Category Archives: Agents

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) has announced a strategic partnership with TUI India Pvt. Ltd. to promote and enhance its presence in the Indian market. With this alliance, Ras Al Khaimah TDA aims to further strengthen the key aspects of the destination amongst the Indian audience. The partnership will come into effect from January 1, 2017. The agreement includes promotion of the emirate by TUI India Pvt. Ltd through specially created itineraries, special promotions on its consumer website as well as a series of co-op activities and campaigns. Haitham Mattar, CEO, RAKTDA, said, “India is one of the top source markets for us, we are aiming to enhance strategic efforts to drive awareness across India through our dynamic marketing campaigns and relationships with key partners in the public and private sectors. We are glad to begin the New Year with an association with such a renowned travel company and are looking forward to welcome more Indian tourists in future.” Vishal Sinha, CEO, TUI India Pvt. Ltd, added, “Ras Al Khaimah is quickly becoming a leading choice for Indian travellers of all ages. We will focus on creating attractive packages and aggressive promotion of the destination through right mix of media channels.” With India ranked as the emirate’s fourth largest international source market, RAKTDA has seen extensive trade and promotional activities to ensure continued growth from the Subcontinent. As per the latest official data, the northern UAE emirate recorded a 19 per cent rise in Indian hotel guests between January and November in 2016 when compared to the same period in 2015.

To push its two products – villas and homestays – in the Indian market, Tripvillas is looking to tap offline travel agents. Roshan D’Silva, CEO, Tripvillas, says, “We currently do not have a direct tie-up with offline agents and have chosen to work through aggregators. In India, a travel agent can have access to our product through Via.com and international travel agents can access our product through Tourico travels in Florida. However, we are actively looking for new reputed travel agents to appoint as our General Selling Agents.” It is looking for travel agents with a strong presence in the upper mid-market as well as specialised agents handling family travel, corporate groups, weddings, and celebrity travel. “We are open and supportive to any ideas and would be happy to engage with other companies for mutual benefit. In the pipeline are multiple training programs, materials and in-person seminars for the travel trade. We offer special payment terms to travel agents who are IATA-certified and pass our credit checks. Our policies are travel agent-friendly and gives them a good opportunity to generate additional revenue and provide a valuable service to their customers,” he adds. It has also tied up with OTAs such as MakemyTrip, Goibibo, Yatra, Travelguru, Via.com as well as international online companies like Ctrip, Ostrovok, Booking.com, Agoda and Expedia

Bali-based destination marketing company – Diorama Travel Management (DTM) – plans to enter the India market to leverage the huge potential it offers. Sutrisno Bin Saudji, Managing Director, DTM, says, “We plan to visit India soon. It will be more to develop friendship and network with the Indian travel agents and understand the Indian market, the lifestyle of the Indian tourists and follow it up with a suitable product to match their needs. With this knowledge we will be able to innovate our products that we can offer the Indian market. As per our study, the India market prefers readymade holiday packages for Indonesia. That’s the reason why we will visit India in the coming years. I want all my agent friends to become ‘Indonesia Specialist Agents’.” He added that DTM plans to organise a destination briefing with agents and introduce them to eight new destinations in Indonesia apart from Bali. The company is a wholesaler inbound tour operator that runs the SIC (Seat-In-Combined) holiday packages in eight destinations in Indonesia. All its Indonesia holiday package are based on GV2 which means a minimum of only two people can go on a group departure fare.

Shivantika Bon Voyage in association with Travelz Factory are opening their office in Northern Europe, intending on Baltic region which is yet to be explored enormously. We are established in all three Countries – Vilnius (Lithuania), Riga (Latvia) and Tallinn (Estonia) and Latvia (Riga). Their expertise lies in customised travel itineraries emphasising on Meeting and Incentive Guests. The itineraries can be altered as per the Groups requirement.  They will be offering series group departure for June’2017 with Breakfast and Dinner and also assist you for FIT movement for this region offering personalised and unique experiences for each client.

Etihad Holidays, the tour operating arm of the UAE’s national airline Etihad Airways, has launched in India, offering travellers a wide range of holiday packages to destinations worldwide. Etihad Holidays has teamed up with leading Indian travel company TUI to distribute its products to over 900 registered travel agents across India. Etihad Holidays has numerous travel options that include flights, accommodation and tour choices with stopovers in Etihad Airways’ Abu Dhabi hub. Agents have the opportunity to earn commissions by selling Etihad Holidays’ products. Commission levels range between five and 10 per cent on packages booked, dependent on class of travel. The packages are bookable through the VAX trade e-platform or through a local sales support team over the phone. Destinations across North America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Gulf and Asia are featured in the packages. Popular markets from India include Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai, the GCC, United States, Canada, European cities, as well as South Africa and the Indian Ocean. Among the most attractive packages is the Abu Dhabi Stopover Programme allowing guests to break their journey in the UAE capital and take advantage of the two-for-the price-of-one night accommodation offers. Neerja Bhatia, Etihad Airways Vice President Indian Subcontinent, said, “The strong presence of Etihad Airways and Jet Airways in one of the most dynamic markets in the world makes it a natural and compelling proposition for Etihad Holidays to launch in India. We have many exciting plans in India during the months ahead offering our guests more choice, greater travel options and increased flexibility to help them plan their flights and holidays.”

