The November-December 2021 edition of India Outbound is out now!

In this issue of India Outbound, we bring a round up of  2021 that offered a ray of hope to many, if not all, stakeholders of travel, tourism and hospitality from around the world. After a disastrous 2020, when all three sectors were essentially shut down almost through the year and even beyond, travellers and travel agents have now begun to gather courage to revive and restart.Perhaps it may not be injudicious to say that of these, business travel and to some extent MICE have resumed alongside the FITs. Spotting the opportunity, some countries, like neighbouring Sri Lanka, have already begun to target the segment proactively by hosting events, even if virtually, to reconnect with stakeholders in India in this domain, through events like the Virtual MICE Expo in Sri Lanka.

Another segment that is growing is sports tourism. Big sports events, notably the Olympics as well as the FIFA Football World Cup, have always attracted visitors from around the world, but these were traditionally the hard-core fans of a particular sport. However, over the past decade or so, as tourism industry flourished globally and with a rapidly growing appetite for various sports, many more people, than just the fans, begun travelling, not only to enjoy a good game of cricket or an exciting evening at the football stadium, but also to soak in the entire experience.