Faster Visas, More Direct Flights: What India-U.S. Tourism Needs – India Report

What can India and U.S. do to boost tourism? According to the first Indo-U.S. Tourism and Hospitality Summit held by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce in Delhi on Friday, the answer is speedier visas and more direct flights.

Suman Billa, Additional Secretary with India’s Tourism Ministry, said that the bulk of India-U.S. air travel is through third countries like those in the Middle East or Europe. “If we get more direct flights, not only will the market become more cost competitive for people to travel both ways, but it will also add to the convenience of traveling to the U.S. But for some reason, this is not happening,” he said.

Currently, for the most part, Air India, American Airlines, and United Airlines are the carriers operating non-stop flights between the two countries.

Billa further noted that even though the visa for the U.S. is valid for 10 years, the process is cumbersome. 

Still, there’s been a lot of progress. In January, the U.S. Embassy said that it had reduced visa appointment wait times in India by 75% last year, even as there was a 60% increase in applications from 2022. It said that process improvements and staffing decisions brought down the appointment wait time for visitor visas from an average of 1,000 days to 250 days. 

At the Skift India Summit in March, Eric Garcetti, U.S. Ambassador to India, said that he was asked by U.S. President Joe Biden to work on reducing the backlog of visa applications. “I don’t know this for sure, but I bet it’s the only time the United States president has told the ambassador, ‘Please work on visa issues,’” Garcetti said.  

At the Chamber of Commerce event, Jonathan M Heimer, minister counselor for commercial affairs, U.S. Commercial Service, said that over the past year, visa processing has gained momentum. “We have been able to process 60% more visas with more or less the same resources. We have also issued more than 1.1 million visas in the last year, which is a record for us,” he said. 

Short-Term Visas? MakeMyTrip co-founder and group CEO Rajesh Magow suggested the introduction of short-term visas for tourists. “There are many other countries which have done it, so maybe a short-term tourist visa can be quick and could be one potential innovation that can happen,” he said. 

Between January and May 2024, India emerged as the second-largest international source market – not including Canada and Mexico – for tourism in the U.S., data from the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) showed. In 2023, 1.7 million Indian tourists visited the U.S., and NTTO is expecting this number to increase to 2 million by 2027. 

India’s Potential for Growth: Billa said that even though India and the U.S. share a strong bilateral relationship and travel between the nations is growing, there is significant room for progress. “Even though the numbers are good, from the tourism perspective, India has not really capitalized on the potential we have. There is probably much more headroom for us to capture,” he added. 

At the Skift India Summit, Garcetti had said that there is a big demand from Indian tourists to visit the U.S., but the reverse is not true. “Americans don’t know India and Indians like India and Indians know America and Americans. I think there’s an awakening happening now, so this is going to be more of a two-way street,” he had said.

“I think there’s a lot of work to be done to promote India as a tourism destination,” he added.

Indian Gen-Z Travelers Embracing Technology to Enhance Experience

Indian Gen-Z travelers (born between 1995 and 2010) are embracing technology to enhance their travel experiences, Booking.com said on Thursday. It said that about 70% of the surveyed Gen-Z travelers in India are comfortable with including more technology in their travel planning. 

They are also comfortable taking suggestions from AI on places that are less explored and using it to make an itinerary. 

Indian Gen-Z travelers also seek value for money and use off-peak season to travel to save costs. They also consider including unique once-in-a-lifetime experiences during their trip, such as skydiving or hot air ballooning. Over 70% of them also look for travel discounts through loyalty programs to increase their savings. 

The platform added that about 70% of Gen-Z travelers admitted to repeating an accommodation that they had enjoyed. 

“With 65% of India’s population under the age of 35 years, it is crucial to understand the travel sentiment of the Gen Z travelers as they redefine the way we experience the world. Their eagerness for unique and immersive experiences and tech prowess while prioritizing value for money is driving the demand for innovative technology-based travel solutions and experiential travel,” said Santosh Kumar, country manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Booking.com. 

Hong Kong Targeting Indian Travelers to Drive Tourism

Indian travelers are among the biggest spenders in Hong Kong, on average spending INR 100,000 ($1,200) per person, Hong Kong Tourism Board director Puneet Kumar told Indian media. In the first six months of 2024, 181,000 Indians visited the region. The city is aiming to attract 560,000 tourists from India by the end of this year: double that of 2023. 

For this, Hong Kong is positioning itself as a year-round destination with major events and festivals. Kumar said that the focus is on Gen-Z and Millennials as the city is looking to encourage repeat and frequent visits by catering to a group that is interested in concerts and festivals.

Apart from this, the board is also looking at leisure and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) segments to attract Indian audiences. 

Japan Airlines Enhances Tokyo-Bangalore Connectivity 

Japan Airlines is set to increase the frequency of flights between Tokyo and Bangalore to five weekly flights from October, the Bengaluru International Airport has said. The airline currently operates three flights a week on the sector. 

Currently, Bangalore is the only airport in South India to offer direct connectivity to Tokyo, and Japan Airlines is the only airline operating on this route. The increase in frequency comes in response to a rise in demand. 

The airport said that in 2023, Japan Airlines flew nearly 63,000 passengers between Bangalore and Japan, an increase of 168% as compared to 2022. 

Thomas Cook Launches Customer Self-Service App

Thomas Cook India and its group company SOTC Travel have launched a customer self-service (CSS) holiday app. Through this app, the travel services company aims to allow customers an end-to-end post-booking experience. 

The app provides features such as sightseeing schedules of customers, their hotel reservations and flight tickets, insurance details, visa status tracker, and weather updates. CSS was piloted in April, and witnessed a customer adoption rate of 50%. 

Thomas Cook’s move comes days after it launched an AI-powered platform to help customers plan holidays, check availability, and make bookings quickly by eliminating the need for them to reach out to holiday experts. 

Air India Adds Flights to Kolkata for Festival Season

Full service airline Air India has announced temporary additional flights from four cities to Kolkata to meet the travel demand during the upcoming Durga Puja festivities. 

While daily additional flights from Delhi have already commenced this month, daily additional flights from Bangalore, Mumbai, and Hyderabad will start next month. 

All the additional services will continue till October, according to the schedule shared by the airline.