Tourismfirst april issue by Cross Section Media Pvt. Ltd.

Vo lu m e 1. I s s u e 12 . a pr i l 2 016 . ` 5 0 No.U(NDGPO)-01/2016-2017 Date of Publication: 14/04/2016 RNI No. DELENG/2015/62794 Posting Dt. 12-17/04/2016 Postal Reg. No. DL(ND)-11/6180/2015-16-17

HICSA’s 12th edition proved to be another important deliberating forum for the hospitality industry, an annual stock-taking of leading trends in the business. We bring you extensive reports from the conference. See also edit on page 3.

ASSOCHAM-ICPB MICE Conclave ‘Flying in High Winds’ sees SK Misra revisit his lifetime experiences with a galaxy of friends and admirers One of the few who held concurrent charge of both tourism and civil aviation, in the Government of India, SK Misra released his memoirs in the Capital, with HH Jodhpur doing the honours.

K Misra, former secretary tourism and civil aviation, and the creator of tourism in Haryana, the founder of the Suraj Crafts Mela, and driving force behind the iconic Festivals of India, private secretary to PM Chandrashekar, the modern crusader of heritage and tourism at INTACH and now chairman of ITRHD, among his various avatars, friend to innumerable protegees and a 'terrorist administrator' to younger officers in the service. Chappie Misra was on centre stage as Rupa Books released his memoirs in the capital. The honours were done by HH Jodhpur, Mahajara Gaj Singh, followed with a panel discussion featuring a distinguished galaxy comprising Natwar Singh, Naresh Chandra, Manohar Singh Gill and Yaqub Quereshi. The discussion was conducted by noted TV anchor Vikram Chandra. Misra has, true to his style, not relied on any sensational disclosures, kept himself to sharing his milestones, and thanked all who came in his life, and helped him win his causes. It was a packed house, with the Banquet Hall at The Ashok in New Delhi. Attendees were from both government and private sector showed up, a literal galaxy of some of the biggest names bearing testimony to SKM’s popularity over the years.

Farooq Shah back as Secretary Tourism; reiterates commitment to developing tourism in J&K

arooq Shah – who has previously served as the MD, JKTDC; MD, J&K Cable Car Corporation, and CEO Gulmarg Development Authority – has been re-appointed as Secretary Tourism, J&K. Instrumental in bringing tourism into the mainstream in the valley in 2006, he, in an exclusive interview to TF, has reiterated his commitment to making the state the leader in tourism in the country. Remembering Mufti senior for his vision and guidance in transforming the state as a top tourist draw, he said that much of the proposed infrastructural development was already underway. He expressed confidence that “under the new CM’s leadership, we will carry forward the

vision laid down by Mufti Sahab.” Adding that the major challenge for the state lay in establishing itself as one of the most sought after destination in the world, he said “we will leave no stone unturned to make that happen. You will find the state participating in every major tourism promotion event – whether it is a road-show or a travel expo.” Taking stock of infrastructural development, he shared that the much-awaited construction of a four lane National Highway, linking Srinagar and Jammu, was expected to be completed on time. Noting that Srinagar was already linked to various cities of the country with 34 flights, he said that six more flights

Industry stakeholders came together to moot solutions for making India a MICE powerhouse… pg 4-5

OYO targets three-fold increase India’s leading hotel room aggregator OYO aims to touch 2,00,000 rooms in its inventory by the end of this year. In an exclusive with TourismFirst, the CEO and Founder of OYO rooms Ritesh Agarawal said that with the growing acceptability of his platform, there is a significant surge in the volume of hotel owners who are partnering with the online marketplace. “From an inventory base of around 65,000, we are expecting to see our total volume reaching close to 2,00,000 rooms by 2016 end,” he said. OYO rooms which recently made its overseas debut with operations in Malaysia is also likely to target other markets in South-East Asia soon. “After a long-time, a concept has been developed in India which is being emulated in other parts of the world. We felt it necessary to move in other markets. After Malaysia, we will target other markets in the region,” he emphasised. (Read his full interview on page 8)

were going to be added in the coming months. J&K was in midst of a major hotel capacity enhancement. Some major branded hotels were constructing properties in Srinagar. “The ITC Group is constructing a hotel. Accor will unveil a number of hotels in coming years. We are also in talks with IRCTC to come up a property. Therefore, the grave omission of not having enough branded accommodation is being adequately addressed,” he said. “We had recently initiated a chopper service which has become a huge hit. We are going to privatize it in the coming days. The state will unveil new projects through Swiss Challenge to ensure that maximum returns are achieved out of investments,” said Farooq Shah.

airlines & airports

Jet shifts its European hub to Amsterdam, promises seamless connectivity to over 40 global destinations (Page 7)

hotelscapes

Indian hospitality to be a major focus area of a transforming TripAdvisor (Page 12)

24% hotel booking through online and the number galloping, says Deep Kalra (Page 16)

Outbound

Turkey keen to form joint working group to promote tourism, demands more flying rights (Page 32)

PhocusWright comes to India PhocusWright, the leading player in technology in travel, will conduct their India launch later this month at Leela Gurgaon. An estimated 350 delegates will attend, literally the who’s who in the IT component in travel and hospitality. The timing could not have been more eventful, given the emphasis the government has been giving to start-ups and also as India’s hotel industry appears at cross roads, wondering if technology is helping or otherwise. It is an intensive programme, bringing together some of the best minds in the business. For more information, log onto www.phocuswrightindia.com

ONE STEP AHEAD... LEADING THE WAY 7 BRANDS | 18 CITIES | 32 HOTELS AND MORE TO COME. Astute and informed travelers know what they want. Marriott International perceives this and offers customized solutions with distinctive brands uniquely positioned. The Marriott name gives owners the confidence to invest in our brands. Our reputation for immeasurable quality, service excellence, innovation, and integrity is built on more than 80 years of hospitality industry experience. With more than 4,000 properties worldwide and the broadest portfolio in lodging, Marriott is the right choice for your next project.

For more information log onto marriottindia.com

this issue : April , 201 6

Musings from HICSA 2016; the big message for the industry

n the melee of a host of conferences and seminars which have sprouted in recent years, the HICSA summit dedicated to the hospitality sector certainly continues to hold its decisive edge. It has held on to qualit y over the years with its in-depth analysis of the critical trends in hospitality as well as micro level deliberations which often hit the nail on its head, even though in number count, it may have dropped somewhat this year. N ot as many CEOs were there this year, reflecting the uncertain nature of the worldwide industry. Even then, we saw a continued participation of global hospitality industry leaders, which remains the t rue icing on the cake, ensuringa larger canvas to analyse the domestic sectoral issues rather than looking at things in isolation. And towards this end, HVS AsiaPacific chief Manav Thadani and his team continue the path-breaking work. At HICSA 2016, the 12th annual edition, there was a larger recognition of the fact that domestic tourism itself is reaching a magnitude wherein it can ensure hotels in the country not to very aggressively look beyond Indian boundaries to get their customers. “Over a billion people are moving around in India and we must have an enhanced focus on domestic travel segment,” said Thadani while releasing the annual report which is an eagerly awaited compendium every year and sets the tone for the conference. Another critical pointer is the continuing dominance of the leisure segment which may have reached a saturation level as the recent static growth trends signify. From the perspective of Indian hospitality sector, the most critical message this year was probably the vote coming from the leaders of global hospitality chain saying that India has become more attractive than ever before notwithstanding the existing regulatory and taxation odds. And the rationale for this is simple: developed countries are still struggling with their growth issues and even some promising markets of the emerging economies like Brazil and Russia (they were toasts of the world till recently) have slipped towardsthe slump zone. In such a scenario, the only big-scale near to mid-runprospects for hospitality industry exist in China and India. A remarkable takeaway this time was India being rated as better than even China as a favourite turf in the medium run since after the fabulous run of over three decades, the latter too has begun showing some serious fatigue signs. The manpower crunch issue was again prominently debated and there were some candid admissions fromwithinhospitality quarters that the industry itself is not doing enough. In a market like India where a reviving economyis resulting into a rapid quantitative growth for hospitality, supplementing it with quality manpower pool still remains a riddle. There was also ample reflection on the battle royale currently played out between the hospitality industry and the external online booking agencies. While some of the leading chains are trying to strike back with ‘direct booking’ functionalities (primarily meant to harness their loyalty programme customers which in some cases runs into several million), there seems to be the larger realisation that OTAs are the integral pillar of the eco-system now and that the industry at large should look at modalities which should ensure amicable co-existence – more like partners than frenemies. Can it really fructify or will it continue to remain just desirable? Nobody seems to have an answer for this, even as tech innovation is now reaching the next big level which will see metasearch engines arriving prominently on the scene.

PM Narendra Modi

in his recent Maan Ki Baat address

India's youth is now curious and adventurous enough to travel, they want to go to a new place, they want to see something new. There is a great potential of employment generation through tourism. We can create opportunities for millions of youth through tourism.

Taleb Rifai

UNWTO Secretary General speaking at the Asia/Pacific Executive Trainging Programme on Tourism Policy and Strategy

UNWTO has a strong commitment to talent development and capacity building. This training programme is probably one of the best examples of the efforts of the organization in this field.

Dr. Jitendra Singh

Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), in his speech at Holiday IQ award function recently in Delhi

North-east unfortunately is still besieged with the tag of paradise unexplored. And the basic issue is that of connectivity. Intra-regional connectivity is a more serious challenge in the region than inter-connectivity. To change the scenario, we are now working on a plan to make Guwahati an aviation hub for the entire region.

Neerabh Kumar Prasad

Principal Secretary (Tourism & Culture), Andhra Pradesh after releasing the tourists footfall data in 2015 which earmarks a massive growth of 30%

In our endeavor to make Andhra Pradesh as India’s most preferred tourist destination, this data comes to us as a great encouragement… With a focused strategy in place, we are hopeful of this growth momentum to be replicated year after year going forward. We will continue to invest and focus to develop tourism in Andhra Pradesh of global standard.

Contents Tourism Industry News 4. Rationalize taxes, synchronise efforts for MICE to flourish in India, say industry stakeholders

Airlines & airports 6. Air Mauritius brings extra flights from Delhi/Mumbai; will fly from Chennai and Bengaluru from 2017 7. Jet shifts its European hub to Amsterdam, promises seamless connectivity to over 40 global destinations

d istribution / online @ HICSA 2016 8. “We are a positive disruptive force” says OYO 9. “Ease of customization and year-round travel outcomes of technological infusion”, says Google spokesperson 10. Booking.com set to grow its Indian inventory; domestic bookings in the driving seat 11. “MakeMyTrip is aggressively tapping into the hotel booking segment”

hotelscapes @ HICSA 2016 12. Indian hospitality to be a major focus area of a transforming TripAdvisor

14. Hyatt Hotels stay steady, on course, not chasing numbers and delivering quality 15. The power of branding and the Marriott advantage across all brands 16. 24% hotel booking through online and the number galloping, says Deep Kalra 17. Industry settling down with better rates ahead, 2016 poised for growth, says Dilip Puri 20. Holiday brands to drive IHG’s expansion in India, not averse to more JVs for hotel development 22. Growing maturity among Indian travellers augurs well for tourism & hospitality 23. Talent acquisition and management is the key for qualitative growth, says leaders panel 24. Hospitality leaders vote for India, confident of growth momentum in the coming years 25. Meetings @ Marriott proves a valuable business proposition to the hotel chain

26. Emerging trends in hospitality space: what every hotelier needs to keep track of

Outbound 28. More Indian hotels in Maldives and direct connectivity from Delhi on the cards: High Commissioner Ahmed Mohamed 29. Phillip Island showcases the power of conservation in creating a unique product 30. Macau pushing for family and cultural tourism; incentives driving MICE business

Navin Berry navin@tourismfirst.org contributing editor: ritwik sinha ritwik@tourismfirst.org features editor: Priyaanka Berry priyaanka@tourismfirst.org senior writer: Shashank Shekhar shashank@tourismfirst.org editor:

31. Jordan keen to augment wedding segment; sets sight on new markets to enhance footfalls 32. Turkey keen to form joint working group to promote tourism, demands more flying rights

niche : Wine tourism 33. Classy charms of Goblets: Grover Vineyards

The Last Page 34. Conrad Hotels debuts in India with a property in Pune; attracting MICE and leisure travellers

Tourismfirst is owned, published and printed by Navin Berry and printed at Anupam Art Printers. B-52, Naraina Phase II, New Delhi. It is published from 36-37, 3rd Floor, Indra Palace, H-Block, Connaught Place, New Delhi – 110 001. Tel: 011-43784444. Total pages 36

tourism industry ne ws

Rationalize taxes, synchronise efforts for MICE to flourish in India, say industry stakeholders As ASSOCHAM and ICPB came together to hold a seminar on MICE tourism in India, several government and private stakeholders discussed ways and means to further India as a MICE destination. Despite divergent views, there was unanimity on boosting outreach, creation of world-class convention centers and closer co-operation between centre and states. By shashank shekhar

he current status and future of MICE tourism in India came under scanner, as senior government representatives and heads of various tourism associations came together at a seminar organized through a joint association of ASSOCHAM and ICPB. Serious deliberations by industry insiders brought out some pertinent challenges, opportunities and solutions to bolster MICE segment in India. There was an underlying concurrence on the fact that India was right and ready to assume its position as a favoured MICE destination, especially in Asia Pacific. Some of the important reasons for this belief stemmed out of witnessing sustained economic growth in the past year, increased visibility of India on the global platform – thanks to a globetrotting PM whose

From (L to R): U.K. Joshi, Director, ASSOCHAM; Suman Billa, Chairman, ICPB and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, GoI; Dipak Haksar, Chairman, NCTHCE, ITC Hotels and Welcome Hotels ; Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, GoI; Chander Marsharmani, Vice Chairman, ICPB and HE Dr. Burak Akcapar, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Republic of Turkey

India much more visible now; must create synergy in efforts to market India, asserts Vinod Zutshi

Rationalization of taxes, connecting stakeholders, critical for MICE to succeed: Suman Billa

portance of convention facilities in boosting their inod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourbusiness,” he stressed. ism believed that the gathering provided He also added that air-connectivity, and an opportunity to undertake a SWOT problems pertaining to obtaining business and analysis vis-à-vis the state of MICE tourism in conference visa were issues that needed to be India. First focusing on the positives, he stated quickly resolved. that tourism was growing well in the country, India had tremendous and it had regained the opportunities arising out base which was achieved of the growing exposure during the 2010-14 phase. on the back of successHe acknowledged that the ful visits to a number of past year had been lean, countries by PM Modi and informed that in the which was had resulted months of January and in a number of MoUs and February of 2016, there bilateral agreements, he was a 9.6 percent growth further noted. He argued in FTA. “We have been that MICE as a segment witnessing a sustained did not get impacted growth of over 14 percent, by seasonality, and its and aim to push it to over potential could be bet15 percent in the long-run ter harnessed to attract which augurs well for the tourism on a year round future of tourism industry,” basis. he said. The secretary Pointing toward a informed that the governsubstantial GDP growth, ment had been focusing opening of FDI to 100 on creating relevant infra, percent in certain sectors planning on tapping the and roll out of ambitious Vinod Zutshi power of spiritual destinagovernment initiatives like Secretary, tions in attracting MICE ‘Make in India’ for a visible Ministry of Tourism tourism. Sharing that the growth in tourism, he said government was keen that economic growth We have been witnessing a to tap Buddhist destinawas intrinsically linked to sustained growth of over 14 percent, and aim to push it to over 15 percent tions, he said that “under growth of MICE movein the long-run which augurs well for the heritage circuit of ment. “In fact, it extends the future of tourism industry. Swadesh Darshan, we well beyond MICE. There have decided to build a is growth in infrastrucconvention centre in Khature and spending which juraho.” Further, centre helps the market create was in talks with the Madhya Pradesh governmore jobs and opportunity,” he asserted. He ment to create a convention centre in Sanchi, noted that India had plethora of offerings. “We he revealed. “We are working on setting up a have some of the best heritage sites, fascinating cultural cum convention centre in Bodh Gaya,” beaches, backwaters, the mighty Himalayas and the secretary added. utterly unexplored North-east. There are some Divulging some important short-term goals to beautiful wildlife parks and spiritual destinaaugment MICE traffic, he believed that as the roll tions. There is excellent infrastructure of rail out of e-visa had a profound impact on ease of and road network, and some of the best hotels,” travel, therefore it needed to be further expanded he noted. to cover business and conference visa segment. However, he said that there was a glaring Mooting the way forward for the industry, he shortage of world-class convention and exhibiargued that there was a need to synergize efforts tion space. Referring to the success of Antalya and add visibility to India as a preferred MICE in promoting its beaches and resorts to boost destination. “It is time we market India. Let us MICE tourism, the secretary argued that India work towards conducting joint campaigns. From also needed to find ways and means to identify the tourism ministry’s perspective, we are going some of its many products to create an ‘Antalya to conduct an international Buddhism conclave of India’. Crediting the hospitality industry in India in Sarnath, Varanasi and Bodh Gaya in Octoberfor creating world-class hotels, he pointed that November. It is one of many such events through MICE facilities were not commensurate with the which we will attempt to highlight India’s prowess level of hospitality on offer. “New-age hotels must in holding conferences that are global in nature,” be mindful of MICE movement when they come up with properties. Hotels must not neglect the im- he concluded.

eferring to a study conducted by ITB, some year and a half ago, Suman Billa, Chairman, ICPB and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, GOI informed that a whopping fifty-two percent of all global tourism accounted for MICE. He, too, like other panelists concurred that the world was transforming at a pulsating rate. He said that the moot question was whether we, as a nation, were ready to engineer our own business model. He said that the national tourism policy aimed at pushing the current .68 percent share of all MICE traffic to one percent by 2020. “We further hope to double that share to two percent by 2025,” he noted. Talking about India as a destination, he believed that it had all the ingredients to make it a fascinating destination. “The infrastructural build-up to augment MICE has been nothing short of spectacular. We have noteworthy convention facilities in a number of cities like Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Greater Noida,” he said. To his understanding, the the failure to promote MICE was our inability in connecting the dots. “I believe, where we are missing is connecting these singular efforts into a more meaningful chain. We need to be forthcoming in our pitch, story-telling, and bringing together all those who form an intrinsic part of the value chain,” he suggested. He argued that some of it was achieved, stating that Hyderabad, now, had a convention visitors bureau which included diverse stakeholders helping get the pitch right for the city. “We must raise the level all together. It also requires strengthening the tourism ministry’s secretariat to ensure that we have enough manpower at our disposal,” he noted. He said that central and state governments’ needed to work together to create a corpus of fund to engage in marketing and branding push in a major way. Suman Billa was of the view that the challenge was to host some global conventions in India which would trigger the next wave of MICE movement. “Generating enough skilled manpower to harness the potential will be challenging. Also, the issue of not having the conference visa in the fold of e-visa is an issue. We are hopeful that it will be resolved shortly,” he said. Regressive taxes, also, had a role in hindering the desired growth of MICE segment, he felt. “Kerala has rationalized taxation on MICE and convention centers. There are certain states like Delhi and Tamil Nadu that have higher taxes. They must look at rationalizing them,” he suggested. Informing the audience that the government had commisSuman Billa sioned a dedicated public Chairman, ICPB and Joint Secretary, relations service for key marMinistry of Tourism, GOI kets like Germany, China, and the USA, he said the ministry We have been witnessing was considering appointing a a sustained growth of over PR agency to specifically look 14 percent, and aim to push it to into media publicity for MICE. over 15 percent in the long-run which augurs well for the future of “We are looking at road-shows tourism industry. and exhibitions in several countries to promote India as a MICE destination,” he concluded.

tourism industry ne ws ☛ The challenge lies in synchronizing singular efforts by linking stakeholders and rationalizing taxation. ☛ The need for Centre-state cooperation in promoting India as a MICE destination was also felt to be important visits to distant shores had re-invigorated world’s interest in Indian markets – and government’s focus on skill development. India’s richness in heritage and culture also propped up as innate strengths in attracting MICE travelers from world-over. Some speakers argued that with over thirty World Heritage sites, MICE meetings and conferences could be held at these venerated venues, lending a unique opportunity for participants to enjoy a blend of work and pleasure, in equal measure. High on agenda was, also, to leverage the plethora of religious destinations dotted across India’s distant corners. It was heartening to note that the government had already initiated construction of conference centers at destinations like Khajuraho, Varanasi and Bodh-Gaya. Given that these destinations are frequented by people from a number of countries, it can be expected that their fame and adequate conferencing facilities, together, would act as a pull enough to attract MICE tourism. As senior government representatives laid down their vision for the future ahead, they stressed on the need for closer cooperation between centre and state governments. They also believed that the government was meant only for hand-holding, and it was the private sector which needed to take the lead in propelling India to its rightful status. Calling for a closer cooperation between private and government bodies, they also exerted the need for aligning all stakeholders – who formed the value chain – in order to be able to project and market India in a formidable way.

Taking stock of the future ahead, panelists believed that India needed to negate the impact of global slowdown by highlighting its thriving economy. Also, the success of e-visa in lending to ease of travel needed to percolate to business visa holders. However, some panelists quipped that it was cheaper to hold conferences abroad, compared to holding them in Delhi, and unless there was a concerted effort to make travel and accommodation competitive by rationalizing taxes, these measure were only going to have a limited impact. To sum up, it is true that India’s tourism is tremendously lopsided in the favour of leisure segment. Driven by domestic travel, leisure segment is likely to rule the roost in the foreseeable future. But, as India embarks on an ambitious mission of increasing its trade with global markets, and strengthening its manufacturing sector through undertakings like ‘Make in India’, increased corporate travel will be a natural outcome. The challenge lies in synchronizing singular efforts by linking stakeholders and rationalizing taxation. State governments’ must be made to realize that the taxes they may forgo would be minuscule compared to the potential of generating revenue by easing taxes. India also needs to muscle up its public relations and marketing machinery to highlight itself as a destination. However, all these efforts would only bear fruit when, we as a nation, come up with some truly world-class convention centers – which have, barring a few exceptions, eluded us.

Sharper focus on MICE segment will signal India readiness to do business: Dipak Haksar

“Trends do indicate an aking stock of statistiuptick in business travel in cal data, Dipak Haksar India which is being driven by believed that, globally, growing investments and reapthe meeting industry had ing demographic dividends,” come off age. Going by the he said. 2015 data, he shared that Outlining his vision to make North America remained the India a powerhouse of MICE dominant market, followed segment travel in the world, he by Europe and Asia-Pacific. believed that the need of the Calling MICE tourism an hour was to give a fresh meanextension of leisure activity, ing to the idea of work and he said that MICE segment pleasure in the same breath. generated more revenue per “We have 32 World Heritage dollar spent. “It is estimated sites that have never really that for every dollar spent been marketed as they should in the MICE segment, the have. Why cannot we conduct benefit generated ranges events at these sites. Finally, between 7 to 10 dollars. Also, we have a stable central the expenditure generated by government, and a conducive MICE segment travel is 6 to 7 environment for growth. Our times more than the leisure Dipak Haksar GDP is projected to grow at a segment. More importantly, Chairman, National Council for tourism rate of around 8 percent in the contrary to popular belief, and hospitality and Chief Executive, ITC Hotels and Welcome Hotels coming years,” he highlighted. MICE is never impacted by Adding that there had been sigseasonality which makes this It is estimated that for every dollar nificant infrastructural growth segment an exciting business spent in the MICE segment, the in key cities, he said “with prospect,too,” he said. benefit generated ranges between so much happening around, Looking at the peripheral 7 to 10 dollars. Also, the expenditure generated by MICE segment travel India is poised for the next benefits generated by the is 6 to 7 times more than the leisure leap forward. We must use this segment, he vociferously segment. More importantly, contrary opportunity to catapult India stressed that MICE movement to popular belief, MICE is never brought along skill developimpacted by seasonality which makes to corner the highest share of MICE travel, at least in the Asia ment and education for this segment an exciting business Pacific region.” locals, and promoted liveliprospect, too. He argued that, for India to hood. “It boosts economic be able to tap this opportunity, development, infrastructural we needed to understand growth and, essentially, covwhy Singapore and Bangkok were able to present ers the entire gamut of economic activity,” he said. themselves as attractive destinations. “They have Dipak Haksar believed that the MICE movement had a profound impact in bringing in return visitors – some fantastic incentives on offer, coupled with world-class exhibition and convention centers. Most who visited with their families and friends as leisure importantly, the public and private sector work in travelers. He, however, candidly admitted that the tandem on policy matters,” he explained. Indian MICE industry was in a nascent stage, and He concluded by stating that the world was in midst accounted for a measly one percent of the global of a paradigm shift, and focus on MICE could further traffic. “Middle-east accounts for eighteen percent of accentuate India’s eagerness to do business with the global MICE traffic – which gives you an idea of how far behind we are,” he lamented. Adding that, off late, larger world community. “After all, meetings and events are tools to networking, and will remain to be cornerMICE segment had been witnessing 15-20 percent stone to conducting business. It is all the more reason growth in India, he hoped that steady India would to push MICE tourism in India,” he said. acquire its rightful position as a MICE player.

