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Accor to add open 9 new hotels across mid-scale & economy categories in India

Leading hospitality group Accor has announced its plans to densify its portfolio by adding nine new hotels across the mid-scale and economy categories to the existing portfolio of 54 hotels in India. Over the next two years, Accor will add more than 1,300 keys to its Novotel and ibis brands in the country. From a development perspective, Accor has been following a densification strategy and enhancing expansion in key cities with multiple hotels across varying price points. Accor currently has 54 hotels in India and more than 10,000 keys. Despite the dynamic circumstances that the pandemic brought with it for the hospitality industry, Accor launched three hotels in 2021, the much-awaited Raffles Udaipur, Novotel Chandigarh Tribune Chowk, and ibis Vikhroli Mumbai, in partnership with InterGlobe Hotels. Accor has a wide portfolio, with ten brands across the luxury, premium, upper midscale, midscale, and economy segments in the Indian market. Over the next 24 months, Accor expects to add six new properties to the network, two of which will debut in leading two-tier markets within India - Novotel Bhubaneshwar Janpath Road and Novotel Jodhpur ITI Circle. The hospitality company will also continue to expand its ibis and ibis Styles brand in partnership with InterGlobe Hotels by adding three more hotels in the next two years to the existing portfolio of 20 hotels. Commenting on the development, Mark Willis, CEO India, Middle East, Africa & Turkey, Accor, said, “India is a diverse market with heterogenous guests, and our endeavour is to cater to our guests in all their varied personas and changing needs. Our Novotel and ibis brands are much preferred by guests given their value, price, and ability to offer a consistent experience, with a seamless service. We will continue to expand our footprint in the upper mid-scale and economy segment in India with the Novotel and ibis brands, and also keep looking for the right partners as we expand our luxury brands after the successful response, we received for Raffles Udaipur last year.” Speaking on the occasion, Puneet Dhawan, Senior Vice President of Operations - India & South Asia, Accor, mentioned, “We are excited to be entering new markets that promise vast business potential. With travellers' confidence rebounding, and the Indian tourism sentiment demonstrating positive outcomes, staycations, and workcations to both metropolitan and non-metropolitan cities are in demand. We are well-positioned to address this demand and the addition of nine new hotels to our existing network would surely lead Accor to even higher levels of hospitality in the country.”

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Australia reopens one of the longest Covid-Zero holdouts

Western Australia finally reopened its borders to vaccinated travellers on Thursday, after almost two years of closures that were intended to stamp out the coronavirus. That means the entire continent is now once again open to tourists and foreign workers. The removal of the hard border comes as a relief for many families who have been separated by strict travel bans, and for employers in the state’s lucrative mining sector who have struggled to fill vacancies as workers have been prevented traveling from interstate and overseas. It brings the state, home to more than 2.6 million people, in line with most of the rest of the world, leaving just Hong Kong and China with effectively closed borders and strict quarantine regimes as more transmissible variants like omicron starkly show the limits of the Covid Zero strategy. WA’s daily Covid-19 cases are at record levels, though low by global standards, as the omicron variant spreads. On Wednesday, the state introduced new limits on non-urgent surgeries as it prepares its hospitals for a surge in infections, and has also ramped up mask rules and capacity limits for hospitality venues. “We are expecting hospitalizations to climb rapidly in the coming weeks,” Premier Mark McGowan told reporters Wednesday. “With the WA border reopening in full tomorrow, we know that case numbers will start to climb even further.” Western Australia’s closure sparked an acute labour shortage in the state, where the unemployment rate tumbled to 3.7% in January. That compared with the national rate of 4.2% and pre-pandemic levels of well above 5%. “The border reopening will definitely help in easing some of the labour shortages.,” said Diana Mousina, senior economist at AMP Capital Markets. “It will also mean welcoming tourism will be easier as all states are now open. It’s a confidence booster.” Mining bosses including BHP Group’s Mike Henry and Fortescue Metals Group’s Elizabeth Gaines have welcomed the reopening, saying the risks to their operations are manageable. All workers flying in to remote mine sites are required by the state to have been vaccinated, while BHP and Rio Tinto have mandatory vaccination policies in place across their operations there. “The reopening of WA’s border is likely to unlock a recovery of inbound interstate migration, and just in time,” said Bloomberg Economics’s economist James McIntyre. The “state is on verge of a pickup in mining investment activity, which is unlikely to be possible without access to skilled labour from interstate, and overseas,” he said.

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Uttarakhand Tourism Appoints BookingJini To Streamline Booking System

Hospitality focused Saas platform, BookingJini is now the official partner of the Uttarakhand tourism, streamlining reservation processes, property management and day to day activities for hotels and other accommodation providers. The state tourism has mostly been subjected to flat rates for decades, which mandates a substantial change in the process. BookingJini’s entry into the scenario will shake up the status quo, introducing a pricing based on demand and supply of services. The influx of this new practice will help hotels get best payment for their services, increase the valuation of the hospitality sector of Uttarakhand and boost the state’s tourism revenue and recall. BookingJini’s flagship Central Reservation Software is a unique marketing and price recommendation engine. It is based on a demand supply algorithm which suggests users the right pricing for their services based on the tourist influx to help gain more monetary value. The solution’s AI driven chatbots and CRM will further help hotel businesses communicate seamlessly with their respective guests and travellers, boosting engagement and trust. BookingJini has tied up with 120 properties in the state, and will eventually deliver its solutions, phase wise, across the span of one year, undertaking all hotels under its service proposition. Narendra S Bhandari, Managing Director, KMVN- Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam, states, “BookingJini is an innovative solution with a robust service and support team who are intuitive and knowledgeable about the market and dispense valuable advice. We are excited to commence this partnership and initially, will be rolling out Bookingjini Solutions with our premium hotels. Post the first phase, we will eventually introduce other properties across Uttarakhand to seamless solution of BookingJini”. Sibasish Mishra, Founder & CEO, BookingJini further adds, “Uttarakhand, due to its proximity to the Himalayas, its affiliation to Haridwar and other religious grounds is rapidly rising in popularity. The sudden spike in tourism calls for booking optimization while ensuring that the state tourism and hotels benefit from this substantial growth. BookingJini’s AI backed solution will help predict the flow of tourists, understand the scenario on a day-to-day basis and offer the right pricing to hotels so that they can optimise their services and efforts”.

