Leading online travel company MakeMyTrip has reached a monumental milestone in its journey of over two decades by expanding its services worldwide. Formerly operating in India, the USA, and the UAE, MakeMyTrip has broadened its horizons to encompass over 150 countries, including key travel markets like the UK, USA, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, and more. This expansion allows travellers across the globe to leverage MakeMyTrip’s offerings.
The platform has meticulously aligned with various international regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), solidifying its global accessibility.
Sharing his thoughts on the occasion, Rajesh Magow, Co-founder & Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, expressed, “Our unwavering commitment to data protection and stringent compliance standards in India has paved the way for our seamless transition into international markets. The trust and loyalty bestowed upon us by Indian travelers have fueled our mission to uphold the highest standards and operational protocols. Our decision to extend MakeMyTrip’s reach globally reflects this commitment – ensuring travellers can access our platform without hindrance, regardless of their location.”
Emphasising the emphasis on bolstering inbound tourism, Magow added, “Our global accessibility is poised to connect with the extensive Indian diaspora worldwide. Furthermore, this expansion will facilitate a broader audience, encouraging greater inbound travel to India. With our extensive network spanning over 2000 cities, international tourists will uncover India’s hidden treasures with ease.”
MakeMyTrip’s steadfast dedication to being a dependable travel companion for Indian travellers now extends on a global scale. The platform’s interface remains consistent, offering seamless transactions in USD, AED, or INR, catering to diverse travel needs effortlessly.
Under the terms of the MOU, STB and MakeMyTrip will collaborate on various initiatives and campaigns throughout 2024 to enhance inbound travel to Singapore. STB will leverage MakeMyTrip’s market insights and expertise to craft unique holiday packages tailored to Indian consumers. India stands out as one of the top five markets for Singapore tourism, with over 1 million Indian visitors welcomed in 2023.
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Thailand‘s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Friday the government plans to offer visa-free travel to citizens of several more countries.
Thailand has recently waived visas for citizens of China and India to boost tourism, a key driver of Southeast Asia‘s second-biggest economy.
The visa-free programme for China has helped stimulate the economy “quite a lot”, he said.
“Not just for China, we’ll continue to do this with several more countries,” he said without elaborating.
From Jan. 1 to Feb. 11, Thailand received 4.39 million foreign tourist arrivals, up 48 per cent from a year earlier, with China the top source market.
The government expects about 34-35 million foreign visitors this year, up from about 28 million last year. There were a record of nearly 40 million foreign visitors in pre-pandemic 2019.
Even though fewer Chinese are travelling than before the pandemic, Chinese account for the bulk of visitors to Thailand, which launched its visa waiver in September, and tourism authorities there say they expect 177,000 Chinese tourists for the Lunar New Year holiday, more than three-times 2023 levels. While waiving visas can make a destination more attractive, China’s slowing economic growth, job uncertainties and decline in income this year are likely to temper any outbound travel, analysts say.
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Indian travellers are going places. As India’s middle-class grows, incomes rise and increasingly more Indians are willing to spend big on travel, the world wants their money. Recently, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia have offered visa-free entry to Indians, Vietnam and Indonesia are planning to consider the possibility of introducing visa-free entry for Indian tourists. Iran and Kenya are the latest to join the list of visa-free countries for India besides other countries.
Russia has proposed a regime with India that will allow tourists from both nations to visit each other’s countries without visas if they travel in organized groups. Germany is happy to have increasing numbers of tourists from India and they are doing their best to cope with the visa applications, Georg Enzweiler, Deputy Head of Mission, German Embassy, said recently. The remarkable increase this year is due to diverse campaigns and offers, he said.
The foreign travel boom
With a host of Asian countries offering visa-free travel to Indian tourists, demand for outbound foreign travel has gone up in the past two months, say travel companies.
“The announcement on visa-free entry for Indians to Thailand has seen strong interest – with an uptick of 30 per cent in demand compared to last year,” Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head, Holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India) Limited, has told TOI. “With visas forming a critical deciding factor for Indian travellers, the recent update on visa-free entry to Malaysia from December 1 is a smart move, clearly intended to catalyse visits from the powerful and high growth India market,” he added.
“Indians are leveraging on every opportunity to travel and with the holiday season approaching, we witnessed a growth of over 20 per cent YoY in our bookings for October-December2023,” Daniel D’Souza, President & Country Head – Holidays, SOTC Travel told TOI.
