Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) through tourism during the month of January 2017 was recorded at Rs.16,097 crore as compared to Rs.13,669 crore in January 2016 and Rs.12,100 crore in January 2015. The growth rate in FEEs (in rupees) during January 2017 over January 2016 was 17.8 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 13.0 per cent in January 2016 over January 2015. This data was provided by Ministry of Tourism based on the credit data of travel head as available from Balance of Payments of RBI for the previous year.

Domestic tourist visits (DTVs) to states/UTs was 1,653 million in 2016 as compared to 1,432 million in 2015 corresponding to a growth of 15.5 per cent. The contribution of the top 10 states/UTs during 2016 stood at approximately 84.2 per cent to the total number of DTVs as against 83.62 per cent recorded in 2015. The top 10 states in terms of highest number of DTVs (in millions) received during 2016 were Tamil Nadu (344.3), Uttar Pradesh (229.6), Madhya Pradesh (184.7), Andhra Pradesh (158.5), Karnataka (129.8), Maharashtra (115.4), West Bengal (74.5), Telangana (71.5), Gujarat (42.8) and Rajasthan (41.5).

Germany recorded 748,737 Indian visitor overnights in 2016 corresponding to a growth of 8.1 per cent over 2015. Buoyed by this steady growth, the destination is expecting to see a 3-5 per cent growth in Indian visitor overnights in 2017, informed Romit Theophilus, Director-India, German National Tourist Office (GNTO), India. Sharing some details, Theophilus said, “The average spending per trip abroad by Indian travellers in Europe is approximately €1,852 while in Germany alone travellers spend approximately €2.375. Also, 53 per cent of Indian visitors preferred to stay in first class hotels. A whopping 48 per cent of Indian travellers are newcomers, 46 per cent are repeat visitors while 5 per cent are regulars to Germany.” The destination’s vision for 20130 is to attract 2 million visitor overnights from India. On the trade front, Theophilus informs that the destination is all set to roll out its online training module in 2017 aimed to educate and update the travel trade on the latest offerings in Germany. This will be coupled with regular online webinars for operators in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Continuing its destination promotions through theme based marketing, Germany is promoting ‘Palaces, Parks and Gardens’ in India while it will focus on ‘Luther 2017-500 years since the Reformation’, as its global marketing theme. In addition to this core theme GNTO will also be promoting its theme parks, smart luxury, barrier free travel and active holidays in Germany.

Singapore Airlines and its regional arm SilkAir will fold fuel and insurance surcharges into their base airfares. Both airlines have already been showing the full price payable in their airfare advertising, inclusive of taxes and surcharges, since 2008. With the removal of the fuel and insurance surcharges as a separate component, customers will be presented with a single base airfare when purchasing tickets. This will not result in immediate changes to “all-in” fares, which will continue to be determined by market supply and demand, but is intended to provide a more simplified fare structure for customers. The folding in of fuel and insurance surcharges into base airfares will be implemented progressively by region, starting from 28 March 2017. It is expected to be completed by May 2017. Fuel and insurance surcharges will also no longer apply to KrisFlyer frequent-flyer programme redemption bookings with effect from 23 March 2017. Other changes will be made to the KrisFlyerprogramme with effect from the same day, including the removal of a 15 per cent discount for redemption bookings made online rather than via the call centre.

Yatra.com has signed an MoU with the Government of Madhya Pradesh to jointly promote homestays in the region. The MoU was signed by Jaimon Mathew, GM operations, MPSTDC, and Manish Bansal, GM Homestays, Yatra.com, in the presence of AMD MP Tourism Tanvi Sundariyal. The partnership will enable Yatra to promote all the state tourism approved homestays, wherein travellers can rent a room in the home of a local family (host) or the entire house. With an intend of establishing itself as the largest homestays curator of over 3000 homestays across 130 cities across India, come March the portal will sign two more MoU’s with the Governments of Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Speaking on the partnership, Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com said, “We are pleased to announce this partnership and aim to promote homestays in the state. We believe that this partnership will offer best-in-class stay experience for the tourists visiting the state. Strengthening our eco-system for homestays, we are aggressively working towards promoting homestays across the country which will also generate employment for the local population and help contribute to the economy of the nation.” Yatra.com is closely working with the state governments to promote homestays. The company recently signed MoU with the Government of Uttrakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Gujrat. As a part of this partnership, Yatra will list over 90 properties on its website and encourage the growth of homestays in Madhya Pradesh, giving tourists a very homely experience.

