Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia, said, “Last year, India ranked 2 in terms of tourist arrivals in Bali. This year, our global target exceeds 14 million tourists, with an aim to attract 700,000 from India alone, owing to increased direct flights.”

Homa Mistry, CEO, Trail Blazer Tours India said, “New routes are launched because new airlines and airports are coming in but they do not stay there for long. It becomes a real demand and supply issue and promoting a destination becomes a problem. Thus, continuity and commitment are important for inbound.”

70 per cent of Indians travelling overseas choose nearby destinations, with one-third choosing destinations in the Middle East, as per booking.com and McKinsey report. The UAE is the top choice in the Middle East for outbound visits, followed by Saudi Arabia. Around 1.9 million Indians visited Dubai in first 10 months of 2023.

To accelerate wedding tourism in Rajasthan, the state tourism department has announced to provide the luxury train, Palace on Wheels, for destination weddings. It will be available for pre and post-wedding shoots. This will increase revenue for the train and will create new opportunities in the tourism sector.

Noor Ahmad Hamid, CEO, PATA highlights India’s unparalleled aircraft acquisition spree, with the country poised to witness the delivery of nearly three new aircraft per week over the next four years. This surge, coupled with initiatives like Air India’s restructuring, will enhance India’s competitiveness in the region.

MOT has launched ‘Meet in India’, a distinct sub-brand under ‘Incredible India’ to position the country as a M!CE destination. This was shared during India’s participation at AIME 2024. It will highlight exclusive features: excellent connectivity, world-class infrastructure, a knowledge hub, and unique tourist attractions.

“To maximize the benefit, TAT divides the allotted incentive budget for the MICE group into tier II and tier III cities along with tier I cities,” Siriges-A-Nong Trirattanasongpol, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand, responded when asked about the initiatives Thailand is taking to attract MICE groups to the country.

As per ICRA, Indian hotel industry is expected to witness a 7-9 per cent revenue growth by the year 2025. The domestic leisure travel, demand from meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (M!CE), including weddings and business travel are likely to drive demand for occupancy.

Manisha Saxena, DG, Tourism, said that under the MICE Tourism Policy, the Ministry of Tourism is working to develop city-level bureaus to promote venues internationally and for events of every size to be hosted in India. This initiative is expected to escalate inbound tourism in India and will attract more M!CE events.

Björn Bender, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman, Rail Europe, highlighted during his visit to India, stating, “In 2023, India has become our second largest source market after the US. We saw a 65 per cent recovery from India in 2022, and currently, the company is growing at 75 per cent of pre-2019 levels.”