In-the-Issue

Overtourism ahead?

Countries are slowly opening to tourism, but will this bring in enthusiastic travellers in hordes and cause another problem? Hazel Jain While more travellers bode well for the travel trade around the world, there might be a thin line between revenge tourism and over-tourism. Jay Bhatia, Director, Tulsidas Khimji Holidays …

Read More »

IATO UP Chapter’s hybrid meet

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) Uttar Pradesh Chapter organised its hybrid meeting on July 9 in Varanasi at Hotel Clarks, under the chairmanship of Prateek Hira, Chairman UP Chapter and Vikram Singh, Co-Chair of the chapter. Manas Dwivedi This meeting was supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of …

Read More »

Vaccine approval awaited

So far, only SII’s Covishield has been approved in eight European Union countries and Switzerland amid a row over travel pass. This has some outbound agents worried. Abhik Dutta, Director, The Waanderers This is a welcome announcement overall. However, unlike Switzerland which has announced that all types of visas will …

Read More »

Cautious opening: Utmost safety

An end to the COVID-19 pandemic seems far beyond the horizon, but the tourism industry of the Philippines is dedicated to ensuring a phased reopening of the islands to offer utmost safety and hygiene to potential international travellers through the GREEN Corridor initiative. Department of Tourism (DOT) Philippines has developed …

Read More »

The rise of private jets

Private aviation is now being seen as more of a necessity than a luxury due to its safety provisions and greater control over the customer environment. Here are few reasons why private jets could take off in 2021-22, with particularly strong demand from high net-worth individuals both for leisure and …

Read More »

Will the GDS model be replaced?

Jerrin Jos, Founder & CEO, Verteil Technologies, explains how disadvantageous it can be for travel agents as well as their clients to continue using the GDS to book air tickets. He underlines major problems posed by the GDS including lag in rich data and lack of dynamic pricing. Even today, …

Read More »

Trust is key to business recovery

Trust levels in travel suppliers and travel agencies in India will directly influence the speed and significance of the local travel industry’s recovery, according to a new independent research commissioned by Travelport. The research also reveals three key areas that travellers in the country say have the biggest influence over …

Read More »

Hybrid weddings beyond borders

Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park has come up with a national campaign #Celebrationsbeyondgeographies, offering a hybrid weddings and socials experience for couples and their loved ones. The Crowne Meetings Team will be in tow to extend both on-ground and virtual assistance. Nisha Verma Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park, along with …

Read More »

A unique segment: Students

The ETOAI (Education Tour Operators Association of India) makes a sincere appeal to all the tourism boards, airlines, and tourism service providers to associate with them to take advantage of the potential this very unique and untapped segment provides with very high volumes of business. Hazel Jain The ETOAI (Education …

Read More »

Tech-enabled tourism on the rise

Evident from the recent advent in smart, automated systems, technology will have a key role to play in the restart of tourism across countries, and we already see some green shoots with the digitalisation of tourism services. Here are seven technologies that offer hope to our industry. Hazel Jain 3D …

Read More »