Category Archives: Agents

Under the direction of government authorities of the State of Qatar, entry to Qatar is temporarily suspended as of 9 March 2020 for all those travelling from the following countries: Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria and Thailand. This decision comes as a preventive measure due to the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) worldwide. It affects all individuals intending to enter from these countries, including visas upon arrival, those with a residence or work permit, and temporary visitors. Issue: stopovers The safety, security and good health of our passengers, employees, and the wider community in Qatar is our highest priority. Qatar Airways is working closely with global and national authorities to implement the latest advice and guidance on COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and operate our services accordingly. Due to the rise on Coronavirus cases around the world, we are placing a temporary hold on stopover services in Doha for the purpose of connection, booked through our partner and subsidiary, Discover Qatar, or booked directly through qatarairways.com. Passengers with onward connections will not be permitted to leave Hamad International Airport (HIA). It is with regret that we must inform our valued customers that all current stopover bookings will therefore be cancelled. A full refund will be offered, with support offered to make alternative travel plans with Qatar Airways.  

Modi Ji… have you really understood the problems of our travel industry? Time to dive into the problems and turbulences industry has faced in the last 15 Years. There is no doubt that this government is proactive and quick at decision making, Trying to bring in a positive change but things have certainly gone wrong somewhere for our already suffering travel industry especially for offline players. Perhaps this government hasn’t done deep research on this industry and taken one-sided decisions and damaged it more. You would ask How? Let’s look back and evaluate a bit. Abolishment of IATA commissions by most of the Airlines (2001Onwards) Travel agents were paid 9% commission till 2000. From 2001 the commission was reduced to 7%. In May 2005, the commission was reduced to 5%. In November same year, 16 airlines cut the commission to zero, a move followed by others. In December 2008, the commission was rolled back to 3% by Indian carriers Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, which is now defunct. Subsequently, others followed suit, and now airlines have again reduced it to 1%.  This was probably the first a big blow to our tourism industry as these commissions were a major source of their incomes. Information Source: Economic Times http://bit.ly/39ELDtF OTA & Other Intermediaries predatory pricing, w major disruptor (2006 Onwards) Biggest change, biggest disruption. The Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) have been one major disruptor to online distribution but other intermediaries have also come along and have further impacted the industry, such as Google, Facebook, Trip Advisor, metasearch sites and Airbnb. Tourism business which was synonyms to service-oriented experience has now become a commodity. Even the hoteliers are presented with …

Tourism New Zealand welcomes Indians with its new campaign creative and announces the expansion of tourism industry partnership for quicker visitor visa application processing. Inspired by the fact that New Zealand is one of the first places to see the sunlight of a new day, Tourism New Zealand, as part of its 100% Pure Welcome – 100% Pure New Zealand, has released a content series with ‘Good Morning World’ messages shared by locals welcoming visitors from their favourite spots across the country. The campaign showcases what makes New Zealand unique as a holiday destination – the warm and friendly people, stunning landscapes and variety of things to do. In order to support this, a trade webinar is being hosted on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 1430hrs to help increase the travel agents’ destination knowledge of New Zealand.

A fraction of the travel fraternity has come together to create awareness about the implementation of tax collection at source (TCS) on outbound travel as proposed in the financial bill 2020 being implemented from 1st April. Upset that this proposal will have a negative impact on the agents, the additional tax will be passed on to the clients, thus making packages sold by travel companies in India more expensive. An OTA registered outside India, foreign hotels or tour operators do not levy this tax. Indian travellers will consequently seek to book directly with foreign offices. The industry players are voicing their concern over different social media platforms while industry associations are making representations to the concerned government departments.

Travel agents can get upto Rs 2000 as commission and Rs 2000 as credits in their TUI B2B portal on a minimum sale of Rs 10,000. Login to TUI travel.in, or email to b2bholiday@tui.in or call 1800111884. The offer is valid for the first 100 customers, terms and conditions apply. TUI offers Maldives for Rs 47,599 per person on twin sharing basis. Al if you register with TUI, you are assured Rs 5000, credits and also a chance to win free ALEXA.

Online travel aggregator, MakeMyTrip has announced the expansion of its existing Franchise Program where it is looking for new strategic partners. Interested people can call on 7838166660 or email at Franchiseenquiry@makemytrip.com The company is calling all enterprising business-owners and entrepreneurs interested in nurturing a sustainable, profitable business and who can associate with MakeMyTrip and take benefits of attractive commissions, online booking tool with live inventory for instant quotations, training, post-sales, visa and operational support.

