News

Lot Polish Operates All Flights To And From India

As an agreement was reached yesterday in the wage dispute with the Polish air traffic controllers' union, there will be no conflict-related restrictions on air traffic to, from and over Poland at the weekend or in the coming days and weeks. Accordingly, LOT Polish Airlines maintains its entire flight schedule and plans to operate all flights. This also means that all flights from India to Poland as well as all onward connecting flights from the airline‘s Star Alliance hub in Warsaw to destinations across Europe and North America are operated. Amit Ray, Director India LOT Polish Airlines: "We are very pleased that an agreement was reached in time and that our passengers will be able to make their planned journeys without restrictions.”

Read more

Goa's govt freezes nods for watersports operations, to undertake review

Tourism Minister of Goa, Rohan Khaunte recently said that the government has put a freeze on granting of permissions for watersport activities until such time that the entire process is reviewed. Khaunte also said that the government will introduce an integrated plan to ensure clean and safe beaches to attract tourists. To regulate water sport activities, the state government will slightly modify the permissions, the Minister said, adding that “new permission for water sport activities will be kept on hold”. Khaunte said that the Captain of Ports gives the no objection certificate (NOC) for water sports activities without checking whether the tourism department has granted any permission. “After taking permission from the CoP they come to the registration facilitation counter and apply for a NoC and take that and go back, and here it is a mess, and we acknowledge this mess. As of now we are freezing every NoC to be given to water sport activities till such time that we review the whole process. We have spoken to the chief minister,” he said. Khaunte said that the state government will make some changes wherein those involved in tourism activities will have to first take permissions from the tourism department and till then other departments concerned will not be able to grant any permissions. “We will make slight changes on this line, because, otherwise, the tourism department is blamed,” he said. Khaunte said that the state government will shortly launch an app to connect tourists with industry stakeholders. He also said that people are talking about facilities, including toilets and shower rooms among others, on beaches. “Henceforth, instead of calling them toilets we will call them convenience centres. In this convenience centre there will be one tourism department information counter,” he said. Speaking on beach cleaning, Khaunte said, “Beach cleaning is not being done in the manner normal beach cleaning should be done.” Khaunte said that he wants to give a message about clean and safe beaches in Goa. “We have to introduce an integrated module, including surveillance cameras, proper lighting, 24x7 police deployment, and beach cleaning, etc,” he said. Khaunte said that there is a shortage of police personnel deployed on beaches and the tourism department needs to take some people under the integrated plan.

Read more

Delhi’s IGI Airport ranked world’s second busiest airport

Official Airline Guide (OAG), a leading global travel data operator, has announced that Delhi's IGI airport has emerged as the world’s second busiest airport in March 2022, in terms of frequency of domestic and international flights and total seat capacity. India’s civil aviation industry has gradually started showing signs of recovery this year, after remaining subdued for the past two years due to the COVID-related travel restrictions. If reports are to go by, the airport handled around 31.65 million domestic passengers, and 5.49 million international traffic in CY 2021. It also emerged at the top airport among all Indian airports in terms of handling international as well as domestic passenger traffic in CY 2020 and CY 2021.Reportedly, Delhi International Airport, with a seating capacity of 3,611,181 seats, managed to knock out Dubai International Airport, with a seating capacity of 3,554,527 seats. As per the OAG’s report, while Atlanta managed to retain its position as the largest, Dubai was knocked out of second place in March by Delhi International Airport, with a seating capacity of 3,611,181 seats. The OAG report further added that in March this year, the airport handled 3.61 million seats, which showed a significant jump from 23rd place in March 2019 before the pandemic hit worldwide. The airport in its website also claimed that the airport registered 67, 301,016 passengers in 2019, while in 2020, it handled 28,500,545 passengers, which was a decrease caused by the impact of pandemic restrictions.

Read more

‘Eco-adventure tourism’ park all set to open in Southwest Delhi this week

Delhi is all set to have a eco-adventure tourism park that will feature the city's first-ever staycation facility with 20 AC cottages. The Delhi Government’s Tourism has developed this park in a bid to boost night tourism and provide a ‘countryside experience’ to Delhiites. As per the reports, the park is situated on the outskirts of Southwest Delhi’s Kanganheri Village near Najafgarh. Known as Haritima adventure eco-tourism park, it is spread across an area of more than 16 acres, and will be thrown open to the public from Wednesday. Referring to this, an official in the know-how stated that the main aim behind this park is to bring people closer to nature and provide them a countryside experience. When people visit this place, they won’t feel like they are in Delhi, he added. Reports have it that while there will be no entry fee to visit the park during the day, the cost of staying in cottages will be INR 5000 per night for two people, which will include pool and food options. Those interested can book these cottages online and offline too. Apart from the ‘staycation’ facility, the tourism department has also developed a ‘village’ to provide a rural experience to tourists, which will have mini farmlands where people can witness the process of farming. Apart from these, there will be other facilities, such as hot tubs, indoor games, heated community pools, a fitness centre, and free WiFi. The park will also offer adventure activities, such as boat rides, zip-lining, wall-climbing, among others. Officials added that activities like canoeing and kayaking will also be started in the coming days.

