Tag Archives: New Delhi

Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel, New Delhi recently underwent a massive renovation of its F&B outlets. For 2017, the hotel has big plans of renovating its rooms along with its spa. Parmeet Singh Nayar, General Manager, Shangri-La’s-Eros Hotel, New Delhi, says, “In addition to growing our online presence and integrating technology at every step, we have been working on exciting developments to continuously delight our guests. After revamping our food and beverage offerings, the coming year will offer revamped accommodation facilities at the hotel along with Shangri-La’s signature CHI Spa. With these new developments in the pipeline we are sure that 2017 shall be a promising year for the hotel.”

A portfolio of seven Premier Inn hotels located in two of Thailand’s top destinations, Bangkok and Pattaya, as well as India’s most visited cities, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Goa, are being offered for sale through an international tender process with JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group. The tender for bids is scheduled from December 19 to 23, 2016. Owned by UK company Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants International, the portfolio offers two hotels in Thailand with a collective key count of 388: one property is located in the heart of Bangkok’s retail and entertainment precinct, Sukhumvit Soi 11, and is set to be completed in the first half of 2017; the other hotel is minutes away from Pattaya’s popular Second Road and enjoys close proximity to the town’s beaches, retail malls and famous Walking Street. Premier Inn’s India portfolio, comprising five hotels in prime locations in the nation’s best performing cities, will be among the largest hotel portfolios offered in India in recent times, with a total of 583 room keys. “Hotel portfolios with vacant possession, occupying prime central locations and of this scale are rare and hard to come by in the current market,” says Mr Mike Batchelor, Managing Director of Investments Sales, JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, Asia. “There is an expected high level of interest from global, regional and domestic investors attracted to this opportunity as they are able to immediately rebrand the hotels to the operator of their choice upon purchase.” India continues to be ranked as one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a 2016 forecast GDP growth of 7.6 percent. On India’s growing hospitality investment sector, Paul Chakkrit, Senior Vice President, …

Kerala Tourism has rolled out ‘The Great Backwater Experience’ zone at a special interactive stall in the departure terminal at Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi. The initiative uses virtual reality to allow passengers to experience a Kerala experience while waiting to catch their flight. Similar zones are also being set up at airports in Mumbai and Bengaluru. U.V. Jose, Director, Kerala Tourism, said, “The zone is up and functional at Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi and visitors can get an immersive experience of sitting inside a ‘kettuvellam’, a traditional Kerala houseboat, floating on tranquil backwaters in a place situated over 2,000 km away. This has been made possible through the innovative use of virtual reality.”

Union Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi inaugurated the Ministry of Tourism’s ‘Incredible India’ stand at the India International Trade Fair (IITF) 2016 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The Incredible India stand located at Hall No. 18 (Stand No.25) aims to nurture the tourism potential of less frequented destinations which are located closer to the popular destinations for attracting domestic visitors. Inaugurating the stand, Zutshi said, “The stand has been designed with an idea of promoting “lesser Known destinations”. Domestic tourism continues to be an important contributor to the tourism sector providing much needed resilience. There has been a continuous increase in domestic tourist visits, with the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of domestic tourist visits to all States/UTs from 1991 to 2015 being 13.63 per cent. In 2015, it grew by 11.63 per cent to reach 1431.97 million visits. And there is an encouraging sign for the Inbound Tourism too. Inbound travel to India has increased.  Foreign Tourist arrivals in India during the period January- September, 2016 were 6.2 million with a growth of 10.5% as compared to the Foreign Tourist Arrival of 5.6 million with a growth of 4.8% in January-September, 2015 over January- September, 2014. This positive development is expected to continue during remaining period of this year. The Ministry of Tourism is participating in the IITF after a long gap. The attraction of the stand are two ‘Selfie Points’ with the Taj Mahal and the Valley of Flowers as background.

