Category Archives: Agents

EbixCash, a fully owned subsidiary of Ebix, has announced a strategic travel technology partnership with Amadeus to grow its footprint across the Asia-Pacific region and UAE and become a one-stop shop for travel. The partnership will provide EbixCash’s online websites, travel agents and corporations in Asia-Pacific and UAE with greater access to the unrivalled breadth of content offered by the Amadeus Travel Platform , enabling EbixCash to better serve its customers. Robin Raina, Chairman of the Board, President & CEO, Ebix, said, “Our vision is to build an end-to-end travel solution for the industry. We want to empower travel agents and travellers alike. EbixCash today is the largest end-to-end financial exchange in the Indian sub-continent, besides its parent company Ebix being the largest insurance exchange in the world. We are always looking for new ways to stay ahead of our competitors. Partnering with Amadeus gives us access to innovative technology that will allow us to further expand our footprint across the region, especially in India, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where we see the greatest potential. Our growth strategy is built on the premise of having an unrivalled ‘phygital’ presence in the region – combining our physical distribution outlets in Southeast Asia with an omnichannel digital presence that allows our seller partners to have access to extensive real-time data and ecommerce solutions across all digital channels. Amadeus’ technology empowers EbixCash to deliver this and truly become a one-stop shop for travel.”  

Indonesia and Maldives expert U & I Holidays has announced that it will soon go online with a dynamic portal. Sharing more details, Ashish Indulkar, Director, U & I Holidays said, “We will start this new decade on a different note. We have been working on our online portal for some time and it is now in pilot stage. It will offer our trade partners faster service and turnaround time, rate parity, and live inventory and quotations. This should be ready by February 2020 and we encourage all our partners to get a login for this.” The company also completes 10 years of operations. It is currently busy conducting a seven-city roadshow in India with its partners from Indonesia.

Following the successful re-launch of its eLearning programme in the fall with the introduction of the Bronze level, Insight Vacations is now releasing the Silver Level on its Insight Specialist eLearning Programme. The second level of the new course is designed with travel advisors in mind and focuses on offering them a deep understanding of what makes the brand unique in the market. Whether a novice or an Insight Vacations expert, advisors will benefit from the course by having access to a bank of examples showcasing what makes Insight holidays unique for clients and through the tools, knowledge and confidence to sell Insight Vacations. The company is currently offering Early Payment Discount (EPD) with savings of 10 per cent* when clients book and pay in full by 28th February 2020. “The Silver Level of the Insight Specialist eLearning program is designed to provide Travel Advisors concrete examples of our distinctive features,” says Anthony Lim, Insight Vacations, Managing Director, Asia. “This enables advisors to highlight what makes Insight’s journeys so personal, stylish and magical, which in turn will benefit them with increased sales, rewards and elated clients. The timing couldn’t be more ideal with Insight Vacations’ Early Payment Discount offering our valuable Travel Advisors the opportunity to secure their clients’ spots on 2020 journeys with savings,”  Lim concludes. The Insight Specialist Gold Level will be available at a later date.  

Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has launched a destination wedding package, in a bid to promote tourism in the region. The above package will be available at six Panthanivas (a chain of hotels operated by OTDC) in Rambha, Gopalpur, Chandipur, Puri, Konark, and Barkul. Development work on these places would be started during the first phase. Shreemayee Mishra, Chairperson, OTDC, has reportedly said that apart from the wedding package, the newly-wed pair would also get a complimentary honeymoon as well as packages for their first two marriage anniversaries. She further said that since people are interested in destination weddings, it is expected that this new initiative is likely to become a trendsetter. The wedding package would cost around INR 2.17 lakh, which will cover the cost for two days and would include 25 rooms, the main wedding meal, three principal meals for 50 persons, basket snacks, cocktail snacks, mineral water in the rooms, and the wedding drum. The price may increase in case people require more facilities. The package can be booked online and it could further be extended to other Panthanivas of the state.

Vachirachai Srisumpan has been appointed as the new Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), New Delhi office, and will be taking up his new role from February 1, 2020. He will be replacing Isra Stapanaseth, who would now move to Bangkok to take up his new assignment, after working as Director of TAT, New Delhi for 4 years. Speaking at the Amazing Thailand evening in the capital Srisumpan, said, “I am honoured to be lucky and to be the representative of TAT in New Delhi. The Indian market is a great opportunity and a very important market for Thailand. We have very good partners with the travel agents and media here. I hope to take forward the work done by Isra Stapanaseth.”

Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has launched its new chapter in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The office bearers of the new chapter were unanimously elected and Jose T K from Jose Travels was named the Chairman. Hari Om Jhunjhunwala of Rashi Travels is the Secretary; Mandeep Duggal of Ondigo Travels is the Treasurer, while Shailendra Khare of Network Travels has been named as the Advisor of MP chapter. Present at the launch of the new chapter from national level were Pradeep Lulla, President, TAFI, along with Aditi Bhende, Secretary General, TAFI; Jayesh Tharani, Treasurer, TAFI and Teddy M. Thomas, Joint Treasurer, TAFI. Jose TK said that they will initiate discussion with various airlines to induct a flight to Bangkok from Indore as well as international flight operations from Bhopal & domestic sectors like Surat, Cochin, Pune & Chandigarh from Indore.

Association of Buddhist Tour Operators (ABTO) has opened its Asian office in Pattaya, Thailand. ABTO also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) for co-operation in the field of travel and tourism, with an aim to promote Buddhist pilgrimage tourism between the two countries. The MoU was signed by Kaulesh Kumar, Secy. General, ABTO and Bang-on Janasanthia, Committee Member, ATTA.

Outbound Tour Operators Association of India, OTOAI, has elected a new team. Riaz Munshi (N. Chirag) has been elected as the President; Himanshu Patil (Kesari Tours), has been elected as the Vice President; Shravan Bhalla (High Flyer) is the new General Secretary; Vineet Gopal (Engee Holidays) has been elected as the Joint Secretary and Siddharth Khanna (Khanna Enterprises) has been elected as the Treasurer. The members of the new committee members are, Mahendra Vakharia, Adl Abdul Karim, Gurdeep Singh Gujral, Ankush Nijhawan, Arshdeep Anand and Monia Kapoor.  

The first of the three-city Incredible India roadshow was held at Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore and witnessed participation from 25 Indian tour operators and DMCs along with representations from the state governments of Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. India Tourism Office in Singapore said that the roadshow provided a platform to the stakeholders of India’s tourism industry to interact with their Singaporean counterparts and position  India as a preferred destination for tourists of Singapore. After Singapore, the Incredible India roadshow will take place in Kuala Lumpur on December 10 and in Bangkok on December 12. A total of 1,75,852 tourists from Singapore visited India in 2017, a growth of 7.4 per cent on the year.

The second edition of PATA Tourism Powerhouse, presented by the Inder Sharma Foundation (ISF), concluded at The Park, New Delhi on December 6, 2019, with the attendance of the stalwarts of tourism industry from India and outside, who shared knowledge and forecast for tourism in India and across the world. The day-long event was inaugurated by Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA; Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Tourism, Government of India and Chairman, PATA India Chapter; Jatinder Taneja, Vice- Chairman, PATA India Chapter; John Koldowski, Special Advisor to CEO, PATA  and Professor, School of Tourism, Leshan Normal University, Sichuan Province, China; Priya Paul, Chairperson, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels; Arjun Sharma, Trustee, ISF and Chairman, Select Group; Neeraj Ghei, Chairman, ISF and SanJeet, Hony. Treasurer, PATA India Chapter.