Tag Archives: Delhi

The Fern Hotels & Resorts is all set to open 20 Fern and Beacon Hotels across India and Nepal in the year 2019, said Suhail Kannampilly, COO, The Fern Hotels & Resorts. Out of these 20 hotels, two will be opened in Nepal – one in Kathmandu and second in Bharatpur, he informed. This will take the tally of the hotels managed by the group to 76, on our target to open 100 hotels by the year 2020, Kannampilly said. The 20 new hotels expected to open in the current year are located in Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Bharatpur (Nepal), Bhopal, Goa (Verna), Indore, Karad, Kathmandu, Kolhapur, Kumbhalgarh, Lonavala (2 hotels), Manali, Morbi, Polo Forest (Gujarat), Sarnath (Varanasi), Satara, Shivamogga, Solapur and Surat. The year 2018 witnessed The Fern successfully foraying into cities like Belgaum, Bhuj, Dwarka, Jamnagar, Madhavpur (Gujarat), New Delhi, Parbhani (Maharashtra), besides taking over the operations of a hotel in Kathmandu. The footprint of the brand was further established in locations like Goa, Jaipur, Rajkot and Udaipur, where the company opened second and third hotels in the same city.

Meet The Folks Events (MTFE) has announced its first-ever consumer tourism fest and exhibition ‘Meet 2 Travel’ to be held in Delhi from April 5-7, 2019. Sharing the highlights of the event, Vineet Gopal, Founder, Meet The Folks Events, said, “MTFE has covered four major aspects of industries, where everyone can meet, connect and network with new people and transact business – ‘Creating Business Network’ is our tagline. “Meet 2 Travel  – M2T is providing a platform for travel companies to showcase their brand, services and products directly to their clients. In today’s time, one of the biggest challenges that organisations face is to source new clients when OTAs are taking a major market share. With our state-of-the-art B2C exhibition, M2T aims at providing helpful and successful solutions”, added Gopal. Megha Mittal, Project Head, Meet 2 Travel further mentioned, “M2T travel exhibition brings travel companies, tour operators and others on a single platform under the same roof. Exhibitors get a chance to meet and network with potential clients and customers and spearhead their business in the right direction of success. This exhibition is organised at some of the high footfall location of the city making it more accessible for the common people. The event will take place on weekends to ensure higher footfall. It is a win-win situation for tour operators and travel companies to be a part of this highly targeted exhibition. You get to meet clients and customers directly, highlight your services, and grow your business.”

According to a latest report titled ‘Hospitality insights from the Indian CEO’s desk’ by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and PWC, more than one-third of the respondents indicate a willingness to invest in Tier II towns to capitalise on the growth of domestic travel. However, the survey also shows that Tier I cities, primarily Mumbai and Delhi, continue to be the most preferred locations for hotel expansion. Although most players are not looking for international locations actively, some (especially the larger Indian chains) are open to expanding internationally, provided an opportunity is available.  

Bloom Hotels has opened its latest property in the heart of Delhi at Janpath with bloomrooms @ Janpath. The rapid execution is part of the group’s growth plan to build 100 hotels by 2020 and also signals the launch of a comprehensive pan India roll-out. With properties in Delhi, Gurugram, Bengaluru and Goa, Bloom Hotels is now expanding across India with 50 hotels to be signed in Tier-II markets over the next few months. Speaking on the occasion at the launch of the hotel, Tom Welbury, Vice President Strategy, Bloom Hotel Group, says, “We are very positive about the success of the hotel. In this location, there isn’t any mid-scale hotel that offers quality. We are offering that to our customers and we will be catering both to the corporates and leisure guests. We have have set a new record by building and launching the entire property in less than 100 days. With this kind of pace and efficiency, I am sure we will meet our target.”

United Airlines is set to introduce a new daily direct seasonal service between Delhi and San Francisco International starting December 7, 2019 – subject to government approval. The airline’s new route will be its third daily non-stop service from India in addition to the existing daily, year-round services from Mumbai and New Delhi to New York. Harvinder Singh, Country Manager, United Airlines, says, “This new flight strengthens our international route network and provides our customers from India with even greater travel choice, with connections from San Francisco to other destinations across the US and Canada. Connecting the Indian capital to the US west coast opens up new opportunities for both business and leisure travellers.” The revolutionary design of the Dreamliner offers customers many features for increased comfort such as large windows, spacious overhead storage and modern LED lighting to simulate a full day, helping passengers adjust their internal clock on the trans-Atlantic flight. In addition, a lower cabin altitude, cleaner air and smoother ride help customers feel rested on arrival.

