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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Indians are keen to fly out at the first opportunity, says MakeMyTrip survey
A survey by online travel agency MakeMyTrip suggests that over 85 pc of Indian leisure seekers are keen to fly out to multiple international destinations at the first opportunity after the reopening of the international border.
While the sentiment is quite positive and uniform in all age groups, it is quite high in the 30-35 year age group, the survey shows. Almost 87 pc of the surveyed between 30-35 years showed eagerness to travel internationally before the year ends. The survey conducted between mid-August and mid-September, underscores a shift in travel sentiment with more than 65 pc of travellers actively searching for flights and hotels in some of the most preferred international leisure destinations.
Dubai (36 pc), Maldives (33 pc) and Switzerland (22 pc) are the top three destinations that are high on the consideration list of leisure travellers currently. Whereas, amongst the list of countries that are yet to open travel for Indians – Thailand, the US and UK rank high in preference.
Overall, amongst the surveyed, 43 pc travellers are keen on unwinding in the idyllic beaches of Thailand and Bali; 39 pc wish to go island hopping in Maldives and Mauritius; 37 pc hope to indulge in soul-satisfying Mediterranean experiences in Turkey, Greece, Italy and Egypt; 33 pc are eager to explore the contemporary and architectural marvels in Paris and London; and 25 pc are dreaming of scintillating Switzerland.
As cross-border travel restrictions ease across some countries, travellers are weighing multiple parameters when searching and planning travel. As many as 54 pc of the surveyed indicated that travel regulations including quarantine guidelines were one of the key reasons for short-listing a destination. Other parameters that emerged from the survey include travelling to the destination fits into the budget (33 pc), number of active Covid-19 caseloads (13 pc) among others.
Revealing the recent trends in flight searches and bookings on MakeMyTrip, the company stated that the travellers are increasingly becoming comfortable with booking travel 30 to 60 days ahead of the date of travel. Advance bookings on international travel currently accounts for 40 pc of the overall international flights business on the platform.
As international travel guidelines continue to evolve for Indian travellers, MakeMyTrip recently rolled out a new Destination Advisor feature to help outbound travellers search between multiple destinations that suit their needs based on popularity, price and duration of flight, safety regulations, and visa requirements among others.
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Kenya reopens borders for the India travellers
Kenya has revoked the temporary ban of passenger flights from India after a brief period of suspension since the month of May this year as a result of spike of Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
In a Notum announcement by Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) the flights from India to Kenya can now resume, giving impetus to travels that have been curtailed by the Covid-19-pandemic.
Further, the travellers from India are exempted from quarantine given that they are in possession of negative PCR-based Covid-19 test results conducted 96 hours before travel.
Earlier in the year, representatives of Indian travel trade had visited Kenya for a five-day tour of tourism products endorsed Kenya’s preparedness to handle visitors in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. To enhance mitigation measures against the Covid-19 pandemic, the visa-application process will remain online to suit the contact-less travel policies wherein the cost for the visa is approximately USD 50. Furthermore, the yellow fever vaccine continues to be a mandate for each Indian traveller visiting Kenya across all age groups; travellers would thus need to possess a valid vaccine card upon their arrival into Kenya.
Kenya is presently one of the few long-haul destinations open for Indians and Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) has continued to strengthen its reach in the key Indian markets through marketing programmes. The flight schedule continues to be three direct flights from Mumbai to Nairobi each week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
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The US to relax travel restrictions for vaccinated air travellers from India
The White House has announced that the United States will be reopening in November for fully vaccinated air travellers from 33 countries including China, Brazil, most of Europe and India.
Jeffrey Zients, the coronavirus response coordinator for President Joe Biden, told reporters the new “consistent approach” would take effect from “early November”.
“Most importantly, foreign nationals flying to the US will be required to be fully vaccinated,” Zients said. It wasn't immediately clear if the new rule only applied to US-approved vaccines or if other brands, such as those produced in China or Russia would also qualify. Zients said that would be determined by the US Centers for Disease Control. Restrictions on vehicle movement from Canada and Mexico will remain in place. “We do not have any updates on the land border policies,” Zients said.
The decision, announced by Zients marked an abrupt shift for Biden's administration, which had said last week it was not the right time to lift any restrictions amid rising Covid-19 cases. The United States had lagged many other countries in lifting such restrictions, and allies welcomed the move. The US restrictions have barred travellers from most of the world including tens of thousands of foreign nationals with relatives or business links in the United States.
The announcement comes as President Joe Biden makes his first UN General Assembly speech on Tuesday, and hosts leaders from Britain, India, Japan and Australia this week.
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