Scapia, a travel fin-tech company, told TOI that the online searches for flights and hotel accommodations have sky-rocketed in the past month because of relaxed visa guidelines. “Hong Kong leads with an astounding 130 per cent surge in searches in the last quarter of 2023. Following closely, Bangkok boasts a substantial 70 per cent rise in flight searches in the last quarter of 2023. Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, has also joined the travel boom with a noteworthy 50 per cent increase in flight searches,” it said.
More Indians might be holidaying overseas this Christmas-New Year season than last year as relatively cheaper fares and packages, better connectivity, and easier entry requirements have made the proposition more compelling, ET has reported. Tour and travel companies such as Thomas Cook, SOTC and EaseMyTrip have seen up to 30 per cent uptick in demand for short-haul international routes compared to last year.
Ajay Prakash, board member of industry body Federation of Associations for Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH), has told ET that international travel is looking more “robust” than domestic travel.
India experienced a remarkable 140 per cent surge in visa applications last year compared to 2021, according to Prabuddha Sen, the Chief Operating Officer for South Asia at VFS Global. He noted that due to Covid restrictions and subsequent geopolitical sensitivities in certain markets, many global destinations are keen to attract Indian travellers. Some countries, such as Indonesia and Azerbaijan, introduced tailored e-visa solutions, including for Indian nationals.
A notable 130% surge in flight searches for Hong Kong was observed by Travel Fintech Scapia in the last quarter of 2023. The platform also saw a 70% rise in searches for Bangkok and a 50% increase in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The platform also saw a remarkable rise in stay searches with Colombo, Sri Lanka, leading with a 550% increase.
D’Souza of SOTC Travel reported robust growth of 227 per cent in outbound travel between January and June this year compared to the same period last year. This growth extends beyond India’s major cities to include tier two and three cities in regional India, driven by rising disposable incomes and the aspirational value of vacations.
Indians have emerged as the second largest group of overseas visitors to the United States this summer, despite long wait times for visa interviews and high airfares.
Why foreign want Indian tourists
Visa-free entry is a carrot to expand the $28 billion that 27 million Indians spent overseas in 2019, Andy Mukherjee wrote in Bloomberg. Those numbers had swelled eightfold and sixfold, respectively, in the two decades before the pandemic.
Indians are not cutting corners while visiting foreign countries. India ranked as the fourth highest spending international market with a spending of $700 million in New York City, NYC Tourism and Conventions EVP, Global Communications, Tiffany Townsend said a few months ago.
A major reason why foreign countries, big as well as small, are courting Indian travellers is China. With the reduction in the number of Chinese tourists, the world is looking at India. “Every destination that I go to, I’m asked about getting Indian travelers there. Whether that’s Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Australia or Singapore. Everybody’s thinking about how they might have potentially lost out on getting the Chinese travelers for a certain period. The Chinese were the number one source market for many destinations globally, and now they would like to focus on getting Indian travelers,” Laura Houldsworth, MD, Asia Pacific (APAC) at Booking.com, said recently.
As the Indian economy grows, disposable incomes are rising too. In the age of social media, foreign travel has become aspirational, especially in Tier II and Tier III cities and towns. A rising middle class is willing to spend on foreign travel. Availability of vacation loans helps this trend. Foreign countries aim to tap this growing spending power of the Indian traveller.
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Indonesia is considering granting visa-free entry to nationals of 20 countries, including the United States, China, Australia, India, South Korea, Germany, Britain and France, to boost its tourism and economy, its tourism minister said on Thursday.
The list will be finalised within a month, statement released by the tourism minister said.
Sandiaga Uno, tourism minister of Indonesia said that they have received instructions from the government to consider visa waiver. The aim of this move is to boost economy, increase tourism and foreign investment.
There were more than 16 million foreign arrivals in Indonesia in pre-pandemic 2019, according to official data.
From January to October this year, Indonesia received 9.49 million foreign visitors, an increase of 124.3% from the same period in 2022.
Thailand and recently Malaysia have also waived visas for visitors from China and India.
In September, Indonesia also announced golden visa to woo foreign individuals and corporate investors.
Asia and the Pacific lagged behind, reaching only 62 per cent of pre-pandemic levels during this period due to a slower reopening to international travel. Notably, South Asia displayed a remarkable recovery of 95 per cent, while North-East Asia trailed at approximately 50 per cent, illustrating mixed performances among subregions.
