James Miller

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.

The Chinese foreign ministry warning flagged “serious security threats” and recent seismic activity in Japan, prompting major carriers — Air China, China Eastern and China Southern Airlines — to extend free change and cancellation policies for Japan-bound flights through October 24.

Boeing’s Commercial Market Outlook (CMO) projects that airlines in India and South Asia will need nearly 3,300 new aircraft by 2044, reflecting an average 7% annual passenger traffic growth and a rise in domestic connectivity that will transform airport throughput and ground transport demand.

Blue Origin will retire its New Shepard suborbital vehicle for at least two years to reallocate engineering and operational resources toward developing human lunar capabilities, including the Blue Moon lander and integration with the New Glenn launcher.