INDIA: IndiGo Starts Flights To Lucknow,Goa And Pune

Marking a milestone of being the first airline to launch Lucknow-Goa and Lucknow-Pune sectors to its network, IndiGo has announced the introduction of its maiden flights effective July 2018.

IndiGo will operate a daily non-stop flight between Lucknow-Goa-Lucknow and Lucknow-Pune-Lucknow respectively. Continuing the low-cost carrier’s expansion in the domestic skies, IndiGo’s average daily departures will now be 25 flights out of Lucknow to 13 destinations.

The new flights are designed to cater to business and leisure travelers who are constantly on the lookout for new and affordable flying options.

Mr. Sanjay Kumar, IndiGo’s Chief Commercial Officer, said:

We are pleased to announce the launch of these two sectors from Lucknow, which will further provide more flexibility of choice to our customers.

Lucknow continues to hold immense potential for IndiGo and we are indeed happy to be the first airline to operate maiden flights between Lucknow-Goa-Lucknow and Lucknow-Pune-Lucknow.

We are providing affordable fares on these new routes for our travelers.

It is our constant endeavor to provide the best travel experience to our customers, as IndiGo continues to offer them on-time, courteous and hassle-free service and an affordable flying experience always.

IndiGo is further enhancing its customer experience with the launch of Jorhat and Dhaka as its new destinations.

Under the UDAN scheme, Jorhat will be the 54th destination on IndiGo’s network. Furthermore, Dhaka will be the 55th destination. Both new services start on August 01, 2018.

To provide more enhanced connectivity across India, IndiGo has announced the addition of 16 new flights to its network.

Effective August 2018, the Indian airline will operate its first daily flight between Bengaluru and Raipur.

Additionally, the airline will operate a second daily flight between Kolkata-Nagpur, a third daily flight between Bengaluru and Nagpur, and fourth daily flight between Bengaluru and Jaipur, and Bengaluru and Vizag respectively.

IndiGo will also operate its fourth daily flight between Kolkata and Patna.

Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said:

It gives us immense pleasure to add Dhaka, Bangladesh to our ever-expanding route network, and we are equally pleased to announce Jorhat as our new UDAN destination after Tiruchirappalli and Tuticorin.

With the addition of sixteen new flights connecting various cities within India, we will now be able to extend our on-time, courteous and hassle-free service, and low fares to everyone, that IndiGo is synonymous with.

IndiGo will continue to expand its network to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travelers wherever they demand it.


Tourism Observer

INDIA: Kerala Tourism Department Attracts More Tourists From Hindi Speaking States.

Migrants from the Hindi speaking states in the country who work in Kerala, God’s Own Country is exactly what the Gulf is for the Keralites.

Buoyed by the increase in domestic tourism, the state Tourism Department has decided to tap the potential of Hindi speaking states by holding aggressive promotional campaigns migrant heartlands.

According to the statistics available with the Tourism Department, over 1.46 crore domestic tourists have visited the state in 2017, recording the highest number of domestic tourist arrivals in the past nine-year period.

This is with the number posting an 11.39 per cent rise compared with the figures of 1.31 crore in 2016.

Kerala constituted around 62.93 per cent of the total domestic tourist traffic while Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra together contributed around 18.76 per cent and the remaining 18.31 was the share from other North Indian states.

The Tourism department has decided to hold road shows and other promotional campaigns in cities like Kolkata, Patna and Ranchi, said Tourism Director P Bala Kiran.

The domestic tourism has been registering a robust growth in Kerala over the years with a 10.94 per cent rise in 2017 compared with the figures of last year.

Foreign tourist arrival to the state saw only 5.15 per cent growth during the year 2017, compared with the figures of the previous year.

So, the department has decided to give more thrust to the domestic tourism sector as well in order to increase the domestic arrival by 50 per cent in the next five years.

In order to attract more young domestic tourists to Kerala, the department has also plans to boost the potential of adventure tourism.

Further, the cleanliness of the tourist spots will be ensured, apart from ensuring the safety and protection of the tourists, said officials.

The department has been spending around 60 per cent of the fund set aside for the marketing in the domestic tourism promotion and 40 per cent for the promotion of the state in international venues.


Tourism Observer

INDIA: IndiGo Flying Lucknow to Ahmedabad & Guwahati, Bengaluru-Indore & Raipur-Patna

IndiGo has announced the launch of 28 new flights on its existing domestic network. The new schedule will see maiden flights on the Guwahati-Lucknow, Lucknow-Ahmedabad, Bengaluru-Indore and Raipur-Patna sectors.

With the new flights and frequencies and induction of two new Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline’s frequency will increase to 890 daily. Effective November 2016, these flights will provide enhanced connectivity on the key sectors thus strengthening IndiGo’s existing network within India.

