Tourismfirst july issue by Cross Section Media Pvt. Ltd.

Vo lu m e 2 . I s s u e 3 . J ULY 2 016 . ` 5 0

Total pages 32 No.U(NDGPO)-01/2016-2017 Date of Publication: 14/07/2016 RNI No. DELENG/2015/62794 Posting Dt. 12-17/07/2016 Postal Reg. No. DL(ND)-11/6180/2015-16-17

An historic opportunity with celebration of 2017 as Indo-US cooperation year: Isabel Hill. Isabel Hill spoke extensively on how USA was in midst of systematically addressing some of the core issues impacting its tourism and travel industry. … page 11

GoAir seeks international flying rights, orders 72 A320NEO

oAir is presently touching the magical threshold of 20 aircrafts and needs one more to be eligible to go international. Eversince its inception the airline has taken a quieter route to growth, and now is reported to be seeking new pastures, presently more green and untried. For instance, in its April 2017 forecast, report suggest a New Delhi-Male connect, till now untried but one that promises much for tourism between India and Maldives. Signalling a major growth initiative, GoAir has recently placed an

order for additional 72 Airbus A320NEO, increasing the overall order to 144, to be delivered between now and 2025. Also, the airline has sought permission for flying rights to 14 countries. The list includes UAE, Iran, China, Kuwait and Vietnam, among others. The move comes at a time when several domestic operators are ramping up their fleet size to expand their outreach. Overall order books of Indian carriers are presently estimated at over 650 aircrafts.

Pilgrimage tourism gets a boost with infra push from centre, MoT takes the lead

ith the objective of strengthening religious tourism in the country, the government has given a go-ahead to a string of infra-related projects. Spearheaded by Ministry of Tourism, this 1,500 crore undertaking constitutes of three schemes – Ramayana Circuit, Buddha Circuit and Krishna Circuit, spread across Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The MoT intends to use this fund to create requisite infrastructure for developing seamless connectivity between destinations. One of the first undertakings includes creating a state-of-art audiovisual experience depicting the life of Lord Rama. The Buddhist circuit will boast of a light and sound theme park at Sravasti, while the Krishna Circuit will have yatri sheds, food-kiosks and sound and light show across Eastern UP.

E-visa to further expand ease of doing business in India

ith an underlying aim of further expanding on ease of travel and doing business in India, the government is considering extending the e-visa scheme to 36 more countries. Going by media reports, MoT intends to expand e-visa facilitation to tourists coming from Iran, Italy, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, among others. Once the proposal is given a go-ahead by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 186 countries would be eligible for e-visa for travelling to India. Ministry’s push for inducting more nations in the fold of the scheme comes at the back of some impressive numbers in inbound footfalls. Latest data revealed by the Ministry of Tourism shows that during January-June 2016, a total of 4,71,909 tourists arrived on e-tourist visa as compared to 1,26,214 during JanuaryJune 2015, clocking an impressive growth of 273.9. The decision to further liberalize e-visa scheme could add weightage to India’s pull as a tourist destination and lend weight to national programmes.

Maharashtra to host maiden SAARC Tourism Summit

aharashtra’s tourism landscape is set to get a major booster dose in coming months. The government has decided to hold the maiden SAARC Tourism Summit in Aurangabad. Valsa Nair Singh, Principal Secretary Tourism and Culture, Government of Maharashtra announced that the two-day summit was also being aimed at tapping

FDI under ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make in Maharashtra’ schemes. She said “The historical silk route and connect of the place with the Buddhist circuit across world, including China, is significant,” explaining the rationale behind choosing Aurangabad for the SAARC Tourism Summit. The Department of Tourism (DoT) is also trying to rope in the PM to inaugurate the event.

tourism currents

Focus on quality, key source markets to attract luxury travellers: Vikram Madhok (Page 4)

After a momentary stir, ‘Brexit’ set to fuel Indian outbound as Pound heads South (Page 5)

US-INDO TOURISM

IACC Conference Identifies tourism as key to realizing full potential of bilateral trade (Page 8)

hotels + resorts

Mixed development best bet for ROI and central to AccorHotels expansion: Gaurav Bhushan (Page 20)

outbound

Spain senses no competition in attracting cinema tourism from India, asserts Counsellor (Page 28)

Global player ITB Berlin, the world’s biggest tourism fair, comes together with Cross Section, India’s first mover in B2B travel trade events, and with over 40 years’ exposure in tourism. Together, they create BITB, a B2B with 6 Power Conclaves that bring sharp focus on tourism, senior leadership and serious buying and selling. 3–6 October, 2016. Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

this issue : juLY, 201 6

Indo-US agreement on tourism cooperation could be a trendsetter among countries

M Modi’s recent visit to the USA saw some major developments in tourism related issues between the two countries. India and USA inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on tourism, deciding to partner with each other, celebrating 2017 as the year of tourism cooperation. The development, to our belief, is a statement of Prime Minister Modi’s understanding that we need to learn some more on tourism. We would like to think that there is an implicit understanding that there is great opportunity in putting learning experiences together in our taking the tourism development forward. Having said that, there is a great need for us to make our industry and market more mature, imbibing some of the best global practices. It has been a norm, prevalent since decades, that governments’ share signed agreements on tourism and travel collaborations and cooperation with a number of countries. We too have signed our fair share of agreements and MoUs. Tourism, too, figures prominently, very often, in country to country signature agreements. It appears that tourism protocols and agreements have been, by and large, ceremonial in nature and they are seldom taken forward in terms of implementation on the ground to their rightful conclusion. This Indo-US agreement stands out in being different! If tourism is a growing industry, worldwide, it stands to reason that there is a lot to cooperate between countries. One nation may be deficient in one area while the other nation may be lacking in another, so there would be different learnings for each of the two countries engaged in bilateral exchange. For instance, India could impart its famed culinary skills to countries where Indian cuisines are popular. India could learn, too. May be, we could understand the intricacies of wildlife management from a country that has gained expertise in that segment. Similarly, there could be mutual learnings in areas like monument and heritage preservation, flora and fauna management, and establishing and operating eco-tourism reserves. While we may feel a sense of joy looking at inbound figures that have recently crossed the eight million mark, some of it has rightly been attributed to the launch of e-visa scheme and its extension to more countries. But for a country like India, with a population of over 1.25 billion and offerings that range from lofty mountains to tranquil beaches, looking at the tourism potential of India, the unleashing has not yet begun, so big is the scope and the canvas of our tourism. Whether it is the quality of mountain tourism, adventure tourism or wild-life resorts, we are still on the fringes. We have not even started the journey. The situation is somewhat similar in areas like Sea, River and Cruise tourism. A lot of these should get reactivated. A special cell needs to move in – which will create, at a diplomatic level, bilateral and multilateral dialogue on sharing of tourism knowledge and best practices.

Suresh Prabhu

Minister of Railways, on integrating railways with general budget

Integrating the rail budget with the general budget will enable formulation of a seamless national transportation policy, while insulating the Railways from political pressures.

Tony Fernandes

CEO, Air Asia on opportunities in India

We are excited about India. It is a tough market… We are looking to accelerate in India. With the change in rule, now we don’t have to wait for five years and 20 aircraft fleet to fly overseas.

Wolfgang Prock-Schauer

GoAir chief executive officer on inking a 7.5 billion USD order with AirBus

The MoU (memorandum of understanding) is already quite detailed and covers all the commercial terms and delivery schedules. So it’s more than a preliminary agreement.

To be able to succeed in this endeavour, we must identify it as being distinct from development of travel and tourism between two countries. Given India’s eagerness to collaborate on tourism with the USA sends a positive signal that tourism is being identified as a key segment to drive bilateral growth and could provide a new momentum for countries to exchange best practices for mutual benefit.

RV Deshpande

Minister of Industry and Tourism, Karnataka on Tourist Mitras

Tourist Mitras are trained by the police department and will be the first responders when a tourist is in trouble. Their role is crucial in ensuring that tourists feel safe and confident that problems will be addressed. Tourist guides will help visitors understand not only our heritage, but also our culture and art better.

Contents Tourism Currents 4. Focus on quality, key source markets to attract luxury travellers: Vikram Madhok

12. India-USA connectivity on top of our agenda, says Ashwani Lohani

23. Yatra.com expands with a cab marketplace, aims to become the onestop travel solution

12. India needs to view tourism as an employment generator: Lalit Kanodia

outbound: dubai

13. Industry stakeholders moot specialized marketing, outreach by overseas offices

24. Millennial travellers seek personalization in luxury hospitality segment, assert GMs

6. In a first, Government to launch a dedicated airline to boost Northeast connect

14. Gain competitive advantage by focusing on India’s innate strengths: Sunder Advani

26. Trinidad and Tobago will focus on cultural links with India to increase outbound

7. CAPA report predicts impact on growth of aviation in Europe with Britain out of the EU

15. Brand USA has taken Indian outbound beyond the US gateways: Sheema Vohra

5. After a momentary stir, ‘Brexit’ set to fuel Indian outbound as Pound heads South

Airlines + Airports

Indo-us tourism 8. IACC Conference Identifies tourism as key to realizing full potential of bilateral trade 9. Tourism could support 47 Million jobs by 2025 in India: Ambassador Verma 10. India needs new promotion strategy; tourism critical for economy, says Amitabh Kant 11. An historic opportunity with celebration of 2017 as Indo-US cooperation year: Isabel Hill

18. India and US are natural allies in tourism, have much to learn from each other

hotels + resorts 20. Mixed development best bet for ROI and central to AccorHotels expansion: Gaurav Bhushan 21. Distinctive Asian hospitality sets us apart, says GM, Shangri La’s Eros Hotel

online + technology 22. OYO taps business travellers; launches “OYO for Business” app with self-serve features

outbound: trinidad & tobago

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

outbound: seychelles 27. Seychelles sets its sight on wedding segment after leisure takes to the Island nation

outbound: spain 28. Spain senses no competition in attracting cinema tourism from India, asserts Counsellor

outbound: trends 29. Technology has transformed the business of travel representation: Amit Kishore

The Last page 30. India leads global celebrations on the Second International Yoga Day

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 32

tourism curre nts

Focus on quality, key source markets to attract luxury travellers: Vikram Madhok Vikram Madhok, Managing Director, Abercrombie & Kent has been a witness and an important participant in India’s three decade long quest for finding a foothold in the international luxury travellers segment. In an extensive interview with TF, he outlined that India needed to focus its energies in tapping relevant markets with substantial investments. He advocated chasing quality instead of mass numbers to boost India’s luxury tourism. Excerpts of the interview follow: By Shashank Shekhar

“I

ndia was not known for luxury until the dawn of the new millennium. It was between the year 2000 and 2005, when people started to look up to India for a luxury experience,” recalled Vikram Madhok. Stating that in the 1980s and 90s, travellers came to India in search of a bygone era, the mystic of the period in time, history and culture, he described how India was positioned as a destination in the minds of western travellers. “Travelling in India was not easy, because we had a patchy airline and rail system”, he explained. “Our roads were terrible; there were no world-class hotels other than in the gateways. People still came to understand the country and what was getting it to tick,” he added. Noting that India’s true rendezvous with luxury offerings came about in the mid-2000s, Vikram Modhok said that India had palaces and havelies before that, but they could not be classified as luxury hotels, as they were bereft of the comforts of an international luxury hotel. “The communications, guest relation systems and offerings were not at par with the best of the luxury offerings in the world,” he elaborated. The milestone in luxury, to his understanding, came about when Oberoi Hotels set up Rajvilas around 1997-98 –which was then followed by opening up of similar properties. “Also during that time, price-point took another dimension. Prior to 2000s, a trip with relation to today’s value of currency in dollar was selling at 150 dollars per person per night,” he said, referring to the massive change in spending trends since the early 2000s. “Today, the same trip sells for about 650-700 dollars per person per night. It includes costs pertaining to the hotel room, transfers, cost of travelling between different cities and sight-seeing. So, real luxury seeped into India when world-class hotel infrastructure was in place,” he added. Attributing The Oberoi’s venture for having induced a domino effect that made other hotels to up their game, Vikram Madhok said “it ended up creating the hotel infrastructure to cater to luxury travellers.”

Appetite for consumption

Noting that WTTC (World Travel and Tourism Council) came to India for setup in 2000, with its patron as PRS Oberoi, to address impediments in growing inbound tourism and taking India to the international arena, Vikram Madhok shared “we identified crucial eight or ten issues that we thought we would have liked to see being addressed. I recall that

Vikram Madhok Managing Director, Abercrombie & Kent

If a big chuck of India’s business comes from a particular market like the USA, it will be astute to channel ones finances and efforts in that market. If the market is responding positively, I do not see a need for India to spend money in attracting tourists from Japan, China and Korea. India is a slow moving elephant. We go on our own pace, but we are in the right direction, because we are not in denial that all is hunkydory and people will come to India

most important ones were open skies with change in the civil aviation policy, infrastructure and airports – our airports were in a mess – connectivity, rail and roads. In terms of hotel rooms, we were woefully under-bedded in the early 2000s.” Supplementing that India had less than 65,000 rooms in all of star-category accommodation, he said “now we are double that. Today there is a definitive categorization with three-star deluxe, four-star and five star with a definitive price-point. Earlier, we used to operate only in budget or luxury space.” Hospitality aside, the WTTC India council had mooted significant change in the erstwhile visa policy. “Visa-on-arrival, a key agenda, has

been addressed. We had also listed out rationalization of taxation and recognition of hotel as an industry. These are the ones that are yet to be addressed,” detailed Vikram Madhok. Having spent a good three decades in the luxury space, Vikram Madhok’s assertion that India was in the right direction begs to be taken seriously. “India is a slow moving elephant. We go on our own pace, but we are in the right direction, because we are not in denial that all is hunky-dory and people will come to India,” he said. Envisaging moving forward in a concerted effort through an all rounded effort, he pointed towards successful addressal of visa and airports

issues. “Roads and rail are being addressed. What we would like to see now is to for us to go back to the market. We have been mission in action; we are simply not in the face of our customers. We need to go and identify big markets where we believe the big fish swim and go after that,” he suggested. Outlining his strategy, he said “if a big chuck of India’s business comes from a particular market like the USA, it will be astute to channel ones finances and efforts in that market. If the market is responding positively, I do not see a need for India to spend money in attracting tourists from Japan, China and Korea.” Arguing that India did not need to get enamoured by numbers and

We have invested in creating a world-class experience, offer private jet vacations

“I

f you do not have infrastructure in place, how can you think of developing your destinations,” he asked. Answering whether India’s luxury tourism had remained confined to a few pockets like the Golden Triangle, he argued that it was very easy to say that tourism needed to be promoted into the Northeast, and taken beyond more frequented Golden Triangle. “But, there are no world-class hotels, good roads and tour-guides,” he lamented. How much of tourism could be driven by eco-tourism alone, he asked. He batted for a narration, a story to pull travellers from distant shores. Vikram Madhok noted that for Abercrombie & Kent, most of its inbound luxury tourism remained knitted around the ‘extended’ Golden Triangle. “One of the itineraries for North India could be Mumbai-UdaipurJodhpur-Jaipur-Ranthambore-Varanasi and, finally, Mumbai. With a little variation, almost 80 percent of our business is being generated by these destinations,” he said. Since 2005, Abercrombie & Kent has been able to

carve a unique space for itself in the market. It is reflected in the fact that an average Abercrombie & Kent guest spends 700 dollars per night – which is equivalent to the spending of about four or five passengers of an average company. “We have imported our vehicles, acquired luxury coaches for local transfers and tied-up with luxury hotels. All the moments of truth have been looked into,” elaborated Vikram Madhok. Adding that right from the time when guests left their country and arrived in India, the company continued to put in a lot of meticulous planning and detailing, he said “right from what should be in their kit-bag to what kind of food would they need, everything is looked into.” Buoyed by substantial demand for luxury experiential trips, Abercrombie & Kent, in the last one year, had brought in two private jets. “One that goes around the world and the other takes you around India. These trips are sold from all over the world – from the UK, Australia and the USA,” he said. “Also, Almost 55 percent of our total inbound comes in groups and the rest come as FITs,” he added.

scale, and hoping to tap into the lucrative Chinese market was not going to happen for us, he said “Chinese tourists do not perceive India to be a luxury destination. For them, we are at best a thirdworld country with broken-down infrastructure like theirs. So, India should rather focus on its primary and secondary markets.” He noted that India’s primary market for luxury was always going to be the USA and the UK, because of their affinity towards India. “You have rich economies in Western Europe like Germany, France and Switzerland. Japan and Australia in certain numbers are also India’s important source markets,” Vikram Madhok added. Arguing that it behooved India to spend its marketing and promotional money on areas that gave the opportunity to garner a larger share of that market, he said “we must spend money to attract tourists who have the propensity to spend the money. We are flanked by countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Myanmar that are going to give us inexpensive pilgrimage or medical tourism, but not luxury tourism.” He argued that India’s biggest saving grace was being a long-haul destination, where average length of stay generally hovered around 10-14 days. “Americans come for longer periods compared to Europeans,” he said. Reflecting on latest trends, he informed that 2015 had been the best year for Abercrombie & Kent in India. However, markets had been on the slower side this year. “2015 was a stellar year because we had a lot of movement planned with adhoc groups etc. This year has been slow. The only market that is doing well for us this year is the USA. Our other key markets like the UK and Australia have been slow on account of one reason or the other, ranging from economy, currency or internal issues, he said. Looking at the bigger picture, he suggested that most of India’s current international tourist footfalls was movement driven by business travellers. “They come here because they see an opportunity to do two-way business in India. Global businesses are viewing India as the land of opportunity. With the BJP government at the helm in the last two years, hotel occupancies have become stronger with constant influx of new inventory,” Vikram Madhok reflected. He, however, contested that they were not tourists as they did not travel through structural process like booking through tour operators and travel agents. Taking stock, he noted that one needed to examine international numbers in leisure destinations like Agra, Jaipur and Udaipur to get the true picture of nation’s tourism.

tourism curre nts

After a momentary stir, ‘Brexit’ set to fuel Indian outbound as Pound heads South The Great Britain’s shock exit from the European Union has left much in the realm of speculation, as markets registered steep fall in the value of Pound Sterling. Experts also remain concerned about the future of free movement across European countries. The development, however, presents itself with a great opportunity for the Indian outbound, both leisure and student segments, to make the most of pocketfriendly travel, thanks to a substantially cheaper currency in the foreseeable future. By Shashank Shekhar

ews of the Great Britain leaving the European Union has come as a rude shock for markets world over. Stock exchanges are in red – as much as two trillion dollars were wiped off in matter of hours after the announcement. A fair degree of uncertainty looms over the future of the Great Britain and, indeed, the European Union, as many believe that it will trigger a domino effect leading to more nations taking the same route in the near future. However, all is not gloomy. The development has plenty of positives for improved tourism and travel into Britain from India and vice versa. Take a look at this: currently, one Pound Sterling stands at INR 91.23 – which is a substantial dip from its usual standing of INR 99-100. Financial experts believe that while Britain irons out formalities for its formal exit from the EU, one Pound could reach as low as INR 84-85, making travel to the Great Britain comprehensively cheaper than before. While the leisure segment is likely to

Aloke Bajpai Co-founder and CEO, Ixigo

Exit is being negotiated. Bureaucratic processes will take their own time. It will be interesting to see whether there is an actual impact on free movement across borders. As far as visa requirements are concerned, Indians anyways needed a separate visa and Britain operates out of the realm of Schengen visa policy. So, the biggest worry is curtailment of free movement.

☛ Outbound to Britain is likely to get a major boost with Pound taking a hit after the news of Britain’s exit from the EU. ☛ Experts believe that leisure travel and student movement into Britain will see a substantial growth in coming months. immediately benefit from this phenomenon, it is also expected that students – who form a significant number – heading for the British shores will find studying and living cheaper than before. According to an estimate, over Indian 10,000 students join graduation colleges across Britain. Reacting to the shock news of Brexit, Aloke Bajpai, Co-founder and CEO, Ixigo.com attributed steep fall in the value of Sterling Pound to panic selling. Calling it a primary impact of the outcome of the referendum, he said “There is a panic in the market and fearing the situation to go worse, a number of investors are engaged in heavy sell-off”. Adding that the immediate impact was going to keep the currency at a lower level for coming months, he concurred that travelling into Britain, especially for the coming few months was going to be a lot cheaper.

Karan Anand Head-Relationship, Cox & Kings

Brexit is positive for Indian outbound. It rather came as a surprise to all of us. This will definitely give an impetus to Indian outbound travel especially in the next couple of months. All those who missed out on a holiday to UK can do so now at affordable prices.

