Travel in city New Delhi

Reducing visa delays has been a priority for the U.S. consulates in India as wait times for visitor visas has gone down from more than 600 days to 247 days in New Delhi, 332 days in Mumbai, 357 days in Kolkata, while in Chennai the wait is still around 680 days. Skift had earlier reported about how the U.S. Consulate in India had been taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to reduce visa wait times. India ranks sixth among the top source markets for the U.S, said Jackie Ennis, vice president, global markets for Brand USA. A total of 1.25 million arrivals were registered from India in 2022. The latest figures in February revealed that 203,540 Indians travelled to the U.S. so far between January and February. In 2019, Indian travelers spent $16.5 billion in the U.S. The destination marketeer for the U.S. — Brand USA conducted its 2023 India Sales Mission in Mumbai and Delhi last week. Speaking at the event Ennis spoke about how the air connectivity between the two countries has been strengthened with Air India launching two direct flights to San Francisco from Bengaluru and Mumbai in December last year and from Mumbai to New York (JFK) in February. With this, Air India now has 46 weekly non-stop flights between the two countries, in addition to seven weekly direct flights operated from Newark to Delhi by United Airlines and seven weekly direct flights from New York (JFK) to Delhi by American Airlines. Calling India a fast-growing market with tremendous potential for growth in tourism, Ennis added, “We are thrilled to see a heightened interest in exploring beyond the gateways to lesser-known destinations.”

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) — the company belonging to Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani — is set to foray into the hospitality industry under its new arm Reliance SOU, engaging in hotels, resorts, and service apartments that will provide short-term lodging facilities. According to the details available with the registrar of companies, the company is planning to develop hotels and resorts near the Statue of Unity in the west Indian state of Gujarat’s Kevadia. In a stock exchange filing, Reliance said that it had incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary called Reliance SOU (RSOUL) with the intention of developing commercial properties. However, it did not elaborate on whether it would manage those properties directly, an Indian daily said. Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited (RIIHL) — a wholly owned subsidiary of the listed parent RIL — had earlier bought a 73.4 percent stake in the luxurious Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York for $98 million. It also acquired Stoke Park Country Club, another UK-based hotel, for $69 million. 

Aiming to be a top adventure tourism destination, the Indian tourism minister recently spoke about focusing on infrastructure development to boost this segment. However, India would need more than just infrastructure development. Quality standards, regulation and oversight would be needed for India to become a leading adventure tourism destination. Most guides, operators and instructors in the country fail to meet basic safety requirements as there are over 5,000 unregistered adventure tour operators in the country, said Vaibhav Kala, founder of New Delhi-based Aquaterra Adventures, told Skift. Highly specialized activities are operated by non-specialized operators due to lack of guidelines and limited skilling facilities. “We need a uniform nationwide regulatory system with ease of registration, training institutes and licensed guides to offer quality and safe experiences to tourists from around the world,” said Kala. Tourism in India lacks legislative backing and is therefore, a state subject. The Centre doesn’t have a mandate to enforce approved regulations and guidelines on the states. States like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal have all been working on adventure tourism standards and guidelines — but in total isolation. Pradeep Murthy, director of Kerala-based MuddyBoots Vacations, highlighted to Skift how several unregulated adventure bucket shops which provide low-quality equipment severely impact safety. “Many operators use plastic helmets for bungee jumping and white water rafting which are otherwise used for scaffolding work in construction,” he said. It’s important that consumers understand and find out if the right adventure equipment is being used — which should ideally be tested in proper laboratories and certified to international standards. “Operators would be forced to adopt regulatory practices only if customers start demanding for licensed operators. The government should therefore, look at educating consumers on a mass level,” added Murthy. India also needs to have a proper mechanism for evacuation and rescue so that tourists are airlifted to safety. 

High pollution levels in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai and surrounding provinces are keeping tourists away and alarming locals, with the government on Monday urging residents to avoid outdoor activities.

