Oman welcomed 32,570 Indian tourist arrivals in May 2022. A total of 13,481 Indian travelers visited Oman in January 2022, compared to 7,340 in January 2021. In the following months, February recorded 15,664 visits (up from 10,333 in February 2021), March 22,938 (up from 18,623 in March 2021), and April 24,881 (a sharp rise from 5,919 in April 2021).

The National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) has released a monthly report on tourist indicators for April 2022 revealing that 577,000 tourists had visited Oman, while 1.2 million left the nation by the end of April 2022. Oman received travellers from GCC nations, India, Yemen, Germany, and United Kingdom by the end of April 2022.

According to the survey, three to five-star hotels generated a revenue of OMR 60 million by the end of April from 511,000 tourists, indicating an 86.3 per cent increase over April 2021. In April 2022, the total occupancy rate in hotels was 31.6 per cent, with 82,000 guests, as compared to 39 per cent in April 2021, a decline of 18.9 per cent. In contrast, 75,000 visitors visited during the same month in 2021, a rise of 9.7 per cent.

In April 2022, there were a total of 245,799 outbound visitors, compared to 81,821 tourists in April 2021. According to the report, Omanis had the highest number of outbound travellers, with 126,200 (compared to 28,071 in 2021), followed by 119,599 foreigners (compared to 53,751 in April 2021).

In April 2022, 245,799 tourists departed Oman, with locals accounting for 51.3 per cent of the total outgoing visitors. As compared to the corresponding period in 2021, the number of tourists leaving Oman increased by an estimated 163,978 in April 2022. Similarly, those departing Oman increased by 98,000 visitors in April 2022 as against the same period in 2021.

The total number of visitors arriving in Oman in April 2022 was 163,000, an increase of 12 times over the previous year's inbound tourists of 13,000 visitors. There were 74,111 Gulf tourists in April 2022, accounting for 45.5 per cent of all inbound visitors.

Sabre Corporation has completed the initial phase of its rollout of SynXis Retail Studio, which was created to transform the future of hotel retailing and deliver the personalized travel experience that guests have come to expect.    

Cordis Hotel & Resorts in Hong Kong has been a pilot customer for SynXis Retail Studio since 2019. Despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, since the introduction of SynXis Retail Studio, Cordis has seen a 53% increase in experiences, a 46% increase in merchandise, and a 35% increase in services sold per room night, as compared to the same period in 2019.   

The ability to diversify and move beyond the ordinary attribute-based selling is key for hoteliers in today’s environment. SynXis Retail Studio, which is the latest solution to be added to the SynXis platform, enables hoteliers to diversify to retail goods, services, experiences, merchandise, policies and more by attribute at the point of distribution. This ability to retail virtually anything results in more opportunities to create additional revenue streams outside the room.   

“SynXis Retail Studio is a game-changer,” shared Scott Wilson, President, Sabre Hospitality. “With the development of this revolutionary technology, we seek to re-define the way hoteliers do business and place a greater focus on guest experience. At Sabre, we have been intensively focused on powering a wide array of integrated, efficient, and easy-to-use solutions that help unlock exceptional value and revenue for hoteliers. The results that we have seen through the pilot phase of SynXis Retail Studio show our success in achieving this and mark an important step towards our vision of truly personalized travel.”   

SynXis Retail Studio allows hoteliers to offer a personalized guest experience through expanded customer choice. Hoteliers can focus on driving incremental revenue by increasing retailing options, while creating a memorable guest experience unique to their brand.   

“To succeed in the competitive industry that we face today, it is crucial that hoteliers have the right technology in place to meet customers’ expectations,” said Tom Winrow, VP Product Management, Sabre Hospitality. “With SynXis Retail Studio, hoteliers can sell virtually anything. The right combination of ancillaries and services will better position hoteliers to reinforce their brand proposition during the guest booking. SynXis Retail Studio has already supported double-digit revenue increases for our pilot properties, and we are excited to see the benefits for the wider industry as we move beyond the pilot phase.”   

SynXis Retail Studio is directly integrated with SynXis Central Reservations and SynXis Booking Engine, and among future functionalities it is expected to offer the opportunity to utilize predictive analytics via machine learning to optimize revenue. 

IndiGo and Turkish Airline have resumed their codeshare flights and partnership by opening the sale earlier this month. Scheduled operations will be restarted in a phased manner with the first flight effective yesterday.

