During COP15 in Montreal today, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (the Alliance) announced a new collaboration which will bring together the public and private sectors in a shared vision to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. The vision sees the global Travel & Tourism sector supporting and inspiring governments, businesses, and society to implement the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and help to transform our relationship with the natural world. Signatories to the vision have committed to adopt a nature positive approach to tourism through integrating biodiversity safeguards by reducing carbon emissions, the impact of pollution, the unsustainable use of resources, and by protecting and restoring nature and its wildlife. New governance and business models, enhanced capacity to monitor positive change and scaling up green jobs are all part of the solution as we move ahead together This collaboration follows the release of WTTC’s ‘Nature Positive Travel & Tourism’ report, which was created jointly with ANIMONDIAL, and focuses on halting and reversing damage to nature so the living world can recover from its current depleted state. This involves minimising ongoing harm and taking positive action to restore nature to produce an overall benefit to biodiversity and help achieve Net Zero. Almost 150 organisations have signed up to the vision so far including international hotel groups, tour operators, travel agents, destinations, and international wildlife charities. Complementing the power of the private sector, UNWTO, as the voice of tourism at the global governance level, will work to bring governments and international organisations on board and announce the shared vision of tourism as a pillar of wildlife conservation and habitat …

Notwithstanding the potential impact on demand with further Covid waves, if any, ICRA expects the industry’s revenues and margins to return to pre-Covid levels in FY2023. The demand recovery has been better than expected in the last few months, aided by domestic leisure/transient travel, pent-up demand from MICE (including weddings), and gradual recovery in business travel and foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs). H2 FY2023 is expected to be better than H1 FY2023, with the sustenance of the leisure, transient, and MICE demand and further pickup in business travel and FTAs. ICRA expects pan-India premium hotel occupancy to be 68-70% for FY2023, while the ARR is expected to hover around Rs. 5,600-5,800. The YTD October 2022 occupancy stood at 62-64% while the ARR for 7M FY2023 was only at an 8-10% discount to pre-Covid levels and stood at Rs. 5,000-5,200. A few high-end hotels and leisure destinations witnessed ARR spike to higher than pre-Covid levels over the last 6-9 months. The improved operating leverage, along with the sustenance of cost-optimisation measures, will support margins and cashflows for hotel companies. Vinutaa S, Vice President and Sector Head – Corporate Ratings, ICRA, said, “The healthy demand uptick has resulted in a pick-up in new supply announcements over the last 4-5 months. Further, construction activity in projects stalled post-Covid-19 has also commenced recently. However, the hotel supply pipeline is expected to grow only at a 5-year CAGR of 3.5-4%, adding approximately 15,500 rooms to the pan-India premium inventory of ~94,800 rooms across 12 key cities in India. This will facilitate an upcycle, as demand improves over the medium term while supply will lag demand with a cautious expansion approach by hoteliers and the absence of …

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and India, the Embassy of Viet Nam in India, organised the Vietnam Tourism Forum in India. HE. Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Hai emphasized that the forum was also an opportunity for Vietnamese service providers to understand more about Indian tourists’ demand so to prepare customised products for Indian market.

A parliamentary panel has recommended that the Ministry of Tourism identify and develop revenue-generating domestic tourist destinations in states to promote innovation in production and service in the sector. The standing committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, which submitted its report said that despite the fact that India offers a diverse portfolio, share of International Arrivals was merely 1.59% in 2021.

Madhya Pradesh kickstarted the two-month mega event, Jal Mahotsav, to promote water-based tourism in the state. Due to its popularity and potential opportunities for investors and visitors, the state tourism board wants to create more such projects that will offer the same experiences like Jal Mahotsav. Principal Secretary Tourism and Culture Department and Managing Director, MP Tourism Board Sheo Shekhar Shukla added that 15 similar sites have been identified in the state now where the work will start soon.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Tuesday said check-in counters left unmanned by airlines were leading to congestion at major airports in the country. ‘Airlines are therefore advised to deploy sufficient manpower at all check-in/baggage drop counters well in advance to ensure decongestion and smooth flow of passengers at airports,” the MoCA’s said in the letter. A surge in air travel – airports have seen over 400,000 domestic flyers a day for 10 consecutive days – has strained the infrastructure at the country’s busiest airports such as Delhi and Mumbai and forced the MoCA to order a reduction and shifting of peak-hour flights. “It has come to the notice of the MoCA that the airline check-in counters at certain airports are found unmanned or inadequately manned during early morning hours leading to congestion at the airports, thereby causing inconvenience to the passengers,’ MoCA’s letter stated, requesting airlines to place real-time data on their social media feeds regarding waiting time at respective airports’ entry gates.

With the revival of the Indian tourism industry post pandemic, AmEx has released a report which furnishes valuable and relevant information on key indicators of tourism statistics. As per the report, 62% plan to attend music festivals to celebrate the holidays this year. Almost 87% people agree they would rather purchase experiences as gifts for their friends and family rather than material gifts.

DCT Abu Dhabi is organising an exclusive webinar to educate the travel trade about luxury hotels and experiences at the destination, which will be held today at 3pm. To register contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com , +91 9650196532.

Seeing huge opportunity in MICE, Tripjack has launched a MICE vertical. Amit Parkar, Business Head – MICE, Tripjack, says, “We expect demand for MICE in India to grow rapidly. This was the idea behind launching a new MICE vertical at Tripjack. We will create space in the segment by leveraging our existing network. Since TripJack is a tech-driven organization, we are also exploring how our expertise can help us deliver a seamless experience to our customers,” Parkar says.

Informing about the goals for the India tourism sector for 2024, Arvind Singh, Union Tourism Secretary has said, “We will strive to recover to pre-pandemic level by mid-2024. The country is estimated to achieve US$ 50 billion GDP contribution from tourism, US$30 billion in Foreign Exchange Earnings and 15 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2024.”