Read more

Corporate travel bookings up by 46% this March over Jan 2020: Rajesh Magow,, CEO, MMT

Corporate travel bookings grew 46% in March this year compared to January 2020 on MakeMyTrip and are continuing to rise further, said group CEO Rajesh Magow. "The good news is as far as domestic corporate travel is concerned, it has opened up across segments, including large corporations. It’s not just small and medium enterprises as that is how it started. Everyone seems to have started to travel. Industry conferences and corporate offsites are happening,” he said. MakeMyTrip has 1650 mid and large clients and 30,000 SME clients, and it added 1000 new clients in the mid and large space in the last two years. Its new clients added over the past few quarters include Vedanta, Byjus, Zomato, Indian Oil, SBI, HDFC, Viacom 18 and ICICI Securities, on its myBiz platform and Quest2Travel. The company had acquired corporate travel management company Quest2Travel in 2019. “And then all hell broke loose. But we see this category growing now. We are developing our platform and adding more features like GST compliance and expense management features for corporates and for us, we see the corporate travel segment growing by 50% quarter on quarter," he added. Magow said MakeMyTrip has acquired between 5000-10000 new clients in the SME space in the past two years. He said the long term view on travel did not change for corporations during the pandemic and that helped the company get more clients. “If you look at the daily run rate numbers, compared to pre-pandemic, our air or flights segment, we are doing 10,500 on a daily basis. We used to do about 6000 in February 2020 or January 2020. 50% of this growth is new accounts and 50% is same accounts. For room nights, we are growing at about 72%. In terms of GMV, the growth is over 50%. In terms of GMV, I think that we are already the largest OTA in the corporate segment,” he said. “Despite entering late, we have taken a leading position already. On myBiz, we didn’t want to restrict only to flights and hotels. We have cabs, rails, and buses. We are also trying to add travel insurance. On Quest2Travel, what is partly done is the new front end user interface. Quest2Travel was a small company and didn’t really have the capability. We are revamping the front end interface,” he said. Magow said while the company is seeing growth in corporate travel, international travel needs to pick up more momentum for the industry.

