Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Leveraging on the increase in visits from India, VisitBritain has recently launched a new B2B platform called Tourism Exchange Great Britain (TXGB). Sharing this is Tricia Warwick, APMEA Director, VisitBritain, who adds, “This new platform will help sell England’s tourism products and experiences to the travel trade in India. The platform enables distributors to connect with UK suppliers directly and promote the various products on offer. According to the International Passenger Survey results for Q1 2019, we have seen a 25 per cent increase in visits from India as compared to Q1 2018 with a 13 per cent increase in spends. Visitors from India have evolved from taking multi-country trips to mono-country ones and spend more time on local experiences.”

The Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO) is organising the 4th edition of Odisha Tourism Conclave on 18 September under the theme ‘Tourism to be the driving force of state economy’. Governor of Odisha, Ganeshi Lal, will inaugurate the Conclave with other dignitaries. The conclave would be an immense congregation to give a 360 degree boost to the growth of tourism sector in Odisha, attract investments in the tourism sector, the holistic approach to rediscover the potential issues relating to Tourism & Hospitality sector and to prepare a roadmap with specific recommendations from the stakeholders.  Although Odisha has vast tourism potential, it is yet to come at par with its neighbouring and other states like Kerala, Goa, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi etc.

Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and Air India have joined hands to announce the launch of a new nonstop flight connection from Delhi to Seoul. This first joint promotion initiative intends to promote more travellers visiting from India to South Korea with Air India as their preferred airline. It will be the shortest duration flight flying from Delhi-Seoul with six hours of flying time and maximum baggage allowance of two pieces, which is 46 kgs for economy passengers. With fares starting from INR 41,618, Air India is all set to target the Indian market with mostly the same fare offered from all the departure cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai. Not just this, to comfort the South Korean passengers on board, the Dreamliner aircraft on this air route will serve Korean food along with the Indian vegetarian and non-vegetarian meal options. In the year 2018 approximately 119,791 Indian tourist visited South Korea and 150,457 South Korean tourist visited India.

Having made huge inroads in the couple and honeymooner segments, Tourism Fiji has started tapping families and high value MICE travellers from India in a big way. Kathy Koyamaibole, Regional Manager Asia, Tourism Fiji, met with various key members of the travel trade. She said that Tourism Fiji is now also tapping new traveller groups such as families and high-value MICE travellers. “Our key target audience from India have been honeymooners and couples and we continue to see major growth in these segments. However, we are now looking at actively promoting Fiji to families and high-end consumers groups. We have also seen interest from the MICE segment for hosting conferences in Fiji, which is a good lead for us to foray into the high-value MICE segment from India. Tourism Fiji has invested additional resources in the market to promote MICE and early this year we hosted our premier MICE Agents Famil, inviting eight top MICE agents for it,” Koyamaibole added. Speaking about some of the activities the tourism board is doing, she added, “This year too we shall have a host of activities to educate and keep the travel trade abreast on the latest happenings in Fiji. We just concluded our Fijian Tourism Expo 2019 in May, where we hosted six Indian agents to experience the destination and meet some of the Fiji stakeholders. We will also conduct trainings for the trade in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. As an extension to an already impressive reception in 2018, this year too we would also be conducting a three-series webinar starting October.” The tourism board will also host key travel agents from pan India on familiarisation trips this year.

Indiatourism Kolkata, Regional Office (East), MOT, Govt of India, presents Career East-2019, a 4-day hospitality career festival to be held in Kolkata in association with the Institute of Hotel Management, Kolkata. All educational institutes located in the states/UT of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andaman & Nicobar islands, which run a regular Hotel Management degree/diploma course of 3 years of longer duration are eligible to participate. The event will be held at IHM Kolkata.

The sixth edition of Travel Luxury Show, which was held at Crowne Plaza Jaipur, saw buyers coming in from around 10 Indian cities for B2B meetings with representatives of select luxury travel products across India. The two day event was attended by buyers from metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, as well as Tier II, III cities like Jaipur, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Ahmedabad etc. All the buyers and exhibitors had table-top meetings of 10 minutes each with each other over two days.

The LCCs are expected to post a strong double-digit growth of 25-30% in fiscal in domestic passenger traffic, led by robust expansion of domestic capacity by SpiceJet and Indigo. However, non-revival of Jet Airways would curb growth at the industry level.  Firmer fares and strong passenger-traffic growth are estimated to propel the earnings before Interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and lease rentals (EBITDAR) margin of India’s low-cost carriers (LCCs) to 24-25% this fiscal, compared with 15-16% in the last. Fares are expected to rise because of limited capacity additions in the industry since Jet Airways ran aground. With the improvement in EBITDAR margin, the LCCs’ operating cash flows are expected to touch a decadal high of Rs 4,700-5,200 crore this fiscal.

Singapore welcomed a record 160,000 cruise passengers from India in 2018 (a 27% increase over 2017), establishing India as the top source market for cruise visitors, revealed GB Srithar, Regional Director, India, Middle East & South Asia, International Group, Singapore Tourism Board. He added, “This was possible only with the strong and relentless support from partner-friends like you, making Singapore a must-visit cruise holiday destination and hub.” Talking about the Cruise Tourism Performance in 2018, Srithar said, “2018 was a good year for Singapore’s tourism sector. Singapore welcomed 1.44 million visitors from India to Singapore in 2018 (a 13% increase over 2017’s visitor-ship). Specifically, for cruise, total passenger throughput was at a high of 1.87 million (a 35% increase from 2017). The higher passenger throughput was due to the year-round deployment of Genting Dream and extended sailings from Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas.”

As Cosmos prepares for the launch of its 2020 vacations, the value-centric brand has unveiled a fresh look and feel including a new tagline, ‘Adventure is Knocking’. With effect from September 15, 2019, Cosmos will start its rebranding with the launch of a new logo and a new look to the way Cosmos is presented.  Varesh Chopra, Regional Director – South Asia and Middle East for the Globus family of brands, says, “With our new branding, we’re celebrating the unparalleled and attainable access a Cosmos tour provides to the world’s ‘wow’ moments. On a Cosmos vacation, we make possible ‘never thought I would’ or ‘never imagined I could’ moments by making travel easy and affordable. The idea that ‘Adventure is Knocking’ captures the excitement that travel brings.” Agents can celebrate Cosmos re-branding with the introduction of new brochures, complimentary marketing material and a new video, inviting their clients to discover adventures in the world around them. With its new look and feel, Cosmos provides travellers with value-centric vacations in 67 countries on six continents. “With our vacations priced from just US$ 79 a day, we’re helping travellers turn ‘what if’ moments into ‘I did’ realisations so they can expand their horizons, clear their heads, and open their hearts to the world around them,” says Chopra.

On 14 September 2019, STIC turns into a 46-year old company. The company has maintained its presence in the trade because of its people and their dedication towards work. The journey started in 1973, inaugurated by Karan Singh, then Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister, with handful of people. Over the years, STIC has evolved into one of the most renowned organisations, covering nine international airlines, largest hotel chains , cruises, car rental , luxury services etc. STIC moves ahead, to bigger, brighter and bolder strides… forty six … and getting younger.