Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

The Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with Google India has launched a 360° Virtual Reality (VR) experience video for the global “Incredible India” tourism campaign. Incredible India in 360 degrees takes through a journey across Hampi, Goa, Delhi and Amritsar, and will explore the places and people that make each of these iconic Indian sites incredible. Describing India as a destination of diverse experiences, KJ Alphons, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism said, “India is an iconic destination that offers unique experiences of climate, geography, culture, art, literature, and food”. The minister also said that government wants to give people in India and across the world an opportunity to immerse in our country’s rich heritage. And, through the partnership with Google, it wants to engage new and global audiences and offer them immersive content in a never-before-seen manner. The minister added that taking virtual reality to the common man at a low-free cost will further enable an increase in the tourist footfall in Iconic monuments and other tourist destinations with a focus on Museums.

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has signed multiple Letter of Intent (LOI) agreements with leading hotel chains, tourism companies and potential investors at the recently-concluded Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2018. The agreements is the first step towards identification of partners to collaborate on the large opportunities of promotion of the State of Maharashtra as a medical tourism hub. Collaboration with large brands like BlueBay Hotels and Flora Hospitality has been signed to explore the areas of management and development of existing tourism locations in Maharashtra. In a bid to start identification of potential development and investment, agreements were signed with Eram Group and ITL Group offices from United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to promote Maharashtra as a preferred destination for medical, wellness, cultural, experiential and heritage tourism. Vijay Waghmare, Managing Director, MTDC said, “Arabian Travel Market 2018 was our first step towards creating a sustained campaign for promotion and establishment of Maharashtra to a wider international audience. Our participation in ATM 2018 was a huge success as we achieved our objectives of creating visibility and it has paved a way towards creating a roadmap for the state. We are looking forward to the next steps discussed with the partners and we are expecting some advancements in our mission for the State of Maharashtra by the next edition of ATM.”

OYO is betting big on the Indian hotel market by partnering with hotels and real estate assets with large inventory portfolio consisting of 100+ rooms under its franchisee and management contracts. In the coming years, it aspires to have 10,000+ rooms as a part of its large-asset category. Currently, OYO has already partnered with 12 such hotels and is managing them across markets including Delhi, Goa, Bengaluru, Tirupati, Hyderabad, Noida, Vrindavan and Patna. Commenting on the milestone, Maninder Gulati, Chief Strategy Officer, OYO said, “This excitement we are witnessing in the large 100+ rooms property space post establishing our market leadership with 75,000 keys in boutique and small assets is a testament of the strong and trusted brand we have created with our asset partners and customers. We are thankful to them for their continued support. At OYO, our mission is to add value to every form of real estate and being a full-stack hospitality company, we’ve built capabilities of on-boarding hotel rooms, locked homes, serviced apartments and at the same time managing large-format hotels.” “In the past year, we’ve on-boarded over 10+ such hotels with inventory ranging from 100-200 rooms and another 10+ hotels having over 80 rooms. With similar additions in the coming months, we’ll continue to expand our large hotel portfolio and dominance over India’s hotel market while ensuring high yield for our partners. We are upbeat about our India story and plan to go deeper into our existing markets while adding 50+ cities to the network  and capturing a 5% share of India’s hotel market by 2018-end,” Gulati said.

The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) has announced its new Taj Hotel in Lonavala after signing a management contract with Wilds and Water Developers, a part of the Kakade Group. The announcement strengthens its position of having the largest number of leisure hotels in the country. Suma Venkatesh, Executive Vice President, Real Estate & Development, IHCL said, “We are delighted to partner with the Kakade Group in bringing our latest leisure offering to Lonavala. Consolidating our presence across key leisure circuits has always been our focus and Lonavala presents the right opportunity as a getaway for travellers in and around Mumbai and Pune.” The Taj branded resort will be conveniently located with easy access through the Mumbai – Pune expressway. Nestled along the serene waters of Lake Pawana, amidst the picturesque hills, the sprawling address will span over 30 acres of land and include 150 guest rooms, an all-day diner, a specialty restaurant and a bar. Vikram Kakade,  Kakade Group said, “We are proud to partner with the iconic Taj brand and bring their famed hospitality to Lonavala. With this partnership we along with our development partner, David Lazarus aim to create a first-of-its kind Taj resort in Maharashtra, and provide a unique experience to our customers.” Lonavala is a tranquil small town that has emerged as a leading tourist destination in Maharashtra. A scenic hill station, it has for years been a favourite of travellers from Mumbai and Pune.

As its first route to India, Air Italy is set to begin operations to Mumbai from October 31, 2018. The new service will operate between Mumbai and Milan with an Airbus A330-200, offering 24 flatbed seats in Business Class and 228 seats in Economy Class. This will be the Italy-based airlines’ fourth new international destination to be served from its Milan Malpensa hub. Air Italy will offer five weekly flights between Milan Malpensa and Mumbai and will be the only non-stop flight between Italy and Mumbai. This new route between Milan and Mumbai comes after the earlier announcements of new routes from Milan Malpensa to New York and Miami starting in June 2018 and to Bangkok starting from September 2018. The new service to Mumbai will operate the following schedule and is open for sale. Flight schedules are effective from October 31, 2018.  The Milan Malpensa (MXP) flight to Mumbai (BOM) IG 927 departs at 14:20 hrs and arrives at 02:50 hrs on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.  The Mumbai (BOM) to Milan Malpensa flight (MXP) IG 928 departs at 04:50 hrs and arrives at 09:20 hrs on the same days.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has relaxed the Protected Area Permit (PAP) for foreigners visiting Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, except for those from Pakistan, Afghanisthan and China. The PAP will be valid for five years. These areas constitute some of the most pristine locations of the country which had been out of bounds till now for them without a special permit. The six decade old PAP regime from these areas has been relaxed from April 1, 2018. Under the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order, 1958, all areas falling between the Inner line and the International Border of some states were declared as protected areas. These areas include whole of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim, besides parts of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir. Some parts of Sikkim also fall under the protected area regime. It is believed that the government might lift PAP from other areas as well. The guidelines in place earlier did not allow a foreign national to visit a protected or restricted area unless the government is satisfied that there are extraordinary reasons to justify his or her visit. Foreigners, except citizens of Bhutan, if want to stay in a protected or restricted area, have to get a special permit from an authority with the power to issue such permits. In cases of the citizens of Afghanistan, China and Pakistan and foreign nationals of Pakistani origin, no permit, however, can be issued without the prior approval of the Union Home Ministry.  

