Category: Top Three Stories

Iceland’s low fare transatlantic airline, WOW air, announces the launch of its flight operations in India from December 7, 2018 with incredibly low airfares. The airline is planning weekly direct flights between New Delhi and Keflavik airport in Iceland that will connect to multiple destinations in North America and Europe. “We are thrilled to launch our operations in India, a diverse country with tremendous potential. Our launch is in sync with India’s aviation growth story and we look forward to being part of it with our very affordable fares to North America and Europe on board brand new Airbus A330neos. ... Read more

Rajesh Ramdas has joined Hyatt Regency Kathmandu as its general manager effective May 2. Rajesh has over 20-years of experience in the hospitality industry and have worked across various functions within rooms division. His most recent assignment was as general manager with Hyatt Regency Ludhiana. A hotel management graduate from Mangalore University, Rajesh commenced his career with The Leela Group as a management trainee in 1995, during which time he did an understudy in housekeeping. He was promoted to assistant manager of reservations and then transferred to the front office as lobby manager. Rajesh then joined the pre-opening team of ... Read more

The state government of Jammu and Kashmir has recently opened an alternate seven kilometre track to the Vaishno Devi shrine, atop a hillock overlooking Katra town in Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). Tarakote Marg will be formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 19. N N Vohra, Governor of J&K, who is also the chairman of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVSB), took the new track during a visit to the shrine on Sunday and reviewed the preparedness for its operationalisation. The new route between Banganga and Adhkuwari is opened with an aim to decongest ... Read more

GoAir and AirAsia are offering discounted domestic flight tickets starting at Rs 1,610 and Rs 1,399 respectively on select routes. This offer is a part of GoAir’s ‘Low Fare Wednesday’ promotional campaign. GoAir’s offer is applicable on flights to destinations such as Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and Lucknow. All fares offered under the scheme are applicable till May 25, 2018. Under the ‘Low Fare Wednesday’ scheme, GoAir is offering flights ‘to destinations with affordable flight tickets’. AirAsia India’s ‘Mid-Summer Sale’ offer is applicable on destinations including Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ranchi.  This offer on domestic flights is applicable on travel till ... Read more

As per report and expert opinions, sturdy visa regulations are hindering the growth of tourism sector in Africa. The experts also blame the lack of innovative ideas among the service providers as another reason for the sluggish and meagre performance across the continent. The data statistics from Word Travel & Tourism Council reports that out of the 1.2 billion global travellers recorded in 2017, Africa had only 62 million of that. The tourists’ arrivals had lead to 8.3 million jobs last year. The number of jobs is expected to rise by 11.6 million by 2028. Morongoe Ramphele. Deputy Director-General of ... Read more

The India Meteorological Department has predicted thunderstorms across north-west India over the next 48 to 72 hours and as a result several trains and flights are also running late. A powerful dust storm and rain hit Delhi, grounding flights, uprooting trees and bringing traffic on the city’s roads to a grinding halt, days after an alert across north India for a massive storm. The alert says that thunderstorm accompanied with squall (wind speed reaching 50-70 kmph) are very likely at isolated places over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Coastal Andhra ... Read more

Hyderabad has registered a 76 per cent rise in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in 2017 owing to the rise in the number of meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) in the city. The city’s domestic tourist arrivals (DTAs) shot up by 16 per cent last year. According to Telangana tourism department, 2017 ended on a high note with as many as 2.47 lakh foreign tourists visiting mana sheher, against 1.63 lakh who travelled to Hyderabad in 2016. Domestic tourist arrivals rose from 2.33 crore in 2016 to 2.71 crore last year. Maximum tourist arrivals were recorded between September and December. The ... Read more

The Fern Hotels & Resorts has opened UK 27 The Fern – an Ecotel Hotel at Belagavi (Belgaum) in Karnataka. With its new hotel, the group now have a portfolio of 53 hotels. UK 27 The Fern is an upscale 90-room hotel situated in the heart of the city with different categories of rooms such as Winter Green, Winter Green Premium, Fern Club Studio, Fern Club Premium Studio, Hazel Suite, and Fern Club Suite. All the rooms are equipped with modern amenities suiting the requirements of a business traveller. The hotel offers dining and entertaining options including Mélange – the ... Read more