Goa’s biggest Hindu festival will kick-start on March 14 and will continue in various rural parts of Goa, spanning over a fortnight, with different days earmarked for celebrations in different areas. The float parade will begin at Ponda on March 14, 2017. The city of Panaji will witness the float parade on 18 March 2017. The float parade will end in Pernem and Sanquelim on 27 March, 2017. Thousands of tourists are expected to visit the state to witness the Shigmo parades.

Crystal Cruises offering luxury ocean cruises, river yacht cruises and yacht expeditions showcased its offering to the Indian travel trade in Mumbai. Speaking on the occasion Edie Rodriguez, President and CEO, Crystal Cruises, said, “Crystal Cruises touches all seven seas and all seven continents. In the year 2018 our ship will be docking Mumbai for 3 nights. We look for Indians who want to fly away and sail in our cruises around the world.  We are an all inclusive brand so we offer tremendous value and experience for the price to our guests.  Crystal cruises consists of two vessels Symphony and Serenity each hosts about 1,000 guests and do itinerary of around the world from 5 nights to 128 nights.” One of its four world cruises which will be leaving in January 2018 from Cape Town, South Africa will make its way across India touching several ports in India in the first quarter of 2018. As fly away vacations in the month of august Crystal Cruises will be launching crystal air cruises around the world by private jet as well as crystal luxury which is the bombardier global express having a 12 seat capacity. Crystal Air Cruises which will be launched in August 31 this year which will consist of a 777 aircraft which usually has a seating capacity of 350 guests has been configured for only 84 guests offering flatbed crystal exclusive class seating. Air cruises will take guests around the world for 2, 3 and 4 weeks. This year in summer Crystal Cruises will be taking delivery of two new river vessels which will be doing Rhine-Main in Danube. In the mid 2019 it will take delivery of …

Continuing with its agenda to promote cruising from Singapore, the Singapore Tourism Board in India will conduct a second edition of its ‘India Cruise Forum’ on March 30, 2017 in Mumbai. Revealing this is G.B. Srithar, Regional Director (SAMEA), International Group, Singapore Tourism Board (STB), who says, “The format will remain more or less the same as last year. We will get the main cruise lines operating out of Singapore together with cruise industry veterans. The day-long forum will also have panel discussions that will talk about cruising in general, trends, insights into the workings of the Indian cruise industry and opportunities with key players across the value chain. India is Singapore’s number one international source market for cruising.” Dream Cruises has announced that its inaugural vessel, Genting Dream, will be home ported year-round in Singapore starting from December 3, 2017. This marks a first for Singapore to host a brand-new and large-scale 151,300-tonne cruise ship year-round.

Meliá Hotels International has concluded its three cities roadshow in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Mumbai, from February 20-22, 2017. The roadshows were aimed to strengthen and build up relationships with key travel partners across India and showcase the USPs of the brands — Gran Melia, ME by Meliá, Paradisus, Melia Hotels & Resorts, Innside by Melia, Tryp by Wyndham and Sol by Melia. Led by, Ruben Casas, Senior Director Sales and Marketing, Asia Pacific, and senior hotel representatives, the roadshows witnessed active participation from several trade partners, travel consultants, major tour operators, wedding planners and media. Ruben Casas said, “India has witnessed stupendous growth in the past years and the evolved hospitality scenario provides a positive base for several new businesses to establish and grow. Last year we set up our Representation office in India to further expand our market share and work extensively in this region and have witnessed a huge increase in its share in our revenue. We are keen on tapping all segments of travellers—family, luxury, honeymooners, wedding, business and leisure, as Melia Hotels International counts a presence of more than 370 hotels in 40 countries and 7 brands targeting each of those segments.  We have participated in SATTE and met a good number of potential travel professionals. Furthermore, these meetings give us the opportunity to meet and show our gratitude to them for their support and provide new opportunities to drive business.”

Expanding its network in the Southern region, IndiGo has announced two new flights to Madurai. From March 1, 2017, IndiGo will operate a maiden flight from Delhi to Madurai via Chennai and return Madurai to Delhi with a touchdown in Chennai. Madurai has now become the 37th domestic and 42nd overall destination for IndiGo. The airline is also starting Madurai – Hyderabad daily flight from March 26, 2017. Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director, IndiGo, said, “Madurai being a pilgrimage spot and a flourishing cultural hub in Tamil Nadu attracts tourists from across the globe. It gives us pleasure to add Madurai as part of our growing network which will only help us serve the growing demand from the southern region. IndiGo’s domestic network expansion program renders special attention to non-metro cities aimed at unlocking the tourism potential in these cities. The new flights and frequencies – on national and international sectors – is a testament to the growing customer base and we are hopeful that these flights will prove to be popular and convenient for our business and leisure passengers alike.”