The third edition of the East India Travel Awards celebrated the accomplishments of the travel and tourism industry of East India at Novotel Hotel and Residences, Kolkata, on July 15. J. P. Shaw, Regional Director (East), India Tourism-Kolkata, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, was the Chief Guest for this prestigious award ceremony. The awards commemorated the achievers from different segments of the industry, such as airlines, GDS, Hotels, Travel Agents, Tour Operators and allied services.

The Government of Maharashtra has appointed Jaykumar Rawal as the new Tourism Minister as on July 8, 2016. Rawal took oath as Cabinet Minister and will also be handling the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) in Maharashtra in his portfolio. He holds a degree in Bachelors of Commerce from Symbiosis University, Pune and degree in Business Management from Cardiff University, England. He takes over from Prof Ram Shinde. On taking over charge of his new role as a Tourism Minister, Rawal immediately had a meeting with Madan Yerawar, State Minister Tourism, Government of Maharashtra and higher officials of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) including Valsa Nair Singh, IAS, Principal Secretary, Tourism & Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra; Satish Soni, Joint MD, MTDC; Swati Kale, GM, MTDC, amongst other Head of Departments. He reviewed the current tourism projects and provided valuable guidance and direction to the Department of Tourism during the meeting. On the appointment Rawal said, “My key focus will be to advance the current tourism scenario in Maharashtra through implementation of new policies aimed towards tourism growth and skill development. We have great platforms like Visit Maharashtra 2017 campaign and SAARC Summit in Aurangabad in the pipeline. The Tourism Ministry will soon announce the launch of creative contests for logo designing for Visit Maharashtra 2017 campaign and tagline for Maharashtra Tourism.”

Travelport and OYO has announced a new agreement whereby 6,000 hotel properties offered by OYO will be made available through Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform to its travel agency users, both in India and around the world. OYO currently operates in more than 180 Indian cities, including Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Goa. Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform connects hotel providers and independent properties to its 68,000 connected agencies worldwide, in turn, offering travellers more hotel choices as Travelport now offers 650,000 unique hotel properties. Kavikrut, Chief Growth Officer, at OYO said, “We are pleased to partner with Travelport and take our offerings to a wider audience. Both OYO and Travelport are recognised for leveraging innovative technology capabilities. We are confident of utilising this synergy to unlock new growth areas for both partners.” The agreement with OYO is the latest example of Travelport responding to the needs of its agents to add the hotel content they need in their local regions.  It also responds to the needs of hoteliers by giving them access to the international travel booking industry. Once on Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform, travel agents globally have access to the hotel content through their normal workflow, eliminating time-consuming and inefficient bookings across different channels.

Starting July 15, Jet Airways will be charging Rs 900 for extra cabin bag for passengers flying from the six metros. Under the new rule Jet Airways would allow flyers to take one hand bag weighing up to seven or 10 kg. This is depending on whether they are flying economy or business or are Jet’s privilege platinum and gold members, a laptop bag, and a purse for women without any extra charge. Apart from this, any other cabin luggage will have a levy of Rs 900.

As part of ambitious expansion, GoAir has chosen Airbus for its further expansion plans by signing an MoU for 72 A320neo aircraft at the Farnborough International Airshow. The airline announced its latest order following a similar agreement for 72 A320neo placed in 2011 bringing the total order book to 144 aircraft. The first two aircraft from this order were delivered in June. GoAir CEO, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said, “The new A320neo provide us the competitive edge to achieve our growth targets and help us strengthening our presence in the wider region. It also reaffirms Go Air’s commitment to deliver the most modern, comfortable and excellent air travel experience to all customers as well as to strengthen the sustained positive growth and business expansion of the company. The new aircraft will help us in unlocking new domestic routes while providing a springboard for continued international network expansion in the years to come.”

AccorHotels Group officially announced the acquisition of FRHI Hotels & Resorts (FRHI) and its three prestigious luxury hotel brands: Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel. Following the approval of shareholders at the General Shareholders Meeting on July 12, 2016, the transaction with Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) of Saudi Arabia provided $840 million (€768 million) cash payment and the issuance of 46.7 million AccorHotels shares in consideration for the contributed FRHI shares. Joining AccorHotels’ global network is a portfolio of globally admired brands, which includes management of many of the world’s most iconic and historic hotels located in key strategic cities around the world, including: The Savoy in London, Raffles Singapore, Fairmont San Francisco, New York’s The Plaza, Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City, and Le Royal Monceau Raffles Paris. The transaction gives QIA and KHC respective stakes of 10.4% and 5.8% in Accor’s share capital. Ali Bouzarif and Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo from QIA and Sarmad Zok from KHC will now join AccorHotels’ Board of Directors. AccorHotels plans to generate approximately €65 million in revenue and cost synergies thanks to the combination of brands, the maximization of hotel earnings, the increased efficiency of marketing, sales and distribution channel initiatives, and the optimization of support costs. Significant enhancements will also be made in terms of customer data, thanks to the integration of FRHI’s customer base that includes three million loyalty members, of which 75 percent are in North America.This addition of three remarkable brands instantly positions AccorHotels as a leading player in the global luxury hotel market, increases long term growth potential and profitability, and significantly expands the company’s footprint in North America, the world’s largest and most …