Event

Sichuan Tourism Administration promotes tourism from India to China

o give a glimpse of the rich art, culture and traditional assets of the Chinese province Sichuan, a cultural evening was held at DLF Place, Saket in Delhi recently. The cultural evening, which was attended by guests and dignitaries from China and India, showcased the art and cultural performances by artists from China. The performances at the cultural evening brought alive the rich culture and tradition enjoyed by various ethnic groups of China. Performances such as Sichuan Opera Face Changing Performance, Tea Art Performances, and interactions with Panda Dolls took place along with some dance numbers and performances from Bollywood as well. The traditions, local customs and culture of Sichuan are celebrated in forms of various art performances which include Sichuan opera, the oldest form of Chinese opera characterized by face-changing, fire-spitting and other stunts; tea art performances; puppet shows; lamp rolling, etc. The show put up by Sichuan tourism is part of the process to enhance the tourism exchange between the two countries, the decision jointly taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their high-profile meeting earlier. Prior to the cultural show, a delegation from China and the Tourism Administration of Sichuan, also addressed a conference in Delhi. “In 2015, Sichuan gained total revenue of 62.10 billion Yuan from tourism, an increase of 27 percent. Now we are making efforts to build Sichuan as an economically powerful province and a world tourist base. Both India and Sichuan are fascinating tourism destination. Just like India, Sichuan has rich ancient heritage, cultural diversity and centuries old civilization

which we take immense pride in. I am hopeful that the conference will help Indian people better understand Sichuan and create a positive atmosphere for the tourism in Sichuan from India,” Wang Ning, Executive Vice Governor, Sichuan remarked on the occasion. Sichuan, located in the hinterland of south west China has complex and diverse topography with plateaus in west, Sichuan basin in middle and hilly region in east. Sichuan has favourable geographical and ecological resources with more than 4000 tourist attractions which includes 9 of 5A level scenic spots, 5 world heritage sites, 4 world biosphere reserves, 2 World Geo Parks, 21 China’s best tourist cities. The complex and volatile natural environment of Sichuan gives birth to a rich wildlife making it a home to rare species including 80% of the world’s giant pandas, Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey, black bears, rare birds, plants and trees. During the conference, the delegation also highlighted Sichuan’s world cultural heritage by citing the example of Dujiangyan Irrigation. The UNESCO-listed Dujiangyan site shows how ancient Chinese ingenuity mastered the raging waters of the rivers running down from the Tibetan foothills at a furious speed back over 2,200 years. Another famous historic and cultural tourist attraction - Mount Qingcheng which is listed as a world heritage site and is located to the southwest of Dujiangyan was also mentioned during the conference. Mount Qingcheng is one of the birthplaces of China's Taoism and is reputed for the Taoist culture, ancient architecture, temples and historical and cultural deposit of this ancient city ruled by various dynasties in the past.

☛ Wang Ning, Executive Vice Governor, Sichuan and Song Ming, Deputy Director General, Sichuan Tourism Administration along with the Chinese delegation visited Delhi to share future tourism plans and explore association opportunities with India to boost tourism ☛ This marks the first ever visit of delegation from China to boost tourism from India after the announcement of the beginning of China-India Tourism Year in India in Jan 2016 ☛ Sichuan has made its mark as a tourism cynosure of China with China’s 21 best tourist cities, 5 world heritage sites including cultural heritage sites, rich art, culture and history, ethnic diversity, rare species of flora and fauna, diverse topography, incredible variety of delectable cuisine and modern infrastructure with world class amenities

Airline s & airports

Vinit G.

Air Mauritius brings extra flights from Delhi/Mumbai; will fly from Chennai and Bengaluru from 2017 seasonal arrangement, as is the case with additional flights from Mumbai and Delhi, but will be a permanent addition. From 22nd of October, we will have two permanent flights from Bengaluru and Chennai on a weekly basis. However, for now, we do plan to make the Mumbai flight daily by the next April. We actually wanted to do this earlier, but due to some or the other issue, it kept getting delayed. There is a definite demand and a concrete plan to take this forward. As far as Delhi is concerned, it is a temporary arrangement, but we will have a case to make it a permanent arrangement if the demand persists.

Talking to TF on the sidelines of Mauritius tourism promotion event, Vinit G, Manager – India & South Asian Sub-continent, Air Mauritius shared that the airline was keen to introduce permanent flights from Bengaluru and Chennai - which was going to materialize by the next year. He added that additional flights were being introduced from Delhi and Mumbai to cope up with high demand. When is Air Mauritius going to launch additional flights? Have the dates been confirmed?

Dates have already been confirmed. By the end of April – that is the last Friday of the month – extra flights will commence. From Delhi, Air Mauritius will add six additional flights from the second or the third Tuesday of May to the last Tuesday of June. We base

our decision to coincide with the holiday season. From Mumbai, therefore, we will have extra flights from last week of April to the first week of June.

Will you be adding extra flights from Bengaluru, too? It is not going to happen now, but we will look into it as the winter commences. It is not going to be a

Do you have bilateral for the same?

We have no issues with the bilateral; we have enough capacity in

the bilateral. On the India-Mauritius route, taking into account the peak and low seasons, our average load factor exceeds eighty-five percent – which I would say is very good. There was a time when there was a distinction between high and low seasons; now, outbound from India has no season. Either it is a holiday season, MICE, or wedding season. Therefore, the traffic keeps trickling in all the time.

Do you have any code sharing for any Indian destination with any Indian carrier?

We do not have any such code sharing agreement with any Indian carrier. We are looking at Air India for code sharing in domestic flights in India, but we have not yet finalized it.

How far has it moved? Are you deliberating or talks have begun?

A lot of deliberation is going on. It is finally coming down to what the price is being offered, because when we started talking, we were fine with the idea. But, now with so many low cost airlines zip-zapping

all across India, the fares are extremely low; I sometimes wonder how they make money. When we look at an inter-airline agreement, we are not able to match those fares. So, it does not make sense for us to have something in place which does not work. When you look at code sharing, you need to seamlessly transfer passengers and their luggage. Jet Airways and Air India are the only two carriers we can look at, because of their extensive network to support such a foray.

Have you increased frequency in the past as well?

Yes, we did it in 2015. It was done to cope up with the rush in the peak season. We had three regular flights, and had put in two additional flights from Mumbai.

So, you did not introduce extra flights from Delhi, and it was limited only to Mumbai? It was limited to Mumbai in 2015. This year, we thought of looking at Delhi as well.

Any new destination in India that you think has the demand factor to introduce more flights?

There may be demand, but we would rather consolidate these four sectors which represent, practically, all of India rather than spreading ourselves too thin. It does not make sense for us.

What kind of aircrafts have you deployed on Indian routes?

We have Airbus 330 and Airbus 340 flying out of India which gives us 275 and 298 flyers, respectively, per flight.

Ethiopian Airline doubles flights from Delhi; fastest connect to S. America on the cards As the Ethiopian Airlines unveils additional flight from Delhi on a daily basis, India and Ethiopia are likely to witness enhanced people to people exchange. It also helps connect South America with India like never before. By shashank shekhar

Tadesse Tilahun Regional Director - India Sub Continent, Ethiopian Airlines

n a clear sign of growing bilateral connect between India and Ethiopia, Ethiopian Airline has announced doubling the number of flights from Delhi. The announcement was made in a press conference recently at the Ethiopian Cultural centre in the capital. Commenting at the development, Regional Director India Sub Continent, Tadesse Tilahun said “Ethiopian Airlines is already operating double daily flights out of Mumbai. Now we have Delhi joining the bandwagon. With double daily flights out of Delhi from March 27, 2016, the capacity ex India has increased by 100 percent. Way to go for the airline.” He further shared that if any airline was consistently achieving over 75 percent load factor from a destination, it was rejecting passengers and losing out on revenue, so “doubling of our flights

Senior officials of Ethiopian Airlines have expressed hope that with doubling the number of flights, the Indian-Ethiopian connect will see considerable growth

from the capital is a testimony of increasing footfalls from India into Addis Ababa. We wanted to ensure that we do not lose out on revenues and business from India which is growing at an encouraging pace,” he explained. Highlighting thirty years of operations from Delhi, Mahlet Kebede, Manager Traffic and Sales, New Delhi said “Any passenger flying Ethiopian on this route is indirectly taking part in

a history of 30 years of service. These flights have helped create business possibilities and convenient connectivity.” She added, “If you look into the history of Ethiopian flights to New Delhi, you are leafing through decades of networking, close business relationships and shared success stories.” With the launch of more flights, besides connecting South America, this development is also facilitating

Ethiopian Airlines is already operating double daily flights out of Mumbai. Now we have Delhi joining the bandwagon. With double daily flights out of Delhi from March 27, 2016, the capacity ex India has increased by 100 percent. Way to go for the airline

one of the fastest connections to other African nations, including destinations like Israel. As the number of flights increase, it also bodes well for some African countries that do not, yet, have direct air-connectivity to India. It is, also, going to boost Latin American connection with India, providing the fastest route to South America via Addis Ababa. Instead of going to London, Rome or Frankfurt to head for Latin American

shores, one can board an Ethiopian Airline flight and opt for the fastest connection to cities like Brasilia and Sao Paulo. However, an area of concern which was highlighted during the press interaction was the use of Boeing 737-800, and whether the airline was going to introduce a more modern fleet. Tadesse Tilahun responded by noting that “there is no dearth of fleet. We have some of the best air-crafts in operation and we are keen on introducing latest air-crafts. The only glitch, in an otherwise lucrative prospect, is the terms of bilateral agreement which forces us to ground our aircraft for 18 hours before turning back. It is simply not viable for us to ground Boeing 777 or other such air-crafts for such a long period of time.” He expressed hope that once the terms of bilateral agreement was re-looked at, Ethiopian Airline would introduce more modern aircrafts.

Airline s & airports

Jet shifts its European hub to Amsterdam, promises seamless connectivity to over 40 global destinations India's premier carrier Jet Airways (alongwith its partner Etihad) is the largest player in the India outbound segment. Its decision to shift to Amsterdam as its new European hub is clearly meant to further consolidate its positioning in the international outreach from India.

n the morning of 27th March, when Jet Airways flight landed at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, it probably marked the fructification of a key strategic decision which the Indian aviation major (India’s largest outbound carrier alongwith its partner Etihad) has taken in the recent years. Schiphol incidentally is considered as the fastest growing aviation hub in Europe and Jet’s arrival at this airport is symptomatic of the fact that the Indian carrier is keen to create a more formidable impression in its west bound services. Something which it was not able to achieve with its Brussels hub (owing to several reasons) which was its critical trans-shipment point

dam to Mumbai, Delhi and Toronto and thereby facilitate trade and co-operation between India and the Netherlands,” Naresh Goyal, Jet Airways Chief commented in a media release after the airlines’ inaugural flight to Amsterdam. A few days prior to the inaugural flight, senior officials of Jet as well as KLM Royal Dutch and Delta Air Lines explained to the media in the national capital the game changing proposition stemming from the shift to a new hub in Europe. “This is a significant step for Jet Airways and demonstrates our continuous endeavor to provide greater choice and better connectivity to our travelers. The new base in Europe will facilitate

nents and via KLM’s home base Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, thus expanding choice and connectivity for our customers.” Max Smits, General Manager, Indian SubContinent, KLM, commented. In precise terms, after commencing its operations from Amsterdam, Jet Airways is placing its marketing code on KLM’s flights from Amsterdam to 30 cities across Europe including key destinations such as: Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Geneva, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Helsinki, Madrid, Manchester, Oslo, Prague, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Vienna, and Zurich. Within the US market, Jet Airways is now in a position to provide easy connectivity from its

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in the continent since 2008. But now with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Delta Air Lines being the new code share partners, Jet Airways is promising to up the ante in its west bound services from the Dutch capital. “Finally, we have arrived in the Netherlands. Today marks the start of our new service connecting three continents, together with our codeshare partners KLM and Delta Air Lines. We are thrilled to operate daily flights from Amster-

convenient connectivity to the travelers to many major global destinations in Europe as well the US,” said Gaurang Shetty, Wholetime Director, Jet Airways. With the codeshare backing of two noted global carriers, Jet is promising seamless connectivity to as many as 41 destinations – 30 in Europe and 11 in the US. “Together with our joint venture partner Delta we will transfer passengers smoothly and swiftly between three conti-

Amsterdam hub to strategically important cities like Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, Newark, Washington, San Francisco, etc. “We are switching over to a new hub because it provides more value proposition to us, our partners and our customers,” underlined Shetty. Meanwhile, Jet Airways has begun operating out of its Amsterdam gateway point with one daily flight between its Indian hubs Delhi and Mumbai

in both directions (west and east bound) in the shortest possible duration. “Connectivity is all about seamless transfer process. The shortest connecting time is what the travellers want. And this is the key focus point for us as well as our partners in our Amsterdam centric services,” Shetty underlined. Jet on its own is serving Amsterdam route (from Delhi and Mumbai) by deploying A-330 aircrafts and on a cumulative basis, the new services have created a daily seat capacity of over 600 between Indian cities and the Dutch capiNaresh Goyal tal. Meanwhile speaking Chairman, on the broader issues of Jet Jet Airways Airway’s near to medium run plans to consolidate its Finally, we have arrived in the international operations, Netherlands. Today marks the start of our new service connecting Shetty said the airline has three continents, together with our decided to make the most codeshare partners KLM and Delta of the code-share arrangeAir Lines. We are thrilled to operate ments with leading airlines daily flights from Amsterdam. in the world. “Our job is to offer more choice to the customer. Whether it is Abu Dhabi with Etihad or to the Dutch capital. In addition, Singapore with Qantas, we work the airline has also commenced a with partners. For us, bilateral route daily service between Toronto to has always helped in our growth Amsterdam considering the strong and we work with airlines across concentration of Indian population three alliances.” And although in Canada. Schedules of all three Shetty did not divulge the booking flights have been planned in such trends of the new services, he exa manner that it will allow seamuded confidence that Amsterdam less connectivity to Toronto and centric operations would be a clear to other destinations (the flights winner for the airline going ahead. from India and Canada will arrive “I am very confident about our at a specific hour). The idea is to forward loads. We are sure it will ensure the transit of passengers work for us,” added he.

Airport development should be closely monitored by the hotel industry: Kapil Kaul Lack of airport infrastructure momentum at some of the major destinations in the country could be bad news for the hospitality industry. By ritwik sinha

rima facie, aviation business registering a galloping growth trajectory is the good news for the branded or organised hospitality segment. Among other things, this obviously also entails more guests for the hotel operators. The present sentiment in the Indian aviation business simply reflects a buoyant mood – with over 20 percent growth in the domestic passenger segment last year and a similar pattern of growth in the international segment, Indian aviation is the fastest growing market in the world today, even ahead of China in percentage terms. Of course,

this is much in line with the overall bullish sentiments which have come back to the global aviation business after a long time thanks to the decline in oil prices since 2014. The icing on the cake is: the leaps and bounds growth pattern is likely to continue in the Indian aviation business in the near to medium run. Does it mean that the hospitality industry will be receiving a more robust supply support from the aviation business in the coming years? Kapil Kaul, CEO (South Asia) of CAPA touched upon this critical point in his presentation at the recently held HOSI Summit in Delhi and his detailed analysis did not just carry positive forecast especially in a medium term

☛ Airports like Chennai, Pune, Jaipur and Ahmedabad will reach to a saturation point in the coming years. ☛ Delhi-Mumbai and DelhiBengaluru are the most popular city pairs. These cities have emerged as the golden triangle of the Indian skies. ☛ While Delhi and Bengaluru airports have adequate capacity for the future, capacity is going to become a major issue at Mumbai airport soon.

perspective. Instead, Kaul strongly suggested the hospitality industry to keep an eye on air infrastructure development in specific cities while taking a call on their future moves. “I see so many hotels coming up in Chennai and Pune. But the airports at these cities are nearing their saturation point. Same is the case with other airports like Ahmedabad and Jaipur. Since no fresh move is visible to augment the capacity in these buzzing centers, hoteliers must take into the consideration the emerging challenges while planning to make new moves in these cities,” Kaul emphasised. CAPA South Asia chief also shared the details of the city pairs which

are fuelling the growth in the Indian aviation business, a pointer for the hoteliers to understand which way the wind is blowing in terms of traffic generation and footfalls. According to Kaul, about 15 city pairs today account for nearly 41 percent of the domestic traffic with Delhi-Mumbai (over 7 percent) and Bangalore- Delhi (over 4 percent) being the most popular routes. “Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore are like the golden triangle of Indian aviation space today. While Delhi and Bangalore will have the capacity to absorb the projected augmentation in the traffic volume in the coming years, for Mumbai it looks doubtful due to space con-

straint,” he pointed out. Meanwhile, Kaul also suggested the gathering of hotel GMs to keep a tab on aviation trends for their own benefit. “Currently, there is inadequate understanding of aviation business across industry level,” he said. He also advised the two industry streams to work more closely to derive mutual benefits. “There could be collaboration with airlines which will derive increased revenue by way of last minute inventory distribution or joint holiday package sales. Working with airline distribution teams can create new customer segments for the hospitality industry,” he recommended.

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ritesh agarwal

“We are a positive disruptive force” says OYO When you engage OYO’s founder Ritesh Agarwal in a candid conversation, barring his youthful exuberance, you are unlikely to come across any other sign conveying that he is yet to touch his mid-20s mark. Polite but assertive, the wonder boy of Indian travel tech space, may not have exactly been a favourite with the branded property operators. But his conviction to broaden the supply pipeline by mainstreaming the ignored properties seem to be rock-solid. TourismFirst recently buttonholed him on the sidelines of an event where he responded to everything that is said in favour or against his business model in the market place. Edited excerpts:

OYO’s short journey so far has been fabulous. Even your detractors would admit that you have emerged with a bang. And it is not simply about too fast a growth attained by a start-up. It is more about the difference it is making to the operational value chain, in unlocking value of the neglected assets. I don’t know if in recent times, you have got the time to analyse your journey so far. But if you step aside for a moment and try to analyse all of this, would you call it a dream run? Of course, nobody in our team had anticipated this kind of ride. We had started with a simple aspiration: there is a massive problem out there in the accommodation space for travellers and we have to solve it.

Before you proceed further, I am quite curious to get your response on this and I am sure others would have asked you too in the past. What was that instance which sounded a bell in your mind drawing your attention to this segment?

Before OYO happened, I used to run a marketplace called Oravel Stays which was more like a booking platform where consumers could book accommodation. While running that I realised most of our customers did not have great experience. Their argument was: getting an accommodation for `1,500 is OK but you are not taking any ownership and somebody unknown is selling it. So how do I trust that guy? So we realised quite early that to solve the predictability issue was very important in this market. That is the time when it hit us, we are running this business not to build one more company, but solving a big problem. And we decided to target it more than anything else. It is with this approach that we signed up our first partner and he

was very kind to have trusted us considering our age.

This has indeed been a massive growth period for us.

Who was your first partner?

How long will this dream run continue? Can you foresee any saturation point in the medium run?

The first partner was a gentleman called Rajesh Yadav at South City – I in Gurgaon. The occupancy rate of his property was not very high. So he decided to take a chance with us saying that if his occupancy rate improves, we will become close partners. If not, he had the leeway to throw us out anytime. For us, that was a fair deal. And we worked very hard to set the standardization of the hotel, in ensuring that the minimum promises that we make should be fulfilled. In Gurgaon, getting a clean room at Rs 1600 was impossible three years back. And soon we started receiving positive response. With this hotel started filling up, other similar properties in the area also began signing up with us. And one thing led to the other. We spread out from Gurgaon making partners in other parts of North India and eventually in the entire country. But we still believe we are a small part of what we can become.

But you are certainly surprised with the pace you have grown?

Naturally. Every start-up goes through this hockey stick phase. We knew that if we continue working hard and Insallah continuing to get support from the environment and partners, the hockey stick shaped growth would come. The only issue was when would this happen? We ourselves had not anticipated that our consumers and hotel partners would trust us so fast.

How has been your growth trajectory in the recent past?

Just to give you a sense of how we are growing - in December 2014, we had partnered with 39 properties in Gurgaon. And by December 2015, we had partnered with over 5100 properties across 140 cities in India.

We started with the vision that we will take anything real estate, standardize it and bring it online. In my belief, in the hotel segment we are only one percent of the total market in the online plus offline world. Of course, in the online segment, we are the market leader. But that does not mean anything if 96 percent people are transacting offline. Our vision is to make sure that we reach out to each of those users and tell them the value of moving from offline to online transaction mode. On that front, we have a very, very long way to go. So we believe that our growth will continue for many years before we have reached to the scale where we have solved the problem and one in three people or one in two people chooses OYO as the preferred medium to book accommodation when they travel anytime, anywhere.

There is a strong section in the organised hospitality who call OYO a disruptive force because you have upset existing equations in the market. How do you respond to it?

In my belief, people are referring to us a disruptive force possibly in a positive sense. If you see in the last two years, the market has not declined. Everybody has, in fact, grown – hotels, OTAs, and even the volume of sign ups in domestic and international brands have grown. So while we have become leader in a specific segment, others have also grown at the same time. It is clearly not a zero-sum game. Unfortunately, a lot of people look at it this way that if OYO has taken customers, it would have gone from somewhere else. But the reality is so many people are starting to stay

at hotels or travel because now they know that in `1500, they can get a clean, comfortable and affordable room. This has created a very different equation now. In India, at least 14 times of the consumers stay with relatives to the people who stay in hotels while travelling. The reason is simple: getting a clean, comfortable room has not been easy. Our belief is that we are going out to get all those segments attached to ourselves and hopefully to our competitors who have different relevance to customers.

But the allegation against you is that you are indulging in deep discounting. Your detractors would like us to believe that because of this kind of offering, your business model is flawed and while you are getting all kind of financial support at this stage because of the right kind of buzz, there would be a time when the investors in your venture would get jittery. How would you respond?

It’s a very fair question. But it is important to remember that OYO unlike many other companies got in business with very, very profitable routes. When we used to operate in Gurgaon, the average market price for a room used to be Rs 3000 and we used to sell it for Rs 1200. And we were still making 30 percent margin. If you look at the equation: in the overall market, there are five percent hotels who have access to corporates and travel agents and they get the most amount of business and often jack up prices. And the rest 95 percent struggle to get business. But we

Unfortunately, a lot of people look at it this way that if OYO has taken customers, it would have gone from somewhere else. But the reality is so many people are starting to stay at hotels or travel because now they know that in `1500, they can get a clean, comfortable and affordable room. This has created a very different equation now.

have democratised demand. We are enabling 95 percent with the top 5 percent to get the demand. People who feel concerned about it belong to that 5 percent who feel that their business has gone away to other 95 percent because of deep discounts. Let me share this perspective with you. Today there are multiple markets where OYO not only makes money but also creates a positive cash flow to a degree that all of us can take that money and fund some other city. The reason is: we are not investing in discounts. Our hotel partners themselves are giving discounts because they are saying that instead of running 10 percent occupancy which they were earlier doing, let’s target 60-70 percent occupancy level with 20 percent cheaper price. They can do it because their costs are static. So

the question is: have we created occupancy growth? Yes. Have we created a significant surge in the demand for the remaining 95 percent of hotels? Yes. Have we done it at the cost of decreasing the costs and the priceline of top 5 percent hotels? Yes. You put together these facts, and you will find our model is on a sound wicket.

Not too long ago, representatives of branded properties used to show complete aversion to the proposition of joining hands with you. Have you begun noticing a change in their attitude? Especially the branded budget and the mid-segment, have they become more receptive to your platform?

Yes, we have seen a significant attitude shift. A lot of brands have become our partner in the midsegment as well. People out there are more receptive to the fact that OYO is a household name and with consumers’ trust in us in the midmarket grown significantly, it will create value for us and them.

Recently, you have also shown your ambition to go beyond Indian boundaries by making your debut in Malaysia. Why did you choose Malaysia as your first overseas turf?

