Express Travelworld February, 2013

VOL 8 | NO. 1 | PAGES 44

February 2013 ` 50

Fortnightly Insight for the Hospitality Trade

Contents February 2013

Vol 8 | No 1 | Pages 44

Chairman of the Board

Viveck Goenka

MARKET

Editor

Mizoram Tourism to handover 17 properties to private partners, to issue EoI soon............................................................................................6

Reema Lokesh* Assistant Editor

Steena Joy Associate Editor

Sudipta Dev CONTENT TEAM

West Bengal to draw investments worth `3560 crore for five tourism mega projects....................................................................................7 Goa Tourism formulates a tourism master plan...............................................8 Union Tourism Ministry eyes 20% rise in foreign tourist arrivals post ITM......9

Sayoni Bhaduri, Kahini

Electronic visa process in Sri Lanka gives fillip to tourist arrivals from India.............................................................................11

Chakraborty

Stuttgart to promote family vacations in 2013...............................................12

Kolkata

Cathay Pacific introduces Premium Economy across all its India flights.........13

Joy Roy Choudhury

Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group to expand in state capital cities of India............14

Mumbai

Advisory Board

Ankur Bhatia, Vijay Chadda,

MANAGEMENT

Saroj Datta, Ashok Fenn, Subhash Goyal, Cyrus Guzder, Zubin Karkaria, Ashwini Kakkar, Khursheed Lam, Tej Sahni, Alok Sawhney, Prem Subramaniam MARKETING Deputy General Manager

Harit Mohanty Chief Manager

Emmanuel Fernandes Manager

Sunil D'costa

Beyond the textbook....................................................................................16

Deputy Chief Manager

TAFI to talk business in Zulu kingdom ......................................................19

Zahid Ali Khan

A paradise for adventure ............................................................................22

CIRCULATION

In the land of saints and scholars ................................................................28

Mohan Varadakar PRODUCTION

EDGE

General Manager

B R Tipnis Production Manager

Bhadresh Valia Layout

Ratilal Ladani, Kiran Parker Asst. Art Director

Surajit Patro Chief Designer

Pravin Temble Senior Graphic Designer

30 Interview with Satish Gaonkar, VP India Sales, Blue Star Infotech ...... 31 Room for growth ....................................................................................

LIFE

Rushikesh Konka Photo Editor

Sandeep Patil

Express TravelWorld Reg. No.-MH/MR/SOUTH156\2013-15 RNI Reg. No. 15993/05 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) Editor Reema Lokesh* 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.

February 2013

Rising to the challenge ..........................................................................32 Interview with Wg Cdr (Retd) Rakesh Sharma, Indian Air Force test pilot and cosmonaut ..............................................34 REGULARS

Editor’s Note ..........................................................................................4 Appointments........................................................................................35 Weekend ..............................................................................................41 www.expresstravelworld.com

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Camaraderie and commitment

2 “The balance has to be rightly executed. A cautious and environmentally sound development plan is the need of the hour. From national parks and sanctuaries to that of its culture, north east offers a unique ecosystem that should be enjoyed in a responsible way”

013 has started off with some reasonable action in the tourism and hospitality industry. From the first ever International Tourism Mart (ITH) in the north east organised by the ministry of tourism in Guwahati followed by the ATOAI convention to the soon to held TAFI convention in Durban, there has been some new wave of positivism. ITH and the adventure tour operators annual convention definitely opened up the north east to visitors providing a real-time insight into the region. The tourism wealth that the region possesses is an experience and it is time to position it as a high value niche tourism product. Prominent hospitality brands are slowly making inroads into the region and it is paramount to undertake development keeping in view the serious need for sustainable and responsible tourism growth. The balance has to be rightly executed. A cautious and environmentally sound development plan is the need of the hour. From its national parks and sanctuaries to that of its culture, the region offers a unique ecosystem that should be enjoyed in a responsible way. The adventure tour operators did highlight the four pillars on which the success of their business stand - ethics, sustainability, safety and SOPs. After the adventure tour operators, it is now the turn of the travel agents fraternity to put forth their views and suggestions. Their action is waiting to unfold in the Zulu kingdom and after the recent Supreme Court judgment on the transaction fee issue, this convention is predicted to spell out some solutions and action plans for the fraternity.

The travel trade fraternity is going through its share of challenges and an inevitable metamorphosis. The traditional models, formats and tools of business need to be verified and reworked to meet the demand of today and tomorrow and skill upgradation backed by sound product knowledge will go a long way in paving a strong business model.

Though on one hand the fight for justice and survival continues on the other agents need to adapt to change quickly to survive the pressures and demands of today. The time is now to invest in technology and accept new systems and online networking tools enhance the business further. Investing in human resource talent and to develop skills to meet the future requirement is yet another aspect that needs serious attention. Further, there is no substitute for team work and ethics in trade. The travel agents need to face the challenges of today as a united force rather than as fragmented groups. Finally, change is the most powerful tool toward progress and adapting and accepting change with an open mind can only facilitate progress effectively and effortlessly.

Reema Lokesh Editor editorial.etw@expressindia.com

CHENNAI:

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February 2013

Market LEAD STORY

Mizoram Tourism to handover 17 properties to private partners, to issue EoI soon JOY ROY CHOUDHURY - Guwahati

n an effort to offer the best possible facilities to inbound tourists and promote public-privatepartnership (PPP) in the tourism sector, Mizoram government has decided to partly offload its stake and handover 17 prime properties owned by the department of tourism to private partners. This information was divulged by Chetan B Sanghi, commissioner and secretary, department of tourism, Government of Mizoram.

“We want the private partners to efficiently and professionally run and manage these properties. We are working on the modalities

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Mizoram government has decided to partly offload its stake and handover 17 prime properties owned by the department of tourism to private partners

of this handover and an Expression of Interest inviting proposals from private partners to run these properties will be issued soon,” he said. The private partners should have knowledge about the state in order to run these properties efficiently, added a senior tourism department official.

S Hiato, tourism minister, Mizoram also added, “It is my pride to state that Mizoram is the ideal destination for adventurous and inquisitive travellers seeking new destinations to relax and embrace nature at its best.” He further added that in an effort to harness the potential offered by the topography and weather of Mizoram as well as to keep

pace with the latest trends in tourism the department of tourism is looking at venturing into promotion of aerosport to increase tourist inflow. Last year, the department hosted International Sport Landing Paragliding Competition successfully and is promoting adventure clubs in a bid to launch the adventure sport segment in a big way.

Aggressive steps are also being taken to promote rural tourism, ecotourism and trekking in the state.

Trekking has already been introduced and is conducted by local tour operators; the department of tourism is presently seeking funds to open new routes with basic facilities.

Punjab welcomes private investments in tourism To create investor friendly policy SAYONI BHADURI – New Delhi

ealising the potential for tourism Sukhbir Singh Badal, deputy chief minister, Punjab is keen on attracting private investors for tourism projects. To lure them into the state he said, “We are keen on attracting investments for a hotel project at Ranjit Singh Fort.” This is not the only one, there are other forts the state plans to open for private investment, he added.

Of the future projects Badal informed of the entertainment city being developed near Ludhiana. Spread over 4400 acres it is intended to be an entertainment hub of north India. “We are inviting private investment for the whole project or in pieces as well,” he said. The construction is scheduled to begin by the end of this year and it is expected to be operational by four-five years. There are plans to develop Mohali and Amritsar as trade fair hubs

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with the development of convention centres and trade fair halls. An area of 2000 acres around Ranjit Sagar Dam is available for tourism projects. “We are giving out lands for hotels to be developed on the islands on the lake. We want this area to be a luxury tourism destination, but we are also clear that we want the development to be in a planned manner,” added Badal.

“I am convinced that Punjab will become the most sought after destination in the country. India begins at Punjab with opening to Pakistan and the middle east,” Badal said explaining that Punjab has a strong agricultural base and the highest consumer index.

Punjab also has the highest infrastructure index. Punjab covers only two per cent of the land areas of the country but is responsible for supplying 60 per cent of the requirement for wheat and rice of the country. “It is air connected as well as it has www.expresstravelworld.com

Sukhbir Singh Badal the finest road transport. By the end of 2013 Punjab will also be a power surplus state,” he added. Mohali, Amritsar and Machhiwala are the state's three international airports. There is a domestic airport coming up in Bhatinda, the Ludhiana and Pathankot airports are being expanded. The state has a high road density of 133 km per 100 sq km. “Of

these plans 70 – 80 per cent have been implemented, the remaining will be implemented in the next three years,” he informed.

Badal plans to promote Punjab as a religious tourism destination with Amritsar as the hub. There is also scope for heritage and cultural tourism. With the 262 acres Medicity coming up in Mohali there is a huge potential for medical tourism. “We have made great inroads in promoting farm tourism, we already have 22 units operational,” he added. In 2010 Punjab saw 10.58 million domestic tourists in the state and in 2011 the number grew to 16.42 million. It is clear that the potential within India is more than inbound. “We are now looking at increasing our inbound numbers as well. We are also going to provide single window and we are in the process of creating attractive policy for hotels and with incentives this should be ready within a month,” he said.

February 2013

West Bengal to draw investments worth `3560 crore for five tourism mega projects Also looks at investment for hotels, skill development centres SAYONI BHADURI – New Delhi

est Bengal is looking to develop five mega tourism projects and wishes to attract investments worth `3560 crore, informed Vikram Sen, principal secretary, tourism, Government of West Bengal.

These include a tourism hub in Gajoldoba on a 208 acre piece of land with investment opportunities worth `1500 crore. The key focus here will be the 18 hole golf course.

Kolkata will see the construction of a giant wheel, similar on the lines of London Eye. The total investment is pegged at `800-1000 crore.

Apart from the giant wheel, the project will include development of a floating jetty and

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February 2013

other entertainment options at the location. The West Bengal state tourism department plans to promote Kunjanagar as an eco tourism hub with a focus on rural tourism, health and spa amenities. There are 90 acre of land available and a total investment of `410 crore is expected. Another 90 acre land has been allotted in Sylee to promote tea tourism at an expected investment of `350 crore. “There are 12 gardens in and around Sylee which can be promoted for tea tourism,” said Sen. The fifth mega project is to be developed in Jhadkhali. On an area of 99 acre and at a total investment of `300 crore various tourism projects are available for the pri-

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vate sector to take up.

Apart from these mega projects, the tourism department is providing ready lands for four- and five-star hotel projects in Dhatura (14 acre), Henry Island (10 acre), Digha (seven acre), Bhaluka Beel (five acre), Salt Lake - Kolkata (three acre). Sen also informed that the tourism department is giving out land for skill development projects like hotel management institutes in Chalsa, Gajoldoba, Barjora, Darjeeling and Budge Budge; food craft institutes in Siliguri, Digha and Panchla; and culinary institutes in Salt Lake-Kolkata and Hooghly.

The state expects to process all bid approvals for these projects by or before August 2013. “As a matter of

policy, the state government has decided to embark on the PPP model for all of these projects,” said Sen. The government will provide single window clearance, safety and security measures, etc.

Elaborating on the single window clearance, Sen said that there is an online application that an applicant has to fill in and then based on the project requirements the tourism department will gain clearances from various requisite departments. The state is also providing incentives to projects For projects costing more than `50 crore, apart from the mentioned benefits, the government will reimburse 75 per cent of VAT paid in the previous year provided in lieu of interest subsidy.

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MP to focus on films, Buddhism in 2013 SAYONI BHADURI - Mumbai

eared up to promote Madhya Pradesh as the preferred destination, Raghwendra Kumar Singh, MD, Madhya Pradesh Tourism informed that the department is going to look at film shootings as tourism promotion tool.

“Especially since the chief minister has announced that films shot in Madhya Pradesh will be tax free when screened in the state,” he added. The tourism depart-

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ment has initiated dialogues with film industry professionals to know more about the various requirements that a film crew has during shoots. “We know there are shortcomings in terms of infrastructure required for films and we are focused on developing them. There are private players who are looking at developing film city like set ups in the state for instance film producer Vashu Bhagnani has shown interest in such a project,” said Singh.

Apart from films, Singh informed, “We are looking at promoting the state Buddhist sites and are looking at promoting Sanchi in a big way.”

He added that during the ground breaking ceremony of the international Buddhist university which is being developed at an investment of `300 crore, the Sri Lankan president and the prime minister of Bhutan were present along with delegates from 18 nations. “The university provides a huge advantage to us and Sri Lankan Buddhism is

closely linked to Sanchi that we intend to leverage on,” he said.

For 2013, Singh aims to invite private sector investments for the MPTDC resorts, it is key for the growth. “We are also working hard to develop infrastructure in terms of road and air connectivity. We will increase the network of Madhya Pradesh's intrastate airlines Ventura as well. Also looking at creating new tourism zones and add new sectors,” he added.

Goa Tourism formulates a tourism master plan Offers single window clearance for mega projects KAHINI CHAKRABORTY Mumbai

oa Tourism is in the process of formulating a tourism master plan. The state tourism ministry has already floated tenders and will appoint a consultancy agency after the election process by end of February 2013. Talking exclusively to Express TravelWorld about the tourism development plans in the state, Nikhil Desai, MD, GTDC, and director of tourism, Government of Goa said, “In order to develop tourism offerings of the state in a more effective manner, construction of infrastructure has already commenced. The state has received `two crore as investment for the infrastructure projects. We are building a big jetty in Panjim from where boat

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cruises take place regularly, a new tourism bhavan and amphitheatre complex.

There are also new projects coming up in Baga.” The ministry is also building a hotel management institute which will help in creating additional manpower for the industry. On the anvil is the convention centre, theme park, family entertainment parks, expo centres, construction of golf courses through private initiative.

Desai also informed that the state has started single window clearance system for all mega projects in the state where permissions are accorded rapidly. “With the tourism master plan which should be completed by end of this year, many reputed hotel brands have shown interest in building properties in the state. Hence the master plan will enable

them to get faster clearances for their projects. Currently our total room inventory is 50,000 along with the non registered guestrooms, bed and breakfast accommodations, beach huts and heritage homes, etc. As Goa's average occupancy rate rarely goes beyond 70 per cent, there is still a gap of 30-35 per cent which translates into huge volumes.

Hence the tourism master plan will drive the growth for the industry, but we want to do it in a planned manner.”

In an effort to create a buzz about the destination Dilip Parulekar, minister for tourism, Government of Goa recently launched the dates for this year’s Goa Carnaval. The local event which has gained popularity will kick-start on February 8 and conclude on February 12, 2013. The

other highlights of the event include a vintage car rally, Serenade parade, Harley

Davidson Bike rally and King Momo’s lead float.

Sikkim to organise International Flower Show to promote flori-tourism JOY ROY CHOUDHURY - Kolkata

ikkim Tourism is set to give a thrust to floritourism in the state and organise an International Flower Show from February 23-27, 2013 at Saramsa Gardens, in East Sikkim district. According to Bhim Prasad Dhungel, tourism minister, Sikkim, “This year’s International Flower Show will witness 15,000 different varieties of flowers. The floral

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extravaganza will be represented by 25 international flora companies, 30 national flora companies and 190 flower growers’ organisations in the state under one roof.

Flori-tourism is a thrust area of the tourism department as 72 per cent of the country's rhododendrons grow in the state.” The tourism board also plans to attract both tourists from ASEAN regions and domestic tourists during the launch of a huge statute of

Lord Buddha at 'Buddha Park' in the state by His Holiness Dalai Lama.

