Gajesh Girdhar has been elected as the National Coordinator of NIMA. He shared, the association is now focusing on driving more membership and expanding the team. “Our main goal is to attract a larger number of individuals from tier III and tier IV cities. We anticipate a growth rate of 20 to 25% from these areas. We aim to increase our overall membership by 50%, with 25% of that growth coming from these cities”. In order to achieve this, the association is actively promoting its membership through various activities. “Our MICE forum, which has been successfully running for the past two years, has generated significant interest in membership. The positive word-of-mouth from last year’s event in Jaipur and this year’s event in Amritsar has led to an increase in online applications for membership,” he added.  Furthermore, the associations’ regional coordinators are also making dedicated efforts to attract new members from remote areas. Their commitment and hard work are crucial in bringing in more memberships. NIMA is currently focusing its efforts on the upcoming convention at Resort World, which will take place from August 6th to August 10th. This event is supported by Singapore Tourism, IHG Hotels and Resorts, Resort World Cruises, and Yorker Holidays. 

IndiGo, India’s most preferred airline, is further defining its long-term future, well into the next decade, by placing a firm order for 500 Airbus A320 Family aircraft. This will provide IndiGo a further steady stream of deliveries between 2030 and 2035. This 500 aircraft order is not only IndiGo’s largest order, but also the largest-ever single aircraft purchase by any airline with Airbus. The engine selection for this order will be done in due course and so will be the exact mix of A320 and A321 aircraft. Today IndiGo operates over 300 aircraft and has previous orders totaling 480 aircraft which are yet to be delivered between today and the end of this decade. With this additional firm order of 500 aircraft for 2030-2035, IndiGo’s order-book has almost 1.000 aircraft yet to be delivered well into the next decade. This IndiGo order-book comprises a mix of A320NEO, A321NEO and A321XLR aircraft. The evaluation of the offers was shared and discussed with IndiGo’s Board, and consequently endorsed. This new order will bring the strategic relationship between IndiGo and Airbus to an unprecedented depth and breadth. With this new order, since its inception in 2006, IndiGo has ordered a massive total of 1.330 aircraft with Airbus. The fuel-efficient A320NEO Family aircraft will allow IndiGo to maintain its strong focus on lowering operating costs and delivering fuel efficiency with high standards of reliability. The young and fuel- efficient fleet will help IndiGo realize its sustainability ambitions, building on the already realized CO2 reduction of 21% between FY16 and FY23. This year IndiGo expects to welcome 100 million customers on board and as such literally giving wings to the nation. IndiGo is amongst the …

Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) India launches K-incentive scheme to boost sales of Korea travel packages in 2023. Aimed at travel agents in India, the scheme celebrates the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Korea. 

Asserting that India deserves to have international non-stop connectivity to more destinations, Campbell Wilson, CEO, Air India has said the country has in some respect not been able to control its own destiny as a consequence of not having a healthy domestic airline industry.

Sachin Jadhav, Director Tourism, Odisha, said the Odisha government aims to double international tourist arrivals in the state to 2.5 lakh by 2025 from 1.2 lakh in 2019, with the launch of direct flights connecting Bhubaneswar to Dubai, Bangkok, and Singapore under the Viability Gap Funding scheme.  

Arvind Singh, Secretary Tourism, stated that convention centers in India were previously limited to big cities, but now they are emerging in various major centers across the country. With G20 meetings happening in 59 locations, it shows India’s capability to host excellent conferences, showcasing India’s potential as a M!CE destination.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, has informed that the Kashmir TWG meeting will be held at the Sher-e-Kashmir Convention Centre in Srinagar in May. “We will do a side event on film tourism at Srinagar. We want to show India’s and Kashmir’s potential as a film tourism destination,” he informed. 

Post completion of phase 3A expansion work scheduled in 2023, Delhi airport will become the only Indian airport whose terminals would be able to handle 100 million passengers per annum (MPPA), said a release from DIAL.

Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa, said, “Through G20 each state is promoting its own district, product and culture and that is leading to every state becoming a brand by itself. The G20’s impact is that many states are building up their own brands to penetrate global markets.” 

Riaz Munshi, president, OTOAI said, “There is a significant change in travelling pattern, travellers are now taking multiple trips during the year. They prefer to travel for more number of days, explore newer destinations and uncover off-the-beaten track experiences”.