Category Archives: Agents

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation in association with Vidarbha Economic Development Council will be hosting ‘Maharashtra Food Festival’. The six-day festival will be held from December 6, 2016 to December 11, 2016 at the South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur. The first three days will showcase cultural performances followed by a khadi fashion show to promote the use of khadi material. Madan Yerawar, Hon’ble State Tourism Minister, Government of Maharashtra stated, “The local cuisine of the state is the greatest indicator of the traditions of Maharashtra. Maharashtrian food has created benchmarks all over the world with certain dishes being specialties of the regions or communities. Nagpur is a major and third most populated city of the state of Maharashtra in India and is famous for its culture, cuisine and oranges. This six-day festival will not only boost tourism in the state but will also highlight various facets of the city and will also push local economy.”

RezLive.com, a product of Travel Designer Group, appointed Continental Travel Group as its exclusive General Sales Agent (GSA) for Kenya. With the launch of Kenya office, RezLive.com is slowly and steadily increasing its foot prints in the Africa region and is looking very competitive. Jaal Shah, Group Managing Director of RezLive.com, said, “Our presence in Kenya will strengthen our reach in Africa market and will boost trade from that region. So, this region will contribute to a greater extent to our overall business and will help us to reach out to more travel partners.Wherein Continental Travel Group, which has its roots in the Kenyan Travel Industry for over a decade now, has been offering best deals to its clients, be it domestic or international. By partnering with Continental Travel Group and the experience they bring to the table, will help us to mutually accelerate our success in this market.”

Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) will inaugurate its Rajasthan Chapter in Jaipur on December 10. Mahender Singh, Director, K K Holidays N Vacations, has been appointed the Chairperson, informed P. P. Khanna, President, ADTOI at the General House Meeting of the association. He said, “This is being coordinated with India Travel Mart-Jaipur 2016 which is being held from December 9-11. The ADTOI website is under construction and we will be launching the same around next month in order to improve connectivity between association members, the Ministry of Tourism and state tourism bodies. We are also in talks with various state tourism bodies to organise specialised programs for the members and are trying to reach out to the remotest corners of places like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to introduce our members to newer destinations and allow them to sell the products better.” Akshay Kumar, President, Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) was also present at the meeting. Khanna informed, “We are trying to collaborate with various associations in order to explore sectors that have not been focused upon till now like adventure travel”. He also added that that the association was joined with 30 members during Sept-Nov and more members are being enlisted in the organisation.

FCM Travel Solutions launched FCM 360, a new product suite for customers which delivers an all-encompassing travel experience. FCM 360 consists of three categories of products and services falling under: ‘FCM 360 technology’, ‘FCM 360 travel’ and ‘FCM 360 services’. The program provides real solutions for travellers, travel bookers and organisations designed to meet every need throughout the travel buying process. Introducing the product suite, Global General Manager for FCM Travel Solutions Marcus Eklund said that FCM 360 was born to demonstrate the total approach FCM take when developing and managing client travel programs. “Within FCM 360 we offer a wide range of specialised travel services and technology solutions which drives transformation of our clients’ business travel programs,” said Marcus. “In most markets we offer a complete suite of products and services ranging from our own exclusive travel product, best-in-class technology tools, specialised services and partnerships with leading travel service providers, which demonstrates our holistic approach to travel management.”

Karan Anand, Head (Relationship), Cox & Kings, has been nominated by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India to the National Tourism Advisory Council for a period of three years. The Council will act as a ‘Think Tank’ and advise the government on policy matters relating to tourism in the country. The committee comprises luminaries from the central government and the private sector. Anand will continue to carry out his responsibilities at Cox & Kings.

