About India Outbound Magazine
India Outbound, a brand of Media India Group, is India’s only B2B travel media platform, that encompasses a print magazine, a website, an online TV channel and dynamic social media platforms, entirely dedicated to the promotion of foreign destinations and products in India. India Outbound is a niche platform not just for tourism destinations and products to promote themselves to the Indian travel industry, but also for decision makers to build/change their strategy in a context where the Indian outbound market is not only growing but changing with new dynamics. India Outbound brings to you the latest trends of the market with in depth analysis.
|
Moscow Tourism comes to promote in India
Moscow City Tourism Committee successfully concluded its very first digital roadshow in India. The Committee is the official body responsible for promoting the city of Moscow as a tourist destination worldwide. The four-day virtual event was curated to present the “City of Moscow” as an attractive travel destination to the vibrant Indian outbound travel fraternity spread across 15 major cities of India.
The virtual event concluded with the participation of 25 inbound tour operators and hotels from Moscow. The presentation made by Moscow City Tourism Committee touched upon the tourism landscape in Moscow post-pandemic era and gave deep insights by covering all aspects of the city including the topic on e-visas. More than 1,200 B2B meetings were successfully conducted for the 600 participants representing the Indian outbound tour operators and agents, OTAs, MICE companies and media partners.
Highlighting the simplified e-visa procedures for a visit to Moscow, Ksenya Boykova, the head of international affairs & MICE, Moscow Project Office for Tourism and Hospitality Development said, “From January 2021, tourists from 52 countries including India will be able to apply for e-visas, opening Russia to millions of tourists from across the globe. It will be very easy to visit Moscow or any other city in Russia now as all applications will be processed online without the need to visit a consulate in person or fill out any paperwork. We hope that the introduction of e-visa will lead to an increase in the tourist flow from India to Moscow.”
“Paving the way forward in the face of the new normal, we are sure that this virtual format will help in strengthening the dialogue between the tourism industry in Moscow and India,” said Ellona Pereira, head, Aviareps India that conducted the roadshow on behalf of Moscow Tourism.
Moscow is launching a #DiscoverMoscow e-learning platform for foreign travel agents to help them in staying abreast with the new tourism products of Moscow through various differently themed online courses.
|
OTOAI presents annual report card in a virtual AGM
OTOAI, the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India, held its 8th annual general meeting (AGM) on the virtual platform, briefing its members and media on the latest updates about the association’s status for the last one year. While presenting the balance sheet of OTOAI, the Treasurer of OTOAI gave an overview of the financial standing of the organisation and detailed that with the addition of 66 new members in 2020, the current tally of OTOAI members stands at around 500.
The report card of OTOAI activities starting August 2019 enlisted various workshops, seminars, certifications programmes, webinars, trade shows and roadshows, reflecting that the association had attempted to help its members to stay afloat during the last 15 months, especially during the toughest period of the ongoing pandemic when business is at an all-time low. On April 1, 2020, OTOAI deferred the renewal fees for its members keeping the tough times in mind. However, as the situation got worse, it reduced the renewal fees for members by 50 pc for the financial year 2020 – 2021 and introduced a special price for new members.
The members expressed their hope that the new term ‘Revenge Tourism’ will give the outbound industry the much-needed boost and by 2022, outbound from India will be booming again. The active role played by travel media with their continuous support was reiterated by the association for a better 2021.
|
IATA and WTTC criticise UK travel ban
In response to the travel bans imposed on the UK by several countries, IATA (International Air Transport Association) has said that travel bans are not the answer to check the spread of Covid-19; instead, governments should devise a co-ordinated system for testing of passengers. IATA represents nearly 290 airlines or 82 pc of total air traffic.
“Covid-19 is likely to be with us for some time, so rather than travel bans, governments must adopt more flexible and practical policies to manage the risks in a way that enables people to safely work and travel. ‘Test, test and test again’ has been the mantra of the WHO for almost a year now, and we implore governments to act on this advice,” said the IATA statement. The WTTC (World Travel & Tourism Council) said closing countries are counter-productive and will seriously delay the economic recovery.
“If a comprehensive and quick turnaround testing regime were in place at the airports across the country to test all travellers before they depart, it would ensure only those infected with Covid-19 are isolated and are prevented from travelling. There would be no need for countries to introduce damaging and counterproductive wholesale bans on UK travellers. Every sector of the economy, not just travel & tourism, will suffer - as will those countries imposing the ban as their own economies feel the impact of border closures and the loss of business,” said WTTC.
India has announced that it has temporarily banned flights from the UK after the emergence of a new and highly infectious strain of the coronavirus in Britain. The suspension of flights from the UK came into effect from December 22 midnight and will continue till December 31 as of now as per the ministry of civil aviation order.
For the last few months, Vistara, Air India, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have been operating a limited number of direct special flights between India and the UK under the bilateral air bubble arrangement between the two nations.
Further, the ministry also added that as a measure of additional precaution, passengers arriving from the UK in all transit flights (flights that have taken off or flights which are reaching India before Dec 22) should be subject to mandatory institutional quarantine.
In a series of tweets, the aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri has also informed that the government of India may take similar action and suspend flights with other countries too if the new coronavirus strain is seen to be spreading.
|
|
