Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Accor Showcase is back with its fourth edition at Pullman New Delhi Aerocity on Wednesday, 26 February and Sofitel Mumbai BKC on Friday 28 February. This year, Showcase will be bigger and better with representatives from more than 45 Accor hotels and resorts globally coming together under one roof. Of the 50 properties, forty listed names are international properties such as, Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, Fairmont Singapore, Swissotel Al Ghurair, Swissotel Living Al Ghurair, Movenpick Resort Kuredhivaru Maldives and Movenpick BDMS Wellness Resort, etc. Marking its 17th year in the industry worldwide, Accor Showcase 2020 will represent Accor’s new vision ALL – Accor Live Limitless which promises to provide an all-encompassing platform which enacts as a lifestyle companion integrating rewards, services and experiences. Aiming at bringing value, whether guests live, work or play, elevating Accor’s relationship, from transactional to emotional and encouraging them to Live Limitless.

Arabian Travel Market 2020 (ATM) has appointed Nijhawan Group to assist with the process of identifying premium quality hosted buyers from India and the Middle East region. With over 40 years’ experience in India as a leading travel conglomerate, Nijhawan Group has been sourcing hosted buyers since 2017. Commenting on the partnership, Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Direct ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “With extensive experience of the Indian and Middle Eastern travel markets, Nijhawan Group is the perfect representative to assist with this year’s hosted buyer programme and to help ensure the recruitment of key, quality players from top source markets such as India. Ankush Nijhawan, Managing Director, Nijhawan Group, added: “We are delighted to partner with ATM for the upcoming travel showcase in Dubai. Over the coming months we are committed to ensuring a high standard of quality buyers who will benefit from meeting with sellers in a focused and organised environment.” ATM 2020 will also work with Nijhawan Group to create content on the outbound travel trends emerging from the Indian market ahead of the launch of a new series of buyer forums and networking events at this year’s showcase which will focus on India, as well as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and UAE.

The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to promote rural tourism to boost economic activities in the state. PC Sharma, Cabinet Minister of Public Relations Department said the state has received Rs 229 crore as initial funding from the Central government for the same. As per reports, the MP government has identified 100 villages that could be showcased for rural tourism. This would involve a great deal of capacity building and training apart from preparing the villagers for rural homestays and other activities. “The objective of development of rural tourism in MP is to showcase rural life, culture, heritage art and craft, handloom and textile. We will select and groom village entertainment groups to unveil the local history and culture, natural and oral treasures, which are major tourist attraction these days,” said Sharma.

The Ministry of Culture has developed three virtual experiential museums at Man Mahal in Varanasi, Ajanta Caves at National Museum, Delhi and Humayun Tomb in Delhi informed Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C) of Culture and Tourism. Two more such museums are under development. The Ministry has also proposed to set up a National Virtual Experiential Site Museum at Vadnagar, Gujarat. In 2016, the Ministry of Culture was given the task of establishing Virtual Museums in at least 50 locations.

Bus Big Tours, the leading operator of open-top sightseeing bus tours in the world has announced that Los Angeles-based East West Marketing (East/West) will serve as its partner in India. East West will oversee business-to-business development and serve as the in-market sales agency for Big Bus product training and solutions from February 2020. “The Indian market is of major importance to us, and we’re excited to leverage East West Marketing’s vast trade network to expand our presence in India.” Said Omid Golshan, EVP Global Growth, Big Bus Tours. “The Big Bus digital transformation has allowed its trade partners to integrate faster,” said Rati Dhodapkar, CEO, East West Marketing India. “With these new tools and efficiencies, we’ll be able to bring the Big Bus brand to new partners in India and introduce more customers to the great cities of the world through its iconic hop-on, hop-off sightseeing tours. It’s invigorating to launch this new partnership in India.”

Messe Berlin, the organisers of ITB Berlin have confirmed that this year’s show scheduled from March 4-8, 2020 is on track and only two Chinese exhibitors have cancelled attendance after coronavirus outbreak. At 0.3 per cent overall, the share of exhibitors from China is very low. The percentage of visitors from China is even lower at 0.02 per cent of 160,000 visitors. For the upcoming edition of ITB Berlin, more English-speaking staff as well as additional medical specialists and first responders on the grounds, have been added. The sanitary facilities will be cleaned and disinfected at more frequent intervals. In addition to hand cleansers in the bathrooms, there will also be sanitised dispensers at the entrances. The organisers’ highlight that the safety of our visitors and exhibitor will be their utmost priority and they are taking the situation very seriously.

Online travel company MakeMyTrip on Tuesday reported the elevation of Rajesh Magow as the Group Chief Executive Officer while founder Deep Kalra will take up the role of Executive Chairman.“We believe that separating the roles of Group CEO and Executive Chairman will allow us to focus more on long-term strategic opportunities within and outside India, while maintaining our market leading position in our existing businesses,” MakeMyTrip founder Deep Kalra said.

The venue of the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) to be held in Antalya, Turkey has been confirmed and announcing this is Himanshu Patil, Convention Chairman, OTOAI, who reveals, “Our convention will be held at the luxurious, five-star Titanic Mardan Palace hotel located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. All the members will also be staying in this hotel. For now, we have received around 120 registrations and we expect more to come in now that we have announced the hotel. We are looking to close it at 200 or 220 registrations, so members need to book promptly.” He added that the destination is offering gratis visa for the convention. The Titanic Mardan Palace Convention Center boasts a 5448 m² area of 17 halls and two ballrooms designed for meetings, conferences, workshops, administrative seminars, gala dinners and weddings. It has two column-free ballrooms, each of which can be adapted to accommodate events of nearly any size.  

Switzerland Tourism invites members of India’s travel trade to participate in its exclusive webinar series. The webinar series aims to educate the trade about the most sought-after destinations, activities and attractions in Switzerland and share news and updates that are important for their clients. The webinar scheduled on 17th Feb 2020 at 2:30 pm will highlight the Swiss Travel System and its products. Viewers get a chance to learn about one of the most efficient transportation networks in the world, as well as the popular Swiss Travel Pass, an all-in-one ticket offering travellers unlimited travel by train, bus and boat including panoramic routes. Travel partners who attend all the webinars also stand a chance of winning a trip to Switzerland. Those who are interested in participating can get in touch with  Jaspreet Kaur for further information either via email, jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com  or call  9650196532.

To attract more tourists through web series, advertisements, documentaries and films, the Gujarat government is likely to announce a policy soon to provide aid and financial incentives to shoot films and videos in Gujarat. The state tourism policy contains guidelines for cinematic tourism, but it does not offer any financial support or benefits to attract film producers. “Apart from Gujarat’s proximity to Mumbai, we have the best beaches, heritage properties, mountains, deserts, rivers, modern buildings and other locations to offer. The state government has decided to form a new policy to promote cinematic tourism in the state,” said, Mamta Verma, Tourism Secretary, Gujarat.