During the month of September, 2019, a total of 1,97,948 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 1,58,884 during the month of September, 2018 registering a growth of 24.6%, according to Ministry of Tourism statistics. During January- September 2019, a total of 18,98,665 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 15,77,418 during January- September 2018, registering a growth of 20.4%. The percentage shares of top 15 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facilities during September, 2019 were highest from China (11.87%), followed by USA (9.91%), UK (8.84%), Malaysia (6.09%), Australia (4.72%), Germany (3.95%), France (3.75), Israel (3.26%), Canada (2.68%), Singapore (2.67%), Spain (2.59%), Japan (2.52%), Oman (2.31%), Italy (2.12%) and Indonesia (2.07%).

The government is planning to build 100 additional airports, add 1,000 new routes connecting smaller towns and establish a plane-leasing financing business by 2024 to boost the economy, according to a report. The NITI Aayog proposal was discussed during an infrastructure review meeting held recently. Increasing the strength of locally trained pilots to 600 and doubling domestic aircraft fleet to 1,200 by 2024 was also proposed. (Source: Economic Times)

Seven new international airlines will start operating to India during winter schedule including Air Tanzania, Arkia Israeli Airlines, Azerbaijan Airlines, LOT Polish, Nok Air, Nok Scoot Air, and VietJet Airlines. Air Manas, Asiana Airlines, Brussels Airlines, PT Garuda Indonesia, Tajik Air and the now-defunct Thomas Cook Airlines will be the six airlines which will not operate in the ongoing winter season. Overall, 86 international airlines will operate in the current winter schedule as against 85 that operated last year. This has lead to a 3.5 percent increase in the number of seats offered by international players.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) is going to organise a North East Tourism Roadshow and B2B meeting on November 9 between 2-7 PM during the North East Tourism Festival scheduled from 8-10 November at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi. The B2B meetings will feature 20 tour operators from the Northeast states along with representatives from the state governments and Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. The discussion agenda will be on major tourism circuits of North East, networking and B2B discussion. PP Khanna, President, ADTOI informed that registrations for the roadshow is open now and the association has sent out invitation and registration forms to trade and other associations. “We have already received around 50 buyer registration for the roadshow. We are expecting around 100-125 buyers from the trade. North East India is poised to take giant strides towards development. ADTOI have recently launched its Chapter for the region in Guwahati and response have been very good,” he informed. The North East Tourism Festival brings the culture, dance forms and drama to the national capital, along with 40 food stalls displaying best of northeastern India’s cuisines. A large traditional craft exhibition, fashion shows, art, and musical festival will also be organized during the festival.

In order to push bookings for its partner Celestyal Cruises sailings from India, Griffon is offering a promotional offer with a free hotel stay for guests in Athens. Vivek Jain, Managing Director, Griffon, says, “We have started new promotions on the Celestyal Cruises for the next three months where we are giving two-night free hotel stay in Athens on a booking for a seven-night itinerary which covers Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Cyprus and Athens. Guests can avail this offer either pre or post their cruise. The hotel is a four-star property in city centre and is on a twin-sharing basis including breakfast.” This is Celestyal’s new itinerary titled ‘Three Continents’. The sailings are up to December 2019 and this offer is only for the India market for guests having an Indian passport.

Chander Mansharamani, Vice- Chairman, ICPB, will be the Chairman of India Tourism Mart 2020, revealed Subhas Goyal, Hony. Secretary, FAITH. He said that the dates of the next ITM will be announced soon, and that it will be between IATO Convention and Kerala Travel Mart, which are also scheduled for September 2020. Chander Mansharamani was the Co-Chairman of the recently concluded ITM, which was held from Sep 23-25, 2019.

German full-service airline Lufthansa is all set to expand its operations into India with the launch of a new route, Bengaluru-Munich from March next year to meet the growing traffic demand. The service on the Bengaluru-Munich route, which starts from March 31, 2020, will be operated by a 294-seater Airbus A350-900 in three-class configuration, Lufthansa said in a release. At present, it flies to Bengaluru from its Frankfurt hub with a Boeing 747-800

AirAsia India is planning to expand its fleet size to 100 aircraft in the next five years. “We have firmed up plans to add 14-15 planes every year starting next year for the next five years. We have remained a small player in the Indian market till now with just 23 planes, which will increase to 29 planes by the end of December,” said a senior official of the airline. The airline also said that they are also looking at leasing out planes directly from lessors.  AirAsia India currently has 23 planes, which will rise to 29 by December-end. On an average, it will add 14-15 aircraft every year. It has added 326 departures in the ongoing winter schedule. The airline’s expansion plans focus on strengthening the network on existing routes rather than adding new routes. (Source: Economic Times)

Subhash Goyal, Hony. Secretary, FAITH, has revealed that they will have an urgent meeting with the hoteliers and stakeholders of the industry on promoting India as an attractive destination internationally, for which they will launch a common logo that can be used by everyone in the industry (tour operators and hoteliers) on their websites. He also revealed that Chander Mansharamani, Vice- Chairman, ICPB, will be the Chairman of India Tourism Mart 2020. He said that the idea is to double the number of tourists in the next few years and that the benefit of reduction in GST is passed on to the final customer so that the Indian package becomes cheaper than what it is currently.

Realty developers Prestige Group and DB Realty have entered into a JV to develop a hospitality-led project spread over a 7.7 acre land parcel in Delhi’s Aerocity. The property is said to have 932 rooms and 6.50 lakh sqft of office space apart from a 2 lakh sqft convention centre. The project is expected to be completed by 2022. The transaction advisor of this deal is JLL India, shares an official source of JLL. DB Group acquired the development rights of the land from DIAL in 2009.