Page 9 - Travel

59% growth in TOEFL test takers in India post-pandemic, rise in share: ETS

TOEFL test takers in India have grown by 59 per cent since international travel resumed following suspension during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Educational Testing Service (ETS). Corresponding with the trend, Indians accounted for 12.3 per cent of the total test takers globally in 2022, up from 7.5 per cent the previous year, showed data from the Princeton-based ETS which conducts the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE). According to data exclusively accessed by PTI, there was a 53 per cent growth in Indian TOEFL test takers in 2021 compared to the previous year. In 2022, the number of test takers saw a 59 per cent rise over 2021. "The numbers are clearly indicative of the rising aspirations of Indians in exploring foreign shores. The growth in Indian test takers is in sync with the rise in the number of Indians moving abroad for studies or immigration purposes. "The trends show that the interest is no longer limited to the US

Share sale of travel service provider Yatra Online IPO to open on Friday

The initial share sale of travel service provider Yatra Online Ltd will open for public subscription on Friday. The three-day Initial Public Offering (IPO) will conclude on September 20 and the bidding for anchor investors will open on September 14 and for retail on September 15, according to the Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) filed on Friday. The online travel company had raised Rs 62 crore from a rights issue and allotted 26.27 lakh shares at a price of Rs 236 per share, which was a part of pre-IPO placement. Hence, the size of the fresh issue of Rs 750 crore has been reduced by Rs 148 crore, including the pre-IPO placement of Rs 62.01 crore, and accordingly, the fresh issue is Rs 602 crore. The company has revised its Offer For Sale (OFS) component from 93.28 lakh equity shares to 1.22 crore equity shares after its promoter, THCL Travel Holding Cyprus Ltd offloading more shares in the issue. The OFS now comprises up to 1.17 crore equity shares by THCL Travel Holding Cyprus Ltd an

From hatchbacks to holidays, consumers ready to loosen purse strings

Consumer goods firms expect 40-50% growth in premium segment; hospitality industry expects heightened activity in coming weeks

Samsonite grows 40% in H1 2023, eyes Rs 3,600 crore sales by December

Premium luggage manufacturer Samsonite has grown close to 40 per cent in the first half of 2023 and it aims to touch Rs 3,600 crore sales by December, a top company official has said. Samsonite, having 35 per cent share in the Rs 15,000-crore domestic organised luggage market, leads the premium segment with its various products labelled with the original name as well as under the brand of American Tourister. While its recent addition of Kamiliant brand competes with Safari and VIP in the value segment, American Tourister is positioned between Samsonite and Kamliant as a mass-premium brand. The company said it gets 20-25 per cent business from premium segment where it faces little competition. Founded by Jesse Shwayder in 1910 in Colorado, Denver, the American parent Samsonite International is traded on the Hong Kong exchange which earlier in the day reported a USD 1.04 billion in gross profit for the first six months of 2023, up 47.5 per cent on-year. Its revenue climbed 44.5 per

Oil rises on strong travel demand, China's move to soothe economic woes

Brent crude futures rose $1.24, or 1.5% to $84.70 a barrel by 11:18 a.m. ET (1518 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was up $1.48, or 1.8% at $80.86 a barrel

Seeing positive trends in travel, investing in tech: MakeMyTrip Group CTO

Travel is back with a vengeance after the difficult Covid years and online travel company MakeMyTrip has moved beyond the traditional business-to-consumer segment to line up new offerings and new partners, says its group CTO Sanjay Mohan. Over the last few years, we have expanded beyond our usual B2C space, and have become a travel platform, offering travel products to channels outside of our popular, consumer-facing, travel super-app, Mohan told PTI, citing new features such as myBiz for corporate, myPartner for travel agents and myAffiliate for affiliate partners. Moving swiftly to capitalise on the Indian diaspora in the Gulf countries where the brand is quite well-known, MakeMyTrip has also entered the Gulf market, he said. MakeMyTrip, which has a total transacted customer base of over 60 million, continues to invest in technology at a steady pace, he added. "Even during the Covid years, we were investing in technology and building interesting use cases for the ...

