August 2014

Rajeev Kohli
Joint Managing Director

Dear Industry Colleagues

Welcome to another edition of award winning 'Creatively Yours'.

This year the monsoons have been weak. El Ninio effect they say. A weak monsoon is not a good thing for an economy like India whch is still very dependent on agriculture. This has given our new government some challenges I am sure they could have done without.

Speaking of the new government, things seem to be on track in other areas, especially tourism. The new visa system is being prepared as we send this out and if rumors are to be believed, we shall see a soft launch in the next three months.

Just a small reminder for your support - We in Team Creative are also very proud to have been nominated again for THREE World Travel Awards for a fourth year running. This is a tremendous honour. With our wins in 2013, 2012 & 2011, we hope you will support us this year as well. Every vote helps count towards our success, for it is only the support from our friends and partners across the world that make us what we are today. Details on how to vote are below.

You shall see some new and exciting initiatives in the next season from Team Creative. New experiential inclusions, new circuits, new concepts... We take pride in our ability to make a trip to the Indian sub-continent something very different.

www.travel2india.com
www.creative.travel

Sri Krishna Janmashtami, the appearance day of Lord Krishna, is the most auspicious day on which Lord Krishna appeared in this world to please his devotees and annihilate the demons. The tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam provides a beautiful narration of this entire pastime. This auspicious festival would be celebrated on 18th August this year. At ISKCON Delhi, this happens to be the biggest festival of the year with nearly 8 lakh devotees visiting the temple for a darshan (seeing) the Lord. Festivities begin at 4:30 in the morning and goes on up mid-night. Various stalls throughout the temple campus provide the visitors to learn about the Lord Krishna’s pastimes through books, dramas, Q & A. After the darshan, all the devotees would be served a sumptous feast prasadam.

Onam is the most popular festival of Kerala (a southern coastal state of India). This is a Hindu festival, celebrated with a great enthusiasm throughout Kerala for a period of ten days. Every year this festival falls on the Malayalam month of Chingam - between August and September and also known as the harvest festival of Kerala.
Onam is one of the most ancient Hindu festivals which is still celebrated with a great devotion. Onam marks the homecoming of King Mahabali, a legendary king, who ruled Kerala in ancient times. That period was believed to be the golden age of Kerala, people were happy, free from harm and complete harmony and prosperity was there. This golden age ended when Vamana (an avatar of Lord Vishnu) pushed King Mahabali, deep into the earth. Satisfied by Mahabali’s honesty and generosity, the lord granted him a wish that he can visit his kingdom and dear subjects once in a year.

Follow the link to see: http://www.buzzfeed.com/laraparker/parts-of-nepal-that-prove-it-should-be-your-next-vacation

India has come up with a new five-year strategy to rejuvenate the Buddhist heritage circuit across the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, announced India's state minister for culture and tourism. The plan, produced in collaboration with World Bank Group affiliate International Finance Corporation, includes the improvement of infrastructure, connectivity, hotels, roadside amenities and other tourist facilities to the tune of US$200 million, which will be raised through public-private partnership.

Specific Buddhist tourism sites to benefit from the plan are: Bodhgaya, Nalanda, Rajgir, Vaishali (Bihar), Sarnath, Kushinagar, Sravasti and Kaushambi (Uttar Pradesh).

The number of tourists coming to Goa has increased during the past two years and the State Tourism Department is targeting five million tourists in Goa by 2016. "This is the goal of Goa government," said Dilip Parulekar, Minister for Tourism, Woman & Child Development, Government of Goa, while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of 17th national seminar organised by national media foundation, New Delhi at Institute Menezes Braganza hall Panaji on Saturday.

"Now that Goa's Member of Parliament Shripad Naik, who knows what tourism is, has been given the Ministry for Tourism in the Central government, we can hope for bright days for Indian tourism," said Parulekar, as per a TOI report.

Kerala Tourism has signed an agreement with UNESCO to begin a historic cooperation between the state and the world's foremost cultural organisation in promoting and protecting the ancient Spice Route heritage.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Kerala Tourism Secretary, Suman Billa, and UNESCO Director and Representative to India, Shigeru Aoyagi, in the presence of State Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar and K M Chandrasekhar, Vice Chairman, Kerala State Planning Board. read more...

