Express Travelworld (Vol.9, No.12) January, 2015

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CONTENTS Vol 9 No 12 JANUARY 2015 Pages 48 Chairman of the Board

Viveck Goenka Editor

Reema Lokesh* Chief of Product

Prabhas Jha Assistant Editor

Steena Joy Sr. Associate Editor

Sudipta Dev CONTENT TEAM Mumbai

Kahini Chakraborty Rituparna Chatterjee New Delhi

Archana Sharma Kolkata

Joy Roy Choudhury

40% OFF

DESIGN National Art Director

Bivash Barua Deputy Art Director

(18-26)

Surajit Patro Chief Designer

Pravin Temble Senior Graphic Designerr

MARKETS

for 7 Nights Cruise in Europe

EDGE

Rushikesh Konka Senior Artist

Ratilal Ladani, Kiran Parker

on

07

WEST BENGAL GOVT TO SET UP ECO-TOURISM BOARD

08

VISTARA TO COMMENCE OPERATIONS FROM JANUARY 9, 2015

SCHEDULING & COORDINATION Sr.Executive

34

Rohan Thakkar Photo Editor

Sandeep Patil MARKETING

OPULENCE IN THE SKY ETIHAD AIRWAYS HAS UNVEILED THE MOST TALKED ABOUT PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 'THE RESIDENCE' BY ETIHAD

Regional Heads

Harit Mohanty - West Prabhas Jha - North Sanghamitra Kumar - East Dr. Raghu Pillai - South

12

ASEAN COUNTRIES WORKING TOWARDS COMMON VISA

Marketing Team

Sunil Dcosta Gunjan Chauhan Baljinder Singh Ajanta Sengupta CIRCULATION

Mohan Varadakar

MANAGEMENT

Offer valid for limited period only

36

30

General Manager Manager

Bhadresh Valia Express TravelWorld Reg. No.-MH/MR/SOUTH156\2013-15 RNI Reg. No.MAHENG/2005/15993 Printed by The Indian Express Limited and published by Ms Vaidehi Thakar on behalf of The Indian Express Press, Plot No. EL-208, TTC Industrial Area, Mahape, Navi Mumbai - 400710 and Published from Express Towers, 2nd Floor, Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400021.

(Editorial & Administra-tive Offices: Express Towers, 1st Floor, Nariman Point, Mumbai – 400021)

in May & June 2015 sailings

LIFE

PRODUCTION

B R Tipnis

Barcelona – Tunis – Naples – Rome – Florence – Monte Carlo – Barcelona

CONVERGING IN CHIANG MAI THAILAND IS FOCUSING ON ITS STRENGTHS IN ITS PROVINCES

A SAFE RIDE HOME SIGNIFICANT EFFORT AND INVESTMENT NEEDS TO BE MADE IN TRAINING DRIVERS

P06: EDITOR’S NOTE P37 : APPOINTMENTS P43 : WEEKEND Copyright @ 2011

The Indian Express Ltd. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction in any manner, electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. *Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act

GSA in India:

GRIFFON 4 Cusrow Baug, Colaba, Mumbai 400001.

Tel.: 2204 5014, 2204 5019, 2288 9988 Fax: 2283 0461 Email: sales@griffoncruises.in

EDITOR’S NOTE

New beginnings

2

014 proved to be a watershed year for India's tourism and hospitality sector, and the new government at the centre defined and drafted some progressive policies and projects to provide the necessary impetus for hospitality and tourism growth. The Budget 2014 further made some relevant announcements namely on REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) and InvIT (Infrastructure Investment Trust) and mapped interesting development projects, such as smart cities, industrial corridors, new airports, as well as five new tourist circuits around specific themes, The National Mission on Pilgrimage, Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (Prasad), National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (Hriday), development of the SadhanaGaya -Varanasi Buddhist circuit, etc.

However, as I reminisce on the scene from 2001 to 2004, the ministry of tourism, Government of India had a similar zest with a powerhouse team of bureaucrats namely V K Duggal, Rathi Vinay Jha, Amitabh Kant at the helm.

This team gave India's tourism a major boost both nationally and internationally in terms of visibility and value. The renowned Incredible In-

HEAD OFFICE MUMBAI: Express TravelWorld Sunil Dcosta The Indian Express Ltd Business Publication Division 2nd Floor, Express Tower, Nariman Point Mumbai- 400 021 Board line: 022- 67440000 Ext. 263 Mobile: +91 9821798612 Email Id: sunil.dcosta@expressindia.com Branch Offices : NEW DELHI: Baljinder Singh The Indian Express Ltd Business Publication Division Express Building, 9&10, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi- 110 002 Board line: 011-23702100 Ext. 568 Mobile: +91 9868848013 Fax: 011-23702141 Email id: baljinder.singh@expressindia.com CHENNAI: Gunjan Chauhan The Indian Express Ltd Business Publication Division

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New No. 37/C (Old No. 16/C) 2nd Floor,Whites Road, Royapettah, Chennai- 600 014 Mobile: +91 9620601306 Email id: gunjan.chauhan@expressindia.com BANGALORE: Gunjan Chauhan The Indian Express Ltd Business Publication Division 502, 5th Floor, Devatha Plaza, Residency road, Bangalore- 560025 Mobile: +91 9620601306 Email id: gunjan.chauhan@expressindia.com HYDERABAD: Gunjan Chauhan The Indian Express Ltd Business Publication Division 6-3-885/7/B, Ground Floor, VV Mansion, Somaji Guda, Hyderabad – 500 082 Mobile: +91 9620601306 Email id: gunjan.chauhan@expressindia.com KOLKATA: Ajanta Sengupta

“This team gave India's tourism a major boost both nationally and internationally in terms of visibility and value.The renowned Incredible India campaign was coined by the same team” The Indian Express Ltd Business Publication Division JL No. 29&30, NH-6, Mouza- Prasastha & Ankurhati, Vill & PO- Ankurhati P.S.- Domjur (Nr.Ankurhati Check Bus Stop), Dist. Howrah- 711 409 Mobile: +91 9831182580 Email id: ajanta.sengupta@expressindia.com KOCHI: Gunjan Chauhan The Indian Express Ltd Ground Floor, Sankoorikal Building, Kaloor – Kadavanthra Road Kaloor, Kochi – 682 017 Mobile: +91 9620601306 Email id: gunjan.chauhan@expressindia.com COIMBATORE: Gunjan Chauhan The Indian Express Ltd No. 205-B, 2nd Floor, Vivekanand Road, Opp. Rajarathinam Hospital Ram Nagar, Coimbatore- 641 009 Mobile: +91 9620601306 Email id: gunjan.chauhan@expressindia.com

dia campaign was coined by the same team around the same period. It was also during the same phase that the department was led by minister Jagmohan who must be credited for his contribution towards the betterment of UNESCO World Heritage site Ajanta and also towards pilgrim tourism by bringing in order at the Vaishno Devi pilgrim destination.

It was action time then and it is action time now. 2015 will see a host of conventions and trade shows starting with the PATA convention in Bhutan and of course, our very own Food Hospitality World happening this month in Mumbai. Being eternal optimists, we at ETW believe that the positive trend witnessed by the tourism industry in 2014 will continue in 2015 with increased vigour and versatility. In this New Year Special, we bring you 15 out-of-the-box travel professionals who with their fresh ideas and new tourism concepts have added a zing to the world of travel and tourism.

On this optimistic note, I wish all our readers a Happy and Prosperous 2015!

REEMA LOKESH Editor editorial.etw@expressindia.com AHMEDABAD: Sunil Dcosta The Indian Express Ltd 3rd Floor, Sambhav House, Near Judges Bunglows, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad - 380 015 Mobile: +91 9821798612 Email Id: sunil.dcosta@expressindia.com BHOPAL: Baljinder Singh The Indian Express Ltd F-102, Inner Court Apartment, 1st Floor, GTB Complex, Behind 45 Bungalows, Bhopal - 462 003 Mobile: +91 9868848013 Email id: baljinder.singh@expressindia.com JAIPUR: Baljinder Singh The Indian Express Ltd S2,J-40, Shyam GHP Enclave, Krishna Marg, C-Scheme, Jaipur - 302 001 Mobile: +91 9868848013 Email id: baljinder.singh@expressindia.com

Important: Whilst care is taken prior to acceptance of advertising copy,it is not possible to verify its contents.The Indian Express Limited cannot be held responsible for such contents,nor for any loss or damages incurred as a result of transactions with companies,associations or individuals advertising in its newspapers or publications.We therefore recommend that readers make necessary inquiries before sending any monies or entering into any agreements with advertisers or otherwise acting on an advertisement in any manner whatsoever.

MARKETS

West Bengal govt to set up Eco-Tourism Board Joy Roy Choudhury Kolkata WEST BENGAL government will be soon setting up an ecotourism board to develop and promote the state as an attractive eco-tourism destination.

Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Bratya Basu, tourism minister, West Bengal said, “The Eco-Tourism Board will develop the state as an ecotourism destination and promote it as an attractive investment destination for this sector.

Mamata Banerjee, the state chief minister, will be heading this Eco-Tourism Board and other members of the board will be appointed by her.”

The proposed board will comprise of professionals, senior government officials of different departments and experts on environment.

According to a senior official of the tourism department, Banerjee had earlier instructed the state tourism department officials to start work on the process of setting up this board. On her instructions, a task force was formed comprising of professional consultants and senior government officials to work on the process.

“The task-force has recommended for setting up of this board,” added Basu. Plans are afoot to set up eco-tourism hubs in different parts of the state. The state tourism department is working on setting up a major eco-tourism hub in Dooars in North Bengal besides setting up the mega-tourism hub at Gajoldoba in Jalpaiguri district. It has invested a huge amount in creating world-class tourism infrastructure at Gajoldoba and has already floated a global tender inviting investment proposals from private parties.

EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD

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January 2015

MARKETS

Vistara to commence operations from January 9, 2015 Archana Sharma New Delhi TATA'S FULL service carrier in partnersip with Singapore Airlines- Vistara will commence its first flight operations effective January 9, 2015. The airline will initially operate on Mumbai and Ahmedabad sectors. For its operations, the airline will operate a 148-seater A320-200 with 16 seats in business class, 36 in premium economy and 96 in economy. The airline will operate with two Airbus aircraft and expects to add another three aircraft by March 2015.

Phee Teik Yeoh, chief executive officer, Vistara, said, “We plan to delight our customers with personalised services and bring the joy back into flying.

With our end-to-end customer experience from booking and boarding to post flight services, we want to become the airline of

choice.” The airline has already opened its bookings. It had earlier planned to launch services on October 15, 2014 on the first flight anniversary of the TATA Airlines but received the Air Operator Permit (AOP) on December 16, 2014. The airline also unveiled the first look of its cabin along with the brand music, inflight meal service and its tagline ‘Fly the new feeling’.

Yeoh further informed that the airline will have 20 operating aircraft in the next four years.

“The company will not neglect from expediting the fleetstrengthening process if market conditions improve and we are even considering bringing in wide-bodied aircraft in case the government relaxes the 5/20 rule for domestic carriers,” he said.

Vistara will be the first fullservice carrier in India to offer premium economy seating. As per Giam Ming Toh, chief

commercial officer, Vistara, “The three-class configuration has been chosen after doing a detailed consumer survey and there is an ‘unfulfilled desire for greater personal spaces and comfort’ in the Indian market.” It is also the first airline in India to offer a value-

based frequent flyer programme called Club Vistara, wherein loyalty points are accrued based on actual spend on the ticket fare rather than miles travelled.

Talking about the sales strategy, Toh said, “We have already set up a 24x7 customer care cen-

tre and a sales booking engine will also be introduced soon. We are also partnering with major global distribution systems, online travel agencies, travel management companies, and big and small agents in India but we don’t work on the commission structure.”

Air Seychelles resumes India operations Sudipta Dev Mumbai AIR SEYCHELLES, the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles, resumed its operations in India with the introduction of Mahe-Mumbai route in December 2014. The thrice weekly flights is the only direct connectivity between the two countries. The airline is also positioning Mahe as a transit point for onward flights to Madagascar and Dar es Salaam in east Africa.

The airline that now has a strategic equity partnership with Etihad, had discontinued

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its flights to India in the past due to economic constraints.

“We have reinvented ourselves, have had success in the last few years and have shown profitability and growth. We have worked on the model of code share partnerships and now have the fastest growing expansion in Air Seychelles' history,” said Manoj Papa, CEO, Air Seychelles. He pointed out that while many things have changed for the airline, what has not changed is its Creole warmth.

Mumbai is an important market for Air Seychelles, acknowledged Papa. The return

flight to Mumbai is an overnight one, which gives an extra day to Indian travellers in Seychelles.

Growth in tourism from India and business travel are the factors that the airline is strongly banking on for this market. Sherin Naiken, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board said, “This new air connectivity points to the increasing number of movement between Seychelles and India. Our country is the best place to experience the sun, sea and sand. We are a rainbow nation and have had long historic ties with India.”

Manoj Papa, CEO, Air Seychelles and Sherin Naiken, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board

MARKETS

‘WE HAVE PROPOSED ATOURISTPOLICE WING’ J K Mohanty, managing director, Swosti Group talks about the present projects in the company's pipeline and the growing potential of Odisha as a tourism destination

By Joy Roy Choudhury What are the new areas being promoted by Swosti Travels?

Swosti Travels has recently launched exciting tour packages in new destinations in Odisha. Some of them are beach tours, tribal tours, heritage and cultural tours, adventure and wildlife tours, monument and temple tours, Buddhist India tours, textile and handicraft tours, special interest pilgrimage tours, medical value tours, spiritual tours and eco-tours.

As chairman of HRAO and IATO, Odisha Chapter, what new initiatives are you undertaking to promote the

state?

We have been working with the state and central government towards a better understanding and coordination between the industry and the government to achieve a balanced growth in inbound tourism. HRAO and the state tourism department have jointly started the 'Visit Odisha' campaign within India and abroad. As far as safety of tourists is concerned the Odisha government had started the Tourist Police at Puri sea beach few years back but this has been discontinued. In view of the growing problems specially in Puri sea beach and other temple areas,

partment with special training being provided to these police personnel.

J K Mohanty

we have proposed to the chief secretary of the government of Odisha to start a Tourist Police Wing under the Home De-

How much has the new tourism policy released by the Odisha government benefited the industry?

Following our continuous effort and subsequent followups with the state government, we have been able to bring out the most advanced and tourism friendly policy in the country to develop Odisha as one of the most preferred tourist destinations and to place it prominently on the domestic as well as international tourism map. Incentives have been incorporated into the

new tourism policy which would produce huge inflow of investment into the tourism sector.

What is the status of the Odisha government’s plan to hold the Odisha Travel Mart?

We from the travel trade are in constant touch with the Odisha government to start the Odisha Travel Mart jointly with the state tourism department to promote Odisha directly and aggressively. Recently, the chief secretary of the government of Odisha called a meeting with the travel trade and assured the industry to start the Odisha Travel Mart soon.

Wingspan promotes unexplored attractions of CIS countries Sudipta Dev Mumbai WINGSPAN is a 16 year old company that has always had a strong focus on Russia and the CIS markets. The company has been assiduously promoting destinations like Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Armenia in India.

