About India Outbound Magazine
India Outbound, a brand of Media India Group, 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. India Outbound brings to you the latest trends of the market with in depth analysis.
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Mauritius lockdown, bans international passengers
With the sudden increase in the number of Covid-19 affected people, the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius has banned all incoming arrivals up to March 26, 2021. Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) has issued notice that only departing passengers will be allowed to board the authorised flights, should there be any departing flights.
"We have decided to implement the nationwide lockdown to make sure that there is no risk of it spreading further," said Nilen Vencadasmy, chairman of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority.
While the travel restrictions have been extended from March 26 up to May 31 for the moment, exceptional flights may still be programmed as has been the case since last year.
All prospective passengers (including children and infants) willing to travel to Mauritius must possess a certificate of a negative Covid–19 PCR test administered between five and seven days prior to the date of boarding at the last point of embarkation; a valid air ticket to Mauritius; and proof of purchase of a travel package including accommodation, on a full board basis, at a designated hotel for a mandatory 14-day in-room quarantine.
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Indian travel agencies barred from booking certain Air India flights
A twitter message from Air India on Thursday morning barring travel agents of India from booking flights to Rome, Toronto, Vancouver and Brisbane has drawn flak from the industry. The travel agents have sharply criticised the decision of the national carrier and demanded immediate roll back of the decision and make the inventory available to agents to book.
Various trade bodies representing the travel agents in the country were taken aback by the decision and have asked the Air India management to roll back the decision which is not only “discriminatory” but also “tarnishes the image” of the travel agents in public. “As partners in the business, there is a certain protocol to intimate an important decision to partners. The Air India management should remember that they are dealing with bonafide IATA agents,” said Pradip Lulla, president of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).
The travel agents are clueless about the reasons behind such a decision. “In today’s time, when the national carrier was supposed to support the travel agencies in their fight for survival, it is trying to create unnecessary issues,” said Lulla.
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IATA Travel Pass successfully trialled on first international flight
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced the arrival at London’s Heathrow Airport of the first traveller using the IATA Travel Pass app to manage their travel health credentials.
“The successful implementation of IATA Travel Pass in this trial with Singapore Airlines passengers demonstrates that technology can securely, conveniently and efficiently help travellers and governments to manage travel health credentials. The significance of this to re-starting international aviation cannot be overstated,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.
“Digital health credentials will be essential as borders reopen and travel restrictions get progressively lifted worldwide. The successful implementation of the IATA Travel Pass reflects Singapore Airlines’ goal of using secure digital solutions to verify health credentials and support a safe and seamless travel experience for our customers,” said JoAnn Tan, the acting senior vice president, marketing planning, Singapore Airlines.
Passengers on Singapore Airlines flights from Singapore to London during the trial could use IATA Travel Pass to create a secure digital version of their passport on their mobile device; input their flight details to learn of travel restrictions and requirements and receive verified test results and a confirmation that they meet all travel requirements.
“Today’s success is a big win for many parties. It gives travellers a one-stop-shop to help them comply with the new rules for travel. It shows that governments can efficiently manage these travel requirements with complete confidence in the identity of the passenger and the veracity of the travel credentials —importantly, avoiding long queues. And it’s a purpose-built means for airlines to manage the new travel requirements without drowning in inefficient and ineffective paper processes,” said de Juniac.
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Switzerland Tourism launches ‘100 pc Women’ campaign
Switzerland Tourism has launched a special “100 pc Women” campaign on the occasion of International Women’s Day. With a growing interest in adventure sports among women travellers, this initiative, created for women, is aimed at attracting ladies from across the world to holiday in Switzerland with a different perspective on new experiences, especially to outdoor activities and mountain sports. Along with a six-month 100 pc Women Peak Challenge, Switzerland Tourism has presented around 230 offers and events specially geared towards women and provide a female perspective of Switzerland, where all experiences – ranging from just a few hours to several days – are led by women and include mountaineering tours and city and cultural tours, majority of which have been newly conceived, especially for this campaign.
