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Pride Group of Hotels has opened its latest resort in Puri in Odisha named Pride Ananya Resort Puri. The 80-room property offers resort-style accommodation with a beautiful oceanfront. It is a walk from Puri beach and offers a pool, restaurants, a business centre, and spa among other offerings. The Pride Group currently has properties in Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Nagpur, Kolkata, Aerocity Delhi, Ahmedabad, Goa, Jaipur, Vadodara and Dharamshala and now Puri.

To accelerate the growth of tourism in Kerala, the Department of Tourism has launched a three-year long Continuous Tourist Survey 2017-20 (CTS). The Government of India will provide financial assistance of Rs. 25 lakhs, for the survey. During 2010-13, Kerala Tourism had conducted a similar Continuous Tourist Survey (CTS). One of the key findings of that survey was that a foreign tourist stays an average of 18 days in Kerala, while spending Rs. 81,000 on average. The Continuous Tourist Survey (CTS 17-20), conducted in collaboration with Datamation Consultants, intends to study in depth the interest of tourists, their age and demographic details, reasons for visit and nature of tours undertaken. A mobile application will be used by the enumerators of Datamation Consultants to collect various details. The survey will cover not only tourist destinations but also hotels, house boats, home stays, Ayurveda centers, restaurants, tour operators, etc. The Minister for Tourism Kadakampally Surendran, said, “Through the data obtained from the survey, the Tourism Department will evaluate the growth of tourism. The survey will provide us an accurate picture of tourists, likes and dislikes and help us to plan accordingly.” He added that Kerala has been following a comprehensive tourism development plan to double the number of domestic tourist arrivals and increase foreign tourist arrivals by 50%, by 2021. Speaking about the growing popularity of Kerala as a tourism destination, Dr. Venu.V, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala stated, “With over 1 million foreign tourists and 13.1 million domestic tourist arrivals, Kerala has been witnessing tremendous growth in tourist traffic since the last couple of years. Kerala has now become a trendsetter in the Indian tourism industry and we …

After extensive renovations, The Oberoi, New Delhi, will reopen on January 1, 2018. The hotel has commenced reservation on its website or on phone. The Rs. 500 crore-revamp project which was slated to reopen in April next year will be completed ahead of schedule. Built in 1965, the Oberoi New Delhi was closed two years ago for renovation, will have 218 rooms. It will become the first hotel in India to have an air purifier to address growing concerns over the air quality in the national capital.

The GST Council has recommended slash in GST rate for AC restaurants to 12 per cent from previous 18 per cent. This recommendation was made during the Council’s 22nd meeting held on October 6 in Delhi under chairmanship of the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley. The federal tax body has set up a five-member panel of state ministers to make the quarterly tax filing and payment scheme for small businesses more attractive and to rework the tax rate on restaurants.

K.J Alphons, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism along with Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture, officially inaugurated the ‘Paryatan Parv’ celebrations at Humayun’s Tomb, New Delhi. A microsite on the project ‘Adopt a Heritage’, www.adoptaheritage.in, was unveiled during the inauguration of the event jointly by the ministers. Speaking on the occasion, Sharma stressed on the close linkage of culture and tourism in the country and how we need to work on making India’s rich cultural heritage as tourism attractions. Alphons in his address highlighted the need to drastically improve the tourist arrivals in the country. He also said that tourism is needed for two reason namely providing employment to the people and to become an engine of growth. The ‘Paryatan Parv’ activities began with the flagging of the cycle rally by Rashimi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, from India Gate to Qutab Minar on the morning of October 5. Approximately 80 cyclists from across Delhi including members of tourism industry stakeholders, officials from central ministries, doctors, teachers, students participated this rally. The other activities in the capital included a guided Heritage walk at Humayun’s Tomb & painting competition for children etc. Tourism awareness ‘Walk & Run’ were organised in Shillong , Bhubaneswar , Kovalam (Kerala), Hajipur (Bihar), Gurudaspur, Chennai, Guwahati, Mumbai, Ahmedabad , Jaipur, Imphal, Lucknow, Agra, Hyderabad , Gwalior, Bhopal, Panaji (Goa), and Delhi. Hundreds of student from Institute of Hotel Management in these cities and other local stakeholders enthusiastically participated. The various State Tourism Departments also joined the celebrations by organising various events like trekking programme, photography contest, essay competitions, sensitisation program etc. In Guwahati , the students took to rowing in the Brahmaputra …

SNCF Group, owner of the iconic ‘Orient Express’ brand, teams up with AccorHotels to continue the development of Orient Express within the luxury hospitality sector globally. As part of this partnership, AccorHotels will be acquiring a 50 per cent stake in the share capital of Orient Express, until now fully-owned by SNCF. The legendary train, which for almost a century connected Europe’s greatest cities, from Paris to Istanbul, is imprinted in both history and imagination. Since 1977, SNCF Group has been actively involved in developing the brand’s prestigious image, notably through the restoration of vintage carriages dating from the 1920s (known as the Pullman-Orient-Express) and the organisation of events. AccorHotels intends to build on this partnership to strengthen its leadership in the luxury segment, by developing a new collection of prestigious hotels under the Orient Express banner. This collection will offer a unique experience steeped in history that combines the luxury, exoticism and sophistication of East and West in iconic locations. In addition, the seven historic cars, symbols of French Art Deco, will remain the physical property of the state-owned rail group, and will be operated by Orient Express for private journeys and events. They will provide a new and exceptional setting for the organization of events, which may be held in collaboration with AccorHotels’ other businesses such as Potel & Chabot, Noctis and John Paul.

