Travelers Financial News

Reasons to buyReasons to avoidAlso Read: Best pressure cookers in India in 2024: Top 10 picks that are efficient, durable and stylish kitchen essentialsThe Hawkins Contura Pressure Cooker is another excellent option for small kitchens. It is designed for fast and efficient cooking, with a capacity of 3 litres.

Salvagers have abandoned an effort to tow away a burning oil tanker in the Red Sea targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

Travel gadgets buying guide: Our top picks of essential tech for your adventures, including power banks and headphonesYour accommodation is sorted with a tent, but one can not sleep on the floor. When you are camping in or travelling through the wilderness, threats are present in every corner. Multiple bugs and insects can make your experience unpleasant and sour.

A growing number of restaurant customers are choosing to eat alone

MakeMyTrip's ‘How India Travels Abroad’ report for the period of June 2023 to May 2024. Rajesh Magow, co-founder and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, said with rising disposable incomes, greater exposure to global cultures, and the increasing ease of travel, more Indians are exploring both domestic and international destinations for leisure as well as business. «Our data attests to the growing confidence in exploring new destinations and indulging in different/ luxury experiences, which is also transforming the travel industry,» he said. «While domestic tourism remains buoyant, as noted in our previous report, our latest findings highlight the notable changes in international travel behaviour driven by macroeconomic factors that are fuelling the surge in travel among Indians. These trends present an exciting opportunity for the travel and tourism industry to innovate and cater to the evolving needs of Indian travellers,» he added.

Vacationing abroad is fun, but things can go south quickly. What if you lose your luggage? Or worse, somebody mugs you? This happened to TV star Divyanka in July, when she and her husband travelled to Florence, Italy. Somebody broke into their car and stole their belongings including passports and ₹10 lakh in cash. The local police were of no help.

international travel. A recent report by MakeMyTrip, covering the period from June 2023 to May 2024, highlights a significant rise in the number of Indians taking international trips, with a 32% growth in people going on two or more international journeys. Those taking three or more trips have grown by 37%, underscoring India's growing appetite for global travel.

Pope Francis arrived in Muslim-majority Indonesia on Tuesday to kick off a four-nation tour of the Asia-Pacific that will be the longest and farthest of the 87-year-old's papacy. The head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics touched down in Jakarta for a three-day visit devoted to inter-religious ties, and will then travel to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. The 12-day tour will test the pontiff's increasingly fragile health, but he is often energised by being among his flock and he emerged from the 13-hour flight smiling and waving.

airlines, hotels and cruises reporting double-digit growth and travellers using their savings, taking on debt or even selling their homes to splurge on bucket list adventures or multiple trips. Now, at least for some travellers, that furious vacation spending is slowing down. While high-income travellers are still booking luxury experiences and jet-setting abroad, other consumers have been cutting back on travel spending to meet the high cost of living. Data from Tourism Economics (on behalf of the US Travel Association, a travel group) shows that the meteoric rise in post-pandemic travel spending that began in 2021 has reached a plateau. In earnings calls this month, top hotel chains such as Hilton and Hyatt reported less demand by leisure travellers for lower-priced brands, while online travel agencies, such as Expedia Group and Booking Holdings, and short-term rental companies such as Airbnb also noted slowdowns.

Travel spending among American households continues to outpace its pre-pandemic levels, a trend underpinned by a zeal for international trips, according to new Bank of America research.

POP, a fintech enabler for direct to consumer brands started by former Flipkart employees, has introduced India’s first multi-brand co-branded credit card developed in collaboration with RuPay and Yes Bank. This launch coincides with POP surpassing one million UPI transactions, aims to leverage the power of the RuPay network to make credit on UPI easier for its network of users As India’s first multi-brand co-branded card, it brings together top brands such as Zomato, Blinkit, Cult, Rapido, Cleartrip, and Pharmeasy, covering key daily expenditure categories like e-commerce, groceries, F&B, travel, and health and fitness. POP aims to create a relevant value proposition with these marquee brands while leveraging the growing UPI and RuPay networks. Cardholders can earn rewards on every transaction through POPcoins. RuPay card holders benefit from accelerated POPcoins earnings when using the card with POP UPI.

