Category Archives: Agents

RARE India has launched a new entity called Peach, under which the team would work for new tourism products, fairs and events in terms of development, promotion and marketing. One of the first projects under Peach is Gobindgarh Fort, which was showcased in New Delhi for agents by erstwhile actress and developer behind the project, Deepa Sahi. She has produced and developed the shows at the fort. The fort belonged to Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab and showcases stories of his valour through 7D experiences and virtual reality wonders. Shoba Mohan and Sowmya Vijaymohan, Founder-Partners, RARE India and Peach, said that Peach would be focusing on handholding and developing new projects, events, fairs and experiences in the tourism space. Peach would be different from RARE as it will not be delving into the representation of boutique, independently owned properties, which fall into the RARE aesthetics.

Mumbai-based Explora has associated itself with a luxury DMC based in Morocco called Experience Morocco. Led by Managing Partners, Karishma Kazi and Sunny Katara, Explora’s partnership will be effective September 1, 2018 which is when they will start promoting it in India. Speaking about the new development, Karishma Kazi, Managing Partner, Explora, says, “We believe that travel is all about the experience – We firmly believe that great travel experiences can be created from simple elements, and we feel privileged to have  Experience Morocco as our  client. Looking at the luxury segment growing year on year, it was about time to give India a DMC for Morocco which only caters to bespoke and beyond.” As a provider of curated travels across Morocco and with a diverse team of travel professionals who speak 16 languages, Explora has the experience and know-how to design memorable trips custom-built around the clients’ requirements. Sharing his insight on Indians as travellers, Sunny Katara, Managing Partner, Explora, adds, “Indian travellers have a unique set of motivations and needs, and understanding what drives this travel behaviour and providing a personalised experience is the key. It is really not that tough to understand an Indian luxury traveller. An important facet of the luxury travel experience is how well travellers feel that their needs and preferences are understood by their travel providers.”

Most of the people prefer destinations wedding near their hometown, according to a Travel Wedding Show Survey. 67 per cent of the people responded positively while 33 per cent preferred the destination wedding far from their home town. Destination wedding for the next five years will be the biggest thing. Weddings are big business, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. If as wedding planners we have to survive, we need to go out, to different cities and destinations and procure more business. Indian and international destination weddings will remain, the next business thing,” says Rajeev Jain, Founder and Director, Rashi Entertainment.

The total contribution of Travel & Tourism to employment was 41,622,500 jobs in 2017 (8.0 per cent of total employment), according to a report by World Travel and Tourism Council. This will rise by 3.1 per cent in 2018 to 42,898,000 jobs (8.1 per cent of total employment). By 2028, travel and tourism is expected to support 52,279,000 jobs (8.4 per cent of total employment), an increase of 2.0 per cent per annum over the period, the report said. Meanwhile, Travel & Tourism generated 26,148,000 jobs directly in 2017 (5.0 per cent of total employment) and this is forecast to grow by 2.8% in 2018 to 26,883,000. This includes employment by hotels, travel agents, airlines and other passenger transportation services (excluding commuter services). It also includes, for example, the activities of the restaurant and leisure industries directly supported by tourists.

Travstarz Global Group has recently opened its Mumbai Regional Office. Speaking on the development, Pankaj Nagpal, Managing Director, Travstarz Global Group, added, “We already had presence in Mumbai with our sales team, but we have now opened our full-fledged office with our Sales and Operations teams to be based in Mumbai to look after the entire West India region catering to Gujarat, Maharashtra and even MP. The team will be led by Hema Manghnani, Executive Director of the company based in Mumbai. The team size will be around 15 for the time being in addition to the sales teams at various locations”. Hema Manghnani said “We expect a huge surge in business from the Western Region after the opening of our office and with our operations team stationed here as local presence and local language speaking team makes a big difference.” Sucheta Nagpal, Director & CEO, Travstarz Global Group, also announced the start of their DMC operations for Egypt. “As per our expansion strategy, we have been making strategic investments overseas and Egypt is our latest addition for our DMC operations. With our own fleet of vehicles, we are contracted with all major hotels in Egypt.” He added    

TBO Group seems to have come out stronger as Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) acquires Naspers’ stake in TBO Group. SCPE now owns 49 per cent of the stake vis-a-vis Nasper that earlier owned 52 per cent with both co-founders currently owning 51 per cent stake. Ankush Nijhawan, Co-founder, TBO Group, says, “SCPE now believes in our business model that we have built in the last twelve years; I think the game has just begun.” In his message to travel agents, he added, “TBO has been known for innovations in tech-segments. TBO Academy is something we just built and started, and we have also recently launched the Roamer App. We will also bring cruises online by the end of the year.” Talking about SCPE’s plans for TBO, Nijhawan said, “SCPE is very bullish on our business plans, they believe in us and they are going to be the growth drivers for us in the global market as well as India. They will back us in whatever we think is great for the company.”  

