Billion Dollar News Capsules

Abacus, recently announced its new tie up with Net Trans to offer travel agencies a total solution for the collection; recovery and reconciliation of hotel commissions that may see travel agencies increase their revenues from hotel commissions between 30-50 per cent within a year. By partnering Net Trans, Abacus will help travel agencies outsource this task to a professional company with the expertise and market knowledge to methodically follow up with the hotels. With this system in place, travel agencies have the peace of mind to devote their time and energy on providing superior travel experiences to their customers and boosting their bottom line.

Atout France, France tourism development agency, launched its first French Specialist training sessions in six major cities in July 2010 to widen the knowledge of Indian travel agents about France as a tourist destination. The training programme conducted by Atout France in association with Amadeus India, also had four partners on board including Air France, Rail Europe, Accor Hospitality and the Rhône Alpes Regional Tourist Board.

Abacus, a leading provider of travel solutions and services, has announced its partnership with ACE Travel Insurance to distribute insurance products to all Abacus-connected travel agents. During the first phase, travel agents across the Asia region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China and Thailand will be able to access the content via Abacus’ fully integrated travel insurance booking solution, Abacus TravelSecure. In the second phase, the insurance product will be available to other Asia Pacific markets as well.

American travel and tourism products organized an interactive travel trade seminar ‘Destination USA 2010: Travel Trade Seminar’ on July 7th, 2010 at the Marriott Courtyard in Ahmedabad in an effort to showcase the United States of America as a top notch tourist destination. The seminar witnessed informative presentations by NYC & Company – the official marketing, tourism and partnership organization for the City of New York, Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Disney Cruise Lines Continental airlines, Globus – Cosmos family of brands and Marriott International.

Abacus, Asia’s leading provider of travel solutions and services, had announced the launch of the enhanced Abacus TicketingExpress, an automated pricing and ticketing solution that allows travel agencies to manage pricing and ticket issuance more efficiently.

ASTA released the results of its 2009 Global Distribution System (GDS) Report. A major trend in GDS contracts, the report found, is the movement of agencies away from fixed-rate based contracts to “no-minimum” and productivity-based contracts, allowing agencies greater flexibility in how and when they use their GDS for booking. The report is the only one of its kind that specifically examines GDS usage, contracts and distribution trends from the agencies' point of view and takes a close look at the reasons agencies use GDSs.

Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, announced record performance of its airline IT business and strategy highlights for 2010. Amadeus’ airline IT division has seen a strong uptake of its flagship solution, the Altéa Suite, which enables airlines to seamlessly manage their customers from their shopping experience to check-in. Over the course of 2009, Amadeus’ data centre processed 238 million passengers boarded from airlines using Altéa, 23% more than in the previous year. This represents 11% of the world’s air traffic .

Abacus, the leading GDS provider, has recently unveiled the latest version of Abacus Whiz in India, with an objective to provide travel agencies with greater automation and efficiencies in work processes. According to the company sources, Abacus Whiz is a Windows-based system that gives travel consultants easy access to Abacus’ GDS and other travel content. The new version of Abacus Whiz consists of new features such as the enhanced re-issue mask that automates re-pricing and calculates the difference in fares and taxes automatically.

ASTA announced the names of featured debaters and discussion leaders for the 2010 Retail Travel Leadership Summit (Sept. 13, 8:00 a.m.-11 a.m.). The summit will be held at this year’s THETRADESHOW (Orlando, Sept. 12-14). The exclusive audience of senior level executives, select media and industry representatives will hear debates on such topics as whether cross-selling enriches or harms a business, the employee model versus the independent contractor business model and what the impact of airline unbundling will be on the future of travel distribution. “This year’s roster of panelists, in addition to the controversial subject matter, will no doubt lead to a lively debate,” said Chris Russo, ASTA president and chair. “This group of experienced travel professionals will shed light on some of the industry’s most challenging issues. I, for one, am looking forward to learning more about each of these issues.”

ASTA has come out in strong support of the announcement by iTrek—the Australian travel insurance provider that had launched a much-decried ‘Travel Agents Are Dead’ film contest—that it would stop its negative marketing campaign..

Andhra Pradesh has launched an Approach Paper for rural tourism to educate tour operators and travel agents so as to enable them to market rural tourism products most effectively. Further, for promotion of rural tourism and marketing it both at the domestic and international level, the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) will take initiatives at the centre to have better inter-ministerial coordination.

Amadeus and Iberia, the leading airline in Spain and the European-Latin American market, have agreed to extend their full content agreement until 2014. The agreement guarantees travel agents worldwide access to the entire range of Iberia content through Amadeus.

Amadeus has recently announced the launch of the Amadeus Ticket Changer. According to Ankur Bhatia, managing director, Amadeus India, Amadeus Ticket Changer is a multi-carrier international solution that gives customers a flexibility and reactivity to all their itinerary change needs.

Abacus International has announced the introductions of four innovative solutions - ButterFly, Web Office, Bargain Finder Max and eServices in Taiwan to give Abacus-connected agencies a head start in the recovering travel industry.

American Express Business Travel announced the results of its 2009 European Barometer, during its 19th Espace Voyages Professionnels (EVP) in Paris, the leading business travel event in Europe. The Barometer highlights the impact of the global economic crisis has had on business travel expenditure, revealing an 18% fall in budgets reported on average. Sixty-six percent of companies report a reduction (-31%) of their travel budgets, 23% have witnessed no change and a mere 11% have noted an increase (of +23%).

Accor, Vietnam’s largest international hotel operator, has announced the development of the Novotel Saigon Centre. The 350 room hotel is to be built in the city centre in District 1 and is scheduled to open in 2012.

ADTOI (Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India) has decided to theme its forthcoming convention as domestic tourism – foundation of incredible India. The convention is scheduled to be held from March 19-20 at Ashok hotel in New Delhi. Subhash Verma, vice-president, ADTOI has been appointed as the convention chairman.

ASTA announced the release of a research report with the National Association of Career Travel Agents (NACTA), examining the ins and outs of the independent travel agency market. Among its findings, the 2009 NACTA Independent Agents Report shows several shifts in the independent agent population, namely an increasing number of independent agents who work out of their home, a figure which has grown from 77.9 percent in 2006 in to 85.1 percent in 2009.

ASTA is praising the U.S. House of Representatives for passing a bill to accelerate the implementation of earlier legislation to protect consumers from abusive and misleading credit card policies. The bill, H.R. 3639, the Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act of 2009, would move up the effective date of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act from Feb. 10, 2010, to Dec. 1, 2009. President Obama signed the original legislation into law on May 22, 2009. The earlier Credit CARD Act contains a host of reforms to credit card lending practices, including new disclosure requirements for fees and account terms; a ban on retroactive rate increases; and new rules concerning promotional rates.

ASTA is working with the Weather Channel to spread travel tips and advice to an even wider audience of consumers. Visitors to the Weather.com site looking for sage advice on a holiday travel will now be able to read articles from ASTA’s consumer Web site, TravelSense.org, on such subjects as Road Tips for Road Trips, 10 Winter & Holiday Travel Tips to Melt Your Worries Away and Happy Holiday Travel with Kids in Tow.

American Express has announced the launch of the Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express, a new Charge Card for U.S.-based consumers that provides generous rewards on airfare, gas and grocery purchases through the Membership Rewards program. Offering a simple 3-2-1 rewards structure, the Premier Rewards Gold Card gives Card members the opportunity to earn triple Membership Rewards points on airfare purchases, double points on gas and grocery purchases, and one point for all other purchases. Card members can also earn 15,000 bonus points when they spend $30,000 on the Card per calendar year, an average of $2,500 per month. The new Card is available for an annual fee of $175, which is waived for new Card members the first year.

Akbartravelsonline.com announced the integration of Air Asia’s website to their travel portal. Akbar Travels Online has 55 IATA approved branches operating in India. The online travel portal has over 7,000 travel agents registered as travel partners. Air Asia that operates daily flights twice from Kuala Lumpur to Trichy in Tamil Nadu connects India to leading cities in the Far East. Air Asia is starting flights to Cochin, and Trivandrum and Kolkata by mid-November, 2009. All major cities in India will be added to their growing network in the near future. Akbartravelsonline.com is the first travel portal in India to be integrated with Air Asia’s website. This connectivity will now help them to bring affordable low fares available on Air Asia’s network live on akbartravelsonline.com portal.

ASTA announced that it has released its annual Supplier-Travel Agent Marketing Report. Among the findings was the fact that the majority of agencies (69.4%) do not provide incentives to front-line agents for booking with preferred suppliers, the expectation being that travel agents will do what is best for the client and use preferred vendors when appropriate. Those agencies that do provide incentives either give a percentage of the commission (57.7%) to the agent, a FAM trip (27.9%), or some combination of other bonus types. “This year has reinforced in all of us the importance of strong business partnerships and relationships built on proven reputation,” said Chris Russo, ASTA president and chair. “Research reports such as this and others from ASTA allow travel agents and suppliers to learn how to best maximize resources and leverage partnerships to mutual advantage.”

ASTA claims victory in its efforts to block recent amendments to the Florida Sellers of Travel Law, as a federal judge in Miami ruled that the new restrictions are likely to be declared unconstitutional and barred the state from enforcing them.

Arzoo.com launched its Pune sales office. This is the fifth sales office of Arzoo.com. Located at NIBM road, Pune will offer complete travel experience to their customers. The sales office in Pune will mainly focus on the B- and C-class cities in Maharashtra.

Arzoo.com, the only Travel Portal who has fully automated and robust mechanism for its Preferred Sales Agents (PSAs) has bagged an award for 'Best New Travel Product' for its PSA module at the recently held IITM Exhibition in Mumbai.

Amadeus and TAM have announced a ten-year technology partnership, to equip TAM with a new-generation passenger service system. Amadeus will replace multiple legacy applications currently used by TAM, with a single integrated platform based on the Amadeus Altéa Customer Management Solution. “TAM has grown rapidly in the past few years, especially in our international business”, says TAM Vice President Commercial and Planning, Paulo Castello Branco. “We need a technology solution that is flexible and scalable, to support our plans for future expansion.”

ASTA announce that building upon the success of last year’s joint Corporate Advisory Council and Premium Member Business Summit, Marriott is generously hosting and sponsoring the next meeting (Feb. 10-11, 2010). Continental Airlines also will be a sponsor, as well as Amadeus, AVIS Budget, Enterprise Holdings, GetThere and Travel Insured International. The event will be held at one of Marriott’s newest properties, the JW Marriott at San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa, and will be exclusive to ASTA Premium Members. This is the industry’s premier gathering of travel agency executives. “

ASTA and Best Western have partnered to bolster social media efforts to recruit more young professionals into the travel industry. ASTA will launch its Interactive Agency Web Apps Forum (Apps Forum) later this year with sponsorship support from Best Western. Arzoo.com, one of the leading travel portals in India, has launched Arzoo Franchisee Associate Program (AFAP) that will enable young aspiring Entrepreneurs to be associated with Premium Arzoo Brand image & earn handsome returns.

Arzoo.com, one of the leading travel portals in India, announced the launch of “Arzoo Travel Training Institute” (ATTI) in franchise arrangement with the ‘Ashok Institute of Hospitality & Tourism Management’ (AIH&TM), an ISO 9001-2000 certified Institute of the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), a Govt. of India Undertaking.

Abacus International has reported that the booking tool used by travel agents to make one in every two airline bookings in the region has been upgraded to boost ancillary revenues for travel agents and increase productivity.

ASTA’s 2008 Travel Agency Service Fee Report, found that although 89 percent of all travel agencies report collecting service fees—down from 2006–almost half the leisure-based agencies surveyed indicated that they operate on a commission-only model for leisure travel services.

ASTA recently unveiled its Seller of Travel Legislation Study, designed to provide Premium Members with the resources they need to comprehend and comply with laws in 17 states, including the District of Columbia, that regulate the sale of travel. These laws typically impose stern compliance requirements, including registration, licensing and bonding measures, on travel agents.

Amadeus has signed a five-year full content agreement with the SAS Group, guaranteeing its travel agents access to the full range of fares and inventory of SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Widerøe, Blue1 and Estonian Air.

Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) that represents some of Britain’s best specialist tour operators, has selected Cochin as the venue for its annual conference that will be held from November 18-22, 2009.

Amadeus, has signed a five year full content agreement with the SAS Group, guaranteeing its travel agents access to the full range of fares and inventory of SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Widerøe, Blue1 and Estonian Air. The agreement ensures that the airlines’ schedules, fares, last seat availability and associated inventory available through Amadeus will be the same as through the airlines’ other sales channels worldwide.

Accor, the fastest growing international hotel operator in India, reaffirmed its commitment and confidence in the growing Indian tourism sector, in announcing a strategic hotel development - ibis New Delhi, within Delhi International Airport “Aerocity”. The site was won by Accor’s joint venture for ibis hotels for the Indian sub-continent – InterGlobe Hotels, in a bidding process recently conducted by the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL).

AirAsia is abolishing the administration fee from its fare structure. This presents further real savings to AirAsia guests as they now only have to fork out the seat fare and airport tax. With the aim of further stimulating travel and tourism in Malaysia and the region.'No Admin Fee' as it is aptly called, has come into effect for bookings made for all AirAsia and AirAsia X flights from 24th June 2009.

ASTA's Tour Operator Program (TOP) looking to increase revenue need look no further for insight and guidance than ASTA's newest Webinar, ASTA & PhoCusWright's U.S. Packaged Travel Landscape 2006-2010 :Critical Insights on the Distribution of Tours, Packages and Groups.
Amadeus, has announced the successful deployment of the Amadeus e-Retail solution for China Southern Airlines’ international outbound bookings. Travellers in China are now able to book tickets to China Southern’s global destinations via the China Southern website (www.cs-air.com).

