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Spain's November hotel bookings jumped five-fold from November 2020

The number of nights booked by tourists in Spanish hotels surged five-fold in November from the same month a year earlier, but was still 20 per cent lower than in November 2019, data released on Thursday showed. The number of nights booked rose to 14.8 million in November, up from 2.8 million in the same month in 2020, the National Statistics Department said on Thursday. About 40 per cent of the hotel rooms were booked by Spanish residents, and most of the foreigners went to the Canary Islands. The winter is a strong season for the Canaries, where Northern European like to travel to enjoy the warm weather. The data is encouraging for the tourism-dependent Spanish economy, which has seen a strong recovery of the industry in the past months, although the Omicron variant may have a negative impact. The government expects the number of foreign tourists coming to the country in the fourth quarter would reach two-thirds of its 2019 level, before the pandemic struck.

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ICCR demands compulsorily playing Indian music on Indian flights

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has submitted a memorandum to the Civil Aviation Minister of India Jyotiraditya Scindia to make it mandatory for every Indian carrier to play Indian music in order to promote Indian music. "Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) joins the fraternity of musicians, singers and artistes associated with India traditional music, in demanding that playing Indian classical or light vocal and instrumental music in aircraft being operated in India and also at various airports be made mandatory for all India based airlines," President ICCR, Vinay Sahashtrabuddhe, said in a letter. ICCR called Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to its programme and submitted a memorandum to him and said that if this happens in Indian Airlines, Indian music will get a lot of strength. "I come from the music city of Gwalior, which has been the city of Tansen and has also been an old house of music. Indian ancient music has a history of many years and people have a lot of curiosity in ancient music too," Scindia said. ICCR President, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, is happy after the Aviation Minister's positive words to introduce Indian music on flights. "Music played by most airlines across the globe is quintessential of the country to which the airline belongs. For example, it is most likely that we shall come across Jazz in an American airline or Mozart in an Austrian Airline and Arab music in an Airline from the Middle East. However, it is extremely unfortunate and even ironic that most airways in India however- both private and Government-owned as well as both Domestic and International, seldom, if at all play Indian music. Our music mirrors our rich heritage and culture and it is one of the many things every Indian has a reason to be truly proud of," Vinay Sahashtrabuddhe said. Apart from this, ICCR assured the Ministry and the airline company that if copyright issues arise, the government will talk to the person concerned in this regard. Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) joins the fraternity of musicians, singers and artists associated with Indian traditional music, in demanding that playing Indian classical or light vocal and instrumental music in aircraft being operated in India and also at various airports be made mandatory for all India based airlines. Fraternity from the music industry Anu Mallik, Kaushal Inamdar, Pandit Sanjeev Abhyankar, Manjusha Patil - Kulkarni was present in the meeting.

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Wyndham Garden Salalah Mirbat to welcome first guests

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has welcomed the opening of the 237-room Wyndham Garden Salalah Mirbat hotel in Mirbat, Oman. The hotel marks continued growth in the leisure segment for the giant, as well as the first in collaboration with Dhofar Tourism Company – one of the largest and most diversified developers of sustainable towns in Oman. Wyndham Garden Salalah Mirbat is located oceanfront in Mirbat, and a short drive away from Salalah, the third largest city in the sultanate of Oman and the capital city of the Dhofar Province. Mirbat is a culturally rich up-and-coming tourist destination, known for its white sand beaches and natural beauty. Guests of the hotel can enjoy oceanic views and leisure activities including water sports, a spa and kids club. The opening of Wyndham Garden Salalah Mirbat marks Wyndham’s fourth hotel in Oman and second under the Wyndham Garden brand. Panos Loupasis, vice president development, Middle East, Eurasia & Africa, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, said: “Wyndham Garden Salalah Mirbat, offers fantastic accommodations for both regional and international travellers who wish to experience the picturesque beauty of Mirbat. “With the opening of this hotel, we look forward to further supporting the city’s development as a global holiday destination - as well as continuing to support Oman’s ambitious 2040 tourism plans to revitalise travel in the country and double the number of tourists. “We are excited to open our first hotel in this unique city, an important milestone that will see us further bolster our presence in the Sultanate.” Wyndham Garden Salalah Mirbat borders pristine white sandy beaches and offers modern rooms and boasts state-of-the-art leisure facilities for guests including on-site restaurants, a spa, outdoor pool, a fitness centre, as well as additional sports facilities.