While Russia, and lately Uzbekistan, have been growing in popularity in the last few years, most of these countries are unexplored destinations, both for the Indian leisure traveller and the outbound MICE segment. “We felt there was a strong need to popu-

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larise these destinations, particularly in western India, where people want to try new destinations and do not know about CIS countries. Each of these places have cosmopolitan cities with modern infrastructure, good shopping malls, historic sites, cultural attractions and so on,” said Tasneem Udaipurwala, director, Wingspan. “These are unexplored sites - you do not see them in movies, in books, on the Facebook. The people are also friendly,” added Udaipurwala, pointing out that importantly, in terms of currency, it makes a huge difference as the exchange rates are favourable.

These are all value for

Tasneem Udaipurwala

money destinations - for a group or a MICE traveller within a budget of US$ 50-80 per day per person, including

stay and three meals. “These destinations can also be an ideal three nights stay holiday / incentive package from India.

The whole package would cost between `50,000 to `60,000, including fun-packed excursions with all meals,” informed Udaipurwala.

A new interest in eastern Europe in the last few years has made a difference. Russia has been a popular MICE destination in the last few years, Uzbekistan has also generated a lot of interest. All these places have night life, casinos and shopping. “Today a lot of people are asking for Uzbekistan. Similarly, there is a renewed interest in Russia.

When we promote destinations like Armenia, Georgia, Croatia, people are excited about going there though they might not know how to go about it,” acknowledged Udaipurwala. She felt that among these countries Armenia is a destination that would be of much interest to Indian traveller because of its diversity and beauty. Air Arabia connects well to Armenia.

The fact that the tourism boards of these countries are not proactive in India, is a challenge. "We are working with the B2B network to promote these destinations and educating the industry,” stated Udaipurwala.

Join us at the South African Tourism Roadshow 2015 and gain the knowledge you need to sell South Africa. South Africa is an exciting tourist destination, offering everything from vibrant nightlife to world-class shopping, from thrilling adventures and outdoor activities to landscapes that will leave you breathless.

Our centuries-old cultures, friendly, welcoming people and countless experiences make South Africa an ideal choice for your clients, and your business.

We look forward to seeing you there.

DATE

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VENUE

Monday

2 Feb 2015

Mumbai

10:00 – 15:00

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Wednesday

4 Feb 2015

Ahmedabad

10:00 – 14:00

Hotel Grand Bhagwati

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5 Feb 2015

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6 Feb 2015

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South Africa offers so much.

Come and discover what we have to share.

MARKETS

ASEAN countries working towards Common Visa India’s Look East Policy supports connectivity, but hurdles may delay process Steena Joy Bangkok AS PROPOSED a few years ago, ASEAN member states are working towards the establishment of visa-free travel in the region for ASEAN nationals. A proposal for an ASEAN Common Visa for non-ASEAN nationals to facilitate business mobility and tourism is also working its way through the official channels. ASEAN immigration authorities have been tasked with conducting a study on this initiative. It will take time to implement, however, due to the different levels of development and concerns among ASEAN member countries. For instance, differences in legal processes, security issues and implementation processes.

Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Amnuay Thiamkeerakul, executive director, ASEAN, South Asia and South Pacific Region Department, said, “Smaller schemes such as the Cambodia-Thailand single visa have already been implemented and they have proven successful. Other ASEAN members may consider the possibility on this kind of project as well, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.”

However, there are hurdles that can delay the implementation of the Common Visa regime such as infrastructure, airport capacity and connectivity. Thiamkeerakul informed, “The projected growth of tourist numbers in the ASEAN region includes huge number of domestic tourists within ASEAN and

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There are hurdles that can delay the implementation of the Common Visa regime such as infrastructure, airport capacity and connectivity also the flow of tourists from neighbouring countries such as China and India. As such there are numerous issues involved from management, security, education, training programmes and law enforcement to ecological and environmental management, etc.”

India’s Look East Policy supports ASEAN connectivity in terms of logistics and travel connection by road. This policy will facilitate flow of tourist from North East India to ASEAN Member countries more conveniently. Thiamkeerakul added, “TAT India’s both Delhi and Mumbai offices are undertaking PR activities to create awareness among Indian tourists about tourist attractions in ASEAN member countries such as, brochures introducing route connections between ASEAN neighbouring countries and organising media educational trips to ASEAN countries with Thailand as the gateway.”

There are also some activities of the ASEAN APCT–India (ASEAN Tourism Promotion Chapter) which the representatives of tourism promotion boards of ASEAN countries who have offices in India will jointly

organise with the budget from the ASEAN Secretariat.

Apart from this, the differences in terms of rules and regulations in each member country as well as level of development in terms of facilities and human resources can be factors that delay the implementation of ASEAN connectivity. Thiamkeerakul reasoned, “Since Thailand is located at the heart of vibrant and dynamic ASEAN region, we see the future potential of ASEAN connectivity. The increasing connectivity and development of key infrastructure projects, such as the ASEAN Highway Network and the growth of low-cost carriers, have enhanced linkages with various destinations in the region.”

In its marketing plan, TAT has placed ASEAN connectivity as an issue –based project for overseas offices to create awareness of ASEAN as a single tourist destination as well as to promote the tourist routes within ASEAN countries. The activities to promote ASEAN connectivity are - media and agent familiarisation trip, ASEAN Connectivity Caravan by car, big-bike and bicycle.

Royal Caribbean Cruises to expand fleet size by 2020 Rituparna Chatterjee Mumbai ROYAL CARIBBEAN Cruises will be expanding its fleet size by adding four ships by 2020. The company will induct Anthem of the Seas in April 2015, the Ovation of the Seas in 2016, while two ships under the Celebrity Cruises brand will be inducted in 2018 and 2020. The Anthem of the Seas and the Ovation of the Seas will be part of the Quantum class of ships. Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Ratna Chadha, CEO, TIRUN Travel Marketing, the India representative of Royal Caribbean International stated, “These will be futuristic, highly technologically advanced cruise ships. For instance, the Quantum of the Sea has a capsule called the North Star that ascends over 300 feet above sea level to offer 360 degree views of the sea and our destinations; the ship also comes equipped with a robotic bar and has a lounge that transforms into an entertainment area at night.

The newer ships will come with more advanced features to enable guests to experience entertainment, cuisines, recreation in a form and manner that is unique. The investments are in the region of a billion dollars for each ship.”

The Quantum of the Seas will be deployed in Asia in June 2015 and Anthem of

Ratna Chadha

the Seas will sail in Europe in summer 2015 and will move to the Caribbean in winter. The destinations to be covered by the other new ships have not yet been finalised.

When asked about the growth of the brand in the India market, Chadha stated, “The growth is at a nascent stage and we are still trying to expand our presence in the India market. Since we pioneered the concept of cruising in India, the brand has more visibility. From a zero base we have been growing steadily over the years. In 2014, we have grown about 17 per cent as against 2013 and as we bring ships closer to our home base, India, the brand will get more exposure and more people will travel and this growth should get expedited.”

MARKETS

TAFI to hold next annual SAATO tourism convention to be convention in Israel held in Namchi ETW Staff Mumbai TRAVEL AGENTS Federation of India (TAFI) is all set to host its next convention in Jerusalem, Israel. The convention will be from February 22- 25, 2015. The theme for the 2015 convention will be ‘The Challenge of Change’.

Speaking exclusively with Express TravelWorld, Zakir Ahmed, president, TAFI said, “Every year TAFI looks for a

destination which is still not very famous for tourism. Israel is known only for its holy land tourism and agriculture tourism. We are looking for all possibilities to promote Israel as a MICE destination.

We have chosen the theme 'The Challenge of Change' as in there are a lot of changes happening in the industry and along with it comes new challenges. In this year’s convention we will address all the challenges which we face.

We will have some interna-

tional as well as some Indian speakers in the convention.

We also have invited some local Israeli speakers, as Israel is a nation which is way ahead in the fields of technology and IT.” Speaking about the total number of attendees, Ahmed said, “We have witnessed around 1000 members in every TAFI convention, but since there are limited flights to Jerusalem, we are expecting around 500-600 members this year.”

ETW Staff Mumbai SIKKIM ASSOCIATION of Adventure Tour Operators (SAATO) is holding its tourism convention on January 13–14, 2015 at Namchi, south Sikkim, with the full support of the department of tourism, Government of Sikkim. The chief minister of Sikkim and the minister of tourism are the chief patron and the patron of the convention, respectively. The theme of the convention is 'Joining Hands Re-

gionally and Promoting North East Tourism Globally'. There are also post convention tours of south and west Sikkim.

Besides the tourism ministers, tourism officials and tour operators of north east region, the organisers have invited important tour operators and media from India and abroad. SAATO is expecting an impressive congregation of persons who matter in the development and promotion of tourism in north east region.

Udaan and Uniline launch ‘Namaste Croatia’ Archana Sharma New Delhi IN AN EFFORT to promote and showcase Croatia as a major tourist destination for Indian travellers, Udaan India, a visa facilitation company, has partnered with Uniline, a South East Europe DMC, to launch ‘Namaste Croatia’ initiative. Rajan Dua, managing director, Udaan India said, “We plan to market Croatia by designing packages specific to Croatia, combining Bosnia and Austria and with the help of our clientele of over 8,000 travel agents. Promotions for ‘Namaste Croatia’ will be done aggressively in the India market. We will also be organising roadshows in India in the coming year to support Croatia.”

Udaan India will also soon get the official mandate as accredited visa agent for Croatian visas. They have processed over 1,000 visas daily on an average across India in 2014.

Emphasising on the long standing Indian– Croatian relationship, Amir Muharemi, ambassador of The Republic of Croatia said, “With the help of ‘Namaste Croatia’ initiative, we will not only strengthen the already existing relations but will also start a new chapter. In order to facilitate this better, I will also be travelling throughout India in the coming year to encourage tourism and trade ties between both the countries.”

While talking about Indian tourists visiting Croatia, Marijana Kin, first secretary, Embassy of The Republic of Croatia said, “India is becoming one of the major source markets, but Croatia has observed almost negligible Indian tourists. In 2014, we had less than a thousand visitors and they included business travellers and family reunions, etc. But now, with the recent appointment of our ambassador we are looking at better facilitation for Indian trav-

ellers.” Croatia is also in the process of issuing Schengen visas in the next six months.

Shailesh Tewary, president, Croatia, South Asia Business Forum said, “Croatia is an ideal destination for MICE, FITs, destination weddings as

well as Indian film shootings. It has unparalleled tourism as well as hospitality culture with different topology and peaceful getaways”. He added that July and August are the high seasons while anytime from April to September can be

considered for visiting the country.

Udaan also has major expansion plans and wants to enter Tier II and III cities. They also have plans to launch their mobile app by mid January, 2015.

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January 2015

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Peru positions itself as a Jordan Tourism standalone destination Board looks to offer Kahini Chakraborty Mumbai WITH AN aim to create awareness about the destination in the India market, The Embassy of Peru in collaboration with Peru-based DMC Condor Travels organised a presentation for travel agents in Mumbai. Speaking on the sidelines of the event to Express TravelWorld, Luis M Cabello, economic and commercial counsellor, Embassy of Peru, said, “We opened our commercial office in India in March 2014 and have come to realise that there are many similarities between India and Peru. Just as Taj Mahal in Agra is famous, we have the Machu Picchu in Peru. With India being a potential market for Peru in terms of business and tourism sector, we are looking at targeting high-end luxury travellers from the In-

Luis M Cabello

dia market. Our focus is on promoting history and culture, heritage, leisure, gastronomy and adventure tourism products. And for the same, we are tapping segments like leisure, business, honeymooners.” In 2013, Peru received about 4,500 travellers from the India market, which was a 20 per cent increase compared to 2012. And in 2014 they expect the numbers to have risen to about

more than 5,000. “The average length of stay of Indian travellers in Peru has been approximately about 15 days.

The destination offers tourism activities in places such as Machu Picchu, Lima, Cusco, Inca Trails, Arequipa, and many more,” he added.

With regards to marketing strategies to promote Peru in the India market, Cabello informed, “We have just begun our promotional activities and we will look at first targeting metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and maybe Gujarat. By next year we are going to have lot of programmes for travel agents in India. We will continue to organise seminars, workshops, FAM trips to create awareness about Peru in India. We could also look at launching an online destination specialist programme for travel agents by next year.”

India rated amongst top seven source markets for South Carolina Archana Sharma New Delhi TAKING the initiative of boosting tourism between India and South Carolina, Nikki Haley, governor, State of South Carolina, USA, recently visited the country on a 10 day tour.

According to Haley, “South Carolina offers the perfect mix of business and tourism as it is the friendliest state and topmost vacation spot in the US. The vibrant culture, rich heritage and natural beauty along

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Nikki Haley

with the ease of access and connectivity make for an experience and not just a vacation.”

Haley’s delegation targeted over 90 meetings across New Delhi, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Mumbai and Chennai during the tour.

Duane Parrish, director, South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, said, "South Carolina recorded around 25,00030,000 Indian arrivals in 2013.

We are looking to double this figure.”

niche tourism products in 2015 Kahini Chakraborty Mumbai WITH AN AIM to continue promoting itself as a safe standalone tourism destination, Jordan Tourism Board has aggressive promotional plans for the India market.

The tourism board has turned its focus on south Indian states (Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) and seven northeastern states of India for promoting the Holy Land tourism offering for the christian community. The board is also working on two niche tourism offering projects - wellness and food and wine, which should materialise by the third quarter of 2015. Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Ashit Taneja, country manager, Jordan Tourism Board said, “We are positioning Jordan as a standalone destination and developing packages offering five-six nights length of stay in the destination. Our target traveller segment includes: leisure, FITs, honeymooners, MICE, religious, wellness, families. And hence we are offering various products in destinations- Ammam, Petra, Dead Sea, Wadi Rum, Aqaba, and Holy Land. Apart from the regular products the board is developing newer tourism offerings. In 2013, the destination received 50,000 Indian travellers and 2014 also proved to be a good year for us in terms of growth in

tourist numbers. To further boost these numbers, we are also looking at possibilities to tap producers for Bollywood tourism.”

Looking at having a 360 degree presence, the board is working on its B2B and B2C promotional activities. Apart from the metro cities, the tourism board is also targeting the Tier II western and northern cities- Ahmedabad, Pune, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Jaipur, Ludhiana and Amritsar. The tourism board launched its online destination programme in 2013, and now has 650 online Jordan specialist travel agents. It is also keen to organise a fourcity workshop, seminars in 2015. The board also launched its official food website to cater to the growing food community and specialised gourmet niche within the travel and tourism industry. To cater to the MICE segment, Taneja said, “We have state-of-the-art infrastructure with international hospitality offerings to cater to the MICE segment. We have the biggest convention centreKing Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre which is managed by Hilton. The centre has a capacity to cater to 5000 persons in theatre style seating. India is a huge potential market for us. And we are optimistic about tourist numbers increasing year-on-year for Jordan from the India market.”

MARKETS

'San Francisco is very attractive to incentive travellers from India' Antonette Eckert, director of International Tourism- Asia/Pacific, San Francisco Travel Association highlights the factors that make the gateway city of San Francisco a preferred choice for Indian MICE travellers

By Sudipta Dev Which are the new focus areas for you in the India market ?

