Category Archives: Agents

Online travel company Ezeego1.com has announced its strategic partnership with PAYBACK, a multi-brand loyalty programme, to expand its offerings into online travel category. With its wide range of travel products available in the market, Ezeego1.com offers a comprehensive ‘one-stop platform’ to the suppliers, travel agents, and travel partners for them to distribute, promote and sell their products. Under this partnership, PAYBACK’s 110 million members will be able to use their PAYBACK Points when making flight, hotel and holiday bookings on Ezeego1.com. In addition, they will also be able to earn 2 PAYBACK Points for every Rs. 100 spent on the same transaction done on Ezeego1.com with real time enrolment and registration. The partnership is aimed at driving loyalty and stickiness at the Ezeego1 travel domain by offering members a chance to earn points on their spends as well create a rewarding experience for them through redemption opportunities. Neelu Singh, CEO & Director, Ezeego1, said, “Creating memorable travel experiences and adding overall value to our customer’s travel process is at the core of our business. Our partnership with PAYBACK reiterates our commitment in providing customers best travel products as well as value- added benefits through reward points that can be redeemed on Ezeego1 for travel services around the world, from airlines to car rentals, hotels and cruises.”

Akquasun Group is set to go digital in terms of operations in 2018. Till now, the portal offered was an integrated system but going forward, the destination management company (DMC) plans to offer its travel partners its own inventory on the digital platform, informs Sujit Nair, Group Managing Director, Akquasun Group at the company’s Delhi roadshow. The DMC is currently conducting its four-city roadshow covering Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai. The unique element of this year’s event is the partnership between Tourism Malaysia and Akquasun Group, in which the tourism board has partnered with the DMC to promote Malaysia in India. “We will be buying up our own inventory and offer the same on the online platform. We recently hosted a curtail raiser at IITT Mumbai for the same and the company will be coming out with a host of different technology tools useful for travel agents,” he said. As many as 40 partners from 18 destinations represented by the group participated at the roadshow. According to Nair, the market in Kolkata was very responsive with as many as 250 travel agents in attendance at the roadshow.

U&I Holidays is all set to launch its online portal, www.uandiholidays.net on February 2, 2018, which will be accessible to all tour operators to make reservation for Bali and Maldives. The B2B portal will help tour operators to book hotels, tour transfers, meals, and customised packages for Indonesia. U&I Holidays, being very keen to extend the business focuses on promoting MICE 30 per cent higher than 2017. Apart from the six-city roadshow the company also plans to conduct a training programme for Tier-II and III cities from March 2018 focusing on the cities which are unaware about Indonesia. And the target cities for the same programme are Raipur, Indore, Jaipur, Nagpur, and Kochi.  

Thomas Cook (India) strengthened its presence in North India with the inauguration of a flagship store at Connaught Place by Vijay Kumar,  Brand Ambassador, Thomas Cook India. This expansion augments Thomas Cook India’s total number of outlets to 16 consumer access centres with six owned branches and 10 Gold Circle Partner (franchise) outlets in Delhi. Thomas Cook’s new store will offer travellers a range of holiday products (domestic and international tickets, and hotels, cruises, individual and group tours, luxury vacations), foreign exchange, visa services and insurance. Rajeev Kale, ‎President, Country Head–Leisure Travel and MICE, Thomas Cook (India) said, “North India is delivering a strong growth of 20 per cent YoY for our leisure travel business and Delhi has been identified as a prime growth driver as part of our strategic plan. Our new branch at Connaught Place is at a prime location, thus giving our consumers convenient access to a range of holiday products, travel and foreign exchange services.”  

At the sixth edition of Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) Nagpur two new products will be launched—RainbowCTM and Trip38—informs Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, GPS. A new membership card ‘GPS 10X Membership’ will also be launched at the show. The card will allow its holders to avail discounts on various products and services across India. “This will be a virtual card which would not be required to be carried physically but will be stored on the cardholder’s smart phones. Currently, GPS has a following of over 15,000 travel professionals across India and this would be a good opportunity for hotels, restaurants and FMCG industries to offer discounts to the GPS members. Those enrolling for GPS membership will have a full year access to the GPS App at no additional cost. All new tie-ups, offers and benefits would be available to the registered members. Exhibitors not only in India but overseas will also be able to promote their services and products to the Indian travel trade through the App and through the RainbowCTM platform. Trip38 would be a travel assistant tool for the agent’s client database,” says Anand.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has now made it mandatory for travel agents to mention their registration number in advertisements. Justice AB Chaudhari has directed Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh to make it compulsory for travel agents to mention their registration number in any advertisement that is being issued by them in any medium, whether it is in the electronic or print media. Even insertions in newspapers or pamphlets and posters on walls or vehicles will need to include this number. Justice Chaudhari also made it clear that the publisher would have to verify and retain the registration certificate’s copy. The move comes after incidences of travel agents, not registered or licensed by the government, taking money and sending people abroad were reported. Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh have been asked to initiate action against TV channels and advertisers in case the advertisements broadcast are not by registered agents. The Judge has also directed these three states to issue immediate instructions to district magistrates to publish “a list of registered agents and to warn the citizens not to go to unauthorised agents”. The list is required to be made public on a regular basis.

