In an effort to bring back tourism to India, 12 inbound operators will travel to Rajasthan between 6-9 August, 2020. The initiative named ‘Unlocking Tourism – India is Ready’ will have a 20-people contingent visiting offbeat destinations of Rajasthan namely Tijara, Kesroli, Talabgaon and Geejgarh. The idea was conceived in a Whatsapp group called ‘Inbound Fraternity’ and was further initiated by Sanjay Razdan, Managing Director of Razdan Holidays, and Sunil Misra, Managing Director of Cosmos Travel.

In a series of online meetings, 35 registered trade associations representing different tourism sectors from Kerala unanimously decided to continue under one organisation called Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry (CKTI). They re-elected EM Najeeb as President. A 65-member committee and 35-member Task force was also formed. Sajeev Kurup, Former Secretary of KTM Society, has been elected as the General Secretary. The main aim of CKTI is to ensure survival and then revival of the industry during and after the pandemic.

The India offices of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in New Delhi and Mumbai have launched a digital campaign #TogetherThailand to increase their engagement with the India travel trade. The month-long campaign starting from August 5 will feature weekly contests on four different themes for each week to update the trade on destinations, products and services in Thailand that can be planned for post COVID-19 travel scenarios. Each week, the contest will be uploaded every Wednesday on the basis of unique theme. The first week’s theme is ‘Amazing beaches in Thailand’.

The latest edition of UNWTO World Tourism Barometer shows that the lockdown led to a 98 per cent fall in international tourist numbers in May when compared to 2019, and a 56% year-on-year drop in arrivals between January and May. This translates into a fall of 300 million tourists and US$320 billion lost in international tourism receipts.

WTM London is going ahead this year as planned on 2-4 November, 2020 at ExCeL. If attendees aren’t able to travel for the live event, WTM is also hosting ‘WTM London Virtual’ on 10-11 November. The virtual event will feature live conference sessions, roundtables, speed networking sessions, one-to-one meetings, and virtual networking sessions. The theme of WTM this year will be ‘Connecting the industry together’.

The government has notified changes in FDI norms on civil aviation, which will permit non-resident Indian nationals to own 100% stake of Air India. The gazette notification states that foreign investments in Air India, including that of foreign airlines shall not exceed 49% either directly or indirectly except in case of NRIs, who are Indian Nationals, where it is permitted up to 100%.

Meenakshi Sharma, DG, Ministry of Tourism, has said that they are in the process of making some changes in the new tourism policy, making responsible tourism as its foundation. She added that responsible tourism cannot be discussed as a separate entity; it should be a part of everything we do going forward. “We will add more elements to responsible tourism as we move forward. One will be health and hygiene. It’s also about developing new practices and behaviour of the tourist as a responsible visitor. It cannot be the responsibility of only the service provider, but also the one receiving the services. Honestly, we had not put our minds into this aspect as much as we should have earlier. It will be our priority now,” she said.

Venkatesan Dhattareyan, Regional Director (West & Central India), Indiatourism Mumbai, Ministry of Tourism, said, “By enrolling in our ‘MoT Recognized Service Provider’ programme, agents can use the Market Development Assistance (MDA) which includes financial support. MDA for domestic tourism was earlier Rs 30,000 which will be enhanced keeping the pandemic in mind. MoT is also working on relaxing certain requirements for this programme.

The tourism department of Goa is investing in technology to capture tourists data and create personalised products. Menino D’souza, Director, Department of Tourism, says, “We are currently completing our data repository formulation and policies to that effect. We have realised that social media is going to be the next go-to travel agent. Culling out relevant information from there and analysing it, and not only analysing but coming out with a response system so that in case of any issues, we are able to respond immediately. Such intelligent systems have to be put in place. We are looking at replacing the personal touch with technology. AI-based interventions are something we are looking forward to in the coming few years.”

According to CAPA Fleet Database, monthly aircraft deliveries are starting to recover, but remain low. Total deliveries were already falling YoY in Jan-Feb 2020. This fell further in March 2020 by 58%. Although the number doubled from May 2020 to June 2020, it was still down by 60% YoY.