Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Speaking about how TCS has affected bookings, Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, Jagsons Travels, says, “Indians in tiered cities are taking frequent holidays now – often twice a year – and they are travelling not just within India but also taking international trips. Therefore, I would say that the much-dreaded TCS has not impacted business, but it has complicated it.” He added that the recovery he was expecting by 2025 was fast-tracked and happened by 2023, and most agencies in these smaller cities have seen this growth. Jagsons has also seen a four-fold jump in FY 2023-2024 in its sales turnover as compared to 2019. One of the reasons is that the number of players in the market have gone down, more people are travelling, plus the overall travel expense has increased by about 40-50%. That also added to its turnover.

The performance of the Indian hotel sector in 2023 mirrored optimism, with key performance indicators witnessing significant growth. The sector closed calendar year 2023 with a nationwide occupancy rate in the range of 63-65%, up 3-5 percentage points (pp) from the previous year and nearly reaching the pre-pandemic level of 65-67% in 2019. The ARR for 2023 reached an impressive INR 7,400-7,600, which surpassed the figures from 2022 by 21-23% and 2019 by 24-26%, highlighting the sector’s ability to push rates driven by the buoyant demand. The growth in average rates helped RevPAR to reach INR 4,662-4,940 in 2023, indicating a significant increase of 29-31% from 2022 and 19-21% in 2019.

In a recent development Taiwan Tourism Administration (TTA) has once again revived its India strategy. The tourism administration has ventured into India market establishing its presence once again that was disrupted because Covid-19 pandemic. Taiwan is keen to posit itself as a popular destination for Indian MICE, wedding and leisure travellers. In hence to restart India marketing plan more efficiency, TTA Singapore Office has appointed BlinkBrand Solution as its representative in order to drive its India market growth plan through comprehensive and integrated 360 degree strategy. Blink will leverage its unique expertise and strengths and closely work with various channels encompassing travel trade partners, various consumer, and digital media platforms, among others, in order to boost Taiwan’s visibility and destination leadership in the Indian market. Commenting on Taiwan latest entry into the Indian market Mr. Joseph Cheng, Director of TTA Singapore office, said, “India is fast emerging as one of the biggest tourism source markets in the world and we are very interested in developing India market for us. At the same Taiwan’s diversity of tourism products are second to none and we wanted to work with somebody who not only understands this but is also very familiar with the destination itself. In Blink Brand Solutions, we have a partner whom we have worked with and have full confidence in their ability to deliver for us. Moreover, Blink’s CEO Mr. Noel Saxena’s association with our destination, aspirations and expectations and our way of working is more than a decade old and, therefore, gives us tremendous confidence in the Indian market going forward.” Noel Saxena, CEO, Blink Brand Solutions said, “We are delighted to welcome Taiwan back into the Indian market. …

The luxury resort in Munnar, Chandy’s Windy Woods, secured 11th position in World’s Top 25 hotels list of Tripadvisor Travelers Choice Award 2024. Windy Woods also got the No.1 position among top 25 hotels in India. The winners are selected from over 8 million hotels listed in the Worlds most trusted and largest online review platform Tripadvisor. Apart from the above awards Chandy’s Windy Woods is also ranked No.7 among Top Hotels in Asia, No 6 among World’s 25 Luxury hotels, No.4 among Asia’s Top 25 Luxury hotels and No.1 among India’s Top 25 Luxury hotels. Windy Woods Munnar is the only hotel from India found a place in the coveted list of World’s Top 25 hotels and that makes this achievement so special. Chandy’s Windy Woods is located at the most picturesque area of Munnar and its unique architectural design that merges with the landscape of that terrain. This ecofriendly design compliments with facilities matching international standards, highly personalised services considering likes and dislike of their individual guests, the high-quality food with authentic taste differentiate Chandy’s Windy Woods from others. This is not the first time that Tripadvisor Travelers Choice Awards are conferred to Chandy’s Windy Woods. In the years 2020 and 2021 Chandy’s Windy Woods was placed No.12 in the World and No1 in India for two consecutive years. Chandy’s Hotels and Resorts have two properties in Munnar. The first one, Chandy’s Windy Woods is a Five Star classified hotel having 48 rooms with facilities including Swimming Pool, Spa, Health Club, Multi-cuisine Restaurant, Wine and Beer Parlour and Conference Hall. The second property, Chandy’s Drizzle Drops is located at Top Station, which is a boutique resort having 12 …

