Royal Orchid Hotels (ROHL) announced the inauguration of its fourth hotel in the National Capital Region and the second in Gurugram – Regenta Inn, Gurugram – thereby asserting its presence in key gateways of the country, this time around, the national capital. Conveniently located near Medanta – The Medicity in Gurugram, this hotel makes it a convenient option for people from across the country traveling for medical tourism, assuring them of convenience and peace of mind as they attend to the health of their dear ones. Chander K. Baljee, Chairman and Managing Director, ROHL said, “We’re thrilled to announce the opening of our new hotel in Gurugram. With 106 hotels under our management, the opening of Regenta Inn, Gurugram is in sync with our strategy to cater to diverse travellers, cutting across segments of business and leisure. Our new hotel changes the perception of what a budget hotel should be – with extremely well appointed rooms and facilities that mimic a larger hotel. We cater to those traveling to the satellite city for medical tourism and to avail healthcare facilities.” The property boasts about 50 smart and spacious rooms. The hotel features “PINXX”, ROHL’s signature all day neighbourhood diner serving a familiar menu of Pan-Indian and International cuisines. Offering a spacious banquet hall and a conference room, the property’s meeting space of approximately 800 square meters will also be able to accommodate a both business and leisure events.

Sharing latest insights on domestic tourism, Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head – Holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India) said, “Domestic tourism has been powering our growth trajectory this summer. We have achieved both our top-line and passenger numbers of 12 months of 2023, within the first six months of 2024.Indians are displaying keen appetite to explore their own country and we are witnessing exponential demand for multiple domestic trips – Young India’s working professionals and DINKs are opting for multiple mini-cations, combining public holidays with weekends for short getaways, in addition to longer domestic vacations lasting 15 days.”

Speaking at the 17th Outlook & Update Meeting by PATA India Chapter in New Delhi, Manisha Saxena, DG, Tourism, has said that it is important to segment the offerings across India. “We cannot offer everything to everyone. We need to work with state governments to create more accommodation as this is a big bottleneck, especially for MICE,” she said.

Asego has entered into a strategic alliance with Ancileo, provider of end-to-end tech solutions for travel insurance. Dev Karvat, Founder & CEO, Asego, sats, “Through this collaboration, both companies aim to reshape the landscape of travel insurance, presenting an innovative value proposition, not just to travellers but also to global distributors, and insurers alike. This will enable us to leverage Ancileo’s advanced technology and international insurer network to offer Asego’s innovative travel insurance products and services on a global scale.”

Inviting the trade to be part of the exciting roadshow series, Markus Tan, Regional Director (India, ME, South Asia & Africa), International Group, Singapore Tourism Board, says, “We are bringing in 50 exhibitors from Singapore to meet the trade starting with Chennai on July 8, going on to Hyderabad on July 9, Kolkata on July 11 and finally Ahmedabad on July 12.”

Responding to the question about how the govt is helping the MICE community in India, Manisha Saxena, DG, MOT India, said, “We have done many events to promote MICE tourism in India through campaigns like ‘Meet in India’. We are working with the industry to make it easier for them to reach events and have more events in India so that India can be showcased as a MICE destination.”

Traffic data submitted by various domestic airlines to the DGCA has been analysed for the month of May 2024. It reveals that Akasa Air reflected a market share of 4.8% with 6.64 lakh pax, as against 4% of SpiceJet. Leading them all is IndiGo with a market share of 61.6% carrying a total of 85.04 lakh passengers in total during the month.

Sameer Karnani, Managing Committee Member of TAAI, & Owner of Arunodaya Travels, says that there are not many TAAI members registered by India Tourism. “This is not giving us the right kind of platform when we are talking to the ministry, and more members should register themselves with the MoT. The issue with this is the criterion for staff where IATA-approved staff is not recognised. It needs to be tourism trained staff only, and this is very hard to find,” he says.

Thanking Modi for including him in his Council of Ministers for the third consecutive time, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Tourism, said, “I am honoured to be given this responsibility of globally showcasing Bharat & inviting the world to our country. As Modi ji has emphasized through his various visits & words about our tourism potential, we will work towards enhancing the same highlighting our various natural & cultural heritage sites from Kashmir to his recently visited Kanyakumari.”

Caroline Bremner, Senior Head of Travel Research at Euromonitor International, said destinations that deliver safety, relaxation, value, good quality food and drink and access to natural attractions would continue to do well. She noted that younger (Gen Z) travellers, much preferred personalised, authentic local experiences, with price not so much of a consideration, relative to much older baby boomers who seek value.