Page 4 - Indian Travellers

New York City expects to welcome 383,000 travellers from India in 2024

New York City, which marked 93 per cent recovery of the City's record 2019 visitation levels, is expecting 14 per cent growth in footfalls from India this year to around 3,83,000 travellers with its diverse offerings. The City welcomed 3,36,000 travellers from India in 2023, New York City Tourism + Conventions said in a statement. Overall, New York City welcomed 61.8 million travellers in 2023, marking a recovery of 93 per cent of the City's record 2019 visitation levels, which remains on track to welcome 64.5 million visitors this year. "We were pleased to be back in India, a rapidly growing feeder market for New York City tourism, for our annual sales mission. Recently, we introduced the Travel Trade Academy program, enriched with Hindi subtitles to ensure that the Indian travel trade can fully engage with the five-borough destination. By incorporating Hindi subtitles, we aim to empower the trade to adeptly respond to evolving consumer demands," Tourism Market Development for New

Saudi Arabia steps up efforts to welcome 7.5 mn Indian travellers by 2030

Saudi Arabia has stepped up its effort to attract tourists from India and is eyeing to welcome 7.5 million travellers from the country by 2030, Saudi Tourism Authority Trade Markets Director, India and the Subcontinent, Meshaal Qureshi said on Wednesday. India is the third biggest source of tourists in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. "India is Saudi's third biggest source market in the APAC region, with 1.18 million visits in 2023 alone so far, while more than 1.88 million expats from India live and work in Saudi," Qureshi said while addressing Nusuk roadshow. "We are pleased to see increasing demand for travel from India to Saudi for spiritual and leisure purposes especially as we aim to welcome 7.5 million Indian travellers by 2030," he said. In 2022, Saudi Arabia saw one million Indian visitors who were the highest spenders among all its source markets globally due to the Visit Friends and Relatives (VFR) segment, he said. Qureshi said with collaboration and innovation, Saudi .

List of countries Indians can travel to without visa includes Malaysia now

With the new declaration of Malaysia and Thailand offering visa-free access to Indian residents, Indians can now go to 57 countries visa-free or visas on arrival plans

94% of Indians inspired by movie, TV show for travel destinations: Survey

The top travelling trend in India for 2024 is going to be 'set-jetting', the latest rage of going to filming locations of movies and famous TV series, a new survey has revealed. The findings of "Travel Trends: Redefining value through experience in 2024", released on Tuesday, claimed that a whopping 94 per cent of Indian travellers are inclined to take a trip to a destination that they've seen on the big or small screen -- be it Paris, inspired by hit sitcom "Emily in Paris", or Manali, shown in superhit film "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani". The research was conducted by global traveltech platform Skyscanner with 1,000 Indian respondents as its sample size. "Ninety four per cent of Indian travellers are inspired by movie and TV show destinations. Set-jetting took the lead in India, as travellers sought to immerse themselves into the iconic location of their favourite shows, embodying 'Main Character Energy'," read the report. So, seizing the spotlight as the top destination that Indians

IRCTC south temple tour packages in October 2023, check details below

IRCTC started their tour packages covering South Indian temples in October 2023. The trip will cover several South states and Union territories

Travel policy: Tailor sum insured to destination country's healthcare costs

Don't accept any cover that comes with your travel package; understand coverage, exclusions and sub-limits, then buy

Moscow ready to welcome Indian travellers with improved infrastructure

Russia is making an active bid to attract Indian travellers to visit Moscow -- a huge megalopolis and the historical, political and spiritual heart of the Russian Federation. The Moscow City Tourism Committee is promoting the city not only as a cultural capital but also as a business hub as it plans to onboard trade partners, tourists and vacationers. Moscow has also strengthened cooperation with the tourism sectors of allied nations, hosting familiarization tours for delegates and arranging business trips to showcase the city's tourism potential. To accommodate visitors, Moscow is improving its infrastructure: signs are now available in English and Chinese, all announcements on public transport are repeated in English, and hotels are also adapting to cater to the needs of guests from various countries and ensure a comfortable stay. "We are still on our way to restore the flow of Indian tourists in Moscow like it used to be before the pandemic," said Bulat Nurmukhanov, Head of ...