Cox & Kings announced the ‘Free Fly to Kashmir’ packages in its bid to promote Kashmir Tourism under its domestic brand ‘Bharat Deko’. The initiative offers free airfare ex New Delhi, thus making the package attractive. ‘Glorious Kashmir’ and ‘Kashmir Delight’ are the two packages announced for travellers. The special packages were formally launched by Mahmood Ahmad Shah, Director Tourism, Kashmir along with Yusuf Poonawala, Senior Vice President, Cox & Kings at the Nigeen Club, Srinagar. The packages that span for a week have been specially crafted to offer a holistic Kashmir experience with price starting from only Rs 22,099. The Free Fly tours will allow the tourists to explore Kashmir’s nature, local culture and history. Sonamarg, Thajwas Glacier, Pahalgam, Awantisvamin and Betaab Valley are a few of the many sites that have been included in the tour. Poonawala said,”Kashmir is on the priority list of travellers. This offer will further boost tourist influx into Kashmir.” Bharat Deko has also created theme-based videos besides other marketing materials to promote the snow-state of India. The package offer is valid for travel period January 1 to June 30, 2018.

MakeMyTrip has launched its latest product for the domestic market—Made for You Holidays. Coinciding with the holiday season, these 150 holiday experiences offer a range of hand-picked escapades for discerning travellers. These domestic travel packages are specially targeted towards those who want to make the most of long weekends at destinations in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and many more. Mohit Gupta, COO, MakeMyTrip, said, “At MakeMyTrip, we are bringing a balance between personalisation, authenticity and reach to offer holidays that will resonate with discerning travellers looking beyond cookie-cutter package tourism. By tracking social media, website analytics, search metrics, traveller reviews, etc., we want to align our product offerings to match what holiday goers are looking for.” Made for You Holidays is being rolled out under six themes for holiday-goers including Wildlife, Romantic, Friends & Family, Once in a lifetime, Rugged Getaways and Indulgence.

In a bid to rebuild confidence among its travel partners, U & I Holidays has revised its cancellation and refund policy. Not only is it offering a full refund or floating deposit on cancellation, it is also offering two nights free in Bali and one complimentary dinner in an Indian restaurant there for travel validity until March 31, 2018. Shyam Upadhyay, Director, U & I Holidays, says, “Over the past couple of months following the situation of Mt. Agung, we have noticed serious concerns for travel to Bali. I’m sure with these amendments, our clients will be in a position to comfort their customers and encourage them to travel to Bali. This is our way of thanking them for the continuous support and business for Bali and Malidives.” The ‘no cancellation fee’ policy is applicable in the case if volcano erupts or airport closes. Any payment/deposit will be given the option of full refund or to keep as floating deposit for future travel. In case of airport closure due to Mount Agung eruption, U & I Holidays also promises to accommodate the departing guest in a three-star hotel for two nights with one dinner at an Indian restaurant on complimentary basis for bookings closed through them.

Delhi-based destination management company, STHI Group hosted roadshows in Raipur and Nagpur on the 16th and 18th of December, respectively. Over 45 travel agents attended the event in each city. The Nagpur roadshow is STHI Group’s 12th roadshow this year. The company has been focusing on Tier-II and III cities as part of their marketing activities. STHI promoted airlines like Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Scoot Airlines and Singapore Airlines. The destinations showcased included Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Adelaide, Malaysia, Singapore and Victoria. Hotels showcased included Banyan Tree Hotels, Shangri La, Centara Hotels and Sheraton. Speaking at the roadshow, Lalit Singh, COO of STHI Group, said, “We have been hosting such roadshows every month and this is our 12th roadshow in Nagpur. The response we are getting from the travel agents is phenomenal and it’s a good platform to connect with the agents. We have recently started promoting USA as a destination to our partners. This year we had a double digit growth as compared to last year and we continue to do such activities.”