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Vol. XXIV No. 24; December 2 nd fortnight issue 2012
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India relaxes tourist visa norms
Relaxing the mandatory requirement of a minimum gap of two months between two visits of a foreign national to India on a Tourist Visa addresses a long-pending demand of the travel industry to attract more tourists. The Ministry of Tourism welcomes the decision. V IVEK S ETHI
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he travel industry is sure to cherish the removal of mandatory requirements of having a minimum gap of two months between two trips of a foreign national to India on a Tourist Visa. K Chiranjeevi, Minister of State, Tourism (Independent charge) has already expressed his happiness over the said decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs. K Chiranjeevi Minister of State, Tourism
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DECEMBER 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2012
“Welcoming the decision, the tourism minister
said, “The Government of India has decided to lift the restriction of the two-month gap on the re-entry of foreign nationals visiting India, except, in the case of nationals of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, foreigners of Pakistan and Bangladesh origins and Stateless persons.” “The tourism minister has said that this decision has addressed a long-pending demand of the travel industry and would facilitate tourists visiting the country.
The Ministry of Tourism has set a target of increasing the share of India in world tourist arrivals from the current 0.6 per cent to 1 per cent by the end of the 12th plan and a relaxation in the visa regime would contribute to a large extent in achieving this target,” he added. Meanwhile, Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism also highlighted the development as an important factor at the inauguration of the Italian State Tourist Board’s five-day road-
show in Delhi International Expo in Noida.
“Our Minister has hailed the lifting of the two-month restriction on foreign tourists. India has many travel attractions. The recent announcement renders one more reason for tourists to visit India,” said Dewan.
Infra development tops in 2012
It’s time to bid farewell to the going year by welcoming the coming year. conducted an opinion poll on ‘What has been the most significant milestone for the tourism sector in 2012?’ As the industry got together to brainstorm on the same, our inbox was inundated with responses. ‘Infrastructure development’ emerged as the biggest development that the year 2012 witnessed, closely followed by ‘Increase in FDI’. Meanwhile, ‘Clean India Campaign’ and ‘Weekly Payment Deferment’ bagged the 3rd spot and ‘Increase in MOT’s budget allocation’ emerged as the fourth biggest milestone. Thanks to our readers.
Weekly payment deferment
Formation of outbound associations
Others
6.25%
12.5%
6.25%
25%
31.25%
Increase in FDI
6.25%
Increase in MOT’s Budget allocation
Infrastructure Development
12.5%
(budget hotels and the yamuna Expressway etc.)
‘Clean India’ campaign
3-star hotels drive online bookings See full story on page 04
Fighting travel advisories See full story on page 06
Reeds to grow Indian MICE See full story on page 08
Hotels cash in on big fat Indian weddings See full story on page 28
BULLETIN
‘Era of Heritage Tourism has begun’ According to Parvez Dewan, Secretary, MOT, the new century has ushered in a complete revolution in preferences of tourists, who want to experience and witness the real heritage spread across different countries. In fact, we can learn from the manner Britain preserves its heritage and reckons tourism as the only way to protect heritage buildings.
V IVEK S ETHI
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ewan opted for the first slot to share his views with the audience that had gathered to attend the PHD Chambers’ 2nd India Heritage Tourism Conclave 2012 held recently in New Delhi. The urgent call from office didn’t dither Dewan from sharing a plausible shift in global travel preference and sharing the way forward to hold tourists in India by two-three nights. “There has been a view point that tends to presume that tourism destroys culture as it leads to creating the same McDonalds or Cocacolonisation, which may be correct in some parts. Cities like Bangkok, Hong Kong, or Shaghai have closely resem-
Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Tourism and Sandip Somany, President, PHD Chamber, releasing the report on Heritage Tourism
bled many of the tourists’ attractions in the western world and have been built accordingly for special purpose,” said Dewan . “But, the new century has ushered in complete revolution in preferences of tourists, who now want to experience the true culture and witness the real heritage
spread across different countries. All stakeholders need to offer a sense of local place,” he added. Highlighting the Ladakh Festival has most importantly brought back pride in the local culture. “The locals now take pride in wearing their local dress, cuisine, customs and also promoting them.
India also has a rich legacy of heritage buildings, havelis and palaces to name a few. It should look at converting many of them into museums or allowing tourists to visit them at a nominal charge,” said Dewan. “Srinagar has many such fabulous havelis which if promoted well, can extend the stay of domestic and international tourists by 2-3 Contd. on page 7
STATISTICS VIEWPOINT
Holidays and more
W
ith the festive and holiday season in full swing, the travel industry is raking it in. It’s the best time of the year for airlines, travel agents and hotels alike. Despite increased fares and hotel room rates, tourism is on a high. With seats all sold out on airlines and rooms in hotels becoming a rare commodity, the consumer is being made to pay exorbitant rates at this time of the year. But travel patterns in India have changed – bookings keep coming in. To beat escalated prices, travellers are opting for domestic and short-haul international destinations. The regional destinations that will gain from this trend will be regular places like Kerala, Goa, Bengaluru, Himachal and the North Eastern states, which are gaining in popularity. Kashmir is the new hot destination that needs to keep pace with its infrastructure to cater to increasing demand. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Dubai still remain on top of the list for outbound holiday travel. Kathmandu will also jump back if security can be assured. The holiday months of October-February see the highest number of inbound and outbound travellers. Even duty free shops at airports double their stocks and step up their promotions at this time of the year. The trade here has a big opportunity to capitalise on the year-end celebrations. They should roll out attractive packages, which ensure travellers stay continue to their trip well into the next year. Moreover, trade should observe all the minute details of the preferences that inbound, and domestic travellers share so as to prepare well in advance and formulate tantalising packages for the next fiscal, which will stimulate demand for travel throughout the year. The other major reason for inbound tourism growth would be the relaxation of the 2-month restriction for tourists that was imposed in 2009, wherein there had to be a two month gap between two visits to India. The two MOT international marketing campaigns in full swing abroad, ‘Find what you Seek’ and ‘Go Beyond’ should help in attracting more tourists – and if the Clean India campaign actually gets teeth, we’re home free!
Vikramajit Chairman SanJeet Publisher Rupali Narasimhan Editorial Director Deepa Sethi Editor
Editorial Ratan Kr Paul Vivek Sethi Megha Paul Devika Jeet Anita Jain Dency Mathew News-Editor Peden Doma Bhutia Desk-Editor Archana Sharma Sub-Editor Raina Mandal
Advertising Gunjan Sabikhi General Manager Karishma Khanna Sr. Manager Marketing Shailendra Shukla Sr. Manager Marketing Udit Pandey Sr. Manager Marketing Geetika Pathak Manager Advertising Amit Sarkar Asst. Manager Marketing Photographers Simran Kaur-Delhi Bharat Dangiya-Mumbai
3-star hotels drive online bookings Online travel site Goibibo.com has released its monthly travel report derived from live buyer data. It has been found that 3-star hotels drive 50 per cent bookings online within the tariff slab of `1,500 -3,500. The average price point and online availability are the key reasons for travellers opting for this category of hotels. Excerpts:
LEISURE HOTELS V/s BUSINESS HOTELS BOOKED ONLINE
TOP BUSINESS DESTINATIONS FOR ONLINE HOTEL BOOKINGS IN INDIA
SMEs AND INDIVIDUALS ARE THE DRIVERS OF ONLINE HOTEL BOOKINGS!
SMEs
80%
CORPORATES
20%
WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT IN THE HOTEL
EXTRA BED
HEALTH FORCEPS
KIDS AREA
VEG OR NON-VEG MEAL
MORE THAN 16.75 OF LEISURE TRAVELLERS REQUEST FOR AN EXTRA BED Advertising (Mumbai) Suchita Saran Branch Manager Harshal Ashar Deputy Genral Manager Priyanshu Wankhade Asst. Manager Advertising Rishika Karra Sales Coordinator Advertisement Designers Vikas Mandotia/Nitin Kumar Design: Nityanand Misra Sudhir Mudgal Production: Anil Kharbanda Circulation: Ashok Rana
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Policy thrust 2012
Making India a 365-day destination Undoubtedly, the change in regime in the Ministry of Tourism was the most significant in 2012, which has already demonstrated their intent to enhance growth momentum in the tourism industry. T T B U R E AU
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he Ministry of Tourism witnessed major changes towards the end of the year, which the travel trade observed very closely. Fortunately, the changes that led to the swearing in ceremony of K Chiranjeevi, Minister of State, Tourism with independent charge among other key bureaucratic appointments augurs well for the tourism sector Chiranjeevi assumed office as the Minister of State (Independent Charge), Tourism on October 28, 2012.
K Chiranjeevi Minister of State, Tourism
The shift is in line with our objective to promote our country as a 365day destination in overseas and to deliver experiences that the international visitors seek The new team under the leadership of the new Tourism Minister convinced all stakeholders, observers and critics in a very short period that the policy making focus remains intact to double the inbound and domestic tourist visits during the 12th Five Year Plan Period. It happened with the announcement of the launch of India’s new international and domestic campaigns at the World Travel Mart 2012 by the Ministry of Tourism. “The Incredible India campaign, launched in 2002 will go through a paradigm shift in its phase two, to move away from a product or destination focus to get con-
sumer specific. Our International campaign is called ‘Find What You Seek’ highlighting the fact that India offers a wide range of
experience like no other destination. We will also focus on encouraging our domestic travellers with another campaign called ‘Go
Beyond’, which will help them explore new destinations in India,” Chiranjeevi said at the launch of the new campaigns in London.
“The shift is in line with our objective to promote our country as a 365-day destination in overseas market and to deliver experiences
that the international visitors seek. We also will ensure smooth connectivity and world-class infrastructure at Contd. on page 14
ASSOCIATIONS
Fighting travel advisories The leading inbound and outbound players unanimously agree on the need of an emergency response team to counter travel advisories in all possible ways. V IVEK S ETHI
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ountries in different parts of the world will continue to witness difficult situations. For instance, as India observed the anniversary of 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai in November, there
Subhash Goyal President, IATO Various countries safeguard its travellers by issuing advisories against areas which apparently pose risks and should be avoided. The travellers, in such cases, if visit such places mentioned in the advisory, get no insurance cover. Many a times, such travel advisories had been issued against Punjab and J&K, to name a few. But, I had not seen any adverse impact on travel. Once a person is in India, there are strong
had been a news of growing unrest in Thailand and Egypt. Disastrous situations, manmade or natural, most of the times bring in bad news for the country’s inbound tourism sector, in particular, as various other countries tend to
We should have a national level emergency team comrising representatives from MEA, MHA, MOT and other key decision makers from the Government and private sectors to contain the damage and eventually withdraw such travel advisory. Flow of real time information under such circumstances plays a crucial
Sarab Jit Singh
Guldeep Singh Sahni President, OTOAI In emergency situation, flow of accurate information helps tide through the crisis. Most of the times, the disturbances are concentrated in some specific areas, while rest of the region suffers due to lack of accurate updates that could disseminate the negative sentiment against
travel advisories. spoke to representatives of inbound as well as outbound associations in India, on the best ways and means to negate ills of such adverse advisories. Here are selected excerpts:-
chances of his continuing the planned journey then discontinuing it due to the advisory. Domestic tourists’ flow continues as advisory doesn’t cover them.
Senior Vice President, IATO Normally, countries issue travel advisories in regular course of working. These advisories, most of the times, hint at taking due caution by the nationals of the respective country, while travelling to the region mentioned in the travel advisory. We tend to lose out on business due to such advisories. In certain cases, we tend to face severe adverse impact due to such advisories, especially when they had been issued with-
issue
Sarab Jit Singh Senior Vice President, IATO
out any definite cause. The best way to fight them is to create a disaster management cell, where government will supply correct information to relevant
travelling to that particular place. For instance, during the period of unrest in Thailand, we used to receive updates from Thai Tourism Authorities twice in a day, which helped us to continue sending visitors, who appreciated the situation and trusted us to travel amid the blanket travel advisory.
Subhash Goyal President, IATO
role. Hence, the PR representative in the emergency team should be strong and should reach all audiences through international and national media.
departments to restrict damage. The emergency response team should be armed with accurate information on the ground to readily address the situation with relevant foreign authorities. Moreover, in certain cases, where the adverse travel advisory is issued without any definite grounds, we will be able to avoid disruptions in tourists’ flow. We would like to have an IATO representative on-board in such emergency response team in the disaster management cell.
Guldeep Singh Sahni President, OTOAI
PTM 2013 in Chengdu
Martin J Craigs CEO, PATA
The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) announced that PATA Travel Mart 2013 will take place during September 25-27 at Century City New International Convention & Exhibition Centre, Chengdu in Sichuan province, China. Alongside
the mart, the PATA Board Meeting will be held on September 27-29 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chengdu. According to Martin J Craigs, CEO, PATA, Chengdu is one of the fastest growing destinations and source markets in China.
