Tag Archives: Diwali

Skal International Mumbai 144 organised its Diwali Event at Hotel Sofitel, BKC

Skal International Mumbai 144 celebrated its pre-Diwali gathering on November 3, 2023, hosted at Sofitel Mumbai BKC. The event was marked by a notable attendance, including members, their spouses, and distinguished industry guests. President Sk. Burjis Mehta, Skal International Mumbai, took pride in emphasizing that the day marked a significant achievement for Skal 144, with its members consistently earning well-deserved acclaim from Skal International.

It is important to mention here that Sk. Sunil VA and Sk. Partha Chatterjee (posthumously) was honoured with the prestigious title of Membre d’Honneur.at the recently concluded Skål International World Congress 2023 and General Assembly in Málaga, Spain. Additionally, Sk. Carl Vaz, President, Skal International India, was awarded the Skal Order of Merit (2021) and was named Skallegue of the Year for 2022. “I am proud of Skal 144 as our members have been given due recognition consistently by Skal International,” said Mehta.

Guest of Honour, Pandurang Taware, recipient of many National and International Awards, spoke on the subject of Rural and Agri Tourism, of which he is a Consultant to the Government.

Lubaina Sheerazi, Founder of Marketing & Representation Company – BrandIT, was felicitated by the Managing Committee for her support to Skal Mumbai 144.

The meeting ended with Networking Cocktail Dinner and lots of giveaway prizes.

Thomas Cook & SOTC launch range of Vegetarian & Jain Tours during Diwali for Gujarati travellers

Cuisine plays a critical role while planning a holiday for Indians – especially vegetarians. Data from Thomas Cook (India) Limited and its group company, SOTC Travel, indicate that travellers from India’s West Region – specially Gujarat and Maharashtra are displaying an increased travel appetite for the upcoming Diwali festive season, and this has resulted in a strong uptick in demand of 90% YoY.

To leverage on this growing opportunity in India’s vegetarian segment, Thomas Cook and SOTC have launched exclusive Vegetarian and Jain Tours that combine the best of cuisine and cultural experiences to a range of favourite locales, for customers in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Thomas Cook and SOTC’s exclusive Vegetarian and Jain Tours offer customers a diverse range of India and International locales to choose from, with departures from Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The portfolio features air-inclusive, land-only and customisable holidays to target India’s high potential segments including multigenerational families, owing to schools closing for mid-term break; also honeymooners/couples/DINKs, millennials/young professionals, Gen Z, seniors/Gen S, etc.

The Companies’ special Vegetarian and Jain Tours portfolio features a range of handpicked favourite destinations like Europe’s Switzerland, Paris, Italy and Vatican City; Turkiye, South Africa, Australia and Egypt. In Asia, easy-visa destinations like Singapore, Singapore + cruise, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam are on offer. Domestic locales feature Kashmir, Himachal, Andamans, Kerala, North East; also Bhutan – known to be the happiest and the greenest country in the world and Sri Lanka in the Indian subcontinent. What is noteworthy is that all group tours will be escorted by expert Gujarati -speaking tour managers, and international tours will also be accompanied by a special chef.

Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head – Holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India) Limited said, “The Gujarati community loves to travel with family and loved ones, and are known to take the festival where they go. With schools closing for mid-term breaks, our data indicates that Gujaratis across customer segments, especially families, are increasingly looking to travel during Diwali. Vegetarian food especially during travel is critical for Gujarati customers; this was the genesis of our Vegetarian and Jain Tours. These special tours with handpicked locales have been crafted to delight our customers. Our team of travel experts have meticulously planned and curated experiences to make them memorable for all segments. Additionally, we are also offering our customers with free hotel upgrades, also fun activities like a gala dinner and garba nights.”

