Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city, provides tourists with a plethora of accommodation options and access to numerous activities and experiences. Through this webinar, we will showcase Zurich and it’s various touristic offerings. Attend all webinars for a chance to win a trip to Switzerland. For more information, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

Travelport, a global technology company that powers travel bookings for hundreds of thousands of travel suppliers worldwide, and Malaysia Airlines, the national carrier of Malaysia announced that they have reached a multi-year renewal agreement that will continue to bring Malaysia Airlines’ content to Travelport-connected customers worldwide. With the new expanded multi-source content agreement, Travelport customers will also be able to access the airlines’ future New Distribution Capability (NDC) content via Travelport+, Travelport’s next-generation travel retailing platform. Izham Ismail, Group Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Airlines comments: “Travelport has continued to impress us with its technical knowledge and dedication in helping us to fulfill our business needs throughout our decades-long partnership. We are confident that Travelport+, Travelport’s next-generation travel retailing platform will be our strategic partner in achieving our future business goals. Our expanded partnership is important to our long-term transformative business plan, especially with our NDC initiative implementation.” Since Malaysia’s international borders officially reopened on April 1, 2022, flight bookings overall have increased and have shown an upward trajectory. This has rejuvenated the aviation industry that was hard hit by Covid-19. The expanded partnership between Travelport and Malaysia Airlines will ensure smooth and seamless airline content delivery to all the Travelport-connected customers and travelers across the globe. Sue Carter, Head of Air Partners Asia Pacific at Travelport, says: “With this expanded multi-year distribution agreement renewal, we are thrilled to be working even closer with Malaysia Airlines to continue to deliver our Travelport Rich Content and Branding solution which helps to further elevate the airline’s retail product offerings through our Travelport+ platform. Together, we will also be working hand in hand to embark on Malaysia Airlines’ NDC journey, jumpstarting innovations which …

In a country first initiative, Kerala is set to become a fully women-friendly tourism destination by implementing a comprehensive project to encourage the participation of women in all tourism activities and attract more women tourists to the state, Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas said. Launching the state-level ‘Women-Friendly Tourism’ project, an initiative of State Responsible Tourism Mission (RT Mission), Shri Riyas said Kerala already enjoys the reputation as the safest destination for women tourists. Noting the significance of the project,  Riyas said the state needs a paradigm shift at a time when the world is witnessing a sharp increase in solo trips by women as well as in groups. The Minister said this initiative is conceived not just as stand-alone package, but as a comprehensive project to ensure presence of ordinary women in various tourism activities and bring more women travellers to the state.   “Through this project, RT Mission ensures safe and hygienic places and tourism destinations for women tourists. The all-women tour packages will be controlled and operated by women, including food, accommodation, transportation and community guides” he said. The Minister also inaugurated a one-day workshop organised as part of the project. Delivering the key-note address, Deputy Representative, UN Women India, Kanta Singh, said creating a safe, reliable and hygienic infrastructure that addresses the needs of women is vital while implementing the project.  UN Women will sign an MoU with RT Mission regarding gender inclusive tourism, she said. Kerala Tourism Director, P B Nooh said while ensuring the safety of women tourists, the project will bring about a holistic change in tourism sector. Nooh called for more debates to evolve solutions for the problems regarding safe journey of …

Travalyst, the not-for-profit sustainable travel organisation set up by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, welcomes Amadeus to its coalition. Amadeus is a global travel technology company with more than 16,000 employees worldwide, and headquartered in Madrid, working in over 190 countries. Often referred to as the backbone of the travel industry, its technology platforms power hundreds of the consumer-facing travel companies that millions of travellers and thousands of travel agents interact with on a daily basis through the broad range of its technology offering. Amadeus becomes Travalyst’s eighth partner (alongside Booking.com, Expedia Group, Google, Skyscanner, Tripadvisor, Trip.com Group, and Visa). Their considerable expertise as a global travel technology provider will enhance Travalyst´s reach and reinforce the objective to help travellers make sustainable travel choices. In conjunction with its coalition partners, Travalyst is developing a framework of shared principles and preferred methodology for reporting sustainability – focusing initially on aviation and accommodation – which has begun to be implemented by some of Travalyst’s travel distribution partners. Sally Davey, CEO, Travalyst said, “Amadeus is an important partner for us strategically and an ideal company to join the coalition at this stage in our journey. The partnership with Amadeus brings us significant reach within the travel industry and agent community, allowing us to embed our strategy and frameworks more deeply. This is going to be a significant step forward, making it easier for the industry and its consumers to bring sustainable travel into the mainstream,” she added. “Amadeus is fully aligned with the stated mission of the Travalyst coalition to help travellers to make sustainable travel choices. We are building together towards a uniform sustainability framework that is consistent, credible, and easy to understand for …

