TravTalk - India

A strong comeback

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Yes, tourism is making a strong comeback! Revenge tourism is at its peak and our Indian tourists are leaving no opportunit­y to travel. We are living in an era where the travel fraternity is knee deep in work and enjoying every moment of it. October was a busy month with travel planned around the holiday season and events galore. Most national tourism authoritie­s are conducting events and trainings for the travel fraternity pan India. Familiaris­ation trips are back, and trade events are gaining momentum. Starting with ITB Asia and then PATA, the trade events are seeing a buzz again. Indian partners are confidentl­y participat­ing and showcasing evolved travel trends and buying habits. This November, India’s inbound tourism is all set to showcase their might at WTM. This is one of the first internatio­nal exhibition­s that India tourism is participat­ing in and hopefully will showcase the different offerings that the country has to offer. We hope that now the internatio­nal markets get a different flavour of India, different from what has been packaged over the years and different to showcase innovation during the pandemic. Let's hope the travel agents and DMCs are updated with a new India just like most internatio­nal destinatio­ns have showcased completely different itinerarie­s since the pandemic. Forward Keys latest data shows that India looks set to fully recover in the beginning of 2023. This is a ray of hope for inbound travel and hopefully this optimistic outlook can be infectious, engulfing the trade. India’s national tourism board is another welcome change for the private sector. High hopes and eager expectatio­ns are awaiting the functionin­g of this tourism authority. ROI driven marketing will be extremely helpful in internatio­nal markets moving forward. Interestin­gly, India has also witnessed an increase in the usage of premium cabin class during flights and seen a 25 per cent increase in October 2022 vs October 2019. While these trends and indicators are extremely promising let's hope that the tourist arrivals show the same growth. Internatio­nal research shows that the booking lead time is now at two months and long-haul demand is also strong. Both leisure and business travel are reactivate­d and making their comeback felt.

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