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'Within touching distance of pre-Covid numbers': Puri on rising domestic aviation operations

Union minister for civil aviation Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday said that the aviation industry will soon be back to pre-Covid numbers as he shared the number of passengers who flew on February 7. Puri said around 2.87 lakh passengers flew on 2,230 flights yesterday, which he added is the highest since the domestic operations resumed on May 25 last year. "India flies high. 2,87,210 passengers flew on 2,230 flights on 7 Feb 2021. This is the highest since resumption of domestic operations on 25 May 2020. We are now within touching distance of Pre-Covid numbers," Puri tweeted. This comes in the backdrop of the International Air Transport Association's report that said 2020 was the worst year for the aviation industry. As per the report, the air traffic demand witnessed the sharpest decline of 65.9 per cent globally. "Optimism that the arrival and initial distribution of vaccines would lead to a prompt and orderly restoration in global air travel have been dashed in the face of new outbreaks and new mutations of the disease. The world is more locked down today than at virtually any point in the past 12 months and passengers face a bewildering array of rapidly changing and globally uncoordinated travel restrictions,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO." In the domestic air passenger traffic market, Australia topped with recording the sharpest fall in air traffic demand that plummeted by 69.5 per cent in 2020 in comparison to 2019. India ranked third with a fall of 55.6 per cent in the domestic air traffic demand in 2020. The capacity of domestic air travel was increased to 80 per cent of their pre-Covid capacity from the previous 70 per cent by the government in December last year. Domestic air travel had resumed in May, 2020 however the initial air travel capacity was limited to 33 per cent of their pre-Covid levels to contain the spread of coronavirus through travel.

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ASEAN and India agree to strengthen tourism ties

Tourism Ministers of India and the ASEAN countries have agreed to further enhance the cooperation between the region and India in tourism under the broader framework of the MoU between ASEAN and India. The 8th meeting of the ASEAN-India Tourism Ministers held virtually had issued a joint media statement in this direction. The meeting was co-chaired by India’s Tourism Minister, Prahlad Singh Patel, and Dr Thong Khon, Tourism Minister of Cambodia. Addressing the meeting, Patel said that the countries needed to work together and cooperate to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the tourism sector. He highlighted the initiatives taken by India towards containing the pandemic but also helping other countries with medical and other supplies to combat the virus. Patel highlighted India’s historical and cultural links with ASEAN countries and reiterated that ASEAN is a key market for Buddhist Tourism in India which generates major tourist traffic for the Buddhist Circuit. The ministry has invested in a major way to upgrade infrastructure in the circuit. He spoke about the International Buddhist Conclave (IBC) which the ministry organises to create awareness about India’s Buddhist Heritage and to increase foreign tourist traffic to Buddhist sites and invited the ASEAN member countries to participate in the same as and when it is held. Patel added the importance of wellness and medical tourism and emphasised that India is emerging as a preferred country for medical treatments due to advanced quality healthcare, affordable costs, lesser waiting time and easy medical visa process.

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Travel firms witness recovery in business as demand picks up

After a year of missed holidays, Indians are taking frequent breaks leading to faster recovery in business for travel firms. Both online and offline operators said that they are expecting February bookings to be around 65-70% of last year. This growth is being primarily driven by leisure travel as companies launch promotional campaigns and offer discounted packages to woo travellers. After running India Holiday Festival sale in January, Thomas Cook is back with customised packages for Valentine's Day weekend. "Given limited reopening of international borders, we have focused on the India domestic opportunity with encouraging results: domestic holidays business demand improved during Q3 FY21, with a 9X growth in sales over Q2 FY21. January 2021 has delivered a recovery of over 75% vs January 2020," said Rajeev Kale, president & country head – Holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. MakeMyTrip and Goibibo have also pinned their recovery on leisure travel as long weekend getaways continue to attract bookings. According to MakeMyTrip's Q3 data, in the hotel segment, domestic room nights stay reached approximately 37% of the levels achieved a year ago, with December 2020 ending at approximately 45% recovery. Domestic passengers segments flown in Q3 recovered to over 47% of the levels achieved a year ago. During Q3, the number of bus seats sold on the platform were 50% versus the same period a year ago. Regions like Eastern India has witnessed recovery exceeding pre-pandemic levels by 25%. "While leisure travel demand has been leading recovery, we are encouraged to see early signs of recovery within the business travel segment, the recovery in small and medium enterprises (SME) segment is greater than corporates but both showing very encouraging signs of business recovery in step with increase in economic activity," said Rajesh Magow, co-founder & group CEO, MakeMyTrip Limited. Over the past six months, MakeMyTrip said that it has on-boarded more than 250 new mid-sized accounts on its platform. By December 2020, the overall air and hotel volumes booked through the SME focused program had exceeded 40% versus pre-covid levels. Meanwhile, Cleartrip said that booking volumes increased 30% q-o-q in Q3 which are sustaining even in this quarter. "We expect bookings this month to be around 65-70% of February last year. Leisure travel has driven the recovery, and we expect this trend to continue. However, business travel has also started reviving as seen by the return of sectors between Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bangalore in the top 10 routes," said Rajiv Subramanian, vice-president, Cleartrip. From a MICE (Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) perspective, Thomas Cook India said that it has managed over 67 virtual events and 17 physical events as of January 2021. "Our corporate travel business has issued over 85,000 tickets in 9M FY21. During Q3 FY21, the business issued 56,000 tickets Vs 23,000 in Q2 FY21 and 6,000 in Q1 FY21. Since the restart of corporate travel, the business has registered a revenue recovery of 14%," said Indiver Rastogi, president & group head - global business travel - Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. SOTC Travel, too, said that there has been a shift to virtual events and in the short-term, hybrid events are a preferred event format. "In addition to corporates in India, there has been a demand for Virtual Events from corporates based in the ASEAN countries," said SD Nandakumar, president & country head, B2B & Foreign Exchange, SOTC Travel.