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Global air passenger numbers to recover in 2024: IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects overall traveller numbers to reach 4.0 billion in 2024 (counting multi-sector connecting trips as one passenger), exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels (103 per cent of the 2019 total). Expectations for the shape of the near-term recovery have shifted slightly, reflecting the evolution of government-imposed travel restrictions in some markets. The overall picture presented in the latest update to IATA’s long-term forecast, however, is unchanged from what was expected in November, prior to the Omicron variant. “The trajectory for the recovery in passenger numbers from COVID-19 was not changed by the Omicron variant. People want to travel. And when travel restrictions are lifted, they return to the skies. There is still a long way to go to reach a normal state of affairs, but the forecast for the evolution in passenger numbers gives good reason to be optimistic,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General. In 2021, overall traveller numbers were 47 per cent of the pre-COVID level, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) mentioned. “This is expected to improve to 83 per cent in 2022, 94 per cent in 2023, 103 per cent in 2024 and 111 per cent in 2025,” it added. In 2021, international traveller numbers were 27 per cent of 2019 levels. This is expected to improve to 69 per cent in 2022, 82 per cent in 2023, 92 per cent in 2024 and 101 per cent in 2025. The release further stated, “This is a slightly more optimistic near-term international recovery scenario compared to November 2021, based on the progressive relaxation or elimination of travel restrictions in many markets. This has seen improvements in the major North Atlantic and intra-European markets, strengthening the baseline for recovery. Asia-Pacific is expected to continue to lag the recovery with the region’s largest market, China, not showing any signs of relaxing its severe border measures in the near future.” The outlook for the evolution of domestic traveller numbers is slightly more pessimistic than in November. While the US and Russian domestic markets have recovered, the same is not true for the other major domestic markets of China, Canada, Japan and Australia. “The biggest and most immediate drivers of passenger numbers are the restrictions that governments place on travel. Fortunately, more governments have understood that travel restrictions have little to no long-term impact on the spread of a virus. And the economic and social hardship caused for very limited benefit is simply no longer acceptable in a growing number of markets. As a result, the progressive removal of restrictions is giving a much-needed boost to the prospects for travel,” said Walsh.

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Chartered Speed Launches Caravan Services In Ahmedabad

Surface mobility company Chartered Speed has announced the launch of caravan services in Ahmedabad – ‘Vahn’. Vahn (a portmanteau of Sanskrit ‘vahan’ and Latin ‘van’) was born in the middle of a pandemic by a family of travelers. Moksha Gandhi, founder & lead designer at Vahn, says “Vahn is for everyone. From solo travelers & artists seeking a fresh air of inspiration, to a seasoned family looking for a break from the monotony of life to a big troop looking for their next big adventure.” Sanyam Gandhi, Director, Chartered Speed said, “We are extremely excited to launch the caravan services for travel lovers. The concept of travel is transforming immensely post the advent of the pandemic; and one kind of travel experience that’s gaining much momentum during these times is that of road-trips. Understanding this need, we have associated with Moksha Gandhi to create an infrastructure that will ensure a comfortable, safe and luxurious travel experience on the go. We want to encourage travel lovers to book these caravans and go all out with their families, friends and loved ones while experiencing home-on-the-go”

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Emirates Inks Agreement With The TAT To Promote Tourism To Thailand

Emirates has signed an MoC with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to promoting tourism in Thailand. Under the agreement, both the tourism body and Emirates will explore joint initiatives and opportunities for collaboration that will enhance each party’s marketing and promotional efforts to attract travellers to Thailand. The MoC was signed by Orhan Abbas, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations – Far East at Emirates and Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, Deputy Governor for International Marketing (Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas), in the presence of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Group Chairman and Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports. Also present at the signing ceremony were Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Chairat Sirivat, Consul-General of Thailand to the UAE and Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer, Emirates. Orhan Abbas, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations – Far East at Emirates said: “Emirates launched operations to Thailand more than 30 years ago, and its destinations are among the most popular in our Southeast Asian network, especially amongst holidaymakers from the US, Europe, and the Middle East. We are delighted to join hands with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to boost tourism to the country, and build on the success achieved over the years, thanks to our long-standing relationship. We look forward to highlighting its diverse offerings to industry stakeholders and customers and helping them achieve their tourism targets, to support Thailand’s post-pandemic recovery.” Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor, said: “This Memorandum of Cooperation will pave the way for strategic tourism collaboration efforts between TAT and Emirates. TAT will assist Emirates in developing airline passenger traffic from key strategy markets by supporting tour operators and travel agents in agreed target markets across the Emirates network with promotional giveaways, special promotional packages, incentives, and marketing spend.” Emirates resumed operations to Bangkok in September 2020 and currently provides two daily services to Bangkok utilising the Boeing 777-300ER as well as an additional daily flight aboard its flagship A380 aircraft. Emirates also flies to Thailand’s exotic holiday spot, Phuket, 11 times weekly.

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