Tag Archives: India

Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic have announced a further expansion of their codeshare agreement between India and the United States, which will make it even easier for guests to tailor their trip by combining flights from Jet Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines in a single booking. From April 19, 2017, Jet Airways guests travelling between India and the United States can connect through London Heathrow on to nine US destinations operated by Virgin Atlantic; Atlanta, Boston, Newark, Washington (IAD), New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Seattle. This expansion builds on the existing agreement between Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic in place since 2009 – enabling Virgin Atlantic guests to travel on Jet Airways operated services between Mumbai and London Heathrow in addition to the airline’s own direct Delhi to London service. In 2015, this codeshare was extended on to Jet Airways domestic services allowing Virgin Atlantic guests to travel between London Heathrow and five destinations across India via Delhi or Mumbai. Gaurang Shetty, Whole-time Director, Jet Airways, said, “Offering greater choice and connectivity to our guests has always been a hallmark of our network strategy. The new codeshares build on the success of our ongoing cooperation with Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic over London Heathrow and will provide our guests with more connectivity to and within the United States. Further, our loyalty program partnership will also enable the frequent flyers of both carriers to accrue and redeem their miles across each other’s entire network.”

IndiGo airlines is all set to launch a dedicated mobile app for the travel trade to make it easier for the trade to do bookings. During a presentation on IndiGo products at the IATO Luncheon on April 6, 2017, Ajay Wadhawan, Associate Vice President, Trade Sales, India, IndiGo, informed that after launching a user friendly application for its consumers, the airline would soon be launching a mobile application for the travel trade fraternity as well. PATA India is pleased to announce its Training program for its Members and their employees on 5th May, 2017. The program is titled “Win-Win Negotiations” and is a full day training program. This Training program will be conducted by Roshan Suhail, an accomplished Trainer, who had the honour of working with leading organizations like  ONGC, NTPC, BHEL, Dhanuka, Shriram Group, UFLEX, YKK, Ashok Leyland, INTEX, HERO Cycles, iEnergizer, Shree Cements, Reliance Securities, and many more. Suhail has also conducted programs for Govt. organizations and PSUs like Air India, Engineers India Ltd, FIEO, EPCH etc. While the venue will be communicate shortly, we request you to confirm your participation shortly, no later than 13th April 2017. The participation fee for the program is Rs. 3,000/- per participant. Organization registering six or more participant will enjoy the benefit of one free place.

A new Air Services Agreement (ASA) has been signed between India and Fiji, replacing the previous ASA, which was signed between the two governments in 1974. The agreement was signed between Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Civil Aviation Minister, Government of India and Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, Attorney General and Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of Fiji. This new ASA has been negotiated to meet the conditions that exist now and will exist in the foreseeable future. According to Khaiyum, the new ASA will spur economic growth and create opportunities for trade, investment and tourism. Under the ASA and to ensure ease of travel between the two countries, Fiji Airways has already signed a code-share agreement with Jet Airways of India to allow seamless travel between Fiji and a number of Indian cities. He said, “This new agreement is good for both countries. We want to thank India’s Hon. Minister for Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, and the entire Indian government for their good faith, goodwill and respectful posture throughout these negotiations. Although Fiji is economically and geographically much smaller than India, we were at the table as equals.” Fiji is now in the process of reviewing and updating its ASA with other countries, with the goal of increasing the scope and quality of economic activity and connectivity while at the same time protecting the Fijian aviation industry.

To mark the celebration of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Thailand and India, the Royal Thai Consulate General in Mumbai will organise a cultural commemorative titled ‘Namaste Thailand in Mumbai’ on March 11-12, 2017 at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya (Prince of Wales Museum) from 4.30pm onwards with no entry fees. The spectators can witness classical Thai dance and music along with a variety of shows and unique dance forms from different parts of Thailand. Muay Thai and different forms of martial arts too will be performed by the professionals. There will also be a photo exhibition area where the pictures from the #FocusThailand contest will be displayed.

The Royal Thai Embassy presented Namaste Thailand Festival 2017 in New Delhi at the Bridge, DLF Promenade Mall and Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj. Visitors were treated to Thai food, Thai products, Thai cultural performances and fun activities, at the festival, which celebrated the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Thailand and India. Along with the Royal Thai Embassy, New Delhi, the festival was organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Thailand, Thai Trade Center New Delhi, Tourism Authority of Thailand New Delhi, Thai Airways New Delhi, and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI)

Hurtigruten has appointed Cruise Professionals as its exclusive GSA for India and Sri Lanka. The Norwegian cruise company aims to grow revenue opportunities and establish wider distribution in these two markets. By enhancing their commitment in India and Sri Lanka, the management of both companies aims to make Hurtigruten a major exploration cruise brand in India with significant growth in the years ahead. Recognising the need for a concentrated brand and product development strategy to service India and Sri Lanka, William Harber, Hurtigruten’s President for China & Asia-Pacific, says, “Our partnership with Cruise Professionals will enable the rapid expansion of our exploration cruising and coastal Norway products. This association leverages Cruise Professionals’ expertise in managing distribution.  Their operating model and strengths in sales and marketing will deepen current relationships and create future trade arrangements across India and Sri Lanka.” Nishith Saxena, Founder & Director of Cruise Professionals says, “Hurtigruten and Cruise Professionals association has come at a time when a large section of Indian travellers are seeking a different experience that goes beyond the normal cruising options. We shall make Hurtigruten easy for the travel agent to sell and deliver a complete solution for adventurous travellers by educating the trade about these unique voyages offered to some of the world’s most breathtaking destinations.”