Arguing that currency fall aside, the secondary impact of this political upheaval had ramifications on airfare pricing, he said that expecting gloomy days ahead, a number of investors were buying gold and selling off oil in the commodity market. “Oil- prices were

anyways on the lower side, but it looks like air travel will remain cheaper for the foreseeable future, as oil dips again,” he elaborated. He further added that its impact was going to reflect on lower international fares, further easing outbound travel and tourism.

He, however, cautioned that volatility was likely and said that it remained to be seen whether there would be any impact on free movement within the European region. “Exit is being negotiated. Bureaucratic processes will take their own time. It will be interesting to see whether there is an actual impact on free movement across borders. As far as visa requirements are concerned, Indians anyways needed a separate visa and Britain operates out of the realm of Schengen visa policy. So, the biggest worry is curtailment of free movement,” he said. Commenting on the situation, Karan Anand, Head-Relationship, Cox & Kings called it a positive development for the outbound. “Brexit is positive for Indian outbound. It rather came as a surprise to all of us,” he said. Stating that the weakness of the pound vis-a-vis the dollar was going to benefit Indian outbound travelers as the drop was more than 6 to 8 percent, he said “this will definitely give an impetus to Indian outbound travel especially in the next couple of months. All those who missed out on a holiday to the UK can do so now at affordable prices.” Rubbishing the argument that the development had implications on free movement, he said that free movement had not been impacted at all. “An Indian tourist visiting UK had to obtain an UK visa apart from getting a Schengen visa when travelling to UK and rest of Europe. This will not change and so there is free movement of tourists,” he said. Taking stock of the road ahead, Aloke Bajpai believed that despite temporary hick-ups, tourism from Britain was going to remain intact. “Brexit or not, India remains a lessexpensive and an affordable destination for British tourists. It is likely to remain the same. Therefore, I do not foresee any major change in trend therein,” said the CEO. Certain sections of the society have also expressed concern that with the UK surrounded in the cacophony of referendum and the spectacular rise of the far-right, off late, the long-term viability of England as a immigrant and tourist-friendly destination could be threatened. Karan Anand, however, contested that Britain was one of the most sought after destination for Indian tourists travelling to Europe. “Indian tourists have always been welcomed overseas and there has not been any case of racism against Indian tourists. Right now the situation in UK is very fluid. However, it is a mature democracy where everyone is entitled to their views and those are respected,” he reacted. “In such a situation, people travelling to the UK appreciate that and have confidence that their interests would not be harmed,” he added.

Indian footfalls to Britain register a record high in 2015

uch of optimism displayed by industry experts on higher numbers of Indian outbound to British shores, even as Britain plunges into a phase on political uncertainty, is not baseless. According to the International Passenger Survey from the Office of National Statistics UK, 2015 was a record year for Indian visits into Britain. As per the latest data, visits from India in 2015 were up 8%, from 390,000 to 422,000, setting a new record. Indian visitors spent £433 million in Britain last year along with 9.2 million nights. These 2015 figures mean that India retained its position as Britain’s No. 1 BRIC market in terms of visitor volume and among the 20 top source markets for Britain globally. Growing outbound travel trends fuelled by increased flight connectivity into regional Britain has helped India cement its’ position with growing visitor numbers over 2014. Commenting on the data, Sumathi Ramanathan, VisitBritain Director Asia Pacific, Mid-East& Africa said: “India is

the top BRIC market for Britain in terms of volume and the year-on-year robust visit figures ensure our way to achieve our 2020 target of 500,000 visits. Our focussed strategy for the India market featuring the Bollywood Britain campaign, combined with our trade engagement, targeted consumer engagements and tactical offers with tourism partners will be crucial for us to deliver our tourism targets in 2016-2017.” To attract the Indian outbound, VisitBritain has focussed on Cinema Tourism by launching their ‘Bollywood Britain – Shaandaar’ digital campaign, featuring Northern England, in association with top Indian Cinema productions and Turkish Airlines, carrying forward their Bollywood Britain showcase in India engaging the Indian travellers through their most loved films and its’ celebrities. Overall, globally inbound visits to the UK were up 5% on 2014 at 36.1 million, which is a new high. Business visits grew by 7% on 2014 to 8.9 million. Spending by business visitors reached £5.4 billion, a record and an increase of 7%.

airline s + airports

The new airline will be operated by Pawan Hans. Given its expertise in the Northeast, it is expected to be a financially viable project

In a first, Government to launch a dedicated airline to boost Northeast connect In a concerted effort from the government and the North Eastern Council, a carrier operated by Pawan Hans will commence airline and chopper service to the capitals of seven sister states. This move will address air-connectivity woes facing the Northeast.

he Modi government has cleared the deck for a dedicated airline, based out of Guwahati, to connect state capitals of the seven sister states. To be operated by Pawan Hans and North Eastern Council, the new airline will address issues related to airconnectivity, boosting movement of people and services. Focus on augmenting infrastructure in the Northeast has been a key priority of the Modi government. In a new development that could alter the fate of half-baked air-connectivity of the Northeast with the rest of the country, the government plans on launching a new airline, headquartered at Assam’s capital, Guwahati. Aimed at connecting all Northeast state capitals, including Sikkim’s capital, Gangtok, with the rest of

the country, the move is likely to lend a major boost to air-connectivity in the region. The decision to create a new airline was taken in a meeting attended by all Chief Ministers of the Northeast and Department of North Eastern Region Minister (MDONER) Jitendra Singh. The proposed airline company will be a subsidiary of Pawan Hans and, in all likelihood, will operate a fleet of 6 fixed-wing planes and 5 helicopters. The subsidiary with an equity of 150 crores will be owned by Pawan Hans and the North Eastern Council. Pawan Hans will hold a majority stake by owning 51 percent of the venture while rest 49 percent would be managed by the North Eastern Council. The proposal for commencing operations has already been send to the ministry of Civil Aviation

and the North Eastern Council for their consideration. As of now, based on the viability gap funding, Alliance Air provides air-connectivity to a handful of

Star Alliance bags best alliance title at skytrax world airline awards

Five-star alliance airlines ranked among the top 10

tar Alliance has claimed the Best Airline Alliance title at the Skytrax World Airline Awards. The Alliance also received the Best

Airline Alliance Lounge Award for its prestigious Los Angeles Lounge for the second year in row. Star Alliance was the first airline alliance

to receive the Best Alliance Award from Skytrax when the category was first introduced in 2005 and has since held the award seven times. Receiving the award, Mark Schwab, CEO Star Alliance said “I am accepting this award on behalf of more than 430,000 employees who deliver our customer promise to more than 640 million passengers each year. Regaining this accolade shows that investing into technology which facilitates the

I 3–6 October, 2016 New Delhi

North Eastern state capitals. Aviation experts believe that the ‘tried and tested’ subsidiary model is likely to fetch handsome rewards for Pawan Hans, especially when

it knows the region fairly well. Interestingly, it is for the first time that the government is launching a subsidiary to promote connectivity in the region.

delivery of our Alliance customer benefits is paying off and that travellers are noticing a difference. Following the recent decision of our Chief Executive Board, we will invest further in modern systems and so continuously improve the Alliance travel experience.” The World Airline Awards are managed by international air transport rating organisation, Skytrax Research of London, UK. The transparency and global coverage of the survey distinguish these awards as the most prestigious and respected quality recognition for today’s world airline industry. The awards are based on the results of the World Airline Survey, which has operated since 1999 and

is held in high esteem for its clarity of process and rigorously applied rules of independence. The customer survey ran from August 2015 until May 2016, with a total of 19.2 million eligible customer surveys being completed. People of more than 104 different nationalities participated in the survey which covered over 280 airlines, from the largest international airlines to smaller domestic carriers. The surveys measure quality standards across 41 key performance indicators of front-line product and service. Complementing the alliance awards, 13 Star Alliance member carriers also received distinctions.

DCGA tweaks aviation rules, makes cancellation and refund cheaper

n yet another reform aimed at adding to ease of travel and economizing air-travel, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), in a recent order, has capped ticket cancellation charges and disallowed airlines from levying additional sums on ticket cancellations- which often ended up making air-travel dearer and many a times, accounts for, half the cost of an actual air-ticket. As per the official communication from the DGCA, Airlines have also been mandated to refund all statutory taxes and user development fee (UDF), airport development fee (ADF) and passenger service fee (PSF) to the passengers in case of cancellation or

☛ The provision of refunding statutory taxes shall also be applicable for all types of fares offered, including promos or special fares and where the basic fare is non-refundable.

non-utilisation of tickets or no show. “This provision (of refunding statutory taxes) shall also be applicable for all types of fares offered, including promos or special fares and where the basic fare is non-refundable,” said the DGCA. It is important to know that as per existing rules, carriers were mandated to only return PSF collected by them, if the ticket was cancelled. The Ministry of Civil Aviation, about a month ago, had first mooted capping airlines’ cancellation charges at the base fare, but in the recent notification, the carriers have been allowed to deduct fuel surcharge. Currently, home-grown carrier, SpiceJet levies `2,250 per passenger per sector on any modification or cancellation of the booked ticket. IndiGo, too, levied similar sums on cancellations prior to two hours of flying. Also, the government has disallowed airline companies from charging a refund processing fee of `200. “Airline shall not levy any additional charge for correction in name of the same person, when error in his name spelling is pointed out by the passenger to the airline after booking of his ticket,” DGCA has said.

airline s + airports

CAPA report predicts impact on growth of aviation in Europe with Britain out of the EU The recently released CAPA aviation report forecasts a period of lull for the aviation industry in the entire European continent, followed by the shock exit of Britain from the European Union. The report mentioned that with Britain’s exit, negative impact on air traffic volume was highly likely, given a direct co-relation between GDP growth and passenger volume. By TF Bureau

he UK vote in favour of British exit from the EU came as an enormous shock to observers, despite strong warnings from pollsters, reads the CAPA report. “The first implication is for an unwelcome period of uncertainty. But, as with any major shock of this sort, the immediate warnings of disaster and market collapse normally dissipate as thinking adjusts,” it reads. Noting that while the potential implications for the aviation sector were many, the most serious being the withdrawal of the UK from EU decision was going to allow the protectionist forces in Germany and France to become more influential in formulating EU policy directions. Uncertainty remains the order of the day, while the lengthy unraveling occurs, it reads. As per the report, for consumers, the single aviation market and the US-EU Multilateral open skies agreement remain the most immediate issues. For European services, the likely outcome is for the UK to negotiate single market access, as Norway and others have, through the ECAA, despite not being EU members.

It is highly unlikely that the UK will be excluded from the single aviation market

The UK referendum vote to exit the European Union is technically not legally binding on the UK government, nor on the EU, but politically the UK would have to perform contortions to override the popular decision. Despite some knee-jerk reactions on the EU side, Britain's continued participation in Europe has enormous mutual benefits, too great for other EU countries to forgo.

Airports have become a much stronger force for liberalization; with Brexit, their importance grows

It has always been the case that airlines, notably flag carriers, have occupied extremely influential positions in determining aviation policy, nationally and supra-nationally, in the EU.

European airline share price movements from 23-Jun-2016 to 27-Jun-2016*

Brexit to hit air traffic demand through lower GDP, weakening of GBP and lower trade volumes

From an economic point of view, Brexit is likely to have a negative impact on air traffic volumes in three ways. Firstly, there is a well-established relationship between GDP growth and growth in passenger traffic, so any reduction in economic growth in the UK (and/or the rest of the EU) will be detrimental to demand for air travel. Secondly, the fall in GBP versus other currencies – in particular EUR – that has taken place since the referendum is effectively a price change for UK airlines' air fares and this will affect demand due to price elasticity. Thirdly, air cargo volumes are closely related to levels of international trade, which are themselves affected by economic growth and trading agreements between nations.

Lower GDP could lower UK pax by 2.5% to 5.5% in 2020

Perhaps the most comprehensive summary of the economic impact on air traffic of the UK's decision to leave the EU came from IATA in a 24-Jun-2016 report. The IATA report reviewed a number of scenarios on impact of Brexit on the level of UK GDP that have been produced by different forecasters: the UK Treasury, the OECD, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and the Confederation of British Industry/ PWC. Depending on the forecaster and on the nature of the (yet to be agreed) future trading relationship between the UK and the EU, UK GDP is expected to be lower in 2020 by 2.5% to 5.5% compared with the ‘no Brexit’ baseline.

European airline share prices have been hit badly

*Percentage change in price from the market close on 23-Jun-2013 to 3pm BST on 27-Jun-2016 Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation, FT.com

Economic impact not only to be felt in the UK

In addition to the impact of Brexit on the UK, the economic fallout may also dampen economic growth in the rest of the EU. The UK is the biggest aviation market in Europe and any softening of air traffic demand there will be felt across the continent. Some, such as Barclays, have warned of the UK entering a period of stagflation (inflation and slowing/ no economic growth.

Weaker GBP could lower pax by 1.7% and 2.9% over next two years

The more immediate economic impact on air travel to/from the UK comes from the drop in the value of GBP. Although many

Presenting Unique Segments at BITB 2016

Airlines + Airports B2B and Conference

analysts predict that it will recover to some extent over the medium to long term, GBP is expected to stay 10% to 15% weaker than it would have been if the UK had remained in the EU. The weaker GBP makes it more expensive for UK residents to make outbound trips to other countries, but it has the opposite effect on overseas visitors to the UK. Due to price elasticity of demand, this will reduce outbound air travel from the UK and increase inbound travel.

Conclave Anchor

The reaction of European airline share prices to the referendum result has been predictably negative. This partly reflects a cold evaluation of the impact on demand, but is also the result of a more hot-headed fear of uncertainty. Investors have been understandably spooked by the negative impact Brexit is likely to have on air traffic, as highlighted by the IATA analysis outline above. Moreover, airlines are generally seen as cyclical "bellwether" stocks, to be avoided in any situation of economic uncertainty. In addition, and more specifically, there have been profit warnings from both IAG and easyJet in connection with short-term demand softness, both in the run-up to the referendum and in the outlook this summer. However, more than that, airline shares are suffering because of the broader regulatory uncertainty surrounding the sector, particularly surrounding market access. Even if the UK maintains existing market access through membership of the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) and becoming a non-EU party to the EU-US open skies agreement, demand for air travel will likely be hit by lower GDP and exchange rate movements as discussed. If market access is not fully retained, the impact could be greater and is harder to define.

Tourism will thrive on the back of steady growth of airlines and airports, connecting seamlessly with other transport modes. Regional connectivity, national and international – India is one big growth area in the world. Our B2B segment combines with an authoritative conference, bringing world leaders to meet with their Indian counterparts. Conference Highlights: A meeting of minds that can see the ‘Future is Here’ in India. They debate how best to bring about a transformation in infrastructure, ‘Make in India’ in the aviation industry, and bring about an ease in travel. To increase industry efficiency and productivity for the greater good of the Indian traveller, create a roadmap of growth and success. Who will Exhibit: Leading aircraft companies, airports and airlines that are keen to meet with their counterparts, exhibit their latest technology and product profiles.

ITB Comes to India. The best of ‘Glocal’ is here!

Whom will you Meet: Meet with travel agents and online agents, and also those that seek synergy with other stakeholders in the tourism business.

Just exhibit, or also explore partnerships, exclusive to Aviation/ Airports + Airlines Showcase for that extra bit more!

IACC Conference Identifies tourism as key to realizing full potential of bilateral trade

ilateral ties between India and the USA have always held tremendous promise in the eyes of different governments, especially, in the past two decades, starting from the era of President Clinton and PM Vajpayee’s engagement back in 1999, to PM Modi’s warm embrace of outgoing POTUS, a few months ago. Often touted as the “defining global partnership” of the 21st century, India’s engagement with the United States has steadily continued to evolve, diversifying into newer areas of mutual cooperation, including travel and tourism. As India and United States evolve consensus and find common ground to cooperate in augmenting bilateral footfalls, the noteworthy role played by the IACC (Indo-American Chamber of Commerce) in aligning industries and stakeholders in both countries deserves a special mention. Conceived in 1968 in Mumbai, under the guidance and stewardship of some of the stalwarts like Late S. L. Kirloskar, Late Harish Mahindra and H P Nanda, it is the highest bilateral body, aimed at bolstering economic ties between India and the USA. Currently, the organization boasts of 2400 active members with a pan-India presence. The list of honorary members adorning the IACC forum includes doyens of Indian industry like Ratan Tata and Gautam Adani. The President of IACC is supported by 4 regional presidents, representing North, South, East and West India, with offices in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, respectively. In the list of activities undertaken by the chamber, promoting proactive business and trade, technology transfers and facilitating business collaborations figure prominently. Very recently, Sunder Advani, Regional President, WIC and Chairman – Travel and Tourism, had travelled to the USA to attend the ‘SelectUSA’ conference held in Washington. “We have taken delegations to the USA. I recently travelled to Chicago and New York, too, to liaison with stakeholders interested in investing in tourism and businesses in India,” Sunder Advani said. In its containing efforts to create more synergy between two nations,

IACC last month organized a conference titled “Travel and Tourism as a Means to Achieve US $500 Billion Trade between India and the USA.” A Star-studded panel, with representation from both the governments’ and diverse stakeholders from aviation, hotels and media examined bottlenecks, envisaged solutions and mooted bilateral numbers which did justice to the potential that has long remained untapped. There may have been differences in the modus operandi in achieving the audacious target of USD 500 billion in bilateral trade, but there was an over-whelming concurrence on the need for tourism to remain central to this endeavor. A key takeaway of absorbing sessions was the pressing need for positioning tourism as an important avenue for job creation. If there was unanimity on any single issue, it was this: tourism holds the key to economic development of both countries and change in perception from viewing tourism merely as an auxiliary sector, to becoming a principle source of revenue and employment generation was a pressing need of the hour. The bonhomie and intent, backed by solid statistics, shared by participants indicate more vigorous engagement in coming months. Commenting on the event, Sunder Advani said “It is encouraging, indeed. I hope that the Indian government comes up with projects that US businesses can invest in.” In an interesting development, Sunder Advani would be submitting a White Paper on the proceedings of the event to the PM for his perusal and further action. “I have been asked to prepare a White Paper on the deliberations of the conference that will be submitted to the PM for further action,” he informed. We bring you an in-depth coverage of the conference with edited excerpts of speeches made by prominent delegates.

