Category Archives: Agents

Darpan Jain (IAS), Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry (MoCI), has said that Rs.1000 crore have been earmarked for programmes for tourism and medical value sector under the Champion Services Sector Programme, which is being coordinated by MoCI. Around Rs. 1000 crore worth of programmes have already been approved, he informed.

Reuniting together, the members of Enterprising Knot of Travel & Tourism Associates (EKTTA) attended a workshop on ‘Facing the new normal’ at the State Convention Center (Lok Seva Bhavan) in Bhubaneswar. The workshop was organised by Odisha Tourism in association with Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.  

After nine months of restriction on the entry of tourists to Meghalaya due to the pandemic, the state re-opened its doors on December 21, 2020. The Tourism Department has issued SOP for all tourists wherein they will need to mandatorily register on ‘The Meghalaya Tourism App’ and generate an e-invite for the proposed itinerary.

The new ‘Travel Insights with Google’ is Google’s new website that reflects demand trends to sector participants, be they a chain of hotels, a small travel start-up, or a booking  agent. It will help the industry understand pent-up travel demand and leverage insights from these tools for businesses. It is based on user search data. The tool can point to two kinds of time-specific trends: destination insights and hotel insights.

Under the revised MDA Scheme for domestic tourism, financial support will be provided to not just domestic tour operators but any tourism service providers approved by the Ministry of Tourism for promotion of domestic tourism. This can include travel agents, tour operators, tourist transport operators, hoteliers, B&B units, home-stays, motels, guest houses, tented accommodation, standalone restaurants, convention centres and online aggregators. Upper ceiling for this support is Rs 1,35,000 per trip including GST.

Sharing news about a new cruise brand, Jurgen Bailom, President & CEO, Cordelia Cruises, says, “I am excited to share news of the launch of luxury cruise brand Cordelia Cruises with its first ship The Empress that has a capacity of 2,000 individuals. It was earlier owned by Royal Caribbean. We are working on adding a second ship to the line.” Waterways Leisure Tourism had recently bought over the brand Jalesh Cruises.

Revealing details of new agent engagements after its Fantasy Cricket League, Hasan Patel, Director, Tripjack, says, “We have introduced two more campaigns: Hotel Booking Bonanza and Weekend Deals on tripjack.com. The first is a sale-based incentive scheme where travel agents can win Amazon vouchers for making hotel bookings. Weekend Deals are special deals for popular domestic hotels in India. It allows agents to make good recommendations regarding deals to their clients and assisting them in making a holiday decision. We are getting a good response for these campaigns.”

After nine long months, South Tourism, a unit of Cholan Tours, welcomed five French tourists at Chennai airport for a 10-day trip to Kochi. The incoming tourists were provided with a six-seater Maharaja Tempo 2020 vehicle, considered the first to be fitted with a UV-light steriliser to ensure safety and hygiene. South Tourism claims to already have more than 500 bookings in the month of December.

The Globus family of brands introduced a unique concept to appreciate and get inspired by the heroes of the tourism industry through its industry-first ‘The SuperHeroes Campaign’. It was a fun way to interact and hear the stories, anecdotes, as well as personal motivations of all those who finally link their respective brands with the end customer. Entries were open to all and were submitted over an exclusive social media portal in audio and video formats. The choice of the winners was completely neutral and based on open voting from the industry’s workforce. In an event held virtually, the winners were felicitated with an appreciation certificate and prize vouchers. They were also invited live to give an acceptance speech where they were encouraged to share their personal pursuits and winning experiences. The categories were: SuperHero of the Campaign, Industry Favourite SuperHero and Jury’s Special Mention SuperHero. Varesh Chopra, Regional Director, Globus family of brands – India, Middle East & South Asia, says, “Our aim was to generate and spread cheer and positivity amongst our travel trade partners during the current times. I am confident that we at the Globus family have achieved this. We have got so much appreciation from participants that we may make this an annual event.” The winners are: Prajakta Kaul (Crossworld Holidays, Mumbai, India) – The Superhero Of The Campaign Mithuna Nair (Thomas Cook, Pune, India) – The Industry’s Favorite Superhero Shamara Vandersay (Acorn Travels, Colombo, Srilanka) – The Jury’s Special Mention  Superhero  

As part of its Secure Himalaya project, Global Environment Facility (GEF), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC); and UNDP India have developed first-ever Virtual Reality experiences of Snow Leopards for increased awareness and conservation in high-altitude Himalayas.