Stayzilla.com has expanded the number of homestays in North East, Sikkim and Bengal, given the remoteness and demand for stays in these areas. Stayzilla works closely with various state tourism departments for opening up more homestays across the hilly terrain of the East. It has also introduced homestays in Tawang, Bhalukpong and Bomdila, located along the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. While homestays in Bhalukpong are supervised by the forest division, the stays in Bomdilla are run by Monpa, Sherdukpen, Miji, Bugun and Aka tribes. Identifying the undersupply of stay options relative to demand in India, Stayzilla stays are surpassing geographical barriers to welcome diverse cultures experiences across remote places such as Majuli. With over ten homestays, local tribes of Majuli have been promoting spiritual and eco-tourism vigorously in the region. Majuli is located on the river Brahmaputra in Assam and is known as the largest river island in the country. With an array of homestay facilities available across Sikkim and Meghalaya, Stayzilla lists homestays that offer tourists an opportunity to live with the locals, discover and share their lifestyle. Stayzilla has been involved in promoting eco-tourism and rural home stays in the region. On revitalising village tourism, Ankit Rastogi, VP Marketplaces, Stayzilla said “Unlike most travel experiences, rural homestays focus on collaborating with locals in improving their community’s quality of living. We, at Stayzilla work closely with State Tourism departments to develop unique tourism experiences based on the community’s cultural heritage to enable tourists to experience local hospitality, cuisine, customs and traditions by staying with families.” Along with rural and wildlife tourism, religious destinations spearhead domestic tourism in the country. The Mayapur Tourism Department under ISKCON temple provides …

SpiceJet is all set to take more than 8000 pilgrims on special flights for the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca from Gaya and Indore. It plans to deploy two Airbus 320 to carry pilgrims from Gaya and Indore respectively. The flights will be operated from the two Indian cities to Jeddah and Madina between August 4 and September 3, 2016. The return journey for the pilgrims back to Gaya is scheduled from September 17 and to Indore from September 30. The whole activity is expected to be executed by October 16, 2016. G. P. Gupta, Chief Administrative Officer and Accountable Manager, SpiceJet says, “It is a great privilege for us to be a part this grand holy ritual and eagerly look forward to serve our nation on this occasion. Hajj is a lifetime experience and SpiceJet will make every effort to ensure a hassle-free and delightful travel experience to all its customers. We extend our appreciation to the Ministry of Civil Aviation & Hajj committee for choosing us and wish all our pilgrim customers a wonderful stay at Mecca this year.”

The third edition of East India Travel Awards will be held at Novotel Kolkata Hotel and Residences today. The awards will honour the achievers of the eastern region, who have contributed to the growth of travel and tourism industry. Novotel Kolkata Hotel and Residences is hosting the event for the second time. The award statuette, Maya, celebrates the grandeur of tourism and imbibes the best representation of power to change the industry. Sharing details about the event, Gunjan Sabikhi, Convenor, India Travel Awards, says, “Everyone needs encouragement to grow and India Travel Awards helps the industry in this endeavor. The Awards recognise the contribution and achievements of travel and tourism players and rewards those who have gone above and beyond to offer a superior tourism experience to travellers. The only Awards to recognise talent at regional level, over the years they have become the standard of excellence for businesses and organisations in the travel industry. We have received nominations from the remotest corner of the region. Industry awards in turn help the winners in improving their relationship with their suppliers, build their credibility and help them break into new markets.” According to Jai Kishan, General Manager, Novotel Kolkata Hotel and Residences, “India Travel Awards has proved to be immensely successful ever since its inception. Congratulations are in order for their seamless operations, unbiased jury decisions and the fillip that it provides to the entire tourism and hospitality industry. The benefits of hosting the Awards ceremony range from the tangible to all other realms of acceptance and visibility for the hotel and its team as the event provides an unmatched exposure across a plethora of relevant platforms,” he says. Setting a …

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) held an interactive meeting with a number of airlines in New Delhi to address the issues of its members. The interactive meeting saw in attendance representatives from all the major airlines including Air India, Lufthansa, Emirates, Etihad, Malaysian Airlines, Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, Oman Air, Air Cananda, Jet Airways as well as IATA and the GDS’s as well. TAAI, along with its members had put forth the issues like web parity; credit card acceptance, service tax, unethical practices by OTAs etc. and extended a hand to the airlines to come to a solution for these. Marzban Antia, Vice President, TAAI, said, “This being the inaugural meeting of TAAI with the airlines. After this we will have independent meetings with all of them. We at TAAI are being very aggressive and have taken a number of initiatives for our members, and this is another step in the direction of empowering our members.”