ASTA announce the line-up for its second annual Retail Travel Leadership Summit (RTLS). The event, which will be held will be held during the THETRADESHOW in Las Vegas on Sept. 14 , will examine the financial dynamics of the cruise lines, data privacy in the travel industry and pay-for-content, with a special look at the controversial topic of airlines charging travel agents for fare and schedule access in their GDSs.

Australia Tourism will host the India Mega Famil Workshop (IMFW) in August 2009. It has invited 100 travel agents, who are Indian Aussie Specialists, to come to Gold Coast Australia and mingle with 70 Australian vendors during a six-day event.

Amadeus has signed a major agreement with the leading online travel company, Yatra.com, to distribute its hotel content on Amadeus’ Global Distribution System (GDS). As a result, for the first time, more than 100,000 travel agencies using the Amadeus GDS will be able to offer travellers a choice of over 900 one to three-star and independent hotels in India. Demand for mid-range and independent hotels is growing as travellers look for more budget-friendly options in today’s economic climate.

Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) recently announced its plan to open five more chapters across the country. This decision came after the first General Assembly Meeting in New Delhi. ADTOI’s 7th executive council came into being in April. According to Rakesh Lamba, president, ADTOI, “We plan to open chapters in the North-East, Gujarat, Maharashtra, possibly Rajasthan and another chapter in a state where there is a significant presence of domestic tour operators. We have set ourselves a target of 1,500 members from the current 400 within the tenure of present committee which ends in April 2011.

ASTA released its landmark study, the U.S. Packaged Travel Landscape 2006-2010. Commissioned by ASTA and conducted by PhoCusWright, one of the country's leading travel industry research firms, it is the only industry study to examine the intricate relationship between tour operators and travel agents. Among the key findings was the fact that travel agents accounted for 69 percent of tour operator sales in 2008 and that more than a third of tour operators expect their distribution through travel agent to increase in the future.

ASTA is announce its first Virtual Business Summit, geared to helping its core membership–travel agents–utilize the many resources at their disposal to create successful agencies and strong brands in a challenging economic climate. Exclusively for ASTA members.

American Express and Plaza Premium has announced the launch of a new membersonly lounge for American Express Platinum Card members at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. The American Express Members Lounge, is a private lounge reserved for select American Express Cardmembers. The lounge overlooks the Domestic wing of Terminal 1 and is conveniently located immediately to the right of the security gate.

Abu Dhabi wins multiple awards at the World Travel Awards Middle East Gala Ceremony. The travel, tourism, and hospitality industry’s most coveted international recognition, the World Travel Awards, held its Middle East gala ceremony in Dubai. The event was graced by a number of senior professionals from the travel, tourism, and hospitality trade at a ceremony that was packed with award winners, nominees, and press.

ASTA and the Interactive Travel Services Association (ITSA) filed objections to the tentative decision of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to grant sweeping antitrust immunity (ATI) to the members of the Star Alliance (United, Air Canada, Lufthansa) and Continental Airlines and released a new economic analysis of ATI's effect on air travel distribution by noted economist Prof. David Sibley. "To protect the traveling public," the travel agencies today urged the DOT "to impose a limited carve-out to prevent collusion and the exercise of market power by the Star carriers in the distribution of air travel services."

American Express Business Travel has announced Small Meetings eXpert, a first of its kind online marketplace reinventing the way users plan and book meetings with fewer than 50 attendees. This fully automated solution drives much needed control to what is considered one of the last areas of unmanaged T&E spending.

Abacus International has launched three new 'orchestrated web services' on Abacus WebConnect that enable travel agencies to achieve faster customer response time and improved cost efficiencies on their websites.

AirPlus International, an award-winning business travel payment provider, has launched the UK edition of the 2008 AirPlus International Travel Management Study.

American Express is introducing several new options within the Membership Rewards program that offer practical rewards for these tough economic times. The newly added reward offerings allow Cardmembers to save their cash while redeeming points for gas cards; household appliances, such as washers, dryers and dishwashers; and gift cards at an expanded list of casual dining restaurants and broader range of retailers.

Arzoo.com has launched Arzoo Franchisee Associate Program (AFAP), to enable entrepreneurs and travel agents to be associated with Premium Arzoo Brand and earn handsome revenues.

Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, has announced that the number of properties in its Global Distribution System (GDS) has reached 80,000, providing a vast choice for travel agents and greater visibility for the participating hotels. Overall hotel bookings made through the Amadeus GDS during the first nine months of 2008 rose by 7.4% compared to the same period in 2007, generating close to 1.7 bn Euros for hotels using the system.

Away Resorts Thailand, one of the four brands of Astudo Hotel and Resort Management, has announced the launch of the “Experience Real Thailand” at their Away Tusita Resort in Chumphon, located on the beautiful unspoiled beach of Had Arunothai in one of the most unique provinces in Thailand.

Airnetz Aviation Pvt Ltd is revolutionizing the already growing yacht market in India with the launch of its online yachtz charter service, www.yachtnetz.com

Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC) reveal that the foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) are up by 20 per cent for the year 2009 at 414 thousand mark over and above the 345 thousand in 2008.

BBC World News announces Travel India, a six-part series of journeys to India's spiritual sites, places of scenic beauty, urban business centres and underdeveloped rural areas. Presented by India's popular cricketer presenter, Harsha Bhogle, the new series showcases contemporary India.

Bhaskar Plaza, Hyderabad has signed a management contract with Berggruen Hotels to help them upgrade and modify the existing property of 46 rooms according to international standards and complete the second tower for an 82 room hotel. Bhaskar Plaza.

Carlson Hotels to open 16 properties in tier-II and III cities in India this year. The global hotel group has chalked out massive expansion plans in India. The hospitality major is targetting to have 125 hotels in its India portfolio by 2014, out of which 16 hotels will be launched in India this year.

Canadian Tourism Commission has signed leading Bollywood star Akshay Kumar as its Ambassador for India. Kumar will leverage his celebrity status in India to promote Canada as a premier four-season destination in his new role as the Canadian Tourism Commission’s (CTC) Ambassador for India. He will be CTC’s Ambassador for India until summer 2012.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), a global leader specializing in business travel management, has signed a memorandum of   understanding (MOU) to explore the outsourcing of some of its mid- and back-office transaction technologies to Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) and Travelport have confirmed that they are on track to completing a large-scale migration of CWT India’s GDS business to the Galileo platform. The conversion from CWT India’s current GDS provider to Travelport’s Galileo system marks an extension of the long-standing relationship between the two international organisations.

Carlson Hotels Worldwide, one of the world’s leading hotel companies, has signed an agreement to increase its stake in RHW Hotel Management Services (RHW) from 13 per cent to 87 per cent. RHW is the hotel management and consultancy services company which has successfully managed Carlson-branded hotels in India since 1998.

Choice Hotels International (CHI) has acquired the remaining 60 per cent ownership interest in Choice Hospitality India. CHI now plans to focus extensive development resources on growing its presence in India, which currently stands at 28 hotels. Vilas Pawar remains chief executive officer for Choice Hospitality India, who will now report to Mark Pearce, vice-president, international operations for Choice Hotels International.

Cornerstone Information Systems, a technology and professional services company in the travel sector, has announced the release of a new application platform, Travets. Nineteen travel management companies and corporations are currently evaluating and testing 11 new Travets applications that will allow them to better manage their travel procurement and operational objectives.

Clarks Inn Group of Hotels announced the opening of its Clarke Inn branded property which is third in Delhi. The all executive 30-room property, equipped with three-star facilities, is located at Kailash Colony near Nehru Place in South Delhi.

Choice Hotels International, the global hotel group behind the Comfort, Quality, Clarion and Sleep Inn brands and one of the largest and most successful lodging franchisors in the world,  announced that it had added more than 1.75 million new members to its Choice Privileges rewards programme this year. This brings the loyalty programme's global membership to over 9.3 million members, a 75% increase in enrollment over 2008.

Canadian Tourism Commission members and their representative office in India ,the Consul General of Canada, Mumbai as well as the cream of the country’s travel community and media celebrated the opening of the new office in Mumbai. The music-filled debut is only the beginning of a partnership that promises to boost the number of Indian visitors to this vast untrammelled land.

Charson Advisory Services has added another dimension to its destination marketing efforts by acquiring membership of the prestigious Lotus Tourism Communication Network (www.lotus-network.com).

clickair is investing more in the business traveller. And with a 42% increase in revenue from this sector expected in 2009, Spain's leading low fares airline announced the launch of a brand new internet portal, clickair professional, pledging to make ticket prices for business fares 16.5% lower than the market average.www.clickair.com/professional is specifically designed for companies and travel agents.

Choice Hotels India and Peninsula Hotels announced the signup of Quality Inn The Mayflower in Tuticorin under a franchise agreement. Quality Inn The Mayflower, with 51 rooms, offers contemporary guest rooms, state-of-the-art conference and banquet facilities with two banquet halls that can accommodate upto 300 guests.

Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) opened its representative office in India to develop Canada as an important source market for tourism. The CTC has appointed Buzz Travel Marketing India as its Indian representative for all its marketing and promotional activities.

Cox and Kings in a joint venture with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) launched the first pan-India super-luxury train the Maharajas’ Express that will begin operations from January 9, 2010. The JV company, Royale Indian Rail Tours that will be operating and managing the luxury train, has started accepting bookings for journeys starting post January 9.

Choice Hotels India, announced the opening of its property, ‘Comfort Inn GSK’, at Albert Road, Amritsar. A 40-key property, ‘Comfort Inn GSK’ is built in contemporary style and will offer modern amenities to ensure pleasant stay for travellers. Managed by Choice Hospitality India Ltd, this hotel is the first property of Choice in Punjab. It is also the first internationally branded hotel in Amritsar.

Canadian Tourism Commission has launched an online training programme for Canada specialist agents. The programme, which is still on level 1, provides an introduction to Canada.

Clarks Inn Group of Hotels has joined with PAV Realty, a joint venture company of Paramount and Ajnara Group of Companies, to manage its upcoming five-star property in Orbit Plaza at Crossing Republic in the National Capital Region.

Cyprus Tourism Organisation will inject up to EUR18m (about $25m) to support scheduled services to Larnaca or Paphos International Airports. The part investment scheme, the Air Route Development Support Scheme (ARDSS), which will be given over a three-year period, will cover start-up and marketing costs.

China National Tourist Office (CNTO), New Delhi and Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), India jointly organised a business lunch at Le Meridien hotel, New Delhi, marking the beginning of the upcoming holiday season. His Excellency Zhang Yan, ambassador of China and Sujit Banerjee, secretary tourism, government of India, were the main guests at the function.

Concept Hospitality (CHL), Mumbai based hotel management company has merged with Beacon Hotels (BHL), another Mumbai based hotel management company set-up in 2006 and headed by Manoj Bhatia. The merged entity, now CHL, is headed by Param Kannampilly as its executive chairman whereas Bhatia has taken over as the managing director.

Delhi Tourism is in the process of developing a state-of-art web portal to cater to the needs of all the tourists. The portal will be backed by a round-the-clock call center to facilitate a memorable stay. Delhi Tourism had floated a tender for the creation of the web portal on design, built, own, operate and transfer (DBOOT) basis.

Delta Hotels and Resorts has announced the official opening of the Delta Sault Ste. Marie Waterfront Hotel and Conference Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The property underwent an extensive $6-million redevelopment of the former hotel site making it the city’s first upscale, full service, four-star hotel.

Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has made available 1,800 free visas for TAAI delegates who will be traveling to participate in TAAI’s 58th annual convention & exhibition to be held in Dubai from September 29 to October 1.

Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) recently announced the performance results of the hotel industry in 2008, according to which, the Indian arrivals to Dubai witnessed an outstanding number of 493,318 in 2008, posting a record growth rate of 20 per cent as compared to 2007. There was an 8.3 per cent increase in the number of hotel guests in 2008 as compared to the previous year. Dubai hotels and hotel apartments played host to 7,531,299 guests as against 6,951,798 in 2007. The guest nights increased by 9.2 per cent in 2008 to touch 22,421,067. The number of hotels and hotel apartments stood at 493, an increase of 11 per cent over the previous year. The average length of stay touched 2.98 as compared to 7.3 in 2007.

Dukes Retreat, (India) has signed a management contract with Berggruen Hotels to help them modify to the subsequent level of hospitality business. The Dukes Retreat is a premier resort located at a prime location in Khandala with great facilities and a breathtaking view that is best in Khandala and Lonavala.

Etihad Guest, the award-winning loyalty program from Etihad Airways, has announced a new partnership with Marriott Vacation Club (MVC), adding to the extensive range of benefits already available to its 850,000-plus members. Etihad Guest members attending MVC group presentations to learn about Marriott properties during 2010, which are being held at a variety of locations across the Middle East and Europe, will earn 10,000 guest miles. Members will earn an additional guest mile for each dollar they spend on holiday ownership purchases from MVC.

Etihad Guest, the award-winning loyalty program from Etihad Airways, has announced a new partnership with Marriott Vacation Club (MVC), adding to the extensive range of benefits already available to its 850,000-plus members. Etihad Guest members attending MVC group presentations will earn 10,000 guest miles. Members will earn an additional guest mile for each dollar they spend on holiday ownership purchases from MVC.

Etihad Holidays has launched three new brochures for 2010, promoting holiday destinations to Abu Dhabi and across the UAE, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, North America, Australia and Africa.The new range of brochures features new holidays destinations in Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Japan, Sri Lanka, Melbourne and Chicago. Also included are holiday offers to 72 destinations in 22 countries across the globe, including a range of offers to more than 104 hotels in Asia and in Australia; 78 hotels in the Middle East and Africa; and 89 hotels in Europe and North America.

Etihad Holidays has announced a new cooperative agreement with Tourism Malaysia to promote holiday packages to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi and Kota. Etihad Airways would offer travellers a range of value-for-money holiday packages to popular destinations in Malaysia.