A couple of reasons for that. First of all, we feel extremely proud that finally after such a long time cutting across various segments, a concept has been developed in India which is finding emulation in so many parts of the world. Today OYO has multiple copycats outside of India. So we felt that there is a significant amount of value OYO can create outside the country. South-east Asia was a natural market where we wanted to move in. And Malaysia is the market which has easiest governance practices to launch in that country. We felt that if we have to go, experiment and learn in the international markets so that we can put our foot on gas and grow aggressively in the coming years, Malaysia is the right place. After Malaysia, we will be focusing on other markets in the region.

Finally, after building a scale which is enviably looked upon by many, what big milestones you will be chasing in the next two years?

There is only one clear milestone for me. Taking OYO experience to the next level. Earlier, the problem was to get clean and comfortable rooms. Now that OYO has provided it, customers are looking for better services, better interiors, etc. Our challenge would be upping the game in terms of quality and all our loyalists getting far improved services.

In terms of room volume in your kitty, what is your outlook for the near run?

We are currently close to 65,000 rooms. And by the end of this year, we are expecting to have around 2,00,000 rooms with our partners.

distribution / online @ HICSA 201 6

siddharth dabhade, Google India

“Ease of customization and year-round travel outcomes of technological infusion” Constant dose of technology has helped create a more informed consumer who seeks intense customization, says Siddharth Dabhade, head of industry, Marketing & Advertising, Google India. He also notes that the process is creating a more transparent pricing structure, and new models for aggregation and distribution. Excerpts of the interview: By Shashank Shekhar What are the top emerging trends in hospitality in India? What are the key indicators?

Hospitality sector has been re-energized in the last two years. As the internet penetration has grown led by adoption of smart phones, we're seeing a very healthy increase in search queries coming from mobile phones. Search queries for hotels on mobile grew by 90% year-onyear in the year 2015. The other big driver has been branded budget hotel chains. Budget hotel queries already account for 35 per cent of total accommodation queries and a large share of 47 percent of search queries are for the brands providing budget hotel inventory online. Newer players in the segment have energized the vertical by unlocking a brand new inventory online. They have been quick to capitalize on the online demand with aggressive advertising spends in building their brands, which is leading to overall category growth for the Industry. Internet users in the country are lapping up the budget hotels online as is evident in the growth of Google search queries. Branded budget hotel brands queries in India are growing at 179 percent year-on-year compared to just 36 percent yearon-year growth in generic budget hotel queries.

How does Google view the growth of hospitality and the role of increasing infusion of technology in its day-to-day operation? How is it changing the current landscape?

Google views very strong role of technology being played out in the hospitality industry. The key areas where technology is impacting hospitality are: • Consumers time spent on media

has changed drastically. Lot of time is being spent on mobile and online in a day. Hence lot of research for travel and hospitality shifted to online. People spend whopping 169 minutes on a day on mobile which is larger than any other medium. Another interesting data point is that 84% people use their smart phone while watching TV. • Price discovery for consumers has become more transparent. • Technology is creating new models for aggregation and distribution. New models of channel management have also come up.

Given that Google has access to more data than any other online player, what is your take on the future growth of hospitality? What do numbers suggest?

Future growth of hospitality: Budget hotels: Lot of potential to grow more in the budget hotels space. This is evident from the way consumer queries are trending. Overall hospitality and accommodations queries are growing at 37 percent year-on-year, but the branded budget hotels queries are growing at 179 percent year-onyear. Budget hotel queries already account for 35 percent of total accommodation queries and a large share of 47 percent of search queries are for the brands providing budget hotel inventory online. We expect this segment to continue to see massive growth with leisure travel expected to pick up soon. Leisure travel growth: In terms of top destinations searched for accommodation during March to June period of 2015, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Delhi-NCR are the most searched destinations. Majority of these States capture business or work

related travelers, indicating that leisure destinations will be the next growth driver for branded budget hotel category as today out of the top 50 domestic searched destination, only 30% of destinations represent leisure travel.

How has technology changed tourism? What are the key areas that may transform with growing technological input?

Technology's impact on tourism: Rise of holiday customization at scale: Earlier before the proliferation of Internet, group tours was the norm. Now, with technology democratizing the information for consumers, travelers are looking at planning and customizing their own itineraries. Hence, we see emergence of newer holiday players who are helping consumers make the process easier. Technology has made travel products distribution much easier. Informed traveller: Technology has brought in more informed traveller. Consumers know a lot about their destination of travel during the planning process. Alternate stays: Strong growth envisaged in the alternate accommodation sector. It is possible because technology has been able to bring in home owners and travelers together. Video is the new language of Brand communication: Streaming video will account for more than two thirds of all consumer internet traffic by 2017 (Cisco). Round the year travel and trips: Earlier, there was a very strong seasonality in the summer and winter seasons. Now, consumers are taking multiple trips all throughout the year. This is because technology has made trip planning more convenient and faster.

Do you think Smartphones are leading this trend? Do you think it is a unique feature with India, given the scale of users and internet penetration?

There are over 300 million internet users in India and over 200 millions access the Internet from their mobile phones. 6 million new mobile internet users are getting added every month. All these new users are mobile only internet users - this is expected to continue - India is already a mobile first market and smart phones will continue to drive the growth of Internet in India.

Goibibo launches Go-Time Guarantee for refunds Online travel aggregator, Goibibo.com, recently unveiled “Go-Time guarantee” for refunds which guarantees refund to be processed within two hours from the time the customer cancels his or her travel with the portal. The company transparently shares the exact time, in minutes and seconds, taken to process the refund. In case of a failure to meet the 2 hour guarantee, the platform promises to credit hundred rupees in the customer’s GoCash wallet for every hour of delay. Given that e-commerce users in India have the highest anxiety while waiting for their refunds, and per Goibibo’s internal data, more than 15% of travelers made amendments and changes to their trips

resulting in refunds, the launch of GoTime, as claimed by the company, will deliver the fastest refunds in the country. As per GoIbibo, during the week of launch of GoTime guarantee, it processed 99% of the applicable cases within 30 minutes. Speaking on the occasion, Ashish Kashyap, Founder & CEO, ibibo (Owner of Goibibo and redBus) said “Goibibo’s core focus is to constantly increase speed, reliability and trust. Launch of ‘Go-Time for refunds’ is just the starting point in solving pain points of buyers. In the next 3 to 4 months, we will give ‘time guarantees’ to our customers for all processes. We are going to make GoTime ubiquitous”.

Branded budget hotel chains driving online bookings, says Google travel trends report Buoyed by the growth in online bookings, existing and new hotels are going to add 10,000 new rooms to the online inventory in 2016, reveals the Google report. In terms of outbound travel, leisure segment is likely to lead the industry’s growth as niche travel destinations gain traction in the outbound. By TF Bureau

n a report compiled by looking at search trends for both domestic and international travel sector for the upcoming holiday season, Google India reveals that branded budget hotel chains are driving the growth of hotel bookings online in the domestic hotel industry. With over 300 million Indians online and growing rapidly, hotel providers have been slow to catch on the digital bandwagon, with only 20 percent of total hotel inventory available online. Seizing this massive opportunity, several players including new and established players are, now, focusing on bringing quality budget accommodation online across the country. With the availability of this new inventory online, Internet users in the country are lapping up the budget hotels online – which is evident in the growth of Google search queries. Branded budget hotel queries in India is growing at 179 percent year-on-year in comparison to just 36 percent year-on-year growth in generic budget hotel queries, whereas the overall queries for ‘accommodations’ as a whole is growing at 37 percent year-on-year, the report mentions. Speaking on the trends in the travel industry, Vikas Agnihotri, Director Sales, Google India, said, “Newer players in the segment have energized the travel vertical by unlocking a brand new inventory online. They have been quick to capitalize on the online demand with aggressive advertising spends in building their brands, which is leading to overall category growth for the Industry. We expect this segment to continue to see massive growth with leisure travel expected to pick up in the coming summer holiday season.” Further analysis of budget hotels category reveals a strong preference for distinct brand queries i.e. users are going online looking for branded budget hotel chains. Budget hotel queries already account for 35 percent of total accommodation queries and a large share of 47 percent of search queries are for the brands providing budget hotel inventory online. In terms of top destinations searched for accommodation during March to June 2015, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Delhi-NCR have been the most searched destinations. Majority of these States have captured business or work related travelers, indicating that leisure destinations will be the next growth driver for branded budget hotel category, as today out of the top 50 searched domestic destination, only 30 percent of destinations represent leisure travel. With the growing demand for branded budget hotel, players are investing in creating a distinct brand positioning as budget hotel providers are likely to see faster growth compared to generic travel aggregators. As per industry estimates, the inventory in the budget hotel space is expected to grow further with, both, new and existing players are expected to bring up to 10,000 new rooms online this year. In terms of outbound data compiled on the basis of Google search queries between January to September 2015, 25 percent of search queries were for international air tickets which was growing at 43 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, 18 percent of search queries were for international accommodation, growing at 25 percent year-on-year. In terms of destinations, UAE, the USA and Thailand have been most searched international destinations with a healthy growth rate of over 35 percent year-on-year. Search queries also revealed that Indian travelers have taken a liking to niche destinations with Seychelles, Hungary, Czech Republic and Russia topping the list of fastest growing destinations in the top fifty searched international countries during JanuarySeptember 2015. In terms of packages, honeymoon and romantic packages were fastest growing packages for holiday bookings growing at over 42 percent year-on-year, followed by vacation packages growing at 35 percent year-on-year. Adventure package segment, albeit a small segment, was showing healthy growth with search queries growing over 22 percent year-on-year.

distribution / online @ HICSA 201 6

Booking.com set to grow its Indian inventory; domestic bookings in the driving seat Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston had recently commented: “India seems to have unending potential for us.” And going by the India-specific numbers furnished by Vikas Bhola, Area Manager (India Subcontinent), Booking.com, the company’s efforts to tap this ‘unending potential’ since 2012 has begun bearing fruits. By ritwik sinha

oing by conventional wisdom, for any major global OTA a mere enlisting of 500 properties in its expansive worldwide inventory list could hardly be a trigger to adopt an aggressive stance in any specific market. But if the market is of the size of India where internet penetration is on a rapid rise and there is a visible surge in per capita earning, a contrarian approach can well come into play, eventually paying rich dividends. This is how the Indian story of Booking. com (owned by the US-based Priceline Group, one of the leading internet companies in the world with over $USD 63 billion market cap), seems to be panning out. When it had set up base of its own in the country in 2012 (prior to that the Indian market was handled by its APAC regional headquarters in Singapore), the volume of listed Indian properties was just close to 500. But since then, the sky is the limit, as is clearly visible from the growing Indian inventory base of the world’s leading online accommodation booking platform, which globally had earned a revenue of over 55 billion last year (earning of the Priceline Group with the lion’s share of the contribution coming from Booking.com). The gigantic size and scale of the company is also suitably reflected by other hard statistics: it has over 860,000 properties (apart from hotels, it includes apartments, villas, hostels, farm stays, bungalows, boats) in its global inventory and averages a little less than a million room night

To date, we have been able to scale and build a thriving business in India without the large investments that come with advertising campaigns. We have been able to focus 100% on the product and the customer offering, we’ve focussed on getting the best accommodation options and availability for our customers.

booked every 24-hours. Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston had recently commented: “India seems to have unending potential for us.” And going by the India-specific numbers furnished by Vikas Bhola, Area Manager (India Subcontinent), Booking.com, the company’s efforts to tap this ‘unending potential’ since 2012 has begun bearing fruits. “Our real story in India had begun in 2012 when we set up a dedicated team here and opened three offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore in quick succession. Since then there has been a whopping surge in our Indian inventory. Today we have around 14,500 properties registered in India and this number is growing at a fast pace,” Bhola told TourismFirst in a recent exclusive conversation. Talk to market observers and they will tell you that they’ve never seen Booking.com in any major above the line advertising or publicity campaigns for its business in India, compared to some of its esteemed rivals (both international and domestic). Vikas Bhola says the first and foremost objective of the teams operations was to create

been a simple one – to help leisure and business travelers, whatever their budgets, easily discover, book and enjoy the world’s best places to stay. We follow the philosophy of responding to every demand that we can. And there is enormous scope in the business-travel segment,” Bhola underlined. The company has also forged partnerships with some popular new age aggregators (read the box piece) to spread its wings. In terms of inventory building in India, Booking. com in the last few years has primarily focused on vikas bhola India’s leading metros, ithin the Indian hospitality circle, the confusion still remains Area manager (India subcontinent), particularly Delhi and if the new age small unit aggregators are adding value to the Booking.com Mumbai. Delhi along with business. In the views of many, they are disruptive forces The gigantic size and scale of the its NCR zones has become and many hospitality majors are now talking of revamping their own company is also suitably reflected the leading inventory online platforms as part of the counter strategy. But according to Viby other hard statistics: it has over pocket within India with kas Bhola, there is no merit in staying in a denial mode on the rising 860,000 properties (apart from hotels, it includes apartments, villas, over 1500 accommodation influence of small hotel aggregators. hostels, farm stays, bungalows, options. But after having “There was a distressed inventory about which nobody was aware, boats) in its global inventory and built a base of over 14,000 nor did the promoters of these units had the wherewithal to promote averages a little less than a million properties, the company themselves. These units are increasingly becoming part of the mainroom night booked every 24-hours. will now start to intensely stream inventory. In Europe and the US, we have seen aggregators in focus on other important villas and resort segments. But what has happened here in terms of leisure markets in the imbrining small units on online platform is a typical Indian innovation. In mediate run. “We will be fact, following its success in India, many such tech outfits are popping a substantial base in terms of inven- targeting to have more properties up in South-east Asian markets now,” Bhola pointed out. Booking.com tory. “To date, we have been able to with us from leisure destinations in itself has forged strategic partnerships with small unit Indian aggregascale and build a thriving business India like Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan tors like Oyo, Stayzilla and Vista Rooms promoting the properties in in India without the large investand some of the popular hill statheir inventory which are in sync with its own standard specifications. ments that come with advertising tions in the country. Considering Bhola, however, pointed out that while these aggregators are campaigns. We have been able to our growth trajectory in the recent poised for a long inning, they will have to significantly improve their focus 100% on the product and the past and the growing internet quality services. “Merely expanding numerically is not going to help. customer offering, we’ve focussed penetration in the country, we are At some state and that will come soon, they will have to bring in strict on getting the best accommodaconfident we will dramatically checks and balances in ensuring that the properties promoted on tion options and availability for our increase our inventory this year,” their platform offer quality services. But even as a disruptive force, customers,” he says. he said. they are making their contribution,” he emphasized. And even without a high-octane promotional drive, the platform has managed to strike a rapport with India’s domestic travellers almost purely via solid web marketing and a seamless, highly-optimised and intuitive site. “When customers use Booking.com, they come to find an incredibly easy-to-use, intuitive platform with enhanced and tailored products for different types of travellers to anticipate specific needs and reduce frustration.” “More than the whopping growth in property count, what is more satisfying for us is the changing complexion of our Indian business. In early 2014 for example, more properties being booked on Booking.com were by international products beneficial for you in a specific location,” uring the past two decades’ journey of booktravellers. Since then, the ratio of added Vikas Bhola. ing.com wherein it has registered a mammoth international bookers to domestic With the desire to expand phenomenally in the growth in terms of hotel inventory (21 million bookers has dramatically changed, emerging economies like China and India, a platbookable rooms in over 200 countries), the most meaning we see more domestic form like booking.com will clearly not like to ignore critical plot probably has been its focus on the bookings than international bookthe opportunity to serve the business segment which leisure traffic. But the largest international online ings. This is highly indicative of our is believed to be the driving force of the cumulative hotel booking player is now also subtly expanding growing popularity among local travel and tourism business in these markets. “ Our its portfolio to accommodate and respond to the customers,” Bhola pointed out. innovations are massive in terms of optimizing the demands of the business travelers community. “ It According to Bhola, there are business segment because we have a great product is true that our major concentration in the past has some other critical elements of to offer. Booking.com for business is our first step been leisure traffic. And that is why the leisure to Booking.com’s growing presence in wherein we are moving towards SMEs, proprietors business traffic ratio in our business is 70: 30. And India. While the company continand small and medium level executives representing this is our global equation. However, in the recent ues to provide a wide selection of companies which do not have the propensity to tieyears, we have seen a tremendous increase in busileisure-centric accommodation opness travelers bookings. And to cater to this segment, up with hotels or do not have massive travel to have tions, it is also working to expand contract rates,” Bhola pointed out adding that offline we have now launched booking.com for business,” its business portfolio (a global booking is the primary option for the SME section said Vikas Bhola. strategy now). “Globally, nearly one and could be a large potential market for booking. Booking.com for business, the new offering in five bookings on Booking.com com corporate offering in the future. “Our business from the hospitality OTA major, was launched last are made for business travel. The centric offering is also presenting to the customers year and it primarily focuses on providing options job of our team in India is to ensure an in-depth analysis of different properties. Flexin noted business location all across the globe by we have the best options available ibility on time with a great price and great listing analyzing humungous amount of data pertaining on Booking.com for any type of of products is good enough as a metric because it to properties across various categories (suited for travel need.” eases so many things. Back and forth interaction business travelers)- hotels, service apartments, And secondly, unlike some of with offline agencies is not required any longer. It is homestays, B & B units, motels, etc. “It focuses on its peers, it has not shown any avera great proposition for business travelers everywhere business customers oriented analytics. You click sion to operate in the lower mid including our country where business travel is a big on our business travel slug and it will offer you a segment. “Our mission has always segment,” he concluded. different front end. It will tell you the properties and

Small unit aggregation is a typical Indian innovation

Bracing up to tap the business segment

distribution / online @ HICSA 201 6

ritwik khare

“MakeMyTrip is aggressively tapping into the hotel booking segment” Indian online major MakeMyTrip’s recently launched television campaign is being viewed by many as company’s attempt to send the message that it is repositioning itself and will be treating hotel vertical as its mainstay in the future. In an exclusive conversation with TourismFirst, Ritwik Khare, Senior Vice President & Head (Business Development) – Hotels, MakeMyTrip responds to this assumption while also sharing the details of the company’s strategy to strengthen the hotel vertical. Edited excerpts:

By Ritwik Sinha You have recently kickstarted an aggressive television campaign featuring two current Bollywood heartthrobs for selling hotels. A popular reaction to this campaign is that MakeMyTrip has decided to position itself more as a hotel selling platform in the future than any other segment including aviation with which your growth story had begun about 15 years back. Is it the right assumption?

While the theme of the campaign is hotels and the TVCs focus on the same, MakeMyTrip remains to be a one stop destination for a consumers’ travel needs – hotels included. The campaign is in line with the company’s aggressive efforts to tap into the hotel bookings segment and further build on its leadership position, and it also aims to drive consumers to shift from offline to online for hotel bookings.

I am quite curious to understand, at what stage the company had decided to build a large portfolio in hospitality?

From the very inception of MakeMyTrip, hotels has been a very important segment. The company enjoys a 25 per cent share in the Indian online hotel booking business, according to a recent report by Millward Brown and we are focused to growing it as fast as possible. There is significant headroom to grow, as only about one-fifth of all hotel bookings is estimated to be taking place online at present.

What is the criterion you are using to select a hotel unit to be part of your inventory?

We have a strong screening process before we decide to partner with a hotel. Some of the criteria include

location, amenities, customer service, etc.

Some big hotel groups are quite fond of saying that they will be developing their own robust online platforms. Are they in a denial mode of the rising might of the vibrant hotel online platforms? There is enough and more space in the market for both players to co-exist. However, one can plan the whole itinerary and look for comparative deal, even between two hotels at the same time when on an OTA which possibly makes the experience and the number of options much wider for the user. We could always look at cross leveraging offers and discounts as being run on the pages of both. While OTA’s can highlight the discounts as being offered by hotel properties, hotel pages can possibly look at leveraging discounts available on travel , food and other amenities that could be developed into a full-fledged travel deal as provided by the OTAs.

Do you think the mobile booking will be the next big wave in the online hospitality booking in the country? What are the current trends and what changes you expect in the next two years? The future of the online travel industry is Mobile. Today, it is a lot more convenient to book over the phone. We are confident that online penetration in hotel bookings will improve from 20 per cent to 40-50 per cent in next three or four years. Growth of mobile internet and app-adoption in India as well as the world has revolutionized the e-commerce space. With smartphones becoming more affordable and mobile apps becoming the 'new way' of doing things- be it search, communication, buying or commuting, they are changing

the way people shop and share experiences. At MakeMyTrip, we are keenly watching this space and are coming up with services that are available to mobile only users. On our booking apps, we have mobile-only features like the offline e-tickets and hotels near you as a result of which we see more than 50% of hotel-transactions from mobile now. We currently have over 15 million mobile app downloads to date, up from 5.5 million a year ago. The team at MakeMyTrip continues to innovate, improve our apps, and create attractive promotions like AppFest also known as the Great Indian Getaway which were a set of app only offers run for a set of consecutive days. Our quarterly repeat rate on the mobile has improved by about 30% over year ago and is about 1.5 times the repeat rate on Desktop. Put simply, there are more people using our apps for the first time; and more of those people are coming back for subsequent transactions than ever before. In summary, the underlying mobile metrics are exceeding the expectations we set just a few quarters ago. And, we think the best is yet to come which could include path breaking things such as virtual reality, usage of bit coin currency etc.

Speaking at a seminar recently, you had pointed out some content specific problems vis-à-vis online booking on smartphones. Please share some details on that and do you believe they will be expeditiously sorted out considering the growth volume?

Limited space on the mobile screen is the big challenge and the hotel display on the mobile has to change as compared to the desktop. For example, the customer reviews for the mobile display will need to be treated differently as compared to the desktop.

How do you analyse the sudden emergence of small unit or even hotel room aggregators in the country? Are they a disruptive force in a positive sense or a negative sense? Any competition is healthy competition. The emergence of small units or budget hotel aggregators has helped open up the online hotels market in the country. We recently introduced Value+ Hotels which is a new product offering that marked the company’s foray into the quality budget hotels category. With Value+, MakeMyTrip intends to change the game by giving Make My Trip Brand assurance to the Budget Segment Consumer, and hence catalyze offline to online shift for hotel bookings.

Meta-search engines are believed to be the next big game changer in the online booking space. Have you begun partnering with them too?

We have been partnering meta search engines to ensure customers at the source of the search funnel are exposed to MakeMytrip rates. However, it is important to point out that the bulk of the demand for us comes organically and direct to our mobile app and site.

Finally, what scale you can imagine for MakeMyTrip hospitality vertical in the next two years? What more valueaddition you can make to your hotel sales segment?