He informed that Sikkim is home to around 5,000 species of flowering plants, 515 rare orchids, 60 primula species, 36 rhododendron species, 11 oak varieties, 23 bamboo varieties, 16 conifer species, 362 types of ferns and ferns allies, eight tree ferns, and over 424 medicinal plants. A variant of the Poinsettia, locally known as www.expresstravelworld.com

'Christmas Flower', can be found in abundance in the mountainous state. The orchid Dendrobium nobile is the official flower of Sikkim, while the rhododendron is the state tree.

A senior tourism department official also informed that the department, in cooperation with other government agencies, has been working on a plan to develop infrastructure like roads, helipads, hotels, entertainment

facilities, wayside amenities, etc and human resources to further promote sectors like village tourism, hydrotourism, adventure sports, eco-tourism, etc, in order to attract more tourists throughout the year. The state tourism department is also taking steps to develop facilities for adventure sports. “We are expecting 15-20 per cent rise in tourist arrivals in the coming year,” added Dhungel.

February 2013

Union Tourism Ministry eyes 20% rise in foreign tourist arrivals post ITM

he ministry of tourism, Government of India is expecting a 20 per cent increase in foreign tourist arrivals to the north east by next year, following the recent successful hosting of International Tourism Mart in Guwahati, Assam. This is for the first time an event of this magnitude was organised by the Government of India to focus specifically on a region with an intention to transform the north east into a leading tourist destination and more significantly as an adventure tourism destination. Parvez Dewan, secretary, ministry of tourism, Government of India said, “We plan

the occasion, Dr Chiranjeevi who was on his maiden visit to the region after assuming office, said the mart could become a regular feature in the north east if the states wished.

He said the Centre was taking several initiatives to promote tourism in the region.

The union home ministry recently lifted the two-month gap restriction on re-entry of foreign nationals coming to India on a tourist-visa.

“This relaxation will, no doubt, facilitate visitors to the country to a large extent. The north east region will also benefit from these initiatives. The ministry is committed to development and promotion of tourism in the region,” said Chiranjeevi.

to sell north east as an adventure tourism destination.”

Altogether 80 delegates from 23 countries participated in the event and buyer-seller meet apart from domestic travel and tour operators, tourism corporations and boards of the north eastern states. JB Patnaik, governor, Assam inaugurated the mart at Guwahati's Sarusajai Stadium in the presence of Dr K Chiranjeevi, union minister of state for tourism (Independent Charge), Government of India. Speaking on

He also informed that the tourism ministry was also promoting the concept of 'film tourism' and had exceeded the mandatory 10 per cent of the planned budget that a ministry must allocate for the north eastern region. The Centre has already sanctioned `562 crore for the north east during the Eleventh Plan period. A senior official from the ministry added that the ministry of tourism plans to set up Food Craft Institutes and Culinary Institutes in different states of the north east.

JOY ROY CHOUDHURY - Guwahati

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'India should work towards the ultimate of electronic visa processing' On his annual visit to India this January, David Scowsill, president and CEO, World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) focused on the need for countries to move towards electronic visa processing, what the Indian government needs to do for the development of its tourism sector and the commendable work being done by the WTTC India Initiative. By Sudipta Dev WTTC has been focusing a lot of the liberalisation of visa policy. You must be aware that travellers have a problem getting Indian visa, so how have your interactions with the Ministry of External Affairs been now, in the past or if you plan to do so in the near future, to address this issue?

Let me give you the general picture first. Last year at the G20 Summit, president Felipe Calderón of Mexico tabled some research that WTTC and UNWTO had produced on this whole issue of visas. What the research basically said was that within the G20 countries if the prime ministers and presidents made a concerted effort to start removing some of the basic constraints then it would stimulate the economy to the tune of another $270 billion and create five million jobs. The research basically says that if India, China, UK, US and Russia take this issue seriously then it will start a domino effect of removing these constraints. So I need to come back and sit with the foreign ministry and interior ministry in India and explain to them very clearly the benefits of removing some of the visa constraints. I appreciate that there is always a bilateral discussion between different governments, and one government always needs to make the move first.

Have there been any developments post the G20 Summit ?

Since president Calderón had the G20 leaders focus on this in June last year, we've seen a huge amount of changes around the world with different countries relaxing their visa policies.

We have seen changes happen now, in the last 12 months the whole industry has been speaking with one voice on the visa issue.

Ultimately we have to make everyone concentrate on electronic visa processing, which is what Australia does

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ment is to be very careful about overtaxing the airline industry. The third factor is to continue the progress around the infrastructure, built to cope with the huge explosion of travellers that we are about to see - domestic Indian travellers as well as international travellers coming to India.

David Scowsill so effectively. So you bypass all bureaucracy and transact with the consumer over the internet, check them behind the scenes and assuming you are happy with them to come into your country you give electronic visa. It is a question of a lot of discussions at a very high level. To give you an example, some of the work that we do with UNWTO is that we have a Global Leaders for Tourism Programme, which means that Taleb Rifai and myself go and sit down with presidents and prime ministers to talk about four-five key things that they really need to understand, and one of first ones on the list is always the visas. I have been awaiting for a date to come and meet with the prime minister of India, to have a conversation directly with him about visas, taxation and whole range of issues.

We've been to 45 presidents and prime ministers in the last 18 months.

Which are the three most important factors that India needs to focus on for development of tourism?

It is very important for the Indian government to relax visa processing, visa on arrival is the first step.

The cost of visas also needs to be reduced. Then India should work towards the ultimate of electronic visa processing like Australia.

The interior ministry and security forces have to do a lot of work in their back office systems to enable this.

All the background checks have to be in an automated fashion. The second important issue is taxation, the Indian government is taxing the airline industry too high which is counterproductive.

The message to the governwww.expresstravelworld.com

What will be the focus of WTTC Global Summit in Abu Dhabi this year ?

We are now moving to running three events every year - the Global Summit which is happening in Abu Dhabi, and two regional summits, one of which will be in Seoul this year. The theme of the Abu Dhabi summit is ‘Time for Leadership’ and the message is that the industry should step up to take a leadership role and solve some of the issues around visas, taxation, etc. Former US president Bill Clinton is also coming to the summit. We will have very good forward looking sessions on where the airline industry is headed.

After Japan WTTC's next global summit is in Abu Dhabi and now you are initiating a regional summit in Asia, is the focus of WTTC shifting to Asia because maximum tourism growth is happening here ? How do you align that with your long-term strategy?

If you look at all the statistics for the next 10 years, travel and tourism in Asia is growing very fast, it is being driven mainly by China and a little bit coming from India. In terms of our events, we move our summits around the world - Japan was significant as it was one year after the tsunami and earthquake, we had to help them. In 2014 we plan to come to Hainan in China for the global summit.

Please tell us a bit more about all the associations speaking in a unified voice ?

We now have a travel association coalition with UNWTO, IATA, PATA, USTA. It is important that all associations should speak the same language. Currently we are all talking about visas.

After that we will focus on taxation.

How do you see the evolution of WTTC India Initiative?

WTTC India Initiative is unique, it does not exist in any other country, and it is very, very effective. The reason why it is so effective is that you have 25 top businesses in India – airlines, tour operators, hoteliers, get together and operate in the same way as WTTC does globally, inside India. They produce detailed reports, research and information, and present the findings to the ministers of tourism and finance. They decide what the key issues are that the government needs to work on and speak together with one voice.

Tourism is a great employment generator, yet why do governments not give the sector the importance that it deserves ?

Most politicians take travel and tourism for granted. They believe that it happens magically and they don't need to worry about it.

They worry about economy and finances, agriculture and other industries. We've produced a research recently which is also on our website which compares our industry with others like automobile, chemical and it shows consistently that in every country travel and tourism is six times bigger than eg motor manufacturing in terms of the number of people it employs. It is about getting the data in the right place, irrefutable research about the jobs generated by tourism, contribution to GDP. (With inputs from Reema Lokesh) February 2013

Electronic visa process in Sri Lanka gives fillip to tourist arrivals from India SUDIPTA DEV – Mumbai

ri Lanka has introduced electronic visa processing from January 1, 2012 and has since then witnessed marked increase in visitor arrivals, particularly from India. The initial visa is for 30 days which can be further extended. "Following introduction of the electronic visa processing there has been almost 40 per cent increase in visitor arrivals from India," said Thushara Rodrigo, consul, Consulate General of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in Mumbai.

Tourists have to go to the website, answer a few questions and get the visa within 24 hours. The electronic visa processing system is linked to all the security systems around the world. “It has now become easy for tourists, particularly in places like Kolkata

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where there is no Sri Lankan mission, to apply from their home. You only need the visa number, you can go to Sri Lanka even without a printout of the visa,” stated Rodrigo.

He pointed out that Sri Lanka is now a safe place, “After the war ended on May 19, 2009 there has been complete peace. That has been a major achievement.”

Sri Lanka is now concentrating on attracting tourists, particularly from neighbouring India. Traditionally a European holiday destination, the slowdown adversely affected the number of tourists coming from Europe.

China and India are the growing markets. “After landing in Colombo, between two-three hours the tourist can reach from one destination to another. One does not have to spend too many hours on the road, and can have a relaxing vaca-

tion. The hotels are not too expensive and are known to provide quality service,” said Rodrigo. He mentioned that many international hotel companies are now coming up with new projects in Sri Lanka. “We are also developing the infrastructure, all the highways we are linked to tourism spots. After the war ended in 2009, there has been a big development, as the tourist sector is booming, the supportive sectors are growing - from transportation to tour guides, food, etc. The government's cleanliness drive is strong, particularly for the tourism sector. It is a value for money holiday destination for Indians,” he asserted.

Sri Lanka is attracting an increasing number of elderly travellers from India who are opting for leisurely vacations.

There have also been a few destination weddings.

Thushara Rodrigo According to Rodrigo, Sri Lanka has proved its expertise in the meetings and conferences space while hosting the SAARC Summit and nearly 60 SAARC meetings. “We have all the facilities for meetings and

conferences - at Colombo, Kandy and also down south.

Many Indian associations are holding conferences in Sri Lanka,” he stated. Yet another niche segment from India that has been visiting Sri Lanka are student groups who are keen to study the bio diversity of the island nation. “The flora and fauna of various provinces are distinctively different and are interesting areas of study.

Some big groups of students have gone to Colombo, Kandy and Sinharaja Forest Reserve.

This is a new trend. We have also met a few schools,” added Rodrigo.

Not surprisingly, there is also a lot of interest in the Ramayana trail. “We are targeting more Indian tourists as India is our closest neighbour, we have old cultural relations and tourism will bridge the gap,” said Rodrigo.

Indians exploring non-traditional destinations in Malaysia SUDIPTA DEV - Mumbai

ourism Malaysia recently organised a sales mission in India which saw 47 members' strong delegation visit four cities – Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and

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Chennai. “We decided to have a sales mission for India to reestablish our presence here and reinforce our relationship with the Indian travel trade.

We also want to inform them about the new developments back home, new products,

packages and also events,” said Zulkifly Md Said, director, international marketing division (South Asia/West Asia/Africa), Tourism Malaysia. This is of particular importance considering the fact that Indians are now

Travel Spirit International celebrates silver jubilee

Travel Spirit International celebrated its 25th anniversary at Fio, Garden of Five Senses in Delhi. They also released their new brochure for TSI Luxury Holidays February 2013

www.expresstravelworld.com

going out of their way to explore those non-traditional destinations in Malaysia. In terms of tourist arrivals and income receipts India is at number six and among the top ten markets for Malaysia.

Other countries in the top ten include UK, Australia and China. The target in terms of visitor arrivals from India is 780,000 in 2013, while in 2014 Tourism Malaysia expects to cross the 800,000 mark.

Emphasising on the ease of visa processing for Indian travellers, Said stated that Tourism Malaysia is hopeful of opening more VFS offices in tier II cities in the country.

Talking about the different segments of travellers, Said stated, “We see mostly families coming to Malaysia. Big entourages have come with Indian weddings, which have mostly been held on beaches of Malaysia. Indians also come for F1 – our leg is in the first quarter of the year from March 21-22. Then there is the MotoGP that happens in the last quarter of the year. Last year we promoted MotoGP with Mahindra Holidays among their members, we did online promotions and 129

people from India came to the event.”

Indians are now increasingly becoming interested in eco and adventure tourism activities, they are now opting for activities ranging from river safari in Sabah to to diving in Lankayan Island, mentioned Said. “While top Indian golfers have been participating in golf tournaments in Malaysia, it is interesting to see groups of amateur golfers from India visit Malaysia with their families. This segment is growing,” stated Said. The year 2012 also saw 30-40 Indian TV crews visit the country, including those filming documentaries.

The biggest tourist attraction that opened in Malaysia last year is Legoland. “They have also opened the Hello Kitty theme part in Johor. In the future we see a lot of potential in Johor due to its proximity to Singapore. There is also the Johor Premium Outlets where you can get several premium brands at 30 per cent to 40 per cent discount,” added Said. Shopping being on the top of list for Indian travellers this would be of particular interest to them.

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Stuttgart to promote family vacations in 2013 SAYONI BHADURI - Mumbai

tuttgart and SouthWest Germany is looking to capitalise on the high length of stay – 6.8 days average – of the Indian traveller to promote the region as a family vacation destination for 2013. Hans-Jorg Hadbawnik, regional director for Russia and India, Stuttgart Marketing said, “For 2013, we want to focus on the family.

Families are always looking for valuefor-money proposition. As compared to other destinations Stuttgart offers just that.” For the family vacationers the region is promoting easy travel cards – StuttCard, HeidelbergCard, WelcomFreiburg Card, City Karte Solo, Mannheim Card and Konstanz Card. Hector D'Souza, director India, Region Stuttgart said, “We have a high length of stay which is an average of 6.8 days and we wish to capitalise on that. And in spite of the difficult global economy we have maintained that figure. An average Indian

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spend is 118 Euros per day.”

There is also an effort to promote leisure tours post trade fairs. There are special packages that the tourism board offers based on number of days a traveller wants to spend post a trade fair. These packages can be booked when booking for the trade fairs. “We are in talks with tour operators who promote MICE business to increase the length of stays of trade fair visitors. These operators are the most convenient way of promoting,” added D'Souza.

SouthWest Germany has also introduced its online Sales Guide 2013 with a unique identification code provided to all service bearers.

This identification number can be effectively used on the web portal that provides the agent with update information on rates, services and availability. Going Cuckoo Specialist Training Programme for tour operators and travel agents has seen 350 agents pan India who have successfully completed the course.

Gent and Brugge debuts in India KAHINI CHAKRABORTY - Mumbai

ith an aim to attract Indian travellers to lesser known destinations in Belgium, Toerisme Gent and Toerisme Brugge made their maiden visit to India. Both city tourism boards are looking at targeting the FIT segment. Talking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Nathalie de Neve, marketing manager, Toerisme Gent said, “Gent is definitely more of an FIT destination considering its size and attractions. The Indian traveller that we think would be interested in Gent is the affluent, well-travelled and is open to other ways of life, other tastes and is looking for

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a relaxed and romantic city.”

While according to Bruno Janssens, marketing, Toerisme Brugge, “Since Brussels and Antwerp are better known in India, we think now is the time to start promoting Brugge and Gent. Brugge aims to attract the individual travellers; the frequent traveller who has seen Paris and London and is now ready for something new, something different, beyond those cities.”

With Tourism Flanders' market knowledge to promote the historic cities through partnerships with travel companies and airlines that can reach the specific audience, Toerisme Gent and Toerisme Brugge will work together with Tourism

Flanders. “Working together is essential. When one comes from India, it is not to visit one or our cities alone. We need to think about packages to promote Gent and Brugge along with Flanders and Brussels,” added Neve.