Ecotourism Society of India (ESOI) will organise two more workshops on Environment Laws & Sustainable Tourism in partnership with WWF-India. The two-day workshops, which are being co-sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism and PATA India Chapter, will be conducted in February at Amritsar and in March, at Kochi.

Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. company, has launched the Egencia Global Alliance to expand its network of strategic partnerships with leading local travel management companies (TMCs) and provide further global support to clients around the world. With points of sale in 15 countries, Egencia will now also provide services in Argentina, Hungary, Russia, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Uruguay. This announcement is the next step in a global expansion strategy with a focus on delivering first-class corporate travel services to major International markets.

Etihad Holidays, a division of Etihad airways, has announced a new agreement and close cooperation with the Tourism Board in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to promote holidays in Amman, Aqaba, the Dead Sea and Petra. Peter Baumgartner, Chief Commercial Officer of Etihad, welcomed the agreement with the Jordan Tourism Board to promote the destination.

Etihad Guest, the award-winning loyalty programme from Etihad Airways, has announced another exciting new hotel partner to boost the extensive benefits already available to its half-a-million-plus members - an agreement with the leading international hotel group, Swiss-Belhotel International. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Swiss-Belhotel International is a rapidly expanding hospitality group with more than 30 hotels located throughout Asia Pacific, Australia, South East Asia, China and the Middle East and with plans to nearly double that number by 2012. Etihad Guest members can now earn 500 Guest Miles per qualifying stay at any Swiss-Belhotel International hotel. Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ chief commercial officer, said: “Etihad Airways award-winning loyalty programme, Etihad Guest, prides itself on offering its members one of the most comprehensive travel benefits propositions available within the industry. It’s very exciting to see another excellent partner like Swiss-Belhotel join the Etihad Guest programme to further grow its attractiveness.”

Etihad Guest, the award-winning loyalty programme from Etihad Airways, has announced an exciting new hotel partner to boost the extensive benefits already available to its half-a-million-plus members - an agreement with the Australian-based hotel group, Rendezvous Hotels and Resorts International (RHI).

Etihad Holidays has launched two new summer programmes for 2009, one for the Middle East, Asia and Australia and another for Europe, North America and Africa. The move to publish two outbound programmes takes into account Etihad Airways’ increased flight network and contains new concepts such as “signature” hotels in many of the destinations and the opportunity to upgrade flights and holiday accommodation.

French nationals  has registered a double-digit growth over the last year. Data from the India Tourism Overseas Office in Paris, France shows the number of visas issued to French nationals has climbed up this year, till May. In the January-May period, January witnessed the maximum number of French tourists in India. The number of visas issued to French tourists rose to 19,254 in January, 2010 compared to 15,161 in the year-ago period, registering a sharp rise of 27 per cent.

Fcm Travel Solutions is launching Corporate Traveller, a new business brand dedicated to the SME market. From February 2010 all FCm’s existing SME clients – worth £150 million in the UK – and any new SME business are handled by the specialist Corporate Traveller division. Meanwhile FCm will focus purely on TMS business.

Fern - an Ecotel hotel opened in Jaipur. Being the first 5-star Ecotel in Rajasthan, the hotel is strategically located on Tonk Road, 4 km away from domestic and international airports. The 85-room hotel, managed by Concept Hospitality, is expected to be fully operational by mid-September.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has announced its second project in India, Fairmont Jaipur. Scheduled to open in 2010, the hotel, located in Rajasthan in the northwest of India, joins Fairmont Hyderabad as the luxury hotel brand's first forays into the Indian market. The property is being developed by Capricorn Hospitality Investments India, Limited and its local partner.

GSM Australia, Voyager Travel, has announced its acquisition of Lets Go Australia, an established travel company servicing both the corporate and luxury leisure travel sectors for the West Australian and Japanese speaking market. This acquisition gives the existing Lets Go Australia’s corporate client base access to Voyager Travel’s extensive experience as well as the very latest technologies which are locally supported by Voyager’s own in-house team. It will also give Voyager specialized Japan travel services such as fluent Japanese speaking consultants who are destination experts.

Goa Travel and Tourism Association has appealed to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to re-look into the new visa regime that imposes checks on the foreign tourist visa loaded with the facility of multiple entry. The appeal was made taking into account that new visa regime can adversely impact the flow of foreign tourist arrivals to Goa.

GetThere launched a new packaged offering of collaboration options for growing North American companies with 500 to 5,000 employees and less than $5 million in annual travel expenses.

GlobalStar Travel Management – the worldwide travel management company known for its multinational travel management solutions has announced the recruitment of three new partners in their network; Travel Point LLC in Oman, Dadabhai Travel in Bahrain and Shakh Travel in Kazakhstan. With these latest additions GlobalStar continues growing its presence in the Middle East region after the joining of Royal Manta Travel from Egypt in September this year.

Goa Tourism is giving high priority to the security and safety of tourism in the state. The state tourism has taken appropriate steps for the safety and security of tourists. The Goa government is also taking steps for the safety of beach across its tourist coastal belt. Safety equipments are being installed and bathing zone has been demarcated. Monitoring of coastal area has been increased.

GlobalStar welcomes its newest members Chambers Travel Management representing the United Kingdom and Royal Manta Travel representing Egypt. Chambers Travel Management is a leading privately owned travel management company, with UK offices in London and Glasgow. Royal Manta represents the Egyptian market with 5 offices throughout the country with a focus on corporate services in travel.

GlobalStar welcomes its newest members Chambers Travel Management representing the United Kingdom and Royal Manta Travel representing Egypt. Chambers Travel Management is a leading privately owned travel management company, with UK offices in London and Glasgow. Royal Manta represents the Egyptian market with 5 offices throughout the country with a focus on corporate services in travel.

Go India Journey recently opened its office in the US, which will cater to the travel and tours industry in Canada, Mexico and the US. This office will handle Go India Journey’s business-to-business clients who will now have a local office to communicate with. The Boston based office will be a Go India Journey full-service office and will allow ground operators to work directly with travel agents and tour operators by packaging and operating tours to India.

GDS recently announced a new multi-year full content agreement with Virgin Atlantic, giving all Galileo and Worldspan connected travel agents access to the airline’s full published fares and inventory. The global agreement, which takes immediate effect, also includes access to the airline’s lowest web fares.

Galileo in India will provide budget hotel, B&B and guesthouse content in India for travel agents. The services known as Galileo Budget Hotels (GBH) will link over 10,000 hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses by 2012. According to company sources, Galileo has a market leadership in domestic and international star category and luxury hotels with over 83,000 hotels available to 12,000 travel agency branches and terminals.

Great India Travel Bazaar culminated with the promise of the event travelling to some other state in 2010. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Jyotsana Suri, chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee, indicated the possibility of the mart travelling to a new destination next year. However the event will again be back to Jaipur in 2011. GITB, initially conceived as a biannual event is likely to become an annual fixture considering the stupendous response the event has been able to generate within the first two years of its inception. The event has also been able to successfully fill in the gap caused by the absence of a purely B2B buyers meet sellers event to promote inbound tourism. Organised by FICCI, the event is slated to be hosted in Rajasthan in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 jointly with the state government.

Galileo, and Mumbai-based Akbar Travels have signed an agreement recently to distribute, manage and book travel management services for the customers of Akbar Travels in India. This tie-up enables Akbar Travels to use Galileo as its preferred technology partner for booking and servicing its customers. Galileo is also the exclusive GDS for Akbar Travel’s Middle East operations.

Garber Fcm Travel Solutions has completed certification procedures for PCI compliance, providing customers with enhanced security protection to prevent theft of sensitive data and credit card information.

Galileo in India has entered into an exclusive agreement with Cox & Kings to distribute, manage and book travel management services for the latter company's customers in India. Effective April 1, 2009 Galileo has partnered with Cox & Kings to promote both air and non air contents.

Groundservices.ca a reputed and leading global online travel service & distribution solution company has appointed AVIAREPS as their General Sales Agent in India. As part of the mandate AVIAREPS will be responsible for all sales marketing and PR activities in India on behalf of Groundservices.ca and Abreub2b.com. Groundservices.ca has introduced the revolutionary concept of 'Assist Cards' especially designed for Indian tourists. Assist Card will help travellers have a hassle free travel experience, with travel assistance for tourist in over 170 countries.

HRG, the corporate travel services company, will manage all business travel for Grant Thornton, a leading financial and business adviser which has offices in 30 locations nationwide and more than 25,000 individual and 15,000 corporate and institutional clients.

Hilton Worldwide announced that it is actively exploring new Conrad hotel opportunities in Shanghai.  In addition to currently operating the award-winning Conrad Hong Kong, Hilton Worldwide is preparing for the opening of highly anticipated Conrad hotels in other parts of the Greater China region, including in Beijing, Dalian and Sanya. There are currently 14 Conrad Hotels and Resorts under development around the world.

Hilton Worldwide recently opened doors of the first Hilton Garden Inn property in the Asia Pacific region in New Delhi, India, marking the latest addition to the brand’s portfolio of nearly 500 hotels worldwide. Located 30 minutes drive from New Delhi’s international airport at DLF Place Mall in Saket, Hilton Garden Inn New Delhi/ Saket features 114 guest rooms equipped with a range of lifestyle amenities.

Indian Tourist arrivals in Canada Register Impressive Growth. With 17,277 tourists visiting Canada in May 2010. India ranked second in the total number of Asian arrivals, only marginally below Japan which notched up 17,896 arrivals over the same period. The only other country with larger numbers was Australia which in effect means that India ranked as the sixth largest source market in the world (outside USA) for Canada during this particular month. These figures are according to the latest tourist arrival statistics released by the International Travel Survey. The numbers for May 2010 also reflect the fact that arrivals from India registered an impressive growth of 21.1% over the same period of the previous year. In fact the total number for the months of January to May 2010 was 44,943, up from 39,438 of the corresponding months in 2009 – a double digit growth of 13.96%.

InterGlobe and Accor have announced the establishment of an investment fund for a portfolio of hotel assets in India. According to this, an affiliate of Pacifica Partners (Pacifica) will take a significant stake of up to 36 per cent equity in the fund, subject to requisite regulatory approvals. Accor and InterGlobe will hold 32 per cent equity in the fund, each.

Indian Tourist Transporters Association (ITTA), national body of tourist transporters, which is recognised by the Ministry of Tourism, will hold the third ITTA convention on August 5.

Indian Travel Congress, the 59th Convention-cum- Exhibition of TAAI (Travel Agents Association of India) has been decided to be held at Phuket, Thailand. The convention is scheduled from September 17-19, 2010. According to the communiqué, issued by the TAAI office, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has expressed its fullest co-operation to TAAI for reposing its faith in selecting Phuket.

India registers a positive growth in foreign tourist arrivals in Apr-2010. Ministry of Tourism compiles monthly estimates of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) and Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) on the basis of data received from major airports. Following are the important highlights, as regards these two important indicators of tourism sector, for April 2010.Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs):• FTAs during the Month of April 2010 were 3.54 lakh as compared to FTAs of 3.48 lakh during the month of April 2009 and 3.61 lakh in April 2008.• There has been a growth of 1.7% in April 2010 over April 2009 as compared to a negative growth of 3.5% registered in April 2009 over April 2008.• Despite closure of airspace for more than a week in Europe due to volcanic eruption in Iceland, India registered a positive growth of 1.7% in FTAs in April 2010• Growth rate in FTAs during April 2010 (1.7%) is lower than that observed during March 2010 (12.9%).• FTAs during the period January-April 2010 were 19.18 lakh with a growth rate of 10.6%, as compared to the FTAs of 17.35 lakh and a negative growth rate of 11.7% during January-April 2009 over the corresponding period of 2008.

India has won the bid to host the PATA Annual Meeting 2011 in New Delhi, which was announced during the PATA Annual Meeting 2010, at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching, Malaysia. The opening event of the calendar year 2011 will provide a great opportunity to exhibit the state-of-the-art infrastructure, new hotel capacity and other major attractions of destination India post the Commonwealth Games. Ministry of Tourism will host a welcome dinner on September 17 at Macau to invite all PATA members to join the 2011 Mart in New Delhi.

India foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) during the month of March 2010 grew 12.9 per cent at 4.72 lakh as compared to 4.18 lakh during the month of March 2009. The FTAs during the period January-March 2010 were 15.63 lakh with a growth rate of 12.8 per cent, as compared to the FTAs of 13.86 lakh in January-March 2009. The Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) in US$ terms during the month of March 2010 was US$ 1209 million as compared to FEE of US$ 867 million in March 2009.

Indian Hotels Company has announced its plans to launch a new hotel in North-East India with the announcement of Vivanta by Taj - Guwahati, Assam. The announcement marks Taj’s foray into North-East region. The property will be located on a 4.5 acre site at G S Road in Guwahati. It will be the city’s first five-star hotel for a target clientele of business and leisure travellers.

India’s foreign tourist arrivals up by 16.4 per cent in January. The year 2010 has picked further momentum after having started on a bullish note, unlike the dismal start to year 2009.

International tourist arrivals for business, leisure and other purposes are estimated to have declined worldwide by 4% in 2009 to 880 million. This represents a slight improvement on the previous estimate as a result of the 2% upswing in the last quarter of 2009. In contrast, international tourist arrivals shrank by 10%, 7% and 2% in the first three quarters respectively. Asia and the Pacific and the Middle East led the recovery with growth already turning positive in both regions in the second half of 2009.

India foreign tourist arrival (FTAs) during the month of December 2009 was 6.46 lakh as compared to FTAs of 5.34 lakh in December 2008. The growth rate in FTAs in December 2009 over December 2008 is up by 21 per cent, which is highest positive growth registered in any month of 2009. In fact, with hand holding from the Ministry of Tourism, the inbound segment has registered better growth rate for 2009 at (-) 3.3 per cent vis-à-vis UNWTO’s projected growth rate of (-) 4-6 per cent for the world travel economy.