We are promoting San Francisco as the premier destination for conventions, meetings, events and leisure travel. Further, we are focused on projecting the city as a cultural destination to capitalise on varied experiences and activities cultural travellers seek.

Which are the new products you are trying to promote here?

The San Francisco Travel Association have recently relaunched their website that provides a wealth of informa-

tion and inspiration for visitors, meeting planners, travel professionals, media and San Francisco Travel partners. San Francisco has announced new venues with facilities perfectly suited to events of all sizes and types. The Masonic that reopened in September with landmark transformations is now a prime venue for concerts and special events. The city's cultural scene is also reaching new heights with a number of culture centres, theatres and facilities.

What has been your engagement with the travel trade here?

Ours was the first US destination marketing organisation to set up a representative office in India in 2009. We also have year-round educational programmes conducted in various Tier I and Tier II cities in India.

How important is the MICE segment in your strategic plans for India?

MICE travel from the India market is growing and USA is a favourite and an aspirational destination. San Francisco being a gateway city in combination with its proximity to cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas naturally makes it a preferred choice. An important aspect for

MICE travellers is connectivity and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is the gateway to North America. San Francisco offers immense choices of unique open and outdoor areas for gala dinners to choices in international cuisine with good vegetarian and organic options, to iconic attractions and shopping that makes it very attractive to incentive travellers from India.

What kind of growth do you expect from this market in the next two / three years?

In 2013 we saw an estimated 97,000 Indian visitors and growth projection for the next

Antonette Eckert

two years are very positive. California continues to dominate the USA tourism landscape with 27.9 per cent market share of Indian visitors. 240,000 Indians visited California in 2013.

Between 2013 and 2017, California’s visitation from India is projected to grow a total of 41 per cent to 339,000.

RoomsTonite to add 1500 hotels by March 2015 Kahini Chakraborty Mumbai LAUNCHED in 2014, RoomsTonite, a mobile app in India aimed at last-minute hotel booking, is looking to expand its inventory to over 1500 hotels by March 2015. Currently, the company has about 600 hotels signed in more than 100 destinations in India. Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Suresh John, founder and CEO, RoomsTonite said, “Being a last minute travel service, to ensure guaranteed reservation, we have established real-time connectivity with majority of the hotels’ reservation system

Suresh John

and handled other technology integrations. We have grown manifold in this short time

span. Going forward, we are aiming to expand our presence to over 1500 hotels by March 2015. We are signing up hotels in new destinations, and also increasing our hotel base in existing destinations.” RoomsTonite has a real-time integration with a hotel’s booking system that eliminates the chances of human error in the (last-minute) reservation process. At the same time it is a cost-effective way for hotels to sell their unsold rooms and earn additional revenue.

A self-funded venture, the company will be investing heavily into its mobile app to provide customers' the ease of

hotel booking experience. “We also constantly roll out new features to the tools that our hotel partners use. To ensure a guaranteed reservation for our customers at last minute, we have established a direct connect with most of our hotel partners’ reservation systems. Now, when a customer reserves a hotel room in RoomsTonite, the booking is immediately pushed to the hotel’s reservation system thereby ensuring a 'no-hiccups' scenario for both customers and hotels,” informed John.

Elaborating on the growth of the online hotel booking

psyche of Indians, he opined, “Indians have become more tech savvy nowadays with a majority opting for online hotel booking these days. This is a complete turnaround from earlier days when offline was the preferred mode for the most. India is currently one of the fastest growing markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Also, customer’s booking window (lead time to a booking) has changed, there has been an increase in the number of impulsive travellers. We want to leverage all above trends to set a strong foothold and become the market leaders in last minute hotel booking.”

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MARKETS

Active Holiday launches Outbound Adventure Tourism Report Akshay Kumar Mumbai ACTIVE HOLIDAY Company, an adventure tour company in India, has launched its first Outbound Adventure Tourism Report. The report highlights that the most popular destination for adventure travel for Indian travellers is Europe and UK followed closely by the Far East. The company also recently organised International Adventure Travel Symposium in Mumbai. This event witnessed key speakers from Exodus and Intrepid, the two major companies in adventure travel. Gauri Jayaram, founder, Active Holiday Company, said, “India is up and ready for focused adventure holidays.

With the success of our first In-

ternational Adventure Travel Symposium, we shall plan to make it an annual event and also look to host it in other cities. Our report on Outbound Adventure Tourism is one of the first in the country. We will update the report annually and will also publish trends based on our research from the next edition.”

The symposium also hosted a panel discussion where representatives of Tourism Malaysia, Oman Tourism and Italy Tourism had participated. The tourism boards touched upon topics like ‘How international tourism boards are promoting adventure travel in India.’

Manoharan Periasamy, director-India, Tourism Malaysia, said, “Earlier we showcased Malaysia as a family destination.

The symposium also hosted a panel discussion where representatives of Tourism Malaysia, Oman Tourism and Italy Tourism had participated But over the years we have realised that Indian travellers have evolved and so has the demand for adventure travel. Malaysia has a lot of adventure destinations to be explored. We will talk to all the dedicated tour operators who focus on adventure travel to promote Malaysia as an adventure spot. The only chal-

lenge which I see is, adventure travel is still a very niche segment, so catering to Indian food in unexplored adventure destinations may be an issue.”

Salvatore Ianniello, representative India, ENIT said, “We have identified 64 destinations in Italy which are excellent for adventure travel. It was very diffi-

cult to promote Italy in the India market a decade ago, but now Indian travellers are looking out for more active and participatory holidays.”

Lubaina Sheerazi, India representative of the ministry of tourism, Oman said, “Since 2010, we have aggressively started promoting Oman. The USP of Oman is its culture, the people and hospitality along with shopping. We do have a lot of unexplored destinations for adventure travel enthusiasts in Oman.

Right from trekking till diving, Oman offers a bouquet of adventure destinations. When it comes to cuisine, Omani cuisine is quite similar to Indian cuisine, so I think we can cater to the demands of Indian adventure travellers.”

Lemon Tree to come up with mega hotel project in Mumbai 600 rooms hotel with large commercial and meetings space in the vicinity of CSIA Sudipta Dev Mumbai THE LEMON Tree Hotel Company will add a sizable 900 rooms inventory to the Mumbai hospitality market in the next three and a half years. The first to open will be a 300 keys property in Andheri within the next two years followed by a 600 keys Lemon Tree Premier project in the vicinity of Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The second project will be operational by 2018. “It will be our own property, along with which we are planning a commercial space of about a 100,000 sq feet and meeting space of approximately 60,000 sq feet. This is still on the

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drawing board,” said Rahul Pandit, president & executive director, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company. These projects will also make The Lemon Tree Hotel Company one of the biggest hotel operators in India's financial capital.

The company that currently has 26 hotels in 15 cities, is restrategising its expansion plans across the country. “If you see the map of India and bi-sect it into two, we are currently predominantly in the left of the map - in the north, west and south. We have been where the services economy is happening.

Now we realise that as the mineral wealth of India is called for deployment; resources, people

Rahul Pandit

and travel will also start happening in the right of the map.

East will become more prominent. So that's one major shift

in the fulcrum which will happen,” mentioned Pandit. He pointed out that the leisure segment will also become more important for the company. Another focus segment is single lady travellers who currently comprise almost 16 per cent of the company's guests. “If you start winning their loyalties right now, then we win it for the long run. All these factors will drive our growth area,” stated Pandit.

The upcoming projects include a resort in Udaipur, a hotel in Rajarhat area of Kolkata, and in Sector 60, Gurgaon a Lemon Tree Hotel and Red Fox Hotel together. “We have three hotels in Gurgaon. The second

inventory we are demolishing and rebuilding as the FSI norms have changed. We can now do a bigger hotel, it is becoming more upscale and will be a Lemon Tree Premier,” informed Pandit. Recently, the company started its third hotel in Hyderabad. “We are doing a second hotel in Pune, a resort in Shimla, another in Baroda, a greenfield project in Coimbatore is two years away. We are also speaking of Bhubaneshwar but it will take some time,” added Pandit. The newer projects will also see more allocation of meetings space than the existing hotels, as the company is now more focused on the MICE segment.

MARKETS

Heritage Khirasara Palace to increase rooms and banquet facilities Rituparna Chatterjee Mumbai

IITT2015 to focus on MICE ETW Staff Mumbai India International Travel & Tourism Exhibition (IITT) conceptualised and executed

by ABEC Exhibitions & Conferences (ABEC) is set to launch the second edition of IITT- 2015 at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregoan East, Mumbai from January 15-17, 2015. Spread across 15,000 sq m the exhibition will be inaugured by Indian film actress Kangana Ranaut, along with top bureaucrats from the ministry of tourism and home ministry and other dignitaries from the travel and tourism industry. The first two days of the event will have a B2B (Business-to-Business) orientation, wherein the first day of the event will conclude with the gala networking night.

The third day of the event will be open for consumers. The exhibition will be promoting MICE to a great extent by taking benefit of its existing relations with more than 4000 corporate giants from a portfolio of more than 80 ex-

hibitions every year.

IITT 2015 has tied up with NDTV Good Times as the presenting partner where the exhibition will be promoted with promos and episodes covering the exhibition as well as the key brands. ‘IITT -2015 promises bigger brands in its portfolio, with Turkey Tourism coming in as the Platinum Partner, Kuwait Airlines - Silver Partner, Tamil Nadu TourismState Partner, Lavasa Corporation- Smart City Partner and Grand Hyatt - Hospitality Partner.

IITT 2015 will showcase Israel Tourism and Oman Tourism as featured international destinations, and Bihar Tourism and Madhya Pradesh Tourism as featured national destinations. Qatar Airways, Oman Air and Etihad Airways are associated as the featured airlines for the show. Premium states include Assam, Telangana, Rajasthan, Bengal, Kerela and Andhra Pradesh.

IITT 2014 was coined as the 'Best Emerging Expo of 2014'

by Indian Travel Awards, West zone. In continuation to the last

year’s success, this year IITT2015 will bring in more than 500 exhibitors from all over the world ranging from international and national tourism boards, tour operators, hotel chains, aviation groups, cruising lines, DMCs, destination management companies and many more.

The second day B2B and one day of B2C event promises the attendance of over more than 10,000 travel professionals from across the globe with all the major travel media covering the event. The two-day conference at IITT-2015 will focus on key industry issues to be addressed by distinguished speakers from India and across the globe to be the part of the panel of discussion followed by interactive Q&A session between the panel and the invited B2B audience.

IITT-2015 is inviting more than 200 international and domestic fully hosted buyers from across 40 countries, who are participating to explore potential business opportunities in the Indian travel market.

HERITAGE KHIRASARA Palace, a heritage property in Rajkot, will be increasing its room inventory and banqueting facilities in 2015. At present, the property has an inventory of 22 rooms and is adding 40 royal suites by the end of 2015. In addition, a banquet named 'Darbar Hall' with a capacity to seat 1500 guests will be available for guests by January this year. The property has been receiving both domestic and international travellers from segments like business, wedding and leisure and this expansion is part of the strategy to tap further into the wedding segment.

Speaking more on the expansion, Dilipsinh Rana, owner and managing director, Heritage Khirasara Palace stated, “Darbar Hall will be royally decorated and will be one-of-its-kind in the state. In addition to this, all luxurious amenities like health club, spa, discotheque, recreation area, etc will be available.

Presently, we have two large party lawns in the premises with a combined area of 48,000 sq feet. Since it is a heritage property many local as well as NRI weddings have been organised and it is now becoming popular as a wedding destination.”

Giving his view on the

Dilipsinh Rana

hospitality sector in Rajkot, Rana opined, “The hospitality sector has grown significantly in recent years. Being an industrial hub, Rajkot is famous for its precision in engineering and craftsmanship because of which it has been receiving visitors from all over the globe. Rajkot, being the centre of the Saurashtra region, is also popular as a pilgrim and wildlife destination. There is a project of a new and bigger airport coming up in Rajkot, which will make the connectivity easier to many other metro cities since at present Rajkot is only connected to Mumbai by air.

Rajkot has also been proposed for AIIMS hospital project. These projects will play a significant role in boosting the hospitality sector.”

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cover )

Being eternal optimists, we at ETW firmly believe that the positive trend witnessed by the tourism industry in 2014 will continue in 2015 with increased vigour and versatility. In this New Year Special, we bring you 15 out-of-the-box travel professionals who with their fresh ideas and new tourism concepts have added a zing to the world of travel and tourism

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EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD

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( THINLAS CHOROL |

TRAINED MOUNTAINEER AND FOUNDER OF LADAKHI WOMEN'S TRAVEL COMPANY, A LEH BASED TRAVEL AGENCY PROVIDING WOMEN GUIDES AND PORTERS FOR TREKS AND TOURS

THE JOURNEY Starting my own travel company was the most important factor for me. At that time, there was no other travel agency like it in Ladakh, a travel agency that uses only female guides. Since we started in 2009, we have not seen any other company in Ladakh do the same, so I believe this was important not only for me, but for women in Ladakh. I love the fact that through my work, we can create job opportunities for women in Ladakh. Especially in an industry that is so male dominated. There are many women who want to work in this field. The target clientele are international tourists, we do not do much marketing, but people come to know about our agency through word of mouth. A

“I LOVE THE FACT THATTHROUGH MYWORK,WE CAN CREATE JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN IN LADAKH. ESPECIALLYIN AN INDUSTRYTHATIS SO MALE DOMINATED”

GOPINATH PARAYIL | THE JOURNEY The Blue Yonder (TBY) has been offering holidays since early 2004 in India. It was an initiative that was set up to bring into the attention of the world a sadly depleted River Nila (Bharatapuzha) in central Kerala. Covering three primary areas of people, culture and wilderness, our holidays are designed in a way that it is economically, socially and environmentally just. As part of creating better places for people to live and visit, TBY created a sense of belonging among the locals by relating various projects in destinations. We connected fishing communities, potters, folk artists, handloom textile weavers, etc, whose livelihoods were directly or indirectly related to the river and its civilisation.

Now based in

Puducherry, TBY offers holiday experiences in different states of India – Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Rajasthan, Kerala and Karnataka.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES I have learnt that tourism is one of the most powerful tools for building compassionate communities. This applies to both hosts and travellers. If carefully managed and run responsibly, it is an ideal tool to achieve sustainable development. The biggest challenge is to ensure that the values we adhere to and the practices we follow are on one and not parallel roads. Positioning a company based on ‘responsibility’ and ‘consciousness’ in itself is the challenge. Our business is all about attitude. Lack of

THE MAIN FOCUS

highlight of my career was when in 2013 I was given the Indian Chambers of Commerce Ladies wing 'Jankidevi Award'. This was a great honour for me.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES The main issue for us is the lack of professional female guides. The solution really is simple - education. We provide free training to the women who join our company. First aid, floura and fauna, Ladakhi history and many other subjects are things that a good Ladakhi guide should have knowledge about. But very few know about these aspects when they start as a guide, so we educate them. Another issue is that the season here is very short. So we are trying to create job opportunities for

our staff in the off season as well. This remains a large challenge. We have been experimenting with food preservation. Bottling tomatoes to be sold in the long Ladakhi winters.

THE WAY AHEAD Those associated with the travel industry in Ladakh suffer from the short tourism season. Efforts are being made to extend the season with winter activities. I do believe this will benefit Ladakh in the future.

