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The Department of Tourism, Government of Rajasthan has signed an MoU with the Federation of Hospitality and Tourism of Rajasthan (FHTR) for organising the ‘Rajasthan Domestic Travel Mart’ 2018. The event will be held from July 20-22 at the B.M. Birla Auditorium in Jaipur. The Department of Tourism will be the host state partner for the event. The MoU was signed between the Additional Director Tourism, Sanjay Pande and the President, FHTR, Bhim Singh in Jaipur. The chief guest on the occasion Chief Secretary, Rajasthan, Nihal Chand Goel said that the primary objective of ‘Rajasthan Domestic Travel Mart’ is to exclusively focus on the domestic tourists within Rajasthan from various parts of India. “The vision 2020 initiated by the CM had an objective of five crore tourist footfall in the state by the year 2020. But we have attained close to five crore tourists in the year 2017 itself and with new initiatives like this travel mart, we’d be able to achieve the set goal and probably outperform our own predicted numbers,” he said. President, FHTR, Bhim Singh said the sole objective is to increase tourism in Rajasthan by organising numerous road shows across the country. The event is also supported by HRAR, IHHA, RATO and ADTOI.

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) conducted a member’s meet in Mumbai last week to introduce the new team to the members in the Western Region. Present at the event were the association’s Executive Committee (EC) led by its President, Mahendra Vakharia. He said, “We have decided to have the EC meeting once a month on every second Saturday so everyone can plan their month accordingly. It will be held in different cities but predominantly in Delhi and will rotate between Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.” Speaking about the association’s upcoming convention, he said, “It is shaping up very well. We will announce the name of the country in a week. We are doing it with the support of the destination’s tourism board and it will be held sometime in August or September 2018. The team will start working on the logistical details now like airlines, hotels, etc.” The next EC meeting will be held on May 14, 2018 in New Delhi. The EC members had met earlier in the day to discuss the plan of action for the association as well as its upcoming convention. Ajay Sengar, Chapter Chairman – Western India, OTOAI, who is from the tier city of Akola in Maharashtra, was also present at the networking event. Some other EC members had flown down from New Delhi including Shravan Bhalla and Rajeev Sabharwal, along with General Secretary Chitra Bhatia.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) has appointed Bird Travels, the Airline Management Services arm of Bird Group as its local representative in India. The association marks the airline’s latest step in developing its sales distribution network within the Indian market. The appointment of Bird Travels is part of the intensive preparations undertaken by Philippine Airlines to realise its firm plans to commence operations to India by winter 2018. Reinforcing the airline’s growing confidence in the market, Bird Travels is responsible for all the airline’s sales, marketing and ticketing activities in India through its centrally located headquarters in New Delhi. “India’s tourism industry is expanding rapidly and we’re already seeing a steady flow of leisure and business travellers flying between India and Philippines. Bird Group is a veteran in air travel management and we are challenging them to capitalise on their strength and capabilities to help launch our upcoming flights to New Delhi and Mumbai,” said Ryan Uy, Vice President – Sales, Philippine Airlines. “Armed with our extensive local knowledge and experienced team, Bird Travels is well-equipped and committed to promote the airline’s presence in the country,” said Vijay Bhatia, President, Bird Group. PAL’s planned services from New Delhi and Mumbai to Manila will enable India-based travellers to easily access over 31 destinations in the Philippines, out of PAL’s hubs in Manila, Clark, Cebu and Davao.

The newly rebranded Radisson Hotel Group announced its expansion plans at Hotel Investment Conference South Asia (HICSA) 2018. The company aims to expand its portfolio to more than 200 hotels in operation and under development by 2022 in South Asia. The group has already signed Radisson Blu Resort Visakhapatnam, Radisson Panipat City Centre and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson Agra in the first quarter of 2018. Radisson Gwalior opened last month and the group is on track to open another eight more hotels in India this year. “This is the most exciting period in our company’s long history,” said Katerina Giannouka, President, Asia Pacific, Radisson Hotel Group. “With the rebranding of our company, we are positioning Radisson Hotel Group for a bright future. India has been a key market for us for many years. We look forward to working with hotel investors, owners, developers and other stakeholders across the country as we accelerate the expansion of our portfolio to India,” added Giannouka. “With a robust performance, ahead of industry average and continued investment in technology and revenue driving platforms, we are optimistic of meeting our five-year goals. I am delighted that India is leading the way in Asia Pacific with a total of seven global brand offerings,” said Raj Rana, Chief Executive Officer, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group.

