Total ₹550.00
-
admin
- Posted on
- Categories:Travel
- 0 comments
On World Tourism Day, Jaideep Mirchandani, Group President of Sky, highlighted the deep inter-relationship between aviation and tourism in India, highlighting their impact on economic growth.
India welcomed 99.5 Lakh foreign tourists in 2024, close to the pre-pandemic peak in 2019, according to the latest data tabled in the Rajya Sabha by the Ministry of Tourism. “The government has already announced plans to develop 50 additional airports over the next five years. Over the next decade, this is expected to join 120 new destinations, providing a major boost to tourism,” he said.
India’s Outbound tourism is projected to hit USD 44.7 billion by 2032, according to a joint study with the Federation of Indian Federations of Trade and Industry. This presents significant opportunities for Global Airlines. In one instance earlier this year, Kerala Tourism introduced an ‘Orient’ campaign encouraging travelers to explore East Asia in markets such as China, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Laos.
Infrastructure development is progressing rapidly. Varanasi, Agra, Darbhanga and Bagdogra, new terminals with strong tourism potential are under construction. In parallel, 12 Greenfield airports have become operational in the past decade, including Kushinagar, Mopa, Rajkot, Shirdi, Shirdi, Pakyong and Kannur. British Airways, Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines are also increasing, with Malaysia Airlines adding 80 daily flights from December. Connectivity is expected to be significantly enhanced after the inauguration of Noida (Jewar) and Navi Mumbai international airports later this year.
Mirchandani also drew attention to structural problems. “While India’s aviation growth is remarkable, beyond this emergency assistance and infrastructure to support this momentum, the industry needs to address gaps such as shortages of skilled pilots and maintenance workers, engineers and maintenance workers. Aviation growth is to deliver all its benefits to tourism and related sectors,” he said.
