Travel in India

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

Longtime food writer Priya Krishna’s latest offering is a very different kind of cookbook. Aimed at kids ages 8 to 11, Priya’s Kitchen Adventures: A Cookbook for Kids is a collection of recipes organized by some of the countries Krishna was able to visit in her own childhood thanks to her mother’s career in the travel industry. “Every country starts with a little narrative from my younger self about my experiences of the countries, and I mined my old diaries to get a lot of that content,” she says.

One of the Middle East’s annual big-ticket industry events, the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), takes place this week in Dubai and opened this morning, while the UAE continues to attract visitors from around the world. Just this year, Dubai was ranked first in the Top 100 City Destinations Index 2023 by Euromonitor International. This comes against a backdrop of the world recovering from Covid-19, high inflation rates affecting travel, and turmoil in the region. Although the global travel market continues to recover, few can doubt that the dark clouds that have hovered over the Middle East since the Israel-Gaza war broke out in October of last year have taken a toll on tourism and business travel alike in countries like Egypt and Jordan.

As the global travel and tourism industry gears up for the prestigious Arabian Travel Market (ATM) Dubai 2024, there’s one destination that’s poised to make a significant impact – Goa, India. Renowned for its pristine beaches, rich cultural heritage, and vibrant communities, Goa is set to showcase its commitment to sustainable tourism at ATM Dubai 2024 with this year’s theme: Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Transforming Travel Through Entrepreneurship.

As Star Wars fans around the world celebrate May the Fourth, what better way to immerse yourself in the galaxy far, far away than by visiting real-life locations that served as backdrops for some of the most iconic scenes in the saga? Solos was founded in 1982 and now offers a wide range of holidays for globetrotters. From Costa Rica to Canada, Africa to America, India to Iceland, Croatia to the Caribbean, Uzbekistan to the UK, and Norway to New Zealand, Solos has divided its holidays into easy-to-select categories depending on interests. Solos is also keen to challenge the assumption that solo travel is purely for single people. Regardless of age, ability, circumstance, background, gender – there really is something for everyone – especially on these exciting trips below.

Mauritius is a volcanic island renowned for its breathtakingly beautiful beaches, lush interiors, and surrounding coral reefs that protect a vibrant marine life. The island’s unique geography makes it a perfect destination for those who appreciate nature’s artworks. From the iconic Le Morne Mountain, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to the enchanting waterfalls of Chamarel, Mauritius is a feast for the senses.

The Ajman Department of Tourism Development (ADTD) is gearing up for a momentous presence at the Arabian Travel Market 2024 (ATM), scheduled from May 6 to May 9, 2024. This premier event serves as a significant platform for ADTD to unveil the rich Ajman’s cultural heritage, vibrant Events Calendar, Things to Do diverse tourism offerings, and the remarkable growth trajectory of its tourism sector. In line with its vision for progress, ADTD actively seeks strategic partners during ATM 2024 to foster collaborations and enhance Ajman’s position as a leading destination in global tourism.

The organisers of Arabian Travel Market 2024 (ATM) and representatives from the exhibition’s strategic partners, which include the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), Emirates, IHG Hotels & Resorts, and Al Rais Travel, have outlined their plans for the event, which takes place from Monday, May 6, to Thursday, May 9, 2024 at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).

World Travel Awards – the leading authority that recognises and rewards excellence in travel and tourism – has revealed its Indian Ocean 2024 winners. The announcement coincides with the start of Arabian Travel Market, the region’s leading industry event.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has today announced that its Hotel Sustainability Basics (Basics) has achieved a significant milestone, with 3,400 properties now verified across almost 80 countries. Designed to help hoteliers on their first steps to improve their sustainability ratings and raise the bar of sustainability across the global hospitality industry, this independent global sustainability verification programme is overseen by internationally recognised verifiers Green Key and SGS.

Underscoring Emirates’ commitment to boost tourism inflows across its network, the airline has reaffirmed its strategic cooperation with Tourism Seychelles and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and has forged a new partnership with the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Emirates has pledged its renewed commitment with Tourism Seychelles, supporting the island’s efforts to promoting tourism and trade to the country. The MoU was signed by Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ SVP Commercial - West Asia & Indian Ocean, and Sherin Francis, Principal Secretary Tourism Department, Tourism Seychelles, in the presence of Nabil Sultan, Emirates’ Executive Vice President, Passenger Sales and Country Management.