Daniel D’souza, President & Country Head – Holidays, SOTC Travel Limited said, “We understand the quintessential Indian traveller better than anyone else, and our years of expertise has helped us design this strong portfolio of Vegetarian and Jain Tours to cater to India’s vegetarians. Indians love their food, especially Gujaratis and finding vegetarian and Jain meals while travelling may be a challenge – especially outside the country. To cater to the unique food preferences of our Gujarati customers, our exclusive Vegetarian and Jain Tours offer customers with sumptuous meals on-tour, this includes the best of local specialities in India, and international departures are accompanied by an expert chef. To ensure added comfort and reassurance, all our tours are escorted by our expert Gujarati speaking tour managers to make it a truly memorable holiday.”

 

Airfares soar up to 89% on key routes for Diwali week

Travelling by air during this Diwali is likely to be an expensive affair. Airfares on key routes across the country for the festival week — between November 10 and November 16 — are already up to 89 per cent vis a vis last year’s Diwali week due to high demand and limited capacity amid Go First’s insolvency and SpiceJet’s financial troubles.The average one-way airfare on the Delhi-Ahmedabad route for the November 10-16 period is INR 5,688, which is 72 per cent higher than in the Diwali week last year (October 21- October 27, 2022), according to data provided by travel website Ixigo. This is for tickets booked more than 80 days before the travel date. Last Diwali, there were about 290 flights per week operating on the Delhi- Ahmedabad route. For this Diwali, airlines are currently scheduled to operate 15 per cent fewer flights on the route, according to airline executives. “Go First used to operate about 42 weekly flights on the Delhi-Ahmedabad route. They are gone. SpiceJet has reduced its services on this route in the past year. It is currently operating about 14 weekly flights.

Other airlines do not have planes to operate more flights on this route,” an airline executive explained. Go First suspended all its flights from May 3 onwards and filed an insolvency application. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) last month approved Go First’s plan to resume flights, subject to the outcome of pending cases and the availability of interim funding. The airline is yet to resume flights. Airfares are also shooting up as demand for air travel — even in a lean season — has significantly shot up this year. “June and July, which are traditionally lean seasons, have recorded higher domestic air traffic this year (12.4 and 12.1 million passengers, respectively) as compared to the peak festival season of October 2022 (11.4 million passengers). Travel demand is likely to escalate further during this year’s Diwali, resulting in higher airfares across key routes. The increase in capacity by year-end may lead to some relief on fares in India,” said Ixigo spokesperson. The average one-way airfare on the Delhi-Srinagar route for the Diwali week this year is INR 7,175, which is 89.11 per cent higher than in the Diwali week last year, according to Ixigo’s data.

For this year’s Diwali, airlines are currently scheduled to operate 33 per cent fewer flights on the Delhi-Srinagar route. “Go First used to operate about 72 flights per week on the Delhi-Srinagar route. No other airline has been able to fill that gap,” an airline official explained. On the Bengaluru- Hyderabad route, the average one-way airfare for the Diwali week this year is INR 1,914, which is 63 per cent more than last year, shows the Ixigo data. This is despite the fact that aviation companies are scheduled to operate about 40 per cent more flights this Diwali. SpiceJet this month is scheduled to operate overall 1,266 flights a week — 41.5 per cent less than August last year, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium’s data. The airline has been finding it difficult to make timely payments to its aircraft lessors. As on August 1, 26 of its total 62 planes were grounded, according to Cirium’s data. SpiceJet earlier this week stated that it plans to revive 25 grounded planes back to service. (Source :The Business Standard)

Diwali weekend witnesses 32% hike in demand vs last year, says OYO

Global hospitality technology company, OYO says there is around 32% rise in booking demand for Diwali holidays this year as compared to last year.

Hyderabad has emerged as the top destination with the maximum number of bookings for the upcoming Diwali holiday registering a 70% hike in demand for Diwali weekend this year i.e. October 21-24, 2022 vis-a-vis Diwali weekend last year i.e. November 4-7, 2021.

The booking trends also indicate that Bangalore is the second most popular destination for Diwali holidays while registering a 58% hike in demand as compared to last year. Goa continues to be one of the highly popular destinations albeit with a 30% hike in demand. Kolkata and Chennai registered 78% and 45% increase in demand respectively.

