Ayurvedic and Medical Tourism industries are likely to be the largest beneficiary of 2010 Commonwealth Games and may gain by around Rs.800 crore, according to an estimate survey done by industry body Assoc ham (Associated Chambers of Commerce and industry of India).

With an order from the government now in place, private package tour operators will find it difficult to get Central government employees as their clients. The government has debarred its employees from going on a holiday taking a package tour operated by private agencies, if they want to avail their Leave Travel Allowance (LTA).

Chennai-based business class airline Paramount Airways hopes that its operations will become normal from Monday with resumption of services on full scale.

Crippled by financial setbacks and a dip in revenues, domestic air carriers have more than doubled the fares on select metro routes ahead of a long festive season, as compared to the fares four months ago. While a Delhi-Mumbai one-way ticket priced at the lowest fare cost around Rs 2,300 in August this year, it has more than doubled to Rs 4,900 now, if booked 10 days in advance.

Foreign tourist arrivals continued to dip with 5.18 lakh tourists visiting the country in November this year against 5.32 lakh in the corresponding period last year.

After months of lackluster response, US authorities have witnessed a sudden increase in demand for H-1B work visa, which is popular among Indian professionals , though the applications received so far are still over 6,000 short of the Congress-mandated cap of 65,000.

Passengers using Mumbai airport have topped a list of major global airport hubs in using online bookings and web check-ins for air travel, a survey has found.

Buoyed by the success of the Ganga river cruise, the first in India along the lines of international standard cruises on the Nile in Egypt and the Irrawady in Burma, the West Bengal Government is inviting joint venture partners to set up a company to give river tourism a fillip.

The global hotel business is in a deep funk, but that has not kept the industry from betting on Asia, the one region of the world where growth is strong. In October, two major upscale hotels opened in Hong Kong, each with views of the skyscrapers huddled between the city’s mountains and harbour. One is a 381-room Hyatt Regency, on top of a shopping mall in the Kowloon district.

The impact of the Dubai crisis is expected to cast its spell on tourism fraternity not before January 2010 with airfares and hotel room rates expecting to fall by 10%-15%. However, no significant impact of the crisis will be felt till December since holiday makers have accommodation.