DGCA approves IndiGo's Delhi-Tashkent direct flight starting Sept 6

A senior DGCA official informed that IndiGo has been given approval to operate between Delhi and Tashkent four days a week

83% of Indian card users want travel rewards, personalised experiences

Collinson's Report on what keeps customers engaged and loyal to brands across Asia Pacific finds that Indian consumers seek hyper-personalised, elevated experiences

OYO launches 'stay now pay later' programme for Indian travelers

Customers will get credit limit of up to Rs 5,000 which can be settled after 15 days of hotel stay

France preferred destination for Indians, sees max visa rejections: Report

At 20.12%, France has the highest visa rejection rate and 27,681 applications were rejected, the report suggests. It was followed by Spain with 18.5% or 14,852 visas rejected

Air India, Sabre Corporation sign multi-year deal for global travel access

This long-term global distribution partnership will support Air India's ambitious growth plans, said Air India's Chief Commercial & Transformation Officer

Indians spent a record amount on foreign travel in 2022. Here's how much

An analysis of tourism data shows that India earns significantly more from foreign tourists coming to India than what Indians spend abroad

South Africa witnesses 200% surge in Indian travellers amid strong recovery

For the third consecutive year, South African Tourism finished another extremely successful partnership with South Asia's premier travel exhibition, SATTE 2023

Indians travelling to Sri Lanka advised to comply with new Covid protocols

All Indian nationals travelling to Sri Lanka have been advised to follow the country's revised Covid-19 protocols, the Indian High Commission here said on Saturday. According to Sri Lanka's new Covid-19 guidelines, all tourists travelling to the island nation are required to carry vaccination cards and unvaccinated travellers are required to carry a negative PCR report, obtained 72 hours prior to arrival in the country. Earlier, on December 7, 2022 Sri Lanka had discontinued the mandatory requirement of producing the COVID-19 vaccination certificate for international travellers. The regulation to produce a pre-boarding or on-arrival negative COVID-19 test (PCR/Rapid Antigen Test) (RAT) was also removed. The revised Covid-19 guidelines have come into effect from Friday. Indian nationals visiting Sri Lanka are requested to comply with the latest Covid 19 guidelines, an Indian High Commission statement said. Sri Lanka has said it will keep a close watch on any new Covid-19 related .

Tourists may get partial refunds over Covid measures, says EU court

Travellers whose package tours were ruined by the imposition of restrictions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic may be entitled to at least a partial refund, the European Union's highest court said Thursday. The European Court of Justice weighed in after being asked for its opinion by a court in Germany. The Munich court is considering the case of two people who bought a two-week package vacation on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria starting on March 13, 2020, just as the pandemic hit Europe. They are seeking a 70 per cent reduction in the price because of restrictions that were imposed there two days later and their early return. When the restrictions were imposed on March 15, beaches were closed, a curfew put in place and the plaintiffs were allowed to leave their hotel room only to eat, the EU court said. On March 18, they were told to be ready to leave at any moment, and two days after that they had to return to Germany. The tour operator refused the requested reduction on the ..

Indians flocking both foreign and local getaways as travel recovers: Airbnb

The traveller is also expanding his travel horizons, looking to explore new getaways abroad

Number of Indians travelling abroad up 137%, still below pre-pandemic level

7.2 million, 40 per cent of the 18 million left the country for "residency" and another 7.1 million were tourists

Rajasthan govt implements new rural tourism scheme, promises jobs

Agriculture tourism units will be set up on farm land on areas ranging from 2,000 square metres to two hectares (one hectare is roughly 10,000 square metres)

Outdated Covid travel advisories, norms causing inconvenience to people

Flying to Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands or Leh in Ladakh? Make sure that you are carrying your RT-PCR test in case you are not fully vaccinated. While majority of states and union territories have relaxed Covid restrictions, a few still want unvaccinated travellers to mandatorily have either an RT-PCR test report within 48 to 96 hours before starting their journey or undergo a test on arrival at their respective airports. South Andaman Deputy Commissioner Suneel Anchipaka told PTI that the Union Territory follows the instructions of its health department for mandatory RT-PCR test report for unvaccinated travellers arriving at the Port Blair airport. Besides Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Ladakh is another Union Territory where unvaccinated travellers have to undergo RT-PCR test at the Leh airport. Director of Health Services in Leh Dr. Motup Dorje said, "We are doing random RT-PCR testing on tourists." A section of scientists have called it a futile exercise without any