The hotels segment in India is underpenetrated and highly fragmented. As the largest player in the online hotel-booking segment, we have seen the market explode thanks to increasing mobile penetration and adoption, especially for last-minute hotel bookings. MakeMyTrip has made aggressive efforts to tap into this segment. We offer the largest domestic hotel inventory with over 27,500 domestic hotels and 255,000 international hotels. We have made concerted efforts to increase our revenue share from non-air products (Hotels and Holidays. Reported as H&P (Hotels and Packages), this revenue-line has been a strategic focus area for us. We strengthened our portfolio of Hotel offerings in the South-East Asia region through two key acquisitions in 2013 - Hotel Travel Group and the ITC Group in Thailand. With the acquisition of Easytobook. com in 2014, we expanded our presence beyond South-East Asia. More recently, we bought a 25% stake in Bangalore based digital hotel marketing solutions firm Simplotel. The company recently launched Value+ that marks the company’s foray into the quality budget hotels category. Our value proposition is that whatever be the customer need, they can find a hotel on MakeMyTrip – quicker and cheaper.

hote lscape s @ HICSA 201 6

Indian hospitality to be a major focus area of a transforming TripAdvisor Trip Advisor, the world's largest travel review site, has decisively changed its gears in the recent years by assuming the character of a meta-search engine. In India too its new character is finding reflection by way of increased focus on building a commendable base in its hospitality inventory. By Ritwik Sinha

ere is a hypothetical calculation which well underlines the strength of the world’s leading travel review site TripAdvisor which has grown exponentially since its formation in 2000 on the basis of user generated content. The time which you might take to finish off your cup of tea (assuming it is five minutes), chances are: TripAdvisor would have added 1200 fresh reviews on multiple travel and tourism products all across the globe – at the rate of 200 reviews per minute. With 350 million unique visitors traffic monthly, about 320 million reviews of different products in its cumulative data base and around 290 million downloads of TripAdvisor app, the Massachusetts headquartered platform has enviable positioning in the global online travel space and has been aped by scores of platforms in other parts of the world. But for world’s most admired travel review site, the past few years have seen a decisive shift in its stance primarily centered around its ambition to go beyond the user generated content stronghold. The desire is to add more basic features to serve its millions of users worldover and have a larger presence in the promising geographies. India clearly figures in this list. “Along with China and Japan, India is a key market for us in Asia. And within India, hospitality is going to be a major focus area for us,” Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, TripAdvisor India

recently told TourismFirst in an the review but also the chance exclusive conversation. to book a product at the best But before Trip Advisor’s competitive price point. And India-specific leanings, here is our supplier partners – be it an a quick take on the churnings independent hotelier or an OTAwhich is defining TripAdvisor’s are benefitting due to the high character afresh. To begin with, conversion rates of meta-search while online reviews continue engines,” underlined Ganju. to remain its major strength and TripAdvisor’s growth story the most defining element of its in India is also rooted in the recall value, TripAdvisor is not changes or additions in the just a travel review site any more. basic character of the platform. In 2013, in a decisive shift in That India, a market which stance, it assumed the character TripAdvisor had spotted way of a meta-search engine - the back in 2008 as its major future platforms which are slated frontier in Asia, figures in the to usher in a new revolution list of the first bunch of nations owing to their all- encompasswhere instant booking has been ing character displaying the launched (the global unveiling price-comparison feature of not is expected later this year) is only the independent supplireflective of TripAdvisor’s intent Nikhil Ganju ers but also the leading OTAs. to scale up its operational base Country Manager, TripAdvisor India “Transition to a meta-search in India. “During the formative engine was a major milestone years of laying a foundation Hospitality online booking, an underfor us. Bringing live prices on the in India since 2008, our major penetrated segment, is now getting its due attention and this is going to be portal from multiple sources was challenge was to collate original major growth area in the Indian travel a major addition to our portfolio. content from Indians to bring space in the future. We too are laying It helped us in monetization in the local flavour. And for special emphasis on this vertical and as and improved the experience that we had deployed several a result of that the volume of Indian hotel of the visitors as alongwith the means including getting into enlisting has now gone up to around quality information on a targeted a tie-up with Jet Airways (the 50,000 from a much smaller base of 20,000 units three years back. product, he was also getting partnership still exists) wherein price comparison,” Ganju said. its frequent flyer customers were Last year, the platform went a encouraged to leave reviews step further when it introduced on our site and earn extra mile. instant booking (visitors can make closer to the ultimate consumer. Ear- And we have quite a significant direct booking too of hotels) facility base of quality content on Indian lier we were a site where you could on its platform for consumers in the plan a perfect trip. Now we are facili- travel and tourism products now US and later in the UK. Early last tating travellers not only to plan their and we now figure in the list of top month, this facility has been rolled three travel sites in India,” Ganju trip but also to compare prices and out in nine more markets across the explained. He, however, refused to make the final booking. And this is world (primarily English-speaking) divulge the details on the Indian creating a win, win equation for all which also includes India. “With traffic generation on TripAdvisor stakeholders in the value chain. For these features, we have got much including the volume of downloads consumers, they are not only getting

India’s market big enough to accommodate OTAs and hospitality growth Given that a miniscule percentage of the total bookings are happening online - which ranges from 15-18 percent - Rajat Girdhar, Director Marketing, Makemytrip.com is of the opinion that hotels and OTAs can complement instead of competing with each other. An exclusive: By shashank shekhar

ith the unprecedented growth of e-commerce in India, OTAs have become formidable entities. Riding high on the back of a robust inventory, a simplistic user-interface and attractive deals for consumers, there are no prizes for guessing that they are here to stay. Rajat Girdhar, Director Marketing, Makemytrip.com shared why OTAs had become an important entity, stating that “We are an online company and are in the business of selling products online. So, we know the space well, in terms of how to develop a product that consumer understands – products mean a website or an app. We develop them keeping in mind where consumer understands what to book, how to book and where to book.” He underlined the difference between hospitality industry and OTAs noting that they were in the business of giving a consumer great experience in terms of venues through their properties. “They are in the business of providing quality service and great F&B for the consumer. So, to my mind, there is a disconnect between what we do and what they do. Our right to succeed stems out of the sheer fact that we are an online product that is very good at marketing,” he explained. He pinned the success of OTAs

on the ease of booking that it growth of internet penetration brought itself with. “If you go and its impact on growing to any international hospitality businesses for OTAs, Rajat website, if there are hundred noted that India was uniquely room rates, they will publish placed in the sense that it had all of them. It is very confusing skipped stages in IT revolution. for the consumer. They do not “We never really had a desktop understand – and maybe they revolution. We skipped stages will take time to catch up to the and much of India is already fact that – people do not need into Smartphone. Therefore, intricate details like King's bed this personal device becomes non smoking and King's bed the most important means to smoking to choose from,” Rajat connect to potential business detailed. for us,” he said. “Till the time they do unFurther detailing the derstand this, and worldwide importance of smartphones booking is very important for in reaching out to a larger OTAs, I think we will further consumer base, he said “apps improve our product. The only are a crucial cog in the wheel advantage that they have is the for us. Over fifty percent of our margin of price which they can overall bookings are happening rajat girdhar transfer to the clientele, making through apps. It is already the director marketing, makemytrip.com it a little cheaper for clientele biggest thing. We are concentratto get accommodation. And, ing on improving the consumer Online bookings are still a miniscule it is fair enough as they are experience on the mobile.” percentage of overall bookings in suppliers, so they would have a When asked to highlight some India; only 15-18 bookings happen online. When you have over 80 certain pricing advantage,” he of the improvements put forth by percent bookings that still go offline, further said. makemytrip.com in the same, I think there is enough space for Adding that with the ease he shared “some of the improveeveryone to grow. of bookings and cancellations, ments are that now I can send and the whole idea of having you a push notification on the a better consumer interface browser and catch extra stuff wherein the consumer knew that it was not able to do in the where to approach if there were past. All these add-ons are helpbookings in India; only 15-18 bookany issues, were areas that whosoing improving our capabilities.” ings happen online. When you have ever solved first was going to gain For many, what remains a little over 80 percent bookings that still the most in terms of businesses, he confusing that despite the resources go offline, I think there is enough informed “Online bookings are still and understanding of how markets space for everyone to grow.” a miniscule percentage of overall operated, hotels were, still, playing Sharing his understand on the

of the platform’s app by Indians. However, with the addition of new features (price comparison and booking) in the recent years, TripAdvisor claims to have created a comprehensive profile of Indian tourism products and here the hospitality segment has been a major concentration. “Hospitality online booking, an under-penetrated segment, is now getting its due attention and this is going to be major growth area in the Indian travel space in the future. We too are laying special emphasis on this vertical and as a result of that the volume of Indian hotel enlisting has now gone up to around 50,000 from a much smaller base of 20,000 units three years back. And we have a category agnostic approach wherein any accommodation up for sale can be enlisted on our platform,” Ganju specified. On a global basis, TripAdvisor is estimated to feature around 1.8 million hotels and accommodations – a substantial chunk of which is covered by B&B units (bed and breakfast). According to Ganju, TripAdvisor India will continue to penetrate more in the Indian hospitality vertical in association with its suppliers’ partners. “In the past three years, we have been enlisting 8,000-9,000 hotel and accommodation units in India every year and we are quite confident of maintaining this trajectory. We are also working in association with prominent Indian OTAs like MakeMyTrip, GoIbibo, Yatra, etc. and we believe our Indian hospitality base will significantly expand in the coming years,” Ganju underlined.

a catch up game with OTAs. Rajat decoded it saying that hospitality in India was a unique market where there was no standardization. “A three star hotel in Delhi is characteristically different from a three star hotel in Ajmer. So, as a consumer, you would prefer someone telling you the difference between the two before you proceed with your bookings. We add value to consumer’s spending,” Rajat said. He also pointed toward the bulk of data generated by them, making them the de-facto research tool. “Lot of people use us as a research tool. They might or might not formalize the deal directly with the hotel. What we are counting on is the value we lend, in terms of what to choose and why to choose. There are consumer reviews that are in-depth, unbiased and when one chooses to book, the consumer can make truly an informed choice,” he explained. Given that OTAs took away a major chunk of revenues generated by hotels – commissions ranging from 17-25 percent – some hotels have begun muscling their own websites and online presence. Rajat, however, opined that commission that OTAs charged was a very small part of a hotel’s revenue. “I don’t think hotels are worried too much about it, especially smaller brands are not concerned. On the contrary, they are more than happy to get clients through us; it saves them the cost of marketing their products – which otherwise would be way higher than the commission they pay us,” he reasoned. Adding that it was larger brands that were trying to make their own products and wished clients to come directly to them, he said “they have the resources to spend on marketing and outreach.”

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hote lscape s @ HICSA 201 6

Hyatt Regency Delhi

Grand Hyatt Mumbai

Arun saraf and peter fulton

Hyatt Hotels stay steady, on course, not chasing numbers and delivering quality TourismFirst interviewed Peter Fulton, Group President, EAME & SW Asia, Hyatt Hotels and Arun Saraf, owner of Grand Hyatt Mumbai and several other properties operating exclusively with Hyatt. Responses below are featured combined between the two, except for specific questions asked of Arun Saraf at the end of the interview. By navin berry So how do you see Hyatt Hotels building value for your owners and your customers in an environment that is appearing more and more competitive and complex as we go further?

Hyatt is a very unique company. It is not going for numbers. It is not counting the number of hotels. It is bringing in quality rooms and quality products into the market where a discerning traveler at every price point can find his Hyatt; the lowest price point of Hyatt Place or the highest of Andaz or a Park Hyatt. We are not in the numbers game. It is about putting brands together that satisfy every person or every traveler looking for a certain experience. Such as the Hyatt Centric for those who want to be downtown or the Hyatt Zilara or Hyatt Ziva in the resorts portfolio because there is a market out there for people who want to be with the family, or travel with couples.

A lot of these new brands which you are talking about, have yet to enter the Indian market?

They will, they are yet new. For example, we just launched the Unbound Collection and we did that last month in the US. Now that was to pick up the opportunity for our loyal customers who want to go experience a castle that has been converted into a hotel in France. It is for unique experiences. We are developing hotels based on experiences rather than this is the size of the room etc.

When you launch brands such as Andaz, would you call it a Hyatt Andaz, or only as Andaz? Does it have a prefix, or stand alone? Andaz is one of the few brands we

have that does not have Hyatt in its name. But that’s our luxury lifestyle unique experience brand.

But does it help to put a Hyatt pre-fix to it?

I don’t think you would book it because it’s a Hyatt. You will book it because you know what Andaz stands for. Some lifestyle brands actually benefit from a Hyatt suffix but some do not. But all of them have a similar Hyatt top management quality at every price point. So when you say Andaz, it doesn’t matter. The Andaz customer is not looking for the Hyatt prefix, he is looking for that experience.

So would you spend that much more resource in making the customers in India, for them to understand what Andaz is? In recent times, one has seen totally new bands open, and soon close for lack of awareness of what they stood for! Better still, I think we need to ask yourself why it is not working. If it is a fantastic hotel, that is in the right location for the right person it would work. So you can go put 2-3 million dollars putting up billboards, and yet fail, because the product was either not right, or not in the right location - it all needs to be right! Yes it is about brand awareness, but what does that mean. How does it come about? The customer has to first stay there, then understands what it means. But first and foremost, how do you get customers to go in. It also demands that the brand needs to be well defined. We want to talk to you but how do we reach out to you? An OTA gives us no information about you as an individual. But once we have you in the hotel, we know who you are, and we give you the experiences that makes you feel comfortable, you will come back.

Where do you position an Andaz in relation to say, a JW Marriott?

So Andaz is luxury, it’s a bit below the Park Hyatt. It is breaking the mould of luxury hotels in this country. Because you will not have… Andaz is a very specialized, super luxury product. So a person who has seen everything is the person who goes beyond that. So at JW, or Grand Hyatt that experience and look and feel is different. People who have experienced this and they want more. Andaz is for that breed of customer.

Is there a common thread in Andaz? Or is each different?

Each Andaz is different. For instance, if you go to the Andaz in Maui or the Andaz in Amsterdam, these I mean these really reflect where they are. At Aerocity, all the rooms have different artworks that reflect Delhi.

Is this quite different from a Grand Hyatt?

Yes, very. It’s the architecture and the interiors. You walk in and you experience something totally different. You won’t find the lobby!

With this forthcoming almost done deal of Starwood and Marriott creating the merger of the loyalty programs and the total room inventory, is Hyatt getting smaller? It is a good opportunity for us. Marriott and Starwood combining together will definitely become a large company but they will lose their soul. Hyatt being small is still going to be specialized and caring, because the customer needs more. We have 600+ plus hotels worldwide.

Would you say you are taking more a boutique approach?

We do not want to be the largest ho-

tel chain. We are the smallest large hotel chain. This is not a numbers game. This is building experiences. We want to be where our customers want to go. And we want to be at those customer price points.

How is your growth happening in India? Are you happy?

Our growth mirrors everyone else’s growth in India. Last 4 years have been very difficult; you are now starting to witness a resurgence of interest in developing hotels. Hyatt has 4 projects in development.

Arun, you are the owner of one of the few iconic properties in the country, The Grand Hyatt remains literally at the top of the pack, in Mumbai? How do you intend to keep this image going?

The Lucknow hotel to be opened in first quarter of 2017, will change Lucknow, just as the Ahmedabad one changed Ahmedabad which opened April last year. Lucknow is 210 rooms and it is a Hyatt Regency.

What news on the Park Hyatt in Goa?

They won their court case, they now expect the bank to go appeal to the Supreme Court.

What does this mean, what the courts are saying? It means that the courts are saying that the process of sale was not done correctly. In the meantime, the hotel continues to operate and keeps going from strength to strength.

The big talk now is of budget hotels and what’s Hyatt’s plan

to become a bigger player in the budget category?

So we are not in the budget category. Hyatt Place is also not budget. You as an individual and as a traveler when you talk about budget, is it just about the price? People pay `3000 for a hotel room, and at Trident Gurgaon you pay `1100 for club sandwich, so tell me the logic. Is budget `1000 a room?

When I say budget, my understanding is let’s say about `4000?

So there are five star hotels in this city selling rooms at 4000 bucks. It is about the experience. So at Hyatt Place you don’t have bell-boy, you don’t have room service. The rooms are at about 5000/6000. It is a limited service brand, an entry level to the Hyatt experience. We are not operating at any lower level.

Arun, how do you see the launch of Andaz? What does it mean to you and your family?

We opened the Hyatt Regency brand in India and it was a sterling success. We launched the Grand Hyatt in India with our Mumbai product, and it has remained iconic. We shall now do the same with Andaz in Aerocity.

And you, Arun, remain a staunch Hyatt man, from one brand to another, without ever a thought of having hotels operating under different brands?

Why should I? Happy to be with one brand, and remain steady with them, and grow with them, and they grow with me.

hote lscape s @ HICSA 201 6

rajeev menon

The power of branding and the Marriott advantage across all brands hotels, we get higher premiums against our competitors but that’s based on us pulling a bigger share of the market. What you have to remember is we get big global brands like Marriott, Starwood or Hyatt opening up in a market that also gives the consumer the comfort. So that’s the drive one can say helps drive people. Consider the case of Mussourie, a hill station that we all grew around as kids, eventually lost its shine and when you talk about opening a hotel, you worry that you are opening a hotel in market that doesn’t have any quality product and the customer base is really not that of a luxury traveler - so what we saw…about 5 km away from the Mall Road, the hotel today drives one of the highest rates in the country. It is consistently the number 1 hotel when it comes to guest satisfaction in our Asia system. That tells me the success and potential of leisure travel. 90% plus of our base is Indian travellers. It also tells us about the power of the Marriott drive to drive business.

On the opening day, on the sidelines of the HOSI Summit, TourismFirst caught up with Rajeev Menon, who is now based in Singapore and looks after AsiaPac region outside of China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. How does he see the growth of Marriott in present times and how do challenges in hospitality differ between those in India and the rest of Asia? By navin berry What is your big take-away on the Indian market?

So Indian leisure market per se, I see immense value in it over the long term – why, because looking at the demographics of the country, look at how busy the working population is, and as wealth improves, we have seen this across the world, that people want to get away. They will try and get away for short periods of time which makes a perfect opportunity for Indians to take 3-4 day short breaks. When you look at the success of our JW Marriott Mussoorie it has been driven because of that. They are willing to pay high rates if they get good quality. And as more and more resorts come about, infrastructure improves, I see immense potential in growth of leisure tourism driven by Indians within India.

What is the learning from Marriott Jaipur, as this is another leisure market, too, to consider?

So Marriott Jaipur over the years has done quite well, from the point of view that it is the one hotel in Jaipur that when it opened it was really catering to three different segments. One, the convention facilities that we built in the hotel made it a great convention hotel, it also served as a destination wedding hotel and Jaipur is home for weddings. The location of the hotel also gives us a good advantage, that part of Jaipur is starting to become very active in the corporate community. And then the main play is the leisure, both domestic and international travel. So all three combined have helped the hotel – weddings, and MICE, but let me say that most of it is Indian.

And when you look at a hotel like in Jaisalmer, again the profile… We expect to open a hotel by the

end of the year in Jaisalmer. My sense is sometime over September, that market is going to be a little more seasonal, with a higher concentration of foreign travelers. The mainstay would also be driven by destination weddings. And some MICE. It’s got great outdoor spaces and should prove to be a good hotel for weddings.

So looking at tourism as a whole for the country, now you are saying your footprints into the leisure market are growing, so is there anything specifically you want to say for the future as for the present or expanded Marriott - what role you can play, a group with the largest group inventory in the country? See as a company even today we stay very focused on developing leisure travel as we grow hotels in markets around the country. We are also looking at a Fairfield Amritsar this year, a city that has so much religious tourism to boost. So I genuinely see a lot of opportunity, a lot of it is driven by our own internal push through promotions and rewards. Globally, we have 54 million members on our loyalty programme. As foreigners come into India and want to go to Chandigarh or Amritsar and if there is a Marriott branded hotel, they will typically choose that hotel.

Is there any statistics to show that once there is Marriott flag in the city what kind of travel and tourism you draw additionally to that city?

I will have to look at soma data to know that. But what we typically do is to measure is one, we have done studies to show that a Marriott reward customer typically travels further to stay at a Marriott hotel as compared to other branded hotels. We have seen where we have Marriott hotels, and well run Marriott

You talked about your Marriott rewards. Hypothetically, once you have your alliance in place with Starwood, then your rewards combined with SPG, will there be any loyalty progamme that can even come close to that? Globally, Marriott is 54 million and from what I know, Starwood is about 21 million. We have almost 4400 hotels in the world and Starwood has 1250 hotels - that’s the difference. They are two very strong loyalty programmes and if everything falls in place then eventually this will be a great competitive advantage for us.

How is the overall economic environment in your area as far as hospitality is concerned ?

So it is interesting, there are three markets for us that are doing quite well. One being Japan, it is very strong, the growth in Chinese tourism into Japan has been phenomenal. Japan will host the Olympics in 2020, so Japan’s travel business is thriving. The second market is Thailand which is doing reasonably well. Thailand has been prone to some or the other challenge almost every year but over the course of last year and this year it is doing well. India has been a star performer for us over the last couple of years. As the Indian economy is starting to improve, the sentiment for business in improving, we are seeing very strong growth. Our Indian portfo-

lio is quire big now. So these are strong markets, markets where we have challenges are Indonesia and Malaysia because of the commodities issues, these economies were heavily based on oil and commodities. So the economies have slowed down and they are showing not as robust a growth as other markets. My expectation is that by the end of the year, we remain focused to getting a double digit rev par growth in my part of the world.

Tell me typically when you look across markets, how is the challenge in terms of general operations of hotels different or same?

So in some cases there is uniqueness to the markets. In other cases, there is a lot of commonality. While India is at the forefront for the rise of domestic tourism we are seeing improvement in domestic tourism in places like Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand where hotels in the past that were only catering to international travelers, today the number of Thai or Indonesian travelers has increased dramatically. I am talking 30-40% within their own country. Low cost airline

carriers have helped in this regard. Another commonality, in terms of challenges, what we experienced in India a few years ago with slowing down of the economy, a lot of supply in the market, issues with bank loans, now we are starting to see similar issues in places like Indonesia. They have a bigger challenge, in the short term, that many of the loans that were taken in that market were taken in US currency, so as the currency depreciates, that burden gets bigger. So if you successfully learn in one market, you can apply that in other markets and create efficiencies in how we do business. However, what works in one country, may not work in another. But you can figure out ways of driving efficiencies based on your learnings in other markets.

What is the one big learning that you have acquired from India?

I always say that India taught me genuine hospitality. India as a country, as a culture and as a business, has had a legacy of genuine hospitality. And for that I remain indebted to India!

Marriott keen to leverage from a positive economic environment, says Neeraj Govil The Marriott group is keen on tapping footfalls from upcoming MICE markets like China and Japan. An exclusive: “We currently operate seven brands in India – the Ritz Carlton, JW Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Executive Apartment, Courtyard by Marriott and Fairfield by Marriott. Marriott has been in the country for the last 16 years and has been recognized as a formidable hospitality brand in the industry,” said Neeraj Govil, Market Vice President, South Asia. Though all of Marriott’s brands have done well for themselves in their intended markets, he highlighted JW Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott as specific brands which have enjoyed enormous success and goodwill. “With seven operational JWs in the country, we will be opening our eighth JW Marriott later this year in Kolkata.” Neeraj said Marriott’s prime focus has been to ensure consistent supply of quality products and services by constantly committing to a high customer satisfaction index, allowing the brands to be unique neeraj govil and singular in their posimarket vice president - south Asia, tioning. “Another crucial Marriott international factor which must be In terms of specific markets, MICE attributed to JW Marriott’s segment in India generates almost success in India has been twenty percent of our total annual its extraordinary strong revenue. Though it does tend to reach higher levels in certain markets F&B offerings,” he asserted. that are more inclined to corporate Given that the overall movement than leisure travel. business sentiment in the nation has improved, MICE is a huge revenue driver for the group. Neeraj added that the wedding segment was another area that has huge potential and was growing at a steady pace. “In terms of specific markets, MICE segment in India generates almost twenty percent of our total annual revenue. Though it does tend to reach higher levels in certain markets that are more inclined to corporate movement than leisure travel,” Neeraj explained. However he mentioned that the availability of adequate inventory is a major pre-requisite for the success of such a foray. “We have strong room inventory in major metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru - hotels with over 500 rooms backed by extensive banqueting facilities to cater to meeting requirements,” he added.

hote lscape s @ HICSA 201 6

24 % hotel booking through online and the number galloping, says Deep Kalra Discounting helps pie become bigger, attract large number of first-time buyer online

By Shayan mallick

he online penetration in India is close to 300 million people. If you look at mobile, the number is 236 million, which is about half a billion people by next year, a staggering number indeed. While sharing these impressive numbers, Deep Kalra, Chairman and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip.com, said, “The average consumer just needs trust to be made once. We are a living proof of that. We didn’t launch in India prior to 2005 because people weren’t ready

through Mobile App. “We are looking at how we can grow our business whether it is through App or online.” Kalra was speaking at HVS’ leading industry event HOSI (Hotel Operations Summit India) on ‘The Changing Nature of Online Hotel Bookings’ yesterday here. Of course for the business to grow the customer needs to be rightly understood. Kalra says that the customer has a very complex decision making process when it comes to booking a hotel, particularly when it is for leisure. If it is for business, it’s pretty one-dimension-

☛ The average consumer just needs trust to be made once. We are a living proof of that. We didn’t launch in India prior to 2005 because people weren’t ready to buy online. IRCTC gave Indian the confidence to buy online. And that has changed everything because people realised that it works to buy online. IRCTC gave Indian the confidence to buy online. And that has changed everything because people realised that it works.” Today 63 per cent of the MMYT traffic comes through Mobile App and not online at all. Also 63 per cent of the bookings now come

al. You know where you want to be. ‘Inspiration’, he pointed plays a key role and that doesn’t anymore come from traditional sources but platforms like Instagram and Facebook and pictures that our friends are sharing or even our kids’ friends. Then starts the research

They (discount) open the market. The pie becomes bigger and grows very fast. If it wasn’t for this crazy discount many-many people will never buy online.

