The 2022 travel forecasts by Bain & Company states that the Covid-19 Omicron variant’s surge continues to stall the travel recovery. It is projected that the global airline revenue for 2022 shall reach $432 billion in the baseline recovery scenario, representing 65% of 2019’s revenue. By the end of the year, global air travel demand could recover to 84% of 2019 levels in the baseline scenario.  

Asia is predicted to return to a significant level of dominance, supplying more than 64% of all IVAs into Asia Pacific in 2024, under each of the three scenarios, followed by the Americas and Europe. Overall, while the trends in these latest forecasts are positive, there are still challenges ahead, not the least of which will be containing the spread of the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19. As PATA CEO Liz Ortiguera notes, “International travel recovery to and within the Asia Pacific region is projected to return moderately over the next three years. Recovery will be uneven into the various sub-regions and destinations and will most likely still remain volatile over the next few years. Some individual destinations may see success but expedited recovery of the region requires a more collaborative approach.” 

The Ministry of Tourism celebrated the National Tourism Day by holding a two-hour program on a virtual platform today on the 25th of January 2022. During the program, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER, Shri G. Kishan Reddy emphasised on aggressive promotion of various tourism products that India has to offer to the world. Tourism is one of the largest employmentsl generating sectors and it plays a vital role in direct and indirect employment. He also discussed the importance of domestic tourism and plans to start  Tourism Clubs to create more awareness among the students and youth of our country. Further he stressed on the promotion of tourism with special focus on North-Eastern region and to tap the potentiality of the region.  

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER, on the occasion of National Tourism Day, launched a digital booklet on 75 incredible sites to visit in India and Incredible India 2022 digital calendar by the Ministry of Tourism dedicated to tourism sites. The National Tourism Day celebration happened virtually this year owing to Omicron scare and subsequent restrictions.  

A pioneer in global cruise travel with a 55-year history of breaking boundaries, Norwegian Cruise Line has launched Norwegian Central Asia, an online trade portal to help travel partners in India and Asia discover and market NCL holidays easily and seamlessly. Logging in to Norwegian Central gives partners direct access to NCL’s award-winning travel agent training platform, NCL University (NCLU). Through the reduced rate learning incentive program, travel partners can also earn discounts up to 30% off their own NCL cruise as a reward for completing different levels of NCLU courses. 

Speaking on the theme of National Tourism Day— Rural and Community Centric Tourism— Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, said that rural communities are custodians of indigenous, natural, and cultural heritage as well as have an inherent ability to coexist with natural ecosystems. “It is important at this juncture, that rural communities and landscapes are leveraged to develop and promote sustainable tourism development models,” he shared in his address. 

This year’s International Tourism Fair, FITUR 2022 exceeded all expectations, with 111,193 attendees – 81,193 professionals from 127 countries during its first three trade-only days and 30,000 on its two days open to the public. The number of exhibitors and participants almost equaled pre-pandemic levels at the FITUR 2022. Among the 6,933 participants at the event were 600 exhibitors from 107 countries, including seventy countries represented by official delegations. 

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, visited the National War Memorial and attended the retreat ceremony. He appealed to the youth to visit the National War Memorial built in the memory of martyrs who died in the line of duty. As part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Reddy urged that the students of all the states and universities must come and visit the National War Memorial, which imbues every one with a patriotic zeal. 

After more than a year, Lufthansa has resumed its scheduled flight from Munich to Delhi. The service will be operated three times a week with modern Airbus A350 long-haul aircraft. Departures from Bavaria’s aviation hub are scheduled for Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.  In the coming summer schedule, Lufthansa will operate a total of 21 long-haul aircraft of this type stationed at Munich Airport, which causes significantly less noise and emissions than comparable aircraft. 

Emphasizing on the revival of domestic demand in tourism, Zubin Saxena, Co-Chair, CII Northern Regional Committee on Tourism & Hospitality and Managing Director & VP, Radisson Hotel Group Managing Director said, “India needs to stimulate its domestic demand by ways of promoting domestic tourist destinations through proper outreach by way of advertisements and leveraging social media along with providing safe and hygienic options that will ensure a greater footfall of tourists. We need to make collaborative efforts with all stakeholders including the Government of India, state boards, and various ministries for the on-ground implementation of a domestic tourism policy which rolls out confidence-building measures and encourages the best of smart and digital technologies.”