Ladakh is a wonderful place in the winters too. For example, winter treks allow tourists to see the elusive snow leopard.

Ice hockey games are also becoming popular, which is an interesting activity for sports fans to enjoy.

(As told to Sudipta Dev)

FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, THE BLUE YONDER, AN INITIATIVE THAT WAS SET UP TO BRING FOCUS ON THE DEPLETED CONDITION OF RIVER NILA IN CENTRAL KERALA

transparency and accountability when it comes to government functions has always been a challenge for TBY.

THE WAY AHEAD Our model of destination development in consultation with local communities has given us an extra edge when it comes to maintaining the travel experiences we offer. Our recent initiative 'Pokkali – The Story of a Rice' was featured at ITB Asia 2014 and at the World Food and Travel Summit as a Climate Change Resistant Food initiative. Last year, TBY committed to purchasing more than 50 tonnes of Pokkali rice from struggling farmers to create a market and provide financial support in a sustainable way.

Our travellers are now visiting these villages to meet the farmers and understand the

“TOURISM IS ONE OFTHE MOST POWERFULTOOLS FOR BUILDING COMPASSIONATE COMMUNITIES”

symbiotic farming tradition that is an intangible heritage of humanity. We are now developing similar initiatives in different parts of the country. With more liberal approaches to visa on arrival, we hope to see increased arrivals from select countries. However unless the travel industry diversifies the experiences and improves the service quality, we will be in this lean patch for a long haul. I see dependency on foreign B2B business reducing for local operators as technological advances has brought destinations closer to customers.

Technology and social media are giving more options for comparative prices, so unless we keep innovating and diversifying, challenges are bigger for the industry.

(As told to Rituparna Chatterjee)

EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD

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January 2015

cover ) JAAL SHAH |

FOUNDER, REZLIVE.COM, A GLOBAL RESERVATION SYSTEM AND GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR, TRAVEL DESIGNER GROUP

THE JOURNEY I was part of a small team that started Travel Designer Group way back in 1999 as managing director. We started as a small tour operating company offering short-haul destinations to our travel partners. Slowly and steadily, I diversified the group activity with the launch of products like Designer Packages (offline outbound) and global reservation system, RezLive.com which was launched in 2007 and has brought the entire world at the doorsteps of travel agents. One thing that motivated me to come up with a product like RezLive.com, was to make the life of our travel partners easy. As the traditional way of making a booking was

“I ALWAYS BELIEVED IN ONE THING - WHATEVER YOU CAN DO OR DREAM YOU CAN, BEGIN IT”

lengthy and required lot of man hours, RezLive.com came as a solution and provided travel agents the much required access to make bookings on their own by getting regular support from our team. Since inception RezLive.com has experienced year-on-year growth.

It has been a vigorous journey for us and we look forward to continuing our global expansion with our best services. Currently, we have extended our presence in South Africa, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal and the Philippines and have emerged as one of the fastest growing B2B global reservation systems in Asia Pacific and the Middle East on the basis of innovation and service quality. This year we

GAUTAM SHEWAKRAMANI | THE JOURNEY AudioCompass' vision is to make high quality travel experiences accessible to all travellers, regardless of budget. Like most startups, this came from a personal pain point. I found plenty of resources to inspire me to travel, even more to help me book and plan my travel, but none of them truly made my life easier or more convenient while I was at my destination. I experienced unofficial touts, who condensed 500 years of history in five lines and were more interested in taking me shopping than sharing accurate information. I found myself whizzing past sights without learning about them and spending time in tourist shops. I read history off my iPhone screen when I should have been looking around. I felt that none of these options allowed me to hear and absorb stories of the destination

20 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD January 2015

in a convenient, cost effective manner. With that as an inspiration, AudioCompass was born in 2011, when the Archeological Survey of India made us the official audio guide provider at some of India’s most important UNESCO sites, such as the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. We now have a strong focus on-mobile distribution and are covering 1000 plus points of interest in the country. Our flagship product, the AudioCompass mobile app, makes the sightseeing experience hassle free. It puts a personal tour guide on the phone, containing 1000 plus audio clips narrated by local, expert guides.

Users of our product get a oneof-a-kind experience, with story based, informative and accurate content.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES Starting a venture is full of ifs

“I FOUND MYSELF WHIZZING PAST SIGHTS WITHOUT LEARNING ABOUT THEM AND SPENDING TIME IN TOURISTSHOPS”

will be looking at revamping RezLive.com and making the inventory even bigger by contracting with other leading hotel chains, so that we put the whole world at the fingertips of our travel partners. The recently launched RezLive.com Mobile App will enable our travel partners to perform certain critical tasks and will even take us one step closer to them.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES I always believed in one thing - whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. So when the idea to start up something on my own came to my mind, I was ready for it and was

also prepared to face all the challenges related to it. Success is something that doesn’t come easily, you need to sweat hard to earn that.

THE WAY AHEAD 2015 will be a year where small travel agents will concentrate on technology upgradation, so that they can better service their customer and suffice their needs. Also, people will look for some unexplored destinations to travel and feel the experience. Furthermore, social media will make the biggest impact on the travel industry and every travel company should have a successful social media strategy.

(As told to Reema Lokesh)

FOUNDER AND CEO, AUDIOCOMPASS, AN AUDIO GUIDE PROVIDER AT INDIA’S MAJOR TOURISM SPOTS and buts - for us there were many. The first 'if' was whether travellers in India would see value in a product like AudioCompass, once we established that, the 'buts' started. We've seen partners question us about all kinds of things - from accuracy of content (but how do we know your information is correct), accessibility (but all travellers don't carry smartphones), to the effect on local employment. We have addressed each and every concern and are now working with reputed names like Yatra.com and Cox & Kings.

THE WAY AHEAD We remain committed to improving the in-travel experience by providing travellers with high quality experiences through travel content. 2015 will be an exciting year for us - it will be the year of expanding our B2B travel agency partnership

model, we will be expanding overseas to solidify our position as the pioneer in this space, and will be raising another round of financing. I think in 2015, the thought that industry intermediaries (agents and operators) need to be able to add value to all their passengers (not just their high-budget passengers) during the in-travel experience is going to go mainstream. They're going to have to look at technology enabled solutions to offer this value at scale - it’s not feasible financially or operationally to do this without technology. Travel agents and tour operators are going to be under pressure to add this value to be able to justify the commissions they are earning because the traditional value adds of planning, booking, fulfillment are all being dis-intermediated by direct-to-consumer online channels.

(As told to Reema Lokesh)

(

THE MAIN FOCUS

JASPREET SINGH BHATIA | NIKHIL THAKURDAS | OWNER OF ICE CUBES HOLIDAYS, A TRAVEL AGENCY PROMOTING TRIBAL TOURISM IN CHHATTISGARH

THE JOURNEY

THE JOURNEY My stint at the Chhattisagarh Tourism Board of seven years gave me a chance to experience Chhattisgarh very closely.

My father who was a doctor in government service started his career way back in 1964 from Bastar and I grew up listening to stories of tribals, Chitrakote and Teerathgarh waterfalls and the caves. I have always been passionate about not just Bastar but the entire state of Chhattisgarh and I feel a sense of pride in showcasing it to the world. I have travelled a bit across the country as well as overseas and when I compare the destinations that Chhattisgarh has to offer with the ones which are very established destinations, the only difference that I can make is, better infrastructure and better packaging of the tourism product. While working at the Chhattisgarh Tourism Board, I realised that there was a huge gap between the tourism product that Chhattisgarh has to offer and the travel trade. I thought of bridging this gap by offering ground handling services and packages of these lesser known destination to the travel fraternity.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES I realised that it was and it still is hard to sell a destination like Chhattisgarh as you have to educate the potential tourist about each and every aspect of it. It becomes tough to sell

DIRECTOR, CRUISEBAY, A CRUISES-ONLY HOLIDAY COMPANY IN INDIA AND CEO, UNIGLOBE ODYSSEY TRAVEL

“I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN PASSIONATE ABOUTNOTJUST BASTAR BUTTHE ENTIRE STATE OF CHHATTISGARH AND I FEELA SENSE OFPRIDE IN SHOWCASING ITTO THE WORLD” a place which somebody has heard about for the first time in his lifetime.

Other than this at the ground level also there were many challenges. We had very limited resources in terms of quality accommodation, skilled guides, good cars, good drivers, lack of basic amenities like toilets and rest rooms at the tourist places. We also had to regularly counsel the drivers and support staff to be on time and to follow personal hygiene so that they are fit to travel with tourists.

THE WAY AHEAD I want to work for the con-

servation and betterment of local communities in the interior regions of Chhattisgarh. In the last few years the so called development has had a catastrophic impact on them. If things continue like this then in the coming five-seven years it will be difficult to see any of these locals in their natural environment.

So we plan to work at the ground level to conserve their culture and traditions so that the future generations can also get a change to see and learn from them.

(As told to Reema Lokesh)

I have been running Odyssey Tours and Travels since 2002 and every year we used to sell a limited number of cruises to clients.

And it was more of clients doing the research and booking the cruise they wanted rather than us actively recommending and promoting cruises as a holiday option. Travel agents had limited knowledge and were not actively promoting cruises to their clients and cruise liners had limited marketing budgets to create that awareness. This resulted in really low cruise sales and was an unfortunate situation as cruises is a great holiday option. Seeing this gap, sometime in 2007 we took a decision to actively promote cruise holidays and that was how the CruiseBay idea was conceived with the objective of becoming a marketplace for cruises where we provide travellers with expert advice on cruising after understanding their travel requirements.

Launching CruiseBay in December, 2008, we developed a two pronged strategy - an online model with www.cruisebay.com where clients can do basic research on their cruise holiday and an offline model with a network of CruiseBay Lounges in various cities where clients can get professional advice on their cruise holiday by trained consultants.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES The main challenges: Will all the investments made in developing, maintaining and promoting the website and setting up and managing the CruiseBay Lounges pay off? Will clients book their cruise holiday with us from cities where we don’t yet have a physical presence i.e. a CruiseBay Lounge? Will we attract the right kind of staff to train to become cruise consultants? Will we get support from the cruise liners for our venture?

“CRUISEBAYIDEA WAS CONCEIVED WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF BECOMING A MARKETPLACE FOR CRUISES” THE WAY AHEAD It is a matter of time before cruise liners announce sailings in the Indian waters – cruises may start on a seasonal basis from November to March with smaller ships but I am predicting that ships will start operations from the 2016-17 season onwards. With such a strong focus on Asia, Indian travellers have exciting cruise options without breaking the bank on their flights to get to the cruise departure port. And once Indians get a taste of cruising from India, it will whet their appetite for more and that’s when the Indian market for cruises will open up to the world. I expect the growth to be around 20 per cent in 2015 and a robust demand for Mediterranean and Alaska cruises.

(As told to Reema Lokesh)

EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD

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January 2015

cover ) ALEXANDRE ZURCHER |

RAJEEV KUMAR |

MANAGING DIRECTOR OF DELHI-HEADQUARTERED VINTAGE RIDES, SPECIALISING IN INBOUND AND OUTBOUND MOTORCYCLE TOURS

FOUNDER, MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CEO, MYSTIFLY, AN ANYWHERE-TO-ANYWHERE GLOBAL AIRFARE CONSOLIDATION SERVICES COMPANY

THE JOURNEY My career as an entrepreneur started in 2006 after one year of exchange programme in JNU when we established Vintage Rides, our motorcycle travel agency. Then I met Alexandre Le Beuan who became my business partner in Vintage Rides in 2007. He brought field experience which I did not have then. We have also seen an increasing number of people in the domestic market interested in such trips. Destinations where Vintage Rides takes its clientele are - Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Nepal and Bhutan. The inbound market mostly comprise of people who are 40 plus, while the Indian riders are mostly young, middle class enthusiasts who do not necessarily want to spend on a professional organisation. Those Indians above 35 years of age are however keen to have more experiences and are willing to spend.

Our milestones include summer 2010 with our first mainstream TV broadcast which gave us exposure, 2012 with the launch of our Royal Enfield tours in Mongolia and now 2014 with our first tours in Sri Lanka. What drives me as a professional is the adventure and the discovery.

Working in motorcycle travel makes me meet great people. First in the team, then the riders who ride with us. Also, growing a travel agency in India means that you never

THE JOURNEY

“GROWING A TRAVELAGENCYIN INDIAMEANS THATYOU NEVER KNOWWHATTHE DAYAFTER WILLBE MADE OF. THATKEEPS THE JOB CONSTANTLY CAPTIVATING AND EXCITING” know what the day after will be made of. That keeps the job constantly captivating and exciting.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES Today motorcycle touring in India is slowed down by a backward legal framework. Players in the market can operate legally only by owning their motorcycles and offering them within a package. I hope that the new government will allow all India motorcycle rental licenses and that insurance companies will follow quickly.

THE WAY AHEAD Today, as explained above,

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perspectives are dependent on the legal framework that central government has to give so that rentals can develop and operators can focus on operating.

The other very interesting perspective is the development of outbound motorcycle tours.

Indeed, we have just created Twin Wings, a tour operator for Indians to organise their tours on Harley Davidson in the USA and in France.

Until framework moves within India, I believe that outbound is the most exciting adventure to follow.

(As told to Sudipta Dev)

Mystifly was founded in 2009, with offices in Bengaluru and London. From a humble inception in a one room office in Bengaluru and a small team of five, Mystifly has evolved into a company with a customer base across 55 countries in a span of five years. Mystifly powers travel organisations with an anywhere-to-anywhere B2B booking platform - MyFareBox, with the ability to book lowest airfares originating from any part of the world. The platform enables them to source consolidated and discounted airfares from 900 plus airlines across 70 countries. MyFareBox is a fare management and pricing tool that interfaces multi-GDS content including public, private, Internet and LCC fares and market specific airfares. The combination of technology and ticketing fulfillment services enhances the value proposition of the service that Mystifly delivers. While MyFareBox is designed for offline travel companies, Mystifly also offers web-service for online travel organisations. We are possibly the only organisation offering an OTA (Open Travel Alliance) compliant XML web service for anywhereto-anywhere air travel called OnePoint.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES In the industry that Mystifly functions, constant innovation and exceeding expectations are the keys to success. We run a live transaction platform that delivers our bread and butter with a required uptime of almost 100 per cent. To top it up, the expectation from our technology platform is to deliver search results in the quickest possible time. We evaluate technology keeping our customers’ needs and the promise we make to our customers. Mystifly’s culture is

“THE GAP BETWEEN FOLLOWERS AND THE TRENDSETTER MARKETS IS NARROWING” driven around constantly improvising and driving excellence.

THE WAY AHEAD Mystifly has three facets of its business - supplier network, customer network and technology.

The vision is to expand our supplier network from 70 countries to over 100. We will go deeper in the top 10 countries we currently operate. We have moved to the fifth generation of MyFareBox and will soon be transitioning our platform to the cloud as well. There are massive inefficiencies in travel distribution and the industry and I see a trend that will eliminate these inefficiencies. The gap between followers and the trendsetter markets is narrowing and disruptions will result in direct benefits to the customer.