“The golden visa is granting a residence permit for an extended period of five to 10 years,” director general of immigration, Silmy Karim said in a statement.To be eligible for the five-year visa, an individual needs to set up a company worth $2.5 million. If you want a 10-year visa, an investment of $5 million would be required.
Corporate investors are required to invest $25 million to get five-year visas for directors and commissioners. They need to invest double, or $50 million, to gain a 10 year visa.
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Boosted by visa-free entry into some of the top holiday destinations, a large numbers of tourists from Kolkata are heading to south-east Asian countries like Malaysia and Thailand alongside Sri Lanka, during the coming year-end holiday window as well as during off season, say travel agents in the city.
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Sunday announced a 30-day visa-free entry into the country for Indian visitors from December 1. The development triggered considerable excitement in the city’s travel trade community that has already started receiving queries and bookings from many travellers.
Similar has been the response from travellers flying to Thailand and Sri Lanka – the two nations that have allowed visa-free entry for Indian visitors. While Indians visiting Thailand till May 10, 2024 will not require any visa, Indians travelling to Sri Lanka can avail the same facility till the end of March next year.
In Kolkata, members of the travel trade community said the visa exemption would give a big boost to travel from the city. At present, there are two airlines that fly to Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur from Kolkata, Air Asia and Batik Airways.
Anil Punjabi, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) national committee member representing east India, said that apart from saving time and money, it would make travel to Malaysia hassle-free. “To apply for e-visa, there was a need to furnish hotel confirmation vouchers and air tickets. They were also very fussy about visa photographs. There have been instances where in a family of four, three have got visas and one hasn’t, leading to the cancellation of the trip for all,” he said. While the visa cost was Rs 2,600 per person, it would take three to four working days to process the visas.
The decision to resume e-visas is specific to tourism and business purposes for Canadian nationals. It is noteworthy that India had previously restored visas under four of the 13 categories that were suspended in September, showcasing a gradual normalisation of visa services between the two countries. The Indian tourism industry has welcomed the move saying it is a sigh of relief during the current inbound tourist season.
Thailand too has been a top international destination for Kolkatans and the visa exemption has been attracting even more tourists from the city, said tour operators.“Post Covid multiple countries are relying majorly on tourism and that too tourists from India and other Asian countries to boost their revenue. The temporary visa waiver is also a scheme to attract more Indian tourists who may make last-minute plans to visit these nations. Thailand and Sri Lanka have already been gaining a number of tourists from Kolkata since they made the waiver. Malaysia too has started getting more queries and Vietnam too is likely to follow the same route by this weekend,” said Manav Soni, chairman (east), Travel Agents Association of India.
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Sri Lanka‘s cabinet approved issuing free tourist visas to visitors from seven countries including China, India and Russia, a statement issued by the media ministry said on October 24, to boost tourism and help revive its crisis-hit economy.
Tourists from China, India, Russia, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia will be issued free visas till March 31, 2024 under a pilot programme, the statement detailing cabinet decisions said.
The scheme is part of attempts by Sri Lanka to boost tourism recovery and hit a target of five million arrivals by 2026, the statement added.
India and Sri Lanka have launched an international passenger ferry service after almost 40 years. The service, operated by the government-owned Shipping Corporation of India, runs between Nagapattinam in India and Kankesanthurai in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka. The high-speed craft, Cheriyapani, can carry up to 150 passengers and will make the 60 nautical mile journey in three to four hours.
The Cabinet also proposed to introduce an e-ticketing system for most of the tourist sites in the country in the near future, the ministry said, reported local media. The country of 22 million people, famed for its beaches, ancient temples and aromatic tea, saw its tourism industry pummelled first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then by a severe financial crisis last year that saw mass scale protests and shortages of essentials such as fuel.
But the tourism industry is seeing a turnaround in 2023 with Sri Lanka clocking a million arrivals by September, for the first time since 2019. The island is expecting to close the year at 1.5 million arrivals.
India is the largest source of tourists with 200,310 arrivals, followed by Russia with 132,300, latest data from the Sri Lanka Development Authority showed.
Sri Lanka earned USD 1.3 billion from tourism in the first eight months of 2023, up from USD 33 million dollars during the same period last year, according to the central bank.
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