Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Spree Hotels has signed a new boutique hotel in Aurangabad, located in the industrial powerhouse of Waluj. This will help the group further cement its strong presence across the country. Spree will bring the first boutique and mid-market hotel in this suburb, filling an urgent need. The Spree Aurangabad will offer comfortable rooms, a rooftop bar and grill, large and luxurious banquet halls, 24×7 multi-cuisine dining options, and a host of technological enhancements for a quality stay.

Phillip Island Nature Parks in Australia has announced increased capacity at the Penguin Parade and the planned re-opening of the Nobbies Centre and Antarctic Journey, as it takes the last few steps towards COVID Normal and a COVIDSafe summer. This will bring all of the Nature Parks’ attractions back into operation seven days a week for the first time since March. Numbers of tickets to the Penguin Parade will increase from 50 to 500 per night with all venues operating under the organisation’s strict COVIDSafe Plan. Tickets for the Penguin Parade will be released in stages and are only available for purchase online. A new system of ticket holders being given a staggered entry time to the visitor centre is also being introduced to ensure physical distancing is maintained. All visitors will be at the beach before the penguins arrive. The reopening of the Nobbies Centre and Antarctic journey, planned for December 3, will bring the Nature Parks’ attraction offering whole again and also offers visitors the chance to enjoy the ocean views, café, exhibits and to do some Christmas shopping. The team has been busy treating the Nobbies Centre to a complete makeover to ensure it is fresh for the summer.

India Tourism Kolkata, Regional Office (East), Ministry of Tourism, Government of India celebrated the Constitution Day, led by the Regional Director (East) followed by a brief discussion on the salient features of the Indian Constitution.

People who have travelled for business in the past 18 months are less concerned about the increased risk of catching and transmitting the virus (26%) compared to those who have travelled just for leisure in the past 18 months (43%), reveals Amadeus’ insight on India through its survey titled ‘Rethink Travel’.

Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has announced a new initiative to reimagine travel for Singapore and the rest of the world, by sparking conversations, stories and ideas to collectively shape the future of travel. Called SingapoReimagine, it will kick off with a series of forums around the world to start discussions on how to reshape global travel. Global partners will be invited to share knowledge and exchange ideas, with the first one to be held in Singapore next year before being hosted in other parts of the world.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that the tourism industry will experience consistent growth with skilful employees. “To come out successfully from the current crisis, organisations will need to nurture their employees’ digital, cognitive, and resilience skill sets,” she said while speaking at the webinar on ‘Trends in Future Jobs, Skill Development & Training in Travel, Tourism & Hospitality’ organised by FICCI.

IATO and TravTalk are organising motivational session by Roshan Suhail, the renowned communication coach and keynote speaker today at 11:30am. The session titled, ‘Staying up’ would help the trade to sail through these tough times and prepare ahead. To register, mail Jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call 9650196532.

In a written statement, Air Asia India has clarified with TAAI that they are not going out of business. The statement by Ankur Garg, CCO, Air Asia India, pointed out, “While the current pandemic has severely impacted the aviation sector and AirAsia India is no exception, we have remained adequately capitalized throughout these months by securing the funding from our majority shareholder as and when required.” He further said that they continue to grow their network and are already at ~55% of their pre-COVID capacity and looking to increase to 70% as per the recent relaxed capacity mandate from the government last week. They have also recently added a brand new A320 NEO to their fleet in Oct, adding a 2nd NEO in Nov and will add another 3 aircraft in as many months. Giving another evidence of the financial stability of AirAsia India, Garg reveals that they have been smoothly processing all refunds in the last few months and never forced a conversion of bookings during lockdown to “credit shells”. In the months of Sep-Oct, Air Asia leadership proactively engaged in regional meetings with travel agent partners across the entire country and addressed any questions on refunds, long term growth plans, etc. On the employee front, we have not retrenched any staff and have not done salary cuts for employees earning less than Rs 50,000 per month, and also no delay in salary pay-outs has happened for any month since the pandemic, he informed. Citing these points, Garg said that he hopes that it would dispel any doubts and provide enough confidence in the financial sustainability and growth plans of AirAsia India.

IATA is in the final development phase of the IATA Travel Pass, a digital health pass that will support the safe reopening of borders. The Pass will manage and verify the secure flow of necessary testing or vaccine information among governments, airlines, laboratories and travellers.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, MOT, shares that the emphasis this time of MOT’s international promotional strategy will be on short-haul flights, countries and destinations from where people can actually travel in times to come. “We will be focusing on South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as on tapping new markets,” she says.