Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

AccorHotels has signed an agreement to acquire Gekko, a major player in the business travel hotel reservation segment. The transaction, which values Gekko at €100 million, will have an accretive effect on AccorHotels’ financial performance from 2018. The transaction is subject to approval of competition authorities and has already been approved by AccorHotels’ employee representative bodies. This transaction is in line with the strategy aimed at strengthening AccorHotels’ leadership across the entire customer experience by enhancing the range of services offered to business travellers, the Group’s key customer segment. Stephane de Laforcade and Olivier Delouis will remain at the head of Gekko and will continue to run the group independently. Gekko offers search and reservation solutions via an interface connected to more than 500,000 hotels worldwide, ranging from budget to luxury. Its turnkey management tools allow business travellers to manage their online payments, offering them the option of tracking and optimizing their costs. Gekko serves more than 300 corporate customers and 14,000 travel agencies through its subsidiaries: HCorpo (key accounts), Teldar Travel (leisure travel agencies), Teldar Travel Biz (SME-focused travel agencies), Miles Attack (loyalty program) and Infinite Hotel (wholesaler serving independent French hotels). Gekko operates in France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal, and has been posting very strong year-on-year growth for many years. Founded in 2010, Gekko is managed by Olivier Delouis and Stéphane de Laforcade. They introduced HLD, a European investment fund, as their reference shareholder in 2015. Thibault Viort, Chief Disruption & Growth Officer, stated, “We are very pleased to have Gekko’s team join our Group. AccorHotels’ extensive global footprint, together with Gekko’s technological leadership, today paves the way for the creation of a global leader in B-to-B hotel …

Bird ExecuJet Airport Services, a joint venture between Bird Group and ExecuJet Aviation Group, has been given Level – I accreditation by the International Standard for Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH) for its Fixed Based Operation (FBO) in New Delhi. This accreditation makes Bird ExecuJet Airport Services the first FBO in the country to hold this Industry Leading Certification. Bird ExecuJet is developing a world class FBO/MRO at Indira Gandhi International Airport and currently offers maintenance services from 2 exclusive hangars. The existing facility offers excellent logistics and operational readiness for its clients within India and also supports international clients and clients from neighbouring countries. IS-BAH is a joint programme between the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) and the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) and offers voluntary global code of best practices for business aviation ground handlers. It follows a long-established structure of International Standard for Business Aircraft Operators Programme and sets best practices for FBOs globally.  

With a leading role in the recent approval of the Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics by the UNWTO General Assembly held in Chengdu, China, the composition of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics has been renewed. In order to continue advancing the important work of this subsidiary organ of the UNWTO General Assembly, the mandate of the outgoing members of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics was renewed until 2021, with Pascal Lamy continuing to chair the Committee. Joining the four Members whose mandate was set to end in 2019 – Yoshiaki Hompo (Japan), Fiona Jeffery (UK), Tanja Mihalic (Slovenia) and Eugenio Yunis (Chile) – will be Gede Ardika (Indonesia), Jean Marc Mignon (International Social Tourism Organization) and Ron Oswald (The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations) as Committee Members, and Hiran Cooray (Sri Lanka), Suzy Hatough (Jordan) and Günnur Diker (Turkey) as Alternates. The only new member joining the World Committee on Tourism Ethics four a four-year term starting 17 September 2017 is Rosette Chantal Rugamba, Founder and Managing Director of Songa Africa and Amakoro Lodge (Rwanda).

Agents can now book holidays from October 2017 to April 2018 with Trafalgar offering confirmed departures for autumn, winter and spring 2017-18. Nicholas Lim, Trafalgar’s President-Asia, says, “With Diwali coming up and the year-end Christmas holiday season just around the corner, we believe that this will give our agents and the trade all the confidence and peace of mind when their clients decide on a Trafalgar European holiday with their loved ones.  In a world that is constantly in flux and a notoriously late booking market here in Asia, this 100% Definite Departure guarantee presents a golden opportunity to all agents who are now able capitalise on all selling opportunities as far out as April.  With an overall 98% independent guests satisfaction rating and a high 52 per cent repeat business annually, we believe we have the product that the trade can rely on.”

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), conducted its 52nd Annual General Meeting at The Ashok, New Delhi. Chairing the meeting, Ravneet Kaur, IAS, Chairperson & Managing Director, ITDC, announced that corporation closed the year with a turnover of Rs. 495.14 crore during 2016-17. The net profit before tax has been recorded to Rs.17.52 crore during 2016-17. Also, the board declared and approved a dividend of 13.30 per cent amounting to Rs.11.41 crore approximately in the meeting held on May 30, 2017. Other Board of Directors present during the meeting included Piyush Tiwari, Director (Commercial & Marketing), Pradip Kumar Das, Director (Finance), government nominee directors and independent directors. The CMD announced that ITDC has shown a significant improvement in the operational efficiency. Overall occupancy during 2016-17 was 58 per cent as against 52 per cent during 2015-16 with flagship Hotel ‘The Ashok’ recording highest turnover of Rs. 152.91 cr during 2016-17. The board said that a big push is being given to connect ITDC with new customers especially with younger generation through print and social media. Steps are being taken to make ITDC website more attractive and user friendly.

