After several months of suspended activity due to the Covid-19 health crisis, Air Austral will resume gradually its flights to Chennai as of May 2022 with the approval of its regulatory authorities, the French Civil Aviation Authority, and Indian Authorities. Starting 6 May 2022, Air Austral will offer two weekly flights each Tuesday and Friday. These flights will be operated by Airbus AZU-300, Air Austral’s brand new aircraft. 

According to a recent study by ParkSleepFly, The Taj Mahal ranks the world’s second-best value for money tourist attraction. Known for being of the most beautiful examples of architecture in the world, the landmark is relatively affordable, with an entry ticket costing $14.61. The study also revealed that just 1% of visitors to the Taj Mahal leave a bad review, representing the excellent value.  

Guldeep Singh Sahni, MD, Weldon tours and travels, said, “Government has taken a great step. I hope the government takes up all of the issues the travel industry is facing. There are certain clarifications needed in GST and other matters, and I would like the government to create a department to provide advance rulings on every matter so that everything is resolved and if they find any discrepancy, it can be corrected immediately. I congratulate the travel community and the government on removing this anomaly”. 

In the presidential address at the 25th Annual General Meeting, Puneet Chhatwal, President, HAI, emphasised the need to forge closer ties and collaborate with other industry bodies for a stronger and a more unified voice. He said “International travel has gone back 30 years globally and the ripple effect of tourism is affecting the economy of countries. Indian hospitality sector has rebounded due to various components of domestic travel and a vigorous internal demand.” 

Tickets for travel to key APAC destinations are on the rise. And it is India leading the way forward. India has recovered 80% of 2019’s level in the week of 5th March 2022. Next is the Pacific Island of Fiji, recovering 61% of pre-pandemic levels followed by the Philippines with 48%, Singapore with 43% and Australia with 38% recovery. 

The Mumbai International Cruise Terminal, the iconic sea cruise terminal coming up at BPX-Indira Dock, is expected to be commissioned by July 2024. The terminal will have a capacity of handling 200 ships and 1 million passengers per annum. Out of the total project cost of Rs. 495 crore, Rs. 303 crores will be incurred by Mumbai Port Authority and the remaining by private operators. This was informed by the Chairperson, Mumbai Port Authority, Rajiv Jalota, while addressing the media in Mumbai , on the occasion of completion of 7 years of Sagarmala – Government of India’s flagship programme for port-led development of the nation. 

In terms of travel intent, the ForwardKeys analysts have observed a shift, with the shares of flight searches increasing by 6% from the Americas and Europe from January to February 2022. The Americas hold the largest number of intents to fly to India at 42% in February. This falls in line with the easing of travel restrictions from selected ‘Category A’ countries such as the USA, Canada, and EU member states on February 14. “Once again this simply highlights the importance of (or lack of) travel restrictions implemented by governments during this pandemic,” says Olivier Ponti, VP of Insights.

The System for Assessment, Awareness & Training for Hospitality Industry (SAATHI) has been implemented in all States and Union Territories. Under this initiative, 11038 hotels in India have self-certified themselves among which only 7 have been site-assessed till now. The initiative will continue to assist the hospitality industry in their preparedness to continue operations safely and mitigate risks both present and future said union minister of tourism, culture and DoNER, Govt of India, G Kishan Reddy

Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India, said that India is very rapidly moving on the issue of environment sustainability and the civil aviation sector is focusing on sustainability & net zero carbon emission which is the need of the hour. He also mentioned that 96 of India’s airports will be carbon neutral by 2024. India has been experimenting with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for two years where blended fuel has been used by some of the airlines. He highlighted the need for low-cost energy resources, to power the airport infrastructure, sustainable aviation fuel and fuel-efficient models, to encourage eco-friendliness and innovative solutions towards achieving carbon-neutrality.

Based on the latest available data, international tourism continued its recovery in January 2022, with much better results than in early 2021.  International tourist arrivals more than doubled (+130%) compared to January 2021, growing by 18 million. This increase in number of arrivals is the same as in the whole of 2021 over 2020. Despite the robust results, the pace of recovery was impacted by the Omicron variant and the reintroduction of travel restrictions across several destinations.