Tag Archives: Kochi

HVS Anarock in its ‘Hotels & Hospitality Overview’ of June stated that Kochi registered the highest increase in occupancy rate, growing by 7% year-on-year, a notable rise compared to other cities. Meanwhile, both Hyderabad and Mumbai experienced declines in y-o-y occupancy rates but saw substantial increase in average rates, with Hyderabad leading with over a 9% y-o-y increase and Mumbai up by 7%.

The airline to commence direct flights between Kochi (India) and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) on August 12, 2023~ VietJet, Vietnam’s leading low-cost carrier has recently launched a campaign, “Vietjet Pampers you, Summer Chill”, to declare its heavily discounted offers as part of its Summer 2023 promotion. Airline will offer 88% discount to all the passengers – only on 8th August 2023. offer is applicable for all the routes. Passengers must use Promo code “SUMMER88” when booking on www.vietjetair.com or the VietJet Air mobile app to receive the discount on 8th August 2023 valid from 0:00 – 23:59 (GMT+7). In its strategic plan to spread connectivity between India with Vietnam, the airline will also commence direct flights between Kochi and Ho Chi Minh City on August 12, 2023. Flights between Kochi – Ho Chi Minh City route will be operated with a frequency of 4 flights/week on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. The flights from Kochi will depart at 23:50 and land in Ho Chi Minh City at 06:40 . The return flights will depart from Ho Chi Minh City at 19:20 and arrive in Kochi at 22:50 . Additionally, Indians can fly to Vietnam on Vietjet flights from Mumbai, New Delhi, Ahmedabad to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, respectively. Furthermore, the airline has also announced international route, connecting Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and Jakarta (Indonesia). The route linking Ho Chi Minh City to Jakarta will commence operations on August 5, 2023. With up to 32 direct flights per week, the airline is connecting most flights between India and Vietnam bridging the distance and travel time between the two countries. Additionally, passenger can also fly to Hong …

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister, Tourism, Culture & DoNER held a review meeting with officials of Ministry of Tourism, ASI, Ministry of Culture, Institute of Hotel Management and Cochin Port Trust in Kochi, Kerala . He also reviewed various projects of Ministry of Tourism and Culture including the commemoration of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav

Global Panorama Showcase is all set to begin its 2022 edition in Mid-September, and will be covering a total of 10 cities till March 2023. The cities are: Nagpur, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Indore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Vizag and Kochi. It will be a two-day event for each city.

IRCTC has launched packages for professionals to continue with their work from the comfort of hotel rooms. A statement by the Corporation said, “Professionals can pick their favourite destination in Kerala among the list of hotels offered under ‘work from hotel’ concept.” Destinations presently offering the service are Munnar, Thekkady, Kumarakom, Marari (Alappuzha), Kovalam, Wayanad and Kochi.

More than 200 people took out a peaceful protest rally in Kochi on February 5 to urge authorities to save the tourism sector that has been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. A call had recently been made by the Indian travel fraternity for the same.

After nine long months, South Tourism, a unit of Cholan Tours, welcomed five French tourists at Chennai airport for a 10-day trip to Kochi. The incoming tourists were provided with a six-seater Maharaja Tempo 2020 vehicle, considered the first to be fitted with a UV-light steriliser to ensure safety and hygiene. South Tourism claims to already have more than 500 bookings in the month of December.

To promote airlines to extend their service to Kerala, the Kerala government has decided to slash the tax on aviation fuel to 5 per cent from the current 28.75 per cent for domestic airlines. Making the announcement in the assembly during the discussion on the state budget for 2019-20, state’s Finance Minister TM Thomas Issac said that not only airports under the UDAN scheme but also non-UDAN airports would get the new tax breather in the state. “The tax on ATF will be reduced to 5 per cent from the existing 28.75 per cent for domestic airlines operating service from the state airports. A revenue loss of Rs 100 crore is expected through this,” he said. The tax cut is expected to benefit Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode international airports as the government had already decided to levy only 1 per cent fuel tax from airlines operating service from the newly commissioned Kannur airport. Aviation fuel accounts for a major portion of operating cost for airlines. The tax cut can help become Kerala an attractive destination for various airlines as neighboring states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are charging a state tax of 29 and 28 per cent, respectively on jet fuel. The tax cut benefits would benefit only domestic passengers as the international airlines that operate to and from the state have not been charging VAT as per the new GST regime.  

Qatar Airways has introduced a new online payment scheme for bookings made on its website exclusively for customers with credit cards issued by Indian banks. The new payment option now makes it possible for passengers to pay for their booking through monthly instalments of 3, 6, 9 or 12 months respectively. The service aims to ease and enhance passengers’ travelling experience by making their booking transactions much more affordable and flexible. It also makes it easier for travellers planning to fly with family and friends, with only a minimum installment fee needed to be paid to complete the purchase. Naveen Chawla, Senior Manager Commercial–ISC, Qatar Airways said, “The launch of the new EMI option gives our passengers tremendous benefits as they can now book their tickets online at their convenience through our website, and also instantly access our latest offers. Through this new user-friendly and affordable payment scheme, Qatar Airways passengers with credit cards issued by Indian banks will now have greater flexibility when it comes to planning their travel itinerary. Those who previously couldn’t book online due to their credit limit or a large outstanding balance will now be able to pay for their bookings effortlessly using their credit card. This service is testament to Qatar Airways’ ongoing commitment to be innovative when it comes to enhancing the travel experience of our customers.” Qatar Airways currently operates 102 weekly flights between Doha and 13 destinations in India, including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Mumbai, Nagpur and Thiruvananthapuram.  

Registering an annual traffic of over 89.1 million for 2018, Dubai International (DXB) has retained its position as the world’s busiest airport for the fifth consecutive year with Indian travellers emerging as the largest source of traffic for the airport. India continued to hold to its position as Dubai’s top destination country by passenger numbers, with traffic for the year reaching 12,279,485 – propelled mainly by top destinations like Mumbai, Delhi and Kochi. Saudi Arabia was number two on the list with 6,471,142 customers, followed closely by the United Kingdom with 6,284,771 customers. Other destination countries of note include the US (3,205,524 customers) and the fast-growing markets of China (3,512,075) with 6 per cent growth and Russia (1,533,654) which grew 14.5 per cent. The top three cities were London (3,817,889 customers), Mumbai (2,540,750) and Kuwait (2,194,576). Eastern Europe was the fastest growing region with double-digit growth of 16.7 per cent, followed by CIS at 12.9 per cent and Africa growing 9.8 per cent. A statement released by the airport said that the annual traffic at the major transit hub rose just over 1 per cent to 89.15 million passengers in comparison to 2017. Although the figure was a new record high, it missed on the 90.3 million passengers that Dubai airport had projected for 2018.