Tourism Australia has created a live-action short film with CGI animated characters. The short film, G’day, is part of a new global tourism campaign inviting international travellers to Come and Say G’day, and plan and book an Australian adventure of their own. Directed by acclaimed Australian director, Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) and produced by FINCH, G’day the short film shows the unlikely adventure of a plush souvenir kangaroo named Ruby, voiced by beloved Australian actor Rose Byrne, and a toy unicorn, Louie, voiced by actor Will Arnett. The short film follows Ruby and Louie as they ‘break out’ of a gift shop on the Great Barrier Reef and take an incredible adventure around Australia, visiting iconic sites including Sydney Harbour, Melbourne’s laneways, and stunning natural landscapes like Uluṟu and Nitmiluk Gorge. Along the way, they explore the magnitude of travel experiences Australia has to offer, connect with Australia’s Indigenous cultures, and learn why every great adventure starts with the unmistakably Aussie greeting, “G’day!”. Tourism Australia Managing Director, Phillipa Harrison, said “Come and Say G’day is unashamedly and unmistakably Australian. After a challenging time around the world, our uplifting and joyful campaign will stand out in what is a highly competitive international tourism market.” The multichannel campaign includes new broadcast advertisements (in 60, 30 and 15 second versions), print and high impact Out of Home (OOH) advertising placements, as well as social, digital, and content marketing initiatives. The campaign activity will be further amplified by partnership activity with airlines, State Tourism Organisations, and key distribution partners including Thomas Cook, SOTC, PickYourTrail, Kesari Tours amongst others. Australia’s Indigenous cultures and peoples are at the heart of the story in G’day, and …

The Ministry of Tourism, in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), organised a national conference of DGs/inspector generals of the police departments of all states and UTs to discuss implementation of Uniform Tourist Police Scheme. Objective of the national conference was to bring the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Home Affairs, BPR&D and state governments and UT administration on the same platform, so that they may work together in close coordination with the state and UT police departments and sensitise them about specific requirements of foreign and domestic tourists.

The cruise industry has proven its resilience throughout its more than 50-year history—as is evident in the responsible return to operations that began in July 2020. In the baseline forecast, passenger volume is expected to recover and surpass 2019 levels by the end of 2023. In the upside forecast, passenger volume is expected to recover to 101% of 2019 levels a year earlier, by the end of 2022. In all three scenarios, passenger volume is projected to recover in excess of 12% above 2019 levels by the end of 2026.

After the success of its convention, TAFI has announced it will offer online courses on its website. Ajay Prakash, TAFI President, says, “TAFI has tied up with a company to provide a 100+ skilling courses on various subjects. This includes soft skills and education on specific topics. This will be offered on our website free of cost to all our members. The integration is happening right now and these courses will be online soon. These are some of the things we will be building upon. A convention happens every year or two but what you learn and discuss during the event needs to be taken forward and that is what we want to. I do hope our members take advantage of this.”

Pre-pandemic, New Zealand welcomed 67,000 Indian visitors. What is remarkable about this, says Gregg Wafelbakker, GM, Asia, Tourism New Zealand, is that number had doubled in five years. “This translates to almost a 15% compounding annual growth rate. As we look forward, obviously we start from a low base. We have a target audience in India. We look at an audience of those who have New Zealand as their top five preference country and there’s 12.3 million of those. And we know that 12.3 million of 1.4 billion people may not seem a lot but certainly for us that is our audience. And 64% of that audience has New Zealand as the number one preferred destination for a visit,” he says.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is pleased to announce the introduction of its A350-900 medium haul wide-body aircraft on the Hyderabad to Singapore sector. It will operate daily flights between Hyderabad and Singapore, with the A350 services operating every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The inaugural service SQ 523 will depart from Hyderabad International Airport at 2310 hrs on 30 October 2022. The Airline will continue to operate its B737-8 narrow-body services through the remainder of the week. Sy Yen Chen, General Manager India for Singapore Airlines, said, “We are delighted to enhance our services to Hyderabad with our wide-body A350 aircraft. This is a significant milestone for us as it reinforces our commitment to the market, more so after SilkAir’s integration with Singapore Airlines a year ago.” “In line with the company’s commitment to product and service excellence, the Airbus A350 medium haul aircraft, combined with our award-winning inflight service, will provide enhanced comfort to travellers from Hyderabad. Furthermore, the introduction of a wide-body aircraft on this sector also opens up a wider range of opportunities and capabilities for SIA Cargo,”  Chen added. Speaking about the launch of SIA’s A350-900 operations, Pradeep Panicker, CEO,GMR Hyderabad International Airport said, “Over the past few months, GMR Hyderabad International Airport has witnessed a significant growth in international passenger traffic. This is an indicator of a rebound in international travel post the pandemic. Travellers are exploring exotic destinations; there has been an uptick in the student traffic pursuing academics in international shores; business travel has resumed. The festive season has contributed to the footfall in the passenger profile of Visiting Friends and Relatives. Singapore is one of the most sought after destinations from Hyderabad. With …