During the Industry Roundtable on Developing India as a MICE destination, Neeraj Dhawan, Director, Falcon Exhibitions, raise a crucial need for certified MICE professionals to bolster the MICE industry in India. He underscored the importance of skilled expertise in advancing India’s capabilities and reputation as a leading MICE destination.

According to a study by Booking.com, post-COVID, India is expected to surpass earlier momentum in the travel industry, possibly occupying first position amongst the top markets with 10-12% growth in total travel expenditure from 2023 to 2027. India led the way on tourism expenditure recovery in 2022 by reaching 78% of 2019 levels, vis-à-vis 52% for Asia.

Cyril V. D. Diengdoh, Tourism Department, Government of Meghalaya said, “We have approved a PPP policy aimed at developing tourism as a full-fledged industry. As part of this initiative, we are enabling private operators to construct greenfield hotels. The government has identified specific land areas where private sectors can invest in hotel development.”

Travellers have seen an increase in travel prices for the past 3 years. The average international trip cost in 2023 is USS6.574, up 21% from last vear. Sauaremouth survey reveals, 82% of travellers foresee their travel spending either rising or staying the same in 2024.

Rajiv Mehra, President, Indian Association of Tour Operators IATO, said. “The Indian market has seen notable shifts since the pandemic. e-commerce has surged, emphasizing the need for online presence. Additionally, there’s a growing focus on health and wellness products.”

The Embassy of Spain in India has announced to process Visa at Delhi office to Indian tourists within 24 hours without any additional cost. The idea behind this move is to attract more Indian travellers to the country. Usually, the visa processing time takes between 15 and 45 days.

Vikrant Grover, Director, Kazin DMC (Caucasus Region), announces the acquisition of Georgia-based agency TRAVEX. With this addition, over 3000 B2B agents across Kazin’s 10 source markets will gain access to experiential itineraries, tier I pricing, and professional services.

Amaan Kidwai is now ITC Hotels Area Manager for Luxury Hotels (North) & General Manager – ITC Maurya. Amaan has been entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing ITC Hotels’ operations in the Northern region of India while also helming operations at ITC Maurya, New Delhi. In his role as Area Manager, Luxury Hotels (North) Amaan will play a pivotal role in driving operational excellence across all ITC Hotels (ITC Maurya-New Delhi, ITC Grand Bharat–Gurugram, ITC Mughal–Agra & ITC Rajputana–Jaipur) and properties under brand Mementos in this region. An alumnus of IHM Mumbai, Amaan has an extensive background in Food & Beverage service and has steered transformative initiatives pan India. Amaan joined ITC Hotels as a Hotel Executive Trainee and completed the two-year management training programme at ITC’s Hotel Management Institute in Gurgaon. Since then, he has held various key positions at ITC Hotels Luxury Collection.         His career progression includes a memorable stint as General Manager, ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru where he effectively led the team through the most trying times of the pandemic before moving to a higher role in North India as Area Manager for Welcomhotels North and Sheraton New Delhi. With an impressive tenure of nearly three decades with ITC Hotels, Amaan brings a wealth of experience from across India. His commitment to the ITC Hotels ethos and Responsible Luxury is reflected in the many endeavours he initiated at the properties including LEED Zero Carbon Certification by *USGBC for Sheraton New Delhi. Amaan has received recognition and accolades for his work in the hospitality industry. Affable by nature, Amaan is strong team player who believes skill and talent needs to be recognised and rewarded to …

R Arjun, Managing Director, West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) said, “COVID had led to lot of disruption and one among them was the celebration of Durga Puja. This year, we are free from any hassles. We have developed 65 tour packages, which cover the main and important tourist destinations in all the 23 districts of West Bengal.”

Sumeet Gosain, Vice President, Head -International Sales at TATA Air India said, “Unfortunately, both the Boeing and Airbus both are struggling with the deliveries of the aircraft. Having said that, we will get our first A350 before the end of the year. The more aircraft which will be coming in we will be expanding, and we are already looking at newer destinations. So, depending on the delivery of these aircraft we will build it up from there.”