Global international scheduled seat capacity on offer for the week to 19-Jun-2023 reached 59.9 million seats. Capacity reached a new pandemic era high (97.6% of 2019 volumes).

Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Sultanate of Oman, is organising an exclusive webinar to help attendees learn more about the beautiful city of Salalah in Oman, today at 11:30 am. Register to get a chance to win a free trip to Oman. Contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com, 9650196532.

Minister of State for Tourism & Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Shripad Yesso Naik held a bilateral meeting with Md. Mahbub Ali, State Minister for Civil Aviation & Tourism. It stressed on the deep cultural bond between the two nations. It also outlined the major infrastructure initiatives which have been taken by respective governments. The discussions stressed the possibility of further collaboration on tourism via inland rivers, and visa facilities to facilitate long-haul travel for visitors.

SpiceJet has signed an interline agreement with Hahn Air. Since 2016, SpiceJet has already been available under Hahn Air’s H1 code in all major GDSs. With the new interline agreement, the airline will be additionally available under their own SG code in the Amadeus GDS. Travel agents around the world can issue SpiceJet flights on the insolvency-safe HR-169 ticket by choosing Hahn Air as the validating carrier. In addition, travel agents using Amadeus GDS can combine SpiceJet’s flights with other Hahn Air partners’ flights on a single ticket. “We are proud to extend our partnership with SpiceJet”, says Kimberley Long, Vice President Agency Distribution at Hahn Air. “By providing a wealth of destinations and excellent service, this award-winning airline is very popular with travellers. We are excited to now give the travel agent community various options to easily access this carrier, even in markets where SpiceJet does not grant ticketing authority for SG or where the airline is not a member of the local BSP or ARC.” Shilpa Bhatia, Chief Commercial Officer, SpiceJet, said, “We are delighted to partner with Hahn Air for distribution of our flights to over 190 markets that will help international passengers to seamlessly travel across various parts of India with ease and beyond. The interline agreement with Hahn Air and the strong distribution network of 350 airlines will positively benefit SpiceJet to increase its global reach under its own SG code.”

V Vidyavathi, Secretary, Tourism, has said that the five pillars/priorities of G20 TWG meeting and the Goa Roadmap have emerged from the draft National Tourism Policy prepared by MOT. “They were quite comprehensive and appreciated by all,” she said. She shared the policy will soon see light of the day.

The newly appointed Director of Tourism Malaysia, Noriah Jaafar, is gung-ho about the India market. Sharing numbers, she says, “Pre covid in 2019, we saw 735,309 tourist arrivals from India and currently from January to April 2023, we have welcomed 164,566 arrivals into Malaysia. Our target for this year is to reach 462,000 arrivals from India. As an international source market for Malaysia, India ranked number four in 2022! This makes India a very important market for us.”

Rajiv Jalota, Chairman, Mumbai Port Trust, has said that with the upgradation of the Mumbai port passenger terminal, he expects the international cruise traffic to increase this year, with more than one million passengers per annum. He added that Mumbai port has one of the lowest cruise tariffs in the world.

UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said that the organisation supports PM Modi’s efforts to promote tourism in India, a country rich in culture with “huge potential” to attract more investment in the sector and promote more tourism because “India is one of the richest countries in the world with its cultural assets, and it means that tourism is here.” UNWTO has signed an MoU with Indian government on the sidelines of G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Goa that includes many projects.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) gathered leading Travel & Tourism stakeholders and G20 Ministers in a Public-Private Dialogue in Goa today to address the sector’s vast potential and challenges. Joined by India’s Minister of Tourism, the Hon. G. Kishan Reddy, and UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO commended India’s Ministry of Tourism for its leadership during India’s G20 Presidency and highlighted Travel & Tourism’s substantial contribution not only to the global economy but to employment. Currently representing 9.2% of the world’s GDP and supporting one in every 11 jobs globally, the sector is experiencing remarkable growth, outpacing the global economy by growing twice as fast. Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “It is proven where governments and the private sector work together in Travel & Tourism the economy is stronger, jobs are created, and people get to enjoy and understand other cultures. “Together, businesses and governments can build back a better, stronger, and more resilient sector. Governments also heard first-hand the value of having streamlined visa processes, digital borders, and a strong focus on sustainability. We need each other to achieve this”. During her address, Simpson emphasised the opportunities for investors, governments, and society to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through collaboration. India’s impressive expansion in Travel & Tourism was praised as a prime example. The sector is projected to contribute over INR 16.5TN to India’s economy this year, create 1.6MN new jobs, to reach a total employment figure of nearly 40MN people. By the end of the decade, tourism is forecast to contribute approximately 7% of India’s economy. Simpson addressed three key challenges facing the industry: Visa backlogs pose a significant obstacle, with excessive …

With over 5,000 global businesses signed up to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and committed to taking various steps regarding climate action, for many, environmental impact is a critical consideration – alongside the traditional financial priorities – when making travel decisions. To empower clients, FCM Consulting has joined forces with CAPA – Centre for Aviation (CAPA), one of the most trusted sources of market intelligence for the aviation and travel industry and their partner, Envest Global, to unveil a new, first in class approach for clients to help them address their environmental aims when planning business travel. Launching today, FCM’s team of sustainability experts have devised an industry-first service that pairs their methodology alongside insights from the CAPA-Envest Airline Sustainability Benchmarking Report which goes beyond the typical single CO2e metric typically used for sustainability calculations. FCM is the only Global Travel Management Company to currently have access to this valuable data which provides comparable ranking of airlines incorporating over 10 ‘sustainability parameters’ and is regarded by CAPA as the industry’s single source of truth on emissions, benchmarking airlines and their performance as they transition to net zero operations. As companies become more astute on all things-sustainability related, FCM understands that the industry must keep pace. According to Glenn Thorsen, Sustainability Lead – FCM Consulting, he believes TMCs must be able to provide deeper and more accurate analysis on travel impact with measurable benefits. “As sustainability has risen to the top of the agenda, we make it our business to be a step ahead in the evolution of emissions measurement and reporting so that we can help our clients get the best out of their programmes and achieve their goals,” …