About India Outbound Magazine

India Outbound, a bi-monthly print magazine with dynamic web and social media presence focused on outbound travel from India, is published by Media India Group. Distributed all over India, and in all the top tourism events across the world, India Outbound caters mainly to the tourism professionals and is looking to develop new and innovative circuits and promote new destinations to the high-end travellers.

click to read the latest issue

VisitMalaysia conducts three-city roadshow in India

Malaysia kicked off the VisitMalaysia (VM) 2020 campaign covering three cities of India, namely Amritsar, Mumbai and Hyderabad from July 22-25, 2019. Sulaiman Bin Suip, director, Tourism Malaysia launched the roadshow in Amritsar which had 37 participants from Malaysia comprising of travel agents, product owners, hotels and airlines coming together to share the development of Malaysian tourism, and announce the Visit Malaysia year in 2020.

The VM2020 roadshow emphasized India as potential market for the country as in 2018, 600,311 (+8.6 pc) Indian tourists visited Malaysia and spent almost INR 45.24 billion. Tourism in Malaysia is doing well with good arrivals and tourism development, stated Sulaiman.

Malaysia offers various attractions like Desaru Coast, Legoland Malaysia, indoor entertainment parks like Superpark in Avenue K, My Best Box in Berjaya Times Square, Futureland Fun Zone in Sunway Pyramid, and VR’s hotspot the Rift in Mid Valley Mega Mall and Skytropolis in Genting.

“In term of visa, the Malaysian government always facilitates Indian tourists’ entry at ease, since the introduction of eNTRI and eVISA,” he added.

Sulaiman reiterated that Malaysia is going full-force in reaching out to the world using the help of the web. “The campaign’s focus is on digital marketing through a dedicated VM2020 website, the use of hashtags for VisitMalaysia2020, VM2020 and MalaysiaTrulyAsia,” he added.

Sri Lanka includes India for free visa on arrival scheme

Sri Lanka has granted approval to issue on-arrival visa to tourists from countries, including India and China, aiming to revive its flagging tourism sector after the deadly Easter bombings.

On July 10, the Sri Lankan government planned to revive the visa on arrival and free visa programme for 39 countries with effect from August 1. But the programme then, however, excluded Sri Lanka's top source markets, namely India and China, according to Colombo page.

"As the security situation has improved, the Cabinet of ministers decided to revive the visa-free scheme, and also extended it to seven more countries," the government said in a statement.

Commenting on the scheme, Chinthaka Weerasinghe, manager northern India SriLankan Airlines said, “We are expecting an increase in the number of tourist arrivals from India and from other markets as well. Especially, after the April Easter attack, we had to take a lot of steps to boost our tourism, as a National Carrier we are excited about this new change.”

The visas-on-arrival pilot programme was part of a larger initiative to increase tourist arrivals to the country during the six month off-season period from May to October.

However, the initiative remained suspended indefinitely following the Easter Sunday attacks that rattled several high-end hotels and churches across the country on April 21.

Air Tanzania launches direct flight from Mumbai to Dar es Salaam

Air Tanzania, the national carrier of United Republic of Tanzania launched a direct flight from Mumbai to Dar es Salaam on July 18, 2019. The 6 hours 20 minutes flight departed Dar es Salaam at 19:30 hours and arrived in Mumbai at 4:20 hours (IST).

Air Tanzania will fly thrice a week from Mumbai on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. The launch of direct flight to India seen as one of the biggest move to Air Tanzania with ambitious and committed initiative to boost the connection to India, which is the key to tourism market and trade partner for United Republic of Tanzania.

Ladislaus Matindi, managing director & CEO of Air Tanzania said, “It gives us a great pleasure to launch our flight to Mumbai, India. This new service would significantly strengthen the tourism flow and the trade relation between the two countries. To serve the significant volume of traffic with high quality service, we have deployed a Boeing 787 Dreamliner on this route for the betterment of our esteemed passengers. Our focus areas would be the safety to our customers, customer satisfaction, best in class hospitality, on-time service, hassle-free booking and affordable fares. We are optimistic to see a big number of people travelling to both countries by Air Tanzania since we rank to be the airline of choice soon and not later.”

IndiGo launches new international flights to Dhaka and Yangon

Budget carrier IndiGo has announced a series of new international flights connecting Indian cities Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata with cities in Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Thailand and middle-eastern countries.