Traveller Made, world’s leading network dedicated to ultra-luxury travel, has announced the Luxury Travel Designers awards 2018 at the recently held The Essence of Luxury Travel show held recently at Barrière Hotel Le Normandy in Deauville. The winners were selected through a voting among a 3,000 strong community specialising in luxury comprising 700 hoteliers, 120 DMCs, 2,000 Travel Designers. The eight winners are Sanjay Arya of KFT Corporation from India; Christopher Wilmot-Sitwell, cazenove+loyd, United Kingdom; Kathy Stewart, Butterfield & Robinson, Canada; Panos Spiropoulos, Seez Travel, Greece; Maud Auvray, Peplum, France; Quentin Desurmont, President, Traveller Made; Reem Shaath, WhyWander , Saudi Arabia; Jackie ... Read more

IndiGo is offering discounts for students above the age of 12 years on domestic flights. The customers can only avail the offer if the booking is made at least seven days in advance. For bookings made under the scheme, students are eligible for total baggage allowance of 25 kilograms. The discount is valid on both, one-way and round-trip bookings. Eligible student booking flight tickets under the scheme shall be required to furnish their valid school/ university ID card at the time of check-in at the airport. In case, the student fails to furnish their ID Card, the benefits will not be extended to the ... Read more

It was a surprise when Uber announced that it has plans to launch flight demonstrations of uberAIR in Dallas-Fort Worth/Frisco Texas and Los Angeles. But now, with important partnerships with key manufacturers and technology companies, the cab aggregator  is all set to make further inroads into the aviation sector. Uber plans to launch the flight demonstrations in 2020 and commercial trips by the year 2023. Uber launched its Elevate programme in October 2016. Since then, it has entered into partnerships with experienced aircraft manufacturers who are developing electric VTOL vehicles including: Embraer, Bell, Aurora Flight Sciences (now a subsidiary of Boeing), ... Read more

As part of its expansion plans to reach out to European countries, Air India is planning to start a direct flight from Mumbai to Frankfurt from June. The airline is likely to operate thrice a week from Mumbai and depart for Frankfurt in the morning hours. Air India currently operates a regular flight on the Delhi-Frankfurt route. Air India flies directly to destinations such as Stockholm, Madrid, Vienna, Paris, London, Rome, Birmingham and Milan in Europe. The state-run airline had recently announced that they would increase the frequency between Delhi-Copenhagen to four days a week as part of its efforts to ... Read more

Marking a new record of visits, San Diego County had 7.6 million visitors for the first three months of 2018. The recent statistics by San Diego Tourism Authority confirms that the number of tourists visiting the county has increased considerably and so is the spending spree. The hotel bookings, museum visits, theme parks business have also gone higher and there were tourists who even visited the county just for a day. The rise in number of tourists went up by 8.4 percent during the first quarter and their spending amounted to a total of $2.5 billion, which records a 5 ... Read more

Mongolia has declared 2018 as tourism year when it will promote green-eco tourism, informed the Ministry of Environment. The ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with Mongolian Tourism Association and Mongolian Culinary Federation to standardize services in the tourism sector. The ministry will also promote green-eco tourism and also has plans to improve the service in restaurants and tourist camps. Specific rules and regulations will be developed for nature travellers. 70,500 tourists visited Mongolia in the first quarter of this year reporting a 11 per cent year-on-year growth. The biggest number of tourists arrived from Russia (36 per cent) and China ... Read more

Spanish Hotel Group, Palladium Hotel Group has appointed Mumbai-based Blue Square Consultants (BSC) as its representative in India. As the hotel group’s representative in India, Blue Square Consultants will conceptualise, implement, and promote PR and sales strategies for three of their Spanish properties in India – Hard Rock Hotel Ibiza, Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife, and Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel in Spain. “India is turning into a strong outbound market in the world and is ranked among our top 20. Ibiza is among the popular places visited by Indians which is also known for its vibrant music scene and eagerly-awaited concerts ... Read more