Highlighting the government’s efforts on increasing aerial connectivity, Union Civil Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, said that about 1,93,000 flights were started based on the viability gap funding in the last five years. “Under Udaan Yojana democratization of the aviation sector took place and 1,93,000 flights were started based on viability gap funding in the last 5 years where the government will also bear the cost for the tickets,” he said.

TAFI has recently announced a new chapter in Jammu Kashmir. This will be its 12th one in the country so far. Sarmad Hafeez, Secretary Tourism, said the initiative will help tourism. He said, “TAFI did not have a presence here until now. They also met some of our local tour operators and many of them have also become TAFI members now. I’m sure this will boost tourism here and the trade will benefit.”

As international tourism picks up momentum, Singapore Tourism Board recently hosted a multi-city travel trade roadshow series in India with the largest ever delegation of forty-five stakeholders to reconnect and engage with trade partners-friends. As part of the outreach, Singapore Tourism Board reached out to five key source markets – Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Accompanied by the expansive list of delegations, the trade engagements were aimed at deepening Singapore Tourism’s existing partnerships and fostering new ones with tourism stakeholders and the local travel trade fraternity.

India leads Asia-Pacific in its intent to travel in the second half of 2022 with 50% Indians expressing the desire to spend more money on booking a vacation in the world’s largest survey of travel intentions from Travel Lifestyle Network in a post-pandemic setting. While international travel remains a point of contention among many, with only 15% respondents willing to travel abroad, 29% people are planning to vacation in India. India emerged as the global leader in domestic travel with 24% people undertaking at least one vacation every month.

The development of rural clusters was taken up under Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM), revealed G Kishan Reddy, Minister of Tourism & Culture. A total of 103 clusters covering 32 states/UTs including Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have been approved for an investment of Rs. 492.31 crore – both under the CGF and Convergence under Tourism Promotion.

Carolyn Turnbull, Managing Director, Tourism Western Australia, We believe that a direct service will stimulate the market by around 50 per cent which is what we have seen in other destinations that have had direct services into WA such as Tokyo pre-covid. It saw an immediate stimulation of the market by around 50-60 per cent!” She says that if India was sitting at eleventh position before Covid, a direct service could unlock its true potential and we could see the India market fast-track to around fifth or sixth top market.

Department of Culture & Tourism-Abu Dhabi are organising a webinar titled ‘Summer like you mean it’ on 9 August 2022 at 3pm. The webinar will help the trade to learn about the summer offerings in the emirate including family friendly attractions, entertainment and leisure venues, hotels, and much more. To register, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +9650196532.

The NIMA MICE Forum 2022 is scheduled to be held from July 29-31 at Crown Plaza in Jaipur. Speaking about the event, Jagdeep Bhagat, National Coordinator, Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA) said that the 3-day event will provide a good networking opportunity to its members. The idea behind this forum is to update members about opportunities in the industry. It will also have panel discussions, product showcases, and networking opportunities among the Indian MICE fraternity.

A new study by SAP Concur, a provider for integrated travel, expense and invoice management solutions has discovered that while managing corporate travel 96 per cent of all businesses across India say their companies are actively focusing on sustainability. About 62% of the respondents said their “senior leadership” is driving the sustainability agenda for corporate travel. The research findings were a significant departure from the pre-pandemic days where Indian organisations were more concerned about travel cost savings than the environmental impact of their actions.

Minister of Tourism G. Kishan Reddy has said that adventure tourism can be a gamechanger for the Indian tourism industry. “He added, “The government has framed a roadmap to develop it as a niche tourist product. Besides increasing tourist footfalls, adventure tourism will also foster local entrepreneurship.” A national board for adventure tourism has been constituted with the aim of implementation of the strategy to promote and develop adventure tourism in the country.