Bengaluru-based BuyForexOnline has launched a new B2B forex platform for travel agents and education consultants. A pilot launch in Bengaluru saw more than 250 agents registered for the platform. The Total Agent Module (TAM) allows agents to effortlessly place Forex and remittance orders for their clients. The additional burden of sales, payment, delivery, escalations and customer support is then completely handled by the BuyForexOnline Team, leaving the agent free to focus on their core travel competencies. The platform will now be rolled out across India to primarily target SME travel agents and student consultancies specialising in overseas education. Ananth Reddy, Founder and Managing Director of BuyForexOnline says, “Forex in the B2B space is a largely disorganized sector with Agents ordering Forex for their clients through multiple offline channels, often requiring additional resources both in time and manpower for coordinating the transaction. This becomes challenging, especially when it comes to determining rates, arranging for delivery, and collecting payments. TAM was launched to address these challenges and to streamline the process. It is an easy lead-generation tool, and once the lead is triggered, the BuyForexOnline team then takes over and contacts the client to close the lead.” The key advantage of TAM is that the lead is mapped to the agent, and their commission is automatically captured by the system even for all subsequent transactions by that client. An in-depth report can be viewed on the system by the travel agent to monitor their commissions. “Our rates are the lowest in the market, and travel agents are free to add-on a further margin for their clients, which will be protected for them.” added Reddy.

Passengers leaving from Delhi airport’s Terminal 1 in an app-based cab may have to shell out Rs 150 extra for their ride home from next week.The Delhi airport operator has decided to levy Rs 150 as entry fee from March 22 on commercial vehicles coming to pick passengers from Indira Gandhi International Airport’s Terminal 1. The charge will double after eight minutes of waiting. The new rate will not be applicable to taxi services that have their counters at the Delhi airport, including Kaali-Peelis.Low-cost carriers such as Indigo, Spicejet and GoAir operate their domestic flights from Terminal 1 and around 20,000 passengers use it every day. The Delhi airport operator had started levying a similar charge at Terminal 3 in 2015.

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) has revived its Turkey Educational Tour for its members from May 3-7, 2017. Organised in association with Turkish Indian Tourism Council (TITC), the registration for the tour started on March 20, 2017. Riaz Munshi, Vice President, OTOAI, revealed the details saying initially the educon will take members to Mugla.

Oman’s national carrier will reportedly start a new daily direct flight between Salalah, a southern Omani city and Kozhikode in Kerala from next week, in addition to Oman Air’s flight service between Muscat and Kozhikode which is the latest destination in the airline’s fleet and network expansion programme. “Oman Air is committed to support the economic development of the Dhofar region, which is a key market for us. We are extremely happy to announce this new direct service between Salalah and Kozhikode,” Oman Air CEO Paul Gregorowitsch said. The daily service will be operated by a Boeing 737-800. Existing frequencies between Muscat and Kozhikode have also been increased from once daily to twice daily since February this year. Oman Air is growing its weekly capacity to India with frequencies increasing on five of the airline’s key Indian destinations. Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad increase from twice daily to three times daily. Kozhikode increases from once daily to three times daily and Lucknow increases from once daily to twice daily. The growth in capacity follows the revised flight agreement Oman and India in December 2016, when the number of weekly seats was increased to 27,405 seats for both countries, compared to 21,145 seats, an increase of 6,258 seats per week.

A new cruise tourism policy is underway to position India on the global map for cruising and efforts are on to identify such circuits, besides a slew of steps, to boost infrastructure, informed Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Government of India. “A high-level task force has been appointed and top global consultants are drawing up blueprint for it,” said Gadkari. Five circuits each are being identified for international and domestic cruise services and a report is likely by May this year. Steps to promote cruise tour include relaxation of policies and developing infrastructure. “The government is very keen to promote cruise tourism as India has vast opportunities,” added Gadkari. India saw 1.76 lakh cruise passengers in 2016-17, a merely 0.5 per cent of the global pie. Domestic cruise passengers are estimated to grow to 1.5 million by 2031-32. Of the 12 major ports, only five namely Mumbai, Goa, Cochin, New Mangalore and Chennai have facilities to berth international cruise ships. One of the circuits identified so far is coastal circuit for development of coastal tourism infrastructure. A decision has also been taken to have passenger terminals at all major ports to cater to cruise tourists. The government is developing a modern 2 lakh square feet terminal in Mumbai at an estimated cost of Rs 225 crore to make it a landmark destination, which will have infrastructure to accommodate cruise ships with size for 4,000 passengers. The project includes hospitality, retail, shopping, restaurants and will allow general visitors during non-cruise seasons.   Source: The New Indian Express/ PTI

Pankaj Nagpal – Managing Director, Travstarz Global Group has resigned from his position as the Enterprising Travel Agents Association National Director & Chapter Chairman – North India, after being an Office Bearer for ETAA for over five years. Commenting on the move, he said, “I have served ETAA to the best of my ability during my tenure and have established ETAA in North India Region which had only 13 members when I took over and today stands at over 150 Members. I thank my last Committee for all their contribution and all the Members for their support. My pre-occupation with the business is one of the reasons that I decided to quit ETAA and I am sure the board will find a capable replacement to take ETAA forward and I wish them all the very best for the future specially after the successful 2nd Domestic Convention held recently at Hyderabad.” He had announced the dissolution of the existing North India Committee during the last member’s meet held at Ashoka Hotel in November 2016, and was in the process of forming the new committee but decided to resign himself as well.

