Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

MOT signs MoU with InterGlobe Foundation to develop Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana in Delhi

During the national conference of tourism ministers in Delhi, InterGlobe Foundation has received new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) from the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India to develop and upgrade the basic and advanced tourist amenities at Tomb of Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana in New Delhi. They would also look after the operation and maintenance of the approved tourist amenities. For developing tourist amenities at heritage/tourist sites and making them tourist friendly , in a planned and phased manner, these MoUs and Letters of Intent (LOI) are being issued by the ministry under the ‘Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan’ project, in collaboration with Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Survey of India and state/UT government. With this, Interglobe Foundation has also become ‘Monument Mitra’ through the innovative concept of vision building, where the agency with beset vision for the heritage/tourist site will be given an opportunity to associate pride with their CSR activities. The Foundation will also get limited visibility in the premises and the Incredible India website. The ministry handed over a total of 3 MoUs and 5 LOIs to prospective Monument Mitras during the conference. So far, 11 MoUs have been signed under the project and 38 LOIs have been issued for 102 tourist/heritage site.

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e-Tourist Visa fee down from USD 25 to USD 10 during off-season

To boost inbound tourism during lean period (April-June), MOT has announced the reduction of visa fee from USD 25 to USD 10. A short duration of e-Visa for tourists with one-month validity and visa fee of USD 25 has been introduced for peak season (July-March). The Ministry has introduced 5-year e-Tourist Visa with USD 80 fee, besides the existing one year e-Tourist visa with a fee of USD 40.   For Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, lean period visa fees is USD 10 and for e-visa of 30 days, 1 year and 5 years, the fee is USD $25. For rest of the countries, where e-Visa facility is available, lean period visa fee is USD 10 and peak season visa for 30 days is USD 25. For e-Visa for 1 year and 5 year, the fee is USD 40 and USD 80 respectively.

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LA Tourism appoints first-ever Regional Director for India market

Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board (Los Angeles Tourism) is deepening its foothold in the India market with the appointment of it’s first-ever Regional Director dedicated to India. It has appointed Seema Kadam for this role who will develop and support air service for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), spearhead strategic travel trade engagement including the implementation of a training program using the L.A. Insider Program, and attend key industry trade shows in the region.  In 2018, Los Angeles welcomed 130,000 visitors from India, an increase of 5.1 per cent year-over-year making India the third-highest year-over-year international growth market for Los Angeles. Kathryn Smits, Vice President, Tourism for Los Angeles Tourism, says, “We established a travel trade presence in India several years ago through representation, who introduced Los Angeles to the industry.  The time is now right to deepen our engagement. India holds such vast potential for Los Angeles and appointing a full-time, regional director to oversee all of our tourism activity is a natural evolution of our commitment to the market.” Kadam was earlier with Switzerland Tourism and Tourism Fiji.

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MOT releases Hindi version of Incredible India website

The Ministry of Tourism released the Hindi version of The Incredible India website with updated content on 20 August. The primary objective of this launch is to engage with visitors across web and social media platforms, make it more interactive by providing a deeper engagement to the travellers visiting the website and to deliver real-time personalised experiences for each visitor, based on the interest and travel persona. The Ministry of Tourism’s Incredible India website project incredibleindia.org aims towards showcasing the tourism products of India at a global arena and provisioning design, development, implementation and maintenance of digital platform which provides the visitors with relevant, personalised and contextual digital experience escalating tourism awareness, attraction and opportunities. This is a key marketing tool for the Incredible India campaign. MOT revamped the Incredible India website with the aim to provide more information about India as a tourist destination. It is also fully responsive with mobile devices, making it easy to navigate on a wide range of web browsers and portal devices. The Ministry of Tourism launched the new Incredible India website on 14 June 2018. The website showcases India as a holistic destination revolving around major experiences such as spirituality, heritage, adventure, culture, yoga, wellness and more. Since its launch the website has attracted 85,849,28 total visitors, including 65,317,22 unique visitors as on 31st July 2019.

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SpiceJet, IndiGo to fly from T3 of Delhi Airport starting September 5

SpiceJet and IndiGo would shift their flight operations to T3 terminal from September 5 due to expansion works at T2. Where SpiceJet has moved its entire operations to T3 from T2, IndiGo's flight numbers from 6E 5000 to 6E 5999 will operate from Terminal 3. Post completion of infrastructure enhancement at T2, the terminal will be able to handle 18 million passengers yearly, up from current 15 million, the DIAL said. GoAir will continue its domestic operations from T2 terminal.

