On IndiGo’s 18th-anniversary, Rahul Bhatia, Group MD, InterGlobe Enterprises, said, “India deserves more than just two major airlines, and IndiGo’s market share domination is not entirely of its own volition, as certain airlines have fallen by the wayside. He also said that IndiGo will never be found guilty of “gouging” its customers and welcomes competition with the right cost structure.”

Addressing hospitality industry stakeholders at the HRANI annual conference in Greater Noida, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Tourism, GoI, said that he understands the pain points of the tourism and hospitality industry and will take up the long-standing demands like infrastructure status and GST with PM and FM to find a lasting solution.

A visa-on-arrival facility is available to citizens of Japan, South Korea, and the UAE if they are visiting India for tourism, business, conference, and medical purposes. This visa is valid for 60 days with the flexibility of double entry, said MOT. However, it is available only at 6 designated airports: Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai.

Suman Billa, Additional Secretary, MOT, has said that India could have one taskforce that looks at the ‘macro side’ picture, but there is also a need to have four or five taskforces that work on sector-specific issues. “I think there is a clear case for making four or five taskforces, but we will figure out how to structure them,” he said.

According to CRISIL Ratings, rising domestic tourism and increasing propensity to travel overseas will expand revenue of India’s tour and travel operators by a robust 15-17 per cent this fiscal. The growth in revenue will be on a high base of last fiscal, when revenue jumped ~40% year-on-year to about ₹14,500 crore, surpassing the pre-pandemic peak by ~20%.

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council today in New Delhi, Rajan Bahadur, CEO, THSC, said, “Our vision is to skill 1 million youth by imparting CSR & RTD training, training of trainers, assessors & master trainers, apprenticeship promotion empowering industry partners, conducting job fairs, placement felicitation and providing international jobs by 2030.”

The FICCI-Nangia knowledge paper reveals that India’s outbound tourism market is projected to reach over US $55.3 billion by 2034, from the estimated more than US $18.8 billion in 2024, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 11.4 per cent. India’s online travel market is expected to grow at 10.5 per cent CAGR between 2024-29 — from US $17.24 billion to US $28.40 billion.

Indian tourism consultancy firm Auxilia Networks has been appointed as the exclusive India representative for the iconic global hop-on hop-off bus tour brand, Big Bus Tours Group. Auxilia will promote the Big Bus portfolio of open-top sightseeing bus tours in over 25 of the world’s most popular cities across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. They will also promote the company’s other multi-national brands including leading UAE travel company Tour Dubai. Alexi Tabrizi, Executive VP of Global Sales, Big Bus Tours, said, “India has become a key source market for our global tours across all 4 continents that we operate in. Engaging with this market is critical for us to achieve our global growth targets. The Indian traveller is aware, aspiring, and forever looking to explore new cities and destinations and there’s no better way to do that than to take one of our open-top bus tours with accompanying commentary. India is a vast and varied country, so we sought a partner with a deep and comprehensive knowledge of the market along with a solid network of trade and media contacts. Auxilia ticked several boxes for us and we’re delighted to be working with PB and his team.” Phil Boggon, Chief Commercial Officer, Big Bus Tours, said, “We very much look forward to working with Paramjit and his team at Auxilia Networks in our new partnership to bring the Big Bus Tours Group global portfolio of experiences to the Indian market.  We can’t wait to welcome many more Indian customers to the cities that we showcase, where we can provide them with a range of experiences, from hopping on one of our Big Bus Tours buses, splashing aboard …

HVS Anarock in its ‘Hotels & Hospitality Overview’ of June stated that Kochi registered the highest increase in occupancy rate, growing by 7% year-on-year, a notable rise compared to other cities. Meanwhile, both Hyderabad and Mumbai experienced declines in y-o-y occupancy rates but saw substantial increase in average rates, with Hyderabad leading with over a 9% y-o-y increase and Mumbai up by 7%.

Ahead of the Mahakumbh-2025, the new policy of star classification of hotels and resorts which was introduced in December 2023 by Yogi Adityanath government to promote the tourism industry in Uttar Pradesh will now be implemented in Prayagraj to boost tourism. The system will classify hotels based on their quality, services and guest experience, thereby boosting tourism.