Thomas Cook India has opened a new Gold Circle Partner outlet in Bikaner. The Thomas Cook Gold Circle Partner programme is an exclusive partner programme for tour operators and travel agents in India that helps in increasing the brand’s presence and reach across the country. With this programme, the Gold Circle Partner reaps benefits of a brand association with Thomas Cook, along with knowledge sharing, training and expertise to manage a travel business. In addition, a Gold Circle Partner is empowered to provide customers with a wide range of travel and financial products & services, including sales & marketing support for customer retention and further new business development, thereby enabling them to reach out to a larger customer base. Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head Leisure Travel & MICE at Thomas Cook India Limited said, “We have observed that India’s Tier II and III markets exhibit immense potential for growth and we want to be a catalyst in this key opportunity. Bikaner is a ]new market for our travel and travel related businesses and we believe that the city offers tremendous potential to cater to a diversity of retail consumers such as business families, government employees, and business and leisure travelers. Our newly opened outlet in Bikaner is located in a well-known commercial hub- right in the heart of the market.” With this new Bikaner outlet, Thomas Cook India’s network in Rajasthan extends to 10 locations across the state, offering its customers easy access via 2 owned branches in Jaipur and Udaipur and 8 Gold Circle Partner outlets (3 in Jaipur, and one each a Kota, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Alwar and now in Bikaner).

Cox & Kings marked Children’s day by granting wishes of over 100 children with life-threatening illnesses at a fun- filled event, organised by Cox & Kings Foundation and Make a Wish Foundation. Cox & Kings planned the celebration across cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. Karan Anand, Head, Relationships, Cox & Kings said, “The Cox & Kings foundation is committed to help bring positivity and joy into the lives of many children every year. Today, as the nation celebrates Children’s Day, this is our effort to reduce the pains and struggles of children with life-threatening illnesses and fill them with happiness and enjoyment to make them feel better” More than 150 employees of Cox & Kings across cities celebrated Children’s day with the kids. Describing the event, Deepak Bhatia, CEO, Make A Wish Foundation said “it is our endeavour to make this a special day for our children and we partnered with Cox & Kings who supported us and all our children had a very good time.’’ Different wishes of Bicycles, TV, Remote control cars, Mobiles, Laptops etc. were fulfilled across India.

In an emergency meeting last night, the government has extended payments in demonetized 500 and 1,000 currency notes at all utilities and ASI monuments till November 24, as confirmed by Pronab Sarkar President, IATO. Earlier, based on the advice of Ministry of Finance, the Director General of ASI had issued orders for accepting demonetized 500 and 1000 currency notes till the midnight of November 11, 2016, for entry tickets to centrally protected monuments.

Holidays By Sahibji has introduced a new online venture www.travkart.com which is launched to promote international and domestic destinations, packages, sightseeing, excursions and different products online. Travkart.com is unique in its features and is complete online and offline travel management solutions to both B2B and B2C clients for all specialised fixed departures to destinations around the world. Some of the main services include: Fixed departure packages including Air and Non – Air packages to Indian & International destinations, ranging from the shortest possible tour itineraries to long vacations, thus making travel easily accessible & feasible for everyone, Domestic & International Hotel bookings, Cruise Holidays, Special Theme holidays, Day Trips / Weekend Getaways and MICE: Special group rates for Meetings, Incentives, Conference, Exhibitions, Leisure or Training programme on all Domestic and International destinations.

Rajan Sehgal, Chairman, TAAI Northern Chapter, feels that for the next few months, it will be a big problem for domestic tourism as people use cash transactions for everything from staying, to eating and sight-seeing. “Foreign tourists also are facing a challenge in paying for basic needs like food as well as reports have also come from many places about people being denied entry in the monuments as they do not have the required cash. Foreign tourists who are in the middle of their journey in India and have already exchanged money, have no idea what they need to do with the cash they have as most of it is in denominations of 1000 and 500. Another big problem for us is that all the embassies and VFS centres do not take cheques or credit cards. They only take demand drafts, which is a longer process or they accept cash, which is posing as a big problem today. We are in talks with them and hoping for a positive outcome.”