Come September 9, the iconic property from the Bird Group will change its branding, and will be called Roseate Hotel. The brand has been refreshed to create a new identity. The Bird Group also has another property D2 at the Aerocity, which has still not opened, and would come under the same brand. The Bird Group will officially announce the change of branding on September 9, without any interruption in services.

Threeland Travel, an inbound operator for Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar represented by Global Destinations in India organised an eight day familiarisation trip for key travel trade agents in Vietnam in August 2016. The visit showcased cultural, leisure and historical offerings of Vietnam such as the Temple of Literature, boat ride to the three caves of Tam Coc, trip to My Son – to discover the hidden treasure of the Cham culture, discovering Cu Chi tunnels, a network of over 200km of tunnels and more. Pruthvi Khetani, General Manager – Mumbai, Global Destinations says, “The Indian travel trade fraternity plays a great role in highlighting not just the usual offerings of the country but also educating potential travellers on various activities they can experience in Vietnam. It is culturally rich destination that offers a wide range of leisure experiences to travellers. More importantly, it is easily accessible from India, which makes it preferred for visitors of different age groups. The teams of Threeland Travel and Global Destinations worked tirelessly to make this visit a grand success.” The journey extensively covered activities from the South to North of Vietnam including a trip to two remaining sanctuaries in Hoa Lu, witnessing show of water puppetry, cruising through the rock formations of Halong Bay, visiting the glamour town of Hoian, boat cruising in the canals of Ben Tre, exploring Ho Chi Minh City and dinner on Indochina Junk Cruise.

Dragonair has introduced the A320 Business and Economy class seats with new on-demand inflight entertainment system, StudioKA, from September 2, 2016. A comprehensive inflight entertainment system will be made available on Dragonair’s A320 fleet for the very first time in India, where each passenger can access their own choice of entertainment via the wireless IFE. The Business class passengers will be provided with tablets for IFE, whereas the Economy class passengers will be able to download the StudioKA app on their personal devices via the inflight Wi-Fi service. Moreover, Dragonair has also upped the comfort offered in-flight with the vision to truly enhance their passengers’ travel experience. Rajesh Menon, Regional Sales & Marketing Manager-South Asia, said, “We constantly strive to introduce services that can elevate the travel experience for our customers and make for a ‘Life Well Travelled’ experience. The east India market has seen a significant growth in the last few years. The new product suite onboard the A320 fleet, on all our flights from Kolkata is a great boost to this trend. The introduction of our new interactive Inflight Entertainment system, enhanced seats will usher in a combination of top notch entertainment, comfort and practicality. We are sure that our new enhancements will provide our valued customers with another reason to fly Dragonair.”

The two-day long BRICS Convention on Tourism was inaugurated in Khajuraho Madhya Pradesh in the presence of South African Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom. The BRICS nations were represented by the South African Tourism Minister, Mr. D.A. Hanekom and delegations from Russia and China. The inaugural function was also graced by Tourism Minister and Chairman-Tourism, Government of Madhya Pradesh Surendra Patwa. Secretary (Tourism), Government of India, Vinod Zutshi welcomed all the delegates, senior dignitaries, officials and members of the travel trade. He stressed on the importance of the tourism sector as a major catalyst for economic growth and a source of job creation, thus contributing to the economy. He welcomed the cooperation extended by all the BRIGS nations for mutual growth of tourism between the member countries. The Minister of Tourism, South Africa expressed his great pleasure for holding the BRICS Convention on Tourism in the historic temple town of Khajuraho and highlighted that India with a long tradition, history, ancient civilisation and culture with a large number of World Heritage Sites like Khajuraho is destination to be visited again and again. He also proposed constituting a permanent BRICS Working Stream on Tourism comprising of the stakeholders of the Government and private sector. Heads of the delegation of China and Russia also emphasized greater cooperation among the member countries for the mutual benefit for the growth of tourism and looked at the convention as a platform to interact with the travel industry partners.

Munich Tourist Office, India, has launched a specialist-training program called Munich Travel Guru for the travel trade. The programme builds on the theme ‘Simply Munich’ and engages the travel trade through 10 online informative modules. The participants will have to score a minimum of 90 per cent in each module to proceed to the next level. Once the participant clears all modules and becomes a Munich Travel Guru, certificate will be issued online and the early birds will be rewarded. SanJeet, India Representative, Munich Tourist Office, said, “We have been actively working with our travel partners with an objective to create the buzz and help build business for Munich City. The program has also been designed specially to enhance knowledge of the frontline staff through extensive education and sell packages to Munich more effectively.” As per the latest statistics, Munich has recorded a year-on-year growth of 21 per cent during January–June 2016 in Indian visitor arrivals and 14 per cent growth in Indian overnights.