India is rapidly emerging as a crucial source market for global tourism, driven by significant economic growth, demographic shifts, and infrastructural improvements, as highlighted on the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2024 Future Stage, as the Middle East’s leading travel and tourism event returned to the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) for its 31st year. During the session Unlocking the True Potential of Indian Travellers, Virendra Jain, CEO and Co-Founder of VIDEC, a travel, tourism and hospitality boutique advisory and analytics firm, shared key insights, including market opportunity assessments, channel and distribution analysis, characteristics and behaviours of Indian travellers and projections of Indian outbound travel trends over the next decade.

Miral, the leading creator of immersive destinations and experiences in Abu Dhabi, announced record-breaking visitation numbers in 2023 across Yas Island and Saadiyat Island, witnessing an extraordinary surge in destination visits and setting a new benchmark. Revealed during Arabian Travel Market 2024, Yas Island recorded over 34 million visits, a rise of 38% compared to 2022, which recorded 24.9 million. Similarly, Saadiyat Island saw a 44% visitation growth compared to 2022.

The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) marked the start of this year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM) by showcasing the Kingdom’s spectacular summer destinations to trade partners as the country’s tourism sector continues to go from strength to strength, said the Saudi Press Agency on Tuesday.

Indian airlines will account for half of the country’s international passenger traffic by the 2027-28 financial year, according to a report by credit rating agency CRISIL Ratings. That’s up from 43% this fiscal year, with India’s international passenger traffic at around 70 million.

Los Angeles, California — The United States has “serious problems” when it comes to international inbound travel that must be resolved if the country is to regain its competitive edge.That’s the assessment of the U.S. Travel Association and its leader Geoff Freeman, the organization’s president and CEO.Freeman delivered his sober take on the problems plaguing inbound travel to the United States during a press conference today in Los Angeles, California where a travel industry convention is taking place.“The United States remains the world’s most desired nation to visit, but at the end of 2019 we had 79 million visitors internationally and in 2023 we had 67 million international visitors," Freeman told the media gathered for the IPW 2024 convention. “That’s only 84 percent of pre-pandemic levels.”“When you look at travel as an export - before the pandemic we had a 12 billion [person] travel trade surplus. At end of last year we had about a 50 billion [person] travel trade deficit,” Freeman added.There's a handful of challenges that the United States currently faces when it comes to attracting international visitors and significantly ramping up inbound numbers, said Freeman. And some of those challenges are within the country’s ability to fix, while others are not.There’s not much that can be done, for instance, about the strength of the U.S. dollar, which makes this country very expensive to visit from many other parts of the world. Similarly, there’s not much U.S. officials can do about the current prohibitions surrounding flights over Russian airspace, which pose a major obstacle for airlines coming to this country from China.However, visa wait times continue to be a significant roadblock for international visitors — and that’s an issue U.S. officials can — and should — be able to fix, Freeman said.“On the visa side, I checked this morning — if you're a Columbian and want to come to the U.S. the wait times are over 600 days to get an interview at a U.S. consulate,” said Freeman. “If you’re in Mexico, the wait times are over 800 days.”By contrast, for visitors from India the wait timeline for visa interviews has recently been reduced to a somewhat more reasonable 150 to 200 days. Similarly, wait times for those visiting from Brazil have been reduced drastically — from what was once 500 days down to just 21 days, according to the U.S. Travel Association.“It shows us that it can be done. When the State Department uses their ingenuity and gets creative and puts resources in the right places, this problem can be solved,” explained Freeman. “But it’s been going on for far too long. It needs to be solved now.”

Governor Gavin Newsom and Visit California CEO Caroline Beteta just broke the news that California still retains the largest market share of tourism in the entire United States. According to new data released today, travel spending in the Golden State reached a record high of $150.4 billion in 2023, outstripping the previous record amount of $144.9 billion seen in 2019.

It’s been four months since the #BoycottMaldives trend started in India, and Maldives wants those tourists back.

Delta Air Lines will return to Amsterdam with daily flights from Tampa this fall, allowing Floridians the chance to satisfy their cravings for stroopwafels and Gouda cheese.

India is actively promoting itself as the next big wedding destination. At the first “Wed in India” Expo ongoing in Jaipur till Wednesday, tourism ministry official Manisha Saxena said that the rapid infrastructure development across India is aiding destination weddings. 

On a leafy stretch near Kolkata's Southern Avenue, the three-level designer store Bombaim is a hive of activity. Young locals breeze through its centuries-old doors, trying on silks and gowns, admiring the space's bones. Large windows allow ample sunlight to stream through, illuminating the mulmul curtains that fall from the ceilings. Outside, lush tejpatta, or bay leaf, trees grow. The Art Deco grills and the city's signature khorkhoris, or louvered windows, reflect the store's previous life as a turn-of-the-century residence. Bombaim's owner, Richa Kanoi, made a point of preserving its historic splendor. “The launch was more about celebrating the space than the clothes,” she says.

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.