Tag Archives: Delhi

In an effort to expand its reach further in the market, Kolkata-based ‘A Travel Duet’ has moved its head office to Mumbai. Pritish Shah, Founder, A Travel Duet, who has also moved to Mumbai, says, “We had a branch office in Mumbai while being headquartered in Kolkata. But we soon realised that if we want to expand, Mumbai is the place to be, specially with the kind of products we offer. Mumbai is also a trendsetter in many ways. We also have a huge emphasis on having Preferred Partners such as Relaix & Chateau, Four Seasons, and Luxury Lodges of New Zealand and we are keen to expand that portfolio from about 10 brands right now to 100 this year. That is also one of the reasons why we wanted to move to Mumbai.” The Mumbai office will have a staff strength of about 15-20 people and will be located in Khar West. The company offers high-end, exclusive leisure holidays to couples. Speaking more about expansion plans for this year, Shah adds, “We want to make the company the best luxury travel brand for couples in India. At a later stage, we will also open an office in Delhi which will purely have a sales and operations team.”    

Cox & Kings Global Services (CKGS) and The Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco hosted a joint event in Delhi. The occasion was graced by His Excellency Mohamed Maliki, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco, along with the senior management of Cox & Kings Ltd. The event showcased Moroccan culture and various tourist attraction in Morocco from the imperial cities to stunning beaches. “I’m honoured to co-host the travel agents event together with CKGS, which gives us opportunity to promote the Kingdom of Morocco as an Authentic and Exotic destination and showcases the numerous Tourism potential it has. Foreseeing growth and significance of the Indian tourism market to Morocco, we are also planning to open of a full-fledged Moroccan National Tourism Office in Delhi very soon.” said His Excellency, Mohamed Maliki. CKGS has recently opened Morroco Visa application centres in different cities of India including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa and Indore. Centres in more cities will be opened shortly. “We provide visa application services to Indians travelling to Morocco through our various offices in India. we have taken one more step further to promote Indian outbound travel to Morocco by partnering with The Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco for this event.” said Venku Murthi, Chief Operating Officer, CKGS.

Kerala Tourism has showcased its array of new tourism offerings at a recent Partnership Meet held in in New Delhi. For art aficionados, the state endorses Fort Kochi and a pilgrimage to the Kochi Muziris Biennale. There is Muziris Heritage Project for history buffs looking to transport themselves to another era. Further, the Spice Route Project re-establishes Kerala’s maritime associations with the countries on Spice Route and revives their cultural, historical and archaeological exchanges between these countries. The state also exhibited its traditional dance forms and visual storytelling presentations. “Most foreign tourists flock to Kerala to experience its cultural heritage but what we are trying to showcase is the idea that our culture isn’t limited to performances on stage. It is ingrained in our way of life and the department is taking small but significant steps towards helping a traveller experience the richness of Kerala,” said Rani George, IAS, Secretary (Tourism), Govt of Kerala.

BigBreaks has announced the launch of ‘Self Drive Holidays’, a unique product in association with Myles, India’s leading car rental company. At the initial stage, the holiday packages have been designed for Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai, which would soon extend to other major cities too. At an all inclusive price, travellers can book a complete holiday, that includes self drive car rental and hotel accommodation on pre-planned routes. “Designed for young travellers, these self drive holidays have seen an excellent response”, said Kapil Goswamy, Founder & Managing Director, BigBreaks. Another recent launch by BigBreaks was Pilgrimage Holidays. Given the size of the pilgrimage market, both among resident Indians and non-resident Indians, Goswamy is extremely bullish on this segment. “From Kedarnath and Badrinath in the north, Rameshwar in the south, to Jagannath Puri in the east and Dwarka in the west, we’ve launched Pilgrimage Holiday options to over 20 of the important pilgrimage spots in India, and more are being added everyday. The most popular so far have been Chardham Yatra’s , where for those short on time, we’ve even begun offering Do Dham Darshan in just one day ex Delhi, Goswamy shared.

Jharkhand Tourism Department recently organised a roadshow in Delhi that saw attendance from North India’s prominent travel and trade representatives. During the occasion, Jharkhand Tourism announced its plan to celebrate the inaugural edition of upcoming Jharkhand Travel Mart (JTM) to be held in Ranchi from March 23 to 25, 2018. Sanjeev Kumar Birsa, IAS, Director – Tourism, Govt. of Jharkhand, said, “We have a clear vision for the state, with various activities planned to make Jharkhand a tourist friendly destination. The state has a great potential to offer through tourism products and attractions such as wildlife, pilgrimage, heritage and leisure. JTM will help us to promote the state and the tourism products it has to offer to the domestic as well as the international traveller.” Jharkhand Tourism is also organising mega roadshows in various cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Patna and Asansol. Dr. Manish Ranjan, IAS, Secretary – Tourism, Govt. of Jharkhand said, “Jharkhand will contribute immensely to the Indian Tourism portfolio with its diverse range of travel and tourism destinations. The event is an extension of our aggressive marketing approach to introduce more tourism destinations and attractions and reinforce the Jharkhand Tourism Brand among the media, buyers and stakeholders.” The event will seek support from all major national travel trade and hospitality associations in India.