Airbnb hosts in India collectively made over $12 million from bookings with families last year. Indian family travel on the short-term rental site grew by over 90 percent in 2022 compared to pre-pandemic in 2019, according to a new report released by the company. Most families booked Airbnb listings because of the value and space compared to hotel rooms — with the top-booked categories being near a national park, a pool, near a beach and lake house. Goa, Bengaluru, Karnataka, Pune, Hyderabad, Dehradun, Jaipur, Raigarh, Ernakulam, New Delhi and Nainital were the most preferred family travel destinations in India. Globally, Indians have been traveling to London, Toronto and Dubai for a family getaway. “Families are spending more on domestic as well as international travel and are more willing to support local communities and small businesses. We are glad to see the multiplier effect Airbnb delivers on the local communities as it creates meaningful earning opportunities for those considering hosting on the platform,” said Amanpreet Bajaj, general manager for India, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan for Airbnb. The company recently partnered with Sheroes — a New Delhi-based women’s networking and enabling platform — to grow its community of women hosts in India. Under the partnership, Airbnb will launch a digital content and training program for six months, which will be accessible on relevant Sheroes community channels. This collaboration will provide training to support members of the social platform who are interested in hosting on Airbnb to harness their passion for hospitality, as well as enable more women in India to travel the world independently. 

Marriott plans to have 250 properties across India by 2025, including hotels that are open and in the pipeline. “We’re in 40 cities today, that should be 50 cities or more by 2025,” said Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano, adding that this would help create 10,000 new jobs in the country. Capuano, who was visiting India last week, spoke about his meeting with the Indian tourism minister during which they discussed the importance of continuing to tell the story about the rich and diverse set of experiences that the country offers. “And we want to make sure we have lodging options in all of those diverse destinations,” Capuano said. Reiterating Marriott’s “relatively simple” development strategy of providing the right product in every market the travelers want to visit for any type of trips, Capuano said the hotel group would continue to stay focused on India’s “strong and growing” domestic market. However, he did mention that the hotel group is a long way off as far as opportunity for luxury in India is concerned. “I think we’re in our infancy of growing our industry portfolio in luxury. That’s probably an area where we’ll continue to focus on,” Capuano said. True to Capuano’s statements, global hotels brands have been exploring the potential of India’s luxury market with Hilton’s last week announcement of the debut of the Waldorf Astoria brand in India and Radisson announcing the launch of its Radisson Collection in the country. Capuano also went to to talk about India witnessing a strong traction for branded residential properties, which Marriott launched in the country early this year. While 2020 and 2021 were the two most challenging years in the history of the hospitality business, interestingly, these were the two strongest years in the history of Marriott’s branded residential business, said Capuano. “The launch of Homes & Villas, allowed us to keep our customers within the Bonvoy ecosystem and it’s not coincidental that we saw our volume of listings grow more than 20-fold over the two years of the pandemic,” Capuano said. And when asked to choose his favorite India-based hotel brand, Capuano couldn’t resist naming the Taj. “Taj is an iconic brand on a global basis. They have generated some of the world’s most extraordinary leaders who have taken their expertise global,” Capuano said.

India’s domestic air traffic has hit a record high with 456,082 passengers flying on a single day, the civil aviation ministry said in a tweet. The ministry’s data shows a total of 456,082 passengers flew via 2,978 flights on April 30 and there were a total of 5,947 flight movements. “Indian domestic air travel hits new high, surpasses pre-Covid average,” it tweeted. The ministry referenced the May 1 numbers, said 448,248 passengers had taken to the skies via 2,936 flights. The rebound in India’s aviation industry comes after heavy losses faced by the industry in the past Covid-hit years. The global airline trade body, the International Air Transport Association’s latest market analysis report shows India is in the process of becoming a key global aviation market outpacing other thriving markets like the U.S., China, and Japan in passenger load factor at 81.6 percent in February 2023. With India’s air passenger traffic expected to reach 395 million in 2023-24, the country seems to have solidified its position as the world’s third largest aviation market. Credit rating agency ICRA had also recently revised its outlook on the Indian aviation industry to stable from negative due to the fast-paced recovery in domestic passenger traffic. Indian airlines have witnessed an annual growth of 51.7 percentin passenger traffic during January-March 2023 as compared to the corresponding period last year, according to Indian aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Domestic airlines carried 375.04 lakh passengers between January-March 2023, as against 247.23 lakh in the same period last year. 

