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| The award winning newsletter from Creative Travel /
April 2017 |
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Creative turns 40! |
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Today
is a significant milestone in our
history. Reaching this milestone is an
achievement for any organisation. We are
so proud, excited and blessed for so
many achievements we have had along the
journey.
We would like to share a bit of the
history where we started from. For from
our past evolves our future.
Creative Travel was founded by Ram Kohli
in 1977. He wasn’t driven by the desire
to run a business, but rather a passion
to show the world the best India had to
offer. Ours is a story of a vision and a
passion that went against all
conventional norms. Ours is a very
personal story. |
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In the early 1960’s, Ram was hired straight out
of college by the then largest travel company in
India. Impressed by his dedication, his company
sent him to Germany to open the first ever
office of an Indian travel company in Europe. A
young bachelor, he adapted well to a new world.
Ram married our Deepak in 1968 and soon Rajeev
came along. But his company had greater plans
and it was off to New York to repeat what he had
done in Europe. Not only was Ram tremendously
successful in building India as a major brand
across the Americas, but also added one more
member to the Kohli family, Rohit.
In 1976, he felt the tug of home. He impulsively
quit his job and moved the family back to India
that year; to a country that was deeply mired in
socialist ideology and a backward economy. We
never really got around to asking him why he
made the move back home when others from the
developing world were trying to immigrate to the
West. He was driven in ways few others
were. It takes a different kind of man to uproot
his family from a comfortable life to start from
the scratch in a new world.
In 1977, out of a garage at home, Creative
Travel was founded. With nothing in hand, Ram
spent months of the year traveling the world to
create a following of partners & friends, many
who still work with us today. We still remember
the times when we would not hear from him for
weeks and his coming home meant the arrival of
great presents and many hugs. The travel
industry was very different before emails or
cell phones.
One thing that our parents held dear was the
value of education and we were both given the
best opportunities they could afford. In 1994,
we joined the company after gaining world
experiences and have never looked back since
then.
Why we tell you this is because Creative Travel
is not just a business. It is a family. A family
of the Kohlis, a family of our team members, a
family of our partners across the world.
We are so very proud to be part of a family
legacy of two generations that has showcased
this part of the world for close to four
decades. We have grown to become a prominent,
respected and independent Destination Management
Company offering the finest of cultural
experiences, personal immersions and natural
wonders all over India, Nepal, Sri Lanka,
Bhutan, Tibet & the Maldives.
We would give credit of our success to over 150
team members across our systems who strive to
deliver a flawless, world class destination
experience. We recognize that we are only as
good as the people that work for us and
therefore invest heavily in product training and
skill development, the results of which are
reflected in the way we treat our partners and
in the high levels of guest satisfaction we
achieve. At Creative, we have the perfect blend
of a professional environment with the governing
values of a family run company. The people that
work for us are truly amongst the best in the
industry.
Every organisation needs a soul, a mission, a
foundation. To us, business is about building
relationships. Our partners are our family, not
numbers. Our travellers are guests, not clients.
We do not want to be the largest company in
India, just the best. We hold close to our
hearts the values of integrity, of partnership,
of quality and of trust - trust of our
employees, of our partners, of our travellers.
To us, working in this industry is a passion. We
love showing the world the amazing sights
and sounds that make this region truly
incredible.
Ours is a story is of passion, of love. Our
story is of integrity and values. Our story is
about living upto the ideals and learnings given
to us by our founder.
Some things are just never to be compromised.
In our 40th year, we are so much to be proud of
and so much to look forward to. |
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India Liberalises e-Tourist Visa Scheme |
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We are delighted to announce that earlier week
the Indian government liberalisedthe e-Tourist
Visa scheme with featuresthat have been
requested by the industry for many months. The
main changes include increasing the validity of
the visa from 30 to 60 days, increasing the time
of application from 34 to 120 days giving an
option for a double entry and now also allows
business visas to be issued online. There are
other changes as well which are outlined below.
To read the news on this, you can see the below.
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http://www.newindianexpress.com/business/2017/mar/31/government-relaxes-e-visa-regime-to-attract-more-foreign-tourists-1588377.html
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http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/foreign-tourists-visiting-india-with-e-visa-can-stay-up-to-2-months/story-PmllWUXHitBzWUHZgD9BkO.html
We do want to caution all travellers on some
areas where we have seen mistakes happen.
- The e-Visa portal and the regular visa
portal look very similar. Yet, they are
different in the actions they take. So
please ensure e-visa applications are made
on
https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html
- There are specific instructions on the
images to be uploaded. Please read those.
- We have found that sometimes the payment
gateway fails. You are allowed 3 attempts to
pay after which you must fill in the form
again.
- Once paid, the guest will receive a
confirmation of ‘receipt’ of the
application. That is NOT the visa. Once the
visa is approved, they will receive another
email to confirm the Granted or Rejected
status. They need to print that confirmation
from the website and carry that along with
them when they travel.
- We do suggest that applicants read the
rules on the website carefully. The form is
simple and takes less than 10 mins to fill.