The international airports of Mumbai and New Delhi have been rated as the number one airports in the Asia Pacific region serving over 40 million passengers a year. This is announced by the Airports Council International (ACI) – a trade association of 1,953 member airports across 176 countries – for its Airport Service Quality (ASQ) ratings it conducts every year. Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) operated and managed by GVK MIAL shared the spot with Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) for the World’s Best Airport for customer experience. They were selected by millions of passengers in a survey carried out by ACI. The Hyderabad airport became the number one in the 5-15 million passengers per annum category for the year 2017. As part of the ACI’s worldwide programme, passengers were surveyed across international airports for their feedback on 34 key performance indicators including airport access, check-in, security screening, restrooms, stores and restaurants. This year an unprecedented 16 airports were first-time winners, which reflects the increasingly competitive airport industry operating environment, where continuous service improvement is a key ingredient in business performance. These include Indore and Ahmedabad apart from Athens, Zagreb and Bandung.  

Seychelles Tourism Board is set to conduct roadshows at Kolkata, Pune and Bengaluru. The pre-fixed meetings format which was introduced last year will continue this year as well. Sherin Francis, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board, says, “Last year’s roadshow allowed top agents to meet all partners in a quick pre-fixed meeting of 15 minutes each in a round-robin flow. This no-frills format focused on serious business generation and ensured that every agent invited could spend quality time with every partner from Seychelles.” For 2018, the tourism board plans to conduct workshops with its key B2B partners in cities of Raipur, Indore, Kochi, Coimbatore, Baroda, Surat and Rajkot. “We will also continue to meet and educate agents in main cities that will include Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. We plan to support tour operators with incentive-based trainings to encourage bigger numbers to Seychelles,” Francis adds. Seychelles Tourism Boards recently hosted an appreciation evening in Mumbai to acknowledge high performers from the travel trade in association with Air Seychelles. India emerged as the seventh-largest source market for Seychelles with an arrival of 13,518 tourists from India in 2017 which indicated a 23 per cent growth compared to 2016. In 2018, the tourism board expects a similar percentage growth.  

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts started its annual India mission at Hotel Sea Princess in Mumbai. Around 14 hotels are participating at the roadshow from destinations like Sri Lanka, Oman, Doha, Malaysia, Singapore, etc. After Mumbai, the delegation will then travel to Delhi and Kolkata, and eventually conclude in Bengaluru. Shangri-La is also promoting its recently opened Shangri-La Colombo and a new programme ‘Buds by Shangri-La’ focusing on children and families, which was launched at Shangri-La Singapore. Speaking at the roadshow, Vivek Braganza, Director of Business Development- India, Regional Liaison Office, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts said, “We plan to target MiCE, leisure and luxury travellers and would like to thank all our partners across the cities. We look to grow exponentially this year as we have in the past. India continues to be an important market for Shangri-La. We will be following this show with another activity targeted at the MiCE and wedding segment, set to take place in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore in September.”

Oman Air has deployed the new Boeing 737 MAX on its recently launched Delhi-Muscat route. The new B737 MAX is equipped with 12 new Business Class seats with large 17-inch touch screen monitors and all the amenities needed for the busy road warrior such as individual power and USB points. The 150 seat Economy Class cabin will also undergo a significant refresh with new interiors, 10.2-inch Thales Gen V touch-screen monitors, high power USB outlets for each triple seats and individual USB outlets for every guest. H.E. Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Futaisi, Chairman, Oman Air, said, “The Boeing 737 MAX is at the forefront of aviation technology and amongst the most efficient planes in the sky today. Oman Air has put an order of 30 MAX aircraft and this is the first aircraft delivery of this order.”

After launching its new office in New Delhi in partnership with RL Group, Oman Air is now planning to open offices in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. Sunil V.A., Regional Vice President-ISC, Oman Air along with Chetan Gupta, Chairman, RL Group; Varun Mohindra, Head of Sales & Marketing, RL Group and Vijay Bhatia, President, Bird Group were present for the inauguration. “We have 162 flights operating from India, all connect well to the destinations. With our focus on Europe and Europe GCC, we are now planning to sell the east. We are not just dependent on the online network but also looking at the offline too.” said Sunil V.A. Oman is currently focusing to develop MICE segment in 2018 with a launch of its new airport on March 20, 2018.