The upcoming India Tourism Mart (ITM), jointly organised by Ministry of Tourism and Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH), have selected a total of 274 buyers out of over 600 applications received for the same. MOT and FAITH, with representatives of its various member associations held a curtain raiser of the India Tourism Mart in New Delhi, where updates were shared on the progress of the event scheduled to be held from September 16-18, 2018. Subhash Goyal, Honorary Secretary, FAITH, shared, “We have selected 274 buyers out of over 600 applications by a screening committee to ensure that we only have genuine buyers. For sellers, we have about 16 participating states, out of which the major partner states are Punjab and Gujarat. Around 70 small booths have been taken by tour operators, worth Rs 60,000 on individual basis and Rs 30,000 each on sharing. This totals to about 100 tour operators. Besides, IATO has taken six booths with 12 operators each, for whom IATO has subsidised the rates at around Rs 15,000 each. Similarly, ATOAI has taken a number of booths. We have even given booths for operators in the Northeast.”

About 650 participants from across Asia Pacific have gathered at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore to get an in-depth understanding of Sabre technology offerings across the airline, hotel and travel distribution portfolios. The new Sabre approach is highly content driven and offers an array of technology solutions under one roof. Participants have gathered from over 30 countries for this innovative and informative event.    

In line with industry growth and strong demand for skilled professionals, the Centre of Learning, a Thomas Cook initiative, has seen a 35 per cent YoY growth in its diploma students and a placement of 76 per cent. Mona Cheriyan, President & Group Head – Human Resources, Thomas Cook (India), said, “In the context of high growth and increasing customer expectations, talent management is one of the critical challenges that the travel industry faces. This relates to both shortage of actual numbers and the desired capability levels- from a technical and managerial perspective. We are hence proud of our achievement in bridging the gap by building a resource pool of skilled travel professionals for the sector. What is noteworthy is that our efforts are equipping entrants with both academic knowledge and practical skills via on-the-job training.” At its seventh Convocation Ceremony held in Mumbai, the Thomas Cook Centre of Learning felicitated a strong contingent of over 300 students who had successfully completed courses across the Travel Professional Programme – a Post Graduate Course in Travel & Tourism Management, Certificate Course in Travel and Tourism Management, Certificate Course in World Tour Management and IATA Foundation in Travel and Tourism. Scholarship certificates and special prizes were awarded to top performers of Centre of Learning’s Travel Professional Programme – a Post Graduate course in Travel & Tourism Management & Certificate Course in Travel and Tourism Management.    

The Holland Sales Mission kicked off on August 28 in New Delhi amidst a packed gathering at Shangri-La Hotel. The Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC), in collaboration with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Jet Airways, is organising the three-day, three-city roadshow from August 28-30 in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai. “For 2018, this is our key activity in the market. This year, we expect a growth of over 25 per cent from the Indian market. We are mainly focusing on leisure tourists, and MiCE is more on a reactive basis. In terms of marketing, we have a 360-degree approach, so we focus on the travel trade, consumers, as well as press and PR. These are the three key elements for promotions,” said Carola Muller, Global Travel Trade Manager, NBTC, when speaking about the agenda this year. The Indian market continues to be one of the most important contributors of international visitors into the Netherlands. The country recorded a growth of 31 per cent in visitor arrivals from India in 2017, attaining a remarkable surge over the previous year. NBTC has confirmed recording 67,000 visitors from India until May 2018, and this year’s Sales Mission aims to achieve good numbers.

Travel Money, the flagship foreign exchange brand of FCM Travel Solutions, Indian subsidiary of Flight Centre Travel Group Australia, strengthened its presence in South India with an inauguration of its first owned retail store at one of the key locations in Vijayawada. The outlet was inaugurated by Gagan Malhotra, Vice President, Foreign Exchange, FCM Travel Solutions India. This expansion augments total number of outlets to the 34 stores across India, out of which 14 are in South India. Spread over 1,000 sq ft at M G Road, the store offers a range of foreign exchange services such as forex, travel cards and outward remittances for education or close relative maintenance. Malhotra said, “According to the BCG report titled ‘Demystifying The Indian Online Traveller 2017’, the Indian travel market is projected to grow at 11 to 11.5 per cent to the tune of $48 billion by 2020. Indian travel given the significant outbound tourism growth in South India market, we aim to deliver quality and convenience in all aspects of foreign exchange including remittance for students, Leisure & Business travel, Prepaid Travel Cards, and much more to our travellers.” Travel Money’s current footprint extends to a total of 34 stores across India in all major cities including Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Cochin via a combination of owned branches and franchise outlets.

