Tag Archives: Kolkata

Being in the forefront for promoting India as a preferred MiCE destination for years, ICPB has now requested the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) to declare 2019 as ‘The Year of MiCE.’ Chander Mansharamani, Vice Chairman, ICPB, informs, “We have recommended to Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, to declare 2019 as ‘The Year of MiCE’, which will certainly give us an opportunity to organise a number of activities in collaboration with all stakeholders throughout the year to propagate the importance of MiCE and its economic and social impact, and also undertake various marketing activities to promote India as a preferred convention destination.” On the year gone by, he added, “The year 2018 has been very fruitful and full of activities. We conducted training programmes and a successful international road show in Europe, 11th Convention India Conclave in Kolkata. We also participated at various international trade shows. “There has also been a substantial increase in our membership in the last one year, also the one-time membership of eight State Government’s, has not only given us the financial benefits, but also has enhanced the status of ICPB. Now, we can truly call ourselves a pan-India bureau.” Regarding plans in the pipeline, he said, “We are planning two international residential training programmes with ICCA and IAPCO, apart from regular training programmes. We will be holding  the12th Convention India Conclave in Kochi for which we have initiated the process with Kerala Government. We hope to open  new ICPB State Chapters in two more states. We will be conducting road shows in India as well as international road shows in the UK and Europe. We will also aim for a greater participation of ICPB in …

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

As cruise tourism gains momentum in India after a successful trial of cargo movement to Bangladesh via the inland waterways protocol route, a transboundary river cruise operation is expected to start from Kolkata in March next year through Sunderbans to Bangladesh first, and then towards the Northeast, a senior official said. SVK Reddy, Member, Inland Waterways Authority of India, during a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the city recently, said, “Bilateral secretary-level meetings between India and Bangladesh were held in October. It has been decided that one of the river cruise operators would be starting operations from March 2019 from Kolkata through Sunderbans via the protocol route to Bangladesh and then to northeast.” Abdus Samsah, Shipping Secretary, Bangladesh had earlier said that private players will be allowed to operate river cruise between the two countries, which will cover about 1,539 km. Both sides also agreed to allow private operators to run cruise to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. Reddy also informed that night navigation facility has been installed up to the Indian border, while Bangladesh is expected to do the same. He said India has agreed to fund up to 80 per cent of the dredging cost in some identified stretches within Bangladesh in the Indo-Bangla protocol route to make it navigable.

Air India will add two more direct flights connecting Kolkata with Bangkok and Jaipur from October 15. The two non-stop flights, to be operated by the Airbus 320neo aircraft with two-class configuration, will fulfil a long-standing demand of passengers for a convenient connection to both Bangkok and Jaipur by the carrier from Kolkata. Flight AI 336 from Kolkata to Bangkok will be operated three days a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. It will depart from Kolkata at 3.50 pm (local time) and arrive in Bangkok at 8.05 pm (local time). The incoming flight AI 337 will leave Bangkok at 5.15 am (local time) and reach Kolkata at 7 am (local time). Meanwhile, flight AI 737 to Jaipur will take off from Kolkata at 8.40 am to reach Jaipur at 11.10 am. The return flight will take off from Jaipur at 12.20 pm and land in Kolkata at 3 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Source: PTI

The Turkish Culture and Tourism board in India will be conducting a roadshow and destination workshop in six cities across India from October 8-13, 2018. To be held in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai, the aim of the roadshow is to interact with stakeholders, agents, policy makers and travellers in these cities on current tourism offerings of Turkey and create more awareness on destination. The roadshow will also help in positioning Turkey as a leisure, wedding and MiCE destination amongst Indian travellers. Deniz Ersöz, Culture & Tourism Counsellor, Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in India said, “India is a very important market and we are aware of the potential it holds in terms of inbound visitor traffic to Turkey. In 2017, Turkey hosted more than 32 million international tourists while from India the number was 87,000. This year, from January to July, we recorded 25 per cent increase in the number of overall tourists. That means we will be hosting 40 million international tourists by the end of 2018. When we look at figures from India, we see 95 per cent increase for the same period. If this trend continues we will be hosting almost 2 lakh Indian tourists by the year-end.” The roadshow will also witness participation from Turkish Airlines, luxury hotels and important delegates and officials from Turkey.