Free bus travel for women to continue in Karnataka: Minister Reddy

Karnataka Transport Minister R Ramalinga Reddy on Wednesday asserted that Shakti scheme offering free ride in non-luxury government buses to women in the state will continue for the next 10 years. His clarification comes following some rumours being spread in the social media against the scheme. "I would like to tell the people of Karnataka, especially the school children, that some people are spreading lies that one of the poll guarantees Shakti' scheme will be stopped. Trusting the rumours, some people went to ask for a bus pass," Reddy told reporters here. He said, "Shakti scheme is going to remain for at least 10 years. There is no need for women to buy passes. Some people, especially those from a specific party, are trying to play mischief by spreading lies in the social media." As Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a meeting with the ministers and MLAs from Bengaluru, reporters asked Reddy whether there was any discussion on the stalled municipal level public works in the ...

Adventure travel firm Intrepid expects to bring 12,000 travellers to India

Leading adventure travel company Intrepid Travel expects to bring more than 12,000 customers to India in 2024, returning to its pre-pandemic numbers, its CEO James Thornton has said. The company restarted operations in India in April 2022 and hopes to bring 8,000 customers to India in 2023. Expanding existing product ranges, notably in the premium space, and introducing new styles of travel like wildlife-focused trips will help its growth, Thornton told PTI in an interview. According to him, the new e-visa scheme is a big step forward, resulting in a significant increase in number of visitors to India. "By 2024, we expect to have returned to the inbound customer numbers we had pre-pandemic when we brought approximately 12,000 customers from Australia, Britain and North America to India. We expect to be able to reach 30,000 inbound customers a year by 2030," Intrepid Travel Managing Director Asia Natalie Kidd said. Thornton said that globally, the adventure travel market is valued

IRCTC, DMRC join hands to introduce 'One India-One Ticket' initiative

Passengers travelling by train or air will soon be able to "reserve tickets" in advance in Delhi Metro for their forward journey as the IRCTC and DMRC have joined hands to introduce the 'One India-One Ticket' initiative, officials said on Monday. However, the timeline for the rollout of the project has not been announced yet, a senior official of the DMRC said, adding the move seeks to provide seamless and hassle-free travel for commuters across different modes of transport. "In a significant leap towards enhancing the convenience and ease of travel for passengers, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) have forged a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)," the DMRC said in a statement. "This ground-breaking collaboration aims to introduce QR code-based ticketing for DMRC services through the IRCTC portal, as part of the revolutionary 'One India-One Ticket Initiative'," it said. Under this innovative partnership,

Union govt refuses to interfere in exorbitant airfares for travel to Kerala

The Union government has refused to intervene in the issue of exorbitant airfares for travel to Kerala during the upcoming Onam season stating that dynamic pricing is in place and travellers have to book in advance. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Office said in a release on Saturday that the Centre has refused to intervene in the issue. Vijayan had on July 5 sought the intervention of Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in the matter, saying the exorbitant prices would impact numerous Keralites residing both in India and West Asia who are eagerly planning to return home for Onam festivities. In a letter to the chief minister, Scindia informed him that the aviation companies have the authority to decide the airfares, the release said. "There is only an increase of 9.77 per cent during the festival season. Since only the dynamic pricing system is in place, the only option is to book tickets in advance," the release said, quoting the letter from the Union minister. Steep

Most employees of BEST's private bus operators rejoin post strike in Mumbai

Most employees of private operators of BEST, Mumbai's civic transport body, re-joined duty by Wednesday evening, a day after their weeklong strike was called off, a senior official said. Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) spokesperson Sunil Vaidya told PTI that 100 per cent wet leased buses were operated with the drivers of private bus operators in the evening. In the morning, however, many contractual staffers were yet to return to duty, he said. At 10 am, the public transporter operated 97.5 per cent of the 3,040 buses in its fleet including the wet-leased ones and BEST-owned buses, Vaidya said. "However, 100 percent wet leased buses were operated with the drivers of private bus operators on Wednesday evening," he said. A BEST official said that some employees of the private bus operators did not re-join duty in the morning due to some confusion over fulfilment of their demands, but most of them rejoined duty in the evening session. So this is the first time sin

US finishes 2nd lottery round for H-1B visa, successful candidates notified

The US has completed a second round of random lottery selection for the much sought-after H-1B work visa for foreign guest workers and the successful applicants have been notified, according to a federal agency. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. We now have randomly selected, from the remaining FY 2024 registrations properly submitted, a sufficient number of registrations projected as needed to reach the cap, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said on Tuesday. All the successful applicants eligible for the H-1B visas for the fiscal year beginning October 1, have been notified about it, it said. USCIS had to conduct an unprecedented second round of the H-1B lottery, which is held in the first week of April, mainly because o

Hilton beats Wall Street Q2 estimates on rebounding travel demand

The company's revenue per available room, or RevPAR, an important metric in the hospitality industry, rose about 12% in the quarter from a year earlier

Musafir.com recommends the top places to explore in AlUla.

