Addressing the 1st Tourism Working Group Meeting under G20 hosted by the Ministry of Tourism, Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and DoNER G.K Reddy said, “India is focused on using tourism as a vehicle for achieving sustainable development goals during India’s G20 Presidency. The soul of India lives in its villages and self-reliant villages will lead to a self-reliant India. Tourism has the potential for generating maximum number of jobs with least investment and therefore tourism can be a positive force for economic transformation, rural development and community well-being.”

Singapore Tourism Board, together with six stakeholders from Singapore, engages wedding planners in Mumbai and new Delhi in order to promote the country as a wedding destination. GB Srithar, its Regional Director, says, “It is our objective to re-introduce Singapore as a wedding destination of choice in India. Indian weddings have been happening in Singapore prior to Covid, in Sentosa and other parts of the island. About 20 wedding planners in Mumbai were invited to be part of a panel discussion recently where we highlighted all the wedding destination options that can consider.”

Kerala has made a remarkable comeback by welcoming 1.88 crore domestic tourists in 2022, which is a record in the state’s history, Tourism Minister P A Mohammed Riyas said. Domestic tourism was given prominence in the programmes prepared to be implemented in the post-COVID period and the government achieved its target through coordinated efforts. “As a result, by the end of 2022, it had become the year which Kerala witnessed the greatest number of domestic tourists after its formation. A total of 1.88 crore domestic tourists arrived in the state in that year,” he said.

Thomas Cook (India) has launched FX Now – an app that offers customizable and contactless end-to-end foreign exchange solutions. Aligned with the Company’s Digital First strategy, this app ushers in a digitised foreign exchange model. Thomas Cook India has positioned itself as India’s Forex Specialist with continued focus on the foreign exchange segment. It is the largest non-bank foreign exchange services provider in India.

flynas, the Saudi air carrier, announced that its passengers can apply for an electronic Stopover Visa through its website. The “Stopover Visa” is issued after purchasing the airline ticket, and the validity of the visa extends to three months and the stay in the Kingdom up to 4 days. The visa application will be passed automatically to the unified national visa platform at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to process and issue the digital visa immediately and send it to the beneficiary via e-mail. Expecting that the new service will contribute to increasing the visitors to the Kingdom, including Umrah and Pilgrim visitors, tourists, and businessmen, Bandar Almohanna, CEO and Managing Director of flynas, said, “the Saudi Vision 2030 has laid the foundations for cooperation among the regulatory and executive sectors on one hand, and with the private sector on the other hand, to serve the Kingdom’s goals in all sectors. Today, we see a practical application of this integration and cooperation by enabling the national carriers to facilitate a request for issuing a Stopover visa, which facilitates procedures of obtaining a Stopover visa for whoever wishes to visit the Kingdom”. Almohanna stressed that this service will contribute to strengthening the Kingdom’s position as a global hub for travel and business by facilitating quick business visits, making the Kingdom a point of contact between countries and continents. He indicated that the new service comes in line with the civil aviation strategy to reach 330 million passengers and link the Kingdom’s cities with 250 global destinations and 100 million tourists annually. Thousands of tourists are expected to benefit from the Stopover visa to attend the various cultural and entertainment events in …

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, addressing PATA India membership on future of overseas marketing & promotions in light of closing overseas promotional offices by MOT, said, “The strategy for overseas promotion and marketing will be taken over by the National Tourism Board of India, while any physical work to be done in international markets will be done by the missions, where MOT has already appointed officers in 20 major markets.”

Welcoming all trade partners and potential exhibitors to Global Panorama Showcase 2023, Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, Global Panorama Showcase, says, “We successfully completed four cities in the last quarter of 2022, we now welcome trade partners to GPS 2023 with Kolkata, pune, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Lucknow and Bhubaneshwar. We had over 300 buyers register for GPS Bhubaneshwar and we look forward to welcoming more to 6-8 more cities in the third and fourth quarter of 2023.”    

Sharing his views on high airfares, Rakesh Narayanan, Vice President, Regional GM (Asia Pacific), Travel Solutions Airline Sales, Sabre, says, “We see strong airfares for domestic and international flights, including for leisure travel, which tends to book in advance, and for close-in corporate travel. It is also important to note that the average fare disparity between purchase dates is very small. Historically, there has been a more pronounced difference in the average fares based on advance purchase periods. Airlines are continuing to face challenges in bringing capacity back. However, higher air fares encourage carriers to increase the number of seats they plan to fly. We’re already seeing this with the large US network carriers, and we expect to see this trend elsewhere globally. Currently, we do remain in a capacity-constrained period with higher-than-normal fares, but it’s important to note that consumers remain eager to fly despite these challenges. The good news is that airlines and airports are working aggressively to improve their operational throughput. They want to increase aircraft utilization and seat capacity and, as capacity meets demand, we expect fares to rationalise.”

Marking the National Tourism Day on 25th January 2023 under the aegis of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, seminars, cultural events and other programmes are being organised by the Centre where several states are conducting events to promote tourism in their region. The Indian government established January 25 as the National Tourism Day to raise awareness about the importance of tourism for the country’s economy. The day is observed to cultivate awareness among the global community on the importance of tourism and its social, political, financial and cultural worth.

THAI Smile Airways continues expanding international routes by launching Jaipur – Bangkok flight to underscore its aviation standards and excellent service. The new flight aims at accommodating those targeted groups who are looking for convenient travelling from a full service airline, while opening a new window of adventure for the Thai passengers to explore the Pink City of India. It also offers exclusive travelling experience for Indian passengers with the best services. The A320-200 Airbus will fly directly from Jaipur to Bangkok where passengers can continue travel connections to other cities in Thailand and other countries conveniently. The service flight operates 4 flights a week and starts on January 5, 2023 onwards. Thamanoon Kuprasert, Acting Chief Executive Officer of THAI Smile Airways, a subsidiary airline of THAI Airways International Public Company (THAI), stated that “We are proud and ready to reintroduce the another route to India, that is between Jaipur – Bangkok. This is to underscore our proactive strategy in expanding international routes while encouraging passengers from both countries to explore the new travelling experience. Apart from being the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan, with more than 3 million of populations, Jaipur is globally recognized as the Pink City of India. There are plenty of interesting tourist attractions, especially for the art and cultural activities and resources. Opening this new route is to answer to the demands of the Indian tourists who love the charming of Thailand. The excellent services are provided by our flight attendants who are committed to serving the passengers with humble and smile, which is the unique of Thainess that is recognized worldwide.” Vachirachai Sirisumpan, Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand …