Voyager's World April '17

Vol XIV

Issue VI

Pages 48

April 2017

Rs 60

CHENNAI 15, 16, 17 JULY 2017

BANGALORE 21, 22, 23 JULY 2017

DELHI 15, 16, 17 SEPTEMBER 2017

MUMBAI 22, 23, 24 SEPTEMBER 2017

PUNE 24, 25, 26 NOVEMBER 2017

HYDERABAD 01, 02, 03 DECEMBER 2017

KOCHI 18, 19, 20 JANUARY 2018

KOLKATA 23, 24, 25 FEBRUARY 2018

Smart phones

significantly amplify the travel upswing

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IITM 2017-18 EVENT’S CALENDER CHENNAI: 15, 16, 17 JULY 2017

PUNE: 24, 25, 26 NOV 2017

BANGALORE: 21, 22, 23 JULY 2017

HYDERABAD: 01, 02, 03 DEC 2017

DELHI: 15, 16, 17 SEPTEMBER 2017

KOCHI: 18, 19, 20 JAN 2018

MUMBAI: 22, 23, 24 SEPTEMBER 2017

KOLKATA: 23, 24, 25 FEB 2018

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4>> Logging out..In safe mode!

T

he recent announcement on the ban of carrying electronic devices in the cabins of flights from certain countries has sent the travel industry into a cacophony of dissent, speculations and skepticism over what is next. Business travellers, in particular, are yet to come to terms with the directive as it will hamper their work en-route and during their layover hours.

Safety and security being top priority, a couple of airlines have been swift to allay the inconvenience by letting passengers borrow tablets on board US-board flights; yet, the larger lot may be impacted by the resultant loss of work time and left to fear the likely loss of corporate data in the event of baggage theft.

Something to ponder over.

In this issue, we have special feature stories on Kerala's art, culture and wellness, besides the latest industry news, interviews with hoteliers, OTAs and tourism boards.

Happy Reading...

Warm Regards

PRIYAMVADHA BALARAM

priyamvadha@voyagersworld.in

Managing Editor

Associate Editor

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Industry Buzz

10

Surinder Hakhu sanjay@voyagersworld.in & Rohit Hangal rohit@voyagersworld.in

India Outbound Taiwan Visitors Association, Visit Scotland Interviews

Hospitality Urbanpod, Deyor, i-Stay Hotels, Le Reserve Corbett Interviews

18

Cover Story Smartphone apps & its impact on travel

26

Travel Events Arabian Travel Mart (Simon Press) Interview

45

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Stanley Market, Jewellery Factory) • Ferry tickets (Hong Kong - Macao)

• Ice World tickets for two • Choice of 1-way ferry ticket for two (Macao - Hong Kong) or MOP200 Shopping and Dining Dollars • Choice of Eiffel Tower entry or Gondola Ride or Aqua World or Qube/Qube 2/Qube Kingdom entry or Planet J admission for two • DreamWorks Plush Toy • SIC Macao city tour with Lunch (Ruin's St. Paul's Church, Na-Tcha Temple, Mount Fortress, A-Ma Temple, Lunch) Terms and Conditions Apply

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Industry Buzz Its upgrade time at roomsXML.com

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oomsXML launched its new version of API, wherein clients can now search for multiple hotels of their choice in a single request and only search for hotels they wish to sell. The response times for availability searches is below one second. For travel agents using roomsXML B2B panel, its Q-Push feature gets a makeover. They can email quotations directly to customers from roomsXML system, which is now equipped with better quality images and standardized content. “It is an exciting time at roomsXML with the roll out of all the new upgrades. There are already quite a few projects in the pipeline which will get rolled out over the course of the year to truly give unparalleled user experience to our travel agent partners”, says Prakash Bang, Founder & Executive Chairman, roomsXML.

6>> DistancesBetween.com wins award at FICCI Travel Tech Launchpad 2017

D

istancesBetween.com won the People’s Choice Award at the 2nd edition of FICCI’s renowned Travel Tech Launchpad and conference ‘Digital Travel, Hospitality and Innovation Summit’ held in New Delhi between 22-23 March. The Travel Tech Launchpad was introduced to act as a catalyst to the growth, diversification and dynamism of India’s travel ecosystem and provide a platform for interesting innovations in the travel industry. This year, FICCI organized the Travel Tech Launchpad in association with Agnitio Consulting LLP, Nucleus Partners, TravHQ Media and Charson Advisory.

CSIA, RwandAir kick off direct flights between Mumbai and Kigali

M IndiGo opens 35 extra networks this summer

E

ffective April and May, IndiGo introduces new city pairs including Amritsar-Jammu, Chennai – Bhubaneshwar, Chennai – Indore, Kolkata – Jammu, Srinagar – Kolkata, Bengaluru – Mangalore, Mumbai – Mangalore, Hyderabad-Trivandrum. With addition of new flights, IndiGo endeavours to bring metro cities closer to Tier 2 and 3 markets. With the introduction of these flights, IndiGo will operate 926 daily flights (Effective May, 2017) connecting 46 destinations.

India’s first Heritage Winery Resort launched

S

ula Vineyards launched the country’s first heritage winery resort – ‘The Source at Sula’ which not only showcases an exquisite Tuscan theme, but also opens up to the stunning views of the vineyards. Surrounded by the Deccan hills and stretching to the Gangapur Lake, guests staying at The Source at Sula can soak in the allure of the mountains and the scenic surroundings. The Source at Sula has 23 unique rooms, including the gorgeous Tower Suite. There are also four charming ‘closer to nature’ Tree Houses.

umbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) added a new route between the African city of Kigali and Mumbai. In affiliation with the national carrier of the Republic of Rwanda - RwandAir, the airport announced the commencement of nonstop flight operations, four times a week, starting 3 April, 2017. The aircraft will be B737-800, RwandAir’s young Boeing Next generation Fleet, offering dual class cabin. Flights from Kigali to Mumbai will serve on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The Mumbai-Kigali sector will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

ixigo Enters $20 Bn Smart Wearables Market with ixigo glass

i

xigo launched a wearable product 'ixigo glass', a first-of-its-kind smart wearable that helps users see real-time comparisons for whatever they lay their eyes on. For instance, if a user is looking through the glasses and sees a bunch of cabs on the road, the glasses will project the various price offerings, telling them which one they can book at the lowest fare. ixigo glass comes pre-installed with a custom built Operating System for this interface.

It can be charged by USB Type-C cable and has 4GB RAM and 32GB flash memory.

Air India to connect Delhi, Washington from July

A

ir India will operate a non-stop flight from Delhi to Washington from 7 July, 2017 with a B777-200LR aircraft. AI 103 will depart

from Delhi at 0115 hrs (IST) to reach Washington at 0715 hrs (GMT).

While AI 104 will depart from Washington at 1100 hrs (GMT) and will land at IGI airport, Delhi at 1030 +1 hrs (IST). Operating thrice a week on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, the flight will offer a 3-cabin configuration, with 8 seats in First Class, 35 seats in Business Class and 195 seats in Economy Class. It will take around 15 hours and 30 mins to reach Washington from Delhi.

Voyager’s World > April 2017

Industry Buzz

7>>

MoT extends e-visa and other privileges for medical tourists The Union Tourism Ministry has been unleashing a host of initiatives to sustain and increase foreigners visiting India on medical grounds.

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU n order to simplify and speed up the procedure of obtaining visa for tourists coming to India for medical purposes, the Government of India has extended the facility of e-Medical Visa. Other measures taken by the Government to facilitate the tourists coming through e- Medical Visa are as below- Extension of duration of stay for up to six months may be granted on case-to-case basis on merits of each case by the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO)/ Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) concerned. Triple entry will be permitted as against single entry earlier.

In case of emergency, if medical visa is recommended by an accredited hospital in India, Indian Missions/ Posts abroad should decide on such request within 48 hours of getting the application. The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) promotes India as a holistic destination in the international markets. It also promotes the tourism destinations and products through its websites and publicity and promotional material produced by it from time to time. These include participation in travel fairs and exhibitions; organising road shows, ‘Know India’ seminars & workshops; organizing and supporting Indian food and cultural festivals; publication of brochures; offering joint advertising and brochure support and inviting media personalities, tour operators and opinion makers to visit the country under the Hospitality Programme of the Ministry. It has taken various steps to increase the number of in-bound tourists in the country which inter-alia include the following - The nomenclature of existing e-Tourist Visa has been changed to e-Visa with three sub categories i.e. e-Tourist Visa, E-Business Visa and e-Medical Visa for citizens of 161 countries.

- Development and promotion of ‘Niche Tourism’ products.

- Generating sufficient manpower to meet the requirements of the tourism and hospitality industry.

- Launch of 24x7 toll free Multi-Lingual Tourist Helpline.

- Providing Central Financial Assistance

(CFA) to State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for various tourism projects including fairs,

festivals and tourism related events as per the relevant scheme guidelines.

- Ministry of Tourism is offering free

Pre- loaded SIM Cards for tourists on e-Visa at the ITDC counter at IGI Airport.

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Industry Buzz

8>> SpiceJet flags off daily direct flight from Kolkata to Dhaka

Goa Hunt 2017 event explores state's unexplored side

S

T

he Minister for Tourism, Govt. of Goa, Manohar Azgaonkar flagged off the two day GTDC Honda NAVi Goa Hunt 2017 event at the Paryatan Bhavan, Patto Panjim on 23 and 24 March.

The Goa Hunt 2017 was organized by Goa Tourism Development Corporation in association with Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. Manipal Hospitals Dona Paula Goa was the medical partners for the two day GTDC Honda NAVi Goa Hunt 2017 event. The GTDC - Honda NAVi Goa Hunt 2017 was a fun and adventure activity aimed at exploring the unexplored side of Goa on Honda NAVi.

Banyan Tree Ungasan, Bali unveils new wedding venue

B

anyan Tree Ungasan, Bali unveiled Affinity Wedding, its latest wedding venue in the 1,200 sq m three-bedroom Presidential Villa, providing a lush setting for a magical yet intimate wedding ceremony.

Set upon a clear floating platform on the Presidential Villa’s infinity pool, it guarantees stunning ocean views for couples looking to tie the knot. Wedding at Presidential Villa comes with a crafted package starting from USD 8,089 that combines a picturesque ceremony set-up, indulgent services for the bride and groom and an unforgettable honeymoon at the threebedroom Presidential Villa inclusive of daily breakfast for six guests.

Jordan records 18.40% growth in Indian arrivals

T

he Jordan Tourism Board announced the 2016 Indian arrival figures to Jordan.

The same day visitor arrivals from India has declined by 4.50%, which indicates that visitors are now spending more time in the country. Also, overnight visitors have shown an unprecedented growth of 18.40%. Indians can avail of free visa on arrival in Jordan since the beginning of 2016 for which they must either book through Jordanian DMC/supplier and stay for minimum 2 nights with minimum 5 pax as a group or buy the Jordan Pass and stay for minimum 3 consecutive nights in Jordan.

Rameswaram welcomes Hyatt Place

Brussels Airlines connects India to Brussels Airport

B

H

yatt opened Hyatt Place Rameswaram, the first Hyatt Place hotel in Tamil Nadu, with 101 guestrooms and suites. Developed by JKR Enterprise Limited, the hotel offers guests a convenient base for pilgrimages and leisure travel in the southernmost tip of India. “The opening of Hyatt Place Rameswaram is a significant milestone for the Hyatt Place brand as it continues to expand in India and across the globe,” said Kurt Straub, Hyatt’s vice president of operations, India. The hotel is located in the heart of Rameswaram close to the key attractions.

Voyager’s World > April 2017

russels Airlines now connects Mumbai to Brussels Airport with a direct flight. Its inaugural flight SN601 landed at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Airport in the late hours of 30 March. The schedule consists of flights to Mumbai on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. The flights depart in the morning and arrive late in the evening in Mumbai. Flights leave Mumbai on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday night and arrive in Brussels early next day. Since one year ago, there was no longer a direct connection by air between India and Belgium.

Demand from various industries, leisure travellers and cargo forwarders for a direct service was high.

piceJet flagged off its first daily direct flight services to Dhaka from Kolkata on 23 March. The ceremony was marked with traditional flag-off and lamp-lighting ceremonies at the Kolkata International Airport.

Chief Guest Ashok Srivastava, Deputy APD, AAI inaugurated the check in counters by cutting a ribbon marking the formal announcement of the launch of SpiceJet’s SG 71 Kolkata to Dhaka flight. The ceremony finally came to a conclusion with flagging-off the flight at 6.10 AM, from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.

Turkish Airlines offers 'eXPhone' service during flight

T

urkish Airlines now introduces its new in-flight mobile connectivity through “eXPhone” for an uninterrupted communication on board, by April 2017.

Passengers can send text messages (excluding voice messages), check their e-mails and browse internet (including social media platforms) with their own mobile phones. When the 'Data Roaming' mode is activated on their phones, the service will automatically run, which will be used till the flight is ready for landing.

It will be billed by the passengers’ mobile phone operators and the prices will vary depending on their individual roaming contracts.

SuperStar Virgo Returns to Hong Kong

S

uperStar Virgo, the flagship of Star Cruises, arrived in Hong Kong on 22 March carrying 2,200 passengers from various international destinations including Taiwan, the Philippines and Hong Kong. The ship arrived at Ocean Terminal to begin her latest homeport deployment until the end of May, as part of her new “Jewels of the South China Sea” itinerary. SuperStar Virgo’s “Jewels of the South China Sea” is a comprehensive 6 Day/5 Night cruise itinerary departing from Hong Kong, with stops in Manila, Laoag, a historical heritage centre in Ilocos Norte, Philippines, and Kaohsiung in Taiwan.

Incredible India

9>>

India moves 12 places in TTCI PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU

D

r. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism & Culture shared the news about the improvement in ranking of India in the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index (TTCI) of World Economic Forum released on 5 April 2017 with media persons in New Delhi. India has moved 12 places up in this ranking from 52nd to 40th position. He acknowledged the vision, guidance and support of Prime Minister for the tourism sector of the country that is the driving force and motivation for all of us to continuously work for the growth of Tourism in India.

The tourism sector in the country has been on a growth trajectory since the present government came into power in May, 2014. India’s ranking in the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index (TTCI) of World Economic Forum moved from 65rd position to 52nd position in 2015. Now India has moved up by another 12 positions and ranked at 40th position. In all, in last three years India has cumulatively improved its ranking by 25 places which is a significant achievement.

India continues to charm international tourists with its vast cultural and natural resources with a ranking of 9th and 24th respectively which are the USP’s of Indian Tourism product.

In terms of price competitiveness advantage, we are ranked 10th.

India continues to enrich its cultural resources, protecting more cultural sites and intangible expressions through UNESCO World Heritage lists, and via a greater digital presence.

In terms of International openness, India is ranked 55th, up by 14 places.

This has been possible through stronger visa policies. Implementing both visas on arrival and e-visas, has

enabled India to rise through the ranks.

The T&T sector benefited from improvements in the country's ground transport infrastructure, which has traditionally been a challenge (29th). India is taking small but important steps in the right direction. The Indian T&T sector presents significant opportunities that are yet to be reaped.

The World Economic Forum has, for the past 11 years, engaged leaders in travel and tourism to carry out an in-depth analysis of the Travel and Tourism competitiveness of 136 economies across the world. The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index measures “the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable development of the travel and tourism sector, which in turn, contributes to the development and competitiveness of a country”. The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index enables all stakeholders to work together to improve the industry’s competitiveness in their national economies.