The codeshare is considered as Bilateral Free Flow Codeshare wherein both the airlines will place its code on another’s flights. The agreement will enable both the carriers to provide more flexibility of choice to the customers on sectors between India and Istanbul, amongst others.

In the 1st phase, both the airlines are open for sale, with Turkish Airlines as the marketing carrier, and IndiGo as the operating carrier. Turkish Airlines will be placing its code on trunk route flights operated by 6E on the Delhi-Istanbul route and later from six domestic destinations in India including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Ronojoy Dutta, Wholetime Director and Chief Executive Officer, IndiGo said, “We are pleased to resume our strategic partnership with Turkish Airlines to offer more options to our passengers. Owing to the recovery of overall aviation industry, this agreement will extend our on-time, affordable, courteous, and hassle-free travel experience by expanding the choices available to our customers for journeys beyond Istanbul, using Turkish Airlines’ extensive network through a dozen destinations covered by our agreement.”

Bilal Ekşi, Chief Executive Officer Turkish Airlines, said, “After witnessing two tough years of pandemic, airline industry is now in the new period which will enable us to recover and improve partnerships. In this new era, every cooperation has become more important for each airline.  We are very happy to see that as Turkish Airlines and IndiGo, we reactivated our codeshare cooperation by resumption of our flights between Turkiye and India. I am glad to announce that our passengers will continue to experience better connections by this opportunity.”

Currently, Turkish Airlines operates a daily flight on Delhi-Istanbul and Mumbai-Istanbul routes, whereas IndiGo operates a daily flight on Delhi-Istanbul route and is also planning to add a second frequency from August 2022.

Etihad Airways and Abu Dhabi International Airport have geared up resources and are ready to welcome 2.7 million network passengers over the summer months, following a surge in demand for global travel.  

Over 1.4 million passengers will depart from Abu Dhabi International Airport, including 330,000 local joiners, with more than 1100 weekly network-wide departures.

Mohammad Al Bulooki, Chief Operating Officer, Etihad Aviation Group, said: “As travel rebounds from the impact of the global pandemic, Etihad has witnessed a vast increase in bookings over recent weeks.  With summer holidays upon us and to manage the increase in passenger numbers, Etihad has bolstered operations both locally and across our global network to ensure guests enjoy a seamless airport and flight experience.”

Importantly, guests are reminded to check-in online, use the Verified to Fly service to submit any Covid-related travel documents for prior approval, and arrive at the airport early.

Etihad Airways has resumed passenger flights between Abu Dhabi and Beijing. Etihad’s inaugural flight became the first regular direct international passenger service to return to Beijing under the latest mandate of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council in response to Covid-19.

Tony Douglas, Group Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Aviation Group, said: “Today marks a significant moment in Etihad’s history as passenger flights resume to Beijing for the first time in over 800 days. The direct flights between Abu Dhabi and Beijing will undoubtedly facilitate the deepening of bilateral cooperation in various fields and promote stronger bonds among the people of the two nations.

“As global travel restrictions rapidly ease, Etihad is equipped to further increase operations to China and meet the rising demand from travellers in both locations to support the recovery of economic and social activities worldwide.” Douglas added.

Ahmed Al Qubaisi, Senior Vice President, Government International & Communications, Etihad Aviation Group, commented: “Etihad’s flight today is a testament to the successful comprehensive strategic partnership between both capitals and demonstrates the joint determination of both governments to build upon it. Etihad is tremendously grateful to be part of this moment and to contribute to the increasingly close ties between the UAE and China.

“Etihad continues to deliver on its commitment to facilitating a resilient and prosperous air bridge between the UAE and China, and beyond. This maintains passenger and cargo movement and supports economic and political exchanges between both nations.”

Following the inaugural flight, the regular weekly service will commence on 6 July, and will be operated by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, featuring Business and Economy cabins.

The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts appoints Umapathy Amirtham as the General Manager of The Leela Ashtamudi, a Raviz Hotel.

With an experience of 25 years, Umapathy was previously associated with brands like The Hyatt in Goa, Dubai, and Chennai, Umaid Bhavan Palace Jodhpur, Windsor Manor Sheraton Towers Bangalore, and ITC Kakatiya Hyderabad.

His journey began with The Leela Palace Chennai in March 2016 as Room Division Manager and later he was promoted as Hotel Manager at The Leela Palace Jaipur for heading operations in April 2021.

Cordelia Cruises appoints Mr. Pankaj Jaswal as the National Sales Head. Pankaj brings 22 years of experience in Hotel Sales and Marketing from the hospitality industry.