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) and Archeological Survey of India (ASI) have recently signed MoU for maintenance of public amenities at ASI protected monuments. A K Sinha, director (monuments) and Arjun Sharma, senior vice-president, IATO signed and exchanged the documents on behalf of ASI and IATO respectively in presence of Kumari Selja, Union minister of tourism; Sultan Ahmed, Union minister of state for tourism; Sujit Banerjee, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Jawahar Sircar, Secretary, Culture.

Indian Hotels Company has recently signed a management contract with SAIFCO Hill Crest Hotels for a property under Vivanta by Taj brand, marking its foray into Srinagar, in Jammu and Kashmir. Strategically located on a hill-top, the hotel location is 20 km from the new airport. The six-acre property, which will be named Vivanta by Taj – Srinagar, Kashmir will have 89 rooms with suites and guest rooms spread out in villas that will include a presidential suite and five suites.

India Government has decided to introduce visa-on-arrival scheme to five countries, which include Singapore, Finland, New Zealand, Luxemburg and Japan. Lately, Ministry of Tourism had taken up the issue of introducing visa-on-arrival scheme for tourists coming from those countries, which are potential source markets with no security concerns. Initially, the said initiative will be on pilot run basis for one year.

ITB World Travel Trends Report, commissioned by the world's leading travel trade show and compiled by the consultancy IPK International, a short to mid-term rise in the price of airline tickets is to be expected worldwide. Travellers will have to bear the cost of anticipated increases in taxes and charges by paying extra for tickets, according to the report.

India foreign tourist arrivals have touched 3.87 millions, which is an increase of 10.4 per cent over corresponding period of previous year. While the percentage increase in foreign tourist arrivals of 2007 over 2006 for the month of September was only 1.3 per cent, the increase in 2008 has been as high of 9.6 per cent.

Indian Ministry of Tourism has extended a grant of Rs 12 crore to Chandigarh under the central financial assistance scheme for upgradation of tourist facilities. D K Tiwari, managing director, Chandigarh Industrial and Chandigarh Tourism Corporation (CITCO) informed that CITCO has many ambitious plans such as to promote Chandigarh as the most preferred golf tourism hub to attract domestic as well as international tourists.

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) announced diversification of its hotel operations. A government of India undertaking, ITDC, under the Ashok Alliance Hotels scheme has forayed into hotel franchising business under Ashok brand for private as well as government hotels. As part of this initiative, ITDC has signed two privately-owned properties Hotel Welcome City Beautiful in Chandigarh and Riverfront Hotel in Surat.

Indian ministry of tourism reveal further signs of revival in the number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs), which grew by 0.6 per cent at 4.33 lakh as compared to 4.29 lakh during July 2008. The June and July figures hint that the worst of global slowdown has passed and the industry will gradually chart a healthy recovery curve.

ITB Berlin campaign has been given a makeover in a development that chooses an unconventional approach to trade fair promotion. Using the slogan “Absolutely inspiring”, it presents images with an exciting visual impact that is both aesthetically pleasing and combined with a highly focused and emotive approach to its target group.

ITP - International Travel Partnership continues to expand in Europe with the addition of Amphitrion Holidays SA in Greece.

International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IH&RA) has announced its support for dotHOTEL, the company which will register ‘.hotel’ as a new top-level domain for the global hotel industry with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Hotels and the hotel industry worldwide will then be able to register their brands in an unambiguous and trusted namespace, such as international, domestic chains and independent hotels ‘.hotel’.

ITB Asia 2009 will continue its focus on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the travel and tourism industry by issuing a report on the responses by Asia-Pacific national tourism organisations (NTOs) to the challenges facing their respective SMEs.

International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IH&RA), based in Geneva, Switzerland announced a new partnership with Weather Decision Technologies (WDT) based in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, which provides for innovative online, television, and local marine weather products to be made available to the global hotel and restaurant industry.

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has decided to host its 25th annual convention from September 3-6. However, a decision with regard to the venue of the convention is still pending. Gour Kanjilal, executive director, IATO, said, “There have been instances in the past when convention of one association has coincided with the other or happened back to back. As associations like IATO, TAAI and TAFI have common members; it therefore becomes difficult for members to attend all the conventions. Keeping this in mind, we have gone ahead and announced the dates.”

International tourism demand has deteriorated further due to the impact of the global economic recession. International tourist arrivals declined at a rate of 8% between January and February this year, leaving the overall volume at the same level as recorded in 2007. At the same time, influenza A (H1N1) is starting to affect the sector. It’s impact is being closely monitored by UNWTO in close collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management Gwalior, an autonomous organisation of the ministry of tourism, is organised a national conference on Civil Aviation from January 17-18, 2009 at its campus in Govindpuri, Gwalior. The theme of the conference was Indian Civil Aviation Sector; Future Direction, where topics were taken up under three important tracks aviation, tourism and hospitality. The conference was designed for maximum interaction between the academicians and the practitioners of the travel trade.

Jet Airways has launched a joint promotion with Galileo and Worldspan where travel agents will be awarded for booking Jet Airways flights from now until October 15, 2010. Agents who successfully increase the number of segments booked on Jet Airways flights during the promotion period will be eligible for a lucky draw and will stand chance to win the grand prize- a Tata Nano car. Also, first 100 bookings will qualify for early bird prizes. Travelport’s Galileo and Worldspan global distribution systems (GDS) are officially distributed by ITQ and its affiliate Calleo Distribution Technologies in India.

Jharkhand tourism has laid out an elaborate plan to attract large numbers of inbound visitors by creating a blend of luxury near its key water bodies. Barely a few kilometers from the capital city Ranchi, Jharkhand has been blessed with numerous water bodies that are the best in the world. While the overall aim of gradually building resorts near all key water bodies, Jharkhand has Initially decided to develop 10 such resorts at key locations at an expense of about 2-2.5 crore on each project.

Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) has bestowed a Certificate of Appreciation on India Tourism (Tokyo) on February 17, 2010 for its very active promotion of tourism to India and great contribution to the Japanese market. It’s the first such occasion, when JATA has given such recognition to any tourism board.

Jordan has lifted visa restrictions on individual Indian nationals visiting the Kingdom as tourists. Last February, the Jordanian government had lifted visa restrictions on tourists carrying the Chinese and Romanian nationalities, who no more needed prior approval before travelling to Jordan. It also lifted similar restrictions on Indian tourists travelling to Jordan in groups and through a Jordanian travel agent.

J&K is the most preferred tourist destination in India and the Ministry of Tourism has not only been generous in granting funds, but has also increased implementation period of a project funded through central assistance. The ministry in the 11th plan has sanctioned tourism infrastructure projects amounting to Rs 130.98 crore in J&K, which includes financial support to 12 tourism development authorities. It has also increased the implementation period to 36 months for centrally funded projects in state keeping in mind the topography and difficult terrain of the region, as to enable smooth completion of many of these projects.

Jordan Tourism Board has appointed Celebrations! as its India representative. The India representative will be responsible for pursuing marketing activities for Jordan Tourism Board in India. They will also focus on organising familiarisation trips for trade professionals and roadshows across India. Flights between Amman and India are being operated by Emirates Airlines, Royal Jordanian, Gulf Air and Qatar Airways. Meanwhile, Jordan received 37,000 Indian visitors in 2008, according to statistics collected by Jordan Tourism Board.

JetPrivilege, has entered into a partnership with the Preferred Hotel Group™ , Harbour Plaza Hotels & Resorts, and WelcomHeritage-Palaces, Forts, Hotels and Resorts, three exclusive hotel groups with famed properties across India, Asia and the world.With the announcement of these partnerships, JetPrivilege will boost its list of hotel partners to 20.Preferred Hotel Group™ represents more than 700 of the world’s finest independent hotels and resorts in over 75 countries across five brands.

Jet Privilege has entered into a partnership with Seventymm, Carlson Hotels WorldWide, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts and Axis Bank. To enhance and offer a wide range of experiences through partner benefits to its members, JetPrivilege has partnered with Seventymm, making it their first entertainment partner, the first partnership of its kind in India.

Jewel Hospitality Group, a subsidiary of Psyche Hospitality Enterprises Ltd(PHEL), a Delhi based hospitality and tourism consultancy company, has rolled out luxury caravans to service certain select tourism circuits in Northern India.

Khiri Travel has announced twice-a-week guaranteed departures for four itineraries across Indochina: Bangkok to Saigon via Angkor Wat, Bangkok to Luang Prabang via either Luang Namtha or Vientiane, and Luang Prabang to Hanoi via the Plain of Jars. The trips require a minimum of two travellers.

Kempinski, Europe's oldest luxury hotel brand, will open the Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok in June. The luxury city resort with 303 rooms and suites is located adjacent to a royal palace in the centre of Bangkok.

Kerala Tourism is once again in the limelight. And this time it takes the credit for launching one of the biggest advertising campaigns at the national level, aimed to mesmerize the domestic tourists. And joining Kerala Tourism in this novel campaign is the Indian Railways, which has offered the exteriors of the coaches of the 'Rajadhani' train (2431 Nizamuddin-Thiruvananthapuram Express) to adorn the vinyl graphics highlighting a collage of images from God's Own Country. This advertising campaign by Kerala Tourism includes the spectacle of a huge canvas, depicting the states soulful natural beauty such as serene beaches, emerald backwaters, lush hill stations, exotic wildlife, coconut trees, houseboats, boat race and enchanting art forms.

Kerala government  has won the 'Best website' category award which went to the official website of Kerala Tourism - www.keralatourism.org. The website was adjudged the best in the category, considering its multiple online services for the travel community worldwide and in the process highlighting Kerala's potential and edge in the travel and tourism sector.

Kuoni Destination Management (KDM) has recently started new campaign to promote India as one of the most attractive and viable meetings, conferences and events destination. As part of the campaign, Kuoni has introduced a fifteen-page flyer, a dedicated website (www.kuonimice.in) and an events specialised division, offering exclusive information on meetings, conferences and other related travel solutions.

Kerala has tied up with Google to promote its tourism  through search and banner advertisements on the search engine. This is the first time a state tourism department is partnering with the global search engine for such an advertisement campaign.

Khiri Travel Group  launched Khiri Reach, a separate and permanent charitable wing of the group. Khiri Reach is dedicated to helping people across Indochina and Thailand in places where the tour operator visits. A new website, Khirireach.com, gives details the eight projects that are currently benefiting from Khiri Reach donations of practical gifts, expertise and money.

Kuoni has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of Maharashtra, represented by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) to promote tourism interests between the state and Switzerland. As part of the understanding, MTDC, representing government of Maharashtra, and Kuoni will explore ways to develop tourism from Switzerland to Maharashtra, and vice versa.

Kerala Tourism is the proud recipient of the 2009 PATA Gold Award in the Marketing – State/City Destination category. Kerala’s entry ‘Dream Season in God’s Own Country’ was judged ‘Best in Class’ from amongst 236 entries worldwide.

Kerala Tourism and Jet Airways recently announced the launch of 'Jet2Kerala', a new domestic travel initiative, to boost arrivals in the state. ‘Jet2Kerala’ offers a range of Kerala holiday options that includes air fares (travel by Jet) accommodation, from luxury to budget hotels and houseboats. The packages have been designed to cater across a range of price points.For agents the commission is available on the hotel component on the cost of package and not on the aviation component as the fares that are being offered as part of Jet2Kerala packages deal are competitive and lower than the existing fares. Jet Airways has also reserved some seats on its routes to various destinations in Kerala.

Kerala Tourism once again enhanced its presence in Germany by participating in the ITB 2009. The Kerala pavilion took the form of an exotic spice garden, showcasing the richness and natural beauty of Kerala with pepper vines, which readily caught the attention of visitors.

Kerala Tourism made its inaugural entry at the Moscow International Travel and Tourism (MITT) exhibition, which took place at the Russian capital Moscow. According to Secretary, Kerala Tourism, Dr. Venu V., “We need to have an active presence in markets that are showing strong potential. The global tourism sector is extremely competitive and MITT provided another platform to talk to a new market. We know that 2009 is going to be a tough year for our sector, hence it is vital that we continue to build relationships with our customers and develop new ones to ensure that Kerala is at the top of their minds once confidence returns.”

Komli Media (www.komli.com), India's leading digital advertising and technology company, has launched Tripraja (www.tripraja.com), India's first personalised travel referral website. Tripraja's sophisticated technology connects travellers with qualified & experienced Travel Specialists, including travel agents, tour operators, cruise operators, aggregators and hotels.

Keys Hotels, the brand from the Berggruen Hotels Private Limited. stable, a hotel venture backed by Berggruen Holdings Inc recently launched its new customer-focused, interactive website www.keyshotels.com. This interactive, user friendly website has been especially designed keeping the new age traveler in mind looking for a quick & hassle free hotel booking process.

Luxe Worldwide Hotels, a representation company of over 200 independently owned and operated hotels globally, has signed The Mark Boulevard in Bengaluru as its first member hotel in India. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Luxe with 13 offices worldwide provides its member hotels solution with a focus on the latest technologies and distribution strategies.

Lonely Planet content is now featured on SoutheastAsia.org, the new tourism website for the region created by the ASEAN Tourism Association.

Luxury Travel Expo, produced by Luxury Travel Advisor and Travel Agent magazine, and wholly owned by Questex Media, held their eleventh annual show from December 1-3, 2009 at MGM Grand Conference Center and the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Govt of India, is all set to finalise a strategic policy for the next five years, after elaborate brain storming sessions with all the stakeholders in the travel trade.

