According to data released by Department of Tourism, Govt.of Goa, there was no drop in foreign tourist arrivals in 2015. A total of 52,97,902 tourists visited  Goa in 2015 which includes 47,56,422  domestic  tourists and  5,41,480 foreign tourists. While the state has recorded an overall 30.54 per cent increase in tourist arrivals for 2015, domestic tourist arrivals were up by 34 percent and foreign tourist arrivals up by 5.4 per cent. Tourist arrivals during the monsoons (June, July and August 2015) recorded a 22 per cent increase as against an 18 per cent increase in 2014. Foreign tourist arrivals to Goa from  UK, Russia, UAE, USA, Portugal, South Africa and many others have shown an increase in arrivals to the  State despite  continued recession and crises’ that hit the European regions. The eTV regime introduced by the Central government in December 2014 has also facilitated easy access of foreign tourists to Goa. Within a year (Till December 31, 2015) a total of 49,626 eTVs were issued to foreign tourists. Dilip Parulekar, Minister for Tourism, said, “We are extremely delighted to know that despite various negative geo-political situations across the globe these have not hit Goa Tourism in any way. We have received a good response from foreign and domestic tourists in 2015 as in the past. Our new initiatives, marketing and promoting is showing substantial results and we are optimistic that tourists will choose Goa as their destination for holidaying.”

With a view to achieve better connectivity to remote areas and different regions of the country, the Government has laid down certain route dispersal guidelines. The government is persuading the state governments to reduce VAT on aviation turbine fuel (ATF), allowing direct import of ATF by Indian carriers as actual users. The participation of foreign airlines up to 49 percent in the equity of scheduled air transport undertaking is also being permitted. This will allow external commercial borrowings (ECB) for working capital requirement of airline industry for a period of one year subject to a total ceiling of US $1 billion. Furthermore, tax concessions for parts of aircraft and testing equipment for third party maintenance, repair and overhaul of civil aircraft are also a part of the measures.

Air India has launched an Air Pass for pilgrims to major Buddhist cities in India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. This coupon-based scheme for journeys originating in Yangon and Colombo, and is applicable to all types of journeys in economy class, except group travel. Under this scheme one can combine destinations Myanmar, Sri Lanka and India in a single journey. The fares are divided into four schemes—two for flights originating from Myanmar and two from Sri Lanka. Under scheme one can avail ex-Yangon six flight coupons for US$600, while scheme two offers eight ex-Yangon coupons for US$800. Schemes three and four are for flights from Sri Lanka, which offers six coupons for US$450 or eight coupons for US$800. Tickets can be booked at Air India offices or through travel agents, and are valid for 60 days from the start date of the journey.

India Tourism was awarded the “3rd Best Tourism Destination in Asia for 2016”, at ITB, Berlin, Germany. Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism along with the members of Indian team received the award certificate presented to India Tourism, for “3rd Best Tourism Destination in Asia for 2016”, on March 12, 2016.

A total of 1,17, 210 tourists arrived in February 2016 on e-Tourist Visa (eTV) as compared to 24,985 during the month of February 2015 registering a growth of 369.1%. The growth could be attributed to the extension of e-Tourist Visa for 150 countries as against the earlier coverage of 43 countries. UK continues to occupy top slot for countries availing eTV facility with 27.86% of total arrivals. This is followed by USA (13.85%) and France (8.08%) amongst the countries availing E-tourist Visa facility during February 2016. New Delhi gets the maximum percentage share of tourist arrivals, receiving 40.96% of total arrivals in the country, followed by Mumbai Airport (20.62%), Goa Airport (13.42%), Chennai Airport (6.19%), Bengaluru Airport (5.42%), Kochi Airport (3.44%), Kolkata Airport (2.50%), Trivandrum Airport (1.88%,) Hyderabad Airport (1.86%) and Ahmadabad Airport (1.58%).

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasts that India will be the third-largest aviation market in the world within 10 years. Referring to the draft National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), Tony Tyler, Director General of IATA, says, “India should develop its aviation policy to try to realise the huge potential of this market. Clearly it’s a good thing that the government has put together an aviation plan that will help make this happen. Certainly having an aviation plan like this is a step in the right direction but I do have to say that I am concerned about some aspects of it. Particularly where it’s going to ride cost to the industry or in some cases deviate from what are well accepted, tried and tested global principles. I have written to Ashok Gajapati Raju, Minister of Civil Aviation and Choubey, Civil Aviation Secretary about these issues.”

Continuing with its agenda to inspire the spirit of sportsmanship among the travel trade, Emirates Airlines will organise the second edition of its ‘Emirates Cricket Trade Tournament 2016’ for the travel trade on March 12-13, 2016 and then again on March 19-20, 2016 for the finals in Mumbai. It unveiled the cricket trophy in a pre-event networking event where former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes made a special appearance, enthralling everyone. The format has been made more competitive with 416 players in 32 teams playing 45 games over four days over two weekends. Sunil Kallyat, Regional Manager-Western India, Emirates Airline, wished the players all the best at the networking party.

The Government of Maharashtra has announced ‘industry status’ for  tourism in the state’s new tourism policy.  Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also declared the state government’s intention to invest up to Rs 30,000 crore in tourism. The policy also underlines a focus on skill development that will consequently enhance employment in the tourism sector. The policy also shows an intention to boost Medical Tourism, Nature Tourism and Agriculture Tourism. The government has proposed to exempt Luxury Tax, entertainment tax, electricity duty charges and stamp duty on investment on land owned by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and has offered additional incentives for tourism projects by women entrepreneurs, tourism projects by special people, and sustainable tourist projects. Fadnavis said, “This policy will generate 10 lakh new employment and double the income of state coming from tourism industry.

ITB China will take place as a new offshoot of ITB in the city of Shanghai from May 10-12, 2017, according to a release. The world’s leading travel trade show will provide China’s fast-growing travel market with its own platform, which is the combined product of strong partners. The corresponding agreements were signed on March 9, day one of ITB Berlin. The show will reportedly be organised by a new subsidiary of Messe Berlin, MB Exhibitions (Shanghai), and will focus exclusively on Chinese buyers meeting global destinations and service providers.

In a network restructuring of its overseas offices, VisitBritain has decided to make Mumbai its head office in India. At present the main office is in New Delhi and while they will continue to maintain this office, they plan to increase their focus and trade relations from Mumbai. “We are looking at a refocus in India and moving our major office to Mumbai so that we are much more aligned to the travel trade and work more closely with the trade to build product knowledge,” says Patricia Yates, Strategy & Communications director, VisitBritain. In the first nine months of 2015, UK saw a 13 per cent growth in Indian visitors but the total spend was down by three per cent.