Pankaj has previously worked with brands such as Taj Hotels, The Park Hotels, The Paul Hotels & Resorts, Sterling Resorts, and Zuri Hotels & Resorts. His last assignment before joining Cordelia Cruises was with Mahindra Holidays and Resorts as the General Manager of Resort Sales.

 

The tourism scenario in India is taking a drastic shift with each day post pandemic due to the constant changing circumstances. The pandemic has brought down the travel and tourism sectors to a total halt. In 2020, approximately 6.33 million international tourists and non-resident Indians arrived in India, down from about 18 million in 2019.

 

The share of international tourist arrivals into India relative to South Asia was (YY-%) 2019-69.11%, 2020-67.2%, 2021-45.86%, 2022-56.63% and for the coming years the share is expected to be 2023-61.09%, 2024-65.61%, thus slowly achieving the levels as to where it was before pandemic.

 

However, with the opening of air services and borders, India needs to plan and execute an aggressive marketing and promotional campaigns to boost the tourism arrivals.

 

“Situations have changed now, and nothing is as clear as the pre-pandemic scenario. We must start looking on things with a different angle, share as much as perspectives as we can,” Liz Ortiguera, CEO, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) said during a webinar organized by PATA India chapter.

 

Talking more about India, the CEO informed that India has outperformed APAC countries in the recovery with a faster capacity rebuild. “While other countries are suffering due to under capacity, India has bounced back nicely in the recovery phase,” she added.

 

According to economist’s research, when the desire for conscious tourism is cut across the geography, India stands at average 57% post pandemic which is relatively high when considering sustainable tourism practices and sense of responsibility, towards both consumers and corporate.

 

The World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 suggests that within Asia, China was forecasted to seeing the biggest tourism growth, becoming the biggest inbound market by 2030, where there will be 6.7 billion domestic trips by 2023, up from 4.7 billion in 2018.

 

But post pandemic, China’s ability to ‘flip’ capacity to domestic routes and encourage ‘staycations’ have appeared to provide a short-term operating solution but not profitability for the airlines. China, Taiwan’s and Japan’s continued lockdowns are holding back the wider regional recovery. The world is waiting for China to open up tourism, but Chinese policies are not expected to undergo changes before mid-2023.

Hence, this brings a great opportunity to India to establish itself as a sought-after destination. As Liz Ortiguera, PATA CEO, mentioned, “We expect India to be the ‘New China’ over the next 5 years.”

Sharing the impact of the pandemic on travel and tourism industry, they informed that travel has been considered as risk for the last 2 years, but the domain has still been able to be a force before and after the pandemic to support the recovery of the impact of the pandemic on the country.

 

Ortiguera added, “Millions of jobs were lost, and major sections came into extreme poverty. The unrecognized section of tourism is now keen to get back to its livelihood and get the people re-employed and a cooperative approach can only serve to the cause. Science is the same around the several markets across the world, but the market reaction is impacted by culture, politics, and economics.”

 

People must have cautious optimism towards travel after witnessing the impact of pandemic on the travel domain. Omicron is mitigated, but Covid is still evolving and as a travel concerned person it is one’s duty to follow covid-19 protocols to manage personal risk as well for others. Where Asia is more cautious than the west, recovery can be driven through connectivity, capacity and traffic. Alongside, the travel today is wellness influenced, even if the primary aim of the trip is not wellness, one makes 100 decisions in the course of trips related to wellness, and travelers are far now conscious these days about safety.

 

“Staffing shortages are a common drawback coming from several countries, it is not easily learnt from less privileged countries, but it is coming to Asia too. We are still projecting considering the moderate scenario that the volumes are going to come back by 2024. PATA is trying to leverage its channels to keep the industry and all the consumers informed on the statistics about several destinations and new products. Many destinations have evolved and concentrated on trends like digital nomad, work from nowhere, wellness, etc. PATA looks forward to reconnect organizations, consumers, and business connections to strengthen these trends,” Ortiguera added.

 

Kuhelika Roy Choudhury

Türkiye is the perfect destination to enjoy a wellness experience. Home to ancient healing centers such as Hierapolis and Pergamon, the global tourism hub has a longstanding history of wellness and rejuvenation. Türkiye’s wellness culture dates back thousands of years, but the country also has strong roots in the Global Wellness Day, which happens to be created and transformed into a globally recognized day by the Turkish wellness pioneer Belgin Aksoy. Global Wellness Day is celebrated every year on the second Saturday in June.  

