TravTalk

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A DDP PUBLICATION

Pages: 60 (Excluding cover)

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Vol. XXV No. 8; April 2 nd fortnight issue 2013

` 50/-

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TRAVTALK

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APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

Variety is the spice of GITB-2013 The event will witness participation of over 286 foreign Rakesh Srivastava, Principal Secretary, Department of buyers from 57 countries, 240 Indian registered sellers Tourism, Rajasthan says that the event will have almost and 252 stalls across 6 halls from April 14-16, 2013. 500 key tourism product sellers. Excerpts...

According to Jyotsna Suri, Vice President, FICCI, GITB is the most successful niche platform for promoting inbound tourism in India.

VIVEK SETHI

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he sixth edition of Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB), being organised by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Department of Tourism, Government of Rajasthan and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is likely to set new records in terms of its popularity among the stakeholders in the tourism sector across the globe.

Jyotsna Suri VP – FICCI and Chairperson - FICCI Tourism Committee

“The prominence of the show is reflected in the fact that 286 foreign buyers from 57 countries had registered already. On the sellers’ front, 240 Indian sellers had already registered; while there will be 252 stalls across 6 halls. On top of it, there will be 9500 structured B2B meetings Contd. on page 36

tries and will exhibit the varied tourism products of India over 252 booths.

PEDEN DOMA BHUTIA

How is this year’s event different from the other years?

Great Indian Travel Bazaar is one of the top travel and tourism sector trade events in India. Over the years, GITB has emerged as a vast forum for inbound tourists (domestic and international) bringing a wide diversity of stakeholders under one roof. This year, GITB will be congregating around 274 foreign tour operators from across 54 coun-

What are your expectations?

Rakesh Srivastava Principal Secretary Department of Tourism, Rajasthan

We want convention centres!

New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa, Chennai and Jaipur need urgent convention-cumexhibition centres. recently conducted a poll asking about the five Indian cities that urgently require convention-cum-exhibition centres across the country. This was further to our tourism minister’s request to the finance minister for additional allocation to set up these convention centres across the country. While the above mentioned cities were the most popular choices, Hyderabad, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Pune and Chandigarh were not far behind.

With a focus on reinforcing India as a world-class tourism destination, we look forward to provide an opportunity to exchange thoughts and innovative ideas with foreign buyers, registered Indian sellers, policy makers, investors and the media for a constructive policy to support Contd. on page 36

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BULLETIN

Now, real-time hotel information The web-based Public Service Delivery System (PSDS) will make real-time information on hotel approvals and classification available.

VIVEK SETHI

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n quest for doubling its inbound and domestic arrivals as envisaged by the Ministry of Tourism (MOT), India requires to more than double the room inventory.

As a facilitative measure to speed up the hotel projects, MOT has now launched web-based project monitoring information system powered by the National Informatics Centre.

“To bring in transparency in granting approvals for hotel projects, we have launched a web-based Public Service Delivery System for hotel approvals, classification and other allied services. All applicants seeking hotel project approvals, hotel classification and approvals for other-related services will be able to track the progress of their cases online on a real

Ministry of Tourism officials and other dignitaries at the launch of the new web service at a press conference in New Delhi

time basis,” said K Chiranjeevi, Union Minister of Tourism.

“By putting this system in place, there will be deadlines on the officers of the Ministry to deliver on time and increased accountability on their part. Now onwards, all applications will have to be examined within 15 working days from receipt for completeness. Thereafter, all hotel inspections will be

scheduled within next 15 working days. The recommendations of Hotel and Restaurants Approval & Classification Committee will be communicated on the spot to the applicant and these recommendations will also be put on web with final decision within 10 days of the inspection,” he added.

Further, replying to a query, the Minister said, “We will align our PSDS with

the Hospitality Development Promotion Board (HDPB).

The Tourism Ministry will move towards an e-regime and build such systems in other spheres of functioning also. Present at the occasion, Nakul Anand, President, Hotel Association of India and Vivek Nair, President, Federation of Hotels & Restaurants Association of India among others lauded the efforts of the Ministry.

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STATISTICS VIEWPOINT

In the name of sustainable tourism...

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ccording to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the business volume that tourism is generating today equals or even surpasses that of oil exports, food products or automobiles. In this fast growing industry their primary goal of work is sustainable development, to ensure that tourism protects and sustains the world’s natural and cultural resources and meets its potential as a tool for poverty alleviation.

In India however, in the name of sustainable tourism we are blindly going into rapid growth mode - building hotels all along river banks, forests, sea shores, deserts… bringing about a widespread commercial adoption of ‘sustainable development’. What about the conservation of our open spaces and centuries old culture that attracts travellers?

Very soon the beauty of these areas will be gone and the foreign influence on local practices and values by a multitude of tourists will ensure the loss of fascination in that region, and along with it the tourists. So, what’s so sustainable about that? There’s a huge gap between rhetoric, theory and the ground reality of tourism development.

The paradigm shift of the rapidly evolving green spaces should create an opportunity for the travel and tourism sector to leverage its socio-economic reach for the good of humanity and the planet, especially the most vulnerable section of society. We must have the foresight to boost our tourism potential but in a genuinely sustainable manner, protecting our natural and cultural assets for the generations to come.

The government, in its attempt to generate future employment, must use cautiousness while growing tourism in the inner regions of our country and draw attention to the destructive environmental and sociocultural effects of unbridled expansion, to ensure as low an impact on the environment and local culture as possible. Sending across a clear message that Incredible India reveres its environment as much as it worships its guests, the Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the State of Andhra Pradesh, is hosting the UNWTO Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development and the 25th Joint Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia, Pacific and South Asia in Hyderabad from April 12-14.

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Advertising Gunjan Sabikhi Asst. Vice President Karishma Khanna Sr. Manager Marketing Udit Pandey Sr. Manager Marketing Geetika Pathak Manager Advertising Amit Sarkar Asst. Manager Marketing Photographers Simran Kaur-Delhi Bharat Dangiya-Mumbai

Indians bitten by the adventure bug After family trips, adventure holiday is the second most preferred type of travel this summer season. In TripAdvisor’s biannual study, 16 per cent of the Indians voted for it, much higher than the world average of 11 per cent. espite India’s growing inflation and sluggish economy, about 77 per cent Indians are planning to spend more on vacation in this summer holiday season with most of them preferring either a holiday with family

Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, TripAdvisor India, said, “This year, travel seems to have become an integral part of the consumption basket for Indians, a change even a slow economic scenario seems unable to derail, according to our survey. We also seem to be turning into

According to the TripBarometer survey, 22 per cent of Indian participants favoured a holiday with family or kids the most. An adventure trip was the second most preferred type of trip chosen by 16 per cent of the Indians, much higher than the world average of 11 per cent. India

The study highlighted a new trend of travelling solo which is quite common among travellers abroad, but is now emerging in India. While the global percentage of solo travellers is 14 per cent, Indians were not far behind at 12 per cent. Also 22 per cent Indians travelled with children and

or adventure travel, claims TripAdvisor’s biannual study conducted by research firm StrategyOne.

intrepid travellers as India features among countries that ranked ‘adventure’ as the preferred type of trip.”

was placed with Germany, France and Egypt as countries that ranked highest for ‘adventure’ trip. While beach holidays were preferred by global travellers, it was the third choice for Indians followed by cultural trips. Winter sports holidays were the least preferred holidays across the globe, including India. About 61 per cent Indians travelled on leisure for their last trip, followed next by ‘visiting family and friends’ trips (21 per cent), much higher than the global or Asian average of 18 per cent.

‘other family members’ (26 per cent), which was much higher than the global trend of 18 per cent and 17 per cent respectively. Also, 58 per cent of Indians accessed Internet via mobile, 50 per cent uploaded their photos to social networking sites and 44 per cent updated their status on social network.

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Holiday Highs Indians favour a holiday with family or kids the most, with 22% respondents choosing it as their preferred type of trip An adventure trip was the second most preferred type of trip chosen by 16% of Indians Although beach holidays were preferred by majority across various countries, it was the third choice for Indians, followed by cultural trips Indians are organised travellers as 92% of them wanted to have all the basics taken care of like booking flights, arranging transit and accommodation, when planning and booking online

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TRAVTALK is a publication of DDP Publications Private Limited. All information in TRAVTALK is derived from sources, which we consider reliable and a sincere effort is made to report accurate information. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. The publisher regret that he cannot accept liability for errors and omissions contained in this publication, however caused. Similarly, opinions/views expressed by third parties in abstract and/or in interviews are not necessarily shared by TRAVTALK. However, we wish to advice our readers that one or more recognised authorities may hold different views than those reported. Material used in this publication is intended for information purpose only. Readers are advised to seek specific

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Finally, the word of mouth emerged as a powerful source of information, as they seemed to be relying heavily on the opinion of other travellers, the study said.

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NEWS

APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

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Airlines will fall back on agents: Mulla The airlines will have to once again fall back on the small and medium-sized travel agents shortly, as consolidators are likely to start dictating their own terms and conditions to the airlines, says Iqbal Mulla, President, TAAI. VIVEK SETHI

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he travel agents had been confronted with many odds as commissions from airlines continue to dwindle, which many experts claim, is the gradual shift to the era of zero commissions.

Recently there has been a

Iqbal Mulla President TAAI

We are working on all possible initiatives to ensure that our members regain their rightful commissions ban on charging transaction fee by travel agents.

The business environment has gone difficult, but claiming commissions from airlines for selling air tickets, Iqbal Mulla, President, TAAI believes that the airlines can’t work without travel agents.

“We, presently, are witnessing a trend, where airlines are not willing to offer agents their rightful commissions. In fact, the airlines find it more convenient to deal with the handful of consolidators, who are also

Assam and Thailand tie up to boost tourism Thailand and Assam are planning to launch exchange programmes for increasing productivity in the tourism agriculture and sectors. In terms of tourism, both Thailand and Assam offer tremendous eco-tourism prospects. Thailand is also aiming to increase the quantum of its bilateral trade with India to US$ 16 billion within 2014.

offered handsome performance linked benefits in return. The airlines will have to once again fall back on the small and medium-sized travel agents shortly, as the handful of big consolidators will soon start dictating their own terms and conditions to the airlines,” said Mulla.

“In such scenario, airlines will have no choice other than falling back on agent’s base comprising smalland medium-sized for their survival,” he added.

TAAI in between is planning for several initiatives for its members. As per

Mulla, “We are working on all possible initiatives to ensure that our members regain their rightful commissions.

In fact, we also had a meeting with dignitaries from the Egyptian Tourism Federation, who had requested TAAI to conduct its 2013 Convention in Egypt.”

“We have told the Egyptian Tourism Federation to initiate the discussion by sharing details of the accommodation options, air connectivity and other promotional activities they would like to offer to the TAAI members,” he added. “We are also considering other options

like USA and India, as well. A final decision has not been taken yet,” he concluded

New Horizon Egyptian Tourism Federation requested TAAI to conduct 2013 convention in Egypt

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TRAVTALK APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

MOT

Pro-sustainability growth in tourism MOT hosts 25th Joint Commission Meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Commission for East Asia and Pacific and the UNWTO Commission for South Asia to promote growth and sustainability in tourism.

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ncredible India is taking a big leap forward to spearhead growth in tourism, while ensuring importance to the sustainability aspect. A benchmark event in this direction is the

The need of the hour is to promote sustainable tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth K Chiranjeevi, Minister of Tourism 25 th Joint Commission Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia and Pacific and the UNWTO Commission for South Asia, which the Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Government of India, in collaboration with the Government of Andhra Pradesh is hosting in Hyderabad from the April 12-14, 2013.

Palace, Hyderabad February 13, 2013.

“The need of the hour is to promote sustainable tourism as a driver of socioeconomic growth and development and advocates its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies. India became the chairperson of the UNWTO

Regional Commission for South Asia in October 2011 and it accords importance to the issue of sustainable tourism. It is our privilege to host the 25th Joint Commission Meeting of East Asia and Pacific and the UNWTO Commission for South Asia, which will bring together more than 250 delegates. The delegates will include UNWTO delegates as

(L-R): Lalit K Panwar, Parvez Dewan, K Chiranjeevi, Anand Kumar and Girish Shankar at the UNWTO curtain raiser event in New Delhi.

well as representatives from state governments, union territories and private stakeholders from the travel and hospitality industries,” said K Chiranjeevi, Minister of Tourism.

“The joint commission meeting will have approximately 100-125 delegates from the UNWTO member countries. Confirmed participants in the conference, as of now, include delegates from Bangladesh, Bhutan,

Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Lao PDR, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam. The Minister of Tourism from Cambodia, the Secretary General of UNWTO, and the CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) are amongst the dignitaries participating in the Conference,”

he added. The Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development will include a global review on sustainable tourism development as well an industry and media perspective on tourism. The UNWTO Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development will be held at the Hotel Park Hyatt, Hyderabad on April 12; and the UNWTO Joint Commission Meeting will be held at the Taj Falaknuma

on

In addition to the meetings, various events have been organised to give visiting delegates a glimpse of the rich culture and cuisine of the country. These include dinners and cultural programmes at the Taramati Baradari, Golconda Fort, Shilparamam and Ramoji Film City as well as a tour to the Buddhist heritage sites at Nagarjuna Sagar and Nagarjuna Konda.

Confirmed participation Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Lao PDR, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam

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MOT

APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

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MOT to boost India for MICE tourism As part of the strategic thrust to Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events (MICE), there will be 10 convention-cum-exhibition centres across the country for the promotion of this segment of tourism. reports.

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he Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Government of India has now set the stage to enhance India’s attractiveness as a niche MICE destination. This move comes on the back of launch of the Phase-II of Incredible India campaign that now focusses on consumer, while there is another campaign that has been launched to tap the domestic travellers called ‘Go Beyond.’

“I have met Finance Minister P Chidambaram for additional allocation of funds for the Tourism Ministry to set up 10 convention-cumexhibition centres across the country for the promotion of MICE Tourism. The Finance Minister has sought more details about these convention centres and will look into the request,” said K Chiranjeevi, Minister of Tourism.

He met Chidambram in New Delhi on March 22, 2013 and urged him for a higher allocation for the Tourism Ministry. The tourism sector directly and indirectly contributes to more than six per cent of the GDP of the country. It also contributes more than 10 per cent of organised employment in the country. A one per cent increase in tourism earnings results in a 0.1 percentage increase in the GDP of the country.

In fact, as per the recent statistics released by

India to be 3rd largest aviation market by 2020 Celebrating Aviation Day, the Minister for Civil Aviation Ajit Singh said that India will be the third largest aviation market by 2020. He added that the country’s airports would be handling 336 million domestic and 85 million international passengers with projected investment to the tune of US$ 120 billion by 2020. The Minister also highlighted on the decision to liberalise the process for airlines to acquire aircraft by doing away with the Aircraft Acquisition Committee.

He added that the Government has also taken steps to liberalise and grant traffic rights to Indian carriers to fly to new destinations around the globe.

the Ministry of Tourism, the foreign exchange earnings (FEEs) during February 2013 were US$ 1.89 billion as compared to FEEs of US$ 1.73 billion during the month of February 2012 and US$ 1.68 billion in February

2011. The growth rate in FEEs in February 2013 over February 2012 was 9.2 per cent as compared to the growth of 3 per cent in February 2012 over February 2011. FEE from tourism during January-

February 2013 were US$ 3.80 billion with a growth of 11.4 per cent, as compared to US$ 3.41 billion with a growth of 15.5 per cent during January-February 2012 over the corresponding period of 2011.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Minister of Tourism K Chiranjeevi at North Block in New Delhi

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AVIATION

Cancellation to be a pinch Jet Airways revises its cancellation charges from a flat rate of ` 1,050 on all domestic flights to penalties ranging from ` 200 to ` 2,000.

TEENA BARUAH & ANITA JAIN

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n what seems like a twopronged move to boost its air traffic this holiday season, Jet Airways, on one hand, is offering a 60-day advance discount on tickets which are priced at least 30 per cent lower than the usual fare. On the other hand, the airline is hiking its cancellation

Indians book tickets through us whenever airlines offer cheap tickets without any confirmed travel plans as the cancellation charges were low. Later, they request for a change in travel schedule, thereby adding to our work burden.”

However, Jay Bhatia, Western Chapter Chairman, TAAI, disagrees with Gujral.

cheap tickets would lead to loss of more than half the money.

Most of the travel companies and international tourism boards offer attractive travel packages with early bird discounts, luring Indian travellers to book early. With this move, India might get back to the ‘late booking market’ age with

Gurdeep Singh Gujral

Jay Bhatia

EM Najeeb

CEO & Director Gujral Tours and Travels

Western Chapter Chairman TAAI

Executive Committee Member IATO

This is beneficial for travel agents as we will now get only genuine travellers charges from a flat ` 1,050 on all domestic flights to penalties ranging from ` 200 to ` 2,000.

So, as per Jet Airways’ new structure, the higher the fare, the lower will be the cancellation charge. The lowest economy fare tickets will be non-refundable. The tickets priced a little more than the cheapest would attract a cancellation charge of ` 2,000; the upper economy ` 1,000; and premium class tickets the lowest penalty of ` 250 to ` 500.

Gurdeep Singh Gujral, CEO & Director, Gujral Tours and Travels, says, “This is beneficial for travel agents as we will now get only genuine travellers. Right now, a lot of

The increase in cancellation and rebooking charges will further lower air bookings The airline is just taking advantage of the peak season, he feels. “This is the right time to con the travellers and increase the trouble of travel agents as the passengers are already upset with us for charging transaction fee. The increase in cancellation and rebooking charges will further lower air bookings,” says Bhatia.

In this intensely competitive sector, such a move will certainly have a ripple effect with other airlines reviewing their cancellation charges. Last year, the cancellation fee on the domestic sector was hiked from ` 750 to ` 1,050. One airline took the step and others followed.

If that happens, cancelling

Reasonable cancellation/ re-booking charges by the airline are valid budget travellers booking at the last minute to avoid exorbitant cancellation/ re-booking charges.

EM Najeeb, Executive Committee Member, IATO said, “Reasonable cancellation/re-booking charges by the airline are valid as they help the airline calculate and estimate their flight load.

However, exorbitant charges will not be accepted by the market as passengers will than opt for other airlines offering lower cancellation/re-booking charges. There is a need for bringing in customer friendly policies in a market like India where the aviation industry has tremendous potential for growth.”