(As told to Rituparna Chatterjee)

( ASHISH GUPTA |

FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, COUGAR MOTORSPORT, PROVIDING LUXURY MOTORING EXPERIENCES TO SELF-DRIVE ENTHUSIASTS IN INDIA

THE JOURNEY I have had an extensive experience in the banking and finance sector; I worked in ABN AMRO for 14 years, reaching the post of director, before leaving to join Babcock & Brown India as an executive director. However, as a perennial thrill seeker, I used to plan road trips on weekends and participate in various selfdrive events like the Desert Storm and Raid-de-Himalayas with a couple of podium finishes.

The realisation that there was a need for luxurious self-drive events that balanced the adventure with comfort and safety, coupled with my thirst for thrill and a growing desire to walk away from the trodden path, led to the end of my sojourn with corporate sector and establish Cougar Motorsport in 2009.

Since its inception, Cougar Mo-

“THERE WAS ANEED FOR LUXURIOUS SELF-DRIVE EVENTS THATBALANCED ADVENTURE WITH COMFORT”

KUSH SINGH | THE JOURNEY The main highlight of my career journey is to conduct tours that are not purely run of the mill - to offer new kinds of experiences to those wanting to rediscover India. What drives me as a professional is to portray India in a different light as much as I can. Our culinary tours are for those who have an interest in India's cuisine culture and want to explore its many nuances. We exclusively started this culinary tour to focus on four main cuisines of India, that is Delhi for North West Frontier cuisine, Lucknow for authentic Awadhi cuisine even though Lucknow is not officially on the tourist map of India, Hyderabad to taste the Deccan food, followed by coastal Malabar cuisine in Kochi. The response has been encouraging

THE MAIN FOCUS

torsport had held many driving expeditions, rallies and events across the country for various bigwigs in the automobile industry like Land Rover, Renault, Audi, Mitsubishi and Tata Motors, as well as its own four signature annual events – the Desert Dash, the Coastal Dash, the Sanctuary Dash and the Himalayan Dash. Recently, we also launched the India chapter of the Rainforest Challenge (RFC), widely renowned as one of the top 10 toughest motor races in the world.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES Quality is always better than quantity – these were our watchwords. Luxury self-drives were a novel concept in India when Cougar Motorsport was formed.

The major challenge that we

faced initially was to garner participation for our events, and since we were focusing on a niche audience to cater to, everything had to be just right.

When you are providing services to top names in the corporate sector used to perfection in every undertaking, there is no scope for error. Fortunately for us, through my contacts in the industry we were able to gather significant participation in our first year, and through meticulous organisation, forward planning and attention to detail we were able to ensure that the participants never faced any hassle throughout the event. The extraordinary effort we put in paid off, as most of our clients returned to register with us and we constantly get queries from potential clients through wordof-mouth publicity.

THE WAY AHEAD If recent market trends are anything to go by, the demand for self-drives in the country could only increase. With money no longer an object, the focus is on luxury as well as adventure.

More and more individuals now find themselves with the means to engage in their interests, and since self-drives are a great way of stress-busting, there is a lot of scope in this particular industry in India.

The diverse vistas offered by the Indian terrain have gained popularity in recent times and has even attracted visitors from abroad to take up the challenge. Off-roading is also fast gaining popularity as demonstrated by our latest venture, RFC India.

(As told to Sudipta Dev)

CO-FOUNDER, HEART OF INDIA, OPERATING INBOUND FOOD TOURS ACROSS INDIA'S CULINARY CAPITALS

as there is a lot of interest in Indian food all over the world.

The first priority is good food, it so happens luckily that Delhi, Lucknow, Hyderabad and Kochi happen to be very good travel destinations as well.

While every region claims that they have the authentic food, but these four cuisines - the North West, Awadhi, Deccan and Malabar - have been practiced professionally in the kitchens of India and have been mastered through the centuries. Our main market so far has been Europe, primarily the UK and France. Surprisingly we also had a good interest from Australia. We are also getting enquiries from Canada and the US as well. This is a niche segment so we are having excellent relationships with culinary associations of all these

countries. There are well known food tour operators all over the world, we have association with them as well.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES

OUR CULINARY TOURS ARE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE AN INTEREST IN INDIA'S CUISINE CULTURE AND WANTTO EXPLORE ITS MANYNUANCES”

Luckily, there have not been too many off late. All aspects of the industry looks good.

THE WAY AHEAD It is not for those who want profit as an instant motive. It is driven by interest. India has to be promoted for its various aspects, not just the beautiful monuments or history. Food is a very important aspect of our culture. This is a real interest tour, for real food lovers who are looking for a deeper meaning of their travel to India.

(As told to Sudipta Dev)

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cover ) KAVITHA REDDY | THE JOURNEY I have always been adventurous even in my career choices; I worked with start-ups, unconventional and unique organisations and did not shy away from shifting to different roles within the organisation. Once I quit my corporate job and started Basecamp Adventures it’s been everything other than mundane, even though starting Basecamp Adventures was my most adventurous move, but it’s been worth the risk. Being India’s first woman promoted and operated adventure tourism and travel organisation itself is a starter. Successfully organising and leading some of the most challenging treks and mountain climbing expeditions in Indian and Nepal Himalayas and enabling over 10,000 people to experience adventure for over the last few

FOUNDER DIRECTOR, BASECAMP ADVENTURES, AN ALL-WOMEN ADVENTURE TRAVEL AGENCY ORGANISING EVEREST BASE CAMP TREKS

years has been the key highlights.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES There are many challenges in the adventure tourism and travel sector, but the top three that impact all the serious players in the industry are: First, adventure tourism cannot be a volume driven business given the fact that adventure mostly includes environment and there has to be a very fine balance.

Second, even with the highest safety standards adventure comes with risk, lack of insurance cover for adventure activities is indeed a huge individual and business risk. Finally, lack of government policy, support and funding for adventure tourism and most of the government policy, focus and funding goes on in-

SUNIL BAKSHI |

24 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD January 2015

THE WAY AHEAD The prospects of the adventure tourism sector is very bright.

Governments should focus on state-wise and state-specific adventure tourism policy that also promotes adventure tourism entrepreneurship at every level.

India as a market for adventure tourism will increase and the adventure space will stand to gain over the next two-four years.

(As told to Sudipta Dev)

FOUNDER, THE INFINITI LIVE-ABOARD, INDIA’S FIRST SCUBA DIVING LIVE-ABOARD IN THE WATERS OF ANDAMAN ISLANDS

THE JOURNEY I spent my initial working years running an engineering consultancy and scuba diving was my hobby and passion. I would take every opportunity to go on a diving holiday… this was 15 years ago when diving wasn’t as popular in India as it is now. So I am one of India’s first divers. I travelled to Maldives, Mauritius, Mexico, Kenya. I also dived in India – at Andaman Islands and Lakshdweep Islands and was amazed by the underwater beauty here. I realised that India has a lot to offer to the world for scuba diving, but there would need to be some proper infrastructure. To get to the best dive spots in these areas, a 'live-aboard' vessel – a ship that is capable of sailing and cruising in the open sea with

“BEING INDIA’S FIRSTWOMAN PROMOTED AND OPERATED ADVENTURE TOURISM AND TRAVEL ORGANISATION ITSELFIS A STARTER”

frastructure and not on training or human resource. These challenges are for the entire industry, sooner or later organisations that are in the adventure tourism and travel space have to join hands, and put across the industry demands on policy issues, also ensure that we stay committed to responsible and sustainable adventure tourism.

“THE ABILITYTO GETEVERYONE MOTIVATED AND ON THE SAME PAGE HELPS TREMENDOUSLY”

all facilities for a nice onboard stay – would be essential. This vessel would have to have an Indian registration to operate in the islands which are restricted areas and foreign flagged vessels are either completely prohibited or have stringent restrictions in terms of operations. I decided to use my engineering knowledge and fabrication expertise to build my own vessel. The design and construction of the Infiniti was a major highlight.

Then in our first year of operations, we achieved several new milestones – we attracted divers from all over the world, we did some never before journeys (circumnavigating the entire Great Andaman Island in 10 days!), we went to very remote islands such as Narcondam Island, Barren Island, Little Andaman, South Sentinel

Island with divers and surfers from all over the world.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES Planning is critical – if the plan is sound then execution is efficient. I am a people’s person, and like to lead by example. I engage quite closely with my team and all others whose cooperation is necessary for the business; and I think that the ability to get everyone motivated and on the same page and thinking positively helps tremendously.

THE WAY AHEAD India with its long coastline and incredible islands – Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshdweep Islands, Gulf of Mannar and even the submerged reef of Angria Banks (off Goa) has incredible potential for scuba

diving, and we have proved that people will come from all over the world to experience diving here. We’ve hosted divers from America, Canada, Europe, Australia, Middle East, Southeast Asia too. But there should be good infrastructure and general tourist friendly environment.

Scuba diving (including hospitality) is a billion dollar industry worldwide, the divers are well paying tourists and countries like Maldives have built huge national economies around scuba diving tourism.

India can definitely emerge as a major scuba diving destination of the world, provided good infrastructure is developed – live-aboards would have to be a major part of that infrastructure.

(As told to Sudipta Dev)

(

THE MAIN FOCUS

ALOKE BAJPAI |

PRATEEK HIRA |

CEO & CO-FOUNDER, IXIGO.COM, THE TRIP PLANNING AND SEARCH SITE THAT HAS MADE LIFE EASY FOR THE INDIAN TRAVELLER

PRESIDENT AND CEO, TORNOS DESTINATIONS (INDIA), PROMOTING HERITAGE TOURISM IN LUCKNOW

THE JOURNEY

THE JOURNEY

I am a computer science and engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur. After working for Amadeus in France for four years and the INSEAD MBA, I returned to India and did a brief stint with FinalQuadrant Solutions where I headed their distribution and strategy. I left FinalQuadrant in 2006 to start a new company called Travenues with Rajnish Kumar, my IIT friend and co-founder. We launched ixigo.com in June, 2007. ixigo.com is a trip planning and search engine whose mission is to simplify the lives of travellers in India by providing trustworthy and useful travel information. Online travel is booming in India, but the multiplicity of choices for information and bookings have made travel decisionmaking very tough. This is the pain-area that ixigo is solving on the internet and mobile. 2014 saw many developments in the online travel segment. The most noteworthy development being the growth of mobile.

Smartphone penetration has touched 200 million users by the end of the year, and that has led to unprecedented growth in mobile web traffic as well as app downloads. All online travel companies have invested more time and energy in improving user experiences on their apps and mobile websites in this year. As a professional I swear by three mantras : Pay it forward - be generous to people, share your knowledge and help others fulfill their goals whichever

COUNTERING CHALLENGES When the times are hard and the chips are down, it is human tendency to give up. One should understand what is failing and pivot fast in order to persevere and eventually succeed.

THE WAY AHEAD

STAYHUNGRY, STAYFOOLISH – ALWAYS MAINTAIN ACURIOUS MIND, KEEP LEARNING, KEEP QUESTIONING STATUS QUO, THAT’S THE ONLY WAYTO KEEP GROWING AS A PERSON” way you can because that is how you got to where you are too; stay hungry, stay foolish – always maintain a curious mind, keep learning, keep questioning status quo, that’s the only way to keep growing as a person; and never give up.

Next year will see intensifying usage of apps, especially on Android, and as we see even the lower to middle-class Indians going online, we will see a strong growth in content and services that cater to the middle and bottom of the pyramid. The more evolved users will start sampling wearables and increase their frequency of travel as well as spends per trip, with the quest for affordable luxury making them search and compare more on online websites, metasearch engines and trip planning websites. We expect that nearly 50 per cent of all online travel bookings in 2015 will happen on or through smartphones.

In terms of travel behaviour, we will see the search for trendy and offbeat travel destinations intensifying as holidays become more about clicking 'braggies' with family and friends, hanging out with the locals, and discovering new destinations. For example, 2014 saw the emergence of Turkey and Sri Lanka as the 'cool' destinations worth bragging about.

(As told to Sudipta Dev)

My career is sort of a Bollywood film story that has elements of drama, comedy, tragedy and finally happiness and victory.

There were times when I was hopeless about the prospects and results were just not coming in, and that was in fact the phase I realised that knowing my mentors and about the industry success stories played a very important role to keep me intact. It has its own merits of making your hometown and a small destination your work-base. The first of course is that you get the satisfaction of being in the place where you were born and brought up, the second is that your product knowledge is innate, third and the most important is that you are a known person and not just anyone lost in the crowd.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES If any profession lacks challenges it would never be exciting enough to be in. The real pleasure lies in countering the challenges and emerging a winner. 'IDEA' - Innovate, Differentiate, Evolve, Ahead – is the key dictum that I personally follow and this keeps us ahead of times and counters competition at all levels.

THE WAY AHEAD There is always a saturation point of destinations and then there is also a shift in interest among travellers to see more and know more.

It is here that places like Lucknow, that can be termed as a neo-tourist destination, comes into picture. A destination that is high in terms of offer and yet low in terms of tourist density gives a fair opportunity to travellers to experience the destination to the fullest without any pretense or touristy compulsions. Destinations such as Lucknow will never

“IDEA- INNOVATE, DIFFERENTIATE, EVOLVE,AHEAD – IS THE KEYDICTUM THATI PERSONALLY FOLLOWAND THIS KEEPS US AHEAD OF TIMES” compete with touristy destinations e.g if we talk of our state, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow should not be compared with Agra and Varanasi and this very strategy will give it an edge over the other destinations. Travellers today have graduated from being just travellers to being knowledge based discerning travellers, thus the demands have changed and they look out for experiences rather than tours. It is here that destinations like Lucknow rule the roost by way of providing nontouristy experiences to niche travellers who come to the city because they want to come to Lucknow and not because everybody is coming here.

(As told to Sudipta Dev)

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cover )

(

CHINMAY HARI DIVEKAR | THE JOURNEY I quit my job on an impulse and jumped into this business in 1997. My dad who is a passionate naturalist had acquired lands at Durshet, Sajan and Vikramgadh, all in Maharashtra in the 1980s, with the idea of setting up nature preserves for urbanites. He did this while managing his auto component business. In June 1997, we got a term loan sanctioned by a cooperative bank and I got into project mode straight away. I started managing the construction of a forest lodge at Durshet (near Khopoli, Maharashtra).

At the same time my dad started managing the construction of a resort at Sajan near Vikramgadh, Maharashtra. After selling soaps and toothpastes, managing labour contracts, brick and cement

“AMAJOR CHALLENGE WAS TO FIND THE RIGHTMANAGERS TO RUN THE PROPERTIES�

THE MAIN FOCUS

DIRECTOR, NATURE TRAILS RESORTS, A NETWORK OF RESORTS AND CAMPSITES AT HANDPICKED LOCATIONS IN MAHARASHTRA

supplies and local water and utility issues was quite a change. The first 10 years were a grind, physically and financially, till we crystallised our mission.

After that there was no looking back. Our mission is to identify unique and unexplored locations having nature and adventure tourism potential, to create there tourist facilities of a predefined standard and to transform them into destinations. Its been a rewarding journey so far.

Currently we own and operate five properties.

COUNTERING CHALLENGES All our properties are at unique and unexplored destinations.

