Travel Guides & Articles
UK’s ETA now required for travellers from 54 countries
Travellers from 54 countries are now required to complete an online pre-travel check to enter the UK following the continued rollout of the country’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme.
From Wednesday (8 January) travellers from 48 non-European countries (those who previously did not require a visa for short-stay visits) – including the US, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore – will need to apply for an ETA before arriving in the UK.
The requirement will also extend to travellers from European countries from 2 April 2025, with applications for these travellers open from 5 March.
The ETA was first introduced in November 2023, initially for Qatari travellers, and has since been extended to travellers from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
The move to digitise the UK’s borders will require all visitors and transit passengers who do not currently need a visa – except British and Irish citizens – to obtain an ETA prior to arrival. Travellers who require a visa to enter the country will still need to obtain a valid visa but will not need an ETA as well.
The changes are expected to enhance border security and, according to UK law firm Kingsley Napley, will “level the playing field between visa and non-visa nationals coming to the UK” as all visitors will now have their criminal background checked prior to arrival.
Immigration law firm Fragomen also advised when an ETA is declined, the traveller will need to apply for a visa, “and that can take time,” said Kelly Chua, a director at the firm.
“Travellers might also find that airlines may not refund tickets should an ETA be refused,” Chua added.
Despite fears of potential travel “chaos” due to limited public awareness of the scheme, business travel insiders believe the industry is prepared.
“The UK isn’t the first to implement such a system – Australia, the US and Canada have had this in place for several years – and we expect the EU to eventually introduce a similar system in late 2025,” said Clive Wratten, CEO of the Business Travel Association.
“As TMC’s adapt to these changes we urge corporate businesses to stay informed… many travellers might already be familiar with similar systems, such as the US ESTA, yet it’s crucial to note that anyone arriving without an ETA, even for transit, will be denied entry.”
Flight Centre-owned TMC Corporate Traveller believes the new entry rules are “unlikely to make any dent” in the growth rate of business travel to the UK.
Nevertheless, Corporate Traveller global managing director Tom Walley warned the changes will require more forward planning.
“While expected to improve border security processes, the new UK ETA changes the landscape of visa-free travel and requires more forward planning from travellers… I urge businesses that organise their own travel to stay informed about changing entry requirements for their 2025 travel destinations,” he said.
Similar to pre-travel checks required to enter the US, the ETA will be electronically linked to travellers’ passports and applications can be made through “a quick and simple process” online or via a dedicated app.
An ETA costs £10 and permits multiple journeys to the UK (for stays of up to 6 months) over a period of two years.
The EU is also expected to implement its long-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES) sometime this year, followed by the Electronic Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS).
Travel Guides & Articles
Find Sunflowers In Full Bloom At These Places In India This Month – Travel and Leisure Asia
Find Sunflowers In Full Bloom At These Places In India This Month Travel and Leisure Asia
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Travel Guides & Articles
Wego India Innovates with Technology to Streamline Travel Search, Address Trends, and Drive Post-Pandemic Growth
Friday, July 11, 2025
Wego India, a prominent metasearch engine in the travel industry, is revolutionizing the way Indian travelers plan and book their journeys by leveraging cutting-edge technology. According to Bernard Corraya, General Manager of Wego India, the company’s focus on technology and customer experience has been pivotal in enhancing travel search and expanding options for Indian users.
In an exclusive interview with TTW, Bernard Corraya, GM of Wego India, discussed the company’s innovative approach to revolutionizing the travel experience for Indian users. He highlighted Wego India’s integration of real-time APIs, offering seamless flight, hotel, and train bookings. The platform now features flexible fares, multi-carrier itineraries, and a growing focus on experiential accommodations. Corraya also emphasized Wego’s efforts to deliver personalized travel recommendations using machine learning. As India’s travel industry recovers post-pandemic, Wego is contributing to both domestic and outbound tourism by offering flexible, competitive options and a streamlined travel ecosystem.
Wego’s platform aggregates real-time data from airlines, hotels, rail operators, and OTAs through API integrations, ensuring users have access to the most up-to-date and comprehensive options available. This enables the search for flights, hotels, and trains to be smooth and seamless. A significant addition in early 2024 was the integration of a train-booking service, which directly pulls IRCTC availability, allowing users to search for train tickets alongside flights and hotels. The service is designed to allow users to filter by various preferences, such as class, departure time, and fare type, and even complete payments without leaving the platform. Underpinning this service is a robust infrastructure that ensures that search results are up-to-date, reducing booking friction and improving the user experience for Indian travelers.
Looking ahead to 2025, Wego India has observed key trends in travelers’ preferences. Indian users are increasingly opting for flexible fares, which offer refund and rescheduling options, as well as multi-carrier itineraries for better convenience. Additionally, premium-economy seating is gaining popularity for medium-haul flights as travelers seek more comfort. On the hotel front, there is a growing demand for experiential and long-stay accommodations, particularly in tier-II and tier-III cities. The preference for boutique properties and serviced apartments—combining home-style amenities with hotel services—reflects a shift in how Indian travelers want to experience their stays.
To ensure competitive pricing and a wide array of options, Wego India utilizes a dynamic pricing engine that aggregates fares from multiple sources, including direct airline APIs, global distribution systems, and third-party OTAs. This ensures that Wego India users have access to the most competitive prices, along with the flexibility to explore both standard and exclusive package deals.
The company has also embraced the demand for personalized travel recommendations. Wego employs machine-learning algorithms that analyze a user’s past searches, bookings, and travel preferences to present more tailored options. This creates a more personalized experience, allowing users to discover flights, hotels, and destinations that match their individual needs. Additionally, the homepage features “inspiration modules,” offering curated destination guides based on collective trend data.