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5-20% commission for agents Offering 30% more seats in refreshed economy class in A321, Gulf Air also has a window to offer 5-20% commission to travel agents. VIVEK SETHI
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ulf Air, Bahrain’s national carrier, keeping in mind the large volume traffic between India and Bahrain, introduced A321 aircraft in four Indian cities, which offers 30 per cent more seats in a refreshed economy class and full flatbed business class seats, informed Karim Makhlouf, Chief Commercial Officer, Gulf Air at a press event in New Delhi. “We operate about 16,600 seats a week between these Indian cities namely Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi and Bahrain, which now will be serviced by new A321 with full flatbed from Indian routes. We earn approximately 8 per cent of our revenues from the Indian market. We have also launched a Falcon Corporate Plus programme for tapping the SME segment, while refreshing the popular Falcon Flyer and Family First schemes,” said Makhlouf. “We realise the importance of our B2B partners in India. In fact, we strive forward to work with all big, medium and small travel partners. We offer commission starting from 5 per cent, which goes up to 15 per cent.
Heritage re-visited Contd. from page 3
nights. Likewise, all our states are rich in heritage, but here all stakeholders including citizens have a crucial role to play. States, by focussing on promoting heritage-based tourism, can easily increase the stay of tourists,” he added. Sandip Somany, President, PHD Chamber, added, “Heritage Tourism has recently become more exciting. UNESCO has identified 29 heritage sites in India as world heritage sites. India’s tourism sector is growing at 8.9 per cent.” Meanwhile, B Hariharan, Chairman, Tourism Committee, PHD Chamber said, “Tourism in India has been on the rise. Moreover, Heritage Tourism works as a great marketing tool that is a unique amalgamation of all other forms of tourism like colonial heritage, industrial heritage, etc. But India needs lot of professional touch to keep the Indian heritage sites in perfect condition.
Agents can earn up to 20 per cent commission as part of our endeavour to win back the business travellers
as part of our various promotional schemes,” he added. Differentiating Gulf Air from other leading players, Karim dismissed any possibility to invest in an Indian air carrier. “We will consolidate our presence as a regional
player and have no plans afloat to invest in any airline in India, or otherwise. We are the largest Middle East network carrier with excellent onward connectivity to Africa and Europe. We offer our Indian travellers a choice of over 730
Karim Makhlouf, Chief Commercial Officer, Gulf Air and Mario Selvadurai, Country Manager India, Gulf Air
flights a week to Gulf, Middle East, North Africa and Europe via our efficient hub in Bahrain in less than three hours.” “We, however, look forward to possibilities of
expanding our network in another three Indian cities, namely, Pune, Amritsar and Ahmedabad as part of our medium-term expansion plans,” he added.
EXHIBITIONS
Reeds to grow Indian MICE The first IBTM India will take place at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai from September 12-14, 2013. It will have 100 MICE and business travel suppliers from international and Indian hotels and venues, national/state tourism boards etc. T T B U R E AU
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eed Travel Exhibitions Meetings and Events portfolio launched a dedicated world-class integrated platform for the MICE and Business Travel sectors in India named IBTM India. It will join 6 other events in the RTE portfolio on 5 continents including AIME in Melbourne Australia (owned by Melbourne Convention Visitors Bureau), EIBTM in Barcelona Spain, GIBTM in Abu Dhabi, AIBTM in Chicago, USA, CIBTM in Beijing China, and Business Travel Market, London, UK (www.ibtmevents.com). “India holds an enormous potential for the MICE industry with a projected GDP growth of over 8 per cent in the next 5 years. The world’s third largest economy is also showing an increase in outbound business. In 2010, it was estimated to be worth US$ 600 million for the sector, with projections of 13 per
and Events Portfolio, Reed Travel Exhibitions. The first IBTM India will have 100 MICE and Business Travel suppliers from international and Indian hotels and venues, national/ state tourism boards, travel and destination management companies and airlines, along with other suppliers including technology and event management companies. A proportionate number of top level decision makers will be hosted. Buyers from key markets around the globe, all of whom will be pre-qualified to ensure they are planning to place business in India as well as buyers who place outbound and domestic business, will also be included. Buyers will be from key associations, corporations and agencies. Anup Nair, President, Site India Chapter said, "The Meetings & Incentives market is possibly the most important segment of the travel industry today. With positive growth
The outbound & inbound MICE segments in India need professional education and training to enable it to deliver quality programmes Anup Nair, President, Site India Chapter cent increase in the coming years. There is also a strategic plan of commitment from the Indian Ministry of Tourism for the development of new convention centres and a significant number of global hotel chains are now focussing on new facilities and venues to support the MICE industry,” said Craig Moyes, Portfolio Director, IBTM Meetings
trends in the Indian economy and the increasing competition in the manufacturing and services sectors, India presents a potentially lucrative market. This has brought many international corporations to India and a burgeoning work force that offers a huge market for motivational experiences. The outbound & inbound MICE segment in India needs professional education and training
Craig Moyes Portfolio Director, IBTM Meetings and Events Portfolio, Reed Travel Exhibitions
India holds an enormous potential for the MICE industry with a projected GDP growth of over 8% in the next 5 years to enable it to deliver quality programmes. In association with Site Global, we, in the Site India Chapter, plan to develop quality professionals. IBTM, coming to India and partnering with the Site India Chapter, will give the right impetus to this drive. We welcome this initiative by the Reed Travel Exhibitions." Barcelona Turisme also highlighted the importance of the Indian market to the City. “India is a key market for us, as we have been building business from there over the past six years. Since 2010, we have received almost twice the number of incentive groups than previously. So we are very interested to learn about this new development from Reed Travel Exhibitions,” said Mercedes Garcia, Deputy Director of Barcelona Turisme.
Xmas festivity is all around! With the onset of Christmas and New Year celebrations, The Suryaa, New Delhi hosted a Xmas cake mixing ceremony recently at the hotel lobby. The Guests enjoyed a live demonstration of the making of Xmas Log cake followed by Cake mixing ceremony. Lots of cherries, fruits, nuts etc were mixed with wines etc. and will be kept for fermentation for one month to prepare the tradition Christmas Rum cake. People from different walks of life came together to spread the warmth of festive season
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MOT goes ‘religious’ in the North East While taking initiatives to focus on the tourism potential of the northeastern region including religious spots, MOT is also implementing the Rural Tourism Scheme on 13 projects. T T B U R E AU
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n a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, K Chiranjeevi, Minister of State, Tourism – Independent charge, informed, “The Ministry of Tourism has taken several steps to further promote and enhance the tourism potential of the North East region apart from releasing television campaigns on various TV channels. The Ministry has created a separate section on the North East region that has been included on the promotional website of MOT’s www.incredibleindia.org. Even the India Tourism offices overseas have been distributing publicity material widely.” Development and promotion of tourism including Religious Tourism are undertaken primarily by State Governments/Union Territory Administrations. The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, however, extends financial assistance to State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for tourism related projects identified in consultation with them under various tourism schemes of the Ministry and subject to availability of funds. The Ministry of Tourism had also sanctioned Rural Tourism projects at 185 sites to various States/Union Territory Administrations up to March 31, 2012. For the year 2012-13, Rural Tourism projects at 13 sites were identified for development, based on the meetings held by the Ministry of Tourism with State Governments/UT Administrations. The Ministry of Tourism is implementing the Rural Tourism Scheme with the main objective of showcasing rural life, art, culture and heritage in villages which have core competence in art & craft, handloom, textiles, natural environment etc. Under this scheme, Central Financial Assistance (CFA) up to ` 50 lakh for infrastructure development and up to ` 20 lakh for capacity building is provided to State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for each identified site.
List of major Religious Tourism places in North East states S. No. 1.
Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati
2.
States Arunachal Pradesh Assam
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura
Name of the Projects Tawang/Ziro/Malinithan in Lekhanali/Rukhmininagar/Parshuram Kund in Lohit district Kamakhaya Temple/Barpeta/Hajo/ Batadrawa/ Majuli /Sivsagar/ Tezpur / Kokrajhar/ Dhubri Buddhist temple at Kaliani, Lekhapani Kaina/Jiribam/Moreh/Thoubal/Senapati/Kakching /Ningthoukhong Matri Mandir Shillong Baptist Church Catholic Cathedral in Kohima, Nagaland Chochen Pheri/old Rumtek in East Sikkim/Soreng in West Sikkim Tripural Sundari Temple
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Using airport infrastructure the right way Industry service providers say India is lagging behind in terms of infrastructure. However, with the expanding infrastructure at airports like Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi, the airport operators are finding it difficult to utilise the additional facilities and space recently added through expansion. reports. A N I TA J A I N
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ith a focus of acting as an international hub, major metro airports in India are either under development
Do we need low-cost terminals? Airlines like IndiGo and SpiceJet moved their operations from Delhi’s T3 to 1D as the extra cost at T3 was not viable for both the low-cost airlines. However, not all the airports in India have the option of moving to different terminals to lower the cost. Even international low-cost carriers like AirAsia stopped operating from major Indian cities due to high airport charges. It is not financially viable for low cost airlines to operate from high-cost terminals. Thus, it’s time that India should look at having lowcost terminals!
Pradeep Panicker
VP Agarwal
CCO (Aero) DIAL
Chairman Airports Authority of India (AAI)
We are planning to convert the old terminal into an LCC terminal but it will take some time or are almost ready to throw open their terminal buildings and faster transit facilities. But
Chennai and Kolkata airports’ old terminals will close as new terminal buildings are more efficient with the Indian skies being punctured extensively due to the central and state govern-
ment taxes, the airport charges and the increasing competition; major airlines (both Indian and international) are finding it difficult to operate in India. With increasing maintenance cost and Civil Aviation Ministry announcing to abolish Airport Development Fee from 2013, the airports are scouting for solutions to earn additional revenues. Peter Harbison, Executive Chairman, CAPA informed that increasing airport charges reduce the interest of an airline to fly to that particular airport/destination. He said, “In a scenario where airlines in India are trying to cut down to reduce cost, airport taxes (landing/ parking, etc) act as a spoilt sport. It is agreed that airport operators need to earn their return on investment but the priority of an airport is to make their
respective base destination an easy access point with affordable prices and convenience facilities.”
airlines are interested to land at that airport? Let’s talk about Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd
In a scenario where airlines in India are trying to cut down on everything to reduce cost, airport taxes (landing/ parking, etc) act as a spoilt sport Peter Harbison, Executive Chairman, CAPA Airports act as an economy booster for a state and a nation as a whole. If the prices are increased, the airlines will reduce their operations and thus, the passenger traffic at the airport will reduce, resulting in less usage of airport facilities. So, what’s the use of building futuristic airports when no
Terminal 3 which is the biggest in India and eighth largest in the world in terms of passenger capacity. It handled 35.88 million passengers in 2011-12 and is building up the capacity to manage 100 million passengers by 2030. With Kingfisher Airlines flying in troubles, Contd. on page 40
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Now, fly direct to Australia with Maharaja The new long-haul routes are part of the turnaround plan for Air India. To fill the gap, Air India is set to roll out its Dreamliner on Delhi-Melbourne-Sydney-Delhi four times a week and Delhi-Sydney-MelbourneDelhi three times a week by June 2013, reports . Delhi-Sydney-Melbourne (Delhi-Sydney and Delhi–Melbourne route is allocated to Air India (AI) It is set to roll out its Dreamliner on Delhi-Melbourne-Sydney-Delhi four times a week and Delhi-Sydney-Melbourne-Delhi three times a week by June 2013
A N I TA J A I N
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fter much-awaited delivery of its first 787 Dreamliner in September this year, Air India has initiated a plan to deploy these ‘Big Birds’ on some potential long-haul routes. However, the most popular and obvious route for Air India at the moment is Delhi-SydneyMelbourne (Delhi-Sydney and Delhi– Melbourne are among the 11 new international routes allocated to Air India by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2012). There are no direct flights on IndiaAustralia route at the moment (one-stop flight is available via Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Dubai & Kuala Lumpur) and the passenger traffic between both the countries is growing tremendously. A study by Tourism Australia states that there will be a need for 3,45,000 seats on India-Australia route by
Deepak Brara
Kerrie Mather
Director – Commercial Air India
CEO Sydney Airport
The most popular and obvious route for Air India at the moment is Delhi-SydneyMelbourne 2020. To fill the gap, Air India is set to roll out its
India-Australia route has great potential, not tapped by any carrier so far Dreamliner on DelhiMelbourne-Sydney-Delhi
four times a week and DelhiSydney-Melbourne-Delhi three times a week by June 2013, informed Deepak Brara, Director – Commercial, Air India. To make Australia an attractive destination, Sydney Airport is also offering incentives and special packages to Air India. Kerrie Mather, CEO, Sydney Airport said that Sydney recorded 1,20,000 passengers on the Delhi-Sydney route and 60,000 on Mumbai-Sydney route in 2011 and is recording a double-digit growth in traffic from India to Sydney. She said, “The passenger traffic from India is enough to fill four daily direct flights. IndiaAustralia is a very potential air route which is not yet
Losing out on potential route and revenue Delay in receiving the delivery of Dreamliner has further delayed Air India’s plans to start New Delhi-Australia operations. Due to such delays, the airline is not just missing out on potential route but also on its revenue. Singapore Airlines is the biggest beneficiary due to lack of direct connectivity between India and Australia. It occupies 31 per cent of the total passenger traffic on this route, while other airlines like Malaysia Airlines (20 per cent), Qantas (17 per cent), Thai Airways (14 per cent), Cathay Pacific (five per cent), Emirates (four per cent) and others (nine per cent) absorb the rest of the traffic on this route. tapped by any carrier. We are welcoming any Indian carrier who is interested to operate from India to Sydney.” An agreement between the two nations was signed on March 6, 2006, permitting 6,500 weekly seats from both
sides including access to Australian carriers to operate to/from Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai Hyderabad and Bengaluru, and access for Indian carriers to operate to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
Gulf Air celebrates 31 years of service Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air marked its successful 31 years of service to New Delhi on November 27. On the occasion, the airline also unveiled its new A321 featuring full flatbed seats, for the first time in its class, on India routes. Commemorating the historic 31-year landmark, Gulf Air also announced a series of commercial initiatives tailored to the Indian market.