Tata Group-owned Air India’s low-cost carrier subsidiary Air India Express has hired over 280 pilots and 250 cabin crew during a recent recruitment drive conducted across Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Approximately 300 pilots participated in the selection process conducted during the drive, the airline said. Air India Express said it has been actively focusing on strengthening its workforce since October last year, targeting vacancies for pilots and cabin crew members. In addition to the major metros, the airline has also been conducting walk-in recruitment drives in other cities and towns for cabin crew aspirants to meet the growing demand of its operations. Mainline carrier Air India also recently announced that it would be hiring more than 1,000 pilots, including captains and trainers, to support its fleet expansion plans. Air India Express’ hiring move comes during a turbulent period as crisis-hit carrier Go First becomes the second airline — after Jet Airways — in the past three years to halt operations. Recently, Go First was granted bankruptcy protection after it plunged into a financial crisis, sparked by what it called “faulty” Pratt & Whitney engines that grounded about half of its 54 Airbus A320neos.

Nearly 92 percent Indians intend to explore domestic destinations during the summer, making coastal state Goa and Manali in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh as their top beach and hill vacation spots respectively, according to Oyo’s Summer Vacation Index 2023. “India’s favorite mountain destination is Manali, followed by Kashmir, Mcleod Ganj, Ooty and Coorg. Oyo hotels in Manali continue to see an uptick in demand as summer travel gains pace,” the company said in a statement. Respondents to the survey also showed a strong inclination towards exploring offbeat and lesser-known destinations. “Mawlynnong in Meghalaya and Ziro Valley in Arunachal Pradesh stood out as the top offbeat choices. Following closely behind was Valiyaparamba in Kerala,” Oyo added. The survey also found that 13 percent of respondents wished to travel to pilgrimage destinations, with Kedarnath occupying the top spot followed by Vaishno Devi and Varanasi. “This surge in travel demand is a promising sign for the growth and development of the Indian travel and hospitality industry,” said Oyo’s Chief Service Officer Shreerang Godbole. A noticeable trend that emerged in the aftermath of Covid is the preference for shorter trips and rejuvenating staycations of 1-3 days, he said. The survey is based on responses of over 15,000 people across India via the Oyo app. 

International leisure flight bookings from India have increased by 40 percent for trips between June and August compared to the same period in 2022, according to travel solutions provider RateGain. In its latest Pulse report powered by Adara, RateGain said this represents the highest level of outbound leisure flight bookings from India in the post-Covid years, even as demand is still 15-20 percent lower than highs in 2019.

Getting its first overhaul in 14 years, online travel agency Cleartrip unveiled a revamped version of its booking tool for agents. With what Cleartrip describes as a user-friendly design and round-the-clock support center, AgentBox 2.0 enables travel agents to book over 100 airlines, more than 500,000 hotels, exclusive holiday packages, group bookings, and meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. “While the earlier version, first introduced in 2009, was more about making agents familiar with online adoption, the upgraded tool focuses heavily on the backend stack, offering a suite of products including flights, hotels, packages, buses and trains,” said Sukesh Shetty, head of B2B at Cleartrip. One of the reasons why the tool was never upgraded after 2009, he said, was because the company was so extensively concentrated on business-to-consumer that business-to-business was just an ancillary product for Cleartrip. “We want to be a catalyst in agents’ growth and not just another platform provider,” Shetty added. Additionally, Cleartrip registered 70 percent growth in monthly agent transactions and onboarded over 5,000 agents in the financial year 2022. The company also reported a 200 percent surge in summer travel bookings compared to the same period last year.

