Category Archives: Agents

Sharing an update on the ongoing discussion with the GST Council, Pradip Lulla, Acting President and Vice President, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), has said, “We had requested the GST Council and the Finance Ministry to review the refund of GST on air ticket refunds, and extend the date applicable for refund GST till March 31, 2021 due to the delay in total refunds by airlines. However, we have received no update on this. In fact, we even took this matter up during the APJC meeting. Unfortunately, the airlines argued that the government is not abiding by that. So agents who have submitted refunds after October 1, 2020 will not receive any refunds and GST will be deducted, because the airline has to pay to the government. Those who have submitted before October 1, their GST will not be cut, and will be duly refunded. The government is not willing to extend any leniency in this matter; since its a liability to the government, they will not allow anything to agents.” As per rule, if tickets are not refunded till September 30, 2020, then GST will not be refunded and customers will end up losing 5% in the economy class ticket and 12% in business class of the ticket value. TAFI has also filed a case in Supreme Court for airline refunds.

Tourism Ireland India is organising a webinar on Nov 19 at 3.30 pm to educate the trade on its offerings and COVID safety guidelines. Huzan Fraser Motivala, its India Representative, says, “It will see participation from four Irish suppliers and attendees can win gift hampers.” Contact Jaspreet Kaur at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or +91-9650196532 to attend.

The Tourism Office of Spain in India is organising its annual travel show virtually for the first time with 18 Spanish companies. Elisa Robles-Fraga, its Director in Mumbai, says, “The Virtual Spanish Travel Show will be held over two days on December 2-3, 2020 and will include private meetings between buyers and sellers, presentations and knowledge sessions.”   

Thomas Cook India has partnered with IndiGo to launch air-inclusive ‘Crazy Deals IndiGo Special’ that includes a range of options and value-adds at great prices. Domestic destinations include Goa, Rajasthan, Kerala, Himachal, North East, etc. and start at Rs 9,990 while international destinations start at 29,990.

EbixCash has launched the ‘Phir Se Ghoomega India’ campaign and offering value-for-money deals to the consumers looking to travel in the festive season. The offers will be available on its portal, Via.com. “I am excited at the campaign and equally optimistic about its success as we are experiencing a great response post-lockdown,” said Naveen Kundu, MD, Ebixcash Travel Group. The airline partners for this campaign are Vistara, AirAsia and GoAir, and the hotel groups having joined this campaign are Taj Group, Marriott, The Park, Radission Hotels, ITC Hotels, Sterling Holidays and Accor. The cab partners for this campaign are EbixCash Cab – AHA Taxis and EbixCash Gift Card.

Yatra.com, leading online travel portal conducted its annual festive survey amongst 5000 respondents, highlighting what the travel trends look like in the new normal. The survey indicated an uptick in demand for travel as almost 75% of respondents said they are planning to take up a vacation compared to 2019 where 61% of respondents were willing to go on a holiday during the festive season. The trend of advance booking continues with 39.3% of respondents planning leisure trips for more than one month in advance to rest, relax, and recuperate. Safety and hygiene take priority while planning a holiday as travelers are looking at the number of cases in the vicinity, sanitization measures adopted, government guidelines, amenities in case of emergency, among other factors. The survey revealed that about 52.5% of respondents are seeking medical/travel insurance for the sake of security and more than 50% of respondents said that they would be prefer ordering room service rather than visiting restaurants and bars. Taking extra safety precautions, about 72.1% of respondents said that they will be going through sanitization processes followed by monuments and tourist spots before planning a visit to them. This assurance is important as about 48.2% of respondents are planning their holiday with the family.  Interestingly, beating beaches as a preferred location for holiday goers, 37.9% of respondents said they would like to visit the hills, to escape the monotony and stress brought by the pandemic. Budget travel continues to see a spike as 35.4% of respondents are keeping Rs.10,000-Rs.25,000 per person as set targets for their budget during vacations. Commenting on this survey Sabina Chopra, Co-Founder and COO, Corporate Travel & Head Industry Relations, Yatra.com, said, “Over the years, consumers have given priority to various aspects of travel while planning a trip …

Kerala Tourism has launched a project to create Miyawaki-model micro forests at 22 tourism spots in 12 districts across the state. Inaugurating the project by planting a sapling at Shanghumukham Beach, State Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said that more than 30,000 saplings would be planted in about two acres of land identified for the scheme. Creation of micro forests that compare well with natural forests would make the tourist destinations in the state, especially those in urban areas, environment friendly, the Minister noted.

During a webinar organised by IATO and TravTalk on redesigning wellness itineraries, Rajeev Nambiar, Director, National Teachers Desk, Art of Living said that 2 week-long itinerary is ideal for visiting India for wellness tourism. He further said that the Art of Living International Center in Bengaluru offers various programs for wellness, recreation and yoga.

With easing of restrictions, Thomas Cook India and its group company, SOTC Travel, have announced the first physical holiday roadshows since lockdown – Thomas Cook India’s Freedom Month Celebrations and SOTC’s Freedom Month Carnival. The series of roadshows, in association with Accor and Marriott hotels, will be held on Sunday, November 8, 2020 from 11am to 5pm across key source markets of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Pune, Kochi, Jaipur and Baroda. With a range of domestic and international destinations on offer, customers can avail of special deals/discounts and attractively priced flight-inclusive holidays starting at Rs. 10 790.00* – with a free holiday to Dubai* to be won. To ensure customer health and safety together with a personalised experience, an online pre-registration enables customers to book their preferred time slot. Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head – Holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India). said, “To assist our customers plan their perfect holiday and guide them through the new/updated travel protocols, we have simplified the booking process by bringing our Freedom Month Celebrations right to our customers’ doorstep! Held at Accor and Marriott hotels across India, we intended to provide Indians with a safe and smooth holiday booking experience and the assistance of our holiday experts, while availing of great offers.” He added, “Our Assured Program in partnership with Apollo Clinics ensures meticulous health & safety protocols. To further assist our customers, we have tied up with ICMR accredited labs to offer end-to-end COVID-negative certification services with contactless facilitation – across India. Our Safe Holiday Helpline is yet another meaningful consumer initiative – a free service to support customers in safe holiday planning.”

Mou Mukherjee, one of the PSAs for Thomas Cook India located in Dhanbad, shares her experience of being part of the Thomas Cook India family. She says, “After the setback caused due to the pandemic, I’m very happy to say that we have been able to bounce back to business. The ‘Assured’ programme has been a great initiative by Thomas Cook India to help agents like is win back the confidence of our customers, who are also happy with the on-ground services that was provided to them. Times are tricky but with the opportunities that Thomas Cook India has provided us through several of their online roadshows for the Thomas Cook Assured initiative, I am positive that we will be able to generate business and provide our customers complete satisfaction while promoting safe travel.”