Pitching our product against traditional weekend destinations like Mahabaleshwar, Matheran and Lonavala was a

huge challenge. We were only able to overcome this challenge because of our strong nature and adventure positioning. The other major challenge was to find the right managers to run the properties. We decided to recruit locals and train them on the job. In fact recruiting locals permeates our entire human resource policy. The third major challenge was infrastructure. With eight hour power cuts, non-existent telephone networks, managing the bus was a huge challenge. Gradually these things are improving in our country.

THE WAY AHEAD The domestic weekend break market is growing at a scorching pace in India. There is a huge market in the `7500 per night (AP) segment which is un-

derserved apart from the typical traditional hill stations. This customer has a car, is highly educated and well travelled and wants to do something different. I expect that camping, outdoor and adventure tours, battlefield tours, photography tours, treks, expeditions, winery tourism, agro-tourism are the products to target to satisfy this demand. Corporate offsites seeking nature and adventure tourism is also a rapidly growing segment. With the opening up of hundreds of international schools (IB and IGCSE) which mandate at least one week in the outdoors, the school segment is on the verge of explosion. All in all it is a great time to be in this business.

(As told to Rituparna Chatterjee)

EVENT ROUNDUP

Changing perspectives With the new government in place, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Tourism Fest 2014, witnessed discussions on various opportunities for the tourism and hospitality sectors in India

By Archana Sharma

T

he second edition of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Tourism Fest 2014, focussed on providing a platform to discuss various opportunities to overcome hurdles enabling growth of the tourism and hospitality sectors in India. Held in Chandigarh from December 5 – 7, the fest witnessed participation from over 60 exhibitors along with countries- Abu Dhabi, China, Japan, Mauritius and Thailand.

The fest was held in partnership with the ministry of tourism (MoT), Government of India, with Chandigarh as the host city and Punjab as the principal partner state, in addition to participation from various states. Talking about the changes in the second annual event, Ankur Bhatia, chairman, CII Tourism Fest 2014 and executive director, Bird Group, exclaimed his delight with the involvement and turnout. “We had a lot more participation from international buyers this time as well as the local state governments. Many exhibitors have said that they would exhibit at the next event as well,” stated Bhatia.

Enabling growth Highlighting the importance of tourism as one of the main contributors for development of the country, R V Deshpande, tourism minister, Government of Karnataka stated, “The tourism sector can generate eight times more employment as compared to the manufacturing or any other sectors, but unfortunately the same has not been explored in India to the fullest. It contributes around 15-20 per cent in various countries as compared to six per cent in India.” He also

discussed options for partnering up with the state of Karnataka for sustainable travel and tourism. “We have 1400 acre land bank available with us which can be adopted, developed and converted into top tourist spots,” he mentioned. Also highlighting on the importance of mutual co-operation between MoT and private sector players, Deshpande added that concepts like eco-tourism, lifestyle tourism, weekend tourism, farm tourism and medical tourism should be developed further, as with innovation and creativity the tourism industry can be taken to new heights.

Deshpande also suggested various measures that should be taken by the government and industry for the sustainable development of the travel and tourism sector in the country. “Seamless travel should be facilitated across integrated circuits through introduction of integrated taxation regime, linkages between various public transportation modes and improvements in highway infrastructure such as petrol pumps, clean drinking water kiosks and sanitation facilities, road signages, etc. Development of single integrated tourism circuit across states can provide solution to numerous problems of the tourism industry. All states levy huge interstate taxes on tourists to earn higher revenues but it harasses tourists. States should collaborate instead of competing with each other like in the European Union,” he said. Adding to this, Jaideep Ghosh, partner and national head, transport, leisure and sports, KPMG India, stated, “Though the tourism sector scenario in India is improving and

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EVENT ROUNDUP growth can be seen, we still require micro level leadership as well as cohesiveness between various industries and government. Travel should be made seamless and taxation process should be simplified and an integrated taxation regime should be implemented.”

Also believing in combined efforts of the public and private sector, Major Vijay Singh Mankotia, vice chairman, Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Board, said, “The private sector should improvise, innovate and work with governments and build up necessary infrastructure related to the hospitality sector, set up more budget hotels, upgrade infrastructure in religious and scenic destinations to leverage domestic tourists. Government can play a role of a catalyst or facilitator for the private sector. The private sector can leverage on the Himalayas, scenic coastline, Eastern and Western Ghats and unexplored destinations.” He also requested the industry to invest and partner with the state and adopt hill stations and build theme parks, hotels, restaurants, etc, for which space and land will be provided. “We have earmarked huge land under our tourism department, which can be purchased by outsiders i.e. non Himachalis, non agriculturists now,” Mankotia opined.

Deshpande also released a CII - KPMG Report on 'Renewed Outlook on Tourism' and CII JLL Report on ‘Performance of the Hospitality Sector' on the occasion.

Showcasing destinations The event witnessed participation from Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, who showcased their special tour and travel packages, tourist destinations.

Talking about promoting north India more, Darpan Kapoor, chairman, CII Chandigarh, and council and vice chairman, Kapsons Group, stated, “Tourism is the fastest growing sector and contributes in a major way to the economic growth of the country.

The northern region is an important part of tourism in India with places like Himachal Pradesh

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and Punjab for leisure apart from the already well known Jammu and Kashmir, and it is these areas that should be promoted now.”

Elaborating on the tourism potential of Chandigarh, Anil Kumar, home secretary and secretary tourism, Chandigarh Administration, stated, “We are working hard to get Chandigarh nominated and declared as Trans Border UNESCO World Heritage site, as part of the famous French architect Le Corbusier's many works in January 2015.” He also said that Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex is already called as modern heritage and the new building of Chandigarh International Airport is also under construction, which should help in boosting tourism further in the city. He also stated that Chandigarh has tremendous untapped potential as a filmcity to cater to the Punjabi and Bollywood film industry and therefore efforts are underway to promote it as an ideal film city.

“Chandigarh acts as a gateway to the other states like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, etc,” he added.

Also looking at creating more tourist spots, Deshpande stated that they are looking at adopting various tourist spots under the two per cent CSR mandated for corporates with the central government. “We have already shortlisted 46 spots out of the total estimated 319 travel destinations mainly beaches, as of now,” mentioned Deshpande.

Mankotia shared that they have plans to develop five hill stations due to the oversaturation of Shimla, Dalhousie, Dharamshala, Kasauli and Manali. “In Chamba district, a new hill station is proposed to be developed at Jot located at an altitude of 8,000 feet between Dalhousie and Chowari, while in Mandi district, the plan is to develop Jatingri, erstwhile summer capital of Mandi ruler located at an altitude of 5,500 feet, as a new hill station. In Sirmaur district, a hill station is proposed to be developed as a new tourist destination between Rajgarh and Haripurdhar, while in Shimla district, a new destination would be developed in Pab-

bar valley between Larot and Chanshal, which has the best free skiing slope of 10-11 km in Asia,” informed Mankotia.

Promoting outbound destinations in India, Li Qiango, deputy director, China National Tourist Office, said, “India is one of the top 10 source markets for China and there has been a 3.2 per cent increase in the period of January-October, 2014 with over 5.88 lakh Indian visitors.” Commenting on the same, Bejan Dinshaw, country manager, Abu Dhabi Tourism and Cultural Authority, stated, “There was a 33 per cent increase seen till October 2014, in the number of Indian travellers visiting Abu Dhabi.

We hope to welcome a total of 25 lakh visitors by the year-end, not counting the 10 lakh people arriving for just a day.” Further adding to it, Anuj Singhal, manager trade sales, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, informed that they have more than 60 per cent Indian residents and are one of the top 10 wedding destinations along with being one of the top wellness destinations in the world.

Development opportunities Calling for a change in the outlook of stakeholders, Man Mohan Singh Kohli, co-chairman, CII Tourism Fest 2014 and CEO, Aroma Group, believes that the need of the hour is polite but authoritative management em-

There are plans to develop five hill stations due to the oversaturation of Shimla, Dalhousie, Dharamshala, Kasauli and Manali ployees who are capable of redefining courtesy and enabling transparency in all operations.

“We must aim to make our product more inviting and affordable and stay away from unrealistic rack rates in hotels. We must also concentrate on conveying obligations to ensure cleanliness and bridging the gap between mass tourism and responsible tourism,” he said.

Talking about the lack of adequate infrastructure and limitations of the terrain, Mankotia said, “We require proper roads and highways to ease the ecological and traffic issues. Also, we need more air and rail connectivity, with more airports.

Shimla base should be reconnected.” He also believes that it is time to move to bed, breakfast and beyond rather than just the usual bed and breakfast.

According to Gaurav Rathore, director-commercial, AirAsia India, tourism is renewable and in India even though it

is a year-round business, still about half of the destinations are underdeveloped. “Going by the hand-in-glove policy, we should aim to develop infrastructure through collaboration and focus on inclusive tourism. Taxation should be simplified and yield should be optimised and not maximised,” he said.

Also stressing on the need for focusing on the domestic market, Romil Pant, vice president and head-domestic holidays and distribution channels, MakeMyTrip, shared that weekend breaks and trips are increasing and to cater to the growing demand, new destinations and different getaways should be developed as many are still left undiscovered. “There are over 572 islands in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, but only four are open to tourists. Moreover, cell phone network is a big issue in Goa besides 3G network connectivity in Andaman and running hot water in Ladakh,” he said. He

EVENT ROUNDUP

also suggested that stakeholders should jointly conduct training initiatives to inculcate courtesy initiatives among the frontline staff and as the role of online and social media is on the rise, a social media team should be created to handle the online market demand.

Role of travel agents and associations Talking about the role and significance of travel and trade associations in promoting tourism, Akshay Kumar, president, Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) said, “We hold the technical knowledge and therefore we should educate the local tour operators about sensitivity and consideration while dealing with travellers as most foreign tourists prefer to deal with a tour operator who is recognised by an association.”

Commenting on the same, Saurabh Bhargava, general manager, sales-north, Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, said, “A travel agent who is recognised by a travel trade association signifies quality and adds a credible image to his business as they get associated with the identity of the organisation or body.”

According to Rajesh Mudgill, managing director, Planet India Travels, “An association plays a much broader role in addressing issues of concern, pooling in talent, holding buyer-seller meets

and coming up with research papers for the welfare of agents.

We need to train our future workforce with the help of seminars and conferences, not just about sensitivity but also with specialised training as guides.”

Adding to this, Amaresh Tiwari, honorary treasurer, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), said, “The listed operators are able to provide professional services mostly because of the help of the organisations or bodies that they are part of, providing quality holidays and experiences.” He also informed that over 180 members have been enrolled by IATO so far this year.

Hospitality sector Observing the mid-segment hotels to attain the maximum growth so far, Sajid Mahmood, hospitality consultant, said, “The growth in luxury segment hotel business has slowed down due to the rise in price-sensitive domestic traveller. But the concept of the ‘Zero Service’ or ‘Limited Service’ also doesn’t work in India, not just yet at least.” Commenting on the same, Raj Rana, CEO-South Asia, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, stated, “The pace of hotel construction has slowed down as hoteliers are evaluating the best time to launch, however, the demand and supply will change as the margins will improve.”

Talking about the challenges

Standard trips are losing their charm, as people are now looking at adventurous trips with lot more activities, and therefore we need to create specialised and innovative packages to meet this demand faced by the hospitality sector, Mandeep Singh Lamba, managing director-India, hotels and hospitality group, Jones Lang LaSalle Property Consultants, said, “Over the past seven years, luxury properties have seen a downturn from 65 per cent to 55 per cent whereas mid and economy segment has gone up from 35 per cent to 45 per cent. For growth in hotel supply across all categories, the government has to provide the adequate thrust so that we can borrow at a lower rate and get a longer duration to pay back, because in the present scenario due to the land rates, only luxury hotels are being built up to cover up the investments.”

Adding to this, Kavita Singh, managing director, Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO), asserted that taking a vacation is no longer a luxury but a necessity. “The expectations of people are rising not just at the top level but executive clients are also de-

manding the same,” mentioned Singh.

Promotional strategies and challenges With the rise in disposable income, people are looking at more experiential vacations.

Kumar opined, “Standard trips are losing their charm, as people are now looking at adventurous trips with lot more activities, and therefore we need to create specialised and innovative packages to meet this demand.” Asserting the same thought, Vijay Thakur, chairman-core group, CII Tourism Fest 2014, stated, “This year we are trying to package things in a different and more attractive manner. The destinations, monuments, circuits are the same but the need of the hour is to promote them with experiences.”

According to Mankotia, “Promotions should be done for adventure tourism with slo-

gans like ‘Niravana in the Himalayas’ and involve the Indian youth.” Adding to this, Arun Rawat, chairman, Himachal Pradesh State Council and CEO, Hail Himalayas, believes that it is time for inclusive tourism and people participation by not only giving them training but also equity and tourism awareness and knowledge. “The Himachal Pradesh government has exempted hoteliers from Luxury Tax for 10 years. Such measures can also be taken by other states along with technological innovation in the sector,” he said.

According to Jatinder Paul Singh, senior vice presidentleisure travel (outbound), Thomas Cook India, “The recent E-visa initiative would increase over 23 per cent inbound traffic to India but the domestic tourism market should also be tapped better as a huge opportunity lies in this segment.”

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EVENT ROUNDUP

CONVERGING IN CHIANG MAI Thailand is looking to reinvent its image as a MICE hub by focusing on its strengths in the country’s provinces. The recent Chiang Mai and The North Travel Mart (CTM) proved to be an ideal platform for buyers from different countries to match their requirements with sellers from Chiang Mai and its neighbouring provinces

By Steena Joy

C

HIANG MAI is Thailand’s second largest province and goes back a long way. The 720 year old province is home to the ancient kingdom of Lanna for which the Thai government is working towards getting it ceritified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The province recently hosted the Chiang Mai and The North Travel Mart (CTM) 2014. Held at the expansive Chiang Mai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, CTM 2014 attracted a total of 370 buyers and international media from around the world, and offered opportunities for 120 tourism business operators in Northern Thailand to promote their products and services to the global market. The event attracted 87 buyers and eight media from Europe, Africa and the Middle East. There were 58 buyers and 10 media from ASEAN, South Asia and the South Pacific. From East Asia, there were 101 buyers and 32 media.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Thawatchai Arunyik, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said, “The CTM 2014 was held with tremendous success thanks to the collaboration from Chiang Mai Province, the Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association, Chiang Mai Provincial Administrative Organisation, Association of Northern Tourism Federation, Tourism Council of

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Chiang Mai, the Thai Hotels Association Northern Chapter, and all related stakeholders. We believe that Chiang Mai and the neighbouring provinces will receive more exposure in international tour operators’ promotions in the next season, and result in more visitors to the area.”

The CTM show is held every other year in Chiang Mai to provide product updates to international buyers, and offer the opportunity to small-and-medium

businesses to be presented on the global scene. The event’s key highlight remains the market briefing by heads of TAT’s 27 offices overseas in order to provide the latest market updates and trends.

The highlight of the opening session was the unveiling of TAT’s new marketing campaign titled ‘2015 Discover Thainess’.

The new campaign will focus on seven themes namely Energetic (sports and games), Fun (street food, shopping, festivals), Cre-

ative (arts and crafts), Prestigious (Thai history), Feel Harmonious (village life and Community Based Tourism – CBT), Feel Sophisticated (luxury and royal projects) and Peace of Mind (health and wellness and meditation).

