Tag Archives: Mumbai

According to the data released by South African Tourism office in India, Mumbai continued to be the leading source market for South Africa in India. Between January to June 2019, around 43% of total Indian visitors to the Rainbow Nation were from Mumbai. Delhi managed to be the second leading source market for the destination in India contributing 21% of the total Indian visitors during the same period. One thing remained common for both cities – the summer and winter holiday months of April, May and December emerged as preferred travel months among Mumbaikars as well as Delhiites for their South Africa trips. With 81,316 Indian arrivals as of October 2019, the destination board shared a positive outlook for the Indian market, noting that as of September 2019, total spends by Indian travellers in South Africa had reached a four-year high. The average length of stay witnessed a year on year increase of 8% in the first half of 2019.

The second premium Tejas train has started plying between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, which was flagged off by Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani from Ahmedabad. It has started its commercial run, in line with the success of semi-high speed and fully air-conditioned Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express. Passengers can book their tickets for the train exclusively on IRCTC website and its mobile app ‘Irctc Rail Connect’. There will be no booking at railway reservation counters. However, passengers can get their tickets booked through IRCTC authorised agents. The train will also be available for booking through IRCTC’s online travel portal partners. The fully air-conditioned train shall have two Executive Class Chair Cars having 56 seats each and Eight Chair Cars having capacity of 78 seats each. The total carrying capacity of the train will be 736 passengers.  The train will start its journey ex Ahmedabad in the morning at 06:40 hours and will reach Mumbai Central at 13.10 hours having scheduled commercial halts at Nadiad, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Vapi and Borivali. For the return journey, the train will leave Mumbai Central at 15:40 hours and will reach Ahmedabad at 21:55 hours having scheduled halts at Borivali, Vapi, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara and Nadiad. Train will run on all days of the week except Thursday. Train fare will be dynamic in nature keeping in consideration the prevailing bus, taxi, rail and airfares. Train will have different series of fares for lean, busy and festive seasons. Further, train fares will be on point to point basis. There will be no tatkal quota or premium tatkal quota in the train. There will be only General Quota and Foreign Tourist Quota. Foreign Tourist Quota of 6 seats in …

Sarovar Hotels & Resorts has launched Royal Hometel Suites in Mumbai. The hotel features 112 rooms & suites and features two banquet halls to conduct conferences, wedding and social gathering which can accommodate up to 550 guests. Anil Madhok, Executive Chairman, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, said, “The opening of Royal Hometel Suites strengthens our position in the Mumbai market in line with the brand’s growth strategy. The launch follows the growing trend of business and leisure hotels along with the brand’s quality assurance and ‘Signature Sarovar Hospitality’. Our new property is appropriate for both business and leisure travellers considering the location of the hotel.”

The Indian trade delegation that is currently in France to attend the annual show Rendezvous en France 2019 organised by Atout France has been exploring the potential of regions yet unfamiliar to the Indian travellers. The 32-member delegation hosted by Atout France India includes tour operators from Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Bengaluru. The regions that the Indian delegates found appealing for their clients include Provence and the Rhône-Alpes. The two-day show is being held in Marseille this year to promote the region in the international markets. About 915 tour operators from 73 different countries are attending this B2B travel show, one of the biggest trade events in France.

Atout France Tourism Development Agency and La Vallée Village organised an informal networking exchange in the form of an aperitif for key representatives of the trade at the recently-concluded second edition of the Luxury Lifestyle Weekend held at Jio Gardens in BKC Mumbai. This interaction allowed the guests an opportunity to actively engage in discussions and interact with Patrick Allais, Business Development Manager, La Vallée Village. He apprised the guests on all the latest offerings available for their clients at La Vallée Village.

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.  

The Indian travel trade welcomed nine companies from Ireland during Tourism Ireland’s India Sales Mission that concluded recently. Its aim was to facilitate the Irish industry to engage with Indian travel professionals who are currently selling the island of Ireland, or who have strong potential to sell the destination and to position Ireland as one of the most desirable destinations for travellers from India. Business links between tourism companies from Ireland and influential travel professionals in India were strengthened during the sales mission, through a busy programme of workshops, presentations and networking events. Siobhan McManamy, Director of Markets, Tourism Ireland said, “Our sales mission is a key element of our promotional programme in India. It will give our tourism partners a platform to inform and influence the Indian travel trade about what the island of Ireland has to offer and, importantly, encourage them to include the destination in their brochures and programmes. Tourism Ireland is committed to growing visitor numbers to the island of Ireland from India and our sales mission will play a significant role in helping us achieve this goal.” The workshops were held in Mumbai and Delhi with over 100 leading travel agents and tour operators in attendance. The companies who were represented at the event include Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Northern Ireland, Guinness Storehouse, Winterfell Castle – Game of Thrones Visitor Attraction, Stena Line, Hotel Solutions, The Savoy Hotel, Andras House Group and Irish Rugby Tours.  

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.

GoAir is set to expand its international footmark with the launch of direct flights on Kannur – Muscat – Kannur route effective February 28, 2019. The airline will operate three direct flight services per week and bookings are now open at an attractive all-inclusive one way fare starting from INR 4999. Speaking on the occasion, Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir said, “It gives us immense delight to add Muscat as our third international destination. Muscat is a key market for us and is in line with our growth strategy and more so for the Middle East. We are hopeful that this service would also prove equally popular with our flyers. We will continue to deliver convenient and hassle-free connections and we stand committed to provide our customers with superior experience at best affordable prices.” Recently, GoAir added Kannur as its 24th domestic destination and was the first and only domestic airline to launch services when the airport commenced its maiden operations. On the domestic front, the airline currently connects Kannur to Bengaluru with 13 weekly flights, Chennai with 4 weekly flights and Hyderabad with 3 weekly flights. On the international front, the airline has recently introduced direct daily connectivity to Phuket from Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. It also operates 4 direct weekly flights on the Mumbai-Male route, 3 weekly flights on Delhi-Male and 2 weekly flights on Bengaluru-Male route.

With a track record of hosting Asia’s most prominent events, Singapore continues to deliver innovative solutions for the transfer of knowledge, ideas and connections to drive new possibilities for the MiCE sector in Singapore. Kicking off its first MiCE-focused event for 2019 in India, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) organised a MiCE thought leadership seminar in Mumbai with the theme ‘Meetings & Incentive Travel to Singapore – Forging New Possibilities’. The programme included a presentation by Gokul Bajaj, Head — Sales and Partnerships, Cvent, a cloud-based enterprise event management platform. This was followed by a panel discussion on how the MiCE industry can leverage technology to better engage audience. The panelists included Bajaj, Aikta Tyagi, Vice President & Head — Special Events, Amway India; SD Nandakumar, President & Country Head — B2B, SOTC Travel. The discussion was moderated by GB Srithar, Regional Director (South Asia, Middle East and Africa), Singapore Tourism Board. A team-building activity focusing on Lego Serious Play, conducted by Ludovic Odier, CEO, Outdoor in Asia, highlighted innovative, high-impact and experiential team engagement activities possible in Singapore for M&I travellers. The attendees were updated on new MiCE venues, incentive schemes provided by the STB and diverse and exciting array of experiences available in Singapore for M&I groups. The programme was well-attended with 150 Indian travel agents and 40 Singapore stakeholders representing hotels, airlines, attractions, Destination Management Companies (DMC) and cruise operators. Speaking on STB’s efforts to showcase Singapore as a destination of choice among the MiCE travellers, Srithar said, “India continues to be a key source market for MiCE travellers to Singapore. Thanks to the support of trade intermediaries and corporates, we have witnessed a healthy growth in …