Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

To promote tourism in the state, the Maharashtra cabinet has announced that 7 MTDC properties will be developed by the private sector. The properties will be let out for lease or JVs for 90 years. As part of the move, the cabinet has also allowed setting up of eco-friendly shacks at eight state beaches.

A Travel Consul survey that analyses the impact and outlook of the COVID-19 outbreak on tour operators and agency owners suggests that at least 42% of the businesses surveyed will not be able to sustain themselves for more than three months in the absence of government intervention. A meagre 3% said they have a chance of survival for 7-10 months.

VFS Global is all set to host a webinar for the trade on Friday, July 3, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm. The informative session titled ‘A Safe Restart – Your Safety, Our Priority’ will offer a glimpse into VFS Global’s plan as it gradually resumes visa services in India, while ensuring complete adherence to health and safety guidelines. To register, please contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +9650196532.

Jatinder Taneja, Vice-Chairman, PATA India Chapter, has revealed that they will be having the PATA Update & Outlook meet with the Ministry of Tourism on July 6, 2020. The idea behind the meeting is to apprise PATA members about the areas in focus for the MOT and the initiatives being taken by them.

Hahn Air has signed contracts with seven new airlines this year, namely Air Century (Y2), Cambodia Airways (KR), Divi Divi Air (3R), Eastern Airlines (2D), Eastern Airways (T3), Emetebe Airlines (ET) and Thai Smile Airways (WE). These airlines have joined the Hahn Air partner portfolio which includes more than 350 airlines. By using one or more of Hahn Air’s solutions, the seven new partners generate incremental revenue in additional markets. “Hahn Air offers solutions for airlines of any business model. For example, US carrier Eastern Airlines and Thai Smiles Airways from Thailand opted for our HR-169 product. They can sell their flights under their own two-letter-codes in the GDS while unlocking their non-BSP markets for indirect ticket sales. Our new X1-Air partners Emetebe Airlines, Eastern Airways, Air Century and Divi Divi Air outsourced their complete indirect distribution to Hahn Air Technologies. They can now sell their flights in Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport under the code X1. And finally, Dual Partner Cambodia Airways is combining the HR-169 and H1-Air products, thereby exploiting the full potential of primary and secondary markets,” said Alexander Proschka, Executive Vice President Commercial. With its ticketing and distribution solutions, the German airline Hahn Air facilitates global business between travel agencies and airlines. Hahn Air holds contracts with all major GDSs and is a member of the IATA Clearing House, almost all IATA BSPs as well as the settlement systems ARC and TCH. With this extensive technology infrastructure, Hahn Air enables its partner airlines to sell tickets through more than 100,000 travel agencies in 190 markets. Alexander Proschka adds, “Our products are cost efficient, effective and quickly to implement and therefore particularly interesting for airlines looking to kick-start …

S Jaishankar, Minister, External Affairs, has said that the introduction of chip-enabled e-passports will greatly strengthen the security of Indian travel documents. Underlining the need to expedite their roll out, he said that his ministry is working with Indian Security Press, Nashik, and National Informatics Centre for chip-enabled e-passports with advanced security features. “I am very confident that the introduction of e-passports will greatly strengthen the security of our travel documents. I understand that the procurement process for its production is currently underway and I would emphasise the need to hasten that as much as possible. I emphasise that it is necessary to roll out the manufacture of e-passports on a priority basis,” he said.

Sunil C Gupta, EC Member and Chairman- Northern Region, IATO, has said that they have appealed to the Minister of Tourism, Prime Minister and ASI to open Taj Mahal, since over two lakh residents of Agra associated with the tourism sector have been living without any activity in Agra for the last 3 months. “When malls, shops, markets and places of religious worship can be opened, surely the Taj can be opened, as it would be a great precursor to start domestic tourism within the region. The opening of the Taj Mahal would send the right signals for international and domestic tourism. The Government do this with teh right SOPs and facilitating online ticketing for the same.”

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) met with major travel trade associations including, FAITH, IATO, ICPB, & ADTOI, where they gave suggestions on the way forward for the promotion of tourism, revealed Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH. The associations discussed plans for international promotions and marketing, wherein they suggested to target countries with fewer number of COVID cases and also focus on traditional markets like US and UK through various mediums.

Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, has said that they are having constant conversations with Pradeep Kharola, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), discussing the issues of the industry and TAAI members. She also revealed that there is a need to make the travel agent business healthier and regular interaction with airlines to start restructuring the processes. “The Secretary (MoCA) has said he would get a meeting done very soon with international airlines and TAAI. That’s what we are waiting for,” she revealed.

Celebrating 20 years of operations, Happy Tours will conduct a live webinar on Slovenia today at 3 pm (IST). Happy Tours has offices in Slovenia, Croatia, London and Athens and a dedicated team based in Pune. Happy Tours is an inbound European tour operator for both M!CE and leisure groups throughout Europe. It also owns a hotel near Plitvice Lakes – Hotel Lyra www.lyraplitvice.com in Croatia and has its own coaches. To register, contact Jaspreet Kaur on 9650196532 or jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com.