A detailed report by Shashank ShekhAr

Tourism could support 47 Million jobs by 2025 in India: Ambassador Verma

Buoyed by noticeable rise in bilateral footfalls, Ambassador Richard Verma was of the opinion that tourism and travel held unexplored promise for both the nations, and with the recently inked MoU to facilitate India’s participation into the Global Entry Program and decision to become tourism partners in 2017, India and the USA were beginning to converge on tourism –which remained crucial for generating economic growth and employment for both nations. Excerpts of his speech at the IACC conference:

mbassador Richard Verma began on a somber note, paying homage to victims of terrorist attack on Ataturk International airport in Istanbul, stressing that attack was yet again a reminder of the importance of airport and aviation security in today’s inter-connected world – where challenges like terrorism crossed borders. “As the White House has said that airports are symbols of international connection and ties that bind us together, I think that is exactly right. The global bond between citizens is more powerful than guns or bombs, or any terrorists. And we will continue to work with our partners, including India, to confront these challenges,” he said in his opening remark. Divulging that the invitation from IACC to speak at the conference came as a pleasant opportunity, he said that he enthusiastically accepted the offer. Describing his understanding of India, he called it a destination for American explorers, traders and intellectuals. Sharing an interesting anecdote, he said “This goes back to early 19th century when American sea captain transported ice from New England, over 16,000 miles, to Kolkata. This makes it one of the longest journeys ever taken for ice!” He evoked Mark Twain, mentioning that the great American writer marvelled at India’s culture and history during his travel to Varanasi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Looking back at his stint as the top diplomat in the country, he noted that the last couple of years had been, in fact, a journey of self discovery. “I had the privilege to go to Punjab to visit the villages of my mother, grandmother and grandfather. I travelled to Mysuru to visit the family of my brother-in-law. I travelled to some 21 different states and 55 different cities, from the northeast to south, from beaches to mountains, and it is just a magnificent country. The national heritage

☛ USA has inked a MoU with India to facilitate India’s participation into the Global Entry Program. Technical arrangements underway. ☛ One more US consulate to be opened soon. USA aims to host 100 million international visitors by 2021. ☛ In 2015, for the first time, the USA mission processed more than one million non-immigrant Indian visa applications in a single year. is something that is so special. The people are amazingly diverse and this really is the place to highlight travel and tourism,” he passionately added. Mentioning one of his predecessors, Ambassador Chester Bowles, Ambassador Verma said that he wrote extensively on Indian tourism in his memoir, arguing that foreign tourists needed to see the promise of the Indian future, as well as India’s ancient heritage to understand its offerings. Taking stock of tourism ties in the current milieu, the envoy expressed satisfaction over the fact that tourism was being driven both ways, adding to mutual economic growth and development. “In 2015, the USA was India’s largest source of foreign tourists while over 1.2 million US tourists came to India,” Ambassador Verma said. Adding that he was proud to report that successes had gone in both directions, he informed that tourism from India had contributed to over 11 billion dollars –which was a good number. “The number of Indians visiting the United States annually has doubled since 2009. And last year, we had the highest number of Indian students, ever,” he added. Attributing tourist e-visa program for increased tourism exchange, he called it an immense success, pointing out that US citizens were the biggest beneficiaries of e-visa scheme. Ambassador Verma minced no words when he termed tourism ‘critical’ for both India and the USA. Re-iterating US government’s commitment to improving tourism, he mentioned that the US President recognized the importance of travel and tourism in the growth of the American economy, promoting the administration to set an ambitious goal of catering to 100 million international visitors by 2021. “Tourism is equally critical to the Indian economy and

undertook between India and the US. Commenting on the recently launched civil aviation policy, Ambassador Verma termed it a move that could make travel more affordable and accessible. He also welcomed the announcement of opening the civil aviation sector to full foreign investment saying “It is a step in the right direction.” Outlining areas of mutual engagement, he said that infrastructural development, including public transits, restaurants and hotel space were areas where both nations had much to contribute. He noted that, from a front-attendant to the tour guide, a modern-day traveller wanted his travel experiences to be safe, Tourism is equally comfortable and hasslecritical to the Indian free, submitting that once economy and PM these elements were in Modi’s vision of place, tourists were going creating jobs here in to flock to India in droves. India. According to WTTC (World Travel US, too, had done its bit in and Tourism Council), enhancing ‘ease of travel’, tourism contributed said the envoy. “In 2015, 120 billion USD or for the first time, the USA six percent of India’s mission in India – our GDP. It is supporting embassy and four consu37 million jobs. If right investments are lates – processed more made, tourism has the than one million non-impotential to support migrant visa applications 46 million jobs in India in a single year. That is by 2025. the highest ever number of tourists into USA from here, and we are already 25-30 percent higher in 2016. We are proud of the milestone and the message that it sends is that US is open for business and tourism, and is committed to a fair and transparent visa process,” Ambassador Verma said. Growth in numbers of visa applications had set in place some logistical challenges, but the envoy praised consular staff in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata for rising to the challenge. “They are doing a lot to process the great demand and having adequate number of consular staff is an issue we regularly engage in,” he said. To ensure faster processing of visa applications, the US administration is mulling opening a new consulate in India. Interestingly, India, too, has recently announced opening up of its consulate in Seattle. “We are going to be building a new consulate in Hyderabad. The administration has allowed an additional consulate in India, the location of which will be decided on a future date; we welcome your input on where that consulate should be,” said the envoy. Calling the USA a nation with great attractions, whether it was corporate or leisure travel, like in India, the Ambassador highlighted ‘ease of connectivity’ with which one could travel to the US. “You could fly to Arizona, rent a car, and visit picturesque Sedona on the way to see the majestic Grand Canyon. From there, it is less than an hour’s drive to Las Vegas before crossing the desert to visit Los Angeles in California and then to Hollywood. That is just one sample from thousands of possible itineraries that you can take in America,” he said. Excited by increasing footfalls from India, the envoy said in lighter vein that it was amazing to meet so many Indians who had been to more states in the USA than he had been to. “That is a good start. They are experiencing the wonders of our National Parks, visiting fascinating cities; they take their children to many of our family-friendly destination,” he said. In his concluding words, Ambassador Richard Verma quoted PM Modi’s historic speech in his recent address to the US Congress. “PM Modi remembered fondly his travels across US, covering 25 states. In his words, the real strength of the US was in the dreams of its people, and I think same can be said about India and its people,” said the top diplomat. “The ties between our people and countries have come a long way, but there remains a lot more to explore. Let us continue that journey together,” he concluded.

PM Modi’s vision of creating jobs here in India. According to WTTC (World Travel and Tourism Council), tourism contributed 120 billion USD or six percent of India’s GDP. It is supporting 37 million jobs. If right investments are made, tourism has the potential to support 46 million jobs in India by 2025,” he detailed by drawing parallels between the two countries and tourism’s importance in economic generation therein. He mentioned that given the high stakes, tourism and travel had figured prominently in the recent summit in Washington between President Obama and PM Modi. One of the key outcomes of this deliberation has been the agreement between US and India to become travel and tourism partner countries for 2017. “This is a partnership that will further support tourism and people-to-people exchanges,” said the envoy. “During the visit, we have also signed a MoU to facilitate India’s participation into the Global Entry Program, marking a significant milestone for travel and tourism. Any of you travelling to the USA would have seen signs from Global Entry Visitors; it helps in expedited entry into the USA. We are currently working on technical arrangements to bring that into permission,” he supplemented. He attributed the success and growth of Indian tourism to campaigns like ‘Incredible India’, pitching for augmented air-connectivity. “It is good to see Air India and United Airline in attendance. United Airline recently celebrated ten years of operations in India, and has carried over three million passengers over 14,000 flights in the USA and India. It is a phenomenal job and I congratulate their team,” he said. He jokingly added that he may have had a small role in those numbers given the amount of back and forth travel he

India needs new promotion strategy; tourism critical for economy, says Amitabh Kant Amitabh Kant was at his imperious best, as he gave a stirring keynote address on “Travel and Tourism as a means to achieve US$500 Billion trade between India and USA” at the IACC conference. Speaking on a wide range of issues, bottlenecks and opportunities in achieving the ambitious target, he advocated the need for focusing on economic development, noting that growth of tourism was not a ‘zero-sum’ game.

“I

have always believed that tourism is critical to India, and has a multiplier effect in impacting creation of jobs. But sometimes people view tourism in isolation. The good thing is that the top political leadership, the PM himself, is committed to the betterment of our tourism sector,” he said, arguing that the time was ripe for enabling tourism’s growth and expanse in the country. Sharing that a near double-digit GDP growth, sustained for at least three decades, was going to be critical for India’s interest and aspirations, he said that ‘ease of doing business’ needed immediate implementation. Noting that growth of tourism in India was intrinsically linked to India’s economic growth, he added “We are already doing it in a big way. India’s position in the list of nations ranked for ‘ease of doing business’ jumped up by 12 positions in 2015. On the FDI front, while global FDI inflow declined as much as 16 percent, India’s inflow grew as much as 50 percent, compared to the previous year.” Stressing on the importance of tourism, he said that it was ‘critical’ to world’s economy, and accounted for seven percent of global GDP. “30 percent of world’s service is generated by travel and tourism,” Amitabh Kant added. He asserted that days when the world’s travel and tourism industry revolved around US and European travellers were long over, and there had been a systematic rise of the ‘Asian traveller’ in the last decade. “The world of travel and tourism is changing radically. From being a function of how Americans and Europeans would travel – where all major hospitality training schools in Switzerland were designed for European travellers and trained professionals from those schools served in key hotels across the world – to the rise of the ‘Asian traveller’ with outbound clocking in tune of 14 mil-

☛ India last frontier of urbanization in the world. The process is likely to trigger unprecedented travel, impacting tourism in a big way. ☛ Modern day tourist seeks to witness India in its authentic being. India must cater to that experience. ☛ Focus on opening up the civil aviation in a dramatic manner. India is a natural long-haul destination. lions from India and over 100 million from China, the change has been profound,” he reflected. Commenting on urbanization, he said that the process had already ended across America and Europe, and was nearing its end in China, leaving only India in the midst. “As the process of urbanization has just commenced in India, we will witness over 700 million people come under it in the next 30-40 years. And these people would travel in a very big way,” he forecasted. Cautioning against a rat-race for acquiring larger numbers of tourists and suggesting positioning India as an up-market high value experiential destination, he said, “This chase for numbers has destroyed destinations. India must not tread that path. However, it requires a lot of hard-work.” Contesting that there was a new bunch of travellers, who wanted authentic experiences, he suggested that for tourism to succeed, India needed to look at creating those experiences for them. Referring to a WTO survey that reflected the change in tourism landscape from 1980’s to 2010, Amitabh Kant persisted that today’s traveller wanted to visit the destination not only for its tourist offerings, but wanted to sample it in its entirety. “A modern day tourist does want to witness a destination in its natural cultural form. He wants to see India how it exists, and it is very

“Our international road movement is negligible. Therefore, we must focus on opening up of civil aviation in a dramatic manner. We have, obviously, already made good start on that front with the recently launched civil aviation policy,” said Amitabh Kant. Addressing the gathering, he repeatedly linked tourism to employment, stating that every airline seat thrown open for foreign travellers would create two jobs in India. “When President Obama was visiting the Disneyworld, he said that the more folks visit When President the USA, more Americans Obama was visiting will get back to work. the Disneyworld, he said that the more It is as simple as that,” folks visit the USA, he passionately added. more Americans will He said that given that get back to work. It is India needed to create a as simple as that. million jobs each month I have been involved for its young population, in manufacturing tourism was nation’s best sector, and can tell bet. “I have been involved you that it is a longterm gain and takes in manufacturing sector, time in yielding and can tell you that it is a desired results. long-term gain and takes Tourism, on the other time in yielding desired hand, can give you results. Tourism, on the quick results. We will other hand, can give you have to view tourism not as a luxury activity quick results. We will have but as a creator to view tourism not as a of jobs. luxury activity but as a creator of jobs,” he said. However, India needed a measure of course correction to be able to achieve intended figures in bilateral trade and tourism, he felt. Urging stakeholders to engage with civic society, he noted that we, as a nation, needed to get our act right in civic governance. Amitabh Kant was of the opinion that at a time when several nations had put in place attractive and aggressive marketing and promotional strategies, India needed a completely new communication strategy. “Aside the very successful ‘Incredible India’ campaign over a decade ago, nothing much has happened. It has been a long gap since then. We must put in place an aggressive promotional strategy and carpet-bomb India as a destination in key markets,” he said. Acknowledging the importance of social media in furthering outreach, he called for a comprehensive 360-degree campaign across all platforms. Examining other impediments, he reflected on impractical taxation put in place on hotels, campaigning for a predictable and uniform tax structure across states. He also pointed towards the lacuna in ensuring adequate skilled work force development. “India has been creating far too many managers and far too little skilled workers. The ratio is somewhere around 80:20. We need the exact opposite. There is an urgent need for radical restructuring of HRD systems in tourism sector in India,” he noted. He linked the growth of Asian outbound to the need for more hotel managers from India, manning best of properties across the world, stating that it was going to be an inevitable reality. “Human resource development and management remains a key to growth for India,” he said. Terming Indian villages’ unique products in themselves, he said that rural tourism could become a key segment for India. He favoured converging and integrating communities across the board by mooting community participation in tourism initiatives.

important for us to provide them that local authentic experience,” said the seasoned bureaucrat. He outlined that not only there had been a change in the consumer profile, but there had been a dramatic shift in distribution channels, too. Pointing towards receding numbers of brick-and-mortar agents, he said that much of travel and tourism was moving in the digital space. “Technology has become a key driver with changed distribution systems. The world of tourism has moved away from tour operators and travel agents. Those traditional tour operators and travel agents who do not add value to tourists are getting wiped out. People are discovering destinations, booking tickets and hotels, all through their mobile phones,” said Amitabh Kant. Calling India unique by the virtue of being a ‘longhaul destination, he noted that most of world’s travel had become regional in nature, and Southeast Asia was the only exception in this process of evolvement. “Destinations in Europe are short-haul ones. People travel by car and rail across one country to another,” he noted. Comparing India’s case with that of the world, he said that 97 percent of our foreign guests came through the skies, lamenting that the cost of restrictive aviation and business polices had been enormous for India.

An historic opportunity with celebration of 2017 as Indo-US cooperation year: Isabel Hill Isabel Hill spoke extensively on how USA was in midst of systematically addressing some of the core issues impacting its tourism and travel industry. In a detailed address, she explained how US had brought on board various agencies at the federal, state and city level to create unison in strategy and implementation. She called India ‘critical’ to the USA market, hoping to leverage on increasing Indian outbound through mutual and concerted effort as both nations gear up to celebrate 2017 as the year of Indo-US cooperation on tourism. Excerpts of her address follows:

sabel Hill, Director, National Tourism Office at US Department of Commerce began by thanking the gathering for the opportunity to absorb a wide range of opinion from key industry stakeholders. Noting that the discussion had helped her in extensively reflecting on the state of tourism in India and in the USA, she said “We reflected on our challenges and growth opportunities. And I see how similar we are in the nature of obstacles faced by both our industries, and in the opportunities that we see and seek for ourselves.” Looking at areas of convergence, she called both the USA and India vast nations, with extraordinary landscape and vast cities. “We have tourism administration at the national level, and we also work to leverage the strength of our states and local authorities. But, we both need to improve and enhance the scope of our government infrastructure. We both struggle in air capacity to our key markets, and we both yearn to provide quality customer experience,” she said. Concurring that while travel and tourism sectors in India and the USA may have been at different stages of development, she argued that the reality was that the process of development was an unending cycle. She noted that if both nations intended on competing in an increasingly competitive world, they needed to continue developing at each step. She illustrated the steps taken by the United States government to improve travel and tourism, and facilitate conditions for growth. “To alleviate problems in tourism and travel is a critical priority of our government, along with enhancing the engagement of the government with the private sector. I also want to share with you how many of our priorities touch upon our partnership on tourism in 2017,” she said. Elaborating by placing travel and tourism in context of the US economy, she explained the enormity of tourism in generating hard cash for the country. “Travel and tourism introduced 1.6 trillion US dollars into our economy last year. 220 billion US dollars of this sum is derived from international travel into the USA. Tourism, both domestic and inbound, supports 8 million jobs in our country, representing 2.7 percent of our GDP,” she said. Adding that, interestingly, tourism accounted for one-third of all services exported out of the USA, annually, and over ten percent of global exports, overall, Isabel Hill said “In fact, in export, tourism and travel is larger than our automobile, agricultural or consumer export. With respect to international travel expenditures, in 2015, we have had 4 Asian countries in the list of top ten markets in terms of revenue.” With respect to India, it stood as the seventh largest export market, contributing to over 10.6 billion dollars to the US economy. Her assertion that Asia was developing as a key destination for outbound was further supplemented by the fact that only this year, China had become number one country in terms of export of trade and travel services for the USA. “India is the third fastest growing market for travel and tourism in 2015. In terms of number of visitors, the US welcomed 77 million tourists last year. Indian outbound accounted for 1.1 million visitors in 2015,” she elaborated. The trend of Asia’s rise was in tandem with the downturn in footfall in international destinations including in the USA and Europe, she insisted. “Europe and the USA have been declining in tourism market share over the past years. On the other hand, destinations in Asia, in specific regions, have been on an increase, both as competitors and source market, and according to WTO, this trend is likely to continue until 2030,” Isabel Hill said. In a bold admission, she agreed that USA had been left behind the curve. “I will be honest that US has been bit behind in recognizing the fact that we have a decreasing market share. And that is probably because we have been growing in absolute terms,” she said. Isabel Hill called economic crisis in 2008 a watershed, “because we have a saying in our country: never let a good crisis go to waste,” she said. Adding that with the new administration looking for every vehicle to grow the USA economy, they intended seize the opportunity to prioritize travel and tourism as a source of economic resilience. “Recognizing the importance of travel and tourism to the US economy, and its ability to support economic growth, President Obama signed a law that created the ‘Brand USA’” she said. Brand USA is structured as a private corporation, the government appoints its board of directors to match private sector governors to market the US as a travel destination. Now, the USA has trained its sight to hit a hundred million mark by 2021. “More importantly, we want tourists to spend over 250 billion dollars annually. We also set goals to encourage Americans to see what America has to offer. And I am not sure, frankly, given the slowdown in the world economy, when we are going to reach this goal,” said the Director. She gave an exhaustive insight into the modus operandi

as well as Brand USA representatives, and also private sector companies that are focussed on outbound travel. “In this way, we can bring greater focus on alignment within our US missions and with our private sector to leverage resources and maximum the potential in these markets,” the director said. She agreed that the process might have been new for them, but it represented an evolution in their thinking and strategizing. “If we can facilitate public and private partnership and coordination across government agencies, it helps us not only in Washington, but across key markets,” she reasoned. Calling India a particularly key market, she mentioned UNWTO statistics that has forecasted India emerging as one of the fastest growing outbound market for the foreseeable future. “India has set records in arrivals for the last five years. Over the last decade, travel and tourism exports from India have doubled, now accounting for over 62 percent of all US services export from India. India is the third While we are tremendously fastest growing excited about the growth, it has market for travel and tourism in 2015. created a few problems for us In terms of number here in India,” she said. Pointing of visitors, the US towards the anomaly of demand welcomed 77 million outpacing supply for visa, she tourists last year. concurred that it needed to be Indian outbound addressed quickly. “We can only accounted for 1.1 million visitors in appoint so many visa counse2015. lors. The wait time, I am sorry to tell you, for visa appointment in India is going to be as long as a month, and possibly longer. We are in negotiation with the government of India to expand our diplomatic footprint to move forward in this space. We are optimistic that these would be successful in a very mutual term,” she noted, hinting that expansion of US consular service in India in the coming days. Giving her sense of Indian outbound, she said that they did have some understanding of their preferences. “Today, 40 percent of the Indian outbound to the US travels for business purposes and 30 percent visit friends and relatives – it is another way in which we are similar,” Isabel Hill informed. Also, the average stay of Indian tourist is twice as long as the average stays of foreign visitors at nearly 40 nights. “However, Indian travellers have one of the lowest proportions of travellers visiting the United States for vacation and holiday in all our key markets. Clearly, there is opportunity for growth on both sides. Shopping of course, tops in the list of activities, but Indians are also visiting our parks, small towns and our exotic locations,” she reflected on some insights on Indian outbound.

adopted by the US government – which was to galvanize both the public and the private sector to work together towards our common goal. Detailing strategies, she said “firstly, we wish to engage Brand USA and our embassies to communicate that USA wants international visitors, and promote USA like never before. Secondly, facilitate lawful travel within the USA, besides providing world-class tourism experience by coordinating with whole of the government and the private sector, measuring our results to ensure progress.” Lamenting that most strategies were developed to be sitting in the shop, until the next one was conceived, she said “To ensure their strategies did not meet the same fate, the USA had put in place a Tourism Policy Council with 12 federal agencies, with focus on coordinating programs and policies on travel and tourism across the government”. Isabel Hill shared that USA had a travel and tourism advisory board that compromised of 32 representatives from the private sector, who were charged with advising the government on policies and programs that could affect the industry in a proactive way. “Brand USA, federal agencies and the private sector are actively engaged to identifying and addressing all barriers to continue growth, and to identify opportunities that we can capitalize on,” said Isabel Hill. Visa issue has been a thorn in the flesh, which paradoxically was triggered on the back of spurt in international travel, throwing American airports into a tizzy. “Greater numbers created some problems with our airports, as some of you may have experienced it, I am sorry to say. The lines at arrival gates were growing to unacceptable rates. Our US Customs and Border Protection partners, however, did not have the ability to provide more officers to address the problem. So, we worked on 17 different airports. At the local level, we developed 17 airport specific action plans bringing together airport authorities, airlines, tourism promotion organizations and private sector stakeholders, and we worked at the federal level, as well,” said Isabel Hill. She further shared that their national tourism office worked with Customs and Border protection partners, besides engaging with private players like the Marriott Hotels and Universal. The concerted effort from the larger tourism industry in the USA saw airlines investing in kiosks and mobile technology to speed up long queues, ensuring less time was spend processing administratively, and in dealing with passenger specific problems. “As we continue to implement our travel and tourism strategies across the federal government and in ministries, here in the USA, we also want to make sure that we are doing it in our key markets,” emphasized Isabel Hill. She shared that USA had developed tourism specific plans in 11 of their key markets, which brought together all of US agencies in their embassies and consulates,

3–6 October, 2016 New Delhi

India-USA connectivity on top of our agenda, says Ashwani Lohani will connect Washington from May 2017

Air India chief Ashwani Lohani shared Air-India’s vision of enhancing air-connectivity between the two countries. With the launch of new civil aviation policy, focus on regional connectivity and development of new aviation hubs in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, he believes that the aviation sector in the country was poised for the next leap forward, benefitting travel and tourism emanating from the US shores.

