IATA Chief Slams Aviation Tax Structure Hindering Growth

We are thrilled to announce a new event coming next year, the Skift India Summit in Delhi-NCR, happening March 20-21, 2024. This follows the successful launch of our India newsletter, Skift India Report, the Skift India Travel Podcast, with more features to come. 

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.

A large part of India travels by bus and rail. And taking advantage of the country’s significant leap in online train ticketing is Ixigo — including its subsidiary ConfirmTkt — which leads the way with nearly 50% market share of India’s online travel. 

The overall nights booked on Airbnb in India have grown by almost 70% in 2022 as compared to pre-pandemic levels while domestic nights grew by 110%.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the United States named its acting head of aviation safety, David Boulter, as the permanent head of aviation safety as the administration puts more focus on investigating the recent near-misses and other safety concerns the industry has seen. 

Joby Aviation has delayed the introduction of its new electric air taxi by about a year to 2025, as the certification of the new aircraft proceeds slower than hoped. The developer disclosed the delay in a letter to shareholders on Wednesday.

Hotels added 26,000 new jobs in the United States in November, a small increase from the previous month despite the overall strong job growth numbers for the U.S. economy, especially the leisure and hospitality industry.

Dubai has yet again revealed its plans to connect the city through flying taxis and expects to launch aerial taxi operations by 2026.

Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet said it has restructured its outstanding lease rental worth over $100 million to aircraft leasing firm Carlyle Aviation Partners into equity shares and convertible debentures.

Event organizers in Abu Dhabi will no longer be required to pay tourism tax. Hosting an event in Abu Dhabi had incurred a 10 percent tax per ticket sold. “For further support to the investment environment in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, it has been decided to exempt event organizers from the tourism fee of 10 percent on tickets sold,” a circular from the Department of Culture and Tourism — Abu Dhabi stated recently. The circular also said it is mandatory for event organizers to obtain event licenses in accordance with the regulations specified for this purpose. Event organizers are also required to declare the revenues generated from these events, submit supporting financial statements, and cooperate with revenue auditors or individuals designated by the department of culture and tourism to validate the accuracy of their declarations.

In a much-needed impetus for adventure tourism, India would be looking to focus on developing infrastructure for this segment, Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy said recently. Reddy said India aims to be the a top adventure tourism destination. The second tourism working group meeting under G20 hosted by India’s tourism ministry began with a side event, a panel discussion on “Adventure tourism as a vehicle for achieving sustainable development goals.” Delivering the keynote, Reddy highlighted how India’s topography is conducive for a variety of adventure activities like camping, paragliding, hot air ballooning, river cruising, sailing, snorkeling and wildlife safari. “We have a 4,349-mile coastline, 70 percent of the Himalayas, about 435 miles of rivers, sand desert and cold desert in Ladakh…all of which provide opportunities for a variety of adventure activities for both domestic and foreign tourists,” Reddy said. Talking about the national adventure tourism strategy framed last year, Reddy said it would focus on initiatives like state ranking criteria for adventure tourism sites, a model adventure tourism law, development of mega trails, development of adventure activity guidelines, adventure tourism rescue centers, and development of website and social media pages for adventure tourism.

Hotels added more than 5,000 new jobs in the United States in March, a big drop from the previous month’s increase, and a possible sign the sector’s job growth is slowing.