Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Genting Cruise Lines has announced the restart of operations for Dream Cruises with Explorer Dream operating two and three-night ‘Taiwan Island-Hopping’ itineraries beginning from 26 July 2020. It will depart from Keelung and calling at Penghu, Matzu and Kinmen islands. The ship has undergone deep cleaning after observing strict quarantine measures for her crew.

After serving 3 years as COO- India and South Asia at Accor, Jean-Michel Cassé has announced his retirement from the global hospitality brand. In a farewell letter to its colleagues and partners, Cassé said that his last working day will be July 15.  Furthermore, Accor announced the appointment of Puneet Dhawan as Senior Vice President Operations- India & South Asia. Dhawan will take charge from August 1.

The Hotel & Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has announced the launch of a public campaign to highlight the looming collapse of restaurants in Maharashtra. Launched as #KhadyagruhaWachva (#SaveRestaurants), the campaign will act as the voice of the industry, especially the small and medium-sized eateries that serve the working class of Maharashtra.

In order to support its member states, UNWTO has unveiled a COVID-19 Tourism Recovery package. Sharing more information Suman Billa, Director, Technical Co-operation and Silk Road, UNWTO said, “It is structured around three pillars. One, economic recovery, two, marketing and promotion and three institutional strengthening and building resilience.” The product offering will be custom made for each member state.

Uttarakhand tourism department has started online registration facility for its Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme and Homestay Scheme. The step has been taken to make the process more transparent, provide more convenience to people and to ensure that more and more youths benefit from the government’s scheme. Under the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme, the beneficiary can start their employment by purchasing buses / electric buses to operate on the routes of the state and can avail 50 percent subsidy or up to Rs. 15 lakh for the purchase of bus under the scheme.

Sabre Corporation has announced an enhanced partnership with one of India’s largest travel companies, Akbar Travels of India, cementing a valued two-decade long relationship between the two firms as Akbar forges ahead with plans for domestic and overseas growth. Akbar Travels is already a long-time user of Sabre solutions, having implemented Sabre’s APIs to drive operational efficiencies and the Sabre Automated Exchange solution to save costs and improve customer service. Now, Akbar Travels, which has 150 branches across India, 36 offices in the Middle East, Malaysia, UK, Italy and the US, has selected Sabre’s Content Services for Lodging APIs to enable its agents to more easily shop, compare and book more than a million lodging options for clients. “Sabre and Akbar Travels have had a long, valued and productive relationship, and we’re excited to be again expanding our partnership by using Sabre’s Content Services for Lodging technologies to provide further choice and even better service for our travellers. There are already clear signs of a pent-up demand for travel post Covid-19 and we needed technological solutions which provide us with the most intuitive way to shop and book for our travellers in order to provide truly personalized options for our clients,” said Mr. K.V. Abdul Nazar, Chairman & Managing Director of Akbar Travels of India. Sabre’s Content Services for Lodging powers agency and corporate booking tools, integrating traditional GDS content from hoteliers, alongside content from the likes of Booking.com, Bedsonline and Expedia Partner Solutions. The Sabre-led Content Services for Lodging has been integrated into Akbar Travels’ operations through Sabre Red 360, allowing agents access to real-time, rich content on an intuitive graphical interface to make it easier for agents to …

Eastern Himalaya Travel & Tour Operators’ Association (EHTTOA), Travel Agents’ Association of Bengal (TAAB) and Himalayan Hospitality & Tourism Development Network (HHTDN), have joined hands to come up with decisions and demands to try and pragmatically revive the tourism sector in the state. The associations have decided that travellers and agents who paid for a trip that later got cancelled because of the lockdown and pandemic will get a credit note for the full amount with one-year validity. “We have resolved to work together on common issues to expedite the industry’s revival. The idea is to go by a set of decisions which we have made and approach government departments and agencies so that relief in some form comes to the sector that we believe is the worst hit in the region,” said Sandipan Ghosh, General Secretary, EHTTOA. Telegraph

Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO), has appealed Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, to think of a long-term benefit for the tourism industry of Odisha. In a letter addressed to the Minister, JK Mohanty, Chairman, HRAO & IATO Eastern Region, has written, “On behalf of HRAO, we regret to inform that hotel industry of Odisha has not yet received any relief either from the Centre or from the State Government in spite of our continuous appeals explaining the miserable situation faced by the tourism industry. The hotel industry is bleeding profusely and reasons are very well known to your honour through our various correspondences and memorandums presented through our national chapters of HAI, FAITH, FHRAI, FICCI, CII, ICC, ASSOCHAM, PHD Chamber of Commerce, etc. In view of this, we appeal before you to think of a long term benefit that the tourism industry can contribute to the country in terms of employment, both Indian and foreign exchange earnings, image building of the country, and providing service to guests both Indian and foreigners. The Hotel industry as per Swami Vivekananda’s wording ‘Provide Service to mankind is service to God’. Both Union Govt. and the State Govt. must realize the benefit which the Govt. get than the relief which the industry is seeking for its survival.”

IFTM Top Resa will now be held from 17 to 20 November 2020 in Pavilion 1 of Porte de Versailles. Explaining the reason of pushing back the annual event by two months, Frédéric LORIN, Trade Show Director, says, “After this unparalleled crisis, we believe more than ever that it is essential to bring together professionals from the tourism industry.At the same time, as organisers, IFTM Top Resa must be able to provide a safe and stress-free environment for the trade show. We contacted around one hundred of our institutional partners and loyal exhibitors to listen carefully to their expectations and needs, and think about practical possibilities. Around 95% of them requested that the trade show be postponed until November; most producers and tourist destinations need time to work on their offerings, as many of them have been reduced to part-time work, following a 3-month lockdown and a huge slowdown in their business. More generally, everyone in the industry wants more time before financially committing to attending the trade show. I am delighted to officially announce that this essential event will be taking place – it is the only annual trade show in France that brings together all segments of this industry that has been so heavily impacted by the crisis –  with a focus on returning to business as usual in 2021.” The show this year will propose 10 separate zones (Africa, the Americas, Asia & Pacific, Caribbean, Destination France, Europe & Mediterranean, Generalists, Middle East, Indian Ocean, Tech Zone) and 10 thematic villages (Coach Operators, Business Travel, Parks, Cruises, Networks, Tour Operators, Mountain, and Influencers, Innovation and Start-up in the Tech Zone). IFTM Top Resa has already worked on …

Travel agents need to put forth their case before the Supreme Court to make the Bench conscious of the plight of travel agents while finally deciding the matter on issue of credit shells given by airlines instead of cash refunds, says Dheeraj Nair, Partner and Vishrutyi Sahni, Associate at J. Sagar Associates. “Every individual, including the Supreme Court judges are consumers to airlines. Thus, they understand the transaction between a consumer and an airline and relate to the impact of cancellations and refunds. However, non-members of the travel industry are not aware of the transaction between an airline and a travel agent and thus, cannot relate to the impact of cancellations and refunds on travel agents. Only by placing this information on record will the Supreme Court be able to understand the direct losses being faced by travel agents in case of non-refunds and consequentially enable them to order accordingly,” says the firm.