Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has launched its online marketplace for members—TAFI Connect. Ashwani Sharma, Chapter Chairman, TAFI-North, said “TAFI Connect would be the online tool for members to conduct their business online with a huge inventory of hotels and packages. It would also allow them to do business with each other,” he added. Pranita Baveja, Founder & CEO, Traviate.com, showcased the features of TAFI Connect and even gave them a demo of the product. Members can now enroll themselves and be live on TAFI Connect to use its services and grow their businesses.  

A study by International Air Transport Association (IATA) has revealed that in terms of air travel growth driven by emerging markets, India leads the pack with 18.9 per cent Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK) growth in 2018 as against 2017. China ranked second at 12.1 RPK, followed by Russia at 9.2 RPK.

According to an analysis conducted by Travelport, India has emerged as the top travel destination in Asia this summer for travellers from the United Kingdom (UK). Globally, the United States was the top destination while India was the 2nd most popular long-haul destination for UK travellers. The report revealed that as of June 14, 2019, just under 87,000 advanced bookings had been made in the UK through all global distribution systems (GDS) for return flights to India scheduled between Friday June 28, 2019 and Sunday September 8, 2019. Flight bookings in other Asian countries like Thailand and China stood at 49,137 and 29,870 respectively. With flight bookings up by 3,402 (13 per cent) year-on-year, China was the fastest growing top ten long-haul destinations for UK travellers compared to the same period the previous year. Martin Herbert, Regional Managing Director – India and Sri Lanka at Travelport, said: “It’s exciting news for Indian tourism to see the country attracting more bookings than both China and Thailand combined. This trend is fuelling increased booking volume and we expect to see it continue in the years to come.” Sandeep Dwivedi, COO at InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ), commented: “India has been one of the topmost choices of international travellers owing to its rich cultural heritage, varied cultures, art & crafts and spiritual tourism. We are happy to see India as the second most booked summer destination for UK travellers. With so much to see and offer, I am sure that this number will certainly rise in the coming years.”

The National Committee of Ministry of Tourism on Krishna Circuit  has identified 12 destinations for development under Krishna Circuit, namely, Dwarka (Gujarat); Nathdwara, Jaipur & Sikar (Rajasthan), Kurukshetra (Haryana), Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokul, Barsana, Nandgaon & Govardhan (Uttar Pradesh) and Puri (Odisha) and the concerned State Governments were advised to submit proposals for these destinations. The projects under the scheme are sanctioned with the objective of improving connectivity and infrastructure of tourism destinations to enrich overall tourist experience and enhance employment opportunities.   Overall, 15 thematic circuits have been identified for development including themes covering all the religious/spiritual sites in the country.   The Ministry has also released Rs 70.60 cr and Rs 45.72 cr for the development of tourism infrastructure at places related to Maharashtra in Kurukeshtra and Govind Dev ji temple (Jaipur), Khatu Shyam Ji (Sikar) and Nathdwara (Rajsamand) respectively.

Regenta & Royal Orchid Hotels has recently announced signing up of three new properties; in North Goa, Noida (Uttar Pradesh) and Belagavi (Karnataka). All three properties are scheduled to open within the next 2 months. Of the three new openings, two properties (in Goa and Noida) will be positioned under the Regenta Central brand while the one in Belagavi will be positioned as a Regenta Resort. The new hotel in Goa marks the groups foray in the tourist-intensive and high-demand area of North Goa, and further strengthens the group’s presence in the destination, where two resort properties are currently operating, in the south. The Regenta Central Noida will be situated within the city-centre area, close to the Delhi Metro line and will feed a strong demand pipeline originating from industrial companies and IT parks which are in close proximity. Located on the old Belagavi- Goa route, Regenta Resort Belagavi will feature contemporary rooms and cottages and will serve business as well as leisure guests, while also providing contemporary banquet and open spaces for weddings and events. Chander K. Baljee, Managing Director, Regenta & Royal Orchid Hotels said, “Our new openings are exactly in sync with our growth plan to reach 100 hotels. Through these launches, we’ll be strengthening our portfolio both in terms of geographical reach and diversified offerings. These hotels will help us play-out our well-defined Regenta brand architecture and offer best-in-class accommodation and services for business as well as leisure guests. The properties are being beautifully designed and feature contemporary amenities which guests will love. All our hotels will offer our distinctly warm Indian hospitality, these will be hotels with a soul”.

