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The Kerala Tourism department has launched an online bidding game offering holiday packages to the state at virtually no cost. First-ever in the country for a destination, ‘Visit Kerala Bid Wars’ will be played out on the hugely popular Facebook page of Kerala Tourism. The bid, joined by accredited tour operators in the state, will include packages from Rs 8,000 to Rs 78,000. The bid, aimed at domestic travellers, is organised as part of the ‘Visit Kerala 2015′ campaign inaugurated by Kerala Tourism Minister A P Anilkumar in the national capital in April. “Kerala Tourism enjoys round-the-year engagement with our huge fan base across the world,” said G Kamala Vardhana Rao, Secretary, Kerala Tourism. “This bidding process is a unique way to acknowledge the bond with each other,” he added. “It will also help us continue our association with our fans by providing an opportunity to gain first-hand experience of being in the place they love,” Rao said. The campaign will be anchored on an online bidding system known popularly as the ‘lowest unique bid’. In this bidding system, the package, which is up for bidding, is won by the person whose bids the lowest as well as unique. If two people bid the same price, that amount will get cancelled. “The online bidding not only carries forward the conversation with our fans, but also takes it to the next level,” said Kerala Tourism Director P I Sheik Pareeth. “The opportunity for our fans to spend a peaceful day on a houseboat in the famed backwaters or stroll in the picturesque tea hills of Munnar will go a long way in consolidating our association with them.” For making the bidding a success, Kerala Tourism has partnered with accredited service providers from the state such as Kerala Tourism Development Corporation, Voyages Kerala, Intersight Holidays, Spice Land Holidays, Cosima Holidays, Dravidian Trails, Indus Holidays, Kerala Travels & Travel Planners. The bid will be active for a few days initially. The winner will be announced for each package soon after it ends and before the next package will be up for bidding.

About 1,100 delegates from 61 participating countries have registered for the 38th PATA Travel Mart 2015, says RV Deshpande, Tourism Minister of Karnataka. The travel mart hosted by Department of Tourism, Government of Karnataka is being held at Bangalore International Exhibition Center (BIEC) from September 6-8. This edition of PATA Travel Mart will for the first time have an Investment Forum. Deshpande was speaking after the inauguration of mart. Twelve hotels from the city are the “Official Hotels” as part of the PATA travel mart, which will accommodate these delegates. Extensive media publicity campaign has been launched for the promotion of PATA across the globe by Karnataka Tourism department. PATA Travel Mart is a PATA signature event and a premier travel trade show in the Asia Pacific region.

India’s domestic demand soared 28.1 per cent in July compared to a year ago, according to the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) global passenger traffic results. This surge was likely owing to significant increases in service frequencies and improvements in economic growth. Domestic travel demand rose 7.6 per cent in July compared to July 2014. All markets showed growth with the strongest increases occurring in India and China. Domestic capacity climbed 6.5 per cent, and load factor improved 0.8 percentage points to 83.6 per cent. Tony Tyler, Director General and CEO, IATA, says, “Following a strong summer the outlook heading into autumn is unsettled to say the least. While passenger demand remains healthy, air cargo growth turned negative in July. The downward movement in stock markets around the globe reflects investors’ growing concerns about slowing trade and economic growth in emerging economies, as well as China’s continued shift towards domestic markets. Aviation’s connectivity creates economic opportunities and contributes to job creation. Governments looking to shore up consumer confidence and encourage spending should be encouraging greater connectivity by removing barriers to growth such as heavy taxes and charges and infrastructure constraints.”

The Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia is contemplating to add India in the list of countries that are extended Visa free entry by the end of October. This was revealed by Arief Yahya, Tourism Minister, Indonesia. Talking about the new development, Yahya said, “We have not done enough for the Indian market till now. We hope this initiative will act as a catalyst that will lead to direct connectivity between the two countries. Our government is going to soon have discussion with India’s Civil Aviation Ministry to have direct flight between the two countries.” The move is expected to push airlines in both the countries to begin direct air connectivity between the two countries, which has been a long-standing demand from the industry. The country will look at adding direct connectivity from New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, Yahya added. Earlier this year, the Indonesian government had rolled out visa free entry to citizens of 45 countries, including Asian markets such as China, Japan and South Korea. Indonesia is now looking to add 48 countries to its list of visa free entry, thus taking the total to 93 countries by the end of this year. Visa-free arrivals are valid for 30 days in the country.

A simplified procedure has been introduced based on large number of representations from parents who are facing difficulties while submitting applications for their children. “The matter has been examined considering all relevant aspects,” says a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India. Government of India has given various options with regard to ‘presence of parents while applying for passports for minor children’. The statement says only copies of passport of the parents of the minor has to be submitted. The genuineness of the passports can be checked at the system. The Ministry has also given out information on the annexures required during the submisison of documents

Indonesia is planning its biggest push for Indian arrivals. The Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia in collaboration with Visit Indonesia Tourism Office (VITO) in India is gearing up to lure international tourists especially from India, by undertaking 2015 Indonesia Sales Mission to India. The event will run from July 28 to 30 in Mumbai and Delhi. India has been included in the top 10 visitors to Indonesia and is one of the primary markets in term of increasing the number of Indian visits increased about 16.23 per cent to 237,990 visits compared to 204,756 visits in 2013. Shelly Chandhok, Country Manager, VITO India, says, “We have seen a tremendous growth in Indian arrivals. This year our target is 250,000.”