Deep Kalra, Chairman and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip.com

through mediums like Tripadvisors, HolidayIQ or OTAs like MakeMyTrip which is closely followed by hotels search. He also pointed that a hotel site has a better chance of booking conversion than an OTA. What are the online book drivers and why is online growing so fast suddenly? Kalra says that that when MMYT was launched in 2005, for the first two-three years, most airlines worked with us and most travel agents did not like us and they said this is never going to

happen. But air (booking) moved very-very fast. Air action today is more than 52 per cent penetrated which is more than 52 per cent of domestic air ticket in India bought online. Of which about 31 per cent is with OTAs and the balance 20 per cent is with suppliers. However with hotels this number at the moment is much lower. Kalra, however, pointed that this number has been galloping and moving very fast. Shedding light on Indian hotel

booking landscape and how that has moved online, Kalra, while sharing a PhocusWright study, informed that three-fourth of the booking is still offline and 24 per cent has moved online. However he pointed that OTA’s share has moved from seven per cent three years ago to 17 per cent today. He says that this online growth trend will continue. He also pointed to some discrimination by hotels for the customer booked through OTAs and not directly. Although terming discounting ‘crazy’, Kalra says that discount plays a very important role. “They open the market. The pie becomes bigger and grows very fast. If it wasn’t for this crazy discount many-many people will never buy online,” he said. He also pointed at the millennial impact who he said are two and half times more adoptive to technology. This generation is thinking very differently but more importantly when it comes to travel over 50 per cent are taking four or more trip every year and 40 per cent of India falls under this population.

Driven by their appetite for innovation, standalone restaurants will lead F&B segment Technology and convenience will drive the F&B segment in the times ahead. Given that stand-alone restaurants have demonstrated a stronger appetite for innovation, they are most likely to carry forward the segment. By shashank shekhar

&B industry is a dynamic entity that has constantly evolved, shaped by the changing demands of consumers. Taking a stock of the future of F&B in the coming months and years, Zorawar Kalra, Founder and Managing Director, Massive Restaurants said that fine-casual was going to be the next big trend in the segment. “Given that today’s consumer is driven by a vast array of information through technological input, fine-casual will be the megatrend. I will go as far as calling it a phenomenon,” he said. Noting that

son for this trend is the abundance of choice that consumers have in their midst. Abundance of choices makes you decide. With the power of choices at hand, people have the instinctive luxury to out-rightly reject you,” he said. Sharing that for service providers to be able to succeed in a very competitive market space, suppliers must be able to have clarity about their goals in the long-term. “The issue will come down to who has the ability to connect to the audience,” he substantiated. Rohit Dasgupta, Senior Vice President, EasyDiner elaborated how he was able to make a dent

☛ The reason why hotel restaurants may find tough to compete with stand-alone restaurants is that they do not have such a profound focus on marketing their product healthy eating habit that was percolating in the masses was fuelling healthy and casual dining, he said “people have increasingly begun consuming more organic food. Another fascinating development is the focus on regional cuisines which is picking up at a pulsating rate.” Rahul Khanna, Owner and Co-Founder, Azure Hospitality explained why there was sudden push towards casual and finedining. He attributed the trend to changes that had come about in the past 2-3 years. “The biggest rea-

in the market. “We started in 2012. We started as a website which powered table reservations,” he revealed. Giving an insight into his company’s growth, he shared with the gathering that they survived because they had a functional phone-line that drove as much as eighty percent of their entire bookings. “If you look at the trend now, there is a complete reversal in the last four years. Today, almost 80 to 90 percent of our bookings are driven from the online space. It is mostly because people want to discover new products and services;

it is also to do with the fact there is an instant gratification,” he shared. Rohit Dasgupta, Senior Vice President, EazyDiner noted that there had been a drastic shift in the way business was being approached by service providers. “Consumers are shifting from offline to online. Earlier, there was inhibition to go to a five star restaurant. Portal like ours is making people try new things in spending the same amount of money.” he explained. Rahul Khanna, speaking on the issue, said that he did not look at it as a high-street mall vs. a hotel thing. “Hotels are beginning to realize that they are good at providing good accommodation. As the trend continues, high-street food will come to hotels,” he added. Zorawar Kalra concurred with Rahul Khanna stating that the reason why hotels were more into

rooms was to do with plain economics. “Hotels will focus more on rooms and it is a given when over 80 percent of your entire revenue is generated through rooms,” he explained. He further argued that there was more innovation now in stand-alone segment. “It is unfolding in India, as we speak. This change will have a profound impact on the industry and works well for consumers because it makes eating-out more affordable,” he said. Looking ahead Rohit opined that hotels needed to figure out a way to reach out to people. As far as standalone hotels went, their entire focus was on marketing. “The reason why hotel restaurants may find tough to compete with stand-alone restaurants is that they do not have such a profound focus on marketing their product,” he reasoned. Adding another dimension to

the argument, Vivek Kapoor, CoFounder, Dine-out added that being bereft a larger budget, stand-alone restaurants were more open to innovation and working on joint platforms. “It helps them in marketing their products better,” he added. Rahul Khanna noted that it was up to the operator to cherry pick amongst a number of platforms to choose from. “Ideally, a restaurant must work with someone who understands the market and has a long-term vision about heading forward,” Rahul said. Zorawar concluded by arguing that food-tech was a fabulous space and bound to grow. “The reason for its success will be convenience. Convenience will rule the market. No matter what happens, a consumer will always give priority to convenience, and that is why I believe food-tech is the next big thing in the F&B space,” he noted.

hote lscape s @ HICSA 201 6

Westin Gurgaon

The St. Regis Mumbai

dilip puri, MD, Starwood India

Industry settling down with better rates ahead, 2016 poised for growth When I talk about improved health now, I am talking about seeing rates grow. True profitability will come from rate growth and not from occupancy growth. I believe that from 2016 and beyond we will see hotels in most markets able to take their rates up. By navin berry Last one year how do you feel aboutthe health of the industry across all segments , how has it done? Do we see more,or less, hotels in distress?

I think the operating performance of almost all hotels across most markets in India, be it the mid-scale, up-scale, luxury - 2 015 has certainly been an improvement over 2014. And I think 2015 has kind of signalled the end of thelastcycle. My sense is that the second half of 2016 will begin a new cycle of growth. A lot of the depressed performance of hotels was more due to supply side of issues. And supply side issues came about because a lot of the hotels t hathave opened in the last 2-3 years were actually hotels that were signed up before the recession. And then post the recession many of them got stalled and delayed. Many owners and developers didn’t see the market. So as the economy started limping back these projects started. A lot of the hotels you see opening in India in the last 3-4 years are delayed constructions;that cycle is now complete. So a lot of the supply that had to come into the market has now come. So we will see a new cycle of both, new development of hotels and because the supply pressures have gone and we see demand getting robust, the operating performance of existing hotels will also improve.

Are there any markets, say in Delhi and NCR, where we don’t see more significant supply happening?

Correct, same thing with Mumbai. And Bangalore some supply yet to come. Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune where a lot of supply …. The good news is that a lot of that supply has been reasonably well absorbed. Albeit with rates dropping but I think

everyone is pleasantly surprised that most hotels have been able to make occupancy gains. And when I talk about improved health now, I am talking about seeing rates grow. True profitability will come from rate growth and not from occupancy growth. I believe that from 2016 and beyond we will see hotels in most markets able to take their rates up.

Not maybe 100% related to health but to what extent is it the consolidation of brands in the market? Is there some co-relation with the brands also settling down and now people are willing to pay a brand price. Is that also happening?

Not really. I think that is something that is ongoing. The arrival of the international brands and their establishing themselves in India across different categories has been g oing o n for quite a few years. I think t hereis stronger demand growth. When we talk about the GDP growth and the growth of the economy we are one of the first sectors to benefit from it. Because whenever the government opens up something, people have to travel for it. Now just look in the last 6 months to one year, every single state in India has had global investor meets. And then they are announcing 1000 and 1000 crore worth of projects and deals, investors have to travel to make this happen. And this clearly influences demand so that demand w ill signal growth… the rate is going to come fromhere, as the next logical step. The consolidation of brands is a factor to the extent that you are giving customers more choices, and smarter ways to book; really ingraining the concept of loyalty into Indian travellers andthis is most importantly the big shift in domestic leisure.

My question was – Indian customers particularly have come to appreciate the brands and they are willing to pay for those brands? Because they have understood what these brands are now and somewhere the brands have come home to them and so now they are choosing and paying for the brand more happily.

I would agree. But the choosing and paying happily is because of concepts of loyalty programmes. I also feel that as many Indians go abroad, they experience the brands and this also brings in loyalty. This is perhaps true of all foreign brands operating in the country, not just Starwood.

Coming to another subject that you raised, all these investor meets in the states and yours is the first sector to benefit so a lot of your growth/demand is coming from economy led momentum. For our big corporate city hotels, yes,that’s where it is coming from.

Is that true for the bulk of the hospitality industry? Yes.

How muchareIndians driving this? Over the last 5-7 years has the Indian component kept increasing. Yes, verymuch. From 10 years ago where it was 80/20. 80 for foreign and 20% Indian, it is now 65% foreign and 35% Indian. This is big city corporate markets.

How much more do you think we will be able to stretch this?

In the next couple of years, I see it coming to a 50/50 level soon. The future of Indian hospitality is in domestic travel. Let there be no doubt about that. The international inbound travel, be it business or leisure, will always be that creamy layer. But the bulk of travel will be domestic, corporate and more importantly leisure. You will begin to see more resort development in India, because the domestic traveller as he is getting more adventurous is looking for short stay vacations. Take an example of the JW Marriott at Moussoirie or the Meridian in Mahawaleshwar – all catering to 1-2 source markets – for leisure and MICE. Take the case of soon to open W in Goa-while it will attract a strong international market as well,the primary driver will be the wellheeled Indian.

One thought that came to my mind was that you have able to introduce a newbrands into the market and with considerable success. Westin is a newer brand and already well established. How does Starwood achieve this?

I guess the existing infrastructure and platform we have built up is agnostic. We have 9 brands. Its not so difficult for us to open new hotels. How d o we create recognition?The idea behind having such distinctive lifestyle brands is that each is v ery well defined with its own distinctiveprograms and the offerings. O ne possisbleanswer lies in the fact that so many Indians now travel internationally they get exposed to our brands and then they look for our brands here within the country. Sheraton, as a brand,has been in this market for years and years and there is familiarity. We were lucky with Westin where we built and opened as many as5 properties,one after the other. That for any brandis significant, and most other brands do not have the same growth story. For instance, JW Juhu opened in 2000 and then for 10 years there was no other JW. When we open4 h otels of the same brand together, we can spend a lot more marketing dollars

on building the brand. That’s why Westin became so popular so quickly. Meridian has been in India for years. For Aloft I would say we could have done more,and we will be doingmore,because we have Delhi airport coming up hopefully at the e nd of the year.

Going back to the owners and the supply having settled down, are you seeing a change inprofile of owners wanting to enter into hospitality? Who is the new owner now?

Clearly the institutional owner,the likes of SAHMI. That’s a new breed of owners. We see a lot of activity in the conversion space. So it’s not about having to find new owners, its about finding owners whose hotels need newer brands. We are also b ringing a newer kind of owner, possibly as well.

What about St. Regis?

It is the biggest success story in any luxury opening. Local market reputation is great. We have seen exponential growth in all areas of the business at the hotels, from room revenues, to social events. Clearly, there was a huge market awaiting a brand like this one.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts accelerates expansion of footprint in South Asia

he year 2015 was an eventful year for Starwood as it opened nine new hotels and signed the opening of 16 properties. It continues on a robust growth trajectory, expanding its regional presence while unveiling new brands. Since January 2015, nine hotels were added to Starwood’s South Asia portfolio. New openings in India included Four Points by Sheraton Agra, Le Méridien Gurgaon Delhi NCR, Le Méridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa, Sheraton Hyderabad Hotel, Le Méridien Nagpur, Four Points by Sheraton Vadodara, and The St. Regis Mumbai. The latter, which debuted this past September, marked the very first St. Regis hotel in South Asia. In Bangladesh, Starwood unveiled the Le Méridien brand in the capital with Le Méridien Dhaka. In Bhutan, the company opened its second Le Méridien property in Paro – Le Meridien Paro, Riverfront. Starwood’s strong growth momentum in the region continues with the signing of 16 new hotels including: The St. Regis Vommuli Resort, Maldives, Sheraton Dhaka Banani Hotel and Le Méridien Resort & Spa, Bhaluka, both in Bangladesh. In India, Starwood signed five Sheraton hotels in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Ambala, Srinagar and Bodh Gaya (Bihar).

Growing luxury portfolio in South Asia India’s luxury market continues to soar driven by rising disposable incomes and an appetite for luxury goods, including hospitality. Starwood Hotels & Resorts is well positioned to leverage this trend as one of the largest luxury hotel players in India with 11 hotels under The Luxury Collection flag through its partnership with ITC hotels and the recent introduction of the St. Regis in Mumbai. Starwood’s luxury growth continues with the upcoming openings of, both, The St. Regis Vommuli Resort, Maldives and the W Goa Retreat & Spa this year.

Conversions spur growth in India Starwood has had tremendous success converting independent and branded hotels into its portfolio. The strategy has significantly mitigated the development risk typically associated with the slow pace of development and regulatory issues in India, and hotel owners have benefitted from Starwood’s distribution capability, the power of its SPG loyalty program and the strength of its brands. Le Méridien Gurgaon Delhi NCR, Le Méridien Nagpur, Sheraton Hyderabad Hotel and The St. Regis Mumbai reflect prime examples of the success of Starwood’s conversion strategy.

Resort portfolio takes off The opening of the stunning new Le Méridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa in June 2015 accelerated the growth of Starwood’s resort portfolio in the region. The company is developing resorts in Bekal, Khandala, Pushkar, Rishikesh and Ambala, across its different brands and, at the highest end, it will add W Goa Retreat & Spa and The St Regis Vommuli Resort, Maldives to its resort portfolio this year.

ÂŠ DZT/Scherf, Dietmar

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India is happening, as a generator and world centre of travel and tourism. The Power of the Indian Traveller is proving among the most resilient and robust. At this opportune time, in alliance with ITB Berlin, we bring you the first edition of BITB – Bharat International Tourism Bazaar, to be held in New Delhi from 28th-30th September, 2016. The event promises to be a comprehensive and inclusive tourism showcase under one roof. We are delighted to announce a B2B tourism exhibition with never before explored streams of both exhibitors and buyers to conduct meaningful business. The Best of ‘Glocal’ comes to Indian Tourism Two of the biggest names in the business join hands, with a promise to create only the best. ITB is the world leader with the biggest show on earth - ITB Berlin show, and their more recent addition ITB Asia. We bring you the world leader in tourism exhibitions. The outreach of ITB opens new avenues for promotion of the show, and equally of India as a destination. For both buyers and sellers from around the world, this reach is unparalleled. Cross Section is the oldest communications agency in tourism matters in India, with over 40 years of experience; it was the first mover in B2B marts in India and in South Asia, over 20 years ago. How is our show going to be different? We are creating an entirely new concept for a B2B show: • Focus on the Indian Traveller: We are basing our show on the Strength of the Indian Traveller. We all know how important he has become over recent years, a robust growth market, and will continue to do so. Our aim is to have 2000 hosted Indian Buyers on different programmes, and another 6000 registered Indian Buyers on other programmes, making our show the biggest focussed event on Indian buying. • New Streams of Business: While we focus on the traditional segments of business in tourism such as Hospitality, Destinations and Cities, Heritage and Leisure, MICE and Weddings and Aviation, we also diversify to bring to the fold emerging and game changing segments which include Online and Technology, Investments, Luxury, Infrastructure, Event based tourism, Golf and Sports like IPL and T20, Experiential travel, among others. • Tourism Under One Roof: Our vision is that everybody who has anything to do with Indian tourism should be here! From products to service providers, we hope to have everybody there for domestic and outbound tourism. One show fits all, regardless of size and nature of association. • Larger calendar of Activities: Apart from B2B buying, we are providing for and encouraging partners to do product launches, meeting with media or select trade, hosting a trade lunch, whatever! There are meeting rooms of different capacities which can be booked, events that can be listed as part of the larger show calendar and promoted. • Conduct Serious Business: Our emphasis is on quality, senior level management, CEOs, owners to come and meet each other. It is a marketplace of ideas, come and share them! Well Managed Show It is our understanding that there is real need for a quality show, driven by meaningful visitor flows, to enable genuine business. The ground management needs to be perfect, with marked visitor movements, with proper signage, and with international supporting facilities like restaurants, bars, networking sessions, meeting lounges – you will get all these, and more. Focus on Mainstream Media BITB will have strong partnerships with mainstream media, both in print and television. We shall be most active on social media. We expect 100 strong mainstream media to attend. All this will provide for maximum mileage to participants and partners. Open for Bookings Participation options range from simply exhibiting to establishing a strong brand presence with partnerships and onsite branding opportunities. Spaces are available, starting at 9sqm booth space. Cost is `17,500 per sqm for bare space or `18,000 per sqm on shell scheme plus premium location surcharge (if any), plus 15% government service tax. Send us your requirement of space and location. We shall soon come back with exact floor plan, and we are confident we will meet your expectations. We are confidently looking forward to the BITB launch edition and trust to have your support and maximum participation in giving our industry the show it so richly deserves.

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About the Organizers Cross Section Media is over 40 years in the business, having a number of firsts in India’s history. It was the first mover in B2B trade shows in tourism in India, way back in 1994. Our partnerships endured over the years we ran the event – all these enabled us to host over 4,500 international tour operators from over 50 countries during our 18-year tenure! In 2011, the last year when we exited this event, we were steadfastly tourism focused, growing 25% year on year, presenting 30 countries from around the world, 23 Indian states and some 650 sellers organizations. We have been the first movers in trade journalism, with magazine titles such as destination India, Travel Trends Today, Go Now and presently, Tourism First. We have run successful industry seminars and have been awarded by both industry associations as well as the Government of India.

hote lscape s @ HICSA 201 6

Eye on the pie: Radisson Red means faster and better return for investors Company expecting to add a total of 15 hotels to its portfolio this year including about eight operational By shayan Mallick

arlson will open its first Radisson Red hotel, its flagship property under the brand, next year in Mohali. A 160 key property, it was signed last year with Bestech, a real estate development company and a strategic development partner of

as the right market for the brand initially which could very well be part of multi use construction with, let’s say, a shopping complex or an office complex or both, says Raj Rana, Chief Executive Officer - South Asia, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, further adding that an investor can get immediate return on the office and residential side or the retail side

☛ The cost to build this hotel is lesser than a tradition hotel because the food and beverage component is laid out on one floor so there are certain efficiencies. The back of the house is smaller in size so due to that the return on the investment is quicker and is better. Carlson. Another Radisson Red is expected to be soon formalised in New Gurgaon. An upscale select lifestyle brand, Radisson Red aims to provide upscale room experience, advance in technology and targeted at the millennials. Radisson Red was launched last year. Carlson is eyeing state capitals

while the hotel typically has a longer gestation period. “It helps get a better return and better planning of space. We are in active dialogues with owners for this brand. It is a brand that is a very good fit for multi-use properties or in urban location, even in secondary cities. We are hopeful that the brand will drive value be-

cause it is a brand that is simple in the sense that it is technology of tomorrow. The cost to build this hotel is lesser than a tradition hotel because the food and beverage component is laid out on one floor so there are certain efficiencies. The back of the house is smaller in size so due to that the return on the investment is quicker and is better. Replying to possible projection for the brand in India, Rana said, “We hopes to sign two to three hotels each year. If an average hotel takes three to four years to open then the brand should be at a critical mass in about five years maybe, when we should hopefully have 15-20 hotels operating.” Overall Carlson has continued to grow steadily in India year-on-year. “Carlson has steadily grown in the last few years despite there being pressure of the rate side. The long term fundamentals of Indian hospitality remains strong. Supply is getting absorbed in the orderly manner. It is a cyclical business you sign a hotel today and it takes four-

raj rana CEO - South Asia, Carlson rezidor hotel Group

We hopes to sign two to three hotels each year. If an average hotel takes three to four years to open then the brand should be at a critical mass in about five years maybe, when we should hopefully have 15-20 hotels operating.

five years to build. So the hotels that are opening now were signed several years ago. We signed fifteen hotels last year and opened five. This year also we are going to sign 14-15 hotels and open maybe around eight hotels,” informed Rana. Rana says that the reason why they are able to do this is because they are still forging ahead in the secondary and tertiary markets where there is enough white space and no branded hotels of international level. “We are able to make inroads into that (secondary and tertiary markets), get in the first entry advantage position and build a good international quality hotel. This strategy is working for us. We will continue to push in the state capitals as well as in other secondary and tertiary cities that have good connectivity to the main hubs,” said a confident Rana. Carlson currently boasts of a total portfolio of 119 hotels in India, including 76 under operation and 43 under the development pipeline.

Holiday brands to drive IHG’s expansion in India, not averse to more JVs for hotel development For the global hospitality major IHG, the major concentration of its near to medium run expansion drive would be the mid-segment properties. The company aims to more than double its inventory in India (one of its ten strategic markets globally) in the next five years. By Ritwik Sinha

t a time when developed markets are struggling to shrug off the saturation growth trends and scene being no different in some of the emerging economies like Russia and Brazil, China and India have clearly emerged as the favourite turfs for the global hospitality where they are willing to up the ante. India, particularly with its 7 percent plus growth trajectory (China’s GDP

sidelines of the recently held HICSA event in Delhi. The company has made two additions to its Indian portfolio recently by opening two Holiday Inn Express units – in Chennai as well as in Delhi in the Aerocity. Primarily targeting business travellers, while Chennai unit (close to IT corridor in the city) has 136 rooms, the hotel in Delhi has been opened with an inventory base of 93 keys. According to Tan, the recent opening of the two mid-scale units mark beginning of a gradual

upscale offering – in Delhi/NCR alone. And in Chennai, the group is presently operating four units. Admitting that IHG today has a strong presence in some select markets in India, Tan asserted that the growth pipeline of the next five years would change the scene. “Today our 26 hotels cover 12 cities in India. With the opening of another 42 hotels, we will be present in about 25 cities including more emerging destinations in the country. With

have the capability to raise funds for the project, have development capabilities and land banks. And on that front, we have joined hands with efficient partners,” Tan emphasised. For development of new properties in the country, IHG has partnered with noted realtors Amrapali Group and Jain Group of Bangalore. However, its biggest partnership till date (signed in 2011) in India has been with the Duet India Hotels in the form of a joint-venture entity ( Duet has 76 percent equity and IHG the rest), mandated to develop 19 Holiday Inn Express. So far, this JV has delivered four units while the rest are at Clarence Tan the different stages of developChief development officer ment. “We are satisfied with the (Asia, Middle-east & Africa), IHG speed of the development and the speed of the delivery of the Our existing brands are perfect product,” Tan emphasised. He fit for the kind of growth we have was quick to point out that the planned in India. We will think of company may sign up for more introducing the fifth brand only when there is a demand from any JV arrangements as its scale specific market within the country. expands in the country. “We will not hesitate in more JVs if Holiday Inn New Delhi International Airport there is a right opportunity and right partner. Our ultimate aim the sound GDP growth projecexpansion process which will get is to have 100-150 properties in company has no plans to introduce tions and a visible upswing in the increasingly pronounced in the India in the next 15 years.” any new brand in India (the four domestic tourism, there will be many existing brands are InterContinennext five years. Presently, IHG has To further consolidate its posiprominent destinations in India from 26 operating properties in India. tion in the Indian market in the tal, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and the standpoint of our business.” “We have 42 signed properties coming years, IHG is also counting Holiday Express). “Our existing Another significant sub-plot in India under various stages of brands are perfect fit for the kind of on its technological innovations. of IHG’s projected growth in the construction and we expect all of “We are the largest hospitality growth we have planned in India. medium run would be its emphasis We will think oºf introducing the them to get commissioned in the group in the world in terms of our on the mid-scale segment offernext five years. In terms of near loyalty programme volume which fifth brand only when there is a ings – Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn run openings, three more units is close to 92 million. We are also demand from any specific market Express. Probably, yet another refrom Holiday Inn family – Tirupati, aggressively pushing our book within the country.” confirmation of the fact that Indian Kolkata and Chennai – will be direct functionalities which is more Clarence Tan further exuded commissioned before this year end hospitality would be largely driven beneficial for the customers. And confidence of IHG meeting its next by the midmarket operators. and in 2017, we expect six more the app which we had introduced set of milestones since it has joined “Holiday Inn and Holiday Express openings,” informed Tan. last year has been an instant hit hands with serious partners. “The will be in the forefront of our footA critical component of IHG – registering a little less than a challenge in developing hospitality print expansion in India. About 88 growth in India in the recent years million downloads till date. All of units is no different here in India percent of our new openings in the has been its concentration specifithese will also help our Indian partthan any other promising market. future will comprise these brands,” cally in two markets. For instance, ners and customers in a big way,” We are, therefore, very careful in said Tan while specifying that the it has five Crowne Plaza units – an choosing our partners – they should concluded he.

growth too is slipping after three decades of fabulous run) is being hailed as more promising than ever before (refer to our story “Global Hospitality Majors vote for India” on page 24 in this edition). Global hospitality major InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) which operates over 4800 units in nearly 100 countries with ten brands too seems to be filled with unbound optimism on the prospects in the Indian market. “India clearly figures in our top ten strategic markets list in the world today. And we are on the course of major expansion here in the next five years,” Clarence Tan, Chief Development Officer (Asia, Middle East & Africa), IHG told TourismFirst in a brief exclusive conversation on the

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Ranjan Bhattacharya

Growing maturity among Indian travellers augurs well for tourism & hospitality

Hospitality and tourism must necessarily be viewed as part of a larger economic and social structure, says Ranjan Bhattacharya, Hospitality veteran. I think we should stop thinking of tourism as some big stand-alone activity; instead, see it as an integrated part of a larger whole, and then you will see the big change happening... Across the spectrum, demand is seeing an upward trajectory and the supply has been absorbed in most parts of the country. By navin berry How is the economy shaping up, and likely to impact travel and tourism?

