A private tourism company has been brought in to help arriving passengers with hotel bookings, car rentals and other travel services for a fee under the ‘Swagat Seva’ scheme launched by the government. “The new service ‘Swagat Seva’ launched at the Chennai airport is in line with the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation’s recommendation to fulfil the needs of passengers,” Akbar Travels General Manager R Kannan told the Press Trust of India.

Akbar Travels was picked to offer these services in Chennai and Trivandrum airports through a bidding process.

For the services provided by them, the company would charge Rs 500, which is part of the revenue sharing agreement with the Airports Authority of India, he said.

The company would operate a 24-hour service counter at the airports and help passengers with check-in, immigration and customs formalities.

They would also arrange hotel bookings, car rental, air tickets, medical assistance, travel insurance, sight-seeing and help elderly and first time travellers, besides children travelling alone, he added.
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