Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

The largest North Eastern state has signed MoU between four key partners to work together to promote and attract tourists to the state. The partners include OxigenWallet – the official e-wallet partner for the department of tourism, MakeMyTrip – the official partner in the online travel portal category, Travel Agents’ Association of India (TAAI) as the official partner, and Fly Wings – the partner for hospitality training. This was announced at the state’s first conclave in New Delhi which was graced by Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home, Govt. of India, along with other dignitaries like Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet. Arunachal Pradesh is heavily cashing in on the adventure segment and is fostering awareness through adventure festivals like the three-day Mechuka adventure festival held in November 2016. Speaking at the conclave, Dr Joram Besa, Tourism Secretary, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh said, “The state is investing to become the adventure and exotic tourism hub of India. The role of tourism partners in building awareness and encouraging on the unique attractions this state offers is paramount. In 2017, we expect the number of tourist arrivals to grow exponentially.” The state received over 3.5 lakh tourists in 2016.

Emirates has introduced a new service to enable customers to use their laptops and tablet devices until just before they board their flights to the US. Emirates customers travelling to the US via Dubai will be able to utilise their laptops and tablet devices on the first part of their journeys, and also during transit in Dubai. They must then declare and hand over their laptops, tablets, and other banned electronic devices to security staff at the gate just before boarding their US-bound flight. The devices will be carefully packed into boxes, loaded into the aircraft hold, and returned to the customer at their US destination. There will not be any charge for this service. Passengers on US-bound flights starting their journeys in Dubai are encouraged to pack their electronic devices into their check-in luggage in the first instance, to avoid delays. Customers should be aware that there will be a detailed search of all hand baggage on non-stop flights to the US from Dubai. They should therefore declare their devices before the search, or ensure their electronic devices are packed into their check-in luggage in the first instance. Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline said: “Our aim is to ensure compliance with the new rules, while minimising disruption to passenger flow and impact on customer experience. Our new complimentary service enables passengers, particularly those flying for business, to have the flexibility to use their devices until the last possible moment. Once on board they can still stay connected on their mobile phones. Our historical data shows that on Emirates’ US flights, 90% of passengers using our onboard mobile and Wi-Fi connectivity services do so via their smart phones. Only …

The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) in association with Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) has introduced mine tourism in Nagpur to showcase the abundant coal mining resources in Maharashtra and outline the intricacies of coal mining. It has started selling packages that are valid from March 31, 2017 to April 30, 2017. Tourists will get to descend 500 metres below the surface into the WCL coalmine in Saoner near Nagpur to experience the hardship of miners and learn about the machines involved. Additionally, they will also get an opportunity to tour an eco-park and visit the open cast mine in Gondegaon. The one-day itinerary costs Rs. 650 and includes transport, lunch and security equipment.

SpiceJet has launched its latest international route—Kolkata to Dhaka— which would fly daily. Kamal Hingorani, Senior Vice President & Head Inflight Services and Customer Experience, SpiceJet, revealed that they have started their seventh international route to Dhaka. He also said, “We are very proud about it. There is another international route — Delhi-Bangkok, which is going to start on April 14 and will be a non-stop daily flight. There is a lot more on the cards for us.”

The Travel Corporation (TTC) has asserted its ongoing commitment to its travel agent partners with the launch of a new training initiative, the TTC Agent Academy. With this, Trafalgar, Contiki, Insight Vacations and Uniworld invite agents to sign up on the new e-learning platform. It showcases the four core brands of Trafalgar, Contiki, Insight Vacations and Uniworld via a series of interactive, user-friendly modules and is complemented with a 90-second video animation highlighting the key benefits of the scheme. The Agent Academy has been created with the aim of facilitating effortless sales, and the new e-learning platform offers a simplified manner in which agents can easily build their knowledge of the award-winning family of brands to make their roles more financially rewarding and to keep their clients coming back. The first phase of a reaffirmed long-term commitment to working together and winning together, the TTC Agent Academy is designed to instil greater understanding and confidence in selling; from comprehending the depth of TTC’s global network, to what makes each brand innovative and unique, to the scope of travel solutions available for their customers. Encompassing The Trafalgar Academy, ContikiU, Insight Tour Specialist and Uniworld River Cruise Specialist, all brand programmes provide valuable content that’s accessible online 24/7, offering the ultimate in flexibility. Brett Tollman, TTC’s Chief Executive said, “Our latest trade initiative has been crafted with the success of our valued partners in mind. At TTC, we believe that travel consultants have the best job in the world and we have worked hard to create an inspirational programme to make selling more fun and easy for them. It is our hope that enrolment into the TTC Academy will reward travel agents …