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Soar to new heights at the world’s tallest swing in Dubai

Dubai is home to some of the best theme parks in the world. Recently, it also launched the world's tallest swing ride at the famous Bollywood Park. Known as Bollywood SkyFlyer, the swing will take thrill seekers 460 ft in the air, almost the height of the Pyramid of Giza! Unbelievable, right? With this, Dubai has broken the previous record of the 450 ft tall Orlando Starflyer. According to the official website of the amusement park, the ride will give people all kinds of experiences, from swinging to lifting and dropping to hand-gliding and rotating at different places. The skyflyer features 12 sets of double seats that move around a gigantic tower. The website says, "It is a unique attraction that appeals to both young and old, the adventurous and not so adventurous." It took 600 days to create this masterpiece; for installation, it took another 120 days! Nearly 421 tons of steel was used in making and installation of the ride. The swing is installed at one of three parks that make Bollywood Parks. On the same day, the amusement park also debuted eight other new rides; Rocket, an interactive water splash ride, a Mumbai-themed roller coaster; Taxi No. 1, a circular-motion chariot ride, and the 180 ft tall Wheel of Stars ferris wheel to list a few. If you are also a fan of theme parks and crave to enjoy an adrenaline rush like never before,you must plan a trip to Dubai to experience its latest thrill!

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Tourism Deptt organises musical cultural evening at Bahu Gandola

Directorate of Tourism, Jammu in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation, organized a weekend musical cultural evening at Bahu Gandola Station to attract tourists to Jammu and its adjoining areas. The event is the sequel of Lohri Festival organized in the sprawling lawns of Cable Car Station. The event was inaugurated by Joint Director Tourism, Jammu, Neelam Khajuria, in presence of Dy. Director Tourism, Publicity, Jammu, Anil Kumar Chandail. The event started with traditional lamp lighting ceremony followed by cultural performances by local artists of Cultural Academy and others. The event was held to showcase the recently developed Gandola in Jammu city connecting three prominent shrines of Jammu; Peer kho Temple (Jamwant Gufa)- Maha Maya Temple and Kali Mata Temple. The Tourism Department has planned to conduct weekend Gandola Series from Friday to Sunday till March 2021 during which local artists and cultural groups will perform. The department is also planning to organize more such programs for tourism promotion in coming days.

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Andaman’s Humphrey Strait Creek Bridge to be a major tourist attraction once completed

The construction work of a state of the art bridge over Humphrey Strait Creek by the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NH DCL) in Andaman and Nicobar Islands is in its last leg and officials believe that once completed, this bridge will not only be the longest bridge in the Island but will also be a major tourist attraction. The coming up of this bridge, connecting Baratang Island of Middle Andaman with Kadamtala Island of Middle Andaman, will also provide seamless connectivity on Andaman Trunk Road (NH-4). As per NHIDCL, as on date about 87% work has been completed with almost two spans being bridged in a month's time. “With the current progress of work, the much awaited bridge is likely to be bridged fully by the first week of April, 2021. Other ancillary activities like de launching of launching girder, construction of crash barriers and footpaths etc will take about a month's time,” sources NHIDCL said. Apart from this, a beautification scheme has also been conceptualized to add aesthetic value to the bridge. It is expected that the bridge will get completed in all aspects by mid of June, 2021. “On completion, this bridge will not only be the longest bridge in the Island but will also be a major tourist attraction. It will also act as a catalyst for improving the socio-economic condition of the people residing in N&M Andaman,” the sources added. Meanwhile Andaman’s Tourism Industry is very hopeful that the bridge will open new dimension for Andaman Tourism. “The Journey time to North and Middle Andaman for tourist will reduce considerably bringing more comfort and joy for tourists. More and more tourists would show interest to go to North and Middle Andaman once this bridge is opened for public,” Mr. M Vinod, the president of Andaman Association of Tour Operator.

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