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.

In a regional first, India and Maldives announce air travel bubble

As India and the Maldives announce to create an air travel bubble to facilitate the movement of people between the two countries, the resumption of people travelling from both sides for employment, tourism, medical emergencies are expected to rise in the coming days.

Maldives is a heavily tourism-dependent country and has already suffered for four months due to lockdown. Meanwhile, the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) had conducted a global research to understand the tourism industry perspective of the Maldives brand which they considered an essential component for the development of the brand guidelines to create new strategies for destination marketing in certain key markets. Indian tourists have always played a key role in Maldives’ inbound industry through family, honeymoon and adventure segments and India has been one of the fastest growing markets.

Statistics shows a 105.1 pc increase in the number of travellers from India who visited the island nation in the same time (Jan – Sept) last year when compared with the same period in 2018. Maldives welcomed a total of 115,507 Indian visitors from Jan to Sept in 2019 compared with 2018, which welcomed 56,319 visitors. This implies how much opportunity has been lost and why Maldives is keen to open border with India soon.

Sharjah re-opens to welcome visitors including India

Sharjah has reopened for tourism with the assurance of top-level safety for visitors validated through the ‘Sharjah Safe for Tourism’ stamp, awarded by the WTTC (World Travel and Tourism Council).

"Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), in collaboration with Sharjah Health Authority (SHA), have dedicated teams inspecting various establishments in the emirate to ensure compliance with the required health and safety measures," said Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, chairman, SCTDA.

“Please be informed that the Embassy of Spain will reissue the visa without any cost. The petition for the same should be routed through BLS only for which the applicant will be asked to pay the service tax to BLS,” said an official statement from Spanish embassy.

Sharjah welcomed more than 143,000 Indian tourists in 2019 reflecting an increase of as much as 26 pc of visitor arrivals year-on-year.

VFS Global launches Covid-19 testing facilities

VFS Global has launched a service for Covid-19 RT-PCR sample collection in Delhi, Kochi and Mumbai. This service is offered in association with a network of certified medical laboratories approved by the government.

Customers in Delhi, Kochi and Mumbai can book appointments on VFS Global’s website and provide samples at designated associate medical laboratories. Doorstep collections are also an option in the three cities. Similar offerings will be extended to Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Pune in the coming weeks.

CapaJet announces South East Asia & Pacific repatriation flights beginning August 19

After operating a few repatriation flights in the last two months, bringing stranded Indians back home, CapaJet will launch flights from August 19 targeting key routes in South East Asia & the Pacific. These flights will be operating from New Delhi, Port Moresby, Nadi and Jakarta and will touch down in New Delhi, Singapore & Jakarta.

CapaJet is a luxury charter flight service provider for personal and business flying needs headquartered in Hong Kong. It has selected Singapore Airlines and Garuda Airlines to operate its long-haul Asia and APAC operations.

Virgin Atlantic announces its return to India

Following the airline’s resumption of services from London to Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Barbados, Virgin Atlantic has unveiled its plans to resume passenger flights to India.

The airline plans to operate three flights a week from New Delhi to London from September 2 while Mumbai service resume from September 17 with four flights a week to London.

Alex McEwan, commercial manager India, Virgin Atlantic commented, “This year marks 20 years of flying between the UK and India and we’re delighted to resume our passenger services to this beautiful country."

Sail-in cinema opens in Tel Aviv

Following the success of drive-in theatres, Israel has introduced its first 'sail-in' floating cinema at the HaYarkon Park’s lake in association with Yafo Municipality following social distancing norms for moviegoers seeking a night of cinematic bliss under the stars. With the coronavirus outbreak proving particularly challenging for the cultural sector worldwide, outdoor initiatives maintaining social distancing and health protocols seem to represent a relief solution for cultural events.

The first programme will take place from August 22-28, in partnership with Tel Aviv Cinematheque with a total of 70 socially distanced boats placed two meters apart opposite a large screen, ensuring a safe and fun experience, and allowing all ticketholders to float away and unwind from the daily grind for at least a few hours. The sail-in floating cinema could be an added experience for the tourists visiting Tel Aviv in future as well.

India Outbound is a publication of Media India Group