Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Prime Minister and the government of Haryana is planning the development of Maharaja Agrasen airport in Hisar. “The airport will provide opportunities for growth and development throughout the Hisar region and surrounding areas. It will be built on a 7200-acre plot of land. The total cost budget of development of the airport is around INR950 cr.,” said Pradeep Kumar, Chief Advisor, Civil Aviation, Haryana. As per a study, passenger traffic from Hisar is predicted to reach 2.1 million by 2024.

een Travelers from the United Arab Emirates will now be able to fly directly to Delhi four times a week. Air Arabia, Abu Dhabi’s first low-cost carrier, has announced the launch of a new route to Delhi, India’s capital city, beginning November 24. Since the commencement of Air Arabia Abu Dhabi’s service from Abu Dhabi International Airport in July 2020, the new route is the carrier’s 16th. This will enhance the connectivity between India and the United Arab Emirates for travellers from both countries.

To update the Kolkata Travel trade about the gradual re-opening of Thailand for tourism from India, Tourism Authority of Thailand New Delhi supported by Royal Thai Consulate Kolkata, organized the Amazing Thailand Presentation & Networking Lunch at ITC Royal Bengal on 10th November 2021. Around 75 guests including travel agents, media and wedding planners attended the event. The session started with a welcome address Kasemsan Thongsiri, Acting Consul General – Royal Thai Consulate, Kolkata, who spoke about the consulate matters focusing on their efforts and procedures to assist travel to Thailand for Indians. He also informed the trade about updated guidelines on entering Thailand, protocol for travellers from India as well as documents and process for obtaining Thailand pass and visa. Next information on Thailand Re-opening and situation update was given by Vachirachai Sirisumpan, Director- Tourism Authority of Thailand – New Delhi. He highlighted TAT’s new marketing campaign “Visit Thailand Year 2022” that will emphasize Thailand’s strength in biological diversity and cultural richness under the Amazing New Chapter’s concept. This was followed by a product presentation promoting popular destinations in Thailand like Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Koh Samui and Chiang Mai. The presentation also introduced new products and activities in Thailand that Indian travelers could enjoy. The afternoon ended with a Q&A session where members of the travel trade engaged with the TAT representatives and the Royal Thai Consulate to clear their doubts on flights, procedures, SOPs etc to visit Thailand from India and expressed their desire to visit Thailand soon. This event was a great initiative to reach out to the travel trade in Kolkata and update them about the tourism situation in Thailand as well as to highlight steps …

Indians are displaying strong and growing appetite for once-in-a-lifetime travel experiences and are not hesitating to increase their spends – reveals consumer data-analytics of Thomas Cook (India) and its Group Company, SOTC Travel. To capitalise on this opportunity, the companies have announced Undiscovered Antarctica – taking Indians on a voyage of discovery of the seventh Continent. This distinctive holiday presents the awe-inspiring beauty of Antarctica while on-board a 10-day sailing on Ponant’s luxury cruise ship, L’ Austral. The lockdowns/restrictions of the pandemic have given Indians a new-found appreciation for travel and a strong desire for truly exceptional/ bucket-list experiences – away from crowds. To tap into this growing travel trend, Thomas Cook India and SOTC have introduced an adventure of a lifetime via its Undiscovered Antarctica luxury cruise holiday. This exceptional trip invites Indians to embark on an expedition that is truly off-the-beaten-track, a voyage to a pristine land of the world’s largest glaciers, icebergs, the awe-inspiring Antarctic whales, penguin colonies and avian species. Adventure seekers can opt for exciting experiences like kayaking amidst the icy waters, hiking tours, and more. One can even visit Port Lockroy – home to the southernmost post office in the world, to send loved ones a postcard featuring the Antarctica stamp. An additional optional tour includes the resort town of Ushuaia, located at the southernmost tip of South America and hence referred to as the “End of the World”! This Limited Period offer includes: Return Airfare India – Buenos Aires – India in Economy Class Flight from Buenos Aires – Ushuaia – Buenos Aires Cost of Multiple Entry Argentina & Chile Visas 2 Nights Accommodation in a 4* city-centre hotel in Buenos Aires 10 …

