Visa Enters Partnership to Skill India’s Tourism Workforce Amid Shortage — India Report

India’s Tourism and Hospitality Skill Council (THSC) has entered into a three-year partnership with global payments gateway Visa. The agreement is valued at around $1 million, with the aim to skill at least 20,000 youth for tourism-related jobs, according to the ministry of skill development. 

As part of the partnership, youths from 10 Indian states, including Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal, will be trained for roles essential to the tourism industry: tour guides, customer service executives, naturalists, and paragliding tandem pilots. 

Travel and tourism are two of the largest industries in India, contributing close to $200 billion to its GDP.

The Employment Gap: The Indian hotel, tourism, and restaurant sectors are expected to create about 200,000 jobs in the next 12 to 18 months, recruitment company TeamLease Services had said in a report. Companies are recruiting for permanent, temporary, and gig positions, the report said. 

However, an earlier report by THSC had highlighted that young workers were leaving the industry due to low wages and extended hours. 

Speaking to Skift, Dilip Puri, founder, Indian School of Hospitality, had said that these challenges were leading to young professionals being poached by other sectors, with a significant number of students graduating from hospitality schools finding better opportunities in retail, real estate, and start-ups. 

According to industry leaders, competitive salaries and incentives such as health insurance and work-life balance are necessary to retain talent. 

Recently, Sarovar Hotels announced the launch of Sarovar Leadership Development Program in collaboration with Indian School of Hospitality. The program is aimed at providing career development opportunities to young professionals in the hotel industry, while overcoming the challenge of lack of adequate workforce across the sector.

Kotak Mahindra Launches India Tourism Index Fund

Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company has launched the Kotak Nifty India Tourism Index Fund. The scheme replicates Nifty’s tourism index, and consists of stocks selected from the Nifty 500 Index to represent the travel and tourism theme.

This comes after Tata Asset Management in July launched its tourism index fund in India: Tata Nifty India Tourism Index Fund. Kotak’s fund is similar to the one launched by Tata, which also aims to mirror the performance of Nifty’s tourism index.

In June, India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched the Nifty India Tourism Index to showcase the performance of travel and tourism companies within the Nifty 500 Index. The index serves as a benchmark for tracking expected returns in the tourism sector. NSE creating the tourism index indicates a significant demand and investor interest in tourism-related stocks in the country.

Yatra to Acquire Corporate Travel Company Globe Travels

Yatra Online on Monday announced that it has agreed to acquire Globe All India Services (Globe Travels), a corporate travel services provider, for INR 1.28 billion ($15.25 million) in cash.

Yatra had earmarked up to $20 million from its India IPO proceeds for such acquisitions, which the company has earlier hinted could be a single acquisition or multiple deals.

This acquisition will add Globe Travels’ portfolio of 360 corporate customers and annual gross bookings of approximately $90 million to Yatra’s assets, the online travel company said in a statement.

Through this acquisition, Yatra expects to expand its corporate customer base in India and strengthen its market position.

Air India Express Adds 32nd Domestic Destination to Its Network

Budget carrier Air India Express has commenced operations to Agartala, making the city its 32nd domestic destination. As part of its operations, the airline started daily direct flights from Guwahati and Kolkata to Agartala on Sunday. 

Apart from flights to Agartala, the carrier also launched three new routes: Hyderabad-Guwahati, Bangalore-Vijayawada, and Bangalore-Indore. 

The airline is expanding its operations rapidly, recently becoming the first carrier to operate from two airports in Delhi-NCR, including from the Indira Gandhi International Airport and the Hindon airport. It is in the process of being merged with AIX Connect, formerly known as AirAsia India. 

Indonesia’s Bintan Resorts Initiates Targeted Marketing Campaign in India

Indonesia-based Bintan Resorts is keen to tap into the Indian market. Partnering with VFS Global, Bintan Resorts will be launching a marketing campaign in major Indian cities to promote the island, along with Singapore.

Through the dual-destination approach, Bintan Island is planning to welcome Indian travelers visiting Singapore. Bintan Resorts chief operating officer Abdul Wahab said, “By positioning Bintan Resorts as a complementary destination to Singapore, easily accessible by a 60-minute ferry ride from the city-state, we aim to attract a double-digit share of these Indian visitors.”

The destination is focusing on digital and social media platforms with the help of influencers, as well as workshops and familiarization trips for influencers and content creators. A key part of Bintan’s strategy is also to work closely with travel trade organizations, it said. 

Sarovar Hotels Launches Deventure Sarovar Portico Patel Nagar

Indian hotel chain Sarovar Hotels has announced the opening of Deventure Sarovar Portico in Delhi’s Patel Nagar. The hotel has 24 executive rooms and 15 club rooms, it said. With this, the chain now manages 15 hotels in Delhi-NCR.

Sarovar Hotels has more than 120 operational hotels across 75 locations in India. The company has set a target of operating 125 hotels in India by the end of 2024, and 150 by the end of 2025, managing director Ajay Bakaya earlier told Skift. 

Vistara to Merge With Air India on November 12

Full service carrier Vistara will fly its last on November 11, merging with sister entity Air India thereafter, a development that has long been in the works. 

As per a statement by Vistara, starting September 3, “customers will progressively not be able to make bookings for travel” with the airline after November 11. For travel after November 11, customers would have to book on Air India’s website. Moreover, for already existing bookings for post November 11, the customers would fly on flights operated by Air India. 

Vistara had previously shared details about the combining of the loyalty programs of the two airlines. Media reports had earlier also said that Air India is likely to retain its senior management in the merged entity, with Campbell Wilson set to continue as the CEO. Current Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan will likely return to parent company Singapore Airlines.

Air India is expanding its network and upgrading its fleet to take over as the merged entity. Accordingly, the airline has introduced its flagship Airbus A350-900 twice daily flights on the Delhi-London Heathrow route. This marks the first deployment of the new Air India aircraft on a long-haul route, as part of its transformation program. The first flight departed on Sunday.