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Definite increase in Air Charters Air charters are now considered as the more reliable mode of travel with promises of convenient, customised and on time services. Shailendra Seth, Director, Chapman Freeborn India, discusses the benefits of Air Charters for passengers and highlights the growth seen in the recent past. T T B U R E AU
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ith scheduled airlines going through a turbulent period, Air Charters are a more reliable source of flying. They are convenient, always on time and customised as desired. “Chartering is the way to go. Time saving not only includes the time that travellers save by avoiding long lines and increased security measures, but also the increased productivity of the employees flying on private aircrafts,” says Seth.
Shailendra Seth Director Chapman Freeborn India
The roadmap ahead is to continue providing quality, innovate and increase our footprints in regions where no one has gone before Highlighting the importance of time saving, he adds, “Chartered aircraft have the advantage of flying into smaller airports as compared to big airlines. Therefore, passengers are able to fly into airports that are more accessible and closer to their final destination thereby, increasing the demand of Air Charters.” An increase in passenger side for air charters has recently been noticed, “There is definitely an increase but also the competition is also growing. Since Chapman Freeborn relies on its quality service, the trend is definitely going positive for us. Tapping a specific
market is very important in this sector and tapping overseas clients are an example of some of the opportunities we foresee for this segment,” Seth adds.
Chapman Freeborn has been in India since many years and has been associated with quality of service and reliability. The market for business aviation and other aviation related services is
developing in India and this charter company has many plans for our market. “The roadmap ahead is to continue providing quality, innovate and increase our
footprints in regions where no one has gone before. As with any marketing plan, the identification of a target market is required for a successful campaign. Charter companies need to focus on
target market, marketing points and method or medium of delivery. For Charter clients these include time saving, safety and security and flexibility in schedules,” says Seth.
MOT
Year-end glimpses... Contd. from page 5
all the tourist attractions. We shall also build on our ‘Clean India’ campaign to offer hygienic and clean environment,” he added. Lately, he also hailed the visa relaxation in terms of the two months restriction that was imposed in 2009, wherein a tourist had to maintain a two-month gap between her/his visit to India on a tourist visa. All the trade associations had been long pressing for removal of such restrictions, which towards the end got addressed by the Government.
Second International Buddhist Conclave In another leading initiative in September, the Ministry of Tourism showcased the Buddhist Heritage of India in the Second International Buddhist Conclave held at Varanasi. The Conclave was attended by over 100 International Buddhist scholars, tour operators and travel representatives. The states with Buddhist sites like Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha besides Bihar were associated in the event to bring together international buyers from around the world particularly from the popular Buddhist destinations like Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, China etc. together, to interact, promote and sell, with the objective of increasing
tourist arrivals to India and specifically to the Buddhist sites in different states. In between, the Ministry released the data compiled by the Market Research Division of Ministry of Tourism that showed Domestic Tourism as one of the strongest assets that helped the travel and tourism sail through the difficult economic environment in 200809. As per the data during 2011, the number of domestic tourist visits to the States and UTs touched 851 million as compared to 748 million in 2010 and 669 million in 2009. In other words, the number of domestic tourist visits to States and UTs registered an increase of 13.8 per cent over 2010 as compared to increase of 11.8 per cent in 2010 over 2009.
SAARC Tour Operators Conclave Similarly, in line with the objective of doubling the inbound arrivals, the MOT called upon SAARC Countries for close co-operation at the SAARC Tour Operators Conclave held in July. As per the UNWTO report, the international tourist arrivals to Asia and the Pacific are projected to increase from 204 million in 2010 to 535 million in 2030. The share of international tourism to emerging economies will be bigger compared to advanced ones. Most of the new arrivals will be to the destinations in Asia in particular. SAARC is an important source market for India. 10,13,516 tourists from SAARC region visited India in
2011(provisional) as compared to 9,98,179 in 2010. Importantly, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ranked 3rd and 4th respectively, in terms of foreign tourist arrivals to India in 2010 and for SAARC member countries; India is one of the major source markets. About 45 leading Tour Operators from India, Maldives, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan participated in the conclave, which focussed on various strategies to promote tourist destinations and products within the SAARC region.
Skill Development Programme According to MOT, the projected target of over 12 per cent growth p.a. in inbound as well as domestic tourists also showcased that the tourism sector will generate additional jobs of about 2.5 crore, both direct and indirect, under the 12th Five Year Plan. Hence, the Ministry called upon all the stakeholders together to give more thrust on Skill Development Programme, to generate employment in the tourism sector via its capacity building ‘Hunar Se Rozgar Tak’ initiative at a national level workshop in July. The policy maker’s intent has remained consistent throughout the year. Early in January itself, the Ministry signed an MoU between India and the ASEAN region for more action-oriented cooperation and to encourage both parties to cooperate in facilitating tourist visits.
New take-offs
Fly non-stop from Kolkata to Bangkok IndiGo will commence new flights connecting Kolkata with Bangkok from December 21 onwards. Elaborating on the new route expansion, Aditya
Ghosh, President, IndiGo said, “Bangkok & Kolkata hold a lot of promise and indeed is a key market for us. Expanding operations on this route is in line with our
growth strategy outlined for both the regions.” IndiGo is targetting both corporate and leisure travellers and is positioned as the fastest growing airline in India.
AI flies direct on Delhi-Dhaka route India started Air direct flights linking Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, with Delhi from December 3, 2012. Air India will operate the
state-of-the-art Airbus 320 aircraft on this sector. To those arriving in Delhi from Dhaka, the convenient flight schedule will offer direct onward connec-
tions from Delhi to London, Paris and Frankfurt besides direct flights to the USA and Gulf benefiting the passengers intending to travel abroad.
Fly Delhi to Riyadh & Guangzhou SpiceJet will connect Delhi with Guangzhou and Riyadh. It will be operating direct daily flights on Delhi– Riyadh and 4 weekly flights on Delhi–Guangzhou route.
Delhi-Riyadh route will be operational by January 4, 2013 while first flight from Delhi to Guangzhou will take off on February 8, 2013. SpiceJet is the only
Indian carrier to connect Guangzhou with India. The airline would be deploying 189-seater Boeing 737 NG aircraft on both Riyadh and Guangzhou route.
FLASHBACK 2012
Ups and downs of 2012 Associations have their say on the year 2012. A few expressed their happiness, while others shared their grudges on higher taxes imposed in the budget. reports… WTTCII Vikram Madhok, Chairperson, WTTC, India Initiative Today, tourism is an engine driving the economy of the whole world. The presence of Union Minister of Tourism, including key Government officials and stakeholders at our event reflects the commitment of the private and the public sector at our WTTCII Retreat in September 2012 at Bekal. But, a few crucial issues need immediate attention, for instance, cost of the Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) has increased by many folds, while the Government continues to tax it on the same rate. Similarly, on the hospitality front, tax is being levied on the published rate, while most of the times, rooms depending on the demand constraints are actually sold at affordable prices.
TAAI Iqbal Mulla, President, TAAI The year 2012 was not encouraging in terms of business for any of the Indian travel industry stake holders, be it a tour operator, a hotelier, an airline or any other service provider. Taxes were all time high, share market was low. With a fluctuating economy and unstable political condition, the tourism industry was at stake in 2012. Talking about TAAI as an association, various issues cropped up but with excellent support from our members and partner associations, we successfully solved 70-80 per cent of the issues. But overall, 2012 was not the year of tourism.
TAFI Praveen Chugh, Vice President, TAFI Although foreign tourist arrivals in India are showing slight improvement, yet tour operators and hoteliers are keeping their fingers crossed as far as future trends are concerned in view of volatile situation of global economy. Industry experts are afraid that this uncertain trend might spill over to the next year also. Their fears are compounded by the thought that the ensuing budget might add to the existing tax burden adversely affecting the existing tourist flow to the country. Notwithstanding the negative factors, it is hoped that India’s inbound tourist volume will grow.
IATO Subhash Goyal, President, IATO We have succeeded in promoting utmost transparency and bringing in most of our members to contribute constructively in the functioning of our association. The Annual Convention in 2012 set many new benchmarks. In fact, we are the only association that published a post convention report highlighting the feedback and satisfaction of our delegates based on a survey. Our ‘Hunar Se Rozgar’ Seminar in Uttarakhand was also a big draw and State of Maharashtra had accepted many of our recommendations on rationalisation of the taxes. We hope to continue and carry all stakeholders together to get more tourists to India.
ADTOI Subhash Verma, President, ADTOI This year, the landmark achievement of the association was the Annual Convention held in Kashmir. The revival of tourism in J&K is leading to unprecedented growth and tourist flow in the Kashmir valley, which is expected to reach 20 million in the near future. The ADTOI Convention gave a boost to tourism and generated interest and interaction amongst the Government agencies and private sectors to focus on the potential of inter-state tourism. Despite 12-13 per cent growth in domestic tourism numbers, there has been a reduction in domestic air travel and this needs to be rectified moving forward.
IAAI Biji Eapen, President, IAAI The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, is endorsing employment creation and economic development in the tourism sector while gaining recognition from key policy making institutions. The 12th Five Year Plan has stressed the need to double Foreign Tourist Arrivals during the plan period, hence, to achieve this target, the Ministry is devising policy interventions, bringing all states on-board to facilitate development of mega circles, improve facilities for tourists, rationalise taxes and promote seamless travel.
FLASHBACK 2012
Cross hurdles, grow biz The year 2012 has been a mixed year with many challenges and opportunities. presents opportunities and challenges that had to be addressed in 2012 by DMCs. LPTI and TUI India Arjun Sharma, Managing Director, LPTI and TUI India Tourism is a fast growing sector and with growth comes many challenges. So being one of the top players of the industry, we constantly face challenges like multiple tax structure and inadequate infrastructure. Also, the market dynamics have changed quite dramatically with the collapse of Kingfisher. But, all these hurdles also push us to continuously innovate ourself and keep abreast with upcoming trends. It’s important to maintain our standards of quality offerings and yet be price sensitive through the products or services that we offer.
India & South Asia, Kuoni India Dipak Deva, CEO, Destination Management India & South Asia, Kuoni India The year 2012 has shown both sides of the coin to the inbound tourism sector. The main tourist circuit, the Golden Triangle got a positive direction with the Agra Expressway opening up. Now with the Jaipur-Agra Shatabdi, it seems to have broadened the horizon. Experiential travel is fast catching up. However, looking at the other side of the coin, there has been a slowdown in demand due to the economic recession in key source markets of Europe. The increase in service tax also created an initial stir, while the fluctuation in the foreign exchange gave a positive outcome.
Thomas Cook India Surinder Singh Sodhi, Senior Vice President - Leisure Travel (Inbound), Thomas Cook India Key factors like Visa-on-Arrival, enhanced immigration facilities, cultural diversity, exotic locations, wildlife, rich heritage for tourists and culture of India have led to an increase in tourist footfall. Other factors include travel advisory being lifted from Kashmir for some of the important and mature markets to India. Recently, the government has also eased restrictions on tourist visas which had mandated a two-month gap between consecutive visits by foreign nationals.
Travel Spirit International Jatinder Taneja, Managing Director Travel Spirit International The key development which created hurdles was the Kingfisher Airlines being grounded for the last so many months. This created scarcity of seats and led to increase in rates in most of the domestic sectors. Overall, the business was not very good in 2012 and the situation has not improved much yet. India is still being considered an expensive destination
TECHNOLOGY InterGlobe Technology Quotient JB Singh, President and CEO, InterGlobe Technology Quotient Consistent product innovation has helped us retain our clientele in testing times and win new clientele, as well. We emphasised on training our manpower during 2012 to stay ahead of times and serve our travel clients even better. Travelport has been instrumental in providing technologies that have enabled customers to promote richer content and reduce their cost of doing business.