Macau received 25,631 visitors from India in May this year, registering an increase of 120.46 per cent compared to the same month of 2009 when it received 11626 visitors from India, according to the latest report of the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

Malaysian cuisine covers a wide, unique spectrum, thanks to the melting pot of cultures that make up its population. Malays, Thais, Chinese, Indians and a host of other ethnic groups from near and far have brought their specialities to the table, and the result is a country that is a foodie’s delight.

Malaysia has registered a robust 17 per cent growth in arrivals from India between January to May, 2010 over the same period last year. Malaysia received 550,000 and 590,000 Indian visitors in 2008 and 2009 respectively. The NTO is targetting 650,000 arrivals from India this year.

Malaysia Tourism Minister, YB Dato’ Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen  announced yet another exciting and innovative tourism product, the “Malaysia Contemporary Art Tourism 2010” (or MCAT 2010) Festival which aims at targeting more high-yield tourists to come to Malaysia.

Maharajas’ Express, a luxury train being operated by Royale Indian Rail Tours (RIRTL) and a joint venture between Cox and Kings (India) Ltd and Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), was flagged off recently from Kolkata by Mamata Banerjee, India’s Union railways minister. The luxury train has 23 coaches with a passenger capacity of 84.

Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) is once again sponsoring the 2010 PATA Gold Awards. These well-established awards are for industry stakeholders that have made outstanding contributions to the development and promotion of travel and tourism across the Asia Pacific region in a responsible and sustainable manner.

Mexico's tourism revenue fell a relatively modest 7.9% in November from the year-ago month, the Bank of Mexico said, an improvement for a sector that was hit simultaneously by the A/H1N1 influenza outbreak and the economic crisis.  Income from border crossings, tourists and cruise passengers totaled $928.3 million in November, compared with $1.01 billion in November 2008.

Marriott Hotel Twickenham London recently unveiled  six luxury suites with a bird’s eye view of the hallowed turf at Twickenham Stadium, the home of England Rugby. Those following their teams from Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa, France, Italy and Ireland to London will find the London Marriott Hotel Twickenham the ideal place to stay.

Marriott International recently opened North India’s first Courtyard by Marriott at Gurgaon in the NCR. Courtyard by Marriott, Gurgaon, a 198-key full service hotel is strategically located in close proximity of international and domestic airports and is within 15 minutes drive from Gurgaon’s major corporate and business hubs.

Marriott International Inc opened its second property, Courtyard by Marriott, Hyderabad, in India. The hotel is nestled on the banks of the Hussain Sagar Lake and is centrally located between Secunderabad-Hyderabad. The hotel offers 168 spacious rooms, state-of-the-art meeting facilities divided into seven zones comprising a sprawling 6,733 sq ft of space. 

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Bangkok's and Singapore Airlines were named the best in their sector in an annual Asian business travel survey that also revealed people had become more resigned to no-frills flights.

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and Kuoni Travel Group, Switzerland signed an MoU to promote tourism in both Maharashtra and Switzerland. Delegation of senior government officials led by Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh went to Zurich recently to initiate the process.

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) announced the first -of-its-kind international travel and tourism event Mumbai International Tourism Expo (MITE) 2010. This prestigious event is organized by the Conference and Exhibition Management Services Pte Ltd (CEMS) and CEMS (India) Exhibitions Private Limited with the support of various Indian tourism organizations. Set to be held at the Bombay Exhibition Center from January 7 to 9, 2010, MITE 2010 aims at providing an integrated business platform for local and international participants to showcase their products and services while creating an opportunity for them to meet the top decision makers of the industry.

Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited (MHRIL) a leisure hospitality provider offering quality family holidays, recently signed a five year strategic alliance agreement with the Government of Kerala for the marketing and promotion of Homestays within the State.

Minar Travels has been appointed general sales agent (GSA) for the Golden Chariot for Russia and CIS countries. Golden Chariot is a luxury train operated by Karnataka Tourism and runs between Karnataka and Goa.

Marriott International will open its first moderately-priced Courtyard branded hotel in Romania in 2011. The 187-room Courtyard by Marriott Bucharest will be located in the city center within walking distance of the award-winning JW Marriott Hotel Bucharest.

Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited ("MHRIL" is entering the capital market with an initial public offering of 92,65,275 equity shares of Rs. 10 each for cash at a price to be decided through a 100% book-building process (the "Issue"). The Company has filed a Red Herring Prospectus ("RHP") with the Registrar of Companies ("ROC").The Issue has been assigned 4 out of 5 IPO grading by Fitch Ratings India Private Limited reflecting 'above average fundamentals' of the Issue relative to other listed equity securities.

Madhya Pradesh recently celebrated ‘MP Tourism Day’. The initiative, started by state tourism department three years ago, serves as a platform to recognise and reward the contribution of various stakeholders including travel agents, tour operators, hotels, guides and MPTDC employees. The event also served as an opportunity for the state tourism officials to highlight its accomplishment over the last few years in the area of tourism and also lay down its plan for the forthcoming year. The Madhya Pradesh tourism officials chose the occasion to make some strong demonstration of the potential of tourism.

Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA),  announced its new destination marketing initiatives for India. MTPA has also increased its overall India market budget allocation for destination promotion and marketing. Mauritius will initiate joint marketing and destination branding, which will be specially customised for the Indian market target segment, viz honeymooners, leisure and family holiday makers. India is the 7th most prominent tourism source market for Mauritius and 43,911 Indian tourists visited the country in the year 2008. With an increased overall budget for the Indian market, the destination marketing initiatives for Mauritius will be driven by both product appeal and price, which is based on the new consumer branding of ‘Mauritius An Affordable dream’. Under this campaign, Mauritius Tourism along with its trade and hospitality partners will offer luxury holidays at “competitive price-proposition”.

MakeMyTrip.com has announced its exclusive tie-up with Amadeus for international air ticket booking by utilising the latter company's GDS platform. Previously MakeMyTrip was using the Amadeus system for the domestic air ticket booking.

Mandalay Garden has appointed Astudo Hotel and Resort Group, one of Thailand's leading hotel and resort management companies, to manage their luxury holiday residence, located on the beautiful north east coast of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand.

Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), Macau welcomed a record number of over 30 million visitors last year. MGTO will launch a series of promotional activities focussed on World Heritage to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of Macau SAR.

MTDC will promote eco-tourism in the Vidharba region of Maharashtra. This effort by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has come through because Vidarbha may prove to be a great attraction for tourists and there is a vast scope for expansion of forest tourism, jungle safari, jungle trekking, trekking and nature trail. Various projects planned are in district Nagpur with investment of Rs. 15.34 crore, district Gondia Rs. 14.47 crore, district Chandrapur and Gadchiroli Rs. 9.80 crore and district Amaravati and Akola Rs. 8.11 crore.

Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd, a leisure hospitality provider offering quality family holidays and part of the Mahindra Group of Companies has set a record amidst the slump period in the hospitality industry. In the month of December, the company's flagship brand, Club Mahindra has had average room occupancy of 89 per cent across all its resorts in the country. Club Mahindra has a total of 30 resorts nation-wide including 4 belonging to the Zest brand. This outstanding occupancy has been achieved in spite of two new resorts in relatively lesser known destinations - Ashthamudi (Kerala) and Kumbalgarh (Rajasthan). These destinations have also recorded decent occupancy levels and are fast on their way of becoming popular.

NYC & Company, the official marketing, tourism and partnership organization for the City of New York announced that 16 hotels in The Signature Collection, a group of New York City luxury hotels, will participate in the Third Night promotion this summer. The program gives visitors a complimentary third night at participating hotels after they book and pay for two consecutive nights upto September 5, 2010.

NYC & Company, the official marketing, tourism and partnership organization for the City of New York, announced that 15 hotels in the Signature Collection, a group of New York City's luxury hotels, will participate in the Signature Collection Third Night promotion this winter. The program gives visitors a complimentary third night at participating hotels after booking and paying for two consecutive nights up to February 28, 2010.

NYC & Company, New York City's marketing, tourism and partnership organization, announced dates for NYC Restaurant Week Winter 2010. The semiannual event will run from January 25-February 7, 2010, with the same prices charged since 2006.

NYC & Company CEO George Fertitta & Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced the opening of a new tourism and marketing office in India, the culmination of a two-year plan to strengthen the impact of the City's $30 billion travel and tourism industry. Travel to New York City from India grew by 47 percent last year to 157,000 visitors and generated an economic impact of $266 million.

Novotel Hyderabad Airport, Hyderabad's and India's second Novotel hotel owned by GMR Hyderabad International Airport opened its door. Situated just five minutes from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (Hyderabad's new international airport), the hotel offers 305 spaciously built rooms consisting of 11 luxurious suites, 53 Premier Rooms and 241 Superior Rooms built over five acres of landscaped area.

NYC & Company, the official marketing, tourism and partnership organization for the City of New York, announced that eight hotels in the Signature Collection, a group of 17 NYC luxury hotels, will participate in the Signature Collection Third Night(tm) promotion this summer. The program gives visitors a complimentary third night at participating hotels after booking and paying for two consecutive nights, between July 1 and September 7, 2009.

NYC & Company, the official marketing, tourism and partnership organization for the City of New York, announced that eight hotels in the Signature Collection, a group of 17 NYC luxury hotels, will participate in the Signature Collection Third Night™ promotion this northern summer. The program gives visitors a complimentary third night at participating hotels after booking and paying for two consecutive nights, between July 1 and September 7, 2009. Detailed booking information is available on NYC & Company's official tourism website at nycgo.com/thirdnight. 

Ovation Travel Group has launched three Business Travel Indexes. The Law Firm Business Travel Index, Financial Services Firm Business Travel Index, and Corporate Business Travel Index, each of which will be updated quarterly going forward, compare the past eight quarters travel patterns for each group.

Oberoi Group will open the Trident hotel in Bandra Kurla, Mumbai, on December 17. Barely 20 minutes from the airport, the hotel is located in the close proximity of leading financial institutions. The hotel offers 436 well-appointed guestrooms and suites, three restaurants, a live sushi bar and a wine tasting room. The extensive meeting and conference facilities at the hotel can accommodate up to 500 persons.

Orissa Tourism, India announces 'new initiatives' on infrastructure and marketing to promote Orissa as a preferred destination, Orissa Tourism has started special initiatives for the year 2009-10 to augment infrastructure facilities, introduced new initiatives and launch extensive marketing campaign at national and international level. As regard to infrastructure, priority is given to the development of road connectivity to strategic tourist locations and allied services which includes improvement in the tourist transport facilities by providing international standard luxury coaches and water transport facilities.

Orissa has launched a double-decker vessel for cruise service across the river Mahanadi. Debi Prasad Mishra, tourism minister, Orissa inaugurated the cruise vessel recently. The first-of-its-kind river cruise service in the state would enable people to experience the ethereal beauty of Mahanadi and its surroundings. Initially, the cruise vessel Swagatika, which can accommodate 80 people, will reach Dhabaleswar Island. The cruise service is a part of public-private-partnership (PPP) project under the Mahanadi Eco-Heritage Circuit. A similar cruise project on the Mahanadi is being undertaken to connect the river through Sonepur-Meramundali route via Tikarpada gorge.

PATA India Chapter is all set for PATA Travel Mart (PTM) in Macau this year. On September 17, the Ministry of Tourism will host welcome dinner for almost 1,000 delegates in Macau. “The programme for the welcome dinner has already been reviewed by Anand Kumar, Joint Secretary, MOT. There will be an audio-visual film on the historic areas of New Delhi followed by a cultural programme,” Kabir Vasudeva, executive director, PATA India Chapter informed.

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Travelmedia have partnered to produce and market a special PATA edition of ‘Travel and Tourism: Opening Doors for Your Future’. This is an interactive educational and motivational programme that introduces the travel and tourism industry as a serious, rewarding career track to beginners, students, or people who are entering the workforce.

PATA is seeking early confirmation of reform to the widely-criticised UK Air Passenger Duty from the new British coalition government. The Association is looking for action from the Philip Hammond, the new Secretary of State for Transport. Philip Hammond, appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron, is Conservative MP for the safe seat of Runnymede and Weybridge - a constituency located to the south west of London close to London Heathrow airport.With both coalition parties (Conservative and Liberal Democrats) promising reform in their respective election manifestos, PATA HQ in Bangkok is now liaising with members of the London-based PATA UK Chapter and other industry stakeholders on how best to ensure early delivery of these election promises.The Conservative Party made a clear pledge to 'reform Air Passenger Duty to encourage a switch to fuller and cleaner planes'. The Liberal Democrats stated that they will 'replace the per-passenger APD with a per-plane duty (PPD)'. The previous Labour government scheduled a further increase in UK Air Passenger Duty in November 2010.

PATA has established an independent committee to vet applications from Buyers seeking subsided registration and attendance at the Association’s 2010 Travel Mart in Macau SAR on 14-17 September. The committee comprises representatives from Asian Trails, Diethelm Travel, Accor Asia Pacific, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Hotel Equatorial Group, Guam Visitors Bureau, and Tour East – all well-established Seller companies and organisations familiar with the main purpose and benefits of the PATA Travel Mart.

PATA Chapter Awards recognise ‘Spirit’ and ‘Excellence’. The ‘incredible’ determination and resolve displayed by PATA Chapter members in India in the wake of the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai has been acknowledged with the ‘Spirit of PATA’ Award for 2010. The ‘Award of Excellence’ for 2010 goes to the PATA Chapter in Micronesia, recognising the intelligent use of social media and creative marketing to promote a new-look Micronesia brand.

Park Hotels recently announced the launch of the brand’s seventh property, marking its foray into the leisure segment. The Park Hotels has launched an eight-cabin luxury cruiser, Apsara alongside a 10 luxury room resort, The Park on Vembanad Lake. Akin to a floating boutique hotel, the eight-cabin cruiser takes visitors to the tranquil waters of Kerala’s Vembanad Lake. The 28m cruiser, built on two levels has a galley, saloon and dining area, in addition to a sundeck and panoramic forward seating area.