“I

remember my days in the Ministry of Tourism, in the early 1990’s, when we were struggling to touch a million mark in inbound,” recounted Air India CMD. Reminiscing India’s bleak performance in attracting inbound tourism, he blamed constraints faced by the aviation industry in servicing larger numbers for the poor show. Agreeing that India’s bigger constraint was limited air seat capacity, he said “Our airports were small and ineffective in handling large passenger volumes. They were simply not of global-standards. That began to change as our airport infrastructure started to improve. Through the years, we came up with modern airports in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru,” he said, sharing how things began to look up for the industry. Crediting major advances in airport infrastructure in achieving much larger volumes of tourists, he pointed out that India’s outbound stood at 17 million and inbound figures had recently crossed the eight million barrier. Noting that there had been a substantial increment in air-travel between India and the rest of the world, he argued that air-travel had increased in great numbers. He, however, did admit that India needed more such big airports and, definitely, more flights. He iterated that the government and Air India was looking at this with very serious intent. “The recently unveiled civil aviation policy by the government is a step in that direction. It talks about regional-connectivity to tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and open skies policy that envisages opening up of the world. There are several more airports

☛ In a major shot in the arm for regional connectivity, Air India will add a new aircraft each month, beginning August. ☛ Air India is seeking a major fleet expansion. It is gunning for doubling its wide-bodied aircrafts from 133 to 266 by 2020. in the pipeline in growing cities of India,” he elaborated. Highlighting Air India’s recent expansion bid to cover more destinations, he said that we at Air India believed in expansion. Ashwani Lohani observed that Air India was evaluating its growth markets very carefully. “We do know the importance of flying to the USA from India – which are two of the biggest democracies in the world. We had three

In the coming months, high on agenda for the national carrier was to establish direct air-connectivity between two capitals, he shared. A Long mooted idea, shelved owing to shortage of wide-bodied aircrafts, is likely to get a head-start in coming months. “We wish to connect the two capitals. The idea has not yet been implemented, and has been deferred, owing to shortage of aircrafts. It will, in all likelihood, commence from April-May, 2017 –which will make it the fifth connection between the two countries, serviced by Air India,” announced the CMD. Sharing the overview of bilateral tourism exchange between India and the USA, Air India chief mentioned that traffic from India to the USA numbered around 9 lakhs while 11 lakh Americans came to India. He revealed that as much as 8.5 We wish to connect lakh seats were serviced by Air the two capitals. The India, a lion’s share indeed, with idea has not yet been a load-factor that ranged in high implemented, and has been deferred, eighties. He hoped to push these owing to shortage of numbers upwards of eleven lakh aircrafts. It will, in all by the end of 2017. likelihood, commence The big domestic push on from April-May, 2017 boosting domestic air-network, –which will make it key for expanding air-connectivthe fifth connection between the two ity to the distant corners of the countries, serviced by nation, will get a shot in the arm, Air India. as Air-India plans adding one aircraft each month in its fleet from August onwards. “We aspire to push for newer destinations, and will launch a new service with Air-Alliance. From August onwards, we will add one new aircraft each month,” Ashwani Lohani informed. In an ambitious attempt, Air India plans to double the number of wide-bodied aircrafts from 133 to 266 in the coming four years. Development of regional hubs, critical for augmenting movement into different regions of India is likely to get a push, too. Ashwani Lohani assured that the national carrier wished to focus its energies on this crucial aspect. “An important agenda for us would be development of new airport hubs. Hyderabad and Bhopal are on the radar for the same,” he said. In his concluding remarks, he stressed that Air India was keen on expanding its outreach to the USA, and Indo-US connection was a top agenda for Air India.

flights connecting the USA until December last year. We added another flight with introducing a direct connection to San Francisco; it was a long-pending demand,” he detailed. Informing that Air India was going to connect Ahmedabad to Newark via London to improve international connectivity from various cities across India, the CMD said, “It will give freedom of travel to people of the region coming 15th of August this year.”

India needs to view tourism as an employment generator: Lalit Kanodia

Lalit Kanodia, National President, IACC conjured the government to view tourism as a source for generating much needed employment to absorb India’s swarming workforce. Asking the industry to focus on India’s rich civilizational continuity and spiritual tourism, he outlined that tourism and travel was an opportunity to boost economy and jobs.

conomic ties between India and America was at an inflection point, felt Lalit Kanodia. He stressed that tourism was a key factor in the economic development and employment generation for both nations. Crediting tourism and related activities for improved bilateral trade and economic exchanges, he cautioned the industry from perceiving economic development as a zero-sum game. “Every single country in the world has to develop, and that does not need to happen at the cost of somebody else. And tourism remains one such activity. Therefore, we have a unique opportunity to talk a fair bit about it here today,” he said. Sharing some mind-boggling numbers on international movement of people, he said that a total of 1.13 billion people travelled internationally in 2015. “Almost 1/6th population on the planet travelled to another country as tourists. The United Nations expects these numbers to swell to 1.8 billion by the end of the next decade. That in itself is a great opportunity,” Lalit Kanodia asserted. He re-iterated how tourism needed to play a critical role in India’s quest for creating gainful employment for a million strong work-force entering the market each month. Referring to the much touted IT sector, in India, which gave employment to over 4 million people, whereas total number of jobs generated by tourism and related sectors accounted for a whopping 37 million – over 9 times more than the IT sector, he stressed that “It must be rectified, if we wish to develop tourism in our country. It must be viewed from the prism of employment generation. Tourism, I think, can be a solution to India’s employment woes.”

He shared that, globally, tourism generated over 284 million jobs in 2015 – which essentially meant that every one out of eleven person in the world was employed in this sector. “It generates maximum employment as a sector. It is fact that is not very well known, but it is the single largest industry in the world; over 7.6 trillion dollars were spent on tourism and related activities, globally in 2015,” he explained. Adding that India only managed to corner a dismal 8 million of these travellers, attracting less than one percent of the total global outbound, he said “These are dismal numbers. I was dismayed to learn the fact that the tiny island of Macau gets more tourist than India does. India is ranked a lowly 40th out of 160 nations in inbound international tourist travelling.” He conjured the industry to make full use of India’s unparalleled offerings in religious, historic and Buddhist tourism, noting that India had been the centre of world’s largest religions. “Unfortunately, we have not created the eco- structure to develop these segments. In WTTC report, we Tourism generates rank 52nd in 141 countries in maximum tourism. We somehow have employment as a to rectify these to develop the sector. It is fact that is not very well known, country economically,” but it is the single he reflected. largest industry in the In his concluding remarks, he world; over 7.6 trillion said that tourism had the power dollars were spent on to diminish misgivings and tourism and related reduce terrorism, re-iterating activities, globally in 2015. that unparalleled opportunity to raise India’s GDP, per capita income and employment came with developing tourism.

Industry stakeholders moot specialized marketing, outreach by overseas offices

Senior stakeholders of the industry, representing the government and the private sector, came together to moot ways for augmenting inbound numbers. During the course of an absorbing discussion, panelists suggested aggressive promotion of Indian destinations in USA by specialized agencies, and a long-term vision for how India wanted to position itself as a destination.

under Advani, who moderated the session, asked Suman Billa about ways to take tourism in India to the next level. Suman Billa referred to growing inbound numbers, highlighting India’s double-digit jump. “Inbound has grown almost by 10 percent, compared to the previous year. The problem is that we are growing on a very narrow base, if you consider India’s diverse product offerings,” he explained the reason behind lop-sided growth in numbers. He argued that even though numbers from US accounted for 1.2 million tourists, with over half a million PIOs, and there was a considerable business travel movement from USA, “but if you set that aside, leisure inbound numbers are actually modest. It can be addressed by removing certain pain-points that currently exist,” he said. Taking stock of bottlenecks, Suman Billa said that the process of travelling was cumbersome and there had been considerable improvement on that front in the past years. “It is much easier to obtain visa and fly to India with relaxed visa norms in place,” he said. Adding that there was a need

industry. “The vibrancy of ‘Incredible India’ is missing from the faces of our guests. We are faltering in not being able to communicate it to our guests. India must be to re-emphasize the significance of travelling to a 5,000 year old civilization. That should be our focus,” said Vikram Madhok. Madhavan Menon, Chairman and Managing Director, Thomas Cook India believed that the building blocks to take tourism forward were already in place. Stating that a lot had moved in the recent months, he added, “There has been development on the e-visa front; a number of policies have been re-visited. However, we need to get our act together. How we portray our nation will invariably decide what kind of numbers we manage to get,” Madhavan Menon said. Shedding light on latest in the realm of luxury travel emanating from the US, he said “I think that luxury traveller from the US has been a frequent traveller. Weather he travels for business and becomes a luxury tourist in the process, or otherwise.” Asking the gathering to not expect miracles in two years, when

forth. However, Suman Billa dismissed it by arguing that India levied a sum of sixty dollars for e-tourist visa application which was a moderate sum, and in no way a tipping point. “If you ask me, I will keep it at the bottom of our immediate priorities. I don’t think it is the tipping point for tourists,” reacted the Joint Secretary. In a long list of bottlenecks, understaffed and ill-equipped overseas offices figured prominently in the discussion. Many expressed their anguish over their modus operandi. Vikram Madhok came down hard on inept bureaucrats, stating that Indian offices, overseas, were simply beyond the control of ministry of tourism. “They are inadequately staffed and people running those establishments have no head to run them in order. India cannot create a vibe in the minds of American outbound, unless we are not their faces, literally!” he said. “That is how aggressive and encompassing our marketing and promotional strategies would need to be, if we are serious about increasing footfalls from the US,” he added. Suman Billa argued that overseas offices were tradition-

☛ A India needed to re-emphasize the significance of travelling to an ancient civilization to the world. ☛ Overseas tourism offices with no expertise in PR and outreach unable to suitably project India. for opening up the aviation sector, both in India and the USA to reap full rewards, he said that the joint statement by PM Modi and President Obama was an opportunity for a step forward in that direction. “Their announcement of 2017 as the year for co-operation between the two countries in tourism is an opportunity to bump up bilateral numbers,” said Suman Billa. Batting for an institutional framework between the India and USA’s commerce ministry to facilitate development of a platform for cooperation between both nations’ industries, he said “Bilateral mechanisms like these will help better coordination between us.” Responding to the same question of how to take India’s tourism to the next level, Vikram Madhok, MD, Abercrombie & Kent India was reminded of the journey started 16 years ago, when WTTC came to India. “Whether it is related to visa, air-connectivity, road-connectivity, or infrastructure, we have travelled a fair distance since then. Our airports are not despicable anymore,” he said, analyzing India’s fast strides in creating requisite infrastructure. He reasoned for the need of setting the tone by the larger tourism

the word ‘tourism’ remained elusive in the central discourse for the past 68 years, he called it a journey that demanded sustained investments. “Vietnam is a classic example of sustained growth. It took so many years to develop as a tourist destination, and it continues to do. India is not going to happen tomorrow,” he said. He asked the industry to take the lead and not expect the government to do everything. Suman Billa was asked whether the growth in numbers from the USA was based on spurt in MICE business or growing at the back of leisure. He replied by arguing that neither grew in exclusion from the other. Reacting to India’s inability in carpet-bombing American markets with road shows, he said “MICE is a natural product and forums like ICPB are working aggressively to attract American outbound. Carpet bombing USA market with road shows is an extremely expensive undertaking. I think city based specialized campaigns would be much better for us. In fact, PATA has done road shows in Canada, and has representational offices in New York and Los Angeles.” During the discussion, a suggestion that slashing visa application cost could boost inbound came

ally being run bureaucratically by people chosen by the government, who did not specialize in public relations, marketing, or promotion. “These organizations need a specialized set of people who have the requisite skills,” he said. Mentioning India’s PR fiasco after the unfortunate ‘Nirbhaya’ rape case, that stamped India with the dubious tag of being the ‘rape capital of the world’, he advised that India needed to have a process to engage with media and other foreign agencies for dissemination of news. He further noted that the MoT was trying to see how best they could outsource activities and make overseas offices a nucleus to manage all these diverse set of activities. Sunder Advani enquired about the size of budget for promotion and marketing in international markets. He asked whether states in India were enthusiastic participants in road shows conducted by Ministry of Tourism. The gathering was informed by Suman Billa that the ministry had allocated a sum of three hundred crores for promoting and marketing India in global markets. “Given that USA is a major source market for us, a significant budget has been sidelined for the US market. As far as road shows

are concerned, some states are naturally more enthusiastic than others. There is growing awareness,” he said. Suggesting specific market plan for each region to better tap global outbound, he said that one plan for all markets was never going to give any results. “For instance, German market is keen on Indian ayurveda. So, our focus naturally should be on promoting Indian Ayurveda and wellness,” said the joint secretary. Harvinder Singh , Country Manager, United Airlines was of the opinion that airlines were an integral part of industry, and could play a lead role in the cause of the larger tourism industry. “United Airlines is tying up with airports and tourism promotion boards. To my mind, there is limited knowledge of the Indian tourism product in foreign travellers. A majority of travellers from the USA have never heard or seen anything beyond Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and the Taj Mahal,” he said. Sharing that as Lufthansa began operating direct flight to Amritsar, many tourists began visiting it, but often complained how, despite so much to do, lack of information on products kept them from exploring it. “India must build around these

things. Also do not look at them in isolation. The very same people, who travel for business, come back as repeat clientele with their families. Therefore, our aim should be not to view them in isolation and seek to create the best of experience for him,” he reasoned. He advocated drumming up innate Indian offerings like festivals of Diwali and Holi that had gained more popularity and visibility in the international circles in the recent years. “Include them when designing itineraries to give tourists an authentic experience. The recently introduced civil aviation policy is a tremendous opportunity to boost regional connectivity by creating new aviation hubs – which, in turn, will disperse tourism beyond few destinations currently favoured by the international inbound,” Harvinder Singh said. To his understanding, Indian market had been a success story for United Airlines. “We have been in operation for over ten years in India. It has been very stable for us. We have seen a lot of growth over the years. People are travelling in larger numbers. So, certainly there has been all round growth, in terms of carriers, passengers and operations for us,” he added.

3–6 October, 2016 New Delhi

Gain competitive advantage by focusing on India’s innate strengths: Sunder Advani Looking at the global outbound footfalls, and India’s dismal share therein, India had not even scratched the surface, believed Sunder Advani. He argued that India needed to position itself as a destination for spirituality, yoga and other innate offerings to gain a competitive advantage.

he subject for this conference is 'travel and tourism as a means to increase bilateral trade between India and USA from 100 to 500 billion U.S. dollars'. President Barack Obama spoke to us at the select USA conference in Washington a few days ago. His main emphasis was that free trade helps the entire world. Bilateral trade can be defined as the value of goods and services that India exports to USA plus the value of goods and services that USA exports to India. Services account for 57% of India’s GPD and includes travel and tourism. Given my background in the U.S. as an economist, I have always felt that travel and tourism is a very important economic activity and the potential for India is enormous. The travel and tourism industry is the largest employer in the world and accounts for 1 out of every 11 jobs. Many countries rely heavily on tourism to bolster their economies. According to the world travel & tourism council, a think tank for this industry based in London, the total contribution of the travel and tourism industry in the U.S. was 1500 billion dollars or 8 percent of the GDP of the U.S., and almost 10 percent of total employment in 2015. The world travel & tourism council has estimated that in India travel and tourism’s direct contribution to employment was 25 million or 5.5 percent of the total employment in India. Travel and tourism directly contributes $129.5 billion or 6.3% to India’s GDP. Moreover, foreign exchange earnings from tourism (or foreign visitor exports) in India in 2015 amounted to 1249.3 billion rupees, which is about 4 percent of total exports. Studies have shown that it takes a much lower investment to create one job in this industry than most industries. India needs to create more jobs as more persons are coming into the job market each day. The impact of travel and

☛ Cumbersome tax structure is harming the hospitality industry. It is not treated at par with other export industries. ☛ Cultivate strategies and offerings to tap long-haul travellers to gain a competitive advantage vis-à-vis other successful destinations. ☛ Need to change India’s image and the over-emphasis on the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur Golden Triangle. tourism is not only in the big urban cities but also in smaller towns and as such more people will remain in the rural areas instead of creating pressures on the big cities. Tourism leads to the growth of ancillary industries. The other advantages for encouraging this industry are that when a foreign tourist comes to India, not only does he spend on hotel accommodation, travel, shopping etc. but is more likely to consider India for investment and trade. The hotel industry which is also an exporter, does not receive the same incentives received by other exporters. The tax structure is such that India is becoming a more expensive destination as compared to Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam where the tax on tourism is 5% as compared to 35% in India. As per the U.S. department of commerce figures in 2014, almost 1 million visitors from India travelled to USA in 2014 and spent 9589 million U.S. dollars. The report also shows that 68 million U.S. residents travelled abroad in 2014, but only 1.1 million of these came to India. I hope that after the recent joint statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and president Obama that United States and India will be travel and tourism partner countries for 2017, the number of U.S. residents coming to India will increase. Clearly, there is a tremendous scope for more U.S. tourists to come to India and we hope that the speakers will give some suggestions as to how this can be achieved. There could not be a better time for India to attract U.S. tourists. The flow of visitors from U.S. to India has increased recently because of the introduction of e-tourist visas by the GOI. The availability of e-tourist visas is a great boon for the industry but unfortunately not everyone abroad is aware that India has now become tourist friendly. I was travelling from Chicago to New York last week as part of an IACC delegation to these two cities, when on ar-

has one of the Seven Wonders of the World namely the Taj Mahal. This grew from the assumption that people travel only to see famous places. However, the fact that the tourist wanted to combine a cultural experience with a relaxing holiday preferably at a beach was not thought of. American tourists prefer to visit places with beaches which accounts for the popularity of Hawaii, Florida, the Caribbean islands, Mexico and cruise tourism. India was never considered as a country that one visits for leisure. Hence, we need to change India’s image and the over emphasis on the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur golden triangle. I have studied and worked in India was never the U.S. for 14 years and considered as a now visit the U.S. every country that one visits for leisure. Hence, year. If we want more we need to change Americans to visit India, India’s image and the we must analyze not only over emphasis on where they are going on the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur long haul holidays, why golden triangle. If we they are going there and want more Americans to visit India, we must which part or activity in analyze not only India can we offer where where they are going we have a competitive on long haul holidays, advantage. Spiritualwhy they are going ity is one such area. We there and which part received a huge compleor activity in India can we offer where we ment when the founder have a competitive of Facebook said in an advantage. interview that when he was having problems, he was told by Steve Jobs to go to India and he will find a solution. We may not get many such tourists but the revenue we earn is more important than just number of tourists. Though the beaches of Goa are far superior to Bali, they are more successful in attracting affluent tourists. The Prime Minister’s efforts to promote yoga and the message to come to India for yoga needs to be commended. His swachh Bharat drive to make India clean will also help in attracting foreign tourists to India. He has rightly embarked on a plan to improve Varanasi and create Smart Cities. The efforts being made to improve the road network will lead to an improved experience for the weary traveller. The improvement of ports which is contemplated would encourage cruise tourism. The diplomatic efforts made to improve relations with China could lead to an increase in Chinese tourists who are visiting Sri Lanka in large numbers. The tourism ministry could take the help of the consulates in the U.S. to promote tourism now that the burden of issuing visas has been reduced. This may require that a marketing specialist be placed in each consulate. We hope that the experts gathered here today will share their ideas on how India can improve the number and more importantly the revenue generated from American visitors. The U.S is interested that more tourists from India visit their country. There was a recent article which showed that there has been a large increase in the number of Indians going to the United States for education. There has also been an increase in the number of tourists from India going to the U.S. These two items alone will lead to a sharp increase in bilateral trade in travel and tourism. All of us are yet to evaluate the exact impact of the UK exiting from the European Union. However, it is certain that both the UK and the EU will be weaker as a result. Trade and travel between U.S. and India should not be adversely affected by this development. I am sure that we will hear from the various speakers on what efforts are being made by them to increase outbound travel to the USA from India. The airlines and the media play an important role in shaping the movement of people and we are fortunate that the heads of Air India and United Airlines are here to enlighten us. We hoteliers also play an active role in marketing India to overseas markets and also ensure that the visitor goes back satisfied and informs his friends that India is a safe and great destination.