The international route Kolkata-Yangon (Myanmar) will start from September 20 while Delhi-Dhaka (Bangladesh) will begin operations on August 22. Also two new routes from Mumbai- Singapore and Bangkok are also supposed to start from August 22. IndiGo is also going to connect with China as it starts flights from Delhi to Chengdu on September 15 and is also likely to start flying to Guangzhou this year. The Mumbai-Dubai and Delhi-Jeddah flights were scheduled to begin operations from July 25.

"These new routes once again reflect our unflinching commitment towards expanding our international operations," said William Boulter, chief commercial officer, IndiGo.

About the Yagnon route he said, “We see significant traffic coming from Yangon to the Buddhist circuit thereby enhancing economic growth and tourism in India. The new route will strengthen the cultural relationship between the two countries and will boost trade, tourism and mobility.” And about Dhaka launch he said, “We are confident, with Dhaka being a handicraft and textile hub in Asia, enhanced connectivity will promote trade as well as tourism between India and Bangladesh.”

Hong Kong aims for a better growth from India this year

Hong Kong, which received over seven per cent growth in Indian arrivals during the first quarter of 2019, is aiming for an accelerated growth from Indian market this year. “In 2019, we expect a growth in our Indian arrivals especially with improved air connectivity on Cathay Pacific from all six key Indian ports and two new LCC’s Indigo and SpiceJet flying from New Delhi and Bengaluru and a strong demand in Incentive group travel and fly-cruise segment. We are positive about the increase in market share this year,” Puneet Kumar, director, South Asia & Middle East, Hong Kong Tourism Board, said.

In order to achieve the increased numbers, the Board has lined up multi-phased promotional campaigns in partnership with media, trade, and non-trade partners to engage with leisure, cruise and MICE segment in India. “In 2019, our focus is to creatively communicate and engage with the young affluent Indian travellers to bring alive Hong Kong’s core experiences,” he added.

Speaking about the growth in MICE segment from India, Kumar said that Hong Kong sets off to a new MICE tourism era in 2019 and it will be highlighting a world of opportunities for MICE planners through the city’s latest product offerings, enhanced connectivity and new experiences and MICE privileges of the Hong Kong Rewards! programme, all designed to lure incentive planners for choosing Hong Kong as their next destination.

SpiceJet launches Mumbai-Hong Kong direct flight

SpiceJet is set to start direct services to Hong Kong from Mumbai from end July. The airline has also said that it will soon connect Mumbai with international destinations such as Colombo and Kathmandu. SpiceJet, a Gurugram-based airline currently operates flight services from New Delhi to Hong Kong. The carrier said in a statement that it will deploy Boeing 737-800s on the new routes, which it claims is first by any domestic carrier.

SpiceJet has launched 76 new flights since April 2019 connecting Mumbai to multiple domestic and international destinations.

“With the introduction of the new flights, passengers from Hong Kong will be able to easily travel to a host of other cities both on SpiceJet's domestic as well as international network via multiple onward connections from Mumbai. SpiceJet's new Hong Kong flight will help meet the growing demand from both leisure and business travellers to and from Mumbai," the statement added. SpiceJet is also going to launch flights on Mumbai-Jeddah-Mumbai, Mumbai-Dhaka-Mumbai and Mumbai-Riyadh-Mumbai routes within the next month.

Ajay Singh, chairman and managing director of SpiceJet, said, “SpiceJet is the only Indian budget airline to operate to Saudi Arabia and our new flights to Riyadh and Jeddah should greatly benefit the thousands of pilgrims travelling from India.”

Georgia enhances co-operation with VFS Global

Ministry of foreign affairs of Georgia represented by Archil Dzuliashvili, ambassador of Georgia; Chris Dix, head of business development, VFS Global; and Alok Singhal, regional head- north & east India, VFS Global, recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The objective of the MoU is to provide easier access to Georgia for travellers visiting for tourism and business while improving the integrity of the visa and admission process; to ensure that foreign students travelling to Georgia on study visas have the right credentials, academic ability, financial capability and intent; to help Georgian Educational Institutions improve the quality of their foreign students and to make Georgia an attractive study destination; to increase the flow of travellers to experience the heritage of Georgia and have the opportunity to explore what Georgia has to offer.

Under the MoU, VFS Global shall work with the ministry of foreign affairs of Georgia to develop and manage a digital eVisa solution to aid in the processing of eVisa/Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) applications. This service will include the option to upload the required supporting documents and make the necessary fee payments online.

