Category Archives: Agents

Expedia Travel Agent Affiliate Programme (Expedia TAAP) is conducting a webinar for the travel trade in India tomorrow, at 11:30 am. The virtual event will allow travel agents to learn about the benefits of using Expedia TAAP. Those who want to register can write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

Akbar Travels and Sabre Corporation have announced a new long-term, strategic partnership agreement. Under the extended and expanded agreement, Sabre will continue to be Akbar’s preferred GDS partner in India, ensuring that the firm can continue to access real-time, rich content from hundreds of thousands of airlines, hoteliers and other travel providers through Sabre’s intuitive Sabre Red 360 interface. Akbar and Sabre will also be working more closely together through the appointment of software company, Benzy Infotech – a 100% subsidiary of the Akbar Group.

Travel Spirit International (TSI) has launched a new travel portal, www.TravelSpell.com which is solely focussed on promoting domestic tourism, by providing the local Indian tourist with a wide array of carefully crafted experiential journeys across the Indian subcontinent. The platform is powered by TSI and has already partnered with esteemed brands like Taj Hotels, Oberoi Group, ITC, and Rare India.

Expedia TAAP is organising a webinar for the travel trade on Friday, 26th Feb, 2021, which will start at 11:30 am. Travel agents will get to chance to learn about the benefits of using Expedia TAAP at this virtual event. To register, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

EaseMyTrip is set to become the first Indian OTA to list on the local bourses as it prepares to launch a Rs 510 crorāe IPO by March end. It will look to utilise a surge in liquidity in primary markets that has led to blockbuster demand for IPOs in recent months. It could, however, face the uphill task of convincing investors at a time when āthe travel industry is struggling to ride out the adverse impact of the pandemic though news on the vaccine has raised hopes of a full

StreetGooser, a cloud-based accommodation management system with 4,000 hotels in its kitty, has signed an MoU with HATS – a consortium of homestays and tourism promoters which has, under its belt, a thousand homestays across Kerala. Shakthivelu M, Managing Director and Co-founder of StreetGooser, says, “We, at StreetGooser, have provided our Property Management System for free to members of HATS as there is an innate synergy between our two organizations.” John Varghese N, CEO and Founder of StreetGooser adds, “StreetGooser will hold webinars to educate and integrate homestay owners into the system. Our cutting-edge technology helps home owners to run their business efficiently and smoothly, giving them the tools to hike occupancy rates and revenue.” “Homestays have their own USPs,” says MP Sivadathan, Director Kerala HATS & Member, State Tourism Advisory Committee. “Homestays offer tourists secure and affordable accommodation, personalized service, the opportunity to interact with hosts who have local know-how and relish cuisine that is fresh, seasonal and organic,” he adds. However, home stays often have challenges, especially when located in off-trail areas. Boosting occupancy and revenue becomes difficult in the absence of an online presence. “Another spin-off of the partnership is that homestays that are unique and experiential will be showcased on GypZe.com, giving them greater visibility,” says  Hema Manghnani, Vice-President Business Development. “GypZe is a flagship venture of StreetGooser and a one-of-a-kind online travel companion and guide,” she explains. “It is essentially a booking platform dedicated to experiential stays.”

Naveen Kundu, Managing Director, EBIXCASH Travel Services has been appointed as the Co-Chairman for the domestic tourism committee of FICCI. In the new role, Naveen will be involved with various government agencies & tourism committees to strengthen the footprints of domestic tourism in India. This committee will be working as a sub-committee under the aegis of FICCI Tourism Committee to address the various issues and roadblocks in terms of domestic travel and technology, which act as a hindrance for sustaining the rapid growth of this sector. “My vision has always been to enhance the domestic tourism demand of what is called the untouched India for which I already havew a couoke of national awards by the Government of India , build a core team at FICCI team who can help promote & push the fulfilment of the domestic tourism products across India such as hoteliers , Ground operators of various states , transport suppliers , individuals and companies from the artisan in-dustry  and local bodies .Domestic & Regional tourism is the key indicator for inclusive economic development & job creation,” said Naveen Kundu.

In an unprecedented airline-citizen partnership, the travel trade and the hotel industry in Jaisalmer came together and helped reinstate SpiceJet flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad to the Golden City starting 12 February, 2021. Ritika Modi, Regional President, UNIGLOBE Travel South Asia and Manvendra Singh Shekhawat, MD, Suryagarh and Founder of I Love Jaisalmer, played a key role. They reached out to Shilpa Bhatia, CCO, SpiceJet, and proposed that the stakeholders share airline losses on the routes. After the agreement for the same, SpiceJet and the Government have now reinstated the flight.

The Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has launched its online bus booking services that went live for the service of the nation on January 29, 2021. IRCTC is gradually moving towards firmly positioning itself as the first government ‘One Stop Shop Travel Portal’ of the country. IRCTC is already in the business of online rail and flight tickets booking.

With the pandemic highlighting the need for greater sustainability in the travel and tourism supply chain, TOFTigers has relaunched its internationally-recognised PUG and Footprint certification programme to help accommodation providers improve their businesses, now that travel is slowly resuming. It is a globally-recognised standard, to show their operators, OTAs, agents and to clients that their business is a world-class operation that is conscious of its responsibilities to people and the planet. TOFTigers is also running tutorials on understanding sustainability and how to build better itineraries, the fourth in the series is today at 2pm led by Julian Matthews, Founder and Chairman, TOFTigers. To join, sign up at https://www.toftigers.org/toftigers-event.