India has resumed e-visa services for tourists of Canadian nationals after a pause of almost two months. The resumption of services for all categories of visas comes hours ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s participation in the virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit. Earlier in September, the Indian Mission in Canada suspended visa services for Canadian nationals until further notice, citing operational reasons.

Sharing his views on the resumption of e-tourist visa for Canadian nationals, Rajiv Mehra, President of IATO, says, “We are happy and pleased with this development as opening of visas for Canada which is one of the largest source market for India, will be a big booster shot for our inbound tourism. Hopefully, the tourist flow from Canada will begin by January. Also, we will urge the government to allow e-visa for Chinese visitors. While other visas are open for the Chinese travellers, the absence of e-visa is still an impediment for them. Hopefully, the government will consider this as well.”

After Sri Lanka and Thailand, Vietnam may be the next destination to allow entry of Indian travellers without the need for a visa. Vietnam’s Minister of Culture, Sports & Tourism, Nguyen Van Hung has called for short-term visa waivers for major markets like India to drive tourism recovery. In the first ten months of this year, Vietnam received nearly 10 million international visitors, marking a 4.6-fold rise compared to the corresponding period in 2022 and surpassing the targeted goal for 2023.

Sharing his views on the current startup landscape, Nishant Pitti, CEO & Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip says, “Over the years, we’ve seen a startling paradox. Loss-making companies often receive astronomical valuations, while bootstrapped, profitable ventures garner relatively modest market caps. In a world enamored with valuations, profitability often doesn’t get the spotlight it deserves.”

Given the government’s focus on rural and border tourism and developing tourism infrastructure in rural areas of Ladakh, the Administration of UT of Ladakh plan to establish 10,000 homestays over the next 5 years. It has recently released its revised Ladakh Homestay Policy 2023 to strengthen its rural economy. It is drafted based on feedback from stakeholders.

According to the latest McKinsey & Company report, prior to the pandemic, India’s outbound market was among the fastest growing markets in Asia. It has already recovered 61% of its pre-pandemic market, with 13 million outbound tourists in 2022. This represents a much quicker recovery than most Asian countries.

Ovolo Hotels Hong Kong is organising an exclusive webinar for the travel trade. Join the webinar to explore the offerings of the property on Friday, 24 November 2023 at 3pm (IST). Get ready for a blast! Kindly register to attend the webinar. Contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532 for more info.

According to JLL’s Hotel Momentum India Q3, 2023, the six markets of Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, and Mumbai continue to display strong growth driven by in Average Daily Rate (ADR) on the back of sustained demand from corporate travel. Delhi leads with a 36% growth in ADR, followed by Hyderabad (22.2%) and Mumbai (16.7%).

Sharing its data on the global top 10 busiest domestic airline routes in November 2023, OAG has found that the Mumbai – New Delhi route ranks tenth on the list with 596,440 seats in total on the route. This is the only Indian airline route that figures on this list. Number one is Jeju International – Seoul Gimpo route with 1,200,905 route.

Rikant Pittie, Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip.com, has revealed that in the months to come, the company plans to add new travel-related business verticals inorganically which are asset-light, tech-based and synergistic. It’s Q2-FY24 results shows highest-ever quarterly PAT of 47.2 Cr (YoY growth of 67.2%) with Profit Before Tax of INR 64.7 Cr.