Daily Podcast: Travel Brands Continue Pulling out of Russia

Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast discusses India’s need for a realistic tourism policy, the growing number of travel brands pulling out of Russia, and American Airlines’ loyalty innovation.

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Episode Notes

India is scheduled to resume regular international flights on March 27 following a two-year suspension that caused foreign tourist arrivals to plummet from nearly 11 million in 2019 to 1.4 million last year. But to give its tourism industry a significant boost and hit ambitious goals for the sector, the country needs to significantly update its two-decades-old tourism policy, reports Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia.

Despite releasing drafts for national tourism policies in 2015 and last November, India’s current policy still dates back to 2002. Bhutia writes a new national tourism policy would go a long way in making India more competitive in a global tourism market where more destinations are easing travel restrictions. One Indian travel executive said a new policy would help provide guidance for tourism businesses still struggling to recover from the pandemic.

So when might the country’s Ministry of Tourism, which has set a goal of attracting 100 million foreign visitors by 2047, launch a new tourism policy? When pressed for a timeline, a ministry official said it should be unveiled in the next several months.

We turn now to the ongoing fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Skift has updated the list of prominent travel companies — 43 now — that have announced they’re pulling out of the world’s largest country.

After Skift published a list earlier this month highlighting responses from numerous travel companies to Russia’s invasion, several others — including hotel industry giants Marriott, Hilton and Accor — have announced in recent days they are suspending operations in Russia. Some analysts believe a Western retreat from Russia could spark an economic crisis that would force President Vladimir Putin to stop the war.

However, several major travel companies are still conducting business in Russia. Indian-based online travel agency MakeMyTrip is still selling lodging in the country while car rental giants Avis and Budget haven’t pulled out of Russia yet.

We end today with major changes with the world’s largest airline frequent flyer program. American Airlines has taken steps to simplify its AAdvantage program and make it more appealing to members who accumulate miles by credit card use not flying, reports Contributor Ted Reed.

American rolled out the changes to its frequent flyer program on March 1, which include making loyalty points the only metric that AAdvantage members need to track to earn status. The program calculates loyalty points on the number of miles members accumulate by flying, using an AAdvantage branded credit card or by making a purchase with an American partner.

Heather Samp, the managing director in charge of AAdvantage, said that it became clear during the pandemic the program had loyal members who had never flown with American. As most of the program’s revenue comes from Citi and Barclays, the two banks that offer AAdvantage branded credit cards, Stamp acknowledged that it needed to make obtaining miles easier for users unable to travel often.