According to a recent report by JLL, the largest number of hotel room openings in the country in the first half of 2019 were in the state of West Bengal, which welcomed 926 rooms. These keys were part of the four new hotels that opened in the state, of which ITC Royal Bengal alone opened 490 rooms. The report also suggests that Gujarat had the maximum number of hotel signings, with 18 hotels and 1593 rooms, during the same period. Giving a detailed overview of the market, Jaideep Dang, Managing Director, Hotels & Hospitality Business, JLL, said, “Occupancy wise, a market that remained a bit challenged in the last first half of the year was Ahmedabad. Goa saw a dip, but that’s not a sustainable challenge. The main reasons for this were the grounding of Jet Airways and a prolonged election season because of which a lot of travel either got deferred or cancelled. Also, there was more outbound travel than travelling within India.”

Robinville Intech concluded a successful roadshow in India in association with its partners: Location Austria, Innsbruck Tourism, Top of Innsbruck – Nordkette, Top of Tyrol – Stubaier Glacier, aDLERS Hotel Innsbruck, Creative Creatures – Film Production Innsbruck, Zell am See – Kaprun Tourism, Vienna Tourism, Vienna Mozart Orchestra, Harry’s Home Hotels, Salzburg AG, Salzkammergut Touristik DMC, Traunsee – Almtal, Salzkammergut Dachstein, McArthur Glen Designer Outlets, Saxony Tourism and Budapest Festival & Tourism Center. The event titled ‘Robinville Tourism Conclave – The Roadshow’, had presentations from all partners which highlighted Austria, Germany and Hungary as the preferred destination for not only Indian outbound travellers but also Indian Film Productions as well. The 2019 Roadshow was held in Mumbai, Jaipur and Delhi, and offers Indian Agents and Operators the opportunity for B2B meetings. Ishvinder Maddh, Managing Director & Producer Robinville Intech at the event, said, “Since our 2009 representation of Austrian businesses, tourism interests’ have soared in India, however, the most significant game changer was the emergence of the Indian Film Industry & Indian Productions in Austria in a noticeable way. Additionally, through our cross border relationships we have been able to strengthen the ties between India and Austria, but we have been instrumental in significantly increasing Indian overnights by over 100% across the last 4 years.”

Continuing its focus on developing the cruising market in India, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will organise another edition of its Singapore Cruise Forum on 12 September, today, in New Delhi. The theme of this year’s forum will be ‘Growing Cruise Connections – Achieving Together’ and will be an event involving thought leaders and cruise professionals.

The Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department Corporation (MPTDC) has issued global tenders to sell seven hotels, which the corporation handles in the state, including the well-known Ashoka Lake View hotel in Bhopal apart from Ujjain’s Hotel Avantika, Pili Kothi in Umariya and a tourist motel in Mandla. The department has also planned to rent heritage sites in the state for marriage celebrations during the upcoming season. This is not the first time that private players have been roped in by the MP Tourism Department. In 2016, the then-government gave many state-owned hotels and motels like those in Datia, Neemuch, Khajuraho, Katni and Pipariya to private operators. It had then made a provision in the state tourism policy to give hotels to private operators under the condition that the company taking the hotel will operate it and pay the lease money annually to the government. Any violation of the agreement lead to the hotel being taken back by the tourism development corporation.

Tejas Express, IRCTC’s first private train is all set to start operations on October 4, 2019 between Delhi and Lucknow. This is also India’s first private train that will be operated, run and managed by the IRCTC. The train will run on all six days of the week except Tuesdays. The train will have facilities and convenience similar to an airline for the passengers. According to reports, after the first few runs and services, IRCTC might give operation controls of Tejas Express to private players. Also, the tickets for the trains can be booked 15 days prior to the journey. As far as ticket prices are concerned, a dynamic fare model might apply for the Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express. The executive class passengers will get lounge facilities at the stations, for which they’ll have to pay a marginal fee. The lounges at the stations will be well-equipped with all the modern conveniences similar to airports. In addition, passengers can also organise business meetings inside the lounge. Tejas Express will have a train driver, guards along with RPF (Railway Protection Force), which will be provided by the Indian Railways. The ticketing staff, housekeeping and catering inside the train will be controlled by IRCTC. It is expected that IRCTC will soon invite tenders for private firms to take over Tejas Express services.

