Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

The new ‘Travel Insights with Google’ is Google’s new website that reflects demand trends to sector participants, be they a chain of hotels, a small travel start-up, or a booking  agent. It will help the industry understand pent-up travel demand and leverage insights from these tools for businesses. It is based on user search data. The tool can point to two kinds of time-specific trends: destination insights and hotel insights.

Under the revised MDA Scheme for domestic tourism, financial support will be provided to not just domestic tour operators but any tourism service providers approved by the Ministry of Tourism for promotion of domestic tourism. This can include travel agents, tour operators, tourist transport operators, hoteliers, B&B units, home-stays, motels, guest houses, tented accommodation, standalone restaurants, convention centres and online aggregators. Upper ceiling for this support is Rs 1,35,000 per trip including GST.

Sharing news about a new cruise brand, Jurgen Bailom, President & CEO, Cordelia Cruises, says, “I am excited to share news of the launch of luxury cruise brand Cordelia Cruises with its first ship The Empress that has a capacity of 2,000 individuals. It was earlier owned by Royal Caribbean. We are working on adding a second ship to the line.” Waterways Leisure Tourism had recently bought over the brand Jalesh Cruises.

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has removed the cap on number of visitors to Centrally Protected Monuments & sites. However, the total number of visitors to be allowed per day may be decided by the Superintending Archaeologist. Selling of physical tickets (where there are problems in QR code and network) and Sound & Light shows may also be resumed.

Singapore Tourism Board (STB)’s upcoming Virtual Tradeshow (to be held on 12th, 15th, 19th and 21st January for South, North, West and East India, respectively) aims to have profound interactions with the travel industry from each region. GB Srithar, Regional Director, India, ME & South Asia, STB, says, “With the intent to have deeper and focused dialogues, including pre-scheduled meetings, the roadshow will be held by region.”

Revealing details of new agent engagements after its Fantasy Cricket League, Hasan Patel, Director, Tripjack, says, “We have introduced two more campaigns: Hotel Booking Bonanza and Weekend Deals on tripjack.com. The first is a sale-based incentive scheme where travel agents can win Amazon vouchers for making hotel bookings. Weekend Deals are special deals for popular domestic hotels in India. It allows agents to make good recommendations regarding deals to their clients and assisting them in making a holiday decision. We are getting a good response for these campaigns.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the two-day North East Festival, Santanu Kalita, CEO, SpiceJet – Sea Plane department, said, “Sea planes can bring a revolution in the tourism sector, especially in the North East which is one of the most beautiful natural lands in India. We will reflect on the planned fly-scheme for Guwahati to Kaziranga to Dima Hasao, etc. We have sufficient eight months to set the fly-plan scheme which will result in flourishing of tourism in the region.” Kalita played a key role in getting the maiden seaplane service of the country off the ground in Kevadia, Gujarat.

After nine long months, South Tourism, a unit of Cholan Tours, welcomed five French tourists at Chennai airport for a 10-day trip to Kochi. The incoming tourists were provided with a six-seater Maharaja Tempo 2020 vehicle, considered the first to be fitted with a UV-light steriliser to ensure safety and hygiene. South Tourism claims to already have more than 500 bookings in the month of December.

The Globus family of brands introduced a unique concept to appreciate and get inspired by the heroes of the tourism industry through its industry-first ‘The SuperHeroes Campaign’. It was a fun way to interact and hear the stories, anecdotes, as well as personal motivations of all those who finally link their respective brands with the end customer. Entries were open to all and were submitted over an exclusive social media portal in audio and video formats. The choice of the winners was completely neutral and based on open voting from the industry’s workforce. In an event held virtually, the winners were felicitated with an appreciation certificate and prize vouchers. They were also invited live to give an acceptance speech where they were encouraged to share their personal pursuits and winning experiences. The categories were: SuperHero of the Campaign, Industry Favourite SuperHero and Jury’s Special Mention SuperHero. Varesh Chopra, Regional Director, Globus family of brands – India, Middle East & South Asia, says, “Our aim was to generate and spread cheer and positivity amongst our travel trade partners during the current times. I am confident that we at the Globus family have achieved this. We have got so much appreciation from participants that we may make this an annual event.” The winners are: Prajakta Kaul (Crossworld Holidays, Mumbai, India) – The Superhero Of The Campaign Mithuna Nair (Thomas Cook, Pune, India) – The Industry’s Favorite Superhero Shamara Vandersay (Acorn Travels, Colombo, Srilanka) – The Jury’s Special Mention  Superhero  

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), in its recent interactive meeting of members, discussed the highlights of the revised guidelines for tourism service providers by MOT. The virtual event saw members discussing the new criteria and their issues with it, including categorisation of tour operators in five categories, inclusion of green shoots/start-ups, MDA scheme eligibility, etc. The EC clarified members’ queries and looks at taking the same to MOT.