Sheo Shekhar Shukla, Principal Secretary (Tourism) and Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board, said, “The Taj Group has expanded its presence in Madhya Pradesh and plans to open a beautiful heritage property between Khajuraho and Panna National Park, which will be one of its kind in the country. In terms of hospitality, accommodation, and infrastructure, Madhya Pradesh offers the best, second to none.” 

Karnataka Tourism Minister H K Patil announced that the government will introduce a new ‘Tourism Policy 2024-29’ focusing on various aspects of the sector. He stated, “We have decided to launch the new tourism policy within a month. The groundwork is underway. The policy will emphasise temple tourism, adventure tourism, recreational tourism, eco-tourism, educational tourism, and agro-tourism.” 

Naveen Kundu, Managing Director, Ebixcash Travel said, “The Union Budget 2024 is appalling when it comes to tourism. It’s all talk and no action! The already neglected sector has been simply ignored. Where have initiatives like Meet in India and Chalo India disappeared to? Can all that be achieved with a budget of just Rs 33 crores? There are lessons to be learned from neighboring countries which subsidise incentives for incoming tourists, thereby achieving significantly higher visitor numbers from India.” 

The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Sultanate of Oman, along with Oman Air, Magic Travels, and W Muscat, invites the travel trade to attend a webinar on the destination and the product offerings. Get valuable insights and updates for your clients on July 29 at 3pm IST and stand a chance to win exciting prizes! For more information, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532. 

According to Allied Market Research, the global business travel market size was valued at $689.70 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $2.1 trillion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 9.5% from 2022 to 2031. The trending factors responsible for fueling the business travel market include bleisure travel (business + leisure), IoT (internet of things), development of smart hotels, virtual reality for hotel bookings, and personalisation. 

In June, India’s domestic air passenger traffic increased by 5.76% to 13.2 million from 12.4 million in the corresponding month last year, according to the monthly data released by DGCA. IndiGo led the market with 80.86 lakh passengers, holding a dominant 60.5% market share, followed by Air India and Vistara, operated by the Tata Group, which carried 17.47 lakh and 12.84 lakh travellers, respectively. 

Union Minister of State for Tourism, Suresh Gopi said that Tripura should come forward with a competitive mindset and advised to utilise time properly from September to March as it has been identified as peak tourism hour in the state. The government is focusing and working on different schemes for spiritual and adventure tourism and asked Tripura to work in this direction. “Tripura can be marked as a model in the entire country if the state approaches in this direction”, he said.  

WTTC projects that Travel & Tourism will contribute almost INR 21.15 trillion to the Indian economy in 2024, an increase of 21% from 2019. Jobs are predicted to increase by 2.45 million this year, equivalent to one in 11 jobs in India. International visitor spending is expected to grow more than 17%, to reach INR 2.85 trillion, while domestic visitor spending is projected to continue growing this year, with a 9.6% increase to reach more than INR 16 trillion. 

Volare, ITA Airways’ loyalty program, is proud to announce the launch of its Status Match campaign, dedicated to frequent flyers outside Italy. This initiative allows members in foreign markets with loyalty program status from 19 airlines to directly access one of the higher Clubs of the Volare program and its exclusive benefits, depending on their current status. Additionally, frequent flyers who request and receive approval for a Status Match will be awarded 10,000 qualifying Volare points. The Volare Status Match campaign runs from today to August 19, 2024, and is open to all Volare members who registered with a residence address outside of Italy. To participate, members must: • Be member of the Volare program or Volare AVVENTURA. • Hold a frequent flyer card from one of the 19 airlines in the list at a level higher than the entry level of Volare. • Not have participated in previous Volare Status Match campaigns. Volare is designed for maximum simplicity and flexibility in earning and spending points. The program features four Exclusive Clubs: Club Smart (entry-level), Club Plus, Club Premium, and Club Executive, each offering various benefits such as extra baggage allowance, priority boarding and check-in, and dedicated customer service. Through commercial partnerships, Volare offers a wide range of services and products from ITA Airways and its partners. Members can earn points with every purchase on ITA Airways flights and through airlines partners or commercial partners services, allowing them to upgrade to higher Clubs and enjoy even more premium services. The advantages increase with status, both in terms of multipliers and services. Launched in March 2022, Volare now features over 2,1 million members worldwide. The program is built on the values …

 JrnyOn, which is a first-of-its-kind multi-day experiential travel company in India, has announced seven experiential journeys led by domain experts to be conducted from September to December 2024. These journeys have been curated in partnership with carefully hand-picked Maestros who are passionate subject matter experts. JrnyOn has worked with these influencers to curate travel itineraries around their expertise so as to transform the travelers’ journey with the Maestros into an insightful adventure. The upcoming journeys will be led by Chef Thomas Zacharias aka Chef TZac, Masterchef Nambie Marak, Chef Sapna Anand, MasterChef Aruna Vijay,ace travel photographer Hari Menon, Callisthenics coach & surfer Anupama Shivacharya and biking influencer Atul Warrier. Regarding the upcoming Maestro Jrnys, JrnyOn’s Founder Sanjith Mukund said, “JrnyOn’s experiences are curated for travellers passionate about their interests and Maestro Jrnys are a way to dive into their chosen worlds with well-known experts by their side. These influencers or Maestros are the soul of the experiences; we are here to help transform their vision into their dream journey and bring them together with their audience. Our Maestro Jrnys are built keeping in mind that many of our audiences are solo travellers or couples and are looking to join like-minded strangers and build lasting friendships while traveling. Everyone is invited!” ‘MasterChef Aruna’s Madurai and Chettinad: A Culinary Trail’ will be a treat for foodies who want to unravel the secrets of the vegetarian cuisine of Madurai and Chettinad regions of Tamil Nadu beyond dosas and idlis. MasterChef Aruna Vijay is well-known for her expertise in vegetarian cuisine, especially South Indian dishes. She will accompany the group of travellers on this culinary and cultural exploration from October 17 – 20, 2024. Chef Thomas Zacharias, popularly known as Chef TZac, …