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Hahn Air introduces NDC platform

Hahn Air, unveiled its new NDC platform and is extending its suite of products for partner airlines and travel agencies with a solution powered by IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard. To mark the occasion, the German airline and ticketing expert welcomed the first passengers holding NDC-enabled Hahn Air tickets on one of its scheduled flights from Luxembourg to Dusseldorf on 16th August 2019. “As Hahn Air today supports travel agencies in 190 markets and airlines of any size and business model, we carefully developed a scalable solution that meets the needs of all our current and future partners in a changing airline industry”, says Christopher Allison, Head of NDC at Hahn Air. “We are leveraging on the expertise we have acquired during our 20 years of being the leader in airline distribution solutions, as well as our involvement in the IATA activities driving and developing the NDC standard from the very beginning. We have been actively participating in several IATA committees and are currently holding the chair position of the NDC Orders Group, as well as a seat on the Shop-Order Board and the Architecture and Technology Strategy Board.” Hahn Air’s NDC platform will bring the following benefits to partner airlines: Airlines, irrespective if they are already NDC capable or not, can add an additional distribution channel and thereby extend their global customer base. In addition, airlines can join the world of NDC by using Hahn Air’s NDC platform without having to develop their own solution. Thereby they save time, money and resources and don’t have to deal with the complexity of the new standard.   Travel agents will benefit as follows: All travel agents, regardless of which system …

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Somnath and Dhaulavera to be developed as ‘iconic sites’ in Gujarat: MOT

On the sidelines of the ADTOI convention, Aashima Mehrotra, Director, Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Govt. of India, stated “Gujarat remains a great destination for tourism as it offers everything including textiles, architecture, industry and entrepreneurship of people. We have chosen Somnath and Dhaulavera as the iconic sites from Gujarat for holistic development and under ‘Adopt A Heritage: Apni Dharohar Apni Pehchan’ project where different sites of Gujarat have been chosen for development of tourism amenities.” 

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Now reach the boarding gate in under 10 mins with ‘Express security check-in’ at Delhi’s T2

IGI Airport, Delhi has rolled out ‘Express security check-in’ facility at Terminal 2 for all the domestic passengers with handbags as luggage. This facility will enable them to head towards a separate express lane with X-Ray machines for their luggage and CISF security personnel. The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), in a statement said, “This facility will significantly reduce the load on the main security check-in area by diverting passengers carrying only hand baggage towards express lane. It will ensure fast and seamless flow of the domestic passengers travelling without any check-in baggage.” The Delhi airport has introduced the facility in collaboration with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Terminal 2 handles about 45,000 domestic passengers daily of which, more than 13,000 passengers (30 per cent) travel without any check-in baggage. The service is soon expected to be extended to Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 as well. (Inputs from PTI)

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9th ADTOI Convention successfully concludes with over 500 registrations

On the concluding day of the convention, PP Khanna, President ADTOI and Convention Chairman said, “The convention is a success, we were expecting around 400 delegates, but have been impressed by over 500 registrations, including some of the local travel agents. Sessions were quite interactive, and people enjoyed the same. It’s very necessary to focus on what the different states are doing to promote domestic tourism. Subsidies the states are providing top private entrepreneurs, investment plans and success stories of PPP were deliberated upon in the sessions. Full halls themselves indicate the popularity of the sessions.” Elaborating on trends in domestic tourism he said, “An important trend is to work with the state to promote domestic tourism in the state. For developing tourism, the requirement is of better infrastructure in the state, cleanliness, safety and security, availability of amenities, among others. Essentially education and  skill development is required in the states  to promote domestic tourism. State specialists programmes are also required so that the travel agents and tour operators can be imparted more knowledge about the destination and they become specialists to promote their states. Each and every state in India has so much to offer. Travel agent need to connect with their counter parts more, as knowledge excellence goes till the last point. Gujarati tour operators can fabricate the packages for pan India tour operators.

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Incredible India roadshows get postponed

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, has postponed some of the Incredible India roadshows in Europe, South and Central America. However, a few roadshows will take place as scheduled earlier. This includes roadshows in Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Portugal. In an information sent to overseas offices of India Tourism, state governments and all the travel and hospitality associations,  the Overseas marketing department of MOT said that roadshows in France, Italy & Austria scheduled from September 16-19, in South America & Central America scheduled from October 14-18, in Eastern Europe & Greece scheduled from October 21-24 have been postponed to a later date. The statement said that fresh dates for these roadshows will be finalised in consultation with the stakeholders and conveyed to all concerned.

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