Global Destinations (representation, marketing, consultancy), one of India’s leading and respected names in the travel representation arena, is now a proud member of Global Travel Representation Alliance (GTRA). Global Travel Representation Alliance (GTRA) officially launched in March 2019 is an association that was formed between a collective of experienced, like-minded travel representation companies, offering high standards, similar services and covering different international markets. Since its inception, Global Travel Representation Alliance (GTRA) believes in working together to set the highest standards in travel representation to create strong brand awareness and more importantly, increase financial return for its partners’. GTRA’s global reach include members from UK & Ireland, USA, Europe, Australia & New Zealand, Middle East, Russia and now adding on India to their member list. With an eye to expand horizons while accelerating towards the goal of sustainable and inclusive Global Tourism, this is a massive step forward by Global Destinations. Through this association Global Destinations seeks to provide and benefit from the co-creation framework of GTRA, where-in each partner brings their collective resources, expertise, and integrated travel development plans to the benefit of all the members of the alliance. Speaking about the alliance and its value that it brings to the business, Pranav Kapadia, founder and director, Global Destinations, said, “Alliances and collaborations in the post-vaccinated world is the need of the hour. We at Global Destinations, have always believed in working with refined partners and collaborating with associations and associates that share our business ethics and vision. We found the alliance with GTRA a perfect fit. We are looking forward to the alliance and to work as partners for overall growth and to extend the benefits to our befitting partners.” Select Representation director and GTRA …

Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, Global Panorama Showcase, has announced that they will be doing the next edition of GPS from April 2022 in 16 cities, covering 4 cities in each quarter. “The events will be physical and depending on the participation, it will be for one day in most cities, and in certain cities it will be for two days. The same GPS format will be followed, and the virtual platform is already there so that people can connect. There are almost 2000+ verified attendees, consisting of pan India buyers, who are registered, which is the USP of the GPs platform. The 16 cities will be the four metros–Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru; along with the 8 cities that were already there–Nagpur , Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Kochi, Pune; and we will be adding Jaipur, Indore, Guwahati and Visakhapatnam,” informed Singh. He added, “Pricing will also be according to the category of cities and audience we are targeting. We won’t be targeting 1000 agents per city now. Because of COVID, we will be restricting it to between 100-300 buyers per city. With more people expected in metros, the event would probably be split over two days. GPS would be a targeted event, where we want the decision makers to be present, and not anyone or everyone.”  

The newly introduced composite fee structure in the excise policy of Delhi highlights that for hotels up to three and four-star hotels, it is INR 15 lakh per F&B outlet. While the new L-16 licence (5star and above) is composite license of INR 1 crore which means a hotel with two outlets and another one having six outlets are being charged the same fees under composite scheme.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, has said that under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations to commemorate 75 years of Indian independence, each ministry has been given a week, which is known as an iconic week, where they have to launch events. “Our iconic week is in July 2022, and at that time, there will be major events that we will be undertaking,” he revealed in an exclusive interaction.

Switzerland Tourism will conduct a webinar on Thursday, November 18 at 3pm IST, focusing on three touristic offerings: –          The Jungfrau Region, a popular Alpine holiday destination –          The traditional and bespoke Hotel Belvedere Grindelwald –          Swissminiatur, the popular park in the Ticino Region that houses miniature replicas of popular Swiss attractions To register, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532. Or register directly by clicking on https://event.webinarjam.com/register/333/3v7k1im1

As India opened its doors to fully vaccinated international tourist from all over the world beginning Monday (November 15), Indiatourism Mumbai accorded warm welcome the first set of International tourists who landed at Mumbai International Airport by Air France flight AF218. The tourists were greeted with stoles and presented hampers with Incredible India merchandise.