Bulbul Dhawan travel tips

India’s foreign exchange earnings through tourism in 2023 was INR 2.3 trillion ($27.5 billion), according to the government’s latest Economic Survey for 2023-24 – a 66% gain over 2022.

Low-cost Indian carrier SpiceJet has secured its board’s approval to raise up to INR 30 billion ($358 million) through institutional investors, a move disclosed in a filing to the Indian stock exchange on Tuesday.

The Indian government is exploring adventure tourism as an avenue of promoting destinations across the country. For instance, earlier this month, the newly appointed minister of tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat went skydiving in Haryana on World Skydiving Day. 

Intrepid Travel’s India arm has a target of getting 30,000 tourists a year to India by 2030 — that’s four times the 7,500 it brought last year.

The Indian aviation industry has recorded its highest-ever half yearly domestic passenger traffic. Between January and June 2024, Indian airlines carried 79.35 million passengers. This was an increase of over 4% from the previous year, as per data from Indian aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation. 

Paytm started as a financial services company in India, but is now diversifying its revenue streams, with a special focus on travel. The fintech company often refers to itself as an online travel agency and is looking at travel as a core business segment.

India’s largest online travel agency MakeMyTrip and budget airline Air India Express have partnered to launch ‘Xpress Holidays’ – a platform that would allow travelers to book end-to-end holiday packages. 

The Tata group is likely to retain the senior management of full-service airline Air India post its merger with Vistara, an Economic Times report said. While Campbell Wilson will continue as the CEO of Air India, the merged entity will have Nipun Aggarwal as the chief commercial and transformation officer, while Sanjay Sharma will continue as CFO. 

Till a little over a century ago, river cruising was quite prevalent in India until railways took over as a faster means of transport. Cut to now, the activity is back and growing in the country, only now it’s more for leisure, said Raj Singh, chairman of Heritage River Journeys, which operates Antara River Cruises in India. 

The Indian hotels industry signed a total of 146 branded hotels between January and May this year. This was up from 110 branded hotels signed during the same period last year. More than 14,000 keys are now under development, a monthly report by hospitality advisory services firm HVS Anarock showed.

In February, the Indian government had allocated INR 24.5 billion ($293 million) to the tourism sector as part of the interim budget, a slight increase from the prior year’s initial allocation of INR 24 billion ($290 million). But the Union Budget also reduced the global promotion allocation by a staggering 97% to just INR 30 million ($361,000).

The western state of Rajasthan has signed an agreement with the Federation of Hospitality and Tourism of Rajasthan (FHTR) to develop tourism in the state. Tourism is a key source of revenue for the state. 

We’ve written a lot about India’s rising middle class – and how they’re set to keep spending more on travel. But now we’re hearing more about India’s high net worth travelers in a new report from Marriott International.

The coastal state of Goa has asked for public views, objections, and suggestions on the draft of the Goa Tourism Promotion and Management Bill, 2024. The bill aims to look at various aspects of tourism in the state, including illegal activities, job creation, and impact on the state’s economy. 

Indonesia is planning to introduce visa-free entry for tourists from 20 nations, including India. The country’s tourism minister, Sandiaga Uno, has announced that the policy is in the works and it will be finalized before October this year. The move aims to boost international tourism in Indonesia, Uno said. 

India’s travel and tourism sector has recovered significantly, according to a new report from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), but international travel spend in India continues to remain below pre-Covid levels. 

Adani Enterprises is planning to list its airport business — Adani Airport Holdings — by fiscal 2028, according to media reports that quoted Jugeshinder Singh, the group’s chief financial officer.

Between January and May 2024, India has emerged as the second-largest international source market – not including Canada and Mexico – for tourism in the U.S., according to data released by the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO). 

India is emerging as an important source market for tourism for Middle Eastern nations.

India’s leading financial services company Paytm has partnered with travel aggregators Skyscanner, Google Flights, and Wego to enhance its travel segment offerings. 

India is now the third-largest domestic aviation market, after the U.S. and China, according to data by aviation analytics firm OAG. In April 2024, India’s domestic airline capacity was about 15.6 million, up from 8 million in April 2014.