Category Archives: NTO (National Tourist Offices)

Highlighting India’s potential, Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head – ME, India and Southeast Asia, South African Tourism, says that post Covid, she is seeing India’s outbound tourism market bounce back much stronger compared to rest of the world. “Given the immense potential that lies in the Indian market, it continues to remain among our top three focus markets for 2024 and holds a position of strategic importance,” she said.

New York City Tourism + Conventions led a delegation of six tourism partners along with Turkish Airlines (they were the part during the Mumbai events) and has concluded its annual sales mission in India, held from January 29th to February 3rd in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Delhi. Throughout the mission, New York City Tourism + Conventions and the partners participated in a series of events, appointments, and meetings, aimed at re-engaging the travel trade across the market. The initiative successfully strengthened ties with the Indian travel industry, positioning New York City as a premier travel destination. As part of this mission, representatives the NYC Tourism delegation engaged with key stakeholders and travel agencies in three feeder cities – including Ahmedabad (first time post pandemic) – across India and showcased the diverse offerings that New York City has for Indian travelers. “We were pleased to be back in India, a rapidly growing feeder market for New York City tourism, for our annual sales mission, said Makiko Matsuda Healy, Senior Vice President, Tourism Market Development for New York City Tourism + Conventions. “Recently, we introduced the Travel Trade Academy program, thoughtfully enriched with Hindi subtitles to ensure that the Indian travel trade can fully engage with the five-borough destination. By incorporating Hindi subtitles, we aim to empower the trade to adeptly respond to evolving consumer demands, providing a diverse and personalized array of NYC experiences that resonate with the preferences of the Indian audience.” New York City Tourism + Conventions partners participating in the mission include: Empire State Building, Trump International Hotel & Tower NY, Hudson Yards, Millennium Hotels, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, and Madame Tussauds. In Mumbai New York City Tourism + …

In a bid to boost number of incentives coming from India, Business Events Sydney has announced new funding available for travel agents and meeting planners in India. Kristian Nicholls, Executive GM, Client Engagement, BESydney, shared that applications to the Sydney Meetings Fund (SMF) are open for a limited time and can be used to cover/offset an event’s on-the-ground expenses in Sydney. This funding is designed for 100–250-person group and is accessible through BESydney’s website.

“This year we are forecasting India to be a £924 million market which would be approximately a billion-pound market from India! We are also predicting 695,000 visitors from India which is back to pre-covid levels. India has recovered and there is real excitement about the market. We also see an increase in spend per visitor – people are spending 30%-40% more than they were pre-covid,” VisitBritain CEO, Patricia Yates says.

According to latest analysis from WTTC and ForwardKeys, the leading travel data and analytics company, international arrivals in France for the first half of 2024 are at 93% of the same period in 2019, with France cementing its position as the world’s most popular destination. Olivier Ponti, Vice President Insights at ForwardKeys, added: “With flight bookings on the rise and air carriers set to introduce a record number of seats, France enters 2024 in a strong position. “Capitalising on the successful hosting of the Rugby World Cup 2023 and on the growing exposure provided by the upcoming Olympic Games, the country is set to be one of most thought-after destinations this year for both regional and long-haul markets.”

Sharing insights on why India holds the key to Oman’s tourism success, Arjun Chadha, Country Manager-India, Oman Tourism, says that Indian tourists visiting Oman have surpassed the remarkable milestone of half a million, and the count continues to rise. As of November 2023, the official figures reveal a staggering 5,42,397 Indian arrivals, setting an unprecedented record as the highest to date.

India became the first international market to hit pre-covid levels for Australia says, Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager- India & Gulf, Tourism Australia. He adds, “Arrivals from India for year-ended Sept 2023 were 386,000, which were at par with 2019 levels. Total trip spend by Indian tourists for the year ended June 2023 was A$ 2.2 bn, approx. Rs 12,000 crore, which was 24% higher than pre-Covid.”

Concluding a tenure of 7.5 years as Regional Director (IMESA) at Singapore Tourism, GB Srithar, stated, “This year has been an interesting year for us. The arrival of Indian visitors has been steadily increasing post-COVID, month by month. As of November 2023, we have recorded 977,500 visitors and we anticipate surpassing 1 million by the year end.” He passes on the baton to Markus Tan from January 1, 2024.

Misha Gambetta, Director India for Switzerland Tourism, speaks about the India market and says that there are clear signs of a market that is not only recovering strongly after the pandemic, but with new trends. “There are now more individual travellers interested in staying longer in Switzerland, discovering new destinations and hotels, for a more active and quality holiday. The Indian market is strong, in buzz and oriented towards young, quality tourism,” he says. Switzerland Travel Experience India has just concluded where 23 Swiss partners had the opportunity to meet more than 450 Indian buyers during a week-long marathon in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

Key representatives from Tourism & Events Queensland along with Department of Tourism, Innovation & Sport, are in India this week to meet with aviation and trade partners. India is its fifth largest international tourism market and Queensland predicts that by 2032, India will contribute $408 million in international overnight visitor expenditure to the Australian state. The mission began in Mumbai and has so far included industry panels, roundtable discussions, a market update and industry networking events. Tomorrow the mission continues in New Delhi.