Onyx signs Indian property
February 3, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under Hospitality, News
BANGKOK, 3 February 2012: ONYX Hospitality Group, a Thailand based hotel management company will step into the India market with a management contract with Apna Punjab Resorts company.
Located in Ludhiana, Punjab region, the hotel is the group’s first property featuring 127 rooms. It is due to open in the second half of 2012.
“This project will mark the entry of the Amari brand into India and it is a very significant milestone for us,” noted ONYX Hospitality Group president and chief executive officer, Peter Henley. Read more
India at your fingertips
January 23, 2012 by Paphada Apimonton
Filed under Associations, Trade Talk
BANGKOK, 23 January 2012: Thai Hotels Association invites member to join a tabletop sales event, Hotels Meet Local Agents India Market, 9 March at Holiday Inn Silom Bangkok. THA will close registration for the event 31 January.
Hotels Meet Local Agents India Market should welcome 40 local agents,who handle inbound Indian tourism to network with Thai hoteliers.
There will be four main sessions: A seminar on directions and marketing plans for India by Tourism Authority of Thailand; a summary on tourism data for the India market by the Association of Thai Travel Agents; tabletop session; sellers meet buyers at a cocktail party. Read more
Kingfisher loses share value
MUMBAI, 10 January, 2012 : Shares in India’s Kingfisher Airlines ended nearly 5% down on over the weekend, as two of its main lenders said the ailing airline had defaulted on interest payments on outstanding loans.
India’s aviation regulator has raised safety concerns over debt-hit Kingfisher’s operations, fearing that its financial problems could impact safety standards.
Shares in the private airline tumbled as much as 10.76% to an intraday low of 18.25 rupees at the Bombay Stock Exchange, before ending at 19.45, down 4.89%. Read more
India’s airlines fight for survival
MUMBAI, 21 November 2011 – India’s beleaguered aviation sector is experiencing severe turbulence as high jet fuel costs, fierce competition and losses threaten carriers’ survival, analysts said.
The crisis engulfing Kingfisher Airlines, owned by billionaire liquor baron Vijay Mallya, has already sounded alarm bells, as it scraps scores of flights in a bid to stay financially viable.
Mallya’s airline, which has slipped from second to third place by market share, has reported a doubling of its quarterly losses and its future now is in doubt. Read more
Kingfisher fights to fly
MUMBAI, 15 November 2011: The board of India’s struggling Kingfisher Airlines met Monday to look for ways to slash the company’s debt and keep the country’s second-largest carrier flying.
Members are considering a sale of property to raise funds for the airline, headed by billionaire liquor baron Vijay Mallya, a banker said, while a company spokesman declined to comment.
The loss-making airline, India’s second-biggest by market share, has cancelled more than 200 flights in the past week, raising fears it could go bankrupt.
India’s religious tourism takes off
November 9, 2011 by Imtiaz Muqbil
Filed under Blogs
Bodhgaya/Lumbini, 9 November 2011 – Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from Thailand and worldwide are flocking to the holy sites in North India and Nepal in what is becoming one of the travel industry’s biggest growth sectors; religious tourism.
The numbers are growing in line with significant improvements being made in infrastructure as well as the quality of supporting travel and transportation arrangements. Roads, airports and railway services are being upgraded.
Kingfisher falls on hard times
BANGALORE, 29 September 2011 – Struggling Indian airline Kingfisher said Wednesday it planned to cut its low-cost service and announced measures to preserve capital and raise cash.
Kingfisher Airlines started up in 2005 as a full-service airline and two years later bought a budget carrier, Air Deccan,that it renamed Kingfisher Red to compete with rival no-frill Indian operators.
“We are doing away with Kingfisher Red (low-cost operations). We don’t intend to compete in the low-cost segment,” Kingfisher founder and liquor baron Vijay Mallya told a news conference in the southern city of Bangalore. Read more
Train collision in South India
CHENNAI, 14 September 2011 – At least seven people were killed and more than 80 injured when two passenger trains collided in southern India on Tuesday, police and railway officials said.
The accident occurred around 75 km (45 miles) from the port city of Chennai around 0930 when one train slammed into the back of another that was standing stationary at a signal point.
Three carriages were derailed in the impact.
“We have confirmation of seven dead so far,” said police Inspector General Syleendra Babu. More than 80 people were reported injured, some of them seriously. Read more
Passengers leap for their lives
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 30 August 2011 – Terrified passengers jumped out of a plane in India, Monday, after it skidded to halt on landing, trying to escape before emergency ladders were put in place, officials said.
Seven passengers were injured in the pre-dawn incident when the Gulf Air flight from Bahrain to Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala landed badly in wet weather conditions and veered onto muddy grassland.
“The Bahrain-Kochi Airbus 320 shot 10 metres (30 feet) off the runway. Some passengers in panic jumped out of the emergency exit before the ladders were brought,” A.C.K. Nair, Kochi Airport director, told AFP. Read more
India’s tea country gains autonomy
KOLKATA, 19 July 2011 – India signed an “historic” deal on Monday granting autonomy to an ethnic group in the Himalayan tea-growing area of Darjeeling that has fought for decades for a homeland.
The agreement between the federal government, the state of West Bengal in India’s east and a political group leading the Gorkha protesters was sealed in the scenic village of Pintail, about 600 km (380 miles) from Kolkata.
Indian Gorkhas, who are ethnic Nepalese, have led a violent campaign since the 1980s demanding that the separate state of Gorkhaland be carved out of West Bengal’s mountainous district of Darjeeling.