Post the success of #GoaInstawalk that was held at the Goa Forest Department, Panjim on Nature Photography Day, Goa Tourism is all set to conduct the second version of Goa Instawalk in association with the Welcome Heritage Hotels on 9th and 10th August, 2014. Tourism Minister, Shri. Dilip Parulekar, said, "In today’s technological world, we seek to leverage the benefits of digital technology by showcasing Goa to the world. We invite all photography enthusiasts to discover a new side of Goa and enjoy all that the state has to offer." Goa Instawalk 2.0 aims at showcasing Goa’s architectural heritage, its natural and cultural attractions as well as the greener side of Goa during monsoons.
read more...

Rebranded after extensive renovation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of Four Points by Sheraton brand in Bangalore. Located on the main Whitefield road Four Points has 102 guest rooms including seven suites and provides breakfast, coffee, WiFi, Fitness Center, rooftop pool etc. . Four Points features 260 square meters of versatile function facilities with two meeting rooms, a fully equipped Business Center and 483 square meters of open rooftop space for business meetings as well as social gatherings. read more...

Most heritage hotels in Rajasthan will pay less value-added tax (VAT) this summer season as part of plans to boost tourism and encourage further growth of such accommodation, announced the state's chief minister Vasundhara Raje last week.

Taxes on the basic category of heritage hotels, offering between 10 and 15 rooms, are down from 14 to five per cent with immediate effect, while higher category heritage hotels, with 20 to 30 rooms, will pay four per cent instead of five. read more...

Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) has secured a management agreement to open the Crowne Plaza Taj Expressway Noida, in Delhi NCR.
Owned by New Delhi real estate developer Sikka, the hotel will be part of a mixed-use development strategically located close to the Noida Golf Course Sector-34 and Atta Market. The new 150-key hotel is expected to open in 2018 to become the second IHG property in the city after Crowne Plaza Greater Noida, which debuted end last year.
Pascal Gauvin, COO, India, Middle East and Africa, IHG commented: "India is a key market for us. It holds our third-largest development pipeline globally, behind the US and China and over the next three to five years we will grow by nearly 300 per cent there. The new Crowne Plaza Taj Expressway Noida marks our expansion in a city we've just entered and we look forward to working with Sikka to growing our presence in Noida." IHG currently has 19 hotels in India across four brands – InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express – and a total of 46 hotels in the development pipeline.

Dubai-based flydubai announced the launch of flights to Mumbai, bringing the total number of destinations served by the carrier in India to seven, with 25 flights a week. In June, flydubai doubled its network in India with the start of flights to Delhi, Kochi and Trivandrum. The new flights were a result of the expanded bilateral agreements that India has signed with Dubai over the past 12 months. Commencing on 28 October 2014, flydubai will operate direct flights five times a week between Dubai International’s Terminal 2 and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, while also increasing the frequency of its flights to Delhi to five weekly.

With the addition of Mumbai, flydubai has built up a network of 76 destinations across 37 countries. The carrier has a fleet of 38 aircraft and operates more than 1,100 flights a week within a five-and-a-half-hour radius of Dubai.

Etihad Airways will launch a daily service between New Delhi and San Francisco via Abu Dhabi, shortening what has traditionally been a two-stop itinerary for travellers.
From November 18, the Gulf carrier will deploy a 346-seater Boeing 777-300ER in a three-class configuration, leased from Jet Airways. read more...
 

The airline had offered limited promotional seats for all inclusive fare of Rs 500 for the Bangalore-Kochi sector. AirAsia India added Kochi to its network yesterday with the launch of a daily flight service from Bengaluru. The airline, which started operations in the country on June 12, 2014, now has services to Goa, Chennai and Kochi from Bengaluru.

"We have done a complete analysis on our third destination and we are confident we will be able to reach out to more first time fliers," Mittu Chandilya, Chief Executive, AirAsia India, had said while announcing the introductory fare last month.

The Russians' famed love for Goan sun, sand and other attractions could prove to be a money-spinner for cash-strapped Air India.
The airline, started a daily flight to Moscow, has now decided to extend the service to Goa -making it the only one-stop connection between the two cities without any need to change planes. Till last week, Aeroflot was the only airline with a direct connectivity between India and Russia. Now with AI also restarting flights to Russia after many years, the airline hopes to wean away traffic from the Russian airline.
However, the only issue that AI will need to resolve is that the airline has deployed the snag-prone Boeing 787 Dreamliner on the Moscow route. The inaugural flight on Friday was also delayed by several hours as the aircraft supposed to fly to Moscow had to be grounded due to a snag.