The Globus family of brands has instituted a travel policy which states that they are proactively suspending the operation of all China itineraries – and those vacations that include stops in China – through April 30, 2020. Travellers affected by these cancellations have been informed in order to adjust their travel plans. The step has been taken in response to COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent Health Ministry warnings to avoid all travel to China. As an added precaution for the health and safety of all of its guests, anyone who has travelled from/visited or transited through China, Macau, or Hong Kong, within the 21 days prior to the start of their vacation will be restricted on Globus family tours. Additionally, some governments have implemented wider restrictions that limit the arrival of travellers who have travelled from/visited or transited through countries beyond those currently within the Globus policy above. If they have recently travelled overseas, it is recommended that travellers check the current travel policy of their final destinations. The Globus family of brands continues to monitor the situation closely to determine if additional modifications and updates are needed in accordance with the Indian and international travel advisements and policies. Therefore, Globus is offering an interim policy for its travellers and agents to adjust travel plans and help alleviate immediate concerns and related penalties. At this time, all of its tours are operating as scheduled with the exception of mainland China. Further updates are available on the websites – CosmosVacations.in; GlobusJourneys.in

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) together with 3 travel partners (Resorts World Sentosa, Dream Cruises and Royal Caribbean International / TIRUN Travel Marketing) took part in a trade engagement event organised by Sheeraz Tours in Lucknow on February, 26. The session was held in Hotel Hilton Garden and was well attended by more than 100 tour operators and agencies from in and around the city. Leveraging on Sheeraz Tours’ strength as a leading player in Uttar Pradesh on both b2c and b2b fronts, the event enabled STB and its partners an effective platform to reach out to and build connections with the local travel trade partners and providing them with an update on their respective product offerings. This was all about the new product updates and also about the speculation for coronavirus which is going in the mind of tourists travelling abroad, Raymond Lim, Area Director, Singapore Tourism Board, India has gave the presentation along with Dhirti Kapoor. Ms Diksha Batra, Vice President- Sales, Dream Cruises, Pradeep Israni-Senior Manager, Resort World Sentosa and Midhat Hussain, Head North India, Royal Caribbean Cruise were also part of the event. Apart from giving the product information for 2020, they also guided the travel agents on how clear the myth of COVID-19 from the client’s mind and what safety measures are being taken to fight the virus. S.M.A.Sheeraz, MD, Sheeraz Tours said that the session like this was required to boost the enthusiasm among the II-tier and III-tier city travel agents of Uttar Pradesh and he is working to give the best exposures for the outbound tourism in the state. Hina Sheeraz, Director-Sales, Sheeraz Tours was also present at the event as she coordinated …

Ahead of ‘The Great India Road Show’ by TravelBullz in Delhi, KD Singh, Founder & President, TravelBullz said that they are coming up with three new destinations in 2020. He adds, “We have just gone live with Dubai. We have come up with a product which takes Dubai to the next level as far as the experience is concerned. For instance, with us, clients get a complimentary one-hour stretch limo ride in Dubai. Coming up in March 2020 are two more new products that we will be offering to the industry – Singapore and Bali. We have already established our Singapore office. This will be followed by Bali over the next couple of weeks.” He further informed that the roadshow will be an annual event where hotels across the UAE, Thailand, Macau, Singapore, Bali, etc will showcase their products.

Upset by the recent proposal by the IT department to impose 5% TCS on overseas remittance as well as sale of overseas tour package, the travel trade has united to file online petitions on the PMO website urging the government to withdraw the same, claims Pradeep Saboo, Partner, Guideline Travels LLP. He said that he realised there was an urgent need to represent the travel trade to the government on this issue. “Even though I am not part of any trade association, I wanted to bring the industry together in some small way. I have started encouraging travel agents and tour operators like me to go on the PMO grievance website and post their contact details along with the message for withdrawing TCS.” The link for this is https://pmopg.gov.in/pmocitizen/Grievancepmo.aspx where the agent will need to fill in the contact details and put in their suggestion. To help with this, Saboo has also created a ready message that they can copy-paste in the feedback box. He started this on Friday, February 14, 2020 and more than 5,000 individuals signed up for this within the first 48 hours. Saboo pleads, “Please spare two minutes to make a difference to our trade which is facing a very difficult time. This will also affect those who sell cruises.” Saboo adds that he will arrange a meeting between the various trade associations and the travel agents and tour operators soon, post which they will look to send a delegation to meet the PMO or the Finance Ministry.