Part of the initiative, the 100 pc Women Peak Challenge, is a six-month challenge that is aimed at encouraging women-only teams to come together to ascend the highest peaks in the Swiss Alps. The campaign is not about competing against one another – but rather the focus is on experiencing the 48 peaks of over 13,000 feet (3962.4 m) high together. During the course of the campaign, an Indian team will also be selected to visit Switzerland to take part in this challenge.
“In the outdoor segment, in particular, Switzerland Tourism sees great potential in attracting women as new visitors and encouraging those already keen on outdoor activities such as hiking to try something a little different such as high-altitude hikes or mountain biking. Women-only offers, led by female mountaineers or guides, can help inspire many women to get out of their comfort zone in the company of other like-minded individuals and embark on a mountain tour they would never have dared to try otherwise, for example,” said Ritu Sharma, deputy director and marketing head - India, Switzerland Tourism.
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Nepal restricts pictures and videos of Mount Everest climbers
Nepal’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has put a ban on taking and circulating pictures, videos and filming of other climbers or members of expedition teams on Mount Everest other than of oneself starting this season.
Issuing a notice on Wednesday, the Department of Tourism put the ban, saying that each climber can take, share and make images and videos of their group or of oneself but they will face action if they take, make and share photos of other climbers without the department's consent.
In the wake of a picture that went viral on May 2019 about the 'traffic jam' on Mount Everest taken by one record holder climber, Nirmal Purja, Nepali officials have been facing other similar kinds of criticism by the international media over threat to the Himalayan eco-system.
The mountaineering community and international media have criticised the hollow management of the Nepal government in managing the expedition on Mt Everest after the photo, 'traffic jam in Everest' went viral. Later, several other climbers took pictures of other climbers, filming at the top of Mt Everest and circulated them on the internet.
Officials said some other attempts were made to defame Mt Everest's tourism management by circulating the pictures like piling of garbage at Everest base camp, an avalanche in Everest during the earthquake in 2015. Nepal has eight mountains whose heights are higher than 8,000 metres and it witnesses a huge rush of mountaineers during the climbing season that generally falls in mid-May.
The new guideline also stated that any climber should have appropriate medical and health conditions for climbing the mountains.
In the past, emergency rescue operations had to be mounted for some climbers, who did not have the appropriate health and medical conditions to climb the mountains.
If anyone intends to disseminate still photographs and videos of people, avalanches and even dead bodies on the mountain among other things, they must secure consent from the Department of Tourism, the government agency that issues Everest climbing permits, the Kathmandu Post quoted an official from the tourism ministry.
Foreigners pay USD 11,000 for a permit to climb Everest and spend anywhere between USD 40,000 and USD 90,000 for the entire expedition.
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Transport connectivity can dramatically boost economies of India and Bangladesh, says World Bank
A seamless transport connectivity between India and Bangladesh has the potential to increase national income by as much as 17 pc in Bangladesh and 8 pc in India, says a new World Bank report.
The report, Connecting to Thrive: Challenges and Opportunities of Transport Integration in Eastern South Asia, the report says that improving transport connectivity between the two countries could increase exports even further, yielding a 297 pc increase in Bangladesh's exports to India and a 172 pc increase in India's exports to Bangladesh.
The report analyses the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA); compares it with international best practices; and identifies its strengths as well as gaps for seamless regional connectivity. The report also discusses regional policy actions the countries can take to strengthen the MVA and proposes priorities for infrastructure investments that will help the countries maximize its benefits.
The report says weak transport integration makes the border between Bangladesh and India thick. Crossing the India-Bangladesh border at Petrapole-Benapole, the most important border post between the two countries, takes several days. In contrast, the time to cross borders handling similar volumes of traffic in other regions of the world, including East Africa, is less than six hours.
At present, Indian trucks are not allowed to transit through Bangladesh. As a result, the northeast of India is particularly isolated with the rest of the country and connected only through the 27-km-wide Siliguri corridor, also called the ‘chicken's neck’.
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