Zillious Solutions B Rajan, Director, Sales, Zillious Solutions 2012 has been good for the organisation with steady growth of over 20 per cent (YoY). Zillious has been successful in drawing the attention of many mid and large-sized TMCs who are keen to streamline, sustain and grow their existing normal/corporate business. Having signed up and operating with some of the large TMCs in India, Zillious is keen to enter the Middle East Market followed by Singapore and Hong Kong. Zillious (Travolution) as a product has evolved to become one of the leading B2E (self booking tool) solution providers.
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FLASHBACK 2012
DECEMBER 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2012
OTAs strive for the right mix All the leading OTAs are committed to finding the right mix that wins a formidable market share for them in a fast growing online space. Many of the leading players shared their opinion with on major developments in 2012 that either helped or threw challenges only to further enhance focus on more opportunities. Expedia India
Travel Boutique Online
Vikram Malhi, Country Head, Expedia India
Ankush Nijhawan, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer Travel Boutique Online
In 2012, our focus was mainly involved in bringing out unmatched price points, plethora of options and great deals for domestic, inbound and outbound travellers. The volatility in the travel and aviation industry impacts the inventory and pricing and to some extent, also the consumer sentiment while buying a travel product. But, with a rise in the penetration further to Tier-II and III cities, there will be an exponential growth in the online travel booking segment.
It has been a tough year for travel sector. Domestic air market has remained stagnant as compared to the last year and international too has not grown beyond 3-4 per cent as compared to the last year. Further, outbound international traffic has also been impacted owing to more than 12 per cent depreciation in rupee as compared to dollar during the year. However, the outlook changed in the second half of the year with the opening up of FDI for foreign airlines. Rupee is also showing signs of recovery against dollar and would help in increasing international travel during upcoming festive and holiday season.
Forerepresentations
Yatra.com
Parikshit Sawhney, Managing Director, Forerepresentations
Pratik Mazumder, Head of Marketing & Strategic Alliance Yatra.com
We had seen a decent growth in sales and we are closing the year with a 50 per cent growth over last year. It’s the services of a particular online player, which can help them stand apart from the crowd. Our initiative from day one has been focussed on service and giving a fair value to our customers. Of course, the quality of the online interface and an error-free experience do help, but ultimately it’s the back end support, ease of operation and hassle-free payment solutions, which perform in the long run.
Since our inception in 2006, we have been experiencing double digit growth and in the last five years, we have emerged as India’s leading company in the online travel space. Also, Yatra has come up with a total of ‘Four big acquisitions’, which have broadened our horizons and offerings as a leading travel company. To survive the dynamics of the growing economy, one needs to be on their toes and make the most out of the opportunities. The recent acquisition of Travelguru is likely to transform the offerings and will immensely contribute towards domestic holiday bookings as well as the hotel offerings.
FLASHBACK 2012
Cautiously optimistic The year 2012 was surely not the best year for the hotel industry in India. The year is characterised by mergers, acquisitions and turnaround in consumer behaviour, cautious optimism and increasing competition, emergence of both the budget and the uber luxury segment. Sarovar Hotels Ajay K. Bakaya, Executive Director, Sarovar Hotels Reiterates Bakaya, “2012 was not a brilliant year. Occupancies were affected marginally and negatively due to new hotel room supply. ARRs were affected by at least 10-20 per cent in most cities with increase in competition. There is a lot of pressure on bottom lines as payroll, energy and food costs also continue to climb.” 2013 will be another challenging year. A lot of new supply will come in this year as well. Rates will remain under pressure. One defining trend will be high payroll costs despite delivering sliding top line sales. People are limited with new hotels opening, he says.
Clarks Inn Group of Hotels S N Srivastava, Vice President, Clarks Inn Group of Hotels He feels that growth in domestic tourism is poised to be a major driver of occupancies, especially in the off-peak season. “Domestic travel, both from business and leisure segments, was the primary driver of growth in 2012 and has kept us in the business. Despite the government’s effort, unfortunately inbound segment has not registered any significant growth,” he elaborates. The ARRs have remained where they were last year. “However, the Indian hotel industry requires that added boost of the inbound segment and that I see only possible if inbound starts registering double-digit growth. Lots of businesses are rethinking their marketing strategy on this front,” he adds.
Jaypee Hotels Manju Sharma, Director, Jaypee Hotels The hotel industry is inextricably linked to the tourism industry. The growth in the Indian tourism industry has fuelled the growth of the Indian hotel industry. Going forward, niche segments such as sports tourism can do wonders for the industry. “Sports tourism has put India on the global hospitality map whilst increasing the demand of hotels and rooms. At the Jaypee hotels, for instance, the year 2012 has been good for all our properties at Agra, Mussoorie, Delhi and Greater Noida as well. The business saw recovery from the previous year. The expectations have been met as what the industry had forecast due to mega events happening in NCR regions such as F1,” she points out.
Lemon Tree Hotels Rahul Pandit, President & Executive Director, Lemon Tree Hotels According to Pandit, 2012 represented the bottom of the current cycle for the hospitality industry. A weak macro-economic environment - with the problems in the Eurozone, decline in exports, a depreciating rupee, feeble agricultural and manufacturing growth, rising inflation and energy prices plus the inertia in policy and governance - contributed to muted domestic and foreign investment confidence. “This combined with a double-digit supply increase in many markets resulted in depressed bottom lines this year. The silver lining has been over eight per cent growth in domestic tourism, contributing over 80 per cent of the national travel & tourism GDP. This presents a clear growth opportunity for brands focused on serving the domestic Indian consumer,” he says.
AITTC launched in Australia With an aim to enhance and influence bilateral tourist traffic movement between India and Australia, the Australia India Travel and Tourism Council (AITTC) was recently launched in Australia with founding members based out of both the countries. The new
council will focus on working with travel partners in the industry to assist in growing bilateral travel and open up opportunities for hotels, international and domestic airlines, tour operators, travel agents and others directly and indirectly associated with the trav-
el industry of both the countries. The members are keen to enhance knowledge for travellers to both the countries, research travel trends, sponsor round table discussions and host industry networking. Australia is being listed in the top ten source markets.
FLASHBACK 2012
Big numbers, NTOs smile While the world bids goodbye to 2012, speaks to a few NTOs to find out how Indian market is helping them to score more. Tourism Spain Arturo Ortiz, Director, Tourism Spain Except for the summer months when there was a slowdown, the rest of the year has been very positive. We expect to close 2012 at around +12%, which could have been +20% if it were not for the summer months. In last months of 2012, which is a low season, we are seeing an increase of around +40%. Barcelona and Madrid keep as main entry hubs to Spain, with Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines and Emirates increasing operations in the Spanish markets. Andalusia itineraries, honeymoons, heritage cities, Ibiza island and Valencia are on major demand for leisure, but there is a very strong demand for incentive groups.
Tourism Malaysia Manoharan Periasamy, Director, Tourism Malaysia We received 65,626 Indian arrivals in the 1st quarter of 2012 and have seen a positive growth from the Indian market. The Indian traveller is evolving and traditional travel products no longer fascinate them. We have observed that one of the tourism products in Malaysia that is becoming increasingly popular is the Homestay programme, where visitors can stay in a village and enjoy the simple life with the locals.
Tourism Authority of Thailand Sethaphan Buddhani, Director Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai office We are very happy with the numbers; though in certain months, we did witness a decline because Jet Airways withdrew one of its flights to Thailand. However, we did pick up soon and have witnessed a 6% growth rate from the Indian market. We aimed to reach 1 million this year and are close to achieving it.
Atout France Catherine Oden, Director, Atout France 2012 was a special year as Atout France India completed 10 years of its presence in the Indian market. The year has been a good balance of activities both with the trade and the press. We were focused in our efforts to present France as a destination of choice to the luxury client, families as well as the discerning corporate and we worked very hard through the active network of travel agents and media to reinforce this image of France. The year also saw the launch of our campaign, “France Celebrates India�.
Canadian Tourism Commission Tina Singh, Assistant Vice President CTC Representative in India During the period January-December 2011, Canada welcomed 139,213 Indian visitors, a rise of 9.1% over the previous year. In 2012, we connected with consumers, trade and media in different ways through joint marketing initiatives, travel-agent training, sales activities and organised visits to experience Canada first-hand. This year, we have shown an increase of 7.75% (up till September 2012) over last year with a total number of 121,662 visitors and we hope to close this year at a double digit.
MGTO India Anjum Sheikh, General Manager, MGTO India The Indian tourist arrivals in Macau has maintained a steady increase over the years. From a mere 5,000 Indian visitors in 2002, Macau received close to 1,70,000 Indians in 2011. In 2012, various promotional techniques were adopted to promote Macau. This year, while we continue our concentration on Delhi and Mumbai, we shall also be seen in other metros like: Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata etc. Apart from the above, our concentration will now also be on promoting Macau as a wedding destination.
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DECEMBER 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2012
FAMILY ALBUM
It is indeed more fun in the Philippines It was ‘work meets fun’ for agents from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, who were on a familiarisation tour of the Philippines. The group visited Boracay, Cebu and Manila and also participated at the Philippines India Travel Exchange where they got a chance to meet the local travel trade community.
Movie screening by the Philippines DELHI
The Philippines Tourism Marketing office recently hosted trade partners in Delhi with the screening of the movie, Talaash on December 1, 2012 at PVR, Select City Walk. The screening was organised to thank the travel trade for their continued support to the tourism board and Buzz Travel Marketing.
MUMBAI
HOTELS
2 new Sofitel in Mumbai Sofitel Hotels announced that it will continue to strengthen its position in Asia-Pacific and as part of this plan will open two new properties in Mumbai. D E N C Y M AT H E W
S
ofitel Luxury Hotels have envisioned major expansion plans across the world in the coming years. It plans to have over 150 properties across the world by 2015. This is a result of a significant re-positioning exercise that Sofitel has undergone from 206 properties in 2006 to over 120 properties in 2012. There will be many new Sofitel properties in the Asia-Pacific region, which include two new properties in Mumbai. Confident after a successful launch of Sofitel BKC in Mumbai, the Group will soon have Sofitel Mumbai Mulund and Sofitel So Mumbai Mulund in India by 2015. The two new Sofitel hotels in Mulund will be part of a complex which will also include a 1600 sq mtr convention centre and shopping mall. “Sofitel Mumbai BKC has already made its mark in the luxury hospitality segment since its opening. Now, we plan to give our So label a boost in India. Sofitel So are designer boutique hotels featuring trendy hotels in contemporary locations. And we plan to continue growing
Markland Blaiklock
Christophe Caron
Senior Vice President, Sofitel Asia Pacific, Sofitel Luxury Hotels
Vice President Sofitel South East Asia and India
We plan to give our So label a boost in India. Sofitel So are designer boutique hotels Sofitel So in trendy, contemporary locations around the world like Mumbai,” said Markland Blaiklock, Senior Vice President, Sofitel Asia Pacific, Sofitel Luxury Hotels. Commenting on the choice of an unusual location like Mulund, Christophe Caron, Vice President, Sofitel South East Asia and India
The new hotels are mostly targetted for corporates and MICE
said, “These new properties in Mumbai are mostly targeted for corporates and MICE and we do hope to get some leisure travellers.” Caron also added that Sofitel has further expansion in India and are hopeful of launching hotels in Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Goa in the future.
Hotel with largest inventory Kerala is all set to get its largest inventory hotel in the form of Crown Plaza Kochi which opens in late December. gives details. Talking about competition in Kerala, Austen added, “After a period of low growth, we’ve seen a number of hotels coming up.
T T B U R E AU
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he five-star hotel promoted by the KGA Hotels and Resorts and to be operated by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is located on the National Highway Bypass at Kundannoor. The hotel has 269 rooms of which 87 are twins and 40 executive rooms/suites. Leisure facilities include two pools, health club, relaxation areas and an exclusive day spa. Talking about the USP of the hotel, Terry Austen, General Manager, Crowne Plaza Kochi says “The property has become Kochi’s new landmark. All rooms have panoramic views of the city or backwaters. We are wellsituated on NH 47 which also provides great access to the CBD, Container Terminal, Info Park and a number of
Terry Austen General Manager Crowne Plaza Kochi
satellite business districts across the city.” Although the hotel targets all segments of travellers, it also aims at attracting corporate travellers and MICE by being strategically located opposite Kochi’s largest convention centre. The hotel also offers a range of high tech, versatile meeting rooms.
In Kochi, the presence of more hotels has enabled job growth and other industries to improve their performance. It’s great to be a part of it. Austen was also optimistic about achieving sales targets as he said that “it may be a little tough in the first part but we are confident that we can achieve our objectives by being thoughtful of how we position, promote and deliver every aspect of our Crowne Plaza brand and the many unique selling points we have.”
