Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

WelcomHeritage has opened a new property in Tadoba – WH Tadoba Vanya Villas Resort & Spa and is set to launch 3 more by the end of this year. Sanjeev K Nayar, MIH, General Manager, WelcomHeritage, says, “We have three new properties in the pipeline which includes a heritage property in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh; Inderpura Resort in Udaipurwati, the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan and Mount Valley in Ranthambore in the foothills of the Aravalli range.”

Travel Trade Association of Uttar Pradesh (TTAUP) is holding its TTAUP Travel Mart, TTM 2019 today at the Hotel Hyatt Regency, Lucknow. Vivek Pandey, President, TTAUP said that, “At TTM 2019, we have 35 exhibitors and already 400+ online registrations for the buyers. The buyers from the travel trade are coming in exclusively from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Among the exhibitors we have a wide range of travel suppliers, DMC’s, cruise operators, visa facilitators, online portals and hotels.” Expected dignitaries include, Satish Mahana, Minister, Industrial Development, govt of UP and  Jitendra Kumar, I.A.S, Additional Chief Secretary & Director General, Tourism, govt of UP. The full day event will be followed by networking dinner and regional cultural performance.

In 2018, a total of 221,000 Indian cruise passengers sailed the seas, a 28 per cent growth over 2017, reveals Jiali Wong, Regional Manager (Asia) of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) from findings of a report. India as a cruise source market has grown by double digits in the past couple of years, she said. Compared to 46.7 years for a Global Cruiser’s average age and 45.4 years for an Asia Cruiser, the Indian cruiser’s average was at a relatively younger 37 years old.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals in August 2019 were 7,98,587 as compared to 7,86,003 in August 2018, registering a growth of 1.6%, revealed latest statistics released by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. FTAs during the period January-August 2019 were 68,82,940 as compared to 67,43,819 in January- August 2018 registering a growth of 2.1%.

Nearly three quarters (71%) of travellers today consider it important whether an airline offers a good digital experience when booking a flight, up +3% on 2018, reveals Travelport’s Global Digital Traveler Research 2019, which surveyed 23,000 people from 20 countries. Over half (58%) also consider this when choosing accommodation, up +7% on 2018.

Overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of Aug 2019 has been 1.61%, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Air Asia recorded lowest cancellations with (0.45%), followed by Vistara (0.47%) and SpiceJet (0.62%). GoAir was next with 0.85% cancellations, while IndiGo recorded 0.90%. Air India had 3.80% cancellations in August 2019.

CAPA India has recently reported that at the end of Q2, with Jet’s exit, Air India now has the largest share of international seats at both at Delhi and Mumbai airports. The 3 LCCs, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir have also increased their share of international seats at Mumbai Airport over the last year from 4.0% to 20.4%.

VFS Global has rolled out Lithuania visa services in New Delhi, to cater to travellers from India visiting the European country. H.E. Julius Pranevičius, Ambassador of Lithuania to India and Giedrius Kazakevičius, Director of the Consular Department of the Lithuania Ministry of Foreign Affairs inaugurated the new Lithuania Visa Application Centre in the capital recently. VFS Global has been serving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania since 2013, with visa operations in eight countries. On 10 June 2019, the contract was extended, mandating VFS Global to serve customers in 71 countries in all, including India, owing to Lithuania’s growing popularity among travellers globally. The Visa Application Centre is equipped to accept all categories of Schengen visas for Lithuania, as well as bio-metric enrollment for the same. Customers will have access to a range of optional services available to assist with the visa application process. This includes video conferencing facilities, form filling assistance, Prime Time appointments for application submission and passport collection outside of business hours, Hold at Location enabling a change in the mode of passport return after submitting the application, and much more. Customers can also choose to apply for their visas from the Premium Lounge, and enjoy end-to-end personalised assistance throughout the visa application submission. H.E. Julius Pranevičius, Ambassador of Lithuania to India added, “The newly opened Visa Centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru will facilitate the process by bringing the service closer to customer, contribute to building stronger people-to-people contacts, as well as strengthening  bilateral relations between Lithuania and India through tourism, trade and culture. We are looking forward to productive cooperation between the Embassy of Lithuania and VFS Global.” Vinay Malhotra, Regional …

By the end of this year, Best Western will open its hotels in New Delhi, Nawanshahr, Goa, Vizag and Gurugram. In a recent interview, Atul Jain, COO, Best Western Hotels & Resorts, India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka says, “Following the signing of 20 new hotels in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the group regional pipeline now features 36 hotels containing over 3,000 rooms.”

UNWTO’s World Tourism Day celebration themed on ‘Tourism and Jobs: a better future for all’, will be held in New Delhi today. The event will be graced by the senior officials of Govt. of India and Tourism Ministry. Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General, UNWTO will also mark his presence. The event’s purpose is to foster awareness among the global community on the importance of tourism sector for bringing about the holistic development.