Travel in city Kolkata

India’s travel and tourism sector is poised to contribute $200 billion (Rs16.5 trillion) to the country’s economy in 2023, just 3.5 percent below 2019, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). The sector is also set to create over 1.6 million additional jobs this year, nearly restoring the employment levels lost during the Covid-19 pandemic to reach almost 39 million.

The sun-drenched sepia photograph shows a dapper European, handkerchief in pocket, cigarette in hand, sitting among a row of men dressed in bisht and keffiyeh. The moment was captured during Jacques Cartier's first visit to the Persian Gulf in 1911, on his way back to London from Delhi—part of a sales trip encouraged by his father, Alfred, then the head of Cartier. The decline of the Ottoman Empire and the 1905 Persian Constitutional Revolution had flooded Europe's artistic centers with new influences, forging an aesthetic then known as “the Muslim arts.” Eager to learn more, Jacques spent four months traveling throughout Asia and the Middle East, rifling through bazaars and emporiums and mixing with high society.

The Indian civil aviation ministry has advised domestic airlines to assess risks before flying on international routes as tensions in the Middle East are growing. The civil aviation regulatory body is working with the airlines and the ministry of external affairs to navigate the situation, civil aviation secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam has said.

The Goa tourism department has partnered with the organizers of the Ironman 70.3 India race to promote sports tourism. According to Goa tourism director Suneel Anchipaka, the aim of the agreement is to promote Goa as the premier destination for sports tourism. 

Vikram Oberoi, CEO and managing director of the Oberoi Group, knows luxury inside and out. Oberoi-branded hotels — recently ranked as “world’s best” by Travel and Leisure readers — are quite familiar to Oberoi himself: He spent the first decade of his life in the Oberoi Grand, Kolkata, before a stint in the Oberoi, New Delhi.

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

Apeejay Surendra Park Hotels, commonly known as Park Hotels, is set to have its IPO on February 5. The group currently operates 30 hotels in 20 cities across India, with 2,298 rooms. Through a strategic mix of ownership, management contracts and leased properties, the group aims to open 56 hotel by 2026.

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.

Daily flights to Kozhikode (CCJ) and Thiruvananthapuram (TRV) began on New Year’s Day

Vietnam was the most-searched destination for Indians in 2023, according to the Google trends. There was a revival of global exploration after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The resurgence is evident in the latest report, unveiling the most Googled tourist destinations of the year. Here are some of the top searches:

I'd seen images of baby Krishna atop a banyan leaf in pop devotional art posters all over India. Yet it was only on a dusty lane in Jaipur's Old City that I witnessed the leaf of the banyan tree deliver something divine in person. “That's outstanding,” said Chintan Pandya as he tasted a piece of kesar pista makhan—a seemingly simple bar of saffron-tinted butter topped with bits of crushed pistachio—picked off the dried leaf. “No…mind-blowing.” Licking his fingers, America's most acclaimed Indian chef passed the bar to me. “Here, use your hands.”

Low-cost carrier IndiGois set to be the first airline partner for India’s new Noida International Airportwhen it begins its first phase of operations by the end of next year. 

Air India announced it would be adding more than 400 weekly flights to its domestic and international route network until March 2024. On the back of expected new aircraft deliveries over the next six months, Air India aims to strengthen its domestic India network by adding more than 200 weekly flights. 

Ambuja Neotia, a real-estate developer and operator in Kolkata, has bought Tree of Life Resorts and Hotels, a collection of 14 boutique hotels across India with about 200 rooms that Skift recently profiled.

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.

IndiGo is developing a wrist device designed to gauge pilot fatigue and alertness levels before and after flights, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters The budget carrier will work in partnership with the French aerospace conglomerate, Thales Group, and also intends to appoint a consultant to improve its fatigue risk management procedures. 

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. 

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. 

As India plans to increase connectivity to the rest of the country, the government has approved 21 greenfield airports in smaller cities. A total of 11 such airports are operational so far, the latest being the Shivamogga airport in the south Indian state of Karnataka. Since 2018, eight airports, namely Pakyong (Sikkim), Kannur (Kerala), Kalaburagi (Karnataka), Sindhudurg (Maharashtra), Kushinagar (Uttar Pradesh), Orvakal (Andhra Pradesh) and Mopa (Goa) airports have been operationalized apart from Shivamogga. The government of India has formulated the greenfield policy for construction of greenfield airport, for which the state government or airport operator has to identify the site and get the feasibility study conducted for construction of airport. Greenfield projects are initiated on undeveloped ground and do not include the renovation or demolition of an existing building. There are no constraints from any previous work on the ground. The government has also granted site clearance for construction of three greenfield airports — Alwar in Rajasthan, Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. The responsibility of implementation of airport projects including funding of the projects rests with the concerned airport developer including the respective state government in case it is the project proponent. With India’s passenger traffic expected to double by 2030, International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects India to be the world’s third-largest air passenger market by 2030. In the post pandemic recovery, the civil aviation industry in India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing industries.

Indian companies have failed to set targets to reduce corporate travel emissions, according to an annual report by campaign group Transport & Environment. Globally, only 50 companies out of 322 have set targets to reduce business travel, with information technology (IT) services company Wipro paving the way in India. Wipro has achieved a 15-20 percent reduction in air travel emissions between the 2015 and 2020 period. Among all 10 Indian companies featured in the ranking report, only IT services provider Tech Mahindra reports on air travel emissions specifically. “Advancements taking place in India are mostly being led by the technology industry. We invite these technology companies to continue to work on their travel policies and demonstrate leadership to catalyze change in other industries,” said Denise Auclair, corporate travel manager at Transport & Environment. Of the companies that have targets, only four companies meet the “gold standard” of reporting air travel emissions and commitment to reducing them by 50 percent or more, by 2025 or sooner. These are Novo Nordisk (pharmaceuticals, Denmark), Swiss Re (finance, Switzerland), Fidelity International (finance, Britain) and ABN Amro (finance, the Netherlands).