Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Flight Shop, the flagship retail leisure business of Australia-headquartered Flight Centre Travel Group, opened its first retail store in Hyderabad. This is the first franchise outlet in India and was inaugurated by Rakshit Desai, Managing Director, FCM Travel Solutions and Shravan Gupta, Managing Director, Travel Tours Group. With the launch of this store, FCM now has a total of 17 operational Flight Shop stores across India. Spread over 1500 sq. ft., the Flight Shop outlet in Hyderabad is based at a prime location at Nagarjuna Circle catering to the needs of up market urban consumers – families, business travellers, honeymoon couples and groups of travellers. The new retail outlet will offer travellers Flight Shop’s range of products and services viz., Leisure Travel (Domestic and International Flights, Holidays – Group and Customised, Hotels, Car Transfers, Visa, Cruise holidays, honeymoon holidays, adventure holidays and more) and Foreign Exchange (under the Travel Money brand). Flight Shop’s footprint now extends to a total of 17 stores across Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Kochi and Vadodara, via a combination of owned branches and the newly opened franchise outlet.

MRS Group has launched its newest property- Narendra Bhawan Bikaner. It is the third property by the Group and the second in Bikaner, where it also operates Laxmi Niwas Palace. With a full inventory of 82 rooms, the hotel opens with 58 guest rooms and suites. Speaking on the launch, Manvendra Singh Shekhawat, Managing Director, MRS Group, said, “With the opening of Narendra Bhawan, we endeavour to put Bikaner on a traveller’s map. The hotel aims to offer discerning travellers, an oasis of tranquillity with service that is personalised. The experiences curated by the hotel will bring alive the vignettes of Narendra Singh Ji’s lifestyle and history of Bikaner.” The Hotel is a retelling of the legend of the last reigning Maharaja of Bikaner-Narendra Singhji (1948-2003). The facilities include outdoor areas like the Gaushala and the Verandah; indoor dining venues like the Mad Hatter Bake House and P&C; infinity swimming pool; Clinic Spa; large meeting spaces with banquet rooms and a courtyard for business and social events. A Reveille breakfast, Sundowners at the pastures, Royal Ascot and White Nights of the Rajputs are a few experiences for the guests at the new hotel.

As many as 1,36,876 foreign tourists arrived in November 2016 on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 83,501 during the month of November 2015 registering a growth of 63.9 per cent. The UK continues to be the biggest market availing the services with a 22.3 per cent share, followed by USA (12.9 per cent), Russian Fed (8.7%), France (6.3%), China (6.1%), Germany (4.6%), Australia (4.1%), Canada (3.6%), Netherlands (1.8%) and Ukraine (1.8%). New Delhi Airport served the most number of eTV applicants with a 44.99 per cent share followed by Mumbai Airport (18.53%), Dabolim (Goa) Airport (14.19%), Chennai Airport (5.26%), Bengaluru Airport (5.23%), Kochi Airport (2.99%), Kolkata Airport (2.32%), Hyderabad Airport (1.94%), Trivandrum Airport (1.32%) and Amritsar Airport (1.11%). During January- November 2016, a total of 9,17,446 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 3,41,683 during January-November 2015, registering a growth of 168.5 per cent.

Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism and Culture laid the foundation stone of six development projects under Spiritual Circuit of Swadesh Darshan Scheme in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. These projects include Trilokteerth Dham, Badagaon; Maa Manasa Devi Mandir, Badagaon; Pura Mahadev Mandir, Pura; Parashuram Bhagwan Mandir, Pura; Laakshagrah, Barnawa; and Shri Chandraprabhu Digambar Jain Atishay Mandir, Barnawa. Distinguished guests like Dr Satyapal Singh, Member of Parliament, Baghpat among others, were present on the occasion.

InterGlobe Air Transport (IGAT) has been appointed as the exclusive sales agency in India for luxury cruise and tour operator APT. IGAT shall be responsible for promoting and selling APT’s eligible products in the country, the development of  sales channels and the marketing of APT products through promotions, roadshows and product presentations. IGAT will promote three main APT products in India: APT River Cruising programs in Europe, Vietnam & Cambodia; APT Small Ships cruise program; and APT Land Touring program (various destinations). Commenting on the partnership, Ajay Bhatnagar, Business Head, InterGlobe Air Transport, said, “We at InterGlobe are delighted to be associated with APT River Cruises headquartered in Australia and operates some of the world’s leading luxury tour operations. We are confident of support from our trade partners who will find the offerings very compelling for their discerning clients. The programs will be rolled out with an aim to ensure availability of products to summer vacation travellers in India.” Damian Borg, Channel Strategy Manager, APT said, “APT is excited to have found an ideal partner in the Indian market who can introduce our products to a new group of travellers.” Award winning tour and cruise operator APT takes guests on breath-taking journeys to dream destinations on every continent. At every opportunity, APT endeavours to delight its customers by providing amazing travel experiences and excellent customer service.

