Peden Doma Bhutia travel tips

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%.

Meta’s WhatsApp will be introducing a new service called Flows aimed at businesses worldwide for creating personalized experiences directly within chat threads.

Amidst the escalating diplomatic tensions between India and Canada, India has now suspended the issuance of visas to Canadian citizens “until further notice.”

One of the segments that has started showing results for MakeMyTrip is its corporate travel platform, MyBiz.

Marriott International announced 13 deal signings in Turkey comprising over 2,000 rooms.

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

Middle East-based online travel marketplace Wego has acquired corporate travel platform Travelstop as part of its expansion into business travel and expense management.

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.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, September 7. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

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.

In the second quarter of 2023, the Middle East’s hotel construction pipeline has seen significant growth, marking its highest project count since the first quarter of 2020, according to Lodging Econometric’s Middle East Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report.

Marriott, the leading hotel company in India, is set to introduce its 17th brand in the country — Moxy.

Dubai International Airport (DXB) is set to get a AED 6 billion-AED 10 billion ($1.6 billion-$2.7 billion) mega expansion in the next 5-7 years.

Moving away from mundane heritage walks, Eesha Singh, co-founder of No Footprints, brings a new take to storytelling through tour experiences. 

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates this week revised the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2022 from 6.5 percent to to 7.6 percent. Explaining the reason for the renewed forecast, the bank cited stronger than anticipated performance of non-oil sectors, including tourism, hospitality, real estate, transportation and manufacturing. In its review report for the third quarter, the Central Bank noted that it expects non-oil gross domestic product to grow by 6.1 percent in 2022, compared to its previous estimate of 4.3 percent, while it expected oil gross domestic product to grow by 11 percent in 2022. Explaining the reasons for the steady growth in gross domestic product, the report cited the removal of most Covid-related restrictions, in addition to recovery of the tourism sector, real estate and construction boom, expansion of manufacturing activities, as well as the hosting of global events.

Buoyed by the strong recovery in India’s domestic travel demand, online travel company Yatra.com plans to launch its Indian initial public offering by March next year.

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.

Six casino companies have agreed to invest a total of $15 billion in Macau over ten years, with more than 90 percent of the money pledged to non-gaming activities.

Jongyoon Kim, the CEO of South Korea-based superapp Yanolja, sees Tesla as the metaphor for its company highlighting how the electronic vehicle company has been rethinking the entire value chain.

India-based budget hotel operator and aggegator Oyo updated its draft red herring prospectus with results for the first half of the fiscal year signalling its intent to soon launch its initial public offering.