As India’s travel industry recovers post-pandemic, Wego India is playing a crucial role in facilitating both outbound and domestic travel. With the rise in domestic tourism and outbound travel, Wego India has integrated self-drive rental services through a partnership with Zoomcar, further enhancing the convenience of travel. The company has also worked to make the booking process contactless, ensuring safety and flexibility for travelers. By aggregating multiple travel services—flights, hotels, trains, and self-drive rentals—into a seamless ecosystem, Wego India is paving the way for future growth in both leisure and business travel.
1. How is Wego India leveraging technology to enhance the travel search experience for Indian users?
Wego India operates a robust metasearch engine that aggregates live inventory from hundreds of airlines, hotels, rail operators and OTAs via real‐time API integrations. In early 2024, Wego introduced an integrated train-booking service—pulling IRCTC availability directly into its app and website—to complement flight and hotel search, allowing users to filter by class, departure time and fare type, then complete payment without leaving the Wego platform.
Under the hood, a combination of low-latency caching, incremental data polling, and predictive algorithms for ticket-confirmation probabilities ensures that search results remain both comprehensive and up-to-date, significantly reducing booking friction for Indian travelers.
2. What trends are you seeing in Indian travelers’ preferences for flights and hotels in 2025?
Users increasingly prioritize refundable or “flex” fares, multi-carrier itineraries and premium-economy seating for greater comfort on medium-haul routes. Meanwhile, hotel searches reflect a clear shift toward experiential and long-stay accommodations: demand for boutique properties in tier-II and tier-III cities is rising, and extended-stay travelers are booking serviced apartments that blend home-style amenities with hotel-class services.
3. How does Wego India ensure competitive pricing and comprehensive options in a highly dynamic market?
Wego’s dynamic pricing engine continuously polls multiple fare sources, direct airline APIs, global distribution systems and third-party OTAs, refreshing rates every few minutes to capture flash sales and limited-time bundles.
By presenting these aggregated deals side-by-side with standard fares and surfacing exclusive package rates, Wego India guarantees that every search surfaces the broadest choice at the most competitive price.
4. Can you share how Wego is addressing the growing demand for personalized travel recommendations in India?
To move beyond generic search results, Wego deploys machine-learning models that analyze each user’s past searches, bookings, trip durations and demographic signals. These algorithms rank flight and hotel options in order of likely affinity considering preferred cabin classes, budget bands and even seasonal travel habits, while “inspiration modules” on the homepage deliver hand-curated destination guides based on collective trend data. The result is a bespoke planning experience: rather than wading through hundreds of options, users are presented with personalized suggestions that align closely with their unique preferences and travel histories.
5. How is Wego India contributing to the recovery and growth of India’s outbound and domestic travel markets post-pandemic?
As India’s travel industry rebounds, with outbound trips climbing sharply throughout the year and domestic tourism leading the recovery, Wego has expanded its rail-booking service to capture intra-India travel demand and partnered with Zoomcar to integrate self-drive rentals directly into its platform.
By aggregating flights, hotels, trains and self-drive vehicles into one seamless ecosystem and by championing contactless booking pathways and flexible cancellation policies. Wego is empowering both leisure and business travellers to plan safe, autonomous journeys across India and beyond.
Travel Guides & Articles
Do not travel to Iran: US issues dire warning as detention, terrorism risks grow
In its starkest advisory, the US State Department has urged American citizens not to travel to Iran “for any reason,” citing an escalating pattern of wrongful detentions, threats to civil aviation, terrorism, and misleading surrogacy services.
The updated Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory comes amid growing tensions and a string of high-profile detentions involving US nationals. “US citizens in Iran face serious dangers,” the department warned. “They have been kidnapped and wrongfully arrested. Some have been held for years on false charges, subjected to psychological torture, and even sentenced to death.”
American citizens — especially dual US-Iranian nationals, journalists, students, and business travelers — are being targeted without warning or evidence of any crime, the government said. The advisory emphasized that “having a US passport or connections to the United States can be reason enough for Iranian authorities to detain someone.”
There are currently no formal diplomatic or consular relations between Washington and Tehran. In the event of arrest or detention, the US cannot directly intervene; instead, the Swiss government acts as the “protecting power” for US interests. However, consular access is often denied, especially to dual nationals.
TERROR THREATS AND AVIATION RISK
The advisory also highlights the increasing danger from violent extremist groups. “ISIS and related groups have taken responsibility for bombings and other attacks in the country. The risk of terrorism and deadly harm to bystanders continues,” it noted.
Due to escalating threats in Iranian airspace, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has banned US flights to, from, or through Iran. The department urged Americans to consult the FAA’s NOTAM and SFAR alerts for updates on civil aviation risks.
Adding to the list of concerns is Iran’s unregulated surrogacy industry, which, according to the advisory, has grossly misrepresented security risks and US citizenship law.
“Iranian surrogacy providers have also been known to misrepresent US citizenship law,” the State Department warned. “If a child born overseas to a surrogate is not genetically or gestationally related to a US citizen parent or their spouse, the child will not automatically acquire US citizenship at birth and will not be able to obtain a US passport to leave Iran.”
The tone of the advisory is unusually grave, urging would-be travellers to prepare for the worst. Among the recommendations:
– Drafting a will
– Leaving DNA samples with a medical provider
– Establishing a proof-of-life protocol
– Sharing sensitive login and personal documents with family
– Ends
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