Leading Nordic airline, Finnair is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in the Indian market. Finnair commenced operations to New Delhi on November 1, 2006, flying three times a week. Currently, Finnair offers three weekly services between Delhi and Helsinki during the summer timetable period and five weekly services during the winter period. Thanks to Helsinki’s optimal geographical position, flight time from Helsinki to New Delhi is only 6 hours and 35 minutes, over 30 minutes faster than on any other route from Western Europe to India. Finnair’s convenient day time departures from Delhi fly the short and efficient route via Helsinki, to more than 50 major destinations in Europe. The convenience of Finnair’s flights ensures customers arrive refreshed for business or leisure once they arrive at their destination. Finnair operates a modern Airbus fleet ensuring maximum passenger comfort while minimizing the environmental burden of air travel. “This is an important milestone for our airline. In the last decade, Finnair has offered excellent day time departures from Delhi and efficient flight connections to the European continent,” says Desmond Chacko, General Manager for Finnair in India. “With our modern fleet and the convenience of our Helsinki hub as a transit point for our Indian customer, we aim for another 10 years of successful operations.”

Seychelles Tourism Board recently organised ‘Appreciation Evenings’ in New Delhi and Mumbai for its key travel trade, airline and hotel partners to thank them for their support. The tourism board also gave away appreciation awards to those travel agents and tour operators who have significantly contributed to the increase in awareness and tourist arrivals to Seychelles from India. Awardees in New Delhi included Destination Travel Services, Makemytrip, TUI and Travstarz. In Mumbai, Holidays Box, Vacations Exotica – Balmer Lawrie, Ottila and Air Seychelles were honoured. Hallmark Elite and Escape Holidays from Ahmedabad were also awarded. Patsy Moustache, Acting Charge de Affairs, Seychelles High Commission congratulated the tourism board team and the travel trade partners for their support.  This was followed by a destination update. Sherin Francis, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board, was not present at the events but she sent out a message that said, “When we started the India office in 2013, there were just around 2,000 Indians visiting Seychelles. Last year we touched 8,000. This number may seem small in comparison to the several thousands of tourists visiting other destination. But keeping in mind the exclusivity of the destination, our limited marketing budgets and most importantly the short period of time, we are proud of this achievement. The numbers this year so far show similar trend as last year and we are positive that we will cross our target of 2016. Though Seychelles remains the ultimate romantic destination we have seen several families, small MICE groups and adventure sports enthusiasts choosing the islands for their holiday.”

Hungary witnessed a growth of 70 per cent in Indian arrivals in 2016 till date, while 40,000 Indian tourists visited the country in 2015, informed Mark Kinces, International Marketing Manager, South-East Europe, Hungarian Tourism Agency. This was revealed at the roadshow conducted by Central Europe comprising of Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary in Mumbai and New Delhi in order to promote the region in the Indian market. “We are not only receiving leisure tourists but also mid-sized groups and MICE travellers to Hungary,” says Kinces. According to Emilia Kubik, Asian Markets Project Leader, Polish Tourist Organisation, 26,000 Indian tourists visited Poland in 2015 and the country expects a 10 per cent increase in Indian arrivals by the end of 2016. Kubik also informed that Poland is also planning to introduce a destination specialist programme for the travel trade in 2017. Czech Republic is expecting to receive 50,000 Indian tourists from India by the end of 2016 revealed Karina Vitkova, International Marketing Manager, Long-haul Markets, Czech Tourism while Slovakia has seen a few thousand Indian arrivals and is hoping to increase awareness about the country amongst the travel trade in order to attract more arrivals explains Robert Vincze, Head-Slovak Convention Bureau, Slovak Tourism Board.