My sense is that green shoots have been showing up; GDP growth has been over 7%, even as numerous initiatives with far reaching implications for future growth have been taken. This means, our economy has been steady and resilient, and we are in fact poised for major growth. Tourism and travel will be the first beneficiary of this growth. I also believe that big ticket infrastructure spending, initiatives like ‘Make in India’ and numerous other programmes, as we witness them in infrastructure development and defence production, among others, will create jobs and also provide base momentum for people to travel. Tourism is a natural beneficiary of this.

What is your sense of the business of hospitality?

Across the spectrum, demand is seeing an upward trajectory and the supply has been absorbed in most parts of the country. This in-

dicates more people are travelling and using hotel accommodation. Everybody is now expecting rate gain, which too will happen, if done sensibly.

There is a feeling that the last budget did not sufficiently address tourism concerns?

I do not agree! In fact, the allocation to tourism was increased substantially. If addressing tourism concerns means concessions and concessions alone, I cannot comment. In the current circumstances, the government is looking for more revenue generation to fund the infrastructure push and fulfil its social commitments.

How is tourism benefitting from this government’s programmes? In specific terms? Please see the big turn-around of Varanasi. Infrastructure has always been our limiting factor. And this is being addressed in a big way. This government is changing the way Indians will live in the years ahead. Our quality of life will change with these infra related developments. Tourism will benefit and prosper

Marketing Aerocity

hink of the fruits of working together! We met Antony Page, General Manager, JW, venue of this year’s HICSA. What’s new, we wanted to know? Three Aerocity hotels, JW, Andaaz and Pullman, are later this month heading to Imex to market Aerocity as a convention venue. What about the others? “We wrote to all the constituents, had a meeting or two, but unfortunately, only three properties have come forward with the money. We have a stand within the India pavilion, and we have registed the brand, and created a website for Delhi”s Aerocity,” said Antony. Are they Antony Page, General Manager, JW Marriott Aerocity missing the convention centre within the complex, as this has failed to take off? Yes, but as it takes off, as and when, there is no stopping the work on hand. The first quarter this year has been good, and the coming summer looks its usual stuff, with business low and hotels vying with one another for it. A good start to our idea of a marketing vehicle for Aerocity, and for the need for the hotels to come together for their larger good. If the three partner hotels are among the larger stakeholders in Aerocity, future business should and will benefit the entire complex. We hope others too will come on board!

automatically. I think we should stop thinking of tourism as some big stand-alone activity; instead, see it as an integrated part of a larger whole, and then you will see the big change happening. Do not see tourism as a rich man’s territory, but tourism for all, including those who cannot afford luxury. I think we are on the right track, for certain.

What do you believe can signal the road ahead? This means, our economy has been steady and resilient, and we are in fact poised for major growth. Tourism and travel will be the first beneficiary of this growth.

Hotels are becoming pragmatic and started planning differently. They have segmentised their business and plan their budgets according to market needs. They have acquired a sensible approach, removed from ego projections and unrealistic expectations. Travel trade needs to understand the changing dynamics of the business and invest accordingly. I believe the key is going online for greater market penetration and outreach. The government has encouraged start-ups in online space, and I would like to see some bigger models appear in the travel domain.

Tapping the power of Indian travel! India is one of the most robust travel generating markets worldwide. For the first time, a showcase to Indian buying power for both domestic and outbound. Over 2000 hosted buyers from pan-India under one roof, at BITB 2016

What are the changes you see? To my mind, there is a growing consumerism, more recall and sharing of experiences. Overall business is getting more transparent, pricing is up there on the internet for the world to see! People are taking their itineraries

in their own hands, booking from homes! New possibilities to travel to places have emerged. There is maturity growing among Indian travellers. All this augurs well as our numbers keep showing robust growth. India is truly emerging as a major centre for travel and tourism in the world!

Homestay units have begun finding roots in India By Hari Nair Founder & CEO, Holiday IQ

omestays, an alternative accommodation segment, which has become popular in many developed countries has begun finding its roots in the Indian market as well. There are some specific pockets in the country where surprise, majority of the people have said that gothis segment is now growing by leaps and bounds ing to homestays was more satisfying than staying though in other places, the momentum is yet to in regular hotels. Homestays ensure personalised begin. Nevertheless, our big data analytics reveal services as against the standardized services of that there are five states in the country where the regular hotels which is their big scoring point. homestays vertical has registered rapid growth This has almost become a global trend with the in the recent years. The five states are: Kerala, Karnataka, Maharastra, Tamil Nadu and Himachal spreading tentacles of homestays aggregators like Airbnb and other such companies. In fact, Pradesh. And they have become successful in these five states for one primary reason: the policy in several markets in the west where Airbnb has gained in scale, it is giving stiff environment for the homestays is competition to regular hotels. Globquite progressive which is not the In the coming years, ally, observers are talking about the case with other states. In the five the online platforms increasing threat from homestays states where we have the clear like us will definitely to the standardized hospitality and evidence of homestays units multimake a sincere attempt there are many who would tell you plying, they have been growing in to get increasing that for the latter it has become the range of 20-25 percent on an number of homestays annualised basis. And that’s a big online. Over a period of imperative to pay more attention to the next one decade, the personalised services to combat trajectory. And if there is a larger about 70-80 percent of the challenge from the home-based focus on this segment, we can homestay units will be accommodation units. In a country easily have 100,000 homestay units bookable online. like India where it is the early hours in the next five years as against a for the homestay segment, such a mere 3,000-4,000 which exist today. situation will eventually emerge But as I said, its gigantic growth in not so distant future and hotel is quite possible and the segment can significantly contribute in filling the gap in the companies will have to get ready for it. A major shortcoming for the existing homeshospitality demand and supply equation. Its projected growth in a marketplace like India tays inventory in the country today, however, is that they are not part of the online mainstream. simply stems from the fact that creating fresh Our own platform has a large inventory of hotels inventory by the organised hospitality industry is but presently the volume of online bookable not so easy. There are challenges galore – be it homestays units is close to 1000. But this is goregulatory issues or local issues which hotel coming to dramatically change in the future. In the panies have to often encounter especially in the coming years, the online platforms like us will non-metro and far-flung areas. Addition of room definitely make a sincere attempt to get increasinventory via more homestays entry, therefore, is ing number of homestays online. Over a period quite a viable option amidst such a challenging of the next one decade, about 70-80 percent of scenario. homestay units will be bookable online. They are There is an interesting message that is emergcertainly poised to grow big-time in both quantiing from the beginning of homestays’ growth in the country for the organised hospitality players. In tative and qualitative sense and in the process a our analysis of Indian homestays performance, we new dimension will be added to the accommodation dynamics for travellers and tourists in the focused on several parameters including the satcountry. isfaction level of the consumers. And to our utter

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Talent acquisition and management is the key for qualitative growth, says leaders panel By ritwik sinha

Shantha de Silva Head- South West Asia, InterContinental Hotels Group

t the leaders’ panel session at the Hoshi convention, the discussion took off on a confident note in terms of size and scale of the noted hospitality groups in the near to medium run in the South Asian market, particularly India. For instance, InterContinental (with 5000 hotels globally) has 26 hotels in South-West Asia currently and 42 units are in the pipeline. Carlson Rezidor with 76 units in India is further shaping another 43 units which are at different levels of execution. Marriott has 52 properties in the pipeline in South Asia as against the present inventory of 32, Hyatt is opening three more hotels in India this year with 24 units in place and The Leela Palaces is looking forward to the opening of four more units in the country in not so distant future. The real issue for the industry leaders, as the deliberations

Today my GM has to be the guardian of my brand, a sound asset manager as well a leader of the people.

Kurt Straub VP (Operations), Hyatt Hotels Corporation

It is exciting to have young people at the leadership position. They bring new energy and approach to the operational and management issues. You have to ensure proper guidance to them and they can go off very quickly. growth is unfolding at a rapid pace. “Our talent pipeline is clearly not as robust as our unit pipeline. It does become a major concern quite often. We have embarked on our own home-grown strategy wherein we are mostly preparing our unit leaders from within,” said Raj Rana, CEO- South Asia, Carlson

☛ The growth in the hospitality business has outpaced the growth in the talent pool. ☛ Today GMs have a host of new set of responsibilities including communicating with the clients on the digital platforms. ☛ GMs now are relatively younger than what the trend has been in the past. highlighted, is ensuring the qualitative growth. Particularly in terms of acquiring and managing the talent pool. “This business is very people driven. But it seems that the sector has grown faster than the talent pool,” Achin Khanna, MD (Consulting and Valuation- South Asia), HVS said in his opening remarks. The panellists had a uniform voice on this issue saying that it is indeed taking a quite a lot from them to respond to the challenge of finding right kind of manpower when the quantitative

Rezidor Hotel Group. According to Shantha de Silva, Head- South West Asia, InterContinental Hotels Group, the company is resorting to align with the noted academic institutions (also offering hotel management courses) to keep their ranks in the fine fettle. Neeraj Govil, Market VP- South Asia, Marriott International maintained that the company’s core philosophy of adequate attention to the employees is helping them in dealing with the manpower dynamics in the hospitality industry. “We believe

Achin Khanna MD (Consulting and valuation south asia), hvs

This business is very people driven. But it seems that the sector has grown faster than the talent pool.

Raj Rana CEO- South Asia, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group

A great hotel in a great location may not perform well if it is run by an average GM.

Rajeev Kaul President, The Leela Hotels

GMs should try and create value. Your tenure will be valued long after you are gone. So try to create something which can be endured.

in the philosophy that if your employees are happy, your guests will be happy. And if your guests will be happy, they will come back to you. We do many things not only to attract the right talent but also in maintaining them by ensuring their proper career growth within the company. For our manpower management practices, we have made it to “Best Places to Work” list on several occasions. Right now, we are also focusing on get-

ting more women employees and encouraging them to make it to the leadership rank,” he informed. According to Rajeev Kaul, President, The Leela Hotels, the luxury major has its own mechanism to deal with the manpower issues. “The most exciting aspect of our man management exercise is that the Leela offers a greater opportunity for everyone to contribute to the culture of the company. We believe in realising the abilities of others and putting them on a fast-track growth,” he said. With quantitative growth being the most defining trend of the day, a critical change has crept in vis-à-vis the experience level of the hotel unit heads. “Earlier managers in their late 40s or early 50s used to become the GMs. But the new lot of GMs are much younger,” pointed out Achit Khanna. The moot point is: with lesser experience, can the new lot ensure high-standard management quality? “It is exciting to have young people at the leadership position. They bring new energy and approach to the operational and management issues. You have to ensure proper guidance to them and they can go off very quickly,” responded Kurt Straub, VP (Operations), Hyatt Hotels Corporation. The session also highlighted the growing criticality of the GMs role in the fast changing business environment. “Today my GM has to be the guardian of my brand,

Neeraj Govil Market VP- South Asia, Marriott International

The GM has to sustain our culture and keep it alive and kicking. They also need to understand the viewpoint of the owners and in the age of the growing might of the social media platforms, he is now also entrusted with the responsibility of communicating with the clients on the digital platforms.

a sound asset manager as well a leader of the people,” Shantha Dee Silva underlined. According to Neeraj Govil, GM’s role is increasingly becoming challenging. “The GM has to sustain our culture and keep it alive and kicking. They also need to understand the viewpoint of the owners and in the age of the growing might of the social media platforms, he is now also entrusted with the responsibility of communicating with the clients on the digital platforms.” Raj Rana further emphasised the growing importance of the GMs by saying, “A great hotel in a great location may not perform well if it is run by an average GM.” “GMs should try and create value. Your tenure will be valued long after you are gone. So try to create something which can be endured,” added Rajeev Kaul.

raj Rana

Neeraj Govil

Rajeev Kaul

Achin Khanna

Shantha de Silva

Kurt Straub

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FORUM

Hospitality leaders vote for India, confident of growth momentum in the coming years ☛ With growth parameters not being in the fine

By ritwik sinha

ith the economic fortune of the developed markets continuing to stay in a sluggish mode and some of the major pillars of the emerging economies club (Brazil and Russia) not exactly firing on all cylinders, the leading players of the hospitality industry are looking at India (alongwith China) as the favourite growth turf for a mid-run horizon. At the leaders panel discussion at HICSA convention early this month, the senior representatives of the leading global hospitality brands exuded confidence that the growth momentum for their business would intensify in India in the coming years. The hour long deliberation began with the basic question - two years after the NDA government came into the saddle with the promises of transforming Indian economy and its various sunrise sectors, has it done something to enthuse the global leaders? “This new government is now two years old. And if we look at macro-economic parameters, GDP is growing by over 7 percent. But the moot point is: has the scene got better

kapil chopra President, the oberoi group

GDP is growing by over 7 percent. But the moot point is: has the scene got better for the hospitality industry?

thorsten kirschke president - asia pacific, carlson rezidor hotel group

Branded Residences have posed some serious challenge in many countries. And it is primarily because of its basic structure – there are multiple owners. And in India where we need more than 100 permits for a hotel project, we would opt to wait for better regulatory environment.

fettle in other parts of the world, Indian market is increasingly consolidating its position as a favourite turf for the global hospitality majors. The discussion by the hotel industry leaders also captured other interesting sub-plots which may be added to the growth story of Indian hospitality. For instance, branded residences - a segment which is being pushed by many hospitality majors in the developed markets. “Will it also take off in India in a big way in the coming years? ☛ Most of the global hospitality majors have a robust pipeline planned in India for the medium to long term. ☛ For the critical manpower issue, industry leaders believe they need to do more ☛ Finding out modalities for an amicable co-existence with OTAs will be a critical challenge in the future.

Craig Smith President - Asia Pacific, Marriott international

You need to have some patience to see the actual result of this positive mood. Just remember, the condition of airports in India in the past and how they have changed.

jan smits CEO - amea, intercontinental hotels & restaurants international

We have looked at this opportunity in India a few times since we have successfully created such properties in the US market. We will have to look at market conditions here more closely.

peter fulton group president - EAME & SW Asia, Hyatt Hotels Corporation

We have to create a robust homegrown talent pool. We have to see that our eco-system offers right work balance to them and we are compatible with their requirements.

ratnesh verma president & Md, whitbread hotels & restaurants international

We have always believed that India is a long-term story. The issue is: when will it become the now story? Does it have depth in the market beyond 5-6 cities?

for the hospitality industry?,” asked Kapil Chopra, President, The Oberoi Group, also the moderator of the session. “Things are looking great for India. The forecast for India for the next ten years is that it will fast outstrip China in terms of GDP growth. Modi government has certainly created a positive environment. We are certainly looking forward to open more hotels in India. You need to have some patience to see the actual result of this positive mood. Just remember, the condition of airports in India in the past and how they have changed,” responded Criag Smith, President (Asia Pacific), Marriott International. Thorsten Kirschike, President (Asia Pacific), Carlson Rezidor spoke no differently. “Two years is too short a period to make a judgement. The overall sentiment, however, is positive. The real challenge going ahead would be to see the pace at which projects are executed,” he observed. Ratnesh Verma, President & MD, Whitbreads Hotels, however, issued a cautionary note. “We have always believed that India is a long-term story. The issue is: when will it become the now story? Does it have depth in the market beyond 5-6 cities? And there are plenty of regulatory and taxation issues for the hospitality industry. I would like to see some decisive movement towards the now story,” he opined. His company (operating 750 hotels in the UK alone), however, is opening two new units in India in the next six months – in Goa and Chennai. According to Thorsten, the Carlson Rezidor group which is considered to be the fastest growing MNC hospitality firm in India, the company is now reaching out to the tier 2 & 3 markets. “We almost have a presence in every state capital. And now we have identified the vibrant tier 2 & 3 destinations for our future moves. We are entering in these places on the basis of our analysis (demand and sales equation) of these markets.” The discussion by the hotel industry leaders also captured other interesting sub-plots which may be added to the growth story of Indian hospitality. For instance, branded residences – a segment which is being pushed by many hospitality majors in the developed markets. “Will it also take off in India in a big way in the coming years?,” asked Chopra. “We have looked at this opportunity in India a few times since we have successfully created such properties in the US market. We will have to look at market conditions here more closely,” said Jan Smits, CEO (AMEA), InterContinental Hotels Group. “Branded residences could be an exciting opportunity,” added Peter Fulton, Group President (EAME and SW Asia). But according to Thorsten, developing branded residences does not seem to be easy at this stage. “Branded Residences have posed some serious challenge in many countries. And it is primarily because of its basic structure – there are multiple owners. And in India where we need more than 100 permits for a hotel project, we would opt to wait for better regulatory environment.” The criticality of manpower issue in the Indian hospitality sector again found prominence in the discussion with the industry leaders venting out different solutions even as they were unanimous in their voice that the players themselves need to do more. “If we look at a country like India, there is no dearth of talent. The responsibility lies with us. We have to create a robust home-grown talent pool. We have to see that our eco-system offers right work balance to them and we are compatible with their requirements,” said Fulton. The concluding part of the discussion probably raised the most pertinent point of the day – how does hotel industry combat the OTA threat? And industry captains emphasised that while the online players have become an integrated part of the business value chain, there is scope of better equation between the two sides. “I don’t think they are bad. The problem is they are becoming too demanding,” observed Craig Smith. “The consumers need comparison and we hoteliers need to be represented on all channels available. Travel agents have always been there. With OTAs, we need a more healthy association,” added Fulton.

hote lscape s/Marriot t promotion

Healthy break

Farm to Fork display

Liquid nTrogen Station

Meetings @ Marriott proves a valuable business proposition to the hotel chain

midst the countless ways that India can capture world attention as a tourist paradise, there also exists business opportunities as an excellent venue for national and international conferences with facilities matching global standards. Business travel sometimes means large scale with thousand attendees, or it could mean a small project team heading out to visit a client. To accommodate both scenarios, Marriott India offers a range of hotels and brands, but only one brand of service: The very best! Elegant, full-service hotels such as the JW Marriott, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, and The Renaissance, are renowned for their attention to detail, service and design. With the right loca-

tions, cutting edge technology and support, together with the right approach make the Marriott India hotels a smart choice when it comes to the business of Meetings. We have some of the largest Convention hotel spaces within India under our portfolio of hotels, be it in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Pune and Bengaluru. Marriott India at present has 32 hotels, across 18 cities, with footprints expanding across the country in a very robust manner. We see this as a great opportunity for meeting planners to use us as a one stop shop solution for all their calendar meeting requirements across the country. India would be present in the top 25 ranking globally in the coming few years, with the kind of Con-

vention meetings being held in the country year on year and if one were to consider all the events that are presently being booked for the next 5 years, Marriott India hotels would be amongst the top players as far as the meetings business is concerned in the Indian market. To redefine in many ways the manner in which meetings are conducted, Marriott introduced the Meetings Imagine and Meetings Services App, which literally transform Meetings into an Experience. Meetings Imagined is an online platform modeled on the user-friendly Pinterest.com and the Chinese Huaban.com online forum. Meetings Imagined provides expert tips on everything related to meetings, including networking

Personalized fppd take away in a meeting

activities, maximizing social media exposure and creating the right meeting environment. Meetings Imagined also includes the latest meeting trends and hundreds of inspirational images to spark creativity. Marriott International’s research discovered that there are seven purposes for meetings: celebrate, decide, educate, ideate, network, produce and promote. Meetings Imagined allows meeting planners to design their meeting with a purpose in mind; the website is curated around these purposes and the component building blocks of meetings - setup, food & drink, tech & supplies, and experiences. In addition to the website, event planners can collaborate on event creation with Marriott International’s Meetings Imagined specialists who are available in 11 Asia-Pacific markets. Meetings Imagined is a unique approach to help planners and organizers to design more inspiring and engaging meeting experiences for their delegates based on the purpose of the meeting. Offering real-time connectivity: Meeting Services App-The Meeting Services App is a continuation of Marriott International’s innovation in technology, spaces and services, and builds upon the brand’s existing offerings. The app provides real-time connectivity to Marriott for meeting planners and features a wide range of functions. This includes a chat facility to connect MICE organisers with Marriott’s event team throughout the planning and execution process, and allows Marriott to respond immediately to any issues or requests, and to inform the planner on how the request is being handled. As of 2015, the Meeting Services App is available in 20 languages , at 100 hotels under Marriott Hotels, JW Marriott, Renaissance, The Ritz-Carlton, Autograph Collection and Courtyard by Marriott across the region. Website- www. meetingsimagined.com Marriott M-Cube- which literally means Making Meetings Matter, is another initiative undertaken by the Marriott India Hotels, to connect with the growing MICE segment in the country. Held for the 3rd consecutive year in 2015, Marriott M- Cube , attended by leading names from the Travel & Trade Industry is a themed event that focuses on Recognition, Motivation and Partnership with a collaboration of great ideas and learnings, that would eventually help in better service delivery. The meets emphasize on the need for customization as per an individual or groups demand, to help further better and enhance their experience. The MICE customer today is very well travelled and aware of what is out there in this playing field, a large customer base is fast emerging from the tier 1 and tier 2 markets of India, these emerging markets are yet untapped and duly catered too. In today’s fast paced digital era, travel has taken on new dimensions and opened up unexplored horizons, service needs to match the requirements of Gen Y & the Millennial customer. Meetings and all elements related to it literally need to fall into place with a swipe of the finger- it’s a thrilling ride, the challenge is keeping up!

hote lscape s @ HICSA 201 6

Emerging trends in hospitality space: what every hotelier needs to keep track of Jean-Michel Casse, Senior Vice President - Operations, AccorHotels India region shares some of the trends in hospitality business with our readers. Also, how the group is adapting to these trends in their own brands for better exploitation of business opportunities.

n an age of digital disruption, the rise of a new generation of savvy consumers, proliferation of newer brands and an increasingly competitive landscape, hotel groups need to move with agility and embrace a new level of dynamism to stay relevant. Continual evolution is mandatory to be able to meet with changing preferences of today’s customers. At AccorHotels, we work hard to be innovative and constantly reinvent our brand portfolio concepts to stay ahead of the curve. With nearly 50 years of know-how and expertise, we are committed to building the world’s most enviable collection of brands in the most powerful emerging markets, making our guests ‘feel welcome’ at each of over 3,900 properties spanning 17 brands.

consciousness has been preoccupied with the impact of the baby boomers and Generation X, but a new force is coming into focus. While not as copious, millennials are now more vital to today’s workforce than any other demographic and according to industry estimates, may be the largest spenders (on or at hotels) as soon as 2017. What does that mean for hoteliers? For starters, hotels need to define their strategies based on this demographic group’s personality traits and habits – they travel a lot; are early adopters of technology; like personalized interactions and are spontaneous. In fact, there has never been a demographic that is more connected, digitally savvy and demanding, wanting contemporary design, high quality amenities, smart technology

☛ Our brands meet the needs of millennials by being quirky, playful and fashionable. In India, we are soon launching ibis Styles in Goa, an international economy hotel brand with a strong personality and outstanding design features. Some of the tectonic shifts pushing our industry to newer boundaries range from the rise of the millennial traveller as the dominant consumer group in coming years, increasing usage on mobile devices & apps for more personalised hotel guest services and newer trends in food and beverage. These forces are driving hoteliers to rethink the way they do business. It is important to act now, and as Sebastien Bazin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AccorHotels says, “AccorHotels is not going to be a spectator of its own life. We are an actor.”

