Boeing forecasts a demand for 1,850 new airplanes in India, valued at $265 billion, over the next 20 years. Dinesh Keskar, senior VP, Asia Pacific and India Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes released the company’s annual Current Market Outlook (CMO) for India in Mumbai, and said, “With the new aviation policy in place, we see even greater opportunities and remain confident in the market and the airlines in India. India continues to have a strong commercial aerospace market and the highest domestic traffic growth in the world.”  According to Boeing’s CMO, single-aisle airplanes such as the Next-Generation 737 and 737 MAX will continue to account for the largest share of new deliveries, with airlines in India needing approximately 1,560 airplanes. These new airplanes will continue to support the growth of low-cost carriers and replace older, less-efficient airplanes. The report also says that traffic growth in India remains the highest in the world at 8.6 per cent and that domestic passenger traffic increased 21 per cent from 2015. It also mentions that low-cost carriers account for more than 60 per cent of all flights in India.

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) is all set to hold Bharat Parva from Aug 12-18 in line with the Independence Day celebrations. Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Tourism, Government of India, revealed, “We are hosting a Bharat Parva at the India Gate Rajpath Lawns and it is part of the India Independence Day Celebration from August 12-18.  The Tourism Ministry will organise the same and we are going to bring in lots of attractions for the people. The idea is to create a festive and patriotic mood and involve people. We will have state pavilions and they are very excited about the same. The festival will have cuisines, food court, handicrafts and cultural programmes from all states on all the days. We’ve also involved local, state and regional associations based in Delhi for the festival as well.”

The Ministry of Tourism conducted a joint discussion on July 22 with travel and hospitality associations to seek inputs and suggestions regarding the upcoming Incredible India Tourism Investor’s Summit, to be held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, from September 21-23, 2016. Representatives of IATO, ADTOI, FAITH, PATA India Chapter, WTTC- India initiative, ITTA, ICPB, EIS, IHHA, and ESOI were present at the occasion. Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Tourism, Government of India, sought support and suggestions of all the trade bodies for the event. He said, “The Incredible India Tourism Investors Meet is aimed at sensitising everyone. Though we are having a very high and tremendous growth in tourism arrivals, this growth needs a supply chain for better infrastructure. The ministry has decided to create an environment for investment and this is one such event, which will be led by MOT and we have Invest India on board and we have also requested the embassies of various countries. We are going to make it an annual event. We have also decided to make an investment cell which is going to continuously monitor everything about the investments. We seek cooperation of all the hospitality and travel associations and suggestions to get the right investors for the summit, right investment opportunities in the country, and also ways to move forward with the summit.”

The Global Panorama Showcase (GPS), reached Chandigarh in its 4-city itinerary on July 20, recording 500+ attendees on Day 1. The first day of B2B sessions saw over 500 attendees engaging with 50 exhibitors on an activity-filled day.”We had close to 230 people attending the presentations and the response has been overwhelming,” said Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, Jagsons Travels (organisers of GPS). The three-day B2B trade event and networking platform, began with presentations and educational sessions for agents who travelled from all parts of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to attend the show.  Madhu Saliankar, Director, EntReps Solutions, said, “The attendance for educational sessions was unbelievable. People were participative and glued to their chairs for the whole duration. Hats off to them and us, too, because we were able to address some key issues.” The B2B platform will now travel to Kolkata from July 27-29 and the last leg will be in Coimbatore from August 3-5.

Dubai Tourism conducted a cruise tourism roadshow in New Delhi on July 21, 2016. The 6-city roadshow aims at fostering a close working relationship with key members of the Indian travel fraternity. Speaking at the roadshow, Jamal Humaid Al Falasi, Director, Cruise Tourism, said, “This is our second roadshow in India. Last year we did the roadshow in three cities, but since we see a huge demand from India, this year we are doing it in six cities. This would allow us to have more passengers opting for cruises from Dubai. The number of cruise tourists to Dubai has increased substantially over the years. From 6904 tourists in 2001, we recorded 463,055 cruise tourists in 2015 and are aiming to 1 million by 2020. India’s ranking as a cruise source market for Dubai was 21 in 2013 and it came to 14 in 2015.” The participating cruise companies included MSC Cruises; Costa Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruises represented by Tirun Travel Marketing in India. Carl Vaz, Director, Dubai Tourism–India, said, “This time we are travelling to six cities for the Dubai Cruise Tourism Roadshow—Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. We’ve been very fortunate in 2015 to have 1.6 million Indian overnight  visitors in Dubai, these include hotel and hotel apartments guests as well.”

