The recently released FICCI-Yes Bank Report at the Great India Travel Bazaar (GITB) in Jaipur, which is titled ‘India Inbound Tourism: Unlocking the Opportunities’ has underlined India as tourism powerhouse. It revealed that by 2029, Indian tourism sector is likely to grow at 6.7 per cent per annum to reach INR 35 trillion with 9.6 per cent of GDP. The report claims that the tourism sector in the country has generated USD 247.3 billion (INR 16.91 trillion) in 2018, with a growth of 6.7 per cent and accounting for 9.2 per cent of the total economy. Currently, it is the 8th largest country in terms of contribution to travel and tourism GDP and the largest market in South Asia. The report also highlights that the tourism sector generated 26.7 million jobs in 2018. By 2029, the sector is expected to provide employment to nearly 53 million people, directly and indirectly. Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) crossed 10 million in 2017 and the growth trend is expected to continue. Consumption by domestic tourists remains the key strength of the sector in India, much stronger than the global average. Growing disposable income, increase in new millennial tourists, new travel destinations as well as new themes of tourism will further propel the growth. FICCI-Yes Bank report also states that the systematic growth, maintenance and sustainable development of tourism destinations as well as focus on promoting the emerging avenues of tourism will be essential towards unlocking its true potential. The growth in Indian travel and tourism sector has largely been driven by domestic tourists. Foreign tourists still account for a limited share as compared to some of the top-ranking countries. The government intends to achieve …

According to a report by IATA, the ‘Current trends’ scenario predicts that 44% of additional air passenger trips over the next 20 years will come from China and India alone. The report also elucidates that air travel markets are reaching maturity in most developed economies. The rise in the frequency of air travel of the average citizen – which underlies the expected growth in air passenger demand over the next 20 years – will occur mainly in the world’s emerging markets. So, the average citizen in Europe and the US is not expected to fly much more frequently in 20 years’ time than they do today, even though their living standards are forecast to be 20-30% higher in our ‘Current trends’ scenario. Moreover, in developed economies like Germany there is very little population growth – another key driver of air passenger demand – expected either. But in the emerging markets there is expected to be a strong demand to connect cities by air services for trade, investment and travel. This is where both the frequency of travel and populations are expected to rise most.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines is all set to restart direct flights between Dhaka and Delhi from May 13. To promote the relaunch, Biman has announced 15 percent discount on the existing base fare on the route, which be valid till May 30. With this flight, Biman will become the only airline to operate direct flights between the capital cities of the two countries. Initially, Biman will operate three flights every week on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. The flight from Delhi, BG 098 will depart at 6:20 pm (IST) and will reach Dhaka at 9:20 pm (local time). The return flight BG 097 will take off from Dhaka for Delhi at 3:00 pm. The national flag carrier of Bangladesh will use Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a configuration of 12 Business class and 150 Economy class seats on this route. InterGlobe Air Transport Limited (IGAT) serves as the exclusive GSA for Biman Bangladesh in India. The airline also runs flights to 15 international destinations (Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Riyadh, London, Dubai, Jeddah, Doha, Dammam, Kolkata, Kathmandu, Yangon, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok) and a well-knit seven domestic stations with a younger fleet of 13 aircraft including Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

GITB in its 11th year will see 291 Foreign Tour Operators from 47 countries to meet, interact and do business with 260 Indian exhibitors with around 11,236 pre-scheduled B2B meetings. The two-day event was inaugurated at The Lalit, Jaipur in the presence of the Chief Guest, DB Gupta, Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan, who delivered the inaugural address. The keynote address was delivered by Sreya Guha, Principal Secretary- Tourism, Arts & Culture, Government of Rajasthan. From the Ministry of Tourism, Aashima Mehrotra, Director- Tourism, Government of India addressed the gathering while Dr Jyotsana Suri, Past President of FICCI & Chairperson, FICCI, Tourism Committee delivered the welcome and the theme address. The inauguration of the Exhibition was done by Suman Billa; Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India amid the presence of other dignitaries at the Jaipur Exhibition and Convention Centre. 2020 edition to be held from April 19-21 Apart from the host state, Rajasthan, Tourism Departments of states like Gujarat, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Punjab and Chandigarh are also participating.

