About India Outbound Magazine

India Outbound is India’s only B2B travel media platform, that encompasses a print magazine, a website, an online TV channel and dynamic social media platforms, entirely dedicated to the promotion of foreign destinations and products in India. India Outbound is a niche platform not just for tourism destinations and products to promote themselves to the Indian travel industry, but also for decision makers to build/change their strategy in a context where the Indian outbound market is not only growing but changing with new dynamics. These trends, India Outbound analyse and predict them.

LOT Polish Airlines to run daily flight from New Delhi to Warsaw

After the successful launch of its New Delhi – Warsaw operations in September 2019, LOT Polish Airlines will increase its frequency from five weekly to daily. LOT Polish Airlines, one of the fastest-growing airlines in Europe and a Star Alliance member, commenced operations out of India on September 12, 2019. Based on strong demand from the Indian point-of-sale and latest booking forecasts for flights from India to Europe and North America, as well as high demand from corporate travellers and leisure guests from Europe to New Delhi, the airline has decided to increase the number of weekly Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights from five to seven effective September 14, 2020.

India-originating passengers can now further benefit from the new codeshare agreement between Star Alliance members LOT Polish Airlines and Air India, offering seamless connectivity via New Delhi’s Terminal 3 from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. In Warsaw, passengers have access to LOT Polish Airlines’ global network and can connect to key business and leisure destinations such as London City Airport, Paris, Vilnius, Brussels, Frankfurt, Cracow, Geneva, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Hanover, Oslo, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Billund, Prague, Budapest, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and Toronto.

Furthermore, India-originating passengers will also benefit from the airline’s new US destinations: San Francisco (effective August 5), and Washington, DC (effective June 2).

On its Delhi-Warsaw route, LOT Polish Airlines offers Indian meals in all three cabins (LOT Business Class, LOT Premium Economy Class, LOT Economy Class), complimentary beverages including alcoholic drinks as well as inflight entertainment system including the latest Bollywood releases in Hindi.

Amit Ray, the regional director India and DACH Markets of LOT Polish Airlines said, “Our market entry in India has been a great success since the beginning. We have seen strong bookings from corporate and leisure travellers alike. We are therefore very pleased to increase our frequency.”

For the first time, Phuket will host Thailand Travel Mart Plus in 2020

The idyllic southern Thai island of Phuket is to be the venue of the annual B2B trade show, the 19th Thailand Travel Mart Plus: Amazing Gateway to the Greater Mekong Subregion (TTM+) 2020. To be organised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) between June 1-3, 2020, at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa under the theme of “New Shades of Responsible Travel”, the event will be upgraded with a broad range of qualitative improvements to minimise its ecological impact while maximising its economic and commercial impact for both buyers and sellers.

In line with the TAT strategy to focus on sustainable and responsible tourism, this year’s edition will be an entirely “green meeting” and help position Phuket as a responsible tourism destination, with zero waste and total environmental protection. TAT is projecting attendance by about 350 quality international buyers and 370 quality sellers. Preference will be given to buyers specialising in responsible tourism, health and wellness, community-based tourism (CBT) and DMC.

Yuthasak Supasorn, the governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand said, “The 60th-anniversary celebrations of the Tourism Authority of Thailand will usher in a new era for Thai tourism. So, it is appropriate that our flagship TTM+ event should follow suit. As our second most important aviation gateway city after Bangkok, Phuket is the perfect venue to launch this new era.”

He further said that Phuket was chosen as the venue of the TTM+ 2020 because it has all the requisite facilities and services for hosting such an event. It also has necessary support systems in place by both the government agencies as well as the private sector.

Although it has been mostly held in Bangkok, TAT has relocated the events to Chiang Mai (2016-17) and Pattaya (2018-19) as part of the strategy to promote provincial destinations. Winner of numerous awards, Phuket is one of the world’s most popular international beach resorts, famous for its many beautiful, sandy beaches, world-class golf courses and marine sports, high standard hotels and resorts, as well as excellent health and spa facilities

Destination Canada training programme in association with OTOAI

Embassy of the People’s Republic of A Destination Canada Training Programme was organised in New Delhi on January 22 in association with Outbound Tour Operator’s Association of India (OTOAI) and Air Canada. The training programme highlighted the tourism opportunities for the Indian tourists in Canada as well as the business opportunities for Indian travel and trade fraternity. The event was presided over by Riaz Munshi, president of OTOAI; in the presence of Carl Vaz, managing director of Charson advisory, the India representative of Destination Canada; Vikhyati Mehan, key account manager of Air Canada and Anandita Buragohain, IRCC outreach officer. IRCC stands for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Speaking to India Outbound magazine, Carl Vaz said, “India ranked fifth among the long-haul markets of Destination’s Canada. The tourism board with its partners are here to address the travel agents, tour operators and all other officials to make them aware about Canada as a destination, investment and leisure opportunity. Indian tour operators have the opportunity to develop marketing programmes to bridge the gap and develop new packages that could increase spends on falls & springs and increase visitors during winter. Demand is high hence the availability of resources remains high during winter and spring season.”

Vikhyati Mehan, the key account manager of Air Canada further talked about Air Canada's flight schedule, benefits of different classes and the increasing rate of demand for security of the passengers. Anandita Buragohain from the IRCC team explained about the online and offline VISA systems and solved many tour operators' queries.

India Outbound is a publication of Media India Group