With 890 daily flights connecting 41 destinations, these new flights will enable both corporate and leisure travellers to experience IndiGo’s unmatchable on-time performance.

Speaking about the latest network expansion, Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director, IndiGo said, “We are absolutely delighted to announce 6E’s new flights connecting the metro cities with the regional destinations.

In the exciting times for Indian aviation, we are hopeful that these flights will prove to be popular among our customers.”

INDIA: Passenger Dissappears From Indigo Flight At Patna Airport

There was chaos at Patna airport 17th December after a passenger who travelling from Goa to Lucknow in an Indigo flight 633 disappeared from the plane.

Mudit Sharma was travelling to Lucknow with his wife and four more members of his family when the plane landed in Patna.

Sharma told his wife that he was going to the bathroom, and never returned. His absence was noticed only when the plane readied to fly to Lucknow.

The flight was delayed for more than 20 minutes when the airport authorities could not find him. Sharma, reportedly was annoyed by one of his family members and deplaned in Patna itself.

Neither Indigo, nor the ground officials were able to detect his exit. Airport Authority has taken up the matter with the two.

In his last phone message to his wife, Sharma said that he was in the toilet.

The trouble began when he could not be reached on the phone and the toilet was found empty.

The plane was grounded in Patna till the chaos subsided.

It left for Lucknow with rest of the family members. Flight 633 was to fly from Goa to Lucknow, via Kolkata and Patna.

INDIA: Contribution of Tourism and Hospitality Sector to Economy

As per the 2nd Tourism Satellite Account of India (TSA) - 2009-10 and subsequent estimation for the next three years namely 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, the contribution of tourism to total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 were 6.77%, 6.76%, 6.76% and 6.88%, respectively. The contribution of tourism to total Employment of the Country during 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 were 10.17%, 10.78%, 11.49% and 12.36%, respectively.

Keeping in view this significant contribution of tourism in economy and employment of the country, Ministry of Tourism makes adequate policies and programmes to attract more tourists. Some of the major initiatives taken by the Ministry of Tourism to attract more foreign tourists in the country are as below:

i. Central Financial Assistance (CFA):

Ministry of Tourism operates various schemes through which Central Financial Assistance (CFA) is provided to States/UTs for overall development and promotion of tourism.

Recently, Ministry of Tourism has launched following two new schemes for development of tourism in thematic manner:

Swadesh Darshan: Swadesh Darshan was launched for development of theme based tourist circuits in a way that caters to both mass and niche tourism in a holistic manner. Twelve Circuits namely North-East India Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Desert Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit and Ramayana Circuit have been identified for development under this Scheme.

National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD): This new Scheme has been launched for the development and beautification of pilgrimage sites to tap the growth of domestic tourists driven by religious sentiments and to augment tourism infrastructure at places of pilgrimage to facilitate pilgrims/tourists. In the first phase, cities namely Amritsar, Kedarnath, Ajmer, Mathura, Varanasi, Gaya, Puri, Dwarka, Amravati, Kanchipuram, Vellankanni, Guwahati and Patna have been identified for infrastructure development.

ii. Publicity and Promotion:

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, promotes India as a holistic destination in the international markets. As part of its promotional activities, the MoT releases campaigns in the international markets under the Incredible India brand-line to showcase various tourism destinations and products including its cultural heritage.

Moreover, a series of promotional activities are being undertaken in tourist generating markets overseas through the India Tourism Offices abroad with the objective of showcasing Indias tourism potential and promoting tourism to the country. These promotional activities include participation in travel fairs and exhibitions; organising road shows, Know India seminars & workshops; organizing and supporting Indian food and cultural festivals; publication of brochures, offering joint advertising and brochure support, and inviting media personalities, tour operators and opinion makers to visit the country under the Hospitality programme of the Ministry.

The Ministry of Tourism provides financial assistance to Stakeholders and Tourism Departments of States/Union Territories for undertaking promotional activities under the Marketing Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme.

iii. e Tourist Visa (e-TV):

The Government of India has introduced the facility of e-TV for the citizens of 113 countries at 16 airports. Introduction of e-TV is a Path breaking measure by the Government in easing entry formalities in the country.

Government of India has also revised the e-TV fee in four slabs of 0, US$25, US$48 and US$60 from November 3, 2015. Earlier e-TV application fee was US$60 and bank charge as US$2 which was uniform for all the countries. The revision of Visa fee has been done on the principle of reciprocity. Bank charges have also been reduced from US$2 to 2.5 % of the e-TV fee. During the period January to October, 2015 a total of 2,58,182 e-TV holders visited India indicating the success of the new online process.

This information was given by Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Dr. Mahesh Sharma in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.