rival at Newark airport I saw a big sign which simply said ‘Brazil is now open for tourists’. No visa required for Americans’. India has not scratched the surface as only 8 million tourists visited India in 2015. In contrast, china receives about 50 million visitors. India must strive to become a year round destination. The government has made all efforts to attract more tourists with their “Incredible India” campaign and the creator of this campaign, Amitabh kant is with us today. I hope he will be able to give us his valuable thoughts on this subject. There was only a slight increase of 4.4% in foreign tourist arrivals last year. This is not a good performance especially since there has been a huge increase in the number of hotel rooms and this is no longer a constraint. Almost all U.S. hotel companies now have several of their brands in all the major cities. The cost of air travel to India has increased marginally over the years. India has everything – historic monuments, culture, beautiful beaches, English speaking people, good hotels and better connectivity within India. For example, when I opened our Ramada Renaissance Resort in Goa in 1990, Indian airlines operated only one daily flight between Goa and Mumbai and one flight between Goa and Cochin. Today, there are approximately 25 daily flights between Mumbai and Goa besides daily direct flights from Goa to other cities such as Cochin, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Chennai, Trivandrum and Ahmedabad. The number of airlines operating in Goa includes Jet Airways, IndiGo, Spice Jet, Go Air, Vistara besides Air India. In 1990, Goa received only one foreign charter flight a week. Now, Goa receives about 1000 foreign charter flights between October and April from UK, Russia, Sweden, besides direct scheduled flights from Doha, Dubai, Kuwait and Kuala Lumpur. India has traditionally been marketed as a country which

Excerpts from sunder advani’s speech

Brand USA has taken Indian outbound beyond the US gateways: Sheema Vohra Sheema Vohra, Managing Director, Brand USA, India gave a detailed presentation on the American market and its varied nuances. She also shared the work done by her organization in augmenting outbound numbers and training agents to further penetrate the Indian market.

heema Vohra shed light on the intricacies of the Brand USA by mentioning that the destination marketing organization for the USA represented and promoted fifty states, two territories and the District of Columbia. “Our goal really is to strengthen the global market share for the USA by increasing international visitation. Providing return on investments is an important activity that we do, and of course, we support the objectives of the national tourism strategy and the presidential memorandum calling for airport specific action plans to enhance the entry process,” she said. Brand USA had engaged in marketing initiatives in 35 markets, which constituted to, almost, 90 percent of total inbound travel into the USA, she shared. “What Brand USA has been able to achieve is simply fantastic. It has added over three million incremental visitors, with over 9.5 billion US dollars in incremental spending. It has supported over fifty thousand jobs each year, contributing more than three billion to federal taxes; it had more than twenty billions of economic impact,” Sheema Vohra detailed the enormity of the economics involved in the search for more footfalls. “Our goal is to maximize our partners, we have five hundred partners at a retention rate of 94 percent,” she added. Noting that their main objective with the

Brand USA was to work with country partners – whether they were airlines, hotels, destinations or attractions – to give them the platform in markets they had offices in, she said “In markets that have business potential for the USA, the objective is to ensure providing them right marketing and program that they can bind to.” Giving insight into her company’s areas of interest, she mentioned that they were appointed in 2013, as one of the last entrants, and currently focused on travel trade and public relations. “Next year, we hope to get into more aggressive consumer activities. We are training 900 agents annually, and we will continue to do that. Our USA Discovery program has been a great success; people used to ask me whether an online training program would be successful. I am happy to announce that we are number one in all our offices,” said Sheema Vohra. She further added “We continue to do a lot of trade FAMs. We have worked jointly with airlines, across all media – including radio, print, television or digital etc.” The larger challenge, to her understanding, was taking the American product beyond the established and more frequented gateways. She noted that they had been able to extend the product to a number of new regions. Further elaborating company’s engagement with the industry, she said “Our

Our goal really is to strengthen the global market share for the USA by increasing international visitation. Providing return on investments is an important activity that we do, and of course, we support the objectives of the national tourism strategy and the presidential memorandum calling for airport specific action plans to enhance the entry process.

Brand USA India Mission is held annually every September. We do eight events over one week in three cities. It is the only USA focused trade show. We have actually been asked to do a second Mission. That is how much the Mission has grown.” On the MICE front, they had started a small initiative with

Presenting Unique Segments at BITB 2016

hotels + resorts B2B and Conclave

Conclave Anchor

the MICE market and opted to meet straight to the decision makers, Sheema Vohra said. “We did an event with 22 groups on corporate engagement with them in Goa, and I am pleased to announce that of those 22, we have 10 groups already confirmed of incentives,” she added.

The first need for any traveller, where ever he goes, is to find the right accommodation. Hotels are an essential constituent in travel, at different price points. In city hotels, resorts, and tier 2 and tier 3 cities across India, hotel building is witnessing an unprecedented growth. Branded business is fast catching up – over 50 brands are competing already. Who will Exhibit: Branded chains, stand alone hotels in different categories and different areas of the business, MICE venues, wedding venues, city business hotels, resorts in far flung exotic locations. Chains that have arrived in India and those yet not, equally find relevance. Leading vendors for the industry find equal prominence, as they position themselves meaningfully as partners in the business.

Photo courtesy: Lotus Greens

ITB Comes to India. The best of ‘Glocal’ is here!

Whom will you Meet: A strong B2B means finding your partners in technology, online space and also traditional travel agents and tour operators. Meet with new age aggregators and drivers of the business. Meet also franchise developers, brand managers and find out what is trending in the business.

Just exhibit, or also explore partnerships, exclusive to Hospitality/ Hotels + Resorts Showcase for that extra bit more!

Welcome to BITB.

India's time has come. Presenting for the first time the big mega show on the region's travel and tourism vertical! Bringing together uniquely India, connectivity, big ticket infra developments, hospitality, global exchange and world connect on culture, holidays and business. At the heart of it, is the resilience, the robust growth, and power of the Indian Traveller! Bringing a sharp focus on traditional heritage and culture tourism, but equally on new emerging streams like MICE, weddings, Luxury, Golf and other sports and events, Technology in Travel, the show will be the first of its kind, powered by the world’s biggest player in the business, ITB Berlin! Strong B2B, alongside s t ro n g e r p a r t n e r ship s t ha t b u i l d conferences and side bar activities, supported by mainstream media in print and television. Each segment will be supported by leading players in their niche from around the world, bringing strong content, buying and selling, and B2B business of ever y kind.

3–6 october, 2016

pragati maidan new delhi

www.bitb.org For more information connect@bitb.org

The Best of ‘Glocal’ is Here! Global player ITB Berlin, the world’s biggest tourism fair, comes together with the most experienced local in India!

ITB Berlin Comes to India

Unparalleled global reach

Announcing a co-branded show with Cross Section Media, the first movers in B2B travel trade shows, the founders of India’s first travel mart, in 1994. The best of ‘Glocal’; we know this business best.

With ITB Berlin, BITB 2016 brings you an outreach to world markets in travel and tourism, unlike any other event in India. It positions Delhi as a growing center for travel and tourism and India as a new focal point for the global industry.

A B2B with a difference

Power of the Indian Traveller

A first time show that brings buyers and sellers for leisure, MICE, online, weddings, events and experiential travel. It is truly tourism under one roof. And together they provide synergy and ripple effect for tourism in the country.

1,000 hosted buyers assured

The Indian traveller has proven to be amongst the most resilient and robust globally. BITB is based upon this growing Power of the Indian Traveller, for both domestic and outbound. We present an exclusive showcase of the traditional and new age drivers for Indian tourism and travel.

India roadshow rolled into one

We have existing and sustained relationships with individual players, trade associations and industry chambers. We are in this space for over 40 years and know the business. We will also have trade visitors giving you an unprecedented buying power of the Indian industry.

Only at BITB 2016, we give you an all India canvas of buyers dealing in leisure, online, MICE, luxury, weddings and experiential travel. A mix of segments that are actually driving the business today. No need anymore for roadshows, going from city to city to meet agents. Save time, effort and money.

We drive new thought processes

Not to be missed

B2B buying and selling is critical. Equally important is sharing of ideas bringing top industry leadership onto one table. Six conclaves in 2 days. Each driven by its respective internatioal market leader. BITB is industry driven, from the top down.

About the Organizers

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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.

The design, visitor flow, standard booths will have an international look and feel. A seamless experience awaits buyers and sellers at BITB 2016. Each element is professionally driven, ensuring ease of doing business.

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International look and feel

We know budgets are always stretched, longer lead time is desirable, there are pressures all around and between these are opportunities, some that cannot be missed out! BITB 2016 is one such window for new business creation.

India and US are natural allies in tourism, have much to learn from each other With a clearly defined and pro-active organizational setup to promote tourism at the state and city level, India had much to imbibe from USA’s focused outreach, argued Navin Berry, Editor, TourismFirst. He envisions stronger collaborations between Indian and American centers dealing with skill development and bats for identifying newer areas to diversify engagements. carriers between the two countries. Not just non-stops but also through intervening points. Considering the scope, it is a sorry state that much of the traffic is being routed through Far East, Middle East and European carriers. If my understanding is right, this could be around 80% going through others? My impression is that India and USA are natural allies in tourism. We have much in common between the two. The size of the countries, for instance, the vast rail, road and air networks that each has. We are free countries, functioning democracies that offer unlimited choices to travel where you like. India in recent years has acquired that critical mass of middle class tourism that has I had proposed to given rise to adequate some friends in the US numbers in domestic that there was need movements. We should to create a Centre of cross 100 million moveExcellence that will ments by air, and over bring best practices in niche tourism. Many 1000 million in domestic. years ago, in close Mid- market accommodacollaboration with US tion had been missing in agencies, India carried India – the last few years, out the now almost it is this segment that has forgotten Festivals witnessed the maximum of India. To my mind these need a second growth, both among Incoming, with active dian branded, unbranded support between our and also foreign branded two countries. names. Our road network is expanding, so is the growth in motoring holidays or trips – one every extended week end, hordes of tourists arrive at domestically loved destinations from every major metro city. This has given rise to the opportunity for us to say in India that we can manage well within with our own movements, that truly the base of Indian tourism can and will rest upon the shoulders of domestic tourism. This has always been the case in the US!! So, we are possibly reaching out to acquire a similar base between us. Foreign tourism, inbound into the country, will become the icing on the cake. It is that incremental business that the industry will look for. Rates are now in tune with domestic requirements; tariffs are no longer quoted in dollars. It is no longer fashionable to say for a hotel that it does not solicit Indian customers. There is money to be made with local business, over weddings, celebrations, product launches, and family holidays. JW Marriott opened in Mussoorie, a hillside destination 250 km out of Delhi and enjoys a year round occupancy of 61 percent with the Indian component being as high as 90 percent.

very Indian knows America, no one dare ask where and why. But how? Awareness is 100%, but how much knowledge the Indian traveller has, could be another question? Only in recent years, we have seen industry visits from the US, also participation at industry fairs in India, and also an increase in representations of different states with PR offices in India. Media interaction, too, has been growing steadily. Somewhere, my overall impression is scattered – some states are represented, some are not. Some are with one agency, others with another. The big manifestation of USA is somewhere missing – at least to my understanding, others may disagree. Some bigger picture manifestations and projections could perhaps be strengthened, increased. The big map of USA needs to be reinforced and possibly, it is for airlines like United and nation-wide service providers who could take the lead – in transportation, hotels, car hire companies, and others. Though I must say here that in this projection, every country will be known by the quality of Representation Company it keeps – just as a man is known by the company he keeps. In this regard, we have been seeing in India, the rise and rise of many representations not entirely reputed for their integrity, credibility and also independence. To this extent, the good thing for the US is that they have stayed put and chosen some better companies to represent them, who are proven professionals in this business, and will do their principals proud. Travel Industry Association of USA has become more visible in recent years, like I said, and I think it all augurs well for more tourism into US from India. To my mind, the one big lament is the inadequate direct flights by Indian and US

The US is a much more mature market for all matters of the economy. We all know that India is growing, and maturing. Possibly taking some extra time to do so, but steadily and surely getting there. This is equally true for travel and tourism. Not only are we growing, but to my mind growing in the style and image of the US market. We have therefore much to learn from our US partners.

How to manage tourism at the state and city level? We are not sufficiently industry led. Not sufficiently stakeholder led. Defining the stakeholders is often a problem in India. Sensible tourism would be product led, as it in the US. Research and

Presenting Unique Segments at BITB 2016

uniquely indian B2B and Conclave

Conclave Anchor

Curated by

The way forward Ideas on Collaboration:

I had proposed to some friends in the US that there was need to create a Centre of Excellence that will bring best practices in niche tourism. Many years ago, in close collaboration with US agencies, India carried out the now almost forgotten Festivals of India. To my mind these need a second coming, with active support between our two countries. Some years ago, I do know that an agency like the US National Park Service had conceptualised a plan for the rejuvenation of Taj Mahal and its surrounding areas. It is in such areas that we need intellectual capital. Cinema, too, is fast emerging a key area of bilateral collaboration. With American directors and technicians regularly featuring in Indian initiatives and Indian movie stars increasingly working in Hollywood projects, the scope for growth in this sector is immense. Cinema tourism has already bore spectacular fruits for countries like Spain, which has become a new getaway for millennials yearning for a new experience.

The Business of Travel Marts:

I have one favourite subject to speak, a subject that continues to haunt Indian industry, again and again, out of nowhere. It is well understood and known that any country’s tourism is largely influenced by its inbound concerns. Naturally so, as tourism departments are meant to bring tourism into the country. Therefore, the voice of the inbound industry tends to become the voice of the government as well. Our inbound industry has largely concentrated their marketing efforts through two trade fairs, namely ITB Berlin and WTM. There have been others too, but my sense is that industry, central and state governments, hotels and other product suppliers have tended to focus on just these two. These events were started in another time and space, when these were required and were based upon the perceived power of the British traveller and the German outbound. It is often said that Indian Tourism needs to conduct an ITB or a WTM. The problem is that Indian inbound industry has no exposure to POW WOW, now called IPW, executed by the tourism industry of America. To my mind this is the perfect role model for Indian tourism as well. It is just one more area where we could learn from the US. To my mind, India should collaborate with TIA on this effort. innovation guide much in the US, and we have yet to make a mark in this. Skill sets, delivery of the tourism experience, providing a seamless quality – we need to achieve much more on this and greater coordination and training and interaction with US based centres of learning could provide for a good start. There are more technical areas as well. Like the DGCA in India interacting with FAA to handle air movements more efficiently and with safety and security. Now that we have 100% FDI in aviation, we will be opening smaller airports, more business jets will be flying and India is expected to add another 1000 aircrafts in the next ten years or so.

Excerpts from Navin berry’s speech

Over a 1000 hidden nuggets exist in nooks and corners across the country. Each is distinct, unique, and extremely rich for the experience they provide. Each has its own terrain, culture and tradition that they proudly share with their guests. We bring you a window to tradition and heritage, as embodied and revived in numerous heritage properties and manifestations across India. Each has its own distinctive tradition, dance forms, cuisines. Yoga and Ayurveda are unique Indian products, now popular the world over. We bring these experiences under one roof. Ready-to-use booths in varying sizes of 6 sqm, 9 sqm and 12 sqm are available at a special price, almost 15% lower, and need minimal display material. Who should Exhibit: Every unique product, from the desert in the Rann of Kutch to the monasteries in Ladakh; tea garden bungalows, heritage hotels, coffee plantations and vineyards in Nashik; rural tourism experiences; homestays, among others. Spa resorts and wellness centres, holistic healing and therapy, Ayurveda hospitals. Museums, art galleries, cultural centres, just about every product that is part of the tourism process.

Photo courtesy: ITRHD

ITB Comes to India. The best of ‘Glocal’ is here!

Whom will you Meet: Traditional travel agents and tour operators, online portals and booking engines, larger tourism fraternity that will give your product mainstream visibility. Meet with a few thousand buyers from all over India.

Just exhibit, or also explore partnerships, exclusive to Uniquely Indian Showcase for that extra bit more!

hote ls + re sorts

Mixed development best bet for ROI and central to AccorHotels expansion: Gaurav Bhushan Instead of creating a single massive luxury property, AccorHotels is smartly mixing its offerings to cater to different segments of travellers. Located in the same building complex, running two or more properties in the same space helps reduce operational expenses and optimizes returns on investment, says Gaurav Bhushan, Global Chief Development Officer, AccorHotels. He shares key trends in mixed development space in AccorHotels. By TF bureau

10 Junior Suites and 45 Executive Rooms. The ibis Brisbane Airport will offer 243 rooms including 99 Superior rooms. AccorHotels announced the opening of its upscale Pullman New Delhi Aerocity and the Novotel New Delhi Aerocity in November. The two hotels, with a combined room inventory 670, were launched at New Delhi Aerocity, a 43-acre hospitality

ccorHotels has a long history of opening combined hotel developments which encompass two or more of its brands within the one complex or precinct. For example, in Sydney’s Olympic Park precinct the group opened a combined Novotel and ibis hotel before the 2000 Games and has since added a Pullman hotel across the road which utilises the same back of house areas underneath the street. An ibis Budget followed several years later. These combined developments give guests access to more facilities and mean that the group can cater to different types of travellers in the one destination. In 2011, the group opened Novotel Bangkok Platinum, strategically located in the heart of Bangkok’s shopping district on top of Thailand’s largest fashion shopping centre – Platinum Fashion Mall. The hotel is located on the 6th floor of Platinum Fashion Mall, Zone 3, which is the region’s top wholesale shopping centre. With a panoramic view of Bangkok’s city centre, it features 283 “new generation” guest rooms and suites. As part of its guest service experience, the hotel also provides a “Personal Shopper” for in-house guests and personalised shopping delivery service from Platinum Fashion Mall where guests can shop and have the goods delivered to their rooms instead of carrying it around. In 2013, the group opened Mercure Bangkok Siam and ibis Bangkok Siam within the same building in the Siam area of the Thai capital. Although they share accessibility within the same building, Mercure Bangkok Siam and ibis Bangkok Siam are two different hotels, each of which has been uniquely designed with modern facilities and attractive room rates. With 189 guestrooms each, the two hotels provide a total of 378 international-standard rooms that cater to business and leisure travellers alike. In 2014, AccorHotels announced that they would be part of a new mixed-use hotel, commercial and retail precinct to be developed in Mascot, near Sydney Airport. The group signed a management agreement with Goodman to manage a 5-star hotel as the Pullman Sydney Airport, part of an AUD$100 million development project that encompasses

Gaurav Bhushan Global Chief Development Officer AccorHotels

Mixed use development has emerged as a real trend in hospitality because it sometimes a destination might not warrant a 500room five-star hotel but could really benefit from both luxury and economy rooms.

extensive office and retail facilities. The just opened Pullman Sydney Airport not only adds 229 rooms to Sydney’s tourism infrastructure but it will be the first internationally branded 5-star hotel serving the international airport precinct. Pullman Sydney Airport is right next door to ibis Sydney Airport and one of the great benefits of these dual or multi-hotel developments is that it allows guests to use the facilities of all the Accor Hotels properties in the precinct. For example they can stay at the ibis but dine at the Pullman. In August 2015, AccorHotels, along with developers Flynn Property Group and Scott Flynn Properties, commenced with the construction of two new-build hotels, Pullman and ibis at Brisbane Airport. The new 5-star Pullman and 3.5-star ibis hotels will be built at Brisbane Airport’s Domestic Terminal Precinct as part of a new $150 million development project. The hotels branded with Australia’s largest hotel group AccorHotels will adjoin a new Brisbane Airport Conference Centre. The Pullman Brisbane Airport will feature 130 rooms including two Presidential Suites,

precinct at Delhi International Airport. The opening of the two hotels took the group’s presence to three properties in New Delhi Aerocity, along with ibis Delhi Airport that opened in 2014, making the hospitality major the largest hotel operator in the precinct. The Pullman New Delhi Aerocity and Novotel New Delhi Aerocity were developed as a part of a strategic and joint partnership between InterGlobe Enterprises Ltd, APHV India Invest co Pte Ltd and AccorHotels. The Pullman is a perfect mix of luxury and convenience whilst Novotel New Delhi Aerocity exemplifies a midscale hotel brand which is a classic blend of modernity, design, simplicity and efficiency. Both hotels feature an assortment of dining options which span a total of five restaurants and offer an exciting mix of food and beverage options from South Asian street food to Tapas and a fine selection of wines. Both hotels are also positioned strongly to respond to India’s growing Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) needs. In May this year, AccorHotels signed an agreement with Bankstown RSL to open a