Flight Shop, the flagship retail leisure business of Australia-headquartered Flight Centre Travel Group, opened its first retail store in Hyderabad. This is the first franchise outlet in India and was inaugurated by Rakshit Desai, Managing Director, FCM Travel Solutions and Shravan Gupta, Managing Director, Travel Tours Group. With the launch of this store, FCM now has a total of 17 operational Flight Shop stores across India. Spread over 1500 sq. ft., the Flight Shop outlet in Hyderabad is based at a prime location at Nagarjuna Circle catering to the needs of up market urban consumers – families, business travellers, honeymoon couples and groups of travellers. The new retail outlet will offer travellers Flight Shop’s range of products and services viz., Leisure Travel (Domestic and International Flights, Holidays – Group and Customised, Hotels, Car Transfers, Visa, Cruise holidays, honeymoon holidays, adventure holidays and more) and Foreign Exchange (under the Travel Money brand). Flight Shop’s footprint now extends to a total of 17 stores across Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Kochi and Vadodara, via a combination of owned branches and the newly opened franchise outlet.

AVIAREPS has launched Aviacollect, an online payment solution that allows small to medium offline airlines, hospitality brands, including standalone hotels and resorts, DMCs and providers of travel services, such as visa application, ground transportation, airport lounge access, car hire, attractions, sightseeing and travel insurance, to economically extend their international consumer and travel agent sales networks around the world. Aviacollect was launched in response to the urgent business development needs of many small to mid-size tourism related companies to extend their sales distribution channels and presence internationally, in a manner that respects their unique brand, and is cost effective to ensure a return on investment given limited resources. The payment solution can be used as a white label solution for AVIAREPS clients, allowing them to accept payments in targeted countries with local bank connections and in local currencies. Edgar Lacker, Chief Executive Officer, AVIAREPS, says “For over 20 years AVIAREPS has seen the great potential of many small to mid-size aviation and tourism entities to expand their services overseas, however an economic solution for that was not always possible. Thanks to today’s technology and a great AVIAREPS innovation team, a solution is finally at hand! Through Aviacollect, and AVIAREPS’ global network of self-owned offices, our clients can now not only present their brands in a way that is directly relevant to the targeted markets, but comes with the in-market expertise and know-how of our sales and PR professionals on the ground to help spread the sales points of that brand.” Aviacollect is also tailored to the needs of consumers and local travel agents seeking an online one stop information and payment platform, as visitors to the site can book all types …

Trafalgar recently hosted its travel partners and agents from all over Asia on a familiarisation trip to Portugal for its ‘Best of Portugal’ itinerary. The group visited Lisbon, Porto, Fatima, Viseu and Evora. From India, it hosted eight agents from Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Pune who experienced Portugal through the eyes of a Trafalgar insider.

Zubin Karkaria, CEO – VFS Global, and CEO – Kuoni Group, was appointed ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite’ (Knight of the National Order of Merit) by the President of the French Republic, François Hollande, last week. The prestigious French award was conferred on Karkaria by H.E. Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India, on behalf of President Hollande, at a ceremony in Mumbai. Karkaria, who has been a part of the travel industry for more than 25 years, established visa processing multinational VFS Global in 2001. In 2015, he became the first Asian to head the Switzerland headquartered Kuoni Group, VFS Global’s parent company. The distinction recognises his exemplary contributions in developing France as a tourist destination through leisure travel and the management of visa services across the world. Having pioneered the concept of visa process outsourcing in 2001 with the launch of VFS Global, Karkaria has contributed to the increased inbound tourism into France. VFS Global today serves the Government of France through 52 Visa Application Centres in 19 countries around the globe. Speaking about Karkaria’s achievements, the Ambassador said, “France is proud to be the top global tourist destination, as well as a fast-growing destination for the Indian traveller. Over 5 lakh Indian visitors chose France last year and we want to welcome many more. It is an honour to confer the Ordre national du Mérite on Mr. Karkaria who played a stellar role in this success in conceiving the visa facilitation system and promoting France as a travel destination, thus contributing to developing people-to-people contacts between France and India.” Commenting on the recognition, Karkaria said, “I have always believed in the enormous potential France has as …

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation in association with Vidarbha Economic Development Council will be hosting ‘Maharashtra Food Festival’. The six-day festival will be held from December 6, 2016 to December 11, 2016 at the South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur. The first three days will showcase cultural performances followed by a khadi fashion show to promote the use of khadi material. Madan Yerawar, Hon’ble State Tourism Minister, Government of Maharashtra stated, “The local cuisine of the state is the greatest indicator of the traditions of Maharashtra. Maharashtrian food has created benchmarks all over the world with certain dishes being specialties of the regions or communities. Nagpur is a major and third most populated city of the state of Maharashtra in India and is famous for its culture, cuisine and oranges. This six-day festival will not only boost tourism in the state but will also highlight various facets of the city and will also push local economy.”