Chander Mansharamani has been re-elected as Vice Chairman of India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) for another two-year term. Amaresh Tiwari and Girish Kwatra will also continue on their respective posts of Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer. This was declared during the association’s 30th Annual General Meeting and Elections for the Governing Board held at The Ashok in New Delhi which was also attended by Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and Chairman, ICPB. New appointments were made in the Hotel, Tour Operator and Congress / Convention Centres categories. The two new appointments in the hotel category were Hemant Mediratta and Saurabh Bhargava & Abinash Manghani (due to a tie for the second post). Gunjan Suri and Naveen Chibber took up the two new posts in the travel agency category while Ajay Vinayak and Anuj Wadhwa took the two posts in tour operator category. The post for the Congress / Convention Centres went to Sudeep Sarcar. Talking about the key priorities for the bureau now, Chander Mansharamani, Vice Chairman, ICPB, said, “the government has been looking at us as the frontal organisation for marketing India as a convention destination. Keeping that in mind, we are completely invested to take things to the next level. Currently we have outlined three core areas to focus on; first is market creation wherein creating our chapters and bidding of international conferences will be a part of that. Market creation will involve conducting roadshows both in India and international markets. The second priority is Visa, lobbying and making the entire process easier to get a visa for delegates attending conferences in India and thirdly we want to sensitise the central and state governments on the …

Sarovar Hotels has announced the signing of its latest hotel in Bengaluru, La Marvella Sarovar Premiere. The takeover is expected to be completed by the first week of November. La Marvella Sarovar Premiere, Bengaluru – Jayanagar, is Sarovar’s fifth hotel in the city after Davanam Sarovar Portico Suites, RBD Sarovar Portico, Park Plaza and Radha Hometel. La Marvella Sarovar Premiere is promoted by SVG Exports offering all facilities and services of an upscale five-star business hotel located in Jayanagar. With 102 rooms, a multi cuisine restaurant and a lounge bar, the hotel ensures guests a great stay. An Italian specialty restaurant will soon be introduced to bring a unique culinary experience to guests. Commenting on the development, Ajay K. Bakaya, Managing Director, Sarovar Hotels, says, “We are delighted to be signing a deal for yet another hotel in Bengaluru. La Marvella Sarovar Premiere located at a prime destination in the city is ideal for business as well as lesiure travellers. With Bengaluru emerging as one of our key markets, we look forward to further growth and increased traffic contribution from our hotels here. We will continue to focus on our expansion and also strengthen our position as we look to spread farther across South India.”  

India’s participation grew manifolds at IFTM Top Resa MAP Pro, France’s only multi-sector travel and tourism trade show. Indian states, such as, Kerala, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Goa received an overwhelming response from this market. India Tourism and the private sector created a buzz and saw great potential at the event held from September 25-28. The four-day event was attended by 30,929 industry professionals, demonstrating the vitality and energy that characterise the travel and tourism industry. As many as 1,694 brands were spread across 543 stands.

Vistara launched ‘Vistara Direct’, a programme under which the airline offers an array of benefits to travellers who book tickets directly on Vistara’s website www.airvistara.com or on Vistara’s mobile app (available on Apple iOS and Android), for bookings effective September 28, 2017, onward. Benefits for those booking direct include one free change or cancellation within 24 hours of booking (as long as travel is at least 7 days in the future), complimentary fast-track priority handling at the airport at dedicated counters (for check-in, baggage, and boarding), double Club Vistara (CV) Points for CV members, and an additional 5kg check-in luggage allowance. Vistara Direct also provides several additional benefits such as lower fees and faster refunds, timely and assured email and SMS flight status alerts, and attractive periodic upgrade offers. In addition, for a limited time, MobiKwik users will get 10% cashback upto a maximum of ₹600 in the form of SuperCash on all bookings made on Vistara’s website.

Tourism Ireland conducted its India Sales Mission 2017 in Mumbai and Delhi where 12 representatives from the destination interacted with over 100 leading travel agents and tour operators in each city to update them about the new offerings in Ireland. Ireland is promoting the locations where the famous movie- Star Wars and Game of Thrones television series has been shot. “Almost 70 per cent of Game of Thrones has been shot in Northern Ireland and Star Wars been shot in West Ireland. We feel these on-screen products have a good resonance in India and will drive growth to Ireland,” says Huzan Frazer Motivala, Representative-India, Tourism Ireland. David Boyce, Head-Developing Markets, Tourism Ireland, informed that Ireland recorded over 40,000 Indian arrivals up till August 2017, registering a 34 per cent growth over last year during the same period. The destination hopes to see this number touch 50,000 over the next 2-3 years. Boyce said, “These figures are not our official numbers as we get them only by the year end. However, these have been received from the destinations that Indians visit in Ireland and thus are proof to believe that the growth is robust.”