AccorHotels second in Andhra, signs contract to manage Varun Beach Resort

ocated 25 kilometres NorthEast of Visakhapatnam, featuring 28 exotic rooms overlooking the scenic Bay of Bengal and equipped with unmatched resort amenities, Varun Beach Bheemili Resort which is being managed by AccorHotels has further deepened the group’s stake in India. The resort which is located at a walking distance to Bheemili beach is dotted by one of the world’s most picturesque marine

new hotel in South Western Sydney under its international midscale brand, Mercure. The 5-storey, 240-room Mercure Sydney Bankstown hotel will be developed in two stages. The hotel located on Marion Street Bankstown, will be developed on the second level above the podium floor of the Bankstown RSL Community Club’s facilities and will have a dedicated street entrance leading to a reception and public areas. Construction of the mixed-use development is expected to commence in July 2016 and Mercure Sydney Bankstown is likely to open in late 2017. Following the announcement in Sydney on the development of Mercure Sydney Bankstown, AccorHotels announced the opening of three new hotels under the Pullman, Novotel and Mercure branding with Wanda Group in Nanchang in the Greater China region, as a key development of the Nanchang Wanda Cultural Tourism City. It is the largest investment project in three decades for Jiangxi Province. Pullman, Novotel and Mercure Nanchang Wanda will form part of the biggest hotel cluster featuring 1,388 guest rooms, 4 restaurants, 3 bars and 1,310 square metres of banquet and meeting space including an 800-square-metre pillar-less ballroom in addition to wellness facilities. The three properties combined will offer the largest guest room inventory under the AcccorHotels Greater China portfolio. “Mixed use development has emerged as a real trend in hospitality because sometimes a destination might not warrant a 500-room five-star hotel but could really benefit from both luxury and economy rooms,” said Gaurav Bhushan, Global Chief Development Officer, AccorHotels. “It allows for cost savings from utilising shared facilities and provides a good return for owners” AccorHotels has seen key social trends, shifting cultural preferences, and new ways of working and connecting have clearly begun to drive the shape of today’s cities in fundamentally different ways. Room layouts, guest bathrooms, and design styles are being developed in response to each brand’s target customer base and changes in technology. Airports are no longer considered transport hubs, they are transforming into complete entities where hotels, conference centres, retail and office spaces co-exist.

drives and is within relative proximity to the city’s airport and railway station (42 kilometres and 33 kilometres respectively). The resort boasts of a wide-range of offerings including a selection of food and dining outlets at The Square, an all-day dining restaurant, Infinity, an outdoor poolside diner, Water Bar for that perfect sundowner and Teppanyaki for a simple barbeque and grill. It also includes recreational facilities like a rooftop infinity pool, the first for any resort or hotel along India’s East Coast and a spa for pampering facial and massage treatments. Reacting to the most recent foray by the group, Jean-Michel

Cassé, Senior Vice President, Operations, AccorHotels India said, “India is a priority market for us and one in which we are seeing solid growth momentum. By the end of this year, we expect to have a strong presence with a network of 45 hotels in the country. The state of Andhra Pradesh is integral to our development strategy and we are committed to opening more world class hotels here. The Varun Beach Bheemili Resort is our second hotel alongside the 225-room Novotel Visakhapatnam and we have plans to open another Novotel with a convention centre in Vijayawada sometime later.”

hote ls + re sorts

Distinctive Asian hospitality sets us apart, says GM, Shangri La’s Eros Hotel

Parmeet Singh Nayar, General Manager, Shangri-La’s - Eros Hotel, New Delhi bets on authentic and distinctive style of Asian hospitality, coupled with world-class banqueting and convention facility for making the hotel a one-stop hub for guests coming in the city. A detailed interview on hotel’s new- look offerings, latest trends and more: By Shashank Shekhar

ow would you describe the new product of the hotel? What are its unique elements?

Shangri-La’s - Eros Hotel, New Delhi is located at the heart of the city making it a very central and convenient for our guests. Through the years, our philosophy has been “Shangri-La hospitality from the heart.” Shangri-La has always believed in the unique characteristics encapsulated by Asian hospitality. The hotel had embarked on the journey to refresh its offers incorporating the contemporary palate and tastes. This was done in phases and subtly tucked into surprise our discerning guests. In February 2015, we saw the first new look with the launch of new multicuisine restaurant, Tamra. It brings a high level of creativity to casual dining with an array of inspired offerings from across the globe. Guests can relish Thai delicacies meticulously crafted by Chef Nisa Yimthong at Tamra. We have also revamped and launched the existing tea lounge Mister Chai. Offering regional Indian street food in a modern luxurious setting, guests will come to Mister Chai for the best cup of Indian tea available in the city. Our food and beverage hub on the ground floor features ShangriLa’s very own signature restaurant, the 39th Shang Palace in the world bringing the best of Cantonese, Sichuan and the mystical cuisine of Yunnan by three Chinese speciality chefs to the food connoisseurs of New Delhi. The award winning Italian restaurant, Sorrento, certified with the Golden Q from Ospitalita’ Italiana 2016 is known for its fresh and

authentic produce, artisanal pasta, Neapolitan delicacies, pizzas and offers a lavish indoor seating and an alfresco area that overlooks the lush green gardens. The menu features Chef Luigi Ferraro’s greatest hits reinventing classic dishes by infusing his eclecticism. Subtly tucked in between these two great restaurants lies our Italian inspired bar, Grappa which offers a unique selection of wines and spirits and barrel aged cocktails handcrafted by our award winning mixologists. In our constant endeavour towards making the hotel even more inviting, a part of our accommodation facilities are also undergoing a facelift.

What position do you wish the hotel to acquire in the tourism landscape of the city? As a hotel known for its F&B, or as a centre for social events and MICE proceedings?

We believe in offering customized and personalized services to our guests. In constant pursuit of ShangriLa’s essence of business to be the first choice of our guests, colleagues, shareholders and business partners, and to delight our guests every time by creating engaging experiences. The team at the hotel aims at making the hotel the one stop hub for our guests. Our commitment to providing guests with distinctive Asian standards of hospitality and service enables us to stand out amongst our peers with our new food and beverage

Parmeet Singh Nayar General Manager Shangri-La’s - Eros Hotel, New Delhi

We believe in offering customized and personalized services to our guests. In constant pursuit of Shangri-La’s essence of business to be the first choice of our guests, colleagues, shareholders and business partners, and to delight our guests every time by creating engaging experiences.

offerings and latest state-of-the-art convention and conferencing facilities at the Shangri-La ballroom.

How about Spa and Wellness? Could you take us through hotel’s offerings?

The hotel offers great urban escape with some of the city’s best facilities in our fitness centre and spa. The Spa embraces a holistic approach to physical and spiritual well-being. Inspired by traditional

MICE business is very crucial for the hotel’s revenue segment. MICE exhibitions give good brand visibility and provide networking opportunities to interact with the potential customers. Having said that, Indian MICE industry requires more specialization to penetrate more conferences and events business to India. With more specialization in facilities and on the job training programs, Indian MICE industry will be a core hub for quality programmes in the near future.

We have outlined few strategies to strengthen the MICE business at the hotel: l Ballroom offers contemporary and luxurious interiors with the latest state-of-the-art convention and conferencing facilities and adorned with natural daylight. l The hotel offers 320 modern guestrooms and suites for travellers l Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts launched the Shangri-La Events Collection and Golden Circle Event Planner Rewards, an industry-leading meeting and events loyalty programme for meeting and travel professionals. This programme will offer business professionals and any Golden Circle member the ability to earn and redeem points for groups, meetings, conferences and events across the globe. l Tailor made packages encompassing convention facilities l The three private meeting rooms can be utilized as breakaway rooms for power sessions. l Signature events has been created to provide streamlined processing and specialized service delivery, with a wide selection of facilities l In 2009, Shangri-La was the first international luxury hotel group to provide complimentary Internet access at all its properties l The IT solutions meet the evolving technological and aesthetic needs of the perceptive travellers l Exclusive Summer packages for the discerning travellers customized as per their requirements l Promoting the MICE facilities through print and online advertising campaigns l Social media plays a pivotal role in promoting MICE business as it increases awareness with the masses and amongst our target audience.

segments – from upper upscale hotels, mid-segment hotels, resorts to budget hotels. The Pride Plaza Hotels are committed

to provide a truly Indian hospitality experience by introducing regional and local flavours in all destinations.”

Asian healing philosophies, our treatments are based upon the principles of restoring balance and harmony to the mind and body. We offer a variety of massages, herbal baths and body wraps. The Spa covers approximately 20,000 square feet of space. It gives you the luxury of personal space and timelessness to indulge your senses, soothe your body and revitalize your spirit. Soothing music flowing from the state of the art sound system greets the guests when they step into the spa reception and transports them into a tranquil haven. The Salon has a range of hair treatments amongst other facilities. It also has a fully equipped state of the art gym, an open air pool and five treatment rooms which offer a full wellness program, a wide variety of massage therapies, facials and body treatments.

How is the MICE market coming up? What are some key trends therein?

New Pearls in the Pride Hotels Chain; Pride Plaza Ahmedabad and Kolkata

ontinuing its fast growing journey, The Pride Hotels Group have restructured and rebranded Pride Hotel, Ahmedabad & Kolkata as Pride Plaza Hotel. Having a presence in the most prominent locations of each city, The Pride Plaza Hotel brand offers world class hospitality standards, combined with excellent ambience and quality service. The exclusive Indian Hospitality brand, Pride Plaza has successfully marked its footprints amongst the International Hotels in the country. Retaining the true

essence of Indian Hospitality Pride Plaza provides international quality services with a warm Indian touch. The hospitable staff, chivalrous service, the food & presentation along with the alluring architecture and interiors truly reflects the Indian cultural opulence to its core. Pride Plaza offers an amazing wellness & relaxing experience with its Ora Regenisis Spa and a fully equipped GYM to pamper each element of your body and soul. The brand also offers elegant conference and event venues, large-sized guest rooms, all-day

dining, Lounge Bar, 24 hours room service, free Wifi and internet terminals, and much more. Prior to Ahmedabad and Kolkata, the Pride Plaza brand embarked on its first hotel in Delhi, Aerocity. The brand is positioned as a Luxury Indian Brand for business as well as leisure travellers. Speaking on the occasion Arun Nayar – Executive Director said, “With the launch Of The Pride Plaza Brand, The Pride Hotels are now present in all

online + technology

OYO taps business travellers; launches “OYO for Business” app with self-serve features

ITDC rejigs its flagship hotel’s management as new team takes over The Ashok

Delving deeper into technological platforms to better serve its clientele, primarily corporate travellers, seeking on the go solutions, OYO has launched a new app “OYO for Business” with self-serve features. The company aims to provide excellent service at competitive rates and boost its corporate market share. By TF Bureau

elf-serve platforms have been in vogue in some parts of Europe and the US. It works well for travellers on the go, who need a basic set of facilities and a night’s stay before addressing their professional engagements. It has been attractive, particularly, in the business segment travel; much of the managerial level corporate segment prefers mid-segment accommodation to keep their travel budgets in check. It is a segment that has steadily been gaining traction in India, but much of it has been confined to mid-segment category. In a one-off and a continuation in its effort to further expand its consumer base in the business segment, OYO, nation’s largest branded network of hotels, has recently announced the availability of its self-serve platform for business travellers on its mobile app. Designed to service clientele on the go, the platform been termed “OYO for Business”. The online platform offers rooms to cater to the needs of corporate travellers. To ensure optimum facilities at an extremely competitive rate, rooms include air-conditioning, flat-screen television, free Wi-Fi, complimentary breakfast and roundthe-clock customer-care support. Ensuring vast presence, over 6000 hotels are offering these rooms, spread across 180 cities across India. The company, predictably, has listed Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Chennai as top five cities on the app.

and hassle-free once booked through “OYO for Business.” Kavikrut, Chief Growth Officer, OYO added, “With strong growth outlook in the corporate travel sector, we expect this service to scale rapidly. Businesses are looking for a hassle-free experience at great value. So there is a wonderful synergy with our brand promise. We will offer our partners carefully curated rooms, special Ritesh Agarwal offers and incentives to Founder & CEO, OYO make this an enriching OYO has ushered association.” in an era of This development reliable customer has come from the back experience in the of a six-month period highly fragmented of testing with 1,600 and unpredictable companies, including category of unbranded hotels large corporates, SMEs in India. We are and start-ups. Using this thrilled to extend platform, companies our brand promise witnessed average to business savings of 30% on their travellers across travel-related expenses. India’s premier corporates, SMEs The platform has and start-ups. catered to large scale booking needs by offering ease of creating bulk bookings via the web and mobile app along with the added convenience of travel-expense management. A number of A-listed companies had enrolled in the pilot phase which include corporates such as Citibank, Sony, E-value serve, Ranbaxy, Capgemini and L&T and start-ups including Zomato and Snapdeal. Since launch, the group has been able to tap more than 4,500 corporate consumers for business with recurring demand from 1,500 of them.

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) has appointed Vijay Dutt as the General Manager for its flagship hotel The Ashok, New Delhi. Known for his excellent leadership skills and with 28 years of extensive experience, he brings a wealth of industry knowledge in the luxury hotel segment. In his previous role, he held senior management positions as GM, Lalitha Mahal Palace, Mysore; Resident Manager of The Ashok, New Delhi and Corporate Marketing where he led the operation teams to drive sales and service to excellence. ITDC has also appointed Anmol Zutshi as the new Resident Manager, The Ashok. Rajiv Anand has recently been given responsibility to head Corporate Marketing and Sales; Public Relations; Advertising and Culture divisions at The Ashok, ITDC. He brings with him experience of over 25 years in which he has worked at various positions in different divisions of ITDC like Marketing and Hotel Sales, Hotels, Duty Free Trade, Corporate Services, Tours and Travels. Anand is working in Corporate Marketing and Sales for last one year.

Reacting on the development, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, OYO, said, “OYO has ushered in an era of reliable customer experience in the highly fragmented and unpredictable category of unbranded hotels in India. We are thrilled to extend our brand promise to business travellers across India’s premier corporates, SMEs and start-ups,” he said. He further added that he was confident that business travel in India would become more rewarding

Hotels and package segments to dominate MakeMyTrip’s revenue by 2018; eyes double-digit margin MakeMyTrip.com has delved deeper into hotel and package segments, hoping to generate a substantial 70 percent of their total revenue from these two segments by 2018. This ambitious target comes at a time when more such online players are vying to establish themselves in a highly scattered market segment.

n yet another development that indicates the growing prowess of online hotel booking segment, driven by OTAs, premier online travel agency, MakeMyTrip.com expects to earn a whopping seventy percent of its entire revenue to be generated by hotels and holiday package segments by 2018. This ambitious target comes in the backdrop of the fact that the online giant notched an impressive 336 million USD in revenue in 2015-16 fiscal. Speaking

to PTI, Rajesh Magow, MakeMyTrip co-founder and CEO-India said “we can say that seventy percent of our revenues will be from hotels and packages by 2018 as our focus is now on non-air side of businessholiday packages and hotels.” Indicating that Indian hotel industry remained largely underpenetrated, he added “MakeMyTrip has made aggressive efforts to tap into this segment by partnerships with more than 30,000 hotels and

guest houses in India and 3,00,000 hotels abroad.” Delving deeper into the reason for this shift in modus operandi, Rajesh Magow contested that hotel and packages offered relatively higher margins in double-digit while pure air-ticketing offered single digit margins. “Within hotels and packages, MakeMyTrip was more in favour of packages during the initial years,” he said to PTI. Much of the change in stance is

Rajesh Magow Co-founder & CEo-India Makemytrip

We can say that seventy percent of our revenues will be from hotels and packages by 2018 as our focus is now on non-air side of businessholiday packages and hotels. MakeMyTrip has made aggressive efforts to tap into this segment by partnerships with more than 30,000 hotels and guest houses in India and 3,00,000 hotels abroad.

also being driven by a tectonic shift in consumer behavior, with increasing number of travellers opting for booking their travel on their own. Rajesh Magow believes that the trend was pushing India towards an inevitable online revolution driven by handheld Smartphones and increasing internet penetration into the country’s hinterland– which would have a positive impact on hotel and package segments in the coming months.

Presenting Unique Segments at BITB 2016

online travel B2B and Conclave

Conclave Anchor Technology is fast catching up, online is going to occupy even more rights in the distribution business. These come together and share their products and services. We also provide a learning curve for destination marketing, and the value of research. Our conference platform is created by a leading global player – come and share their findings, learn the trends in the game. Who will Exhibit: Online players from India and abroad, GDS, market aggregators, specialised sites for niche tourism.

Photo courtesy: www.reconanceco.com

ITB Comes to India. The best of ‘Glocal’ is here!

Whom will you Meet: Fraternity members, your clients across sectors such as airlines, hotels, brick and mortar agents, governments in India and overseas.

Just exhibit, or also explore partnerships, exclusive to Online + Technology Showcase for that extra bit more!

online + technology

Yatra.com expands with a cab marketplace, aims to become the one-stop travel solution Indian online travel portal, Yatra.com has ventured into a new territory – cab marketplace. With an aim to evolve as the one-stop destination for travel needs, the company aims at expanding its consumer base and lending to ‘ease of travel’ in equal measure. By TF Bureau

iversification and innovation have become pivotal for new age online companies in their bid for retention and acquisition of new consumer base. With plethora of new entrants in the fray, vying for a market consolidation, established players are in a process of constant evolvement in their engagement strategies. Reflecting a similar desire, to remain in the forefront of technological innovation, Yatra.com, one of India’s leading online travel portals has launched a cab marketplace with various cab aggregators to tap the cab segment in important Indian cities. The move is aimed at providing cabs to consumers across 450 cities in India. This tie-up with multiple cab service providers will allow Yatra customers to book their local and intercity transport on the company’s android mobile app itself. The company believes that with the launch of this feature, it has taken another step forward in providing its customers with comprehensive travel solutions and a seamless travel experience. Yatra’s cab marketplace is currently offering hourly intra-city and outstation rides where bookings can be made up to 2 hours in advance. The facility of availing hourly cab rides allows customers to pay directly at the end of their travel. For outstation cab bookings, customers are expected to make 25% advance payment. Travellers can choose one-way, round trip and multi-city trips for outstation cab bookings. With a large range of cars – hatchbacks, sedans, SUV/MUVs and vans

Sharat Dhall President, Yatra.com

Cab booking is a new line of business for Yatra and this is in line with our goal of being the one-stop-shop for all the travel requirements of customers. The company is planning on expanding the service from Yatra Android app to the iOS app, shortly. This feature allows travellers to book local as well as outstation cabs very easily thus making road travel completely hassle free.

to choose from, the newly rolled facility has targeted multiple segment of travellers in one go. While the feature is currently available on the Android app, the iOS launch will follow shortly as well. Speaking exclusively to TF, Sharat Dhall, President, Yatra.com noted that the development had taken them a step closer to becoming a one-stop travel solution for discerning customers. “Cab booking is a new line of business for Yatra and this is in line with our goal of being the one-stop-shop for all the travel requirements of customers,” he said. Adding that they were excited about this initiative and looked forward to bringing more partners on board to provide travellers with more options and more competitive prices, he said that the company was planning on expanding the service from Yatra Android app to the iOS app, shortly. “This feature allows travellers to book local as well as outstation cabs very easily thus making road travel completely hassle free,” he elaborated. Manish Amin, co-founder and CIO of Yatra said that the company had built technology to simultaneously showcase the offerings of multiple cab aggregators, allowing the traveller the freedom to choose from a variety of service and price options. “At launch, we have aggregators offering both intra-city hourly cabs and inter-city taxi services. Going forward we will be also tying up with intra-city point to point aggregators, as well as self drive and car pooling options. This new technology feature will help Yatra take the next step in servicing our customers and providing them with solutions to all their travel requirements,” he added.

Goibibo diversifies with travel-based social network The dynamic nature of the online space ensures constant innovation and product refinement on the part of service providers. Not so surprising then, Online hotel-booking engine and air aggregator Goibibo has recently debuted a travelbased social network 'GoContact' on its mobile application platform which allows users to get connected on Goibibo app using their contacts. “The launch of ‘GoContacts’ is further strengthening the network effects on the Goibibo. The 3.4 million users who have got connected on Goibibo is a testimony of the fact that we are on our way to create India’s largest traveller's community,” Ashish Kashyap, founder and CEO of Goibibo, said in a statement. To reach a certain scale, company is rewarding any user who joins 'GoContacts' and travels by booking on Goibibo with GoCash+ bonus. The same works in a reverse manner too. Each time any of the customer's contacts travels using Goibibo, they are given GoCash+ bonus. Goibibo will soon expand the social network to its “user generated content pieces” which will allow users to review photos, ratings, etc. The members will be able to see reviews, photos, questions and answers that have been generated by their social network contacts. Users will also be able to discover the destinations that their contacts have travelled to and accommodations that they would have used. As per media reports, Goibibo is also building customised privacy settings, so as to enable users to decide what they want to share and what they intend to keep out of the purview of the public domain.