At a macro level, the primary reasons for India’s jump in the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index 2017 should be attributed to the pro-active steps taken by our Government in terms of development of tourism infrastructure, easing of entry formalities for tourists by introducing the e-visa facilities in November 2014.

Key achievements of MoT in past three years - Two new schemes for development of tourism infrastructure in the country with a holistic coverage of an entire circuit instead of individual tourist spots. PRASAD Scheme is targeted towards the development of

tourism infrastructure in and around famous religious and pilgrimage cities. The Swadesh Darshan Scheme aims at the development of a complete circuit on a specific theme.

- 56 projects covering 29 States / UT’s worth Rs. 4,823.91 crores have been sanctioned under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme since its launch on 1st January 2015. 13 thematic circuits have been identified under which projects are sanctioned.

- 18 projects worth Rs. 488.45 crores have been sanctioned under the PRASAD Scheme since its launch on 1st January 2015. 25 religious cities have been identified under the scheme for development.

- Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) which were 6.97 million tourists in 2013, increased to 7.68 million in 2014, 8.03 million in 2015 and 8.89 million in 2016. FTA has grown with a CAGR of 8.45% against the international growth rate of 4 - 5%.

- FTA registered a growth of 16.5% in January 2017 compared to January 2016. FTAs during the period January- February 2017 were 19.40 lakh with a growth of 14.7%, as compared to the FTAs of 16.91 over January-February 2016.

- Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) which were US$18.45 billion tourists in 2013, increased constantly, to US$20.24 billion in 2014, US$21.07 billion in 2015 and US$23.15 billion in 2016. FEE has grown with a CAGR of 7.86% against a contraction of 5% in international tourism receipts. FTA has registered a growth of 16.3% in January 2017 when compared to January 2016.

-The e-Tourist Visa was introduced in

September 2014 for 46 countries.

This facility is now called e-Visa.

It is now available for nationals of 161 countries and allows visits for business and medical treatment.

The process of obtaining the e-Tourist Visa has been simplified significantly by addressing issues like more than one entry and longer lead period for applying for e-Visa.10,79,696 tourists visited India on the e-Tourist Visa in 2016.

- Incredible India Tourist Helpline was launched on 8th February 2016.

The helpline provides assistance and information to tourists in 12 major languages of the world including Hindi & English. The helpline is available 24x7 and can be accessed on the Toll-free Number 1800- 11-1363 or on a short code 1363.

The languages covered are Hindi, English, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

- The Ministry of Tourism has launched a ‘Welcome Card’ for distribution at immigration counters to tourists arriving at international airports. From 15th February 2017 the Ministry has introduced free SIM Cards with pre-loaded talktime and data to all tourists arriving in India on the e-Tourist Visa.

-The Indian Culinary Institute (ICI) at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh was set up and commenced its academic session with the 3-year regular B.Sc. course (Culinary Arts) from August 2016.

- The Ministry of Tourism created a task force for Cruise Tourism on 24th November 2015 to formulate a common Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for promotion of Cruise Tour- ism in India.

www.voyagersworld.in

India Outbound

10>>

Road travel gains favour among discerning travellers IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Road trips are set to see a boom in the near future in the country, says Deepak Ananth, CEO and CoFounder, ScoutMyTrip.

S

coutMytrip is a Do-it-Yourself platform for road trips which are generally organised and created by the users themselves. Its CEO and Co-Founder Deepak Ananth informs that in their last three months of operations, they have had over 1000 trips planned on their platform. "Road travel has always been popular. We have had young

couples, retirees on pilgrimages, Bikers, cross country travelers and solo women travellers. In addition to this, we also have a user curated and aggregated list of over 12,000 places of interests categorized for the benefit of the users. Our step by step approach has been to get the website ready to plan the road trip.

The next step would be to be a part of the journey while traveling and that would be in the form of an app on your phone and to be released soon."

Road trips in India As per Holiday IQ findings, 60% of all vacations are road trips. "While we see the consumer space booming this year and we are on track to hit a half a million users on the website

by the end of the year. With newer and better vehicles, and with the push from the Indian government to popularize tourism in the country, we are expecting the industry to grow and become bigger in the years to come."

will start his trip in May this year depending upon the visas and will be covering over 45,000 kms in 50 countries for duration of 11 months.

"We are also his official community partner connecting him to road trippers across the world."

ScoutMyTrip tied up with Rang De, a microfinance NGO where it has cocreated a property called the “Fight Poverty Ride” while the first edition involved a ride of about 300 kms and over one lakh was raised in the form of online contributions which have reached 39 beneficiaries in rural India mostly women. Another association is with Aditya Raj Kapoor, the son of late actor Shammi Kapoor, who is circumnavigating the globe on a Triumph motorcycle. He

Promotional plans It has tied up with AHA taxis for taxi services in case the user does not wish to drive but still wants to go for a road trip. If they want to drive, but not their own vehicle, they have a tie up with Myles car for a self-drive rental option. "We are exploring bike rental tie ups. An upcoming feature is an e-commence tie up where the user who travels to a hill station will get a list of essentials as a package from a renowned e-commerce platform."

Farah Experiences unveils activity line-up for 2017 IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Bruno P. Wiley, Vice President of Sales, Farah Experiences, shares inputs on plans to promote Ferrari World Dubai in India this year.

World Abu Dhabi is launching “Turbo Track”, its newest, heart-pounding rollercoaster at the end of March.

"The ride consists of a three-stage experience which gives guests an authentic feel of what it’s like to become a Ferrari test driver, and is the latest thrilling addition to the Park in the last 12 months," says Bruno P. Wiley, Vice President of Sales, Farah Experiences.

F

errari World Abu Dhabi offers family-friendly rides and attractions for all ages to enjoy.

The Park is home to several recordbreaking rides: Formula Rossa, the world’s fastest rollercoaster with a top speed of 240km/h; Flying Aces, the first bi-plane themed coaster featuring the world’s tallest loop at 52 meters (170ft), and the steepest and fastest inclined cable lift.Ferrari

Voyager’s World > April 2017

Growth from the Indian market We are expecting the growth to continue for this year, especially with the new rides and attractions like the Turbo Track. We will work very closely with our trade partners in India.

Promotional plans "Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will organize six roadshows this year, including those in collaboration with our partners. The Ferrari World Abu

Dhabi team will also visit India on a monthly basis to connect with the on-ground team and work closely on creating localized experiences for the Indian visitors. We have an on-ground presence with an office in Delhi and another in Mumbai. We have done many online and offline campaigns that are targeted at the Indian market throughout the year."

"We will continue to work closely with our trade partners in India to

ensure and toup date information about our latest experiences. We organize several events at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi to celebrate special seasons with our Indian visitors. For example, we celebrate Diwali every year through our Festival of Lights at the Park, where guests can enjoy activities and musical attractions for the whole family. We have also added a special F&B offering to meet the preferences of our Indian visitors," he informed.

India Outbound

11>>

VisitScotland cashes in on growing Indian market IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Kirsten Spence, Market Manager – India, Middle East & Australasia, VisitScotland, talks about the encouraging response from India and new plans to boost the numbers to Scotland.

Our business development mission organised in India in January was a great success and based on the feedback from the market about the demand for travel to Scotland, we would expect double digit growth for the coming year as well."

"

India is a strategic priority for Scotland in 2016/17 with large growth opportunity expected," began Kirsten Spence, Market Manager - India, Middle East & Australasia, VisitScotland, about new plans for the market, particularly within the luxury and value seeking family markets. "The country lends itself to the interests of the Indian traveller with a focus on history and heritage as well as whisky, filming locations and of course natural landscape.

VisitScotland Expo is a trade focused event which will be held in Glasgow at the end of April, giving Scottish suppliers the opportunity connect with travel buyers from around the world and to showcase Scotland through a series of familiarisation trips.

VisitScotland has a strong and engaging social media activity and it has a particularly active video strategy that can be demonstrated through engagement with our #Scotspirit campaign videos distributed across multiple channels and their own website.

MICE Scotland can accommodate the Indian MICE market with a variety of venues across the major cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness. "Glasgow, in particular, has a reputation for Indian cuisine and catering to the Indian market is generally not an issue. In terms of incentives, Scotland has some of the best opportunities for adventure and relaxation from golf and whisky tasting to taking part in Highland Games. We have also noticed Scotland is becoming a more popular choice for smaller Indian weddings especially with the plethora of castles and estates."

Popular destinations Both Edinburgh and Glasgow have direct connectivity with the Middle Eastern airlines and, as such, are

great gateways to Scotland and the UK. The Highlands and Islands feature highly, so also the Moray Speyside Malt Whisky Trail, the Aberdeenshire Castle trails and the Bollywood Trail, which were compiled to showcase the 23 Bollywood films that have been produced in Scotland.

Trends "Overall, we see that Indian travellers choose to come in off season which is outside of July to September.

The average length of stay is 13 nights which is a reflection of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) segment we have and for Free and Independent travellers (FITs) or groups, the average spend across the market is about £415 per visit, which we expect to increase given the growth of the luxury market and the addition and refurbishment of key luxury accommodations."

MAEDI collaborates with acclaimed Chef to organise GoÛt de France ANJU ANNA ALEX

The world celebrates the excellence of French cuisine with Gout De France organised by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Development (MAEDI) in collaboration with chef Alain Ducasse.

F

rench cuisine carries a unique identity of being modern and traditional at the same time. Goût de/Good France is a celebration of all that French cuisine stands for. The third edition of Goût de/ Good France celebrated French gastronomy on March 21. A total of 2,000 chefs from five continents participated in the event. Food was served simultaneously in participating restaurants giving food enthusiasts a unique opportunity to savour French food and at the same time it created a fertile ground for stimulating discussions about French cuisine.

People all over the world will have a unique opportunity to eat the same menu, the same night. The first edition of this international French culinary fest, took place

on March 19, 2015, celebrating its inscription to UNESCO's list of "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”. The first edition of the event witnessed a participation of over 1000 restaurants. The event has witnessed phenomenal growth since then. This initiative launched by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development in collaboration with the celebrated Michelin-star chef Alain Ducasse, seeks to bring more recognition to French cuisine and greater visibility to France as a tourist destination.

However, the backdrop of this novel idea is quite old. In 1912, more than a century ago- a Famous French chef, the celebrated chef, Georges Auguste Escoffier - created

what was called Epicurean dinners or Les Dîners d’Épicure: one day, one menu, served in cities around the world, to as many guests as possible. Goût de/Good France aimed to recreate this idea by summoning all kinds of restaurants across the globe to come together and serve French food.

Goût de/Good France’s objectives are twofold- to promote French cuisine, to carry colours of the French cuisine with pride. According to Consulat général de France à Bangalore, Mr. François Gautier, “The idea is to promote France as a touristic destination. We are quite proud, because France is still the top tourist destination in the world.

We compete with London for the title of most visited city in the world.

In terms of visitors, France has seen more than 83 million foreign visitors last year not to forget inbound visitors. France also remains the favourite destination for French people as well.” It also aims to send a strong message to the world, through dynamic and creative chefs. Traditional French cuisine is not a dominion of the 21st century culinary scene. Participating chefs were also encouraged to blend their own culinary culture to that of France, rather than discounting it.

French cuisine is an embodiment of excellence. It is healthy, innovative, and responsible.

In addition to representing the heartiness associated with the pleasures of eating a wholesome meal, food is also symbolic of France’s positive values.

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India Outbound

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Taiwan anticipates over 9% growth in Indian arrivals in 2017 IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Cherng Tyan, Su, Vice Chairman, Taiwan Visitors Association, says the numbers from India have motivated them to come up with new itineraries to draw both leisure and business groups.

T

aiwan had a good response in 2016 with the introduction of group visa policy, which led to increase in tourist arrivals to 1037.10 thousand in December from 891.16 thousand in November 2016. Tourist arrivals in Taiwan averaged 448.76 thousand from 2000 to 2016, reaching an alltime high of 1037.10 thousand in December 2016. India is a potential market for the country. Cherng

Tyan, Su, Vice Chairman, Taiwan Visitors Association, says, "We have witnessed 9% increase of growth in 2016 compared to 2015. We are expecting a growth much more than 9% in 2017. We are getting better in terms of growth in the last few years.

We have Princess Cruises offering round trip sailings from Taipei – Okinawa, Japan – Ishigaki, Japan – Taipei. We have Scoot Airlines that flies from Amritsar, Chennai and Jaipur to Taipei daily and Kaohsiung three times a week via Singapore.

China Airlines flies twice a week between Delhi and Taipei."

India market There is a visa exempt entry into Taiwan for Indian passport holders for 30 days via online system. The applicant must have at least one of the following visas issued by Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea,

New Zealand or any of the Schengen countries, UK or USA: valid resident or permanent resident card, valid entry visa (may be electronic visa), resident card or visa that has expired less than 10 years prior to the date of arrival in Taiwan. Under the online group visa, the visa exemption for Indian passport holders with minimum five or more people travelling in a group to Taiwan via online system is for 30 days.

Marketing Plans The Taiwan Tourism Bureau organized an educational seminar for front liner staff of key travel companies in Mumbai. The MICE market in India is growing through incentive travels and teambuilding activities in the city and the countryside like river rafting, river trekking, cycling, canoeing, scubadiving, mountain trekking,

paragliding and hot air ballooning.

"We have done campaigns with China airlines and five top agents like Thomas Cook and Cox & Kings.

According to the UFI report on The Trade Fair Industry in Asia, there are five UFI-sanctioned exhibition halls in Taiwan. 89 exhibitions were recorded.

The Kaohsiung Exhibition Center was opened in 2014 with around 1,100 booths available. The oceanside centre has organized three major international trade shows like Fastener Taiwan 2014, Taiwan Int’l Boat Show, and Kaohsiung Food Show. A segment we are focusing on is the leisure farms .We have 300 big and small farms. We have noticed the number increase very much in other segments too such as adventure, MICE and cruises."

India's outbound segment poised to grow at 4% in 2017 IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Mahesh Shirodkar ,MD of Tamarind Global, a destination and event management company, talks about tapping the prospective inbound and outbound segment in India. travel predicted to grow by between 4% and 5%.

Tourism Trends in India As per the statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism, the growth rate in 2016 for inbound has grown by 2.4% on an average and the outbound segment has shown a growth of 2.4%. The outlook for 2017 is very positive, with outbound and inbound

Voyager’s World > April 2017

"Inbound travel in India has a long list of theme based tours, which keeps India promoting as a destination for leisure, history, medical and wellness tourism which are non-seasonal." Mahesh Shirodkar, the MD of Tamarind Global notes that the country has the adaptability for all kinds of travellers, which is the biggest plus point. The world class treatment facilities at an affordable price increases and promotes medical tourism, yoga also being the major attraction. "Some of the segments we are focusing on are MICE and events which are growing by 10%-12% every year, which is going to rule the travel and tourism industry for the next 15 years."

Wedding destinations "Some of the wedding destinations we focus on are Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, which is home to exotic wildlife and its lushness lends a romantic feel, making it ideal for any couple looking forward to their nuptials. We had organised the first Indian wedding and the tourism minister graced that occasion. The Al Hamra village, where Ras Al Khaimah, is located showcased the Bride Show Abu Dhabi and is also considered as a wedding destination.

Bali has become one of the most popular places for a destination wedding.

MICE Destinations Bhutan offers lovely venues for conferences; Moscow is another destination for a company retreat.

