Tag Archives: Ahmedabad

Akquasun Group is set to go digital in terms of operations in 2018. Till now, the portal offered was an integrated system but going forward, the destination management company (DMC) plans to offer its travel partners its own inventory on the digital platform, informs Sujit Nair, Group Managing Director, Akquasun Group at the company’s Delhi roadshow. The DMC is currently conducting its four-city roadshow covering Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai. The unique element of this year’s event is the partnership between Tourism Malaysia and Akquasun Group, in which the tourism board has partnered with the DMC to promote Malaysia in India. “We will be buying up our own inventory and offer the same on the online platform. We recently hosted a curtail raiser at IITT Mumbai for the same and the company will be coming out with a host of different technology tools useful for travel agents,” he said. As many as 40 partners from 18 destinations represented by the group participated at the roadshow. According to Nair, the market in Kolkata was very responsive with as many as 250 travel agents in attendance at the roadshow.

Following a successful launch in Hyderabad in November, Kuwait’s leading low cost airline, Jazeera Airways will now fly to Ahmedabad and Kochi starting January 17 and 18, respectively. Rohit Ramachandran, CEO, Jazeera Airways, said, “This is a major strategic move for us to extend our network into India and provide greater choice and value for the Indian community in Kuwait and broader GCC. We have been delighted with how well our new operations to Hyderabad, Kochi and Ahmedabad have been received both in India and the wider Middle East region. The decision to invest further in India comes from the rising demand of Indian expats visiting their friends and families, as well as the large interest of Kuwaiti travelers in exploring new destinations for tourism and medical visits.” Jazeera Airways will operate three flights on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays to and from Ahmedabad starting January 17 departing 00.05am from Kuwait arriving 06.00am, ensuring a quick and efficient journey. Kochi flights will operate four times a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays departing at 12.45 pm from Kuwait and arriving at 20.10pm in Kochi International Airport. Passengers can enjoy a baggage allowance of 30kg for Economy class and 50kg per Business class passenger.

InterContinental Hotels Group has partnered with SAMHI to rebrand approximately 2000 rooms (operating and under construction) within its India hotel portfolio, to Holiday Inn Express® hotels. The recently signed portfolio comprises 14 hotels, including 10 open hotels across key cities such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai. The additional four hotels are under construction. The signing sees IHG grow its pipeline by 41 hotels, positioning IHG as one of the largest players in India’s growing midscale hotel market. All hotels in the portfolio will be closed while they are being refurbished and upgraded with the latest design directives, to ensure the portfolio is fully representative of the Holiday Inn Express brand globally. The hotels will feature the next-generation design, several additional public areas and feature brand hallmarks to enhance guest service delivery. Commenting on the announcement, Sudeep Jain, Vice President, Development, South West Asia, IHG said: “It is with great pride and excitement that we are announcing our partnership with SAMHI for conversion of their existing mid-market hotel portfolio in India to Holiday Inn Express. This is a significant move towards establishing IHG as a leading player in the midscale hotel segment in India, while we continue to build on our upscale and luxury offering in the country with InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts.” Jain added: “With this signing, we now have close to 60 hotels open and in the pipeline, across the Holiday Inn Brand Family. SAMHI is keen to accelerate Holiday Inn Express’ highly efficient operating model and engage the brand’s growing familiarity in the country. Holiday Inn Express is the rest and go hotel brand that delivers a …

Kuwait-based low cost airline, Jazeera Airways, inaugurated its daily flights to Hyderabad. Kochi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad will follow in early 2018 as the airline expands its network to serve its Indian sub-continent targeting the nearly 1 million Indian nationals residing in Kuwait. Flight J9 608 departed November 16 at 18:40 hours from Kuwait International Airport and landed in Hyderabad at 01:35 hours. The return flight J9 608 will depart Hyderabad at 02.20 hours and arrive in Kuwait at 05.10 hours. The new evening route has a weekly capacity of 4,000 seats and allows passengers to conveniently enjoy a full day at their destination. To mark the special occasion, all 165 passengers flying from Kuwait to Hyderabad received a gift box of traditional Kuwaiti sweets. Rohit Ramachandran, CEO, Jazeera Airways, said, ‘This is a proud moment for us marking the expansion of our network in to India. We are delighted to start with Hyderabad, a 400-year old city and a technology hub, bringing more choice to Indian travelers, connecting them to Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah, Bahrain and Dubai. In addition, we offer for religious travellers connections to Taif in KSA, Najaf (Iraq), Mashad (Iran) and Amman. He further commented, “This new service will address surging travel demands with low cost fares at convenient frequencies for leisure, business or religious travel. India is a financial and tourist powerhouse and we are eager to capitalize on the enormous opportunities ahead.” SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL, said, “We welcome Jazeera Airways to Hyderabad and we are very happy to note that they have chosen Hyderabad Airport as their first Indian destination. We are confident that this will further boost the tourism potential between India and various …

