Announcing the new focus of VisitBritain, its CEO Patricia Yates said that it will use the power of these platforms to tell the stories that will encourage travellers to explore more of Britain. “It’s a great industry to align with. The new campaign titled ‘Starring Great Britain’ will be released around early summer globally including India. We will work through the destinations that we want to promote through this. For instance, West Midlands is the background for the show Peaky Blinders. We need to also persuade the operators to put more such products into the itinerary and sell it,” she said. 

Nasir Shah, Chairman – IATO Jammu & Kashmir Chapter shared, “In January, there was nearly a 50% dip in tourism due to the absence of snowfall. However, by the end of January, when snowfall resumed, we witnessed a surge in both domestic and international tourists, particularly for adventure activities. As a result of this influx, the winter games, which were postponed earlier, are now scheduled to be held around the second week of February.” 

VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions, significantly added to its business footprint in 2023. Building on its trusted partnership, the company won seven global contracts from the governments of the UK, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Latvia, Iceland and Austria. Among the most significant wins of 2023 was being awarded a global contract for UK visas and citizenship services. In 2024, VFS Global will deploy 240 Visa and Citizenship Application Service (VCAS) Centres for the UK in 142 countries across Africa & Middle East, Americas, Australasia & Europe, China & Taiwan, and Asia & Asia Pacific regions catering to an estimated 3.8 million applicants every year, aiding cross border mobility. This is a significant win also because the contract awards VFS Global with 84 new countries of service for UK Visas and Citizenship Service in addition to the 58 countries that VFS Global already serve. Another major contract for the visa service provider was the global biometric collection service awarded by the Department of Home Affairs, Australia across seven regions comprising Americas, Mekong, Middle East and North Africa, North Asia, Pacific, South Asia and Southeast Asia. According to the agreement, VFS Global’s core services include Biometric Collection and Identity Verification, Digital Assistance with online visa applications submission and Online Payment Assistance on the Department’s ImmiAccount portal. Similarly, the Swedish Ministry of Justice and the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs have awarded global tenders to provide Sweden visa services in 37 countries, and Norway visa and residence permit services in 52 countries respectively. Earlier in the year, Latvia, Iceland and Austria too renewed the global visa services mandates with VFS Global. “These significant …

According to CAPA, the ‘State of the art’ Navi Mumbai Airport is 60% completed and scheduled to open by the end of March 2025. Once operational, it is projected to host 90 million passengers annually. The facility is designed to be state-of-the-art, multimodal transport-oriented, aesthetically attractive, and environmentally focused. 

GRNconnect.com expands its reach with a new UAE DMC to cater to both Indian and international markets more effectively. Gaurav Khandelwal, Director Sales, GRNconnect.com said, “With an established office and dedicated team in Dubai, GRN has been promoting its online hotel portal from the UAE to overseas markets. The addition of the UAE DMC aligns with our strategy to enhance services for agents in India and abroad, with plans for more enticing packages and offerings soon.” 

Tourism department of Government of Goa has launched, the Tourist Trade Support (Working Capital Interest Subvention) Scheme 2021, to support the MSME’s in tourism industry which has been adversely affected due to pandemic by subsidizing the working capital loans for 6-month period. Under the said scheme, there is a provision of reimbursement of interest up to maximum of 5% on working capital loans amounting to a maximum of INR 25 Lakhs for 6 months in one single claim wherein the maximum burden on Government per eligible entity shall be Rs.62,500/- and maximum number of beneficiaries covered under the scheme are 800. All registered B, C, D category hotels/accommodation and Travel & Tour Operators are eligible for benefit of the said scheme.    

As per the India Hotel Market Review 2023 by Horwath HTL, all-India hotel occupancy grew by 4 percent to reach 63.6%. Demand has risen from 94k RPD (Number of Rooms sold Per Day) in 2019 to 112k in 2023, representing a 4.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). However, occupancy levels remain below those of 2016-2019, with the widening supply across tier II, III, and leisure markets being a contributing factor; some major markets are still underperforming. 

According to latest GBTA poll, nearly 60% of travel buyers expect more travel in the coming year, with two-thirds anticipating increases in business travel spending. And almost half of travel buyers say the adoption of remote and hybrid workplace models has prompted them to revamp their employee travel policies and programs. 

Singapore received 1.1 million tourists from India last year as the city state’s top dollar-earning sector recorded a 115 per cent increase in the number of visitors in 2023 at 13.6 million from 6.3 million during the COVID-hit 2022, said report. The number of tourists in 2023 met the Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) forecast of between 12 million and 14 million visitors. 

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO said, “Every nook and corner in India is covered with foreign tourists; they bring in more foreign exchange and employment. One foreign tourist, directly or indirectly, generates 9 jobs. With the current allocation for overseas promotion, we will lose all that. IATO has written to the Ministry of Tourism to take up this matter with the Finance Minister, highlighting the issue in the overseas budget allocation that needs rectification.”