One of the best team building activities is the KGB style Treasure Hunt where you can explore Moscow city in teams, solving different tasks and going through different challenges. Moscow also offers a unique and fascinating getaway for business travellers. Macau is one of the fastest growing places specially as a meeting point for eastern and western businesses, with many conventions and exhibition centres and large exhibition spaces being built there. "Shanghai offers swift logistic solutions with respect to technology, stay and travel and has excellent venues for all kinds of events. Baku in Azerbaijan has become an important venue for international events and the other destinations we have organised MICE events are Tokyo and Cambodia."

Hospitality

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In a pod... hotel stay in India gets redefined!

IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Hiren Gandhi, Co-founder & Director, Urbanpod, the country's first Pod hotel, talks about the concept and its smart stay options at a reasonable cost.

P

od hotels, also known as capsule hotels in some parts of the world, are hotels with relatively smaller rooms compared to their traditional counterparts, offering minimal facilities. Primarily located in urban areas and airport hubs, the aspects of a pod hotel typically include limited room size, tech-savvy sans any other frills of a standard room.

Urbanpod is the first ever pod

hotel setup to have opened in the country in Mumbai. A GenNext accommodation that aims to provide stay at a reasonable cost to the new age travellers, Urbanpod has 140pods with various upgrades like Suite Pods, Private Pods, Classic Pods for men and an exclusive Ladies-only pod. Each pod includes a bed, personal locker with secure keycard access, plasma TV with headphones, free Wi-Fi and a sliding door or shutter with locking facility. Guest luggage is stored in separate individual locker facilities and the cafeteria offers a 24-hour pod service for networking with new people from around the globe.

Revealing as to what inspired him to launch Urbanpod, Hiren Gandhi, the hotel's Co-Founder, says he got a chance to experience an elegant pod hotel while in Singapore on work

He notes that a few people are skeptical about the pod format; however, adds that the perception of people has completely changed after visiting Urbanpod.

ways of exploring life and creating a lifetime experience. We may come across people wanting luxury rooms; however, these are not our target audiences. Staying in backpacker hostels has become a trend among single travellers these days and we are giving luxury pod at a reasonable price, hence we do not see a bigger challenge. We are targeting new age business and leisure travellers, single travellers, group travellers of all kinds -spiritual and study-related groups, researchers, explorers, cultural exchange groups , interviewees, business travellers on a tight budget, backpackers aged 22 to 50 years.

Pods in India "Pods being a very niche segment, we do not think is a big challenge, as our country is fast catching up with the global trends and the young generation is trying new

Marketing and promotional plans Urbanpod has tied-up with leading OTAs and has started getting bookings. Through its marketing agency, it is tapping corporate and travel operators.

assignments. "We believed that the Indian audience is ready to accept this new product and concept. We decided to bring this innovative concept to India as it offers good value to the customers and gives them a SMART stay option or accommodation. We want the end consumer and travel operators to check it to understand the concept of pod culture."

Deyor pitches camp in India's adventure market!

IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Chirag Gupta, Founder and CEO, Deyor Camps, talks about making the most of the highly untapped and fragmented adventure segment in the country through his company's services. to simplify bookings for camping trips. It is an accommodation setup through camps like swiss, alpine and dome tents, cottages, tree houses, house boats, caravans and cabanas that one can stay in while indulging in adventure activities like scuba diving, paragliding, paramotoring and river rafting.

A

dventure travel is witnessing a surge of demand in both domestic and inbound markets and particularly, the concept of camping has gained pace in the country as more and more travellers are seeking offbeat, local stay options over conventional accommodation options. Deyor Camps, a recent entrant in the B2B2C platform, aims

Chirag Gupta, its Founder & CEO, informs that under the B2B platform, Deyor Camps has integrations with 72+ online travel agents (OTAs). Under B2C, it retails its 600 alternative accommodation sites and 1000 adventure activity vendors spread across 70 locations in India, on its website. It also sells to institutions like schools, colleges and corporates and has organised trips with institutions

like the University of Delhi, Tata Teleservices, MDI Gurgaon, XLRI and IIMs to name a few.

"Adventure travel is a niche segment that is highly fragmented and untapped. The biggest problems in this space are discovery, trust and experience. While the hospitality space is already consolidated in the budget, premium and luxury segments, adventure is still untouched." Deyor Camps has robust plans for expansion in Southeast Asia and South and East Africa by 2018.

Growth from India and overseas market Chirag says that the market is growing at 26% CAGR. "We have 84% millennials opting to travel with a purpose, 62% of them extending

their corporate trip to a leisure trip.

An average millennial is taking 4.7 trips a year. We are part of the TBO Group. TBO Group is India's largest B2B travel platform with 27,000 travel agents registered with them.

Travellers "Our main target audience is millennials aged 18 to 32 years.

Besides, we see people above 32 years also opting for adventure travel as we have luxury solutions which are suitable for people who want to experience a more toned down adventure experience. We have had solo travellers, small groups, big groups. These days, they prefer to go to Rishikesh for rafting and bungee jumping, Andamans for scuba diving, Bir Billing for paragliding, etc. instead of staying in Jaipur or Delhi in a hotel."

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Hospitality

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Transit stay segment welcomes new player IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Prashanth Rao Aroor, CEO of IntelliStay Hotels Pvt. Ltd., talks about the group's newly launched brand i-Stay for transit accommodation. of accommodation like i.Comfort and i.Classic which are superior en suite rooms. i.Work is the co-working space where guests can reserve a desk and seat to work through the day.

i

-Stay Hotels, the new economy hotel transit accommodation brand launched by the IntelliStay Hotels P Ltd. (IHPL), launched its first property in Raipur in February. The i-Stay brand is a youth and transit hotel which also provides shared accommodation for families and groups. i-Stay Hotels offers business travellers and backpackers options

The CEO of IHPL, Prashanth Rao Aroor, says that 2016 was a year of consolidation as many brands were taken aback by what was happening in the aggregator space in 2015. "On an industry perspective, we expect to see the leisure segment to grow as domestic tourists seek unique experiences. International visitors will continue growing with the easing of visa norms. The F&B segment continues to be robust and we are reinvesting into our food platforms."

The brand has a mobile application that will connect guests through the app. Guests can also explore local places to visit.

Main segments The i-Stay Hotels are driven by online travel agents (OTAs) and corporate contracts. The Mango Hotels & Suites also focuses on MICE and leisure segments. "We recently had Mango Hotels in Jammu organize 20 events in its first month. In the Apodis Collection, we do work with a lot of MICE and leisure agents."

"We have had travellers mostly from India, especially from Goa and Jodhpur, besides travellers from overseas. We have also noticed that the overseas guests prefer to value Tripadvisor reviews. The Wild Corridor Resort & Spa – Thekkady witnessed a few overseas guests."

Marketing Plans "We have noticed 80% of our hotels achieve 80% occupancy in the

year. Our main focus of marketing and promotion is limited to moving bookings from expensive third party channels to direct lower cost channels. For example, the third party online share of any city hotel will be between 20%-35%.

Expansion plans for 2017 The second and third properties of i-Stay Hotels will be in Mumbai in Andheri WEH Metro and Bombay Central station, which will be launched before April. "We are planning to launch few more properties for this year, which includes seven more lined up, two of which will be older generation Mango Hotels. We will add about 35 hotels to our current 21 hotels in 2017 out of which 24 are already signed and are in projects/ pre-opening under all three brands," he summed up.

Le Reserve Corbett: New trail in jungle experiences!

IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Le Reserve Corbett aims to break stereotypes in wildlife stay experiences, says Karan Tiwari, Founder & Director of the property. experiences which go beyond the prototypical jungle safari. Some of the activities that we include in this resort are nature walks, village walks, elephant baths and riverside picnic."

"

Le Reserve Corbett is our first venture into hospitality by Countrywide Group," begins Karan Tiwari, its Founder & Director, about what inspired the property. "Coming from Uttarakhand , our idea is to create an accommodation facility that gives out the vibes of an untamed nature, wilderness and luxurious stay.

We wanted to offer guests unique

Voyager’s World > April 2017

"We opened this property in the first week of February this year. A month into operations so far, and we have had an occupancy of 40% - 50% in the first couple of weeks. We were able to reach 80%-90% rate over the last few long weekends. We expect to maintain an average occupancy rate of 60% 70% till July before the monsoon begins in North India and then retain the same October onwards again. We hope to breakeven in three years."

Target customers The primary target audience of the

property comprises leisure travellers, in addition to adventure groups such as off-roaders and trekking groups.

It is also planning to associate with travel planners for hosting groups with themes like yoga weekend and a wildlife and nature photography workshop.

business through digital promotions and social media by using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to get additional business. We have started using Le Reserve Corbett sponsored ads with proper integration of the landing pages on the home page.

In Le Reserve Corbett, the all-day dining Ambrosia is a multi-cuisine restaurant that serves the discerning foodies with authentic local Kumaoni dishes alongside other cuisines.

We are also looking at the implementation of email marketing exercise to engage existing and potential customers and creation of innovative marketing collaterals which can contribute in brand building and marketing of the hotel.

We are already motivating guests to book directly from the brand website by adding incentives and promotions and plan to engage frequently visiting guests with various offers via our social media websites."

Promotional plans "Our focus will be directed more towards digital marketing, which is assuring greater significance in driving demand and gaining competitive edge in the current scenario. We are aiming at increasing

Hospitality

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Chidambara Vilas: A Heritage address that surpasses time!

PRIYAMVADHA BALARAM

Heritage room

Exterior of the Property

C

hidambara Vilas, stands regally as the quintessential model of a Chettinad house, bearing testimony to the sophisticated lifestyle led by the Nagarathars or the Naattukottai Chettiars, who were one of the earliest communities in the country to travel overseas for business, at a time when travel to overseas was considered unthinkable and on par with disloyalty to the country and was generally limited to a few elite who went abroad for education.

They set sailing to places like Burma (now known as Myanmar), Malaysia, China, Siam (now Thailand), Java, Sumatra, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Mauritius and mainly ventured in gems, jewellery, salt, ship equipments and dominated trade in the coastal belt near Kaveripoompattinam (also known as Poompuhar, in Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu) during the Chola dynasty.

The Chidambara Vilas was built in 1906 over a period of six years and the house, its interiors and artifacts sparkle even today just as they did back then. The long-lasting newness is attributed to the attention paid by the Nagarathars to the quality of the wood, paints, tiles and the workmanship, say the staff at the mansion which was converted into a heritage hotel six years ago and is maintained by the Sangam Group

Reception area

of Hotels. The great grandson of the Nagarathar who built it lives in the mansion's annex and is over 90 years old. There are 87 rooms in the property that spreads across one acre and only 25 of them are open to guests which includes the luxury heritage rooms facing the newly built pool-side area and those within the main building. The other rooms are used to store the various possessions of the family members who don't live here. They come down to the house only during weddings and annual festivals.

As soon as one enters the mansion, the staff of the property warmly welcome you with a traditional drink as the smooth and glossy pillars and tiled floors vie for your attention, even before the very exceptionally carved entrance door that I am running out of words to describe.

The door and the pillars were carved out of imported Burma teak and rose wood and the interiors were built using lime plasters, granite, baked bricks and terracotta tiles. As huge ships were not available in those days and boats could not carry these logs, the Nagarathars ingeniously engraved their names on teak and rose wood logs and threw them in the sea near Burma and went back home. In six months to a year, drawn by the tides and wind directions as

estimated by the Nagarathars, the logs would float down and reach the Kaveripoompattinam coastal belt or the Kerala coast, from where telegrams or messengers would be sent informing them about the arrival of the logs, which would then be hauled back home. What preserved these wooden doors and pillars till date was the salt water that they were marinated in as they glided down!

The houses built by the Nagarathars typically followed the same style of architecture. The Mugappu is the reception area at the entrance of the house, which is where the owners ran their accounting and financial businesses; it may be mentioned here that the lady of the house (referred by the locals as 'Aachi') had to authorize the transaction before her husband lent the money. In the corner, there is a spiral staircase that leads one to the room where the locals met the owner for discussions.

Behind the main door, there is a wellventilated Valavu or the courtyard flanked by rooms on both sides. The Bomma Kottagai or the Doll House, was used to invite guests for lunch for Golu during Navaratri. The women of the household had a separate hall for themselves called the Visiri Hall, which has now been made into a dining hall serving authentic and tasty Chettinad fare!

The Nagarathars also imported Belgian glass and marble from Italy, which, eventually, led them to make their own hand-made tiles in Athangudi. The tiles in many of these households are as old as 200 years, yet they belie their age. One can make a visit to any one of the tile factories located in the nearby Athangudi and even pick up one or two tiles as a souvenir.

The hotel employs local talent for their kitchen, serving delicious Chettinad dishes. The rooms are well-equipped with all amenities and the personnel are an extension of the Chettinad hospitality; a tĂŞte-Ă -tĂŞte with them will open little known windows into the lives of the Nagarathars, whose architectural vision looked into minute scientific details for rainwater conservation, prevention of water logging, ventilation, drainage system and beyond.

Located in Ramachandrapuram in Kadiapatti, it can be reached via Thirumayam, Pudukottai and Karaikudi. It takes an hour to reach the place from the Trichy Airport and the Madurai Airport is also located at about 90 km from here. The Chidambara Vilas is an address that must be visited to re-live the life of a Nagarathar and to experience firsthand a lifestyle distinguished by their prudence and panache!

www.voyagersworld.in

Hospitality

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Hotels continue to make headway in digital marketing IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Digital technology is conspicuously expanding its part in the marketing and promotional strategies in the hospitality industry.

Parinaz Driver – Marketing & eCommerce Manager, Sofitel Mumbai BKC Technology is moving ahead faster, with newer and well-stabilized trends like social media marketing, influencer marketing and video marketing the main elements of Digital Marketing for the hospitality industry. A robust Digital Marketing plan is an essential part of any successful organization.

Gaurav Singh, General Manager, Courtyard by Marriott and Fairfield by Marriott

The digital medium is going to be our priority platform to connect with our audiences. We will aim to utilise the platform to sharpen our service standards, increase transparency of information flow and remain real time in contact with our clientele. Our goal is to only make this gateway of engagement more enhanced through usage of new media technologies in 2017.

T

he hospitality industry is rapidly undergoing transformation thanks to the internet and more specifically the constantly evolving spectrum of digital marketing strategies. With various avenues that offer greater product visibility and customer reach, hoteliers are keen on utilizing digital marketing tools like influencer marketing and video marketing to entice potential customers. This also translates into better occupancy rates in hotels, enhanced customer loyalty and increase in revenues.

According to a study conducted by Expedia Media Solutions, travellers search an average of 38 sites before making a booking. Once a guest lands on the hotel’s website, they must be engaged with strong visual strategy and interactive content. Instant booking tools and travel advisors such as TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Make My Trip etc. have been a stimulus for multiple caps.

Commenting on the digital marketing trends embraced by hotels, Parinaz Driver, Marketing & e-Commerce Manager, Sofitel Mumbai BKC, says, "The technology is moving faster with newer and trends like social media marketing, influencer marketing and video marketing; these trends are becoming the most essential elements of digital marketing for the hospitality industry. Most of the guests plan every element of a trip

Voyager’s World > April 2017

much ahead through smartphones and internet. The websites are now an imporatant source of information and bookings, hence, they need to be highly interactive and responsive."

Gaurav Singh, General Manager, Courtyard by Marriott and Fairfield

by Marriott notes that more brands are now increasingly getting on to the digital medium to connect, communicate and engage with their prospective and current clientele.

"For 2017, our goal is to only make this gateway of engagement more enhanced through usage of new media technologies."