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DECEMBER 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2012
HOTELS
Ludhiana gets a 5-star hotel Clarks Inn enters Haldwani Being a part of a mixed-use development with retail, As Blue Saphire Clarks Inn opens its doors to public the Radisson Blu MBD, Ludhiana will become the first in Haldwani on December 1, 2012, it aims to five-star luxury hotel of the city. capture corporate and leisure tourist traffic. T T B U R E AU
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adisson Blu MBD, scheduled to open in midDecember in Ludhiana, will be eyeing the leisure market which will also offer a potential of 30-40 per cent corporate segment opportunities. Sonica Malhotra, Director, MBD Group, feels that the Group’s latest hotel project, which will have 81 keys, would primarily address the growing aspirations of the premium segment of travellers coming into the city.
The target group will comprise NRIs within India who are looking for a premium product apart from traders in the city. The hotel is coming up with mixed-used development including high-end
Sonica Malhotra Director MBD Group
retail along with this hotel. The property will also have 15,000 sq. ft. dedicated to spa and salon along with treatment rooms. Also, 60 per cent of the accommodation in the hotel will have the signature Prive collection of rooms. Malhotra adds, “Our room sizes will be of 50 sq m each in comparison to 30-33 sq m that is conventionally offered. It would offer all day dining, Indian restaurant, a
bar and night club,” says Malhotra. She also adds, the hotel expects an average of 55 per cent occupancy during the first year of operation and would take it to 70 per cent in the following year. She asserts, “We are confident that by the third year of operation, we will be able to stabilise the occupancy level at 75-80 per cent.” The company will keenly approach the online travel agents to access the local and northern market that would be a large customer base for the hotel. MICE is also very much in the hotel’s radar. “We will have a 24,000 sq ft of ballroom space that will address the banquet requirement. We are also planning to launch ‘Prive Club’ where HNIs, bureaucrats and other potential members will be asked to join strictly through invitation,” she remarks.
SANJEEV BHAR IN HALDWANI
W
ith an aim where many itineraries could be established, the newest hotel by Clarks Inn Group has been built in a 14,000 sq ft plot having 42 keys in four differ-
Varshney, MD, Blue Saphire Clarks Inn. Rahul Deb Banerjee, GM – Operations, Clarks Inn Group of Hotels said, “The hotel soft opened a month back and we are expecting to
We expect to get business from corporates and will also gain from local interests in our F&B offerings Rahul Deb Banerjee GM – Operations, Clarks Inn Group of Hotels
ent categories with facilities like swimming pool, all-day dining restaurant and being positioned in the four star category. “The hotel project cost has been ` 10-12 crore barring the land price. It is my first project and I am quite upbeat about the proposition,” informed Rahul
get 70-80 per cent occupancy as we have already received an average of 55 per cent occupancy for the opening month.” Haldwani is primarily known for trading units comprising areas like SIDCUL, Rudrapur, Pantnagar, etc. which give the location a healthy base of corporate
SN Srivastava VP, Clarks Inn Group of Hotels
segment. “We expect to get a lot of business from corporates and will also gain from local interests in our F&B offerings. We will definitely get the first mover advantage in giving an organised brand to this location,” he said. SN Srivastava, Vice President for the group added, “We want to tap interests for travellers heading for Nainital and Corbett National Park and become the epicenter as an accommodation facility.”
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ANALYSIS
DECEMBER 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2012
Hotels cash in on big fat Indian weddings The wedding segment has been a revenue generator for many hotels, especially the ones in the leisure destinations. speaks to a few key hoteliers who have geared up to cater to this huge growing business. M E G H A PAU L
T
he growth for weddings as a travel product is slowly taking place and the scope is immense. It gives an impactful visibility to a property and creates new opportunities. The objective is to tap the evergrowing demand for hosting royal weddings, both for the domestic clientele as well as high net worth NRIs who are looking for special experiences with folk entertainments and thematic setups. According to Sunil Sikka, Head-Business and Marketing Development, ITCWelcomHeritage Hotels, the concept of destination weddings is booming and gaining popularity. “For organising a theme wedding, the destination plays a vital role as it sets the mood for the entire event. Talking about the importance of the wedding segment as a revenue churner, Sikka reveals, “Wedding market is an important source of rev-
Sunil Sikka
Harihar Patra
Insaf Khan
Head-Business & Marketing Development, ITC-WelcomHeritage Hotels
Director-Marketing, Toshali Resorts International
owner and MD Samsara Dechu Jodhpur
Wedding market is an important source of revenue generation
enue generation. We generate about 25-30 per cent of the revenue from the weddings
The grandeur of the venue and ambience of the property is the major attraction
business.” The attention will become more focused on the guests and there will be efforts
The wedding segment is important for us as it contributes 20% of the hotel revenue
towards creating a personal experience that truly reflects the bride and the groom, he
predicts. Stressing on big infrastructure and amenities for large-scale weddings, Harihar Patra, Director-Marketing, Toshali Resorts International argues, “The infrastructure for marriage is a key to this business. The grandeur of the venue and ambience of the property is the major attraction. Toshali has been popular among this segment due to its unique presence in a secluded environment away from the clamor of the crowd near pristine beaches or scenic valleys of the Himalayas. Every property of Toshali Group has a dedicated event manager to conceptualise, coordinate and execute the entire operations, such as decoration, set design, entertainment, catering etc. The staff of our resorts bring in their expertise in understanding and meeting the special marriage related requirements of various communities and their customs such as of Marwaris, Gujratis, Punjabis etc. thereby providng flawless
and comfortable services to our clients.” The beach property of Toshali Sands in Puri, spread over 33 acres, has several huge lawns and facilities to provide open-air pool side banquet services amidst lush greenery during the large scale wedding event, he adds. Destination weddings is the way forward, feels Insaf Khan, owner and MD, Samsara Dechu Jodhpur resort. On whether weddings focus on the destination or just highlight a venue, Khan opines, “The property comprises 30 rooms and 21 luxury tents on 25 acres of land that is laid out with water bodies, promising a smorgasbord of experiences. By staying close to the architectural beauty of the region, we have ensured Samsara remains a timeless space in the desert. All of this means that the wedding segment is mportant for Samsara and contributes 20 per cent of the hotel revenue.”
Tamara Group eyes India The Tamara, a company with key focus on hospitality businesses in South India, has launched The Tamara Coorg hotel. T T B U R E AU
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he Tamara’s maiden project, The Tamara Coorg, is an eco-friendly plantation resort in the upmarket tourism and leisure segments. The hotel is a 30-key luxury resort and presides over an estate of 170 acres, producing coffee, cardamom, pepper and honey. The hotel’s target audience includes couples, HNIs, corporate groups, celebrities and top management personnel. “We are looking forward to create a niche positioning for ourselves as the most desirable retreat destination for couples, entrepreneurs, nature enthusiasts and savvy international travellers. In fact, children below 12 years, have no access to the hotel, owing to the terrain thus creating a unique positioning for the resort,” says Senthil Kumar N, Director and CEO, The Tamara. Kumar adds that their continued efforts of promoting the hotel through various mediums of media and networking within the travel industry, has lead the momentum for occupancy which is
Senthil Kumar N Director and CEO The Tamara
We are looking forward to positioning our brand as the most desirable retreat destination now beginning to develop. This positive response has led them to plan further projects in the country. “The Indian hospitality market in our observation continues to evolve and
cater to more segment-specific niches and this is a very exciting time in the sector. We envision The Tamara Coorg to be recognised as a premier up market responsible tourism operator by 2015 generating fair and reasonable value for all our stakeholders enabling ourselves to grow into India’s finest niche hospitality management company by 2020. We are considering proposed resort project in Kodaikanal, for future business growth. Our Management envisions exciting opportunities with total conviction in our eco-friendly vision and approach to Hospitality as a sustainable business model.” adds Kumar.
Fact File The hotel is a 30-key luxury resort and presides over an estate of 170 acres, producing coffee, cardamom, pepper and honey Children below 12 years, have no access to the hotel, owing to the terrain thus creating a unique positioning for the resort
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SkyTeam bats for the travel trade
Think Kerala, think shopping The sixth Grand Kerala Shopping Festival aims at attracting over 15000 visitors from India and overseas. gives details… T T B U R E AU
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eginning December 15January 31, 2013, Kerala Tourism, in collaboration with trade associations, is all set to roll out its sixth edition of
AP Anil Kumar Tourism Minister Kerala
SkyTeam, the global airline alliance, recently organised a cricket tournament for travel trade in New Delhi. The tournament was held at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Gurgaon on November 18, 2012 and saw active participation from four teams – TAAI (Travel Agents Association of India, TAFI (Travel Agents Federation of India) and players from the SkyTeam alliance among others
Grand Kerala Shopping Festival (GKSF) – already billed as the biggest fiesta of the kind in Asia. With roadshows, promotions and campaigns in various parts of the country (cities like New Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad,
Indore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and concluding in Kunnur) and a few international markets, Kerala Tourism intends to pitch GKSF as the newest marketing tool to position as an international shopping destination. The tourism department of Kerala has also roped in houseboats, homestays and travel operators. AP Anil Kumar, Tourism Minister, Kerala said,
“Through GKSF, we are trying to pitch the state as an international shopping destination, broaching a new idea on the marketing front. Shopping Tourism is going to be the next big thing as we have a strong marketing infrastructure and platform, coupled with the global image. The average tourism spending in
Shop till you drop GKSF will offer visitors a chance to buy a plethora of souvenirs, gold jewellery, handloom textiles, coir products, handicraft, ayurvedic products and tribal artifacts. The festival is expected to attract over 15,000 visitors from domestic and overseas markets and to attract more visitors, there will be mega lucky draw prizes in which gold worth one kg for one winner and half a kg for two winners each will be announced. Moreover, gifts worth ` 1000,000 will be given to five lucky draw winners. Kerala is currently five per cent. Our target is to push this to 10-15 per cent by positioning GKSF in a bigger way. The government is giving 100 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) refund to the foreign travellers. It is going to be a win-win equation for all stakeholders and the festival also coincides with our peak tourism season and Sabarimala pilgrimage.” When asked about the uniqueness of the sixth edition of GKSF, Kumar said, “One of the highlights of
GKSF Season 6, that will continue till January 31, 2013, is a majestic Global Village. Countries like Thailand, China, UAE and Malaysia have already confirmed the participation. Further, talks are on with more countries. The participating nations will have the space of their own to showcase their culture, traditions and crafts. States like West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have confirmed their participation. We are also trying to rope in more states.”
NEWS India-Kazakhstan
Direct connect, a blessing The number of visas issued by the Kazakhstan embassy in India has almost doubled since 2009. The 7th KazakhstanIndia Travel and Tourism Fair was held in New Delhi on November 10 to further boost bilateral relations. T T B U R E AU
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he heart of Eurasia and part of the Great Silk Route connecting civilisations, Kazakhstan is now on its way to boost its bilateral relations with India. The 7th Kazakhstan-India Travel and Tourism Fair was held at New Delhi on November 10. The event was inaugurated
According to him, the number of visas issued by the Kazakhstan embassy in India has almost doubled since 2009. About 7,000 Indians visited Kazakhstan and 9,000 Kazakhastan travellers visited India last year, he revealed. “This year we have already issued 6,000 visas to Indian nationals for our country. Out of this number, 2,000 visas
remarkable for the company. The national carrier has also increased the number of flights (from three to five flights per week) from India to Almaty. “It marked the tenth year of our operations. Air Astana started operations in India in December 2004. Since then, it has carried over 2,00,000 passengers from India,” she added. Talking
(L-R): Teotia, Dewan, Kuanyshev, Jailauova and Virendera Yadav, Director, CozyDeepika Group at the fair
by Doulat Kuanyshev, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to India. The event was well attended by representatives of companies from the Indian and Kazakhstan travel and tourism industry, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Civial Aviation officials along with the memberes of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in India. In his opening remarks, Kuanyshev said, “There has been an increasing interest among both the countries and this will only enhance our bilateral relations. Today, Kazakhstan accounts for almost 2/3rd of India’s trade with Central Asia.” The cordial relationship between both the countries is now, also, being reflected in the tourism numbers.
are tourist visas and this is a good sign,” he felt. Talking about the initiatives of the national carrier of Kazakhstan, the ambassador pointed out, “Currently, with Air Astana’s efforts, there are five flights between India and Almaty and this has been a huge development for promoting air connectivity between both these countries.” Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism said, “The direct flight from India to Almaty is a boon as it is a hub to many parts of Central Asia.” According to Janar Jailauova, Regional General Manager, Gulf Region & Indian sub continent, Air Astana, this year has been
about the airline’s plans in the near future, she said the carrier is looking at a codeshare agreement with Air India. It will also introduce new flights from Mumbai. Virendra Teotia, General Representative - Air Astana, India informed there has been an increase in leisure and business traffic, owing to these developments.