TBO Group unveiled its industry first ‘B2A’ strategy at the Arabian Travel Market. Talking about this new strategy, Gaurav Bhatnagar, Co-founder TBO Group, said, “B2A for us means two things – Back 2 Agents which is an acknowledgement of the fact that more and more travellers are now going back to travel agents for advise and bookings. Studies show that millennials are increasingly feeling fatigued by the information overload and lack of trust in online channels. Further, as people’s travel needs mature, they look for more and more exotic experiences which can’t be booked online. B2A also means Business 2 Agents. Travel Agents provide the most effective distribution and marketing channel for destinations, hotels and experience providers to reach out new customers. TBO platform has over 47,000 travel agents across more than 100 countries. TBO Academy is an innovative learning platform which allows travel bookers to learn about new destinations. We encourage all travel suppliers, and specially hotels to think about the B2A channel differently from the B2C and B2B channels to reach out to the offline customers without fear of rate abuse” The travel distribution business has so far largely been segregated between B2C and B2B. While B2C stands for direct to consumer OTAs, B2B has been used to broadly cover all other indirect distribution channels. TBO believes that this kind of classification short changes a very important part of the distribution change – Travel Agents. Travel Agents account for the bulk of travel sales globally. Travel Agents act as a very important link between travel suppliers and the end consumers, educating travellers on new destinations, new hotels and new experiences. Travel Agents provide end to end fulfilment for …

Vineet Gopal, Director, Meet 2 Travel said,” We are excited for Meet 2 Travel to join Corporate Alliance Group family. This acquisition is of two likeminded companies having same values and business interest, definitely with Corporate Alliance Group we will be bigger and better, the new M2T connect & expertise will help clients optimize their travel spend and improve their travel booking experience. The acquisition creates clear opportunities, including a significant increase in scale and network reach, volume as well, all resulting in stronger customer service.” Barun Gupta, Vice President, Sales Strategy, Business Development & Partnerships, India said this acquisition is start of new phase at Corporate Alliance Group as we are planning and shortlisted other acquisitions in near future in South Asia and South East Asia . We are excited by the exceptional opportunities we expect we will see in the future.”

Air Tanzania, the flag carrier airline of Tanzania based in Dar es Salaam, will start its Mumbai operations from July 17. The airline will operate thrice a week-Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Air Tanzania will also launch 4x weekly flights between Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg using their Boeing 787-8.

Europamundo Vacations is a JTB group company, the largest travel and tourism Company in Asia. Europamundo Vacations has introduced 21 special tours for the Arabic Market with Arabic speaking tour leaders. Europamundo is majorly knows as an European coach tour operator but they also have popular coach tours to Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, Turkey etc. Globally 1,50, 000 passengers from 51 different nationalities have travelled with Europamundo. On the global tours which is just in the 3rd year of operations have already crossed 10,000 passengers this year and still counting.

With international tourists expected to grow in the next few years, it is important that India has the right product to meet the need of the visitors. Peter Walton, President and Chief Executive, International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO), says, ‘India is an incredible kaleidoscope of destinations and experiences and so are the golf courses. I can see doubling of golf tourism revenue in India by 2021. India is still an undiscovered golf destination, even though you have 230 golf courses. Through golf, visitors will be able to experience India. 70 per cent of golf travellers are looking for a unique place which they ahev not discovered earlier.” Sharing statistics on the value of the market he adds, “Since the global economic crisis in 2008-2009, that impacted the entire leisure industry, golf bounced back within 18 months to two years, because golfers will not be denied their annual golf travel fix. Since 2011, golf tourism has grown every year at a rate between 8 and 10 per cent. So, on an average double the rate of growth of an average leisure tourism which is about 4 per cent. That carried on until 2018, we actually anticipate now that the rate of growth will slow to 5-7 per cent per year for the next three years. Mainly due to the lack of sufficient golf courses of a suitable standard in destinations people want to travel to. So, demand is still there but supply in the most popular destinations at the most popular time of the year is insufficient to cope with the demand. That is why new destinations like India can really advantage of the strong situation in the market.”

The Indian travel agents market is expected to reach USD40 bn by 2022, as per a latest study by KPMG and Google. The share of Online Travel Agents (OTAs) is set to increase to 47 per cent in 2022. Currently OTAs in India cater to a range of travel related booking services –airlines, accommodation and lodging, package holidays, cab rentals, cruise sales, travel insurance and other transport services. This includes both leisure and business travel sales. Leisure travel forms a majority of sales for OTAs and continues to remain the focus for major Indian OTAs in the near future. Few players in the accommodation and cab rental spaces maintain their own inventory. While aggregators are focused on on-boarding service providers onto their platform, players with own inventory are more focused on differentiating via service quality.