In terms of global issuance of passport, India is ranked third placed behind China and the United States. The government of India, in total, issued 1.31 crore passports and other related services in the year 2017, over 7.38 crore citizens held valid passports. During 2017, Ministry of External Affairs processed approximately 1.17 crore passport and passport related service applications compared to 98.4 lakhs in 2016 marking a growth of nearly 19 per cent. The Passport Offices, Headquarters and the Office of the Chief Secretary of Andaman  and Nicobar Islands received 1,17,34,020 and passport related service applications including Police Clearance Certificates, against which 1,15,82,367 passports and related documents were issued (inclusive of 2665 Diplomatic passports, 29022 Official passports, 5111 Surrender Certificates (SC), 2078 Identity Certificates (IC) and 2568 Line of Control (LoC) applications). 184 Indian Embassies and Consulates abroad issued approximately 15.13 lakh passports, Emergency Certificates and other passport related miscellaneous services.

The next generation of Indian travellers – Gen Z want more adrenaline rush from their travel expeditions. A study on this group of travellers by Booking.com revealed that 75 per cent of them want an adventure experience from their travels, such as paragliding or bungee jumping and 76 per cent planning on visiting or trekking to an extreme location. Also, Gen Z have an optimistic outlook on travel, with 82% excited for all the places they’ll travel to in the future. Two in five (40 per cent) plan to have visited at least three different continents over the next ten years.

ISA TOURISM (India Sales Associates, ISA)has been appointed as the India Sales representative for Small Luxury Hotels of The World (SLH), with immediate effect. ISA is a boutique Sales and Marketing Representation company for the hospitality and tourism industries based in Delhi.   With this partnership, the ISA team will focus on building SLH brand awareness with the travel trade and driving reservations from the luxury outbound travel market. Additionally, they will generate leads for corporate meetings and leisure groups including family travel and small wedding groups. Manas Sinha, Director of ISA said: “We are very proud to be associated with Small Luxury Hotels of the World and to be given the opportunity to promote their global footprint of luxury independent hotels. Their portfolio significantly enhances the range of luxury products and experiences that we are able to offer to our key travel partners and corporate clients across India. We look forward to introducing more Indian guests to the SLH brand and stay at their member hotels.”   “With the growing number of outbound luxury travellers from many Indian cities, it is important for us to enhance our local sales presence and provide better customer service to our travel partners. We believe that the dedicated ISA sales professionals will be able to engage relevant luxury travel bookers for us and offer local market support as part of our extended Global Sales team,” said Mark Wong, Vice President Asia Pacific of SLH.   Additionally, Mr. Sinha has been also appointed as the Brand Ambassador for SLH India. He has been tasked to raise the SLH brand profile and grow their member hotel network in the Indian market including the referral of …

Rupinder Brar from Indian Revenue Services (IRS), 1990 batch, will be the new Additional Director General (ADG),  Ministry of Tourism. Before this, Brar was serving as the Commissioner of Income Tax and was posted in Mumbai. She will reportedly assume charge in her new role at MOT in New Delhi from next month. She has replaced Meenakshi Sharma (IAS), who is now the Director General, Ministry of Tourism. According to the latest order by Ministry of Personnel, Brar will be serving as the ADG, Tourism post for the next 5 years, or till further orders, whichever is earlier.  

After accounting a substantial rise in tourist arrivals from metro cities in India, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai recently conducted its annual ‘Amazing Thailand’ roadshow in two cities in India – Ahmedabad and Pune – that are emerging markets for Thailand. Last year, they had chosen Indore and Chennai for the annual event. The objective of the roadshow was to introduce the agents to the emerging destinations and experiences that Thailand has to offer.   India currently holds the sixth position in the ranking of primary source markets for Thailand. Arrivals from India soared by 14 per cent to 1.46 million and the tourism board recorded a notable increase in visitors from Maharashtra (51%) and Gujarat (14%) during 2017. To further enhance the favorable developments, the road show witnessed the presence of 34 sellers, four delegates and also the Deputy Governor for Planning from Thailand along with airline and hospitality partners. An intense B2B session followed by a destination presentation on new routes, emerging locations and experiential activities was arranged to educate the travel agents on different shades of Thailand.   Kulpramote Wannalert, Director of ASEAN, South Asia and South Pacific Division, quoted “The travel and tourism sector in India is growing at an exponential pace and outbound travel is definitely on the rise. The factors affecting the growth are easy connectivity, affordable airfare and increase in disposable income and flexible visa policies of several South East Asian countries. Making the most of the scenario, we are organizing roadshows in Ahmadabad and Pune to strengthen reach and ensure the continuous increase in arrivals”   Cholada Siddhivarn, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai, said “India is one of our key …

