Outbound

The year 2013 was marginally down, and I believe, we will witness a turnaround this year. New destinations like Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands and US are attracting lots of interest. Italy, Philippines, South Africa, Maldives, Abu Dhabi are some of the upcoming destinations. China is showing a lot of interest in the Indian market. Earlier, Canada was synonymous only with Toronto and Vancouver. Now, people want to go to Alberta and Alaska in Canada as well. People also want to visit Brazil and Chile. Travellers are skeptical about visiting Thailand, but the unrest is primarily restricted to Bangkok and the rest of the country is safe to travel. People are travelling and shopping from places Koh Samui and Phuket, however the volume may not be comparable to that of Bangkok.

Guldeep Singh Sahni

MD, Weldon Tours and Travels The last two years haven't been that rewarding, but I believe there will be a boom this year. One of the developments has been the Thailand unrest, but as a destination, the country hasn’t really gone down. Travellers are now willing to explore new destinations in South-East Asia. Popular destinations this summer would be Italy, Burma and Canada. Europe would also entice tourists and there will be takers for experiential offerings in Antarctic/Arctic cruises.

Ratti Dhodapkar

MD, Abercrombie & Kent Vacations The summer outbound trend is looking quite positive. 2013 was not that great for both inbound and outbound. South Africa is picking up as new destination. Spain has been a popular destination and we are still getting lots of queries on it. Late last year, the outbound industry suffered because of the turmoil in Thailand but, as a destination it is still immensely popular. 2014 would witness an upward trend with more people travelling to different countries.

Jatinder Taneja

MD, Travel Spirit International