Under this partnership, all domestic and international accommodations available on Booking.com will now be available on Paytm with unique promotions and offers. The company’s latest partnership will complement its aggressive efforts to tap into this segment while enabling Booking.com to offer its wide assortment of over 1.1 million accommodation options to Paytm’s 200 million strong wallet user base. Commenting on the occasion, Abhishek Rajan, Vice President – Paytm said, “Paytm’s travel marketplace has been focused on offering a seamless experience across the widest range of booking options. Our partnership with Booking.com will help us offer our customers the choice to book from over a million accommodation options across the world at the most attractive prices.” David Peller, Director Strategic partnerships, APAC at Booking.com, added, “There’s never been a more compelling need for digital payments and the removal of friction caused by payments in ecommerce in India. As the world’s leading online accommodation platform, we’re happy to partner with Paytm to enable their customers to effortlessly select the perfect place to stay, anywhere in the world.” The online hotel booking service on Paytm has seen a major uptake in bookings since last year owing to increasing mobile penetration and adoption.

The Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has launched two campaigns that offers incentives for exhibitors as well as attendees from India. The delegation led by Kanokporn Damrongkul, Senior Business Development Manager, Exhibitions Department, TCEB, were in Mumbai to launch these two campaigns. The ‘Exhibiz in Market’ campaign is its latest drive towards expanding exhibition space at international exhibitions in Thailand. Damrongkul reveals, “India is an active participant in Thailand’s trade shows, contributing 2.92 per cent of total overseas exhibitors in 2015. The majority of them exhibited in the food and agriculture sector followed by automotive and health and wellness. TCEB’s Exhibiz in Market scheme is a new funding initiative conceived to generate pavilions at international trade shows in Thailand. The scheme offers financial assistance between USD 1,500 – USD 5,500 for leaders of commercial pavilions between 36 sqm and 250 sqm in size.” The other scheme called ‘Connect Business Campaign’ offers incentive of USD 100 per person for attendees with a mazimum of 300 pax per show.

FICCI Digital Travel, Hospitality and Innovation Summit opened with over 125 delegates. The attendees from various verticals of the travel and hospitality industry like technology providers, travel management companies, hotels, airlines, online travel agencies, GDS, etc., attended the event. The FICCI-Avalon knowledge paper-Travel 2.0-The Next Generation of Travel, was released at the event which details suggestions on mapping the travel industry better and trends that can offer insight to grow the industry. Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, said, “Travellers are moving away from exploring routes to exploring experiences. Social media is a legitimate research source and reviews are becoming increasingly important. Bloggers as a marketing channel have become important as they turn around niche products and create interest groups. The digital space has opened avenues for not just big players but even the smaller players in the industry can position themselves through digital platforms. Going digital is imperative and we have to see how fast we can become digital and at the same time look into what different we can offer in order to stay relevant in the market. The brick and mortar agencies have to embrace the technology curve and take on the challenge.” Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee and Chairperson and MD, Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, said “Adapting and adopting technology is the need of the hour and at FICCI we are happy to take on this vertical and offer a platform for thoughtful discussions and deliberation on the future of travel.”

The e-visa facility for film enthusiasts has now been principally approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The visa can now be availed under the category of film tourism. This was informed by Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism. He further added that the procedure of availing this facility will be similar to those for eTV for business and medical tourism. On the need to increase accommodation facilities in the country, Billa said, “The last time we counted, we are short of almost 200,000 hotel rooms in India and this gap has to be filled at a faster rate than the time it takes to build these properties. I believe homestays can play a big role in this aspect and alternative accommodations like OYO Rooms, Airbnb etc., can also fill the gap. A regulatory framework will be introduced by the Ministry of Tourism to uphold acceptable standards and quality of service and open lucrative accommodation choices for the travellers. We will accredit these accommodations as per the standards required.”

US government has announced restrictions on the type of electronic items that could be carried onboard flights to the US from certain airports, reveals a statement from IATA. Even the UK government has announced changes in its aviation security measures on selected inbound flights to the UK that restrict the size of electronic items that may be carried by passengers in the cabin. In a statement, the UK government has said that flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Tunisia would be affected by these restrictions. A Q&A and factsheet available on the US Department of Homeland Security website reveals that passengers flying to the US directly from the named airports—Queen Alia International Airport (AMM), Cairo International Airport (CAI), Ataturk International Airport (IST), King Abdul-Aziz International Airport (JED), King Khalid International Airport (RUH), Kuwait International Airport (KWI), Mohammed V Airport (CMN), Hamad International Airport (DOH), Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) – should allow extra time at the airport. IATA calculations show that this ban will impact about 393 scheduled passenger flights per week, equivalent to about 2.7 % of the total international scheduled passenger flights to the UK. In the US, it would affect 350 scheduled flights a week, equivalent to about 2% of total international flights.