TCGL & IOC to bring tourist halts Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL) and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) recently signed an MoU to help promote tourism in the state by offering facilities to tourists at IOC petrol pumps. Under this agreement, TCGL will acquire land in the areas of IOC and create

basic tourist amenities like toilets, food courts, information kiosks, etc. These facilities will be created in select areas and on national highways where IOC has its presence and will be managed by a third party. Such facilities will be made available at IOC outlets, including restaurants,

every 100 km on national highways and every 75 km on state highways. Work is expected to begin in the next six months towards this end.

Once the basic infrastructure is ready at these locations, TCGL will start scouting for a private player to manage these facilities.

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ASSOCIATIONS

Verma heads ADTOI, again ADTOI’s new team has beefed up its measures to realise the vision of a pan-India presence. It has set up new chapters, boost membership growth and tackled service tax issues to promote domestic tourism.

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ith his mantra of no passport, no visa, no forex; Subhash Verma has

modations and budget hotels, and this is indispensable for tourism. The seasonal nature of foreign arrivals also means that domestic tourism is

Subhash Verma

P P Khanna

President ADTOI

Vice President ADTOI

been re-elected as President of ADTOI for the second time. The top office bearers for the two-year term include PP Khanna as Vice President and Ravi Luthra as General Secretary. Rajat Sawhney has been elected as Treasurer.

The new Executive Council Members include Rajesh Arya, Harjinder Singh, Anurag Agarwal, Sanjay Aggarwal, Debashis Dey, Ashwani Gupta, Kamal Gandhi and Gaurav Chawla.

The new Managing Committee has taken charge from April 1, while the Association will elect a joint secretary soon. The election was organised on March 30

chapters – Maharashtra and Rajasthan by the next year.

He reveals, “Our ultimate target is to have a chapter in each state. Since we opened the fourth chapter in West Bengal and North East this March, there has been more focussed activities in terms of promotion, development and support in West Bengal and North East along with better co-ordination with the state tourism agencies.” Started with just five members, the newest chapter of the association now has 25 members.

Out of over 600 members in ADTOI, the Delhi Chapter continues to be the biggest with almost 350 members.

Ravi Luthra

Rajat Sawhney

General Secretary ADTOI

Treasurer ADTOI

needed to ensure that there is work for everyone all-year around,” he says. But at the same time, the states need to concentrate on creation of

The association will urge all active ADTOI members to get the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) support for their benefit as well as of

High Court intervention puts ADTOI joint secretary election on hold ADTOI, in compliance with the directives given by the Delhi High Court, has put on hold elections for the post of ADTOI Joint Secretary. As per the interim orders of the Court, the main grievance of the plaintiffs is that the orig-

inal Articles, Memorandum of Association and the Rules and Regulations; the Governing Body comprises of four office bearers, (the President, Vice President, General Secretary and Treasurer) and there is no

post of Joint Secretary envisaged under the said rules.

The association now is proposing to hold the elections for appointment to the post of five office bearers, including the post of Joint Secretary.

at The Ashok, New Delhi and was attended by 240 members.

quality tourism infrastructure in order to attract more tourists as bottlenecks have often hampered the growth of tourist arrivals, he points out. “The soaring domestic airfare is also acting as a roadblock,” he adds.

customers. According to Luthra, the primary concern would be to work closely with MOT for the benefit of the domestic tourism industry.

“Apart from a pan-India presence, we are aiming to bring a special Market Development Assistance Scheme for domestic tour operators,” Sawhney adds.

The new team is all geared up to give a renewed boost to domestic tourism.

“With the states waking up to the potential of domestic tourism, there has been a spurt in home-stay accom-

ADTOI is looking forward to unveil two more

From Boeing to Airbus SpiceJet, the Indian discount carrier operating an allBoeing fleet, said it may consider a full switch to Airbus SAS aircraft as it weighs

options for a new generation of planes.

The planemaker said last month it’s in talks with SpiceJet and Jet Airways

(India) to sell its 737 Max single-aisle aircraft as the plane maker forecast Indian carriers would need 1,450 new planes through 2031.

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HOTELS

Banyan Tree grows 100% With the opening of its flagship property in Kerala

by Q3 2013, the brand intends to further boost sales figures from India.

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ingapore-based Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts has added India in its core market listing after recording sales growth of 100 per cent in 2012 over 2011. By organising roadshows, fams, knowledge sharing sessions and sales calls in major Indian cities, the brand has spread awareness among the travel trade and corporate travellers. To incentivise travel trade for their loyalty and encourage them to book Banyan Tree properties across the world, it has also introduced the XTC (Xtreme Travel Consultants) recognition programme for agents. It is now in the process of rolling out the much-awaited Banyan Tree Kerala property in Q3 2013 and has started promoting the same among the Indian travel trade. With an aim to achieve another milestone of 100 per cent sales growth from India in 2013 as well, the brand has listed India in its core focus markets for this year and is investing highly on travel trade partnerships, incentives and strategic marketing and business alliances.

Audrey Chung Senior Assistant Vice President – Global Marketing Network, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts

We have realised that India is a last minute booking market and we have to be flexible enough Underlining the growing importance of Indian market, Audrey Chung, Senior Assistant Vice President – Global Marketing Network, Banyan

Tree Hotels & Resorts said, “Slowly, we are gaining confidence among the travel trade by accommodating their requests and customising to their requirements.

We have realised that India is a last minute booking market and we have to be flexible enough. We are also learning about the various booking patterns of the Indian travel trade and are further enhancing our knowledge by organising trade missions and roadshows once a year by bringing down our suppliers from markets for which India is a potential source market. Moving forward, we intend to start connecting with mini metro cities like Ahmedabad, Pune, etc which hold strong potential for our product.”

The brand is now positive to open the flagship property in Kerala by the third quarter of this year. The all-villa property will have 59 pool villas, three restaurants, spa facilities and activities across the island.

Hotel construction boom Approximately 500 million Indians belong to the well-off middle class; and they travel frequently. In the next three years, 292 new hotels will open their doors in India.

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s of now, luxury hotels are in high demand in India. One of the latest hotels in the sub-continent is the recently opened Kempinski Ambience Hotel in Delhi. The 480 room-hotel is split into two towers, which are linked by a glassy bridge.

The Dalai Lama joined its opening. In the next five years, more than 90,000 hotel beds should arise in India’s metropolis.

All large hotel chains bustle in the Indian hotel market. Accor is currently

Concrete hotel construction projects of all large hotel chains in India Accor

Carlson Rezidor Dusit Hotels Fairmont Raffles Hotels Hilton Hyatt IHG Marriott Oberoi Shangri-La Starwood Hotels Taj Hotels Wyndham Hotels

8 hotel contruction projects 30 8 4 9 15 15 25 2 3 23 5 12

(Source: tophotelprojects.com/date: March 2013)

building eight hotels, Carlson Rezidor is currently developing 30 new properties, Hilton is planning nine new hotels and the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is preparing 16 new hotel openings.

Also Hyatt is expanding its presence in India; currently they operate 13 hotels, and in the next years, 15 new hotels should be added.

This data has been revealed by TOPHOTELPROJECTS, the worldwide leading provider of global B2B hotel data. And a lot many hotel projects are expected.

Chinese tourists are the world’s biggest spenders Chinese tourists have over taken Germans as the world’s biggest-spending travelers after a decade of robust growth in the number of Chinese holidaying abroad, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) said.

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HOTELS

The business of heritage Forging an alliance with the travel trade fraternity, WelcomHeritage sees a constant expansion in the B2B segment owing to the continuous evolution in the technological sphere.

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elcomHeritage, a joint venture between ITC and Jodhana Heritage, upholding a collection of the heritage hotels in India, garners 60 per cent of its business through the B2B segment.

Elaborating on the relationship with travel agents and tour operators, Sanjay Kirpal, CEO, WelcomHeritage says, “They are an important link as they are in direct touch with the target segment and influence their decision pertaining to their holiday destinations. We remain in constant touch with our associates from the travel trade. We keep them updated with the regular information encompassing our properties. Simultaneously, we also update them about an array of exciting Heritage Holiday packages and offerings at our properties.”

According to Kirpal, the continuous evolution in the technological sphere is leading to a constant expansion in the B2B segment. The travel trade fraternity is incessantly making efforts to mark an improvement in its approach. “The productivity of this segment largely depends on the visibility provided by the portals. The market is highly competitive and is offering higher discounts and special rates which are playing a crucial role in this segment. Till now, the response has been increasingly positive over the years and we are sure that it will continue to grow further,” he adds.

In addition to the numerous challenges involved in setting up and running of any regular hotel, the heritage hotels involve some additional hurdles.

Points out Kirpal, “During the setting up phase, there are problems such as high commencing and renovation costs. Also, in the initial phase, these hotels require

erator sets are costly.

Additionally, there are other cost constraints like transporting guest amenities, tax structures, plus expensive Bar license fee, which is

Sanjay Kirpal

Sunil Sikka

CEO WelcomHeritage

Head-Marketing & Business Development, WelcomHeritage

Travel agents are an important link as they are in direct touch with the target segment special attention as they are usually family-owned, old buildings, built for personal use. They were originally never constructed as hotels and the owners are usually not ready for any kind of changes as they share an emotional attachment with these properties.”

Another major challenge in running these hotels is their location, which makes its accessibility difficult for the travellers and causes limitations in providing skilled human resource. Due to the geographical difference of each destination, the business of these hotels is highly dependant upon the season.

There are some operational factors like electricity problem which contribute further to the costs as running gen-

The competition is largely from the budget hotels as they are giving a close competition in terms of rates at times higher than Bar sale of the hotel, Sunil Sikka, Head-Marketing & Business Development, WelcomHeritage adds.

With respect to price points, the heritage business is fairly competitive in India and henceforth, it is expected to increase with people looking for unique experiences through heritage tourism in India. “The competition in this segment is largely from the budget hotels as they are giving a close competition in the context of rates. Also, competition within the segment is evolving as the heritage hotels are mushrooming and most of the locations already have about five to six hotels,” Sikka explains.

Jonty Rhodes bats for SA Former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes will now woo Indian travellers to visit his spectacular home country as he has just been appointed as the brand ambassador to South African Tourism in India.

Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism, India said, “We are excited to have Jonty on board to further promote South Africa in India. Jonty has a huge fanfollowing, his credibility, stellar

cricketing career and love for travel, adventure and South Africa, makes him the ambassador of choice to promote South Africa’s tourism experiences.”

Commenting on the announcement, Jonty Rhodes said, “My home country is every traveller’s dream come true. I am looking forward to encouraging more Indians to visit South Africa to discover the abundance of unique and awe-

Hanneli Slabber Country Manager, South African Tourism

some experiences offered by the destination to suit varied needs and desires.”

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‘Zone by The Park’ for budget segment Launched by Apeejay Surrendra Group, the brand will primarily be managed properties. Four hotels have already been signed.

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he Park Hotels has announced the launch of their design driven upscale brand ‘Zone by The Park’ as part of the brand’s expansion plans. Drawing from The Park’s design spirit, the concept envisions an interactive series of buzzing spaces using the best of contemporary design, with creative and playful interiors, multi-functional spaces, great restaurants, bars and vibrant nightlife. These hotels will be a starting point to enjoy the city, where people engage and socialise in a

Jaxtr World Sim calls agents Jaxtr Inc recently launched Jaxtr SIM - a global SIM card offering up to 90 per cent cheaper call rates to India for Indians travelling abroad.

Being the second country after US for the launch of this SIM, the company is very confident to sell over one million SIM cards in next couple of years. Priced at ` 600, the card is 70 per cent cheaper than other existing solutions.

According to Sabeer Bhatia, Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Jaxtr Inc; India was the next best choice for launching Jaxtr SIM as the company is familiar with the Indian travel market due to Arzoo.com. He said, “Since outbound travel bookings are mostly managed by travel agents in this market, we will make them (both online and offline agents) our prime distribution channels.

There are around 12 million international passengers annually who come and go out of the country with 86 per cent of them having a mobile phone.

They, being price-sensitive, look for cost-effective solution during roaming.

Our global SIM card is designed for such needs.”

Believing strongly on the positive future of offline agents in India, Bhatia said, “This new travel product in their kitty will bring in lot more revenue for agents, if used in the right way.” The company will also sell the SIM online.

friendly and informal atmosphere. Talking about the new development, Priya Paul, Chairperson,ApeejaySurrendr a Park Hotels remarked, “We saw an opportunity to create a mid-segment brand that reflected this upbeat mood.

Though different from The Park, we wanted to create a

brand that would channel its inimitable spirit.”

The brand Zone will cater to the gap in the Indian hotel market for the burgeoning Indian middle class and international traveller looking for budget travel. The hotels will be priced around the 80-

100 USD mark, Vijay Dewan, Managing Director, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels informed. ‘Zone by The Park’ will primarily be managed properties and four hotels have already been signed under the brand. The first hotel will be operational by the year end.

Priya Paul

Vijay Dewan

Chairperson Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels

Managing Director Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels

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HOTELS

Carlson Rezidor for mid-market The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group is highly upbeat about the hospitality sector in the Indian market and believes that the future in India belongs to the mid-market segment. The group aims at establishing strategic partnerships region-wise…

L YA N D RA D ’ S O U Z A

S

imon C Barlow, President, Asia-Pacific, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group said, “We believe that the mid-market segment is the future of India.

The population in India is young and our mid-scale brand Park Inn by Radisson will definitely appeal to young travellers.”

The hotel management company signed an agreement with the Bestech Group to develop 49 Park Inn by Radissons across North and Central India in 2012. Barlow informed that Carlson Rezidor-Bestech partnership would work as a model for other partnerships in India. He added, “We will

look to develop similar strategic partnerships with other groups for the East, West and southern region and to create a platform as we have done with Bestech.

We are currently undergoing talks for the same and are hoping to make an announcement of at least one partnership agreement by mid-2013.”

The Hotel Group currently has 63 properties in India and aims at having over 200 properties in the country by 2020.

Barlow stated, “Carlson Rezidor has been present in India for over 15 years now and we believe that the Indian market can sustain this growth. India is the strongest of all our countries in Asia.

Simon C Barlow President, Asia-Pacific Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group

The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group has six brands in its portfolio - Radisson Blu, Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn

by Radisson, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson and Hotel Missoni, Barlow said, “Of these six brands, only Hotel Missoni is not present in India. As of now, there are no plans to bring the brand to India. However, if we do decide to do so, it will be either in Delhi or Mumbai.”

Carlson & India...

Our emphasis in India will be on secondary and tertiary cities with focus on the Park Inn by Radisson brand.”

The Hotel Group currently has 63 properties in India and aims at having over 200 properties in the country by 2020 It has been in India for over 15 years and believes that the Indian market can sustain this growth

Sarovar spreads wings in Gujarat The hospitality landscape in Gujarat got more vibrant with Sarovar Hotels recently announcing the signing of two more hotels in Gujarat – at Gandhidham and Bhavnagar. traveller who refuses to compromise on quality.”

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oth the hotels will be developed under Sarovar Portico brand and will be operational over the next three years.

The hotels will cash in on the well-informed traveller who demands value-formoney pricing. Says Anil Madhok, Managing Director, Sarovar Hotels, “Sarovar Portico as a brand was conceptualised with a view to provide today’s wellinformed traveller with all modern facilities and comforts, at value-for-money pricing. The hotels under this brand bring fresh design, concept and ideas that are vibrant and colourful, providing guests a refreshing stay experience. These hotels target the budget conscious

Anil Madhok Managing Director Sarovar Hotels

Both leisure tourists and business travellers who visit Gujarat will be our target customers

Sarovar Portico, Gandhidham will offer 58 rooms and is expected to be operational by 2014 while Sarovar Portico, Bhavnagar will be 80-room hotel, slated to open in 2016. These hotels are promoted by Akhil Palace Hotels and Leela Hospitality & Services respectively.

Regarding the competitive hospitality landscape emerging in Gujarat, Madhok comments, “A brand like Sarovar Portico has the maximum potential to grow in this market as it is an ideal combination of quality and hospitality at an attractive price. With the signing of two more hotels, we hope to strengthen our presence in the state and cater to the

growing number of visitors to Gujarat. Both leisure tourists and business travellers who visit Gujarat due to its rich cultural heritage and the presence of a large number of industries will be our target customers.”

Currently Sarovar Hotels has presence in Gujarat with Park Plaza Ahmedabad, Sarovar Portico Ahmedabad and Sarovar Portico Rajkot.

Welcoming Gujarat Sarovar Portico, Gandhidham will offer 58 rooms and is expected to be operational by 2014 while Sarovar Portico, Bhavnagar will be 80room hotel, slated to open in 2016

NY’s Met Museum teams up with India New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and India have signed an agreement to cooperate in areas of conservation, exhibitions and research. Under the agreement, the Met says the muse-

um and India’s Ministry of Culture also will cooperate on short- and long-term loans, publications and public education.

The collaboration also calls for the immediate cre-

ation of the Indian Conservation Fellowship Pilot Program.

Met Director and CEO Thomas Campbell says under the program emerging Indian conservators will work alongside

the museum’s staff of nearly 100 conservators and scientists.

A major exhibition focusing on India’s Deccan region also is planned for some time in spring 2015.

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Regional air connectivity MoCA is consistently urging the Maharashtra government to reduce aviation taxes and provide incentives to airlines connecting mini-metros and Tier-II cities in the state.

ANITA JAIN

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ith consistent requests from airlines, state airports and now Ministry of Civil Aviation; the Civil Aviation Department of Maharashtra has drafted a new aviation

Ajit Singh Union Minister for Aviation

policy where the focus is on regional air connectivity and regional airport’s development. The state has attempted to lure airlines into increas-

news is welcomed by the industry stakeholders, especially airports and airlines.

Intending to further enhance the aviation scenario in the state, J K Banthia, Chief Secretary, Maharashtra Government has urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to allow more international carriers to connect regions like Aurangabad, Sindhudurg, Shirdi, Nashik, etc.

Talking about the growing potential of regional airports and opportunities for domestic and international airlines, Banthia said, “Maharashtra needs more regional air connectivity with the improving popularity of regional tourism and business activities. For instance, Shirdi (one of the most popular religious sites in India) is soon opening its new international airport and we are ready to welcome

for which the state government is developing a passenger terminal to ease air passenger movement during the Mela. Our Nagpur airport is already developed and listed in SEZ (Special Economic Zone). We urge MoCA to permit domestic and global carriers to connect Nagpur with important international hubs like Bangkok, Singapore and Dubai. Also, with the development of Buddhist circuit in the state, there is a need to

J K Banthia Chief Secretary Maharashtra

connect Aurangabad with countries like China, Japan, Korea, etc.” There are opportunities with airlines to further look at Sindhudurg, Kolhapur, Solapur and Amravati.

ing regional connectivity by assuring purchase of a fixed number of seats on each flight and is now contemplating to reduce airport fee and tax aviation fuel to some extent. This

both international and domestic carriers to start flights to connect with this place of worship. The Maha Kumb Mela is scheduled to take place in Nashik in 2015

According to Ajit Singh, Union Minister for Aviation, Government of India; the Ministry of Civil Aviation is consistently urging the state government to reduce taxes in aviation sector, ease airport development in regional areas of the state and enhance air connectivity. To this, the state government has now considered and shown signs of reducing the taxes soon.

