Speaking at the Thailand Travel Mart Plus, Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya Deputy Governor for Marketing Communications, TAT, said that India is now at number five in terms of international source market for Thailand with 583,319 arrivals from Jan to May 2023.

The transportation and logistics arm of the Hayleys Group, Advantis announced a partnership with India’s cruise line, Cordelia Cruises to usher in a new wave of in-bound luxury tourists to Sri Lanka. Advantis Travel and Aviation will serve as the General Sales Agent, while Advantis Group subsidiary Clarion Shipping will serve as Port Agent for Cordelia Cruises in Sri Lanka. Cordelia Cruises aims to revolutionise the tourism market in the region by offering an extraordinary cruise experience that exudes style and luxury through its crown jewel – “The Empress”, an iconic vessel with 796 cabins in 5 distinct categories filled with state-of-the-art amenities, the ship is capable of accommodating 1,800 passengers. The luxury cruise line will embark on its inaugural sailing to the island, in June 2023. The collaboration marks a milestone in Sri Lanka’s efforts to revitalise inbound tourism and capitalise on the island’s significant untapped potential as an international hotspot for cruise tourism. Embarking on a cruise journey to Sri Lanka opens up a world of thrilling shore excursions for travellers, with Jaffna, Hambantota, and Trincomalee serving as bases. These exceptional locations offer an opportunity to embark on unforgettable adventures that showcase the very best of Sri Lanka’s rich heritage, breathtaking natural beauty, and vibrant cultural diversity. A significant boost to the Sri Lankan tourism industry is anticipated, attracting an estimated 80,000 tourists within the first four months alone. This surge is set to unlock significant commercial opportunities for the tourism value chain, drive economic growth and position Sri Lanka as a premier destination for discerning travellers, providing a timely impetus to the country’s travel and tourism industry. Cordelia Cruises President and CEO, Jurgen Bailom stated: “Sri Lanka …

Union Minister for Tourism, G Kishan Reddy said that Jammu & Kashmir expects to see 20 million tourist arrivals and that the government is mulling 100% FDI to create tourism infrastructure across the country with special focus on J&K. “In year 2022, 1.84 crore tourists visited J&K and this year, we expect 20 million tourist arrivals including foreign guests. Without private investment we cannot become a world tourist destination that is why we want investment globally and locally,” he said.      

“We need to connect and ensure that we have bilateral understandings with different states and that is the objective behind going to Dehradun on the first flight,” said Goa tourism minister Rohan Khaunte. “International tourists who come to Rishikesh and Haridwar do not reach Goa. We thus lose tourists who have a high tourism spend. We need to tap this and see how exchange of tourists can take place,” he said. It recently signed an MoY with Uttarakhand to boost tourism.

According to Madhavan Menon, CMD, Thomas Cook (India), “We will see Indians travelling both short-haul and long-haul. I think we are witnessing the so-called saver becoming a spender. This stems from one fact of their confidence in the economy. This is not coming from anywhere. It is not just pandemic driven. It is also the fact that people are confident that the economy is growing, their jobs are secure, and they expect things will improve from here.”

Speaking about expanding overseas, Rikant Pitti, Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip.com says, “I never dreamed of expanding overseas. Conquering a global market is never easy. But we always followed our path of building patiently. We chose the right market, started building local partners. If you are planning to expand into a new market, there are a few things you need to take care of first, like cultural differences. You don’t want your customers to feel that you are alien to them. Being aware of their unique culture, language, and habits is essential for growth.”

Commenting on the monthly domestic passenger traffic data for April 2023, ICRA states that numbers for April 2023 is estimated at 129 lakh, similar to that in March 2023, though 22% higher in comparison to 105 lakh in April 2022 and 17% higher than pre-Covid levels of 110 lakh in April 2019. It added that despite a healthy recovery in passenger traffic, the domestic aviation industry continues to face challenges on account of elevated ATF prices and depreciation of the INR vis-à-vis the US$ compared to the pre-Covid era, both of which have a major bearing on the airlines’ cost structure. While the ATF prices have witnessed a sequential decline over the past four months, they still remain at elevated levels as compared to the pre-Covid era. The airlines’ efforts to ensure fare hikes proportionate to their input cost increases will be key to expanding their profitability margins.

According to Schengen Visa Statistics 2022, Indian travellers have one of the highest rejection rates in the world when it comes to Schengen visa. It states that Indians filed over 6 lakh Schengen visa applications in 2022, which happens to be the third highest in the world, but also faced a steep rejection rate of 18 per cent.

After a prolonged gap of many years, tourist transporters have been permitted to register BS VI complaint diesel tourist vehicles with a capacity  of more than 7 +1, buses and coaches, following the order of the Hon. Supreme Court. The application was moved by Indian Tourist Transporters Association (ITTA). This is major relief to the tourist transporters, who have been unable to register such new vehicles for 8 years. This will help the industry successfully cater to G20 summit. Also barring of registration was putting financial burden on the transporters and was restricting their growth. Most importantly it will also create valuable tourism transport capacities to propel Indian tourism to cater to increased foreign tourists & domestic tourists over the medium to long run which will boost GDP and will also lead to enhanced employment, said Amrit Mann, Board of Director, FAITH – Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality

Announcing its unaudited financial and operating results, MakeMyTrip said in statement that profit for the period was $5.4 million in Q4 FY23, as compared to a loss of $4.1 million in Q4 FY22. Loss for the year has reduced significantly; loss for FY23 was $11.2 million as compared to a loss of $45.6 million in FY22, being a reduction of $34.4 million. Rajesh Magow, Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, commenting on the results, said, “We witnessed robust recovery in travel demand with significant improvement in consumer sentiment during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023. We capitalized on this trend to deliver strong results with over 120% YoY constant currency growth in Gross Bookings. Our profitability expansion has also been significant, as we delivered a YoY increase of over 200% in Adjusted Operating Profit for the reported fiscal year 2023. We are glad that our strategy of investing in the right areas coupled with our initiatives to optimize certain costs has helped us to preserve and strengthen our moat. We remain well positioned for the next fiscal year with a strong pipeline of product innovation to further enhance customer experience.”