Talking about places of interest that the tourism boards are promoting, Neve added, “We are promoting the general historical heritage sightseeing as both cities have a medieval (12-15th century) city centre. With three towers from the Middle Ages as its skyline, Gent is referred to as a medieval Manhattan. Gent has a castle in the centre of the city that dates back to the 11th century that can be visited today. The Lys river runs

through the city and boat trips are the best way to discover the city.” While Brugge is looking at promoting the entire city as a destination for honeymooners, couples and other travellers.

For Gent the top seven source markets for overnight stays are Belgium, The Netherlands, UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

While for Brugge, the neighbouring countries are the most important markets - UK (30 per cent), France (20 per cent), Germany, (15 per cent), The Netherlands (12 per cent) and the domestic market followed by Spain.

The Indian market is expected to show significant growth in the coming years.

Korea looks at targeting 1,00,000 Indian tourists this year ETW STAFF - Mumbai

ver the years, Korea and India have shared an inseparable link which is reflected in their traditions, culture, heritage, economic, trade and tourism ties. The year 2013 is the 40th anniversary year of diplomatic ties between both the countries. In this year, culture and tourism will be the

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major focus.

Recently, Korean Cultural Centre was opened in New Delhi. Based on all these changes, a huge leap of visitors is expected from India to Korea. “There were 92,000 visitors from India to Korea up till the end of 2012. We expect over 100,000 Indian visitors to Korea in 2013 with opening a new Korean Air route from Incheon International www.expresstravelworld.com

Airport, Korea via Colombo in Sri Lanka to Maldives on March 2013,” said Jae-Sang Lee, director, Korea Tourism Organisation.

Korea has a lot to offer the leisure market and intends to tap the Indian honeymooners. The picturesque mountainous landscape, green paddies and serene temples combined with its ultra- modernity

makes it one of the most favored honeymoon destinations of the world. Not only honeymooners, Korea is looking to tap the Indian families with children.

Lotteworld, Korea’s first theme park and the largest indoor theme park and Everland, South Korea's largest theme park are two theme parks aimed at children and young travellers.

February 2013

Cathay Pacific introduces Premium Economy across all its India flights SAYONI BHADURI - Mumbai

ong Kong headquartered Cathay Pacific Airways has introduced Premium Economy cabins in India. “We will see the Premium Economy class being introduced in all Cathay Pacific flights in to India,” said Charlie StewartCox, general manager South Asia, Middle East and Africa, Cathay Pacific.

Stewart-Cox has replaced Tom Wright. He also announced that the airline will increase the number of flights between Mumbai and Hong Kong, operating 10 weekly non-stop flights between the two cities from April 2, 2013. They will also offer a three-class configuration - Business Class, Premium Economy Class and the Economy Class for passengers travelling on the Hyderabad-Hong Kong route from February 1, 2013.

“India is one of the fastest growing market for us. We have a load factor of almost 80 per cent from India,” added Stewart-Cox. The airline gets 95 per cent load factor on the front end, about 50-60 per cent load factor in the first class from India.

The Premium Economy class is 30 per cent more expensive than the

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Economy and 50 per cent cheaper than the Business Class. “We are expecting 1015 per cent revenue from the new Premium Economy.

Even yields are expected to go up,” said Rakesh Raicar, sales and marketing manager – India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan, Cathay Pacific Airways.

The airline has introduced new in-flight products in Delhi and Chennai and has also extended its

presence in India with a new four-times-weekly service between Hong Kong and Hyderabad. Together with sister airline Dragonair, the group now operates 46 weekly flights from six cities in India.

Expressing his thoughts on the global aviation business for 2013, Stewart-Cox said that aviation sector is not out of the woods.

“Economic slump, high fuel costs which in turn increase

maintenance cost are making matters worse,” he said.

Even in the cargo, business across trade routes and tonnage has decreased. Cathay Pacific for its part is phasing out older models of gas-guzzling Boeing 747s for modern and efficient crafts. “We are also reducing flights from destinations with low load factors. We are continuing and improving the customer value proposition,” he added.

GoAir gets its first Sharklet equipped A320 aircraft ETW STAFF - Mumbai

oAir has taken delivery of its first Sharklet equipped A320 aircraft financed by ACG (Aviation Capital Group) under a sale and leaseback arrangement which will see the Aircraft added to ACG's growing portfolio of Airbus A320 family aircraft. The aircraft is part of an order placed by GoAir for 20 A320neo in 2006. So far 13 aircraft have been delivered to GoAir making the first Sharklet equipped A320 the 14th to join the fleet. All subse-

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quent seven deliveries will be equipped with Sharklets.

“We already operate one of the youngest and most fuel efficient aircraft fleets anywhere in the world and the introduction of the Sharklet will add further efficiency. Our investment in the every latest technology like Sharklets, and also the A320neo, is a demonstration of our commitment to our customers and to the growth of our valued airline,” said Giorgio De Roni, CEO, GoAir. “We are delighted to be partnering GoAir with their fleet expansion and the

introduction of the fuel saving Sharklet. We strive to always have the most modern aircraft in our aircraft portfolio and the A320 equipped with Sharklets is a perfect fit,” said Denis Kalscheur, CEO, ACG. Sharklets are an option on new-build A320 Family aircraft and offer operators the option of an additional 100 nautical miles range or increased payload capability of up to 450 kilograms.

Sharklets are standard on all members of the A320neo family. In 2011, GoAir placed an order for 72 A320neo aircraft.

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Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group to expand in state capital cities of India JOY ROY CHOUDHURY - Kolkata

ur plan is to open hotels in every capital city of the country and in the emerging tier two and three towns,” said Ronnie Lobo, vice president (operations), Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, South Asia. The move is part of the hotel major's plan to increase the number of hotels under management to over 100 by 2015 under different brands like Radisson, and Park Inn. Of the 100 hotels, 63 are operational and another 44 are in different stages of construction under different brands.

The company, which has its headquarters in Belgium, inaugurated its first 92-room managed property in Kolkata under the Park Plaza brand name. City-based Mukti Group has developed the property. The company also plans to take over the management control of two more properties,

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Ronnie Lobo one each in Kolkata and the another in Guwahati by the end of 2013. “We are looking to add two more proper-

ties in the eastern region at Hastings in Kolkata and Guwahati by the end of 2013,” said Lobo. While the 100-room Radisson Blu property in Kolkata will be developed by the city-based Saraf Group, the 170-keys property in Guwahati is being developed by the Dharampal Satyapal (DS) Group.

Presently, the Group owns six global brands such as Radisson, Radisson Blu, Park Plaza, Park Inn, Country Inns and Suites and Hotel Missoni. “The company recently revamped its top-end brand Radisson.

While Radisson Blu is positioned in the upper upscale segment, Radisson is positioned in the upscale segment making it a two tier brand. Carlson Rezidor, last year signed a strategic partnership with Bestech Group giving it exclusive development rights to develop about 49 Park Inn Hotels in north and central India by 2024,” he added.

Kumbh Mela 2013 to bring boom to airlines, hotels, create over six lakh jobs: ASSOCHAM ETW STAFF - Mumbai

irlines, hotels, tour operators and states are likely to witness substantial boom period in their economic activities and likely to contribute `12,000 crore revenues in the state coffers, according to The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

In a forecast paper on ‘Maha Kumbh Mela 2013Possible Revenue Generation Resources for Uttar Pradesh’ brought out by ASSOCHAM, it has been projected that the Maha Kumbh event alone will generate additional employment opportunities for over six lakh workforce in sectors such as airlines and airports, hotels, tour operators, flyover besides medical and eco-tourism. The unorganised sectors activities would also gain the best out of Maha-Kumbh event as its boom will accrue it the maximum economic gains.

The estimates of the paper further revealed that during Maha Kumbh alone, about one million interna-

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tional foreign tourists are expected to visit India for site seeing which include religious, eco-tourism. In Maha Kumbh, tourist arrivals will extend to over 250 million from 30 million in 2001 to take a holy dip.

According to DS Rawat, secretary general, ASSOCHAM, Australia, UK, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, New Zealand, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, will be the main countries from where tourists arrivals are expected to attend the Maha Kumbh. Hotel industry is aiming at 100 per cent occupancy rate for Maha-Kumbh which currently is 70 per cent on an average and will witness a growth of 25 per cent during Maha-Kumbh from current growth rate of 15 per cent including small, budget and luxury hotels.

National and international media will arrive in large numbers. Duration of foreign tourists stay in India will be 20-30 days. These are likely to employ over 2.5 lakh skilled and unskilled workforce.

ASSOCHAM analysis on Maha Kumbh Mela 2013 job prospects Sector Airlines & Airports Hotel Industry Tour Operators Eco Tourism & Medical Tourism Skilled & Unskilled Workforce for Construction/ Upgradation Unorganised Sector Tourist Guides, Taxi Drivers, Interpreters, Volunteers, etc Total

“Apart from Allahabad, other nearby states like Rajasthan (Jaipur, Udaipur, Bhilwara, Kota, etc), Uttarkhand (Nainital, Musoorie, Aulli, Dehradun, Haridwar, Ranikhet, Almora), Uttar Pradesh (Agra, Lucknow) Punjab (Amritsar, Chandigarh, Ludhiana), Himachal Pradesh (Shimla, Kufri, Manali, Panchkula) will also be the major beneficiaries states in revenue generation where large number of foreign tourists are expected to explore tourists destinawww.expresstravelworld.com

No. of Persons 1.5 lakh 2.5 lakh 45,000 50,000 85,000

55,000 6.35 lakh

tions,” said Rawat. “The paper further projected that airlines industry particularly national and international airlines will do much better,” opined Rawat.

Uttar Pradesh Tourism, privately owned hospitals, traders, railway and international airport are likely to earn revenue of over `1,500 crore in Maha-Kumbh through increased inflow of foreign and domestic tourists by offering attractive tour packages and medical tourism facilities, according

to the paper.

Interestingly, ASSOCHAM estimates that the overall business during the stretch of two months of Kumbh could touch anything between `12,000 to 15,000 crore and contribute revenues in the state coffers, said Rawat. He also said that security of women would be given priority and besides deploying a large number of female constables, special arrangements will be made to check incidents such as eve-teasing.

According to ASSOCHAM, over one million foreign tourists will explore popular tourist destinations during Kumbh. Out of these one million, Uttar Pradesh tour operators attracts over five lakh foreign tourists for their attractive and different tour packages and each foreign tourist spends an estimated amount of `25,000 in tourist packages, state conveniently generate revenue of `1,250 crore (`25,000 x 5 lakh). Uttar Pradesh Tourism organises varieties of tour packages which can attract foreign and domestic tourists.

February 2013

Management

INSIGHT INTO THE TRAVEL MARKET

COVER STORY

Beyond the textbook A fast emerging segment with immense potential, education tourism in India has evolved dramatically in the recent few years. As education trips are getting more focused for specific segments of students, it opens up limitless areas of opportunity for specialised providers to cater to this segment. By Sudipta Dev

focused and niche product in the tourism product portfolio, the potential of education tourism is so vast that whatever activity is currently happening in this space, has not even touched the tip of the iceberg – both in domestic and international segments. There have been very few Indian operators who actually understand the concept of education tourism, with little expertise to plan such trips with meticulous

care so that the young minds that go for such tours return enriched with new insights about the world and life.

Things are changing now with specialised focus on this segment bringing to the fore select operators with the vision and expertise to organise edu tours with a difference.

Today more and more education providers realise the need to offer learning beyond the classroom to their students. “International schools and local schools seem to be

looking at more and more creative approaches to imparting practical insights into education through a 'discover and learn' process,” says James Ellis, director, EdVantage International Consulting. He points out that edu tours are not restricted to schools and lately many management institutes, engineering colleges, hospitality institutes and such have looked at providing education or study tours, both in local locations and overseas. Hospitality study tours can vary from visits to local farms, factories, vineyards, cheese or manufacturers of pickled, canned or bottled products, abattoirs and market places, hotels , retail world including supermarkets, warehouses and so on. “Some popular and affordable overseas locations have been Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Dubai and the UK. Though NZ, Australia, USA, Canada are preferred locations the visa availability and associated costs make study tours to these places almost impossible,” adds Ellis.

Education cannot be based in classrooms, avers Veena Patil, MD, Kesari Tours.

“Travelling is education for every student. We take them to Haridwar and Rishikesh for river rafting, we also take them to NASA and Switzerland. Adventure activities like rapelling and climbing

Manoharan Periasamy

Mehernosh Deboo

Vishal Verma

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Veena Patil

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are part of the tour itineraries,” she says. Patil believes that the important part of the education is not just the destination but the fact that the youngsters (mostly from seven to 17 years of age) have to become responsible for their own self, away from the watchful presence of their parents – taking care of their things, managing their emotions, time management and be a part of the team. The future will see demand for what the destinations offer – art and culture (Italy and Paris), adventure tours (Switzerland), value-formoney fun tours (Thailand), etc.

A new trend has been planning the tours according to what the students are studying. Mehernosh Deboo, director and CEO, Creative Outdoor Development Education says, “Students want to visit places, which is on their syllabus. It is part of the ICSE school curriculum as part of project work. A questionnaire is also given to the students well in advance. A student does a lot of background reading. After the tour is done, students write their reports on their tour itself.

Students visit destinations with strong historical backgrounds, geographical outlay, plantations regions, tribal villages etc. Students also take environment study tours,

Srimathy K

February 2013

commercial study tours, etc.”

He believes that student travel has changed in the country drastically. “We have to do our homework very well. Today students need to visit the parliament, study the advent of Islam in Agra, etc. Project studies have become very important in the ICSE schools and travel destinations are charted accordingly,” adds Deboo.

Things have changed from the times when leisure constituted 70 per cent of the edu tour programme while education became 30 per cent of the tours. Manoharan Periasamy, director, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board says, “We have developed a product for this segment that is nature based - educating youngsters about green earth, energy conservation, environmental protection, etc.” For instance, taking them to those areas that have been designed for those kind of products like the National Elephant Conservation Centre, Kuala Gandah or the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary in Sabah. “We also encourage homestay pro-

gramme for students, to expose them to the life and culture of other side of the world. We would like them to stay with those families for a day or two, go to paddy fields, do fishing, or rubber plantation during the day and attend social programmes like weddings,” adds Periasamy.

Students going to Malaysia from India for educational tourism comprise a small number and are mostly from international schools. “We have started associating ourselves with local international schools. Earlier the operators involved were not very serious as they felt that if they emphasise more on leisure, they can attract parents to send their children for these tours, but we want a shift in that as these students can always go on leisure trips with their parents but this is more about educating them. So we are partnering with few operators who are specialising more on education than leisure - talking about culture, history, environment. We believe students will be the future travellers and it will take off in a big way,” mentions Periasamy.

Global experiential learning The past five years have shown marked growth in the educational tourism market.

Gurgaon based Frontiers Edutainment offers global experiential learning programmes. Most of the programmes have a very strong learning component mixed with tourist attractions that excite students. A majority of February 2013

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the educational programmes are conducted at institutions like NASA space centres, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National University of Singapore, National University of Ireland and similar. Vishal Verma, managing director, Frontiers Edutainment, says, “The awareness about international educational tours has spread rapidly to schools across India. Parents are also willing to spend on educational tours for their children. With rising incomes of parents and the willingness to spend on educational services, the potential is immense.” He believes that the segment which has a great potential for growth comprise school students between the age of 14 to 18. Students in this age bracket are mature enough to travel without their parents and are enthusiastic about new experiences.

