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.

Hong Kong’s Air India ban threatens India’s further air bubble strategy

Air India officials said they would initiate talks with the Hong Kong authorities for lifting the ban on flying into Hong Kong airport till Aug 31, reportedly for “carrying too many passengers infected with Covid-19”. According to a report by South China Morning Post, the ban came after 11 passengers tested positive for coronavirus upon landing in Hong Kong from New Delhi on August 14. “The fact that 11 passengers tested positive on the same flight shows the lab tests back in India are not very reliable…The airline has to do deep cleaning (on its planes) and make sure it won’t happen again on future flights before they can be resumed,” the report said, quoting an unnamed Hong Kong government source.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation's attempt to establishing an air bubble arrangement with Hong Kong has not yielded any result so far. The ministry said Air India had applied to operate flights to Hong Kong but the Hong Kong authorities continued to prohibit flights from India. The move by Hong Kong to restrict Air India’s flights could potentially impact the airline’s access to countries it operates in. India was negotiating with 13 countries including Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Israel, Russia, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea, to establish air transport bubbles. Arrangements with the U.S., the UK, France, Germany, the UAE and Maldives are already in place.

Thailand tops the list of the world’s safest destinations

Following securing top spot in the global index of Covid-19 recovery, Thailand has now topped the list of the world’s safest destinations to visit during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study carried out on July 26 by Germany-based travel company Tourane.

Thailand was considered the world’s safest travel destination based on various criteria including the 14-day notification rate of new Covid-19 cases and deaths per the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), International Health Regulations score, population density of the country, hours of sunshine per day for outdoor activities, and flight connections.

Thailand has reported no new local Covid-19 cases for about 90 days. However, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has reiterated that Thailand’s international airports and borders remain closed to international tourists for the time being till the situation improves.

Macao joins Organisation of World Heritage Cities

The Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has joined the Organisation of World Heritage Cities (OWHC), an international non-governmental organisation that gathers around 250 cities possessing sites listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list thereby raising Macao’s international profile as a World Heritage City.

Jacek Majchrowski, president, OWHC and Mayor of Krakow, Poland, said, “Macao is a rare example of a place where the aesthetic, cultural, architectural and technical influences of East and West have met for several centuries, and that he is very happy to welcome Macao to the OWHC, as a symbol of unity, an example of assimilation and coexistence of Eastern and Western culture.”

India Outbound is a publication of Media India Group