NYC&Company, New York City’s official, destination marketing organisation, is leading a tourism delegation to Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi from September 16-23 to promote travel to New York City. The tourism delegation is part of NYC & Company’s trade and media efforts to promote the “new” NYC in the Indian market. “New York City welcomed an estimated 283,000 visitors from India in 2015, reflecting a growth of 9% since the previous year.” said Makiko Matsuda Healy, Senior Vice President Global Tourism Development. “The City maintains its position as one of the most desirable destinations for both business and leisure travellers from India.” In 2015, New York City welcomed a record 58.3 million visitors, an increase of 1.8 million visitors over a year ago. Visitation for 2015 comprised 46 million domestic and 12.3 million international visitors, both all-time highs. In 2015 a record 6.1 million meetings and conventions delegates visited the City’s five boroughs, contributing to the total 12.3 million business travelers that came to New York City. New York City is the nation’s number one big city destination, the number one port-of-entry for foreign visitors, and has the highest share of overseas visitation to the U.S. – approximately one-third. NYC & Company member businesses joining the delegation include Broadway Inbound, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises and One World Observatory, who will be conducting one-on-one meetings and workshops with various travel trade partners.

The Incredible India Tourism Investors’ Summit (IITIS) scheduled for September 21-23, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, will witness participation from more than 27 Indian states, informs Vinod Zutshi, Secretary-Tourism, Govt. of India, at a press conference. He informed, “Till date, 140 investors from around 70 companies have confirmed their participation but we are hoping to see a turnout of about 250 investors. Around 600 investible projects will be showcased to the investors through presentations, B2B and B2G meetings.” Suman Billa, Joint Secretary-Tourism, said that the summit is expected to accumulate Rs 57,000 crore where they anticipate signing several MoUs over the two days. Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism and Culture opined that IITIS will showcase the investment opportunities in tourism sector. “It’s main objective is to position the Indian Tourism sector for attracting large investments and presenting to the Investors tangible investment-ready projects in the different States/Union Territories of India. The summit will provide a global platform for interaction with investors, policy makers and Indian industry leaders, and other stakeholders.” A total of 21 seminars will be held across the two days, with various plenary sessions on topics like Why Invest in Incredible India?, Core Infrastructure for Tourism, Digital India & Start Up India: Investing in Tourism Technology, Success Stories of Investment in India and on MICE & Medical Tourism, to name a few. Prior to the event, officials from the Ministry of Tourism embarked on roadshows in the USA, UAE, Thailand, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Gujarat, Mumbai, Bhopal to draw in investors to India.

Air India Express will connect Sharjah with Chandigarh and Tiruchirapalli (in Tamil Nadu) from September. The airline will introduce three non-stop flights per week each from Chandigarh (IXC) and Tiruchirapalli (TRZ), to add Sharjah International Airport, bringing the total number of its routes between Sharjah and Indian destinations up to seven. India is one of the United Arab Emirates’ leading trade partners, accounting for some 9.8 percent of the country’s total non-oil trade, buying 14.9 percent of the Emirates’ exports and 8.7 percent of its re-exports. The total volume of bilateral trade between India and the UAE is expected to increase from $60 billion in 2014 to $100 billion by the year 2020. India is also the largest single origin of investors for Sharjah’s Hamriyah Free Zone and Sharjah International Airport Free Zone (SAIF Zone). Air India Express has been expanding its services to destinations in the UAE, including daily Mumbai-Dubai, Mumbai-Sharjah, New Delhi-Dubai and New Delhi-Abu Dhabi routes, which it added earlier this year. According to the airline, the number of its weekly flights between India and the UAE increased from 107 flights to 146 flights per week before the summer. The low-cost airline currently operates five routes with a total of 15 weekly flights to Sharjah International Airport. Air India Express now flies direct to Sharjah from Kochi (COK), Kozhikode (CCJ), Mumbai (SAHAR), New Delhi (DEL), Thiruvananthapuram (TRV) and Varanasi (VNS. India is well connected to Sharjah, with Sharjah-headquartered Air Arabia operating flights between Sharjah and 13 Indian destinations. Jet Airways, India’s second largest airline, operates direct daily flights on Sharjah-Kochi and Sharjah-Mangaluru (IXE) routes.