Punjab 2013 makes waves

Punjab 2013, a travel trade show, was organised at Hotel Hyatt in Amritsar on March 23, 2013. Those who participated in the event included Visit England, Visit Finland, London & its Partners, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, German National Tourist Office, OTOAI, TAT and many others. Several travel agents, tour operators, MICE organisors, wedding planner from Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar attended the event. Ashwani Gupta and Jatinder Gupta of Dove Travels, Amritsar had organised the show.

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God’s own country calling From seaplanes to excavating Muziris heritage site and developing Alappuzha in the backwater region as a mega tourism circuit, Kerala has a lot planned this year. finds out how it is exploiting its tourism potential.

DEVIKA JEET

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he synergy developed between tour operators, property owners, travel agencies and the government has resulted in a massive upsurge of tourists in Kerala. New product offerings have been very promising for the state.

Kerala Tourism’s total revenue, both direct and indirect, touched ` 21,125 crore in 2012. The state witnessed 7.94 lakh foreign tourists arrival and 1.01 crore domestic tourists last year. This rise of Kerala as a global tourism destination shows its fantastic strides in all aspects of tourism.

Adding to its different dimensions, it has introduced fresh initiatives to seek newer travel experience and increased tourist sites. The government of Kerala is rolling out two new initiatives; Seaplane Project and Project Muziris. While the former project is aimed towards improving last-mile connectivity by air to its destinations

Suman Billa

Nandkumar K P

Secretary Department of Tourism Government of Kerala

Tourist Information Officer Department of Tourism Government of Kerala

The Ayurveda we offer is essentially a wellnessoriented treatment to bring in more vigour to one’s system

Over 25 museums will be there to appreciate the Muziris’ heritage. This project will help develop the old ports in Kerala ports in Kerala and add historic value to the state,” adds Nandkumar.

Kerala has also received Central finance assistance to the tune of ` 47.62 crore for development of backwater circuit in Alappuzha as a mega circuit in Kerala.

across state, the latter is directed to reinstate the historical and cultural significance of the legendary port of Muziris.

“Kerala Tourism Infrastructure Limited (KTIL) a public sector undertaking under Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, has been appointed as the nodal agency for the implementation of the seaplane project. The plan is to provide service initially in the priority circuit, consisting of three airports of Trivandrum, Cochin and Calicut and prime destinations including Astamudi,

Punnamada, Kumarakom, Bolgatty and Bekal. We are trying for the early launch of seaplanes by this year,” says Nandkumar K P, Tourist Information Officer, Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala.

The Muziris Heritage Site stretches across Ernakulam district and Thrissur district. “The project’s objective is to promote awareness and understanding of the cultural distinctiveness and diversity of Muziris.

More than 25 museums will be there to appreciate the Muziris’ heritage. This project will help develop the old

The state is also focussing on wellness-oriented Ayurvedic treatments in the international markets.

“The Ayurveda we offer is essentially a wellness-oriented treatment to bring in more vigour to one’s system. That is what the tourists look for; and under this campaign, the average holiday for foreign tourists is expected to go up to 18 days per person from the present average stay of 16.2 days,” says Suman Billa, Secretary, Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala. For the domestic market this year, Kerala Tourism proposes to conduct partnership meets with the travel fraternity in the metropolitan cities as well as Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi.

Bonds for visiting UK Foreigners visiting Britain from certain countries will have to put up ‘security bonds’ costing thousands of pounds to deter them from overstaying their visas, under new proposals. Nick

Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister announced plans to bring in the Australian-style deposits for visitors from ‘high risk’ countries, to be repaid when they leave the UK. Although a list of such

nations has not yet been drawn up by the UK Border Agency (UKBA), it is expected to include Pakistan, other countries in the Indian sub-continent and some in the Middle East.

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NTO

‘India is a diverse market’ Melanie de Souza, General Manager, International Marketing, Tourism Victoria, talks about their increased focus in the Indian market. She also discusses how Australia has made it an aspirational destination and why MICE is important for them.

PEDEN DOMA BHUTIA

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elanie de Souza, General Manager, International Marketing, Tourism Victoria, does not like generalising Indian travelers; she says, “Like China, India is this very diverse type of market. We have a first timer coming out of Punjab and at the same time we have this sophisticated stylish person from Mumbai, who is out on his 40th international trip.

But India, traditionally, in terms of overseas holidays looked to UK and USA, only in the last decade has Australia started to penetrate people’s perceptions to the point that it’s now seen as an aspirational destination. This, for us, is very rewarding, but the tourists are maturing and we as a destination have to cater to a diverse Indian market.

How do we deliver to the Jains, how do we cater to the fact that our restaurants should be open for late dinner service? Our industry is getting their heads around it.”

The State of Victoria’s latest International Visitor Survey results for 2012 depicts Indian as one of Victoria’s fastest growing inbound tourism markets attracting 71,600 Indian visitors in 2012 an increase of 16.4 % over the previous year.

And of course with an increase in arrivals, Melanie says that that they do realize the importance of Indian arrivals. “India is our number seven market and is very important for us. We are the highest visited state in Australia from India, close to 50 per cent of the market to Australia is to Melbourne. This is very heartening. There is a general realization with the travel industry that Melbourne is now a must include in the itinerary,” she says.

Melanie says that of the many marketing strategies there is a great focus on the social media as well. Tourism Victoria’s innovative Melbourne NOW! Social media campaign reached over 5 mil-

lion Indians and generated new itineraries for Indian visitors to Victoria. Melanie explains the concept, “With Melbourne NOW! we wanted to use consumers to influence the travel industry’s itineraries for Melbourne and Victoria. We did a social media campaign where we painted the breadth of experiences on offer and we asked consumers to vote for

Melanie de Souza General Manager International Marketing, Tourism Victoria

We are the highest visited state in Australia from India, close to 50 per cent of the market to Australia is to Melbourne the experience that they liked, we got a very good response and there were pretty clear results. And at the end of it we went to the travel industry and told them that here’s what the consumers want now give us itineraries that match this kind of experience and we then made the same people vote for the itineraries that they think are most appealing. Out of 70 travel agents we picked 15 winners and the inducement for them was you had to put an extra night in Melbourne so we were looking to increase the length of stay and looking for innovation and not just run-of-the-mill itineraries.”

While looking for innovations the tourism board is also looking to focus on the various markets in India and while the primary markets are of course concentrated in Delhi and Mumbai, they are not losing track of the smaller markets as well. The Melbourne NOW! Campaign was the first Australian state tourism campaign to focus on Indian cities beyond Mumbai and Delhi and support for it has been extremely strong across India.

Melanie explains, “While our primary markets are Delhi and Mumbai, we do look into the secondary markets too. While the other cities are just coming up and have our target audience there, the critical mass of households with a certain disposable income the concentration is unquestionably in pure marketing terms in Mumbai and Delhi, we can’t lose sight of that as much as we want to nurture travellers in other markets.”

And while Melanie acknowledges that Melbourne has got the ability to cater to all income levels, she says that the business events market, though only a small percentage, is a very lucrative market in terms of average spend as it is 5 times more than the average holidayer. And the successful hosting of the Amway Conference has also been a great booster for MICE tourism in the city.

“We are told by our travel partners that the Amway Conference which had almost 4,500 people in attendance is being used as a case study in India. It proved that a medium-haul market like Australia could still have that kind of a movement, working without a direct airline, but collaborating across 4 airlines to deliver against the common objective. It was good business for us, the feedback was very positive.”

Europe’s best spots become playground for the new rich of the East Indian tourists are now a common site on the streets of Rome, displacing the traditional mobs of baseball capped, camera toting Japanese. Along with Japanese, Chinese and other Asians; they are the new tourist boom of Europe. The number of Indian tourists is rising year on year thereby proving the fact that Europe has become the best sport for the new rich of the East.

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STATES

21 new mega tourism projects for J&K In 2012, Jammu and Kashmir recorded the highest ever tourist influx with 13.11 lakh tourists, including 37,000 foreigners visiting Kashmir valley and over 38,000 foreigners visiting Ladakh during the last season. Over 1 crore pilgrims visited Vaishno Devi and 6.21 lakh Amarnath yatris visited Kashmir last year.

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oping for yet another successful holiday season, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Tourism Minister, Jammu and Kashmir, talks to about the newly sanctioned mega infrastructure and heritage projects by the Centre and safety measures undertaken for tourists ahead of the holiday season.

Q

Could you share details of the mega tourism projects that were sanctioned by the Centre recently?

The construction of Kashmir Haat at Chinar Bagh, development of picnic spot at Pahalgam, light and sound show at Shalimar Bagh, construction of budget accommodation at Aharbal and Lolab-Bangus-Drangyari would be completed at a cost of ` 22.28 crore. The construction of TRC at Yousmarg, eco-friendly development of Sutkudi

Ghulam Ahmed Mir Tourism Minister Jammu and Kashmir

base camp to Vishansar, Sonamarg, development of Sarbal lake, development of Jamia Masjid Heritage Corridor as a tourist destination, development of Doodpathari as tourist resort, setting up of laser show/multimedia show at Dal Lake and development of wayside facilities and upgradation of Amarnath Yatra track would be carried out at the cost of ` 22.52 crore in Kashmir valley.

In Jammu division, sanctioned projects include development of tourist infrastructure at Natha Top and development of Sanasar Lake, conservation and restoration of Mubarak Mandi Heritage Complex as mega tourist, development of tourist infrastructure at Mansar Lake, development of Mughal road, Lake Circuit, Poonch, development of tourist spots in Ballwan Basoli and Bani area and development and promotion of pilgrim circuit at Gurudwara Nangali Sahib in Poonch besides integrated development of tourist circuit in Darhal as base camp and Shaker Marg as gateway to the tourist destination of Pirpanchal range would be completed at the total cost of ` 38.68 crore. Projects worth ` 4.45 crore for development of tourist infrastructure in Kargil tourist spot have also been sanctioned by the Centre.

Travel and tour associations here have been demanding for growth of good accommodation facilities, easy access by rail and air on a fix price and quota.

They also demand more destinations to be opened with adequate facilities.

Q

Q

Could you tell us about the progress of tourism projects being executed under the Central Financial Assistance?

Many of the centrally sponsored schemes have been completed like TRC Srinagar, TRC Ladwdora at Qazigund, Chanirbagh Kulgam, trekkers’ huts at Ahrabal Kulgam, Club centre and dormitory at Sanamarg, budget accommodations at Lolab, Kupwara, North Circuit Caridoor, development of Gurez as tourist destination, TRCs at various

locations and tourist villages like Watlab, Akhangam, Sharshali, Nowgam Abad and Tiger Smoor.

Q

What is being done to ensure timely completion?

The centrally sponsored project must complete within a period of two to three years and our state has been able to meet most deadlines.

Q

What are the demands of tourism trade delegations and travel associations, and what steps is the government taking?

Highlight challenges to convince nations to lift travel advisories?

During last year, nearly 120 lakh pilgrims visited Jammu, 13 lakh tourists visited the Valley which included 37,000 foreigners from the UK, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Germany, USA, Holland, Russia, etc. Whosoever visited J&K, returned home safe. Had there been any disturbance, so many foreigners would have never visited the state. All the countries who imposed Travel Advisories need to lift them, so that their people can visit J&K without fear.

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Tourism: WB’s sunshine The state has launched a new campaign Chalo Chalen Bengal to project its tourism potential, attract more domestic and foreign tourists.

M E G H A PAU L

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onths after launching the promotional video featuring Bollywood superstar and state brand ambassador, Shahrukh Khan, West Bengal is now banking on tourism to be its sunshine sector. The state recently launched a one month-long intensive cam-

it. This was revealed

by Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury, Minister-inCharge Tourism, Government of West Bengal who was in New Delhi to flag off the event.

“Allocation made by the state government for Tourism sector was ` 38 crore in 2011-2012. It increased to

Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury

Vikram Sen

Minister-in-Charge Tourism Government of West Bengal

Principal Secretary-Tourism West Bengal

paign in Delhi with the tagline-- Chalo Chalen Bengal (Let’s visit Bengal).

The new government has resolved to bring in both qualitative and quantitative change in the tourism sector.

The increasing annual outlay for tourism in the last two state budgets is a testimony to

` 90 crore in 2012-2013 and ` 120 crore in the current financial year 2013-2014.

This clearly reflects the budgetary support has increased 33 per cent,” he added.

Currently, the state ranks ninth in domestic tourist arrivals. It is both a concern and an opportunity. Thus, WB

wants to work closely with the travel trade to promote packages in other regions of India, especially North and South India, he pointed out. The State Tourism Department will conduct roadshows in major cities of India such as Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, etc, in the coming months. He said, “We are looking at starting night flights from Bagdogra airport.

The state government is in talks with the Airport Authority of India for this.”

The state is betting big on promoting Durga Puja tourism packages in a big way. “This year, we plan to offer 10 tourist packages that include Kolkata and other districts of state where tourists can soak in the festive spirit culture and heritage of the state at various zamindari puja homes,” Vikram Sen, Principal Secretary Tourism, West Bengal added. The government through the PPP mode is developing infrastructure, including Gajoldoba Tourism Hub, the Kolkata Giant Wheel, Sylee Tea Tourism Hub, Kunjanagar Nature and Adventure Park and Eco-Tourism in Jhadhali, Sundarbans.

MP bags 3 mega-projects These projects will entail investments of about ` 50 crore each and will be built around Ujjain, Jabalpur and one more site T T B U R E AU

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he state of Madhya Pradesh has jumped on the tourism map of India in a very short period, and has

Raghavendra Kumar Singh Managing Director MPSTDC

emerged as one of the top ten states in terms of domestic tourist visits. Taking it further, the state has recently bagged three mega projects.

“Madhya Pradesh has seen the number of tourists

grow from 11 million in 2006 to 53 million in 2012, which speaks volumes about the impressive growth we had witnessed in the recent past.

In fact, irrespective of the adverse global economic scenario and tiger tourism getting affected for a period of time in 2012; our foreign tourist arrivals remained strong,” said Raghavendra Kumar Singh, Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation in New Delhi.

“Due to our progress in the tourism, we now have bagged three mega-projects from Ministry of Tourism, which will entail investments of about ` 50 crore each. These mega projects will come up around Ujjain, Jabalpur and one more site,” he added. MP has won many accolades for its TV and radio commercials in the recent past. To further its promotional campaign, it has now launched a new TV commercial.

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AVIATION

Air India breaking through The airline accepts that travel agents are crucial elements for growth and promises to continue a healthy relationship with the travel trade.

ANITA JAIN

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he ailing Maharaja of Indian skies is going to post an operating profit/EBIDA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) for the first time in 2012-13 after six flat years into losses. The airline

Government of India expects that the airline will post an EBIDA of close to ` 1,000 crore for current (2013-14).

The total revenue for this year is budgeted at ` 19,393 crore – an increase of 20 per cent over the previous year.

Talking about the national carrier’s growth in

posted negative EBIDA of more than ` 2,000 crore in the 2011-12. And with everything going positive, we hope the airline will register operating profit of close to ` 1,000 crore.” Elaborating on the performance of Air India, Singh said, “The market share of Air India in the last few months has gone up from 15 per cent to more than 20 per cent.”

Target: 2013-14

is expected to wrap up the last fiscal (2012-13) with EBIDA of close to ` 20 crore despite the grounding of its six Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Moreover, Ajit Singh, Civil Aviation Minister,

The airline is expected to record around 72.5 per cent on the network for 2013-14, which is better than that targetted in the turnaround plan. It is expected to carry 16.12 million passengers in 2013-14, a growth of 14.7 per cent from 2012-13

northward direction, Singh said, “After 2007, Air India has marked EBIDA in the positive side of the graph. The growth is not too much but as little as ` 20 crore, however, one has to consider that the airline

Going up the ladder Singh informed that the load factor of the airline has improved to 71.8 per cent in 2012-13 as compared to 67.9 per cent in the last fiscal. The on-time performance of the airline perked up to 85 per cent in last fiscal as compared to 75 per cent in 2011-12. In terms of yields per rupee per kilometre, it was ` 4.31 per kilometre as compared to ` 3.5 per kilometre required by the finance ministry. The government in April 2012 approved a ` 30,000 crore package to bail out the airline which included an upfront equity infusion of ` 6,750 crore and assured equity support of ` 23,481 crore till 2020-21.

Highlighting the performance of Air India last

year, Rita Motilal, General Manager – Commercial, Western India, Air India said, “We started the last year with the unfortunate agitation by our pilots which impacted our flights to London, Riyadh and few more from Mumbai with other international connections unchanged. But the affected flights were reinstated by August last year.”

According to her, between November – March, the airline recorded growth in seat factor (domestic average: 80 per cent and international average: 75 per cent and overall 73 per cent on an average), new routes, revenue, better yields and on time performance. “For the increase in seat loads, we appreciate the sup-

port of our trade partners which constantly support Air India and sell it on domestic and international routes. We are glad that the travel trade has kept the confidence on Air India and supported us during our troubled times. Overall, the travel trade has immensely contributed in making the turnaround strategy of Air India successful,” adds Motilal. The revenue and overall operating profits of the airline would have been much better if the B787 Dreamliner aircraft were in operations instead of on the grounds. The airline will soon announce new routes on domestic and international routes with exciting range of holiday packages, stop over packages and incentive schemes for agents.

The 'Maharaja' way...

Air India Western Region Office recently felicitated the travel agents in the Maharaja way and organised a lunch get-together for its travel trade partners in Mumbai.

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From Slovenia, Adria lands in India Dex Aviation will work with the travel trade in India to promote Adria Airways, the national carrier of Slovenia that connects 18 cities throughout Europe. The airline also offers excellent connections to South East Europe…

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he national carrier of Slovenia, Adria Airways, with an experience spanning over 50 years in charter and scheduled air traffic, will soon make its presence felt in the Indian market. It has recently appointed Dex Aviation as its General Sales Agent in India.

Speaking at the press conference, Ambassador Janez Premoze said, “India has been a traditional destination for Slovenians for a long time. And the total exchange of visitors in both directions is about 10,000.