Indian airlines achieved a 36th consecutive month of double-digit domestic traffic growth as demand rose by 16 per cent, according to data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The demand for domestic travel climbed 7.6 per cent this August as compared to August 2016, on pace with the 7.5 per cent growth recorded in July. Capacity rose 6.9 per cent and load factor increased 0.6 percentage points to 84.5 per cent. All markets reported demand increases with the exception of Australia. The international passenger demand for August rose 7.0 per cent compared to August 2016. All regions recorded increases, led by airlines in Latin America. Capacity climbed 6.1 per cent and load factor edged up 0.8 percentage points to 84.5 per cent. “Following the strong summer traffic season in the northern hemisphere, 2017 is on course to be another year of strong traffic growth. However, some important demand drivers are easing, particularly lower fares. As we head towards the end of the year we still expect growth to continue, but potentially at a slower pace,” said Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO, IATA. The global passenger traffic data for August indicated that demand climbed 7.2 per cent as compared to August 2016. The total capacity increased by 6.3 per cent and load factor climbed 0.7 percentage points to 84.5 per cent, which was just below the record for the month set in 2015.

Oman is granting non-sponsored tourist visa for the citizens of India, China and Russia who reside in or hold an entry visa to one of these countries – USA, Canada, Australia, UK and Schengen states – to enter the Sultanate of Oman. These revised terms and conditions were issued by the Omani authorities. The issued statement indicated that the visa shall be granted for a period of one month for a fee of OMR 20. The spouse and children of the visa holder would also be allowed to enter the Sultanate while accompanying them. Applicants must also have a return ticket and confirmed hotel reservation in order to be granted the visa. Speaking about the recent development, Salim Adi Al Mamari, Director General of Tourism Promotion, from the Ministry of Tourism in Oman said, “We are extremely pleased with the recent development of facilitating non-sponsored tourist visa for the citizens of India, China and Russia. With the revision in visa regulations, we are expecting that Indian arrivals across all segments will grow exponentially – especially leisure and visitors to conventions and exhibitions. Oman has gained immense popularity with mature and evolved travellers in the recent years. We aim to expand our travel and tourism offerings and are certain that the revised policies will offer expediency and convenience to travellers and will encourage more impromptu trips to the Sultanate.” Lubaina Sheerazi, India Representative, Ministry of Tourism, Oman, said, “The outbound segment in India is on a rise with the Indian economy booming and increasingly better standards of living. Most Indians typically travel for three to five nights as they want to experience Muscat and beyond. We are certain that the recent change …

In 2017, up until August, Spain recorded as many as 86,000 Indian tourists, registering an approximate growth of about 50 per cent in 2017 over the same period in 2016, informed Ignacio Ducasse Gutierrez, Director, Tourism Office of Spain – Mumbai, during the Spanish Travel Show in New Delhi. This year, Spain Tourism is organising its annual roadshow in three cities – Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai. “We have seen a huge increase in the number of Indian tourists travelling to Spain in 2017 and we hope to increase this number further. Since our roadshows are an annual affair, we try to cover different cities every year. Next year we will reach out to other cities which we have never visited before like Nagpur and Jaipur apart from the ones we have covered this year. We are expecting around 100-150 travel agents and tour operators in each city for the roadshows,” said Gutierrez. Various tourism boards and regions of Spain participated in the show which included Madrid Region, Barcelona Premium, Andalucia Tourist Board, Costa del Sol Tourist Board, Galicia, Castilla y Leon Tourist Board and AVE Cities Network. Various travel agencies and hotels like Europamundo Vacaciones, Warq Events and Holidays, Century Incoming, Melia Hotels International and Palladium Hotel Group etc. also showcased their products to the travel agents in the various cities.

Alphons Kannanthanam, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Tourism has said that the Ministry of Tourism observed ‘Swachhta Pakhwada’ during September 16 to October 2, 2017, by organising various cleanliness activities/programmes at the premises of its offices/educational institutions/prominent tourist places, etc. All educational institutes under Ministry of Tourism adopt at least one tourist place to maintain cleanliness in a sustainable way. Addressing the media, he said that the Prime Minister called upon the nation to begin a campaign, ‘Swachhata Hi Sewa’, ‘Cleanliness is Service’, from September 15 to October 2, 2017 which coincided with the “Swachhta Pakhwada” of M/o Tourism. Ministry had organised Swachhta Drive at various tourist/pilgrim places all over the country through the its India tourism offices. The campaign had been organised at more than 80 places all over the country during the period which was kick started at Juhu Beach on September 15, 2017. Besides, major clean-up activities, pledge swearing, awareness activities, essay competition, nuked natak etc were organised during the campaign. The Minister said that he himself volunteered various cleanliness activities at India Gate on September 17, 2017, at Janpath Market on the World Tourism Day (September 27, 2017) and at Smith village, Shillong, Meghalaya on  September 30, 2017. Officers of Ministry of Tourism as well as Students from Institutes of Hotel Management (IHM) were also present. The cleanliness activities carried out by the the Minister at various spots drew the attention of visitors as well as shopkeepers/ vendors and conveyed the importance of maintaining the places clean to the public. Minister interacted with the visitors as well as shopkeepers and urged everyone to contribute to make the country clean and beautiful. He also administered the …