Rise of the millennials For a long time, collective

and locally inspired ambience all wrapped into a single hotel experience. Consequently, hotels will want to please them with easy check-in and gourmet dining experiences at reasonable prices. In return, satisfied millennials will actively promote their businesses on social media channels (they value experiences, are eager and curious to the world). Our brands meet the needs of millennials by being quirky, playful and fashionable. In India, we are soon launching ibis Styles in Goa, an international economy hotel brand with a strong personality and outstanding design features. Characterised by lively colours, fun interiors and upbeat atmosphere, ibis Styles offers the right

It was a longstanding belief that hotels are late adopters of F&B trends. That meals are only about menus. But with the changing tastes of diners, these beliefs are making way for a whole new approach to F&B. Restaurants, bars and coffee shops are no longer just about food, but also about the experiences – networking, socialising and getting things done. environment to appeal to millennials. Simplicity, interactivity, quality and conviviality are the brand’s core values. Everything has been designed to delight our customers, to be moving and to arouse their senses. As real homes-away-fromhome, our hotels boast convivial and comfortable areas that invite guests to enjoy and exchange, thus promoting social interaction.

Influx of technology

Guests today are self-sufficient, tech-savvy travellers who are comfortable using apps or mobile websites. From buying flight tickets and booking a hotel room to hailing a ride and checking-in, it’s all possible with a click of a button. Hotels need to make sure their offerings are up-to-date and userfriendly, leveraging the latest in technology. From mobile check-ins to digital concierge services, the possibilities are endless. However, it is important to not let technology push aside the most important ingredient of a memorable stay experience –thoughtfulness and the human touch (that’s never going to change). For example, the AccorHotels mobile app offers an enriched experience at every stage of the customer journey.

Two days before arrival, we can let you know your room number, and then when you land, we tell you how to get to the hotel. When you arrive at the hotel, your key is ready. However, while technology permits a digital check-in, we still insist on an employee interface. That’s because we believe in establishing an emotional connect and extending an experience. We need to listen to our guests, and we use technology to allow for more time to do that, instead of doing away with physical contact. This is exactly how we envision our digital transformation strategy playing out.

Knowing customers better

Digital technology is putting customer relationships in the spotlight: customers are more and more connected, find out what other customers have to say before deciding where to stay, and are sharing their experience with a constantly growing audience. According to industry estimates, before booking a room, 95 percent of customers check other guests’ insights online. Therefore, listening to customers and actively providing feedback is becoming vital. For every hospitality player, it is

imperative to listen to customers and to learn more about them, to constantly improve the quality of the service they provide, to bring customers more appealing and tailored deals, to welcome them with a personal touch, and to stay a step ahead of their expectations. Our Voice of the Guest (VOG) program is a solid step in that direction. The customized online reputation management platform centralizes all customer feedback shared across the social web, and displays it in a clear and intuitive interface, breaking down an analysis of the content into semantic categories (room, food, service, WiFi, etc.) in more than 19 languages, helping us enhance our customers’ experiences and, more importantly, add an even more personal touch to the service we provide them with.

Disruption in Food and Beverage

It was a longstanding belief that hotels are late adopters of F&B trends. That meals are only about menus. But with the changing tastes of diners, these beliefs are making way for a whole new approach to F&B. Restaurants, bars and coffee shops are no longer just about food, but also about the experiences – networking, socialising and getting things done. AccorHotels is leading the change by converting our F&B outlets into “places to meet”, avenues where guests, whether they are staying with us or not, can socialise, eat and drink. We are treating them more like “living spaces” for our active and urban clientele, breaking the traditional codes of dining. The Connectivity Lounge at Pullman for example and the Gourmet Bar at Novotel and finally the Hub at ibis are all examples of this. Goes without saying that our talented chefs are focusing on avant-garde F&B menus embracing the best of what’s happening in the gourmet world.

We imagine your Future

WE ENSURE YOUR SUCCESS 94 Countries

3,873

hotels &

511,517 rooms

South Asia

hotels

6,856

rooms

We are much more than a world leader. We are 180,000 hoteliers with the same shared passion for welcoming. As an operator, owner and investor, we invest all our energy into making "Feel Welcome" resonate as the ďż˝nest brand promise.

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(L-R): Moosa Zameer, Minister of Tourism, Government of Maldives; P.R.S. Oberoi, Executive Chairman, The Oberoi Group and K.N. Balasubramanyam, Chairman and MD, SCDCL.

More Indian hotel groups in Maldives and direct connectivity from Delhi on the cards: High Commissioner Ahmed Mohamed Maldives and India have been close partners for many years. The diplomatic ties between the two nations started in 1966, but people-topeople contact dates back to several centuries. In what could be a fitting tribute to five decades of relationship, connectivity to Male could get a major boost with direct flights from Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai in the coming months. By shashank shekhar

aldives is a unique nation, because not many countries in the world are scattered around the vast expanse of an ocean like it is. As it opened its doors for international visitors in 1972, it has steadily emerged as a top draw for tourists’ world-over. “As far as the economy of Maldives is concerned, tourism is the highest GDP contributor. Directly and indirectly, it contributes to over fourty percent of the overall economy,” said High Commissioner Ahmed Mohamed, highlighting the importance of tourism for the nation. “Traditionally, we have fisheries as a very important sector, but tourism has picked up relatively and now stands as the most important asset for our economic growth,” he added. Other than creating direct source for revenue, tourism had also been pivotal in developing other sectors as being a small island state, having its own environmental and economic vulnerability, much of the economy has been dependent on tourism. “Many other industries benefit from the spin-off generated by tourism. For instance, the construction

Ahmed Mohamed, High Commissioner Maldives

☛ We are in discussion with Mega

Maldives and the GOI to start flights from northern cities. The Indian government has been positive in their response. industry is the second biggest contributor to our economy, because there is a lot of construction happening that is related to tourism industry,” he explained.

The envoy believed that tourism, itself, was an export sector as there was export of services. He said that his nation understood the importance of tourism and wanted to diversify source markets by increasing connectivity. “It is an important element that we are focusing on,” the High Commissioner said. He opined that being dependent on one source market itself was a risky way of managing an industry, implying to the overt dependence on European markets for tourism in the country. Sharing that a lion’s share of inbound into Maldives came from European markets and over 50 percent of total footfalls still emanated from Europe, he noted that “ Eastern and South-eastern nations in Asia, including China and India are some of the markets we want to diversify our inbound from.”

Event

Calling India one of the most populous countries of the world with adequate number of travelers who wanted to explore Maldives, he stressed that Maldives wanted to utilize this opportunity by enhancing air-connectivity between the two nations. “We have had around 50,000 Indian tourists coming to Maldives last year, and this number is on the rise on a year-on-year basis,” he shared. In terms of spending power too, India held leverage, felt the envoy. “There is a large middle-class segment that wants to travel. We understand that connectivity is the main barrier in attracting tourism. Therefore, we are in discussion with airlines to operate more flights from India, especially from northern part of the country. Cities like Delhi, Kolkata and, even, Mumbai do not enjoy direct flights. We surely do enjoy robust connection from the Southern part of the country,” he revealed. He added that if they were able to get direct connection going, it would automatically boost inbound traffic into Maldives from India. In terms of operating airlines, there are two carriers flying out of Male. One is the national airline – Maldivian – which, at present, operates in the Southern cities of India. Another is the private airline called the Mega Maldives. “We are in discussion with Mega Maldives and the GOI to start flights from northern cities. The Indian government has been positive in their response. We are in midst of handling formalities which needs to be completed for starting operations. The bureaucratic and administrative processes are moving at a brisk pace, so our hope is that we would be able to start operations before the end of first half of this year,” informed the top envoy. “It is a priority for the government, simply because Indian market is still ma-

jorly untapped,” he added. Recently, The Oberoi Group announced its foray into Maldives. This comes at a time when Maldives has upped its ante for larger investments from India. The High Commissioner stressed that they would like the presence of more Indian hoteliers in Maldives. “The Taj Group has been there for quite some time now; they have two properties. I understand that they are interested in further expansion,” he shared. He divulged that during the recent visit of the Maldivian tourism minister to India, they had discussions with other hoteliers, as well. “It was very encouraging to see that they were interested. We are, now, identifying islands and working on feasibility reports for investments by hoteliers. In couple of years, they may become operational. But hopefully, sometime during this year, we could be signing some MoUs with hoteliers,” he noted. Refraining from spelling out the names of hotel groups because talks were in preliminary stage, he, however, said that there was a widespread interest in investments into Maldives, from India, in the tourism sector. “It is profitable for them as well as the tourism projects have a very high rate of return. Tourism investments in Maldives have constantly yielded double digit returns on investments,” said the top diplomat. Taking a wider stock of the state of bilateral ties between India and Maldives, he said that both the nations had traditionally enjoyed good relations. Reminiscing historical events and India’s contribution there in, he noted that “India was the first country to respond when there was a coup attempt in 1988. It was the first country to respond to the Tsunami disaster that hit Maldives in 2004; India also responded to the water crisis in 2004. So, it is unmatched to any other bilateral relation that we share.”

Indian Travel Partners MeetSouthAfrica

South African Tourism organizes familiarization trip for travel partners

outh African Tourism, recently, hosted a delegation of 25 Indian travel partners in the country, giving them the opportunity to discover the various attractions and hues of the Rainbow Nation. The travel partners were selected after the successful completion of the Learn South Africa, a curated education and awareness program for trade partners in India. Underlining the significance of the Indian market for South Africa, consultants and partners from renowned Indian travel firms across key cities including Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune, Nagpur, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Chennai, Trichy, Jalandhar and Goa were hosted as a part of the familiarization programme.

outbound

Phillip Island showcases the power of conservation in creating a unique product Not many places in the world can boast of activities where tourists can hand-feed Koala and Kangaroos in natural setting. Phillip Island in Australia is a testament to what can be achieved through scientific conservation and interactive tourism offerings. By shashank shekhar

ocated some 140 kilometers southwest of Melbourne named after Arthur Phillip – the first governor of New South Wales – Phillip Island has carved a niche for itself as a destination for tourists heading to the Australian shores. It is used as a farmland - sixty percent of the 100 square kilometer area – for grazing sheep and cattle, and inhabits less than ten thousand people. But, what makes it a unique destination is its rich fauna and Nature Parks which offers some of the most breathtaking activities for tourists to engage in. Stephen Peppard, International Sales and Marketing Representative, Phillip Island Nature Parks shared that the Nature Parks offered an abundance of Australian wildlife in its natural setting. “The Nature Park manages many

The Koala Conservation Centre, The Nobbies Centre and the world famous Penguin Parade are all within ten minutes of each other. The emphasis is on wildlife, with the iconic Penguin Parade allowing visitors to see penguins in their natural habitat, and the Koala Conservation Centre is dedicated to Koala research and conservation, allowing the opportunity to view Koalas in their natural habitat on treetop boardwalks,” he explained. “Besides activities, it has also emerged as an important centre to learn about conservation,” he added. Leisure tourism aside, Phillip Island Nature Parks has also emerged as a formidable MICE venue. “The Nobbies Centre is a state-of-the-art venue, perched on the cliffs overlooking the

☛ I would like to see the 13% grow to around 18% by the end of this financial year at the end of June, then continue this growth to be somewhere around the 20% mark by December exciting attractions such as the world-famous Penguin parade, the brand new Antarctic journey at the Nobbies Ocean Discovery Centre, Wild Ocean Ecoboat Tours, Koala Conservation Centre and Churchill Island Heritage Farm,” he said. He added that the Nature Parks, also, included many conservation reserves and recreation areas such as Pyramid Rock, Rhyll Inlet, Swan Lake, Oswin Roberts Reserve, Cape Woolamai and The Nobbies Centre which overlooked Australia’s largest population of fur seals. “Churchill Island’s working farm,

wild waters of Bass Strait. The private function rooms can cater for a variety of configurations. Whereas, Churchill Island is a unique private island of 57 hectares, and is a noted historic working farm,” he said. Stephen explained that the island could cater for small intimate groups or larger groups of 2000 people. “Group activities can include traditional farming chores, milking cows, sheep shearing, and hand feeding baby animals. The Koala Conservation Centre has a number of spaces that can be utilized for a private dinner,

a tremendous growth from the Indian market. During the financial year from the 1st of July 2014 to the 30th of June 2015, we saw an increase of around 25 percent which was also triggered by the Cricket World Cup,” shared Stephen. Adding that he hoped this growth to continue in the present fiscal, he said “it is testament to the massive potential the India market has.” Stephen hoped for a fantastic growth and product awareness through a more intense association with the Indian trade partners. “I would like to see the 13% growth further shoot up to around 18% by Stephen Peppard international sales & marketing the end of this financial year at representatives, the end of June, then continue Phillip islands nature parks this growth to be somewhere around the 20% mark by We are seeing a tremendous growth from December,” he said exuding the Indian market. During the financial confidence. year from the 1st of July 2014 to the Stephen now intends to 30th of June 2015, we saw an increase leverage from its India based of around 25 percent which was at least partly due to the World Cup. representative which, to his understanding, will give them a distinct local advantage. “Blue Square consultants conference or simply a casual BBQ,” will be in a position to attend Stephen detailed. Further explaining trade shows that would not have the scope of varied engagements, he been viable for us in the past,” said that “Wine tasting, Wildlife inter- he said. “I am also planning a action such as feeding a kangaroo, visit to India within the next few photo opportunity with Australian months to meet with Blue Square wildlife like koalas, wallabies, womConsultants and to personally bats, emus were also on offer.” conduct some sales calls and Looking at the growth of Indian product training. We attend ATE market, Indian outbound to Aus(Australian Tourism Exchange) tralia has been growing steadily. every year which many Indian Only recently, business generated agents also attend,” he added. by the Indian outbound hit a billion Adding that many of these agents Australian dollar mark – making it did site inspections pre and post the eighth most important market ATE, he said “it will be providfor Australian tourism. This growth ing us with a great opportunity seems to have rubbed off on the to promote our amazing wildlife Phillip Island as well. “We are seeing experiences.”

50 years ITB in Berlin VOK DAMS stages exceptional opening event For its 50th anniversary more so than ever the ITB emphasized its significance as leading industrial fair of the global travel industry in an impressive manner. With an exceptional and very emotional show this year’s partner country of the ITB – the Maldives – presented themselves at the opening celebrations. More than 3,000 guests experienced a cornucopia of top-class, artistic performances at the CityCube Berlin on the fair-trade premises. The agency VOK DAMS, which can look back on an abundance of experience with trade-show openings (CeBIT, Hanover Fair) was requested and commissioned as an exclusive partner of the MB Capital Service GmbH, which is responsible for the coordination of this year’s partner country. As lead agency, the Berlin-based team of the agency for events and live-marketing was responsible for scheduling, stage direction, light, sound and screen concept as well as the coordination of all subtrades involved. This also included the integration of the protocol demands of the Maldivian show parts and the 50-years-ITB parts, as well as Video, 3D-mapping and speeches. The result: an opening ceremony that befitted the special occasion of the ITB anniversary and surpassed the expectations of the guests.

PROLOGIC FIRST and trends in software technology innovation There are sweeping changes occurring in technology. Cloud-based alternatives to traditional site-based software solutions, on-line commerce, proliferation of mobile apps and the dominance of social media are some of the most visible changes. Since inception, more than 15 years ago, Prologic First has been a technology innovator. Prologic First continues to invest into maintaining technology leadership for the benefit of its users. Cloud based services

Since the last few years, Prologic First has invested into re-engineering of its software to be able to offer software-as-a-hosted-service, as an alternative to the traditional model of software licensed for use at the customer site. Our users benefit because they can reduce or eliminate up-front investment in IT infrastructure, enforce standardization of parameters and processes across the chain and centralize system administration tasks. Chains that own and manage their properties benefit, further, from sharing expert

manpower resources amongst properties and through faster and more accurate consolidated reporting.

On-line commerce

For most hotels, the share of bookings from on-line sources keeps growing. The challenge for hotels is to deploy contemporary technologies to address this trend. Prologic First has developed and offers software for this purpose. It offers channel management software that directly connects the hotel’s PMS (or the chain’s CRS) to OTAs so that rates and room availability can be

published and updated, 24/7, with minimal human intervention. Similarly, reservations are downloaded electronically into the PMS. Prologic First’s web booking engine enables hotels (and hotel chains) to accept room reservations at the hotel (or chain) web site, irrespective of the device through which a bookings are made. It is important to note that each of the above electronic sales option is integrated with Prologic First’s PMS and CRS so that all sales channels work with a single-image of rooms inventory.

Mobile applications

Some years ago, Prologic First was amongst the first hospitality vendors to launch a mobile POS. That has now evolved into an easy-to-use and very cost-effective Android based POS which is, arguably, the best mobile POS available. Since then, Prologic First has delivered more mobile applications. For example –

• Prologic First’s web booking engine uses responsive web based technology to render the software appropriately, depending on the device on which it is used. The choice of devices includes desktops, pad or tabs and smartphones. • Housekeepers, engineering technicians, bell boys and any one responsible for delivering guest services can be assigned tasks and can communicate task status by use of a mobile app. • Purchase requisitions and orders can be approved by the authorized users by use of a mobile application developed by Prologic First that is integrated with its purchasing software. Prologic First has also integrated mobile applications developed by partners companies. Such applications include software for mobile check in & check out, guest communications (prior, during and post stay) and

electronic concierge.

Social media listening

Today, it is vital for hospitality businesses to listen to and engage with their guests over social media. The challenge is the large number of social media platforms that need to be monitored. Prologic First has already introduced social media listening features within its new cloud based PMS. The feature allows hotels owners and managers to monitor what is being said with the dual objective of understanding guest satisfaction and of responding to & engaging with guests promptly. As a technology innovator & leader, Prologic First has delivered value to its customers and continues to do so in the emerging disruptive technology scenario of today. Prologic First’s customers gain competitive advantage by using innovative technologies and Prologic First enables them to do so.

outbound

Grand Coloane Resort Macau

tourism on?

arzan Khambatta

Macau pushing for family and cultural tourism; incentives driving MICE business ‘The Vegas of East’ has many facets that are yet to find traction in the India outbound. The aim of the tourism board will be to showcase these aspects which will augment footfalls and add more luster to its destination appeal, feels Arzan Khambatta, Head, Macau Tourism Government Office, India. Excerpts of the interview: By shashank shekhar

ell us a little bit about Macau’s positioning as a destination. Many call it the ‘Vegas of the East’

It has got different connotations. Macau has evolved a lot over the years as well. So the way we position it, we talk about it being the nerve centre of tourism and leisure. I would say that Macau is a city of duality. On one hand, it has a got a

very unique blend of Chinese and Portuguese culture, whereas on the other hand, it has a number of very high-end hotels and luxury properties. Therefore, someone can feel various facets at a single destination. Entertainment is another major aspect of our offerings; there are world-class shows going on in Macau all the time. Most of the hotels and resorts are theme-based which have become attractions in themselves.

When Indians go to these properties, they like to witness shows and cultural festivals that are happing all the time. It would not be wrong to say that there is always something going on in Macau. It has a fascinating night-life; establishments are open till wee hours of the morning. It is a very safe city which is why we see a lot of women travelers heading to Macau for their bachelorettes and parties.

So is the women traveler segment an important segment? How big is it for you?

It is, indeed, a growing segment which we intend to tap further. Safety is a big concern for women travelers, and the number of women travelling out of India for bachelorette parties is steadily picking up. Our mandate is to promote Macau as a fantastic party destination and an extremely safe one, in equal measure – which is a rare combination.

How big is shopping as an activity?

Shopping is quite big, but Macau is famous for its high-end luxury shopping than street-shopping. There is a bit of street shopping in Macau. The shopping part is still little known in India, but those who do travel shop a lot. In fact, few of the properties also give shopping credits to their guests. So, the shopping part of it is big, but it is more in the luxury high-end segment.

What are the latest trends in terms of tourism in Macau? What are you key products that you are basing country’s

As you said, the first thing that came to your mind when you heard Macau was the term ‘Vegas of the East’, but it is changing slowly, and that is what we are trying to promote. It has got so many family-based activities, and is so rich in culture, which is exactly our thrust as a tourism board. Indians do go to Macau for the grandeur, entertainment and casinos part of it, but the culture and food is so unique that Macanese cuisine is nowhere else to be found. It is a blend of the Portuguese and Chinese with flavors from all over – Africa, India and elsewhere. There are family entertainment activities like the Science Centre, the house of dancing water show, the Panda pavilion, the Batman ride and number of museums that have come up off late. There are churches and temples.

Are churches and temples attractions in themselves or an add-on to the larger tourism product?

Globally, it is a big attraction. It is unheard of having Gothic Portuguese style churches in a Chinese city. It is a rare combination. If you go to Macau, you will find that there are parts of city which remotely resemble being a part of a contemporary Chinese city; it would look very old, Gothic style Portuguese architecture with cobbled-stone streets named in Portuguese. The culture is very neatly blended, and the government is preserving that culture – which is good for the future of tourism.

So, where are you getting your footfalls from? Give us a sense of tourism from India into Macau. What have been the numbers off late? Last year, we hosted some 1,67,000 tourists from India. It is growing steadily. In terms of source market, Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru remain major markets for us, but we have seen an increasing trend coming from smaller cities like Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Pune.

Jordan Tourism Board conducts wedding planners familiarisation trip Jordan Tourism Board recently held a mega wedding planners FAM to Jordan from India. The participants were from prominent wedding planning companies from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Ahemdabad.

Even this year, we are going to focus on tier-2 and smaller cities like Jaipur which are very strong feeder markets to traffic from Delhi and Mumbai, and that is where we see the growth coming from. Gujarat, Ahmedabad area in particular, is a major contributor to footfalls into Macau.

Tell us a little bit about connectivity from Hong Kong.

There are no direct flights from Hong Kong, but there is chopper connectivity. It is usually connected to Macau by ferry, and, at the most, takes an hour. You can actually take a ferry directly from the airport without actually crossing the Hong Kong immigration. The connectivity is really seamless; your luggage can directly be checked-in and collected in Macau, and that is the itinerary which a lot of people are following these days. People go straight into Macau from the airport and go to Hong Kong while coming back.

Give us a sense of MICE segment. How is it shaping up? How are you bolstering the segment?

It is a great incentive destination. A lot of corporate groups take their incentive groups to Macau. We have an incentive scheme which depends on the number of people going, and we give back a few complimentary elements to help the corporate segment. They include a half-day city tour, a cultural performance, and souvenirs.

Is the strategy working for you? Are you open to a tweak?

This is the strategy that we have. It is a centralized offering, but depending upon the size and the interest of the group, we do tweak it. I would say that a half-day city tour is a very attractive proposition as every group has to do a city tour – which is completely coming free of cost from the Macau government. Most of these incentives also include a gala dinner. So, the elements that are provided are actual components which people spend for.

The group travelled from Amman to Dead Sea, Petra, Jerash, Ma'ain Hot Springs and Aqaba to scout potential locations and venues of Jordan for holding Indian destination weddings. Jordan is slated to become an exotic and promising wedding destination, as Indians increasingly look for newer venues and exciting options for themed-weddings.

outbound

31 Treasury

Obelisk Tomb Jabal Al’Qal, Amman

ashit taneja

Jordan keen to augment wedding segment; sets sight on new markets to enhance footfalls 2014, but it was unfortunately discontinued due to some internal reasons. We, as a tourism board, are very keen to have them back to re-establish direct connectivity between Indian and Jordanian cities. Talks are happening at multiple levels to ensure that service can be commenced soon. We are hopeful that we can have it commenced again. We may also have an arrangement with some other airline instead of Royal Jordanian. But direct-connectivity apart, we have a number of middleeastern airlines operating out of Jordan which provide excellent connectivity to India via Dubai and other hub cities. For Instance, Air Arabia flies from 13 cities across India; further, they have multiple connections from Sharjah and Amman. Similarly, carriers like Etihad Airways, Kuwait Airways, Oman Air and Qatar Airways have excellent connection across India. This connectivity also gives an advantage to Indian travellers because irrespective of city he is flying from, he can think of any airline within that region, and can fly into the country.

Jordan is a nation with plenty of tourist attractions. A concoction of ancient ruins and vibrant cities, it has enough to attract a discerning traveler. At a time when the entire region is in tumult, Ashit Taneja, Country Manager, Jordan Tourism Board is hoping to change prevalent perception through a vigorous outreach and create new markets by diversifying clientèle base. An excerpt of the interview: By shashank shekhar

ordan’s geographical location is a tricky one, given that it is surrounded by Israel, Syria, Iran and Palestine. In such a hostile neighborhood, facing such a complex political situation, how difficult is it to promote Jordan as a tourist destination? It is true that the situation in the neighboring region is not very stable to showcase Jordan as a

dependent on tourism, therefore tourism remains important to the country.

