After opening a beautiful property in Mashobara, Regenta Resort & SPA, Mashobra, the Royal Orchid & Regenta Hotels is soon going to come up with a new majestic property in Gurugram, Delhi NCR which will be  called Regenta Suites Element One, Gurugram By Royal Orchid Hotels. The property is planned to open with 91 spacious suites, one restaurant cum bar, an ‘Infinite’ swimming pool on the 8th floor with an open-air social gathering space and many more facilities. The property in Mashobara, a beautiful hotel swirled in the mist of time and set in the Himalayan foothills. It is a is scenic, elegant and an upscale hotel in close proximity to the Himalayan Nature Park and The Ridge at Shimla Mall Road. The hotel is a wonderful mix of old world charm & the new-age conveniences and promises to give its guests an unparalleled experience. The exclusively appointed rooms feature a Cottage-style décor, free Wi-Fi and TVs most of the rooms have a mountain and valley view. The hotel includes an airy restaurant, An Alfresco Dinning and 3 Meeting rooms with an adjoining garden. There’s also a SPA, a Kid’s ply area, a Fitness Centre and Free Parking. Royal Orchid & Regenta Hotels is one of India’s fastest-growing hospitality brands, managing a portfolio of over 60+ properties in 39 cities across the country. Founded in 2001 by industry veteran, Chander K Baljee, Royal Orchid & Regenta Hotels is a renowned and trusted brand with a growth plan to reach 100 hotels by 2022. Perkin Rocha, Vice President – Operations, Royal Orchid & Regenta Hotels said, “We cater to business and leisure travellers who value comfort, great cuisine, distinctly warm Indian …

IntrCity SmartBus, the first & the foremost player in bus mobility has registered the best ever growth since travel re-started in the post lockdown era. The Company has been experiencing 2x faster growth than last year due to change in consumer mindset and expects to maintain that over the coming year Particularly, due to the pandemic, the consumers have started expecting better overall quality of experience – including safety, comfort and convenience than ever before.  An understanding of the shift in consumer preference helped IntrCity SmartBus scale-up its performance and cross all time high peaks. A comparatively lesser known fact but hardcore reality is that COVID 19 opened floodgates of possibilities for IntrCity SmartBus and helped it carve out a niche in the intercity mobility segment. The company is today expanding to newer routes and reinforcing the market dominance in the inter-city mobility segment driven by stronger brand pull and traveler’s loyalty, faith and confidence. The Company already resumed full-fledged operations on all existing pre-COVID routes on all the seven hubs in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Lucknow — connecting more than 200 cities.  All this is a clear reflection of the confidence in the mind of the passengers who feel confident, faith and trust in the brand’s IntrCity SmartBus fleet. Commenting on company’s accomplishment, Manish Rathi, CEO and Cofounder, IntrCity RailYatri said, “Our brand gives a lot of weightage to understand the customer’s requirements and offer the best travel experience. The number of satisfied customers being serviced by us is growing each day. All our pre-COVID routes are achieving 15-20% better fill rates and our unit economics have also improved significantly. This is a matter of pride …

Qatar Airways has become the first global airline in the world to achieve the prestigious 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating by international air transport rating organisation, Skytrax. The announcement follows a detailed audit, carried out by the Skytrax team in December 2020, which assessed how effectively and consistently the airline’s stringent COVID-19 hygiene and safety standards and procedures are adhered to, from flight check-in to on-board aircraft. This included a full review of procedural efficiency checks, visual observation of hygiene and safety levels at all stages of the passenger journey, and on-board Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) sampling tests to measure the potential level of contamination of contact surfaces. The achievement of the Skytrax 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating is in addition to Qatar Airways’ home and hub, Hamad International Airport (HIA), recently being named as the first airport in the Middle East and Asia to be awarded a Skytrax 5-Star COVID-19 Airport Safety Rating in December 2020. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “As an industry leader and the ‘World’s Best Airline’, as named by Skytrax, we are well-used to setting the standard for others to follow. We are delighted that our commitment to providing the most rigorous and comprehensive COVID-19 safety programme in existence within the global aviation community has been recognised with the Skytrax 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating. “This achievement highlights the fastidious measures and procedures Qatar Airways have employed to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our passengers throughout the global pandemic to date, and follows HIA’s recent success as the first airport in the Middle East and Asia to be awarded a Skytrax 5-Star COVID-19 Airport Safety Rating. “It also …

