Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Air India has resumed the biweekly flight operations from the Kozhikode to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) after 5 years, revealed Ministry of Civil Aviation in a recent tweet. The flight between Calicut International Airport and Jeddah would be using a Boeing 747-400, to operate on a Monday and Saturday every week. The flight will land at Calicut at 7.05 a.m. and depart for Jeddah at 5.30 p.m. The flight will reach Jeddah at 9.15 p.m. From Jeddah, the flight will depart from Fridays and Sundays at 11.15 p.m. Regarding configuration, the jet will have 12 seats for first class, 26 for business and 385 for economy.

The Golden Chariot is all set to restart its operations from 22nd March, after almost a two-year break. The train completed a decade’s run in 2018. The marketing and operations of the luxury train was given to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in November 2019 after the KSTDC signed an agreement. The train was discontinued temporarily in 2018 after the Government took note of the ₹41 crore losses the train had incurred. The train would run three tours – two existing routes, and a third one – a short trip of three nights. The next season onwards from October, the train will start running all three – Pride of Karnataka, Southern Splendour, and a third new route of four days and three nights that covers Bengaluru, Mysuru, Bandipur, Chikkamagaluru, Hampi and back. Badami and Goa have been excluded. This tour is aimed at giving the chariot experience to more people at a reduced cost. The train has gone through a refurbishment both in external design as well as in interiors. IRCTC will be launching publicity of the train in the upcoming ITB Berlin.

Cross Hotels & Resorts has entered into a strategic alliance with Buzz Travel Marketing India. The exclusive General Sales Agent (GSA) agreement facilitates Cross Hotels & Resorts move into the fastest growing travel market in APAC at a challenging period in the global travel industry. “India is the most dynamic market in the Asia Pacific region with more than 50 million people forecast to take overseas trips this year. For many years, India has been a key source market for Thailand and the Southeast Asian region. Indian business and leisure travellers contribute to a diversity of segments that include weddings, MICE, leisure, FITs and group travel. In 2019, Thailand alone received 1.9 million Indian arrivals, setting a new record for tourism trade between the two countries,” said Paul Wilson, Executive Vice President, Commercial at Cross Hotels & Resorts. Always on the front foot looking to advance its global customer base, Cross Hotels & Resorts continues to actively seek out dynamic partners that will help boost its global distribution network. “This alliance is a major investment for us and one that I believe will bear fruit. I am keenly aware of the development of the India travel market and as such we’re totally committed to delivering memorable experiences for all our guests. As a team we shall be incisive, focused and uncompromising in our approach and I am confident the Cross Hotels – Buzz Travel partnership will be very exciting venture.” “We are delighted with this partnership with Cross Hotels & Resorts, the hospitality brand which serves as a perfect fit for the new-age Indian travellers. As an increasing number of Indian travellers continue to fly to Southeast Asia for leisure …

Upset by the recent proposal by the IT department to impose 5% TCS on overseas remittance as well as sale of overseas tour package, the travel trade has united to file online petitions on the PMO website urging the government to withdraw the same, claims Pradeep Saboo, Partner, Guideline Travels LLP. He said that he realised there was an urgent need to represent the travel trade to the government on this issue. “Even though I am not part of any trade association, I wanted to bring the industry together in some small way. I have started encouraging travel agents and tour operators like me to go on the PMO grievance website and post their contact details along with the message for withdrawing TCS.” The link for this is https://pmopg.gov.in/pmocitizen/Grievancepmo.aspx where the agent will need to fill in the contact details and put in their suggestion. To help with this, Saboo has also created a ready message that they can copy-paste in the feedback box. He started this on Friday, February 14, 2020 and more than 5,000 individuals signed up for this within the first 48 hours. Saboo pleads, “Please spare two minutes to make a difference to our trade which is facing a very difficult time. This will also affect those who sell cruises.” Saboo adds that he will arrange a meeting between the various trade associations and the travel agents and tour operators soon, post which they will look to send a delegation to meet the PMO or the Finance Ministry.

Winner of multiple India Travel Awards, online B2B Destination Management Company TravelBullz will kickstart its two-city roadshow titled ‘The Great India Road Show’ in Mumbai on February 19, 2020. It will bring together more than 50 hotels and attractions from Thailand. The ‘Great India Road Show’ is a unique platform for hoteliers and travel partners to meet under one roof. Over 200 agents are expected to attend the event in Mumbai. TravelBullz will also take this opportunity to announce new products and initiatives to its travel trade partners. It will launch its new, revolutionary B2B online booking engine “Phoenix” – with its enhanced user interface and ease of booking experience for its partners. It will also launch its first-ever B2B dynamic packaging module along with the showcasing destination – Dubai – that has been recently added to its product portfolio.

Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) is receiving warm response ahead for its 11th edition this September, with nearly 1,000 people proposing participation within the first three weeks of registration for the country’s biggest tourism event. July 31 is the last date for pre-registration of what is the country’s biggest tourism event that will bring entrepreneurs across India and abroad to the state’s products and services in the travel industry. The three-day biennial event, starting after the inauguration on September 24 evening, will be held at the Sagara and Samudrika Convention Centre of Cochin Port Trust in Willingdon Island here. As pre-registrations started on January 20, as many as 548 applications have come in from within the country, 165 from abroad. These include 47 entries from the international media and 21 from the domestic. The 2000-founded KTM Society is the biggest tourism body of Kerala. “The pre-registration rush shows that KTM continues to show the faith people have in the event,” said KTM President Baby Mathew Somatheeram. “The 2018 KTM could give Kerala’s tourism to new direction and fresh energy after the natural calamity the state faced that year. The coming edition, too, will toe that line, aiming to present innovative products and services that can rejuvenate the sector,” he added.

After experiencing a lull in Indian arrivals in 2019, the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board is now tightening its belt and looking at aggressively promoting the destination in this market. Mohamed Medhat Aziz, Vice Director of Australia & Asia Markets Unit, Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board, who was in Mumbai recently, said, “We have increased our focus on the India market. We believe it is one of the most important markets for us. We are working on this and are planning to increase our campaigns and our advertising in this market. We know that Indians like cultural tourism, but we also have on offer diving, golfing as well as MICE. We will start to focus on these special interest groups in India. Our aim is also to tell the travel agents and tour operators here that the political situation in Egypt is now completely stable and a good indication of this is the huge amounts of investments we see coming in. We will also open our Grand Egyptian Museum later this year.” The much-anticipated Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is reported to cost one billion dollars and has managed to create global excitement. The massive museum is set to accommodate nearly 100,000 objects, including a large repertoire of around 5,000 belongings of King Tutankhamen – 2,000 of which are being showcased for the first time ever. Hotels around the museum, located near the Giza Pyramids, are currently undergoing a comprehensive renovation process in preparation to accommodate waves of tourists coming to the museum. The GEM will also feature several entertainment hubs including restaurants and theaters, alongside the main hall, a reception area for VIP visitors, the conferences hall, and a playground.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators (ADTOI) has launched its Tamil Nadu Chapter at Hotel Ambassador Pallava in Chennai recently. PP Khanna, President, ADTOI, revealed that it is the 11th chapter of the association, which is aimed to bring more tourist traffic to the state. Kalaimamani VKT Balan of Madura Travel Service is the Chairman of ADTOI Tamil Nadu Chapter, while P. Ashok Kumar from Maanas Sarover Tours & Travels has been named as the Secretary. Vishnu Vasanth Kumar from Emperor Traveline is the Treasurer and R. Saraswathi is named as the Lady Entrepreneur Officer (LEO) of the Chapter. The Chief Guest at the launch was K. Pandia Rajan, Minister of Tamil Development, Culture, Archaeology, Govt. of Tamil Nadu and Guest of Honour was V. Krishnamoorthy, Deputy High Commissioner of Sri Lanka, Thiru. Saravanan Karathihayan, Consulate General of Malaysia; V Irai Anbu IAS, Addl Chief Secretary, Director – Anna Institute of Management, Government of Tamil Nadu; and Officials from Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, officials from national Associations of TAAI & TAFI, invitees from local Travel, Tourism & Hospitality fraternity including ADTOI members. ADTOI delegation of 11 Managing committee members was led by PP Khanna, President from Delhi participated in the launching ceremony.

Bengal Travel Mart (BTM) 2020 will be held from 22-24 February in Siliguri. BTM brings together the business fraternity and tourism products and services. A varied range of sellers with different tourism products of the region will participate in the mart. This B2B event has been carefully thought out and planned in such a way that sellers and potential buyers of services have the opportunity to establish partnerships within the space of a single day or 2 days. The main aim is to expand the geography of sales of the exhibition’s participants and to introduce players to new areas and services to which they previously did not have access. For registrations, please log on to www.bengaltravelmart.in.

The Globus family of brands – Globus, Cosmos, Monograms and Avalon Waterways – has launched a completely new online travel specialist programme for 2020. Titled Globus Family of Brands University, the specialist programme offers three different courses for Avalon waterways, Globus & Cosmos and Monograms. To encourage and inspire travel agents, Globus family has announced a gift voucher of Rs. 500/- to all the agents who complete the modules successfully before 29 February 2020. Upon successfully finishing the programme, travel agent partners will receive a host of benefits including a Certificate of Completion and getting showcased on the Globus & Cosmos websites as experts. “We have noticed, on average, about 30 per cent increase in sales from agents who have completed our specialist programmes. If an agent or agency is serious about increasing their revenue, specialising in selling the Globus family of brands increases their knowledge of our vacations manifold and makes them extremely profitable,” said Varesh Chopra, Globus family of brands’ Regional Director, India, South Asia & Middle East.