Category Archives: Agents

Mumbai-based Global Destinations will provide all General Sales Agency support to Air New Zealand in India effective November 1, 2016. Pranav Kapadia, Managing Director, Global Destinations, said, “With our strong knowledge of destination New Zealand, we will be a valuable partner to Air New Zealand. Over the coming months, we will appoint two new staff – a sales manager for Air New Zealand and a Market Development Executive for Air New Zealand. We are excited about this new partnership as Air New Zealand expands its sales and marketing activity in India.” Global Destinations has more than 18 years of experience in the industry. Mischa Mannix-Opie, Area Manager South & South East Asia, Air New Zealand, added, “While Air New Zealand continues to grow its sales and marketing activity in India, it’s vital we work alongside effective agency partners. We’re confident Global Destinations will help us to further strengthen our relationships across the India travel industry.” Air New Zealand’s alliance and code share services with Singapore Airlines connect customers from 11 Indian cities on Singapore Airlines and SilkAir services to Singapore. From there, customers can access three non-stop flights a day from Singapore to Auckland and Christchurch, four times a week to Wellington; connecting to Air New Zealand’s 21 domestic destinations within the country.

Kenya-based specialist tour operator for safari holidays Gamewatchers Safaris has opened its Indian arm headquartered in Bengaluru and is headed by Santosh Ojha, Director (Business Development – India), Gamewatchers Safaris India. The company owns the award-winning Porini camps and claims to have excellent knowledge of Kenya and rest of East Africa. It offers exquisite wildlife experiences through beautiful and natural camps under the reputed brand name Porini. Gamewatchers Safari has been operating in East Africa for the past 25 years and has been collaborating with the Masai landowners over the years by providing them with benefits in order to use their land for wildlife conservation. Ojha says, “The purpose is to cater to the demands of the discerning Indian travellers who seek unique experiences. This will encourage the Indian wildlife enthusiast to look beyond the usual, to Porini Camps where they can experience a host of unique features such as off-road driving do get closer to wildlife, night game drives, excellent guides among other advantages.”

IATA has sent out a circular to all BSP India agents that includes a six-page ‘Code of Conduct’ issued by Delta Air Lines this week. This information was uploaded and provided to the agents through BSPLink at the request of the airline. This includes Air France, KLM, Alitalia and Delta Air Lines. The document contains five main points. It touches on the subject of fares, redistribution of carrier content, rules about intellectual property, customer service and consequences of non-compliance with the Agent Code of Conduct. These include: cancelling the agent’s Electronic Ticketing Authority, withdrawing authority to issue traffic documents on the carrier’s behalf, and terminating IATA Resolution 824 – Passenger Sales Agency Agreement by withdrawing carrier’s appointment of the agent. IATA has asked agents to communicate with the airline directly in case of any clarifications.

Global airlines’ body IATA has sought an abated rate of GST on flight tickets, saying the tax burden on the aviation sector was already high and the GST regime should conform to global standards and principles. Maintaining that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has been ‘working closely’ with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Secretariat here to address some issues of concern to airlines, Director General of IATA, Alexandre de Juniac said, “The GST regime needs to adhere to international standards and principles.” “We have called for a zero-rating for international flights when the GST comes into effect next April. This seems unlikely. To limit its damage to the sector’s competitiveness, we would at least hope for abatement in the rate,” de Juniac said. He said the airlines in India faced “an onerous tax burden, including the imposition of service tax to services rendered abroad, including those for overflight charges, global distribution systems and international tickets.” This, he said, was “in contravention of international principles established by governments” through the UN body International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The IATA Director General and CEO, who met top officials of the government and Indian carriers during his two-day visit here, said he had shared these and other concerns with the government.

South African Tourism has joined hands with Thomas Cook to offer travel packages and deals for Indian travellers especially during Diwali and Christmas holidays. They can now have the opportunity to take advantage of the special, fun-filled, activity and experience rich holiday itineraries from Thomas Cook in association with South African Tourism. Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism,said, “We constantly endeavor to create exciting and innovative experiences for our visitors. We would love for more Indians to come and witness the wonder that is South Africa – to truly experience and know the country like the locals. In close partnership with a leading travel trade partner like Thomas Cook, we hope to ensure that our Indian visitors have the best and most memorable experience from the minute they begin planning their trip. With a favorable exchange rate, Indian travellers going to South Africa will get an exceptional value on the ground as they can partake in so many more activities and experiences in their desired budget.” Rajeev Kale, President and Country Head – Leisure Travel & MICE, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd says, “For our Teams at Thomas Cook India, our partnership with South Africa Tourism has had a significant positive impact- South Africa has now emerged as one of our fastest growth long haul destinations for Indian outbound travelers!  Our upcoming campaign is strategic and focused on a 3 pronged delivery: strong growth of over 15%; inspire demand not only for  popular choices across individual and group travellers (Cape Town, Garden Route, Johannesburg, Sun City), but equally showcase newer regions like Kruger, Franschhoek, etc., and thirdly, catalyse uptake for fresh new opportunities like self-drives and winter-travel.”