Türkiye stands out as a perfect destination to enjoy specialized treatments in spas, thermal springs, Turkish hamams, peaceful nature and yoga retreats. Here are couple of alternatives amidst the Global Wellness Day;

Heal and Rejuvenate in World-Leading Thermal Facilities of Türkiye

An unparalleled wellness tourism destination, Türkiye’s thermal resources rank 1st in Europe and 7th globally. Every year, hundreds of thousands of international visitors flock to Türkiye’s facilities where they enjoy the country’s thermal springs for almost 300 days in a year. 

A famed thermal spring destination known as the capital of thermal tourism in Türkiye, Afyonkarahisar in the Aegean region offers high mineral content waters in Gazlıgöl, Heybeli, Ömer, Hüdai, and Gecek. These destinations’ thermal waters stand out with high levels of carbon dioxide, sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, bromide, and fluoride and help heal skin diseases as well as stomach, kidney, and bowel illnesses. 

Bursa, a historical city, located close to Istanbul, is known for its thermal riches. The former capital of the Ottoman Empire and a UNESCO World Heritage site, Bursa hosts Çelik Saray, Kükürtlü, Karamustafa, Kaynarca, and Eski Kaplıca, whose waters reach 88 degrees and hold thermo-mineral properties. Thermal springs of Bursa are available not only at the baths but also in luxury spa hotels and hospital facilities. The spring waters are rich in magnesium and help heal rheumatic illnesses, neuralgia, stress problems, sports wounds, etc. 

Located close to Denizli in south-western Türkiye, Pamukkale offers a wonderful sight of calcite travertines created by mineral waters. Built on the ancient spa city of Hierapolis and a vacationer spot for more than 2,000 years, this historical and natural wonder is home to three thermal regions: Sarayköy, Gölemezli and Karahayıt, all of whose waters are rich in iron and calcium. 

Enjoy Traditional and Modern Wellness Treatments in Hammams and Spas

A phenomenon that has been around since Ancient Rome, Turkish hammams are an essential part of Turkish culture. A place of social gatherings in the Ottoman era, Turkish hammams of current times are frequented for a hot steam hydro-therapy which has many benefits ranging from relieving stress, cleansing the skin, eliminating toxins, and improving blood circulation to clearing the respiratory tract. 

You can enjoy this relaxing and healing ritual in the historical hammams of Türkiye, in İstanbul and Bursa for instance, or in modern facilities that combine hammams with spa treatments. 

In addition to the top-quality traditional hammams, Türkiye is home to great spa hotels. Spa facilities in İstanbul, Antalya, Bodrum, and İzmir employ innovative and integrative methods, offering a wide range of treatments amongst the authentic and natural assets of Türkiye. Seaside spa facilities offer seawater treatments that help heal cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and skin problems. Some of the notable spa facilities in Türkiye offer massages, medicinal plants, aromatherapy, fitness, yoga, meditation, food supplements, personal care, and weight control. 

Clear Your Body and Soul in Peaceful Retreats

A natural haven of turquoise seas, virgin beaches, and vast forests, Türkiye is the perfect destination for nature and yoga excursions. There are all kinds of options all over the country, ranging from spiritual and yoga retreats to organic farms and detox centers. Seaside resorts in Bodrum, Fethiye, and Antalya host yoga retreats in mountain valleys and charming villages where nutritionists and yoga experts await to help you clear your body and soul. 

The Black Sea region of Türkiye is another standout for a nature retreat. The plateaus (yaylas in Turkish) of the exceptionally green destination offer many natural beauties such as waterfalls and mountains where you can have a spectacular forest bathing experience, rest and recharge. 

 

Dental tourism is one of the most important components of the clinical tourism market, has seen substantial progress in latest few years. Even though the health care tourism business has witnessed development, dentistry has been the most appropriate and the most travelled for therapy in this sector. Lots of dental patients from Europe, US and other countries does not have proper dental insurance. Numerous people is force to take journey for their dental remedy is the extensive wait around time. Patients sometime have to wait for a pair of weeks if not months for their dental appointment.

The high cost of dental care services, lack of insurance coverage, and dissatisfaction with available services in home countries have motivated people to seek affordable, speedy, and better-quality dental care in foreign countries. Whilst travelling abroad to maintain, improve or restore their dental health, people take the opportunity to spend their vacation in the destination country. The main motivation factors were dental care quality, dental care information access, and cost-savings.

The beaches, Hills stations, Back waters, Wildlife and other tourist attractions makes Dental Tourism in Kerala promising. 100% literacy, strict law and order enforcement, health indices in par with WHO standard, high level of communal tolerance etc makes Dental Tourism in Kerala very safe.

