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The Turkish Tourism Board in India revealed that between January to June this year, Turkey has registered a 56% increase in the number of Indian tourist arrivals in comparison to the same period last year, hosting 130,000 Indian visitors. With such positive growth rate and indicative data coming from ministry, the Turkey tourism board is expecting to host around 250.000 Indian tourists by the end of 2019 The latest official statistics show that more than 24 million foreign tourists visited Turkey within the period of January to July, a strong 14.10 percent increase from the same period of last year. Turkey has emerged as a popular destination for Indian Travellers across categories. From leisure travel to FITs, Indian weddings to Mice summits, there has been a significant increase in all segments. This year Turkey witnessed a substantial surge in the number of extravagant Indian destination weddings across Turkey.  Similarly, MICE travel to Turkey increased at an incredibly fast pace. The tourism board further announced that by the end of 2019, Turkey is expected to host around 30 Indian weddings and 30.000 MICE visitors. Basis the current arrival numbers, and the activities planned in months to come, the tourism board is hoping to reach a record number of Indian tourist arrivals in Turkey by end of this year. The first half has witnessed a record engagement in terms of FITs, weddings & MICE and this trend will only go up. Turkey tourism board has been constantly engaging with Indian audience by highlighting important festivals, summits & international events that are being held in Turkey. A number of fams and engagements are being held regularly from India market to different parts of …

Cholan Tours, part of Lufthansa City Center, is set to launch a new mobile application, which will help connect the tour operators, travel guides and guides for better co-ordination and support. Sharing details, Pandian, Director, Cholan Tours said, “We have been thinking about coming up with something like this from last 5-7 years and now we have found right people and the work is going on for the launch of the App. We have scheduled a launch on November 15 this year. The app will help connect the tourist with guides, which is very tough to pre-book for tourist travelling to India. They can book flights, hotels and other services but now with the new app, they will be able to book guides as well. With this, more employment for guides will be generated throughout the year and guide services in the country will also improve.” He went on to say that around 88 per cent of tourists coming to India travel to the country on their own or through unorganised sector while the rest 12 per cent take services of organised travel agencies. “My intention of creating this App is not to disturb the 12 per cent share but tap the 88 per cent share of the market to book travel guides. If we are able to get even 10 per cent of the share, it will be phenomenal boost to bookings,” he added.

The ongoing Experience France roadshow organised by Atout France India in Mahabalipuram is proof that its strategy to tap the small cities more aggressively is paying off. The third edition of this event taking place over four days at Sheraton Grand Chennai Resort & Spa saw the largest delegate participation from France with 36 partners who will meet 85 agents from different parts of India. Sheetal Munshaw, Director, Atout France in India, says, “We have been doing multi-city roadshow formats for some time which worked at the time and suites our purpose. But we passed a point where we could no longer work with two or three cities and we needed a pan-India approach and this was the best way to do it. So for Experience France, we bring agents from different parts of India to meet our delegates. We have agents from Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and even Lucknow.” She added that 2018 saw around 7,00,000 visitors coming to France on short-term or tourist visas. This indicates a double digit growth in numbers in the last three years. She also adds that the aim for 2020 is to reach one million visitors but the collapse of Jet and Cox and Kings Plc, might affect these numbers. The event saw a huge delegation from private players from the Alps region alone because of the huge traction it sees from the Indian market.

After introducing flights from Guwahati (Assam) and Imphal (Manipur), AirAsia India will start operations from another north-eastern state- Agartala (Tripura) from next month, disclosed an AAI official. According to him, the airline has got the initial approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to operate few flights from Tripura capital Agartala connecting Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati and other cities of India. The operations are likely to start from the fourth week of October. (Source: IANS)

The Department of Tourism (DOT), Republic of Philippines, reported double-digit growth on Indian tourist arrivals to the country during the first half of this year (Jan-June). India is among the top eleven source markets to the archipelago country. Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo–Puyat owes the continued upsurge to the sustained support from industry stakeholders, government, host communities, investors and foreign travel trade counterparts.

Shares of hotel companies zoomed up to 20 per cent on Monday after the GST Council reduced tax rate for hotel room tariffs. Post market hours on Friday, the GST Council reduced tax rate on hotel room tariffs, a move aimed at giving a boost to the hospitality sector. Indian Hotels Company shares grew by 8.20 per cent, ITC rose 6.95 per cent and Hotel Leela Venture advanced 3.59 per cent. The scrip of Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts jumped 19.98 per cent and Royal Orchid Hotels advanced 16.30 per cent on the BSE. (Source: PTI)

The second edition of tourism and hospitality buyer-seller meet the ‘India Tourism Mart 2019’ inaugurated in New Delhi recently. On the occasion, Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari, said that tourism sector has employment potential and this is the most important agenda for the government. He expressed faith that the Tourism Ministry will show great results given its commitment to promote tourism and travel in the country. He adds “Great positive outcome can be expected from the well organised Mart and the type of stake holders who are participating. India is a diverse country language, which fascinates and attracts new tourists. We are focusing on cleanliness and infrastructure which will also boost the tourism sector.”

According to a recent data by Directorate General of Civil Aviation, (DGCA), Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Aug 2019 were 943.58 lakhs as against 913.95 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering annual growth of 3.24% and monthly growth of 3.87%. Also, GoAir has been reported as the most punctual airline for 12 months in a row by DGCA.

Indian tourist arrivals in The Netherlands registers a growth of 15% in the first half of 2019. The number of Indians travelling to The Netherlands from January-June was 1,00,000 as compared to 85,000 during the same period last year. The total number of Indian arrivals last year to The Netherlands was 1,75,000. The growth from India has been significant in The Netherlands, especially in May and June, this year- 23,000.

The second edition of the India Tourism Mart (ITM) opened to a full house, where over 240 foreign buyers and more than 140 exhibitors are participating. The maximum number of buyers are from United States, followed by China. The State of Gujarat is the partner state at ITM 2019. Sharing his view during the inauguration, Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Tourism and Culture, said that ITM is the best example of working together to promote tourism in the country with public private partnership. “I welcome all the foreign delegates, who have come to the second edition of ITM. I want to express my gratitude to FAITH and everyone in the industry to organise such a mart. The ministry is working hand in hand to move forward and grow tourism in the country. We are trying to take forward the recommendations and suggestions of the industry to the government and I am happy to say that five major steps have been taken for the industry. I would like to thank the Prime Minister and the government for their support and proving relief in various aspects. It’s like a Diwali gift for the industry. I would say that, money is important but perception is more important to promote India globally. We are growing in the different rankings and parameters around the world, which is evident of the fact that we are growing in the field of tourism. We are working now on how we can reach on top. Let us show the world what they have not seen and want to see in India,” he said. Welcoming the delegates at the inauguration, Subhash Goyal, Honorary Secretary, FAITH …