Cox & Kings opened its first dedicated foreign exchange branch at Panjim in Goa. The branch designed as a one-stop-shop for all foreign exchange requirements was inaugurated by Ravi Menon, Head, Foreign Exchange, Cox & Kings. The flagship store located at Magnum Centre, First Floor, Shop 20, MG Road, Panjim will offer a slew of products – buying and selling of all frequently traded foreign currencies, sell pre-paid cards, enable Money Transfer business where tourists can receive money from overseas, as well as provide domestic money transfer facilities.  Students who desire to travel overseas from Goa for further studies can avail Foreign Currency Draft and Outward Remittance facilities through this outlet. According to Menon, “Goa is a key market as it receives a large number of foreign tourists. Our bouquet of foreign exchange products and services are designed to cater to this segment. Our branch will cater to all the requirements which are allowed under Authorised Dealer CAT II activities.” It has been observed that foreign tourists need help to exchange and exhaust their money when on their holiday. Cox & Kings will cater to both these needs, where these guests can exchange their money as well as use the money transfer facility to receive money from overseas. In case foreign tourists need help with their domestic holiday they can approach this branch, which in turn will refer them to the nearest Cox & Kings store. According to data released by the department of tourism, government of Goa, in 2015, Goa received 5.40 lakh international tourists, an increase of 5 percent over 2014. This year the state is expected to attract even more tourists especially from traditional markets such as …

Goibibo has now launched a new feature of live flight tracking for 1824 daily flight schedules, for both domestic and international flights. With the new feature passengers are enabled with three key aspects—get real time data on the flight schedule, air craft type, gate number, baggage carousel information; get notified on delays with estimated time of departure and arrival, change in terminal and gate information; and enable friends/ families of the passenger to track their journey as well as get notified on arrival information or change in schedules. Ashish Kashyap, Founder & CEO, Ibibo Group, said : “Flight tracking and status information is first of its kind. This is in line with our focus of constantly delivering unique consumer experiences and at the same enhancing our travel social network, GoContacts. We have an exciting line up of innovative product releases for all our categories comprising air, hotels, bus and cars”

Honorable Mayor of Paris and Yash Raj Films launched the Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor starrer ‘Befikre’ at the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris on October 10 evening. Set entirely in France, ‘Befikre’ embodies the French freedom of expression through a contemporary story of two young protagonists. Sheetal Wadhwa Munshaw, Director Atout France India – France Tourism Development Agency, said, “This is the first ever Bollywood movie to have been truly “Made in France” right from romancing at myriad locations in Paris, Picardy and Cannes, to personifying the quintessential French lifestyle. It has been a delightful experience for us to have been a part of this journey right from handpicking and showcasing locations in France with the Yash Raj team to now embarking on this path breaking launch pad of releasing the film’s trailer in Paris as hospitality partners alongside Accor group of Hotels. To showcase the film to a diverse audience, Atout France in association with Accor group of Hotels and Yashraj will organise a special screening for the travel trade fraternity and select media in December. We hope travel companies are motivated to create a Befikre trail which includes destinations shot in the movie such as Picardy, Cannes and Paris which will spur the avid traveller to embark on a new Befikre experience in France.” Full of Parisian spirit, the movie celebrates love – sensual, carefree and focused on living life to the fullest celebrating the renowned French art de vivre or unique way of life. The ‘Befikre’ cast touched down in France in early May and shot the film entirely Made in France for 52 days. The movie is slated to be released in India on December …

In order to ease travel booking Cleartrip has launched two new features- Price Lock and Pay@Hotel. Price Lock will allow clients to lock prices by paying a fee and pay only if the plans are confirmed. Thus a traveller can hold the lowest price well in advance and be protected from price increases. Pay@Hotel, on the other hand, lets the traveller book now and pay later at the hotel. The traveler pays only after he stays. Also, in case the hotel turns out to be different from what he saw at the time of booking, Cleartrip offers a ‘Sleep promise’ feature and will find another hotel that is more suited to the traveller’s needs. Cleartrip currently offers the largest collection of Pay@Hotel inventory in India. Subramanya Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Cleartrip said “Travel bookings are generally associated with anxiety. Travellers worry whether they are getting the right price, the right hotel and whether it is the right time to book. With Price Lock and Pay@hotel features, we believe that we are solving for the core anxiety moments in flight and hotel booking.” Cleartrip is also releasing two television commercials to educate the clients about the new features. The films will be launched across offline and online mediums including television and popular digital platforms.

The Sri Lankan carrier, Mihin Lanka will stop its services effective October 30, 2016. This decision has been made by the Government of Sri Lanka, as part of its long term strategy to restructure the local aviation industry and strengthen the national carrier’s offering and efficiency. Chinthaka Weerasinghe, Manager Northern India, SriLankan Airlines, says, “There are four routes that we will be taking over in India itself; Madurai, Kolkata, Varanasi and Bodh Gaya. With these operations we will be having overall 103 flights in a week from 11 destinations in India. This will make us one of the top five international airlines operating into India in terms of frequency as well as seat capacity.”