According to Verma USA, UK, France and Singapore are emerging as the key destinations mainly due to the presence of a significant number of enrichment programme providers and exciting tourist attractions in these countries.

As far as India is concerned he feels products that combine strong educational content delivered by credible providers coupled with experiences that students love such as theme parks, virtual sky diving, F1 racing, etc, can be developed to cater to this segment. In the near future what will become more and more popular in the segment are student conferences such as Model UN Conferences, leadership conferences and global tournaments, where students can meet and interact with their counterparts from other countries. Some of these events can be hosted in India to attract inbound tours. “The companies operating in the educational sector are mostly start ups who are innovating to create new products and offering them to schools. Factors such as the rupee depreciation, increase in airfares, taxes and inflationary trends are posing strong challenges since most of the companies are relatively small,” mentions Verma.

Chennai headquartered Space Kidz India conducts educational tours in India and overseas. To name a few Space Camps at Florida /Houston NASA, Euro Space Camp at Europe, London

International Science Forum, London Olympics 2012, Royal Festival Hall – London, and others. Srimathy K, director, Space Kidz India has also conducted domestic tours to Kerala and Karnataka, and is planning to launch a domestic culture and language tour for school and college students.

“Gone are those days where parents wanted their children to be focused only on education as a textbook study, now every parent, be it the middle income segment or high income group want their children to be multi talented.

Most importantly, be exposed to the world at a younger age, and travel being the main tool for the same as seeing is believing and learning,” says Srimathy K, pointing out that she can foresee educational tourism boom over all other tourism products. She asserts that to encourage inbound tours for this segment it is imperative to encourage student exchange programmes, invite foreign students to explore the Indian culture/ food/ fashion because the young use social media to constantly update their status minute to minute, and when they get to visit a country they promote it effectively. She believes that the important products that can be developed in India for this segment should be a combination of Indian tradition, art, culture, language and gastronomy that should be offered to the second generation Indians all over the world.

While schools also look at student exchange programmes or international learning projects, but this has been more successful one way with Indian students going overseas to Germany, Singapore, UK, etc but not many foreign students are coming to India.

“Sadly this is due to the perception about India in terms of poverty, safety, corruption and so on. Parents of children overseas are not confident that their children will be safe on a trip to India,” states Ellis.

According to him some of the factors that contribute to this negative impact or impediment to further growth of education tourism in India areexcessive formalities for permissions to tourist locations, theft, fraud and cheating, untrained guides, poor administration and management, lack of proper infrastructure at tourist locations, lack of EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD

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Education of another kind Education trips with a purpose have a social objective of making an indelible impression on the minds of the young. Following are two such programmes conducted by India Educational Tours.

1) A project working with AIDS orphans and victims of commercial sex exploitation and trafficking, as an introduction to social justice, at Snehalaya, Ahmednagar. This field trip is suitable for the 11th and 12th grade or college students only.

The field trip looks at Snehalaya and how it helps provide a marginalised community with a greater degree of social justice. It also looks at changes at the grass-root level which empowers a community to help itself without outside assistance. Academic and experiential sessions in the villages allow the students to immerse themselves in the lives and cultures of these farming and semi-urban communities.

2) A study of a comprehensive rural health project as an introduction to social justice. This field trip is suitable for students in the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade. The venue is Comprehensive Rural Health Project, Jamkhed in Maharashtra.

This trip looks at how entire communities have been transformed by the activities of the CRHP, Jamkhed, to enable and empower people and communities to take health into their own hands, thus gaining a greater degree of social justice. Students also experience village living and farming, and examine the priorities of such communities. financial support, too many agents and operators making the offerings costly and at times unprofessional.

Exploring the real India Domestic tours conducted for students in India are mostly sightseeing trips organised by schools with an operator who gives the lowest possible quotes. Beulah Kolhatkar, director, India Educational Tours has been focused on changing that by offering educational tours with a difference. The subjects are wide

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ranging and truly experiential i) Social justice – rights of the Child, HIV/AIDS and the stigma attached to it, trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation, women’s rights. ii) The environment - the space we live in, sustainable development, including issues such as man vs animal, management of natural resources. iii) Social health issues – nutrition, immunisation, sanitation; water- its sources, storage and usage; recycling and

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garbage management; alternative forms of power – wind, waves, solar, bio-diesel etc; agriculturebio-dynamic farming, 'Jaivik Krishi', organic foods, seed banks and soil management, etc.

India Educational Tours custom designs field trips for clients when required. They also liaise with existing institutions which are exemplary in their own field of education and growth, eg Amul and their community development programmes in Gujarat; CRHP (Comprehensive Rural Health Project) Jamkhed, Maharashtra; HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) and the Aeronautical Society of India, Karnataka; 'Snehalaya', Ahmednagar, Maharashtra; NCAOR (National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research), Vasco-da-Gama, Goa. “The growth of the wine industry in India would also be an eye- opener as it incorporates the use of soil, water, air, commerce, laws of India and the role of the Indian entrepreneur. Music field trips to promote the appreciation and understanding of music in India as a tradition, a living art-form, a growing medium and a professional practise could be an exciting possibility,” mentions Kolhatkar.

There great potential in the domestic market for this segment – both among school and college going students, believes Kolhatkar. “It is in the hope of introducing young people to be the change they want to see that I left my static classroom and put it on wheels called India Educational Tours. Children learn faster than adults and come up with innovative ideas

that jaded adults could not even imagine to exist. Above all, if Indians began to understand each other better, there will be less parochialism and alienation. Adults with these parochial ideas will inevitably pass them on to their offspring, and teachers like me are asked to fix the problem. I sincerely believe that this process must start at home first. We need a little less of 'us and them' and more of 'we',” she asserts.

India Educational Tours has concentrated on children and young people as they will be the future citizens and lead the world. There are many European, African and American colleges that send their students to do electives periods, practicum projects, PhDs, Fulbright Scholarships etc, in India. Student exchange programmes can go a long way in attracting inbound education tourism in India. “Children all over the world can learn about each other and help demystify the West and the East,” states Kolhatkar.

The important products that can be developed for the segment are -a study of agriculture, organic farming, change in modern eating habits, food security and GM foods; a tour to look at water conservation, dams and rivers and their management; a trip to Himachal Pradesh to study what the Jaypee Group has done with technology to harness the power of the northern, glacier-fed rivers, and what these projects promise as a solution to India’s power requirements. “It is also time to teach young people to share their own musical traditions.

Most schools find it hard to set up a music department, it can be an expensive business.

Music classes for children who would like to learn how to play a musical instrument or to sing, possibly funded by our visitors, an avenue by which children learn and understand each other’s differences better. The children will lead the way,” adds Kolhatkar, pointing out that a tour on train wheels, to study the history of the Indian Railways has always been her dream – India is after all the only country that still has rolling stock of every kind of train and track the world has ever invented.

(With inputs from Reema Lokesh)

February 2013

TAFI to talk business in Zulu kingdom There is much excitement about the 2013 edition of the TAFI annual convention scheduled to be held in Durban later in the month.

Office bearers of the association delve deeper into the aims and expectations from the convention this year. urban, South Africa will play host to the Travel Agents Federation of India’s (TAFI) annual convention scheduled from February 24 - 27, 2013. With 'Navigating the Future' as the theme, the convention will bring to the fore issues and topics which the travel agents’ fraternity are facing today. These discussions are set to unfold at the International Convention Centre (ICC) Durban. This year’s convention is being led by Zakkir Ahmed, president, TAFI along with Praveen Chugh, vice-president, TAFI with the support of Aditi Bende as convention chairperson and Bharat Shah as co-chairman of the

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convention.

The convention theme is set against the volatile business environment the agent’s fraternity is facing that range from the general to the specific. The world economic scenario coupled with sluggish pace of global businesses have posed their set of challenges and through the business sessions, the agents hope to find solutions and alternatives to face adversities and create better business models for the future. Expressing his views, Ahmed said, “For this year’s convention, the theme – Navigating the Future – has been chosen after due deliberations. The travel trade industry has been undergoing a turbulent

transition for the past several years. Coupled with the vagaries and uncertainty, no one really knows what the future will be and unfortunately agents cannot resign themselves to singing the famous line 'Que Sera Sera'.” He added that this year’s convention has been scheduled on the eve of the proclamation of the union budget of India. Eminent speakers and panelists will therefore spell out their memorandums and wish lists to the union finance minister as to how to boost and revive the dwindling fortunes of the ailing travel trade industry. Also earlier, while all future projections were based on a five-year term, current parameters

make it essential, practical and realistic to look at a two-year time frame. Being governed by current volatile market dynamics, informed gurus will conduct a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis and see how challenges can be converted into paying propositions. The convention aims to address issues such as human resource and investment in human resources in the travel and tourism industry.

Apart from HR, the conven-

'The KwaZulu-Natal experience will be enriching for the delegates' Praveen Chugh, vice-president, TAFI and CEO and director, Tsi Yatra, says that the objective of the 2013 convention is clear - provide the fraternity with a long term vision and knowledge that will help them deal with future challenges.

By Reema Lokeshs What is the primary focus of this year's convention and how different do you think it will be from the previous ones?

The primary focus of this year’s convention will be conducting world class business sessions and sharing the vision beyond 2013. The topics selected for the business sessions will be much more in sync with the times. The convention this year will also be of a longer duration as compared to ones in the past- it will be spanning over nine nights as compared to the five-six nights offered in earlier conventions. About 90 per cent of the delegates Praveen Chugh have not previously visited the KwaZulu-Natal province, they will be in for some rich experience and further, to sell this destination to their clients and we would make sure that they come back with bagful of knowledge.

Is there a set plan to continue your connect with South Africa for further tourism initiatives?

TAFI will be closely working with South Africa especially with KwaZulu-Natal Tourism along with SATSA for the next five years. A road map for the same is being worked out.

Are there any plans for the next year's convention?

It’s too early to announce the next year’s convention.

Is there a message you wish to impart to the members of your fraternity?

TAFI’s message to the travel fraternity is clearly expressed – always remain united, attend all business sessions for the expansion of your own business and industry survival.

February 2013

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tion also seeks to address pressing financial issues that the business faces like how to improve bottomlines. Experts will share their views on managing credits and costs, deal with the financial slump and issues like the BSP payment cycles amongst other issues.

A B2B exhibition on February 25-26, 2013 is scheduled to bring in buyers and sellers together to exchange ideas, build business through a mutually beneficial and professional relationship for the future.

The convention also aims to offer its delegates interesting pre and post convention tours offered by KwaZuluNatal Tourism. Destination South Africa will also takes centre stage at the TAFI convention.

The Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA) has also shown support to the forthcoming event. The head of SATSA feels it will EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD

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Zakkir Ahmed be an apt platform to showcase the tourism specialities

Aditi Bhende of Durban and its surroundings, and the KwaZulu-Natal

region. “This is a major event in the tourism calendar in India and we are delighted to host it in South Africa for the first time,” said Michael Tatalias, CEO, SATSA. “In India, travel agents prefer to sell products of which they have had personal experience, therefore the opportunity to see and experience South Africa will give all those who participate in this convention a significant marketing edge in this growing market,” he added.

The convention will aim to bring in stronger ties between the two business units namely India and South Africa and wherein

the aim is to achieve knowledge sharing and cultural exchange between the two countries. The convention holds significance to the city of Durban as it comes at a particularly important time, just before the BRICS Forum, to be held in March 2013. Durban is geographically ideally situated to become a hub in the developing trade relationships, particularly between India, Brazil and South Africa, that dates before BRICS. With both a significant port and a major new airport, as well as the developing Dube Free Trade Port area Durban has a great deal to offer in this developing relationship.

Future forward The recent supreme court judgement on transaction fee has come in as a dampener for the fraternity. This issue has been looming large for a while and the fight for survival has become tough. There is no doubt the traditional role of the travel agent has witnessed a major metamorphosis. But the time has come to think out-of-the-box and face the future fearlessly. By Reema Lokesh ing. It is important to invest in staff training and educate them about products before they sell them to their respective clients. Sharing his views on the same Praveen Chugh, vice-president, TAFI and CEO and director, Tsi Yatra believes that the experience that will be provided to the agents in South Africa will definitely place them in a bet-

hange is the most powerful tool for progress and, adapting and accepting change with an open mind can only facilitate effective and effortless progress. The travel trade fraternity is going through its share of challenges and an inevitable metamorphosis. The traditional models, formats and tools of business need to be verified and reworked to meet the demand of today and tomorrow; skill upgradation backed by sound product knowledge will go a long way in paving a strong business

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model. On one hand the fight for survival continues, on the other hand agents need to be willing to adapt to changes. It is now time to invest in technology and accept new systems and online networking tools to enhance business performance.

Investing in human resource and skills development to meet the future requirement is yet another aspect that needs serious attention. Having said that, it brings us to a popular discussion on how crucial it is to get the front-line staff educated on the product they are sellwww.expresstravelworld.com

ter position to sell the new KwaZulu-Natal region better to their respective clients.

The agents' fraternity is going through its share of bottlenecks ranging from the tangible to the intangible – financial grievances like payment settlements, credit recovery systems to building new avenues of growth and opportunities. The decision to effectively and prudently use the tools provided by the GDS

service providers to empower the agents' fraternity by looking into other forms of bookings apart from airline bookings, namely hotels, car rentals, cruises, etc, have been in discussion since long.

These tools promise new revenue generating channels that can be used to the agents' benefit. Further, the discussion on charging a management fee for service has also been in talks for a long time. Speaking emphatically on this issue Sanjay Arya, director, Uniglobe Keshav Travels and joint secretary TAFI, says, “The recent Supreme Court order on not letting transaction fees to be charged is a dampener. We are left with no choice but to seek new avenues of growth.

The time has come to truly work as a team like the way our counterparts in Europe and USA function. They charge a certain fee for the service provided and we in India our working in a way that goes against our very interest. We need to be united and work as a team.” Apart from the demand that agents need to be united when it comes to business practice and trade, the agents are also unanimous in their voice while expressing that the airlines and agents are partners in business and hence they need to work as allies.

February 2013

An African amalgam The TAFI convention is an excellent opportunity to showcase the attractions of Durban and KwaZulu-Natal province to the Indian travel trade. It is a much awaited event in the city that has the largest population of people of Indian origin living outside the country.

By Sudipta Dev he city of Durban, the largest city of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa is all set to welcome the TAFI delegates with quintessential warm hospitality.

“We are very excited to be hosting TAFI in Durban from Februray 24-27, 2013. There are a whole lot of surprises for the delegates in the city.

There are tours for the delegates to show them the city and the province of KwaZuluNatal,” said Thulani Zungu, manager - regional marketing, Durban Tourism. Zungu who was in India recently to participate in the multi-city roadshow organised by South African Tourism in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Durban that has the highest number of people of Indian origin outside India is surprisingly left out of the itinerary of most leisure travellers to South Africa, who go to Johannesburg, Cape Town and the Garden Route. It is part of the strategy to attract the Indian leisure and MICE market that Durban Tourism participated in the roadshow.

“We are focusing on the Asia market now, primarily India and China. As far as TAFI is concerned we have just heard the exciting news that the convention is a sellout and there are 800 delegates who are coming to Durban,” said Zungu.

While the convention will be held at ICC Durban, the TAFI delegates will be put up at the Tsogo Sun hotels in Durban, namely Elangeni and North Beach. Gerhard Louw, sales manager – international inbound, Tsogo Sun said, "India has become one of the key growth markets for South Africa in recent times, and that is why we were quite excited when we heard that the TAFI convention will be held in Durban as it will give an opportunity to expose that part of the country to the Indian market. From our point of view India is quite important for us.” Tsogo Sun has 95 properties across South Africa. Elangani and

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North Beach in Durban are both four-star properties.