This number has remained stable. We now want to develop our tourism, using the national airlines, in a way that makes practical and tactical business sense.”

Headquartered near Ljubljana - the capital of Slovenia, Adria Airways connects 18 cities throughout Europe and offers excellent connections to South-East Europe. According to Ramesh

Marwah, Director, Dex Group, “Everyone in Europe is looking at India as a big potential market. The outbound figure for

Indians has risen to nearly 16 million. For us to get even a miniscule share of this market would be great.”

Janez Premoze

Ramesh Marwah

Ambassador Slovenia

Director Dex Group

We want to develop tourism, using the national airline, in a way that makes practical business sense

Outbound figure for Indians has risen to 16 million.To get a share of this market would be great

“The talks are on between the two countries to establish direct connectivity.

As of now, you can go from Delhi to Ljubljana, via Frankfurt, Munich or Istanbul. We get you through fares starting from ` 42,000 for India to Ljubljana and back,” he added.

Situated in Central Europe sharing borders with Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, Slovenia is at the crossroads of European cultural and trade routes and is a diverse country relative to its geography, history, economy, culture and language.

The country provides beaches, lakes, mountains and is gaining as a wellness destination. India and Slovenia traditionally have excellent bilateral relations. The future of cooperation between Slovenia and India lies in deepening cooperation in all areas of mutual interest, and particularly economics.

“Appointing Dex Aviation as our General Sales

Agent is Adria Airways’ first step in developing our sales network in the Indian market,” said Mark Anzur, Adria Airways President and CEO. “Adria Airways actively sup-

Sarajevo, Skopje, Split, Tirana, Vienna and Zurich. A member of Star Alliance, Adria Airways in connection with other airline partners in Star Alliance, offers access to a global net-

Adria Airways actively supports efforts of the Slovenian Government to improve air-connectivity between Slovenia and India Mark Anzur President and CEO, Adria Airways ports the efforts of Slovenian Government to improve airconnectivity between Slovenia and India. It is our wish to establish closer cooperation with Indian carriers in the near future.”

Adria Airways offers more than 170 scheduled flights every week to Amsterdam, Belgrade, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Manchester, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Podgorica, Pristina,

work of 27 airlines with more than 21,900 daily flights to 1,329 airports in 194 countries. The Frequent Flyer Programme of Adria Airways - Miles & More is the leading Frequent Flyer Programme for airlines like Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Austrian Airlines etc benefitting travellers with accumulation and redemption of miles on the member airlines.

Adria Airways is one of the first airlines to receive IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) Registration.

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‘Subha’ charts a regional path After dominating the air charter industry, Subha Aviation is now working on a plan to develop its regional airline.

The company spokesperson speaks to about his plans and the big aircraft the company offers.

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ubha Aviation has been in the industry since 1998 and has seen endless growth.

Pioneers in air charters and especially for big aircraft, the company has seen a year-onyear growth of 35% since 2005. “Till 2000, we saw excellent growth in this industry in spite of the fact that charter flights were a very raw concept at that time in India. We saw a slowdown after 9/11 and 2005 onwards,

Madhukar Kher Head, Ops & Business Development Subha Aviation

We are in a sound position and are planning to further expand and launch a regional airline based in New Delhi the industry picked up again. We have recorded a 35 per cent growth each year. Now again, there has been a slowdown in the business because of the high percentage of service tax; it’s over 12.36 per cent. This high tax bracket has affected the whole industry,” says Madhukar Kher, Head, Ops & Business Development, Subha Aviation.

Upset with this elevated service tax, Kher added, “Aviation is the backbone of the tourism industry and if they want to promote this segment they have to provide some cut-backs to the aviation sector. Some relief is required and the Government seriously needs to look into these factors.”

Subha Aviation works with large number of DMCs in India and offers great deals especially for big bird

charters. They deal with a minimum 20 person charter and the largest so far has been 340 people.

“We are in a sound position and are planning to further expand and launch a regional airline based in New Delhi,” reveals Kher.

“We have ambitions to take this forward, but at present, the market is too volatile and liaisons have kept ridiculous conditions for the Indian market,” Kher says. “Leasing an aircraft is becoming very difficult and we’ll watch the market and then decide,” he adds.

Kher further talks about the company, saying, “We have a vision and with the knowledge and experience of our Managing Director, Gautam Sahni, we are bound to achieve greater heights.”

The head of operations and business development promises quality aviation, saying,

“We are also looking at the corporate segment and increasing our foothold in this area. We reliability, confidence and experience.

Sahni has been involved in schedule planning for over 20 years and know his work well.

We also don’t compromise on service levels.”

Flying High Subha Aviation works with large number of DMCs in India and offers great deals especially for big bird charters. They deal with a minimum 20 person charter and the largest so far has been 340 people

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NTO

A million thanks to Indians The Tourism Authority of Thailand is set to target golf tourism and the MICE segment from India this year. source markets four years ago, India is now our sixth largest source market. There is still further potential in the market and we want to do our best to maintain our growth here.”

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eceiving over one million visitors in 2012 from India, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is targetting 10 per cent growth in traffic from India this year.

The tourism board is also tar-

Indians top 3 spenders in Bangkok The average length of stay of an Indian traveller to Thailand is seven days.

Indians visitors are also among the top three in average spending in Thailand. Indian travellers spend THB 5,200 per day in Thailand and THB 32,000 on average per trip. geting the golf tourism segment from the country.

Speaking on the sidelines of ‘A Million Thanks’ evening organised at the Shangri La Hotel in Mumbai to celebrate over a million visitors to Thailand, Suraphon Svetasreni, Governor, Tourism Authority of Thailand said, “The purpose of this evening has been to thank our travel partners in India. We were one of the

Suraphon Svetasreni Governor, Tourism Authority of Thailand

We were one of the first to see the potential in the Indian market when we entered it 15 years ago and we have seen numbers climb every year first to see the potential in the Indian market when we entered it 15 years ago and we have seen numbers climb every year. Reaching one million visitors though, has been quicker than we thought.

From not being in our top 10

Thailand received 1,100,561 Indians in 2012, a 11 per cent increase from 2011. Svetasreni stated, “We hope to see year-on-year growth of 10 per cent going forward. Around 60 per cent of traffic from India to Thailand are repeat visitors and therefore, we want to constantly update our products and offerings in the market to appeal to repeat traffic. Additionally, the wedding segment is another important segment that we are focussing on.

There is still untapped potential in the MICE segment. Thailand’s accessibility, affordability and hospitality make it an ideal destination for MICE activities.”

He also stated that the launch of direct flights to Phuket from Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad by Thai Smile, the sister airline of Thai Airways will also drive traffic from India.

‘Thank You Party’ for 1mn Indians LEKHA SHANKAR IN BANGKOK

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lose on the heels of TAT’s ‘Thank You’ party in India, to celebrate a record one million Indian tourists to Thailand in 2012, came their ‘Thank You’ party in Bangkok, to celebrate a record 20 million international tourists to the kingdom.

The grand evening at the Landmark Hotel saw a huge array of food and entertainment, games and lucky draws. Svetasrini said that TAT had used both traditional marketing tools and online marketing campaigns, to whip up interest in Thailand, ‘A country that everyone would love to visit!’

“Every sector is booming!” he said. Svetasrini spoke of the wedding market, and also of families, the corporate and incentive mar-

ket. “The Indian MICE market is a very important one”, stated the Governor, adding that he expected this to further improve, when the Chiangmai International and Convention Centre opens later this year. “It’s structurally 100% ready, and has its own management team, which will tap markets around the world, including India” declared the Governor Since the Indian tourists, both leisure and corporate, seemed to enjoy the beach-towns of Thailand, the Governor informed that Thai Airways was all set to start direct flights from India, to the famed beach-town of Phuket, in April.

The Governor admitted that India was a favourite destination for him and his wife. “It’s possible for us to fly to any part of the world, but we repeatedly keep going back to India, especially Mumbai, where my wife has many friends!” he stated with a smile. “India has become a big source-market for us, and we’ll definitely be pushing all our campaigns there,” he stated.

The TAT Governor informed that they planned to do more pro-active online and digital campaigns, in 2013.

India ranks 71st on tourism marketing survey In a World Economic Forum survey asking how effective are the countries’ marketing and branding campaigns in attracting tourists, India was ranked 71st in the list of countries. That question -among many others - was put to about 15,000 executives in 140 countries globally, as part of its annual Executive Opinion Survey’.

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Making a beeline to invest in hotels As per estimates, there has been nearly a three-fold increase in terms of the room inventory that was earlier added on per annum basis in India. talks to veterans to know more about the current situation...

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he boom in tourism sector in India has attracted many international and domestic players in the hotel business segment.

Moreover, there is the need to develop further 2 lakh room inventories to serve the growth ambition being

Vivek Nair President, FHRAI

The demandsupply dynamics have led to price correction. But, the prices vary across various types of hotels projected by the Ministry of Tourism to double the inbound and domestic tourism business. It also will

Nakul Anand President, HAI

It’s a misconception to believe that hotels in India are over priced, which we all need to get rid of once and for all ensure that rapid increase in supply of hotel rooms will be witnessed in future.

“The growth dynamics had attracted many new entrants in the hotel industry.

The new entrants include many of the international and domestic hotel chains that

were not in this segment earlier. Moreover, a lot many real estate companies, High Net Individuals and many other entities are in hotel business, who want to participate in the hotel industry and also seek professional operators to manage their hotels,” said Vivek Nair, President, FHRAI. “As a

result there has been nearly three-fold increase in terms of the room inventory that was earlier added on per annum basis. Thus, the demand-supply dynamics has led to price correction. But, the prices vary across various types of hotels.

In fact, off late, due to disturbance in beach tourism in

Egypt, we are witnessing very high occupancies in all the Goa hotels.” Further, on the aspects of following best practices in terms of pricing the room inventory in India, Nakul Anand, President, HAI said, “It’s a misconception to believe that hotels in India are over priced, which we all need

to get rid of for once and all.

The Indian hotel industry had been in the forefront to accept global best practices. We had adopted the Best Available Room Rate concept much earlier than our peers.” Hence the price of hotel varies across various categories during different periods of time. For instance,

the room rate in a pure business hotel can vary from $100 to $700 depending on the demand supply dynamics during the week days and towards the weekend. Here, the guest needs to make its choice accordingly and relish the Incredible India experience,” he added.

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NTO

Agents make or break us With a new tagline – ‘Germany for Young People’, Romit Theophilus, Director, Sales and Marketing, GNTO India, says they want to showcase Germany to a younger audience. towards the travel trade and 30% is geared towards the consumers. We have tied up with Kuoni, Kesari, Cox and Kings and we are doing general marketing activities with them. Besides, the print and electronic media, we are also advertising in cinema halls, radio and are doing some cab branding.”

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he youth sure seems to have caught the fancy of everyone around. Now Germany is promoting the destination among the youth with its tagline – “Germany for Young People”. Talking about its campaign, Theophilus, says, “We want to show Germany to a younger audience, tell them what fascinating things we have. Berlin is the party capital of Europe at this point in time and the third most visited city in Europe, after London and Paris. So, Germany is doing quite well for the young people.

What we tell the youngsters is come on Friday, don’t even book an overnight in a hotel, party till Sunday morning and then leave as the pubs don’t shut throughout the night.”

Of course with options from skiing and hiking, partying, shopping and dining, little wonder then that Germany is a much soughtafter destination for Indians.

No wonder Theophilus remarks, “We are confident of Germany maintaining its position as one of the most favoured European destinations by Indian visitors. We see a lot more incentive travel coming in to Germany, the leisure segment is also growing considerably year-onyear. Previously we were a 100% business destination,

Romit Theophilus Director, Sales and Marketing GNTO India

We are confident of Germany maintaining its position as one of the most favoured European destinations by Indian visitors now we are a 70% business destination and 30% leisure destination. We want to grow by 10-15% by 2013 and by 2020 we want to have 1.5 million overnights from India.”

And to ensure that the country retains its position as one of the most favoured destinations, Theophilus says, “We market towards the travel trade quite aggressively, 60-70% of our marketing campaigns are targetted

Talking about the focus on the travel trade, Theophilus says, “Agents can make or break you when it comes to suggestions of which destination to visit next. Only if the agent is comfortable with a destination can he recommend it.”

However, he says that now they are also focussing on consumers. “We’ve been educating the travel trade over the last few years and the travel trade has all the information they want about Germany. But now it’s very important for us to educate the consumers and create awareness among consumers on what all Germany has to offer.”

Welcome All Germany aims to grow by 10-15 per cent by 2013 By 2020, it wants to have 1.5 million overnights from India It is also going on a promotion spree

All about Turkish culture & cuisine

The Embassy of the Republic of Turkey, in association with Turkish Airlines and Hyatt Regency, Delhi, hosted an evening of Turkish Rendezvous by launching the Turkish Food festival at the Regency Ballroom, The Hyatt. The food festival was open for connoisseurs from March 21 - 26, 2013 at Café, The Hyatt. The guest of honor for the evening was Burak Akcapar, the Ambassador of Turkey, who inaugurated the occasion and talked about Turkish culture and cuisine, and the importance of Indo-Turkish relations. Guests were entertained by live Turkish music and dance, followed by a spread of Turkish cuisine and drinks.

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Car Jeeto contest by Lufthansa Lufthansa is proud to announce the winner of its 'Lufthansa Car Jeeto’ contest. In recognition of her outstanding and customised service, Anamika Masurekar of FMC Travels is now the owner of a brand new Chevrolet Beat.

Lufthansa also congratulated four run-up winners of Hero Splendor motorbikes-Murtuza Suleman Ali, Hemal Ramesh Thakkar, Pravin Barenkal of Riya Travels, Mumbai and Mahesh Dhiman of Akbar Travels, New Delhi.

Excited over her win, Anamika Masurekar said, “I am proud of that it will remind me of my achievements every time I sit in it,” she added, “I thank Lufthansa for motivating us via such incentives.”

Travel agents: New brand ambassadors With the completion of 10 years of operations in the country, Atout France recently announced a new campaign for India for 2013, ‘Be There! Do That’. The existing campaign, ‘France Celebrates India’ will continue this year with renewed special travel offers for the Indian traveller. mary concern is the issuance of visas. “I often had agents requesting for my intervention for last minute cases or to help with submission dates. I take interest in such requests and thanks to the support extended to Atout France by our Embassy and Consulates across India, we are able to

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alking about the role of the travel trade fraternity for the distribution of products in India, Catherine Oden, Director, Atout France India says, “The Indian travel trade is the one which eventually coordinates with our end consumers. Thus, travel agents are in a way brand ambassadors for our destination. We work closely with travel agents and tour operators on communication campaigns to promote France through various media platforms.

The tourism agency provides them with assistance for tailor-made itineraries.” In a bid to boost the agents to learn more about the destination, Atout

Catherine Oden Director Atout France India

France has an online certified training system, divided into several modules. In collaboration with partners, it also conducts trainings in various cities pan India, she adds. In her interaction with the B2B fraternity, the pri-

ASEAN NTOs come together

3,00,000 arrivals in 2011.

France has witnessed a growth of almost five per cent over the last three years from this market. Over the last 10 years, Oden has seen a continuous evolution of the Indian market.

“In our formative years, we observed that group travel was a preferred option for Indian visitors. Clients would visit

To boost the agents to learn more about the destination, Atout France has an online certified training system, divided into several modules assist agents with their requests,” she points out.

From 80,000 Indian visitors in 2002, France received

mainly Paris as part of their group tours and spend twothree nights there. However, over the last few years, there has been a marked shift with

increasing FIT travel. Though group travel continues to do well in this market, people are including newer experiences.

France is increasingly finding favour as a mono destination with clients wanting to go beyond Paris and explore our multi faceted regions.

Destinations such as the French Riviera, Rhone Alpes (particularly Chamonix) are being frequently visited,” she highlights.

Viva La France From 80,000 Indian visitors in 2002, France received 3,00,000 arrivals in 2011 France has witnessed a growth of almost five per cent over the last three years from this market

TAT in Seven Island Pataudi Polo Cup

The ASEAN NTOs got together for a high tea meeting with an objective to discuss cooperation among ASEAN NTOs in India to work together for promoting tourism.

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unjuan Tongrut, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand, says, “The objective of the meet was to discuss cooperation among ASEAN NTOs in India to work together to increase and promote tourism in the ASEAN Region.

We (Malaysia Tourism, TAT, Indonesia, and Singapore Tourism Board) have agreed to join hand for a variety of activities such as consumer fairs and product presentation in Tier-II cities as well.” The ASEAN NTOs meet also helped the representatives to plan events together and each of them discussed what they would be doing together and how each one of them could

Runjuan Tongrut Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand

take the idea forward. And within a month of the meet, there have been some strategic tie-ups as well. As Tongrut mentions, “After the meet, TAT & Malaysia Tourism joined hands and participated in the consumer fair in Kolkata in mid-March.”

The meet was attended

by Sanjay Sondhi, President, Om Tourism (Indonesia), Vani Singh, Country Manager, Visit Indonesia, Puneet Kumar, Manager, North & East India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan, Singapore Tourism Board, Meenaxi Jain, Assistant Manager, North & East India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan, Singapore Tourism Board, Amran Abdul Rahman, Director- Tourism Malaysia and Chandra Sehgaran, Deputy Director, Tourism Malaysia, RunjuanTongrut, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand and Pinki Arora, Marketing Representative, North and East India, Bangladesh and Nepal, Tourism Authority of Thailand.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) participated as the Tourism Partner in Seven Island RMRM Gold Vase and Seven Island Pataudi Polo Cup on March 9, 2013 at Jaipur Polo Ground, New Delhi. The exhibition match for the Pataudi cup was played between Seven Islands team and Army Polo Riding Club (APRC). Seven Islands emerged as the winning team. The chief guest for the match was Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore, along with her daughters Soha and Saba Ali Khan. The chief guest for this match was Pisan Manawapat, Ambassador of Thailand to India.

Runjuan Tongrut, Director of TAT, New Delhi, said “TAT is very delighted to be a par t of the event. TAT had a very successful association with Seven Islands for the event.”

Seven Islands was the title sponsor of the match, TAT was the tourism partner. Other sponsors included Rolls Royce and Thai Airways.

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TRAVTALK APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

STATISTICS

Enter the brave new world of travel

There is a whole new world where travellers are more aware, where digitisation and devices are penetrating every corner of the travel sphere, and travel agents are morphing into specialists.

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develop and how they want to discover them.