Ctrip.com International has signed a partnership with AccorHotels which will allow Ctrip’s over 300 million registered users to access and enjoy personalised experiences from AccorHotels’ global brands portfolio, ranging from internationally acclaimed luxury brands as well as the popular midscale brands to the much-prised economy brands. AccorHotels operates 4,300 hotels and 10,000 private homes in 100 countries. The MoU is a milestone for both companies to embark on a deeper cooperation which will greatly enhance the growing Chinese travellers’ journey  globally. The partnership will focus on four strategic pillars, including highlighting AccorHotels accredited hotels more prominently, building a flagship store for AccorHotels, joint development of loyalty programmes and cooperation on IT. “We are very excited to be deepening our partnership with AccorHotels. With the ever growing number of outbound Chinese travellers, we are always looking for ways to provide better services for our customers and with the deepened AccorHotels relationship, we are able to offer magnified experiences and property choices,” said Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip. “We are pleased to take the partnership with Ctrip to the next level, and proud to be a priviledged hospitality partner of Ctrip, ” said Sebastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO, AccorHotels. “Our role is to provide hospitality expertise to all segments of the market. We want to offer Chinese guests our knowhow and service skills in order to become their preferred hospitality group.”  

Tourism New Zealand and Immigration New Zealand have launched an extension of the Tourism Industry Partnership (TIP) Programme to facilitate faster processing of visitor visa applications for Indian leisure travellers. Riding on the success of the previous partnership between Immigration New Zealand (INZ), Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) and key travel agents, the Tourism Industry Partnership (TIP) Programme has now been extended to leisure agents. The previous programme was launched in November 2014 and focussed on the business and incentive travel sector. With this new arrangement, Indian leisure travellers will benefit from a more streamlined visa service, with a faster processing time of three days, compared to the previous online application processing time of 15 days. Steven Dixon, Regional Manager, South and South-East Asia, Tourism New Zealand said, “This new visa process will make it even easier for Indian travellers to experience New Zealand.  India is an important market for Tourism New Zealand and it is pleasing to see the increase in the number of Indians choosing New Zealand as their favoured destination. This agreement will ensure that New Zealand welcomes even more high calibre visitors.” Commenting on this, Marcelle Foley, Head, Operations Immigration New Zealand said, “We have enjoyed the opportunity to partner with Tourism New Zealand and key players in the Indian travel trade to make it even easier for Indian business event travellers to visit New Zealand. ”

StayWell Holdings has announced its first Park Regis portfo in South India, with the rebranding of Aveda Resort & Spa in Kumarakom to Park Regis Aveda. The 44-room hotel will be the the first hotel to open post the acquisition of StayWell Holdings by Prince Hotels. Located in Kerala, Park Regis Aveda is in an international tourism hub, with the region renowned for its palm-lined beaches and backwaters, as well as the spice and tea covered hills of the Western Ghats. Simon Wan, President & Director, StayWell Holdings said, “Opening a hotel in Kerala presents many benefits for StayWell in India, as well as operators in the local region. Kerala is a popular tourist destination and Aveda Kumarakom has fast become the preferred accommodation for guests who place emphasis on privacy and luxury while travelling. We will continue to look for opportunities to expand our brands both in India and internationally.” On the tie-up with StayWell Holdings, Prashant Chawla, Owner, Park Regis Aveda, Kumarakom said, “I am thrilled to be working alongside a brand with the global recognition of StayWell Holdings and am certain the hotel experience will be elevated under their leadership, offering an unmatched hospitality and par excellence service.  This partnership will not only open up our horizons in India, but also internationally, and we look forward to taking this association beyond one property.” Park Regis Aveda will be StayWell Holdings’ 23rdth operational property and marks the brands move into a new space of luxury travel.  

Air Astana passengers holding Indian passports can enjoy 72 hours visa-free stopovers in Kazakhstan with effect from April 23, 2018 until the end of the year. Passengers with Air Astana flights transiting in Almaty and Astana simply need to notify check-in staff at the point of departure to enjoy the benefit of a visa-free visit. Air Astana offers Delhi-Almaty daily flights and a Delhi-Astana service thrice a week operated by modern Airbus and Embraer aircraft. “Air Astana has been enjoying significant growth in transit traffic through the Almaty and Astana over the past two years, particularly from New Delhi,” said Richard Ledger, Vice President – Marketing and Sales, Air Astana. “I’m in no doubt that the introduction of 72 hours visa-free entry to Kazakhstan for Indian passport holders will further boost transit traffic. We look forward to welcoming more Indian passengers on Air Astana flights and hope they enjoy the attractions of Almaty and Astana; particularly given our US$1 Stopover Holidays programme that offers one night accommodation with breakfast and return airport transfers.” Since introduction of the first flight between two countries Air Astana has carried almost 570 thousand passengers.