“Most of our clientele stay at our four-star hotels in South Africa. The properties in Cape Town and Johannesburg are popular with the Indian clientele. One of the factors why our properties are popular with Indian families is because the hotels allow two adults to stay in a room with two children below the age 18, breakfast inclusive. This works well for the Indian market," said Louw. Tsogo Sun hotels also attract the MICE crowd from India. "The TAFI convention is a wonderful opportunity for the entire Indian trade to come together and visit South Africa, specially Durban which is not often visited by Indian travellers," added Louw.

South Africa roadshow The four-city roadshow this year brought in 63 suppliers from South Africa. “It is different this year for us, last year we had 400 agents from Mumbai and Pune and this year we've had 770 from Mumbai alone. This time there are 63 tables and we had to say no to a lot of suppliers,” said Hanneli Slabber, www.expresstravelworld.com

country manager, South African Tourism India.

Besides those hotel operators, ground handlers and products, who have attended the roadshows in India in the past, this year saw many new

ones, particular in the adventure category. From a nonproduct point of view is the city of Durban represented in the roadshow, which Slabber believed was importrant as the Indian travel trade could ask questions ranging from plans for TAFI to shopping venues and activities in Durban, the waterfront, etc.

"It is important to educate the people before they go," added Slabber.

One of the products that has done very well and was in the roadshow this time is helicopter trip over Cape Town. The trips vary from 1520 minutes to 45 minutes.

Another interesting addition this year included the Le Quartier Francais - a boutique hotel with a chef who serves nine-course meals (also vegetarian nine-course menu) which according to Slabber, has taken off with the Indian market. Like previous years all the important game lodges were at the roadshow - Sabi Sabi, Mala Mala, Legacy Lodges, etc. “A lot of the tour operators at the roadshow also represent important lodges,” pointed out Slabber.

The Zulu Nyala Game Lodge is among the new inclusions.

SANParks represents South African national parks like Kruger National Park, Table Mountain, etc. “South Africa is a big country like India, we do not want people to just go there and spend 60 per cent of their time driving from one place to another. We are encouraging people to do shorter distances, spend more time at a place and do more things,” stated Slabber.

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A paradise for adventure The 10th annual convention of Adventure Tour Operators of India (ATOAI) became the right platform to showcase the 'unexplored opportunities' of the north east and how tourism can bring about a social and economic change in the state. By Joy Roy Choudhury

ith the focus on highlighting the north east region of India as a potential state which is yet untapped, the ATOAI (Adventure Tour Operators Association of India) held its tenth annual convention at Sarusajai Sports Complex in Guwahati. As the association hopes to promote the region as a one-stop adventure destination, the theme of the convention 'India's Unexplored Paradise' fitted the objective to showcase the potential of the north eastern terrain of India which is rich in mixed natural tourism products. The convention was graced by the presence of Chandan Brahma, tourism minister, Assam. Opening the convention Brahma said, “We are happy that the convention has finally come to Guwahati. The organisers

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too were skeptical in bringing the convention here in the first place but their notion about the north east must have changed after landing in Guwahati.”

Taking cue from Tarun Gogoi, chief minister, Assam, who spoke at the valedictory session of the

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International Tourism Mart organised by the union ministry of tourism, Brahma said that the north east's cultural, ethnic, wildlife and landscape diversities along with hospitable people are the core strengths of the region to become a tourism hotspot. “The north east

offers huge possibilities for adventure tourism and if explored to the fullest it would bring a new dawn for Assam,” he opined.

Parvez Dewan, secretary, ministry of tourism, Government of India said, “We hope to see 20 per cent growth in foreign tourist arrivals and 100 per cent growth after seven to eight years.” He informed that the government of India is focusing specifically on the region with an intention to transform the north east into a leading tourist destination and more significantly as an adventure tourism destination. “We plan to sell north east as an adventure tourism destination. Infrastructure is an all-India issue and it will get automatically get improved once tourists visit a particular destination,” added Dewan. He also February 2013

offered his support to the industry and informed that adventure tourism has been accepted as a niche tourism activity.

At the inaugural session, Sanjay Basu, convention chairman, ATOAI deliberated on how the association has grown over the years, the reasons for bringing the convention in the north east and the unexplored opportunities it offers. “This has to be the decade of the north east,” he said emphasising on creating the brand Himalaya.

Tejbir Singh Anand, president, ATOAI addressed the gathering by highlighting the importance of adventure tour operators. He said, “Besides, helping open up the entire north east, this convention will help in creating a bond, which will in turn reap economic and

social benefits for the region.” Anand also added that adventure tourism is also a perfect way to help make India a 365-day active holiday destination.

Taking the center-stage, Mandip Singh Soin, founder and managing director, Ibex Expeditions opined, “The adventure tourism sector has been growing at 10-15 per cent year-on-year combining both inbound and domestic travellers.

With more states opening up to adventure activities the growth potential is huge in the future. The north east region has huge potential in terms of adventure tourism and we are expecting the support and cooperation of the government for the promotion of the same.”

He also underlined several issues, which remains to pose hurdles in the growth

of this segment.

“Unavailability of insurance products for adventure travel is one such impediment,” he said. Soin added that since the nature of this segment is all about the wilderness and remote inaccessible outdoor areas, restrictions on the use of life saving electronic devices such as GPRS/ satellite phones should be relaxed. Setting up of greenfield airports/ airstrips should be given importance to ease accessibility. He also stressed on issues relating to rescue, evacuation and disaster management specially in the Himalayan region.

Presently, there is also no such facilities available for evacuation in the Himalayas.

This will boost the image and business to Indian adventure travel.

Delivering his keynote

address on 'Branding the Indian Himalaya and the north east', Amitabh Kant, CEO and managing director, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) said, “The north east is a big asset of ours and needs a sensitive handling.” He urged tour operators to design itineraries based on the carrying capacity of the region. Kant added, “Sustainability is a key issue and asked tour operators to market the north east as a destination for high-end travellers to keep its ecological balance intact.” He said that the north east should not be marketed as a mass tourist destination.

And the award goes to Saluting his contribution towards the growth of adventure tourism in the country, ATOAI gave away its highest award- the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' to Mandip Singh Soin.

The President's Special Award' was given to Amitabh Kant. The 17-year old Deeya Bajaj was adjudged for the 'Adventurer of the Year' award. While, Vaibhav Kala, founder, Aquaterra Adventures made it to the 'Hall of Fame'.

Pledge for commitment to sustainable tourism For the first time, all delegates and adventure tour operators present on the occasion had to take a pledge by touching a stone carried all the way from the source of the river Ganges.

The delegates pledged to be responsible citizens and abide by sustainable practices both in daily activities and workplace. They committed to fully implement sustainable tourism practices consistent with the best environment and heritage protection standards. The delegates also reiterated their commitment to conduct their business in an ethical manner that benefits the culture and ethos of its rich and ancient civilisation.

New beginning Initiating the business session of the convention on 'Synergy in Business and Destination Development', Capt Swadesh Kumar, founder president, ATOAI February 2013

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underlined the finer prints of the trade and emphasised on the need to strengthen relation between DMCs and local tour operators. Girish Shankar, additional secretary, ministry of tourism, Government of India informed that the ministry of tourism is in talks with the ministry of human resource development to include adventure sports in the course curriculum of school students. Some of the CBSE schools have already included travel and hospitality in its course content.

Rakesh Mathur, director and principal advisor – India, Zinc Hospitality shared his decade long experiences of working in the north east with adventure tour operators.

Ambrose Bittner, founder, Red Lantern Journeys elucidated on the modern tools of marketing.

He advised tour operators to gain detailed knowledge about the products they are selling and have trust in the suppliers.

Bittner said, “New technology tools like social media, email marketing have become popular. There is also a need to rely on locals to keep ourselves informed, create accurate itineraries

with well written descriptions, to have employees with experience on destinations to sell it and so on.

Also, safety and reliability is a vital issue in today’s travel which should be addressed.

In all, we need to match local guides and have the expertise to command respect providing great logistic management support to travellers.”

In the second session on 'Changing Trends, Infrastructure Product Development', HS Das, principal secretary, department of tourism, Government of Assam delved on soft infrastructure issues like upkeep, cleanliness and maintenance of the destination; training airport staff, taxi and auto drivers to be courteous with tourists and also train hospitality staff to be hospitable with guests. “If we take care of these issues, then these can have a long-lasting impact on the visiting tourists and help in the development of a destination,” he said.

Commander Sam T Samuel, managing director, Kalypso Adventures said, “Today tourists irrespective of their age or disability are moving around. Clients are

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 10th ANNUAL To adopt the basic minimum standards / safety guidelines for adventure tourism as suggested

by ATOAI. No operator to be given permission to operate till these basic minimum standards are met. ● Support the 'Clean India’ campaign of MoT in letter and spirit.To launch a major sensitisation drive in gateway cities such as Guwahati, Siliguri, Darjeeling, Gangtok about the importance of cleanliness to promote tourism. ● To have clean and hygienic toilets in all areas / places visited by tourists. ● Promote the north east as an Adventure & Ecotourism destination with itineraries/routings often spanning more than one state. ● Do not sell the North East as a cheap destination and accent should be on low volume and high value clients. Mass tourism is not to be encouraged as can be detrimental to environment and local cultures. However, higher tariffs should be balanced with high client satisfaction through authenticity of experience, quality training for human resource and high quality of infrastructure, easier accessibility, etc. ● To sell north east as one cohesive product drawing the best of all states and creating experiential circuits i.e. Trekking, safaris, river cruises, natural history, Buddhism, golf, historical sites, war memorials etc. ● To compete with and to link up with Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal by the opening of borders between these states and neighbouring countries. ● To lobby for international airport in centre of the region i.e.

Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Dimapur to bring states closer and Far East and beyond to be more accessible. ● Allow more Indian and international trekking and mountaineering expeditions to go deeper into the Himalayan areas and as close to our international borders as possible. ● Every tour operator or ●

looking for an experience, which they want to share with their friends and relatives through social media or travel blogs.” He reiterated the words of Mark Twain to 'Explore, Dream and Discover'.

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tourism provider must be certified by state governments to have minimum standards or safety, ethics, sustainability and standard operating procedures.

These four pillars of the association can be transmitted via workshops in conjunction with the state government and local tourism associations to members of the industry. ● All tourism providers must sign the pledge of undertaking safe, honorable and sustainable tourism actions in their operation and this should be made known publicly through their websites so that the consumer can also become an auditor. ● In the future growth of accommodation, it would be important to have architectural integrity which reflects the local culture and blends with its landscape. Tall and multi storied buildings with modern materials should be discouraged, except in big cities like Guwahati.

Instead, local materials usage should be encouraged and building of excellent quality eco lodges and home stays to be an important element in providing accommodation for tourists. ● Access to remote parts of the Himalayas and remote forest areas would be key for easier access to adventure travel destinations.Thus, there is a need to have operational airports for small fixed wing aircraft (Short take-off and landing aircraft) in places like Zanskar, Spiti, Kinnaur, Garhwal, Kumaon, North Sikkim, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. In specific, places like Pasighat, Ziro, Tawang Dhirang, Along, Dibang and Mechuka have been identified for Arunachal. Padum in Zanskar especially now that Kargil is connected in the state of J & K. The mission of the accessibility into the Indian Himalayas must be taken with view towards the larger picture of removal of the summer offseason of India, as Himalayan Tourism will bring in tourists into the country in summer months.This will lead to foreign tourists also traveling to other parts of India in the plain areas

Oken Tayeng, managing director, Aborcountry Travels & Expeditions asked adventure tour operators to be honest and realistic while interacting with clients. He emphasised on high value but low impact tourism February 2013

CONVENTION HELD in 2013 AT GUWAHATI, ASSAM in summers, as a natural extension to their Himalayan journeys. ● Airstrips - The airstrips that can be considered to be opened / expedited include:In Uttarakhand: Gauchar, Chiniyalisaur & Pithoragarh in Himachal Pradesh: Spiti Valley (near Kaza) and Lahaul in Jammu & Kashimir: Thoise (Shyok Valley), Padum (Zanskar valley), Korzok (Tsomoriri), Lidderwat (Kolohoi glacier) in Pahalgam region, Kargil.

In Arunachal Pradesh:There are some advance landing grounds of the defence forces at Zero, Mechuka, Pasighat and Tawang (new, to be built ) which could be used by commercial fixed wing aircraft operators. In Sikkim: Yambung Certain specific routes could be opened/relaxed such as the connection between Tawang to East Bhutan and the exit back from Samdrup Jonkhar as well as the connection between Moray and Myanmar. It is also recommended to look at options of connecting from Kumaon into Tibet and from Ladakh into Tibet. ● The entire aspect of RAP/PAP/ILP permits to be relooked at and dismantled for Indian and foreign travellers visiting the north east, except in case required to protect specific tribal communities. ● Satellite phones and global positioning systems (GPS) as well as one inch, half inch and quarter inch scale maps of the Himalayan areas to be made available for usage by registered adventure tour operators by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. This should also be permissible for use by foreign tourists under a supervised role so that security of the country is not compromised. ● The Ministry of Tourism and the state governments should start a campaign of branding the Indian Himalaya and bring out visuals – print and electronic, to support the same. Our USP of the Indian Himalayan experience can be that of diversity of physical terrain and local cultures stretching from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh. ● Rafting in Uttarakhand:

Uttarakhand is presently the most popular destination for river rafting in the country. Four suggestions: Need to extend the rafting season during July/August/ September. During this period allow rafting on the float /easy sections from Devprayag to Kaudiala and from the barrage below Rishikesh to Haridwar. Safety must be ensured by ensuring minimum two rafts / plus safety kayaker per trip. Appoint an empowered officer to be stationed in Rishikesh to issue permits, ensure safety, check permits, etc. There should be strict adherence to timelines by the nodal officer. ● No auctioning of beaches.

Encourage / support existing adventure / rafting companies.

Engage /consult / involve stakeholders and operators before changing / formulating policy. To consult ATOAI at the sanction and review stage for any projects / funds sanctioned by state / central govt. for adventure tourism. ● Areas near National Park boundaries to be declared ' sensitive zones'. Central guidelines/ recommendations for resorts / tourism activity in these areas.

States disregarding the eco norms not to be given central funding for adventure / wild life tourism.To ensure that the sanctity of forest corridors is maintained. ● FA/CPR first aid, revival and rescue courses to be mandatory for adventure guides to have FA/ CPR certification. ● To undertake a carrying capacity study funded by the Ministry of Tourism in all different geographical zones of the country such as the Himalayan mountain areas, deserts, forests, rivers, coastal areas, seas, wastelands etc. ● These pilot studies can be used as models to be replicated in different parts of the country so that access is allowed to an optimum number of tourists balancing the needs of the local economy to be helped by tourism on one side and to retain the ecological footprint to the minimum on the other side. ● Adventure activities should be

practices.