So what kind of numbers have you been getting from India?

On an average, we have been receiving around fifty thousand Indians every year. Obviously, going forward, we want these numbers to grow. But, even achieving similar numbers as previous years will be an achievement for us because what has been happening in the region has, also, somewhere

☛ We are very keen to have carriers back to re-establish direct connectivity between Indian and Jordanian cities. Talks are happening at multiple levels to ensure that service can be commenced soon. ☛ We believe that Jordan is a right fit as a destination for Indian wedding travelers. In fact, we recently concluded a wedding planner trip; we hosted around 18 wedding planners across India. promising tourist destination, but the good part that needs to be stressed is that nothing untoward has happened in Jordan. It also shares a very good relation with the neighbouring countries. Be it Israel, Egypt, Iran or even with the government which is currently ruling Syria, as well. Jordan, itself, is geographically a very small country. People live as a community bonded with each other. The country is a Kingdom, and has a full-fledged operating government. So, on a more holistic basis, the nationals of Jordan are very happy and have not been influenced by the ideology of ISIS. The nation is politically stable; also as the major chunk of economy is

pushed Jordan in a negative light for the time being. Our main focus right now is to showcase to the world that despite being part of the troubled region, it is still a very safe destination for travel and tourism. So, our thrust is to create the perception of a safe destination.

What is the state of airconnectivity from India? You do not have direct flights which must be an impediment? How are you addressing this challenge? It is true that direct air-connectivity is the best USP to promote any destination’s tourism. We, in fact, had Royal Jordanian flying direct to Mumbai and Delhi until October

So Jordan is a leisure destination? Are you trying to diversify your positioning? How are you going about it? It is a leisure destination, but we are not limiting ourselves to one segment. We are also attempting to promote Jordan as a MICE destination. It is, by default, a part of the Holy Land itinerary since ages. We are also venturing into wedding segment because we understand the potential of Indian weddings, for business and footfalls, taking place in international destinations. We believe that Jordan is a right fit as a destination for Indian wedding travellers. In fact, to give a boost to this segment, we recently concluded a wedding planner trip; we hosted around 18 wedding planners across India, showcasing to them exotic resorts, cultural heritage and the availability of Indian food in our cities. Interestingly, the feedback has been very positive, and we hope that this enthusiasm will translate into solid footfalls. Dead Sea remains a key tourist destination, followed by Aqaba – it is a port city which has gained international repute for wind-surfing and other water-sport activities – and Petra. Unlike Jordan, no other country allows you to host events at one of the wonders of the world. The thought of hosting an event at

The challenge is to make the Indian audience aware of our diverse offerings What is the major challenge that you foresee heading forward? How are you tackling it?

A major challenge that we foresee stems from the price point of view. Jordan is considered to be an exotic destination in the leisure segment. So someone who has already been to South-Asian or European countries, there is chance that he will take to Jordan. What we want to achieve now is to bring Jordan to, maybe, not to such mature traveller, but to someone who has been to say 3-4 countries. We want to offer them an experience which is worth their every penny spent. Why I say this is because the Indian audience is not very aware of offerings. To my knowledge, I do not know any nation that being geographically so small, offers such a variety of offerings. The new part of the capital city – Amman – is a striking cosmopolitan city which offers a wide variety of cuisines, shopping experience and a thriving night life. The old Amman gives you a completely different experience with a number of historical sites and heritage. There is a rustic charm to it with cobbled streets and small shopping complexes. As you move down, you reach the Dead Sea which is a famed spa and wellness destination. If you further drive down south, you will reach Petra which is a new Wonder of the World. It is a part of the historical era that has great offerings for tourists. Further down south, one reaches Aqaba – which is a port city known as one of the world’s most famous diving spots. It is one of the top five diving spots on the planet. Any water based or adventure activity, which one can think of, is available in Aqaba. Therefore technically, you drive 400 kilometers from north to south and get to sample a thriving cosmopolitan life, spa and wellness, history and heritage, and land and water adventure activities. So to my mind, there are a few places in the world which can match what we offer in a span of 400 kilometers. the Little Petra, which is a part of the Seven Wonders of the World, will attract a lot of attention and holds tremendous potential.

Give us a sense of the market segmentation? I presume it is predominantly leisure segment?

At this stage, roughly around 25 to 30 percent of Indians travellers are travelling on the Holy Land itinerary. The rest, in principal, constitute of leisure travellers. We do not have specific numbers on MICE movement, but based on the understanding of the groups travelling, we assume that roughly 5-8 percent of footfalls come from corporate travel.

What has been the trajectory of growth in numbers from the Indian outbound? Well, for the past three years, we have received similar numbers from India. But as I mentioned earlier, clocking the same number

is also an achievement for us, given the state of the region. Moving forward, we anticipate a good increase in footfalls in 2016. We base our optimism on the fact that situation is getting a little settled in Syria now, especially with regard to the ISIS. We are also getting very aggressive in marketing and campaigning, whether it is in terms of addressing the business constituents or directly addressing the clientèle base.

What are your key source markets in India?

If you talk about leisure market, they are Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Now we will be focusing more on Gujarat with cities like Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara, given that the Gujarati community is a top-traveller. If you talk about the Holy Land itinerary, it primarily emanates from the southern coastal region of the country – which is primarily Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

outbound

Jet’s arrival in Amsterdam emboldens Holland Tourism to plan promotional rejig in India Within Asia, India is the fastest growing tourists source market for Holland in percentage terms. But it is on a small base. Now with the prospects of robust direct connectivity, Holland Tourism is confident of raidly expanding its Indian footfall base. “In my reckoning, we will register 30 percent jump in Indian arrivals this year and there could well be 15 percent kind of growth trajectory in the medium run.”

Alphonsus Stoelinga, Dutch Ambassador

By ritwik sinha

hen you catch up with Dutch ambassador in India Alphonsus Stoelinga, the chances are he would surprise you in many ways. His informal demeanor is quite striking which gets further amplified by his ability to carry the conversation in Hindi to a considerable extent beyond the mere exchange of ‘Namaste’ (“I am taking lessons in Hindi,” he tells you). Last month, when TourismFirst caught up with him on the sidelines of the Jet Airways press conference to announce Amsterdam as its new European hub, Dutch ambassador’s enthusiasm had probably touched its crescendo considering the business and tourism implications of the direct flight path between India and Holland. “This is a great initiative which will bring the two countries much closer,” Stoelinga told TourismFirst. The presence of NBTC Holland Marketing chief Jos Vranken on the occasion further reinforced the point that Jet’s arrival

at Amsterdam is being perceived as that critical catalyst to augment the tourism exchange between the two countries, particularly in terms of giving a decisive push to Indian arrivals, a segment which has been rising steadily in the recent years. Dutch Ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga himself seems to be a great believer of the theory that in the present day national economic management, tourism has a much larger role to play. “I had once told Indian prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi that tourism should be a major focus area for India. Imagine if the present 8 million inbound is converted to 15 million. How much of economic benefits it will bring,” he recalled. Stoelinga’s firm belief that tourism could be a driving force of a happening economy well stems from the performance of Holland Tourism. The country is much smaller than Delhi/NCR in terms of total size. But last year it had registered a foreign arrival figure of around 14 million. The tourism industry in Holland accounts for 5.4 percent of the national GDP

and around 10 percent of the total employment in the country. Apart from scenic beauty, the country in terms of its traditional assets is known for its world famous castles and museums (e.g., Van Gogh museum). In South Holland lies the Keukenhof, the world’s largest flower garden which is visited by nearly a million tourists every year. In terms of foreign tourists footfall, the scene is dominated by European travelers. “Germany accounts for a hefty share of our foreign tourists arrival, last year the figure was 4.2 million. On an overall basis, 80 percent of our arrivals is from other European countries. In non-Europe category, the US and China are the leaders,” Jos Vranken, Managing Director, NBTC Holland Marketing told TourismFirst. However, with a figure of around 95,000 arrivals from India, Holland Tourism has begun to look at the country as major potential source market. “We do recognize the tremendous growth in the India outbound segment. It is registering an annual growth of 12 percent which practically means the volume would double every seven years,” observed Alphonsus Stoelinga. According to Vranken, even as China leads the pack from Asia as the source destination (about 2,75,000 Chinese tourists visited Holland last year), India is recording the highest growth in

percentage terms though on a low base. According to Dutch ambassador’s guesstimate, while business travelers and leisure tourists account for nearly 40 percent each, the remaining 20 percent of traffic from India primarily comprise students arriving in Holland for different vocational courses. Amidst this scenario, the facility of direct air linkage spearheaded by Jet Airways has come as a shot in the arm for Holland tourism promising further enhancement in Indian traffic. “After this service was announced, we have seen 20 percent increase in visa requests. You can well imagine how could the scene change after the daily direct connectivity to Holland becomes a regular

service. In my reckoning, we will register 30 percent jump in Indian arrivals this year and there could well be 15 percent kind of growth trajectory in the medium run,” Dutch Ambassador underlined. And to ensure footfall augmentation from India (the target for this year is around 1,25,000), NBTC Holland Marketing confirmed upping the promotional ante in the key Indian cities – something which it has been reluctant to do in the past due to absence of direct connectivity. According to Vranken, NBTC Holland Marketing is contemplating a joint destination marketing campaign wherein Jet Airways and Schiphol Amsterdam airport will also participate. “ This campaign may begin in the next few weeks. Apart from this, we are also planning an aggressive travel trade marketing campaign. All this would obviously entail enhancing the promotional budget for the Indian market,” informed Vranken. The NBTC Holland Marketing chief further stressed that in the near run, Holland Tourism will have a segment specific approach to attract more visitors from India. “Family market, luxury travellers, weeding and honeymoon segment and MICE traffic will be Jos Vranken our special focus. Our MD, NBTC Holland Marketing wedding offerings are Germany accounts for a hefty share becoming very popular of our foreign tourists arrival, last with the unique natural year the figure was 4.2 million. On settings comprising the an overall basis, 80 percent of our gardens, windmills and arrivals is from other European panoramic landscape. countries. In non-Europe category, We would definitely tap the US and China are the leaders. this segment in a big way,” said Vranken.

Turkey keen to form joint working group to promote tourism, demands more flying rights By ritwik sinha

urkey, a tourism powerhouse in the world, has proposed to the Indian Ministry of Tourism to form a joint working group to promote tourism between the two countries. Speaking to a select media gathering on the sidelines of an event (to announce the opening of 16 visa application centers in India in an exclusive association with VFS global)

in Delhi late last month, Turkish Ambassador to India Dr Burak Akçapar said that time is ripe for furthering the tourism exchange between the two countries given the large potential that this segment offers. “We are both big economies,

are member of the G-20 club, and both of us share big ambitions in the tourism sector. Turkey is already a global super power in terms of tourism with around 39 million arrivals and we have the experience to augment the footfalls. We can do a lot of things together which can be mutually beneficial. Our proposal for a joint working group primarily calls for co-ordination at the government level. We are awaiting the response of the Indian government,”

said Turkish envoy while refusing to divulge any further detail. Turkey, the sixth largest tourism destination in the world, had received about 1,30,000 Indian tourists last year which marked a jump of over 10 percent on an annual basis. And

confident of garnering more number from one of the fastest growing outbound markets in the world, Turkey now has made a major move to facilitate easy visa facilities to the travellers from India by opening 16 new visa centers. From the beginning of this month, travellers from India, Nepal, and Maldives can now apply for Turkey visas at centres located in New Delhi, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Goa, Puducherry, Kochi, Trivandrum, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kathmandu (Nepal) and Male (Maldives). “Currently, we are receiving about 1000 visa applications a day. This is a major improvement which gives the applicants a better and easier visa service. I believe that the launch of these visa centres will contribute to the enhancement of the cooperation between Turkey and India in the fields of tourism and economy,” added Dr. Akcapar. At the event, the Turkish ambassador, however, minced no words in emphasising that the air connectivity scene between the two countries needs an urgent attention for a drastic makeover. The national carrier of

tions in Turkish Airlines’ network. Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Amritsar and Kolkata are the destinations where Turkish Airlines can easily operate if the permission is granted,” Dr. Akcapar emphasised while adding the existing services with over 90 percent load factor have become completely congested. With a fleet size of around 300 aircrafts and with a volume of over 61 million passengers registered last year, Turkey’s H.E. Dr. Burak Akcapar national flag bearer today Ambassador, Republic of Turkey has the most expansive reach in the world, and Turkish airline has the biggest according to Turkish network in the world in terms of number of cities they are covering. ambassador, allowing the They operate in 230 cities and so carrier to penetrate more tourists in many new cities will find in the Indian market will access to India. give a boost to Indian tourism. “Turkish airline has the biggest network in the world in terms of the country, Turkish Airlines, presnumber of cities they are covering. ently connects Delhi and Mumbai They operate in 230 cities and so with direct flights to Istanbul but tourists in many new cities will find its demand for more flying rights access to India. Turkish airlines has is pending with the Ministry of offices in all these cities and if their Civil Aviation. “We are interested in operational scale expands in India, enhancing our existing frequency as it will be a win,win proposition for well as bringing more Indian destina- both the countries,” he said.

niche : Wine tourism

Classy charms of Goblets: Grover Vineyards Wine tourism in India is on the rise, thanks to a new breed of home grown players. With growing awareness, visitors profile is also witnessing a change as tier-II cities take to wine tourism.

sumedh singh mandla

Interview with Sumedh Singh Mandla, CEO, Grover Zampa Vineyards, India’s most awarded premium wine makers.

By KISHORE AND SMITA IYENGAR

rover Zampa Vineyards is a successful merger between Grover Vineyards Ltd and Vallee De Vin Pvt Ltd; owning widely recognized brands in the Indian wine market and is backed by reputed veterans of branding, marketing and distribution in the alcobev industry. Grover Zampa Vineyards boasts the most impressive pedigree in the Indian wine industry today and is also largest exporter of fine wines from India. The company utilizes international techniques and practices that they have brought to India to create great wines expressing the best of the terroir. Their twin locations, one at the Nandi Hills in Karnataka and second in the Nashik Valley in Maharashtra offer the best of geographical bounty. The natural protection of the Nandi Hills and the terraced slopes of Nashik offer heavenly natural beauty, lush green valleys and vineyards. Nashik is also an excellent spot for vineyard tours. In addition, the winery has been aesthetically designed to encourage wine tourism. The Nandi Hills region offers tranquil surroundings, a rich history and beautiful vistas to travellers. Bird lovers thrill in sightings of spectacular Asian Paradise Flycatchers, Bulbuls, Blue Capped Rock Thrush, Tawny Eagles, and Puff-Throated Babblers. Their Nandi Hills and Nashik Valley wine tours are a window to high maintenance quality through their wine-making process, where grapes are processed in temperature controlled cellars equipped with modern materials and their own bottling lines. Michel Rolland the world famous wine consultant, helps Grover Zampa in creating truly international class fine wines of distinctive style.

s the most awarded Indian wines, Grover Zampa Vineyards has won numerous awards and accolades. Recent ones include Decanter Asia Wine Awards Bronze 2013 for Grover Art Collection Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Grover Art Collection Rose 2013, Zampa Soirée Brut and Grover La Reserve 2011 and Commended for Grover Art Collection Cabernet Shiraz 2011. Hong Kong International Wines and Spirits Competition 2013 granted the Silver for Zampa Soirée Brut (First Silver for a sparkling wine from India), Bronze for Grover La Reserve 2011 and the distinguished pedigree red wine -Zampa Chêne 2012.

Grover Zampa Vineyards are among the most prominent and reputed wine makers in India. How do you sustain your leading position in the burgeoning yet young Indian wine industry and the interest in wines?

We trust that the quality of the wines majorly depend on the quality of the grapes produced in the vineyards and quality inputs at the wineries. Every year is a challenge for us to do our best over the past with support from climatic factors,• Controlled yield with good viticulture practices improves the quality and hence we limit our production from our vineyards. This is achieved by limited fertilization, preferable irrigation during night hours to maintain equilibrium temperature between irrigating water and soil temperature at root zone. • 90% of the fertilization practices complete in vegetative growth period. 70% of the total fertilization practices are organic based. • Decomposable organic wastes from the vineyards and winery are turned back to vineyards as a substitute for organic matter and nutrients. • Harvesting grapes 100% manually and in cooler part of the days to collect grapes in good condition for processing.

We follow stringent international winemaking practices to produce quality and consistency in our range: • We have and ISO22000 certification in the winery, which gives us many Quality Control checkpoints to stick to. • We have a team of trained winemakers who will taste the wine- at least weekly, and during fermentation and more frequently. • Our workers are trained in hygiene excellence and a very rigorous cleaning regime.

Most of your wines have been bagging awards of distinction for the past many years. What kind of marketing and wine tourism thrust keeps you ahead of the rest? Grover Zampa is the Indian wine pioneer and most awarded wine producer. We have won 57 International Awards during last 2 years confirming our belief that we are moving in a right direction. In the absence of advertising liberty, we need to rely on consumer events and education to create awareness of wine and its associated benefits. The Great Grover Wine Festival Bangalore is one such initiative that was conceived as Karnataka is our origin and also our largest market. This platform will grow the consumer base and shall bring wine

lovers closer to our brand. The vision is to reach 10000 attendees in 5 to 7 years horizon. Our current facility cannot accommodate such numbers thus a convenient, premium and larger venue was considered. We had over 2000 guests in its 2nd edition and we are happy with the progress.

How does awareness of wines and wine culture boost niche tourism?

Wine and food pairing is a great experience and an opportunity. Indian cuisine is both rich as well as diverse and it is popular across the globe. This provides a great opportunity to pair Indian Food and wine. Wine education will be playing a major role in the development of wine Industry in India. We already spend substantial time and resources every year with wine tasting events.

What is the visitor profile at your vineyards in Nandi Hills and Nashik?

Wine is finding new consumers across most parts of India and there is a growing interest even in Tier II and III cities. The fastest growth is coming from the age profile (25 to 45 Years), women’s segment, NRI and Expat segment and also corporates.

You do offer regular conducted wine tours at both your wineries. -What is striking and significant about your winery tours? What kind of experiences do visitors get there?

Wine tourism is integral part of our wine business and experiential marketing program. On our guided tour of the vineyards, we explain grape varieties, basic of viticulture practices at Grover Zampa, followed by a guided tour of winery with basics about winemaking of different types of wines. This is followed by wine tastings, details on wine characteristics and basics about wine tasting. One can log on to www.groverzampa.in for more details.

Winery and vineyard tours in major wine producing countries have been successful in promoting quality tourism in a remarkable way. Do you perceive the growth of wine tourism as means to expand awareness of Indian wines like yours? Wine tourism offers a huge opportunity for growing wine awareness and culture, revenue generation, employment creation as well as development of infrastructure. Every year we see more guests visiting our wineries. In the coming years we will be investing heavily to promote wine tourism in our wineries at Bangalore and Nashik.

the l ast pag e

Outdoor temperature-controlled swimming pool at Conrad Pune

Porch

amit midha

Conrad Hotels debuts in India with a property in Pune; attracting MICE and leisure travellers Conrad Hotels and Resorts have launched their first property in Pune. Strategically located in the heart of the business centre, the hotel boasts of some unique features that are likely to make it a preferred destination for meetings, conferences and leisure gatherings. An interview with the GM: By shashank shekhar Share with us some details of the hotel. What sort of inventory have you come up with?

The opening of Conrad Pune marks the entry of the luxury Conrad Hotels & Resorts brand into India. We are a part of Hilton Worldwide’s portfolio of 13 global brands. The brand is committed to providing global modern luxury and

intuitive service in sophisticated and inspiring surroundings. It is the destination for the new generation of smart luxury travellers for whom life, business and pleasure seamlessly intersect. Complementing the brand’s new international positioning ‘Stay Inspired’, Conrad Pune is the epitome of curated experience, services and sophisticated style. We are confident that the hotel has all ingredients to be the first choice of business and leisure travellers

visiting the city as well as guests seeking to host exclusive meetings, private dinners or grand weddings and receptions. Located in the heart of the central business district near Koregaon Park, Conrad Pune offers easy access to Magarpatta, Kharadi, Hinjewadi and Pimpri-Chinchwad, as well as the airport. The hotel features 310 guest rooms including 20 suites that are among the largest in the city, six stylish dining outlets and what is expected to become the city’s most coveted meetings and events space ideal for exclusive social gatherings and business functions. Recreational facilities include the city’s first outdoor temperaturecontrolled swimming pool, a separate kids’ pool, whirlpool, 24-hour fitness centre, a full-service Conrad Spa and a salon.

What are the available F&B options?

The dining options at the hotel promise to become the city’s hot spots and include three innovative restaurants, a chic bar, a unique poolside café, delightful delicatessen and a lobby lounge. Coriander Kitchen, the all-day restaurant offers an interactive culinary journey with multiple- live counters serving a range of Indian, Asian and Mediterranean street food inspired cuisine. With a dramatic 40 feet fully-glazed wall overlooking an outdoor waterscape, this restaurant offers an inspiring venue for a breakfast meeting; and a leisurely lunch or dinner with friends, family or business partners or a quick bite with colleagues. Zeera is the speciality Indian grill fine-dining restaurant with a display kitchen and sweeping- wine wall. Koji, the Asian speciality restaurant, serves the best of Japanese, Chinese and Thai cuisine.- The Asian-inspired chic Masu bar features a large sake wall, offering the ideal location for- cocktails with colleagues and business associates as well as family and friends. For guests who enjoy the outdoors, Kabana, the poolside café that serves a classic westernlounge menu and a selection of refreshing beverages and wines, offers the perfect setting. Guests can also recharge with a quick bite and a refreshing cup of tea at Pune Sugar Box, the- delicatessen that offers freshly baked pastries and savouries, as well as hand-made chocolates. It also features a live counter offering guests the choice of customising their order.

Given that Pune has a strong corporate base, what sort of capacity do you have in terms of hosting meetings and conferences? Our hotel is poised to become the most sought after venue for

Kabana

exclusive meetings, private dinners and grand receptions. The 20,000 square feet of meeting and event space at the hotel features an eight thousand sq. ft. Grand Ballroom, seven boardrooms, dedicated entrance, indoor automotive lift, state-of-the-art audio visual technology, intelligent lighting, intuitive service and a range of inspired catering options.

What is the kind of positioning are you hoping to acquire in the city’s tourism landscape? Will you be focusing on the MICE segment in a more profound manner, or the thrust shall be on the leisure segment?

We are confident that our hotel will fast become first choice of business and leisure travellers visiting the city as well as guests seeking to host exclusive meetings, private dinners or grand weddings and receptions. Meanwhile, our dining outlets promise to become the city’s favourite haunts! In fact, the response we have received so far has been overwhelming!

What is your take on the state of hospitality industry in the city? How is the supply side coming up?

The pace of new capacity addition has rationalized and the city has experienced a steady and continual growth in demand. In having established itself as a reasonably priced hotel market with quality product offerings to host weddings, events and conferences in Western India, Pune continues to see an increase in events. Additionally, the long stay segment has experienced an increase driven to a large part

by the IT/ITeS sector. According to industry reports, this trend is anticipated to continue.

Is there any special design element that has been incorporated in the construction of the property? Take us through some salient features of the property.

Conrad Pune presents a world of glamorous style with stunning Art Deco inspired interiors. Some highlights are 40 feet high ceilings, dramatic feature lighting, mirrored surfaces, and bold geometric shapes, dashes of striking colour and hints of lavish ornamentation. The hotel is equipped with the very latest technology. For instance, our ‘Intelligent / Smart Rooms’ sense the guest’s arrival and switch from energy saving mode to occupied activating the air-conditioning system, drawing curtains and adjusting the lighting to suit the time of day. We also offer the popular Conrad Concierge mobile app, which gives global luxury travelers the ability to customize details of their hotel stay before, during, and after each visit via a smartphone or tablet. Additionally for guests who seek inspired experiences, the hotel offers a more customized and curated collection of 1-, 3-, and 5-hour itineraries available at www.StayInspired. com and accessible via the Conrad Concierge mobile app. The hotel participates in Hilton HHonors, the guest loyalty programme for the Hilton Worldwide portfolio of brands. It is the only loyalty programme that allows members to earn Points & Miles for the same stay and redeem points for free nights with No Blackout Dates.

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