According to data by NLB Services, with the continued growth momentum, the tourism sector is all set to add 58.2 million jobs by 2033 throughout the country. Post the pandemic recovery tenure, this was one of the sectors that saw the quickest recovery. Talent demand in tourism recorded a 44% spike in August 2023, and 1.6 million additional jobs were expected to be added within CY 2023. The growing synergy of the sector has led to steadfast employment generation across the country both in Tier I and Tier II locations.

NS Rathor, Chairman, IATO Western Region, says, “We are facing a lot of problems with the cruise guide rates. We have a lot of international cruise liners coming into Mumbai. For cruise passengers we have to negotiate rates locally with Tourist Guides Association (TOGA). They are asking us to pay 15-20% more than the current rate negotiated with TGFI! We have not yet agreed on that. We have offered them 10%. We will discuss this issue with our members and offer TOGA this rate. We hope they will agree with this.”

Feeling relieved, Mahendra Vakharia, Executive Committee Member, Immediate Past President – OTOAI & MD, Pathfinders Holidays, says, “Finally a long pending wish list of both the Indian travel trade as well as the Indian traveller is becoming a reality! This should have been done immediately post Covid to take full advantage of the upsurge in holiday demand to Schengen countries. But as we say, better late than never’! Indian Nationals can now apply for a multiple entry Schengen visa with longer validity.”

According to CAPA India, Delhi Airport is the largest airport in India and one of the ten-largest in the world, handling 74mn passengers in FY2024. The airport has the potential to become a major hub given its extensive terminal and runway infrastructure, well-developed airport hotel capacity, and favourable geographic location. Delhi is an asset of GMR Airports, the longest established and largest private operator in the country by passengers handled, whose portfolio includes four operating airports and one under development in India, as well as overseas projects in Greece, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Sigmund introduces “Travel & Tourism RFP HUB” its latest innovative solution to revolutionise the way tourism professionals find new business. It has streamlined the process of wading through government, NGO, aid and tourism board websites in search of various RFPs for business and made it function as “Tinder for Tenders!” The new hub consists of opportunities for professionals who offer Consulting (sustainability, accessibility, development), Marketing (web, social, app, advertising, PR) and Research (branding, surveys, data analytics). Speaking with Tourism breaking news, Ally Stoltz Labriola, Director Sigmund shared more details on this exciting new platform. Labriola shared, “Sigmund’s new A.I.-powered RFP Hub makes finding travel and tourism contracts more efficient and affordable than ever before–at just $129 per year. Any tourism professional who signs up can access the hub. It caters to those offering consulting, marketing, or research services to entities like governments and NGOs that issue RFPs.” Among its unique features is that, “the hub is affordable, powered by A.I, and is tailored specifically for the travel and tourism industry, eliminating the need to sift through unrelated RFPs from other industries.” She reiterated how it helps in marketing, research, and analytics from a tourism marketing perspective, and how it can generate new business. “The RFP Hub provides marketing, research, and analytics consultants with specialized access to relevant RFPs in the tourism sector, helping them identify opportunities that match their expertise and utilize their skills to win contracts and expand their business. The annual subscription is $129 USD. A special rate for TravTalk readers of $99 USD for the first year is available with the code TravTalk99 at checkout.” In conclusion, she shared that, “a minimal investment can yield significant returns. Winning …

Myong Kil Yun, Regional Director for India and SAARC Countries at the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), expressed enthusiasm about India’s momentum, targeting a record-breaking 200,000 Indian travellers this year. Recently, they conducted a series of roadshows in Bengaluru and Mumbai, showcasing diverse experiences from cultural performances to leisure and MICE opportunities, aiming to achieve this ambitious goal.