Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has stated that nearly 25% of businesses will permanently shut down before the end of this financial year. “The industry anticipates poor business for at least another year. Until then, it needs working capital. If we are allowed to wind up, rebuilding it will prove to be an even bigger challenge,” says Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, its VP.  

According to a recent report by Amadeus, 70% of APAC travellers are ready to travel domestically. The average time spent on holidays will not change, with half of travellers seeking trip duration of 14 days or more. Reconnecting with family and friends is the predominant reason for 55% of these travellers. 34% travellers opt to explore unfamiliar destinations and 32% desire to ‘reconnect with the outdoors’.

KTM Virtual 2020 which was to be held from November 23-27 has been postponed to first quarter of next year due to the pandemic. The new dates will be announced later. Registrations will however remain open. KTM 2020 was originally supposed to be held in Kochi on Sept 24-27, 2020 before it announced its virtual version. The timings for the five-day virtual event will be from 12 noon to 12 midnight, in line with the different time zones of the buyers.

IATA has announced that Alexandre de Juniac, its Director General and CEO, will step down from his role at the association effective March 31, 2021. He made known his intention to step down several months ago. The IATA Board of Governors will recommend the appointment of Willie Walsh, former CEO of International Airlines Group to become IATA’s eighth Director General from April 1, 2021.

Concept Hospitality has announced the complete opening of its 45-room The Fern Residency, Noida in Uttar Pradesh. This is the third hotel the company is operating in both the state and in the NCR. The other operational properties in UP are in Agra and Sarnath. This takes the number of hotels managed by the company in India, Nepal and Seychelles to 74 operational hotels, with 6 more scheduled to open by the year-end.

The two-day Gulf Travel Show (GTS) concluded successfully with more than 2,500 buyers from 59 countries who met 40 exhibitors from across the world. The first-ever two-day virtual event of the region witnessed more than 3,000 one-to-one meetings between suppliers and travel agents, tour operators, tourism boards, airlines, hotels, TMCs and international agencies.

The first direct flight operations from Kalaburagi, Karnataka to Hindon Airport, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh was recently flagged off under the RCS-UDAN (Regional Connectivity Scheme – Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik). The officials of Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Airport Authority of India (AAI) were present at the launch.

Tour operators from Maharashtra have started the ‘Unlock Kashmir Tourism Campaign’ with support from the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department, for which a 70-member delegation of travel operators from Mumbai visited Kashmir. Since the tourism industry in J&K took was shaken post COVID, tourism department of J&K supported this initiative and invited the trade and media to promote tourism sector in the valley.

Accor has added India and Turkey to its Middle East & Africa region. Under the newly expanded region would come a portfolio of over 84,000 rooms across 400 hotels. This regional expansion brings an increased pipeline of over 112 properties, scheduled to open in the coming 24 months, bringing the overall number of keys close to 110,000 rooms. “The addition of Turkey and India to our already diverse region means that we will be able to consolidate the existing relationship and work that has been accomplished over the years and centralize it into a collective effort. It is in a strategic but natural move that we are integrating India and Turkey to our portfolio with long term plans in sight for the future of the region,” says Mark Willis, Chief Executive Officer, Turkey, India, Middle East & Africa for Accor.

The 2-day virtual roadshow organised by The Tourism Office of Spain in India will have regional tourism boards, hotels and DMCs from Spain who will focus on restarting tourism into Spain from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Elisa Robles-Fraga, its Director, says, “We are organising our annual show virtually for the very first time. It will include meetings between buyers and sellers, product presentations, plus interesting panel discussions and contests with prizes to be won.”