Growing demand for experiential holidaying working well for home-stay segment, trend likely to intensify Growing interest in experiential holidaying is going beyond merely engaging in activities and more travelers are keen on sampling home-stays to better absorb local flavours, feels Nitin Aggarwal, Co-founder Funstay. He feels that home-stay and experiential-stay segments are likely to grow in coming years and he wishes to make the best use of this interesting development. Excerpts of the interview: How are you managing to bring in investments? A number of start-ups are mushrooming, increasingly making it difficult to attract investors. How are you managing to bring in much needed cash?

consumer wants a budget stay, we try to provide him an experience in the budget of his liking.

How big is the experiential tourism market in India? What scope do you see for growth?

Well, as of now we are managing on our own money. Anyways, bringing in good investments, especially in the travel and tourism space is a challenge. Everyone is coming up with a new idea and setting up a commercial venture. You have a travel agency, literally, at every nook and corner of the country.

But, that is a good development, is not it?

Yes, it is true to a certain extent. But no one is really focusing on pain-points, which are many. Talking about our segment i.e. home stay segment is a vastly unorganized sector. In hotels, you have a set parameter, a standard room and a fixed tariff. None of it exists in the home-stay space.

Then how do you manage and intend to manage consumer experience? The element of surprise always lurks. Exactly! It is the biggest challenge that we face on a daily basis. Perhaps, that is why we took a

Everyone is looking for an experience. When you travel you seek certain components like sampling local cuisines, meeting with local people and understanding local culture and tradition. All of it comes at a cost. People are increasingly willing to shell out more for a better experience. The days of second-hand holidaying are passé. Travellers want to be in the middle of the action, and I see this trend only catching on from here on.

Nitin Aggarwal Co-founder Funstay

People are increasingly willing to shell out more for a better experience. The days of second-hand holidaying are passé. Travellers want to be in the middle of the action, and I see this trend only catching on from here on.

conscious decision from the very first day of operations that we will not venture into budget-stays, focusing our energies solely on experiential accommodation. Our aim is to cater experiences not facilitate budget-stays. If a

Sounds like a very brave move for someone just starting out, without much investment backup. Instead of going for the tried and tested scale and marketsegmentation, you are nitpicking at a very early stage.

True. What we do is we talk to our clientele on the kind of experience they wish to seek. We have a well-attended customer care centre that looks into consumer complaints and requests. It is a

very crucial component of running a business in India. A lot of multinational operators are bereft of human contact. I believe it is very difficult to automate an experience. Guests have queries like the quality of rooms, behavior of hosts and information of how to get there. It is just not possible to automate all of these queries through software. Satisfying consumer needs is crucial to success of any venture, but, thankfully, we have been successful in this regard.

How many properties do you have under your belt? Currently, we have around two thousand properties registered with us from across India.

Looking at your website, we see that you have picked up key tourist destinations like Varanasi, Coorg and Manali. What was the reason behind choosing destinations like Chikmagalur and Coorg?

Most of our customer base stems out of age group 23-35 years, who

are mostly professionals. They seek a vacation that gives them a break from their monotonous routine; they yearn for an experience of different environment from where they are coming. It is exactly the kind of consumer profile we wish to engage with. That explains why we chose these destinations, because they have plenty of experiences to offer.

How difficult is it to bring home-owners on board for opening a commercial establishment? What are some issues therein?

Well, if you get them booking and business, it is not that difficult actually. It is difficult for us when we hand-pick them. For instance, if I look at top ten properties in Coorg, it will be difficult for me to pick them. Firstly, their occupancy rates are on the higher side and secondly, they have a completely different perspective. So, we hand-pick properties that are not yet on tourist radar and famous, but are equally good in their offerings.

outbound : dubai

Panoramic view of Kempinski Hotel Ishtar, Dead Sea Jordan

Shangri-La Hotel

Millennial travellers seek personalization in luxury hospitality segment, assert GMs The hospitality industry has undergone a substantial transformation in the last few years and has been growing at a faster pace. While Europe and Asia Pacific continue to be key hospitality regions, scoring the highest occupancy rates at over 68%, the Middle East and Africa will continue to remain the most expensive regions. That said, there are key business, technology and marketing trends that are set to take root and impact the global hospitality industry in 2016. Let’s look at what hospitality industry insiders have to say about the changing trends in the near future. Vasujit Kalia reports from Dubai:

Luxury guests seek quality in personalized service and seamlessness in experience

Sébastien Mariette GM, Kempinski Hotel Ishtar Dead Sea, Jordan

Being able to bring out-of-the-box ideas to your offerings is certainly what makes any hotel stand out among the competition. People are now more in pursuit of memorable local experiences when it comes to dining, shopping, adventures. Whenever a guest stays in at any high end luxury hotel, they expect certain level of luxury services and facilities.

hat are your predictions for the top trends in 2016?

In my opinion, I think the following characteristics are going to be the top trends from 2016 onwards: Concept of the product: At Kempinski Hotel Ishtar Dead Sea, we are specialists at blending the natural beauty of the location with the unique concept of the hotel. This is the exclusive quality that differentiates one hotel brand from another. For us, Kempinski Hotel Ishtar Dead Sea lies gracefully on the shores of the world’s oldest natural spa – the Dead Sea – and designed in affectionate tribute to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, offering 345 rooms and suites within a stylish arabesque monument building that weaves clean and simple lines into an Arabian theme. For a more luxurious and exclusive stay, the hotel offers Ishtar Villas, designed with a tasteful contemporary decor. The hotel also features one of the largest spas in the Middle East at 10,000 sq m. Exclusivity: Being “exclusive” is what makes our guests - the “crème de la crème” society - value our personalized services and has them in constant pursuit of new and unique experiences. At Kempinski Hotel Ishtar Dead Sea, we treat all guests exclusively, according to

their needs. We have two royal villas for our high-end clients who are seeking privacy and exclusivity during their stay. These kinds of rooms help our elite guests enjoy a private getaway away from their daily busy lives – guests such as celebrities, government officials, royalty and heads of state. Unique Dining Experiences and product: Innovation is not limited to technology only anymore; it is now more involved in our dayto-day life and activities. Recently, it has been embedded in our various hospitality experiences related to food and beverage, spa and wellness, meetings and social events, etc. Being able to bring out-of-the-box ideas to your offerings is certainly what makes any hotel stand out among the competition. People are now more in pursuit of memorable local experiences when it comes to dining, shopping, adventures…etc. New definition of luxury wellness: Guests are used to wellness getaways; however, what makes us different and unique are the offerings we have at our spa. At The Ishtar Spa by Resense, we are considered as one of the largest in the Middle East at 10,000 sq m. Every element of our spa is carefully designed to provide you with a classical service, a luxurious experience and the element of surprise. We offer 20 beautifully designed treatment rooms with private shower facilities, six outdoor individual treatment and

Millennial travelers will be the dominant market group: Thomas Guss Exclusivity is a key element to ensuring luxury experience for guests, says Thomas Guss. Batting for cultivating exclusive relations with guests, he, interestingly, recommends advertising, not for selling the product, but to build and recreate the dream of consumers.

hat are your predictions for the top trends in 2016?

Key luxury trends in 2016 will include millennial traveller as the dominant market group as well as increased use of mobile devices and apps to enable more personalized hotel guest services.

What are the commonalities in the definition of luxury across global markets? How to bring the change?

Luxury is the ambassador of the local culture and refined art de vivre. Here’s how: l Do not advertise to sell: Luxury communicates to build the dream and to recreate it. This is not measured by short-term sales increases because, unlike consumer packaged goods,

possession of a luxury good dilutes the excitement one had before the purchase was made. l Communicate to non-targets: Part of the value of owning a luxury good is the quality craftsmanship of the product, but another necessary part is the recognition by non-owners. l Always increase the average price: to remain its dream the luxury brand should never trade down nor cut its prices. If it does create some accessible lines, this must be done on a limited scale and be counterbalanced by systematic trading-up. l Develop direct, one-to-one relationships with clients. Luxury means treating all guests as VIPs. This means customized packages, and experiences to meet their needs.

Thomas Guss General Manager, Shangri-La Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi,

Develop direct, one-to-one relationships with clients. Luxury means treating all guests as VIPs. This means customized packages, and experiences to meet their needs.

relaxation areas, hydro-facilities with a steam room, sauna and whirlpool, tepidarium heated lounges, the Dead Sea pool and the largest hydro-pool in the Dead Sea. There’s also a separate ladies-only area. And talking about exclusivity and innovation, we have recently launched a special promotion called “From Home to Heaven”, in which we truly offer a luxurious personalized wellness experience, which starts from the picking-up of our guests from their residences by a luxury car and includes unique spa treatments embedded with Dead Sea elements; a healthy lunch at the Lemon Garden, overlooking the Dead Sea; yoga session; and an overnight stay in one of our suites or departure from the hotel with a luxury car, depending on the guests’ preferences.

What are the commonalities in the definition of luxury across global market? How to bring the change?

The chief commonality of luxury is to provide latest services and facilities to the guest. Whenever a guest stays in at any high end luxury hotel, they expect certain level of luxury services and facilities. However, the change comes when you blend in a personal element or touch in the service you are providing. This gesture shows that the guests are being appreciated as unique and valued individuals. The growth of certain categories of luxury like exotic cuisine and drinks, luxury travel and hotels shows that consumer values are transitioning. What according to you are the changes required to tap consumer value. Most of our guests are diverse and affluent travellers and, therefore, they are well aware of the international trends prevailing around the world. However, what makes their experiences, wherever they travel, different and memorable is the local element during their stay. At Kempinski Hotel Ishtar Dead Sea, the local element is reflected in the concept of the hotel; the F&B offerings and themed nights; local experiences provided through our concierge; the Dead Sea healing elements in the spa treatments; and, of course, the unique location of the oldest natural spa in the world, Dead Sea, which is the lowest point on earth and located near some of the world’s most religious and historical sites – all of which complements the overall guest experience.

What are the new business models adopted by luxury brands and retailers these days.

With luxury consumption becoming global, digital and experiential, the role of luxury retailers irretrievably shifts from products only to value-added services and experiences. The core value unit that luxury retailers designed their businesses around isn’t a luxury product only anymore; it is seamlessness, convenience, speed and quality of personal services as well.

outbound : dubai

A majestic view of Kempinski Hotel Ajman

Hotels in future will cater mostly to a mix of business and leisure group of travellers Defining luxury as the ability to have time to oneself, Kal Schukowski, GM, Kempinski Hotel- Ajman called luxury service discreet and yet ever available. Looking at some of the key trends in 2016, the GM shared that achieving critical mass of volume was going to be top priority for hotels, before they could moot driving rates.

hat are your predictions for the top trends in 2016?

I believe that the trend is moving towards combining business with pleasure: business travellers are choosing hotels where they can stay with their spouse, to be able to enjoy a lovely holiday, as well as work– a blend of corporate and leisure activities. While 2015 was about yielding, 2016 is all about achieving the critical

mass of volume in order to fill the hotels and restaurants. Once that is achieved, we can start “building” and “driving” the rate. With the increasingly short booking window, forecasting becomes more complex and last-minute. Therefore, securing the strong base early on helps hoteliers to avoid falling into the lastminute “alert mode”, where rates have to be drastically dropped.

What are the commonalities in the definition of luxury across global markets? How to bring the change?

I strongly believe that luxury is having time for yourself. We believe that a luxurious service is discreet yet available whenever you need it. People want to escape from the hustle and bustle of big cities and spend quality time with their families. Luxury depends on people and their

Kai Schukowski GM, Kempinski Hotel – Ajman

I strongly believe that luxury is having time for yourself. We believe that a luxurious service is discreet yet available whenever you need it. Food and beverage-wise, I believe that people want more diversity and our focus is on speciality restaurants as the trend is moving away from the regular all-day diners. Instead of the seamless concepts, people prefer more of an open space, like a combination of restaurant and bar fitting more into the hotel’s casual feel.

needs: luxury is interactive and personalized; limited yet timeless. For instance, at Kempinski Hotel Ajman, we have the finest 12 F&B dining outlets catering to a large variety of different cuisines from around the world on the plate, as well as the bowling alley which is something unique and distinct for the UAE and certainly guarantees that the evening with the family will be fun-filled. We believe that there will be a demand for work-pleasure travel market in future where people would prefer to stay over to relax at the hotel after finishing their business.

The growth of certain categories of luxury like exotic cuisine and drinks, luxury travel and hotels shows that consumer values are transitioning. What according to you are the changes required to tap consumer value?

Food and beverage-wise, I believe that people want more diversity and our focus is on speciality restaurants as the trend is moving away from the regular all-day diners. Instead of the seamless concepts, people prefer more of an open space, like a combination of restaurant and bar fitting more into the hotel’s casual feel. As we can also see, there are a number of successful standalone restaurants taking a lot of market share from the hotels, I believe that there is a need to carefully strategize and leverage on how to run successful hotelmanaged restaurants.

What are the new business models adopted by luxury brands and retailers these days.

Hospitality is a very dynamic and diverse industry but in recent times, we have seen a major shift in the way people find and book hotels, as well as their expectations of hotels. The cookie-cutter approach of a homogenous hotel portfolio is no longer only about providing rooms with breakfast, as there are a number of industry disrupters, such as Airbnb which is adding to the traditional bed-and-restaurant model, making it a very diverse and dynamic scene.

With excess of various commencing platforms, resulting in the multiplication of consumer touch points, how can luxury marketers leverage on the digitalization of luxury brands for better future.

With the continuous technology boom, an increase in the use of technology in the hospitality industry is definitely a good and forward move. At the same time, do not forget the good old human touch as that is what makes a huge difference in keeping you a notch ahead from your competitors. Moreover, with hotels merging into mega-brands there is a further brand consolidation, while on the other side of the spectrum, boutique hotels will have their own niche and appeal.

outbound : trinidad & tobago

Trinidad and Tobago will focus on cultural links with India to increase outbound Huzan Fraser Motivala

Huzan Fraser Motivala India Representative for Tourism Trinidad and Tobago

With a noticeable increase in numbers, thanks to sports and cinema tourism, Trinidad and Tobago now aims to increase familiarization about its products and offerings through enhanced media outreach and joint marketing campaigns. We speak with Huzan Fraser Motivala, India Representative for Tourism Trinidad and Tobago to understand latest trends, their marketing strategies and how T&T intended to leverage deep-rooted cultural ties between two nations.

By Shashank ShekhAr

hat are some key facets of tourism products in T&T. What are their USP? Culture, cuisines, beautiful resorts are some that come to mind.

The twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago is a unique and true Caribbean paradise boasting of a heady mix of cultural activities, eco-adventure and culinary delights. From relaxing on palm tree-lined white sandy beaches, to swimming in aquamarine clear waters, from the picturesque Maracas Beach to enjoying the greatest show on Earth – the Carnival, T&T invites you to experience a destination where thrill meets tranquillity! Trinidad and Tobago is indeed a paradise with their lush forests and nature reserves, rare tree frogs, pristine corals, unforgettable hiking and exotic birds. The twin-islands are a one-of-a-kind island escape and offer a traveller to experience the True Caribbean.

How has been tourism unfolding in the recent past? What are some of your key source markets? Where does India figure in the list?

Tourism Trinidad & Tobago has made a substantial investment in the Indian market through its trade initiative. We have been working with the travel trade across the major metros in India to promote the destination through sales calls, training programmes and seminars as well as familiarization trips for travel agents and joint marketing campaigns with leading tour operators. The key source markets for Trinidad & Tobago are North America and the United Kingdom. India is a niche market for this twin-island destination, but we are seeing steady growth of over 10% year-on-year from India to Trinidad & Tobago.

What makes the larger tourism connect

between India and T&T. How is the movement of people happening?

Indian visitors to Trinidad & Tobago are a mix of business and leisure tourists. Leisure travellers to Trinidad & Tobago are generally from the honeymoon segment, and we also see Indians visiting Trinidad & Tobago as an extension to holiday packages to the USA and Canada.

How do you plan to increase your visibility in the Indian market? What is the kind of positioning you wish to acquire among the Indian outbound? Given long-flying hours, I presume much of the movement, currently, happens in the leisure segment?

Trinidad and Tobago is still a niche and relatively new destination in the Indian market and therefore, our main focus is on creating awareness and knowledge of this twin island destination among Indian travellers and the travel trade. We are focusing on positioning T&T as a destination for honeymoons, eco-tourism, adventure etc. The honeymoon segment is one in which we expect to see an increase of demand and bookings. Film tourism is another growing segment with filmmakers and producers keen to showcase unique destination in their films. Sports tourism is another key segment in which we see tremendous potential in 2016, especially with the Shahrukh Khan owned cricket team Trinbago Knight Riders participating in the Caribbean Premier League and the upcoming Indian team cricket tour of the West Indies. Tourism Trinidad & Tobago will work with renowned cricketers from Trinidad & Tobago such as Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine and Brian Lara to promote the tourism messages of Trinidad and Tobago in the Indian market and create greater awareness of Trinidad & Tobago as a destination and its products and attractions among the Indian media and consumers. The travel trade is also a key component of

our marketing strategy for the Indian market. We have been working with the travel trade across the major metros in India to promote the destination through sales calls, training programmes and seminars as well as familiarisation trips and joint marketing campaigns. We will continue these efforts in 2015 as well. Additionally this year, we also plan to hold a road show for the travel trade in Delhi and Mumbai with suppliers from Trinidad & Tobago attending.

How will you cash in on historic ties between two nations, especially when you have a decent numbers of PIOs living in T&T?

40% of the population in Trinidad & Tobago is of Indian-origin. This has had a significant impact on the culture of Trinidad & Tobago. The contribution of the Indian diaspora in Trinidad & Tobago is evident in the rich inheritance of dance, music, art, cuisine and festivals. For instance, the festivals of Diwali and Holi are widely celebrated. There are two hallmarks of Indian cuisine that can be found anywhere on the island – roti and doubles. Doubles is the unofficial national breakfast, with many Trinidadians starting their day with two or three of these palm-size flour and split peas (yellow lentils) patties filled with spicy channa (chickpeas) and topped with different relishes. One of the more famous religious sites in Trinidad, the richly decorated Hanuman

Murti is a potent icon of Trinidad’s Indian community. The only Southern Indian–style temple in the western hemisphere, the statue is an incredible sight to see against the backdrop of the Caribbean blue sky. The Temple in the Sea at Waterloo, Trinidad is a floating marvel in the midst of the Caribbean Sea. Surrounded by the serene blue waters, this awe-inspiring temple with its lovely dome and stately bridge is a monument to the hard-work and devotion of one simple Indian man. We will work to promote these close cultural links between India and Trinidad & Tobago to potential Indian travellers to drive their interest in visiting the destination.

How will you by-pass the ordeal of an in-direct connectivity? Is there a plan for better air-connection in the coming months?

British Airways to London Heathrow (LHR) and onwards to New York (NYC)/Miami (MIA) offer excellent connections from Mumbai/Delhi and onwards on Caribbean Airlines from NYC to Port of Spain (POS) and American Airlines from MIA to POS. Jet Airways, Air India, Lufthansa have flights from Mumbai & Delhi to Newark (EWR)/Toronto (YYZ) with onward connections with Caribbean Airlines onwards to Port of Spain (POS). Emirates Airlines operate 1 flight daily to London Gatwick (Gatwick) and onwards, travellers can fly Caribbean Airlines from Gatwick to Port of Spain.

Jordon turns to music concert to promote tourism and travel

Play 99.6, Jordan’s number one hit music station and iJordan, the agency famous for booking International A list chart toppers to perform in Jordan have jointly announced their plans to bring international Grammy award winning artist, Enrique Iglesias to perform in Amman, on the 11th of August, at the Amman Exhibition Park as part of his world tour that has been seen by 1.4 million people. The announcement was made at an exclusive press conference attended by Lana Al Sakka; MD at iJordan, Emile Eid; CEO at Modern Media, Haethum Buttikhi; Head of Retail and Private Banking at Jordan Kuwait Bank, and Omar Al Helou; General Business Manager at Nestles Jordan Trading Company in addition to a number of local media representatives. Commenting on the occasion, on behalf of Jordan Kuwait Bank, the Title Sponsors of the event, Haethum Buttikhi said: “We are delighted to sponsor this magnificent concert and show support to the music scene in Jordan. Supporting such an event comes in line with Jordan Kuwait Bank’s continuous efforts and active role, to promote Jordan as a safe and stable country and an attractive destination to host world class events to be enjoyed by residents, visitors and tourists.”

outbound : se yche lle s

Seychelles sets its sight on wedding segment after leisure takes to the Island nation Sherin Naiken

Sherin Naiken CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board

After registering an impressive 183 percent growth in Indian outbound in 2015, compared to the previous year, Seychelles is keen to further augment numbers by tapping the burgeoning Indian wedding segment. In an exclusive interview to TF, Sherin Naiken, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board shared her understanding of the Indian market and detailed how she intended to continue this impressive foray.