Indonesian national carrier Garuda Indonesia has launched flights between Jakarta and Mumbai via Bangkok. The thrice weekly service is the first direct link between the two countries. Speaking on the occasion M Arif Wibowo, President and CEO, Garuda Indonesia, said, “We see India as a potential market and we see good traffic coming from Mumbai region. India to Indonesia market size is more than 3,00,000 travellers to Indonesia and around one-third of this traffic comes from Mumbai which is 1,00,000 and gets divided into two destinations 45 per cent to Bali and 55 per cent to Jakarta. At this stage we have started the flight from Jakarta to Mumbai keeping Bangkok as transit point and would consider having a direct flight as the market grows or even a direct flight from Bali to Mumbai. We may also look to start operations from Delhi and Chennai later, currently we will observe the growth pattern from Mumbai for the first three months and if we see an increase in demand we may increase the flight frequency from Mumbai to Jakarta.” The flight from Jakarta-Mumbai route via Bangkok will be flying every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The flight service will be operated by Garuda’s Boeing 738 aircraft with a two-class cabin configuration featuring its business class service concept and its best economy class. The aircraft is capable of carrying 156 passengers (12 Business Class seats and 144 Economy Class seats). The opening of Garuda Indonesia’s flight to Mumbai is part of its international network development program, especially in the South Asia region, as well as the manifestation of the airline’s commitment to continuously support the Indonesian government’s program to double the number of …

After strategic tie ups with six state tourism departments across India, Stayzilla now gets on board with Andhra Pradesh Tourism for the joint promotion and development of homestays in the state. The MoU was signed in the presence of Ankit Rastogi, Vice President Marketplace, Stayzilla and Himanshu Shukla, IAS, Director Tourism of APT at Vijayawada. With this association, APTDC becomes the first Tourism Board to associate with a homestay aggregator in South India. Under this agreement, Stayzilla will lend its expertise to APT to conduct verification procedures and jointly boost homestays and unique stay experiences within Andhra Pradesh. This partnership will also enable verification and training of these new Homestays being developed right from the start. Stayzilla’s team in the South, headed by Stayzilla headquarters of Bangalore, will be part of the Service and Quality Assurance Committee under APT for Inspection, which includes property verification and screening. .

Sarovar Hotels forayed into yet another international market as it signed a hotel in the Ethiopian capital city, Addis Ababa. The hotel in Ethiopia marks Sarovar’s presence in the fifth country in Africa after Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan and Zambia. This move comes after the group recently took over the management of a hotel in Lusaka, Zambia. The 101-rooms hotel will be called Sarovar Premiere Addis Ababa. This will be Sarovar Hotels’ seventh hotel in Africa. The group currently manages New Africa Hotel in Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), The Heron Portico in Nairobi, The Zehneria Portico in Nairobi and Panorama Sarovar Portico in South Sudan. The Lazizi Premiere opens in Nairobi in February 2017 and Sarovar Premiere Lusaka is expected to be opened in 2018. Commenting on the new endeavor, Ajay K. Bakaya, Executive Director, Sarovar Hotels, said, “We are very excited to be expanding to another new destination in the African region. With Sarovar Premiere Addis Ababa, we exceed a total of 1000 rooms in Africa. Being Ethiopia’s biggest commercial hub and the host location of the African Union headquarters, Addis Ababa has become a major destination for many travellers to the continent, business as well as leisure. We see great growth potential in this market with high demand and this development makes a momentous step in our growth and expansion strategy in the overseas market.”

Delhi International Airport, a subsidiary of GMR Group, launched India’s first airport e-Shopping platform – www.shopflydel.in  – to improve the experience of airport shopping among the domestic travellers. Domestic travellers now can pre-order wide range of products of their choice online from India’s largest airport retail offering from the comfort of their whereabouts. Through this online shopping portal, now travellers have access to over 20 categories of products such as Beauty, Confectionary, Fashion, Souvenirs, Pens etc. sold across Terminal 3 and Terminal 1 domestic outlets. Products can be searched and chosen from menu listed under terminal, category, sub category or outlet. Travellers can collect their pre-ordered items from respective outlets by making the payment through cash or card. With this unique facility in place, one can book product(s) of his choice from 30 days upto 12 hours before his flight in three simple steps – Click-Pick-Fly.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju, and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, inaugurated the first ever airport in Bathinda at Virk Kalan village. Addressing the gathering on the inaugural function, Raju said, “In India there are 31 domestic airports, which are functional at the moment and now with the inclusion of Bhatinda Airport, it will rise to 32.” He also said that the government will construct another 10 airports in Punjab by April 10, 2017, including in Ludhiana, Pathankot and Aadampur, where the foundation stone would be laid very soon. Among other dignitaries who were present on the occasion are AAI chairman Guru Prasad Mohapatra, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and many BJP leaders.