Cherian T Ramapuram, director, Orange Country Resorts & Hotels, owning luxury resorts in Coorg and Kabini in Karnataka said, “Today, travellers are looking for experiences which are not February 2013

encouraged and can be conducted in practically every state of our country specially demand for soft adventure is on the rise. Soft adventure activities include wild life safaris, bird watching walks, short treks, day treks, float trips, jeep safaris, river cruises, etc. ● In order to have a smooth tourism experience for the customer, the tourism providers should work in harmony and synergise their operations so that all these actors play a role in providing a positive client experience. ● These actors normally are the foreign tour operators (FTO’s), the Destination Management Companies (DMC’s), local operators/ground handlers/excursion agents and the hotels/lodges, transport providers, local communities, guides, porters, local staff etc. This is most important so that there is a constant pressure on all to ensure a high quality of service with maximum reliability for the tourists. Local agents must on the other hand focus on providing efficient local services and getting their tourism products in order as in infrastructure, hygiene ,waste disposal, safety etc, by pressurising local governments. This will ensure sustainability and long term gains rather than short term profits in efforts to cut intermediate service providers. Synergise in reverse. ● For Indian travellers, there ought to be a system of buying medical and rescue insurance (including helicopter evacuation) which needs to be negotiated with India based insurance companies. This will strengthen the ability of Indian travellers to undertake adventures without the tension of the rescue facility which now largely depends on the local government to activate on a humanitarian basis. ● The upcoming Institute of Mountaineering & Allied Sports at Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh should have a curriculum for creating adventure guides who would not just possess adventure activity skills but also learn soft skills like customer handling, crisis management, effective communication, organisational skills,

experienced anywhere in the world.” They are looking for journeys that evoke stories. Summing up the session, Reema Lokesh, editor, Express TravelWorld stressed on the need for balanced development of a deswww.expresstravelworld.com

knowledge of fauna and flora etc.

This should include a final and practical working as a trainee with a recognised adventure tour operator, preferably an ATOAI member. ● Promote river cruises as a soft adventure activity as is now started on the Brahmaputra.

Deployment of more dredgers, location of mobile jetties and making the safer and more reliable sections of the river as night navigational channels, should be undertaken at the earliest. ● Wildlife tourism not to be tiger centric alone but emphasis on quality interpretation of the forest, bio diversity and local cultures along with challenges of conservation and poaching.

Effort should be rapidly made to ensure that more forest destinations are brought into focus so that pressure on a few selected national parks gets dispersed. ● Get special collateral made on adventure tourism specially in video and film and key advertising to be undertaken by MOT and the state governments in Indian and foreign magazines and newspapers as well as electronic media and social media.

Additionally, a film on adventure tourism on India should be commissioned to convey the magic of the Himalaya and the diversity of adventure possibilities in the country. Revive the regular Himalayan mountaineering and tourism meet on a bi annual basis which was conducted by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation and this can be done in conjunction with ATOAI and the Ministry of Tourism in order to generate more interest in the mountaineering and trekking options in the Indian Himalaya. ● To re-examine the policy of closure of peaks for religious reasons in certain states like Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

Perhaps, a few may be closed for religious reasons whilst others may be kept open for mountaineering and other sporting events so that the basic human right that of Access is not denied.

Also, to access these mountains in Arunachal Pradesh establishes India's claim to them like was

tination with an eye on sustainability. She also advised the adventure tour operators to explore and innovate.

The third session on 'Market development both traditional and electronic media' saw presentations by

done in the Siachen region of J&K. ● Uttarakhand should review their policy of creating an alternative window apart from that of IMF, of permits and fees for mountaineering expeditions as this has impacted negatively, the growth of mountaineering expeditions in the State of Uttarakhand. ● All Himalayan peaks less than 6000 metres, to be designated as trekking peaks that do not need liaison officers, have a token peak fee and where permits are issued in a few hours. Efforts to be made to have an extensive exercise to institute names of peaks in the Himalaya and this should be coordinated by mountaineering bodies like the Indian Mountaineering Foundation; the National Mountaineering Institutes; the Himalayan Club and ATOAI. ● Bring in accessible tourism for people who are differently abled but would like to undertake certain adventure activities. ● Promote certain endurance events like Iron Man as part of adventure travel product offerings. ● Each ATOAI conference to have a carbon offset component of planting trees as a method to offset all the carbon generated due to the convention and adopt some practical elements of the MOT’s Clean India campaign. ● Each state to try and establish an adventure training institute and also in key locations, have first aid and rescue posts manned by voluntary doctors and rescue equipment as well as communication devices like mobiles, satellite phones and GPS. ● To promote Himalayas as a brand to encourage adventure tourism in the country. It is recommended that the next Incredible India campaign should be “Brand Himalaya”. ● To co-ordinate with IRDA for insurance products for adventure travel/tourist. At present there is no company offering such products.

Dilshad Master Kumar, cofounder, Farinto and Chinmay Divekar, director, Nature Trails Resorts who deliberated on how effectively to use information technology tools to grow their business.

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focused on social media marketing and explained how even the SME sector in the travel trade can use Facebook as an effective marketing tool. She said, “There has been a quantum jump in the number of people who are searching travel information on Facebook, updating their profile after a trip or planning their trip after reading a travel blog.

Engagement is the key where one has to communicate with the communities.

Twitter too is an effective medium if used in a right

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manner.”

Divekar cited how proper use of CRM tools, effective database management and search engine optimisation has helped him in growing his business. Ajay Prakash, CEO, Nomad Travels emphasised on truthfulness and trust, the key issues for developing a market and creating a brand.

Later Col Gulshan Chadha from the Indian Army and director of the newly set-up National Institute of Mountaineering & Allied Sports informed

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that the Indian Army is establishing a mountaineering and adventure sports institute at Dirang in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The institute has a mandate to conduct courses in 12 different adventure activities like mountaineering, skiing, hot air ballooning, white water rafting, kayaking, microlights, paragliding, etc. We are also planning to start courses on mountain guiding, search, rescue and disaster management. Besides, personnel of the armed forces, these courses will be also offered to those from the civilian community for which the courses would start shortly.

Anurag Singh, managing director, Assam Tourism Development Corporation threw light on the key strengths of Assam, its culture, festivals, cuisines, wildlife, forests and exotic tourist locations. He gave a complete review of the state's performance in tourism and new avenues that the state has planned to open up. He updated the audience about the various new developments on the cards as part of the tourism infrastructure.

Vivek Mathur, general manager, Madhya Pradesh Tourism depicted the rich

heritage of art and culture, historical and religious places of the state of Madhya Pradesh through his presentation.

The fourth and last session on 'Adventure Tourism – four pillars of success: Ethics, Sustainability, Safety and SOPS' saw speakers deliberating on the four key issues.

Ajeet Bajaj, managing director, Snow Leopard Adventures and past president, ATOAI set the tone with his presentation on 'Standard Operating Procedures' the adventure tour operators need to follow in their day-to-day operations. David Singh, director, Eco Adventures and the executive committee member, ATOAI raised the issue of safety and security of women travellers.

Sarath Champati, chief naturalist and associate director conservation, Orange County said, “Sustainability is a key issue.” Richard McCallum, director, Flying Fox asked the operators to ensure the safety and security of tourists.

The final conclusion that was drawn was that adventure tourism today offers variety of options. For eg: In India, a person can indulge in camel safari in the deserts of Rajasthan, heli-ski in the Himalayas, raft down the mighty Ganges and trek in the Garhwal Himalayas. In addition there are various other activities to widen the scope of adventure travel.

These include luxury camping, outdoor corporate training programmes, aero-sports including hot air ballooning and paragliding, bungee jumping, alpine skiing, skitouring, kayaking and canoeing, jeep camel and elephant safaris -the list is endless and at a cost far more economical than its counterparts anywhere in the globe. Besides, there is more awareness now and people are exploring new options. Hence there is an urgent need to tap these 'unexplored possibilities'.

At the same time the delegates urged the union government to relax several draconian policies like Restricted Area Permit (RAP), Inner Line Permit (ILP), etc in order to promote north-east as an adventure tourism destination.

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In the land of saints and scholars Home to literary geniuses George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, W B Yeats and James Joyce; the birthplace of the Titanic and the Guinness beer, Ireland has so much to offer besides a landscape speckled with castles, ancient monuments and World Heritage Sites that coexist with pubs playing traditional Irish music. By Steena Joy St Patrick’s Cathedral

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hen St Patrick used the shamrock, a threeleafed plant, to teach the Irish about the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity, little did he know that he would come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.

This is just one of the many legends that surround this picturesque country that includes the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom.

Giant’s Boot

Giant’s Causeway

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Landing at Linenopolis Nicknamed Linenopolis because it was the largest producer of linen in the world, Belfast in Northern Ireland suffered four bombing raids in 1941. In fact, the Europa Hotel in middle of the city was the most bombed hotel in Europe with 28 bombings! Today, Belfast is more known as the place where the world's most famous ship, RMS Titanic, was built. Samson and Goliath, the two massive cranes used in building the iconic ship, still dominate the skyline of the city. The fivestorey Titanic Belfast, the world’s largest Titanic visitor attraction, has nine interactive galleries that take visitors through the story of the ship from her conception and construction in Belfast to where she lies on the ocean floor today (she was discovered by Professor Ballard in 1985).

Leaving Belfast for the North Coast, travel along the Causeway Coastal Route.

Rated as one of the world’s top five road trips, the Causeway Coastal Route stretches for 120 miles and links the pretty little coastal villages of Glenarm, Carnlough, Cushendall and Cushendun. The route takes you to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Giant's Causeway, formed over 60 million years ago, when molten lava cooled suddenly on contact with water. The Giant’s Causeway is an aweinspiring landscape of mostly hexagonal basalt columns with some distinctive forma-

tions such as the Organ, Giant's Boot, the Shepherd's Steps, the Honeycomb, the Giant's Harp and the Camel's Hump.

A little ahead of Giant's Causeway is Dunluce Castle.

This medieval castle stands where an early Irish fort was once built and its history can be traced back to early Christians and Vikings. The castle offers scenic views and the ruins themselves are spread over a huge area but audio guides are available to make the tour easy.

Walls and gates Derry or Londonderry as it is officially known, is the only remaining completely intact Walled City in Ireland and one of the finest examples of a walled city in Europe. The walls were built between 1613-1619 by The Honourable Irish Society as defences for early 17th century settlers from England and Scotland.

The Walls, which are approximately 1.5 km in circumference vary in height and width between four to 12 metres.

The Walled City had four original gates - Bishop’s Gate, Ferryquay Gate, Butcher Gate and Shipquay Gate. Three more gates were added later Magazine Gate, Castle Gate and New Gate, making seven gates in total. Historic buildings within the walls include the Gothic cathedral of St Columb built in 1633, the Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall and the courthouse.

Beyond the Walls one can see the Bog Side where reminders of the wars known as the Walled City of Derry

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The Temple Bar Gates in Derry Charlie Chaplin’s statue in Waterville

Dunluce Castle

Troubles (the Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday) still adorn walls in the form of colourful and thought provoking gable-wall murals by The Bogside Artists.

On reaching Dublin, the literary mecca, visitors can find a mix of colleges and cathedrals, the most famous of them being St Patrick’s Cathedral with its beautiful spires. St Patrick's Cathedral, the largest church in Ireland is said to be the earliest Christian site in Ireland, where St Patrick baptised converts.

City of Literature Formally designated as a UNESCO City of Literature in 2010, Dublin is one of only six cities in the world with the designation. No less than four Nobel Prizes for Literature have been awarded to writers associated with the city: George Bernard Shaw, W B Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney. Other illustrious Dublin writers of international repute include Jonathan Swift, Cardinal Newman, Oscar Wilde, Sean O’Casey, Denis Johnston, Flann O’Brien, Brendan Behan and Jennifer Johnston.

Dublin’s literary tradition dates back over a thousand years when monks would Trinity College

Dunluce Castle

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transcribe the bible into beautiful manuscripts. The best surviving example of which, The Book of Kells, is on show at Trinity College. It was written around 800 AD by Irish monks, who started writing it at a monastery in Iona, an island off Scotland and finished it at Kells in County Meath. It was later buried in the ground for fear of the Vikings and after being rediscovered it was deposited for safe keeping in Trinity around 1653. It has been on display in the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin since the mid 19th century, and attracts over 500,000 visitors a year.

Featured in the Harry Potter movies, the famed Long Room in the Old Library, houses over 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books, stacked from floor to ceiling.

Needless to say, literary pub crawls are a must do activity on any tourist itinerary in the city. The 25 year-old Dublin Literary Pub Crawl is guided by two actors who stop along the way to re-enact excerpts written by Ireland’s literary greats. Before entering each of four historic pubs, there is a skit that takes place around the city’s landmarks such as Trinity College and St Andrew’s Church. A great way

to mix with the locals and hear local tidbits never found in books.

Even today Dublin bars like the famous The Crown Liquor Saloon, are a place of conversation and exchange of ideas. The Temple Bar with a lively nightlife is very popular among tourists. Located on the south bank of the River Liffey in central Dublin, Temple Bar has preserved its medieval street pattern, with many narrow cobbled streets.

It probably got its name from the Temple family, who lived in the area in the 17th century; it is believed that Sir William Temple, provost of Trinity College in 1609, had his house and gardens here.

A ring of beauty The Ring of Kerry is probably the most visited attraction in Ireland outside of Dublin. The Ring of Kerry is a 170 km trail around the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry in South Western Ireland. As it is often a narrow, winding route, it is advised to always travel anticlockwise. The Ring of Kerry’s circular route takes in the towns of Killarney, Killorglin, Glenbeigh and Cahersiveen.

Waterville, a picturesque village on the Ring of Kerry, was a favourite holiday spot of Charlie Chaplin and his family who used to stay in the Butler Arms Hotel. There is a statue of him in the centre of the village in his memory. The route also passes through the Killarney National Park where the Lakes of Killarney are located. Dingle Peninsula, Kerry Bog Village (the village is made up of six dwellings with thatch roofing, restored to their original setting), Gap of Dunloe, Molls Gap and Ladies View are some of the attractions along the route.

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Edge

T H E C U T T I N G E D G E I N T R AV E L T R A D E

EVENT ROUNDUP

Room for growth In an effort to understand what the state governments are doing to address the issue of tourism infrastructure, FICCI in association Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) conducted Conclave on Investment on Tourism Infrastructure (CITI) 2013. By Sayoni Bhaduri

nfrastructure has been the bane of the Indian tourism sector. While the new projects coming up are state-of-the-art, but speed of these becoming active leaves a lot to be desired. This is hurting the investment opportunities that can come into the country in the tourism sector.

To address these issues CITI 2013 brought together five states of India and AAHOA delegation. The two day event began with Dr Arbind Prasad, director general, FICCI; Rahul Chakravarty, director, FICCI; Alkesh Patel, chairman, AAHOA; Amitabh Kant, CEO and MD, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation; Usha Sharma, additional director general, ministry of Tourism, government of India and guest of honour Dr Amit Mitra, finance minister, government of West Bengal discussing the potential of the tourism sector in India and impetus for its growth.

Reiterating the power and impact of tourism in India's economy, Dr Prasad said, “As much as 6.4 per cent of India's GDP is from tourism, this is set to grow further in 10 years time. Even domestic tourism is seeing a growth of 12-14 per cent.” He also threw light on the need to develop smaller cities and their tourism potential. Kant with his extensive background in the travel and tourism space further built on the tourism potential discussing the sector's great multiplier effect. He added that

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tourism is all the more critical for India and job creation.

States in focus The government too is looking at the tourism sector as a mode to alleviate poverty.

“This is why tourism has been given prominence in the 12th Five Year Plan,” said Sharma.

The ministry of tourism is looking at doubling the number of tourist arrivals into India by 2015, this needs better infrastructure. Sharma also informed that 54 new destinations have been identified and the ministry of tourism is looking at promoting and supporting them in a big way.

