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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.

65 pc Indians intend to travel for leisure & explore new destinations in 2021, says InterMiles survey

Survey on Indian travellers’ intent for 2021 by InterMiles, a loyalty and rewards programmes, says leisure travel leads the way in 2021, with close to 65 per cent respondents craving to travel and break away from monotony as they explore new places. While 2020 witnessed the rise of the essential traveller, the new and evolved 2021 Indian traveller is looking for adventure and is keen on exploring new destinations, in an attempt to leave behind the monotony of 2020. The roll-out of vaccines and pragmatic innovations across the travel chain seem to have contributed to this increase in consumer confidence. After spending almost a year distancing socially, 54 per cent Indians say they want to travel to meet family and friends says the survey ‘Consumer Sentiment Index Report (Travel) 2.0’ based on responses received from over 11,500 persons across India.

Business and corporate travel, which was anticipated to be one of the first segments to recover, is surprisingly third on the list of traveller priorities. However, business travel is anticipated to pick-up through the course of the year, with 85 pc consumers in favour of considering business / work travel in 2021.

The workcation trend is also picking up steam in India with travellers looking for a change of scenery as they fulfill their work obligations. Armed with their laptops and the internet, these digital nomads are more likely to stay away from touristy locations, and head to offbeat places. Mirroring and supporting this trend, India is already seeing the advent of several backpacking hostels, budget-friendly work-centric rentals, campervans and workcation packages.

However, the opening of international borders in various countries and acceptance of Indian travellers for tourism purposes will play a key role in the coming months. Flexibility in date changes and last-minute free cancellation policies are key factors when making travel decisions. Given the unpredictability and arbitrary nature of the Covid-19 virus, consumers want to ensure their travel plans are as flexible as possible at the minimum cost.

Govt reprimands airlines, asks to refund for cancelled flights in 2020 lockdown

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has expressed its dissatisfaction over airline companies defaulting on refunds to passengers over flight tickets that were booked for travel during the lockdown last year but got cancelled.

MoCA secretary chaired a meeting with representatives of airlines in connection with refund of credit shells of passengers. A credit shell is a credit note created against a cancelled PNR and can be used by the passenger for a future booking. The Supreme Court of India had ordered MoCA to clear all the credit shells and refund the passengers after the deadline of March 31.

“MoCA secretary has chaired the meeting today with all the airline companies regarding credit shell refunds and expressed dissatisfaction towards airline companies who did not refund the money. GoAir and IndiGo have submitted their undertaking to the ministry that they have refunded all the credit shells to the passengers,” an official told the media. SpiceJet, Air Asia and Vistara were not able to complete the refund of credit shells to the passengers. The national carrier Air India is also yet to refund total credit shells to the passengers.

Russia opens new visa centres in India

Russia has opened two new visa centres in India and has announced that the country is open for all Indian citizens. The two new visa centres are located in Mumbai and New Delhi. Being one of the few countries ready to welcome all categories of Indian travellers this season, Russia is also looking at simplifying the visa application process.

Keeping in mind the pandemic impact, the latest addition to the visa centres' portfolio is the postal application from home and travel insurance options by the leading Russian company Rosgosstrakh (which includes coverage of Covid-19 cases and offers local contacts for support in Russia), HIV tests for work and student visas, documents pre-check, premium lounge etc.

New Zealand suspends entry of all Indian travellers

New Zealand has temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks following a high number of Covid-19 positive passengers arriving from India. The move came after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive cases at its border in one day, of which 17 were from India.

“We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a news conference in Auckland. The suspension will start from 1600 local time on April 11 and will be in place until April 28. During this time the government will look at the risk management measures to resume travel.

New Zealand has virtually eliminated the virus within its borders, and has not reported any community transmission locally for about 40 days. But it is reviewing its border settings as more people with infections arrived in New Zealand recently, majority being from India.

Kenya Tourism Board to launch ‘The Magical Kenya Travel Specialist Programme’

India has always been one of the key source markets for Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) owing to its past records of significant arrivals. Kenya is presently open for Indian tourists and is looking forward to welcoming them in the upcoming months with newly launched products and heightened safety measurements. To extend support to the travel agents’ endeavours of promoting Kenya, KTB is launching ‘The Magical Kenya Travel Specialist Programme’ that will equip them with destination knowledge and resources.

KTB along with its India representative, Intrepid Marketing & Communications, are conducting a pan-India webinar to introduce travel agents to the programme and share details of the interface, activities, certification, and rewards.

Informa Markets conducts phygital SATTE 2021

Informa Markets in India conducted its three-day exhibition SATTE’s 28th edition at the India Expo Center, Greater Noida. The organisers have announced that the show witnessed participation of over 10,000 visitors from cross-sections of travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Under the Covid-19 protocols, the event had physical as well as virtual zones, together coined as phygital.

While international air travel still remains uncertain, compared to its previous editions, the participation of international countries in this year's exhibition was much less. Among the few countries making noticeable presence was Maldives which is cashing the opportunity to its best by opening the islands for the Indians. Nepal and Malaysia were also present to check out the agents and operators' sentiments for the upcoming travel season.

“SATTE 2021 is a crucial way forward to move past the crisis, which will echo across the globe,” said Dr Abdulla Mausoom, minister of tourism of Maldives. He also thanked the Indian government for their support, Indian tourists for visiting Maldives and playing an important role in making it the next door travel destination. By the end of this year, more than 300,000 Indian tourists are expected to visit Maldives which is the highest recorded number for any country.

Nepal was preparing to launch Visit Nepal Year 2020 and focusing on that a number of new tourism activities and new products were introduced in Nepal. “In our efforts to revive tourism in Nepal under the new normal we are looking at opportunities where we can go and promote Nepal. SATTE has happened at the right time and has given us the opportunity to inform the trade that Nepal is open to tourism, especially for the Indians, and is also easily accessible from several border points by road along the Indo-Nepal border,” Dr Dhananjay Regmi, the chief executive officer of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) said.

Maiden ITB India Virtual looks to make digital contact

With a theme of “Rebuilding Travel”, the virtual edition of the inaugural ITB India concluded on Friday with the organisers Messe Berlin Singapore saying 400 Indian and South Asian buyers from MICE, corporate leisure and travel technology sectors, as well as 150 international sponsors and exhibitors presenting their innovative products and services.

ITB India 2021 was an entirely virtual event hosted on ITB Community in Asia (ITB Community) platform. “Staying in touch, sharing best practice ideas and negotiating business – in these difficult times the travel industry needs exchange more than ever,” said Katrina Leung, managing director, Messe Berlin (Singapore), the organiser of ITB India.

The official partner country of ITB India was Saudi Tourism Authority which presented its array of current tourism offerings and destination highlights through webinars and meetings. Tourism is now a strategic industry for the future of Saudi Arabia. The country is the world’s largest investor in sustainable tourism infrastructure and offerings. Projects such as the Red Sea and Amaala are setting new global standards in the development and management of tourism in harmony with the natural world. Saudi Tourism Authority is looking at India and the Indian subcontinent as an emerging focus market and plans to escalate its activities in the coming days to attract more tourists to the kingdom.


India Outbound is a publication of Media India Group