OTM 2016 was inaugurated by Thailand’s Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, along with Satish Soni, Director of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra and Joint Managing Director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) in the presence of other global leaders of the travel fraternity. Neil Llanes from the Philippines stole the show at the inauguration with his beat boxing. OTM is being held at Bombay Exhibition Centre, NSE Complex, Goregaon (E) from February 18 to 20, 2016. It is a three-day B2B trade show, where more than a thousand sellers from 50 participating destinations will meet 6,000 buyers on the exhibition floor. Side by side the trade exhibition, there are a host of innovative events to discuss emerging trends in the travel business, such as TechForum@OTM, #StartupKnockDown and Shoot at Site@OTMsessions. These have been planned alongside OTM to specifically address topical agendas that are increasingly catching the industry’s attention. The UAE is leading their participation with all its 7 Emirates, making them the largest destination exhibitor in OTM 2016. They are joined by several global destinations at OTM 2016 with the keenness to carve a piece of India’s projected 50 million outbound pie – Philippines, Indonesia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Thailand, New Zealand, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Macao, Bangladesh, Maldives, Oman, Bhutan, Seychelles, Israel, Rwanda, Romania, Fiji and Greece are all in place at India’s biggest travel show.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) during January 2016 were 8.44 lakh as compared to FTAs of 7.91 lakh during January 2015 and 7.58 lakh in January 2014. There has been a growth of 6.8% in January 2016 over January 2015. The percentage share of FTAs in India during January 2016 among the top 15 source countries was highest from USA (15.29%) followed by Bangladesh (11.99%), UK (11.23%), Canada (4.87%), Australia (3.97%), Russian Federation (3.71%), Germany (3.27%), France (2.98%), Sri Lanka (2.97%), China (2.74%), Malaysia (2.59%), Japan (2.38%), Rep. of Korea (1.82%), Nepal (1.76%) and Afghanistan (1.62%). The percentage share of FTAs in India during January 2016 among the top 15 ports was highest at Delhi Airport (28.38%) followed by Mumbai Airport (19.59%), Chennai Airport (7.92%), Haridaspur Land check post (6.58%), Bangalore Airport (5.72%), Goa Airport (5.68%), Kolkata Airport (3.92%), Cochin Airport (3.86%), Ahmadabad Airport (3.48%), Hyderabad Airport (2.83%), Trivandrum Airport (1.84%), Gede Rail (1.51%), Tiruchirapalli Airport (1.26%), Amritsar Airport (0.82%) and Sonauli Land check post (0.76%). Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from Tourism in India during January 2016 were Rs 13,669 crore as compared to Rs 12,100 crore in January 2015 and Rs 11,664 crore in January 2014. The growth rate in FEEs in rupee terms during January 2016 over January 2015 was 13 per cent as compared to a positive growth of 3.7 per cent in January 2015 over January 2014.

Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI), a consortium of tour operators in Kerala, have launched a 9-day experiential package ‘Navaratana Experiessential Holidays’, for inbound tourists which would include 500 new packages for visitors in the first phase.  The highlight of the packages will be an insight into village life, community interactions and promotion of sustainable tourism practices. Local interactions, tradition of Ayurveda, full body massages, jungle boat safari, backwater cruises on houseboats, tea factory visits, tour of Kerala’s trade and cultural ties with the rest of the world. The first phase of the packages by the consortium, targets foreign tourists and is uploaded on ATTOI website. Packages for domestic tourists will be launched in the next phase. “The Navaratana ‘Experiessential’ Holidays is going to redefine the way we see Kerala with 99 unique experiences in nine days,” said Anish Kumar P K, President, ATTOI. The finer elements of the industry consortium by ATTOI involves collaboration of hotels, tour operators and vendors at each destination. A P Anil Kumar, Tourism Minister, Kerala, said, “The state government’s plan allocation to the tourism fund has been increased from Rs 100 Crores to Rs 225 Crores in the course of five years. This will be further increased in the coming budget session.”

Indonesia is keen on increasing flight frequency to India and is in talks with AirAsia and Garuda Indoensia for the same. Saut Siringoringo, Consul General, Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, revealed that Indonesia expects to have good connectivity to India and will soon be operating direct flights from India. It has been in discussions with various airlines for increasing flights to India. He said, “The Ministry of Tourism will probably appoint AirAsia for direct flights to India, but there is a possibility of other airlines as well, like Garuda Indonesia.” He added that the Indonesian Minister of Transportation attended the ‘Make In India Week’ in Mumbai and analysed the prospects of direct connectivity. Indonesia recently held its own two-city roadshow in Chennai and Mumbai in mid-February. He says, “We have a lot of travel agents from Indonesia participating in the roadshow besides the Indian travel agents. The Ministry of Tourism came from Jakarta to showcase Indonesia in India for this. We chose Chennai because Medan, which is the capital of North Sumatra, has a town named Madras where people of Indian origin reside so there is a deep link between these cities. Many people from Tamil Nadu or Karnataka fly to Medan for this reason. This is why Chennai is important as a market. We also have our Indonesian Travel Provision Centre (ITPC) there along with our Honorary Consulate in Chennai.”