Cathay Pacific Airways conducted a series of sales blitz and workshops in Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai to mark the reintroduction of its Premium Economy Class and the increase in capacity on flights from Mumbai. Cathay Pacific used to operate Premium Economy until October 2015. The airline has introduced the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on the Mumbai–Hong Kong route from October 30. Rajesh Menon, Regional Sales & Marketing Manager-South Asia, Cathay Pacific, said, “We are thrilled to share these new developments in Cathay Pacific with our key trade and corporate partners. It is their support that has encouraged us to increase capacity on this route and reintroduce our Premium Economy cabin, which will provide even greater convenience and give our customers another reason for choosing Cathay Pacific.” Workshops were held for the travel trade fraternity in Mumbai which consisted of interactive sessions and covered a range of topics that include Cathay Pacific’s product and service, network and connections, loyalty programme, destination guides etc. This was followed by a week-long sales blitz that included a competition for the travel agents to upload their most fun picture on Cathay Pacific’s Facebook page. The Boeing 777-300ER aircraft will operate on the daily CX 660 service from Mumbai to Hong Kong and CX 663 flight from Hong Kong to Mumbai. This will mark a 21% increase in passenger capacity and 67% increase in cargo capacity out of Mumbai on Cathay Pacific flights.

Air Arabia along with Sharjah Tourism Board recently launched its inaugural service to Baku. To promote this new flight along with the various tourism products that the destination offers, Destination Azerbaijan conducted roadshows in Delhi and Mumbai to meet with the leading DMCs and hotels from Baku (Azerbaijan). The new route, aimed at boosting tourism in the country, marks Air Arabia’s entry into Azerbaijan with a fast-emerging appeal for tourism. Flights to Baku, the financial hub of Azerbaijan, will depart from Sharjah connecting to India cities like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. Air Arabia currently operates flights to 124 destinations from five hubs across the Middle East and North Africa.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid the foundation stone for India’s first high speed rail project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad on Sep 14, 2017. PM Modi addressed a public meeting on the same occasion and reiterated the ambition and will power of the new India. He said that the bullet train will provide the speed and progress that India has been waiting for. The PM went on to say that focus of the project was to increase productivity via high speed connectivity. Modi didn’t forget to appreciate Japan’s technical and financial help for the project. The project will not only bring Mumbai and Ahmedabad closer, but also bring the people living hundreds of kilometres away closer to each other. The Prime Minister also informed that a new economic system is being developed along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor, thus making the entire area a single economic zone. “Technology is useful only if it provides benefit to the common man,” said PM Modi. The project will not only benefit the Indian railways, but also give a boost to the Make in India campaign. The project will be eco-friendly and the high-speed corridor would be the regions of rapid growth in the future. The PM expressed his confidence that people would work together to finish the project in the shortest possible time.

In its last leg for the year, Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) hosted it’s first ever showcase in the city of Pune. The Pune edition of GPS witnessed a response of 900 plus registrations. The first day which included product presentations and GST session by CA Manish Gadia, Tax expert, GMJ &Co had a attendance of over 350 plus attendees. Apart from buyers from Pune the attendees include buyers coming from cities like Nashik, Satara, Sangli, Kohlapur, Ahmednagar, Baramati, Karad etc. Next year, GPS will continue to showcase at Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Kochi and Pune. GPS will also be introducing Lucknow as a new city in 2018 and is also looking for other probable cities to host the exhibition.

Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Airlines Group organised a six-city road show over 10 days across India and Colombo with participation from 39 Singapore stakeholders and over 800 in-market travel agents. India continues to be the fourth-largest source market in terms of visitor arrivals and third-largest tourism receipts generating market for Singapore. The roadshow in India commenced on July 10 in Pune followed by Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata and Hyderabad and concluded in Colombo on July21. Themed ‘Growing Tourism into Singapore, Together’, the delegation was led by G.B Srithar, Regional Director, South Asia Middle East & Africa, STB; Adrian Kong (Area Director, South Asia, Mumbai; and Yuemin Li-Misra, Area Director, South Asia, Delhi. The roadshows featured stakeholders from Singapore representing hotels, airlines, integrated resorts, attractions, Destination Management Companies (DMC) and cruise operators interacting and networking with STB’s travel and trade partners in India. There was also an update session on Singapore’s upcoming tourism offerings as well as Singapore Airlines Group’s range of cabin products and experiences. Srithar spoke about fostering collaborations with the travel trade partners especially from secondary cities across India. He said, “India has always been an important market for us. For the second time in a row, Singapore received more than one million Indian visitors in 2016. As the region’s middle-class becomes more affluent, there will be immense opportunities for international outbound travel and tourism, especially among families, working millennials and incentive movements. Through the roadshows, we seek to renew our ties with the travel trade, entrenching existing partnerships and forging new ones. Through these partnerships, we seek to bring Singapore’s tourism offerings to our target audiences through creative promotions, and in the process, ensuring meaningful results for …

SpiceJet has announced its third daily direct flight on the UDAN routes of Hyderabad-Puducherry, starting August 16, 2017. After the new flight, Puducherry will be connected with Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Tirupati, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Vijaywada and Varanasi with convenient onward connections. SpiceJet was awarded six proposals and 11 routes in the first phase of Ministry of Civil Aviation’s UDAN scheme. Out of the six finalised proposals, four will cater to the unserved markets of Adampur, Kandla, Puducherry and Jaisalmer, and the other two will be for the underserved markets of Porbandar and Kanpur. Flights have already started on Mumbai-Porbandar-Mumbai and Mumbai-Kandla-Mumbai routes from July 10.