By TF bureau

hat are some key facets of the tourism product of Seychelles? What are their USP?

Seychelles is very unique as compared to other island destinations. It enjoys a year-long warm tropical weather, making it a perfect destination to visit anytime of the year. Seychelles islands offer such diversity – not only in the islands themselves (74 low-lying coral atolls and 41, steep, granitic inner isles), but also in their flora, fauna, ethnicity, architecture, cuisine, traditions and activities. Keeping the Indian traveller in mind we are promoting a plethora of products in India. They are: Island hopping – A Seychelles holiday is incomplete if one limits their stay to just one island. Island hopping is very easy

with regular boat and air services between islands. Mahé is the largest island. It is also home to the international airport and Victoria. It is the cultural and economic hub of the nation. It has 65 gorgeous and uncrowded beaches. There is also a host of great excursions like the Morne Seychellois National Park, Craft village, Domaine de Val des Près and Sir Selwyn Selwyn Clarke market. Praslin Island is home to the extraordinary forest, Valle De Mai, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Anse Lazio considered as the world’s most beautiful beach. La Digue island boasts of the photographed beach on the earth –Anse Source d’ Argent. It is also the perfect to experience the unhurried pace of island lifestyle with bicycle and ox-carts as the main means of transportation. Silhouette, Bird, Denis, Cerf and St. Anne Marine National Park islands

can be easily accessed from Mahe, while Cousin, Aride and Curieuse Marine National Park from Praslin. Honeymoon – Seychelles is a dream destination for honeymooners, offering a variety of accommodation options including charming Creole guesthouses, intimate hotels both large and small, sumptuous five star resorts and exquisite island retreats. And if a couple wants to do much more than lie on the beach and sip a cocktail they can choose to do a wide range of activities like excursions to national parks, island hopping, adventure sports, etc. The islands also house some of Indian Ocean’s best spa and wellness resorts and facilities. Adventure – Seychelles offers some of the finest sailing with easy distances and safe moorings. It is also a diver’s paradise, teeming with marine life and spectacular underwater landscapes. Eco-tourism – Seychelles is a paradise for nature lovers with some magnificent experiences both on land and beneath the sea. Land – Mahe, Praslin, La Digue and Silhouette have a wide selection of walks among the stunning scenery and exotic endemic flora and fauna found nowhere else but here. Sea – The Marine National Parks of Ste. Anne, Baie Ternay and Port Launay on Mahe, Curieuse near Praslin and Ile Cocos near La Digue, all provide an unforgettable experience of the underwater treasures of the inner islands.

How has been tourism unfolding in the recent past? What are some of your key source markets? Where does India figure in that list?

Overall tourist arrivals to Seychelles continue to grow. The strong dominance of our European markets is so evident to have driven the double-digit growth in arrivals. The islands had about 276,500 visitors in 2015, a 19 percent increase compared with 2014. Tourism is the most important industry for Seychelles which directly affects the economy and the people of the country. Hence, we have to be constantly monitoring the global market and come up with strategies to safeguard our industry from uncertainties. That is why some years back we diversified into Asia by targeting Middle

East, China and India to reduce our reliance on European economies when they slowed down. And we are extremely happy that this strategy has worked out beautifully with Asian markets breaking into the top 10 source markets. India was the last country we set up office in. We opened the office in Mumbai in 2013. And in less than three years the destination has caught the interest of the Indian traveller and the trade. In 2015, Seychelles saw 183% growth in tourist arrivals compared to 2014 and 85% growth from Jan-April 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. We hope to continue this momentum for the rest of the year.

How do you plan to increase your visibility in the Indian market? What is the kind of positioning you wish to acquire among the Indian outbound? I presume much of the movement, currently, happens in the leisure segment?

As I mentioned, the USP of Seychelles is its diversity. Seychelles offers such diversity, and that is what we want to convey to the Indian market. Seychelles cannot be compared to other island destinations as it is a very different product. It has the best beaches in the world but it has much more to offer. Though they have been traditionally known to be the islands of love, which they absolutely are, the diversity of the islands in their every aspect make them a perfect holiday destination for families, small groups, adventure seekers, nature and wildlife lovers, wellness and spa enthusiasts and the list goes on. Also we want to highlight that a holiday in Seychelles is unbelievably hassle free .Visa is on arrival and gratis for Indians; the islands can be visited anytime of the year; the locals are very warm and hospitable, and food is not a problem with vegetarians. Indian cuisine is easily available and the destination is just around 4 hours away from Mumbai with Air Seychelles. Our focus is to tap the well-travelled, well educated, high income Indians with efforts directed towards promoting honeymoon, family, adventure, eco-tourism, small groups, wellness and spa holidays in Seychelles. We are also planning to target the Indian destination wedding segment.

Korea’s unveils ‘K-Style Hub’ with cuttingedge offerings to lure MICE travellers Aimed at international visitors coming to Korea, the new “K-Style Hub", located in Seoul is offering visitors a range of hands-on programs that make it ideal for visiting incentive groups. An initiative of the Korea Food Foundation, Korean Culinary Center programs can accommodate up to 40 participants at a time; groups of more than 20 are eligible for a 10% discount. Other areas of the K-Style Hub showcase a variety of information centers and interactive exhibits on

themes, including medical tourism, recommended travel destinations across the peninsula and hallyu the ‘Korean Wave’. The facility is designed with cuttingedge technology, including 3D, holography, and virtual reality. One of the activities worth experiencing will be the virtual reality goggles offering an interactive experience of a ski-jump, which is one of the efforts to promote the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, scheduled for February 9-25 in the year 2018. According to Byungsun

Lee, Director Korea Tourism Organization, “K-Style Hub is one of the unique offerings and continued effort of Korea Tourism Organization to entice the MICE travelers. With the ideal location,

the facility is an appropriate place for small groups to enjoy the Korean food and cultural variety.” Its central location in Seoul’s popular Myeong-dong district makes it well-placed for business

visitors on tight schedules interested in sampling Korean culture, as well as for event planners interested in learning about potential activities for their groups.

outbound : spain

Spain senses no competition in attracting cinema tourism from India, asserts Counsellor Ignacio Ducasse Gutierrez

Ignacio Ducasse Gutierrez Tourism Counsellor, Embassy of Spain in India and Director, Tourism office of Spain

Alluring tax rebates, picturesque locations and technical assistance are some USPs that are likely to keep Spain ahead in attracting Indian Cinema Tourism, asserts Ignacio Ducasse Gutierrez, Tourism Counsellor, Embassy of Spain in India and Director, Tourism Office of Spain in India, Mumbai. In an exclusive conversation with TF, he discussed Spain’s varied tourism products, its key markets, and reasons behind its ascent as a favoured Indian outbound.

By Shashank Shekhar

ow has been 2015 for Spain tourism? What kind of numbers have you crunched? What have been your key markets, globally?

In the last 5 years, travel to Spain from India has grown from 33.591 tourist arrivals in 2011 to 84.903 tourist arrivals in 2015. We witnessed a strong growth of 100% in the months of Jan-April 2015, vis-à-vis the same period last year with arrivals increasing from 10.000 in Jan-April 2014 to 20.000 in Jan-April 2015. The subsequent months of summer i.e. May and June slowed down a bit in terms of the number of arrivals in comparison to the previous year. However, there was a quick recovery post the slowdown, with a surge in arrivals from India in the months of July-September. Our key source markets are UK, France & Germany with 55% of our arrivals coming from these 3 countries, approximately 37.5 million tourists from the total of 68.1 million tourists received in 2015. We are also are paying special attention to the BRIC countries and have witnessed a surge in arrivals from Russia and China in particular. Furthermore, we are also strongly focusing on the Latin American countries which have historical links with Spain and the Middle East countries that have shown great interest in travel to Spain over the past few years. India is positioned as one of our top priority emerging markets globally.

Given that Cinema tourism has been a stupendous success for Spain, focus on re-invigorating shooting in locations is a great idea. But how are you going to compete with a number of Asian countries that are doling out attractive schemes and incentives to attract shooting? How intense is the competition from other countries in

These locations offer a unique, grandeur and romantic setting which is usually observed to be captured in many Hindi films. Spain offers many advantages to Indian filmmakers. The benefits offered vary from region to region. At a national level, all international productions services could generate a maximum tax rebate of `2,500,000, calculated as the 15% of the eligible costs spent in Spain, having to invest a minimum of `1,000,000 in eligible costs. The amount of this deduction together with other aid received by the taxpayer may not exceed 50% of the cost of the production. In the case of the Canary Islands, the maximum amount to be deducted goes up to `4,500,000, being all production expenses in this region subject to 35% tax rebate from production expenses in this region. Regarding Navarre, this region offers 35% tax rebate from all eligible costs with no maximal deduction and minimal expense. The only requisite is to film at least for one week in the region. Taking into account these excellent offerings in Spain, we hardly feel that we are competing with Asian countries and their schemes and incentives. And hence, we sense very little competition from other countries promoting their destinations in India.

☛ Spain has registered an impressive year-on-year growth of 21.6%, 8.36% and 6.61% from India in the periods of 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 respectively. ☛ Air India has began negotiating a possible direct connection to Spain by the end of 2016 or in the early 2017. ☛ Encouraged by healthy footfalls, Spain has aimed to cater to 1, 00,000 Indian outbound in the near future. attracting Indian Cinema outbound?

Spain provides filming production incentives, amazing and varied locations, most modern film studios in Europe, cutting-edge gastronomy offers, audiovisual professional and service production companies, perfect climate, quality lifestyle, safety and comfort, rich catering and accommodation offer, extensive infrastructure and transportation network, friendly and welcoming offer. Indian film makers can shoot anywhere in Spain. We have a great diversity of wonderful settings from Maspalomas beach and lighthouse, to the romantic Parque de MaríaLuisa in Seville, or the Segovia Roman Aqueduct. Spain has something for everyone. Spain has an amazing diversity of landscapes. More than 300 long days of sunlight per year with pleasant summer and winter temperatures, 2,500 castles, 4,971 miles of coastline with stretching beaches, calm coves with crystal clear waters, cliffs and islands; more than 100 natural reserves with snowy mountains, tropical landscapes and deserts. And great architectural variety: Roman bridges and aqueducts, rural villages, medieval towns, modern cities, futuristic buildings, etc.

What would you call some key USPs of Spain. What has it got for the Indian traveller?

Apart from the vibrant, lively and urban cities of Spain like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao, the Key USPs of Spain lie in its unique offerings like World Heritage Cities of Spain (15 of them declared by UNESCO), wedding and honeymoon destinations like Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Ibiza and many more, MICE offerings in avant-garde architecture, like the Donostia-San Sebastián Conference Centre, the one in Valencia designed by Norman Foster, the one in A Coruña, and Ciudad de Oviedo by Santiago Calatrava) to hold business meetings, presentations and seminars. The Indian traveller can benefit from competitive hotel pricing in Spain where even most of the four star hotel properties provide almost five-star like facilities and amenities.

Take us through some trends. What is the average stay of Indian outbound? How has been the Y-O-Y growth? Is there any realistic target or number you wish to achieve? The average length of stay by Indians in

2015 was between 8-10 days. The Y-OY growth has overall been steady and consistent. In 2011-2012, post the release of the movie Zindagi Na MilegiDobara, we achieved an increase of 80% in tourist arrivals, from 33.591 to 60.444 Indian tourists. Subsequently, we registered a growth of 21,6%, 8,36% and 6,61% in the periods of 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, respectively. We are positive that our promotional efforts this year, including various events such as the World Tapas Day on the 16th of June and the IIFA Awards held during the weekend of 23-26 June in Madrid will result in a positive increase in the number of arrivals from India. We are aiming to achieve a growth of about 10-15% this year thereby, touching approximately 100.000 Indian tourist arrivals.

Are you exploring greater outreach via other mediums? How about more vibrant online outreach?

Yes, this year we have done several online marketing campaigns to explore greater outreach in the Indian market. As online is constantly gaining importance and momentum in this market, we have been present in online media through our various online campaigns relating “fly and drive” with Lonely Planet, honeymooners and wedding planners with WeddingSutra, Luxury and Shopping with Matrix Cellular, Golf in Spain with Golfingindian.com and IIFA 2016 in Madrid, Spain this year.

What are some key constraints in attracting footfalls from India? How do you intend on addressing them?

There is great interest in travelling to Spain but certain obstacles make it difficult to make the trip happen, the absence of a direct air connection between the two countries and difficulty of obtaining a visa, even with the introduction of biometric fingerprint. This requirement has been eased out by taking a prior appointment at the respective VFS counter of the city in which the applicant is currently residing. From the point of view of air connectivity, Air India has begun negotiations with the aviation authorities to establish a possible direct connection to Spain by the end of 2016 or in 2017. This route would drive more trips to Spain and would be of great advantage for the Iberian Peninsula.

How are you engaging with the agent community? How important are they, given that OTAs have come up in a big way in India?

To cater to the travel trade, we have organized presentations in several cities this year: Pune, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad, roadshows (workshops & networking evenings) in Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata in October, fully hosted destination familiarization trips for selected MICE focused Indian travel trade and are studying the possibility of introducing an online travel trade training course. Travel agents and tour operators are still a very important source of business for us and we are actively involved in B2B engagement with them.

outbound : tre nds

Leofoo Village, Taiwan

Camel: the preferred mode of transport in Petra

Technology has transformed the business of travel representation: Amit Kishore Amit kishore

are the only 360-degree travel representation company with offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru and the MENA region. Apart from sales and marketing services, the company offers PR and media, in-house design, digital, communication and creative services; travel trade events and exhibitions, and overall brand development services.

Co-Founder, Think Strawberries

Amit Kishore Co-Founder, Think Strawberries

What is your current portfolio? In your current portfolio, as you handle certain representation, what is your understanding of the Indian outbound?

The Indian economy is very strong and middle-class disposable incomes have been rising very fast. Airline capacity has risen sharply. And, thanks to the relaxation of exchange controls, Indians are allowed to take up to US$ 10,000 per annum abroad for leisure trips. India’s large diaspora and growing openness to the outside world has also stimulated foreign travel, especially among the younger generations.

By TF bureau

irst of all, take us through the formative years of Think STRAWBERRIES. When was it set up? Who were the people behind it?

Think Strawberries was founded with the combined vision and idea of its co-founder, Amit Kishore and a board of international travel experts – to create a new kind of enterprise; one dedicated solely to be a market and thought leader in the travel representation business. Over the last decade, digital, social, and mobile technologies have changed how people travel. The result of this transformation is a new era in the travel representation busi-

ness, where Think Strawberries emphasises on sales combined with twin-pronged strategies of marketing, sales and PR.

What were the objectives of setting up a representation agency? There were already plenty of them in the market, how is THINK STRAWBERRIES different?

Think Strawberries is a uniquely positioned, dynamic venture of some of the finest, most high profile travel professionals, along with a talent pool of handpicked senior achievers from the top corporates. Celebrating its anniversary recently, the company’s aim is to provide a differentiated edge, aligned to cross-industry best practices; and we currently

OUR CLIENTS TAIWAN TOURISM BUREAU: Lying off the coast of East Asia and a mere six-hour flight from India, Taiwan is a beautiful, friendly island that never fails to impress. The capital, Taipei, is a modern and hospitable city that preserves its traditional Chinese culture while providing all the modern amenities. In Taipei, visitors find it easy to get around, bask in the pleasant climate, and savour all kinds of Chinese and international cuisine – including authentic Indian food! FARH LEISURE: Farah Leisure facilitates management and operation of the entertainment parks on Yas Island - Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and Yas Waterworld. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, world’s first Ferrari-branded and largest indoor theme park located on the Yas Island housing the world’s fastest roller coaster–Formula Rossa. YAS ISLAND: Yas Island habitats some of the biggest attractions and entertainment venues in Abu Dhabi. It’s home to some of UAE's most exciting attractions, racing events, concerts, luxury hotels and much more. JORDAN TOURISM BOARD: Jordan is a stunning combination of nature, history, food, religious and Biblical sites and is important for those interested in holy land pilgrimage and historical sites of relevance. An extremely peaceful, stable and progressive nation, Jordan enjoys a temperate and warm climate all around the year. Float into smooth nothingness in the Dead Sea; gasp in amazement in Petra; taste the delectable cuisine in its capital city Amman or go dune bashing in Wadi Rum

-- Jordan will capture all your senses as it is the perfect destination for MICE, a religious pilgrimage, honeymoon or a family holiday, thanks to its superior quality hotels, modern infrastructure and varied activities. MALDIVES MARKETING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS CORPORATION: Welcome to the sunny side of life -- Maldives -- where the sands are white as the smiles of the locals, where fish swim happily in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, where the weather is a dream, and the deep rays of the sun wait to engulf you their arms. LEGACY GROUP: Spread across Southern Africa, the Legacy Group has a portfolio of three/four and five star hotels and resorts. The chain offers hotel options in South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia, Ghana and Madagascar. CORUNDUM TOURS: Corundum Tours opened in 2006, as a small and trustworthy company, but big enough to make a name for itself in the highly competitive DMC market in South Africa. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa; the company’s expertise lies in the cradle of Southern Africa.

What are some key trends of 2016? How do you envisage outbound movement unfolding in the next few months? 2016 is poised to be an exciting time for the Indian outbound market. The India success story is well-documented and has become one of the world's fastest-growing outbound travel markets. Outbound trips are on the rise and continue to increase on a positive scale as many factors are coming together to push up this number. The Indian economy is very strong and middle-class disposable incomes have been rising very fast. Airline capacity has risen sharply. And, thanks to the relaxation of exchange controls, Indians are allowed to take up to US$ 10,000 per annum abroad for leisure trips. India’s large diaspora and growing openness to the outside world has also stimulated foreign travel, especially among the younger generations. More Indian students are studying in other countries than those of any other nationality, except perhaps China.

Presenting Unique Segments at BITB 2016

MICE + Weddings B2B and Conclave

Conclave Anchor MICE + Weddings are specialised business, and equally embrace the larger business realm of airlines, hotel rooms, cities and destinations. Explore all this, in the larger picture, and buy and sell MICE venues or wedding destinations, in India and overseas. Who will Exhibit: Convention centres, hotels with banqueting and meeting facilities, wedding planners, PCOs in India and overseas.

Photo courtesy: The Leela Udaipur

ITB Comes to India. The best of ‘Glocal’ is here!

Whom will you Meet: Leading MICE experts and wedding planners from key generating markets from all over India. Agents, tour operators and online portals. Your fraternity partners and other verticals of the larger tourism industry.

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the l a st pag e

India leads global celebrations of the Second International Yoga Day

Yoga was always an Indian USP. Two successive celebrations worldwide, with International Yoga Day endorsed by the United Nations, have clearly established yoga on the World map. The world bent and stretched in unison, one more time, to celebrate the second edition of the UN backed event. PM Modi let from the front by joining over 30,000 practitioners in a mass yoga demonstration in Chandigarh. Politicians, bureaucrats, sports icons and cinema celebrities were all seen celebrating the event with gusto. Internationally, too, newspapers were replete with images of people attempting to master asanas. When the PM, during his commendable speech at the Capitol Hill, couple of weeks ago, mentioned that more Americans were bending for yoga than for a curved ball, his statement reflected the growing power of health and wellness segments on the global stage, and how Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s soft-power of yoga was aligning us to play a more dominant role in that transformation. Stupendous success of the International Yoga Day indicates that India has commenced on the right track. However, how we harness these opportunities to cement Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offerings on the global stage remains to be seen.

Minsk, Belarus

Brisbane, Australia

Yogis perform headstand with the iconic Eiffel Tower in the back drop

PM performs yoga with over 30,000 attendees in Chandigarh

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Presenting the Best of ‘Glocal’! Global player ITB Berlin, the world’s biggest tourism fair, comes together with the most experienced local in India! O C TO B ER

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