Pacific Asia Travel Association’s (PATA) China Office and Digital Marketing Inner Circle (DMIC) are together staging a seminar ‘Leveraging Social Media for Engaging Consumers’.

PATA website has a fresh new look to the. It’s the same URL (www.pata.org) but with much improved content and functionality. New features including blogs and Google maps; beefed-up sections for PATA Chapters, Events and Intelligence - and the Media Centre is designed to be much more user-friendly. 

PATA Chapters worldwide are being encouraged to lobby British Ambassadors and High Commissioners as part of the Association’s commitment to oppose further rises in the UK government’s Air Passenger Duty (APD).Chapters will reinforce PATA’s opposition to APD by highlighting the importance of travel and tourism to their own national and regional economies.

Park Hotels,  announced the launch of their first luxury lake cruiser in Kerala, ‘APSARA’ on December 28, 2010. Akin to a floating boutique hotel, the eight-cabin cruiser will take to the tranquil waters of Kerala’s Vembanad Lake and offer guests an unparalleled standard in luxury accommodation and backwaters experience. ‘The Park on Vembanad Lake’, a 10-room luxury resort will act as a docking station for the cruiser.

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) show that the numbers of international visitors to the Asia Pacific region grew by 2.2 percent year-on-year in October 2009, improving the overall position for the year (10 months) to just four percent down when compared with the same period in 2008.

Pacific Asia Travel Association welcomes and fully support the ‘Live the Deal’ climate change initiative announced by Professor Geoffrey Lipman on behalf of greenearth.travel - a policy think tank for ‘innovation and investment in smart, sustainable travel and tourism mobility and new climate profiles’.

PATA  chairman Mrs Phornsiri Manoharn has received an ‘Outstanding Person of the Year’ award from the National Identity Board in Thailand. Mrs Manoharn, who served the Tourism Authority of Thailand with distinction before retiring in March 2009, received the award from HRH Maha Chakri Sirindhorn during a ceremony Chitralada Palace in Bangkok.  Mrs Manoharn’s award reflected her outstanding work in the field of economic development.

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) show that the numbers of international visitors to the Asia Pacific region grew by 0.7 percent year-on-year in September 2009. Growth in arrivals for the region is still down by five percent year-on-year for the first nine months of 2009.Two sub-regions recorded positive growth for the month. International visitor arrivals to Southeast Asia grew by 14 percent while arrivals to the Pacific were up nine percent. The strong 25 percent growth in arrivals to Malaysia and the rebound in arrivals to Thailand (from a low base in September 2008) boosted overall arrivals growth into Southeast Asia. Arrivals to most destinations in the Pacific also increased compared to September 2008. Australia (+9 percent), New Zealand (+9 percent) and Hawaii (+8 percent) all showed positive trends.

Pegasus Solutions will power Aman Travels online hotel booking site www.lasthotelroom.com. Through Pegasus’ UltraDirect connection, lasthotelroom.com will now offer India’s US$ 8.2 billion travel market a direct and real-time access to more than 90,000 hotels worldwide. Earlier in 2009, Aman Travels became the official sales representative for Pegasus’ representation service, selling Utell’s more than 11,000 member hotels to local and regional travel agencies, and travel management companies.

PATA Exchange is scheduled in London for 15 March 2010. Organised by the UK Chapter of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, the PATA Exchange takes place immediately after ITB Berlin - when large numbers of delegates route through London on their way home.

Pacific Asia Travel Association has signed a four-party agreement to establish a permanent tourism research forum for the Asia Pacific region in Guilin, China (PRC). The agreement was struck in Guilin at the UNWTO/PATA Forum on ‘Tourism Trends and Outlook’. Signatories to the agreement are PATA CEO Greg Duffell, UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai, Mayor of Guilin Li Zhigang and Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) Director Kaye Chon.

PATA developed the Guide to Sustainable Tourism as part of an initiative of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and SNV Asia of the Netherlands who together have seen increasing demand for information on issues of corporate governance; social (as well as environmental) sustainability; climate change (including carbon finance, sustainable energy and environmental health and safety); and gender equality and empowerment. They identified the need to publish a best practice guide for hotels and operators in Asia Pacific, specifically outlining case studies and action recommendations around sustainable development (SD) business practices within the travel and tourism industry.

PATA has received important backing from two influential organisations for its 2010 Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart in Nepal. The Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are endorsing this important PATA event, taking place at the Soaltee Crowne Plaza in Kathmandu on 1-5 February 2010.

PATA Exchange is scheduled in London for 15 March 2010. Organised by the UK Chapter of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, the PATA Exchange takes place immediately after ITB Berlin - when large numbers of delegates route through London on their way home. This year’s inaugural event saw over 50 top Asia Pacific travel and tourism brands meet more than 120 UK agents and sellers. It attracted product, contract and reservations managers, hotel groups, destination management companies and national tourist organisations from across Asia, Australia and the Pacific. A similar delegate profile is expected next March.

Preferred Hotel Group has welcomed the acclaimed destination spa Ananda in the Himalayas and ISTA luxury business and leisure hotels in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Amritsar to its collection of over 650 hotels and resorts worldwide. Both the Ananda and ISTA brands are owned and managed by IHHR Hospitality Private Limited, founded in 1998.

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) indicate that the number of international tourist arrivals to Asia Pacific region fell by six per cent in January-June compared to the corresponding period in 2008. Recession continued to dampen the tourism demand while the month of May confirmed the swine flu outbreak. The travel and tourism sector in Asia Pacific immediately felt the impact with a steep 10 per cent decline in visitors’ turnout. However, there was a slight improvement in June. All five sub-regions of Asia Pacific region posted declines in visitor arrivals in the first half of 2009 with South Asia recording the largest fall at 8.1 per cent.

PATA members have been notified of an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) scheduled for Saturday 26 September 2009 in Hangzhou, China (PRC) in conjunction with the PATA Board of Directors’ meeting being held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Hangzhou from 25-27 September 2009.

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) announced the winners of the 2009 PATA Gold Awards, sponsored by the Macau Government Tourist Office. This year the awards recognise the achievements of 24 separate organisations and individuals.

Philippine Airlines and Travelport have signed a three year global marketing agreement that enables Galileo, Apollo and Worldspan connected travel agents to access automated market fares and take advantage of additional functionality until the end of 2011.

PATA has teamed up with the International Medical Travel Association (IMTA) to promote and develop healthcare travel and tourism across the Asia-Pacific region. The two associations have signed a MoU to collaborate in areas such as data and trends analysis for the healthcare travel sector as well as exploring opportunities for joint membership.

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is mulling restructuring by making significant structural changes in its organisational set-up. A new body (of much larger size in numbers), acting as a plenary council, will advise the Board on key issues. T Greg Duffell, PATA’s newly appointed president and CEO, has confirmed that the board has voted to reduce its size from 80 to 15 to deal with its day-to-day issue.

PATA has teamed up with the International Medical Travel Association (IMTA) to promote and develop healthcare travel and tourism across the region. The two associations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that seeks to collaborate in such areas as data and trends analysis for the healthcare travel sector as well as exploring opportunities for joint membership.

PATA calls for urgent review of UK 'travel tax' The British government must review as a matter of urgency its decision to increase air passenger duty. That's the view of the Pacific Asia Travel Association."It's no more than a swingeing, punitive tax on business and on families. Destinations across the Asia Pacific region are battling against the dramatic impacts of the global economic downturn. The UNWTO states, quite right, that travel and tourism can be an effective part of the G20 stimulus packages - and yet the British government sees fit to maintain its plan to impose these dramatic increases in departure tax," says President and CEO Greg Duffell. “What PM Gordon Brown giveth, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling taketh away.”

PATA Tourism Forecasts 2009-2011, suggest growth in international arrivals for many destinations across the region - despite the global economic downturn. The Forecasts indicate a very mixed bag of results with significant variations across Asia Pacific.

Pride Hotels India has found eRevMax's RTChannelManager to be the perfect solution for their online inventory distribution management. The channel management tool from RateTiger is already proven in Europe and the US and is now becoming recognized in India.

Pacific Asia Travel Writers Association honored Sri Lanka's veteran tourism personality Chairman of Sri Lanka Convention Bureau Prema Cooray with the 'Hall of Fame' award for his life time contribution to the promotion of Sri Lanka Tourism. The award was presented on 13th March at SAAL in Berlin Germany.

PATA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, has forged a partnership with OAG designed to further strengthen the work of the Association's Strategic Intelligence Centre (SIC). OAG (Official Airline Guide) is now PATA's 'preferred airline data supplier' and also becomes a corporate member of the Association. Information provided by OAG exclusively to PATA will add considerable weight to the Association's syndicated and custom research projects undertaken on behalf of its global membership. The three-year agreement, effective January 1st 2009, entitles PATA to real-time access to historic, current and future airline schedule data including point-to-point frequencies and seat capacities to/from specific geographic regions and jurisdictions.

PATA's Travel Monitor for the third quarter of 2008 reflects the growing impact of the global economic downturn on travel and tourism across the Asia Pacific region. But the Monitor, which analyses international arrivals figures obtained exclusively by PATA, also indicates cause for optimism in certain destinations. For Q3 2008, international arrivals in 35 destinations covered by the PATA Travel Monitor show a decrease of just one percent compared to the same three month period in 2007 while figures for the first nine months of 2008 show an increase of three percent over the same period.

Phillipines Department of Tourism(DoT), for the first time will organize a travel trade and tourism event called, 'Philindex' to strengthen networking specifically with the Indian trade.

Qatar’s tourism sector is expected to sustain its 6 per cent annual revenue growth rate in 2010, and will particularly continue to focus on inbound travel being generated by the rapidly expanding local meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) segment. The more than 180 major events scheduled in Qatar this year are expected to further increase demand for hotel rooms, mirroring the solid 25 per cent increase in room space recorded in 2009.

Royal Orchid Central Grazia-Navi Mumbai, a 70-room full-fledged business hotel is Royal Orchid Hotel’s first in Mumbai and fifth in India. ROHL plans to open two more properties in Mumbai by 2011, which include a 260-room property at Powai to be opened by the end of this year and another property in North Mumbai, which will be launched by 2011.

RADIUS has announced strategic additions to its industry-leading Global Hotel Program providing access to over 30,000 participating properties in 137 countries with a diverse range of accommodations and price points to meet the varied demands of today’s corporate travelers.

Religare Voyages, an integrated aviation and travel solutions company, showcased its new prized possession with Asia’s first Falcon 7X at India Aviation 2010 held at Hyderabad from March 3 -7, 2010. The Falcon 7X aircraft manufactured by French aircraft manufacturer Dassault was handed over to Religare Voyages at the India Aviation Show 2010.

Relais & Châteaux, announced its official India launch at a press briefing .  Two Indian properties from the SUJAN Luxury Hotels banner- Sher Bagh Ranthambore and The Serai, Jaisalmer were accepted as members of the much acclaimed Relais & Châteaux association in 2009 and 2010.

Royale Manor Hotel & Industries is an Ahmedabad-based hospitality company, established in 1991.They have a five-star hotel Gateway Ummed, consisting of 90 rooms, managed by the Taj Group .They are expanding the current hotel by 100 rooms whose work is in progress.  Royale Manor is launching a new project which is an energy sufficient five storied five-star hotel , near Ahmedabad airport, the first of its kind in Gujarat. The new eco friendly luxurious hotel, of 150 rooms,  is to be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore.

Regal Airport Hotel was awarded the Best Airport Hotel in the World for 2 consecutive years and the Best Airport Hotel in Asia-Pacific for 9 consecutive years, is within 2-minute stroll from the Hong Kong International Airport, one of Asia’s busiest terminal, specially designed with international business travellers in mind, featuring diversified facilities and services equivalent to a downtown business hotel.

Regal Hotels International has joined the EVA Air’  Frequent Flyer Programme – Evergreen Club. Members staying in any of the Regal Hotels will earn 500 miles per qualifying stay. To celebrate this new partnership, Regal Hotels International is offering double miles per qualifying stay for all Evergreen Club members until 28 February 2010.

Roots Corporation opened a new 128-room Hotel at Wakad in Pune. The property was inaugurated in the presence of Ashok Chavan, chief minister, Maharashtra, Ajoy Misra, director, Roots Corporation among others. This is Ginger’s second hotel in Pune.

Regal Airport Hotel has once again been awarded the "The Best Airport Hotel 2008 in Asia-Pacific" in the TTG Travel Awards 2008, organised by TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd. It is the fourth consecutive year that the Hotel has been honoured by such recognition by the publication.

Regal Airport Hotel has achieved two awards in the 2008 Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Awards and Business Traveller 2008 Awards respectively. Not only has the hotel won the Best Airport Hotel in Asia-Pacific for eight consecutive years, it has also received the prestigious honour of the Best Airport Hotel in the World, organised by the Business Traveller Asia-Pacific and UK Magazines.

Regal Hotels International Limited (Regal) and Bosideng Holdings Limited (Bosideng) entered into a hotel management agreement entrusting Regal to manage a five-star luxury property for Bosideng in Dezhou, Shandong Province, China. This management project signifies another major step forward for Regal in the continuing expansion of its hotel network in China. This five-star property, involving investment amount of over RMB400 million, will be named as Regal Kangbo Hotel. The hotel is now undergoing pre-opening preparatory works and scheduled to be opened in the third quarter of 2010.

RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has notified that the hotels being run by entrepreneurs themselves will no more be under the purview of real estate exposure for banks. This new relaxation enables availing of larger credits at better interest rates, which would help in lowering the overall cost of such hotel projects.

Rajasthan government, the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), are co-organising the third Great India Travel Bazaar (GITB) 2010, an international tourism mart from April 11-13 at B M Birla Convention Centre at Jaipur in Rajasthan.

Royal Orchid Hotels limited (ROHL), is now looking to increase its number of rooms by 400% in the next five years.