What do travelers want from an Airbnb right now? Their hosts have an answer: too much. The number of short-term rentals on sites such as Airbnb and Vrbo hit a record high in July, according to AirDNA, a market-research firm. Hosts now have more competition for bookings, while guests have more options.

Caroline Wozniacki used to come to the U.S. Open all but certain that she would face one of the great players of her generation. For the former world No.

The transportation sector has been severely impacted, with the South Central Railway, headquartered in Secunderabad, canceling numerous train services and rerouting others. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a warning for extremely heavy rainfall in Adilabad district on Monday.

Localisation and customer service are key to success in any market, Agoda chief executive Omri Morgenshtern said. «Deep local merchandising or localisation is what we do when we go to any market. Every market you go to, you have two problems: problem number one is trust… nobody knows you and, as a result, they don't trust your service,» he said. «Problem number two is customer education in a B2C (business-to-consumer) business. Educating customers about something that they are not used to doing is horrible, super painful, costly… slower adoption. What you want to do is bring yourself, as much as you can, to look and behave like a local brand. Don't educate people… slowly, start being a local.»

air taxis in the world and the launch in 2026 will revolutionise urban travel, said Nikhil Goel, chief commercial officer, Archer Aviation. Archer is a California-based EVTOL company Archer Aviation. EVTOLs, or air taxis, take off and land vertically, just like a conventional helicopter. But since they're electric, they produce less emissions and are potentially much quieter. Archer's Midnight is a 4-seater aircraft, which can carry four passengers and a pilot for up to 160 kilometres. «While cities are getting more populated, our transportation options are degrading. That burden is particularly profound right here in India and that is what we are looking to address. I am confident that India will be not only be one of, but perhaps the largest market for electric air taxis in the world,» Goel said at the ET World Leaders Forum. Archer has tied up with InterGlobe Enterprises, which is the owner of India's largest airline, IndiGo, credited with making air travel more affordable in India. The US company plans to replicate the IndiGo model for its air taxi services — increase trip volume and reduce overall cost by achieving economies of scale. India is the third country besides the US and UAE where Archer plans to start operating. Archer will look to cater to passengers of IndiGo for their journey to and fro airport. IndiGo carries around 90 lakh passengers per month.

Banijay Asia plans to invest $50 million (over Rs 400 crore) in a «first-of-its-kind» reality series tentatively titled 'Race to Space', making it India's most expensive television show, sources close to the development said. The investment will cover the licensing fee to the US-based Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA) as well as production and talent costs, they added. Industry watchers said 'Bigg Boss Hindi', hosted by Bollywood star Salman Khan, is currently the country's most expensive non-fiction show, with budgets exceeding Rs 150 crore. «Given the scale and scope of the project, this is not just a documentary series or just a reality series — it is a 'space programme',» Banjay Asia CEO Deepak Dhar said. The new reality format will revolutionise competitive reality television and rekindle interest in space exploration, he added. Expressing optimism about the show's success in India, SERA co-founder Joshua Skurla cited the interest in last year's Chandrayaan-3 moon landing live-stream.

Sudha Murthy on Sunday said although she has read a book set in Parliament way back in the 1980s, about Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, since so much has changed about India and the Parliament since then, that she would not mind writing about it. «Although, I have to finish my term as a Rajya Sabha member first, before I could attempt to do that,» said Murthy on Sunday. Murthy was in conversation with fellow author and actor Twinkle Khanna, at the celebration of the launch of her 300th book title — and 46th book — 'Grandpa's Bag of Stories' here. The event was organised by Bengaluru-based Lit Spirit Foundation. But in her immediate list of wishes is a book on 'shlokas' that her grandfather used to recite, she said.

IndiGo on Sunday started its daily flight services to Jaffna in Sri Lanka from Chennai. Jaffna is the airline's second destination in the island nation after capital city Colombo and 34th international destination, IndiGo said. The new daily direct flights from Chennai to Jaffna cut down the travel time to the city from Chennai to 75 minutes, IndiGo said. IndiGo operates over 2,000 flights to 122 destinations including domestic and overseas.

The origins of Labor Day date back to the late 19th century, when activists first sought to establish a day that would pay tribute to workers