STB India Virtual Tradeshow 2021 ‘Charting Our Pathways to Tourism Recovery’, is set to kick-off for East India today, 21 Jan. This is the last edition of the four sessions for the tradeshow. Join us as 48 Singapore stakeholders comprising airlines, attractions, DMCs and hotels ready ourselves to prepare travel and tourism restart. For updates on Destination Singapore, travel trade can subscribe to STB India’s WhatsApp at https://bit.ly/stbindia

During its AGM and elections held virtually, ATOAI has elected new office-bearers and EC for 2021-23 term and form a Women Task Force. Vishwas Makhija, Managing Director, Inside India Tours is the new President while Rajesh Ojha, Managing Director, Banjara Camps is new Senior Vice President. Vaibhav Kala, Managing Director, Aquaterra Adventures India has been elected as the new Vice President. Vinayak Koul, Director, Snowlion Expeditions is back for a 2nd term as Hony. Secretary while Pradeep Murty, Director, Muddy Boots Vacations has been chosen as new Hony. Treasurer. Executive committee members are: – Commander Sam T Samuel – Kalypso Adventures. Ronny Singh Gulati – Youreka Campouts. Nirat Bhatt – Nidus Enterprises. Nadeem Sheikh – Sea & Sky Travel (India). Arvind Bhardwaj – Red Chilli Adventure Sports. Milind Bhide – Countryside Adventure Holidays. The new ATOAI team will continue to progress the growth of adventure travel in India by taking forward the association’s aims and shaping government policy for this sector. Apart from resolving issues impacting adventure tourism in the country, its main objectives would be to bring more adventure tour operators across the country into the mainstream of Quality and Responsible Tourism Practices as a member, getting all states to adopt ATOAI’s safety guidelines, prioritizing operational risk assessment within the membership, conducting skill development & capacity building workshops in association with state tourism departments and local associations, running educational seminars and FAM tours for members, fostering new and innovative adventure tourism products and creating a pool of trained human resources within the industry.  ATOAI also seeks to take measures to reduce environmental impact on India’s natural resources, check mass- tourism in our remote locales, and take active measures to help …

FHRAI has appealed to Government of India to aggressively promote domestic tourism in 2021. The association has emphasized on the need to encourage local tourism under the Ministry of Tourism’s (MoT) Dekho Apna Desh Pledge campaign. The association has also recommended incentivising domestic tourism by offering tax exemption under 80C of up to Rs 50,000.

EM Najeeb, Chairperson, Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry and Sr VP, IATO has said that frontline tourism workers in travel and tourism should be given priority for COVID-19 vaccination. “For a state like Kerala, a healthy, robust tourism industry is critical to the overall recovery of the economy as it contributes over 10 per cent of the GDP,” he said.

Travellers from the 103 countries including India are now allowed to enter Oman without securing a prior visa and can stay for up to 14 days after the Sultanate decided to extend it Visa-free period.

The Sikkim government has announced 2022 as ‘Visit Sikkim’ year, a declaration on year-long tourism promotion and marketing for the state focusing on having tourists in Sikkim for the whole year instead of otherwise practised season-based tourism endeavour.

STB India Virtual Tradeshow 2021 “Charting Our Pathways to Tourism Recovery” is set to commence today for North India. The virtual show will start from 10 am till 4 pm, where 45 Singapore exhibitors (airlines, attractions, hotels and DMCs) will engage with travel trade from North India. Register now on www.stbindiatradeshow2021.com