Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Addressing delegates at Indaba 2019, Derek Hanekom, Minister of Tourism, Government of South Africa, informed that India will be among the top three countries e-Visa regime will be extended to, besides China and Nigeria. Talking more on this, the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, highlighted the 10 challenges that needed to be looked over in order to boost arrivals to the country. Speaking at the third day of Africa’s largest tourism event, he said, “We must reduce the onerous and often unnecessary bureaucratic red tape that tourists who want to visit our country face. This requires us to streamline our tourist visa regimes. We are in the process of radically overhauling our visa dispensation for the rest of the world and introducing a world-class e-visa system.”

IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) Tourism has launched a tour package of six nights and seven days to Ladakh, Sham Valley and Nubra Valley. IRCTC Tourism is the tourism arm of the Indian Railways, announced that the tour will start from Delhi via economy class of GoAir. While the tour will be starting on multiple dates, the tariff of the package starts at Rs. 46,430 per person, which is inclusive of taxes, according to IRCTC Tourism’s website. The package includes air tickets (Delhi-Leh-Delhi round trip), accommodation in hotel rooms, entrance/monument fees as per the itinerary, breakfast, lunch and dinner according to IRCTC’s website. The package also offers travel insurance for passengers.

Utilising the free slots vacated by Jet Airways, Air Asia India is all set to expand its capacity after commencement of additional flights from the Delhi airport effective May 20. The low-cost airline will launch additional flights to Indore, Bagdogra, Hyderabad and Ranchi from Delhi. The fares will start from Rs 3,079. The flight I5 752 will depart at 05:35 from Delhi and arrive at 07:05 in Indore while flying back at 07:35 and reaching Delhi by 08:55. The I5 744 flight to Ranchi will depart at 09:35 and reach the destination by 11:15. It will fly back to Delhi on 11:45 and reach at 13:50. The Delhi to Bagdogra flight I5 756 will fly at 14:30 and reach the destination by 16:40 while I5 757 will fly back to Delhi on 17:10 and reach by 19:20 . The Delhi-Hyderabad flight will take off at 19:50 and reach Hyderabad by 22:10 and it fly back to Delhi at 22:50 and reach Delhi by 1:00. The airline inducted its 20th aircraft in February and is now eligible to fly overseas, prior to necessary approval from DGCA.

GoAir in a statement has said that ahead of rainy season in Maldives, the airline has decided to curtail flight operations to Velana International Airport, Male for the period between July – October 2019. “Across the world airlines operate leisure destinations on the basis of seasonality and load factors. Post that, GoAir management team will take a call and resume flights.” GoAir spokesperson said.

The Global Travel & Tourism Resilience Council is organising the 1st Asian Resilience Summit in Kathmandu on May 31. Hosted by Nepal Tourism Board, the event is supported by UNWTO, PATA, IIPT, TripAdvisor, CNN, BBC, Qatar Airways, PEAK DMC and ETOA. The event has been planned in the region to celebrate the successful resilience efforts demonstrated over the last several years by the Nepal Tourism Board in overcoming the devastating effects of the 2015 earthquake and will review successful policies in Nepal which led to stabilization, regeneration and growth of the travel sector. The Summit will be an opportunity to share the strategies that have enabled the country to recover despite the different economic, political, natural and anthropogenic changes in the last few years. Further, the event is seen as a platform to foster opportunities for partnerships, trade and foreign direct investment. A highlight of the Summit will be the IIPT Peace Through Tourism Destination Awards which will be presented at a gala dinner as the culmination of the Summit. Ajay Prakash, President IIPT India and Kiran Yadav, Vice President will travel to Nepal to present the Awards in four categories: • Resilient Tourism Community Award • Resilient Tourism Business Award • Resilience Efforts Through Cultural Diversity • Change Maker in Tourism Award Government and travel industry leaders will come together sharing experiences and insights at the Summit. Well-known names such as Taleb Rifai, Xu Jing, Mario Hardy, Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, Deepak Joshi and H.E. Edmund Bartlett will join with Ministers of Tourism and other dignitaries to highlight opportunities in Nepal, strategies for resilience and explore further opportunities for Nepal’s continued growth, international perception management and also highlight the activities …