In a move to boost Indian arrivals, Malaysia has launched a 15-day e-visa for travellers on a short visit. This was announced at a press conference in New Delhi by Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism and Culture, Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz. “India and Malaysia share great relations that go a long way back and we want to foster these ties. We decided to launch this e-visa for the benefit of travellers who visit the country for a short while and since it takes only 48 hours for approval, it is also useful for those who require it urgently,” he said. The e-visa includes a single-entry and costs $20. Tourism Malaysia and leaders from TAAI, TAFI and OTOAI also signed a commitment plaque fortifying each other’s commitment to promoting travel from India.With a focus on sustainable tourism, Malaysia is also pushing its special interest packages for premium shopping, luxury travels, sports tourism such as golf, and Malaysia as a wedding and honeymoon destination. India is the sixth top tourist generating market for Malaysia with a total 722,141 Indian visitors recorded in 2015. Last year, from January to October, Malaysia received a total of 540,530 Indian tourists. Malaysia hopes to achieve 1 million arrivals from the India market this year.

India ranked third among the top growth markets for international visitor arrivals in Singapore in terms of absolute growth in 2016, registering a growth of 8 per cent. While China (+36%) topped the growth markets, Indonesia (+6%) finished a close second. The growth was due to more visitor arrivals from Tier-I and Tier-II cities in China, India and Indonesia, where STB had intensified its marketing efforts. India also overtook Australia to become Singapore’s 4th largest source market for visitor arrivals. The largest declines in visitor arrivals were posted by Hong Kong (-12%), Malaysia (-2%), Australia (-2%), South Korea (-2%) and Japan (-1%). From January to September 2016, there was good growth in tourism receipts across Singapore’s top ten source markets. For the second consecutive year, China (+41%) ranked top in tourism receipts, followed by Indonesia (+14%) and India (+37%). Both visitor arrivals and tourism receipts exceeded forecasts to hit historical highs in 2016. While visitor arrivals grew by 7.7 per cent to 16.4 million, tourism receipts rose even higher by 13.9 per cent to $24.8 billion. The strong tourism receipt results came on the back of visitors spending more on Food and Beverage, Shopping and Accommodation. On the business tourism front, STB supported more than 410 business events held in 2016, a 15 per cent year-on-year growth. These events garnered around 343,000 visitor arrivals, and generated approximately $611 million in tourism receipts, a 20 per cent and 28 per cent increase year-on-year respectively.

The domestic India market topped the growth chart for the second year in a row according to IATA’s full-year global passenger traffic results for 2016. Passenger volumes surged by 23.3 per cent in 2016 – twice as fast as the next fastest growing market, China. Although the trend slowed down due to demonetisation, airlines are scheduling strong flight frequency growth in 2017, which will translate into time savings for passengers and will have the same stimulatory impact on demand as a cut in fares. India recorded revenue passenger kilometre (RPK) expansion of 23.3 per cent and has been underpinned by additional routes and increasing flight frequencies. “Air travel was a good news story in 2016. Connectivity increased with the establishment of more than 700 new routes. And a $44 fall in average return fares helped to make air travel even more accessible. As a result, a record 3.7 billion passengers flew safely to their destination. Demand for air travel is still expanding. The challenge for governments is to work with the industry to meet that demand with infrastructure that can accommodate the growth, regulation that facilitates growth and taxes that don’t choke growth. If we can achieve that, there is plenty of potential for a safe, secure and sustainable aviation industry to create more jobs and increase prosperity,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO. Asia Pacific carriers recorded a demand increase of 8.3 per cent in 2016 compared to 2015, which was the second-fastest increase among the regions. This pace is considerably ahead of the five-year growth average of 6.9 per cent. Capacity rose 7.7 per cent, pushing up the load factor 0.4 percentage points to 78.6 …

Ayana Hospitality, promoted by the ICS Group (India) has launched its flagship property ‘Ayana Fort Kochi,’ a luxury boutique hotel in Kochi, Kerala. The hotel is a 200-year-old courthouse that has been restored. Akhil Behl, Chief Executive Officer, Ayana Hospitality, said, “It has been designed and renovated in perfect harmony with the legacy of the property, the environs and culture of the region. Our efforts towards guest’s experiences are not limited to the hotel premises only, but are far more rounded and encompassing. Going forward we will add more unique properties to our portfolio and will strive to raise the bar in personalized tailored luxury.”