The Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB) has embarked on a preliminary promotional trip to India with the aim to reconnect and revive the tourism and business events industry in Penang and India through press conferences and networking night.  The trip is essential for demonstrating the market readiness in India. Some of the Indian local airlines have expressed interest in expanding into Penang after attending PCEB’s annual roadshow last year. Following the interest, the PCEB team together with YB Yeoh Soon Hin, the State Executive Councillor for Tourism & Creative Economy had a meeting with a few airlines to discuss direct flights opportunities to Penang from key cities in India. It is essential to maintain marketing momentum in order to keep airlines enthusiastic about the Penang-India link. “The efforts to ensure tourism is sustainable was taken well into consideration by incorporating the idea of Responsible Tourism into the travel and tourism sector post pandemic. Penang is the first state in Malaysia to launch a well-designed SOS safety APP, making Penang once again the trendsetter in Malaysia’s tourism environment. With your support, we can restore travellers’ confidence to visit Penang and ensure that it remains a top destination for people from all over the world,” said Yeoh Soon Hin, the State Executive Councillor for Tourism & Creative Economy “PCEB’s dedication has not wavered, and our team is dedicated to fostering mutually beneficial relationships and working closely with the Indian community. The establishment of a direct flight between India and Penang is one of the primary topics of conversation at the moment. We are already in discussion with airlines both in India and in Malaysia about the possibility of establishing additional direct flight …

Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Arvind Singh while presenting the welcome address said that Indian Tourism sector has emerged as one of the key drivers of growth for Indian economy. He also shared that India plans to position itself as a major tourism destination during its presidency of G20 for 2023-2024, where it wants to position itself as a must-visit destination at the global level.

Minister of Tourism, Culture & DoNER, G. Kishan Reddy Ji said that India’s tourism sector is recovering well with strong contribution from domestic travel. He shared that the various schemes like Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD scheme initiated by PM Narendra Modi Ji has helped in holistic development of the tourism sector. He also mentioned that the National Tourism Awards have over the years emerged as a prestigious recognition of achievements in the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors, that has helped motivate the stakeholders involved here.

As per the India Tourism Statistics 2022 released today, UAE was the top source nation for Indian Nationals’ Departures (INDs) in 2021, followed by the USA, Qatar, Oman, the United Kingdom, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Bahrain, and Kuwait. In 2021, the Top 10 nations accounted for around 85.93% of all INDs. In comparison to 2020, there was an increase in INDs from India. In 2021, 8.55 million Indian nationals departed from the country, up from 7.29 million in 2020, a 17.30% increase. The number of Indian citizens leaving after 2019 has dramatically dropped as a result of the pandemic. INDs frequently travel by air, which is also the most common method.

To support Unique Tourism Projects under Maharashtra Tourism Policy 2016, DoT signed an MoU with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) with a desire to light up (sound and light show) the Gateway of India, thus making it a destination to further attract tourists. The IOCL will finance the project through the CSR funds and facilitate the operation of sound & light show through its technical expertise. Similarly, another MoU was signed with Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) to begin the concept of Mining Tourism in Maharashtra to explore the state’s mineral treasure. Tourists will get to experience mine tourism at Saoner (UG) and Adasa (OC) in Nagpur Area, Niljai (OC) Wani Area and Bhatadi (OC) in Chandrapur Area.

The 61st Annual General Meeting of the Hotel & Restaurant Association of Eastern India, the strongest forum of the hospitality industry of the region, with 12 member states and one union territory, was held on September 21, 2022 in The Park Hotel, Kolkata. Sudesh Poddar was re-elected as the President of HRAEI for the year 2022-2023. The team led by Poddar has stalwarts like T.S. Walia, Past President FHRAI, Md. Azhar as Senior-Vice president, Aneel Goenka as Vice-President, Pranav Singh as Honorary Secretary, Amit Ruia as Honorary Treasurer, Sandeep Sehgal as Joint Honorary Secretary and H.S. Bagga as Joint Honorary Treasurer.

Discover all that this Peninsular Gulf country has to offer during the exclusive webinar titled ‘Curated in Qatar’ on Wednesday, Sept 28 at 3pm IST. For more information, please write to Jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or +91-9650196532.

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO, addressed the National Conference of State Tourism Ministers in Dharamshala recently where he said that the need of the hour is to organise physical roadshows in foreign countries under the leadership of Ministry of Tourism. “This needs to be done on an urgent basis. The state governments are already participating in major travel marts overseas.”

Deepening engagement with key stakeholders in Chennai, South African Tourism visited the city recently. In 2021, Chennai was the third largest Indian feeder market to South Africa with 7.5% Indian arrivals from the city. The city is also projected to be South African Tourism’s highest growth market by 2025, with 30% CAGR. Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head – Middle East, India & SE Asia, South African Tourism, said, “Being one of our top 3 source markets from India and the highest projected growth market, we see immense potential in the city.”  

To fuel the rise in demand for both domestic and international travel, Global Panorama Showcase announces its 9th edition for 2022-23 across 10 cities. Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) is an initiative to unleash the tourism potential that lies in tier 2 and tier 3 cities of India. GPS provides an opportunity for the travel trade to meet, network, educate and conduct business with tourism providers, hotels, DMCs, technology providers, airlines, cruise companies, tourism board, etc.