The number of UK visas granted to Indian nationals has continued to experience strong growth, according to the latest update from the UK Office for National Statistics. The latest figures show that there has been a 32 per cent increase in student visas and a 10 per cent increase in visit visas from India. This means that 550,925 Indians were granted UK visas in the year ending June 2018 while visit visas increased by 10 per cent to 454,658, which demonstrates that Indians are continuing to choose the UK as a holiday destination. T4 visas granted to Indian students touched 15,390, an increase of 32 per cent on the previous 12 months. Over 6,500 Indians came for short-term study in the UK during the same period. This is the third successive year that student visa numbers have increased. India continues to receive more UK work visas than the rest of the world combined with over 60,000 work visas issued last year. Dominic Asquith, British High Commissioner to India, said, “The latest figures reinforce a trend we have noticed for some time – that across the board more and more Indians are choosing the UK as a destination to visit, work in and study. I’m particularly pleased to note that numbers of Indian students have increased by 32%. I welcome this evidence that international students wish to study at our world class institutions and are succeeding in securing places there.”

IndiGo has launched Kuwait and Abu Dhabi as its new destinations, effective October 2018. To provide enhanced connectivity across India, IndiGo has added 24 new flights to its network. IndiGo will become the first domestic airline to introduce services connecting Port Blair with Hyderabad and Vadodara. These flights will commence from September 2018. In addition, 6E will operate its first daily return flight between Surat and Chennai, daily non-stop return service between Delhi and Imphal, direct flights to Vijayawada from Delhi.  The airline will also add two international new routes connecting Doha with Ahmedabad and Trivandrum. These new services will be effective October 2018. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “We will operate the first flight between Kuwait and Chennai and Calicut and Abu Dhabi starting October this year. It also gives us immense pleasure to add 24 additional flights to 6E network. IndiGo has completed 12 years of successful operations in the India market as a low cost carrier, and adding new flights to its network will further augment the connectivity that we aspire to provide to our customers.”

The nationwide occupancy for all branded hotels was 65.6 per cent in 2016-17 and the hotels that have existed since 2012/13 achieved 68.4% occupancy last year, according to a report by HVS Global Hospitality Services. Similarly, hotels that have been operating since 2013/14 clocked 67.9% occupancy in 2016/17. On the average rate front, while India’s ARR was `5,658 in 2016/17, for hotels in existence since 2012/13, the ARR last year was more than `6,000.

The proportion of FTAs in India has not changed much in the last few years. In 2016, the highest numbers of FTAs in India were from 35-44 years age group (21.1 per cent) followed by the age groups of 45-54 years, according to a report by Ministry of Tourism. The proportion of FTAs for the age group of 25-34 years has been the highest from East Asia, West Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Central and South America in 2016,  according to a report by Minsitry of Tourism. The report also says that for Australasia, South Asia and South East Asia was the age group of 35-44 years. The percentage share of the age-group of 45-54 has been the highest for North America and Western Europe.

FTA’s in India from different regions of the world has been increasing from all areas. The growth was maximum from Eastern Europe (22.64 per cent) followed by South Asia (12.76 per cent) , Australasia(11.79 per cent), Central and South America (11.25 per cent), East Asia (11.12 per cent), West Asia (8.20 per cent), North America &7.98 per cent), Western Europe (7.94 per cent), South East Asia (6.54 per cent) and Africa (2.9 per cent), according to a report by Minsitry of Tourism. The percentage share in FTAs in India during 2016 was the highest for South Asia (24.93 per cent) followed by Western Europe (23.05 per cent), North America (18.33 per cent), South East Asia (8.74 per cent), East Asia (7.01 per cent), West Asia (5.13 per cent), Eastern Europe (4.61 per cent), Australasia (3.96 per cent, Africa (3.42 per cent) and Central and South America (0.89 per cent).