Due to a Supreme Court order, construction of Goa’s Mopa Airport is expected to be commissioned in 2021. Developed jointly by the Goa government and GMR, the greenfield airport is planned in North Goa district and is expected to handle 30 million passenger traffic when it is fully operational. The first phase of the airport was expected to be completed in 2020. However, the Supreme Court had stopped work on-site after a petition alleged that thousands of trees were being illegally cut at the airport site by the developers. (Source: IANS)

Low-cost carrier GoAir has appointed Miranda Mills as its Chief Operating Officer, effective August. The former Airbus executive will report to Jeh Wadia, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. Mills, an aeronautical engineer from University of Glasgow, spent 16 years with Airbus where she played several leading roles including Global Sales & Marketing Director and Sales Vice President for the commercial aircraft division for South Asia. She was also Chief Digital Officer & Director, Transformation – Civil Aerospace at Rolls-Royce. For some time now, the Mumbai-headquartered LCC GoAir, which operates 285 daily flights connecting 24 domestic cities and four international destinations, had unfilled posts at the helm.

Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) will connect Tokyo Narita International Airport and Chennai International Airport from October 27 on Boeing 787-8 aircraft. This expansion will bring ANA’s number of total cities serviced to 46. This will be ANA’s third route offering service to India, along with flights from Narita to Mumbai and Delhi. “It is always exciting to add a new destination, but it is even more significant to be the only carrier offering connecting this growing region with Japan,” said Seiichi Takahashi, Senior Vice President of ANA.      

Ebix will be acquiring Yatra Online via merger, as part of a definitive agreement signed between the two travel giants. Following the completion of the transaction, Yatra will become part of Ebix’s EbixCash travel portfolio alongside Via and Mercury and will continue to serve customers under the Yatra brand. The transaction will create India’s largest and most profitable travel services company, and a leading online travel platform poised to capture significant international growth opportunities. Ebix Chairman, President and CEO Robin Raina, commented, “The acquisition of Yatra would lend itself to significant synergies and the emergence of EbixCash as India’s largest and most profitable travel services company, besides being the largest enterprise financial exchange in the country. Over the last few months, we have evolved a detailed synergistic plan, that once fully executed can provide between 40 to 75 cents of accretion to the Ebix non-GAAP EPS. We are excited by the cross-selling opportunities that this combination provides us, while further strengthening our future EbixCash IPO offering.” Dhruv Shringi, Co-founder and CEO of Yatra Online. “We are pleased to announce this agreement with Ebix, which provides our shareholders with the opportunity to participate in the significant upside potential of one of the fastest growing multinational On-Demand software and E-commerce services companies in the world. Over the last several years, we have built Yatra into one of India’s most well- recognized e-commerce brands, growing into the leading corporate travel services provider and one of the largest consumer travel companies. Becoming a part of Ebix’s EbixCash travel portfolio will enable us to continue on that path. As part of a larger diversified organization with the necessary scale and resources to be a leader …

Passengers travelling to the UAE on Air India flights can now carry 10 kgs more in their check-in luggage as the airline has, with immediate effect, increased the baggage allowance from 30 kgs to 40 kgs. The move is in line with the increasing demand by the travel community for an enhanced baggage allowance on the route. The allowance for hand-baggage, however, continues to be the same at 7 kgs. “As demanded by the people, Air India will allow passengers to carry 40 kgs as luggage in the check-in besides the usual 7 kgs that the traveller carries as hand baggage,” said Ashwani Lohani, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India.