Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog, visited the Red Fort Museum and claimed that he was delighted to see the museum,w which was developed by Dalmia Cements under the ‘Adopt A Heritage’ scheme. “It is highly experiential, interactive, immensely creative and is the best designed museum in India. My compliments to PM Narendra Modi for promoting PPP in heritage,” he added.

Speaking about their plans for 2022, Sunil Talreja, Vice President- India operations, InterGlobe Air Transport (IGAT), said that they are planning to enter the hotel bookings business which will be executed very soon. “This new portfolio will surely complement our already existing airline and car representation business that InterGlobe Air Transport (IGAT) is well-known for,” he said.

At the TAFI Western India’s year end Chapter meeting held in Mumbai, many members expressed their concern with airlines that have made a lot of fares, including Business Class, totally non-refundable – even disregarding the claims of people affected by COVID. President, Ajay Prakash said, “TAFI would take this up strongly with the airlines and with DGCA.”

There is a rapidly growing pool of #ESG financing available – estimated at close to $3 trillion – though Indian airports will need to improve their ESG risk rating to attract such capital. Indian airports are estimated to require $77bn of capex over next 20 years that will consist of $54bn of debt and $23bn of equity. $3.0-6.4bn of funding will be needed every year till FY2042.

The Naharlagun-Tinsukia vistadome train service will provide breath-taking views of the Brahmaputra River. Tourists and passengers can enjoy the scenic views of the mountains and the Himalayan range. The rail route passes through Bogibeel bridge, rain forests, tea gardens along the railway track. Both the railway routes shall cover historic sites of the Assam state.

Sejoe Jose, MD, Marvel Tours and Chairman – IATO Southern Region, has said that they have started new villas called Moksha Villas. “We have as Marvel Tours moved into the hospitality sector as well In fact, now we have several villas around Kerala, which is giving us a lot of business. Hence, 2021 made me put new hat to survive this crisis. We hope that in 2022, things start getting better for us, as well as the industry at large.”

Nasir Shah Chairman – IATO Jammu & Kashmir Chapter, has shared that they J&K Tourism has plans to conduct a roadshow in Thailand in March-April if international flights start by that time. “We have seen from our partners in other countries that they are ready and as soon as flights start, they will start coming back to Kashmir. We have a roadshow in Thailand planned in March-April, but it now depends on restarting of international flights,” he said.

In a bid to boost film tourism into the state, Madhya Pradesh is offering a seamless one-window application policy. The state has earmarked a budget of ₹225 crore for various tourism-related activities in 2021-22. As many as 45 shows, movies, and documentaries have been shot in the state in calendar year 2021 with an investment of about ₹200 crore by various film-makers, reveals Sheo Shekhar Shukla, principal secretary, tourism, and managing director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board.

In his address at the 36th IATO Convention in Gandhinagar, G Kamala Vardhan Rao, DG, Tourism, commented on the scare over the Omicron variant, and said that while the new variant is infectious, but not fatal. “We are sure that this will not be there for a longer time. We believe that by Feb-March we could see brighter days,” he added.

Rakesh Verma, Additional Secretary, Tourism, has said that the draft tourism policy has five missions at its core, and the first one is National Green Tourism Mission, which looks at mainstreaming sustainability in the tourism sector. “It’s a key challenge the sector faces and it is also one of the lessons from the pandemic that we need to develop tourism on sustainable and responsible lines.”