Category Archives: Agents

FCM Travel Solutions has consolidated and rebranded its travel retail and holiday brand – Flight Shop under a single leisure brand ‘Travel Tours’. Known for its range of customised travel offerings, post the consolidation, Travel Tours promises ‘unbeatable’ services both in pricing and quality to its customers across India. Four decades old, Travel Tours will now offer travel services ranging from leisure, corporate travel, MICE, visas, inbound to wholesale and foreign exchange pan India. Shravan Gupta, Executive Director – Leisure Businesses, FCM Travel Solutions, said, “Travel Tours has a strong brand equity and heritage in large parts of the country. Through the rebranding, our intention is to put our entire strength and expertise of both our brands – Flight Shop and Travel Tours under one. This move supports our journey of going from a flight seller to being an FIT specialist.” He further added, “We are taking a step further from being a regional powerhouse to being a national player of repute as we move forward. The foundation for our rebrand is firmly in place; we are primed and ready to become Travel Tours”. The rebranding of all the 25 Flight Shop and Travel Tours stores spread across 17 cities was completed on January 31, 2018.

SOTC Travel strengthens its presence in Bengaluru with the inauguration of its first-ever experiential store offering Virtual Reality (VR) experiences. SOTC created a first-of-its-kind customer experience zone where customers can be inspired by the different destinations through VR’s for real time experience of the key destinations that SOTC provides like New Zealand, South Africa and other destinations like Australia, Abu Dhabi, South Korea. The store at St. Marks Road comprises of a digital screen that features video itineraries of destinations and holiday experiences for the customer which could be viewed from an iPad. Speaking about the launch, Daniel D’souza, Head Sales, India and NRI Markets, SOTC Travel, said, “We believe customer experience is the key in making our business successful in this competitive and growing industry. It is extremely important for us to ensure that we keep delivering and enriching holiday experiences for our customers. Virtual Reality technology will allow us to know the clients’ needs before he even knows what he wants.” He further added, “The store is one of our efforts to reinvent the buying experience for our customers. Its strategic location offers convenience and accessibility. We ensure that we provide superior service to our customers by meeting their every expectation”.

Subhash Goyal, Hon. Secretary, FAITH, laments over the Government’s ignorance towards tourism trade’s demand for industry status. “While the government has taken many initiatives to boost business and infrastructure, we’ve got a mixed reaction from the trade on the Budget. Increasing the threshold limit for Corporate Tax from Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 250 crore is a welcome move as it will benefit SMEs. Building international airports around the country, offering Wi-Fi in trains and railway stations is a welcome move as well. Also, encouraging investment in sea plane activities would benefit tour operators in boosting coastal tourism,” he says. However, Goyal adds, “The government failed to meet two of or demands. One was to differentiate tour operators on the basis of FEEs under GST and another was GST to be reduced for five-star hotels from 28 per cent to 18 per cent. We are not happy about the government not giving tourism industry status.”

PP Khanna, President, ADTOI, said they had been looking forward to some GST relief in the Budget. “There has been no relief in GST in the Union Budget 2018-19, we had been looking forward to it. However, the budget offers some SOPs to tourism sector by announcing 10 prominent tourist sites to be developed into iconic ones and enhancing visitor experience in 110 Adarsh monuments under the ASI, with railways to have Wi-Fi and CCTV cameras on all trains and stations. Enhancement of sea plane activities and boosting aviation sector with the present 124 airports, the government plans to take this up five times to accommodate one billion trips per year. Focus on infrastructure, education, healthcare, creation of jobs has been highlighted in the budget, which is a good move.”

Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, expresses his discontent over the Union Budget 2018, saying there was nothing in it for tourism. “The Union Budget 2018 has nothing to offer to the tourism industry. We are not happy as there was no relief from double taxation in GST which was our major concern. Even after focusing on job creation, the government has ignored that tourism could be a major facilitator for job creation. Under GST Goods and services should be under the same purview. Since there is no respite from cascading taxation, India would remain a costlier destination than its neighbouring countries for tourists. The only positive is the focus on infrastructure, wherein they have introduced sea planes, 99 smart cities, 10 new destinations, enhanced experience at 110 Adarsh monuments, airport expansion, etc. Also, Corporate Tax of 25 per cent is extended to companies with turnover up to Rs. 250 crore in financial year 2016-17. Earlier, this was for companies with turnover of Rs. 50 crore. Even road and rail transport have got an increased budget. However, businesswise there is no change,” Sarkar said.

