Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) has launched a one-year long virtual exhibition, called GPS Connect, for global exhibitors and buyers from across India, which will start in April. Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, GPS, shares, “It’s a year-long platform, and one can come for one-day or as many days they prefer. This virtual platform can culminate into a hybrid and physical event in future as well, as an when we require. Also, it will not be limited to just Tier-II and III agents, but will have buyers from across India. We have a following of over 50,000 travel professionals and we are expecting at least 8000-10,000 of them to register for the same. The buyers just need to do one-time registration, whereas the exhibitors would be from around the globe. Meetings can happen without any fear of getting COVID, as no one needs to travel.”

Speaking at The Art of Travel roadshow in Delhi, Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head – Holidays, MICE, Visas, Thomas Cook India, said, “Corporates have realised the importance of physical MICE events. MICE is an art and this art is going to be experienced by travelling. There is no alternative to a physical MICE event. It will bounce back heavily and we need to be prepared for it.”

Harish Chandra Gurnani, Owner of Hollywood (India) Travels, passed away today. A champion of the travel trade in Lucknow, Harish Gurnani started the first-ever travel agency in Lucknow in 1965. Well-known to the airlines, travel and hotel industry, Gurnani, popularly known as Hari bhai, was regarded with a lot of love and respected by the tourism industry in Uttar Pradesh.

Mamta Pall, with almost a 2-decade experience in the industry and having worked with some of the top travel companies and well-known hotel brands, has launched her own venture—FootprintsWorldwide. The company will not just offer end-to-end sales, marketing and PR solutions to boutique resorts / hotels / brands in India and overseas, but will also establish hotel products into the market from scratch, and position them on the basis of their unique features. Since Pall has a huge experience in this domain, she plans to build her portfolio gradually. There are already a few boutique properties under the portfolio, which include Desert Tulip Jaisalmer, 7 Hills Resort and Kings Paradise Kanatal, Uttarakhand. She soon plans to add international brands into her range of products.

The IATO members today have voted a new team to power for term 2021-23 during the election process conducted physically in New Delhi. Rajiv Mehra, Uday Tours & Travels has been elected as the new President while EM Najeeb, Air Travel Enterprises was voted again as the Senior Vice President of the association. Ravi Gosain, Erco Travels, is the new Vice President. Rajnish Kaistha,  Paradise Holidays India has been elected as the Honorary Secretary while Sunil Mishra, Cosmos Tours & Travels is the new Treasurer. Sanjay Razdan, Razdan Holidays will be the new Joint Secretary of the association. The voting was also conducted for the positions of  Executive Members in both active and allied category. A total of 322 votes were casted out of 352. The new EC Members are: Active: Deepak Bhatnagar, Aamantran Travel Company Manoj K Matta, Oriental Vacations & Journeys Harish Mathur, Concord Travels & Tours Tony Marwah, Indian Travels Promotion Company Vishal Yadav, Incredible Destination Management Service Allied:  P Vijayasarathy, Benchmark Hotels Zia Siddiqui, Alliancec Hotels & Resorts Ashok Dhoot, Harsh Travels The returning officer for the election was Homa Mistry of Trail Blazer Tours India.

Flipkart is allegedly in talks to purchase majority stake in online travel aggregator Cleartrip and this move by the ecommerce giant into the travel segment will see it competing with Indian OTAs. According to reports, negotiations are on and the proposed deal is for the sale of a majority stake in Cleartrip. Flipkart is owned by US retail chain Walmart.

Vishal Suri, Managing Director, SOTC Travel, shared that it was an electrifying experience to watch ICC World Cup, India v/s Pakistan match at Old Trafford in Manchester. “Both inside the venue, and outside the stadium, the experience was electrifying.” If you want the same experience, make your Dream 11 team with VisitBritain Cricket Carnival Season-1 and win many prizes, including ticket for two at Old Trafford, Manchester for the hospitality lounge when India tours England later this year. Register on http://bit.ly/VisitBritainCricketCarnival or contact Vartik Sethi on vartik.sethi@ddppl.com or +91 83684 28139.

BLS International has revealed that it has started accepting visa applications for the Embassy of Thailand in Delhi. Shikhar Aggarwal, Jt. Managing Director, BLS International, said, “We are pleased to partner with the Embassy of Thailand and will ensure a smooth, efficient and delightful experience for the applicants. Our endeavour has always been to facilitate best-in-class services to the travellers by creating value for our stakeholders. We at BLS have reinvented the wheel of visa services by making it a holistic solution with dedicated and professional teams that bring highest levels of customer satisfaction.”

The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), has suggested to the Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister of the state, to allow chartered flights in the state from ‘safe destinations’ under an ‘air bubble’ agreement to boost tourism. In a memorandum, they have suggested to form travel bubbles with Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, other CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries, the UK, Poland and Finland for commercial flights.

Unveiling a new product, TravelBullz is offering travel agents to book online Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ) Hotels in Thailand  on its portal which is designed to become a new opportunity to earn for travel agents selling outbound packages. With instant confirmation, trade partners can easily complete COE to Thailand, do visa formalities and book the quarantine hotels at the best rates on www.travelbullz.com