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Announce E-tourist Visa & International flights by September, suggests Subhash Goyal
News Desk
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President, Confederation of Tourism Professionals, Subhash Goyal feels that the pandemic (Covid-19) which has spread across the world and changing its variant frequently is going to stay for a long, and the people across the world has to learn to deal with it. Goyal feels that when there is uncertainty about the end of pandemic, the Indian government should announce e-tourist visa and operation of international flights by September or October this year. “The sooner we do this, the sooner it will help our economy revive,” added Goyal. “This will not only help to save millions of jobs but also enable India to further boost its exports and become a global leader which is a dream of our Prime Minister,” he says. “Just like Africa allows people with yellow fever vaccine to travel, similarly – we should allow fully vaccinated international tourists to travel to India, and Indians to travel abroad to countries which are open to Indians via schedule flights,” stressed Goyal. “We have to fulfil our Prime Minister's dream of making India a 5 trillion dollar economy. Tourism is the only industry, which is labour intensive and has a multiplier effect on the economy. Therefore, we need to act now before it is too late,” he emphasised. While explaining the need of the hour Goyal made several points mentioned as below:
The tourist season to India is from October to March and we need not to lose this opportunity in the year 2021 since year 2020 was a total wash out.
In 2019, India earned
Rs.2,10,981 crores Foreign
Exchange from the period
January to December or 3.1 billion US dollars in the month of December 2019 (source MOT).
We received more than 10 million tourists in 2019.
International tourism accounts for almost 10% of India's GDP and approximately 11% of direct & indirect taxes.
Majority of these Tourists come between October and March therefore we should not miss this season.
Hospitality & Tourism industry employs about 58 million people directly and about 75 million people indirectly in India.
About 10 million people have either lost their jobs or are on leave without pay.
While domestic tourism is helping a few hotels but people like Govt. recognized
Tourist Guides, Tourist
Transport Operators, Tourist
Taxi Drivers pan India and small Tour Operators and
Vendors are starving. Thousands of Travel Agents &
Tour Operators have already become bankrupt.
Like all other countries in the world they have not received any financial support or bailout package.
The only hope for survival is starting of e-tourist visas and scheduled international flights.
We have vaccinated over 350 million people and they should be allowed to travel internationally.
The whole world is opening up for people who have received both the vaccination or have tested negative. Some of the countries who are already allowing scheduled international flights are:-
Switzerland, UK, Russia,
Turkey, Sweden, Maldives,
Mauritius, Armenia, Ukraine,
Ethiopia, South Africa, Egypt,
Serbia, Kenya, Uzbekistan,
Dubai, Phuket, Montenegro,
Zambia and Rwanda.
News Desk
Amrish Kumar will head tech innovations for Ixigo under the leadership of Rajnish Kumar, Co-Founder & Group CPTO, Ixigo. Having worked with reputed corporates, Amrish has managed several projects aligning business goals with technology solutions. His major areas of technical expertise include architecture, building large scale e-commerce systems, hybrid/cloud-based systems, systems using AI/ ML & building big-data based platforms. He has worked in large and entrepreneurial setups across the US and brings in considerable experience in AI, machine learning & data science.
“We are pleased to bring aboard Amrish Kumar as the Vice President- Technology to drive the company’s technology vertical and contribute towards innovating and offering relevant solutions to our customers. We are confident that Amrish’s addition to our leadership team and his technological expertise will further add momentum to our next phase of growth,” said Rajnish Kumar, Co-Founder & Group CPTO, ixigo. Launched in 2007, ixigo is an AI-based travel app based in Gurugram, India. ixigo services Indian travellers and their travel utility, planning and booking problems using technology and artificial intelligence.
Ajay Prakash elected as President of TAFI
News Desk
The National Management Committee of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has elected new Managing Committee members for the term 2021-2023. Members of the association from across the country cast their e-vote in a virtual election conducted by NSDL, and elected Ajay Prakash – who has held various positions including TAFI President from 2010 to 2012 and his team with a thumping majority to take TAFI forward amidst the most difficult and challenging times for the travel and hospitality sector. Kamal R Jadhwani, Abbas Moiz and Hitank Shah have been elected as Vice President, National General Secretary and Treasurer respectively. TAFI MC has appointed Anil Kalsi as Jt Secretary and Lalith Jain as Jt Treasurer after the first meeting of the newly-elected Managing Committee of TAFI held on July 29th. Both Kalsi and Jain got elected as MC Members in the national elections held electronically on July 24. While sharing his vision for the association, the newly elected President said that the travel industry is facing tremendous unprecedented challenges. However, such circumstances compel you to think out-ofthe-box and look for creative solutions. “Our first priority is to restore the faith of our members along with increasing our membership base because an Association derives its strength not from individuals but from the will of its collective membership. We shall engage with our members in a more consistent, meaningful and coherent dialogue. Our Chapter Committees need to be empowered and educated on the ever changing scenario, our members need to feel a sense of ownership and pride and to believe that TAFI is there for them,” he said. “We also need to work closely with all other associations towards creating a credible lobby whose voice is heard. We need better outreach to the government and the travelling public and drive home the necessity of consultation with the industry on policy matters. But above all we need to inculcate a more responsible approach to tourism by all stakeholders,” added Ajay Prakash.
