Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

The German National Tourist Office (GNTO), India launched its online destination training programme in India on December 14, via an online webinar attended by over 450 operators. The step comes in the light of the increasing number of Indian visitors to Germany and a request from the travel fraternity for a training module on the destination. The online programme would provide Indian tour operators and travel agents with an in-depth knowledge required to market the destination persuasively to their clients. Romit Theophilus, Director Sales and Marketing, GNTO, India said, “Over the years, we have repeatedly received requests from our trade partners to start an online training programe, which could be referred to by them whilst planning itineraries and travel programmes for their clients; hence the launch of www.germanyspecialist.com. The program consists of four informative modules: Module 1 – Introduction to Germany, Module 2 – Discover the German Federal States/ Regions; Module 3 – Theme-based Travel and Module 4 – Special Scenic Routes. We expect this module to serve as a one-stop shop for all the operators’ queries on destination Germany.”

Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it has finalised preparations to start five weekly flights to Buenos Aires, Argentina from March 8, 2018. The flights will be operated on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. This will be Ethiopian Airlines sixth gateway to the Americas and will help provide efficient connections to its network in Asia, Middle East, Africa. Tadesse Tilahun, Regional Director – India Sub Continent, Ethiopian Airlines, said, “The new flight services will be operated five times a week with Dreamliner 787 aircraft. This will be the shortest connection from India to Argentina connecting the three continents in the shortest possible time. To promote the new destination, we are offering attractive promotional Business and Economy class fares which will be valid for the coming three months. We are also on the final process of approving additional commission and incentives for travel agents as well.” Set to launch on International Women’s Day, the inaugural flight will be an all-women operated flight marking the airlines’ commitment of mainstreaming gender into its core business.

The Annual General Meeting of the World Travel & Tourism Council, India Initiative (WTTCII) held at New Delhi on December 12 saw new appointments for the year 2018. Sunder G. Advani, Chairman & Managing Director, Advani Hotels & Resorts (India) Limited has been appointed as board’s Chairman while Rajeev Talwar, Chief Executive Officer, DLF has been named as the Vice Chairman of WTTCII. Advani said, “As WTTCII members facilitate the movement of millions of people around India every year,  we see the growth of tourism in generating economic opportunity, social cohesion and pride. While GST has been a welcome move, we urge the government to reconsider the GST on hospitality and bring it at par with India’s competing destinations like Sri Lanka, Thailand, etc.” Talwar said, “WTTCII has been championing convergence between Government of India and states to facilitate tourism in India. Our role will be to encourage the state governments – the political leadership and bureaucracy – to take a more favourable stance towards the tourism sector. We will continue to work with the states to improve access, address infrastructural gaps and remove policy bottlenecks for tourism to flourish, and most importantly create jobs, employment and provide a vigorous boost to tourism’s contribution to the state’s GDP.”

The Ministry of Finance announced December 27, 2017 as the late date for filing the TRAN-1 form under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to avail input tax credit. The Ministry, in a release, informed that a taxpayer could file Form TRAN-1 and avail input tax credit on the basis of closing balance of the input tax credit declared in the last return under the pre GST regime. In keeping with the philosophy of voluntary compliance, revision of Form TRAN-1 has also been provided. The last date for revision of TRAN-1 is also December 27. The Ministry noted that some taxpayers have availed extraordinarily high transitional credit of CGST. Such behaviour leads to breach of trust between the taxpayer and the tax-administration, the release said. Taxpayers who have claimed transitional credit erroneously are advised to avail of the opportunity to revise Form TRAN-1 within the deadline, failing which the tax administration would be constrained to initiate audit and enforcement action against the identified units, the release mentioned.

The Indo-American Business Chamber of SME in association with Lords Hotels & Resorts recently organised a comprehensive forum on Goods & Service Tax (GST) for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai. The forum witnessed a number of entrepreneurs from various industries including manufacturing, real estate, hospitality and banking. Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, Government of India who was the chief guest for the evening addressed many concerns expressed by the attendees and clarified nuances around the latest GST resolutions announced last month. While applauding the Govt. and its revolutionary tax reform, P R Bansal, Chairman & Managing Director, Lords Hotels & Resorts, also raised a few concerns affecting the real estate and hospitality sectors. In his speech, he appealed to the Minister to consider the pleas and convey the concerns to the GST Council for deliberation. “The reduction in GST rate for restaurant was made by the GST Council based on the feedback we received from people. We are happy that we not only reduced the GST rate from 18 per cent to 5 per cent but also made it uniform for all restaurants,” Shiv Pratap Shukla concluded.  