Jet Airways has signed a code-share agreement with Jetstar Asia for flights from Singapore. Jetstar, the Singapore-based low-cost carrier, will offer further connections for those flying from India on Jet Airways to Singapore. An official release has said that under the code share, Jet Airways will place its marketing code ‘9W’ on Jetstar Asia flights operating from Singapore to 11 destinations across in the Asia Pacific region: Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand, Perth and Darwin in Australia, Jakarta, Denpasar Bali and Surabaya in Indonesia, Ho-Chi-Minh City in Vietnam, Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia and Hong Kong. The release also says that under this agreement, Jet Airways will extend its code share footprint to three brand new destinations: Darwin, Phuket and Penang. Most importantly, the latest code share will not only strengthen traffic flows via Singapore, but will also offer guests the advantage of twin/tri-city itineraries options through Singapore, either via Bangkok or Hong Kong, owing to code shares on both sectors. The new agreement would make the passenger experience even more seamless and convenient, since one can now fly from India to Singapore with Jet Airways, and further to Hong Kong or Bangkok on a code-shared Jetstar Asia flight, returning to India on Jet Airways directly from Hong Kong or Bangkok, all on a single itinerary.

Rwanda Renaissance, an organisation mandated to promote trade, tourism and investments into the country, has announced plans to take a MICE group on RwandAir’s first-ever direct and nonstop flight from Mumbai. The flight will depart Mumbai on April 5, at 0145 hours, getting into Kigali the same morning at 0515 hours. The group, under the banner ‘Rwanda Calling 2017’ will see over 30 persons travel to Kigali. While the majority will be attending a Religious Meeting at KIBEHO, there will also be investors and businesses looking at opportunities in the country . Ivan Mugisha, Country Manager, RwandAir, remarks, “We are indeed, delighted to fly this group to Kigali, on our first-ever direct and nonstop flight from Mumbai. RwandAir is committed to provide passengers from India a unique experience , while they fly the dream of Africa, not only to Kigali, but to the very many destinations on the African continent, within our vast and expanding network.” Clarence Fernandes, Chairman, Rwanda Renaissance, affirmed the fact that RwandAir will not only offer a superior product, but will also avoid the hassles of having to transit and change flights at other airports to reach Kigali , whether one is travelling on business or on leisure. “We welcome Rwanda’s national carrier and are confident passengers not only to Kigali but even beyond, will enjoy the airline’s world class service,” he adds.

SriLankan Airlines is on an expansion drive in India. Calling India its biggest market, Siva Ramachandran, CCO, SriLankan Airlines, said that they have seen a 15 per cent growth from India in the last one year. “This does not include the trader community which travels more regularly. If we add them, it’d be more than 20 per cent. We are going to increase the frequencies in India. Currently, we are operating 107 frequencies a week. By the middle of this year, we are hoping to make it 130 frequencies a week. We are adding three more destinations into india—Hyderabad, Vishakhapatnam and Coimbatore. We are also increasing flights to Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi,” he informed.    

For the first time, a state tourism policy is to be formulated for Jammu & Kashmir. This was informed by Farooq Shah, Secretary Tourism, Government of Jammu and Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said that the state would invest Rs. 2400 crore to boost tourism and added that the policy will help connect locals with tourist and create opportunities of employment for jobless youth and women in the state. “Owing to the heavy inflow of tourists to the state and the increasing competition with tourist destinations abroad, it has become necessary for the state to upgrade existing hotels, guest houses and develop new destinations to attract more tourists,” said Shah. He further elaborated, “It is only possible when the state has a well-planned tourism policy that we can improve the sector. A comprehensive tourism policy is the need of an hour and will make a road map so that tourist places are fast developed on modern lines to cater to a huge tourist inflow without degrading the environment. By having the policy, government can identify such new destinations, create infrastructure there to attract tourists. We are also planning to promote eco-tourism in the state.” He informed that the government is expecting an investment of around Rs. 30000 crore from the private sector in next 10 years. Shah explained that a number of five star hotels including international brands will be coming up in the valley in a next few years, giving a boost to tourism in the state. Source: Indian Express