G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region – DoNER, reviewed projects of Haryana and Punjab and functioning of the Central and State Institutes of Hotel Management. He also reviewed the projects under the Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India. Emphasis was given upon the need to work together to give way to effective development and promotion of tourism.

Tourism remains a strong growth market in the long term. It benefits from overarching social trends that will continue to intensify in the coming years. In the financial year 2021, 5.4 million guests travelled with TUI. Booking level for the 2022 financial year are encouraging at 4.1 million bookings, revealed report. “Whenever restrictions are lifted, demand picks up immediately. Currently, customers are booking later and at short notice”, said CEO Joussen.

Global airlines blasted governments on Wednesday for worsening the Omicron scare through snap border measures and “rip-off” virus testing regimes, and urged politicians to let travellers make their own decisions based on scientific data.Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, predicted “knee-jerk” border restrictions resulting from the coronavirus variant would ease soon, but it was too early to say whether holiday travel would be disrupted.

In a meeting of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, said that India’s scheduled airlines have a fleet of 710 aircraft which is projected to grow to over 1000 aircraft in the next five years. With a new liberalized helicopter policy announced on 8th October, 2021, a significant increase in India’s helicopter fleet is expected over the next five years.

Speaking at the second of a series of trade update webinars on 7th December titled ‘Welcome Back to Singapore,’ GB Srithar, Regional Director, India, Middle East and South Asia, Singapore Tourism Board, said, “We are delighted that six daily VTL flights commenced on 29th November between India and Singapore. This is a big step towards promoting tourism as we ‘Chart Our Pathways To Tourism Recovery’ together with our travel trade partner-friends and welcome back Indian visitors.” The VTL enables fully-vaccinated travellers from India to visit Singapore without the need for quarantine, subject to applying for a Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP) and complying with safe travel measures. The two sessions of webinars on 25 November and 7 December jointly organised by the STB, Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport Group, were well attended by more than 2,000 travel agents from the travel fraternity across India.  This showed the strong interest to promote Singapore as one of the top of mind destinations among the consumers in India.

A meeting of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Civil Aviation was held in New Delhi, Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, said that on 21st November, 2021 nearly 3.93 lakh domestic passengers took to the skies, which is nearly 98.7 per cent of the pre-Covid average. He said that the revival of the India aviation market appears to be robust and reversible. The Minister also said that India’s scheduled airlines have a fleet of 710 aircraft, which is projected to grow to over 1000 aircraft in the next five years.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) of the United Nations calls out against the introduction of blanket restrictions on travel, as witnessed in recent days. This call echoes the concerns raised by UNWTO Members during the 24th UNWTO General. Countries from all global regions expressed their solidarity with Southern African states, calling for the immediate lifting of travel bans imposed on specific countries and for freedom of international travel to be upheld.

Switzerland Tourism will conduct a webinar with Jungfrau Railways on Monday, December 13 at 3pm IST. Jungfrau Railways provides travellers with access to popular excursions such as Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe, Grindelwald-First – Top of Adventure, Harder Kulm – Top of Interlaken and Schynige Platte – Top of Swiss Tradition. This webinar will highlight the popular products and services of Jungfrau Railways, as well as provide the latest information, news and updates for the 2022 travel season. To register, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532 or click the link to register directly: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/339/1n728az3

According to the latest forecast by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the same amount was lost in 2020, making it one of the sectors hit hardest by the health crisis. The coronavirus pandemic would likely cost the global tourism sector $2 trillion in lost revenue in 2021, revealed UN’s travel body, calling the sector’s recovery “fragile” and “slow.”

Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “WTTC supports the World Health Organization (WHO) position in calling for borders to remain open and safe travel to continue. Closing borders will not prevent the spread of new variants. The latest variant is increasingly being detected in countries around the world. The way to keep safe is to focus on the vaccination status of individual travellers rather than placing whole countries onto red lists”.