From March 1, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) will expand the eligibility criteria for super-priority visas to all applicants applying for a visit or work visa. The eligibility criteria for 3-5 day priority visa will also be expanded, said UK’s Immigration Minister James Brokenshire. The new online application form will launch at the end of this month and applicants will be able to access it from www.gov.uk/apply-uk-visa. The new improvements include a shorter visa application form; questions written in English and will be translated into Hindi, Tamil and Gujarati; option to review, edit and download partially completed application at any point before submitting; application fee displayed in local currency; mobile device friendly service, to allow applications to be completed on mobile phones or tablets; assistance for separate application for a Schengen visa, with a partially auto-completed Schengen application form available to download and print. Brokenshire, who is on a 5-day visit to India, also launched a new visa application centre (VAC) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, the first in the state “India is one of the UK’s largest visa market and we continue to make improvements to the service to make it as easy as possible for our applicants to get a visa. Last year we saw a 17 per cent increase in the number of visit visas issued. We hope that this year we continue to see an increase in visitors from India and that these improvements prove useful to those applying for their visas,” said Brokenshire.

The Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) has introduced helicopter joy rides from Park Hyatt to Arossim in South Goa from Sunday. The GTDC and Pawan Hans joint venture saw as many as 75 passengers on day one. Chairman of GTDC, Nilesh Cabral said, “We  now have helicopter rides and hot air balloons which will serve as a huge attraction for tourists  to Goa. There is a lot more to come in the months ahead and we are optimistic that all these new initiatives will go a  long way in putting Goa on the map for  world class adventure and leisure  tourism.”

A total of 79 buyers from India have registered till date for the 15th Thailand Travel Mart Plus Amazing Gateway to the Greater Mekong Subregion to be held for the first time in the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai between June 8-10, 2016. This is currently the highest number and is projected to grow further before the registration deadline ends on March 15, 2016. Opened for the first time to ASEAN national tourism organisations, the event had registered 321 buyers of whom 142 were first timers, and 305 exhibitors of whom 72 were first timers, as of February 11 surpassing the last edition’s count of 258 sellers and 49 first-timers recorded in March 2015. Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Governor Dr. Yuthasak Supasorn commented, “Such a large turnout of both buyers and sellers will help us meet one of the most important criteria cited by both sides in their feedback forms, which is to meet new people.” TAT is expecting 400 buyers from 50 countries.

Etihad Airways has announced a 63 per cent increase in full-year passenger traffic with partner Jet Airways to and from India. Together, the airlines carried a record 3.3 million passengers between Etihad Airways’ Abu Dhabi hub and India in 2015, which indicates a steep rise on the 2 million flown during the previous 12 months. James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Airways, said, “Bilateral relations between the UAE and India continue to grow based on years of friendship and deep commitment to strengthen economic, cultural and trade ties. With Etihad Airways and Jet Airways together offering over 44,000 seats each week between Abu Dhabi and India, we are clearly are a key contributor to India’s dynamic economy. There is further room to grow and we are looking at the many opportunities that exist to develop our operations. Our investment in Jet Airways was aimed at being part of the Indian success story. Before the Jet deal, Etihad Airways carried only two per cent of the international traffic to and from India. We have helped bring Jet Airways back to profitability. Today, Jet Airways is our number one equity partner for revenue and passenger contribution on Etihad Airways, and India is Abu Dhabi’s number one source market for international visitors.” In terms of the overall international market, they fly between them approximately 20 per cent of all worldwide travellers to and from India representing a large share of the country’s booming air travel industry.

A total of 88,162 foreign tourists arrived in the country on e-Tourist Visa (eTV) in January 2016 as compared to 25,023 during the same month in 2015 registering a growth of 252.3 per cent. According to the Ministry of Tourism, this high growth may be attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 113 countries as against the earlier coverage of 43 countries. United Kingdom occupied the top slot in the top 10 countries availing the facility with 25.37 per cent. The share of the other top countries availing eTV facility were USA (15.17%); Russian Fed. (9.58%); France (6.00%); Australia (5.25%); Germany (4.23%); Canada (4.10%); China (3.96%); Republic of Korea (3.72%) and Ukraine (2.86%). The New Delhi airport received the highest percentage of foreign tourists with 33.18 per cent. The other top ports in foreign tourist arrivals on eTV during January 2016 were Mumbai Airport (20.81%); Goa Airport (19.10%); Chennai Airport (6.95%); Bengaluru Airport (5.35%); Kochi Airport (4.17%); Kolkata Airport (2.99%); Trivandrum Airport (2.29%); Hyderabad Airport (2.13%) and Ahmedabad Airport (1.75%).

The total turnover of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) in quarter ending December 2015 stood at Rs.123.85 crore. The public sector undertaking under the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism (MOT), registered operating profit at Rs 17.26 crore and Net Profit Before Tax (PBT) at Rs 2.54 crore in last quarter Oct-Dec, 2015-16. In first three quarters of 2015-16, the company has registered a turnover of Rs 329.72 crore, while the operating profit was registered at Rs 25.76 crore and net profit at Rs 6.83 crore. These details were announced in the Board of Directors’ meeting of the company on February 12, 2016, at the Group’s flagship hotel, The Ashok, New Delhi.