The Indian Railways is all set to link all the north eastern state capital by connecting Sikkim’s capital city, Gangtok with other north eastern states by March 2022. Work on new broad gauge lines has been taken up to connect the other state capitals — Meghalaya (Shillong), Manipur (Imphal), Nagaland (Kohima), Mizoram (Aizawl)- which is expected to be completed by 2020. “We have already completed 45 per cent of the work in projects of the northeast. We hope to bring Sikkim on the national railways” map by March 2022,” a senior official quoted to PTI.   Capitals cities of Assam, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh have already been connected by the broad gauge rail network.

Palladium Hotel Group – Spanish hotel chain – has signed up Global Destinations as their Sales, Marketing and Communication representation office in India effective July 1, 2019. Pranav Kapadia, Founder, Global Destinations, comments “We are delighted to add Palladium Hotel Group to our portfolio and diversify strongly to include hotel sales and marketing to our current product offerings. Palladium Hotel Group is looking at steadily increasing their footprint in India and we aim to achieve this for them by building a strong brand presence as well as taking their sales to greater heights. We look forward to promoting their chain of hotels across segments of FITs, honeymooners, wedding and MICE groups from India.”

Sri Lanka has now included India and China in the free visa on arrival scheme to revive the country’s tourism sector which slowed down following the Easter Sunday bombings. However, visitors still have to obtain visa on arrival but the government has waived fee from 1 August. In April, Sri Lanka suspended its plans to grant visas on arrival to citizens of 39 countries after Easter bombings. The visas on arrival pilot programme was part of a larger initiative to increase tourist arrivals to the country during the six month off-season period from May to October. Originally the scheme was to come into force on May 1 but the security fears after the bombings forced it to be put on hold. Source: PTI

Goldstone Hotels has opened a new property in the Holy City of Vrindavan with 190 rooms. Located on NH-2 and in close proximity to the renowned temples of the city, the hotel is an ideal destination for weddings, corporate meets, spiritual sessions, Art of Living sessions and would also serve as a highway stopover destination. The hotel houses game zone, multi-cuisine restaurant, fitness centre, swimming pool, spa and huge banqueting facilities both indoor and outdoor. Speaking on this new addition, CEO, Rajesh Chandel said, “We are privileged to be in this Holy City and the hotel would well contribute towards the growth of quality tourism in the region.”

The Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BIAL) has rolled out of the Digi Yatra project- a fully biometric-based self-boarding solution for a seamless flow from registration to boarding, which has been implemented for one particular flight of full-service carrier Vistara to begin with, i.e. the UK 864 Bengaluru-Mumbai flight. All Vistara flights are expected to be integrated into the biometric boarding process at the Bangalore airport by October 2019. The airport is planning to gradually introduce biometric-based self-boarding solution to other flights and airlines.   The facility seeks to minimise paperwork for air travel under a digital system or e-boarding process for airport entry and boarding flights using documents such as a passenger’s Aadhaar number and mobile phones, among others. Under the digital boarding process, the passengers can simply enroll their ID and biometric data, combined with their flight details, before entering the terminal.   As they travel through the airport, passengers can put their travel documents away, as they will be authenticated and verified at every touchpoint by the biometric technology.   “BIAL is extremely excited to roll out this Digi Yatra-based biometric technology. A select few passengers now have the opportunity to experience this sophisticated technology as part of this roll out,” said Hari Marar, managing director and chief executive, BIAL.