"We evaluate and look at growth differently for our various digital levers. However, in terms of pure top line performance, 2017 looks to be a very promising year for us in India and we anticipate a very healthy double digit growth year-on-year, at a much higher pace than what we experienced in 2016," stated Aditi Sud, Director - Ecommerce, AccorHotels India.

Occupancy Given the fast changing consumer behaviour and rapidly evolving businesses, Aditi attributes the changing research and booking patterns of Indian consumers to the fast paced proliferation of the Internet and mobile penetration across various platforms and devices. "We have a more content driven approach and are able to engage and create

more personalized experiences for our online guests. With technology comes better access to deeper consumer insights, data trends and analytics and if we are able to marry our strategy and tactics at both corporate and line of business levels, we would be able to maximize our Returns on Investment (RoIs).

Technology-led innovations have opened up the horizon for hoteliers and the opportunities for growth are aplenty, provided we not just respond to but proactively anticipate how our guests consume information on these platforms and put technology to use.

Aditi Sud, Director - Ecommerce, AccorHotels India feels that large companies and conglomerates need to embrace new thinking for the digital age and cultivate talent that has strong knowledge and experience of digital business models as well as deep rooted understanding of business strategies and the Indian market.

Parinaz says that hotel revenue strategies are undergoing an evolution to keep pace with the changing market conditions of the hospitality industry.

Gaurav says," Through digital marketing, we have definitely built an increased guest loyalty and affinity towards our brand and services; so, there has been a significant increase

in interest and engagement, which is always the first step towards driving more sales."

Promotional plans According to Parinaz, a robust digital marketing plan is an essential part of any successful organization.

There are various aspects to Digital Marketing and the key ones involve a good SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), SEM/PPC (Search Engine Marketing/Pay Per Click) and social media campaigns, among others. For all these strategies to be successfully implemented, the most important aspect is the ‘content’ that is being published to the audience. A content strategy comes with planning and includes an editorial calendar, a social plan, engagement efforts, optimisation, measuring conversions and more.

Gaurav said, "The digital medium is going to be our priority platform to connect with our audiences. We will aim to utilise the platform to sharpen our service standards, increase transparency of information flow and remain real time in contact with our clientele. Today, we are able to organically connect with customers, share experiences, respond to queries, reviews and feedback and do it almost instantaneously is already a common industry practice."

"As marketers we have a tendency to create “a one size fits all” approach.

We need to actively monitor the

Hospitality / Wine Sojourns

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Aditi Sud, Director - Ecommerce, AccorHotels India

2017 looks to be a very promising year for us in India and we anticipate a very healthy double digit growth year-on-year, at a much higher pace than what we experienced in 2016. Internet proliferation and mobile penetration is rapidly increasing in India and our consumers are researching and booking us across various platforms and devices. market place, identify business opportunities, collaborate between various teams and then work on execution. We are moving quickly to invest in digital infrastructure and invest and nurture talent within our organization. It requires entire rethinking step by step. We need to ramp up our investments in infrastructure, optimize all platforms and provide a customised experience to our guests. We need to be where our customers are today and ensure that we are present across platforms and devices, and have a sharp focus on our mobile-led plans for future where the transactions are with much shorter lead times and are extremely price sensitive. Additionally content would form the backbone of our overarching digital plan – be it video, visual or text," says Aditi.

Trends in Digital Marketing Research has shown time and time again that the thoughts and opinions

of both fellow consumers and influential figures mean more than all the marketing pitch. A solid star-rating from a person we don't know could do more good to a brand's reputation than all the self-promotion in the world. The web has transformed the way the consumer public decides what , where and how much it will buy. It is up to the hospitality industry to connect, engage and sustain their target audience.

Parinaz says that social media decides the success of one's SEO. He also expects web video marketing to continue to be a real game-changer.

Virtual Reality will be looking at a consumer experience that gives people the opportunity to visit and tour the whole hotel in full VR, before making a booking. Content marketing, the creation and distribution of valuable assets, such as videos, blog posts, and e-newsletters, as marketing tools to attract and retain

customers is an important aspect for any hospitality brand," he added.

Gaurav stresses on the need to take immediate actions to address concerns and build credibility ever so often as every entity has a significant voice in the digital world so it has become a leveller of sorts. "With live streaming of videos, and destructible content through apps such as SnapChat, we have every method to get the information across the globe within seconds."

The hospitality and the travel industry has been stormed by the digital disruptors which is making it extremely important for hoteliers to understand the changing behaviours of their customers and consumers and accordingly strategize and manage their marketing plans and capabilities to understand their needs. Anticipating Facebook to become a vital player in the travel sector, Aditi sees it

potentially becoming one of the primary research and booking channels for hotels and playing an influential role in the complete travel process. "More than 50% of the mobile data is already driven by videos and this trend will continue to see an upsurge. The real challenge would be to tailor the videos for the short attention spans of our mobile generation and make them native to tiny screens. With 360 degree videos and virtual reality becoming increasingly mainstream, it is time that we as brands experiment and experiment as much as we can."

Going by the above mentioned trends, it can be surmised that the notion of customer relationship management (CRM) and customer engagement will undergo dynamic changes as hotels increasingly go on the tech-path for customer engagement and experience.

In great spirits- Wine tourism in Nashik ANJU ANNA ALEX

Nashik, known for being a pilgrim centre, is making positive strides in the right direction to make itself conspicuous on the Wine Tourism map of the world. In conversation with Manoj Jagtap, FounderKamaltara Enterprises as well as Co-ordinator, All India Wine Producers Association. wine tourism remains as a novel experience to Indians and is known to be frequented only by a handful of wine enthusiasts or wine connoisseurs.

A

beautiful city located in Maharashtra - Nashik, is synonymous with temples and spirituality! The bewitching city with a number of tourist attraction spots like Pandavleni caves, Ramkund Ghat, and other temple.

However of late, Nashik has gained great importance because of its vineyards and wineries, which has succeeded in attracting thousands of tourists every year! Nonetheless,

Kamaltara Enterprises is owned and operated for the past decade by Mr. Manoj Jagtap, the “Wine Friend�, born and brought up in Nashik Valley.

Kamaltara Enterprises is engaged in the manufacturing and import of a variety of range of accessories like wine glasses, wine openers, wine stands, wine preservations systems etc. They also arrange winery visits and wine tours in the Nashik Valley and is an eminent wine tour operator in the Nashik Valley.

Wine Tourism in Nashik Wine Tourism is witnessing a growth of 25% annually. Though wine tourism is still at its nascent stage in India wine tours and wine tasting

is slowly catching up among Indians thanks to the increasing awareness about wine through both traditional and new media. Located in a place, only a few hours away from Mumbai, tourists find it easier to travel here and have a first-hand glimpse of how wine is made. Visitors can walk around the wineries and see how wine is made right in front of their eyes! Also, the climate there in Nashik is comfortable and is perfect for a quick getaway from Mumbai!

There are more than 50 wineries in or near Nashik, and the good news is that, most of the vineyards now have tasting rooms that remain open for the public at large. Visitors can also avail 10-20% discount on the retail prices, on purchase of wines. Some of these vineyards also have wedding facilities, restaurants, amphitheatres, and conference rooms for its visitors and tourists. If you co-ordinate with a travel consultant, you can have

activities planned out for the entire day, grape stomping included.

Thanks to the inbound market, largely driven by bloggers, lifestyle experts as well as the growing interest in novel experiences, there is no dearth for takers for wine tourism; especially from Mumbai.

Tourists can experiment with new wines, packaging, labels or different blends of wine.

Marketing and Promotional Activities Sula has catapulted wine tourism to great heights in India. Of late, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has been actively promoting Nashik as a wine tourism destination. The 2016 tourism policy has also given much importance to wine tourism to benefit from the growing popularity of this segment.

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Smart phones significantly amplify the travel upswing PRIYAMVADHA BALARAM

Smartphone apps and the internet continue to gain more bearing on travel planning and preferences among today's travellers and India is fast catching up.

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martphones have become an indispensable travel companion today, with the devices being carried for work, back home and on trips. too. Business travellers, in particular, are making the most of the smartphones for being connected to their home office.

The more one uses the device for prioritizing work and personal life, the more one's vacation experience can be improved.

Findings by Egencia/Expedia Mobile Behavior Report last year indicated that 56% Indian travelers were addicted to their mobile devices, while 36% Indians carried a rechargeable pack/case/portable charger/spare battery to use as a backup when travelling.

45% of connected travellers usually use their smartphones to book activities for a trip, almost three quarters of connected travellers (72%) use their smartphones to look for restaurants while on vacation and a third of connected travellers (34%) want their accommodation to offer mobile check-in.

In the TripBarometer Connected Traveller report by TripAdvisor released in 2015, mobile apps

Voyager’s World > April 2017

were reported to be gaining more popularity as a booking channel; according to the report, the amount of people using mobile apps to book their accommodation has doubled year over year. In 2014, 4% of TripBarometer respondents had booked their accommodation using a mobile app channel – that proportion had risen to 8% in 2015.

Those who book via mobile app channels are habitual users, with one in four (24%) saying they usually book this way. One in five Connected Travellers say they booked via a mobile app because it was easier or faster to access and 29% felt they got a better price.

Looking strictly at the device used to make a booking, Connected Travellers are twice as likely as global travellers to make travel related bookings via a mobile device. Laptops and PCs are still the most commonly used devices for hotel bookings, with 50% of Connected Travellers using a laptop and 32% using a PC to book the accommodation for their most recent trip. But what’s interesting is that 12% of Connected Travellers booked their accommodation via a smartphone, compared to 6% of global travellers.

60%

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The trend toward mobile platforms for bookings is even more apparent when it comes to travel activities, where the smartphone becomes the second most popular booking device after laptops – 45% of Connected Travellers say they use their smartphone to book activities for their trip, while 55% said they use a laptop. This is where Connected Travellers really start to differentiate themselves, as only 28% of global travellers used their smartphone to book things to do before a trip.

Connected Travellers were more likely to want their smartphones with them on vacation to organize their trip more efficiently (44%) and book accommodation on the go (37%). They are also more likely than the average traveler to use their smartphone for travel research while in their destination: 72% of Connected Travellers use their mobile to look for restaurants, 67% use it to find things to do and 64% use it to read reviews.

Likewise, online travel company MakeMyTrip, in a bid to tap into top technology talent in Bangalore, had launched a technology centre with an increased focus on using technology as an enabler to make

46%

79% 57% 78% 61% 57%

travel buying experience easier. The rapid smartphone adoption and the app eco-system had necessitated them to offer personalized solutions and the company would be using the Bangalore facility in app development and data analytics.

It had recorded over 23 million downloads of our app with last 8 million downloads coming in 2016 itself.

As mobile devices continue to evolve, the Hotels.com™ Mobile Travel Tracker* uncovers the true impact that the number 1 travel accessory, the mobile phone, is having on our booking and travel behaviours. It reveals we’re now booking hotelsin secret, becoming more spontaneous and placing less emphasis on price.

Bleisure travel has emerged as the most prominent trend amongst Indian travellers. 71% of people admitted to booking hotel rooms for a business trip coupled with a short holiday as their travel purpose. In fact, near one-fifth of Indians (18%) admitted leisure as their primary purpose for travel followed by 10% acknowledging business as their primary purpose for travel. Some of the other prominent revelations

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from the survey include 81% Indians choose a laptop or computer as their means for booking a hotel room while 73% Indians book hotel rooms on mobile. Through the traditional route of a travel agency received 45% respondents.

According to the Hotels.com Mobile Travel Tracker, a global study of 9,200 travellers across 31 countries in 2015, today’s modern traveller makes four trips a year and on average stays in a hotel 13 nights of the year. Although for some, the hotel becomes their home for a month, as almost 1 in 10 spend more than 31 days a year in a hotel room. Mobiles and smartphones have emerged as leading channels for hotel booking primarily since consumers are on the lookout for easy mediums that can provide sufficient choices. In fact a little more than half the people surveyed in India admitted that they book more trips than ever thanks to mobile, so as smartphones continue to get smarter, it’s no surprise that 73% of people have booked a hotel stay on a mobile device. Business trips (58 %), short break elsewhere within India (41%) and booking a hotel room nearby while attending a particular event (37%) are some

of the main reasons for making a booking on the mobile.

According to Hotels.com Mobile Travel Tracker, having the right payment method and offering genuine guest reviews are important factors when booking a hotel on mobile. Nearly every individual today is inquisitive to know minute details while planning a holiday. This comes handy with smartphones as one can download an app and scan through all the details in a few clicks while on the go. At Hotels.com we offer 15 different payment methods including the newly launched Apple Pay. Hotels.com Mobile Travel Tracker lists top 5 influencing factors for people while choosing a hotel room. 75% Indians get influenced by the payment method that suits them, 67% Indians get influenced by genuine guest reviews, 64% Indians are influenced if they feel that the price they pay for booking a hotel room is of best value, 54% Indians are influenced basis relevant and detailed information on hotel and lastly 51% Indians get influenced if everything is accessible in just a couple of clicks.

Spontaneous Stayers More than 80% of people say their

smartphone makes them more spontaneous when travelling and the fact that 68% of people have made a same day hotel booking and near 30% of holidaymakers book less than a week before travel, seems to be evidence our travel booking behaviour is becoming more last minute. A super spontaneous 36% of Indian travellers have really left booking a hotel to the last minute and actually booked in the airport lounge before departure.

Further Hotels.com Mobile Travel Tracker reveals that in the past 12 months 34% of Indians booked 1 or 2 hotel stays via mobile devices.

31% Indians have booked 3 to 4 hotel stays while 13% booked 5 to 6 stays in the past 12 months through mobile devices.

Mobile Mappy It seems that what we get up to on our mobile whilst travelling is all about searching. That includes searching and booking a hotel room (73%), how to get from A to B and using maps to get around (61%), searching online to compare deals (60%). Other popular mediums for mobile usage includes booking a flight (59%) and booking a taxi (58%).

The top 5 usages of mobile whilst travelling amongst Indians are to book a Hotel (73%); maps to get around (61%); comparing prices and deals (60%); to book a flight (59%) and to book a Taxi (58%) Global Trends The travel industry is seeing a new convergence between young Asian and Western tourists’ travel expectations and consumption patterns. Digital and mobile are creating a shared generational experience, most notably in Generation Z, people born in the late 90s in both The East and The West.

These days young Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Indian travellers share as much in common with their Western counterparts as they do with their parents.

“The internet’s ability to deliver engaging content is impacting East and West in similar ways – as are some of the broad macrotrends,” says Carolyn Childs, tourism strategist, co-founder of MyTravelResearch.com, and author of a new white paper in the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Connected Visitor Economy

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series called The Changing of the (Generational) Guard.

The digital natives of Generation Z are ‘technoholics,’ entirely dependent on IT, with limited grasp of alternatives, says the report. They are career multi-taskers often in part time ‘portfolio’ jobs. They aspire to security and stability. They crowd source solutions to tasks. They want to make a difference. They are relatively dependent on their parents – and quite happy to be so.

They have had a smartphone in their hands since they can remember.

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Generation Z feels a sense of responsibility for the planet and a strong sense of ethics. “They expect to understand what you stand for and how you do things,” noted Carolyn. “Growing up for many means living with their parents. They share ideas for holidays with their parents as well as their friends.”

“They tend to see the internet as an extension of their self,” she said. “Their expectation is that all interactions both online and offline will be smooth, quick and easy.

Their attention span is shaped by Snapchat. Whereas Generation Y (Millennials; born 1981-1995) seek constant feedback, Generation Z seeks constant dialogue – think instant messaging, WeChat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Kik,” she stated.