From new types of travellers versus the ‘multidimensional’ traveller, to independence versus personalisation, the success of the

‘paradoxes’ as they are the product of different trends in tension or colliding with each other. These paradoxes will affect the relationships travellers want to

hospitality industry in the next decade will increasingly depend on understanding these new relationships and becoming better at facilitating and innovating around them.

Socio-economic development will also impact who is travelling in terms of country of origin. Already, 1.4 billion adults worldwide – or 30 per cent of the global adult population – have sufficient disposable income

‘holiday-maker’, away with the family; the ‘young backpacker’ going it alone; and the ‘retired traveller’ who had the time and money for a cruise. Although these profiles still exist, traveller identities are becoming ‘multidimensional’. The same people will play different roles on different trips, and sometimes will juggle multiple roles even on the same trip, such as the mother on a family holiday answering business calls from the beach, or the young independent traveller hoping to boost their employment prospects while still having fun.

to be able to travel abroad.

This number is set to grow as economic flows towards emerging markets expand the global middle-class.

These social trends are creating new types of traveller.

This report will focus now on four of these: new global explorers from emerging markets; new family groups from both developed and emerging markets; younger ‘laptop and latte’ travellers mixing business with play; and the expansive midlifers who are redefining older age.

exaggerated. While it is true that their share of bookings has decreased in mature markets, they are still responsible for one in three bookings globally. Even in mature markets, where trips have become more complex, getting spe-

interactions remain important. In Asian countries like China, research may be carried out online but the desire for a strong service culture means choices are usually made face-to-face. Industry experts estimate that about

cialist support can be valuable. The hold of travel agents is strong in emerging markets, where online purchasing and international travel are relatively new to the majority of consumers and human

only 12-15 per cent of tickets and rooms are booked online in China, and of that online market, approximately 70-80 per cent of transactions are done through third-party intermediaries.

Source: IHG

here are a number of changes in consumer behaviour that are relevant to the future of the hospitality industry – many of these appear as apparent

The first stop for this retrospective is to look at how travellers have evolved from the simpler, tightly defined profiles in evidence just ten years ago. There was the ‘business traveller’, jetting between meetings; the

Cutting across languages The etymology of hospitality in many languages around the world is derived from the concept of welcoming guests: hospes in Latin or literally ‘being friendly to strangers’; haoke ( ) in Chinese or ‘to treat guests well’; and ukarimu in Swahili, ‘generosity’. Although the word hospitality in its sense of welcoming guests came into common use in the early Middle Ages, the hospitality industry goes back much further. For example, in Ancient Greece the hotel equivalent was a ‘pandocheion’ – these were facilities open to any person willing to pay the fees for lodging and food. The word meant ‘accepting all comers’.

Reports of the death of the traditional travel agent are

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‘Foresee’ a bright future for charters Having built two offices in Delhi, Foresee Aviation is now keen to expand their network of offices and roll out a pan-India network to cater to a wider client base. gets an insight into their future strategies. clients and ensure that they opt for the right airplane.

Hence, we suggest our clients the best-suited aircraft that services all their requirements and saves costs, if possible. Further, we are always ready to serve their special preferences and needs with help of our rich

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oresee Aviation, a dedicated start-up, was created in 2009-10 with objective to create a reliable brand in air charters segment.

According to Santosh Kumar Sharma, Director, Foresee Aviation, “Today, we operate charter flights for about 400 hours per annum on an average. Our motto has always been simple from the first phase. Accordingly, we choose to work with only hand-picked corporate clients and travel partners.”

“Having built two offices in Delhi, Foresee Aviation is now keen to expand our network of offices to Mumbai, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai,” he added.

One of the chief factors that determine the satisfaction level in case of charter flights is the choice of the aircraft. Here, Ajuka Mahajan, Senior Manager,

Santosh Kumar Sharma

Ajuka Mahajan

Director Foresee Aviation

Senior Manager Foresee Aviation

Foresee Aviation is keen to expand to Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai Foresee Aviation, says, “We offer a variety of business jets, turbo-prop aircraft, and

We offer a variety of business jets, turbo-prop aircraft, and helicopter services for our clients helicopter services. But, we are always mindful of the needs of our corporate

Here, Sharma adds that Foresee Aviation, to offer end-to-end solution to all its clients, has created four different verticals that include aircraft charters, bulk hour sales, aircraft

rate clients. Our bulk hour sales vertical takes care of the bulk requirements of our corporate clients. As a goodwill gesture, we have liaised with third-parties to undertake aircraft maintenance under our aircraft maintenance and management vertical. Our clients

maintenance and management, and aircraft sales and purchase. “On back of the success of our air-charter business, we now are keen to serve needs of our corpo-

can now also rely on us to buy a private jet according to their needs through our most recent vertical that handles aircraft sales and purchase.”

even if a client walks in directly”.

Foresee Aviation with one of its charters

database when they travel with us. Our travel partners rely on us, whom we deal on a net fare basis. In fact, we take care of the interests of our handpicked partners,

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AGENTS Russia Holiday Tours (India)

Budget travelling in Russia The company has introduced a basic package starting at ` 35,000 per person as a land cost for Indian travellers covering Moscow and St Petersburg.

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ith increasing number of Indians opting for Russia as business and

Sunil Keshary Head Tour Manager, Outbound Division Russia Holiday Tours (India)

Russia, being one of the largest countries in the world, has many more wonderful places to visit leisure destination, Russia Holiday Tours (India) is showcasing not only the ‘mustdos’ in the country, but also the ‘out of the ordinary’ regions and attractions. The company has shortlisted a few exotic and unexplored destinations for Indian trav-

ellers in Russia. These are aimed to tap every segment of traveller from different budgets. Apart from Moscow and St Petersburg, the company is also promoting Sochi as a destination for MICE and leisure travellers in India. To make it more economical for budget travellers, the company has recently launched a package starting at Rs 35,000 per person as a land cost for Moscow and St Petersburg.

According to Sunil Keshary, Head Tour Manager, Outbound Division, Russia Holiday Tours (India); Russia is the largest country in the world by far; spanning nine time zones. He said, “Today, Indian tourists want to explore Moscow, SaintPetersburg, Lake Baikal, Trans-Siberian train journey, and the Golden Ring. Russia Holiday Tours (India) offers different tour packages for Indian tourists across every budget. Russia, being one of the largest countries in the world, has many more wonderful places to visit. During the MITT exhibition recently held in Moscow, the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism promoted Sochi, the Black Sea resort and home of the 2014 Winter Olympics.”

He informed that it is very important that this is a

reciprocal process as the number of Russian tourists coming to India also rises every year. With both New Delhi and Moscow easing visa procedures, the two-way flow of tourists and businessmen is set for a surge.

Official statistics of the Russian tourism ministry show that in the first nine months of 2012, the number of Indian tourists coming to Russia doubled from the same period the previous year. From 2007 to 2011, the number of Indians visiting Moscow remained constant, about 35, 000 each year. In 2012, it grew to 47,500. India is ranked 16 in the list of countries whose citizens are visiting Russia, as per information from the International Department of the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism. Russia Holiday Tours (India) is exclusively working with different cruise tour packages for Moscow-Saint-PetersburgMoscow with Russian Cruise Company –‘CHORNI VETER’. It is also working with Embassy of Russian Federation in India and consulate General of Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata for visa facilitation services for Indian travellers.

Targetting FIT, budget traffic NYC & Company is promoting the NYC Travel Training Academy for travel professionals to educate them on the city’s offerings. offers, it is important to educate the trade.”

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ew York City's tourism and marketing organisation, NYC & Company will actively target the FIT and MICE segment from the Indian market this year. The tourism board has also launched a promotion in association with Virgin Atlantic and Gulliver’s Travel Associates (GTA).

Makiko Matsuda Healy, Vice President, Tourism Development, NYC & Company said, “Our goal is to encourage travel from India to New York City. An important criterion to be eligible for the FAM is that agents should have completed the NYC & Company travel training academy and become NYC

Makiko Matsuda Healy Vice President Tourism Development, NYC & Company

specialists. Our aim is to engage with the Indian market in both leisure and business segment. NYC has everything to offer from highend luxury for exclusive FIT travellers to the more costconscious visitor. With the diversity the destination

Healy added, “We will reach out to the Tier-II cities in India through our marketing office here. We regularly send e-mailers promoting latest offers and events in New York to the travel trade.” NYC & Company is also promoting the NYC Travel Training academy which is a must for any travel professional and to also experience the destination and through various FAM trips organised by our India office.

Future Plans NYC & Company, which is represented by Indiva Marketing in India, plans to tap a mix of metros and Tier-II cities in the country

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COVER STORY

TRAVTALK APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

Step towards progress Exchange of ideas@GITB Contd. from page 1

among the stakeholders, which definitely create many remunerative avenues,” she adds.

“Over the past 5 years, GITB has grown as an interesting platform representing the Indian tourism market. It is a great initiative by FICCI,

gets stakeholders to gain very important insights into the Indian market,” said SanJeet, Co Chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee, adding, “Last but not the least, full credit must go to FICCI and its team.”

“The GITB-2013 already has over 6,500 prefixed confirmed B2B meetings. It

The inaugural session will be moderated by Arbind Prasad, Director General, FICCI and addressed by Sidharth Birla, Sr Vice President, FICCI; Jyotsna Suri; Rakesh Srivastava, Principal Secretary Tourism, Government of Rajasthan, Usha Sharma, Addl. Director General, Ministry of Tourism,

Contd. from page 1

the industry and make business sense out of this event.

What do you hope to achieve with this event?

Events like GITB help us mingle with both domestic and international travellers.

The intellectual exchange of thoughts and ideas is vital in understanding the trends and gauging the demand of various stakeholders.

How has this helped develop Rajasthan's image as a MICE destination?

Dipak Deva

SanJeet

Rahul Chakravarty

Co-Chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee

Co Chairperson FICCI Tourism Committee

Additional Director FICCI

one that is moving in the right direction and gets bigger and better every year,” said Dipak Deva, Co-Chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee.

reflects the growing eminence of GITB as an international tourism mart,” Rahul Chakravarty, Additional Director, FICCI said.

“GITB is the strongest show in the region, which has been built through hard work and right direction provided by leaders in government and the private sector. Today, it’s become a must-attend quality inbound travel show in the South Asian market, which

“Moreover, there will be participations from various states including Gujarat as theme state; Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttarakhand and Karnataka as partner states; Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and others as exhibitors,” he added.

Hotels Unlimited

MakeMyTrip announced its focus on the hotels business by extending its brand promise to Hotels Unlimited. Deep Kalra, CEO & Founder, MakeMyTrip.com said, “MakeMyTrip is also launching a new campaign to coincide with the excitement of the IPL. As a company, we endeavour to make all aspects of travel easy and fun. Accommodation is one of the biggest concerns for any traveller. Today, we are proud to extend our brand promise to Hotels Unlimited by offering the widest range of hotels with the best deals in India.

Government of India.

Bina Kak, Tourism Minister of Rajasthan will give a special address, while A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI will extend the vote of thanks.

Indian Heritage Hotel Association (IHHA), Hotel and Restaurant Association of Rajasthan (HRAR) and Rajasthan Association of Tour Operators have also extended support to GITB.

From the very beginning of the MICE tourism revolution in India, Rajasthan has been at the forefront. The hike in the percentage of inbound tourists and the interests shown by the Indian and international travel trade fraternity is evidence to the success of Rajasthan’s image as a top-notch travel destination.

Rajasthan not only has a cultural appeal, but our chain of heritage hotels and palaces also cater to the needs of the corporate world.

How many foreign buyers and Indian exhibitors are attending this event?

Structured one-on-one prefixed B2B meetings are also being organised over two full days between foreign buyers and registered Indian sellers.

The exhibition space is almost similar to that of last year, as it is more than sufficient space for the participants at GITB. Also, our emphasis has been on enhancing and facilitating qualitative business transactions between Indian and foreign participants rather than increasing volume of participants.

What destinations are you promoting this year? Have you developed any new circuits?

We have upgraded infrastructure around many tourist hotspots within the state, besides creating a series of new circuits. Such initiatives would not only create new attention-points for the tourists, but would also help generate more employment in the state, enabling a sustainable means of livelihood for the people of Rajasthan.

What is the tourist arrival that you are looking at this year?

The tourist arrival this year is expected to increase phenomenally. It is indeed encouraging for the state that one out of every three tourists coming to India visit Rajasthan. New products like sports tourism, rural tourism, eco tourism, adventure tourism, wellness tourism, etc have been introduced to expand the markets attracting additional tourists.

How differently will you promote Rajasthan this year?

We are out to create a ‘Brand Rajasthan.’ With thrust on a multi-pronged approach, we are focussing on publicity campaigns, advertisements, e-flyers, brochures, websites, articles in newspapers and travel magazines, announcements, etc.

UN Tourism to reduce illicit trafficking In the presence of the UN Secretary-General, Ban Kimoon, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recently agreed to launch a new public awareness campaign calling on tourists to help reduce demand for illicit goods and services linked to transnational organised crime.

Preparations for the campaign were set in motion during the Spring Meeting of the Chief Executive Board of the United Nations in Madrid. A Cooperation Agreement was

signed between UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, and UNODC Executive Director, Yury Fedotov in the presence of United Nations SecretaryGeneral, Ban Ki-moon.

The joint campaign, to be launched later this year, aims to raise awareness among international tourists about the types of illicit goods and services to which they are often exposed during their travels and which directly or indirectly fund organised crime groups. Travellers canplay a key role in reducing demand for these products

Ban Ki-moon Secretary General UNWTO

through ethical consumer choices. The campaign will encourage tourists to make informed decisions and help reduce demand for trafficking

in persons, cultural artefacts, wildlife, fauna and flora such as ivory products, as well as counterfeit goods, and illicit drugs. Ban Ki-moon commended this innovative joint initiative between the two partner UN Agencies: “The illegal trade in goods and services often funds unscrupulous people involved in human trafficking, the illicit ivory trade and other areas that cause immense suffering and destruction. Well-informed tourists can make a real difference in turning the tide against these criminal acts.”

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38

ANALYSIS

TRAVTALK APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

Welcome the FIT way to travel An increasing number of tour operators are now offering attractive pricing and options for a market long overlooked and overcharged - the FIT (Frequent Individual Traveller) segment. finds out more...

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n the current age of competitive times, with the threat of zero-commission airlines, the travel trade professionals are giving more attention to FIT. For travel agents, these offerings create an opportunity to tap a growing market and introduce new ideas to the existing set of clients.

The New-Age traveller The travel trade which has been designing and promoting products around group travel is now evolving to meet the needs of the new-age Indian traveller.

Says Guldeep Singh Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Tours and Travels, “Though GIT (group inclusive travel) is also increasing, FIT is the segment that will grow exponentially in India’s outbound travel market. Indian tourists conventionally travelled in groups. However, with the increasing penetra-

Guldeep Singh Sahni

Nicholas Lim

Madhav Pai

Managing Director Weldon Tours and Travels

Regional Director-Asia Trafalgar

Director, Leisure Travel (Outbound), Thomas Cook (India)

With the increasing penetration of technology, there has been a marked shift towards FIT business tion of technology, there has been a marked shift towards FIT business. With the advent of travel meta-search engines, access to content

We are promoting Europe and North America in a big way with experiential holidays and information on destinations is just a click away.

Gone are the days of guided tours of popular hotspots of a destination.”

It is not so much the destination, but rather the experience that will influence travel

New travellers usually travel in groups and repeat travellers choose to go in FIT packages, Sahni articulates.

Thus with the growth of the experiential traveller, this segment will only grow leaps and bounds, he adds. Around 75 per cent of the company’s business comes from FIT segment.

According to Nicholas Lim, Regional Director – Asia, Trafalgar, the focus in India is on the FITs. “We are promoting Europe and North America in a big way with experiential holidays as that is where we deliver local experiences. Our emphasis is on fixed itineraries because we feel that the market is ready for them. We have launched our 2013 collection of European itineraries brochure called ‘Inspired Holidays’ in India. The brochure introduces new categories of holidays, which provide a lot of local insider experiences on specialised areas of interests related to different destinations, and also offer numerous earlybird discounts for Indian customers.” Eighty five per cent of the company’s itineraries are for regional or mono destinations and the rest is for pan-European trips, he adds.

GIT versus FIT The conventional traveller opts for group tours as FIT is more expensive.

However, FIT offers advantage in terms of flexibility and choice in planning the travel.

In FIT segment, the tour operator companies customise the travel options and destinations to suit the customer’s need. In group tours, a set itinerary needs to be fol-

lowed. “Both GIT and FIT have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. In groups, we need to pay in advance and hotels need name list in advance. Thus, last-minute travellers in GIT segment face hassles often.

However, in FIT, we receive many last-minute bookings.

Thus, the risk of cancellation for the tour operator is minimised,” Sahni feels.

According to Madhav Pai – Director, Leisure Travel (Outbound), Thomas Cook (India), the Indian travel landscape has been going through a rapid transformation, with yesterday’s group traveller evolving and hungry for interest-based individual programs. And with Tier-II markets giving further impetus to the FIT revolution, this is clearly a high potential-

Prakriti Holidays. “The job of the tour operator is to divert business to the destinations.

However, before this, the states need to step up their advertising planning, which needs to be immaculate. This calls for effective tourism planning by the state tourism bodies,” he reiterates.

Unfortunately, states are nowadays only advertising through showcasing in the various travel marts.

They need to go beyond this and advertise and promote newer destinations through print, electronic and online media, he suggests.

FIT is the best performing segment during the summer (May-July) season.

Group travel is mainly during the winter months in the country. The company gar-

Rakesh Lamba

Jackson Fernandez

Director Prakriti Holidays

Managing Director Wego India

The job of the tour operator is to divert business to the destinations high growth segment.

Regarding the advantages of this segment, Pai elaborates, “Unlike the highly price-conscious entry level traveller, the FIT customer is willing to invest in his holiday and this is music to our ears. So longer stays, a variety of accommodation, in-depth itineraries are on par for the course. Hence, higher value and margins per transaction are witnessed.” At Thomas Cook India, the FIT segment comprises almost 25 per cent of its overall leisure business.

Effective destinationspecific promotion The FIT segment pie is getting bigger even in the domestic tourism scenario.

However, active support of the state governments is needed to promote the segment further, suggests Rakesh Lamba, Director,

FITs pave the way for undiscovered or lesspromoted destinations ners 90 per cent of its business from FITs during the summers, Lamba reveals.

Advent of metasearch engines With technology bridging the gap between suppliers and consumers, travel agents should start looking at options to provide more than what a consumer can access from the supplier directly. Opines Jackson Fernandez, Managing Director, Wego India, “FITs pave the way for undiscovered or less-promoted destinations and play an important role in sharing those experiences with others who may not yet have considered them till now. Most are very active online and on social media sites where they share their experiences, photos and impressions.