Giorgi Tabatadze, director of the consular department of the ministry of foreign affairs of Georgia said, “The Memorandum signed on July 19 between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and VFS Global will further simplify procedures and remove all kinds of technical barriers. Yet another important element is that pre-checks and initial validation of visa documents will be provided on the ground – in India- that will contribute to free movement of bona fide tourists and visitors across the Georgian border.”

“Tale of the Lion King” debuts at Disney California Adventure Park

An all-new, original outdoor musical theatre production, “Tale of the Lion King,” has debuted at Disney California Adventure Park. This new stage show celebrates the characters and music of Disney’s “The Lion King” in an imaginative and unique way. The lead narrator, Mwongozo –Swahili for “guide”— leads a troupe of 18 performers called the Storytellers of the Pride Lands in this adaptation, which is presented in a contemporary story-theatre style that retells the tale through language, song and dance.

“The approach that we’ve taken with ‘Tale of the Lion King’ is that this is a story that was passed on from generation to generation, and now it’s come here to Disney California Adventure Park,” said Susana Tubert, creative director, Disney Parks Live Entertainment. “The Storytellers of the Pride Lands have come to share this ancestral story of how a cub became a king.”

Guests will dance and sing along to new musical arrangements of their favourite songs, including “Circle of Life”, “Can you Feel the Love Tonight” and “Hakuna Matata” among others. The live drumming and singing, along with the set and costumes all celebrate the cultural roots of this beloved Disney story.

For a limited-time, “Tale of the Lion King” will be performed several times daily at the Palisades Stage in Disney California Adventure.

Disneyland Paris pays tribute to a part of Indian culture in The Jungle Book Jive

This live show is an original Disneyland Paris creation performed in the heart of Disneyland Park. It revolves around four sequences, with the major highlight taking place on Central Plaza with a 360 degree show in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

There are nearly 70 characters and performers in the cast, including drummers coming especially from the state of Rajasthan, India. Ten Disney characters are part of the show: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Chip and Dale, Clarice, Baloo and King Louie.

Gigantic, colourful animals up to five metres high are used by artists as musical instruments. A team from Disneyland Paris spent several weeks in India, including the state of Rajasthan, to get inspiration and create the most immersive experience possible.

Iconic songs from The Jungle Book were specially orchestrated by American composer Roger Butterley, including ‘The Bare Necessities’, ‘I Wanna be Like You’ and ‘Trust in Me’. He also composed an exclusive song just for this show. It took two years to fully develop this new show, including a full month of rehearsals in-studio and in the park at night.

You can follow their journey, and the behind-the-scenes of The Lion King and Jungle Festival, in a special documentary broadcast on YouTube starting July 26.

Universal Studios Hollywood marks the grand opening of “Jurassic World—The Ride”

Universal Studios Hollywood ushered in its new attraction, “Jurassic World—The Ride” with a grand opening celebration attended by stars of the Jurassic World films and of the new thrill ride, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard along with the film’s director/screenwriter Colin Trevorrow and producer Frank Marshall. They were joined by Ron Meyer, vice-chairman, NBC Universal; Tom Williams, chairman, Universal Parks & Resort; Karen Irwin, president & COO of Universal Studios Hollywood, and Mark Woodbury vice-chairman, Universal Parks and Resort & President.

“Jurassic World—The Ride” captures the essence of the movies and comes to life in collaboration with the award-winning and inspired minds at Universal Creative, the Academy Award-winning special-effects visionaries at Industrial Light & Magic, a division of Lucasfilm, Ltd., Universal Pictures and filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Colin Trevorrow and Frank Marshall.

The experience is further enhanced by the elaborately themed “Raptor Encounter,” where Blue, the velociraptor from the movies, engages with guests in daring face-to-face encounters, along with the addition of two new realistic dinosaurs – Baby Raptor with her handler and a life-size, life-like Triceratops. A new interactive “Dino Play” area invites children to explore and excavate giant dinosaur fossils.

Costa Rican-inspired cuisine and flavourful Tiki cocktails served at Jurassic Café and all-new tropical Isla Nu-bar add to the guest experience while an array of souvenir collectible, limited edition and one-of-a-kind dimensional dinosaur sculptures from the Jurassic Outfitters store invite guests to savour a piece of this thrill ride.

India Outbound is a publication of Media India Group