“We are in the process of identifying more such sites,” she added. She went on to mention the other proactive steps that India government has taken to promote tourism including the infrastructure status to three-star and above category hotels, 100 per cent FDI in hotels, establishment of the Hospitality Development Promotion Board, Hunar Se Rozgar scheme and focus on sustainable ecotourism.

A key area of focus was how the states are also looking for investment opportunities. An enthusiastic Dr Mitra said, “We are looking at tourism not just to create jobs but also to bring in investment back to West Bengal.”

Locations like Dooars, Darjeeling and Sunderbans are the state's pride and Dr Mitra wants to leverage them to bring in more tourism.

“The PPP model has been forwww.expresstravelworld.com

malised with a structured step by step process,” he said. The state has also become technologically progressive with the purchase of Oracle's biggest servers. He added that all government tenders now can only be bid for via the online medium. Taking off where Dr Mitra left off was Vikram Sen, principal secretary, tourism, Government of West Bengal.

His reasons to invest in West Bengal included – ready land available for projects, government has made tourism a thrust area for growth and there are diversified tourism investment opportunities. The state is also looking at infrastructure expansion. There are airports scheduled at Durgapur, Cooch Behar and Malda. The existing airports of Kolkata and Bagdogra are being expanded. New roads are being built by the State Highway Development Corporation; many of these are under the PPP model.

Kolkata and Haldia are the only two ports in the state, there are plans to develop ports in GangaSagar and Rasulpur.

Sen informed that West Bengal has five mega tourism projects in the offing which will cost `3560 crore. There is also land available for fourand five-star hotel projects in five destinations as well as land for skill development projects like hotel management institutes, food craft institutes and culinary institutes.

The other state which has sprung up on the tourism landscape is the state of Gujarat. Making a case for investment in Gujarat were Manish Rege, director and CEO, Gujarat Tourism Opportunity (GUJTOP) and Sanjay Kaul, commissioner of tourism, Government of Gujarat. Rege informed that by 2017 it is projected that Gujarat will have 100,530 rooms from the current 60,000 plus. He then elaborated on GUJTOPs plan of developing 16 beach locations, eight ecotourism locations, four loca-

tions for religious tourism, 10 Buddhist tourism locations and 17 locations for water sports. “Of these we have successfully closed one bid for beach location, two for ecotourism, while six projects have been bid out for the water sports project,” he said.

Kaul added that the enthusiasm to invest in Gujarat was also visible at the Vibrant Gujarat 2013 with 279 MoUs being signed. Other states who offered similar presentations were Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.

Private interest Signs of investments waiting to enter India are there; Asian/Indian hotel developers who have set high benchmarks in the US are in search for open doors. Patel who lead the delegation from AAHOA reaffirmed the communities faith in India, “We are looking for opportunities despite the existing challenges.” AAHOA brought in its delegation of ssenior veterans from the American hotel industry. Roger Bloss, president and CEO, Vantage Hospitality Group; Doug Collins, chairman and CEO, America's Best Franchise; Nancy Johnson, EVP, Development Americas, Carlson Rezidor; Mukesh Mowji, president and CEO, VanMYT Hospitality and Vilas Pawar, CEO, Choice Hotels India. Johnson said, “The hotel industry needs to come together with the government to create better policies. India has to push for better policies,” when discussing making hotels a stronghold for the tourism sector. Patel added that if the investment makes sense nothing can stop them from making it.

The veterans went on to explain that it takes foresight and vision to create a brand and hotel which is a landmark. Realistic approach is imperative to make hotels a successful venture for any investor/developer. CITI also hosted an exhibition featuring hospitality suppliers.

February 2013

‘Pricing is a key game changer for any industry’ With the aim of explaining the power of technology in the travel and tourism industry, Satish Gaonkar, vice president, India-Sales, Blue Star Infotech speaks about the positive aspects of dynamic pricing. By Sayoni Bhaduri

Satish Gaonkar

What potential do you see in the travel and tourism sector in India?

Adoption of technology is still at a nascent stage for the Indian travel and hospitality industry. There are quite a number of travel agencies catering to the needs of the Indian travellers. Most of them have yet to start leveraging technology. There are also a significant number of hotels across the country that are yet to adopt technology effectively. There are some inherent challenges as well in adopting best-of-breed solutions – in terms of infrastructure as well as the right type of solution.

For some of the smaller organisations, Blue Star Infotech (BSIL) plans to make available a booking solution that enables these companies to create an online presence at a nominal cost.

We will also see the better established travel and hospitality companies in India applying the techniques associated with business intelligence and analytics, that includes big data, social media, and mobile applications, to build stronger, longer, and more profitable relationships with their most loyal and repeat customers.

Mobility solutions will help to engage customers dynamically by providing them real-time

information based on their geo-location and profile characteristics.

How important is dynamic pricing for online travel players?

Pricing is a key game changer for any industry, including travel and hospitality. Dynamic pricing helps you to move away from cost-plus pricing mechanisms towards market supply and demanddriven pricing incorporating factors such as customer intelligence, profiling and segmentation of information into the pricing model and decisions.

This helps in increase of yield.

Dynamic pricing or dynamic yield management as it is sometimes called, requires a more in-depth awareness and understanding of the currently available market inventory supply, customer demand patterns and trends, competitor pricing, and other factors that affect supply and demand.

The underlying principle behind dynamic pricing is based on the fact that sometimes it makes sense to increase prices to generate additional revenue when consumers are willing to pay a premium for a service, and in other instances it makes sense to reduce prices to generate demand for the service and/or take market share. By employing a combination of automa-

tion, real-time information collection, and analytics driven decision support, patterns and trends are observed in real-time by the revenue managers and this is leveraged to drive changes in pricing policies to yield higher revenues, gross margins and profits and minimise revenue leakage.

The ability to adopt new pricing in a real time basis is always a challenge for online travel providers (OTA). The reasons being the multitude of OTA players operating in the marketplace as well as the plethora of hotels they contract with - and often the same hotels contract with several OTA offering varying room prices. Therefore it is imperative that, in today’s dynamic and complex travel eco-system, the online travel providers needs to invest into a dynamic pricing system to retain their market share and grow it.

What solutions does BSIL provide for dynamic pricing?

BSIL is a well established travel technology solutions company servicing the global travel clientele for over 10 years. BSIL primarily focuses on the travel distribution ecosystem and helps travel organisations by building future proofed technology solutions within their ever-

BSIL's offering for travel and tourism industry BSIL has built a number of ready-to-use solution frameworks which can enable travel organisations to enhance performance and gain competitive advantage. Some of the solutions are: iBook Travel – An integrated booking engine for either hotels or OTA’s having multiple channels of sales using web, mobile and social media, where web and mobile solutions are interchangeable and interoperable. iConnect - The solution is a distribution aggregator framework, designed to integrate suppliers on a real time basis viz hotels, transfer, air, sightseeing, cruise, packages, etc.The solution can be configured to plug in any new supplier rapidly.

Blue Loyalty Services – A solution to run customer loyalty programmes on multiple marketing channels. This helps to improve engagement with customers by creating personalised offerings and incentivising through reward shopping thereby leading to overall revenue increment per customer. iRoadGenie – An on-road mobile application that provides an online handy guide for travellers while on the move. Travellers can search February 2013

for points of interest based upon their current geographic location or even areas that they would like to visit.The app also helps in providing detailed directions to destinations, their addresses, view pictures of the top tourist destinations and enable reservation/booking requests.

TravelQlik – A Business Intelligence solution that enables a travel company to look at various operational performance indicators and trends, and enable in rapid decision making based on knowledge. It facilitates the evaluation of aspects such as channel performance, product performance, customer demographics, revenue trends, marketing spend analysis, etc.

SmartTravelCI – A Customer Intelligence solution, that incorporates information from a variety of data sources, including retail POS purchase and shopping history, website logs, and third party demographic and psychographic data sources, to profile customers, segment them, and recommend product and service offerings, promotions and ads that are targeted at specific customer segments.

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changing business environment, reducing the increasing cost per booking, improving their sales per channel and enhancing their business processes to offer a seamless experience to their end customers. SmartDynaPrice is an advanced dynamic pricing and revenue management solution that BSIL offers.

SmartDynaPrice provides online travel agencies and travel wholesalers a real time pricing tool capable of optimally pricing the product offerings to maximise revenue and gross margins based on market demand, competitor pricing and supply for specific travel products.

How big is BSIL's business in India?

BSIL is currently developing a range of travel distribution solutions catering exclusively to the Indian travel organisations. Our clients in India include OTAs, tourism development agencies, tour operators and travel agencies. Around 30 per cent of our overall Indian operations come from this sector.

What plans does the company have to increase its market share in India?

BSIL is looking at aggressively expanding its market share in India and is offering a range of dedicated solutions for travel and hospitality industry players. Our target market is hotels, tour operators and online travel agencies in India. With ready-to-use solution frameworks in travel reservation system, BI/analytics, mobility, supplier connectivity and customer loyalty management, BSIL can dramatically reduce time to market as well as TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). BSIL has tied up with best-of-breed technology partners – Trisept, Netbiscuits, QlikView, Amazon, Loyalty Partner Solutions and Veritec Solutions to address various business needs of the travel industry.

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Travel

Life

CAMPUS NOTES

Rising to the challenge Established as the country's premier institution for skiing and mountaineering, insurgency in the Kashmir Valley had made the Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering in Gulmarg almost defunct for two decades, but today it has virtually risen from the ashes to train an increasing number of adventure enthusiasts in the country. By Sudipta Dev

ocated in Gulmarg, Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering (IISM), the foremost institute for adventure sports in India has had a chequered history. IISM was established way back in 1969 by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India as Gulmarg Winter Sports Project (GWSP). “The initial project envisaged development of Gulmarg as an ideal ski resort of world standards with desired infrastructure and also train instructors to meet the requirement of tourists. The ski hire shop was established along with a chairlift and a ski lift in early 70’s. It also proposed

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to establish a cable car between Gulmarg and Kongdori,” states Colonel JS Dhillon, principal, IISM. The project that was initiated in borrowed huts of tourism department of Jammu and Kashmir, started off well and due to the limited period of skiing, the institute was diversified into other adventure activities during summer period.

Mountaineering, trekking and water skiing were also added to its courses.

The long spell of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir had an adverse impact on the institution for almost two decades, with the employees migrating to different parts of the counwww.expresstravelworld.com

try. IISM barely managed to survive during the turmoil.

The improving situation in the Kashmir Valley led to the revival of the institution

by Ministry of Tourism (MoT). A new hostel building was completed in 2008, new skiing equipment and machinery was also procured. Col Dhillon, a renowned mountaineer from the Indian Army was selected as principal and given

the challenge to revive the institute. He took over the new building in 2010.

Despite initial constraints of manpower, lack of budgetary support, Dhillon has managed to revive this institute and added many new adventure activities. New adventure courses in trekking, parasailing, waterskiing, hot air ballooning have been started in addition to snow skiing.

“IISM is a subordinate office of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. It acts as an advisory to the ministry for formulation of national policies/programmes and coordination of activities of various central, state government and private agencies for development and promotion of adventure and adventure tourism in the country. The institute trains youth of the nation, especially from Jammu and Kashmir in different adventure skills through different courses. With peace returning to the Valley, there is huge demand of instructors to conduct various adventure activities for tourists.

The institute trains such instructors hence generating huge employment potential for the unemployed youth of the state,” informs Col Dhillon.

The institute also aims to develop personality of the

Adventure courses conducted by IISM a. 6 x Snow Skiing courses from December to March b. 10 x Water Skiing courses from June to September c. 10 x Parasailing courses from May to October d. 10 x Trekking courses from May to November e. 5 x Hot Air Balloon courses from October to December February 2013

T|R|A|V|E|L| L|I|F|E Indian youth through different adventure activities.

“Adventure training develops those traits of personality in our youth which are not possible in the protected environments of schools and colleges and also brings harmony amongst different regions/cultures through its adventure courses. These children spread the awareness of adventure tourism in the country,” mentions Col Dhillon.

Talking about the significance of his institution, Col Dhillon says, “The trend of tourism is undergoing a sea change. Present day tourist wants to indulge in different adventure activities. But unfortunately we are not yet ready to exploit this potential as we neither have the desired infrastructure nor the trained manpower to conduct adventure activities. This is denying the Indian youth an opportunity of huge employment in this sector. There is a need to have many such institutes in the nation to train instructors who with the help of state governments can start their own adventure nodes to entertain tourists and earn livelihood.” He also points out that outdoor adventure is very essential for children to develop in them those traits of personality which are not possible in the protected environments of schools and colleges.

Being an extremely specialised field with not too many practitioners, leave alone experts who can train and guide adventure enthusiasts, the institution engages foreign trained instructors who have retired. “Currently we are getting the best faculty on contractual basis within the country. But soon the ministry is planning to recruit fresh faculty and get them trained in foreign institutes to modernise adventure training in our country,” states Col Dhillon.

The institute also takes an active role in helping the local community.

Economically weaker students are sponsored free of cost from different organisations.

“Local students trained by the institute have becomes state champions in different skiing events. Two of our students have represented the country in South Korea in international ski events,” states Col Dhillon with evident pride.

IISM has tieups with some renowned schools in February 2013

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India. According to Dhillon, now the institute has become so popular that direct enrollment is much beyond its capacity.

“However we are open to tie up with quality corporates and institute of the country.

We are also planning to get associated with renowned foreign adventure schools,” he adds. The institute is already a member of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation and Winter Games Federation of India.

The hospitality venture of the institute includes a state-of-the-art centrally heated building which can accommodate up to 60 corporates or up to 90 school children. “The quality of training and administration is a matter of envy for others,” feels Col Dhillon.

Dhillon sees a great potential for adventure training in India. “It is being introduced in school and college syllabus by AICTE. It will transform the personality of the youth of our nation. In addition it will create millions of jobs bringing social and economic uplift in the nation. There will be an urgent need by the government to gauge its potential and create the desired infrastructure to meet this big demand in the future,” he states with optimism.

Some of the recent achievements include ● Restarting the major activities and training more than 1500 students in different adventure activities ● Ski lift reactivated after two decades shedding its dependency on other agencies ● All machinery including snow groomers, snow scooters activated/ revived ● Diversified adventure activities such as hot air ballooning, paragliding, parasailing, etc, introduced in the courses ● Trained and fielded ski team of the institute in National Ski Championship after 25 years which won second position ● Trained Arjun Vajpai who became the youngest Indian to climb Mount Everest ● Received appreciation from the Army for organising major rescue operation by the institute to save lives of soldiers buried under avalanche in Gulmarg ● Principal awarded the Skill Developer of the Nation Award by Aspire Skill Development Group.

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T|R|A|V|E|L| L|I|F|E MY SPACE

‘Space tourism is waiting in the wings’ By 2050, Wing Commander (retired) Rakesh Sharma, Indian Air Force test pilot and cosmonaut, feels that space tourism will be routine and affordable. He expresses his view on the challenges that India tourism faces and selling right that special 'Indian experience’. By Reema Lokesh

In 1984

Astronauts Sunita Williams and Rakesh Sharma What according to you is the strength of India's tourism?

Our diversity is definitely our strength. Our country ought to delight any tourist. After all a tourist has the opportunity to visit and interact with diverse landscapes, cultures, dialects, cuisines, etc. It is like visiting many countries for the price of one ticket.

What are the challenges that you feel is causing hindrance to the growth of tourism in India?

The are quite a few challenges that are causing a hindrance to the growth of tourism in India. Poor infrastructure is an issue, followed by poor standard of services on offer, difficulties experienced by tourists while booking rail tickets online due to a system that can be manipulated to keep alive touts and railway employees engaged in the allocation of 'no-show' seats on the day of journey and a lack of basic cleanliness on view.