Radisson Hotel Group has signed 11 new hotels in Indiaacross brands between January and April this year. The hotels are located across Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ujjain, Raipur, Sonamarg, Manali, Kerala and Visakhapatnam. In April, the group also announced the debut in India of its luxury lifestyle brand, Radisson Collection, with the signing of the first hotel in Hyderabad— the 300-room Radisson Collection Hotel Hyderabad Financial District is set to be operational by the second quarter of 2026. Further strengthening its partnership with Ruptub Solutions — which operates India’s Treebo brand of hotels — the group also signed three new hotels under its Park Inn & Suites by Radisson brand in the south Indian states of Bengaluru and Kerala. Park Inn & Suites by Radisson Thrissur will open in the second quarter of 2024, Park Inn & Suites by Radisson Wayanad Ambalavayal is expected to open in the first quarter of 2024 and Park Inn & Suites by Radisson Yelahanka in Bengaluru will also open doors in the first quarter of 2024. “2023 marks a significant milestone for us at Radisson Hotel Group as we have successfully completed our 25-year journey in the Indian market. To translate our ambitious five-year expansion plan, we have signed 11 new hotels since January and have a strong pipeline ahead for this year,” said Zubin Saxena, managing director and area senior vice president, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group. Last month, the group introduced its ‘Skip to Rewards,’ campaign showcasing the new benefits members can access as part of the recently relaunched Radisson Rewards loyalty program. 

Domestic flight searches in India have increased by around 32 percent and international searches by 24 percent for the monsoon season between June and August, according to Kayak’s latest insights. The increased travel interest comes despite a surge in airfares, up an average 8 percent and 11 percent for domestic and international airfares. The average return economy flight price domestically stands at $130 while the average return economy international flight is priced at $985, the report said. 

The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to implement its Water Tourism and Adventure Sports Policy-2023 to boost tourism in the state. 

We read HVS Anarock’s Hotels & Hospitality Overview report for the second quarter and this is what we found out about the Indian hotel industry.

A man has accused a United Airlines flight attendant of shaming him and his wife over their special needs child's behavior during a flight from New Delhi to Newark. 

A passenger on a low-cost airline in India discovered on Monday that she'd arrived in a city some 1,000 miles from her planned destination after being told to board the wrong flight.

Though I pride myself on being an independent traveler—I was in the United States Peace Corps in Paraguay for two years, have been to six continents, and spent multiple years reviewing hotels across the U.S. and around the world, by myself— India is one country that I’ve never considered visiting as a solo traveler.

New Delhi is India’s vibrant, multi-faceted capital. The city is a part of the larger Delhi region and serves as the seat of all three branches of the Government of India. The sprawling metropolis known for its wide, tree-lined boulevards and is home to several beautiful parks and gardens, like the Lodhi Gardens and the Mughal-era garden Shalimar Bagh. It’s also famous for its bustling markets and numerous monuments, such as the Red Fort, Qutub Minar, and Humayun’s Tomb, which are also UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Planning a trip, especially a first trip to India, can feel like a mammoth job, and making sure you have a comfortable place to stay on arrival in New Delhi is one of the most important factors. It’s even worth siphoning off a portion of your budget to go towards staying somewhere a little more splashy. After a long flight and the sensory overload of the city, having luxury accommodations, first-class facilities and service to match is priceless. Here’s a reliable selection of New Delhi hotels famed for their traditional (and exceptional) Indian hospitality from world-renowned brands like Oberoi and Taj Hotels and Shangri-La.

New Delhi is an incredible destination for travelers who are looking to explore India’s rich culture and colorful history. From its vibrant markets and ancient monuments to its delicious street food and eclectic nightlife, New Delhi offers something for everyone. The city has a long history as the capital of India and still holds many historic sites from the Mughal Empire. With world-class museums, galleries, and festivals, there’s plenty to explore in New Delhi. The city is also home to some of the best shopping opportunities in India, from bustling bazaars to chic boutiques.