Tag Archives: Greece

Celestyal Cruises, that sails to the Greek Islands and the Eastern Mediterranean, has added to its fleet the Costa NeoRomantica from Costa Cruises. Built in 1993 and extensively refurbished in 2012, the 1,800-guest ship has 789 cabins, 132 of which feature balconies, as well as a variety of dining and entertainment venues, bars and lounges, two pools, a gym and a panoramic spa. Celestyal Cruises’ CEO, Chris Theophilides, says, “While Covid-19 has brought a temporary pause to our operations, it is important that we look to the future with optimism and continue to deliver on our strategic plan to grow the business and enhance the Celestyal experience through investment. This mid-size cruise vessel is ideally suited to our business model.” Details of the ship’s delivery and deployment will be announced at a later date. Celestyal Cruises’ existing 2021 and 2022 itineraries that were recently launched remain unchanged.

Global Destinations is organising a four-city roadshow in the country in order to strengthen relations with the travel fraternity and various private players. Having kicked off in Delhi, the roadshow will travel to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Chennai. Pranav Kapadia, Founder & Director, Global Destinations, shared, “We have got 12 partners with for the roadshow, which includes five properties from Bintan Resorts and partners from Greece, Vietnam and Bulgaria. We’ve got  Swiss-Belhotel International from Bali, a partner from United states and Air New Zealand from New Zealand. We have invited very select agents for the roadshow. The idea is to either target agents who have the potential as we have not been getting the required support from them or look at agents who have been supporting Global Destinations and haven’t met the partners.”  

Hellenic Travel Network has opened a sales office in India in co-operation with Griffon in Mumbai. With more than 30 years of proven experience in the travel industry, the company owns a fleet of cars and mini vans having capacity from 1-19 passengers. Besides this, the company also has an in-house IT department and launched an online B2B booking engine. Andreas Genthe, VP, Hellenic Travel Network, Greece, says, “We are excited to open our India sales office with Griffon in Mumbai. Vivek Jain, MD, Griffon, has been dealing with the Greek market for over 15 years as GSA of various cruise lines and airlines. He is well-versed with Greece mainland and islands and we are confident of our India sales office.” Hellenic Travel Network has launched a special India brochure that has packages designed for Indian travellers keeping in mind their special needs such as Indian vegetarian food, personalised private transfers and tours, and visits to monuments having special interest to Indian travellers. Hellenic Travel Network S.A. has also introduced private villa stay options so large families or close friends groups can stay in private villa which are fully equipped with swimming pool, gardens and even direct access to the beach.

VFS Global has introduced the On-Demand Mobile Visa Service for Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Portugal and Slovenia visas applicants across India. Travellers can give their biometrics data and visa application in the comfort of their home or office. A well-trained and professional team from VFS Global will visit the applicant at his/her chosen location anywhere in India to collect the details. The service is ideal for corporate groups, incentive groups, on-campus students and cultural & sports groups. It is available on any day of the week, including weekends across India. VFS offers a dedicated Helpline numbers for appointment bookings and assistance. The applicant can call the country specific Helpline number to book an appointment, pay the fee online and receive confirmed appointment details, following which a team will make a visit at a location convenient to the applicant on the appointed date and time to collect biometrics and accept the application.

Namaste Turkey has launched a brochure for 2016-17 comprising of 48 pages and includes over 15 unique itineraries for Turkey and combination of Turkey & Greece. These programmes are commissionable to the travel agents and tour operators at 10 per cent. Subhash Motwani, Director, Namaste Turkey, who was recently in Cappadocia to forge an alliance with key partners, is optimistic that Turkey will be doing exceptionally well in 2016, given that Turkish Airlines has excellent connectivity to Europe, US and Africa and with a valid Schengen, UK or US or OECD country visa, you can get a Turkey visa online instantly. Namaste Turkey has also introduced for the first time eight-day full board cruises from Bodrum and Marmaris with guaranteed departures from May until October 2016. This too is commissionable to travel agents and tour operators.