Ixigo to Launch Own Hotel Platform. Plus: CEO on the Next 50 Million Indian Fliers.

More Indians are taking personal loans to travel and meet vacation-related expenses, according to Madhavan Menon, executive chairman of Thomas Cook India. 

India-headquartered online travel agency Yatra Online plans to launch its initial public offering (IPO) on September 15. The company, which is listed on the Nasdaq since 2016, had filed a draft red herring prospectus on March 25 last year with the Indian regulatory body Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) with a goal of raising up to INR 7.5 billion.

A shift towards experiential journeys, growing demand for premium travel options – Indians approach to travel is evolving, according to Mukul Sukhani, senior vice president of business development at Mastercard.

Ankit Gupta, the India CEO of hospitality technology platform Oyo, and Mandar Vaidya, the head of Oyo’s European operations, will both be moving on from the company.

Clearly Vinod Kannan, the CEO of Vistara, may have had to field this question on the possible Vistara-Air India merger one too many times.

Silkhaus, a United Arab Emirates-based platform for short-term rentals, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $7.75 million in a seed funding round.

India-headquartered travel tech firm RateGain Travel Technologies is acquiring Adara, a Silicon Valley-based firm in travel martech and predictive consumer intelligence. The cost: a mere $16.1 million, according to RateGain’s filing on the Indian stock market, which puts Adara, long troubled with management and competition issues for the last few years, out of its misery.

AirAsia Aviation Group on Friday announced a joint venture with Cambodia-based Sivilai Asia to launch a new low-cost carrier — AirAsia Cambodia.

The initial public offering of India-based budget hotel operator and aggregator Oyo may be further pushed back from its intended deadline of a launch within the first quarter this year.

Indian online travel agency EaseMyTrip announced this week that it has acquired a 55 percent stake in hotel booking marketplace cheQin, owned by Gleego Innovations, for around $370,000.

India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country later this year, as China begins to decline and India’s population growth shows no sign of slowing until 2064. That shift carries huge implications for travel across the globe, and has the potential to rewire the race for attracting global tourists around the world. Skift addressed this in its Megatrends 2023 package in the story India Becoming the New China in the Reordering of Asia Travel.

In line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, the recently-launched New Murabba Development Company will be developing what it calls the world’s largest modern downtown in Riyadh. The New Murabba project will be built around the concept of sustainability, featuring green areas and walking and cycling paths, according to a release. “It will also feature an iconic museum, a technology and design university, a multipurpose immersive theatre, and more than 80 entertainment and culture venues,” the release further stated. Built over an area of 19 square kilometers, the project will also have its own internal transport system and will be located at a distance of 20 minutes’ drive from the airport. As part of the project, Saudi Arabia will also be developing a 400-meter-high-cue shaped skyscraper Mukaab touted to be the world’s first immersive destination offering an experience created by digital and virtual technology with the latest holographics. The project is expected to add $48 billion to non-oil gross domestic product and create 334,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2030. The project is due to be completed in 2030.