Vacations exchange platform and part of the Wyndham Worldwide family of brands, RCI added 11 newly-affiliated resorts to its exchange network in India in 2017. These additions include destinations that have been experiencing heavy tourist inflow in the past few years. They include Ananta Spa (Udaipur), Sterling La Vida (Goa), Palm Greens Club (Ahmedabad), Global family homes (Ladakh), Hawthorn Suites by Pacifica (Dwarka), Neon Lifestyle & Recreation Club (Nadiad), Valencia Group (Mount Abu), Sterling Kanha (Kanha), Sterling Wayanad (Wayanad), Krishna Bhumi Holydays (Vrindavan ) and Shivpuri Resort (Madhya Pradesh). “Vacationers today are looking for quality time with their families. At RCI, we believe in offering a complete experience be it luxury, adventure sports or just an invigorating experience. Through these associations, we are looking forward to reaching out to more travellers and leverage our strong network of affiliated resorts not just in India but internationally as well. Over the past year, we’ve added some exceptional properties to the RCI exchange network,” said Gordon Gurnik, President, RCI. “Through strategic partnerships with both new and existing affiliates, our 3.8 million subscribing members have thousands of options to choose from in sought-after destinations around the world when planning their next vacation,” says Sabina Chopra, Managing Director, RCI India.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) plans to inaugurate its Haryana and Punjab Chapter soon. This was informed by P P Khanna, President, ADTOI at the associations’s General House Meeting, recently conducted in Delhi. Giving a recap of the activities undertaken by the association in the last year, Khanna said, “We launched our revamped website in February 2018 which is linked with the website of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. This will prove beneficial for the members of the association for their future business prospects. We will also launch our Chapters in Haryana and Punjab which will further enhance the growth of ADTOI. We have also launched an activity manual for 2018 for the reference of members. Thus, members can plan well in advance for all association events that shall be conducted throughout the year.”

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has declared 2018 as the ‘Visit Kashmir’ year. Speaking at the 2018 TAAI Convention in Srinagar, Sunil Kumar, President, TAAI, made the announcement before delegates. He said that as part of this initiative, the association would be aggressively promoting J&K to its diverse range of clients. Its website and letter heads would also carry a logo of ‘Visit Kashmir’ year all round the year.

Sabre Corporation has appointed Roshan Mendis as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of its Travel Network business. As CCO, Mendis will be responsible for leading global sales, sales operations and business development initiatives worldwide, and will play an instrumental role in driving Sabre’s global travel distribution business as it invests in a fast-forward approach to next-generation retailing and distribution. “Mendis has the vision, customer commitment and industry expertise to ensure that Sabre is ready to meet its customers’ needs today and well into the future,” said Wade Jones, President, Sabre Travel Network. “We conducted an exhaustive, global search and I’m not surprised that we found the very best leader and candidate from within Sabre.” A 20-year veteran of the travel technology industry, Mendis most recently served as Senior Vice President of Travel Network for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) regions where Sabre saw its 2017 bookings grow 9.8 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively. Prior to this, he led the APAC region for Travel Network and was instrumental in the company’s acquisition and successful integration of Singapore-based GDS, Abacus International. Mendis will continue to be based in London.  

Tasaduq Mufti, Tourism Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, along with Sunil Kumar, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI),  welcomed the attendees at the 64th TAAI Convention in Srinagar on March 27. Mehbooba Mufti, Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, was the chief guest at the event. The convention saw the registration of around 650 delegates and opened with a golf tournament at the Royal Springs Golf Course in Srinagar, followed by the formal inauguration at SKICC, Srinagar. The evening saw the attendance of ministers and senior officials of the Jammu and Kashmir government as well as representatives of airlines and the tourism industry. Mehbooba Mufti welcomed the delegates and hoped that the convention shall bring with it more tourism for the state. “We have a lot of tourism products — from mountains, waters, culture, golf courses, pilgrimage and many other diverse products,” she said in her speech. Sunil Kumar said that the TAAI Convention has always brought tourists to the destination and it will do the same for the state. Saying that it’s the 8th TAAI Convention in Jammu & Kashmir, which has come after 30 years to the state, he assured that they will not take this much time again to come back.

Travel Tours, the flagship leisure travel brand of FCM Travel Solutions, has inaugurated their second retail and first franchise store at Salt Lake City, Kolkata. The store was inaugurated by Shravan Gupta, Executive Director – Leisure Businesses, FCM Travel Solutions and Sitaram Sharma, President, Bharat Chamber of Commerce & The Consular General of Belarus. With the launch of this store, FCM Travel Solutions now has 28 operational Travel Tours stores across India. The new Travel Tours store in Kolkata aims at redefining travel experience from the region by focusing on both tailor-made vacations and group holidays catering to different kinds of travellers in the city. Spread over 1200 sq. ft., the outlet at Salt Lake City will cater to needs of up-market urban consumers – families, business travellers, honeymoon couples and groups of travellers. The new retail outlet will offer a range of products and services – domestic and international flights, customised and group holidays, hotels, car transfers, visa, cruise vacations, honeymoon packages, adventure holidays and more. Commenting on the launch, Gupta said, “Our second store in Kolkata is a reiteration of our strategic intent at Travel Tours, FCM to expand our footprint across key markets in East India. Through this launch, we aim to provide unbeatable travel experiences to our patrons in an untapped market.”