Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

The next convention of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is likely to be held in Kolkata from September 12-15, informed Rajesh Mudgill, Hony. Secretary, IATO. He said that further details will be announced in due course of time. “The 35th convention will likely be organised in Kolkata. We had some deliberations regarding the dates but things are almost finalised now. We are looking make this convention much bigger and better,” adds Mudgill. He also said the upcoming monthly luncheon meeting of the association, scheduled on July 10 at The Oberoi, Delhi will be followed by the Executive committee meeting, where the association is expected to discuss more about the preparations for the convention. Apart from working on the new IATO website, Mudgill also informed that the association is also looking to come up with a mobile app to facilitate convenience and more information to its members.

Buzz Travel Marketing, New Delhi, is the new representative for Travel Nevada in India. A state in Western USA, Nevada, is famous for its natural landscape and various entertainment options. Besides this, the state is also famed for its museums, shopping hubs, desert canyons, ghost towns, hot springs etc. Speaking more on this, SanJeet, CEO, Buzz Travel Marketing says, “We are thrilled to represent Nevada in India. Our aim is to showcase the state beyond what people think it to be. We will begin this by educating the travel trade fraternity. We are surely hopeful of increasing the number of Indian travellers to this state and beyond the conventional attractions.”

Flynas, headquartered in Riyadh, has launched a new direct flight between Riyadh and Delhi. The flight will operate five times a week- . Stefan Magiera, Senior Vice President- Commercial, Flynas, said, “Flynas has started flying five times a week from Delhi to Riyadh. In October, we will upgrade this flight to daily. Also, in July, we will increase flights between Hyderabad and Riyadh, currently twice a week to four times a week. This represents almost 300 per cent growth between India and Saudi Arabia, the finest network. This growth is only possible with partners and the support of our friends in India and I would like to say a big thank you to all our agents in this market who have supported us tremendously in the past. We are always trying to become better and improve ourselves by listening to our trade partners and I am very happy and proud to announce that we have joined the BSP in India, something that has been designed for the market and we are in BSP India.”

GoAir has inducted 50th aircraft to its fleet and is planning to add one aircraft each month to move forward aggressively. With an Airbus A320 Neo in its kitty, the budget carrier is aiming to touch 100 million passenger-mark in the next two years. The airline flew 13.55 lakh passengers in May, which is 11.1 percent of the total 122.07 lakh domestic passenger traffic in the month. Operating 270 daily flights connecting 24 domestic and four international destinations, the airline has remarkably doubled its fleet size in less than two years. “In 2016, we looked at an aggressive business strategy. That year we doubled our Airbus A320 aircraft order to 144 to accelerate our growth and at the same time staying profitable. Those goals continue to be our guiding principle from a business perspective,” Jeh Wadia, Managing Director & acting Chief Executive was quoted as in a statement.

The number of passengers flying from Visakhapatnam has been on the rise but there has not been a consequential  increase in the number of flights to cater to the demand. Recently, Alliance Air, proposed to withdraw its Visakhapatnam-Tirupati-Vijayawada daily flight from July 16.  Vice President of Andhra Pradesh Air Travellers’ Association (APATA), Naresh Kumar said that there has been an annual increase of 20% in the number of passengers travelling by air. However, there has been no addition of aircraft. However, Vizag Airport Director, Prakash Reddy, talking to daily, says that there is no confirmation on the withdrawal of Visakhapatnam-Tirupati-Vijayawada operations. Source: TOI

Leading Destination Management Company and travel agent, Pacific Travels has been appointed as the India Representative for Activo Travel, a leading European destination management company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. This new and exclusive deal enables Pacific Travels access to a wide range of high quality Activo tour and travel services within EU territory, spanning countries like Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Czech, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and other European countries. Activo Travel is a big name in four major business segments including local ground service for series travel groups, tour bus rental and schedule planning service, customized tour service and MICE service. Every year, more than a hundred thousand travelers from all over the world, benefit from the high quality services offered by Activo Travel. The company is also highly popular in China and brings a good number of Chinese tourists to Europe.

Sanjay Datta, MD, Airborne Travels-Holidays-Meetings-Events, has been elected as the President, Skål Asia. Speaking to Tourism Breaking News, he said, “We have won with an overwhelming majority and we have to live up to the confidence and expectations that people have given us. My agenda is to first put the house in order and improve the communication level. I have already had the first meeting with the board members and we are changing the process. Now all the board members will give a monthly report to all the members. That’s how we will work as a team and will no longer work as individual players. We are all going to be a team and it’s going to be a team effort, which was lacking in the earlier management. It’s a huge challenge for us. We have to work very hard.” Datta was President, Skål Delhi from 2015-2017.

IndiGo has announced new flight cancellation and change charges effective from midnight of June 27 for domestic and international flight booking. The order includes a hike in particular categories by Rs 500, to modifications which are done in a three-day period before the flight’s departure. There is no hike, if a passenger is making the change four or more days in advance of the travel dates. The airline said in a statement, “The revision only applies if the change or cancellation is made within 0-3 days of the travel dates. The charges remain the same in case a passenger is making the change four or more days in advance of the travel dates. For domestic bookings, customers can make any changes or cancellations free of charge within 24 hours of booking, if booked at least 7 days before the travel dates.”

A recent report by India Brand Equity Foundation on tourism and hospitality revealed that the share of revenues from leisure travel to the total tourism revenue stood around 94.8 per cent in 2018. According to statistics shared in the report, leisure travel spending reached US$ 234.16 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach US$432.3 billion by 2028. On the other hand, business travel revenues were US$ 12.84 billion in 2018 and are projected to increase to US$ 24.4 billion by 2028.

SpiceJet has recorded the highest Passenger Load Factor amongst all the domestic carriers in India, recording a 93.9 per cent PLF for the month of May, according to recent statistics revealed by DGCA. Closely following this number was GoAir with a PLF of 93.3 per cent, preceding IndiGo at 90.9 per cent. Fourth in line was Air Asia with 87.8 per cent, while Vistara recorded 85.6 per cent, which was followed by Air India at a PLF of 85 per cent.