AIRLINES

Finnair to restart its Mumbai-Helsinki route from October 18
From October 18, this year, Finnair will resume operations to Mumbai. The airline will now deploy A330-300 aircraft on the Delhi-Helsinki-New York route. Earlier, the airline had the MD-11 aircraft on the route. With the new aircraft, the fuel consumption of the airline will go down by 20 per cent.
For more details click here
Top 

Air India introduces daily direct flight to Frankfurt from Ahmedabad from June 1
Air India has introduced daily direct flight between Ahmedabad and Frankfurt effective June 1. With the introduction of the direct flight, passengers travelling from Ahmedabad and neighbouring places like Anand, Nadiad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhuj and Bhavnagar will now be able to reach Frankfurt in just 9 hours 15 minutes instead of the earlier 12 hours 50 minutes, thereby saving about three and half hours travel time taken while travelling via Mumbai.

The new flight operated with Boeing 747-400 aircraft will provide convenient connections to Newark and Chicago from Frankfurt. Passengers coming in from Newark and Chicago will also connect to Ahmedabad at Frankfurt. The flight AI-121 will depart Ahmedabad at 0205 hrs and arrive in Frankfurt at 0650 hrs. The flight AI-120 will depart Frankfurt at 1110 hrs and arrive in Ahmedabad at 2225 hrs.
For more details click here
Top 

ASSOCIATIONS

ADTOI plans to open chapters in North East, Gujarat and Maharashtra
Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) recently announced its plan to open five more chapters across the country. This decision came after the first General Assembly Meeting in New Delhi. ADTOI’s 7th executive council came into being in April. According to Rakesh Lamba, president, ADTOI, “We plan to open chapters in the North-East, Gujarat, Maharashtra, possibly Rajasthan and another chapter in a state where there is a significant presence of domestic tour operators. We have set ourselves a target of 1,500 members from the current 400 within the tenure of present committee which ends in April 2011. Also high on the agenda will be to consolidate our existing chapters.” The Delhi headquartered association currently has two chapters in Kerala and Kashmir with a good membership base in the national capital.
For more details click here
Top 

AGENTS

 
Nijhawan Group appointed sales representative for The Address Hotels + Resorts in India
The Address Hotels + Resorts, the Dubai based five star premium hotel brand of Emaar Hospitality Group, has appointed Nijhawan Group as its Indian sales representative. Nijhawan Group boasts of more than ten offices in different regions of the country including Delhi, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Mumbai and Punjab among others. The group will focus on designing sales and marketing strategies to position The Address Hotels + Resorts as a luxury destination for business and leisure travellers from India. Marketing activities include tradeshow management, roadshows, media relations and promotions.
For more details click here
Top 

Abacus ties up with Visa offering payment flexibility for agents
Leading GDS service provider Abacus International has announced that it will offer Visa Central Travel Account services, so that travel agents can enjoy greater billing flexibility and improve cash flow, while transacting with corporate houses. The tie up with Visa - world’s largest retail electronic payments network will enable Abacus-connected travel agents to develop new corporate client relationships and a more efficient method of managing their cash flow.
The Visa Central Travel Account will give Abacus connected travel agencies better prospects of being nominated as  designated corporate travel agencies by companies that use the Visa Central Travel Account. According to Abacus sources, apart from enabling greater billing flexibility for travel agents, the services also offer visibility through Visa reports that feature enhanced data provided by Abacus-connected travel agencies.
For more details click here
Top 

NTOs
 
Mauritius Tourism launches Mauritius An Affordable Dream for the Indian market
Guided by its Look East approach Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), recently announced its new destination marketing initiatives for India. MTPA has also increased its overall India market budget allocation for destination promotion and marketing. Mauritius will initiate joint marketing and destination branding, which will be specially customised for the Indian market target segment, viz honeymooners, leisure and family holiday makers. India is the 7^th most prominent tourism source market for Mauritius and 43,911 Indian tourists visited the country in the year 2008. With an increased overall budget for the Indian market, the destination marketing initiatives for Mauritius will be driven by both product appeal and price, which is based on the new consumer branding of ‘Mauritius An Affordable dream’. Under this campaign, Mauritius Tourism along with its trade and hospitality partners will offer luxury holidays at “competitive price-proposition”.
For more details click here
Top 

Madhya Pradesh celebrated 'Tourism Day' on May 24
Madhya Pradesh celebrated ‘MP Tourism Day’ on May 24. The initiative, started by state tourism department three years ago, serves as a platform to recognise and reward the contribution of various stakeholders including travel agents, tour operators, hotels, guides and MPTDC employees. The event also served as an opportunity for the state tourism officials to highlight its accomplishment over the last few years in the area of tourism and also lay down its plan for the forthcoming year. The Madhya Pradesh tourism officials chose the occasion to make some strong demonstration of the potential of tourism. Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan, chief minister, Madhya Pradesh inaugurated the ‘Tourism Day’ function. The function also witnessed the CM consenting to opening of new marketing offices in India and abroad. Tukoji Rao Pawar, minister for tourism and youth welfare presided over the function. Other notable dignitaries present included Iqbal Singh Bains, secretary tourism, government of MP; Dhruv Narain Singh, chairman, MPTDC; and Ashwani Lohani, managing director, MPTDC proposed vote of thanks.
For more details click here
Top