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Indian aviation industry was able to breathe a little easier in 2021

The Indian aviation industry was able to breathe a little easier in 2021 as domestic flight operations reached their pre-pandemic levels even though international services continued to remain curtailed due to Covid-related travel restrictions. Air India's sale to the Tata Group and arrival of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed new airline Akasa Air in 2021 are likely to introduce more competition and change the dynamics of the Indian aviation sector in the coming years. While the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) removed all capacity restriction on scheduled domestic flights on October 18, the lower and upper limits on domestic air fares continue to remain in place. Both, capacity restriction and fare limits, were imposed by the MoCA from May 25, 2020, when scheduled domestic flights resumed after a two-month-long suspension due to Covid19. Though the MoCA announced on November 26 that scheduled international flights would resume from December 15, the decision was suspended on December 1 in the wake of spread of the Omicron variant of Coronavirus. Scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020. Currently, special passenger flights have been operating between India and approximately 32 countries on the basis of air bubble arrangements signed with them. With US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing making all necessary software rectifications in 737 Max plane to the satisfaction of Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the ban on the aircraft's commercial flight operations was lifted after 27 months. All Max planes were grounded in India by DGCA on March 13, 2019, three days after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane near Addis Ababa, which had killed 157 people, including four Indians. Akasa Air, the new airline backed by ace investor Jhunjhunwala and aviation veterans Aditya Ghosh and Vinay Dube, got the no-objection certificate (NOC) from the MoCA to launch commercial flight operations in the first half of August. With the DGCA giving its green light to Max aircraft in late August, Akasa Air signed a deal with Boeing on November 26 to purchase 72 Max planes. Aviation consultancy firm CAPA said last month that the disruption in the Indian aviation sector due to Akasa Air will possibly be felt from 2024-25 onwards "once it has scale and achieves a competitive cost base". SpiceJet reported a net loss of INR 935 crore and INR 998 crore in 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. In the first six months of the current financial year, the airline has posted a net loss of INR 1,290 crore. Sections of SpiceJet's employees went on strike outside the Delhi airport on September 3 and November 2 protesting against reduced salaries and its irregular disbursement. SpiceJet Chairperson and managing director Ajay Singh had told PTI in October that employees were being paid their full salaries on time and all issues related to their pays have been resolved. SpiceJet is the only airline in India that has Max planes, 13 of them, in its fleet currently. In November, the budget carrier said it had entered into an agreement with Boeing to settle outstanding claims related to the grounding of 737 Max aircraft and its return to service. CAPA said that risks for SpiceJet would remain "elevated without serious recapitalisation" and "long-term stability" could be achieved with recapitulation. After much effort over the years, the Narendra Modi government was finally able to successfully able to sell debt-laden Air India in 2021 to a private entity. On October 8, the Centre announced that Talace Private Limited- a whollyowned subsidiary of Tata Sons- has beaten a consortium led by Ajay Singh by offering INR 18,000 crore to win the bid to acquire Air India. Air India is expected to be finally handed over to the Tata group in the first quarter of 2022. Tata Group already own and operate two airlines, Vistara and Air Asia, in India. It is unclear if Vistara would be merged with Air India or not. Similarly, it is unclear whether Air India Express, Air India's wholly owned subsidiary that operates narrow-body aircraft only, will be merged with budget carrier AirAsia India or not. On July 8, Jyotiraditya Scindia took charge as the Civil Aviation Minister replacing Hardeep Singh Puri. Under Scindia's charge, the MoCA has given a big push to the drone industry. The MoCA on September 15 approved a PLI scheme for drones and drone components with an allocation of INR 120 crore spread over three financial years. The PLI scheme came up as a followthrough of the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021, released by the MoCA on August 25. The Indian drone industry will have a total turnover of up to INR 15,000 crore by 2026 as the government has given a major boost to the sector with the PLI scheme and the liberalised rules, Scindia had said on September 16. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in June approved the Jalan Kalrock Consortium's resolution plan for Jet Airways, two years after the once-storied full-service carrier went into insolvency proceedings. Earlier this month, the winning consortium of Jet Airways said it wants to infuse funds in the airline and has approached the NCLT to fast-track implementation of the resolution plan approved by the insolvency court in June this year. The consortium, in a statement, also said it plans to restart domestic operations at the earliest in 2022 as a full-service carrier.

