Brunei’s Move to Attract Indian Tourists – India Report

Skift Take

Indian travelers are increasingly traveling internationally: Outbound trips among Indians are expected to reach 50 million a year by 2030.

Bulbul Dhawan

Brunei’s flag carrier Royal Brunei Airlines has launched a new direct service between Chennai in India and Bandar Seri Begawan. The airline will operate three weekly flights on the route. The route also aims to build on Royal Brunei Airlines’ codeshare agreement with Air India to capture share among Indian travelers. 

In a statement, the airline said that the route aligns with India’s vision for 2025 to be celebrated as the ASEAN-India Year of Tourism. The initiative is part of India’s ‘Act East Policy,’ which aims to deepen India’s relations with countries in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific region. 

India’s Outbound Potential: India is emerging as a key source destination, as stated in reports by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and consulting firm McKinsey and Company.

In November 2023, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India projected that by 2030, Indian travelers would make over 50 million international trips a year. In 2023, this figure was 28.2 million, according to data from the Indian tourism ministry. Indian commerce body FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) further expects this to increase to 80 million to 90 million trips a year by 2040. 

“Indian nationals are traveling more than before. Six months into 2024, 98% of Indian travelers were keen to explore new destinations, which indicates that Indian traveler’s passion for global exploration has reached unprecedented heights in 2024,” the FICCI report added. 

And for their exploration, Indians are choosing proximity as their key decision factor when finalizing the destination. This has led to Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries increasing their efforts and flight connectivity to India.

Air India’s New Service to Offer More Flexibility

Full-service airline Air India has launched a new service called ‘Fly Prior’ as a way to offer more flexibility to passengers. With this service, Air India passengers will have the option of taking an alternative flight departing up to 12 hours before the originally booked flight. The service aims to target passengers who might need to make last-minute changes to their travel plans. 

However, to use the service, passengers would have to pay an additional fee unless they have Gold or Platinum memberships of the airline’s loyalty program. Moreover, the service can only be availed at Air India’s ticketing counters and check-in desks at airports across India. Both the flights would also need to have the same scheduled date of departure, which would limit the alternative options for passengers who have booked late night flights.

Minor Hotels Hosts Roadshow in India

Global hotel owner and operator Minor Hotels held a three-day roadshow in India to meet travel agents, wedding planners, and MICE companies. During the roadshow, the hotel group aimed to showcase products that cater to the needs of the Indian travelers. The group said that India is a key market as international trips are expected to grow, especially destination weddings and multi-generational trips. 

Minor Hotels is planning to grow its presence in the country. It plans to open 50 new hotels across India over the next 10 years. The first Anantara-branded property is scheduled to open in Jaipur later this year.

StayVista Launches New Brand

Luxury villa company StayVista has launched a new brand called Vize. Under the brand, the company will partner with real estate developers to build vacation homes. Currently, StayVista has more than 800 homeowners partners, and it offers the holiday homes of these partners to guests through its platform. 

With Vize, it aims to extend this service to real estate developers. Vize will work as an advisory arm of StayVista for developers to help with services such as interior design, sales support, and management of bookings and stays.

“There is a great underlying return potential for holiday homes in the real estate industry. The returns on holiday homes are 2 to 3 times of a residential city home,” said Amit Damani, co-founder of StayVista.

Goibibo Launches Next Chapter of ‘No-Compromise’ Campaign

Online travel company Goibibo has launched the next chapter of its ‘No-Compromise’ campaign. The campaign had been introduced earlier this year. The latest version targets travelers in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala states in South India, and stars father-son brand ambassadors Jayaram and Kalidas. The latest campaign references cult classic film ‘Panchatanthiram’ to build on nostalgia. 

This is the latest step by an Indian company to promote their brands through Bollywood celebrities. Earlier this year, Hilton partnered with Indian actor Sidharth Malhotra to extend its global marketing platform, ‘Hilton. For The Stay’ in the Indian market. Indian celebrities enjoy significant following in the country and can influence the decisions of their fans. Last year, hotel chain Accor partnered with actor Katrina Kaif in its ALL – Accor Live Limitless loyalty program campaign. In 2022, Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt became the first Indian celebrity to endorse Mandarin Oriental hotel group as part of its global The Fan campaign.

SAMHI Hotels Signs Hotel in Hyderabad

Indian hotel owner SAMHI Hotels has announced a new 170-175 room hotel in Hyderabad. The hotel will be an Upper Upscale property. An office building will be converted for this project. At present, SAMHI owns and operates four hotels across Hyderabad. 

The development comes a month after SAMHI Hotels acquired Innmar Tourism and Hotels for an enterprise value of INR 2.05 billion ($24.4 million). As part of the deal, the company also acquired the 142-room Trinity Hotel in the Whitefield area of Bengaluru. The complex has the opportunity to add a second hotel with 200-220 rooms.