There are strong lifestyle generational changes across all demographics and identifiable life stages. This creates opportunities and challenges for tourism businesses, especially those that target specific generations. Do they change with their audience or do they focus on the next generation?

For example, Baby Boomers [born 1945-60] in the West is a large, affluent and time-rich demographic.

They expect the world to change around them and will embrace it as it does. What they won’t put up with is stereotyping or out of date images. They want to see themselves as they feel, not as we see them. Marketers who fail to appreciate this will be punished.

Even more than the Millennials,

Another key change to understand

Voyager’s World > April 2017

is the blurring of the boundaries between generations.

“There is a growing recognition that demographics are not destiny. Many destinations now look at their target audiences through psychographic or needs-based profiling, rather than demographics.

“There are major demographic challenges facing destination marketing organisations. They need to be fully informed on the demographic nuances and rapid lifestyle changes underway across the generations,” she said.

Mobile travel in India With growing smart phone penetration and social media revolution, Indian travellers are increasingly logging onto the internet to plan their vacations.

According to the IAMAI-IMRB (Internet and Mobile Association of India-Indian Market Research Bureau), online travel accounts for 61% of Indian ecommerce and the online travel industry is expected grow at around 40% to reach Rs 122,815 crore by end of 2016.

The trend for both searching and

booking travel on mobile has accelerated dramatically in recent years, with the Skyscanner apps having been downloaded over 40 million times worldwide. 45% of all Skyscanner searches in India are now made using a mobile device*, while the last year alone has seen a 24% increase in people booking via smartphones in India**.

In an effort to make searching and booking travel even easier, the free Skyscanner app (compatible with both iOS and Android devices) will continue to deliver personalised, relevant and inspirational travel information, in addition to exciting brand new features designed to save travellers time and money.

It is needless to say that mobile usage in travel will go on to develop rapidly as it will only gain more dependence for Indians searching primary information on travel such as attractions, restaurants and maps and sooner or later, storing and accessing travel documents such as boarding passes, e-tickets and hotel reservation vouchers will become the norm, as we move towards a paperless, digital age.

Technology

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Technology: Fuelling hotels of the future VW BUREAU

Venu Rao, Director, Peacock Hospitality, talks about the rapid integration of technology in the day-to-day hotel operations.

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hatsApp killed SMS and Skype ousted ISD -imagine the savings that customers have been accruing!

Technology is busy replacing traditional systems and, in some cases, inadvertently making people redundant. As hoteliers we are in a fast paced, dynamic industry and the need to update our skills is paramount, else we will go the way of the good old steam boilers, made irrelevant by the high efficient combi ovens/ cooking mixers/flexi chefs. Within half a decade the entire range of traditional steam generators/ cooking vessels got replaced.

When we talk of updating ourselves, we are not talking about the basic skills such as PPTs, mails or simple Excel, but of the more advanced tools. For example, Acad, which is used extensively in kitchen designing, is slowly getting booted out by Revit software, in the field of architecture.

We use technology to obtain guest feedback in a stylish, yet effective, technologically driven manner.

Today, the traditional papers are out and smart tabs are presented to the guests - the boss gets the juice in real time! The old housekeeping boy’s trick of chucking the GM feedback card kept in the room, because he felt that there could be a complaint, is no longer possible today.

Technology- reducing costs Technology has played a great role in bringing about cost effectiveness in the industry: 1) Self steam generating equipment like cooking mixer machines, combi ovens, etc. have proved to help reduce fuel costs by 40 per cent. The traditional steam rooms/generators have been done away with, resulting in space reduction and the avoiding of huge equipment costs.

2) The tilting pan mechanism has replaced the huge handi (vessel)

washing ritual at the pot wash! No more back-breaking episodes.

3) We use PPTs for Skype meetings; this has resulted in lesser printing costs. Personal travel, too, has been reduced to a majority extent.

4) Online travel portals such as MakeMyTrip.com, Goibibo, etc., popularly called OTAs are a major source of room business. The hotel can save significantly by allowing a reasonable discount structure, while finalising the E-contracts. This leads to large reduction of legal fees cum banking charges. The monies are directed straight to the hotel’s account; even before the guest checks in. How cool is that? The accounting follow ups and costs are well under check.

5) Smartphones: The handy mobile phones have touched our lives in every angle, and are yet another invaluable opportunity to improve our customer service, and for transfer of information. All the hotel chains worldwide offer guests the ability to check in and out, select their room, check maps and make extra requests or purchases, from their smart phones.

6) Smart appliances: Sylvan Labs, the Bengaluru based automation company, offers high tech facilities such as lighting, temperature, blinds, alarms, TV, radio, etc. through a single tablet device, or from a single app that guests can download and login to, from their own devices. This has proved very effective in our Jayanagar hotel.

Guest technology It’s predicted that the advent of futuristic hotels is just around the corner, and, when that happens, our experience will be not just an away from home one, but one of an alternate reality which may include check-in kiosks, holographs, and infrared sensors that can control literally anything. Robots could

possibly start stirring Martinis bond style, not shaken. The cherry could be a LED plum, not the juicy type we are used to.

Technical updates should enhance the guest’s experience to create the wow factor. Social media and the internet has made information readily available, and reviews – good or bad, can have an immediate effect on a hotel. Lady guests, especially, do online searches on references before proceeding to book - statistics show that the numbers have increased from 18% in 2013 to 46per cent in December, 2015.

Some of the latest innovations really help: • Guest customised Checkins facilitate seamless experiences and reduce costs. Staff members are not needed for the guest’s check in, • Few hotels are already built with techno walls, which enable 100 percent audio streaming and 200 %Wi-Fi effectiveness.

• The Hi-tech music lamp is, again, a great feature that allows guests to listen to music via Bluetooth or recharge mobile phones. They might even be able to activate phone calls through flat screen television. In one of the hotels here in Bangalore, we can even order room service on the TV! • Shower walls which turn from clear to frosted at the touch of an I-pad.

• Smart keys are great sources of seeking room guest history. They can also have functional roles such as to open the room’s windows and doors.

External assistance which leads to huge power and man power costs, can be thus avoided. A must for any smart hotel.

• Motion detectors instruct the thermostat to adapt the temperature to keep it optimum, thereby controlling the net maintenance costs.

Personal tech skills set We must constantly endeavour to get the latest tools towards creating work-life balance skills. The road to success on the personal tech front is quite simple: 1)Social media or business sites such as LinkedIn: We, hoteliers, need to be clearly responsible in choosing our social media platforms carefully; this needs to be based on the target audience, and not on a ‘me too’ approach. Facebook is still the favourite site for promoting the hotel’s F&B services or facilities, through quality pictures and catchily designed posts.

2)WhatsApp groups: Again a great tool for ease of communication, eliciting direct info from our hotel guests. A simple message or a welldesigned picture/art work can be sent promptly. Care has to be taken that you don’t get into the sending forwards mode, or else the guest will simply WISH you out!

Seventy six per cent of the respondents’ in future smart cities such as Bengaluru, Gurugram and Raipur, feel that hotels need to quickly adapt to the new guest check in options or log out. We are heading to a high-tech era where hotels will have smart tabs replacing guest folders, smartphones in place of room keys, apps for remote controls and receptionist with Samurai or Confucius Robots.

As in any other industry, technology in hotels is a necessary partner -use it judiciously and reap benefits, or ignore it at your own peril. This reminds us of the famous statement that the VP of Nokia had said in an emotional outburst,“ Ladies and Gentlemen, with deep sadness we announce the closure of our ops, but want to stress on the fact that we didn’t do anything wrong!”To which, one of the smart reporters retorted, “Agreed Sir, but Nokia didn’t do anything right either – i.e. you people didn’t update your technology.”

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Dental Tourism in Kerala- Plenty of reasons to smile about ANJU ANNA ALEX

Dr. Thomas Nechupadam, Appearance Expert and CEO, Nechupadam Dental Clinic, explains how Kerala is gaining recognition as a preferred destination for dental tourists from around the globe.

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ental Tourism is an integral part of Medical Tourism. It involves individuals travelling to a foreign country seeking dental care outside of their local healthcare systems usually in combination with taking a vacation. The potential of growth for ‘medical value tourism’ in India is enormous and is a burgeoning segment in India. In October 2015, India's medical tourism sector stood at an estimated worth of US$3 billion and is projected to grow to $7–8 billion by 2020. Capitalizing on the well equipped clinics, highly qualified dentists, advanced, sophisticated infra-structure, world class facilities and low costs; Kerala has become a force to reckon with in the Medical Tourism sector.

Patients from USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Middle East, Australia etc. travel to India given the low cost and world class dental treatment.

McKinsey and CII conducted a study which says that medical tourism in India will result in annual revenue of $2.3billion, out of which dental tourism would make a sizeable contribution. The main centres for dental tourism in India include cities like Kerala, Goa, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Jaipur, Chandigarh.

Clinic’s History Established in 17th August, 1965 by Dr. K. T. Paulose, Nechupadam Dental Clinic is the first internationally certified (ISO 9001; 2000) dental clinic in Kolencherry and was also the only center for orthodontic treatment in Kerala till 1976. The clinic’s reputation grew by leaps and bounds as Keralites who travelled

Voyager’s World > April 2017

to Middle Eastern Countries, started speaking highly about the quality of treatment provided at the clinic at budget friendly rates. Eventually, international clients started flocking in to the Kolencherry clinic.

However, at least for a decade now, medical value tourism, as Dr. Thomas calls it, has been ushering people to Kerala especially from countries like Middle East and Australia for high quality dental care. Being the most educated state in India, Kerala is in the forefront of modernity, technology and skills.

It has a large number of dental clinics with specialised dentists and nurses, which are gaining popularity at a fast rate because of their global quality services and affordable rates. From top-rated dentists to world class dental care, Kerala never ceases to amaze not just as an exotic tourist destination but also as a top destination for dental tourism. There are various dental tour packages designed depending on the number of days of stay, services, and such other factors.

Some packages cover air tickets, accommodation, and meals as well.

Scope and growth According to Dr. Thomas Paulose, “In most Western countries, dental insurance coverage is low. At the same time, the cost of treatment is exorbitant and therefore remains inaccessible to the general public at large. In comparison, the cost of Dental Treatment in India, is comparatively much lesser, and at the same time provides the same quality of care. For the cost paid in

Western countries for dental care, the same can be done in multi specialty clinics and hospitals India - and this can be clubbed with a grand holiday in India for a fraction of the rate as the cost of dental treatment in India is nearly a tenth compared to Western and European countries. Therefore visitors can manage to incorporate affordable dental care into their holiday plans.

Unlike other medical procedures including Ayurvedic treatments, dental treatments or even surgeries take very less time and the recovery period is also comparatively shorter.”

“A person suffering from a medical condition may not be able travel or really enjoy a holiday and might require extensive rest, frequent check-ups and medications. But when it comes to dental treatment one can still enjoy their holiday.

Business travellers who frequent foreign destinations may plan for dental care while on a business trip—saving on both oral treatment and travel costs. We provide excellent services for a fraction of the cost as compared to USA, Europe or the Arab countries”, he further explains.

around the globe - ranging from Hollywood actors, bureaucrat and even the common man. This is a testament to our excellent services and consolidated marketing efforts. Patients nowadays are well informed, well educated and come to the clinic after doing a lot of research about the clinic. They even go to the extent of reaching out to old clients for gathering information about the clinic.”

Online Marketing “With the advent of the digital age by the year 2000, we were successful in identifying a very niche market in dental tourism. As we had a good website in place, we strengthened our digital media presence and marketing strategies with the intent to market our products abroad.

Currently, we have satisfied clients from over 39 countries from

Finally, dental tourists will find a true haven in India if it is promoted and supported by the government.

Countries like Philippines and Malaysia have already realised this potential of dental tourism. Active marketing coupled with support in identifying the potential of dental tourism by giving it a distinct identity like Ayurveda will help bolster Dental Tourism further in Kerala.

“As a part of our marketing strategy, we regularly upload client testimonial videos on YouTube and are very active on social media. We are welcoming tie-ups with reputed partners. We are also looking at international partnerships”, he adds.

Pitt falls Adherence to safety standards and stipulations pertaining to quality care and sterilization should be made mandatory. There should also be co-ordination between Indian Dental Association (IDA), its local bodies and the organizations that promote tourism in the country so that prospective clients do not fall victim to scams.

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Kerala Folklore Theatre & MUSEUM REMINISCENT OF TIMES GONE BY ANJU ANNA ALEX

Kerala Folklore Theatre and Museum in Thevara, Cochin, founded by George Thaliath, stands as an example of one man’s painstaking attempt to preserve the traditional art and cultural values of Kerala.

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erala Folklore Theatre is a memoir, a strange kind of time capsule of sorts; beautiful and nostalgic. It was set up in the year 2009 as a non-profit organisation to educate visitors with the rich heritage of Kerala. It is as much of an architectural marvel, with over 30,000 sq feet of wooden carvings that combine the Cochin, Malabar and Travancore architectural styles. Each nook and corner of the museum is reminiscent of times gone by, where the labyrinth of history lingers through eternity.

It is a manifestation of a man’s passion and zeal to be known as a custodian of tradition and history, to be a safe keeper of stories told and untold. The museum showcases the rich heritage of Kerala through art, traditional dance forms, architecture and performing arts.

George Thaliath, along with his wife Annie George and their two children are also the custodians of this historic masterpiece. It was constructed by 62 skilled workers over a period of 7 years. These artefacts have been collected from the states of Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Assam, Nagaland etc. and is an expression of authentic culture and lifestyle.

These relics have been collected over a period of 35 years. Collecting these is just one aspect of the same.

Restoring it and bringing it back to life is a difficult process and is an exorbitant affair. It involves a lot of research and is about giving a makeover to long lost tribal art forms as well as cultural expressions. On a broader context, the museum is all about embracing our roots and true identity.

The decision to start a museum It was born out of sheer curiosity for tribal art, respect for history, tradition, art, culture and rituals. I wanted to leave something behind for posterity. It is an embodiment of years of sacrifice, efforts, thoughts and memories. It is my humble attempt to preserve a bit of myself through art for future generations.

Marketing and Promotional Activities We have grown this far, owing to word of mouth publicity alone. There has been an increase in enthusiasm and growing curiosity among Indians to learn history through artefacts and other forms of art. But the fame of the museum has managed to transcend borders and nations. We

have a lot of visitors from Europe and United States with a deep appreciation for arts, especially tribal arts.

Brand Kerala Marketing and promotional activities should incorporate strategies to restore the lost virtues embedded in our customs, traditions, etiquette and moral values. There is a dire need to uncover the goodness that is inherent to our culture and to promote authentic cultural tourism.

Kerala has a very rich heritage. The need of the hour is to preserve what we are blessed with. We also need to reclaim our authentic cultural history and traditions which are on the verge of extinction. At the same time, we need to work on improving connectivity and infrastructure.

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The Blue Yonder-Making an Impact on Tourism Sustainability ANJU ANNA ALEX

Gopinath Parayil, Founder, The Blue Yonder, describes the genuine need to look beyond the common place practice of considering sustainable tourism as yet another point in the CSR checklist. positive impacts in the communities around which these businesses are run.

I had read somewhere that The Blue Yonder was born out of passion and initially lacked a business model.

What is the current business model?

We still continue to be a bit crazy, but there's a method in madness.

We are currently working in three verticals. Blue Yonder holidays run experiential holidays through collaboration and co-creation of experiences with communities, a network of homestays across the country where we manage the inventory and promotion, and a series of heritage homes as part of conservation initiative based on a stewardship model.

