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.

Based on the travel reaches of its over 10 crore active users, MakeMyTrip in its ‘India Travel Trends Report’ revealed 25% increase in the number of people taking more than three trips a year. International bookings are once again being made well in advance instead of sudden travels during the tumultuous 2020 and 2021, the report added.

Teleport – India’s Most Trusted Visa Platform, invites Indian travel agents to attend a B2B webinar today at 3 PM IST. Participants will learn tips for easy visa appointments; tricks to avoid visa rejections, and all of it at the lowest rates. To register contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com, or call 9650196532.

The Sankalp Patra of the ruling BJP for 2024 promises to roll out various programs in the tourism sector to help generate employment. One among them is to showcase the richness of Indian weddings and highlight cultural exchanges through the ‘Wed in India’ campaign which will promote select destinations across India as preferred venues.