Outbound trips from India will surpass USD 42 billion by 2024 and the government could bring about certain policy changes to boost this growing market, revealed a report titled ‘Outbound Travel and Tourism – An Opportunity Untapped’ by Nangia Andersen LLP in association with FICCI. “The Indian outbound travel market is among the fastest growing markets globally with approximately 80 million passport level of purchasing power, especially among the middle class,” said the report.

Ravi Gosain, MD, Erco Travels, Tourism Enterprises and Saffron World B.V. & Vice President, IATO, has joined TravStack (Gutsytech Travel Solutions Pvt Ltd), as a Strategic Investor and Growth Consultant. Gosain said, “TravStak will help the travel agents to optimize their resources and work effectively. It will help them in doing their business by bringing technology to their fingertips.” TravStack (Gutsytech Travel Solutions Pvt Ltd), is a Travel technology Startup based out of Bangalore by 2nd time founders from IITs and other premiere institutes backed by Singapore Tourism Board, Forbes under 30 entrepreneurs and advisors from Google, Netflix etc. TravStack is on a mission to impact 1 million travel professionals. It provides readily adaptable SaaS tools for Tour Operators, Travel agents, Travel Advisors & other Travel Businesses. The product offerings includes smart Itinerary builder, white labelled travel store with CMS, holistic travel CRM with workflow automations.  All these solutions help travel and tourism professionals to improve their bandwidth, boost digital branding & improve customer buying behaviour.  Simultaneously, empowering all SMB and offline businesses with digitally transformative tech. “We are happy to onboard a tourism industry veteran Mr. Ravi Gosain as a Strategic Investor and Growth Consultant. He is currently the Managing Director, Erco Travels Pvt. Ltd, Tourism Enterprises and Saffron World B.V. He also holds a position of Vice president in IATO. His knowhow about Startups, technology and worldwide network will steer us in the right direction in terms of positioning our product to the prospective clients from travel industry. We would also appreciate his industry experience translating into product use cases and product market fit. We would like to closely work with travel and tourism associations to listen to …

Ministry of tourism in its latest statistics have revealed that Indian Nationals Departures (INDs) from India in May 2022 were 1,902,565 as compared to 154,873 in May 2021 and 2,384,815 in May 2019 registering a growth of 1100 per cent and -20 per cent respectively.

The Parliamentary Committee has advised the MOT that there is a huge potential for India to realize and aggressively advance towards attracting medical tourists from other parts of the world, including Europe and America. “India receives most of its medical tourists from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Oman, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nigeria, Kenya and Iraq,” it said in its report.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation has said that India government plans to develop/operationalise 220 airports in the next five years. “Seventy-four airports were functional in the country till 2014. At present there are 141 operational airports including 8 heliports and 2 water aerodromes,” he informed.

Goa tourism department has reduced the number of clearances or permissions that trades are required to attach at the time of registration. For a new hotel, an entity can get registration done by submitting three documents such as ownership document, CST registration, if applicable, and an identity proof; while no document needs to be submitted for renewal.

Ministry of Tourism in its recent statistics revealed that the percentage share of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India during January-May 2022 among the top 15 ports was highest at Delhi Airport (35.50%) followed by Mumbai Airport (14.58%), Haridaspur Land Check Post (12.27%), Chennai Airport (10.30%) ,Bengaluru Airport (7.55%), Hyderabad Airport (6.09%), Cochin Airport (4.96%), Kolkata Airport (4.22%), Ahmedabad Airport (2.43%), Agartala Airport (1.92%), Trivandrum Airport (1.61%), Ghojadanga Airport (1.46%), Tiruchirappalli Airport (1.16%), Changrabandha LandCheckpost (1.15%) and Amritsar Airport (0.92%).

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) today announced plans for the debut of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt brand in India with the signing of a management agreement for Bhopal’s Noor-Us-Sabah Palace. One of Bhopal’s oldest and most sought-after hotels, Noor-Us-Sabah Palace will undergo extensive refurbishment to join The Unbound Collection by Hyatt brand as a 60-room heritage hotel and is expected to open in 2025. “At Hyatt, we are focused on thoughtful growth based on locations that matter most to our guests, World of Hyatt members, and customers, and introducing Hyatt’s brands across India has been a priority for us,” said Dhruva Rathore, Vice President of Development, India & Southwest Asia, Hyatt. “Bhopal’s history and the Noor-Us-Sabah Palace’s rich Nawabi heritage make it a perfect addition to The Unbound Collection by Hyatt portfolio. This collection of independent hotels has seen great momentum across the globe, as each property invites guests to experience distinct culture and history, and we look forward to expanding The Unbound Collection by Hyatt footprint throughout the sub-continent.” Noor-Us-Sabah Palace will offer cultural moments for guests seeking a sophisticated yet unscripted experience. Spread across 18 acres, the hotel was originally built as a royal residence in the 1920s by Bhopal’s last ruling Nawab Hamidullah Khan for his eldest daughter, Abida Sultan, and it was subsequently converted into a hotel in 1998. The hotel will be completely renovated to bring alive the history and legacy of the Nawab’s royal residence through its interior design, and its storied past will be harnessed to deliver unique and authentic experiences. The hotel will also provide a distinctive and unique location for weddings and events, in addition to catering to premium business …

Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned financial assistance of around Rs. 631 Crore to States/UTs for infrastructure development under Coastal Circuit theme of Swadesh Darshan Scheme, announced G Kishan Reddy, Minister of Tourism, Culture & DoNER, in a written reply in Lok Sabha

Arun Kumar, Director General, DGCA, has said technical snags faced by domestic carriers in recent weeks did not have the potential to cause havoc and that even foreign airlines that came to India reported 15 technical snags in the last 16 days. “The country’s civil aviation space is absolutely safe and all the protocols laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) are followed,” he said.