Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency announces its partnership with the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India to organise a mega familiarisation (FAM) trip for its members from 30 June to 6 July. The initiative is dedicated to highlighting the myriad attractions of Türkiye to Indian travel agents. A total of 40 OTOAI members from across India will be participating in this exciting endeavour, representing diverse regions and tourism interests.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 2-day Fiji Tourism Exchange, Brent Hill, CEO, Tourism Fiji, said, “Indian tourists visiting Australia or New Zealand can be a great source market for Fiji, which is visa-free for Indian nationals, and we plan to tap that.” Over 80 suppliers are showcasing their products to 125+ buyers from key markets including three travel agents namely Kesari Tours, PickYourTrail, and Thomas Cook India from India.

Manish Sharma, Chairman, Gujarat Tourism Corporation Society, said, “Indian electoral process has been increasingly in demand during assembly elections. UP, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka have been highlighted as “tourism-friendly states”, and visitors can be “easily facilitated to experience the process” here. If government takes the initiative of promoting election tourism, 5-7 lakh tourists can be brought to India for elections alone.”

Indian Ministry of Tourism showcases its strength at ATM 2024 with a strong delegation led by Gyan Bhushan, Senior Economic Advisor, MOT and Arun Srivastava, Joint Director, General, MOT. It also launched a campaign to promote India as a holistic destination. More than 55 participants from India including State Tourism, IRCTC, tour operators, hotels, airlines etc are participating in the show.

At the inauguration of ITC Ratnadipa in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sanjiv Puri, Chairman and Managing Director, ITC, said, “ITC Hotels plans to open more hotels in neighbouring countries. The brand which opened 22 new properties in the last 24 months, plans to add another 70 hotels in the next five years in India as part of expansion plans in the hospitality sector.:

Ankit Hakhu, Director, CRISIL Ratings, said, “Taking off from the strong base of last fiscal, passenger traffic growth will continue its momentum in fiscal 2025 and rise more than 10% to over 415 million. Continuing economic growth, opening of more airports and improving regional connectivity are providing the tailwinds necessary for domestic traffic growth.”

Highlighting India’s growing importance in the global travel market, Bernstein in its report said, “India is on its way to emerge to 5th place in outbound travel spending by 2027, reaching $89 billion compared to its current 10th position at $38 billion in 2019. The country is also expected to become the 3rd largest domestic travel market by 2027, with expenditures reaching $174 billion, up from $127 billion in 2029 when it held the 5th position.”

Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and CEO, IHCL, said, “Re-imagined Gateway, is a full-service hotel offering in the upscale segment, an ideal fit to capture growth opportunities in emerging micro markets in metros and Tier II and Tier III cities. The brand roll-out starting with 15 hotels will commence with launches in Bekal and Nashik.”

Gathering insights from more than 31,000 travellers across 34 countries and territories, Booking.com in its releases its 9th Sustainable Travel Report 2024, stated that 95 per cent of Indian travellers confirm that sustainable travel is important to them, with 93 per cent saying that they want to travel more sustainability over the next 12 months.

Domestic aviation in India is witnessing an unprecedented growth of 4,71,751 passengers and 6,128 flights  on 21 April, 2024 as compared to 21 April last year, which was 4,28,389 and 5,899, respectively. As more people gain access to air travel, the sector is expected to continue its upward trajectory, revealed DGCA.