The 4th Odisha Tourism Conclave is going to be held on 18 September at Bhubaneswar.  Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India Prahlad Singh Patel will be attending the inaugural ceremony along with the Minister of Petroleum, Natural Gas & Steel- Dharmendra Pradhan, State Tourism Minister- Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Secretary Tourism, Govt. of Odisha- Vishal Dev, IAS and Governor of Odisha Ganeshi Lal. The day long function will conclude with Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha Sri Naveen Patnaik doing the Valedictory Ceremony along with State Tourism Minister Sri Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Hon’ble Minister, Industries, Govt. of Odisha, Sri Dibya Shankar Mishra, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Odisha Sri Asit Tripathy, IAS and Secretary Tourism, Govt. of Odisha Sri Vishal Dev, IAS.

As part of the week-long Onam celebrations, Kerala Tourism is all set to host the State Tourism Ministers’ Conclave, to be inaugurated by Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan on September 16 in Thiruvananthapuram. Kadakampally Surendran, Tourism Minister, Kerala said that the conclave will deliberate on key issues likes sustainable tourism, challenges faced by the industry, and branding and promotion of State Tourism Boards apart from showcasing the story of Kerala’s post-flood resurgence. Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture will be the chief guest at the meet at Leela Raviz, Kovalam. Last year, Onam Week Celebrations were dropped as the state was overwhelmed by the devastating floods. This year, the celebration kicked off from September 10, showcasing the state’s vibrant classical and folk dances, modern art and performing traditions at multiple venues in the state capital and various District Centres.

Welcoming 106,200 Indian visitors between January- July 2019, Japan has registered a 14.3 per cent year-on-year growth in terms of arrivals from India. The East Asian country also witnessed a 6.2 per cent month-on-month growth in 2019 when it witnessed 13,200 Indian tourist arrival in July. The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) is eyeing to receive 2 lakh visitors from India in 2019. Yusuke Yamamoto, Executive Director for India, JNTO said, “I am hopeful for reaching the 2-lakh-visitor-arrival-mark from India this year. As of July 2019, we have already seen 106,200 Indian visitors to Japan since January in comparison to 92,937 during the same period in 2018. India is a huge market and therefore we are focusing on Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad,” JNTO conducted its annual ‘Visit Japan Roadshow 2019’ in Mumbai and Ahmedabad last month.

International tourist arrivals grew 4% from January to June 2019, compared to the same period last year, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer published ahead of the 23rd World Tourism Organization General Assembly. Growth was led by the Middle East (+8%) and Asia and the Pacific (+6%). International arrivals in Europe grew 4%, while Africa (+3%) and the Americas (+2%) enjoyed more moderate growth. Destinations worldwide received 671 million international tourist arrivals between January and June 2019, almost 30 million more than in the same period of 2018 and a continuation of the growth recorded last year. Growth in arrivals is returning to its historic trend and is in line with UNWTO’s forecast of 3% to 4% growth in international tourist arrivals for the full year 2019, as reported in the January Barometer. So far, the drivers of these results have been a strong economy, affordable air travel, increased air connectivity and enhanced visa facilitation. However, weaker economic indicators, prolonged uncertainty about Brexit, trade and technological tensions and rising geopolitical challenges, have started to take a toll on business and consumer confidence, as reflected in a more cautious UNWTO Confidence Index.

The Madhya Pradesh government is formulating a new tourism policy to ensure better air connectivity to visitors and to provide jobs to local youth, said Surendra Singh Baghel, Tourism Minister of Madhya Pradesh. He also said the new policy will help promote scenic locations and heritage hotels in the state as wedding destinations. “We are framing a new tourism policy which is more employment-oriented, especially for local youths. We will also provide better air connectivity and chopper facilities to domestic travellers for visiting different tourist destinations in the state. MP Tourism will also organise activities with tour operators for promoting tourism in the state,” said the minister. Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, Secretary & Commissioner (Tourism) and MD, MP Tourism Development Board & MPTDC said that the government is also working on schemes to promote tourism in forest areas and to provide better medical facilities to visitors.