Category Archives: Agents

The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Sultanate of Oman, in partnership with Ritz Carlton Al-Bustan Palace, Mark Tours, and Oman Air, invites the Indian travel trade to an exclusive webinar on Oman’s destinations and product offerings. Gain valuable insights and updates for your clients today at 3 PM IST. Don’t miss the opportunity to win exciting prizes! For more information, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call 9650196532.

Addressing the Rajasthan Domestic Travel Mart (RDTM) 2024 in Jaipur, Diya Kumari, Deputy Chief Minister, Rajasthan, said, “Our Tourism Unit Policy will be out soon. We are planning to organise roadshows overseas to promote Rajasthan and for that, we need your participation and involvement. A lot more is in the pipeline for the future.”

DreamFolks has announced the launch of its newest service – highway dining for travellers. This service will be available at over 600 outlets along key highways across the country.  This new offering marks DreamFolks’ expansion beyond airports and railway stations to provide enhanced convenience for highway travellers. DreamFolks members can now enjoy specially designed meals at popular restaurants on more than 60 key highway routes emanating from major cities,      including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata. The service offers travellers a seamless, hassle-free dining experience while on the road. Commenting on the launch, Liberatha Kallat, Founder and CMD of DreamFolks, said,“At DreamFolks, we are committed to delivering premium experiences to travellers. With this launch, we’re excited to extend our services to highway travellers, providing them with access to quality dining options throughout their journeys. As we continue to identify opportunities to enhance the travel experience across multiple touchpoints, expanding our offerings to highways is a natural progression. This new service reflects our vision of creating seamless and elevated travel experiences at every mode of the journey.” The DreamFolks highway dining service offers travellers an exclusive range of thoughtfully crafted meals, combining gourmet flavours with unparalleled convenience. Designed to elevate the dining experience for discerning road travellers, this service ensures that every meal reflects our commitment to quality and sophistication. As highway networks continue to grow and road travel gains popularity, DreamFolks is proud to extend its premium hospitality to ensure travellers enjoy exceptional dining at every stop along their journey. With this latest offering, DreamFolks reinforces its commitment to delivering a seamless travel experience and expanding its footprint in India’s growing travel ecosystem. From airports and railway stations to …

India’s travel industry is experiencing a remarkable rebound, with over 2 billion travel-related searches on Google platforms annually. This figure highlights a significant recovery from the 70% dip in travel interest during the COVID-19 pandemic. Encouragingly, travel demand continues to grow, with a 12% increase year-over-year into the first half of 2024. The resurgence is further supported by a notable rise in app downloads, with travel-related apps witnessing a 40 million average monthly active usage, reflecting an increasing consumer appetite for travel planning and bookings.

More than ever, cultural exploration will be a priority for travellers in 2024. Skyscanner is seeing a broad spectrum of cultural curiosity in travel, from gig trippers, jetting off to see their favourite artists, to budget bougie foodies seeking the very best food experience. The cost of living, though, remains top of mind. Travellers also want to enhance their holidays in a cost-effective way too with ‘luxe-for-less’ holiday experiences trending. There’s a continued willingness from travellers globally to upgrade their holiday experience on everything from better quality food on board flights (29%) to upgrading to business or first class (20%).

Sandipan Bose, General Manager, Mementos by ITC Hotels, Ekayaa, Udaipur, expressed his gratitude and pride while accepting two awards at the India Travel Awards 2024. He said, “We received two awards, and they represent the immense hard work and dedication we put into our work. The acknowledgement and your appreciation mean a great deal to us, and it has been a motivating factor for us.”

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO, expressed his appreciation for the outstanding culinary experience at the IATO Convention at Taj Lakefront, Bhopal. “The feedback we’ve received from attendees is that they have had the best food they’ve ever tasted,” Mehra said. Mehra also said that the variety and quality of the meals, from breakfast and lunch to dinner and snacks, received praise from attendees. “My hats off to the chef and his team for making this happen,” he added, highlighting the overwhelming positive response from all corners of the event.

The Swiss experience starts onboard Swiss International Air Lines where travellers can enjoy their holiday booked by their travel agent via TourFox. Attend all webinars for a chance to win a trip to Switzerland in 2025! For more info, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.  

Philip Dickinson has announced that, after four years, he has left his role of Vice President of International Markets, MICE Sports & E-Sports for Qatar Tourism, to pursue new opportunities. Dickinson said: “When I joined Qatar Tourism in 2020, the world was a very different place. The pandemic had put global travel on hold, so it was a particularly challenging starting point from which to build on the country’s ambitious tourism growth targets. However, since then, the country has flourished, not least thanks to the hosting of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022tm, which brought an influx of new visitors to experience Qatar’s excellent hospitality and attractions. “I’m very proud of the work my team and I have achieved at Qatar Tourism over the past four years, putting Qatar on the tourism map and delivering remarkable tourism growth from 2.1M international visitors in pre-pandemic 2019 to 4.05M in 2023. Also continuing that momentum in 2024 with 2.6M international visitors in H1 a 28% increase on the same period in 2023. I would also like to personally thank all the travel trade partners in India and from around the world for their great support with this tremendous growth. “I wish the whole team at Qatar Tourism all the best and very much look forward to working with my friends and trade partners again soon in my next role”.

Hotel investments in the first half, January to June of 2024, reached USD 93 million, with forecasted volumes of USD 413 million for the full year, a 22% increase from 2023, according to JLL’s Hotel Investment Trends – India H1 2024. Of the transaction volume, approximately 72% were related to operational hotels, 23% involved under construction hotels, and the remaining involved land leases. During the first six months of 2024, six hotel transactions were concluded, ranging from operational assets in Tier I and leisure markets to land leases in airport district for greenfield development. JLL anticipates that the remainder of 2024 will continue to benefit from the favorable trends observed in its first half. The second half of 2024 has already started positively, with two transactions facilitated by JLL in key hospitality markets, totaling USD 70 million. Tier I markets remain robust, accounting for 78% of the projected transaction volumes, while Tier II and III markets make up the remaining 22%. Listed hotel companies led the hotel transactions in the first half of 2024, with the upscale segment claiming the highest share of the total transaction volume (44%), followed by mid-scale (31%), luxury (23%), and economy (3%) segments. In the first half of 2024, a total of 19,442 keys were signed, with 83% of them located in Tier II and III cities. Management contracts accounted for the majority of signings (89%), followed by franchises (8%), and lease and revenue share agreements (3%). The number of greenfield projects in the first half of 2024 (around 13,700 keys) surpassed the count for the entire year of 2023 (~13,600 keys), demonstrating the enduring confidence of hotel developers in the sector’s long-term growth. Tier I …