Boosting Ties About 7,000 Indians visited Kazakhstan and 9,000 Kazakhastan travellers visited India last year This year the national carrier Air Astana marks its tenth year The airline is looking at a code-share agreement with AI
Now, fly with Tiger through Via Vinay Gupta, CEO, Via.com, Swaminathan, COO, Via.com and Kaneswaran Avili, Commercial Director, Tiger Airways recently announced their strategic partnership on December 5, 2012. As per the agreement, Via.com entered into an exclusive strategic alliance with Tiger Airways Singapore. With this collaboration, Via.com becomes the strategic travel agent distributor of Tiger Airways’ tickets in India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
STATES
US$ 41.67mn plan for Delhi Outlining strategies for the state tourism agency, GG Saxena says the circuits will be developed in association with the MOT at an estimated cost of ` 225 crore (US$ 41.67mn). M E G H A PAU L
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ith Delhi receiving many foreign travelles, the issue is to extend their stay and contribute to the tourism industry of the capital city. In a bid to increase the average length of a traveller’s stay in the city, Delhi Tourism has identified seven heritage circuits. These will be developed over a span of four years at an estimated cost of ` 225 crore. This information was revealed by GG Saxena, Managing Director and CEO, Delhi Tourism & Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC). The circuits will be developed around popular heritage monuments such as Qutub Minar, Tughlakabad, Lodhi Road, Hauz Khas Village, Shahjahanabad, Mutiny Memorial and the Central Vista comprising Lutyen’s Delhi. The circuit development would include restoration work of monuments, organising more light and sound shows, audio tour facilities and creating last-mile connectivity to these monuments, etc. “Development of Shahjahanabad Circuit and Lutyen’s Delhi Circuit are on priority and work for the former will be entrusted to Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation,” he added.
Speaking about the other initiatives that Delhi Tourism is taking to promote tourism, Saxena informed, “We have empowered tourists
GG Saxena Managing Director and CEO Delhi Tourism & Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC)
We endeavour to work towards providing all possible facilities to tourists. Delhi Tourism is also working on developing a single Asia Pass in terms of information and transportation. We endeavour to work towards providing all
possible facilities to the tourists. Delhi Tourism is also working on developing a single Asia Pass.” In the partnership of nine city tourism boards in Asia – Delhi, Tokyo, Hanoi, Bangkok, Taipei, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Seoul, Delhi is the ViceChairman of the Council for Promotion of Tourism in Asia, and is a signatory to the joint declaration intended to achieve development through tourism network, he revealed. “At the last conclave in Hanoi recently, it was decided that we will work for the realisation of One Asia Pass. This will help travellers to get discounts in terms of airline tickets, hotels, shopping, etc., while travelling to these cities,” he revealed. To take its initiatives to the next level, Delhi Tourism launched an e-booking facility in February this year. Currently, the online booking is available for the Corporation's packages, Dilli Haat tickets and Hop-on-Hop off coach tour tickets. Going forward, it will now look at expanding the e-booking platform to incorporate and facilitate booking of airline tickets and hotels. Delhi Tourism would soon float a competitive bidding tender to select a partner to drive airline bookings through its website.
Raising a toast at Pullman Gurgaon
Pullman Gurgaon Central Park, the upscale new attitude international hotel brand of Accor, celebrated the traditional French wine festival – Beaujolais Nouveau 2012 under the exclusive patronage of The Embassy of France. The event was organised in collaboration with Air France and Atout France.
AGENTS
Trafalgar enters India Europe-based guided tours specialist Trafalgar Tours recently entered India with a 3-city roadshow (New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru), tying up with 7 PSAs. T T B U R E AU
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he company has appointed Cox & Kings, Club 7 Holidays, Flight Shop India, Orbitz, Comfort Leisure, Master Holidays and Travel Heights. During its first threecity roadshow in India, it announced the release of
‘2013 collection of European itineraries’, ‘Inspired Holidays’ along with 2013 summer itineraries and 2013 CostSaver range of holidays. At present, Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia are the top source markets for Trafalgar in Asia region.
will lead our Asia market in next five years.”
Talking about the potential of Indian market, Nicholas Lim, Regional Director, Trafalgar said, “The outbound tourist traffic from India is growing at tremendous space and we don’t want to miss out on such potential market. By appointing our country manager in India and tying up with leading tour opera-
Prices in 2013 have been reduced up to 13 per cent across the board with an exclusive 10 per cent add-on savings. The credit for this goes to early payment scheme (ending January 31,
tors, we intend to tap the right segment of travellers and grow our business by 25 per cent in the next one year from India. Through attractive European packages, excellent deals for PSAs and travel agents across India, we are confident that India
2013) for India and Asian markets. With early payment scheme, travellers can save up to USS 1500 per couple and past customers can save more by pairing the early payment scheme with five per cent Travel Club or Group Discounts.
Early Payment Scheme by Trafalgar
Showcasing Bangkok and Khao Yai Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) organised a fam trip to Bangkok and Khao Yai for travel agents and media. Khao Yai is an upcoming destination that is two and half hours away from Bangkok and includes a national park, dairy farm, adventure parks and vineyards. Khao Yai also has several resor ts and themed hotels along with an Italian style shopping centre.
RENT-A-CAR
An ‘elite’ transfer For high-budget Indian travellers, the concept of taxis is fading away. Today, one can arrive anywhere in Europe and have a super deluxe limousine or sports car ready to serve the travellers. reports... I NDER RAJ A HLUWALIA
operations are in Europe, where they have offices in seven countries, Indian clients can book a car anywhere in the world.
G
raziella Zanoletti, President and CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer), Elite Renta-Car, whose basic services include car rentals; driving tours; and chauffeured services, likes to describe her company as one that offers people a kind of ‘dream’ and special experience by enabling them to ride in cars they don’t have at home. While Zanoletti has had her eyes on the Indian market for some ten years now, their first foray was in 2010. Today they are totally ‘hands – on’ and active here, and with the help of a country representative, are trying to reach out to the Indian outbound segment through travel agents. They feel the Indian market is ready. It is perceived as being full of potential, and while, currently, the company has few Indian clients in terms of actual numbers, they are ‘high-yield’ in nature. While it’s still early days for them and current
Currently, chauffeured services are the most popular segment with the Indian market, but self-drives are becoming more popular with younger clients. Graziella Zanoletti President and CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer)
Indian clients are very demanding but willing to spend money bookings have been from Mumbai and Delhi, they hope to have a pan-India client base soon. They see the market registering a 25 per cent annual growth. Though their main
While their main target in India is the end-user, and clients can book cars through agents and also directly, their focus is the travel agent segment. They are contacting, educating, and using travel agents as channels to facilitate business. Zanoletti feels Indian clients are willing to spend money on what they consider worth spending upon products and services. Service is the key, they work to help their clients all the way. They offer and present packages that include all facets of a visit, thus doubling up as tour operators when required.
St. Tropez eyes India market To strengthen and consolidate tourism ties between India and Saint Tropez, a delegation comprising Henri Prévost-Allard, Deputy Mayor, Saint Tropez Tourism, and Claude Maniscalco, Director, Saint Tropez Tourist Office, visited Mumbai recently. The aim of this visit was to unveil Saint Tropez’s 2013 event calendar through diverse chan-
nels such as the media and the network of travel agents and tour operators. According to Maniscalco, Saint Tropez only aims to cater to the niche market. “India is a growing market. We will be working with select tour operators in India to attract affluent travellers, mainly families and weddings. The best time for Indians to
visit Saint Tropez is from April to June and from September to October,” he added. 2012 was dedicated as the ‘Year of India’ in Saint Tropez. The town offered itself as a platform for showcasing Indian art and culture to its five million visitors. The delegation's visit to Mumbai is part of the ‘Year of India’ celebrations.
NYC for 7.4 % growth from India NYC has witnessed a 100 per cent growth from India since 2005. And among the several cities in USA, New York remains the most popular destination for Indian travellers with a 29 per cent share of the total market. In 2012, it is expecting approximately 215,000 Indian visitors to NYC. The city has never been a cheap destination. However, the city tourism authorities have addressed this problem. There have also been additional flights to NYC from India which have also contributed to the growth. “Airline fares are structured in a way that flights to New York City are very attractive in comparison to
other long-haul destinations,” says Makiko Matsuda Healy, VP, Tourism Development, NYC & Company. The NYC India team has also been active in creating awareness among the Indian travel trade. Regular meetings, presentations and roadshows with travel trade contacts, MICE decision makers and airline partners across India are conducted. They also distribute weekly mailings to update on news, changes and special offers and frequently participate in travel industry events. They also have a NYC Travel Training Academy. In future, it also plans to attract MICE activities from India.
Makiko Matsuda Healy VP, Tourism Development NYC & Company
Healy says “We will continue to work closely with the travel industry and corporate partners and liaise with airlines to promote NYC and further develop business opportunities. NYC & Company plans to organise a roadshow again in Mumbai and New Delhi.”
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Bollywood in the Philippines PHILINDEX: Inspiring business In a rare gesture, Amit Dasgupta, the Indian Ambassador to the The Philippines India Travel Exchange gave an opportunity Philippines invited the Indian travel trade to India House in Manila to the Indian and Fillipino travel trade community to meet for dinner and shared his views on increasing tourist footfall. on a common platform and discuss business opportunities. PEDEN DOMA BHUTIA
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t was a homecoming of sorts for representatives of the travel trade community from Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi, who were on a familiarisation tour to the Philippines.
ible overnight. It will come only if you sustain what you are trying to do; it’ll come if you are clear that what you do will help you earn money. For it to be commercially viable, you have to think out-of-thebox. One of the strong points of the Philippines is the English language. It has the
for 10 or 15 years, it can also be for a year or two. If you market intensely for a year, spin-offs will come, but certain basics and fundamentals need to be in place.”
The tour operators, hoteliers and sightseeing operators, who we met during PHILINDEX, sounded very positive. Besides some of the prominent travel operators, there were also many new faces at the travel exchange and they were all very keen to work with us in the Indian market.
On Visa “The first issue is the visa problem - how do you
Samina Munshi
Director, N Chirag Travels
The Philippines fam trip certainly put a completely different perspective of Philippines as a promising destination! PHILINDEX as a platform has done a wonderful job of showcasing Philippines and what the country has to offer. It truly set a wonderful stage ( ..with a 10 min timer!) to interact with the local travel fraternity!
T Senthil Kumaran
Managing Director, Embassy Travels
Amit Dasgupta
Glen Agustin, Head, Team India
SanJeet
Indian Ambassador to the Philippines
Chief Tourism Operations Officer Department of Tourism, Philippines
Director Philippines Tourism Board
You have to think out-of-thebox, you have to think of projects which will sell the Philippines The group, which had been invited by Amit Dasgupta, Indian Ambassador to the Philippines for dinner interacted with the group. In what can be called a very candid address, the ambassador made no bones about the fact that people from India and the Philippines know very little about each other. Talking about bridging the gap, he said, “Improving air connectivity will help, but more importantly what helps is improving the knowledge base.”
Ambassador’s Message Dasgupta said, “The results of this will not be vis-
Besides fam tours, we also hope to participate in other travel trade marts in India in Feb finest beaches in the world and the people are warm, exceedingly hospitable, very educated and great singers. All this put together, you have a package that you can actually sell, but it’s a package that you need to be convinced about and you can’t sell to a general broad-based market. You have to create a niche market.”
On Bollywood Aware of the Indian obsession for Bollywood, the Ambassador said, “There are talks of Dhoom 3 being shot here; you need to work on this. You need to capitalise on this market, not necessarily
The percentage of growth has been the maximum and the two-way traffic has worked well handle visas? During the period that you are here, sit with the DOT in terms of working out itineraries, talk to immigration, talk to travel organisations, companies and magazines here. Try to find out how you can work together,” Dasgupta adds. Glen Agustin, Head, Team India, Chief Tourism Operations Officer, Department of Tourism, Philippines added, “This familiarisation tour is the direct result of our four-city roadshow in August held in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai Contd. on page 44
The fam to Philippines not only gave me an opportunity to explore the country, but more importantly, gave me an opportunity to meet the who’s who of the tourism industry at the PHILINDEX B2B session. Overall the PHILINDEX was outstanding and very professional and I look forward to partnering with them in the future.
Lokesh Bettaiah
Managing Director, Triway Travels
Indian travellers are now looking for new destinations and experiences. Philippines offers a great variety of beach, adventure, city life and shopping. It has a lot of potential and appeals to both honeymoon couples and families alike. PHILINDEX was a fantastic event and gave us a chance to interact with the top suppliers under one roof.
Nikhil Gupta
Director, Travel Bazaar
The highlight of this fam tour was PHILINDEX 2012 where we got to meet more than 50 travel agents, hotels and resorts people under one roof. It was my first trip to the Philippines and it was truly worth it. We are very confident that we will be able to promote The Philippines as a new and alternative destination to our existing clients.
Venkatesh Shenvi
CEO, Blue Bay World Tours Contd. on page 44
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FAMILY ALBUM
MGTO workshop in Bengaluru and Hyderabad
Bengaluru
Hyderabad
MGTO (Macau Government Tourism Office) India organised training workshops for travel trade fraternity in Bengaluru at ITC Gardenia Hotel and Hyderabad at ITC Kakatiya Hotel on November 23 & 30 respectively. The event was a huge success and was well attended in both the cities.