Pacific Travels has celebrated its 50 years of operations and opened a new office in New Delhi. “Having started with a conventional business model in 1968 in Kanpur, we are now carrying forward our legacy in New Delhi. We expanded our business with new products to offer. July 18 is an important day for us as we complete 50 years of operations” said, Nasir Zaidi, Managing Partner, Pacific Travels.

Weizmann Forex has announced that it has been awarded licenses to operate foreign exchange counters across Hyderabad, Goa, Cochin, Chandigarh and Mumbai airports. Out of these five cities, the company has received exclusive rights for Goa and Hyderabad airports for six and five counters, respectively. In these five cities the company has received mandates for three years at three and five years at two airports. With these additions, Weizmann Forex now operates 18 airport forex counters across the country. Commenting on the development, B Karthikeyan, Managing Director, Weizmann Forex Limited said, “As part of our strategy, we are committed to serving our customers through multiple touch points in an omni-channel distribution strategy that covers its digital website, substantial branch network and a renewed focus on airports. We have increased our presence across various Indian airports which will significantly enhance our brand visibility while enabling us to serve more walk-in customers. Going beyond business objectives, we remain conscious about our customers’ need for convenient access, the need of our airport partners to provide world-class ambience and experience and also our own objective as a responsible company to protect the environment for ourselves and for our future generations. We are committed to staying in the path of relevance of our customers by providing new, innovative and value-added offerings, helping us strengthen our position as a leading player in the forex and remittances space.”  

In a move to capitalise on the significant and growing student travel segment, Thomas Cook (India) has launched ‘Study Buddy’ – a student-focussed foreign exchange promotion available across Thomas Cook India’s omni-channel network, including over 150 foreign exchange outlets pan India, and extends over a three-month period ending September 30, 2018. Deepesh Varma, Senior Vice President, Foreign Exchange – Sales & Relationship Management, Thomas Cook (India)  said, “The student travel market in India is a significant opportunity and at Thomas Cook India we have already witnessed impressive growth of 20-25 per cent YoY. Hence in an initiative to inspire demand and maximize transactions, we conceptualized ‘Study Buddy’, timed to coincide with the student travel season. ‘Study Buddy’s’ attractive offers and assured gifts are intended to delight the value seeking student community. Being a specialist in Foreign Exchange, our core product-service offering includes Remittance of university/tuition fees, forex prepaid cards and currency notes backed with years of experience in guiding students and parents on changing forex regulations and the safest way in carrying foreign exchange abroad.”Against the backdrop of a steady increase in Indian students opting to study abroad for graduate and post graduate studies, Thomas Cook India has registered a 20-25 per cent YoY growth in its foreign exchange student business over the last three to four years. Given the strong growth potential and in a focussed initiative to catalyse demand and expand its student market-share, Thomas Cook India has launched a three-month strategic Study Buddy promotion- timed strategically to target the critical booking window for student travel.

Divine Holiday Management and Divine Line Production have recently announced their presence in Bali which will cater operations for tourism, MICE, events, destination weddings and film shoots not only in Bali but also for all cities in Indonesia. The companies already have their presence in Mauritius, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines. Terence Cardoz owner of both companies said that Indonesia is an endless destination to explore as the archipelago has the world’s richest natural resources covering more than 17.000 islands, beautiful white sandy beaches to the panoramic rings of volcano stretched all along Sunderland with its deep forest that offered some of the world’s most amazing wildlife, the richest deep-root cultures that covered by more than 300 ethnic groups and tribes with huge variant of culinary, clothing, art and dances, daily life and charm peoples with their genuine hospitality. Those fact on Indonesia offers a very wide range of traveling style to the country, from Romantic & Honeymoon, Sports & Adventure, Science and Research, Family Leisure, Cultural & Spiritual Explorations, Photography and Videography from small to wide productions scale, MICE and Groups. For Film shoots , music videos  we would like to encourage film makers from India and International film industry to shoot in the exotic locations of Bali, Java and around other beautiful locations in Indonesia.