Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

According to DGCA, passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-June 2019 were 706.80 lakhs as against 684.83 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 3.21%. However, the air traffic in the month of June alone rose by 6% surpassing May’s growth which was registered at 3%. According to DGCA, the passenger load factor in the month of Jun 2019 has shown marginally increasing trend compared to previous month due to ongoing tourist season.

The central government has proposed Metrolite, a light urban rail transit system, for small cities and towns having lower projection of ridership. The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has issued standard specifications of the ‘Metrolite’ system which will be developed on surface and elevated stretches. With each train having three coaches and a restricted speed of 25 kmph, Metrolite will have capacity of carrying 300 passengers. According to the ministry, Metrolite, which can be developed at a lower cost in comparison with existing metro system, will also act as feeder system to high capacity Metro. The ministry stated that metro rail system being developed at present is of high capacity which is required for bigger cities with very high ridership. The metrolite system will have a dedicated path separating the road traffic with it. Sources told the PTI that government would provide financial assistance to states to implement the light urban rail transit system.

After the conclusion of the travel season, EBIXCASH World Money has now launched an exclusive campaign for the ongoing season aimed at aspiring students planning to study abroad for the fall. Titled ‘Ready to Study Forex Fest’ the campaign will allow them to pay/remit their university fees using EBIXCASH. The company also has exciting prizes for lucky winners. The campaign will last from July 18, 2019 to September 30, 2019. It is aimed at students aspiring to study overseas this season and it will be eligible for university fee remittance/card purchase  with EBIXCASH World Money. Offers include free ISIC Cards, assured prize on every remittance/payment, daily prize of travel accessories worth INR 10,000, weekly prize of L-care smart watches, monthly prize of American Tourister luggage bags and a mega prize of five laptops which will be given to lucky students.

Air Tanzania has launched its maiden direct flight from Dar es Salaam to Mumbai. This is the seventh international route for the airline and the first outside Africa. ATCL’s recently acquired Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner  departed the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) Terminal-III in Dar es Salaam for Mumbai at 7.30pm local time and arrived into India early morning. Passengers on the flight included a huge delegation from Tanzania including the minister for Works, Transport and Communications, Isaak Kamwelwe, senior government officials, ATCL staff and local journalists. Commenting on the developments, Kamwelwe expressed optimism that the new route would help in cutting the time spent by passengers who had to connect through Nairobi, Dubai and South Africa. Ladislaus Matindi, Managing Director, ATCL, said that a return ticket is available at what he termed the ‘entry’ price of $378.

Giving further fillip to Regional Connectivity in the country, 8 more routes became functional under UDAN. These routes include Mysore-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Mysore, Goa- Mysore, Mysore-Goa, Cochin-Mysore, Mysore-Cochin, Kolkata-Shillong. Shillong-Kolkata. With this, the total UDAN  routes Operational as on date increased to 194 routes.  

Around 39 per cent of branded hotel signings in 2018 were seen in Tier III cities, which was higher than that of Tier I cities (29 per cent) and Tier II cities (32 per cent), according to a recent HVS ANAROCK report. The report stated that rapid urbanisation in the country, is increasingly making Tier 3 markets more relevant in the eyes of the hotel brands, who are witnessing nearly a third of their new hotel signings emerge from them, despite hotels being much smaller than those located in Tier 1 markets. This is also happening on account of newer Hotel Management companies setting shop as also the smaller ones looking to grow rapidly through franchise or management agreement of smaller standalone hotels in Tier II and III cities.

A recent report by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) has claimed that the share of revenues from leisure travel to the total tourism revenue stood around 94.8 percent in 2018. Leisure travel spending reached US$234.16 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach US$432.3 billion by 2028, the report stated. Business travel revenues were US$12.84 billion in 2018 and are projected to increase to US$24.4 billion by 2028.

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.”