How sustainable is sustainable tourism within the purview of Kerala and the bigger context of India?

Not Sustainable at all. There’s more talk and less work. Any place where it's working, no one has understood the scope and potential. Responsible Tourism for quite a lot of people in the industry is unfortunately just another CSR check list and we don't seem to get it that there is a clear difference between responsible tourism and sustainable tourism.

Sustainable Tourism is the aspiration where we all would love to reach and Responsible Tourism is one of the ways to reach there. There's not much scope for sustainability when we don't see responsibility as the DNA of the business.

Responsible Tourism can't just be a project in a rural setting, but the business model that brings in profit for the business as well as wealth generation amongst many others

Voyager’s World > April 2017

Over the recent years, there has been an abuse of words like "ecotourism", "responsible tourism", "sustainable tourism" by everyone in the industry thanks to the low barrier level of entry into the industry. Is this helping?

There will always be people looking for shortcuts. Earlier it was green washing, but now it's responsible washing. Barriers can be set only through self auditing and customer reviews. I have never been a big fan of certifications irrespective of hundreds of them all around the world. Tour Operators or hoteliers should come forward and make 'claims' about what they do to achieve triple bottom line sustainability and this has to be shared with industry, media and travellers most importantly. While travelling, the travellers become the holistic reviewers. Peer to Peer review also helps. The trend that we see in general is that those who do good stuff, 'Green Hush' it, and those who do the talking, do the 'Green Washing'.

Are there takers for the quintessentially authentic local experience, Indians and foreigners?

Travellers always come for 'authentic experiences'. Indian travel industry irrespective of the potential on which we sit has not yet understood this and is missing travellers who could otherwise, go back as our ambassadors. Personally I am not very confident of any increase in inbound business to India in the near future. After all the campaigns and change of Governments, we are still receiving less than 0.67 % of global incoming tours.

However what's interesting is the increase in the Indian travellers exploring experiential holidays and authentic experiences. I remember a hotelier in Pondicherry mentioning that these days, Indian travellers

don't care about what's mentioned on the right, but looks for what's on the left side(of the menu) which is a clear indication of increased interest in content vs budget. Ours was a company that was mostly dependent of direct European Incoming, but now it's heavily switched to domestic market. Our kind of experiential, transformational holidays have takers now in India. Our recent campaign for an all women trip to North east of India had more than 400+ enquiries just on Facebook and mostly from India.

When did The Blue Yonder start getting recognized?

First recognition came from Outlook Traveller in 2005 where they highlighted one of our trips amongst the '5 Great River Journeys' in India.

Interestingly from then onwards recognitions were mostly from North America or European markets. In 12 years some of the interesting awards came from Conde Nast Traveler called 'World Savers Awards’, WTM responsible Tourism Awards, TODO Awards (one of the oldest awards on sustainability from Germany), Das Goldene Stadttor, twice for our responsible tourism and destination campaigns. Outlook Traveller Awards for best responsible tourism company in India and Best Cultural Immersion awards are special for us because there's nothing that can beat the recognition from home front. However invitation to be on the jury of National Geographic World Legacy Awards and to be the Official Responsible Tourism Partner of world’s largest Travel Trade Show ITB Berlin would be our highlight considering how small a company we are. Irrespective of all these, the best memory of accepting award was in 2009 when one of our community partners in Kerala invited us to handover a memento to acknowledge the contribution we made in their lives. Nothing to match that!

Lately The Blue Yonder has launched Grants, Fellowships and Life Time Achievement awards for community members and organizations who

create better places for people to live (so that there's a better place for people to visit).

How can we promote the less explored destinations of Kerala?

I am a tour operator who's scared of tourism and some of our industry practices. Let them stay less explored. Why talk about it and invite mass and irresponsible tourism by promoting it when the basics of destination development / management are not in place?

Our Governments or Industry as of now don't have long-term vision about sustaining a destination. In this context, certain areas have to be left behind and those that are already in the circuit, better get their acts together. What has happened to our famed backwaters or hill stations like Munnar shouldn't be repeated any more. Even our core destinations like #RiverNila (which doesn’t' really exist per say as a destination but as a circuit passing through Malappuram, Thrissur and Palakkad districts which we developed) goes through a limited exposure irrespective of the fact that Conde Nast Traveller USA named it amongst 8 Great Trips. It's tricky to find the balance.

Of all the initiatives started, funded or supported by The Blue Yonder, which one has been the most meaningful?

They are all special and unique.

Travellers Forest – (where we plant on behalf of every single traveller that travel with us has created healthy green growth in many locations we promote), The Blue Yonder Awards (where we give awards and recognitions to local community with financial support), Compassionate Kozhikode ( A district administration initiative in Kozhikode where we also partnered with many other social enterprises and 1000s of volunteers which won the 50 inspiring initiatives in the world award by ITB Berlin, our intervention during Earth Quake in Nepal and Chennai floods last year are some that comes to mind that's worth mention.

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mice gains momentum in wayanad ROHIT HANGAL

N.K.Mohamed, Chairman and Managing Director, Vythiri Village, talks about how Wayanad can be leveraged into a top destination in India, given the abundance of natural beauty and resources. is in the process of adding another 200 plus rooms to accommodate large groups to make it a even more popular MICE destination. The new international Airport in Kannur would certainly add arrivals to Wayanad, provided government encourages airline companies to operate in Kannur.

How do you see Vythiri Village emerging as a leading Meeting Destination?

Vythiri Village has the largest inventory in Wayanad in addition to the state of the art convention centre in Kerala with a capacity of 1500 pax in theatre style making it one of Kerala's best and North Kerala's largest convention centre resort.

Bangalore being the nearest city, MICE tourism has gained momentum with large corporates travelling to Wayanad for conferences and office get-togethers. Vythiri village resort

Kerala has long been seen as one of India's leading inbound destinations, what needs to be done more from the Government to reinforce the brand?

Yes, Kerala has always been on the top of list of inbound travellers to India. However, North Kerala hasn't been promoted enough. Government of Kerala has been very proactive in promoting tourism by conducting Road shows in various cities both within India and abroad. Travel write ups in leading magazines and new papers in and outside India on the destination by encouraging travel writers to visit Kerala and experience the culture and tradition would

certainly create awareness.

North Kerala is yet to be cultivated into one of Kerala's hot-spots, what marketing assistance should Kerala Tourism enforce to help this part of the state?

North Kerala was not highlighted yet to the required extent. Government of Kerala needs to emphasise on promoting Wayanad as a major tourist destination. Wayanad is one of the most beautiful hill stations in the country. Government would have to work closely with International Airlines to bring in better connectivity to Kozhikode from Europe and the Gulf region. North Kerala requires additional focus with promotions like the "Malabar travel mart" (MTM) which was discontinued. Bringing in Tour operators not only from within the country but also from outside India to the Malabar region would create awareness of all the products available now.

What needs to be done to make

Wayanad add another couple of room-nights for guests travelling here?

Wayanad has the most number of tourist attractions when compared to any other destinations in Kerala.

A tourist would require a minimum of 4 to 5 days to visit all the major tourist attractions in and around Wayanad. Wayanad is blessed with 5 National parks and is also the hub to 3 different states of India namely Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

How do you evaluate the Middle East / GCC Travel Market for North Kerala and Wayanad?

Middle East Asia is one of the biggest markets focus upon. Year on Year, we have seen increase in arrivals from the Gulf region, especially from countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar. We have initiated efforts to promote and increase visibility for North Kerala specially Wayanad.

Wayanad is one of the most preferred destinations for Arabs, specially during the monsoons in Kerala.

MICE in Kerala poised for growth

Abraham George- Chairman & MD, Intersight & President -Kerala Travel Mart, dwells at length about the current state of affairs in tourism in Kerala, KTM's role in promoting the state, among others.

ANJU ANNA ALEX crisis and the new liquor policy, Kerala has registered a 5.71 per cent increase in tourist arrivals in the 2016, welcoming 14.2 million visitors to the state.

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ntersight group of companies, is a leading travel and tourism management company in India.

The company has won a lot of laurels for being the Best Inbound Tour to Kerala for many years since 2009.

According to Abraham George, “Kerala stands unique in building its own brand entity both nationally and internationally and positions itself as the leader in the Indian Tourism map.” Despite the demonetization

KTM’s role in promoting brand Kerala KTM is the single largest tourism trade body in Kerala – promoted by the stake holders of the tourism industry of Kerala with partnership of the Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, with the objective of promoting Kerala as a whole and the products of its members. KTM plays a key role in promoting Kerala as a brand by conducting the biggest travel mart in India every once in two year.

Intersight's commitment towards "Responsible Tourism."

Intersight Tours & Travels are

committed to CSR and promoting Responsible Tourism. Intersight Foundation – the CSR wing of Intersight Group was instrumental in introducing the ‘Sarathy Souhradam Scheme’ – a program to support and empower the Driver community by giving tourist vehicle to the drivers which can be owned by them by complying with the conditions. By this scheme the driver can own the car without any financial commitment.

Company has distributed vehicles to drivers free of cost and this program was recognized by Kerala Tourism by awarding Intersight the Responsible Tourism Award.

Kerala as a MICE Destination Kerala can be the best MICE destination as Kerala has the best scenic beauty and with facilities like connectivity, infrastructure etc.

Also Kerala can offer the best post

and pre-extension tours to beaches, backwaters, hill-stations, wildlife and spices plantations. Kerala Tourism is re-strengthening the marketing campaign.

Sri Lanka as a competitor Sri Lanka is a tough competitor with many additional offerings than Kerala. They have an exclusive airline to support. They have more liberal facilities like free liquor policy, modern life facilities, huge marketing support by government.

Current Excise Policy The present Excise policy has affected the tourism sector adversely. Most of the MICE and Conference has been shifted to other states or neighbouring countries. Also, the recent Supreme Court Verdict on banning liquor sales on NH and State Highway will further damage tourism very badly.

www.voyagersworld.in

Travel Events

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OTR 2017 WITNESSes GLOBAL PARTICIPATION, RECEIVES STELLAR RESPONSE! OTR emerges as the only travel show exclusively for the outbound B2B market and records impressive figures in the year 2017.

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017 was a resplendent year for Outbound Travel Roadshow (OTR) as both its Middle East as well as India Editions witnessed phenomenal success. OTR stands unrivalled as the only travel show focussing exclusively on the outbound B2B market. OTR is not just an ideal forum for globally established organizations to actively market and launch their destinations but also the foremost and most effective platform for global sellers to showcase existing products and introduce new products, to their Indian as well as foreign counterparts from host countries.

The Indian editions of OTR- OTR Edition 1 & OTR Edition 2- held in the cities Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi & Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi respectively, witnessed an overwhelming Pan India Participation. The OTR Middle East on the other hand, staged in Dubai, Kuwait and Doha from 27 February to 1 March garnered enthusiastic

response from the travel community and was a whopping success. Over the span of 13 years, OTR being an unmatched platform to network and transact business, has received the repeated participation of more than 30 countries from around the globe.

The recent, 2017 OTR events have won much appreciation from the outbound travel fraternity.

According to Sanjay Hakhu, Director, Outbound Travel Roadshow, “OTR is a vibrant and dynamic platform for the global travel trade to meet their counterparts in India and Middle East respectively. OTR holds a unique status as the only travel show that is purely focussed on outbound and has an exclusive, ingeniously devised Buyer-Seller meet. We also constantly endeavour to ensure that OTR caters to fostering the idea of building networks and expanding business opportunities. Every detail is meticulously and strategically planned out so that participants benefit greatly from the networking

dinner and the workshops. The buyer-seller meeting also serves as the perfect venue to interact, market and contract. We are also eagerly anticipating the launch of OTR South East Asia Edition.

Commenting about OTR Middle East Edition, Sanjay says, “We are ecstatic as this year’s OTR events took great strides towards establishing OTR as an international summit of global players from the outbound market. This year’s OTR Middle East Edition received great response from the travel trade. The Middle Eastern Market, undoubtedly, is an extremely lucrative market and can be an excellent medium for driving more sales and exponential growth in terms of revenue. OTR also allows foreign players to familiarize themselves with the Middle Eastern business practices, growth opportunities and market potential. He adds “OTR is a great opportunity to gain insight about the host destination and launch your

entry into the market. Conversely, OTR also offers the Indian players a trusted platform to do business with foreign participants.”

Organized under the aegis of Sphere Travel Media Exhibition's Pvt. Ltd, the multi-city roadshows provided a seamless gateway for key buyers of the international travel trade community under one roof, in the major business and commercial metros of India. OTR has carved a unique niche for itself in the Indian travel industry as the quintessential travel show that aims at connecting the outbound global travel and hospitality industry with that of Middle East and India under one roof.

Monika Walter, Director, Eurocursions, says, “We have been associated with OTR for many years now. This is one of the best platforms one could use to promote one's products. It gives the right approach. Very superbly organized with attention to minute things by

testimonials from otr 2017 exhibitors Mr. Américo De Sousa - King DMC - Italy OTR was a very nice experience. We met a large number of interesting participants. We will participate in the future events for sure. I strongly recommend OTR, if you want to be present in the Indian Tourism Market.

Mr. Hans Hadbawnik - Stuttgart - Germany We have a very good experience with OTR. We got the opportunity to meet and network with new tour operators & travel agencies as well as established operators and agents. We have always met new travel agents who are not familiar with our destination at OTR.

Irakli Mamporia - Gudauri Ski Resort LTD OTR India was great opportunity to open sales doors to Georgia. Our company is very happy that we had a chance to make more than 250 B2B meetings, we truly hope that all meetings will convert in sales :)

Voyager’s World > April 2017

Elchin Guliyev - The Tour - Azerbaijan Hope will have great results. We found very useful connections which will result in good profit. Very happy with OTR.

Nina Knific - Asia and Middle East, Uniline I have attended OTR for the first time and met quite many interesting agents. It's now on us to continue the job, but for sure, OTR is an excellent opportunity to meet many different buyers in a very short time. I am looking forward to new OTR and new markets.

Maria Charalambous - Millennium Hotels We participated in OTR for the first time, we found the event very well organized & a fantastic way to be introduced to the Indian market. High quality agents & a great team to work with.

Travel Events

27>> the OTR Team. Thankyou for great Experience.” Deepak Gole, Red Apple Travel writes, “OTR was very well organized show with good gathering especially for Europe bound travel partners. As a supplier and participant it was a great platform to meet trade partners from specific market segment. Great show and good response. We had a wonderful experience. Looking forward for the next one.”

The OTR 2017 Indian Editions, once again proved to the global travel trade that India is undoubtedly one of the fastest growing economies in the world due to myriad factors such as a fast-changing perception regarding travel among the middleclass, disposable income and

increasing awareness about global destinations. In fact, this paradigm shift in the Indian travel landscape has spawned a genre of travellers, both for leisure and business, a prime reason for the burgeoning number of trade visitors to the OTR. Commenting about her experience at OTR, Aparna C Basumallik, Country Head, Europamundo says, "It was our maiden trip with OTR to Dubai.

I must admit that it was a great experience. Attendance was good, Handling of the event was flawless.

Well done team OTR. Wish you success". Tanushree Joshi, Regional Sales and Marketing Manager India and Australia, Sun Siyam, says, “OTR as always has been an excellent platform to launch any brand/ product. I have participated

earlier once when I had to launch grand Resort Switzerland in 2012 & in 2017, I see a huge improvement & I wish all the best to the entire OTR team. Keep up the good work & thanks a ton.”