The tourism and hospitality sectors had to listen intently to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s Union Budget 2018 speech for a mention, which was made precisely three times. The Finance Minister proposed to develop 10 prominent tourist sites into ‘Iconic Tourism destinations’ by following a holistic approach involving infrastructure and skill development, development of technology, attracting private investment, branding and marketing. “To preserve and revitalise soul of the heritage cities in India, National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) has been taken up in a major way,” the minister said. In addition, to enhance visitor experience, tourist amenities at 100 Adarsh monuments of the Archaeological Survey of India will be upgraded. For promoting tourism and emergency medical care, Government will make necessary framework for encouraging investment in sea plane activities, Jaitley mentioned. The Minister noted that in the last three years, the domestic air passenger traffic grew at 18 per cent per annum and airline companies placed orders for more than 900 aircraft. Regional Connectivity Scheme of UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) initiated by the Government last year shall connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads across the country, he said, adding that operations have already started at 16 such airports. “We propose to expand our airport capacity more than five times to handle a billion trips a year under a new initiative – NABH Nirman,” he said. For the Railways sector, “We are in a process of eliminating unmanned railway crossings. All railway stations having more than 25,000 footfall will have escalators. We are also working to provide Wi-Fi and CCTV Cameras on all trains and stations,” Jaitley said. Redevelopment of 600 major railway stations has been …

As a part of its 260 years’ celebration, Cox & Kings’ Bharat Deko held its first-ever Partner’s Meet with its vendors from across India. Hoteliers, transporters and other suppliers, who have long been partnered with Cox & Kings, participated in the meet. The domestic wing of Cox & Kings, Bharat Deko had organised the event for its panel of partners and suppliers to recognise their support and performance. The event served as an opportunity for both suppliers and the operational staff to interact with each other who otherwise are connected digitally. Bharat Deko also conducted an orientation presentation to familiarise the partners with its ethos, policies, achievements and new plans. Speaking about the event, Yusuf Poonawala, Head, Bharat Deko said,” The Partner’s Meet reiterates our efforts in acknowledging our supplier’s commitment to our brand. They are our important stakeholders who encourage us to be further innovative by offering us their timely and commendable service. While the oldest travel brand Cox & Kings is turning 260 years, we wish to have our partners to be a part of the celebration”

As a result of the Indian subcontinent’s growing outbound demand, Dubai Tourism has announced the appointment of Nijhawan Group as its in-market destination representation and trade marketing management firm in India. With over 45 years of experience in India, Nijhawan Group will now be responsible for all trade communications, brand partnership conversations and building crucial trade relationships in the Indian subcontinent to strengthen Dubai’s position in the market. Meanwhile, Cruise Club has been appointed as the representative in India for Dubai Business Events, a division of Dubai Tourism. Based out of Mumbai, Cruise Club’s role is to increase Dubai’s market share from incentive groups and corporate meetings. The team has already begun delegate boosting activity and promoting upcoming events. Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) said, “India remains a top priority for us, now consistently being the largest source market for tourists to Dubai. This is a feat achieved through years of establishing and building strong trade ties in the market.” Ankush Nijhawan, Managing Director, Nijhawan Group, added, “With our appointment, we hope to capitalise on our extensive network of agents and generate greater growth into Dubai with their support.”

Around 90 travel agents from Saharanpur, Roorkee, Meerut, Haridwar and Rishikesh attended STHI Group’s first roadshow of the year in Dehradun. Exhibitors from Air Arabia and Sheraton were also seen at the event. Speaking at the roadshow held on January 24, Lalit Singh, COO, STHI Group, said, “We want to aim for global fraternity by hosting this roadshow in our earnest endeavour. We want to do everything possible to achieve this goal for posterity.”

Insight Vacations, brought in India by Signature Tours, has launched its new 2018 Europe Premium Escorted Journeys collection featuring 70 Insight Experiences, 100 guided vacations, and four styles of distinctive journeys. Included are eight new European Discovery Journeys as well as Regional Journeys, Country Roads and Easy Pace, different travel styles to match varying preferences. Evon Ler, President, Insight Vacations, Asia says, “Guests who have travelled with Insight Vacations know about our outstanding Insight Difference since it has been our personal mission for 40 years to create magical experiences for travellers. We are proud of our team of passionate travel directors and colleagues who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure we deliver authentic experiences that make holidays memorable. Our Insight Experiences are a curated collection of memories-in-the-making by connecting our guests with locals, unique activities and expert insights to bring each destination to life.” Ler was in India recently to launch the new itineraries. The eight new 2018 European Discoveries range from 9 to 19 days, each offering experiences to Europe’s popular destinations. These itineraries visit 12 countries.