Category Archives: Agents

Ministry of Tourism’s Regional Office, Indiatourism Mumbai conducted a domestic tourism marketing campaign ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ under the theme ‘Explore Incredible India’ with a brand activation event in Reliance Mall, Borivali in Mumbai from Dec 25 until 31 Dec. Mall visitors were provided information on special promotional packages prepared by local travel agents and tour operators.  

GB Srithar, Regional Director (India, Middle East & South Asia), Singapore Tourism Board, has said that the STB Virtual Tradeshow would allow them to reconnect with the travel trade in India. “It is in line with our ‘United we stand’ messaging for the travel trade in this crisis time. We would like to show our solidarity with the travel trade fraternity in terms of  communication and messages. We want to tell them that we are getting prepared, and as and when the restart happens, we hope to welcome Indian travellers to Singapore through the help and cooperation of our travel trade partner friends,” he said. The STB India Virtual Tradeshow is scheduled on Jan 12, 15, 19 and 21 for South, North, West and East India respectively. Register on: www.stbindiatradeshow2021.com, email: Jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com, or call +919650196532.

Baywatch Travels has launched curated sailing experience brand Baywatch Sailzz. Manish Kriplani, MD, Baywatch Travels, announced the new venture, saying, “Baywatch Sailzz is our answer to fresh outdoor experiences, where we offer curated sailing experiences for birthday, dinner, sunrise, sunset cruise and other celebrations. We have our international medallist skipper Chinna Reddy who will assist with the entire experience around Chennai Harbour and the Bay of Bengal.”

Sunil Kumar, President, UFTAA, has said that the association has initiated a concept of Zero Risk with IATA that can protect the agents and airlines from any future risk to either parties. “The current scenario has reflected our unpreparedness to protect the monies of the stakeholders and the customers, owing to the challenges the agencies had to go through. In an evolving scenario, it is time that such a Zero Risk to either of the stakeholders is envisioned through IATA’s governing resolution and we be better prepared to handle such crisis, if it would ever come up in future,” he says. Towards this, all Global Federations of Associations which are part of IATA’s PAPGJC have come together and a working group is getting created with terms of reference of the committee meeting the expectations of all. “This working group will involve representatives of airlines, agency associations, and IATA. This is anticipated to be finalised by January and thereupon the working group can deliberate to plan a great legacy for the future which does not pose any risk or threat to our customers or agencies. We eagerly look forward to this working group to be able to come up with a favourable solution for the industry and its stake holders,” Kumar adds.

According to Thomas Cook India’s travel survey for December 2020, confidence to travel is on the upswing, with 67% Indians willing to travel within the next 6 months.

Darpan Jain (IAS), Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry (MoCI), has said that Rs.1000 crore have been earmarked for programmes for tourism and medical value sector under the Champion Services Sector Programme, which is being coordinated by MoCI. Around Rs. 1000 crore worth of programmes have already been approved, he informed.

Reuniting together, the members of Enterprising Knot of Travel & Tourism Associates (EKTTA) attended a workshop on ‘Facing the new normal’ at the State Convention Center (Lok Seva Bhavan) in Bhubaneswar. The workshop was organised by Odisha Tourism in association with Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.  

After nine months of restriction on the entry of tourists to Meghalaya due to the pandemic, the state re-opened its doors on December 21, 2020. The Tourism Department has issued SOP for all tourists wherein they will need to mandatorily register on ‘The Meghalaya Tourism App’ and generate an e-invite for the proposed itinerary.

The new ‘Travel Insights with Google’ is Google’s new website that reflects demand trends to sector participants, be they a chain of hotels, a small travel start-up, or a booking  agent. It will help the industry understand pent-up travel demand and leverage insights from these tools for businesses. It is based on user search data. The tool can point to two kinds of time-specific trends: destination insights and hotel insights.

Under the revised MDA Scheme for domestic tourism, financial support will be provided to not just domestic tour operators but any tourism service providers approved by the Ministry of Tourism for promotion of domestic tourism. This can include travel agents, tour operators, tourist transport operators, hoteliers, B&B units, home-stays, motels, guest houses, tented accommodation, standalone restaurants, convention centres and online aggregators. Upper ceiling for this support is Rs 1,35,000 per trip including GST.