Regal Hotels International with its Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Ms Belinda Yeung, and its two quality hotels were honoured for the excellent qualities by presented with four prestigious awards in the 60 Splendor Years of China Hotel Industry Award Presentation Ceremony held in Guangzhou in early June. The Award Presentation Ceremony was part of the 9th China Hotel Forum & 2009 Annual Meeting of China Hotel Industry.

Reliance Money, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, announced its strategic business tie-up with India's largest travel company, Kuoni India.The tie-up was announced by Mr. Sudip Bandyopadhyay, CEO, Reliance Money.

Singapore welcomed 30.3 percent more visitors in May than the same month a year ago as the city-state's two new casinos and a long weekend for a Buddhist holiday helped draw in tourists. The Singapore Tourism Board said that 946,000 people visited the city-state in April-May, up from 939,000 in April and 726,000 in May 2009.The figure was the largest ever for the month of May and followed record highs for the months of December to April.

Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok, in Thailand, which opened 22 July, has launched a special opening rate of 7,900++ Baht (US$239++) per room per night for either single or double occupancy in its deluxe rooms.  The special rate is inclusive of unlimited in-room wireless internet service, soft drinks and juices from the mini-bar, which will be replenished daily, teas and coffees from the in-room coffee machine, and movies on request.

South African Tourism (SAT) will kickstart its destination training programme called ‘Learn South Africa’ targetted especially for the Indian trade to help the trade grow business. The unique programme designed to train the travel agents fraternity is exclusively designed by SAT for the India market, and will be available nationally starting July 2010. The programme will use audio-video tools by specially trained staff, helping them get better knowledge and understanding about South Africa as a destination and all its various tourist attractions.

Standard Online Tourism Architecture is a one-stop e-tourism platform for technology, marketing and innovation. It is already being used by over 16,000 travel operators. The SOTA platform was developed by Malaysia-based Creative Advances Technology, a leading provider of online tourism solutions and has been supported by several international travel organizations such as The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and ASEANTA (ASEAN Tourism Association). Rohizam Md Yusoff, CEO of Creative Advances Technology, said that travel agents can now use PayPal to receive online payments effortlessly and securely from customers anywhere in the world in 24 different currencies.

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority in 2010,  aims to welcome over 10,000 Indians on Ramayana Trail to Sri Lanka. Moreover, it has also set an ambitious plan to welcome 100,000 such Indian guests by 2016. To attain its ambition 2016, the tourism board has now spread its focus to promote Ramayana Trail from New Delhi to pan India basis.

SWISS customers travelling to the USA are now required to obtain electronic approval of their travel from the US authorities in advance of their flight. The new “ESTA” requirement enters immediate effect.

South African Tourism will organise training sessions at 12 cities in India. The training programmes will be held throughout the year 2010 in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Surat and Pune. According to Medha Sampat, country manager (India), South African Tourism, the training programmes will also enhance knowledge of provinces in South Africa including unique selling points of each province.

SKAL International Seattle and SKAL International Victoria in British Columbia, two Pacific northwest travel clubs, have partnered to promote the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and client travel to the Pacific northwest.

South Africa Tourism will organise training sessions at 12 cities in India. Scheduled to be started in the third week of March, the training programmes will be held throughout the year 2010 in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Surat and Pune. According to Medha Sampat, country manager (India), South African Tourism, the training programmes will also enhance knowledge of provinces in South Africa including unique selling points of each province.

Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts, Swiss hospitality chain’s maiden property in the Indian subcontinent, Swissôtel Kolkata, is scheduled to open in spring of 2010.

Star Mumbai, Hotel Sahara has joined WORLDHOTELS as a Deluxe Collection affiliate. The 5-star hotel is located opposite Mumbai's domestic airport.

Star Cruises changed its name to Genting Hong Kong. The change of name has been done in line with the corporate strategy of the company which is in diversifying into land-based integrated resorts and entertainment business.

Sarovar Hotels & Resorts recently signed its third property in Kerala, in addition to its two properties, namely, Gokulam Park, Kochi and The Muthhoot Plaza, Thiruvananthapuram. The new hotel has been signed with Vasu Coco Resorts Pvt Ltd. and will be branded as Vasundhara Sarovar Premiere, slated for launch by 2010. The property is spread on more than eight acres and is located on the Vembanad Lake. The 50-room five-star resort is around 63-km from the Kochi airport.

Splendia.com Luxury hotel brand has tapped Pegasus Solutions' UltraDirect to complement its offering of 2,500 handpicked luxury and character hotels with luxury chain hotels. The move, which will better position Splendia.com to compete in the U.S. and Asian markets, is expected to boost visits and bookings to the already popular site.

Sabre has introduced another merchandising first through its Air Merchandising Suite, allowing airlines to differentiate and sell premium airline seats at the time of the original booking, in all distribution channels: online, offline, direct, and travel agency.

Sri Lanka Convention Bureau unveiled its offer, 'Meet in Sri Lanka', at a special media briefing at the Taj Krishna, in Hyderabad on the eve of the PATA Travel Mart 2008, where Sri Lanka's strengths as a Meetings Incentives Conventions and Exhibitions(MICE) destination were showcased. A Team led by Prema Cooray, Chairman, SLCB, Amal Goonatilleke, Chairperson, Sri Lanka PATA Chapter, Renton de Alwis, Chairman, SLTPB, Manoj Gunawardena, CEO, Sri Lankan Airlines and SLTDA Board Member Abbas Esufally, were in India for the launch.

Samsonite along with Economic Times(ET) and  Travel Agents Association of India(TAAI) presented The ET TAAI Travel Awards 2009. The awards were to recognize leading organizations in the Indian travel tourism and Hospitality industry.. Dubai being the most preferred shopping destination and a haven for travelers was selected as the location for the award ceremony. The event took place at Hotel Atlantis on the 30th of September, 2009.

Sabre Travel Network announced the complete deployment of its enhanced Virtually There itinerary product. Used by 30,000 travel agencies and millions of business and leisure travelers worldwide, the enhanced service is available in 17 languages for both web and mobile devices. Building upon its successful heritage, the enhanced Virtually There makes it even easier to gain access to trip information, eliminating the need for travelers to recall their reservation code.

Sikkim Tourism signed an agreement with a Singaporean consultancy firm called Master Consult Services in a bid to build a strong infrastructure for village, eco and adventure tourism in state.

Sahara Global has launched a new travel portal www.saharaglobal.in that caters to the requirements of B2B segments. According to Romi Datta, CEO, Sahara Global, the portal is designed to have more visibility in search engine results to facilitate the suppliers to tide over the impact of current economic uncertainty. He also informed that the portal will make available to travel agents a cheaper supply chain which can stimulate demand and enable agents to enjoy improved profits. The portal also allows access to more than 40,000 hotel and resort properties, all scheduled airlines which offer e-tickets, low cost carriers, car hire services, cruise booking services, etc.

Switzerland Destination Marketing (SDM) India, a venture representing Swiss based tourism and travel products provider was recently launched with the mandate to provide information to the India travel trade about the products offered by Swiss travel trade companies. At present SDM is representing Zurich based Switzerland Travel Centre, Interhome, Mount Rigi and Rail Tours. The company is being led by Ashish Saran, general manager, operations and Amit Talwar, representative – India and assisted by Monika Walter.

Singapore Tourism Board has decided to launch e-visas across India. According to the tourism board sources, e-visas are designed to enable 'trusted partners' including visa service providers in India to submit online applications for visas on behalf of their customers. They will also be able to print the approved visas through the SAVE (Submission of Applications for Visa Electronically) system.

Svayam, an initiative of SJ Charitable Trust, in partnership with Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Government of India (GoI), organised a Conference on Accessible Tourism. The Conference was inaugurated by Shri S Banerjee, Hon'ble Secretary, MoT, GoI. The objective of the Conference was to bring the Government authorities, academicians and stakeholders on one platform and hence, facilitate exchange of dialogue to understand the needs of people with reduced mobility and motivate them to enable inclusive tourism.

SOTC BhramanMandal has launched 'Monalisa', an all women tours exclusive for the Maharashtrians with all inclusive offer price. The company sources claimed that this all inclusive tour is one-of-its-kind designed exclusively for women travellers with well known celebrity Jitendra Joshi playing the exclusive and perfect host on tour.

Swiss tours have introduced an online booking website solely for the travel agents. By logging on to agent.swisstoursonline.com, the travel agent can make bookings for Swiss Pass, hotels, apartments, bus and rail tickets, tickets for mountain excursions and other activities. This online booking will enable agents to have their own login ids. The website will provide all details on Switzerland as a destination and information on holiday packages.

Schengen visa valid for entry into Switzerland. Swiss embassy in New Delhi has started issuing Schengen visas. About ten million tourists from India visited Europe in 2007-2008.

South African Tourism will continue its promotional activities planned for this year. The tourism board will start a slew of promotional activities through the web, TV, print advertising and via travel agents.

Tourism Authority of Thailand Mumbai office has intensified its marketing initiatives in Sri Lanka in order to garner a larger share of the growing outbound segment from the country.The TAT Mumbai office recently embarked on the first of its planned marketing initiatives by collaborating with Cathay Pacific airlines for a study tour comprising seven key Sri Lankan travel trade members who traveled to Thailand.

Tzell Travel Group and Travel Leaders Corporate have signed a new long-termagreement with Sabre Travel Network, provider of high performance solutions for the global travel industry. The two agencies, both divisions of Travel Leaders Group, which are enjoying a 40% growth in sales this year, intend to leverage their partnership with Sabre to achieve their growthobjectives through improved efficiency and an enhanced service offering that meets the evolving needs of corporate and leisure travelers.

Travel GPA has announced a partnership with e-Travel Technologies to offer the comprehensive security risk management suite of products from e-Travel Technologies including e-Travel Alerts, e-Travel Advisories, and e-Travel tracker to TMCs and the business travelers that they service. With the ability to incorporate real-time security risk notification and advisories along with global employee tracking, Travel GPA has further enriched its current product offering built around performance benchmarking and “Best in Class” travel policy and program analysis. The new service provides travelers official updates and alerts about destinations around the world and allows companies to locate travelers with a single click through the Travel GPA dashboard.

Taiwan Visitors Association (TVA) has reported a positive arrival of visitors from India registering a record 60 per cent growth in the second quarter (April-June 2010) of the year over the same period last year. It received 7377 visitors from India between April-June this year against 4641 arrival during the same period last year. The destination registered a record 120 per cent growth in May 2010 over the same period last year. The first six months of the current year has witnessed an average growth of 47 per cent over the same period last year.

Tourism Spain will organise the Madrid Road show in the month of September in Mumbai and Delhi, with 15 suppliers from Madrid. There will be a trade interaction session along with a seminar which will give the Indian travel trade an opportunity to network and understand the destination better. Tourism Spain will also organise a B2B road show in January 2011.

Thomas Cook has launched 9 exchange and travel counters at the newly opened Terminal 3 at IGI Airport. The one-stop-shop counters by Thomas Cook will offer foreign exchange services to the passengers along with other products and services like insurance, air and rail tickets, domestic and international travel packages, hotel bookings etc.

The Tree of Life Resort and Spa, Jaipur will be unveiled on August 15. Built in a traditional style using lime plaster and stone, with hardly any use of cement and steel, the resort blends with the natural surroundings of its village setting. Each villa here is named after a tree. The 14-villa property is set in seven acres of land just outside Jaipur

Tourism Authority of Thailand, in association with the Pacific Asia Travel Association, issued the following statement.Both organisations seek to reassure tourists and business travellers visiting Thailand that the protests in Bangkok have not caused major disruption in the city. The city remains a safe destination for both leisure and business travellers. However, although this is a domestic dispute, PATA and the TAT advise all foreign nationals to exercise caution and avoid those areas of the city where the protesters have gathered.

Travel Weekly, has named Vancouver the best destination in Canada. At their annual Readers’ Choice Awards, held in New York City, Travel Weekly awarded Vancouver the top spot in the “Best in Destination: Canada” category.

Tanzanian minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mrs. Shamsa Mwangunga, has been announced as one of six other African tourism ministers short-listed for a prestigious coveted African Tourism Minister of the Year Award. According to the organizers, the Africa Investor (AI), Mrs. Mwangunga will join other ministers in the same portfolio from Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Zambia, and Namibia.

Ten Southeast Asian countries launched a new tourism campaign built around the slogan, Southeast Asia: feel the warmth. A dynamic, new, interactive website, SoutheastAsia.org is being created as the primary marketing tool. The new campaign, officially supported by the 10 ASEAN tourism ministers at the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Brunei, will immediately target tourists in medium and long haul markets such as the UK, Australia, India, North America and Hong Kong. Southeast Asia: feel the warmth and SoutheastAsia.org will emphasize the warmth of Southeast Asia's hospitality and climate and the diversity of the region's cultural attractions and tourism activities. The ten participating countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Travelport, which is the leading global distribution system (GDS) providers, has signed an agreement with Gulf Air, to offer global full content to Gulf Air. Accordingly, Travelport will give all Galileo and Worldspan-connected travel agents worldwide access to the airline’s full range of published fares and inventory.

Thomas Cook (India) and India Post have entered into an agreement to provide foreign exchange and travel related services through five major post offices in New Delhi. The post offices are Connaught Place (A Block),Chanakya Puri, Greater Kailash Part-II, Karol Bagh and Vasant Vihar. According to the memorandum of understanding, which was signed in New Delhi in the presence of A Raja, Union minister for communications and IT, foreign exchange and travel desks will be established within the post offices. According to Madhavan Menon, managing director, Thomas Cook India, more post offices would be added to this project in other parts of the country, as and when required by the Indian Post.

Travel Guard has been selected by Travelocity to be the provider of travel insurance and assistance services. "Travel Guard has built its reputation by providing exceptional customer service and comprehensive travel insurance protection," said Dean Sivley, Travel Guard President and Chief Executive Officer.

