James Miller

NH-44 between Srinagar and Jammu remained closed for a second consecutive day as fresh snowfall and icy patches prevented safe passage, leaving hundreds of tourists and local travellers unable to reach their destinations despite partial resumption of flights at Srinagar airport.

Accumulations up to four feet have rendered five high-altitude trekking routes into Mustang impassable, prompting officials to advise against travel along these corridors.

IndiGo’s inaugural non‑stop service between Mumbai and Athens enabled a direct passenger flow that supported a six‑day familiarisation tour, carrying 17 leading travel professionals from western India and linking airport schedules, inter‑island transfers and city logistics into a single trade‑education itinerary.

Hotels across Goa reported near-full to full occupancy during the New Year period, while the state registered 1.08 crore tourists (domestic and international) in 2025.

From 1 January 2026 all foreign nationals entering Georgia must present health and accident insurance with a minimum coverage of 30,000 GEL, valid for the entire stay and issued in either Georgian or English; policies may be in physical or electronic form and may be issued by Georgian or foreign insurers.

South African Tourism will stage its 22nd Annual India Multi-City Roadshow across Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, and Delhi from 5–12 February 2026, aligning the Mumbai leg (5–7 Feb) with Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) Mumbai 2026; the programme features 41 exhibitors including 8 SMMEs and plans to showcase new products that represent 17.1% of offerings.

Etihad Airways currently operates 185 flights per week to 11 Indian gateways, and the recent Etihad Guest tie-ups with BOBCARD, Flipkart, Swiggy, The Postcard Hotel and Shoppers Stop are likely to increase passenger yield from metropolitan and tier‑2 routes, shifting peak ground‑transport flows at major airports.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding, Embraer and Adani Defence & Aerospace will evaluate phased localisation of an assembly line in India, prioritising integrated supply-chain nodes, on‑site MRO capacity, and pilot-training modules to support UDAN-driven regional routes serving Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Ebix Travels will centralize operational oversight across corporate travel management, MICE, luxury rail journeys and destination services under Arun Batra, with explicit directives to tighten cross-vertical execution and grow partnership networks in both domestic and international markets.

Embedding policy controls at the point of booking and enabling OCR receipt capture reduces manual reconciliation steps and gives procurement teams near real-time visibility across flights, hotels and ancillary services.

Boeing forecasts growing demand for the Boeing 787 in India: Air India currently operates 33 Dreamliners (26 legacy B787‑8, six B787‑9 and one new post‑privatisation unit) while IndiGo leases additional 787s, creating an immediate need for expanded airport handling, crew rotations and ground logistics at major hubs such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

The Disney Adventure's March 2026 homeporting in Singapore will create concentrated embarkation and disembarkation peaks during three‑ and four‑night itineraries, with evening pyrotechnic performances expected to generate elevated demand for airport transfers, taxis and private cars on select nights.