Are LCC terminals required? Contd. from page 10
DIAL is in process of utilising its aircraft landing/take off slots which were given to KFA. Pradeep Panicker, CCO (Aero), DIAL said, “We are in talks with a few new carriers (both LCC and legacy) which will soon receive operating licence from the Indian Civil Aviation Ministry. We are also looking at converting the old terminal into an LCC terminal but that will take some
time and further discussions.” However, he declined to name the new airlines which are yet to take off in Indian skies. VP Agarwal, Chairman, Airports Authority of India (AAI) said, “Old terminals at Chennai and Kolkata airports will be closed as the new terminal buildings are more efficient and capable of handling
bigger number of passenger traffic for next 10 years. AAI is going through PPP model for upgradation and development of airports because the state government doesn’t have money to do the same. But when foreign investors and airport operators are investing in development of airports, they are looking for healthy returns and that too within the short span of time.
We are looking at solutions where airports ask for reasonable charges for services provided to airlines and passengers by looking at capping the pricing part. We are also keen to rope in investors who are looking at reasonable returns for a short-term and healthy return on investment in long-term while making air travel cheaper with better services.”
Accor to bring 7 more hotels in 2013 Accor recently announced the launch of its first property in Gujarat. Following the successful opening of Formule1 Greater Noida early this year; Accor is set to open Formule1, its low-cost hotel brand in Ahmedabad. Commenting on the opening of Formule1 in Ahmedabad, Philip Logan, Vice President Formule1 Hotels, India says, “This is the
first Accor property in Gujarat. The opening of the first Formule1 hotel in Ahmedabad will be followed by opening of 7 hotels by the end of 2013 in India. With great potential in the city, Formule1 Ahmedabad will appeal to the customers with its added benefits, making it the perfect choice for them at a highly competitive price of around ` 2000 per person.”
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DESTINATION
International Puri Beach Festival
International Sand Art Festival
Konark Dance Festival
Heritage comes alive @Odisha Konark Dance Festival The Konark Festival is one of the biggest dance festivals held in India and is popular with tourists. Konark is best known for the majestic Sun temple which dominates the town. Situated 35 km away from Puri in Orissa, the Sun temple is a World Heritage Monument and every year in December, it serves as a backdrop to the scintillating festival. This gala event is organised in a big way, while showcasing the different traditional dance forms of India. During the festival, talented dancers and their troupes descend on Konark to display their skills and mastery over age-old dance forms ranging from the classic Bharatanatyam, the graceful Odissi and Manipuri, to the expressive Kathakali and Sattriya dance styles amongst others. Be in Konark in December, if you want to witness the
rich cultural heritage of India. Watching talented classical dancers in their festive mood to show their love and respect to the Sun Temple Konark is an experience.
International Sand Art Festival The International Sand Art Festival, is all set to commence on December 1, 2012 at the Chandrabhaga Beach, will have sand artist of international repute, Sudarshan Patnaik as the Brand Ambassador. The festival, which would coincide with the annual Konark Dance Festival, will be a firstof-its-kind effort by the state government. The five-day event with the theme ‘Tourism linking cultures’ is expected to feature artists from 10 countries, including Canada and the US, apart from 20 sculptors from across the country.
International Puri Beach Festival The Puri Beach Festival is held on the beautiful Sea Beach, Swargadwara and comes as a celebration of the beauteous and splendid Oriya spirit. The festival has been a brand event of Odisha for the past over 17 years without a change of date, time and venue. This beach festival attracts tourists from across the globe. The week-long beach festival, which has been an annual event in Puri since 1993, will get an additional flavour with introduction of certain new programmes. Important exhibitions, food stalls, beach sports, special boat race among local fishermen, sand art shows, helium balloon rides, kite fly shows, camel and horse rides on the beach, meena bazaar and merry go-rounds and Bhagawat katha discourse will be part of the festival.
Located on the east coast, Odisha is truly the soul of India; the mystical land where the past harmoniously blends into the present and the ancient temples mingle with modern five-star amenities. Today, the state beckons tourists as the aweinspiring monuments become the backdrop of cultural festivals. Thousands of master craftsmen and artists keep the rural heritage alive with their annual showcases and the stunning natural landscapes become witness to historic sand art festivals.
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A ‘plum’ countdown to Christmas Come Christmas and the entire hospitality industry gets into party mode. With shops stocking their shelves with Christmas trees, Santa Claus and cakes, hotels are also not lagging behind. Not only is this the peak season for the industry, but hoteliers across board feel that F&B sales shoot up during this time of the year. M E G H A PAU L
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ccording to Kanchan Rizvi, Director–Sales & Marketing, Radisson Blu Hotel, Paschim Vihar, New Delhi Average Room Rate (ARR) has dropped in comparison to last year with the demand getting shared with new hotels coming in the city. “Christmas time as a trend is not considered as heavy period. Corporates and tourists do not travel during this period. We always see good demand until the mid of December. Hotels promote special Christmas and New Year packages to create demand to sustain their occupancy after mid-December,” she says. As figures for the last two quarters show that the hospitality sector is still facing rough weather, the latter is banking on the peak season to significantly cut losses. Expecting a good business this year as compared to the last year, Rizvi points out, “We have seen good demand
our properties.” The Dharamshala property is already sold out during the festive season. Even the Nainital property has a high occupancy of 60 per cent during the period, Giroti adds.
in the season coming through to overcome the losses suffered in summers and maximise revenue. Though we are witnessing good demand in the winter season, it is available at a lower price compared to last season. This trend makes it evident that overall business has got shared with new supply getting added in the city which was not available last year.” The occupancy percentage during December 2011 was 63 per cent while this time, the property is targetting to close the year with 68 per cent occupancy.
Pankaj Giroti
Barun Jolly
Kanchan Rizvi
Managing Director Una Hotels
General Manager Crowne Plaza Today New Delhi Okhla
Director–Sales & Marketing, Radisson Blu Hotel New Delhi Paschim Vihar
The weekend getaway segment provides a huge chunk of travellers during this season
Regarding the spurt in F&B revenues, Rizvi reveals, “The hotel has done very well in F&B for the last quarter, especially, in banquetting owing to the wedding season, which certainly help the hotels to achieve the revenue targets.”
during the festive period. Informs Pankaj Giroti, Managing Director, Una
The hotels in the vicinity of Delhi cash in on the weekend getaway segment
Philippines woos India Contd. from page 38
and Delhi. Besides fam tours, we also hope to participate in various travel trade marts in India, like the OTM in February. We might also invite travel associations from India to interact with the travel trade here. If we get a good number of visitors, we will organise a travel exchange so that business opportunities can be generated.”
The Philippines tops the VoA list
ing footfalls to the Philippines, he said, “We hope to get an Indian carrier to fly into the Phillipines. VoA has worked well for the Phillipines. Out of the 11 countries that have done well in VoA, the Phillipines is on top. The percentage of growth has been the maximum and the two-way traffic has worked well for us.”
While applauding the ambassador for his efforts to connect with the travel trade community from India, SanJeet, Director, Philippines Tourism Board, said that this is the first time that an Indian ambassador has invited the travel trade community to his house. Talking about increas-
PHILINDEX 2012 Contd. from page 38
PHILINDEX was a very well organised event. Through our interactions we got to know a lot about the culture, food, sightseeing facilities and logistics of the country. I have already started working with my clients for Philippines and am hopeful of a positive result.
Virendra Agarwal
Director, Peekay Holidays
Visiting the Philippines gave us an opportunity to directly interact with a lot of Philippine specific tour operators at the PHILINDEX. This helped us to pave the way for a better understanding of tourism in terms of product, pricing and people. We look forward to promoting Philippines in the best way possible.
Allwyn Fernandes
Director, Holiday Waves India
The challenge with business hotels is to sustain during times when corporate traffic is not travelling Hotels, “The weekend getaway segment provides a huge chunk of travellers usu-
Hotels promote special packages to create demand to sustain their occupancy after mid-December ally. During this time of year, this chunk forms the major part of the business at
Feels Barun Jolly, General Manager, Crowne Plaza Today New Delhi Okhla, “Crowne Plaza Today New Delhi Okhla is a business hotel. We attract a huge percentage of business travellers in the capital. However, the challenge with business hotels is to sustain during times when corporate traffic is not travelling. Thus, we started tying up with various leisure tour operators and also launched online packages to divert to the leisure travellers.” The property will witness an occupancy of almost 70 per cent during the period. F&B sales is expected to spurt by almost 20 per cent as compared to September-October this year, Jolly adds.
Tryst with Heritage Tourism With an aim of protecting and promoting heritage buildings across the country, tourism is the only way to preserve these sites. This was the motto of the tourism conclave organised by PHDCCI in Delhi at Shangri La. The event was attended by ministry delegates, tourism stakeholders and academicia.
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Tracing a traveller’s digital Journey A lot is being said about the influence of social media, review sites and discussion forums’ on travellers. While most travel agents would agree that these platforms play an important role, it is crucial for them to actually trace the digital journey of travellers to ensure they offer precisely what is required and when it is required. T T B U R E AU
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he flowchart below, dated 1982, is still as relevant in this digital age, as it was at that time. Need for Travel: This can be influenced by availability of
nightouts, weekend breaks and ‘check-ins’, the sheer availability of the information on wonderful places in the world acts as a trigger for travellers to explore. What travel agents need to realise is that instead of just ‘selling’ pack-
be the ‘trigger’ for the need to travel.
Information collection: This is where the real estate of your website plays the biggest role. A search engine optimised travel website with detailed itineraries, informa-
the “trigger” has already happened Travel Decision: Review websites today play the biggest role when it comes to ‘reaffirming’ the decision of a traveller about the choice of destination and accommodation options. So, at this stage, not only the traveller will evaluate the decision about the destination/accommodation, but chances of taking a particular travel agency’s services are also affirmed.
Travel Preparations & Actual travel: This is anoth-
time, personal interest or stress. However, in the digital age, the influencers are fast becoming digital in nature. With social media networks full of stories from ‘friends’ about their recent journeys,
ages or tours on social media platforms, it is more important to sell the ‘experience’. Wrap the packages or tours in the words of satisfied clients in the form of first-hand accounts or blogs or even testimonials to
tion, sightseeing options and value add-ons will satisfy the prospective travellers as well as strengthen their resolve to travel. The role played by travel agencies is that of a ‘facilitator’ at this stage as
er reason why your website should have information about the destination/ accommodation options. ‘Travel Tips’ are now an integral part of the most travel websites which are customised with the itinerary of packages/tours. The information needs to be precise. The actual travel will result in constant ‘updates’
about the travel on social platforms in the form of tweets, posts, blogs and reviews. You need to track what your clients/guests have to say after the journey. A real time monitoring of the online chatter is is also essential for any immediate measures to stem any concerns in the bud before they escalate. Nostalgia: Those who love to explore, love to ‘share’ as well. Each of your clients/guests can be expected to share their experience in the form of videos, images, reviews, blogs, social mentions and other forms of expressions. The collective feedback, if positive, strengthens your position for the very first step as mentioned in this article earlier and thus finishes the loop. If this feedback is adverse, take it as a free audit of your services rather than defending or justifying your
products. Travel agencies which understand the power of digital revolution must surely agree that the virtual world is both, a challenge as well as an opportunity. It all depends on how clearly you have defined your objectives, how precise is your strategy and how efficiently you execute it.
(The writer is Avijit Arya, Chief Moguls, Internet Moguls)
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CRUISES
DECEMBER 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2012
Star Cruises eyes Indian agents DECEMBER 2012 19
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Voted as ‘Asia’s Leading Cruise Line’ at the World Travel Awards 2012, Star Cruises is one of the preferred cruise liners among Indians. The company now plans to introduce new cruises to enhance its growth in the Indian market. T T B U R E AU
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tar Cruises has recorded an enormous growth in India, with the number of Indian passengers increasing 44 per cent in the last five years. India is among its top 5 markets worldwide. “We have seen many successful projects launched in India. In the first quarter of 2012, 1,000 Indians travelled on SuperStar Libra which will undergo refurbishment in early 2013. However, the most popular vessel among Indians remains to be SuperStar Virgo which has witnessed 125 per cent increase since its introduction to the Indian market. SuperStar Virgo, SuperStar Aquarius and Star Pisces have all undergone a makeover in 2011 with a totalling of over US$ 38 million,” says William Ng, Chief Operating Officer, Star Cruises. After making a success mark in the Indian market, Star Cruises hopes for a 5-
William Ng Chief Operating Officer Star Cruises
We have 12 PSAs in India and are hoping to build a better relationship with them. We will conduct 14-15 fam trips with our Indian agents 10 per cent growth in India next year. To leverage this
growth, it will promote new cruise products in India. SuperStar Gemini, currently undergoing a US$ 50 million refurbishment, will commence service in 2013. The 50,764 tonnage vessel will have a passenger capacity of 1,532. It will commence deployments in Penang in January, Sanya in February and March and then will be home ported in Shanghai from April. Ng hopes that with this new cruise, Indians will extend their stay on the cruise from three nights to five nights. He attributes the success of Star Cruises in India to the fact that the cruise company understands the needs of Indians better because it is an Asian company. “For almost two decades, Star Cruises has been serving the cruise market in Asia with freestyle cruising and international standard hospitality
with an Asian touch. We understand the customs, traditions, tastes and habits of Indians better and customise for them. We also share a great rapport with our Indian travel agents and will continue to strengthen the relationship in the coming years. We have 12 PSA’s in India and hope to maintain this number and build a better relationship with them. We will conduct 1415 fam trips with our Indian agents in a year to help them understand the vessel better.” The company is also targeting weddings on-board as a key market in 2013 as there has been a lot of demand for cruise weddings in the Indian market. With over 70,000 Indians already been on-board, Star Cruises hopes to become a synonymous name with cruises in India in the coming years.