Contd. on page 49

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RAILWAY

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Free WiFi on Howrah Rajdhani In a pilot project, Indian Railways is offering free WiFi facility on Howrah Rajdhani express train launched by Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Railways.

T E E N A B A R UA H

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hile presenting the Indian Railway Budget 2013, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Railways Minister announced that free WiFi facility will be made available in selected trains for passengers. Now, its pilot project is already operational on Howrah Rajdhani express train.

Speaking at the launch, Bansal says, “To introduce internet access in moving train was a technological challenge considering that the train passes through all types of terrain and continuous internet access in all weather is to be provided.

After trying out three different technological options— satellite, WiMAX or broadband and 2G/3G, Indian Railways decided to opt for satellite communication link to the train. To ensure uninterrupted connectivity, we have a backup of 2G, 3G and GPS technology.”

For accessing the internet facility, passengers will be able to register by providing the PNR and other details like mobile number. On validation of the data entered by the passengers, as per DOT guidelines, the Login ID and Password will be sent through SMS to the registered mobile number. The Login ID and Password will remain valid for entire journey.

Presently this facility is being extended in collaboration with RailTel and Technosatcomm. The facility is being introduced for the first time on Indian Railways at a total cost of ` 6.30 crore covering all three rakes of Howrah Rajdhani Express.

The satellite communication link is arranged through satellite hub facility. Initially, 4 Mbps download bandwidth and 512 Kbps upload bandwidth is earmarked for internet facility in moving train.

The satellite antenna is placed in one of the two Power Cars of the rake. This is linked through WiFi radios provided outside each coach.

This is further distributed inside the coaches through indoor access point.

Online, On Track For accessing the internet facility, passengers will be able to register by providing the PNR and other details like mobile number. On validation of the data entered by the passengers, as per DOT guidelines, the Login ID and Password will be sent through SMS to the registered mobile number

Nirav Kumar Dave, Managing Director, Technosatcomm, says, “This is the first generation system. It would be scaled to second generation with multimedia entertainment, including movies on demand, games on demand and train infotainment

system which will give entire information regarding the train, like its location and next station. All these services will be made available later this year as the basic infrastructure is already in place.” He added, “To get this technology in place we have invested ` 13

crore on R&D. Indian Railways have sanctioned the work of 50 trains at ` 1.1 crore per train.” Indian Railways now plans to extend this service on other Rajdhani/ Shatabdi/Duronto Express trains based on customer feedback and acceptance.

Nirav Kumar Dave, Managing Director, Technosatcomm with Pawan Kumar Bansal, Railways Minister at the launch

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NEWS

TRAVTALK APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

Tapping Indian MICE traffic Franchise way to expansion SriLankan Tourism Board is taking new initiatives to tap DuniyaOnline, over the recent past, has developed a MICE traffic from India. The emphasis will be on strong edge in terms of selling packages to many of easy connectivity, affordability and entertainment options. short to medium haul destinations.

The Government will target a mix of Tier-I and Tier-II cities in the country such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Gujarat.

L YA N D RA D’ S O U Z A

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n a bid to increase the number of Indian visitor arrivals to Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan Government plans to attract MICE travellers from India. To promote the island nation as a MICE destination in India, Sri Lanka will organise road shows and workshops for the Indian travel trade. Speaking on the sidelines of the Indo-Sri Lanka Relations Meet organised in Mumbai recently, Upekkha Samaratunga, Consulate General of Sri Lanka said, “Our aim is to create greater awareness about Sri Lanka in the Indian market. We recently held a promotional activity for travellers and also organised a roadshow for the B2B segment in Bengaluru for this purpose. We plan to do the same in the near future in Mumbai. We also want to target the luxury and film tourism segments in the country,” she added that Sri Lanka’s proximity to India,

Upekkha Samaratunga Consulate General, Sri Lanka

Our aim is to create greater awareness about Sri Lanka in the Indian market easy connectivity, affordability as well as multiple entertainment options have made Sri Lanka an ideal MICE destination for the Indian visitor.

The Sri Lankan Government will work with the national carrier SriLankan Airlines to promote the destination. The airline currently operates flights to destinations in India – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Varanasi and Tiruchirappalli along with its sister airline, Mihin Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Government is targetting 2.5 million international tourists by 2016.

Upping Numbers India is Sri Lanka’s top source market. Sri Lanka received 1,76,000 Indian visitors in 2012, an increase of six per cent over the previous year

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t has set a target to start two owned offices and at least six franchisee offices in strategic location every year.

As per Hemant Passi, Director, DuniyaOnline, “Today we have done consolidation in terms of fixed departures for Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tashkent and Philippines, where we hold more than 1100 tickets for April, May and June 2013”.

“Our key source market for the first phase has been Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Eastern India.

We also look forward to expand our presence in near future,” he added.

In fact, in the roadmap prepared by DuniyaOnline, the company has decided to take the franchise route to expand its distribution network. “B2B is extremely important for Duniyaonline.com, which has been the core business

trade. The Lucknow office will cater to areas like Allahabad, Kanpur, Varanasi etc. We plan to explore next franchisee options in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh,” said Passi.

“Our partner needs to be from the trade, who hold relevant experience and their own set in a city.

We offer our franchises advertisement support, marketing support, lowest Price, vast variety of fast Moving products and extensive training. Further, we intend to start two owned offices per year and at least six franchisee location every year,” he added.

Hemant Passi Director, DuniyaOnline

Future Plans for over a decade.

Franchisee option is the recent development where we have chosen our first partner in Kanpur who is very well experienced in the

Franchisee option is the recent development where the company has chosen their first partner in Kanpur who is very well experienced in the trade

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AGENTS

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Southern Travels taps outbound There is tremendous scope and potential for growth in domestic tourism in India, but at the same time, there is an urgent need to address issues like service tax, and infrastructure issues, says A Krishna Mohan, Managing Director, Southern Travels.

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Krishna Mohan’s confidence in the prospects of tourism can be gauged by the fact that the mild-mannered, articulate Krishna Mohan is adding to his existing hotels in Delhi and Vijaywada, with one in Jaipur being operational later this year. Based on his study and market reports, soon, there will be Southern Hotels in Manali, Hyderabad and Coimbatore, where exist good tourist and commercial prospects.

Now, in its 42nd year, Southern Travels has pioneered in the field of domestic tourism with scores of packages, enabling North clients to travel to South and South tourists to come to North.

His fleet of 70 vehicles and carefully designed tours take care of the travel needs of the pilgrims or leisure tourists. Encouraged by the popularity of the domestic tours, Southern Travels is diversifying into outbound also. It is now having tour packages not only to traditional markets but also to lesserknown ones.

Krishna Mohan points out that investing in technology and innovation is necessary to handle satisfied clients. He has set up a stateof-the-art call centre to answer queries and has convenient online payment options. The website of the company is in seven Indian languages and 14 foreign languages to ensure that travelers feel no inconvenience and can travel easily.

But he is quick to add that things like skill development and training are vital for growth and he is doing his bit by taking students from various tourism insti-

Revving It Up The fleet of 70 vehicles and carefully designed tours take care of the travel needs of the pilgrims or leisure tourists Encouraged by the popularity of the domestic tours, Southern Travels is also diversifying into outbound It is now having tour packages not only to traditional markets but also to lesserknown ones

tutes but clearly much more needs to be done.

Fresh from a shopping trip for his upcoming 50room Jaipur hotel to China, Krishna Mohan says that we

need elevated corridors and freeways to take care of the growing traffic. According to him, Jammu and Kashmir and North East hold excellent prospects for increased traffic and Southern Travels

has done a lot to take care of this aspect. The tax structure needs to be streamlined and inter-state travel must be made easier if the full potential is to be realised.

Southern Travels presented with National Tourism Award from President of India Pranab Mukherjee

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TRAVTALK APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

FAMILY ALBUM

Showcasing 'Vibrant' Gujarat at GTM The third edition of Gujarat Travel Mart-2013 (GTM) showcased not only the vibrant side of the state, but also the 'Incredible' side of the country to international hosted buyers. Inaugurated by Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat; the exhibition recorded 250 international buyers from over 30 countries, 800 local travel agents, 150 exhibitors and over 50 media delegates.

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STATISTICS

TRAVTALK APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

India grows with time, slowly & steadily India’s share of international tourism receipts have shown a steady growth, propelling it in country rankings from 34th in 1998 to 17th in 2011. features how the country is paving its way to move forward.

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s per UNWTO estimates, worldwide receipts from international tourism were US$ 1,030 billion

in 2011, up from US$ 927 billion in 2010. During 2011, all regions posted positive growth with the exception of Middle East (-11.2%).

Asia and the Pacific (13.4%) and Europe (13.2%) showed the highest growth.

During 2011, Europe accounted for about 45% of the world's total receipts from

Countries above India in Terms of Tourism Receipts, 2009-2011 2009 Rank Nationality

2010 Tourism Rank Nationality Receipts OVERALL INDEX (US$ billion)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

USA Spain France Italy China (Main) Germany UK Australia Turkey

94.2 53.2 49.5 40.2 39.7 34.7 30.1 25.4 21.3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10

Austria

19.4

10

11

Macao (China) Hong Kong Thailand Malaysia Greece Switzerland Canada Netherlands Mexico India

18.1 16.4 16.1 15.8 14.5 14.1 13.7 12.4 11.5 11.1

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 * **

2011 Tourism Rank Business Nationality environment Receipts and infrastructure (US$ billion) 103.5 52.5 46.6 45.8 38.8 34.7 32.4 29.8 27.8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

22.2

10

11

USA Spain France China(Main) Italy Germany UK Australia Macao (China) Hong Kong (China) Turkey

20.8

12 13 14 15 16 17

Thailand Austria Malaysia Canada Switzerland India

20.1 18.6 18.3 15.7 15.0 14.2**

Tourism Receipts (US$ billion) 116.3 59.9 53.4 48.5 43.0 38.8 35.9 31.5

11

USA Spain France China (Main) Italy Germany UK Australia Macao (China) Hong Kong (China) Thailand

12 13 14 15 16 17

Turkey Austria Malaysia Singapore Switzerland India

23.0 19.9 18.3 18.0 17.6 17.5**

27.7 26.3

Provisional As per RBI's estimates Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2012 Edition

Qatar ‘bowls’ Chicago flights

To mark the launch of their new Chicago services (from April 10, 2013), Qatar Airways organised an Inter-Agency Bowling Championship in Vasant Kunj, Delhi. The competition recorded participation of 25 agencies and the winner was awarded with a specially designed trophy and top three teams got a chance to compete with the top three teams from Mumbai in a special play-off in Doha.

International Tourism Receipts And India's Share And Rank, 1997-2011 Year

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 * **

World Tourism Receipts Percentage Business Receipts Growth FEE in Growth Share of environment (US$billion) Rate India Rate India in OVERALL INDEX and infrastructure (US$billion) World 442.8 444.8 458.2 475.3 463.8 481.9 529.3 633.2 679.6 744.0 857.0 939.0 853.0 927.0 1030.0

0.8 0.5 3.0 4.3 -2.4 3.9 9.8 19.6 7.3 9.5 15.2 9.6 -9.4 8.7 11.1

2.89 2.95 3.01 3.46 3.20 3.10 4.46 6.17 7.49 8.63 10.73 11.83 11.13 14.19** 16.56**

2.0 2.0 2.1 15.0 -7.6 -3.0 43.8 38.2 21.4 15.2 24.3 10.3 -5.0 27.5 16.7

0.65 0.66 0.66 0.72 0.69 0.64 0.84 0.97 1.10 1.16 1.25 1.26 1.31 1.53 1.61

India’s Rank in World 34th 35th 36th 36th 37th 37th 26th 22nd 22nd 22nd 22th 20th 17th* 17th*

As per RBI's estimates Advance estimates of Ministry of Tourism Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlight, 2012 Edition

international tourism followed by Asia and the Pacific region (28.1%), Americas (19.3%), Middle East (4.5%) and Africa (3.2%).

The international tourism receipts worldwide and India's share in them during the years 1997-2011 are given in Table 1 (3.3.2).

The share of India in the world tourism receipts has remained between 0.64% and 0.72% during 19972002. However, it has been increasing steadily since 2002, and has reached

1.61% during 2011. It is clear from Table 1 that international tourism receipts worldwide, which were hardly US$ 442.8 billion in 1997, have reached US$ 1030 billion in 2011, more than double in 14 years time.

Whereas, in terms of international tourist arrivals worldwide, the number has grown from 593 million in 1997 to 990 million tourist arrivals in 2011.

In 2009, India received US$11.13 billion worth of international tourism

receipts, and in 2011; it had grown to US$ 16.56 billion.

Although its percentage share in the world had changed from 1.31% to 1.61%; in itself, it is large improvement in itself (48%).

India's rank has also witnessed improvement from 34 in 1998 to 17 in 2011. In terms of international tourism receipts, top four positions were occupied by USA, Spain, France and China during the year 2011. During 2011 and 2010, the top 10 countries remained the same.

F1 ‘zooms’ on Mumbai track

The PETRONAS Formula One Malaysia Grand Prix entered the ‘hottest’ race in the world, at Sepang International Circuit, Selangor. To create awareness and excitement for the event, Tourism Malaysia hosted a fast paced, thrilling party for its corporate clientele in Mumbai. Guests had a roaring time with the interesting line up of activities arranged for them. They took part in an F1 Race contest to win an expensive paid trip to Sepang, Malaysia to witness the Petronas F1 Race first-hand.

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HOTELS

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Project implementation issues@Hi-Aim The second edition of Hi-Aim in 2013 was held in New Delhi on March 21-22. The ‘conference + exposition’ was aimed at creating a knowledge base for the hospitality owners who wish to delve deeper into the subject with designing and architecture possibilities to make projects economically viable and operationally effective. lenges they face as they go on to invest on projects. The primary objective was to find out costing and return on capital invested.”

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i Aim 2013 was themed – ‘Challenges of Implementation’ – in order to address the concerns of owners who invest in hospitality projects. At the inaugural session, Romesh Koul, CEO, Naaz Hotel Consultants and Co-Founder, Hi-Aim said, “A decade back, with less hospitality events, the focus was primarily on conferences that deliberated on operations but projects and their implementation issues. That is why, HiAim was created as a forum to address an owner’s issue like design development, ROI, architecture, project implementation and challenges of implementations.”

The two-day seminar concentrated on owners, their relations with architects, interior designers and facilitators of the projects and challenges thereon. Koul, talking to , said, “The

Romesh Koul

Anil Sharma

CEO, Naaz Hotel Consultants and Co-Founder, Hi-Aim

Founder, A Sharma Associates and Co-Founder, Hi-Aim

There will be growth which will be accommodated by supply inventories that will be added up this year theme sets up an apt debate between the two concerned

More than just a conference and exposition, we have emerged as a workshop, where we found solutions to core issues parties which were informative and delved on the chal-

On the other hand, Anil Sharma, Founder, A Sharma Associates and Co-Founder, Hi-Aim remarked, “We received a participation of over 300 people at the event.

We have tried to be specific and find issues that are problem areas for the hospitality owners. More than just a conference and exposition, we have emerged as a workshop, where we found solutions to core issues. Professionals sharing a common platform in Hi-Aim 2013 discussed to find the future course of better performance and raising the benefits.” The list of attendees included speakers, hospitality owners, architects, designers, business delegates, sponsoring companies and exhibitors.

“We have definitely grown

as a platform offering sound quality deliberation on hospitality.”

The next edition of the conference is scheduled on March 20-21, 2014 at JW Marriott, New Delhi Aerocity.

“We will try to bring about a topic that would talk on the operational efficiency or effectively operations or could be related to environmentally sensitive approach we need to look at. Owners are taking keen interest after getting a vivid perspective on the subject of design, architecture and interiors,” Koul added. Sharma informed, “Following owners’ positive feedback, we wish to take Hi Aim to other Indian cities and possibly to neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka.”

According to Koul, the year 2014-15 will be promising for the hospitality sector.

He said, “This year will see a similar growth like last year.

In fact, there will be growth which will be accommodated by supply inventories that will be added up this year.

Hence, we will be at the same level of market expectations like last year. Though, investors should not be demoralised by the dull phase where occupancy and RevPAR have dipped. These have to be seen on a long-term basis with key considerations on location, categories and brand to be focussed upon.

Owners need to do a thorough homework and should minimise costs to keep result positive,” he summed.

Aims & Objectives Hi-Aim was created as a forum to address an owner’s issue like design development, ROI, architecture, project implementation and challenges of implementations

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Voila, Jaipur!

Pink City: Perfect for everyone!

Jaipur has it all. This heritage city has emerged as a strong pillar of what hospitality has come to be.

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t hosts not only various brands, but also encapsulates myriad segments that one can think of from heritage, leisure, corporate MICE and so on, in all seasons and is still attracting more investments. The Pink City hospitality growth has been unique, affirms Omesh Raina, Head-Marketing, Chokhi Dhani Group.

According to him, the resort group showcases culture and command interests of travellers coming to the city. He claims, “We get travellers from all walks of life who wish to experience the leisure aspect of our resort as well as who are drawn towards the Rajasthani culture.”

Varun Sahani, GM, The LaLiT, Jaipur feels that Jaipur has a wide array of

travellers. “In fact, Jaipur city offers them accommodation of different kinds whatever be their requirement,” he says. Another fairly young hotel Fairmont Jaipur has seen its growth proportional to the city. Atul Lall, GM of Fairmont Jaipur says, “The city is well-connected and is an upcoming market with many hotels setting new trends. It offers charm along with striking architecture, temples, palaces, heritage buildings and so on.”

The city has grown in area too, stretching hospitality’s geographical limits. Raina says, “Once, we would be considered being in the outskirts of the city. But now we come within the frame of the city, which talks volumes about the way city has expanded and developed.”

Himmat Anand

Omesh Raina

Varun Sahani

Atul Lall

Founder Tree of Life

Head – Marketing Chokhi Dhani Group

GM The LaLiT, Jaipur

GM Fairmont Jaipur

Growth in business has not kept pace with the growth in rooms and there is, hence, a huge over-supply Attractive mix of hospitality “We have emerged as a replica for Rajasthan culture, as almost everyone visiting Jaipur ensures that they experience the resort either as our in-house guest, or to

The majority of people coming to stay with us are FITs and corporates explore culture and cuisine.

