In the next ten days, the Indian government must take a decision on the returning of foreign tourists to the country. At the moment, the leaders of the Indian Ministry of the Interior are discussing with all interested parties the proposed date and conditions for opening the country to foreign tourists.

Air India resumed regular flights to Moscow on the Delhi - Moscow - Delhi route.

Russia will resume flights to Vietnam, India, Finland and Qatar on January 27, 2021, with several flights per week.

The Russian tour operator Tui, as well as the Royal Flight airline, has applied to the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Indian Airports Authority for permission to resume charter flights to the Indian resort of Goa from October 26.

The Indian state of Goa began to remove restrictions on the tourist business. The first boards with Russian tourists can land in Goa in mid-October.

India canceled tourist visas already issued. The restriction is valid until April 15, 2020. Tour operators cancel arrivals in India.

In India the chartered season will come to an early end with the recently imposed ban on visas due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Indian and Russian air carriers are introducing new services from Mumbai and Delhi to Moscow. Around 450 000 people flew between India and Russia in twelve months ending December 2019, a growth of around ten percent over the previous year.

The current winter season in Goa, according to experts, is similar to the season in 2019. However, the demand for destination this winter season is growing mainly due to regional tourists - tour operators offer a very budget tours.

Ural Airlines has opened the sale of tickets for a new direct flight Moscow (Domodedovo) to Mumbai (India). The flight will be operated from March 30, 2020 four times a week.

High competition between the countries of Southeast Asia, as well as an increased demand for the Caribbean and the popularity of Turkey have led to the fact that the demand for the Indian state fell by 10-15% compared to last year indicators.

The leading winter destinations show a significant increase in sales on the stage of early booking. The growth of the demand in tours to the UAE, Thailand, Vietnam and India is very significant this year.

India is truly a priority tourism source market for Russia. It is one of the countries Rosturizm wants to work very aggressively in and develop as one of strongest tourism source markets.

The minimum prices for holiday tours to India are comparable to the cost of air tickets to the destination. Experts see the reason of the situation in the specifics of India as a tourist destination.

The demand for India remains at the level of last year. The information about a decrease in the cost of a visa did not affect tourist demand in any way.

The arrival of the first charter flight from Russia has opened the beginning of the tourism season in India’s Goa. The chartered flight is being facilitated by Russia-based charter airline Royal Flight in association with Gurugram-based Caper Travel.

Royal Flight air company will open the new destination from the international airport of Krasnodar for winter season. The tourists are planning to visit Indian state Goa from Krasnodar this winter directly. The flights will be fulfilled once in 11 days according to schedule since 02.11.2019 till 24.03.2020 on Boeing 757-200 with capacity of 239 passengers on board.

Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and India are the leaders of the coming winter. For these areas winter sales grew by 1,5 times within early booking program. The early booking of tours for the winter season this year began very early and the interest of tourists in this action is very high

Tourism minister of India Prakhlad Singh Patel has announced that 30-days electronic visa will cost two times cheaper. The authorities plan to correlate the price with the period of travelling to India. Press Trust of India informs that the price for 30 days visa during the high season may be 25$, during the low season in April-June it may be only 10$. Tourists may get one-year visa for 40$ instead of 100$ as now, while five-year visa may cost 80$. But there is no definite date when this decision comes into the reality.

Russia’s third largest air carrier by passenger numbers, Ural Airlines (based in Ekaterinburg), wants to start daily flights between Mumbai and Moscow. The airline recently conducted its inaugural Mumbai — Moscow flight. “India is being the most (fastest) developing country in the world, we are trying to open up the route with an aim of having four weekly flights between Mumbai and Moscow, (later) increasing it to daily flights,” Marianna Galagura, head of its international relations and charter sales department of the air carrier, said. 

A 50% drop in charter arrivals from Russia was witnessed in India’s Goa during the recently concluded holiday season compared to the previous year, the Times of India reports. According to official data, 62,000 less Russian tourists visited Goa’s tourist resorts. 

On Wednesday March 13 at the exhibition MITT 2019 (Moscow) Russian Travel Digest (RTD) met with Mrs. Vinita Rashinkar, the Director of BlueBrick Marketing & Communications. At the exhibition, Vinita Rashinkar represented Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.