Scoot will commence its Jaipur–Singapore flight from October 2. Scoot has named its first plane landing in Jaipur ‘KamaScootra’ taking inspiration from the ancient Indian text. With this, India becomes the second country after Singapore to inspire an aircraft name after it for Scoot Airlines. The plane will have 335 seats, including 21 premium economy. There will be three flights every week from Jaipur to Singapore till October 29 and afterwards, the frequency will be increased to four. Bharath Mahadevan, Country Head, India, Scoot, says, “At this point, our focus in India is building guest awareness on our propositions – value, choices, innovation, and service with Scootitude–and getting them to experience why Scoot has been ranked Asia-Pacific’s top LCC for two years running. With Jaipur, we take another step towards the target of steadily increasing our operations in India.” The Singapore Airline Group will offer affordable fares from Jaipur to Singapore and other destinations like Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and Bangkok. The fares will range from Rs. 4,699 onwards. The sale period starts on September 01 and ends on September 11, 2016.

Bali has witnessed around 55.47% growth in Indian visitor arrivals to the country during the first six months of 2016 as compared to the same period last year, according to the Bali Tourism Promotion Board (BPPD). India ranked sixth for inbound visitor arrivals in 2015 for Bali. During January-June this year, 92,519 Indian tourists have travelled to the Bali as compared to 59,509 tourists for the same period last year, according to data released by BPPD. “Our focus is on the MICE se­gment. Factors such as marketin­g support for BPPD Ba­li, support from the Emba­ssy and Consulate, efforts o­f the Ministry of Tou­rism of the Republic ­of Indonesia and most­ importantly Visa on ­Arrival for Indians re­ally helped to achieve­ this sustainable gro­wth of over 50 per cent in fi­rst six months of 201­6,” said Vineet Gopal, D­irector India, Bali T­ourism Promotion Boar­d.

To mark the occasion of India’s 70th Independence Day, Lufthansa Passenger Airlines made every passenger feel special by extending an Indian reception at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport. On August 15, 2016, Lufthansa passengers were greeted by ground staff donned traditional attire and tri-colour decorations. In addition, passengers were gifted sweets as well as an Indian tri-colour upon check-in. With this initiative, Lufthansa once again demonstrated that it is an airline with a “Soul of Germany and a Heart of India”.

Bengaluru-based OTA, Via.com has partnered with seven state-operated corporation buses to offer real-time online booking on its agents’ outlets, its website and mobile App for a range of State Road Transport Corporation bus services. Currently, it has tied up with seven state corporations, including Gujarat, J&K, Odisha, Punjab, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and Goa. With this move, Via.com is expecting an increase of 30 per cent in its overall bus bookings by the next quarter. Currently, VIA sells bus tickets worth of Rs 10 crore every month. To increase its presence in the land transport sector, the company is also looking at tying up with other state-run bus operators, including Himachal Pradesh, Rajashtan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharastra in the near future. Apart from the state-run buses, Via.com offers bookings across categories such as Volvo, air-conditioned, non-air-conditioned, deluxe, semi deluxe, sleeper and semi sleeper buses. VIA will offer competitive prices on bus tickets through over 5,000 bus operators and more than 75,000 routes across India, the company said. Swaminathan Vedaranyam, Chief Executive Officer, VIA said, “We are seeking to strengthen our portfolio of offerings and ensure that we remain the one-stop shop for travel solutions. With this integration, we aim to open this channel for a section of travellers who are loyal to state-run buses to make life hassle-free and easier for them.” The ticket prices for most routes range from Rs 650-1500. From April-July 2015 to April-July 2016, the growth in terms of sale bookings from the bus segment has grown 3X on Via.com, the CEO added.

In view of the recent passenger trains derailments, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has directed railway administration to launch a massive safety drive across entire Indian Railways network focusing on the strong measures for preventing derailments. Derailment of trains is one of the major causes of railway accidents constituting on an average 50 per cent of the total railway accidents. The fortnight long safety drive is beginning from September 1, 2016. The Minister reviewed the safety measures with the Railway Board. Zonal Railways and Railway Divisions have been directed to gear up their machinery to carry out this drive effectively. Senior officers including Divisional Railway Managers have been asked to be actively associated with the safety drive. Safety drive will be constantly monitored in the railway board by the safety directorate. Suitable follow up action will be taken on all deficiencies and irregularities noticed during the drive. The corrective measures wherever required should immediately be taken to ensure safety in railway operations. The result and report of the drive will also be used for long term measures. It has been reemphasized that safety in railway operations should continue to be the top most priority at all levels.