Vishal Bhatia has been promoted to take on the role of Country Manager – India at VisitBritain effective immediately. Based in Mumbai, he will be taking on the day-to-day aspects of VisitBritain’s operations in India. He has been associated with the tourist board since February 2013 when he started out as Deputy Manager and subsequently appointed as the B2B Manager. Bhatia was Interim Country Manager from June-December 2016. He has been integral in delivering the India strategy, while leading on all B2B activities in the market. He was also instrumental in delivering the first joint co-operative partnership under GREAT in 2013. Bhatia has extensive market knowledge and expertise of the local travel landscape. Shuja Mehdi who is based in VisitBritain’s Delhi office will also assume a new role and be responsible for all trade activity as the B2B Manager. On his appointment, Bhatia says, “I thank our travel partners and the travel trade at large for their continued support over the years and look forward to working closely with them.”

The National Capital Region is all set to witness the 5th Global Hospitality Conclave (GHC) at The Leela Ambience Gurgaon on January 6, 2018. The conclave, an independent initiative by the alumni of the erstwhile Oberoi School of Hotel Management (OSHM), now The Oberoi Centre for Learning & Development (OCLD), brings together a host of industry leaders to discuss the trends and developments in the hospitality, travel & aviation industry. GHC will see the participation of Pramod Bhasin, Vice Chairman Emeritus, Genpact; Jan Tissera, President, Travel Click; Ajay Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, Spice Jet; Puneet Chhatwal – Managing Director & CEO Indian Hotels; and Shyam Saran, Indian career diplomat, IFS as keynote speakers. Panel discussions will be held on topics such as Disruptive Innovation, Tourism Trends and a session themed Young Turks with young achievers. Organised annually, the Global Hospitality Conclave sees participants from across the world who have been part of The Oberoi Group in a leadership position. The objective is to get the Oberoi Hotels alumni together annually, who are presently employed in different sectors across the world and creating a platform of knowledge exchange, experiences and networking opportunities.  

In a bid to tap the South Indian market, the Department of Tourism, Jammu & Kashmir organised a familiarisation tour for the travel agents from Chennai and Bengaluru who visited Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Yusmarg and Srinagar city. The department is planning an aggressive marketing campaign, including roadshows and seminars in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka this month to counter negative media publicity which has affected tourist flow to Kashmir. The hosted travel agents were all praises for the hospitality they experienced during their visit to the state. The visit included recce to budget, high-end properties and houseboats, the valley’s main USP. Source: UNI

Anticipating a significant increase in Indian arrivals into the Philippines, the Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Singapore International Airlines (SIA) on December 12. Through the one-year collaboration, DOT and SIA will undertake joint marketing initiatives that will implement activities to promote the Philippines to the Indian market through social media, familiarisation tours, roadshows, among others. The agreement was signed by Benito Bengzon Jr., Undersecretary, DOT  and Campbell Wilson, Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing, SIA at the Makati Diamond Residences, Philippines. “The India market is growing at a very fast rate. In fact, we are expecting to reach 100,000 arrivals by end of 2017. This joint agreement is envisioned to sustain and further strengthen this growth in the coming years,” said Bengzon. He also disclosed that the department is not only looking at the headcount but also with the revenue it would generate. According to Wilson, this mutually beneficial agreement will pave way for a positive impact on the country’s tourism industry. “We are confident we can increase visitor arrivals; it is an honour to bring our passengers anywhere in the Philippines,” he said.  

The India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) has signed a transfer agreement with Rajasthan government on December 9 to transfer Hotel Jaipur Ashok to the state government. As per the agreement, Hotel Jaipur Ashok located at Collectorate Circle would now be operated and managed by the Rajasthan State Hotel Corporation Ltd, with new identity ‘Hotel Jaipur’. The agreement was signed by Piyush Tiwari, Director – Commercial & Marketing, ITDC and Nihal Chand Goel, Additional Chief Secretary – Tourism, State government in the presence of Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Minister of Tourism, Govt of India; Ravneet Kaur, Chairperson and Managing Director (CMD), ITDC; Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India and other dignitaries. ITDC executed transfer documents for transferring the hotel to the Rajasthan government at a negotiated price of Rs 14 crore. Earlier on September 5, a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) was executed among ITDC, Ministry of Tourism and Government of Rajasthan for transfer of Hotel Jaipur Ashok to the state government at a negotiated value of Rs 14 crore without any liabilities and encumbrances.