Travel in city Ahmedabad

Good morning from Skift. It’s Monday, June 26. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

The merging of Air India and Vistara seems ahead of schedule, according to reports in Indian media that cite Air India CEO Campbell Wilson’s comments at a town hall meeting with the employees.

Emirates is famed for its extravagant service onboard its current fleet of Boeing 777s and Airbus A380s. It’s therefore little surprise that expectations are high for its incoming A350s – an aircraft that has been years in the making.

India recorded a cruise tourism footfall of 470,000 in the 2023-24 financial year – its highest ever. Domestic tourists accounted for nearly 80% of this, as international cruise tourism in India has yet to revive to pre-Covid levels. 

This week, Virgin Atlantic launched flights to the start-up capital of India, Bengaluru, a key destination for US customers connecting onwards via London Heathrow from San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Seattle, and more. With average connection times of one to two hours, the route promises optimal connectivity for those traveling for business or enjoying a vibrant city stay in India’s third most populous city.

The CEO of India’s Mumbai Travel Retail Pvt Ltd (MTRPL) expects to take to the global stage now that it has a new corporate branding: Ospree. The move pulls together the company’s disparate duty-free operations at seven airports in India and will make it easier to bid for contracts globally.

The Saudi Tourism Authority has said that the kingdom aims to make India its top source market. The country is seeking to bring in 7.5 million Indian visitors over the next seven years. 

Elliott Ferguson, CEO of Destination DC, knows what’s needed to boost Indian arrivals to the U.S. capital.

The Adani Group is set to invest INR 600 billion in its airport business over the next five to 10 years. This investment will be used to expand seven of the existing airports in its portfolio and will be split evenly between ‘airside’ expansion and ‘cityside’ development, the conglomerate said. 

Qatar Airways will cease operations at Dabolim Airport (GOI) on 20 June 2024, with its last departure from Hamad International Airport (DOH) to GOI being 19 June 2024 and its last departure from GOI to DOH being 20 June 2024

AirAsia has announced the launch of a new route from Ahmedabad to Kuala Lumpur. Set to take flight from May 1, the new connection will mark AirAsia’s eleventh route from India, and third new route in 2024 alone. This will also be the Malaysia-based carrier’s entry into the state of Gujarat, as it looks to rapidly grow its connectivity from Malaysia to India.

Indian online travel agency EaseMyTrip announced on Monday that it has suspended all flight bookings to Maldives in what its Co-Founder and CEO, Prashant Pitti, deemed was in “solidarity with the nation.”

CMS Info Systems, a company providing logistics and technology solutions, has released consumption trends for the first half of the 2024 fiscal year (October 2023 to March 2024). The aviation and hospitality sectors are showing annual growth of 29.7% and 12.8%, respectively, for the period. The CMS report pointed to increased demand for travel, especially during events like the Cricket World Cup.

One of the most rewarding ways to plan a trip is by building it around a specific event connected to a deep interest or passion. Taking part in something meaningful on your travels creates a unique connection with a destination that can lead to memories that will last a lifetime. Whether it’s testing your athletic derring-do in an ultra-marathon in Peru or whipping out your spray cans at a graffiti festival in Bristol, we’ve rounded up some of the most exciting events for you to participate in for 2024.

The stage is set for the grand finale of the Cricket World Cup, where two cricketing giants — India and Australia — are poised to clash this Sunday in a battle that promises to be nothing short of monumental.

While India has been making its way up as a top source country for outbound travel, the country’s inbound tourism has still not been able to touch the almost 11-million foreign arrivals of 2019. According to the Ministry of Tourism, India received 6.2 million foreign tourists in 2022.

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands, together making up nearly 70% of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)’s portfolio in India, are going to remain the “driver of growth” in the market, said the company’s South West Asia Managing Director, Sudeep Jain.

Travel fintech start-up SanKash has observed a surge in travel bookings from September 8 to 10 as the capital city of New Delhi prepares for a scheduled closure for the G20 Summit. 

Antitrust watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved Tata group’s plan to merge its full-service carriers Air India and Vistara. 

The U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai has cleared the visa backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and said that applicants can schedule appointments for immigrant visa interviews within the standard time frame, the U.S. Consulate General Mumbai said in a statement.

Cricket is the most popular sport in India and has a huge fan base. Beyond just being a sport, it is deeply embedded in the nation’s culture, evoking intense emotions from the masses over the victories and losses of their favorite teams: 90% of the global cricket fandom consists of Indians, highlighting the cricket craze in the country. 

India has restored e-visa services for the nationals of Saudi Arabia wanting to visit the country with immediate effect, the Embassy of India in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia tweeted last week. The facility which had been available for five categories of travel — e-tourist visa, e-business visa, e-medical visa, e-medical attendant visa and e-conference visa — was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. The application and payment of fees are required to be made for a minimum of four days in advance from the date of travel and wait for the approval. For online filling and submission of the application, applicants need to visit the official website — indianvisaonline.gov.in. Earlier, Saudi Arabia had announced a few exemptions for Indian nationals to obtain a visa for traveling to the country as it looks to India as a key source market for tourism, especially with Saudi’s ambition to achieve 100 million visits annually by 2030. Saudi Tourism Authority during its recent delegation visit to India, featured a range of meetings, industry round-tables and networking events followed by two roadshows in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Saudi Tourism Authority has also, commenced an official partnership with the popular cricket meet — Indian Premier League.