Rohan Khaunte, Minister of Tourism, Goa, has said that as per the state government’s projection, the tourist numbers would reach the 2019 level, touching the 81 lakh- or 8.1 million-mark. Around nine lakh international tourists and 72 lakh domestic tourists had arrived in Goa in 2019.

In a recent tweet, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, has shared that within 9 days, Delhi Airport has installed 5 x-ray machines at the security-check area, taking the total to 18 ATRS/x-ray machines, which is a major reason behind ease in congestion at T3.

In a reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, shared that domestic tourist visits in India fell from 2.32 billion in 2019, to 677 million in 2021, owing to the impact of the pandemic.

Parveen Chander Kumar, Executive Vice President – Sales & Marketing, IHCL, has said that the heritage properties in India will continue to grow. “We are seeing a lot of experiential tourism happening. With the MOT also taking this forward, we have endless properties in India that focusing on story telling of the place and some are centuries old.  This is going to continue, and we are making circuits around them as well,” he added.

Prateek Hira, IATO, UP Chapter, has said that people are very excited for the convention. “We have received a record number of registrations yesterday and huge spot registrations are taking place. People are paying much more for registrations and wanting to attend the convention,” he said.

IATO honoured Sunil Gupta, Director, Travel Bureau Agra and Badri Nath Bajaj, Founder, Perfect Travels & Tours, with their Hall of Fame award at its 37th annual convention that kicked off in Lucknow, UP. The awards were given away by Ashwini Kumar Patra, Minister of Tourism, Govt of Odisha and Arvind Singh, Secretary Tourism, Govt of India.

Rakesh Verma, Additional Secretary, Tourism, has said that the tour operators are the most significant members of the value chain. “They interface with the customer & the markets and the role is going to get increased. They are the ones who get impacted by the changes in the industry,” he added.

Rakesh Verma, Additional Secretary, Tourism, has said that IATO has organized some great sessions and there will be brainstorming on various issues on how industry can accelerate growth and how both government and industry can work together. “I think this will be a very meaningful convention with lot of ideas to benefit the sector,” he added.

Mukesh Kumar Meshram, Principal Secretary Tourism and Director General, UP Tourism, has said that Uttar Pradesh is hosting the convention after 18 years of gap. “It will boost the state’s tourism as there are many destinations to be showcased. UP is fats emerging as a popular tourist destination along with a boost in infrastructure. Thus, people will love Uttar Pradesh,” he claims.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, in his address at the convention, said, “Domestic tourism has revived and is significantly above pre-COVID levels. “As the theme is ‘Inbound tourism – What Lies Ahead’, I hope this convention contributes to raising the bar for inbound tourism and everyone would workout strategies for faster recovery,” he added.