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Travel clients continue spending amid Omicron: TCS

The client spending in the travel segment has not halted because of the Omicron threat in the last few weeks, a senior executive at TCS said on Thursday. The largest software exporter, which bagged a multi-year deal from airport hospitality services provider Plaza Premium Group (PPG) recently, will endeavour to keep profit margins in the travel segment at par with the company's average, its president for Asia Pacific Girish Ramachandran told PTI. It can be noted that many countries have had to impose restrictions on travel because of the Omicron threat, which is spreading faster than the earlier variants of the Covid virus, leading to concerns over its impact on business and also corrections in indices. "Because of Omicron, I have not seen any of the travel customers stop any projects. Whatever they have invested in the last few months, they are continuing with that," Ramchandran said, adding that clients feel this is a temporary blip and things will return to normalcy. He added that except for China and Hong Kong, which are keen to control the virus fully, all the other countries have shown a willingness to open up borders and start to live with the virus rather than impacting businesses. In the initial days of the pandemic, most of the airlines had held back spending but, as the pandemic continued, they decided to use the crisis as an opportunity and spent on technology in the last one and half years, he said. "Most airlines are spending on moving assets to the cloud, customer experience, how do we bring new tech like artificial intelligence or Internet of Things to help passengers and improve operational efficiencies," Ramchandran said, drawing from his experience of clients in the APAC region. On the new deal with the Hong Kong-based PPG, he said it will see TCS help provide 32 new services for things as diverse as pets and parking for cars at over 70 airports that the client operates at. PPG has already introduced a pilot of four new services at the Bengaluru airport, and the plan is to increase the number of services and also take them to other airports across the world, he said, adding that the work involves using digital interventions for enhancing the experience for an airport's customers and employees, and also operational excellence. When asked about margins from deals like this, given the fact that TCS has to work with multiple vendors and integrate them, Ramchandran seemed to suggest that there is no impact. "...we have tried keeping the margins (in the travel segment) as close to TCS margins, we do not see a significant difference," he said, adding that the profit margins are dependent on other things as well like the offshore/onshore mix. The company sees many opportunities to grow the business, and will be cautious in partnering with strong clients who have the ability to pay over the long term as part of its risk calibration efforts. In the Asia Pacific region, there are opportunities from Thailand to New Zealand, which the company will be bidding for, the Singapore-based executive said. The pandemic's travel restrictions resulted in a difficulty to fly talent into markets from countries like India for work, he noted. It had to up the local hiring and will continue to do so in the future as well, Ramachandran said, specifying that a delivery centre in the Philippines alone houses 5,000 employees. To a question on where he sees the revenue contribution from the APAC market - which stood at 9.3 per cent as of September - in the future, Ramachandran avoided a direct answer saying he is very optimistic regarding the significant opportunities in the market and its ability to win more clients like PPG.

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Night curfew to return in Uttar Pradesh from December 25

The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday imposed a night curfew in the state from December 25, from 11 pm-5 am. Various other restrictions have also been put in place, including that not more than 200 people can be allowed in weddings. The new directions have been issued amid heightened monitoring due to rising number of Omicron cases in the country. As per the latest Health Ministry data, India saw 122 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the highest so far, pushing its tally in the country to 358. Out of these, 114 have either recovered or migrated, the Health Ministry said. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath chaired a high level meeting and directed the officials to ensure that people arriving in Uttar Pradesh from other states or abroad are traced and tested for coronavirus, and extra vigilance is maintained on buses, railway stations and airports. He asked for a close watch to be kept on the health of those coming from outside the state after testing them, and if required, they should be admitted to hospitals or be quarantined, the senior official said. Monitoring committees did a commendable job in coronavirus management in the past, and directives have been issued to reactivate them in villages and urban wards, he said. The chief minister said that in view of the possibility of a third wave of COVID-19, the state made systematic preparations in the past which needed to be re-examined. Facilities available at all government and private medical institutions of the state should be examined closely, and the Covid help desk and the day care centre in industrial units should be activated, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday had reviewed the COVID-19 situation while stressing the need to be vigilant and cautious.

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