8 October, while it fell to 5,07,996 on October 9. The railways earned Rs 123 crore on ticket sales on October 9 as against the collection of Rs 109 crore on October 8, an increase of Rs 14 crore.

The Fern Hotels & Resorts has announced the opening of The Fern Goregaon, an upscale business hotel located approximately 0.9 km from Bombay Exhibition & Convention Centre off western express highway. The hotel is designed on the theme of Mumbai and its culture. The hotel’s proximity to Western Express highway, important business and entertainment hub, exhibition centre makes it an ideal location for business traveller. The hotel offers 89 rooms, an all day dining restaurant cum coffee shop and range of facilities such as banquet hall, roof top swimming pool, fitness centre and many more. Located strategically off western express highway in Goregaon East; just 0.9 kms away from Bombay Exhibition and Convention centre, 7 kms from international airport, 7.5 kms from domestic airport. The unit is owned and promoted by IJB Hotels. The hotel is managed by Concept Hospitality.

GMR Airports Limited (GAL), a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Limited, signed the Concession Agreement with Goa Government for the development and operation of north Goa’s Greenfield International Airport at Mopa. The agreement is signed by R.V. Sheshan, CEO, GMR Goa International Airport Limited (GGIAL) and R.K. Srivastava, Chief Secretary, Government of Goa in the presence of Laxmikant Yashwant Parsekar, Goa Chief Minister, Srinivas Bommidala, Chairman-Airports, GMR Group and other dignitaries. As per the concession agreement, GMR will design, build, finance and operate the international airport for 40 years with extension option for another 20 years. The construction period for the first phase of the project is three years from the date of financial closure and is expected to be operational by mid of 2020. Srinivas Bommidala, Chairman-Airports, GMR Group, said, “We are excited about the project and the opportunity to partner with the Government of Goa. GMR Group has already delivered landmark airport assets for the Country. Delhi International Airport which is the ‘Gateway of India’ today ranks as the Number One Airport in the World in its category. This has brought tremendous pride to the Country and all Indians. Worldwide airports have been the economic engine of the Country/Region, and Delhi Airport has tremendously boosted not only the India’s economy but also the Delhi State economy. GMR Group very humbly takes pride in being the custodians of these national assets thus contributing towards our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of developing a progressive India.

Based on the advice of Ministry of Finance, the Director General of ASI has issued orders for accepting demonetized 500 and 1000 currency notes till the midnight of November 11, 2016, for entry tickets to centrally protected monuments. Foreign tourists can purchase foreign exchange equivalent to Rs 5000 using these specified bank notes at airport exchange counters within 72 hours after the notification provided the proof of purchasing the specified bank notes is presented, revealed Debjit Dutta, Chairman, IATO-Eastern Region.

Holidays By Sahibji has introduced a new online venture www.travkart.com which is launched to promote international and domestic destinations, packages, sightseeing, excursions and different products online. Travkart.com is unique in its features and is complete online and offline travel management solutions to both B2B and B2C clients for all specialised fixed departures to destinations around the world. Some of the main services include: Fixed departure packages including Air and Non – Air packages to Indian & International destinations, ranging from the shortest possible tour itineraries to long vacations, thus making travel easily accessible & feasible for everyone, Domestic & International Hotel bookings, Cruise Holidays, Special Theme holidays, Day Trips / Weekend Getaways and MICE: Special group rates for Meetings, Incentives, Conference, Exhibitions, Leisure or Training programme on all Domestic and International destinations.

Rajan Sehgal, Chairman, TAAI Northern Chapter, feels that for the next few months, it will be a big problem for domestic tourism as people use cash transactions for everything from staying, to eating and sight-seeing. “Foreign tourists also are facing a challenge in paying for basic needs like food as well as reports have also come from many places about people being denied entry in the monuments as they do not have the required cash. Foreign tourists who are in the middle of their journey in India and have already exchanged money, have no idea what they need to do with the cash they have as most of it is in denominations of 1000 and 500. Another big problem for us is that all the embassies and VFS centres do not take cheques or credit cards. They only take demand drafts, which is a longer process or they accept cash, which is posing as a big problem today. We are in talks with them and hoping for a positive outcome.”

Sarabjit Singh, Vice Chairman, FAITH, reveals that tour operators are facing problems everywhere they need to pay higher amount, especially at interstate tolls, which has now been relaxed till Nov 11. “The denominations for 50 and 100 is not available in large numbers as of now. Paying monument fee turned out to be a big problem for tourists. Jaipur has made the entry complimentary for the monuments, and the same should be followed at other places. Either there should be alternate arrangements to deal with this problem, or there should be some relaxation until normalcy returns,” he adds.