India has decided to offer visa on arrival to South Korean nationals, a home ministry official said. Like the Japanese nationals (who have been getting the privilege since March 2016), the facility to South Korean citizens include double entry visit for a period not exceeding 60 days for business, tourism, conference and medical purposes for entry through six designated international airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. According to an estimate, around 2 lakh Indian visas are issued to South Korean nationals every year, of which 80 per cent are tourists. On an average, 600 South Korean nationals arrive in Delhi daily. Though visa-on-arrival facility was earlier offered to citizens of 12 countries — Cambodia, Finland, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Luxembourg, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and South Korea — it was discontinued in November 2014 after the launch of e-Tourist Visa scheme. The e-visa facility now covers practically all the countries of the world, 166 as of now, and foreigners can arrive at any of the designated 26 airports and five seaports in India without interacting with any official before checking in at the immigration counter. Under the e-visa scheme, an applicant receives an email authorising him or her to travel to India after it has been approved. The tourist can travel with a printout of this authorisation. On arrival, the visitor has to present the authorisation to the immigration authorities who would then allow entry into the country. Source: PTI

Air Italy has inaugurated its first non-stop flight from New Delhi to Milan recently. Apart from it, the airline will start three-times weekly direct operations from to the city from Mumbai from December 14. India is the fourth international addition to the airline’s expanding network, following the successful commencement of operations to New York (JFK), Miami (MIA) and Bangkok (BKK) earlier this year. Offering 24 fully reclining flatbed seats in Business Class and 228 seats in Economy Class, Air Italy’s new Delhi service offers connections to New York and Miami as well as domestically across Italy. Italy is the second European destination for Indians travelling to Europe in terms of tourism, as compared to other countries, and this route has been a long-standing request from local authorities, leisure travellers and various trade organisations. Speaking at a press conference, Rossen Dimitrov, Chief Operating Officer, Air Italy, stated, “The launch of our India-Italy sector represents another major step forward for Air Italy and reinforces our commitment to our network expansion plans in Asia. Our average load factor on both routes for the first month is already at around 70 per cent, which is well within our business plan expectations and will only continue to grow now that operations have commenced. “India is a fascinating and dynamic destination and is a significant base for business and tourism. We are delighted to welcome Delhi as a part of our global network and look forward to providing more flexibility of travel choices to our customers, contributing to this ongoing growth.”  

In a bid to lure Indian tourists, the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in association with Om Tourism organised a roadshow in Delhi on the theme ‘Vietnam- A charming destination for Indian tourists’. HE Pham Sanh Chau, Ambassador of Vietnam to India, Nepal & Bhutan, revealed that around 110,000 Indian tourists travelled to Vietnam in 2017. He affirmed that the number is estimated to increase in the coming years. “Vietnam is home to eight UNESCO world heritages, well preserved historic relics and beautiful beaches. Indian travellers can find the affulence of Indian culture in Vietnam through Hindu temples in Ho Chi Minh or at the My Son sanctuary with an abundance of Indian restaurants,” he added. The event proceeded with a product presentation by the five Vietnamese partners namely, Victoria Tour, Hello Asia Travel, Go Indo China Tours, Melia Hotels International and Orchid Global. The event witnessed an active participation from several trade partners and tour operators around the city.  

SpiceJet has launched a daily non-stop flight between Delhi and Hong Kong effective November 22, 2018. Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet said, “SpiceJet is delighted to announce the launch of our daily non-stop service from Delhi to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is SpiceJet’s eighth international destination and we are the only Indian budget carrier offering direct connectivity between India’s national capital and Hong Kong. “We are confident that the flight will be a big success with both business and leisure travellers as well as the Indian diaspora and student community in Hong Kong. Our convenient flight timings will ensure that our guests will have multiple options for connecting flights both in Delhi on SpiceJet’s vast domestic network and Hong Kong thus offering them a seamless connectivity.” The airline’s flight SG 31 will depart from Terminal 3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport at 10.45 pm (all local times) and will arrive in Hong Kong at 6:40 am the following day and the return flight SG 32 will depart at 7:40 am and reach Delhi at 10:50 am.

SriLankan Airlines has completed 25 years of its operations to Delhi. Speaking at the press conference to announce the celebrations,  , Chinthaka Weerasinghe, Manager- Northern India, SriLankan Airlines, said, “We started operations way back in 1979 to start with Chennai and Mumbai. Delhi was the fifth destination that we started operating in 1993. We started with two flights a week and now we have expanded to two flights a day. In fact, Delhi has become one of the highest revenue generating areas for SriLankan Airlines network. Indian market is doing very well and it is the highest revenue generating and tourism generating market for us. We are expecting about 4.5 lakhs of arrivals this year with the growth of 15 per cent, which is very good and the growth has also been very encouraging.” Subhash Goyal, Chairman, STIC Travel Group, GSA- SriLankan Airlines, said, “It is a historical day for SriLankan Airlines because we complete 25 years and we are happy that we had a very successful inning as a GSA for the airline.”