Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

A few top travel agents were invited by Vistara Airlines on premium Economy to visit Udaipur and hosted by the Leela Palace Udaipur over two days. They were put up in lake-facing rooms and each one of the agents had a designated attendant.

On the third day of Russian Expo Days today, participants will get a chance to see live broadcasts about the Amur Region and industrial tourism. At 11am IST, one can watch the session ‘Get to know Amur: the region of contrasts and wonderful discoveries’ to learn about tours to cosmodrome, extreme sports or relaxation. At 1:30pm IST, the session will be on ‘Industrial tourism in Russia: from diamond mines to folk crafts.’ One gets to learn about options for individual tourists or corporate groups. Agents can win a trip to Krasnaya Polyana Resort in Sochi on attending all sessions live. Register for free on: russiadays.travel.

Sharing an update on the popular North East festival, Arijit Purkayastha, Festival Organiser and Chapter Chairman for North East, Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), says, “With the inputs from our stakeholders, we propose to organise the 8th edition of North East Festival on December 19-20 at Radisson Blu Hotel, Guwahati. It will also be streamed via the North East Festival Facebook and YouTube channels.”

Consortium led by Murari Lal Jalan and Kalrock Capital has announced the revival of Jet Airways as a full-service carrier. The Jet 2.0 program is aimed at reviving the past glory of Jet Airways, with a fresh set of processes and systems to ensure greater efficiency. As per the resolution plan, Jet Airways intends to operate all of its historic domestic slots in India and restart international operations. Jet Airways will be back in the skies by summer of 2021 provided it receives NCLT and regulatory approvals on time.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Vistara have signed a Commercial Cooperation Framework Agreement, which is an extension of a codeshare partnership that was established in 2017. Taking it a step forward, the new agreement would allow both airlines to achieve further synergies on services between Singapore and India, as well as in the key regions of South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. JoAnn Tan, Acting Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, Singapore Airlines, said: “By bolstering our partnership, Singapore Airlines and Vistara are able to work together to provide additional options for our customers. It also reflects the importance of the Indian market to Singapore Airlines, as well as our commitment to grow our network in the coming years.” Leslie Thng, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara said: “We are thrilled to further strengthen our partnership with Singapore Airlines. The intent is reflective of our deep-rooted commitment to providing our customers the finest and the most convenient way to fly across the world with the consistency of a five-star travel experience. This is in line with our long-term growth plan of expanding Vistara’s global presence and presenting India’s best airline to the world.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippines  in cooperation with Department of Tourism & National Commission for Culture and Arts have launched “Fiesta Filipinas: An Online Celebration of Philippine Festivals”, a 6-part, multi-format online event series from December 2020 until May 2021, which will simulate the experience of a festival through a combination of live and pre-recorded videos and live workshops and activities. The project aims to introduce and showcase Philippine festivals, culture, and traditions to our global audience and invite them to the country when conditions are more favorable.

The two-day Virtual Spanish Travel Show concluded successfully with more than 1,300 buyers from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh interact with 20 Spanish exhibitors. Spain’s first-ever virtual roadshow witnessed more than 3,200 one-to-one meetings take place between travel agents and tour operators, and suppliers that included regional tourism boards, hotels and DMCs.

Sunil C Gupta, Chapter Chairman, IATO -Northern Region, has said that the construction of Agra Metro Project, inaugurated by the Prime Minister, would make many monuments like Sikandra and Rambagh accessible to tourists. “There are a lot of tourists—both domestic and international coming to Agra. The Agra Metro for the first time connects the monuments of Agra and especially monuments alike Sikandra and Rambagh, which due to traffic congestion, distance and time taken to travel to these monuments were not being visited. Now the tourists will be able to easily visit these monuments. The Metro will also ease the traffic. This metro is going to be world-class and will be better than the ones in Lucknow and Noida,” he said.

Tourism Ireland will conduct a webinar today at 4.30 pm with an interesting line-up of suppliers. Siobhán Naughton, its Marketing & Trade Executive (ME & Asia), says, “We will showcase fantastic accommodation offerings, amazing landscapes, and activities that are waiting to be enjoyed. To sign up, contact Jaspreet Kaur at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

Rupinder Brar, ADG, Tourism, has said that they are in touch with insurance providers and Ministry of Finance to look at possibilities of providing insurance to travellers coming into India. “We are studying international models to see how we can incentivise travellers to come to our country and offer a certain sense of security to aid the process,” she said.