Are there any particular destinations you are passionate about in the country?

Personally, I like to visit places that are off beat to better absorb the beauty of nature that our country is blessed with.

Do you think we need to position and brand India in an effective manner as a tourism product?

Yes for sure. Our messaging appears a bit confused. We have beaches that are endless but filthy, hills that are pretty and green but choked with plastic; deserts that are desolate and stunning but lack 'touristy' infrastructure and mountains that are breathtakingly beautiful but badly connected. Tourists reach our shores looking for an 'Indian experience' at reasonable cost while keeping travel times to a minimum between destinations. We need to work much more towards enhancing that experience for them. Creative itineraries, comfortable travel/stay and an exposure to culturally diverse and aesthetically pleasing entertainment programmes are required. A tighter public-private-partnership protocol is required for this to happen.

What is your opinion on the potential of space tourism and its future?

Space tourism is waiting in the wings. Initially it will be affordable only by the very rich and (till safety standards are established), by the very foolish. By 2050, I expect that space tourism will be routine and affordable. Vacations will, however, take a while longer as colonising our nearest neighbour, the Moon, and making it safe to accept tourists for extended stays, will take some serious R&D work.

Fact File Rakesh Sharma joined the Indian Air Force and progressed rapidly through the ranks. While he was a Squadron Leader and pilot with the Indian Air Force, in the year 1984 we embarked on a historic mission as part of a joint space programme between the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Soviet Intercosmos space

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programme, and spent eight days in space abroad the Salyut 7 space station. He was conferred with the honour of Hero of Soviet Union upon his return from space. The Government of India conferred its highest gallantry award (during peace time), the Ashoka Chakra on him and the other two Soviet members of his mission. He retired www.expresstravelworld.com

with the rank of Wing Commander. In 1987 he joined Hindustan Aeronautics and served as Chief Test Pilot in the HAL Nashik Division until 1992, before moving on to Bengaluru to work as the Chief Test Pilot of HAL. He retired from test flying in 2001.

February 2013

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Princess Cruises Farriek Tawfik has been named director of Southeast Asia for Princess Cruises.In this new role he will lead the brand’s commercial operations, and sales and marketing activities in the region.Tawfik will be based at the new Carnival Asia office in Singapore being established

by Carnival Corporation. He will also oversee regional sales and marketing for the Cunard Line brand.

Hilton

Hilton has appointed Guy Hutchinson as vice president operations, for India.

Hutchinson’s experience in the hospitality industry spans two decades and encompasses positions in the United Kingdom, Europe, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Australia and China. In his new assignment, Hutchinson reports to Martin Rinck, president, Asia Pacific, Hilton Worldwide, and is based at the company’s India regional office in Gurgaon, Delhi NCR.

February 2013

Metrojet Metrojet, a provider of business aircraft services in Asia, has appointed Tan Siah-Joo to an expanded role within the company as director of its commercial business.

Siah-Joo will extend his responsibilities in overseeing aircraft management and charter sales, business development, client relations and marketing activities, in addition to his existing role in strategic planning and development.

Macau Government Tourist Office Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes has been appointed as the new director of Macau Government Tourist Office.

She joined the public service in 1988 and served as the promotion department head of the former MGTO from 1994 to 1998 and deputy director of MGTO from 1998 till today. Currently, Fernandes acts as a member of Committee of Nomination of Medals and Honorary Titles, Macau Grand Prix Committee, Tourism Development Committee, Tourism Crisis Management Office and Committee for the Development of Conventions and Exhibitions.

AirAsia Expedia

airberlin

AirAsia Expedia (AAE), has appointed Kathleen Tan as chief executive officer. In this role,Tan will oversee the Expedia brand, AirAsiaGo, and Backick online travel agency businesses in Southeast Asia, India, Japan, Korea,Taiwan, and Hong Kong. She previously served as AirAsia’s group head of commercial and senior vice president of China since 2004.

airberlin has appointed Wolfgang Prock-Schauer as the new chief executive officer of the airline. Prock-Schauer also becomes an executive director on the board of directors of airberlin.

Prock-Schauer succeeds Hartmut Mehdorn, who has held the position of chief executive officer on an interim basis since September 2011. Mehdorn will continue to serve as non-executive director of the board.

SeaDream Yacht Club

SeaDream Yacht Club has appointed Pamela Conover as its chief executive officer.

Conover was president and CEO of Seabourn Cruise Line during the introduction of the Odyssey class ships and president of Cunard Line during the introduction of Queen Mary 2. She will be based in SeaDream’s Miami office and she will have worldwide responsibility for SeaDream Yacht Club.

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Sterling Holiday Resorts (India)

Miguel Munoz has been appointed as head of resort operations of Sterling Holiday Resorts (India). During his career, he has worked across segments of the leisure hospitality industry, with stints in internationally recognised hospitality chains such as Meliá Hotels International, Steigenberger Hotel Group and large Vacation Ownership players such as Vacation Care International, Club La Costa Resort & Hotels, Interval International and Petchey Leisure.

Etihad Airways Etihad Airways has appointed Frédéric Huynh Quan Dat as its new general manager for Vietnam. He is based in Ho Chi Minh, to which the Abu Dhabi-based airline will commence daily A330-200 passenger and cargo flights in October 2013. Quan Dat has more than 13 years’ experience in the airline industry.

One&Only Ocean Club

One&Only Ocean Club has announced the appointment of John Conway as general manager for One&Only Ocean Club on Paradise Island, The Bahamas. In his new role, Conway will be responsible for the overall operations of the legendary resort. With almost 30 years of experience in the luxury hospitality industry, Conway acted as senior vice president and general manager of The Cove Atlantis. Prior to that, Conway served as senior vice president and general manager of Royal Towers at Atlantis, Paradise Island.

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'Timeless Treasures' of Bengal Heritage is the full range of our inherited traditions, monuments, objects and culture. Most important, it is the range of contemporary activities, meanings and behaviours that we draw from them. Heritage includes, but is much more than preserving, excavating, displaying or restoring a collection of old things. It is both tangible and intangible, in the sense that ideas and memories - of songs, recipes, languages, dances and many other elements of who we are and how we identify ourselves - are as important as historical buildings and archaeological sites.

T

he rich heritage and culture of Bengal remains in her literature, monuments, folks, dances, music and theatres which finds an articulate enunciation amidst the different heritage sites of Bengal of which Malda, Cooch Behar, Murshidabad, Hooghly are worth mentioning.

Malda -Endowed with rich history The former seat of power of Bengal, Malda is famous for its mouth-watering mangoes, handwoven cotton and silk textiles along with the relics of the Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist regimes.

Endowed with its rich historical heritage, Malda is one of the most popular tourist destinations of

North Bengal. Nestled at the confluence of the Mahananda and Kalindi rivers, Malda town, with all its grace, adds to the beauty of Bengal.

Malda was formerly known as the English Bazaar. The name was given by the name of a factory established over here by the East India Company of England.

There is a mention of the Gourpura town in the account of Panini and the relics of the Gour Kings in the region indicates the history of Malda is as old as the Gaur Kings in Bengal.

Gaur, has played the capital role for three major dynasties of the West Bengal in the ancient times. They were the Hindu Senas, the Muslim Nawabs and the Buddhist Palas. Gaur, which is on

the border of the India and Bangladesh is around 12 km from Malda. It has many historical relics like the ruins of the forts, the Bara Sona Mosque, Dakhil Darwajah which was built are worth seeing. The attractive colourful tiles on the Gomti Gate and Firoz Minar are the master pieces of art.

Apart from this there are relics of the Qadam Rasul Mosque, Lattan Mosque. This is a great source of attraction for tourist.

Pandua, which has the third largest concentration of Muslim monuments in Bengal, has also been known as an alternate capital. A museum at Malda is a home to the archaeological finds at historic places like Gaur and Pandua.

Large Fajli mangoes are the specialty of the Malda. It has also gained fame cause of its prosperous cotton and silk industries. Mulberry plantations and mango orchards covers large areas in the town. Silk manufacture and mango trade are the main economic activity of the town.

Malda is located close by the major city of Siliguri and easily accessible from Kolkata which is just 365 kms away. The picturesque features and a rich history makes Malda an attractive destination for holidays mainly between the months of October to March.

Cooch Behar – The erstwhile abode of the princes Once a Princely State, Cooch Behar is much popular for its soothing climate, natural freshness and beauty. During the 11th and 12th Century AD, the Pala-Senas ruled Cooch Behar. The sculptures, coins of the Sultanate and the Mughal Periods, temples, mosques of the medieval and late medieval period reveal that the ancient kingdom of Kamrup played a role in the development of the present day Cooch Behar.

The main attraction in Cooch Behar is the Palace of the Koch King, Maharaja Nripendra Narayan. Designed on the style of classical European sytle of the Italian Renaissance, this magnificent palace wasbuilt by the Maharaja.

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Cooch Behar is also famous for large water bodies.Among them the Rasik Bil is famous for a hugepopulation of migratory birds which assemble there every year. The forest department has built accommodation at this site to meet the

demands of a growing number of tourists interested in ornithology. Cooch Behar is also a land of temples. The most notable among these is the Madan Mohan Bari. Madan Mohan temple in the heart of Cooch Bhearh town was built by Maharaja Nripendra Narayan.

On the occasion of Raas Puja the traditional RaasJatra Festival along with Raas Mela is held in Cooch Behar which attracts thousands of devotees from different parts of West Bengal and neighbouring states. It is among the biggest festivals of North Bengal.

Cooch Behar is easily accessible from Kolkata, Siliguri and the airport at Bagdogra.

Murshidabad - An unmatched legacy Murshidabad district comprises two distinct regions separated by the Bhagirathi River. To the west lies the Rarh, a high, undulating continuation of the Chota Nagpur plateau. The eastern portion, the Bagri, is a fertile, low-lying alluvial tract, part of the Ganges Delta.

The district became part of the ancient Kingdomof Gaur and passed on to the British East India Company in the 18th Century. Murshidabad is famous for Murshidabad silk. Murshidabad was the last capital city of independent Bengal and was named after Nawab Murshid Quli Khan, the Dewan of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. It was made the capital of Bengal but later the British shifted the captial to Kolkata. The historic Battle of Plassey (Palashi) fought in 1757 between Nawab Siraj-Ud-Daula and Lord Clive, of East India Company (which changed the destiny of India forever by giving the British ultimate supremacy in India) was fought in Plassey only 40 kms south of Murshidabad.

The Hazarduari Palace or the palace with a "thousand doors" is the chief attraction of

Murshidabad. It has a thousand doors (among which only 900 are real) and 114 rooms and 8 galleries, built in European architectural style. It is now a museuem and has an exquisite collection of armour including 2700 weapons and armour, swords used by Siraj-Ud- Daula and his grandfather, Nawab Alivardi Khan, splendid paintings, exhaustive portraits of Nawabs, various work of art including beautiful works of ivory (Murshidabad school) of China, European and many other valuables.

The other attractions of this floor are Vintage Cars and Fittan Cars used by the Nawabs and their families.

Between the palace and the Imambara is a small mosque, 'Madina' with colorful tiled verandahs. The Mosque has an ornamented replica of Hazrat Muhammad's tomb at Madina.

Other attractions like the Wasef Manzil (the New Palace), by the bank of Ganga, Tripolia Gate, the Dakshin Darwaza, the Chak Darwaza, the Gharighar (the Clock Tower), the Bachchawali Tope (a cannon manufactured in the 12th and 14th centuries that required 18 kilograms of gunpowder to fire a single cannon ball). Katra Mosque is about one and half km from Murshidabad Railway Station on the BerhamporeLalgola Road. Jahan Kosha, another huge cannon, stands about 1 km of Katra.

It was built in the early 17th Century by craftsman Janardan Karmakar of Dhaka.

The cannon is 17.5 ft long and weighs 16,880 Ib, with a grith of 5 feet at the touch hole end.

The diameter of the touch hole is one a half inches, and that of the orifice is 6 inches. About half a mile from the Hazarduari Palace is Jafarganj, the ruined palace of Mir Jafar.

Murshidabad is hardly few hours by rail from Kolkata.

Hooghly - the place of former European settlements Hooghly, one of the heritage sites of Bengal stands tall as the insignia of Dutch and French invasion amidst its archaeological wonders and historical relics.

Hooghly is one of the most famous heritage sites of Bengal. Dutch and French have left their marks in Chandannagore and Chinsurah. The Portugese settled here, but were routed out by Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor.

There are many places of historical and tourist interest in the district of Hooghly. Antpur, Bansberia, Bandel, Chandannagore, Kamarpukur, Jairambati, Tarakeswar, Serampoore, Mahesh are to name a few.

Bandel bears the mark of the Portuguese settlement through the Church and the Monastery.

Chandannagore was once a French colony. It is a beautiful laid out town on the banks of the river Hooghly and is only 38 kms away from Kolkata.

The Churches, the Convent and the residence of the French Administrator along the Strand are interesting buildings to be watched.

Chinsurah was a Dutch settlement. Fort Gustavus, a church, three barracks and many old tombs bear the testimony of the bygone days.

Seerampore was the hub of the missionary activity. It holds an essential place in Bengal's history. It was a Danish settlement till East India Company took over. Hooghly is well connected by road and railway network.

For Information & Booking 3/2 BBD Bag (East), Kolkata- 700001 Ph: 033-22436440, 22488271, 09874026914, 09051496255/56/57/58 Fax: 033-22485168 Email: tourismcentre.kol@westbengaltourism.gov.in Logon to www.westbengaltourism.gov.in ADVT.

February 2013

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Two to Tango

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Unity in diversity

Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) inaugurated its north India Chapter at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi

L-R: Leonardo Boto, chairman, The National Institute for the Promotion of Tourism of Argentina; Medha Sampat of Knack Marketing and Tomas Ferrari, consul general, Argentina in Mumbai at the Argentinian theme evening organised by The National Institute of Tourism Promotion of Argentine Republic at Four Seasons, Mumbai

Something new

Living traditions

L-R: Elena Boeva, model from Bulgaria along with Kushal Tandon and Stefan Ionkov, head of commercial and economic office, Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria endorse Bulgaria as a preferred tourist destination for Indians L-R: Stephan Heuberger, director-India; Ritu Sharma, deputy director – India; and Joerg Krebs, regional director - India, Middle East and Africa of Switzerland Tourism at the press conference to announce new initiatives

Business call

Environment management

Mumbai International Airport organised and hosted two-day Environmental Management Workshop for Aviation under the auspices of DGCA. As part of the European Union (EU)-India Civil Aviation Cooperation Project, 20 representatives of airlines and staff from MIAL participated in the workshop February 2013

Tourism Malaysia in co-operation from Malaysia Airlines organised a four-city promotional programme called ‘Sales Mission to India’ in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata

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First hand experience

L-R: Mok Singh,president, Skål International; George Fertitta, CEO, NYC & Company; Lisa Conway, president, Skål International and Paul Kastner, immediate past president, NY Skål at the launch announcement of Skål International 2013 World Congress in New York

South African Tourism in association with SST, one of South Africa’s tour operators serving the Indian market, conducted a familiarisation trip for 10 agents from India

Glimpses of Showcase Jagsons in Nagpur

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REGD.WITH RNI UNDER MAHENG/15993/05, MH/MR/SOUTH-156/2013-15 PUBLISHED 11th OF EVERY MONTH AND POSTED ON 12, 13 & 14 OF EVERY MONTH POSTED AT IND.EXP.PSO.