Group packages to Europe traditionally covered five to eight destinations within a couple of weeks. However, millennial travellers are expressing a preference for visiting fewer destinations on a single trip, reports a study by CAPA India and Expedia titled ‘The Inflection Point for Indian Outbound Travel’. There are two drivers to this. Firstly, a desire to better discover and experience the places visited. This is supported by the increasing affordability of travel which means that people believe that they will have the opportunity to travel again in future, rather than a trip being a once-in-a-lifetime event where they need to tick multiple destinations off a list. Secondly, travel is increasingly seen as a means to rejuvenate and recharge and hence more leisurely itineraries are preferred.

Emirates and Latam Airlines have entered a new codeshare partnership agreement with Latam Airlines Brazil, under which it would cover domestic services in Brazil. Emirates passengers travelling to and from Brazil will now be able to connect with 17 cities in Latam’s domestic network covered by the codeshare agreement including Belo Horizonte, Brasília and Foz do Iguaçu. Passengers travelling to/from these cities will now be able to connect seamlessly in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro with Emirates’ flights to its Dubai hub, which serves over 150 destinations worldwide. Under the deal, Emirates passengers get more choice to travel to/from Brazil with minimum connection times to destinations in Emirates’ global network such as Japan, Australia and India amongst others. “We’re pleased to establish a partnership with Latam Airlines Brazil, providing our passengers with increased choice, flexibility and ease of connection to different cities within Brazil. We continuously invest in providing more benefits to our customers. With our award-winning product and strong partners in Brazil, we look forward to continue supporting the country’s growing inbound tourist numbers and business trade opportunities,” said Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ divisional senior vice president, Strategic Planning, Revenue Optimisation and Aeropolitical Affairs.

Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) has chosen Thomas Cook (India) to sign a strategic agreement that involves bringing more tourists from India to Sentosa. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this was signed between Mahesh Iyer, Executive Director and CEO, Thomas Cook (India) and Quek Swee Kuan, CEO, SDC in Mumbai. This three-year strategic agreement is aimed to strengthen Sentosa’s position as a top-of-mind destination for all Indian tourists visiting Singapore, increase Sentosa’s capture rates of the India market particularly in tier 2 and 3 cities, and grow visitorship to and spend on the island. To this end, both parties will collaborate on a multipronged effort comprising activities such as product development, joint consumer promotions, as well as publicity to raise Sentosa’s profile in the India market.   According to Sentosa’s visitorship numbers, India is currently ranked as the island’s top source market. While Sentosa has been featured as part of Thomas Cook India’s Singapore portfolio, the company has now focussed on curating exclusive Sentosa packages as well. Additionally, as part of the partnership, Thomas Cook India will offer enhanced access to multiple Sentosa attractions, coupled with exciting promotions and special offers on accommodation and attractions.  

OYO Hotels & Homes has announced that it has agreed to acquire Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group. @Leisure is a leading vacation rental company in Europe and manages holiday homes, holiday parks, and holiday apartments. @Leisure Group, through its Belvilla, DanCenter, and Danland brands, offers more than 30,000-fully managed holiday homes across 13 countries in Europe and through its Traum-Ferienwohnungen brand, offers a subscription-based home management service with over 85,000 homes across 50 countries. This represents a total inventory of 300k+ rooms. @Leisure Group has the unique ability to offer varied collections of managed homes across Europe to customers from across the world. The acquisition helps OYO move a step closer in realizing its vision of becoming a global real estate brand while maintaining leadership in the hospitality industry.

From Amsterdam, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will operate 777-300ER to Mumbai on May 10, 12 and 13, instead of 787-9. This will allow the airline to carry more passengers as 777-300ER will have additional 114 seats.