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Lead Story
Stuttgart
Airport woos Indian carriers for direct flights
Talks underway with Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines
Newstrack
Sri
Lankan state-owned LCC eyes India as potential first stop
Mihin Air could pose competition to Air India Express
Rail
Europe witnesses exponential growth in retail agent base
Rail Europe has seen its retail touch points grow exponentially
in the two years it has had an Indian presence, from 30 to
124, driven primarily by its eight GSAs and their sub-agent
networks.
Mercury
Travels charts roadmap for quantum growth
Mercury Travels has charted an ambitious roadmap for quantum
growth that will witness its entry into the retail tour operator
business for FIT and GIT, and a crank-up of the foreign exchange
business to larger proportions.
Akquasun
Holidays sets up Mauritius initiative
Akquasun Holidays, specialists in Maldives destination management,
is now focusing on Mauritius and Malaysia (Sarawak) as its
next focus.
30 Minute Interview
‘E-business
offers tremendous potential for a GDS’
Bruce Hanna, COO Galileo, shares his vision for the Indian
market in an interview with Jyoti Koul
Aviation
New
CAPA study indicates airport investment to continue
The year 2006 was a bumper year for airport transactions,
with 15 major airports/airport groups privatised. This number,
according to a new study by Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation
(CAPA) released last month, is the second highest since 1981
when 21 transactions took place.
Maharashtra
Govt mulls aviation academies on airstrips
The Maharashtra Government is planning to develop aviation
academies on its airstrips. The state already has an aviation
academy at Baramati in Pune district and the development of
another one is underway at Gondia, the hometurf of Union Civil
Aviation Minister, Praful Patel.
In Memoriam : Rabindra Seth
The
final journey
Rabindra Seth, one of the most respected and popular figures
in the travel and hospitality industries and a veteran in
every respect, passed away on January 30, 2007 following a
cardiac arrest. He was 81. He is survived by a son and a daughter.
The last rites were performed at the Lodhi Road Electric Crematorium
on January 31, 2007.
Outbound
Switzerland,
perennial option for outbound?
Switzerland Tourism claims it is edging closer towards making
Switzerland virtually a perennial destination for Indian outbound.
This is the interesting trend it has cited in 2006, having
set itself, the year before, the target of getting FITs to
stay longer and spend more.
France
trains eye on niche segments
Maison de la France has actively trained its eye on promoting
different avenues of niche tourism in India to prop up incoming
tourism.
Egypt
braces for Indian inbound windfall
Egypt is bracing for an Indian inbound windfall in 2007 as
it positions its scenic coastline as an ideal complement to
its iconic monuments and river cruises.
Baden
Baden looks at tapping the Indian market
India is emerging as one of the fastest growing outbound markets
and all foreign destinations are vying for a share. Baden
Baden is the latest entrant on the scene.
Inbound
Vivada
launches luxury river cruise to Sunderbans
West Bengal has added cruising to its array of tourism products.
Kolkata based Vivada Cruises launched a luxury river cruise
package of two nights/three days to Sunderbans from Kolkata
last month.
Tourism
in Gujarat gets vibrant
MOUs of Rs 20,820.50 crore signed at Vibrant Gujarat Global
Investors' Summit 2007.
STIC
Travel Group appointed GSA for Indian Ocean Cruises
Ocean Odyssey commences operations from Goa.
MP
to focus on water tourism
Tourism has become a major thrust area for Madhya Pradesh
(MP) and the state as part of its development plans for the
year 2007-2008 is planning to focus on adding new attractions
in the sphere of water based tourism.
Channel Chat
TAFI
keen on making ETAA an affiliate
The travel industry in India is probably undergoing a metamorphosis
by the hour, especially if one keeps in mind the changes that
have occurred in the last two years across segments in the
trade, whether it is aviation, online business, mergers and
acquisitions etc.
In Conversation
My
primary focus will be on attracting more private investments
After IT now it's the turn of tourism. Manabendra Mukherjee,
the man who has been instrumental in putting West Bengal on
the IT map of the country, has now taken over as minister-in-charge,
Department of Tourism, West Bengal. In a free wheeling interview
Joy Roy Choudhury gets the minister, known for his pro-industry
approach, to share his initiatives and future plans to make
West Bengal a global tourist destination.
Trade Bytes
Trust
Travel & Tours appointed World Cup OTA
The excitement preceding the forthcoming Cricket World Cup
2007 in the West Indies, to be staged in March and April,
has reached a feverish pitch. Amidst all the anticipation
is Mumbai-based Trust Travel & Tours that has been as
apointed the official travel agents by the event organisers.
‘We
have already put Vision 2011 in place’
Having completed a centenary, Kuoni Destination Management
is ready to zip, zap and zoom ahead in 2007. Himmat Anand,
COO, Kuoni Destination Management-India, Nepal, Sri Lanka
shares his vision with Jyoti Koul.
Uplink
Galileo
introduces e-ticketing for Indian's domestic sector
Galileo India, the leading Global Distribution Service provider
(GDS) and pioneer in the e-ticketing revolution in India,
recently announced its e-ticketing services for Indian's domestic
sector.
Travel2Agent.com
and SpiceJet tie-up for inventory distribution
Travel2Agent.com and SpiceJet have tied up to distribute inventory
to travel agencies throughout India. The agreement was signed
recently in New Delhi and is valid for selling inventory only
in India.
‘We
will take Indian suppliers to the world’
Travelocity's India managing director Himanshu Singh tells
Express TravelWorld about the key differentiators that are
likely to put Travelocity in the box seat in the online distribution
revolution that is currently sweeping the Indian travel market.
ezeego1.com
goes live with many firsts to its credit
ezeego1.com has gone live and the portal offers comprehensive
features with many unique firsts not seen before in the online
travel market in India.
Hotel Talk
Govt
plans Rs 237 cr capex for ITDC hotels
Profits show threefold growth in 2006
Ambassador
Hotel outlines more properties
As the race towards more budget hotels enters into an accelerating
phase, family-owned property, Ambassador Hotel, in the heart
of the city, which comes under the management operation of
Taj Hotels & Resorts, divulged plans of coming up with
two to three more budget properties.
Railway,
textiles ride the hospitality boom
Pocket Rs 4,000 crore on land sale
Gujarat
set to get floating hotel
Gujarat is all set to get a luxury floating hotel that would
include an international marina, a golf course and conference
centres.
HP
tourism bets on village retreat, home stays
After Himachal Pradesh's land reforms went on to favour investment
through external participation in land purchase for commercial
activities, development in the hospitality arena has increased
manifold.
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