It is a purified world in Kerala, the land of trees. A big, spreading tree purifies as much air as a room air-conditioner. And the former is never switched off! The prolific, bustling, vegetation acts like a massive, biological, air-filtration plant working round the clock, round the year. Hence spending days in Kerala countryside is as if spending in an air- purified environment. So is the rejuvenating effect of the lush greenery of the state.

The technologies and approaches used in many medical tourism locations also matched the best in the environment. To catch the attention of medical vacationers, dentists have begun adopting the newest in technology such as dental implants and Lasers and promoting their clinics. This coupled with decreased prices has produced dental tourism quite beautiful.

Dental lasers – A ray of hope in dentistry

Lasers were introduced into the field of clinical dentistry with the hope of overcoming some of the drawbacks posed by the conventional methods of dental procedures. Oral cavity is a unique and complex environment, where hard and soft tissues exist in close proximity, within bacteria laden saliva. Now a days a variety of dental laser wavelengths are available. They are activated at different parameters such as power settings, emission modes, pulse duration etc, for soft and hard tissues.

Dental laser treatment

Dental laser treatment is the newer advancement in dentistry, which enhance the treatment outcome as well as the patient comfort. Dental lasers offer lesser pain, relatively bloodless field, sterilisation of the treatment area, absence of sutures, lesser post operative discomfort, reduces swelling and pain. The most important of all eliminates the fear of scalpel and the dental drill. Commonly used lasers in dentistry are grouped under soft tissue laser and hard tissue laser

Soft tissue laser:

This type of lasers used for soft tissue management in the oral cavity. Soft tissue lasers are used for low level laser therapy which stimulate biomolecules, enhance regeneration and healing, reduce pain and swelling etc. Laser teeth whitening can be done with soft tissue diode laser.

Hard tissue laser:

This type of lasers used for the management of hard tissues (teeth & bone) as well as soft tissues in the oral cavity. Hard tissue lasers used for the treatment of gum diseases, tooth cutting, root canal treatment, gum de-pigmentation etc. The most important use is the tongue tie correction of infants with topical application of local anaesthetic gel.

Advantages of laser treatments

Doctor Benefits

•             Superior clinical results

•             No hand fatigue

•             Improves patient comfort

•             Avoid patient waiting time for anaesthesia

•             Improves patient retention

•             Attract New patients

•             Fearless Pediatric dentistry

•             Energizes dental practice

•             Improves case acceptances and increases revenue; more procedures in one appointment

•             Expands capabilities and procedures

•             Hemostasis- which allows better visibility in the surgical field and less trauma to tissue that has been cut

•             Reduces post-op complications post-op follow-up.

Patient Benefits

•             No Needles, No Drill, No Pain (most of the cases)

•             No bleeding, No Anaesthesia(most of the cases), Excellent tool for patients suffering with heart problems & Diabetics.

•             No numb lips after treatment

•             Return to daily routine faster after treatment

•             Multi-quadrant procedures in one visit

•             Superior clinical Result, minimally invasive to surrounding dental structure

•             Advantage for immune deficient patients.

•             Eliminate risk of infection from cross contamination

•             Avoids the stress of shots and risk of drug interactions for children and seniors

Patient acceptance has also been demonstrated in various studies. In addition, there are numerous other aspects that have served health-related tourism in the field of dentistry increase so swiftly. Dental remedies never need very long recuperation time. Patients can go away as quickly as the remedy is finished. Dental treatment method does not demand you to be admitted to a clinic, as a result offering people the independence to move all around.

Healthcare tourism facilitators have also assisted tremendously in expanding this business as a entire. Touring to a new vacation spot for a health-related process can be a little bit too much to handle, but professional medical tourism firms, who do all the essential perform for you, have created the total approach seamless.

Come to Kerala, the southern tip of India – the land and beauty of wonders! So, get ready to be mesmerized...the Landscapes and Sceneries are filled with freshness of evergreen. The climate is just perfect to enjoy. Nourished by the Southwest Monsoon winds and North East Monsoon Winds, the rivers in Kerala keep running all year long and the backwaters are delighting. And if there’s romance in the air, it’s in Kerala – “The God’s Own Country”! 

Authors

Dr Nirmal George Saibu M.D.S

(Prosthodontist and Implantologist)

Dr Simple Varghese M.D.S, MSc Laser

(Periodontist and Laser specialist)