In fact, our footfall has increased by over 30 per cent annually,” adds Raina. This city also commands different hospitality segments and has diversified profoundly. Sahani avers, “Of late, Jaipur has

The city has a wide array of travellers who are looking for varied experiences

Jaipur offers charm along with striking architecture, temples, palaces, heritage buildings and so on

seen two segments growing tremendously viz. weddings and MICE. A lot of NRI weddings are taking place in the city. Also, with the large number of inventories that this city can offer, MICE has grown as well.”

“The majority of people coming to stay with us are FITs and corporates. The segment of inbound travellers has also grown,” says Raina.

The city not only offers a Contd. on page 52

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One million Indians arrive in Thailand

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently hosted a grand ‘A Million Thanks Evening’ at the Shangri-La Hotel in Mumbai to thank its trade partners in Mumbai for helping it to reach its goal of one million Indian arrivals to Thailand in 2012. Several dignitaries graced the event such as Nat Pinyowattanacheep, Thai Consul General; Suraphon Svetasreni, Governor of TAT, Bangkok; Sethaphan Buddhani, Director – TAT, Mumbai and Bollywood actress Sophie Choudry. Thailand received 1,100,561 Indian arrivals in 2012, which is an 11 per cent increase from the same period in 2011.

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Adria forays into the Indian market The Slovenian national airline, Adria Airways, recently announced its foray into the Indian market at the Slovenian Embassy, New Delhi. The airline with over 50 years of experience in charter and scheduled air traffic has appointed Dex Aviation as its General Sales Agent in India, spearheaded by Ramesh Marwah, Director, Dex Group. Following the launch, Slovenian Ambassador Janez Premoze introduced the travel fraternity and media persons to Slovenian wines, served with aperitifs.

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Online promotions for Savaari New traveller wants it all Savaari Car Rentals aims at focussing on online space for marketing activities. reports more…

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avaari Car Rentals Private plans to build technology solutions as part of its expansion plans over the coming years. Gaurav Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, Savaari Car Rentals said, “These technology solutions will allow us to provide our clients with greater service options. The primary goal for the next two years is to scale our business by creating right awareness about Savaari and the advantages that we bring to both our corporate and retail customers. We want to also capture the business potential that lies with tens of thousands of travel agents who are catering to customers locally. This special platform will enable these agents to book quality car rentals across India. We firmly believe this will add a good revenue stream to these agents and will allow us to reach out to a wide customer base very efficiently.” Savaari Car Rentals currently services 60 cities across India and has a network of 158 vendors.

Savaari is targeted at retail as well as corporate customers and online travel agents. Launched with seed money of ` 55,000 in 2006, Savaari plans to be India’s largest car rental company in the next five years.

Elaborating on Savaari’s

Gaurav Aggarwal Founder & CEO Savaari Car Rentals

expansion plans, Aggarwal said, “In March 2012, we secured a series A funding of ` 5 crore from Inventus Capital Partners. Our primary goal for the next two years is to scale our business by creating awareness about Savaari. We are also building

technology solutions which will help us scale and provide our customers with even better service and convenience. We are eyeing a growth of 3-5 per cent in the unorganised car rental market in India.”

He said, “The car rental space in India can be categorised as consisting of local usage including transfers, outstation usage and point to point transfers. The market segment that we are focusing on is the local and outstation usage which is 86% of the entire car rental market at a pan-India level. There is a single point of contact and online bills for bookings, and increased transparency as both booking and book-keeping can be done entirely online. Therefore, our marketing activities are also primarily online. We use SEO to acquire retail customers as well as Search Engine Marketing (SEM) during peak seasons. To reach out to corporate clients, we have very effectively used inside sales.”

Contd. from page 38

Wego.com is the perfect accompaniment to FIT segment plans, giving them the ability to customise travel plans to suit any budget, and in all locations.” Wego has seen the FIT segment travel heavily during local festival seasons to experience celebrations first-hand, he adds.

Regarding the relationship with travel agents in promoting FIT packages, he informs, “Wego has a multitude of partners, including OTAs. Our inventory strength comes from the diversity of options we present on our site. The company’s primary focus is to help travellers identify the best deal to suit their individual travel needs.

Once the user selects the best option, they are directed to our partner site, whether it is airlines, accommodation or OTA, to complete their booking.”

New trends in FIT Talking about the new trends that the FIT segment is witnessing, Pai outlines, “Travel is no longer a oncea-year multi-city whirlwind tour. Indian travellers are increasingly looking at mono-destinations based on their specific interests. Our customer feedback at Thomas Cook India indicates that it is not so much the destination, but rather the experience that will influence travel.” Luxury travel is reiterating its resilience in

2013 too, and given the profile of the emerging new luxury client, critical ‘brag factor’ has fuelled travel demand- the clamour for that elusive ‘wow’ factor is on the rise, he adds.

“Youth comprises 45 per cent of our FIT travellers and is emerging as a powerful FIT group.

Honeymoon travel has grown exponentially over the last few years and this trend shows no sign of stopping, with demands reaching the realm of the truly exotic: offbeat destinations like Israel, South America, spectacular locales of Fiji, Tahiti, New Zealand, Bora-Bora, Mediterranean and Tuscany have emerged as top favourites.”

Skiers and snowboarders make merry in Kashmir It’s good to know there is a hear ty breed of outdoor enthusiasts willing to brave conflict between nuclear-armed neighbours to hit the slopes — admittedly ones that rival any major ski resort in the world, are much less crowded and cost a little over $100 for a whole week.

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Fariyas for FIT, leisure and MICE Fariyas Resort Lonavla, typically being a business resort caters to MICE segment on weekdays and FIT/ Leisure market on the weekend, while Fariyas Mumbai is a business cum leisure hotel. speaks to Jugal Ray, Director Sales & Marketing, Fariyas Group Of Hotels and Jagar Thakur, General Manager, Fariyas Resorts, Lonavla, to know more about the group‌ T T B U R E AU How did Fariyas Group perform in 2012?

GM: During the last year, we added 40 rooms to our inventory at a stage when market was looking very grim. There was hardly any momentum in the MICE segment in the first quarter of 2012, However, the business did pick up in the last two quarters and we were able to post a growth of about 22% over previous year in the same period.

Going forward, what is the plan for Fariyas Group for 2013?

GM: We intend to retain our existing clients by providing superior physical product and personalised services. To achieve this, we will enhance our range of services like introducing Fariyas Club, which will be a resort in a resort concept, where a guest can discretely check in / checkout and enjoy all day hot

DOSM: We do maintain business relationship with travel agents and take bookings from them. We recently participated in TAAI award functions held in South Mumbai to built relationship and trust with travel trade.

and cold beverages, Free high speed internet, evening cocktails and limited hour complimentary use of work place.

These additional facilities and services will add value to our club guests. We are also planning to introduce guest loyalty program for our highend guests.

Are you aiming for MICE or FIT's?

DOSM: During the weekdays, we cater to corporate guests, while as on weekends, we change gear and cater to ever energetic weekend holiday makers. Fariyas Mumbai caters on weekends to leisure clients, who may want to move around and see South Mumbai’s night life as well as pamper themselves at Nail Bar. We want to continue serving both these segments.

In case of Lonavala, we have a newly developed social/ destination wedding segment.

This is a seasonal business and we are delighted to be a

Which are the major international source markets for your hotel?

Jugal Ray

Jagar Thakur

Director Sales & Marketing Fariyas Group Of Hotels

General Manager Fariyas Resorts, Lonavla

preferred destination for many of our valued guests.

Please elaborate on the key features of Fariyas Lonavla and Mumbai.

DOSM: Fariyas Resort Lonavla is unique product customised for business travellers during the weekdays and provides thrill in the hill to weekend holiday makers, who do not want to go to a far destination and spend too much of time and money on travelling.

Additionally

Fariyas Resort Lonavla caters to destination social gatherings, where it works as a reunion for family and friends on their special occasions.

Fariyas Mumbai is a small boutique hotel for business travellers in the upmarket Colaba. It caters to both business and leisure markets being in the most preferred area in South Mumbai.

What is your marketing strategy for the domestic & international market?

DOSM: Middle East and South Africa are our major feeder markets for Mumbai Hotel, however certain percentage from other mix countries. The markets which are showing encouraging signs for us, we plan to take part in Arab Travel Mart this year to have our presence.

Tell us in brief what makes Fariyas Lonavla wedding resort.

GM: Our spacious rooms and suite, open air restaurant and tropical setting of lawns, overseeing the majestic valley and delicately chosen menus from our wedding

specialist chefs dishing out each item from separate vegetarian kitchen, specifically designed for weddings is what makes us suitable for high end destination weddings. All our guests have to do is choose wedding attire for each function of the event and celebrate in style as our professional team will take care of the rest of their requirements. Our guest can choose from small private parties to large gatherings in ballroom or open air lawns and have a buzzing atmosphere on engagement, wedding day as well as on reception. They can choose from multiple venues within the resort and have a different look and feel with different colour scheme in decor and mood lighting. Our Speciality Chefs are ever ready to prepare a fitting feast for momentous occasion and will serve delicious palate to delight the taste buds of each guest.

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Entertainment zone @KOD India’s first live entertainment and leisure destination is witnessing an average of over 50,000 visitors a month currently. reports…

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prawling across acres of land, ideally located in Gurgaon at the apex of the Golden Triangle of Jaipur, Agra and Delhi, is the magnificent Kingdom of Dreams, India’s first live entertainment and leisure destination.

Replete with the flourish of two welcoming elephants, the distinctive Kingdom of

Dreams brings to life the magic and timeless mystique of India in a unique blend of Indian art, culture, heritage, crafts, cuisine and performing arts, with the technological wizardry of today.

Kingdom of Dreams, the mammoth project is one-ofa-kind initiative of the Great Indian Nautanki Company to promote Indian culture and tourism. The promoters of this phenomenon are Wizcraft International Entertainment, India’s leading Entertainment and Communication Company

and Apra Group of Companies. Spearheaded by Viraf Sarkari, Sabbas Joseph, Andre Timmins, Directors, Wizcraft International Entertainment and Anumod Sharma, Chairman, Apra Group of Companies, the company’s vision is to create theme-based entertainment experiences of exceptional standards and promote

offerings are compared with the best in the world in the field of entertainment, the location is increasingly being included as a must-see and must-visit destination in the travel itineraries.”

Talking about the importance of travel trade, he says,

“Since KOD appeals to a variety of segments, it is extremely important that the travel trade community should extend all possible support to it.

As an organisation and a destination, we are very committed to this segment.

Indian culture and performing arts across the globe.

According to Sarkari, KOD receives, on average, over 50,000 visitors a month. “We are expecting it to cross one million visitors by the year-end of 2013,” he says. On whether the advent of such parks has helped to package tourism products better, especially for a city such as Delhi, Sarkari feels, “KOD offers world-class entertainment in a format which entertains, educates and promotes the culture of India. As KOD product

We are also appointing international representatives in key international markets for a better market penetration to increase international travel traffic towards KOD.” To boost its portfolio, KOD has been tying up with several trade associations as well.

The distinctive and live entertainment destination, incredible in scale and scope and conceptualised to offer a magical Indian experience like none other, houses three product offerings, Culture Gully, Nautanki Mahal and Showshaa Theatre along with the IIFA Buzz cafe.

Mijas Tourism forays into India The town of Mijas in Andalusia, Spain is looking to attract leisure traffic from India, according to Juan Carlos Acevedo, Director, Mijas Tourism.

In order to promote Mijas in the Indian market, Mijas Tourism recently conducted a presentation for travel agents and tour operators in Mumbai in partnership with Century Incoming, a Madrid-based DMC. Acevedo added, “The visitor from India to Spain are steadily rising and therefore, we want to attract more travellers from emerging markets to Mijas. The town is close to important cities such as Granada, Cordoba, Malaga

and Sevilla which are on the itineraries of most Indian tourists.”

“This presentation is important as it helps us to understand the needs of the Indian travellers, as well as to educate travel agents and tour operators about our offerings.

Leisure traffic is an important segment for us, in terms of both FIT and GIT travellers. Additionally, golf tourism is another important segment we are looking to tap,” he says.

Mijas Tourism plans to work with Century Incoming which is represented by Global Destinations in India.

Arturo Ortiz Arduan, Tourism Counselor, Embassy

of Spain – Tourism Department, Tourism Office of Spain – Mumbai said,

“Mijas, which is in the heart of the Costa el Sol region, is still relatively unknown in the Indian market.

This initiative by Mijas Tourism will enable them to create awareness about their products and offerings in the Indian market.”

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Jaipur for all...

Contd. from page 46

strong leisure market, but also has state-of-the-art conference centres which allow the city to capture the special events and the weddings market, asserts Lall. “For sophisticated travellers, we offer guests ‘authentically local’ experiences along with ‘engaging services’ that make the guests feel special, valued and appreciated,” he adds.

The future looks bright with international hotel chains entering the market. Lall says, “The government is proposing measures to increase investment in hospitality to accelerate growth. With the opening of FDI in hospitality, the market is attracting more foreign investment onto Indian shores.” With competition, the level of confidence is immense among the players. Sahani says, “As a destination, Jaipur is a nice place for hospitality in terms of revenue. The difference in high or low season is negligible as people are visiting the city even during summers. Summer has become equally important for us.

Customers seek quick, professional services, a ‘wow’ factor, which we deliver.”

On the other hand, The Tree of Life Resort & Spa,

Jaipur has been built keeping in mind not to go totally ‘traditional’ but to find a balance with tradition and modernity.

“We have been very successful in finding that balance. We are primarily a couple’s retreat and everything we do is directed to the conveniences that couples expect,” says Himmat Anand, Founder of the resort.

Examining critically the Jaipur hospitality market, he feels that the city is rather going through a difficult time presently. Growth in business has not kept pace with the growth in rooms and there is, hence, a huge over-supply in the city. “This is leading to ridiculous rate levels impacting service and quality, which won’t change for another two years or so. With realistic prices in Delhi & Gurgaon market, major conferences continue to be held there and have not moved to Jaipur, as was expected with many hotels built in Jaipur catering MICE,” says Anand adding that all is not doom and the magical draw of the name ‘Jaipur’ with its shopping and wonderful sights will continue to remain a major pull for tourists. “I just feel disappointed that the full potential of this wonderful city is not being taken to its highest level,” sums Anand.

Savoy Suites for biz travellers These properties are located in the up and coming bustling business centres, where demand is only rising for such a concept. ter within the premises, housing various international brands and food chains.”

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usiness travelers have been on the rise in the country. Betting big on this segment is the Ascot Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd. The company has successfully launched new concepts in hospitality since 1995. It has various brands under its umbrella, of which the main brand is Savoy Suites, which are premium serviced apartments. Today, this brand is present in three locations in the Delhi-NCR, namely, IMT Manesar, Sector-16 Noida and Pari Chowk Greater Noida. Says Vikram Bakshi, owner and chairman, Ascot Hotels & Resorts, “These properties are located in the up and coming bustling business centers, where demand is only rising for such a concept. With satellite cities in the National Capital Region of Delhi developing at a fast rate and many local and international companies looking to expand their reach in India, there has been a sharp surge in business travel over

Savoy Suites Greater Noida

the last few years.”

Executives from India and abroad spend from a few days to months in these business hubs and travel frequently.

Hence, serviced apartments are a smart alternative to a high cost hotel stay or a no frill, no services guest house.

The presence of this concept has been increasing in the metro cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, he adds.

Talking more about the existing properties, Bakshi

elaborates, “Savoy Suites at IMT Manesar is directly accessible from the NH-8 and offers 108 suites spread over five floors. Each suite has a fully furnished living room, a well-equipped kitchen and a comfortable bedroom with an attached toilet. The property also offers a fully functional gymnasium and pool, fully serviced state of the art banquet, meeting and conference facilities for various sized events. Additionally, there is a premium retail outlet cen-

Savoy Suites at Greater Noida offers 58 suites spread out over six floors, all overlooking the atrium on the inside. The one and two bedroom suites have a comfortable bedroom, a living room and a fully equipped kitchen. The property also has a fully functional fitness centre, outdoor pool and Jacuzzi and four meeting rooms to cater to varying needs of business meetings and conferences. The hotel is a part of the Ansal Plaza mall at Pari Chowk and guests have a separate entry into the mall.

What’s Inside All the suites have a fully furnished living room, bedroom and an Italian kitchenette. This property also offers a gymnasium and a terrace swimming pool, meeting rooms and also a convenience store

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Ready for an Indian ‘Address’ Seema Pande, Group Director of Sales and Marketing, The Address Hotels & Resorts headed a high-level delegation of GMs and others, which conducted road shows in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. The delegation found India market very promising and expect it to be one among their top performing markets.

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Become a cruise travel advisor While cruising has become a popular choice among Indian tourists, the opportunities within the industry can be further explored. catches up with Gavin Smith, Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, Royal Caribbean Cruises, to find out what the Indian travel partners can do to promote this sector rapidly.

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he Royal Caribbean cruises have witnessed much growth in India in the last few years. There has been an 8 to 10 per cent year-on-year growth, but last year was a little slow where the numbers stabilised. “The cruise industry tends to grow by the number of available beds and the Indian market has consistently grown,” says Smith.

Gavin Smith Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, Royal Caribbean Cruises

Emerging markets have seen a growth of shorter cruises and we’ll also see that from India Cruising is a strong value proposition where everything is taken care of. It provides a diversity of destinations and the price of cruising has remained relatively consistent over the past 4-5 years.

“We offer dynamic pricing so it provides greater value to passengers. The costs are usually US$ 180-200 a day per guest,” he adds.

Smith feels that demand for cruising in Asia-Pacific is unlikely to diminish for three reasons; first, the Panama Canal expansion is expected in late 2015. Secondly, on the basis of the strength of the Chinese cruise tourism market; and lastly, the complimentary southern summer deployment. “Emerging markets have seen a growth of shorter cruises and we’ll also see that from India. Fly cruising from Singapore is becoming a popular choice and it’s a low-risk purchase.”

Cruising has been a choice for the Indian market for a while now. Along with the shorter Asian cruises,

European and the Alaskan cruises are also popular.

Choosing a cruise line is like choosing a hotel, it’s about the mindset of the passenger, which has to match with the cruise line. India’s growth potential is huge and comes

with an array of opportunities for the tourism industry.

“This is the chance for India to grasp with both hands and Indian retail travel should respond by becoming cruise travel advisors. They require a strong association, good

market research and industry PR strategy partnering with other associations such as the Cruise Lines International Association.” Lastly, Smith also focusses on the importance of home porting for India and feels this will make

cruising more accessible, affordable and relevant for Indians. “The Indian cruise industry also needs to respond with some steps to ensure development of home porting in India. They need to look into forming a local cruise

association, ensuring a stable taxation and regulation, guarantee fuel availability, visit cruise lines to promote India as a destination and take the first step to lobby for port infrastructure and attract ‘home’ porting ships.”