The campaign will be completed in three phases. The first phase will be to build momentum which has already started in October and will go on till December. In this phase a soft launch of the ‘2015 Discover

Thainess’ campaign was done at the WTM in November. The second phase will be the actual launch on January 14, 2015 at Lumphini Park in central Bangkok. The third phase will be expanding awareness about the campaign through marketing, partners like media and travel agents and also through social media like YouTube and Facebook. He said, “The ‘2015 Discover Thainess’ campaign will offer the chance for foreigners to appreciate the essence of

EVENT ROUNDUP

joyed cultural performances and were treated to traditional Thai street food delicacies in Lanna style.

India representation

‘Thainess’ through the Thai way of life, Thai culture and Thai experiences. This distinctive character of ‘Thainess’ is the magnet of Thailand, which draws tourists to explore and share

their experiences with local Thai communities.”

The event was followed by trips to the famous Doi Suthep Temple and the Royal Park Rajapruek where delegates en-

A trade delegation of tour operators and media attended from India. The delegates were from across India including Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Chennai Ahmedabad and Bengaluru. Sohail Zaveri, executive director, Equino Fun Holidays, Pune said, “Chiang Mai has potential especially for FITs as an alternative to Phuket or Pattaya. The accommodation options are very good but awareness of the activities offered here is lacking. Like for example there is dirt biking,

shooting range, etc but no one is aware. TAT must also add Indian restaurants and nightlife to attract the Indian visitor.”

Radha Jayalakshmi, director, World Famous Tours, Chennai said, “It was very useful as I got to meet a lot of sellers, though language is a problem.

English speaking guides are necessary. Thailand is still an interesting destination for the India market.”

Paras Lakhia, executive director, Uniglobe Utopia Travel, Ahmedabad, opined, “The CTM was good but there were very few suppliers. The sellers were more of hotels and less of products. Also, Chiang Mai needs to

work on its nightlife offerings.We also need more Indian dining options as food is a very important aspect of travel for the India market. The night safari location can be an interesting MICE venue.”

Jacob Kurien, managersales, Govan Travels, Kochi, observed, “CTM was definitely beneficial as we got exposure to the destination. I could meet prospective suppliers and discovered new places of interest like Pai Town near Chiang Mai. I think that this province will interest the Indian traveller, both FIT and MICE and even smaller families.”

Bengaluru-based Monesh Devjani, director, iTrip Holidays, said, “This is my first time to Chiang Mai. The Mart was good, well organised. I got to meet quite a few DMCs and got a fair idea of the hotels in the area. There was a good mix of products including adventure operators. However, awareness of this destination is lacking. I think that middle to high end FITs would be interested in this region. Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai is also a good attraction that I think will interest the Indian visitor.”

‘WE ARE TRYING TO PROMOTE THAILAND AS AWEDDING ANDLUXURY DESTINATION FOR THOSE BIG SPENDERS FROM INDIA’ In an exclusive interview, Soraya Homchuen, director, TAT Mumbai Office, elaborates on TAT’s way forward in 2015 How does TAT plan to beat the recession? What new niche products are you planning especially for the ASEAN region?

For the ASEAN, South Asia and South Pacific region, we plan to promote the high-end market which has been less impacted by the recession and the products like medical tourism and luxury will be emphasised.

For the niche products, we would like to promote products that meet the needs and wants of the ASEAN region tourists ranging from manmade attractions (aquariums, water theme parks, zoos) and Thai food to shopping activities.

What was the main objective behind CTM 2014? Are you planning such travel marts for other provinces as well?

The main objective of CTM 2014 was to bring international buyers to meet Thai sellers for business matching, strengthen relationships among tourism industry associates, as well as showcase our products in Chiang Mai and nearby provinces. For this kind of travel mart, at the moment we have organised the event annually but the venue is switched between Chiang Mai and Phuket.

What is the strategy for the India

market?

The India market is one of the largest markets in terms of volume, so we implement various strategies to tap the wide range of tourists, however, the upper market segment is what we want to focus on. We are trying to promote Thailand as a wedding and luxury destination for those big spenders from India. Not only will we be perceived as a quality destination but we will also gain more income into the country.

Are all the provinces well equipped to accommodate big MICE groups?

Not only does Bangkok have venues and services to facilitate MICE groups

but also major cities such as Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya, Hua Hin, and Samui are all capable of hosting MICE groups.

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BETTER HEALTHCARE ACROSS BORDERS Providing a platform to highlight the various challenges faced by medical travellers, the International India Medical Tourism Congress witnessed discussions on strategies to educate and spread awareness to further the growth of medical tourism in India

By Archana Sharma

T

HE FIRST EVER two-day International India Medical Tourism Congress (IIMTC) – 'A journey for Health', recently held in Delhi from December 13 to 14, 2014, saw participation from around 20 countries like Nigeria, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, UK, Brazil, Afghanistan, Turkey, South Africa, etc with over 150 delegates. Elaborating on the need for this initiative, Dr HN Garg, consultant critical care, Max Super Speciality Hospital, and chairman, IIMTC, stated, “Medical tourism is a broad term and to understand all its aspects better, such platforms are required but none had been organised so far. A lot of people are interested in understanding this segment and utilising its potential better. Therefore, keeping this in mind, we initiated this conference with various sessions on leadership, equipment and technology, global insurance and the finance and investment required in this sector.”

Addressing the delegates, Dr Lalit K Panwar, secretary, ministry of tourism (MoT), Government of India, talked about the unique position of tourism in India with the new government at the helm. “India is poised for mega launches and thereby is increasing its global visibility and accessibility. It is the right time to benefit from the potential of medical tourism with the global industry being at more than US$ 60

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billion. The Indian health sector is a US$ three billion industry and therefore we should look at developing it better and ensuring that we tap its maximum potential,” he said. Also highlighting the importance of better marketing and promotion, Panwar added, “We should look into creating a global brand like ‘Incredible India’ for medical tourism also and launch an international media campaign to promote India as an affordable but world class medical centre and facilitator.” Talking about the electronic visa on arrival scheme, he added that MoT is looking at adding another 50 countries to the already approved 43 countries list, which will include other source markets for medical tourism and thereby help-

ing this segment better.

Tapping the potential At present there are over 100 countries trying to promote medical tourism. The Indian medical tourism industry is expected to reach US$ six billion by 2018. Currently, the size of the medical tourism industry in India is estimated at a little over US$ three billion, with tourist arrivals estimated at 2,30,000. According to Dr Prem Jagyasi, managing director and CEO, Dr Prem & Associates, Mumbai, “Most of the countries are undergoing healthcare crisis in the world today, with over 250 million people in the US still uninsured. In the developed countries the healthcare is costly while the developing countries

are able to provide high-end facilities to mostly high-end clientele. Also better facilities are available to people who are willing to travel for them.” He also opined that the key factors that should be kept in mind, for medical tourism and travel are affordability and accessibility.

“In a survey done with the help of medical tourism experts, the key factors for deciding a destination are quality, technology, accessibility, recognition, popularity and governmental support. Social and cultural differences are also considered,” added Jagyasi.

Global perspective Travelling for medical reasons is a tough choice for people and they face challenges like accessibility, affordability and avail-

ability. India is amongst the top 10 destinations for medical tourism alongside Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Hungary, Turkey, etc. According to Dr Anil Bankar, researcher, Dr Prem & Associates, Mumbai and guest lecturer, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, “There is a 30 per cent annual growth in India in this segment and the international medical tourism industry is expected to reach US$ 32.5 billion by 2019.”

Discussing the prospects of medical tourism in India, delegates agreed that they are far bigger and better than other countries of the world. Dr Hakan Tarakcioglu, director, Kent Hospital, Turkey, said, “Indian and Turkish medical tourism are similar in nature and issues, as both need to come forward for marketing and promoting services and facilities.” Adding to this, Dr Adewale Alabi, CEO, Global Health Projects and Resources, Lagos, Nigeria, believes that India will soon be the world’s number one country in terms of medical tourism. “In 2012, 47 per cent Nigerians came to India for medical tourism. However, Indian hospitals should start catering to various demands and requirements of international patients including language provisions and local cuisine,” he said.

“In comparison to developed countries, India is 65-90 per cent economically better.

EVENT ROUNDUP There are over 43 per cent people from UK who look at dental treatment in other countries and though a few of them do travel to India, there is a vast majority that is still unable to do so, mainly because of the visa regime here,” stated Dr V Venkatesh, CEO, Apollo White Dental, Chennai.

According to Dr Ajay Bakshi, CEO and managing director, Manipal Health Enterprise, Bangalore, “We need to learn the importance of treating our patients better as only then will we be able to reach the desired results and showcase our quality services.”

and hospital institutions. They also plan to enter 25 more cities starting January 2015.

Possibilities and challenges

Role of tourism facilitators Medical tourism is a challenging business for a medical tourism facilitator. According to a survey undertaken for medical tourism facilitators, the results highlighted that the medical tourism sector is not in an organised form and there is a strong need to tie-up with domestic as well as international governments to promote it better.

Jagyasi also observed that most facilitators don’t initiate the ‘Continum of Care’ programme or the post-operative care. “This should be done for international patients with the help of partnerships forged with local area hospitals and home city healthcare centres of the clients. Also specialised packages and value added benefits should be created which will also help in brand building and loyal relationships between the clients and facilitators,” he stated. Jagyasi also stated that the main source markets for India are USA, UK, Canada, the under-developed countries and the GCC countries.

Emphasising on the role of travel agents, Bankar stated, “They are the facilitators who undertake hotel reservations and travel arrangements apart from the healthcare part which is taken care by the hospitals.”

He also emphasised that at present, we lack trained manpower but our existing staff can be trained through orientation and refresher programmes, which should be especially designed to cater to this need and new and exclu-

In India, one of the main issues is the lack of government affiliation and an organised structure for this sector sive tourism courses can be implemented to ensure the same.

According to the research of Texas Medical Concierge (TMC), 4o per cent people prefer medical tourism destinations which have good technology and better healthcare facilities. Overall about 87 per cent people prefer places which have high quality facilities, rather than the cost involved.

Aanchal Bhatia, clinical psychologist, TMC, New Delhi, stated, “India is able to provide

great facilities at only onetenth the cost, in comparison to other countries and we try to provide our clients with the best facilities available.”

Launched in June 2014 in Delhi, TMC is an inbound and outbound end-to-end facilitator for medical treatment and alternative therapies. They have a telemedicine lounge at ITC Maurya, which combines technology and IT services for the benefit of their clients, enabling them to interact with doctors

“The prospects of medical tourism in India are increasing with the improvements in technology and infrastructure, leading to better quality healthcare facilities in comparison to other countries,” stated, Julie W Munro, president, Medical Travel Quality Alliance and CEO, InterMed Global, Bangkok. “Indian hospitals also have issues of privacy about storing the personal information of its patients, and therefore they lose their credibility.

International medical tourists have slightly different priorities and they need different and additional protocols,” she added.

Talking about the lack of support from the government, Jagyasi said, “In India, one of the main issues is the lack of government affiliation and an organised structure for this sector. Even though we are well equipped to handle complex procedures and can provide value for money with our pricevalue propositions, the infrastructure for medical tourism is lacking.” He also emphasised the need for more public and private partnerships along with more opportunities for networking, as the country requires better partnerships between the different stakeholders of this industry. “We should also consider working with other under-developed countries and look into creating a healthcare cluster and develop it to cater to the needs of the growing market demand,” he added. Adding to this, Bankar stated that India needs to reposition its brand not just as an affordable medical tourism centre but also showcase the world class facilities available.

The conference also stressed upon the need to showcase the Indian medical facilities with better marketing and promotional strategies, as there is a lack of knowledge and understanding regarding the state of facilities available in India in the perspectives shared by different stakeholders. Bankar also said,

“We need one national accreditation body to build the brand of medical tourism in India and abroad. We also need to start promoting wellness tourism and not just medical tourism, as this will help us in differentiating ourselves from our competitors.”

Sorav Jain, thinker-in-chief, echoVME, Chennai, stated that in India the medical tourism segment is not an internet friendly sector, even though we are one of the leading internet users in the world. “We need to understand the online and social marketing scenario, wherein we can undertake even one-to-one marketing. Also we need to create social media databases with the help of the information being shared by the users regarding their healthcare requirements, to promote ourselves better.

Travel bloggers partnerships are also a good way to implement the same,” said Jain.

Talking about the various marketing strategies that can be undertaken to promote hospitals and facilitators better, Jagyasi believes that PR firms and social media are the best techniques apart from word of mouth marketing. He suggested that an integrated marketing plan with the help of proper exposure and networking opportunities should be undertaken for healthcare and business development with the aim of direct marketing and brand management.

IIMTC also organised two certification workshops for medical tourism facilitators covering topics like branding and marketing this sector, the role of international patient departments, insurance and finance required by this business segment.

Talking about the future of IIMTC, Garg stated that the preparations for the next event are already underway and that more associations will be approached. “We will have an even better participation from the government as well as international bodies and will also look at connecting international governments with the Indian medical tourism stakeholders.

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SPOTLIGHT

Opulence in the sky With the arrival of its new fleet of Airbus 380 and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, Etihad Airways has unveiled the most talked about product of the year - 'The Residence' by Etihad. The airlines has now entered the race to establish itself as the topmost player in the luxury product segment

By Akshay Kumar

E

TIHAD AIRWAYS, the flagship carrier of United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently received its first Airbus 380 and Boeing 787-9 aircraft's in Abu Dhabi. With the new fleet, the airline is all set to introduce the Boeing 787-9 in the India market in the first half of 2015.

Peter Baumgartner, chief commercial officer, Etihad Airways said, “It has taken us six years to complete our research and innovation to launch these new products, the A-380 and the B787-9 Dreamliner. The initial routes which we are planning for our A-380 will be London, Sydney, New York and Paris and the Boeing 787-9 to Washington, Dusseldorf,

34 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD January 2015

Mumbai, Brisbane and Moscow by the end of 2015.”

The first A380 commenced its operation between Abu Dhabi and London Heathrow on December 27, 2014 and is all set to fly its B787-9 to Dusseldorf from February 1, 2015. Etihad Airways will further take delivery of four A-380s and three Boeing 787-9s in 2015.

Speaking about the new fleet at the exclusive launch event in Abu Dhabi, James Hogan, president and chief executive officer, Etihad Airways said, “As we have done so many times in our short history, we are reshaping the landscape of modern air travel in our own way. With the launch of these aircraft, we have entered a new era of unparalleled luxury, comfort and service. These innovations represent our vision for

the future. Etihad brand is committed to maintain its standards and has crossed all the hurdles to deliver the best product in the industry.”

Speaking about the fuel consumption of the new aircraft, Baumgartner exclaimed, “Especially when we talk about the Dreamliner, it is built with composite material which makes it much lighter. These new aircraft consume 30 per cent less fuel.”

The A380 has a total of 497 seats including 417 in the economy class, 70 in business studio, nine first apartments and one 'The Residence' by Etihad.

Boeing 787-9 consists of total 235 seats which is split into 199 economy smart seats, 28 business studios and eight in the first suite.

The A380 also features

SPOTLIGHT unique inflight products like the inflight lounge and the prayer area on the upper deck. Also the prayer area has a monitor which points towards the direction of Mecca, which is a unique feature only on Etihad.