The OTR Middle East 2017 edition consisted of workshops and interactive cocktail dinners in the three destinations- Dubai, Kuwait, Doha and had Exhibitors from Croatia, Spain, Georgia, Italy, USA/ Canada, UK, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Portugal. Travel trade delegates from Croatia, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Turkey, USA, Greece, Portugal, Czech Republic and other internationally reputed companies were exhibitors at OTR

India Edition 1, 2017. The latest edition of OTR, India Edition 2 hosted exhibitors from Maldives, Spain, United Kingdom, Australia, Georgia, South Amercia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, USA etc. among many others.

The 2018 OTR India Edition 1 is set to take place from 8 to 16 January in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi whereas the much anticipated OTR Middle East Edition will take place from 11to 15 February 2018 in Dubai, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman. The OTR India Edition 2 will take place in the following month of March from 19 to 22 in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi. The travel trade fraternity is also eagerly anticipating the first ever South East Asia Edition of OTR.

www.voyagersworld.in

Travel Events

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India under the spotlight at Arabian Travel Mart-2017 ANJU ANNA ALEX

Simon Press, ATM Senior Exhibition Director, talks about Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2017. The 24th edition of ATM, from April 24-27, will showcase over 2,500 exhibiting companies across 12 halls at Dubai World Trade Centre, making it the largest ATM in its 24-year history. uddin Shikoh, CEO of DinarStandard and Faeez Fadhlillah, CEO of Salam Standard & Tripfez, who will discuss halal destination strategies and how to sell halal travel.

ATM 2017 More than 30,000 visitors are expected to attend the four-day show, with over 2,800 exhibiting companies, forcing us to open up an additional hall this year to cope with the increased demand.

The opening session of this year’s event will look at the role Expo2020 plays in delivering the UAE Government’s long-term vision for economic diversification. Now just three years away, high level stakeholders, including Marjan Faraidooni, VP Legacy, Impact & Development, Expo2020; Issam Kazim, CEO of DTCM; Anita Mehra, SVP Communications and Reputation, Dubai Airports; and Deidre Wells OBE, CEO, UKinbound, will take part in a panel discussion about the upcoming event.

The UNWTO & ATM Ministerial Forum, entitled ‘Fostering the contribution of tourism to sustainable economic growth and diversification in the MENA region’, will see 20 Ministers in attendance. And ILTM Arabia will play host to one-to-one pre-scheduled appointments between suppliers of luxury products and destinations from around the world to an audience of high net worth individuals.

Marketing to experiential travellers will be an integral part of the ATM Travel Tech seminar programme.New this year, the inaugural Halal Travel Summit, taking place on the Global Stage, will showcase leading Muslim travel industry experts including Rafi-

Voyager’s World > April 2017

Other popular features returning to the show repertoire this year include the Leaders Breakfast, Wellness and Spa Lounge, Travel Agent Academy, Buyers Club and the Bloggers Speed Networking events. There will also be a series of seminars taking place in the Showcase Theatre.

The ATM Best Stand Awards are back for a third year and will see a lineup of top judges and visitors to the annual industry event acknowledge the design, creativity and positioning of exhibiting companies’ physical presence at the annual showcase.

What’s in store for India?

At this year’s Arabian Travel Market, there will be a dedicated session on the ATM Global Stage, entitled: ‘Capitalizing on Experiential Travel: China & India Mega Source Markets’. Filippo Sona, Director, Head of Hotels MENA region, Colliers International, will discuss how countries in the Middle East can increase promotional activities to attract more visitors from two of the future biggest inbound source markets: China and India.

India will also be under the spotlight, with a number of travel and hotel brands present in the hospitality and technology exhibitions. This includes: Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, The Oberoi Hotels, Spiceland Holidays, India; Ottila International; Cox and Kings, Atmantan Wellness Resort; Tamarind Tours Pvt. Ltd; and Zuri Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd. Technology companies like Rezlive Fore Representations and Ottila have increased their stand size and companies like Rate Gain are introducing new products at the show.

New exhibitors this year include

Madhya Pradesh Tourism, Karnataka Tourism Nucore Technologies, Ingenium Software, Qtech Solutions, as well Carnoustie Resorts in the Wellness Lounge.

Experiential travel-Theme for ATM 2017 The theme for ATM 2017 is experiential travel. Today’s travelers are seeking more than amenities and creature comforts; more than a sight-seeing tour and a picture beside a famous landmark.

The increasing trend is for an immersive style of tourism, which encompasses different areas of local life – culinary, culture, history, shopping, nature, sports, halal, theme parks, wellness and spa, medical tourism and extreme luxury – and can be the basis for a holistic travel experience, by connecting with a place rather than just visiting it.

In this respect, the Middle East has a rich tapestry of offerings, from overnight stays in a stone house in remote Omani villages to a wander around the authentic and labyrinthine Souq Waqif in Doha or alternatively for foodies, a tour of Old Dubai, in search of wholesome local street delicacies.

At ATM 2017, there will be a focus on converting these concepts into viable commercial realities to broaden the appeal of Middle East destinations and increase their visitor numbers and revenues, which can support sustainable economic development.

Marketing and Promotional Strategies ATM is a very broad travel trade event and as such our PR and Marketing campaign means we work closely with a variety of media, both regional and international to attract visitors and buyers from all over the world.

Having said that, we are always introducing and focusing on new and pertinent verticals for example, travel technology, halal tourism, wellness & spa, luxury and responsible tourism.

This specific targeting of verticals is supported via social media, PR, eMarketing, website and exhibitor marketing.

New Trends The show has experienced phenomenal growth of over 70% since 2012 and this year already looks like it’s going to break all previous records. We have more than 100 new exhibitors signed up and 65 country pavilions, while we expect representation from 140 countries over the course of the event.

Clearly Expo2020 is driving growth in Dubai as the emirate aims to complete 160,000 hotel rooms in time to welcome an additional five million visitors over the course of the event. However, the GCC countries as a whole are looking towards tourism as a way of diversifying their economies away from their reliance on hydrocarbon receipts.

And throughout the wider MENA region, rising youth unemployment rates are driving governments to invest in tourism which is not just a labour-intensive sector, it generates billions in foreign currency earnings.

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Incredible India

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Ras Al Khaimah signs MoU with OTOAI to host 2017 convention

The convention will feature multiple business sessions and discuss the growth of India outbound and subsequent future marketing strategies.

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as Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (TDA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in New Delhi recently with the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) for a mega threeday convention to be held in Ras Al Khaimah. Aimed at further strengthening the offering for Ras Al Khaimah tourism among the Indian Travel Industry, the convention will be held from September 12-14, 2017.

Around 225 delegates, including overseas participants are expected to be a part of the event. The convention will feature multiple business sessions featuring national and international speakers and discuss the growth of India

outbound and subsequent future marketing strategies.

“It gives us immense pleasure to announce the hosting of 3rd OTOAI convention in Ras Al Khaimah.

We welcome the opportunity to strengthen our visibility among the Indian audience. India, being our fourth most significant international source market, is expected to be an important contributor to the emirate’s vision to attract one million visitors by the end of 2018,” said Haitham Mattar, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority.

“This event underlines our growing credentials as a leading option for medium-size MICE events thanks to our convention facilities, hotel offering and meeting spaces.

OTOAI’s attendees can also look forward to experiencing the unique diversity of Ras Al Khaimah, including our untouched natural beauty, authentic Arabian culture, heritage and a history dating back more than 7,000 years,” he added.

Guldeep Singh Sahni, President,

OTOAI, stated, “Every year the convention is organised keeping in view the shifting industry dynamics and changing trends in outbound travel. The plan is to create new opportunities through a combination of traditional and digital strategies so as to remain competitive in the travel world.”

'INDIA'S POSITION AS A MICE DESTINATION NEEDS BOLSTERING'

Saurabh Tuteja, Director of Ujjwal Creations, a leading MICE Company, evaluates India's position as a MICE destination.

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ith over 5 big corporate accounts providing end-to-end services in India and abroad handling groups for conferences, product launches all kind of things related to events, logistics, accommodation etc., Ujjwal Creations has been successful in catering to a niche clientele of loyal customers.

India As A Mice Destination Tourism in India is growing and the

Voyager’s World > April 2017

future looks bright as every industry is prospering. The average Indian disposable income is on the rise and therefore the population has started spending in travel. But today, there is a burning need to develop infrastructure and connectivity as a part of promoting any destination.

Hence India as a MICE destination is not faring so well. We need to learn from countries like Dubai which has got ‘repeat-value’ because every time we visit Dubai, it has something new to offer. A destination like Goa on the other hand, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India but we need to ask ourselves, in 10 years what has really changed in Goa other than a few more rooms and new hotel inventories?

The Dubai Model The Dubai Model is really aspirational and needs to be emulated. Recently,

they opened Bollywood Parks. Earlier they had the magic gardens. There is something fascinating every time you visit Dubai. Can you imagine a country creating a building and selling the rooftop and earning millions of revenue from it? They created Burj Khalifa and it’s an office block. But they also created an observatory and marketed it well. The ticket is about 70 to 80 dollars to reach the roof top and click pictures. That’s how you market a place. We need to learn from that. In India on the contrary, there are so many beautiful places, which still do not have the right kind of connectivity. Jaisalmer for example, despite being a beautiful destination still does not have an airport. We also need to address the issue of lack of entertainment value of our destinations everywhere. We need small stadiums, concert halls, wax museums, parks etc.

Way Forward For The Company We have own creative in-house design team, a well-defined digital media strategy which focuses around branding, corporate communication, social media and is based in Delhi. We are planning to expand our operations to Mumbai as well. We are a pure MICE company. We provide our services to big corporates in India and abroad.

Growing to the next level would ideally mean growing horizontally first. If I want to take my company to the next level in terms of revenue or numbers, I want to first grow horizontally. I need to constantly make sure that I am providing the best services. This is because our industry is very much service oriented. A small failure in service can take your client away from you forever. We are working on how to market to new clients for sure.

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IT&CM China 2017 sees high take-up of interactive sessions This year's edition had new countries and convention bureaus participating with many exclusive briefings with the buyers and media about the country's MICE products.

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T&CM China’s 2017 edition took place with an exhaustive agenda of networking sessions, destination presentations, media interactions and briefings and pre and post event tours, in addition to hosted luncheons and cocktail and gala dinners.

Held from 21-23 March at the Shanghai Exhibition & Convention Centre of International Sourcing, the event registered the participation of 288 MICE destinations and brands this time, with many first-time participants such as the National Institute of Tourism Promotion, Argentina, which was one of the four destination bureaus that decided on a targeted luncheon for select local and international buyers. Explained its Meeting Industry Coordinator, Emora Franco, “We really want to organise these kind of events as it is a good way to engage the buyers to the destinations.” The bureau also leveraged on one of the 13 media briefing sessions earlier this morning to reach out to international media.

The opening press conference for the international media was held on 21 March at the Marriott Parkview Hotel, where media personnel from

countries such as Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, India, Portugal, Belgium, Australia, interacted with the spokespersons on the relevance of international buyers for the Chinese market, with special references to the country's MICE offerings and the increasing use of digital technology in travel and tourism promotions.

The business sessions took place on 22 and 23 March at the venue, where Tourism Fiji hosted a luncheon while Hainan Tourism Development Commission conducted a MICE Promotion session for invited buyers. Fukuoka Convention & Visitors Bureau and South Africa National Convention Bureau will have a captive networking session with their potential buyers tomorrow over lunch.

AccorHotels, JW Marriot Shanghai Changfeng Park, Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), and Shanghai Marriott Parkview are part of the line-up of exhibitors who chose to benefit from being a cocktail or dinner sponsor.

Others like returning destination Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration, Malaysia Convention & Visitor Bureau and new-comers VisitScotland, found the Association Days’ Destination Presentation the

right fit for them to reach much sought-after Association buyers. In response to heightened interest, IT&CM China 2017 featured twice as many destination presentations than the year before.

“A briefing to the local Chinese media, allowed us to create connections with aims of spreading our brand message further in the domestic market. We were able to introduce our brand, latest developments and upcoming initiatives such as our loyalty programme. The session also helped in attracting more people to the booth later in the day,” said Thomas Jouan, Director of Branding, Gloria Hotels & Resorts.

Delta Air Lines, Gloria Hotel & Resorts, HNA Hospitality, Huangshan Tourism Committee, MEET TAIWAN, Ministry of Tourism of The Republic of Indonesia, Monaco Government Tourist Bureau, Ningbo Tourism Administration, Pacific World, Shouqi Limousine and Chauffeur, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines, and Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Convention and Exhibition Affairs, form the remaining organisations that benefitted from one or more of IT&CM China’s core business engagement sessions this year.

CTW China 2017 CTW China 2017 was held alongside IT&CM China in the same location during the same dates. CTW China’s conference days commenced with a stellar line-up of expert Corporate Travel practitioners helming poignant topics ranging from 2017’s business travel market outlook, payment and expense management, to corporate travel and the sharing economy, and trends reshaping the travel world.

The specially curated programme targeting corporate travel managers across a variety of procurement, decision-making, policy planning and execution roles, also provided avenues to delve deeper into the fields of Corporate Travel Management and Corporate Meetings & Events.

Sessions that explored belt tightening measures and changing dynamics of the buyer and supplier partnership in the former, and technology and RFPs as well as business travel and Bleisure in the latter.

For the first time, the CTW China education line-up was developed in consultation with the newly minted CTW Advisory Panel whose objective was to ensure that sessions and speaker profiles were reflective ofcurrent must-know issues and trends.

www.voyagersworld.in

Hospitality

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CTW China 2017’s delegates conclude event on a new high The sessions provided avenues to delve deeper into the fields of corporate travel management and meetings and events.

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TW China 2017 attracted huge sponsorship and exhibition support from both new and returning international and Chinese airlines, travel solutions, destinations and hospitality brands. Corporate Travel World (CTW) China 2017 was held from 21 – 23 March in Shanghai and was co-located with IT&CM China.

CTW China’s conference days commenced with a stellar line-up of expert Corporate Travel practitioners helming poignant topics ranging from 2017’s business travel market outlook, payment and expense management, to corporate travel and the sharing economy, and trends reshaping the travel world.

The specially curated programme targeting corporate travel managers across a variety of procurement, decision-making, policy planning and execution roles, also provided avenues to delve deeper into the fields of Corporate Travel Management and Corporate Meetings & Events. Sessions explored belt tightening measures and changing dynamics of the buyer and supplier partnership in the former, and technology and RFPs as well as business travel and Bleisure in the latter.

For the first time, the CTW China education line-up was developed in consultation with the newly minted CTW Advisory Panel whose objective

Voyager’s World > April 2017

was to ensure that sessions and speaker profiles were reflective of current must-know issues and trends.

At the official press conference on CTW China 2017, held at Marriott Parkview Hotel, Albert Zhong, General Manager, Greater China, CWT, said, " Thank you all for taking the time to be here with us, and welcome to the third edition of Corporate Travel World China. It is certainly an exciting time for the corporate travel industry in China! As I am sure most of you know, China has overtaken the United States to become the largest business travel market in the world, with close to US$300 million in annual spend."

Speakers from AB Inbev (China), Adidas Group, AirPlus International, Air China, Apple, Bravolinks Integrated Marketing, Co-organiser Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) and its CWT Meetings & Events arm, Delta Airlines, DIDI Chuxing, GE China, Lenovo, MasterCard Asia Pacific, Michelin (China) Investment, Qatar Airways, Schneider Electric, Siemens China, Unilever Industries, Wyndham Hotel Group, and Youli Consulting, are among the diverse mix of international and Chinese corporate brands headlining this year’s conference.

