Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Ebixcash has filed draft papers with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for ₹6,000 crore IPO. The initial public offering (IPO) comprises of fresh equity issue aggregating up to ₹6,000 crore. Further, the issue includes a reservation of part equity shares for subscription by eligible employees. The employee reservation portion will not exceed 5% of post-issue paid-up equity share capital. Also, the company may explore a pre-IPO placement of up to ₹1,200 crore. If such a placement is completed, the issue size will be reduced.

GB Srithar, Regional Director, IMESA (India, Middle East & South Asia), Singapore Tourism Board, said, “The extension of VTL to Singapore from all Indian cities provides the much needed impetus to travel between the countries for all traveller types, whether for leisure, business or cruise. This is part of Singapore’s calibrated and progressive approach in re-opening our borders. We look forward to sharing Singapore’s new, reimagined tourism offerings and experiences with our Indian visitors.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent suspension of Russian airlines’ flights is hitting Goa’s charter season hard. Nilesh Shah, President, Travel & Tourism Association of Goa, says, “Most charter guests spend 14-21 days in Goa. Many hotels that have been suffering for the past 20 months depend on charter business for survival.” At the moment, Goa is receiving only once-a-week charters from Kazakhstan.

In a paradigm shift from one-stop location-specific approach, Kerala has firmly marked itself as a destination for extended holidays for all segments of visitors with diverse experiences across the state like homestays, drive holidays, wellness vacations and adventure activities, State Tourism Director, V R Krishna Teja, announced. “Year 2022 is going to be the year of Kerala Tourism. The year ahead is packed with events and festivities including the Kerala Travel Mart in May, Champions’ Boat League (CBL) and Kochi Muziris Biennale besides several cultural and literary fests and adventure tourism activities,” he said.

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DONER, has launched an e-marketplace platform at a special event organised to coincide with the International Women’s Day at the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), Gwalior. This portal will be similar to platforms like OLA, Uber, etc, which would help Incredible India Tourist Facilitators & Guides (IITFs/IITGs) to get business opportunities and work as a bridge between the customer and the service provider.

G Kamala Vardhana Rao, Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that they are looking at promoting river cruising across the country under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebration and will be talking about the various tourism opportunities that can be developed around it. He was speaking at the BBC and PATA India webinar titled  ‘New Ways of Marketing to Recharge Tourism’. 

Vikram Madhok, Managing Director, Abercombie & Kent (India), and Hon. Secretary, PATA India Chapter, has said that if the scheduled flight operations are restarted, then the last quarter of 2022 will see inbound tourism to revive in India. “In fact, 2023 will be a hockey stick revival for Incredible India,” he added.

Nikhil Desai, Managing Director, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), has said that they are working towards repositioning Goa apart from sun, sand and sea. “While Goa is synonymous with sun, sand and sea, we are trying to attract the attention of tourists to various other offerings in Goa including wildlife, nature, MICE, etc.” he said. He also informed that they are seeing a huge rise in social events in the last one year at a number of properties across Goa. 

Malaysia will reopen its border to international visitors from April 1, allowing travellers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to enter the country without quarantine said Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. Visitors will be required to undergo pre-departure tests (RT-PCR) and upon-arrival tests (RTK-Antigen under professional supervision) 24 hours after arrival.   

The Government of India has decided to resume scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India from 27th March i.e. start of Summer Schedule 2022. The suspension of scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India, thus, stands extended only upto 2359 hrs IST on 26.03.2022 and air bubble arrangements shall accordingly be extended to this extent only. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had suspended operations of scheduled international commercial passenger services to/from India with effect from 23rd March 2020.