The Residence Etihad Airways has launched its first 'The Residence' for Airbus 380, which is their most luxurious innovation till date.

Located at the entrance of the upper deck with a total area of 125 sqm, The Residence by Etihad can accommodate single or double occupancy and has a living room, bedroom with a double bed, and an ensuite shower room. Also the guests can experience the personal butler service.

The A380 also offers the first apartment which is a living space with a reclining lounge chair, which opens up to become a separate 80.5 inch long fully-flat bed. Similarly, the first suite on the B787-9 offers guests a suite with mini-bar and centre seats which can be joined to create a double bed.

The 80 business studios are located on the upper deck of the A380, and the B787-9 has 28 business studios, offering aisle access and a fully-flat bed of up to 80.5 inches long. The economy smart seat also makes its debut on the A380 and Boeing 787 and has enhanced comfort with the ‘fixed wing’ headrest on each seat.

Style statement With the launch of its new products, Etihad Airways has also unveiled its new crew uniform which has been created

by Italian Haute Couturier Ettore Bilotta in Milan. To showcase the fresh look of the crew, the airline organised a fashion show in Abu Dhabi along with the launch of their A380 and B787-9 Dreamliner.

Baumgartner said, “Bilotta, working with our teams, has once again delivered a new uniform which will showcase our brand with characteristic flair at every city on our growing network. The world has been paying close attention to us this year and our new collection will

Etihad Airways has launched its first 'The Residence' for Airbus 380. The Residence can accommodate single or double occupancy and has a living room, bedroom with a double bed, and an ensuite shower room not disappoint. It is our commitment to excellence which marks our arrival as a leader of sophisticated flying.”

The new uniforms will be introduced from December 27, 2014 and will be worn by Etihad Airways’ cabin crews and ground teams, butlers in The Residence by Etihad, inflight chefs, food and beverage managers, cabin managers, cabin crew, flying nannies, and airport and lounge teams. Bilotta commented, “Since the launch of Etihad in 2003, I have come to

know the airline, its teams and management very closely, and have developed a style which has evolved, as the airline has grown. For me it has essentially been about dressing a brand and an ethos.” Made from Italian wool, the uniforms feature a complex design and are produced in various locations across Italy, with additional manufacturing taking place in Shanghai, Tunis and Bucharest by a team of around 400 staff.

Approximately 30 per cent of the outfits are handmade or hand-stitched.

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LIFE

A safe ride home While safety processes, technology features and stringent verification of drivers are important factors, significant effort and investment needs to be made in training drivers across the country to bring about a change in their behaviour

By Sudipta Dev

T

HE RECENT Uber cab incident in New Delhi, has not just shocked the citizens of the country, but has also shaken up the regulators who have been coming up with many new dictats. It is however not just the stringent rules that can ensure the vulnerable segments (women, children and elderly) can reach their destination safely, but the problem has to be tackled at different levels, the first being training of drivers.

“The drivers are mostly migrant workers whose value system at times is not developed for a large city. Therefore it is important to make them aware of how things are in the large city,” says Siddhartha Pahwa, CEO, Meru Cabs. The company has a fourday training for drivers which includes modules on defensive driving, etiquette and soft skills with special focus on how to deal with women passengers. Significantly, almost 40 per cent of the company's passengers happen to be women.

Further, complaints made against a driver are categorised and every six months the driver has to undergo a refresher training. “The behaviour pattern of the driver is analysed with regards to the type of complaints.

We specifically work on those areas so that focused improvement can be made," mentions Pahwa, pointing out that as a leader of the industry, Meru Cabs has been working with regulators across the country, asking them to spend on the govern-

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ment side to improve the overall training of drivers. He reminds that when Beijing Olympics happened the Chinese government spent three years in training drivers and significant change was seen in their behaviour. “We have been working with the National Skill Development Council for now more than a year.

Even if the drivers are not working with us we have gone and imparted our training to them so that overall quality of drivers in the country go up. We have been requesting the government and regulators to keep a centralised database of all drivers to whom commercial licenses have been issued and if there is a way to link criminal records with them then that should happen,” states Pahwa. An important aspect is good quality identification process of drivers, which includes their address proof, police verification, PAN card, Aadhaar card, etc.

Technology for safety Technology plays a critical role in improving safety and reliability. “We also use technology to create safety features for passengers, not just women passengers but even for elderly people and children,” affirms Pahwa. In March 2013, the Trip Tracker facility was launched.

The second feature introduced was the In Case of Emergency button, which sends an alarm to two trusted people, who can know the location of the traveller and at what speed she/he is travelling. The next impor-

Siddhartha Pahwa

tant implementation is using the Aadhaar data of the drivers and their biometric verification. “The data is already stored in the Aadhaar data bank. Every time a driver would want to start a trip in the morning, they would need to identify themselves using the Aadhaar card, their finger print, etc. And only then they will be able to start the trip.

Finger print scanning and retina scan of the driver can be done inside the car,” informs Pahwa. The company has already done the test pilot for this and is in discussions with Khosla Labs, which is developing more comprehensive solution for the system. “Our intent is that by January 2015 we will start implementing this feature in our vehicles and by March next year we will complete it in all our vehicles,” adds Pahwa.

Pointing out that many of the technology features are not expensive and even smaller op-

erators can implement these safety solutions, Pahwa says, “The mindset of an organisation and a team should be that it has to be followed and implemented. This is only a one time expense, and does not cost too much. For example, a trip tracker facility costs `two for

every trip. For a trip of `200, can we not spend ` two for the safety of passengers?”

Meru has been growing a city a month and will continue this growth rate. The target is 50 cities in the country where radio taxis services are required.

MOVEMENTS VFS Global

Vinay Malhotra

VFS Global has appointed VINAY MALHOTRA as chief operating officer (COO) for South Asia effective January 1, 2015. South Asia is an important region for VFS Global and his key focus areas include evolving business strategy, managing key client relationships and business development. Malhotra will be based in New Delhi. He holds an MBA degree from Bradford University, UK and his experience spans over two decades in the travel industry. He will also continue in his role as the global head for Dubai Visa Processing Centre (DVPC).

RCI RCI has announced the appointment of JONATHAN MILLS to the position of managing director of its Asia Pacific region. Mills will serve as a member of RCI’s senior leadership team, leading the execution of strategic priorities across the Asia Pacific market.

He will be responsible for driving business growth while delivering value to RCI members and affiliates in this region. He will be based out of RCI’s Singapore office, and will report directly to Gordon Gurnik, president, RCI. Mills’ previous experience includes a decade-long tenure with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), where he most recently served as head of operations for Holiday Inn Express and IHG Shared Services

Royal Caribbean Cruises Royal Caribbean Cruises has named two senior company executives to chart the future course of the company’s two largest brands. MICHAEL BAYLEY, who worked his way up from an assistant purser’s position aboard the Nordic Prince, will serve as president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, while LISA LUTOFF-PERLO, whose career at the company began in the New England sales office, will serve as president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises. Bayley assumes Royal Caribbean helm after a successful term as Celebrity’s president and CEO. Before his Celebrity role, Bayley served in several senior roles at Royal Caribbean International, including executive vice president of operations. He is credited for playing a key role in the company’s international expansion, helping launch company operations in markets around the world.

Lutoff-Perlo began her company career as a district sales manager in her native New England. She moves to her new role from her position as executive vice president, operations at Royal Caribbean,

based in Bangkok, Thailand.

During his 25 year career, he has also worked for companies such as Forte & Le Méridien Hotels and Resorts, Sodexho Prestige and Hilton International.

such as Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Australia, China, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia.

Garuda Indonesia

DAVID LONGRIDGE has been appointed as president of Boeing Business Jets (BBJ). Longridge, a 21-year veteran of Boeing, most recently served as sales director based in the United Kingdom leading the British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and TUI accounts. He previously was a sales director for BBJ when the group was founded, in 1996. Longridge succeeds Capt. Steve Taylor, who recently was named chief pilot, Boeing Flight Services.

Longridge will lead a team of people responsible for the sales, support and operations of Boeing commercial products in VIP, government and military services.

Following the resignation of Emirsyah Satar from his position of president director of Garuda Indonesia, the Extraordinary General Shareholders Meeting (EGSM) appointed M ARIF WIBOWO as the new Garuda Indonesia president director. By becoming a member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance in March 2014, Garuda Indonesia, together with 19 other SkyTeam members, has a network that covers 1,052 destination cities in 177 countries, with up to a total of 16,323 flights per day.

AirAsia AirAsia has global football star PARK JI SUNG as its new global ambassador. As ambassador, Sung will be featured in AirAsia’s upcoming global campaigns as well as make event appearances across the region.

The Airbus 330 with the exclusive Sung aircraft livery will be operated by AirAsia X throughout its network in countries

Boeing Business Jets

IDeaS IDeaS Revenue Solutions has appointed RACHEL GRIER as managing director of the company’s sales operations in Asia.

She developed her travel industry sales and marketing skills by working with a range of leading travel technology and hospitality industry brands.

Most recently she held the po-

sition of senior vice president sales, Asia Pacific and the Middle East for Pegasus Solutions.

She worked as the area director of sales and marketing for the InterContinental Hotels Group in Japan where she oversaw a major restructure and was responsible for the sales, marketing and revenue results for three properties. She also held senior sales and marketing roles within leading hotel organisations such as Per Aquum esorts, Spas, and Residences and Rendezvous Hotels International.

Tourism New Zealand STEVEN DIXON has been appointed as regional manager, South and South East Asia at Tourism New Zealand based in Singapore. Dixon, who previously held the position of business events manager for North America based in its LA office, will now lead Tourism New Zealand's activities across the region including the markets of India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore and Thailand. Dixon joined Tourism New Zealand in 2011 and has been fundamental in spearheading NZ’s Business Events offering with North American convention and incentives trade.

Inmarsat Inmarsat has appointed JEFFREY SARE as vice president of airline market development. Jeffrey, formerly vice president of strategy and technology for Thales USA, joins Inmarsat during a period of rapid growth and unprecedented investment in its aviation business. This includes the ongoing deployment of the Global Xpress constellation, a high-speed broadband network that spans the world, and the development of Inmarsat’s European Aviation Network which will offer airlines one of the world’s fastest inflight broadband connectivity services with speeds up to 75Mbps. During seven years with Thales Group, Sare was,

among other roles, vice president and general manager of Thales IFE Systems where he was responsible for the operation and growth of the Inflight Entertainment Systems business unit with annual revenues in excess US$350m.

TripAdvisor TripAdvisor has appointed HEATHER LEISMAN as vice president industry marketing.

In this role, Leisman will lead global marketing to the hospitality industry and will report to TripAdvisor for Business president, Marc Charron. Prior to joining TripAdvisor, Heather led the strategic direction and day-to-day execution of HotelTonight’s European operations as managing director, EMEA. Before that, she served as vice president of partner development and operations at Jetsetter where she was responsible for partner relations, operations and customer service.

Previously, she worked as senior director of merchandising at Orbitz. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and is an adventure travel enthusiast.

Amadeus Amadeus has appointed FRÉDÉRIC BAROU as the new vice president of distribution, products and operations at Amadeus Asia Pacific. Based in Bangkok, Barou will be responsible for driving the overall product marketing strategy, delivering innovative and personalised business solutions to Amadeus customers across the Asia Pacific region.

He will also be leading Amadeus customer service for the region. Barou has been a member of the Amadeus family since 1999. Prior to joining the Asia Pacific team, he was vice president, sales and account management for Amadeus North America, based in Chicago, where he oversaw Amadeus’ client relationships with business travel companies and corporations.

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www.ethiopianairlines.com 38 January 2015

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40 January 2015

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LIVING AYURVEDA www.drdeepsingh.org livingayurveda108@gmail.com

Dr. Deep Singh (MUHS, Hopkins Institute Bombay & NIHFW ( Ministry of H&FW))

Introducing Living Ayurveda, a Global Health Venture by the World Renowned Dr. Deep Singh

Introducing courses on One Day Course PINDA SWEDA Medicated herbs and powders tied into a poultice often combined with pre-oil massage

PADABHYANGA UDVARTANA Warm coarse medicated Ayurveda foot care relieving stress & strain powders rubbed on the body by stimulating pressure for improving circulation and points in the feet reducing cellulite

1. Pulse Healing Meditation (60 Seconds) 2. Fighting Stress For Management 3. Balancing EQ For Leadership 4. God Core Creation For Decision Making

Seven Day Course 1. Understanding Ayurveda Through Pulse INCLUDES: TAILA DHARA MARDANA Warm medicated oil is Deep tissue Ayurveda poured in a flowing massage using pressure stream over the forehead; points and slow deeply relaxing movements

MUKHA LEPA Ayurveda facial using herbs to restore beauty, moisturizing and heightening the skin’s glow

• Nature Of Body Through Pulse • Nature Of Mind Through Pulse • Nature Of Emotion Through Pulse • Nature Of Consciousness Through Pulse • Disease Pattern Through Pulse • Well Being Through Pulse • Concept Of Karma (Soul & Body) Through Pulse

Thirty Day Course 1. Pulse Diagnosis 2. Pulse Healing Course

Place : Phuket, Thailand Website : www.sankalpavishwa.com EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD

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E V E N T S

NOBLE WORK Cathay Pacific Airways team in Chennai, as part of its CSR initiative, recently took around 26 children from an NGO, Bala Ashramam to Phoenix Mall where they were treated to a 45 minute 4 Dimensional show screening

OPTIMISING RESOURCES Gulf Air has signed a two-year renewal deal with SITA for network, messaging and voice services

TAKING OFF Mittu Chandilya (centre), CEO, AirAsia India at the receiving ceremony to mark AirAsia India's inaugural flight from Bengaluru to Pune and Pune to Jaipur

SHARING STAGE Barclays in association with VisitBritain and other partners recently hosted their second international fan park event in Mumbai to offer fans in India the opportunity to watch live matches being broadcast on a 380 sq ft screen, meet the legends of the Barclays Premier League and get up close with the Barclays Premier League Trophy

WELCOME GREETING Namaste America, the Indo American Association of Art and Culture, recently hosted a high tea reception to welcome the newly appointed Thomas Vajda, US consul general, Mumbai at Taj Lands End, Mumbai

IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE Mauritius Tourist Promotion Authority (India) recently organised a familiarisation trip for six travel agents from Chennai and Bengaluru

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E V E N T S

EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS The Indian office of VISITFLANDERS recently organised a set of 'Fabulous Flanders' educational seminars for the travel trade in Ludhiana and Jaipur

SHOWCASE DUBAI Dubai Cruise Tourism, a part of Dubai Tourism, recently organised a four city roadshow in India to promote Dubai as a growing international hub for cruise tourism

WELCOMING MEMBERS Hong Kong Tourism Board and Taiwan Tourism CULINARY FEAST Restaurant Australia recently organised an ‘Invite The World To Dinner’ event at the Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art in Australia

Bureau recently welcomed Hainan and the Philippines as new members of the Asia Cruise Fund by signing an official agreement at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

EVENTFUL MUSINGS

Lavasa recently conducted a study programme on city management practices for students from Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University – Ahmedabad which was led by city manager, Scot Wrighton

44 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD January 2015

Artists from Lithuania performed at the recently organised Ferriswheel Worldfest 2014 held at Lavasa

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