The Union Cabinet has approved signing of the Air Services Agreement between India and Mozambique. Presently there is no Air Services Agreement between India and Mozambique. To promote the air connectivity between the two countries, the two sides initiated the process of consultation in 2011 to finalize the text of Air Services Agreement. The draft text of the Air Services Agreement (ASA) has been finalised in consultation with Ministry of Finance (Deptt. of Revenue/Deptt. of Economic Affairs), Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Law & Justice (Deptt. of Legal Affairs). The major features of the Agreement include multiple designation of airlines by each party. The designated airline of each party can enter into cooperative marketing arrangements with the designated carriers of same party, other party and that of a third party. This agreement allows designated airlines of either countries to establish offices in the territory of other country for the promotion and sale of air services. The designated airlines of the two countries shall have fair and equal opportunity to operate the agreed services on specified routes. Apart from the above, the ASA also has the provisions relating to revocation or suspension of operating authorisation, principles governing operations of agreed services, commercial opportunities, safety and security related clause etc. that were incorporated in the line of Indian model ASA.

India secured three Gold awards in the Marketing Media category of the 2016 PATA Grand and Gold Awards. The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) announced that Kerala Tourism will receive two Gold awards, one for the state’s tourism E-Newsletter and one for Visit Kerala’s Travel Advertisement Broadcast Media while SOTC’s Luxury Travel division Perfect Moments will receive the PATA Gold Award 2016 for the Consumer Travel Brochure. Dr. Mario Hardy, PATA CEO, commented, “This year’s winners exemplify the values of the Association in working towards a more responsible travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region and we look forward to celebrating their accomplishments at the PATA Gold Awards luncheon and presentation at PATA Travel Mart 2016 in Indonesia.” To be held on September 9, 2016, during PATA Travel Mart 2016 in Greater Jakarta, this year’s awards recognise the achievements of 26 separate organisations and individuals.

Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has approved projects worth Rs. 275 crore for the development of Krishna and Heritage circuit in Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme. The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) for the Swadesh Darshan Scheme met under the chairmanship of Vinod Zutshi, Secretary – Tourism where senior officers of MOT and State Governments of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana participated in the meeting. Under Krishna Circuit in State of Rajasthan, the sites of Shrinath Ji (Nathdwara), Govind Devji (Jaipur), Kanak Vrindavan (Jaipur), Charan Mandir (Jaipur), Galtaji Temple Complex (Jaipur), and Khatu Shyam (Sikar) are covered with total project cost of approximately Rs. 98.00 Crore. Sites located in and around Kurukshetra (Haryana) have been included in Krishna Circuit for State of Haryana. Major thrust areas of development for sites of Jyotisar, Brahma Sarovar, Sannhit Sarovar, Narkatari: Baan Ganga, Amin: Abhimanyu Ka Tila are bathing ghat facilities (lockers, changing rooms, etc.), construction of Mahabharata Theme Park, multi-purpose tourist information centre, among many others. The total project cost for integrated development of Krishna Circuit in Haryana is estimated at Rs. 96.00 Crore. The Heritage circuit of Gujarat focuses on Gandhi theme, covering sites of Ahmedabad (Kochrab Ashram,Sabarmati Ashram,Dandi bridge, ) Rajkot (Alfred High School, Kaba Gandhi no Delo, Rashtriya Shala ), Porbandar (Kirti Mandir), Bardoli (Sardar Patel Museum) and Dandi (Gandhi Smriti railway station,Karadi village,Dandi Memorial). The total cost of the project is estimated at Rs. 80.00 crore.

The National Green Tribunal’s order to deregister diesel vehicles older than 10 years in Delhi and NCR will not have a major impact on tourism, says Krishan Dutt Yadav, President, Indian Tourist Transporters Association (ITTA). “There will be no significant impact on tourism with this ban as most of the taxis that we operate for tourists have a life of maximum nine years and are generally changed after five years. However the actual problem is the sluggish procedure for reissuance of national permits after five years. There is no clarification on the reissuance of these permits which leaves the taxis and heavy duty vehicles dysfunctional,” Dutt says. According to media reports, the NGT order to deregister diesel vehicles older than 10 years in Delhi and NCR could take away 70 per cent of the goods carriage fleet of the capital and nearly 90 per cent of its private chartered buses. Besides, around 11,500 buses would have to be deregistered. That’s 88% of the 13,000 diesel buses registered with the department. Earlier this year, the court had allowed diesel vehicle owners to get an NOC and dispose of their vehicles. However, whether this would still be applicable to the vehicles nearing 10 years or not needs to be clarified, officials said. According to figures with the transport department, there are 2.82 lakh diesel vehicles in Delhi which will be impacted by the NGT order. Of these, 1.61 lakh are private vehicles.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) will be coming up with an web portal to provide an online selling platform to its members. Marzban Antia, Vice President, TAAI, said, “Small agents cannot afford a website or a travel portal. Hence, we at TAAI are forming a TAAI portal, under the proprietorship of the association, which will bring around 100-1000 agents together. When these many agents will be selling their products on that forum, it will certainly give a jerk to many existing OTAs. It’s in a very initial stage as of now, but once it is out it will empower many small agents.”