Indian arrivals up by 7.5% in Queensland Visitors from India have grown at a compound annual growth of 7.5 per cent since 2010, aided by business networking, consumer and trade events, says Paul Buggy With 30,000 Indian leisure travellers visiting Queensland in 2011, Tourism Queensland is expecting to clock a 15 per cent growth in 2012 over the previous year. This was revealed by Paul Buggy, International Director – Korea, India & Middle East, Tourism Queensland. “Visitors from India have grown at a compound annual growth of 7.5 per cent since
2010, aided by business networking, consumer and trade events. Next year in 2013, we are targetting a 20 per cent increase in the outbound tourism pie from India,” he revealed. According to Buggy, the outbound segment from India to Australia has been growing and tourists from India have been big spenders. “While the average tourist spend for a 14day Australia tour is around A$ 1,400, Indians spend a lot more,” he added. Currently, India ranks eighth in visitation to Queensland. Tourism Queensland has also wit-
Paul Buggy International Director – Korea, India & Middle East International, Tourism Queensland
nessed a slow shift from group tours to spurt in FITs from India. “Going forward, FIT and MICE will drive the tourism growth and thus, the provincial NTO will gear up to serve
the special needs of the market,” Buggy pointed out. One of the key developments that are intrinsic to boosting travel between India and Australia is the air connectivity, he affirmed. “After Qantas stopped operations to India, there are no direct flights between the two countries. Travellers flying Down Under have to depend on the other Asian hubs. That is always an inconvenience. But if Air India goes ahead with a service as planned, it will boost tourist traffic from India,” he said.
Grand Resort Bad Ragaz for wellness The resort is promoting itself in the Indian market through marketing, sales efforts as well as PR channels focussing on the travel trade and the high net-worth individual traveller. Switzerlandbased Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, which recently appointed OM Tourism as their representative in India, is targetting 5,000 room nights by 2015 from the India outbound market. According to Kathrin Boerger, Director –
Marketing, Sales and Business Excellence, Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, the resort currently witnesses 900 room nights from India. Seeing a great potential in the India market, the resort is tapping the wellness and medical tourism segment in a big way. “Health care is the second largest consumer spending sector in India and travelling for health reasons is becoming more common. The desire for wellness, healthy food, weight loss
drives the outbound market to our resort,” Boerger says.
Kathrin Boerger
Director – Marketing, Sales and Business Excellence Grand Resort Bad Ragaz
programmes and beauty is constantly increasing within India. This to a large extent
The primary target cities for the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz are Delhi and Mumbai and the secondary cities are Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai. “The resort is promoting itself in the Indian market through marketing, sales efforts as well as PR channels focussing on the travel trade and the high net-worth individual traveller,” she adds.
OPPORTUNITY / CLIPBOARD
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48 TRAVTALK
DECEMBER 2 ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2012
MOVEMENTS
Kuoni Business Travel Gurgaon
InterGlobe Technology Quotient Gurgaon
Berggruen Hotels Mumbai
Malvinder Singh Rikhy is designated as the new Chief
Sandeep Dwivedi has been appointed as the Chief Commercial Officer of InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ). In this new role, he will be spearheading all functions pertaining to sales and e-commerce for ITQ. Dwivedi has been with ITQ since 2009 and his most recent role was as the Chief Financial Officer for the company. He brings with him over 20 years of varied experience in multiple fields such as consultancy, medical research, GDS and travel space to name a few.
Pradeep V is the newly appointed Chief Sales Officer of
Executive Officer (CEO) of Kuoni Business Travel. He has been associated with Kuoni Business Travel for over 4 years as Chief Operating Officer. With over 20 years of experience across various industries, Rikhy is known to have worked with some leading brands worldwide such as American Express, TATA Group (The Indian Hotels Company) & Carlson Wagonlit. In this new role, he would be additionally responsible for exploring business travel in other countries.
Hyatt Place Hampi Karnataka
Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield Bengaluru Pratima Badhwar joins Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield as the new Director of Sales and Marketing. In this current role, she will be responsible for developing the account, strategising, implementing and executing brand promotional initiatives/plan of action. Badhwar started her journey with Marriott as a Management Trainee with the Renaissance Mumbai Hotel and Convention Centre and worked in various departments from front office to events in that hotel.
Sanjay Marwah is the new Director of Finance at Bengaluru
Vivin Kuriakose has been appointed as the new
Raheel Ahmad is appointed as the Executive Chef of Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield, which is set to be open in January 2013. His main responsibility will be to lead the team, overall management of the kitchen and to introduce new trends in food presentation and dining concepts. Prior to this, he was with Marriott Hotel Jaipur where he worked as Executive Chef. Ahmad holds a diploma in Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Nutrition from IHM, Bhopal.
Director of Food and Beverage at Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield. He comes with over 12 years of rich experience in the hospitality industry. Prior to this, he was the Director of Food and Beverage at JW Marriott, Chandigarh. In this new profile, his primary responsibility will include the functioning of the hotel’s food and beverage/culinary operation, including restaurants, bars, room service and banquets.
Marriott Hotel Whitefield. He began his journey with Marriott in September 2012 and was previously working with the Chancery Pavilion, Bangalore as a Financial Controller. Marwah is a financial expert with an extensive experience of over 15 years in spearheading financial, accounting and audit functions. His main responsibilities would be to mitigate risk, ensure compliance and maintain statutory books of accounts apart from providing other financial solutions.
Rajiv Malhotra
Sandie Dawe Chief Executive Officer Visit Britain
Dawe loves to travel, although it’s most often work-related. Sharing her dream destination for travelling, she adds, “In India, if I have a choice, I will love to explore Tamil Nadu and spend quality time at lesser-known tourist attractions in addition to going on the Golden Triangle tour.”
Sumit Kumar is appointed as the new General Manager for Hyatt Place Hampi in Karnataka. He has been a part of the Hyatt group for the last eight years. His affiliation with Hyatt Hotels Corporation began in December 2003 as an Assistant Restaurant Manager at Grand Hyatt Dubai and he was subsequently promoted to Outlet Manager. After some successful stints, he was transferred and promoted to Grand Hyatt Muscat as an Assistant Director of F&B.
Rohith K is appointed as the Director of Sales for Hyatt Place Hampi. He brings with him more than 12 years of experience in strategic planning, key account management, client relationship in both corporate and travel trade segment in Bangalore and Southern India. Rohith holds a degree from Bangalore University. He is an astute professional and has worked with different organisations in Southern India. He has also worked with The Zuri Hotels & Resorts, Bangalore since March 2010.
Rajiv Malhotra, Head of Marketing, South East Asia, Hotels.com says, “I love photography and carry a camera with me everywhere. Other hobbies of mine are DJing. “I also love cooking as I have done my course in hotel management,” he informs.
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: Vivek Sethi, Dency Mathew & Megha Paul
Sandie Dawe, Chief Executive Officer, Visit Britain loves to swim and do yoga that helps her rejuvenate. Speaking on her hobbies, she says, “I used to be very active in sports sometime back. I also love spending time with my friends and family.”
Berggruen Hotels. He brings with him over 20 years of sales experience across various sectors. In this new role, Pradeep will be responsible for managing the revenue growth and client acquisition for Keys Hotels. He is a Graduate in Hotel Management and holds a PG degree in Marketing and Sales Management. He brings over 15 years of product, services & technology experience and 5 years in managing hospitality operations.
“And, of course, I love travelling and next year, I want to visit Cambodia as I have been dying to see the Angkor Wat temples after I have read and heard about it so much. Also I would like to visit Vietnam next year,” he further adds.
Head of Marketing South East Asia, Hotels.com
Pankaj Giroti, Managing Director, Una Hotels hails from Lucknow. Based out of Delhi since 2007, Giroti loves to travel by road. “I have to travel very often. I enjoy travelling by road. Going through the bylanes of each city and savouring the local cuisines is my way of getting acquainted with new places,” he chuckles. Giroti is a brilliant dancer and had won several accolades back in college in Lucknow. His favourite pastime now is spending quality time with family and cooking occasionally. Pankaj Giroti Managing Director Una Hotels
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:14-12-2012
HIGHLIGHT
India: Important market for Philippines Benito C Bengzon, Jr, Assistant Secretary, International Tourism Promotion, Department of Tourism, Philippines, says that they are planning to increase Indian footfall to the Philippines by organising roadshows and by participating in travel marts. It’s more fun in the Philippines PEDEN DOMA BHUTIA
I
t’s not for nothing that they say that ‘It’s more fun in the Philippines’! And Bengzon says that this campaign is a creative approach that separates the country from the big players who have higher budgets for tourism promotion.
“We launched ‘It’s more fun in the Philippines’ campaign in January 2012. The response to it has been overwhelming; this is not just the DOT’s campaign, it’s more of a people’s campaign and when we launched it, we purposely used social media as a tool. We wanted Filipinos, who are known to be very
Roadshows paving the way for success “The roadshows held in Chennai and Bengaluru was the first time we had ventured into any travel trade promotions in India outside Delhi and Mumbai. In the course of two or three roadshows, we had only covered Delhi and Mumbai. If we look at the pie chart of the Indian outbound, Bengaluru and Chennai account for a substantial share. For us, it was an opportu-
Strengthening connectivity Realising that air connectivity is a major issue for the Archipelago, he says, “We are highly dependent on air travel for our visitors unlike most South East Asian countries, which enjoy border crossings. While Philippine Airlines does operate direct flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Manila, we would like to enhance air connectivity. For this, we are looking at both the direct flight
New opportunities
Benito C Bengzon, Jr Assistant Secretary, International Tourism Promotion Department of Tourism, Philippines
PHILINDEX event, a trailblazer Calling the PHILINDEX event a trailblazer of sorts, he says, “PHILINDEX will continue to be a regular event, it is a trailblazer, a pioneer, for many more such events. In 2009, when we organised PHILINDEX, it was the first time that the Department of Tourism, Philippines,
While Manila airport continues to be the main entry point for the Philippines, other airports, like Clark and Mactan, are also coming up. “Clark is a relatively new airport, they opened to international operations in 2003 when
organised any bilateral travel exchange, because, normally, when we do travel exchanges, it’s between the sellers in Philippines and foreign buyers at large where many countries participate. Since 2009, we have had many such travel exchanges. We recently also had the Philippines-Middle East Travel Exchange.”
active on Twitter and Facebook, to be a part of it. And true to our expectations, many of the versions of the campaign have come from the general public and we are using it in brochures and audio visual footage. Our strategy has to be very different from the big players, with high budgets. The financial challenges that we faced has compelled us to take a more creative approach.” nity and we grabbed it. The best proof of the level of interest is the strong participation that we have from Bengaluru and Chennai in the PHILINDEX. Agents would not have come here if there was no potential outbound market for what we have to offer. But then, of course, the Delhi and Mumbai markets are relatively more established. We will continuously look into potential source markets.” and beyond destination option. We are also looking at the possibility of opening other gateways other than Manila and Cebu. For the Routes Asia 2013 in Mumbai, the President of Clark International Airport Corporation is also joining us. He will look at ways to remove all obstacles and make it easier for travellers from abroad to fly in. Our participation in Routes Asia 2013 is part of our strategy where we will be talking to network planners of major airlines.” the government adopted the open sky policy. When they opened, they were handling under 15,000 passengers a year. In October 2012, they handled 1 million passengers, what we saw is that the percentage share of Manila as an entry point is starting to get slightly smaller, as the other airports get a bigger share,” Begzon says.
Eyes set on India market Talking about their plans for the India market for the forthcoming year, Begzon says, “We will continue to organise familiarisation tours for the travel trade community and the media. We will continue to participate in various travel
fairs/ exhibitions/ roadshows. We will be participating at the OTM in India in February and at Routes Asia 2013 in Mumbai in March. In the third quarter, next year, we have roadshows in major Indian cities. And we also participated in Locations, which was held this year in October.”