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According to statistics revealed by Ministry of Tourism, a double digit growth rate of 16.5% in Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) has been witnessed correspondingly in the month of January 2017 over January 2016. This was much higher than the growth rate of 6.8% in Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) observed in January 2016 over January 2015.

The second edition of Phocuswright India 2017 held from Feb 28-Mar 2 saw leaders from travel technology and travel-related segments gather in Gurugram where the latest trends in the industry were discussed, new talents nurtured and networking opportunities forged. Simon Lehmann, President, Phocuswright informed that over 400 participants were welcomed and added, “We saw a great turnout that could have been better, but it was a good response nonetheless. The sessions on Centre Stage that featured the likes of Google, Yatra and Paytm were effective crowd pullers and saw a lot of valuable exchange of ideas and information on the new travel technology trends.” Some of the highlights of the event include discussions on the future of business travel, alternate stays and the growth of budget accommodation, along with interviews with Expedia, Uber, Makemytrip & Ibibo, Booking.com, to name a few.

N. K. Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, has been given the assignment of additional charge of the post of Secretary, Ministry of Tourism with immediate effect and until further orders. He is an IAS officer of Bihar cadre, 1980 batch. This announcement came after the superannuation of former Secretary-Tourism, Vinod Zutshi.

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 …