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An appreciation well-deserved In a bid to appreciate the support of its travel and trade partners; The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts hosted its first edition of 'The Leela Travel Trade Awards-2013'. The ceremony, held at The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon, presented awards in five categories -- Charters, MICE, Inbound, Preferred Domestic Leisure Travel Partners and Corporate Support. The event was attended by many prominent luminaries of the travel trade industry.

Jet to transfer International Passengers directly to domestic flights The Mumbai International Airport has assigned gate numbers 4 and 5 in the security hold area for incoming international passengers of Jet Airways wishing to connect to their domestic flights.

They will be transferred to the domestic terminal to board their flights directly.

The security hold area will be open between 0300 hrs and 0700, providing major relief to the arriving international passengers.

Guests arriving by Jet Airways flights between 0230 hrs and 0645 hrs and connecting to domestic flights will now transfer

through the new security hold area. Guests still have the option to leave the international terminal and go on their own to the domestic terminal if they wish to do so.

Incoming passengers connecting to domestic flights are required to clear immigration and customs formalities, collect their bags from the conveyer belts and have them screened. Once completed, guests may proceed to the domestic transfer check-in counter to drop their bags, proceed to the security hold area in Terminal 2C, complete their security checks and board their respective flights.

The security hold area has refreshments and light snack facilities along with washrooms. Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways said,

“The introduction of this facility will reduce the hassle passengers face, waiting for the inter-terminal coach to be taken to the domestic terminal and having to go through security checks again.

Sudheer Raghavan Chief Commercial Officer Jet Airways

It will also help Jet Airways to improve its ontime performance,besides decongesting the security hold area of the domestic terminal.� The passenger will benefit from the launch of the new servi ce, he said.

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AGENTS

Changing track to Buddhist Nirvana

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Cocktail at Cabana

The company aims at promoting inbound tours like wellness, adventure, pilgrimage and Buddhist circuits. reports more...

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kbar Holidays is all geared up for the new fiscal with innovative inbound packages for key source markets. Along with adding wellness, adventure, Buddhist circuits and pilgrimage tours, the company is focussing more on eastern part of India with support from CII and MOT. In terms of circuits, it is focussing more on Buddhist circuit combined with the popular Golden Triangle for the Far East markets as well as South Splendors combin-

According to Vasco Noronha, Head – Inbound Operations and Marketing (Pan India), Akbar Holidays; through the new product innovations and adding new destinations and circuits, the company is aiming at portraying India in a new limelight to global travellers.

Talking about the emerging trends in India inbound sector, Noronha said, “In the yesteryears, we have

Growth chart Akbar Holidays registered a 120 per cent growth in terms of their target markets for 20112012 and 2012-13 for Middle East, North Africa and Europe. It is targetting the Far East markets of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore for the

Taj, safaris and other activities like Yatching and Golfing.

Demand for other itineraries like, Tea Plantation and Coffee Plantation tours, Spiritual Tours and Buddhist Tours are also in high demand as are biking and cycling tours and walking tours in different parts of India.”

ing Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and Kerala for the CIS Markets, Goa and Karnataka for UK market.

Buddhist Circuits and East/North India itinerary.

It is also planning to enter the CIS (Common Wealth of Independent States) markets in this year and plan on participating in Moscow for the forthcoming exhibition.

Vasco Noronha Head – Inbound Operations and Marketing (Pan India), Akbar Holidays

had large numbers coming to India on budget packages and staying in Kullu Manali, Goa, Pune and Kerala. Today, we are witnessing a change in the Target Audience coming into India. We have a huge percentage of up market clients coming in from Saudi Arabia, Dubai, South Africa, Moscow & St Petersburg as well as USA and Australia. As a result of which we have a huge demand for five star properties and four star deluxe properties as well as Adventure tourism packages floated by companies like the

The company works largely on the B2B model catering to both domestic and international inbound, FIT and GIT markets. Noronha informed that in every country, the company has an array of FTO (Foreign Tour Operators) who sends in inquiries on packages and itineraries for India. “In terms of online, we have launched our own CRM (Pulse Ver 1.0) which we are implementing across the board so that all our FTOs as well as Travel Agents have direct access to our database and can book directly using our engines. This enables speedy, efficient and errorfree bookings and is more professional and on-thespot,” informed Noronha.

Cabana Suites is in true sense a home away from home. And to reflect the same, the property became host to a grand party to usher in the weekend.

The cocktail-cum-dinner event was well-attended by corporate clients and the travel trade segment.

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FAMILY ALBUM APRIL 14-16 15 16

Jaipur Delhi Delhi

17-19

Shanghai

17-21

Kuala Lumpur

26-30 18

Sydney Mumbai

18-19

Bhopal

18-21 19-21 21-24

Hanoi Barcelona Auckland

23-25

Brazil

23-26 24-26

Riyadh Kazakhstan

25-28 25-28 25-28

Italy Bangkok Bangkok

Great India Travel Bazaar PATA Hub City Forum - New Delhi Tourism Ireland Country Club Mission’s B2BEvent Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings China (IT&CM) UFTAA- Congress Kuala Lumpur 2013 Australian Tourism Exchange 2013 Tourism Ireland Country Club Mission’s B2B Event Bhopal International Conference on Sustainable Tourism Vietnam International Travel Mart Salo International del Tourisme Tourism New Zealand TRENZ 2013 World Travel Market Latin America Riyadh Travel Fair Kazakhstan International Tourism Fair (KITF) Leisure Italy 2013 PATA Annual Summit The 22nd PATA Foundation Silent Auction

MP thanks trade partners for support Madhya Pradesh has jumped on the tourism map of India in a very short period and emerged as one of top ten states in terms of domestic tourist visits. It called its trade partners to thank them for support and show the glimpse of the new TVC promoting Madhya Pradesh.

MAY 5-7 6-9 9-11 11-14 12

Germany Dubai Shanghai Durban Maldives

12-14 12-15

Budapest Ottawa

13-15 15-16

Kuwait Bangkok

16-18 21 21-23 22-23 24-26 24-27 28-29

Switzerland Moscow Germany London Kolkata Taiwan Singapore

29-30

Istanbul

29-Jun 3 Cameroon 31-Jun 2 Bern

German Travel Mart Arabian Travel Market (ATM) World Travel Fair Indaba Expo World Travel Awards Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony Routes Europe 2013 Canadian Tourism Commission’s Rendezvous Canada Travel World Expo 5th Asia Pacific Hotel Investment Conference Meeting Luxury 2013 PATA Hub City Forum - Moscow IMEX 2013 Boutique Hotel Summit 2013 India Tourism Fair Taipei Tourism Expo 9th Travel Distribution Summit Asia Turkey & Neighbours Hotel Investment Conference (CATHIC) Africa Travel Association’s 38th Annual Congress 2013 Switzerland Travel Mart

JUNE 2-4 3-6

Cape Town Shanghai

5-7 11-13

Thailand Chicago

13-16 19-23 21-23

Hong Kong Vancouver Beijing

26-27

New Zealand

IATA: Annual General Meeting International Luxury Travel Market Asia (ILTMA) Thailand Travel Mart Plus 2013 Americas Incentive Business Travel & Meetings Exhibitions (AIBTM) International Travel Expo Cruise3sixty 2013 Beijing International Tourism Expo (BITE) Tourism New Zealand’s MEETINGS 2013

For more information, contact us at: talk@ddppl.com

Summer at The Oberoi The Oberoi Group recently launched its ‘Special Offers’ for this summer at an event at The Oberoi, Gurgaon. Vikram Oberoi, Chief Operating Officer and Joint Managing Director, The Oberoi Group and Kapil Chopra, President, The Oberoi Group, India, along with Sanjay Rai, Executive Vice President, Sales, The Oberoi Group, unveiled the special offers brochure in the presence of members from the travel, trade and tourism industry. Travel agents were honoured with certificates of appreciation for their outstanding contribution in the last financial year.

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CLIPBOARDS

APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

TRAVTALK

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MOVEMENTS

TRAVTALK APRIL 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013

Kuoni Group Mumbai Zubin Karkaria has been taken on as the Executive Vice President of the Kuoni Group.

He is also the Chief Executive Officer of VFS Global Group and a member of the Executive Board of Kuoni Group. Initially as the Head of the company’s Tour Operating Division (Kuoni and SOTC), and of VFS Global, and since 2005 as the CEO & Managing Director, Karkaria has been at the fore-front in driving its growth. He has served on several prominent industry boards & committees, including as External Director on the board of ITDC.

Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre and Hyderabad International Convention Centre Hyderabad Rasika Singh has been appointed as the Director- Sales & Marketing for Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre (NHCC) and Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). Singh comes with an experience of over 17 years in sales and marketing.

Rasika Singh is a graduate in Geography from the prestigious Miranda House, University of Delhi and holds a Diploma in Public Relations and Advertising.

Hyderabad Marriott Hotel & Convention Centre & Courtyard by Marriott

JW Marriott Mumbai

Hyderabad

Pavithran Nambiar is the newly-appointed General Manager of JW Marriott Mumbai. With over 16 years of experience, Nambiar has worked with brands across the world such as Accor and Marriott Group Hotels.

He joins JW Marriott Mumbai from Goa Marriott Resort where he was the General Manager for the past two and half years. After studying medicine from Sydney University, Nambiar switched across to hospitality and started his career by working in high-end standalone restaurants and bars before joining Accor as a Food and Beverage Manager in 2001.

Sharad Datta has been taken on as the General Manager of the Hyderabad Marriott Hotel & Convention Centre & Courtyard by Marriott, Hyderabad. With almost two decades of hospitality experience; Datta brings with him experience from brands such as the Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt Hotels and Carlson Rezidor Hotels.

After graduating from IHM Mumbai, Datta started his career with the Raheja Group of Hotels in Mumbai.

Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway

Savoy Suites, Manesar Manesar Ranjeet Singh has been appointed as the General Manager Sales at the Ascot Hotels & Resorts in Savoy Suites, Manesar.

Singh is a hotel management graduate with a track record of 20 years in the hotel industry, entailing 18 years in sales and marketing, administration, internal coordination and 2 years in projects. His previous stints include being the General ManagerSales & Marketing at Heritage Retreat, Jaipur; The Bristol, Gurgaon; Travelguru.com, Select Group of Hotels at Gurgaon (The Heritage Village Manesar, Gurgaon & The Heritage Village Club, Goa).

The Claridges Communications by The Claridges, New Delhi. She has over five years of experience in the hotel industry. In her new role, Malik will be responsible for driving public relations and marketing campaigns, deciding marketing strategies, media planning and will be responsible for all the other marketing communications initiatives for the hotel. She has been associated with the leading hotels like ITC Hotels, Hilton Worldwide India and The Park Hotels.

Bangalore Sheetal Iyer has recently been appointed as the Director Sales & Marketing, at the Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway. She has over 10 years’ experience in the hospitality industry. With work experience with Zuri, Le Meridien and the Oberoi’s earlier, Iyer comes with market knowledge, account specific city and hotel potential and possesses a focused approach at work.

CHIME

New Delhi Urvashi Malik has been appointed as Manager-Marketing

Mumbai

Gurgaon Atul Duggal joins CHIME as Deputy General Manager. With a track record of over two decades in the travel & hospitality industry, Atul brings to the table his experience with the airlines and corporate sector. He was associated with companies such as Air Canada and other North American organisations as well. He has also worked with reputed travel organisations in his long career.

Talking People is a special dedicated corner, created as a sounding board for who’s who of the Indian and International travel industry. With Talking People, it is our endeavour to bring you face-to-face with people.

Contributed by: Peden Doma Bhutia, Vivek Sethi & Anita Jain

Sabeer Bhatia, Co-Founder, Jaxtr Sim Car is 43-yearold and is also the founder of world’s first free email service – Hotmail. Bhatia became a multi-millionaire at the age of 28 after selling Hotmail to Microsoft.

Born in Chandigarh, Bhatia grew up in Bangalore and Pune. His father is a retired captain in the Indian Army and his mother worked with Central Bank. Did he burn up all that cash he got from Microsoft? Bhatia grins. That’s a lot of cash to blow up, he says. After Sabeer Bhatia quitting MS, he took a year off, travelling. “I thought Co-Founder I would retire. I played golf; travelled to the south of Jaxtr Sim Card France, London, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada. I travelled for a year. I was 30 then. I got very bored. You would think that is bliss, but it is so far from the truth. I was depressed. I had nothing to look forward to. All other friends of my age and colleagues, were moving ahead in life. I would have grown old had I remained in that state. There was no stimulation. I realised I will never retire again. Now, my work keeps me going.”

Arti Jaitly joins CHIME as a Deputy General Manager. She is an Economics post-graduate and has over 16 year of experience in the MICE sector where she has effectively managed sales and operations. Jaitly has experience in handling accounts and sourcing key business development leads. She has experience in managing projects, budgets, facilities management, vendor development and logistics.

Romit Theophilus, Director, Melanie de Souza, General Sales and Marketing, GNTO Manager, International Marketing, India, says, “I normally relax by Tourism Victoria, says, “I take having a glass of beer and pride in my home. I take pride in whenever I get some free time my friendships and also have a I spend it with my wife. Also, I core group of very good friends. I like to travel extensively in love the theatre and the movies India. Goa is one of my favourite and in free time, I try to catch places and I go there quite often. plays and movies. I don't have my Melanie de Souza Romit Theophilus In spite of promoting Germany I General Manager, own dog, but I play aunty to two Director, Sales and Marketing, Marketing, GNTO India have never attended the International labradors and one springer Tourism Victoria Oktoberfest, but this year I’ve spaniel, so a lot of my free time on made it a point to visit Germany in September and attend weekends is usually spent on getaways with the dogs and the Oktoberfest.” their parents. The last movie I watched was Hitchcock and that was on the plane. I have also watched Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.”

Philippe Zuber, General Manager, The Address- Downtown Dubai, says, “I have worked in various hotels around Paris, Berlin and UAE among others. My wife is of Indian origin, belonging to Mauritius. We had met at the New Year’s Eve in Prague. We have two boys aged 9 and 12. With my present base in Dubai, our family is genuinely interested in exploring India as a family holiday destination.”

Philippe Zuber General Manager The Address- Downtown Dubai

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Postal Reg. No.: DL(ND)-11/6044/2012-13-14; WPP No.: U(C)-178/2012-14 for posting on 1st-2nd and 15th-16th of the same month at New Delhi P.S.O., RNI No.: 53492/91 Date of Publication:14-04-2013

GUEST COLUMN

‘Winning is about being great’ Paving a successful path in the travel and tourism industry, Rahul Bhatia, Group Managing Director, Interglobe Enterprises has mastered the art of overcoming obstacles and emerging victorious.

T

he travel and tourism industry is an important engine to growth and prosperity and can play a key role in smoothening visual disparities. I believe that we are living in a fool’s paradise for believing that we have scratched the surface of the huge travel and tourism opportunity in our country. In my mind, we have not even begun to learn to crawl.

The last World Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index by the world economic forum outlines the dismal story.

India is ranked 12 th in the region and 68th overall; down six bases. According to the report, our tourism infrastructure remains underdeveloped, ranked 89 th with very few hotel rooms per capita by international comparison. Our policy environment, has weakened much since the last assessment and is now ranked a poor 128th. Big issues need equally large interventions to affect the quantum change, for us to embrace the future and the opportunity it offers in a meaningful manner. We have to have a tectonic shift in our approach.

India today has the opportunity to lead a global economic reordering, where it can take its place of pride amongst the powerful societies in the world.

France receives 80 million tourists a year of which 7 million visit the Eiffel tower and 8 million go to the Louvre. India, on the other hand, welcomed only 6.5 million tourists last year. For us to get to the world stage of travel and tourism, something fundament has to be done, and the good news is that it can be done.

Developing infrastructure is imperative for the growth of any industry.

Recently small oases of excellence have started to emerge around India, Lavasa is one such example. But the thread of infrastructural connectivity is missing. India has a rich heritage and exceptional natural beauty but we have no

infrastructure to experience the unparalleled diversity of our country. Every single constituent that takes up a worldclass infrastructure needs to come together. We need to move from creating an island of excellence to a nation that symbolises excellence.

We cannot hide behind our size. China has shown us that.

We cannot build a tomorrow based on what we have today; we need to rebuild the foundations.

We must have belief in the enormous oppor-

tunity India has to offer and work and invest collectively to secure this with conviction. In order to achieve all this, we have to ask ourselves one fundamental question and this cannot be what we want India to look like in the next 5 to 10 years, it has to be what we would like in the next 100 years and this needs leadership that can lead from the front and by example.

(Excerpts from the key note address at TAFI 2013)

The 5 ‘P’ mantra current adhocism.

Rahul Bhatia Group Managing Director Interglobe Enterprises

3

Partnership - The tourism and transport industry are interdependent and at the same time they are both equally dependant on global conditions. They are mutually enabling.

Without transportation many hotels will be unoccupied and without tourism many airlines will be empty. Partnership, where there is a clear understanding and respect, is one of the most powerful ingredient, yet the most basic formula for success.

People - I believe that the real key to success is people, people and people.

To find people who have the basic competence to execute daily responsibility is relatively easy but to find people who have the fine balance between competence and the commitment to serve excellence is a much more daunting task. Winning is not about being good it’s about being great. We must empower our people and give them the comfort that they have the space to make mistakes. Most companies don’t have the appetite for mistakes and this in itself is a huge mistake.

2

4

1

Policy - Because of their interdependence, the travel and tourism industry need greater convergence and close collaboration in the formulation of key polices.

We need a comprehensive tourism and transport policy in the country and not the

Planning - And execution of excellence. An example of planning is when InterGlobe placed its first order for 100 planes, our competitors thought we were insane because we were much too late to enter the race and the magnitude

of our order was suicidal.

Two years on, the realisation dawned on them that our delivery stream was worth its weight in gold, as the order with both manufacturers for single aisle aircrafts were bursting at the seams. So even though we were the last to enter, our rapid induction of planes helped us jump the queue and achieve critical mass faster than our competitors.

Any amount of planning is almost worthless if it’s not marked by flawless execution. We took our time and flew our first flight 14 months after placing the order.

5

Planet - Tomorrow’s companies will be the ones who have a sustainable environmental strategy.

Travelism, that combines travel and tourism, has a transformational role to play in this. Our industry as a whole needs to respond proactively to the needs of responsible tourism.