Read more

Dubai Food Festival celebrates the emirate as global culinary capital

Celebrating Dubai as a global culinary capital, Dubai Food Festival will showcase the city’s most exciting gastronomy offerings and remarkable epicurean experiences with a 14-day city-wide festival of food, from 2 – 15 May 2022. With 12,000 restaurants and cafes, Dubai entices the most enthusiastic diner with tempting flavours from all over the world – everything from world renowned chefs and global restaurant brands to street food and home-grown restaurants inspired by the over 200 nationalities living in Dubai. Dubai’s vibrant culinary landscape features some of the world’s most famous restaurants, demonstrating the emirate’s growing prominence on the globe’s gastronomy map. Dubai was voted World’s Best Culinary Destination at World Culinary Awards, Over two weeks, the 2022 Festival will shine a light on Dubai’s rich culinary diversity, authentic and homegrown cuisine, gastronomic innovation, and exceptional value for money. This year, DFF will be celebrated during the Eid Al Fitr holiday, connecting families and friends through food with special events including Eid Big Breakfast from 2 – 6 May and Time Out Market’s celebration of its first birthday with three days of festivities on 2, 3 and 4 May. Here’s what diners in the city can expect from Dubai Food Festival 2022: Dubai Restaurant Week (6 – 15 May) In partnership with 40 of the city’s best restaurants, Dubai Restaurant Week returns from 6 May with specially curated two-course lunch menus starting from AED95 or three-course dinner menus starting from AED150 per person. Diners will be able to enjoy irresistible dishes made using the freshest ingredients – all at an attractive price that saves customers up to 50 per cent when dining out. DRW bookings are now open and spaces are limited, so reservations must be made in advance. Bookings can be made through Open Table https://www.opentable.ae/promo.aspx?m=319&pid=11386 and the full list of restaurants can be found at www.dubaifoodfestival.com. Foodie Experiences (2 – 15 May) Foodie Experiences returns to this year’s Dubai Food Festival offering unique, one-of-a-kind food adventures across Dubai. Running for the entire duration of the Festival (2 – 15 May), Foodie Experiences features a curated series of Dubai’s most anticipated and prominent chef tables, masterclasses, culinary collaborations as well as out-of-the-box experiential dining concepts that are exclusive to DFF. Reservations for all Foodie Experiences are required in advance, by contacting the chosen restaurant directly. My Hidden Gems Competition (2 – 15 May) Dubai is dotted with numerous hidden culinary gems, and the city’s budget eats have always been a special focus for DFF. Diners across the city are encouraged to become advocates of their favourite Hidden Gem eateries by entering the My Hidden Gems Competition. By visiting three different restaurants with a maximum budget of AED 100, making a short video of the different feasts and posting it tagging @dubaieats, the best content that follows a theme for their trail (such as by cuisine type, location, etc.) will be in with the chance of winning cash prizes with a pool of AED100,000. Aimed at uncovering and highlighting Dubai’s gastronomic diversity through unique, independent, budget-eats and homegrown concepts, My Hidden Gems Competition will run throughout DFF from 2 – 15 May. Eid Big Breakfast Promotions (2 – 6 May) Connecting families and friends through food during the special period of Eid Al Fitr, the Festival offers 18 Eid Big Breakfast promotions across the city running from 2 – 6 May featuring authentic breakfast experiences from various nationalities and cultures. Participating restaurants include Bull and Bear, Reif Japanese Kushiyaki, Hillhouse Brasserie, Mezzerie, Gastro Kitchen and more. Made in Dubai (2 – 15 May) Dubai’s thriving restaurant industry is full of home-grown restaurants, cafés and dining concepts. During DFF 2022, diners in the city will be able to enjoy exclusive menus, price offers, special dishes and masterclasses from a number of the city’s most-loved concepts, including Akiba Dori’s kids pizza classes whereby kids can customise their own pizzas. Diners can get 20 per cent off at Tresind during DFF and enjoy an exclusive food menu and special mango dessert for DFF at Orfali Bros. MENA’s 50 Best (2 – 15 May) Dubai is home to 16 restaurants shortlisted in the MENA 50 Best Collection and as part of DFF 2022, a special line-up of experiences will be available at a selection of these famous eateries between 2 – 15 May. Highlights include curated Dubai Restaurant Week menus at restaurants including LOWE, BB Social Dining and Indochine as well as an exclusive Chef Table experience at Reif Kushiyaki and a delicious vegan menu available at Il Borro Tuscan Bistro. Comedy Bizarre (13 – 20 May) Dubai Food Festival will be partnering with Comedy Bizarre at Bla Bla Dubai, Jumeirah Beach Residence from 13 – 20 May as part of Dubai Comedy Festival. Bringing diners a dinner and a show, the curated menu will touch on different gastro palettes, offering dishes from cuisines around the world as well as laughs from Dubai’s home-grown talent such as COMEDY JAM, SHE-LARIOUS SHOW, NOTES & ROAST, BEAT THE GONG, and MAGICAL LAUGHTER as well as world-famous comedians. Citywide Events (2 – 15 May) During DFF 2022, diners in the city will be able to enjoy unique experiences at events across the city including Time Out Market’s celebration of its first birthday with three days of festivities on 2, 3 and 4 May as well as Ripe Market’s calendar of workshops and cooking classes running from 6 – 15 May. Break the Block will also be hosting a street food block party at d3 on 13 and 14 May where foodies will be able to enjoy some of Dubai’s favourite street food concepts such as Birria Tacos, Café Isan, Chiki, Fifth Flavor, High Joint and more. Between 12 and 14 May, there will also be a dedicated Chocolate Show at Galeries Lafayette where chocolate fans will be able to enjoy chocolate stalls, cooking workshops, classes and more. Retail Promotions (2 –15 May) To celebrate the annual festival, malls and attractions around the city will be offering exclusive dining deals, offers and fun for the whole family. Retail promotions available throughout DFF include Share Rewards programmes at Mall of the Emirates, City Centre Mirdif and City Centre Deira, a dedicated food photography workshop at City Centre Deira and a number of promotions at stores across the city including Marks and Spencer, Nespresso and Starbucks. The Beach, La Mer and City Walk will also be offering exclusive dine and win promotions as well as live bands and entertainment. Diners will be able to enjoy Festival City’s ‘spend and win’ promotion as well as exclusive photo opportunities and cooking classes for kids, whilst Bluewaters will be offering bespoke masterclasses at select restaurants, kids cooking classes and special breakfast deals.

Read more