As part of its international expansion, IndiGo is set to operate its first daily flight from Amritsar to Dubai. The low-cost carrier now operates 13 daily flights between India and Dubai. In addition, the airline will also operate flights between Kolkata-Cochin and Bangalore-Pune. Both services will commence from October 2018. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “We are absolutely delighted to announce our first daily flight to Dubai from Amritsar and Kolkata to Cochin effective October this year. We will also operate an additional flight between Bengaluru and Pune. The launch of these new services is in line with our growth strategy outlined for both domestic and international markets.” He further added, “IndiGo will continue to expand its network to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travellers wherever they demand it. It is our constant endeavour to provide more flexibility of choice for our customers as IndiGo continues to offer them on time, courteous and hassle-free service and always an affordable flying experience.”

IndiGo has recently launched its fourth and fifth service to Singapore with the commencement of its additional flights from Kolkata and Tiruchirappalli. The new flights are designed to cater to business and leisure travellers who are constantly on the look-out for new and affordable flying options. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “We are pleased to operate our first daily non-stop flights between Kolkata-Singapore and Tiruchirappalli-Singapore. IndiGo has completed 12 years of successful operations in the India market as a low cost carrier, and adding new flights to its network will further augment the connectivity that we aspire to provide to our customers. It is our constant endeavour to provide our customers on-time, courteous and hassle-free service, and an affordable flying experience always.”

Vistara and British Airways have signed a codeshare agreement, further deepening their already existing interline partnership. Under the agreement, British Airways will add its ‘BA’ designator code to approximately 60 Vistara-operated flights each day covering 13 Indian cities, including eight new virtual British Airways destinations, namely Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Goa, Kolkata, Kochi, and Pune. Additionally, the BA code will also be put on Vistara flights between Mumbai and Amritsar, and Chennai and Kolkata. Sales under the codeshare agreement are open on all channels and major GDS systems for flights starting September 27, 2018. Commenting on this milestone partnership, Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer, Vistara said, “We are delighted to extend our existing interline and through check-in partnership with British Airways to a codeshare agreement. This partnership reaffirms our commitment to taking India’s finest airline brand beyond Indian borders, and it gives us the opportunity of welcoming travellers from around the world to experience the ‘new feeling of flying’ in India with Vistara. We share a lot in common with British Airways, key among which is our focus on delighting customers. We are confident that our respective customers will truly enjoy the reciprocal benefits of this collaboration.” Rishi Kapoor, Head of Alliances, British Airways said, “We have been flying to India for more than 90 years, so it is incredibly exciting for us to be able announce this partnership with such a well-respected carrier.”  

The India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) has launched its West Bengal Chapter at the 11th edition of its Convention India Conclave (CIC) in Kolkata. Amaresh Tiwari, Honorary Secretary, ICPB, said, “We are focusing on developing MiCE across India. ICPB is growing its wings and first time in the history of ICPB we are opening the first chapter—West Bengal Chapter in Kolkata, where the government official will be the chapter head. And similarly, we will be going from state to state to build the chapter and this is going to be done with central and state partnership basis.”  

MiCE continues to be important for revenue generation at various platforms, said Chander Mansharamani, Vice Chairman, India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) at the 11th Conventions India Conclave (CIC) underway in Kolkata. Welcoming delegates at the inaugural session, he further said, “We, at ICPB, play a major role not only in creating better awareness of the benefits of the congress and the conventions but also support congress planners, organisations, associations and other trade related bodies. According to World Travel Market, there will be 10 million international travellers by 2020 and estimated business travel will account for appoximately 14 per cent. Keeping in view the economic impact, we need to figure out what we need to do next and how ICPB can play a proactive role in this.” Some 300 participants are expected to attend the Conclave including 150 domestic and 40 international potential buyers. The focus of the event will be on India’s potential as a MiCE destination, through interactive sessions, exhibitions and B2B meetings.