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Govt eases Covid guidelines for i'ntl travellers, drops RT-PCR requirement

The Union Health Ministry has further eased COVID-19 guidelines for international visitors, dropping the earlier requirement for RT-PCR based testing of a random two per cent subset of international travellers. The guidelines have been eased after taking note of the prevalent coronavirus situation and the significant achievements made in the vaccination coverage across the globe. The new guidelines shall come into effect from midnight of July 20. However, the earlier advice for precautionary measures to be followed by airlines as well as international travellers in context of Covid shall continue to apply, the ministry said.

Railways to slash fares of AC chair car, executive classes by up to 25%

Fares of AC chair cars and executive classes of all trains, including Vande Bharat, and those with Anubhuti and Vistadome coaches will be reduced by up to 25 per cent, depending on occupancy, a Railway Board order has stated. The fares will also depend on those of competitive modes of transport. With a view to optimising utilisation of accommodation, the rail ministry has decided to delegate powers to principal chief commercial managers of railway zones to introduce discounted fare schemes in trains with AC seating. "This scheme shall be applicable in AC chair car and executive classes of all trains having AC seating accommodation, including Anubhuti and Vistadome coaches," the Railway Board order stated. "The element of discount shall be up to a maximum 25 per cent on the basic fare. Other charges like reservation charge, super fast surcharge, GST, etc, as applicable, shall be levied separately. The discount may be provided in any or all the classes on the basis of occupancy," it

Wait for US passports is creating travel purgatory, snarling summer plans

Seeking a valid US passport for that 2023 trip? Buckle up, wishful traveller, for a very different journey before you step anywhere near an airport. A much-feared backup of US passport applications has smashed into a wall of government bureaucracy as worldwide travel rebounds toward record pre-pandemic levels with too few humans to handle the load. The result, say aspiring travellers in the US and around the world, is a maddening pre-travel purgatory defined, at best, by costly uncertainty. With family dreams and big money on the line, passport seekers describe a slow-motion agony of waiting, worrying, holding the line, refreshing the screen, complaining to Congress, paying extra fees and following incorrect directions. Some applicants are buying additional plane tickets to snag in-process passports where they sit in other cities in time to make the flights they booked in the first place. So grim is the outlook that US officials aren't even denying the problem or predicting when

Surge in solo travel; J&K, Manali preferred travel destinations: Report

Jammu and Kashmir, Manali and Shimla are the most preferred destinations for solo travellers as more people are inclined to explore places at their own pace and preference, said a recent travel trend report. The research, conducted by leading travel fintech SanKash, found that almost "35 per cent" of solo travellers prefer Jammu and Kashmir for vacationing, followed by Manali (25 per cent) and Shimla (14 per cent). Mussoorie, Sikkim, and Goa are among the other top preferred destinations, with bookings clocking in at nine per cent, seven per cent, and five per cent, respectively. "Destinations renowned for their natural beauty, cultural richness have witnessed a surge in popularity, captivating the hearts of travellers. As of March 2023, domestic travel is becoming more popular, and domestic capacity has already surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Bookings are back to 100 per cent of pre-pandemic levels for domestic travel," said Akash Dahiya, co-founder and CEO of SanKash. The insights

L-G approves allotment of land for Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor project

Lieutenant Governor (LG) V K Saxena has approved allotment of 297 sqm of land at Jangpura for the Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor project, Raj Niwas officials said on Saturday. The allotment of the land, belonging to the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), was "pending for the last two years" and was critical for implementation of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project, they said. The semi-high-speed regional rail service RAPIDX on the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor will bring down the travel time between Delhi to Meerut significantly. The project is helmed by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC). The LG has approved allotment of 297 sqm of land keeping in view the national importance and public interest involved in the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS project, a senior official said. This land was required for providing connectivity with the stabling yard at Jangpura from the Ring Road at Nehru Nagar for implementation of the 82.15-km semi-hig

India trade talks discussing business travel, not broader immigration: UK

Britain will discuss temporary business visas as part of Free Trade Agreement talks with India but any deal will not contain broader immigration commitments, trade minister Kemi Badenoch said