Tourism Australia has launched a new version of its Aussie Specialist website to assist over 23,000 travel agents worldwide who specialise in Australian holidays.

Travel & Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world providing a strong impetus to global economic development.  In 2009, the Travel & Tourism Economy is expected to account for 9.3% of global GDP and to generate over 210 million jobs, or 7.4% of global employment.

Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) is soon expected to officially announce the opening of Punjab chapter. Sushant Khanna, chairman, Khanna Enterprises has been appointed as Punjab’s chapter chairman. George Kutty, chairman, northern India chapter, on the occasion of Khanna’s appointment, said that the association will soon give a final shape to the chapter. TAFI already has about 40 odd members from the Punjab region.

TOURpact.GC was launched by the UN Global Compact and UNWTO, on the occasion of the official World Tourism Day (WTD) celebrations in Lima, Peru. It was welcomed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as a leadership initiative with a potential for other sectors.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) was awarded “Best Outbound Destination Awareness Display" at the India Travel Mart (ITM) held in Jaipur.

Travelport and IBM have joined hands to develop an integrated expense management and booking solution. Travelport will focus on its core competencies of delivering global distribution system (GDS) content and online travel management booking solution while IBM will provide expense management services through its well known global expense reporting solutions (GERS). GERS enables employees to submit, approve, reimburse and monitor business related expenses with an efficient automated workflow.

Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), as part of its Vision 2020 project will identify critical factors that will impact the development of the national tourism sector to global standards. As a road map, TAAI’s Tourism Council will help the Government in the estimation of the anticipated growth of tourism sector. TAAI will use its exper-ience, understanding and recommend a framework that the Government can use to improve the standards of tourism to global benchmarks.

Team Bahrain announced as a premier sponsor has added weight to the PATA Routes Tourism & Air Services (TAS) Summit’s claim to be one of the most important tourism events of the year. Co-located with World Routes and opening on Sunday, 13th September at the New China International Exhibition Centre, the summit is designed to help proactive tourism authorities move up the aviation supply chain and assist their airports in the promotion of their destination directly to the carriers.

Travelport has entered into a strategic relationship with PSP International to form a joint venture company to provide state-of-the-art innovative and integrated payment solutions tailored specifically for the travel industry.

Travelport GDS has reinforced its leading position in the Middle East by signing a new participation agreement with regional carrier, Safi Airways. The deal comes as the airline launches its first European service – Frankfurt to Kabul.

Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) announce that the venue for the 58th Indian Travel Congress & Exhibition (2009 TAAI Convention) has been finalized for Dubai. The offers made by Dubai Tourism and their keenness to host the Indian Delegation to Dubai have been well received by the Managing Committee.

Thomas Cook sold its 10-percent stake in L'Tur to the last-minute tour operator's founder, Karlheinz Koegel, L'Tur said. Koegel now holds 30 percent in L'Tur while TUI Travel, Europe's largest tourism company, continues to hold the remaining 70 percent.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently organised a two-city B2B Pattaya roadshows in India. The roadshows organised in Mumbai and Delhi brought 20 of Pattaya’s leading tourist businesses, including destination management companies, hotels and resorts and entertainment companies to India to showcase their new products and services. The roadshows served as a platform for the trade from India and Pattaya to interact and identify mutually beneficial areas for cooperation and focussed on building bridges between both the trades with an eye on projecting Thailand and Pattaya as a value for money MICE and high-end FIT destination.

Travel Agents Federation of India announced their annual convention at Chiang Mai, in Thailand from the 22nd to the 25th of October 2009. This will be followed by a three nights fam tour from the 25th to the 28th of October 2009 to 10 destinations, in and around Thailand.

Transat A.T. Inc. and CanJet Airlines have entered into a 5-year partnership agreement, effective May 1, 2009, to April 30, 2014, with two subsequent one-year renewal options. The agreement allows tour operator Transat Tours Canada, a Transat business unit operating under the Transat Holidays and Nolitours brands, to charter CanJet narrow-body Boeing 737-800 aircraft flying out of more than 20 Canadian cities to approximately 20 sun destinations.

Tripura government has set up Tripura Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) to promote tourism in a big way and to tap fully the tourism potential of the state. TTDC has started functioning and process to register it as a company will soon be completed.

TAAI has joined hands with Times of India group to promote their 2nd Times Travel Fair 2009, a travel & tourism exhibition. The Expo will give an opportunity to our members to showcase their products/services.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently launched its website www.amazingthailand.co.in. The new website provides comprehensive information of various Thai tourism products including details on the various destinations within Thailand. The new website is soon expected to boast features that will help tour operators and travel agents construct tour itineraries, on-line accreditation etc.

Turkey has emerged as a new exciting destination in the Indian market. Antalya with its grand location overlooking a sweeping beach towards the soaring Bey Mountains has excellent resorts ideal for Senior Management conferences.

UNWTO Ministers’ Summit at World Travel Market will for the first time conclude with a Statement of Intent outlining the future direction of the travel and tourism industry. The tourism ministers attending this year’s November 9 summit - Shaping a Stronger Travel and Tourism Industry – Governance and business models for the future – will agree their plan and direction for the industry for the next 12 months.

United Nations has launched the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Report 2010 calling for accelerated progress to reach the 2015 deadline. As the UN Specialized Agency for Tourism, UNWTO is firmly committed to fostering the tourism sector’s contribution to development.

Uttarakhand has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) to sell each other's tourism products and ensure the visits of foreign and domestic travellers in both states all the year round. The MoU was signed by Rakesh Sharma, principal secretary, Tourism, Government of Uttarakhand & CEO, Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) and Manjit Singh, chairman & managing director, RTDC in Jaipur.

Uttarakhand  to leverage the opportunity of being the first theme state at the Great India Travel Bazaar, the state of will unveil special package tours to the foreign buyers at GITB. The packages will enable buyers to explore insights into the new world of trekking and other adventure activity in the state in addition to meditation, spirituality, yoga, rural tourism, leisure tourism products.

U.S. hotel industry posted declines in all three key performance measurements during January 2010, according to a data from STR. In year-over-year measurements, the industry’s occupancy ended the month virtually flat with a 0.4-percent decrease to 45.1 percent. Average daily rate dropped 7.1 percent to finish the month at US$93.93. Revenue per available room for the month decreased 7.4 percent to finish at US$42.35.

UNWTO and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) says that in 2009, the Travel & Tourism Economy is expected to account for 9.3% of global GDP and to generate over 210 million jobs, or 7.4% of global employment. In 2008, 922 million international tourist arrivals were recorded, contributing US$944 billion in international tourism receipts. The industry has often acted ahead of regulation to adopt and disseminate standards and best practices on greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation and adaptation.

UNWTO and CNN International are moving ahead with their strategic partnership signed between the Organization and the CNN Tourism, Advertising Solutions and Knowledge (TASK). The partnership sees UNWTO and TASK collaborate on industry events to ensure the best breed of knowledge and latest data is imparted to sector professionals. UNWTO and the TASK Group will share content, join forces on industry newsletters and cross promote services across each other’s respective platforms. The announcement of this partnership comes at a time when a global sense of cautious optimism for 2010 seems to be emerging, although the economic climate is still far from stable.

Uttarakhand Government has entered into a strategic alliance with Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd (MHRIL) for promoting and marketing home stays from various regions of the state. The MoU has been signed to cement this joint effort in developing home stays as a unique concept and authentic experience of holidaying across the state, with a special focus on developing rural home stays. As per the agreement, MHRIL will assist in classifying, rating, branding and marketing the home stays to its members, inbound foreign tourists, FIT Groups and other guests.

UIC received the Corporate Social Responsibility Award for its'EcoPassenger' internet tool from the Association for Corporate Travellers Executives (ACTE).This award is presented to business travel executives who "incorporate an eco-sensitive approach to conservation or environmental rejuvenation with their travel programmes".The EcoPassenger web tool (www.ecopassenger.com) has been awarded for its excellence in helping customers making climate smart transport choices.

UNWTO welcome the Kingdom of Norway as its 154th Member State, representing the 45th Member State within UNWTO's Regional Commission for Europe. The Membership in UNWTO is part of Norway's national strategy for the tourism industry, which highlights the importance of the further development of the sector as a vehicle for economic growth, in addition to traditional industries such as fishing, agriculture or oil.

UNWTO organized an International Conference on Destination Management in partnership with the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and the Municipal Government of Hangzhou that brought together over 300 participants from 35 countries representing central governments, regional and local authorities, industry professionals and academia who presented a comprehensive overview of specific measures and policy actions taken by tourism destinations in order to respond effectively to the economic recession.

Uniglobe Travel International Limited Partnership has signed an agreement with WorldSIM, a pay as you go mobile phone service that allows individuals to use their mobile phone when they are traveling abroad without incurring expensive roaming, calling or texting charges.

Utell Hotels & Resorts has appointed Aman Travels as its official sales representative in India to manage demand generation for the Utell portfolio. With a comprehensive international property portfolio in key destinations around the world, Utell’s representation services enable nearly 11,000 independent and small group hotels in more than 130 countries to compete globally.

Uniglobe Travel (South Asia) announced the launch of ‘carbon offset programme’ along with the Carbon Neutral Company in New Delhi. The Uniglobe carbon offset programme electronically calculates carbon emissions of each trip by an aircraft. The programme is a counter balancing activity to reduce carbon emissions produced by the travel industry.

UNWTO said World Tourism Barometer international tourism declined by 8% between January and April compared to the same period last year. Destinations worldwide recorded a total of 247 million international tourist arrivals in those four months, down from 269 million in 2008.

World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has opened the tendering process to find the host city of the 12th Global Travel & Tourism Summit. The organisation has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for cities around the world to submit applications to host the 12th Summit in a little less than two years’ time.

World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) have conveyed their strong support of Thailand and its tourism industry as the country returns to normalcy following political unrest earlier in the year.

World Travel Awards Europe Gala Ceremony is taking place in October - but the fight is just beginning to make it on to the coveted winners’ platform. Described as the ultimate achievement for any European company, more than 1,000 travel brands are competing to be the best. Voting has opened and nominees are now campaigning hard with agents and industry executives to win support

World Travel&Tourism Council (WTTC) and the US Travel Association (US Travel) have signed a memorandum of understanding, formally agreeing to share resources and to work closely together to promote the industry’s interests.

Westin Mumbai Garden City, a 32-storey hotel, was inaugurated in Goregaon, Mumbai in January. A cntemporary lifestyle hotel with 269 rooms and suites, will offer a unique experience to guests. The property has a spa, a well-equipped gymnasium, and all day dining restaurant. The property also boasts of a pool side bar and restaurant

World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)  announced a US$5 million multi-platform global partnership with CNBC, the world’s leading business and financial news channel, and National Geographic the world’s leading provider of factual entertainment, with Sky News, Europe’s leading breaking newschannel.

World Travel Market (WTM), which is one of most premier international travel event, the Incredible India campaign of Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has won the World Travel Award for the best destination marketing campaign. Kumari Selja, Union minister of tourism received the award at the glittering event organised in London on October 9. Devesh Chaturvedi, additional director general, MOT, and Jagdish Chander, director, India Tourism, London, were present during the ceremony.

Worldhotels’ India portfolio included Asiana Hotel in Chennai to its global sales, marketing and distribution network. The contemporary 5-star hotel features 114 spacious guest rooms and suites. Asiana has meeting rooms and banquet hall facilities, which can accommodate up to 2,500 guests.

World Travel Agents Associations Alliance (WTAAA) has voiced its’ condemnation of the move by United Airlines (United - UA) to transfer credit card merchant fee costs to selected United States based travel agents, and inevitably to consumers. United has informed the selected travel agents that they will no longer be able to use United’s merchant facility to facilitate the sale of UA tickets, but instead must use their own merchant agreement facility.

World Tourism Day will commemorate on 27 September 2009 its 30th anniversary in Ghana under the theme ‘Tourism - Celebrating Diversity’.Other than adding perspective to the role of globalization in balancing tourism influx and environmental and cultural sustainability, this year’s theme also aims to shed light on the most human side of the industry – its capacity to build understanding, foster social inclusion and promote higher standards of living.

West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) is currently upgrading 24 of its hotel at an estimated investment of about Rs 30 crore. The work for it is expected to complete by March 2010.

World Tourism Day will commemorate on 27 September 2009 its 30th anniversary in Ghana under the theme ‘Tourism - Celebrating Diversity’.Other than adding perspective to the role of globalization in balancing tourism influx and environmental and cultural sustainability, this year’s theme also aims to shed light on the most human side of the industry – its capacity to build understanding, foster social inclusion and promote higher standards of living.

West Bengal government in an attempt to promote river cruise, has planned 130-crore Ganga River Cruise Project under Public Private Partnership (PPP). The WBTDC will have less than 50 per cent stake in the project. The WBTDC will soon issue letter of intent (LOI) for this purpose. Under the project, vessels for the cruise will be launched in the river Ganga. The state government is also focussing on the development of tourism infrastructure and has allotted Rs. 80 crore for development of tourism infrastructure.

Yatra.com recently entered into a strategic tie-up with Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) to offer state guest houses to travellers. As per the tie-up, guest houses in tourist destinations such as Shimla, Chail, Fagu, Narkanda, Barog, Parwanoo, Manali, Dharamshala, Khajjair, Dalhousie and Renukaji can now be booked exclusively through Yatra.com at attractive prices starting at Rs 1100 per room night.

Yatra.com recently entered into a strategic tie-up with Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) to offer state guest houses to travellers. In tourist destinations such as Shimla, Chail, Fagu, Narkanda, Barog, Parwanoo, Manali, Dharamshala, Khajjair, Dalhousie and Renukaji can now be booked exclusively through Yatra.com at attractive price starting at Rs1100 per room night.