Value for money appears to be the top priority for travelers with budget hotels registering the maximum share of the advance bookings. The trend also shows that travelers are making the most of the long weekend with Govardhan Puja on Tuesday i.e. October 25, 2022 recording the maximum bookings so far.

East India leads the table in terms of recovery registering the strongest upward trend with 71% rise in bookings as compared to Diwali weekend last year however, in absolute terms, South India has demonstrated the maximum bookings and a healthy 55% rise in demand as compared to last year’s Diwali weekend.

Aucklanders celebrates Diwali

Kiwis love celebrating the festival of lights. Since 2002, the Auckland Diwali Festival has grown to be a hugely popular, family friendly event showcasing traditional and contemporary Indian culture and Auckland’s diverse Indian communities.

This year was supposed to be Auckland’s 20th Diwali Festival, but unfortunately, Covid-19 has hampered the organizers’ best-laid plans. Though the Auckland Diwali Festival is cancelled, one can still celebrate Diwali with a range of entertaining and informative content to enjoy from the comfort of their home and like every year, this year too one can witness Auckland’s key landmarks being lit up in bright fuchsia and yellow to showcase the Festival of Lights.

The festival will seem a little different this year with online celebrations. Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said, “Diwali is one of Auckland’s most popular festivals and a really important celebration for the Indian community.

It is disappointing that the usual celebration has again had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis. However, we want Diwali to still be a special time for Aucklanders, with the online programme providing opportunities for families at home to enjoy Indian culture and celebrate the Festival of Lights together.”

The Auckland Diwali Festival team have gathered a range of entertaining and educational content for all Aucklanders to enjoy, available at Aucklandnz.com/Diwali. The Auckland Diwali Festival Facebook page is sharing daily inspiration.

Leilana Meredith, Festival Producer, said: “While the tens of thousands of Aucklanders who normally attend our major event aren’t able to this year, we still wanted to support Aucklanders to celebrate Diwali, learn more about Indian culture, enjoy and try something new at home with their family. Tasty Indian dishes and treats are a firm festival favourite, so we have fantastic at-home recipes and cooking demonstrations; music, crafts and dance are always hugely popular, so we have dance classes, henna and craft templates, videos to learn more about Diwali and Indian culture, and a playlist of music from DJs that would usually perform at the festival.”

While it is 20 years since the first Auckland Diwali Festival, the celebration of that much-anticipated milestone will be saved for the next in-person festival.

Auckland Diwali Festival is an important opportunity to celebrate traditional and contemporary Indian culture and our diverse Auckland Indian communities. The Auckland Diwali Festival is delivered by Auckland Unlimited, on behalf of Auckland Council. Asia New Zealand Foundation is the festival’s founding partner.

ONLINE CELEBRATION DETAILS:

· Cooking Classes with Dolly Mumma (Info/registration here)

o Biryani for President – USD10 | Saturday 30 October

· Live dance classes on Auckland Diwali Festival Facebook page

o Bollywood Masala by Khottey Sikkey | Saturday 30 October, 3pm

· Landmarks Lighting for Festival of Lights

o Vector Lights on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, Tuesday 26 October – Sunday 31 October.

o Te Ara I Whiti, Tuesday 26 October – Sunday 31 October.

o Sky Tower, Friday 29 October – Sunday 31 October.

o Auckland War Memorial Museum, Monday 1 November – Saturday 6 November.

o Viaduct Harbour, Saturday 30 October – Sunday 07 November

· Available on Auckland Diwali Festival website:

o Craft templates for henna art, making a paper marigold garland, rangoli and a salt dough diya.

o Six vegetarian recipes to try at home including coconut barfi, semiya payasam, chole bhature, and dosa. Recipes kindly provided by Dolly Mumma, Banu’s, Mithai, and Anju’s Kitchen.

o Dance and music playlists, featuring the local dancers, musicians and DJs that would usually perform on the stages at the Diwali Festival.