The highlights/instructions as per the
revised guidelines for e-Visa are as under:
- The e-Visa is now applicable for 163
countries (list given on the website)
- e-Visa has 3 sub-categories i.e.,
e-Tourist visa, e-Business Visa and
e-Medical visa. A foreigner will be
permitted to club these categories.
- Applicants of the eligible
countries/territories may apply online
minimum 4 days in advance of the date of
arrival with a window of 120 days. Example:
If you are applying on 1st Sept then
applicant can select arrival date from 5th
Sept to 2nd Jan.
- Recent front facing photograph with
white background and photo page of Passport
containing personal details like name, date
of birth, nationality, expiry date etc. are
to be uploaded mandatorily by the applicant.
Additionally, one more document depending
upon the e-Visa type would also be required
to be uploaded.
- The application is liable to be rejected
if the uploaded documents and photograph are
not clear / as per specification.
- e-Visa fee is country/Territory
specific. Bank transaction charges of 2.5%
will be charged additionally on applicable
e-Visa fees. The fee must be paid at least 4
days before the expected date of travel
otherwise application will not be processed.
To know the fee applicable on your
Country/Territory please visit the website.
- e-Visa fee once submitted is
non-refundable as the fee is for processing
of the application and is not dependent on
either Grant or Rejection of Electronic
Travel Authorization (ETA).
- Applicant should carry a copy of
Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) along
with him/her at the time of travel. Please
confirm that your ETA status is shown as
'GRANTED' on this website prior to
commencement of your journey. Applicants can
track the status of their application online
by clicking Visa Status.
- Biometric details of the applicant will
be mandatorily captured at Immigration on
arrival in India.
- The validity of e-Visa will be 60 days
from the date of arrival in India.
- Double entry is permitted on e-Tourist
Visa and e-Business Visa. Triple entry will
be permitted on e-Medical Visa.
- e-Visa is valid for entry through 24
designated Airports (i.e. Ahmedabad,
Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bengaluru, Calicut,
Chennai, Chandigarh, Cochin, Coimbatore,
Delhi, Gaya, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad,
Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai,
Nagpur, Pune, Tiruchirapalli, Trivandrum &
Varanasi) and 3 designated seaports (i.e.
Cochin, Goa, Mangalore). However, the
foreigner can take exit from any of the
authorized Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) in
India.
- This facility is in addition to the
existing Visa services.
- e-Visa can be availed for maximum of two
times in a calendar year i.e. between
January to December.
- e-Visa is non-extendable,
non-convertible & not valid for visiting
Protected/Restricted and Cantonment Areas.
If you intend to visit
Protected/Restricted/Cantonment areas, you
would require prior permission from the
Civil Authority.
- Please be careful while making payment
of the e-Visa fee. If the number of
unsuccessful attempts is more than three
(03), then the application id would be
blocked and the applicant would be required
to apply afresh by filling the application
form again and regenerating a new
application id.
- The e-Visa fee payment status up-dation
may take up to 4 hours due to technical
reasons/network delays. Before re-applying,
the applicants are requested to wait for 4
hours for payment status updating, after
final submission of the application form and
payment of the fee. In cases, where e-Visa
fee has been deducted but status is not
updated, the applicants are advised to
verify their payment status by clicking on
'Verify Payment/Pay Visa Fee' tab or by
clicking on the link Verify Payment.
- Nationals of Yellow Fever affected
countries or travellers arriving from these
countries must carry YELLOW FEVER
VACCINATION CARD at the time of arrival in
India, otherwise they may be quarantined for
6 days upon arrival in India. Please visit
our Ministry Of Health & Family Welfare
latest guidelines regarding yellow fever
countries here.
- For any assistance call 24 x 7 e-Visa
support center at +91-11-24300666 or send
email to indiatvoa@gov.in
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| Contact Us |
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Head Office - 283 Udyog Vihar Phase II, Gurugram, Haryana 122016. India | Tel: +91 124 4567777
Registered Office - Creative Plaza, Nanakpura, Moti Bagh, New Delhi 110021. India | Tel: +91 11 26872257 |
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| Email: engage@creative.travel | Website: www.creative.travel | www.junglesutra.com |
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| Global Sales Offices : Creative Travel has network of sales teams around the world to assist you in your region. Specialists are available to assist you with information on leisure travel, special interest trips, corporate, meetings & incentive travel and wildlife products. |
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| International Sales offices in Argentina Belgium Brazil Canada Germany Indonesia Mexico Philippines Poland Russia South Africa Spain & Portugal Turkey United Kingdom United States.
For details please visit www.creative.travel/contactus |
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| This is a formatted HTML email. If you receive it in a unreadable / garbled form, please let us know. To keep the message size low, some images are linked to the internet and would show only when you are on-line. If you would like to be removed from this mailing, please follow instructions at the bottom. This mailing is going out to individuals we have met over the years or to people whose names have been obtained from various lists provided to us by various trade shows. We do not mean to be intrusive to anyone. |
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