Category Archives: Agents

IATO has thanked the Government for withdrawing completely 5 percent Tax Collection At Source (TCS) charged on sale of overseas tour packages to foreign tour operators. Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO, said, “This means that both foreign individuals and FTOs (buyers) buying overseas tour packages from the Indian Tour Operators will be exempted from TCS provisions.”

Ministry of Civil Aviation’s flagship program Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN has completed 5 years. Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia, said, “It has played a great role in the transformation of Indian aviation industry. So far under this scheme, we have 425 routes aiming to go up to 1000 routes, 68 new airports aiming to touch 100 airports. In next 4 years we are expecting 40 crore travellers through civil aviation in India. That day is not far when along with rail transport and road transport Civil Aviation will become the bulwark of the transportation in India.”

Criteo SA, in its findings from its latest travel report 2022 Travel Commerce Insights, states that Indian travellers showed the strongest interest to lower their carbon footprint when traveling, and for travel during summer among APAC countries surveyed. In terms of the destination, 74% of Indian travellers answered they are likely to make an online booking for domestic travel. The report also says that hotel and rental and airline bookings rebounded to match or surpass the pre-pandemic level globally. The other APAC countries apart from India included Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourism saw a strong rebound in the first five months of 2022, with almost 250 million international arrivals recorded. This compares to 77 million arrivals from January to May 2021 and means that the sector has recovered almost half (46%) of pre-pandemic 2019 levels. “The recovery of tourism has gathered pace in many parts of the world, weathering the challenges standing in its way,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. He also advises caution in view of the “economic headwinds and geopolitical challenges which could impact the sector in the remainder of 2022 and beyond.”

Speaking on completing 12 years of operations, Kanwer Deep Singh, Founder & President, TravelBullz, says, “Twelve years of passion, integrity and hard work – that’s what TravelBullz stands for. Humbled by the support from all our partners that makes us more committed. Shalini Nair, Founding Member, TravelBullz adds, “As we celebrate the 12th Foundation Day of 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐁𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐳, we are overwhelmed with lot of emotions. Thankful to almighty and our dear friends and partners for their faith and support all these years. We are forever indebted to our colleagues who continued to have faith in us through the most difficult times the world had seen and stood by us like a Rock. It is a testimony that together we can conquer any hurdle and overcome any challenges.”

Foreign tourists visiting the Himalayan state of Sikkim can now apply for Restricted Area Permit (RAP) and Protected Area Permit (PAP) online from October this year. They can do this via a dedicated website for both the permits. Work for developing the website is on. This was announced by Sikkim CM Prem Singh Tamang. This was an age-old demand of The Travel Agents Association of Sikkim (TAAS).

With the return to normalcy in the business environment, domestic passenger traffic grew by 94% on a YoY basis to ~9.7 million in July 2022 (5.0 million in July 2021) and was only ~18% lower compared to ~11.9 million in July 2019 (pre-Covid level). On a sequential basis, however, it was ~7% lower compared to ~10.5 million in June 2022, given some impact of the cyclicality in passenger travel, mainly arising from the lean period during monsoon coupled with impact on leisure travel due to hardening of air travel fares. The airlines’ capacity deployment for July 2022 was ~65% higher than in July 2021 (78,614 departures in July 2022 against 47,692 departures in July 2021). On a sequential basis, the number of departures in July 2022 were lower by around 5% compared to June 2022. Suprio Banerjee, Vice President & Sector Head, ICRA said, “For July 2022, the average daily departures were at ~2,536, notably higher than the average daily departures of ~1,538 in July 2021, and slightly lower compared to ~2,771 in June 2022. The average number of passengers per flight during July 2022 was 124, largely in line with the average of 126 passengers per flight in June 2022 and higher than the average of 105 passengers per flight in July 2019. ICRA believes that the domestic air traffic yields^ have moved up in the range of 25-30% over pre-Covid levels on domestic routes.  The industry earnings in FY2023 will continue to reel under pressure owing to the elevated ATF prices, coupled with the depreciation of the INR against the US$, given that around 35-50% of the airlines’ operating expenses are denominated in US$. Although removal of fare …

Inspired by the initiative of the World Tourism Organization to create its International Code for the Protection of Tourists, at Europamundo we have developed our own code, the Code for the Protection of Tourists, as a reference framework with minimum standards for the protection of tourists in emergency or extraordinary situations, such as those derived from the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020 or situations of protection of rights as consumers. It marks a reference environment in the recovery of tourism after COVID-19 so that tourists and travelers regain confidence in tourism and feel safe when traveling again, in case any unforeseen or extraordinary situation could occur. In the preparation of this Code we have created four working groups, involving various departments of the company and its workers, managers, legal advice, and some of our distributors and collaborators: Internal Group: The Customer Service Department and the Corporate Social Responsibility Department Suppliers Group: Groups Department, Middle East Department, Hiring Department, Traffic Department and Department of Corporate Social Responsibility; Group of Guides Group of Distributors formed by the following: Kuality-Concha (CHILE), Status Travel (ECUADOR); Cielos Abiertos (COLOMBIA), Ola (ARGENTINA), Andes Reps (CHILE) and Aeromundo (URUGUAY). To make this Code we have taken as reference different frameworks related to the protection and assistance to tourists, duties of the agents involved in a trip, and different codes of conduct and ethics. In addition, the Code contains principles, definitions, recommendations, action criteria in relation to different actors involved in the provision of tourist services, protection in the event of insolvency of suppliers and distributors, and the criterio for the adherence. We are going to add a summary of the Code to the “My Trip” application used by …

After review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to remove the fare bands with effect from August 31. The airlines/airport operators shall, however, ensure that guidelines to contain COVID19 are strictly adhered to.

The government is working on mission mode to foster air, road, train and political connectivity in the North East region. Union Ministrer G Kishan Reddy said, “In the North East more than 80,000 cr has been spent on road connectivity, and 1190 km of railway track projects are underway. In the coming four years, the government plans to establish 100 more airports, and seaplane networks and increase airways connectivity to hilly regions.”