Managing Committee 2021-2023
President: Ajay Prakash Vice President: Kamal R Jadhwani
National General
Secretary: Abbas Moiz Joint Secretary: Anil Kalsi Treasurer: Hitank Shah
Joint Treasurer: Lalith Jain
Committee Member
Rani Bachani Rai Achal Krishna Seeraj Singh Sabharwal
2HUB extends service offering, forays in business travel segment
News Desk
Amajor B2B travel management and services company – 2HUB makes its foray in the ‘Business Travel’ segment. This will help the company extend its service
offerings to all its current and potential clients. With a wellrounded approach and a team of experts, 2HUB finds solutions to all aspects of its client’s need, be it hotel bookings, flights, transfers and all other travel requirements. While elaborating on the development, Anirban Sengupta, Chief Operating Officer, 2HUB said: “With business travel we not only meet the needs of our corporate clients but also provide essential travel requirements for all our other segments and customers. We are building a tech driven travel ecosystem that can cater to the varied needs of a traveller; from inspiration to fulfilment,” he added. Confirming about the enterprise’s next steps, Sengupta said, “We have created a cross-functional innovation team who are developing products and services for the future.”
2HUB, headquartered out of Gurgaon and having 18 other offices, currently operates in multiple segments such as B2B reseller, Events, Brand Activation, Business Travel and Special Interest groups. The company is investing in technology to bring efficiency to its operations and ensuring seamless experience for its clients. It is also expanding its geographical network in India and overseas.
Sheraton Grand Macao launches The Conservatory, F&B venue
Sheraton Grand Macao launched its new venue, The Conservatory, an eclectic food and beverage venue containing three distinct experiences – a Cantonese restaurant and tea room, a candy and confectionery store and a British pub and restaurant. The Conservatory draws inspiration from London’s classical architecture and contemporary urban lifestyle, with food and beverages available at any time during the day. The Tea Room offers grab-and-go from breakfast till late, while Three Bottles is a Londonesque pub and restaurant and Chaan, a nostalgic Cantonese kitchen serves noodles and dumplings.
Travel Union launched to cater rural agents & customers
News Desk
Travel Union, a Sonu Sood initiative, will democratize travel services by providing a platform to Travel Union members (travel agents) towards serving the travel needs of rural customers at every district, block and gram panchayat level. With a mission to support, digitally empower and build a leading travel agent business community in rural India at zero investment, Travel Union aims to be the largest rural digital travel services platform serving the 1 billion Bharat population. The platform aggregates all available price options for a particular offering and shows Travel Union Members the lowest prices they can offer their customers. It also allows for online cancellations and refunds, eliminating the long wait customers usually have to endure. Members enjoy the benefit of earning high margins due to direct booking options available with multiple travel service partners. Speaking on the occasion, Founder, Sonu Sood, said, “This super aggregator app is the future of travel management, eliminating the need for multiple platforms, thus, offering 360° travel solutions in one place. It is the first and only Indian platform designed to help rural travel agents launch a profitable and successful business venture."
Travel Union provides the inventory, competitive prices, and state-of-the-art technology directly from airlines, railways, hotels, trips, wholesalers and aggregators. It is a one-stop shop to travel agents across India's hinterlands offered through an app and web portal, making it the first superaggregator platform to meet the needs of the rural customer. The platform will give access to all trains operating in India through IRCTC, over 500 domestic & international flights, 10,000+ bus operators and 10 lakh+ hotels to its members and consumers.
Travel Union is presently available in English and Hindi. It is soon-to-be launched in 11 more Indian languages. New and upcoming offerings on the platform also include domestic and international holiday packages, visa services, forex services as well as travel/ luggage accessories.
IATO signs MoU with German travel association to promote bilateral tourism
News Desk
The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) and Deutscher Reiseverband – German travel association have signed an agreement to promote two way tourism between the two countries by taking suitable measures to reinstate tourism once the situation is normal, said Rajiv Mehra President, IATO.
Under this agreement, both IATO and DRV have agreed to undertake reasonable efforts to make its members aware of membership of both the associations, its benefits and events in India and Germany. Officials of both the organisations will be invited to their annual conventions and will conduct travel exchange programme and training programme on reciprocal basis. Germany is one of the major source markets for inbound tourism to India and this will help revive inbound tourism to India and will help outbound tour operators from Germany to reinstate selling Indian packages. The agreement signed between DRV and IATO will not only open doors for IATO members to connect with DRV members but will also send a message to other countries in Europe that India is ready to welcome the foreign tourists once e-Tourist Visa and international flights are resumed.
Virtual PATA Travel Mart 2021 set to be organised from Sep 2-5
The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) announced that Virtual PATA Travel Mart (PTM) 2021 will take place from September 2-5. Leshan, China will once again be the featured destination for the event.
Virtual PTM is a business-tobusiness travel contracting and virtual networking event that both mirrors and enhances the features of the long-standing PTM, which boasts over four decades of experience in connecting qualified international buyers and sellers from Asia Pacific and beyond through one-to-one business appointments. "PATA's goal is to bring valuable content and virtual networking opportunities to enable our members and trade show attendees to stay current with the latest travel products and build connections with new global colleagues," said PATA CEO Liz Ortiguera. The event is being organised in conjunction with the Sichuan International Travel Expo (SITE) with the support of Official Event Partner, the Leshan Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, and is powered by the Official Virtual Event Partner, Dragon Trail Interactive.
