Tag Archives: India

About 81 per cent of commercial aircraft in India are leased, compared with 53 per cent globally, according to a recent report by Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) titled ‘Aircraft leasing in India: Opportunity knocks for an Indian lessor’. Leased aircraft take a high share of all operators’ fleets in India. There are 652 commercial aircraft with operators in India at 17-Oct-2018 (including 34 in storage), according to the CAPA Fleet Database. Of these, 531 aircraft are leased, which is 81% of the total. This compares with a leased aircraft share of 52% in Asia overall and 53% globally. Indian airlines’ leasing dependency reflects their relative youth and/or financial fragility. By comparison with other parts of the world, Indian operators rely much more heavily on leased aircraft. In Asia as a whole, leased aircraft account for 52% of all aircraft in service and in storage. Globally, the share is 53%.

LATAM Airlines, a South American airline, conducted workshops for the travel trade in Mumbai and Delhi on November 20 and November 22 respectively. Citing a double-digit growth, Marcio-Ma, Account Manager—Southeast Asia & India, LATAM Airlines Group, said that India market has been very important for the airline. “Through this workshop, we want the travel trade in India to get an idea about the LATAM product portfolio and the destinations we connect to. For next year, we want to grow further in the Indian market and will be taking required steps to do the same.”

A total of 13 Indian buyers including top travel companies from across India, Tourism Australia and Malaysia Airlines, marked their participation at ‘Queensland on Stage India 2018’ at Top Golf, Gold Coast held on November 20. Around 17 Queensland sellers exhibited their offerings at the event. Speaking on the occasion, Ryna Sequeira, Country Manager of Tourism and Events Queensland in India said, “Queensland witnessed a 17 per cent growth in June 2018 and welcomed around 78,000 Indian visitors. We have seen a strong year-on-year growth out of the market. We thank all the Indian buyers for their consistent business to Queensland and the sellers who believe and invest in the market.” The event provided participating operators the opportunity to meet with Indian agents to enable them to expand their product knowledge; look for new and exciting experiences and products; and to build on existing relationships.

Dubai Tourism Corporation and Marketing (DTCM) India recently conducted a four-city roadshow in North India. Represented by Nijhawan Group in India, DTCM held roadshows in Lucknow on November 12, in Jaipur on November 13, in Chandigarh on November 15, and finally concluding it in New Delhi on November 16. Khalid Al Awar, Manager–India & Pakistan, International Operations, led the delegation which consisted of partners including airlines, hotels and popular attractions in Dubai. Addressing the attendees at the Delhi roadshow, Al Awar thanked the travel agents and their support in making India the number one source market for tourism in Dubai.

The direct contribution of travel and tourism sector — which reflects the net value of output generated by hotels, airlines, travel agents, other passenger transportation services (excluding commuter services), and restaurants and leisure industries directly supported by tourists — was expected to rise 6.9 per cent YoY in 2017, suggests a FICCI-KPMG report. This accounts for 3.3 per cent of the country’s GDP, and is expected to form 3.5 per cent of it by 2027. In accordance with its GDP contribution, the sector contributes significantly to job creation. The sector directly accounts for 5.8 per cent of the total employment in India. Further, the Indian travel and tourism sector is expected to have attracted capital investment of Rs 2,387.7 billion (USD35.2 billion) in 2017 — accounting for 5.7 per cent of the total national investment.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced granting a visa-on-arrival fee waiver for tourists from 20 countries, including India. From November 15, 2018 to January 13, 2019, citizens of Andora, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China (including Taiwan), Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan will be exempted from the 2,000 Baht visa-on-arrival fee for the purpose of touring in Thailand for not more than 15 days. Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor, TAT, said, “This is good news for Thailand’s tourism industry as we’re preparing a range of year-end activities and promotions, including the launch of Amazing Thailand Grand Sale ‘Passport Privilege’ during the same period.” Tourism promotions and events in the pipeline between now and January next year also include the New Year Electronic Music Festival in Pattaya from December 30-31, and TAT will hold the countdown celebration in five destinations in the five regions of Thailand: Chiang Rai in the north, Nakhon Phanom in the northeast, Ratchaburi in the central region, Satun with its world-renowned geopark in the south and Sa Kaeo in the east.

Switzerland witnessed a 23.4 per cent increase in the overnights spent by Indians in Switzerland in 2017. Indian tourists are increasingly looking at Switzerland as a travel destination because of the plethora of options it offers to each traveller. In order to showcase these diverse options, Switzerland Tourism has taken its multiple offerings across Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Delhi through its recently-concluded annual roadshow. Switzerland’s increasing number of Indian overnights can be attributed to Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh coming on board as the brand ambassador. “This year has also been a very exciting one for Switzerland Tourism with Ranveer Singh continuing as our brand ambassador. He has showcased Switzerland in a very attractive and diverse light, be it adventure, sports, culture, food, new destinations or experiences. Each year, we see a growing interest among Indian travellers but 2017, thanks to Ranveer, the overnights have been extremely high. Our numbers this year are also encouraging – we are up 10 per cent in hotel overnights in the period January to August 2018 as compared to the same period last year. Besides this campaign, we also continue our travel trade campaigns – with regular webinars, training sessions in tier two and tier three cities as well our new e-learning modules on the Switzerland Travel Academy,” said Claudio Zemp, Director–India, Switzerland Tourism. The roadshows in all the four cities had a B2B session where Indian travel agents met and discussed business prospects and ideas with the Swiss delegation.

VFS Global has signed a contract with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic for providing visa services in 10 countries including India. The other countries to get visa application centres for Slovakia via VFS Global are China, Kazakhstan, Palestine, Belarus, Russia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Egypt. The rollout of 38 visa application centres is expected to be completed by December 2018. Under the new contract, VFS Global will accept both short and long-term visa applications on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic. Chris Dix, Head – Business Development, VFS Global, said, “We are excited about our new partnership with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic. The countries where we will be operating are markets where VFS Global has worked for several years and whose travellers are familiar with our services and expertise. We are also pleased to have the opportunity to serve our new clients in new locations, and bring applicants in these locations the same benefits and high-quality service that we have been offering our customers worldwide for the last 17 years.”

Citizens of India can now be granted a visa waiver for a period of 30 days on their arrival in Qatar, upon certain conditions. The passenger’s passport must be valid for at least six months and must have a confirmed return ticket. He/she must have a valid credit card. (For a family travelling together, the card must be in the name of the passenger or one per family). Passengers should also provide a confirmed hotel reservation.

Visitor exports are a key component of the direct contribution of travel and tourism. In 2017, India generated Rs 1,777.1 billion in visitor exports. In 2018, this is expected to grow by 8.8 per cent, and the country is expected to attract 18,655,000 international tourist arrivals. By 2028, international tourist arrivals are forecast to total 30,469,000, generating expenditure of Rs 3,316.4 billion, an increase of 5.5 per cent per annum.