Shared opening session speaker Kelly Kuhn, Executive Vice President & Chief Customer Officer, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, on Business Travel in China, “Given the size and potential of China’s business travel industry, it is certainly a very important market for CWT. Over the last three years, CTW China has become an excellent platform for us to meet with leading buyers and suppliers. I’m honored to have been invited to speak at this years’ event and share CWT’s outlook on the business travel industry in 2017.

At the same time, it has also been great to hear from the many travel managers at the conference on what their priorities are, and what they see to be the key trends shaping the industry. We value these insights and feedback as we work hard to continuously improve the business travel experience for our clients and their travelers, as well as grow our presence in this market.”

CTW China’s conference programme 2017 and its exhibition is further boosted by the event’s entire colocation with the 11th IT&CM China – The Leading International MICE Event In China – within an expanded hall space that adds 288 MICE destinations, products and services to CTW’s corporate travel showcase and offerings.

All sponsor brands benefitted exclusively from a selection of captive hosted luncheons and coffee breaks with corporate buyers, meeting room branding exposure and championing thoughtleadership as panellists at one of the 10 conference sessions.

Airlines led the pack with Air China (Hosted Luncheon) and Delta Air Lines (Panellists) securing the highest Diamond sponsorship tier this year, with three more airlines China Eastern (Meeting Room Branding, Panellist), Qatar Airways (Networking Coffee Break) and United Airlines (Hosted Luncheon) spotlighting prominently in the Platinum tier. Travel solution brands Travelport (Panellist) and AirPlus International (Panellist) join the lineup as Platinum and Gold sponsors respectively.

Fellow corporate travel buyer, Geetha Arekal, Regional Travel Head (APAC), Unilever Industries, “Being a speaker at CTW China provides an invaluable platform to delve deep into subjects that elevate my knowledge as a professional. I also appreciate the unmatched opportunity to uncover the nuances and perspectives of my peers that undoubtedly make me a sharper and smarter corporate travel manager.”

Exclusively Outbound!

THE ONLY TRADE SHOW FOCUSSED ON OUTBOUND TRAVEL A trade-only event connecting buyers & suppliers of outbound travel industry from across the globe, offering unparalleled networking and contracting opportunities · The Middle East edition of OTR – 2016 witnessed a footfall of 500 eminent buyers across Dubai – Doha – Kuwait · Over 1600 buyers attended the India – edition 1 of OTR in January, 2017 across Mumbai – Ahmedabad – Chennai – Kolakata – Delhi · India Edition 2 of OTR held across Bangalore – Delhi – Mumbai witnessed an overwhelming presence of over 1200 buyers An invitation only event

INDIA EDITION 1

MIDDLE EAST EDITION

INDIA EDITION 2

8th - 16th JANUARY, 2018

11th- 15th FEBRUARY, 2018

19th - 22nd MARCH, 2018

MUMBAI - CHENNAI BANGALORE - DELHI

UAE - KUWAIT QATAR - OMAN

MUMBAI – AHMEDABAD DELHI

# 245, Amar Jyothi Layout, Domlur, Bangalore - 560 071, India.

Tel: +91-80-4083 4100 | Fax: +91-80-4083 4101 | otrindia@otrindia.com www.outboundtravelroadshow.com

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Korea Goes Big on Business Events for India Outbound MICE VW BUREAU

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orea is sending a strong message of welcome to India’s business events community in 2017, which kicked off recently with a promotional “India MICE Roadshow”, held on March 29 at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi. Jointly hosted by Seoul, Korea’s capital, along with the neighboring city of Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, the one-day event sought to promote the prime attractions of each region as business events and travel destinations to the Indian meetings sector.

Around 200 government and corporate-sector tourism professionals and media attended the event, which featured a travel trade show with Korean sellers and Indian buyers during the day, followed by a special Korea-themed night of entertainment.

"May this roadshow open many

opportunities for Korea to host Indian MICE events!” declared Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) VicePresident Choi Jong Hark during his welcoming address at the Korea Night event. Mr. Choi’s enthusiastic pronouncement set the tone for the evening, which was followed by a spirited presentation by KTO India Marketing Manager Sandeep Dutta.

Video presentations were then screened by the Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi convention bureaus, after which there was a live performance, a lucky draw and a dinner of Koreanthemed cuisine.

For the event’s hosts, the evening provided an opportunity to highlight the distinct strengths of each as travel and event destinations, including Seoul’s well-developed meetings infrastructure, Incheon’s new Songdo International Business District (IBD), and Gyeonggi

Province’s natural assets and resort-style unique venues, among other features.

the Korea MICE Alliance network, which includes the country’s top event venues and service providers.

Also promoting at the event were Korean Air, which in December expanded its non-stop flights to New Delhi to five times per week, and Asiana, which already provides the service daily. Other participants included 40 major businesses within

The India MICE Roadshow forms part of efforts by Korea to diversify the country’s inbound business events and leisure tourism sector in response to newly-growing feeder markets such as India and stronglyMuslim nations.

Visitors up by 20% at WTM Latin America 2017 VW BUREAU

The number of speed networking meetings scheduled during the three days adds up to a total of 12,000 in the fifth year of the event.

I

n this year's edition, held from 4 - 6 April in Sao Paulo at Expo Center Norte, the programmes included services and tourism products from 50 countries, spread out among more than 600 exhibitors, occupying a net area that was 20% greater than it was than last year. Among the destinations present, 30% were from Brazil, 30% from the rest of Latin America and 40% from the rest of the world.

Among the event's high points, the opening ceremony was attended by more than 500 people, who accompanied the speeches that were made by authorities and the organizers, celebrating the start of the event. In addition to regional and state secretaries, leaders of class entities and businessmen from the industry, the event was also

Voyager’s World > April 2017

attended by the Minister of Tourism, Marx Beltrão, who highlighted the sector's importance in terms of generating jobs and strengthening the economy.

Another one of the show's highlights was the "Ministerial Round Table on Tourism as a Tool for Development", which was also attended by Beltrão, along with Lilian Kechichián, Uruguay's Minister of Tourism and Alejandro Lastra, Argentina's Secretary of Tourism. More than 100 people accompanied the conversation between the three countries' leaderships, which among other items covered issues such as visa facilitation policies, the strengthening of air infrastructure, with more connectivity, and promotion of the destination.

In its fifth year, WTM Latin America attracts 9,000 of the top executives from Latin America's travel industry.

In 2016 the event generated more than US$ 370 million in terms of new business that was done between exhibitors and buyers.

At a press conference that was held on 6 April, Charlie Cracknell, Reed Exhibitions' Senior Exhibitions Director, Lawrence Reinisch, WTM Latin America's director and Luciane Leite, WTM Latin America's manager, predicted figures that reinforce the organizers' positive impressions regarding the event's performance.

Up until yesterday (April 5th), the number of visitors was up 20% by comparison with last year and the expectation is that other indexes will also close showing a positive balance.

The presentation was opened by Charlie Cracknell, Reed Exhibitions' Senior Exhibitions Director. The executive said that he was very happy regarding the positive feedback he has received from clients since the event got underway. "It is our feeling that the Brazilian market is heating up again and there is a positive impression in relation to new business", reported the director. "Our main goal is not just to bring other destinations to Latin America, but also to promote valuable products from here to the rest of the world."

Among the indicators presented by the executives are the Speed Networking meetings. The number of meetings held during the three days should add up to a total of 12 thousand.

35>>

CEOs pledge underwater to protect marine life VW BUREAU

The conference, held in Kerala's Groove Beach, undertook a pledge to act fast on the rising pollution levels in the beach.

I

n a first-of-its-kind, an underwater CEOs conference was held at the Groove Beach in Kovalam on 10 April, 2017 in order to raise awareness on the need to save marine life. Five CEOs of IT companies came together and have this meeting to raise awareness about global warming and rising sea levels.

on the heels of a global report which claims that seas around Kerala, Mumbai and Andaman & Nicobar Islands are one of the most polluted, around the world.

The CEOs took a pledge to “Protect the Ocean & Marine life” and will also draw up a plan for a long term and sustainable itinerary for the campaign.

act on long term solutions to the impact that Plastic, rubbish, and disposal of raw sewage has to be stopped and keep the beaches clean through continuous process, to educate the staffs on the dangers of marine pollution and global warming and climate change, causing marked shifts in ocean environments and ecosystems.

Raja Gopaal Iyer (Udaya Samudra Group of Hotels), Hema Menon (UST Global), Dinesh P Thampi (TCS), Dr Shyam Kumar (Neologix) and Rony Thomas (Avon Mobility Solutions) dived to reach a U-shaped table set on the bed of the ocean for the conference. The spot was about 50m from the shore.

It re-iterated the need to urgently form a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) to help sustain the oceans that in turn sustain all of us. The event also called for hotels and resorts situated on the coastal belt of South India to form a club to commit to actions to 'Protect the Ocean & Marine life' so it can continue to sustain us all into the future for developing strategies to

Raja Gopaal Iyer put the conference together, which lasted for about 20 minutes. The idea was to raise awareness and bring to light the devastating effects of marine pollution on the environment and sea creatures. Through this initiative, the participants sought to generate more awareness among the Indian and international communities about marine

The

conference

comes

closely

M.I.C.E SCAN

pollution and the rising levels of global warming and bring likeminded people from all over the world together.

The participant advantage was that under the guidance of experts from Bond Safari, they held a conference wherein they jointly pledged their commitment and sign a memorandum to protect the oceans. As they surfaced after the conference, they were greeted by the guests and media.

The highlights of the event include photo opportunity and media interaction, presenting mementoes and certificates to the participants.

A short training programme for scuba diving was held before the conference.

CALENDAR 2017

CWT Meeting & Events launches offer with International SOS CWT Meetings & Events launched the only global corporate meetings and events service to include International SOS services as part of its core customer offering. For the first time, while traveling to and attending meetings and events, CWT M&E customers can now access best-in-class pre-travel advice and integrate further International SOS Services such as Event Medical Support Plan into their programme. This agreement allows CWT M&E’s planners and customers to subscribe to medical and security alerts.

ICPB - ICCA Workshop - Bidding for International Conferences The ICPB - ICCA Workshop on 'Bidding for International Conferences' was held on 17 and 18 March at Hotel Pullman in New Delhi to update ICPB members and other industry stakeholders on how to make a winning bid for bagging international conferences for India. The faculty comprised experts from ICCA and from the Indian industry. The programme, which was designed for maximum of 40 participants, was inaugurated by Suman Billa, Joint Secretary Tourism / Chairman ICPB.

Dubai welcomes Forever Living mega-incentive group Dubai officially welcomed one of its largest ever incentive groups, with more than 12,000 visitors from over 100 countries worldwide arriving for the Forever Global Rally 2017, taking place 2-11 April. Management of operations for the Forever Global Rally 2017 has been undertaken by Arabian Adventures, a Dubai DMC, in close collaboration with Emirates, Al Habtoor City and Dubai Business Events, to create tailored itineraries for the visiting group, as well as handling the logistics.

May 16, 17, 18 INDABA Durban 17-19 WTM Connect Asia Penang, Malaysia

June 13, 14, 15 The Meetings Show London, UK 14, 15, 16 IBTM America South Florida, USA

July Kochi to host second edition of ICTT The second edition of the International Conference on Tourism Technology (ICTT) will be held 8-10 June 2017 in Kochi by the Association of Tourism Trade Organisation (ATTOI) with support from Kerala Tourism. Around 500 delegates including tour operators, hoteliers, resort owners, homestays, SEO (search engine optimization) companies, software firms, social media marketing companies and bloggers are expected to attend the conference. Registrations are ongoing and details are available on www.icttindia.org and www.facebook.com/ictt2013.

10, 11, 12 Bangkok, Thailand Asia Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchange 11, 12, 13 Mexico City, Mexico World Meetings Forum

www.voyagersworld.in

FESTIVALS OF 15 May

T

he Aoi Matsuri is an ancient festival that is happening on the 15th May with about 500 people wearing ancient costumes and the traditional make up across the main streets of Kyoto.This festival includes the procession of officials delivering the Emperor’s message and offerings to the two shrines of Shimogamo and Kamigamo.

The main highlight of the procession is the parade of women accompanying the proxy of the imperial princess serving the deities who would be dressed in the formal style of the imperial court in 12 layers of kimono.

Aoi Matsuri, Kyoto, Japan

April 30-May 6

T

he April Fair is one of the popular and international fiestas in Seville with music, food and dancing. People tend to stay in tents to enjoy the experiences during the fair. The place is adorned with multi coloured light bulbs and the main gateway. The April Fair includes singing, food, wine and local version of flamenco dancing. People generally dance in the street and the Sevillian people will also entice the passers to be part of the celebration. During the fair, the men and women wear the traditional Andalusian dress.

April Fair, Seville, Spain

2-14 May

T 20-21 May

T

he Beverly Hills art show will take place from 20-21 May with the four blocks of historic Beverly Gardens Park a paradise for art enthusiasts, food truck fans . The show will be run along Santa Monica Boulevard from Rodeo Drive to Rexford Drive.

The event brings in 240 international and domestic artists who would showcase and sell their artwork. The show will also have 50,000 attendees, including Southern California art dealers .

The artSHOW will features food trucks, beer and wine gardens, children’s art stations and live music.

Beverly Hills art Show, Beverly Hills, San Francisco

he Courtyards festival is celebrated every year in the city of Cordoba in Andalusia. This is a world heritage event where you can be part of the street celebrations and dance to the sounds of Flamenco besides the scents of Jasmine and orange blossom. The deck of the courtyards are specially decorated with pots full of geraniums, carnations and jasmines that hang from the whitewashed walls. You can taste delicious tapas from Cordoba and Montilla-Moriles wine. The festival is a competition to discover the most beautiful courtyards in the city, and fills the streets with colour, the scent of jasmine and orange blossom and the strains of flamenco.

Courtyards Festival in Cordoba, Andalusia,Spain

THE WORLD 9th May-11th June

T

he Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival is happening from 9th May to 11th June in Franklin Square that welcomes 92,000 visitors from all 50 states and 10 foreign countries. The event is the celebration of light and culture that includes entertainment, food, 29 magnificent steel-framed and silk-wrapped giant animals, springtime flowers and trees, and symbols of Chinese culture, using traditional Chinese methods. The Chinese Lantern Festival highlights artisans from China and Philadelphia region. The festival will have more than 25 largerthan-life illuminated displays of giant flowers, a three-story pagoda, a huge Chinese dragon and much more, created using traditional Chinese methods with thousands of LED lights in brilliant colors.

Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival, Philadelphia

3-4 May

T

he Hakata Dontaku Festival takes place from 3-4 May that dates back with a history of 800 years. The festival is also known as the largest citizens festival where people are dressed in their traditional attires across the streets while clapping shamoji spoons and dancing on stages and in squares in various quarters of the town. The festival includes the parade of decorated vehicles called Hana Jidosha . The festival is witnessed with a number of spectators, with almost two million people every year.

Hakata Dontaku Festival, Japan

27-30 April 17-18 May

T

he Shunki Reitaisai is also known as the Grand Festival of Spring that starts from 17-18 May, followed by a ceremony at the shrine in the presence of the head of the Tokugawa family, Sanshikai officials, and other dignitaries and guests. The next day the Mikoshi-togyo-sai or the Portable Shrine Procession is referred as the Procession of 1,000 Samurai, that includes over 1,200 attendants who are divided into 53 categories . The ceremony is concluded with the procession returning to Toshogu Shrine.

T

he Uncork’d by Bon Appetit takes place in Las Vegas for the 11th year offering culinary events at Caesars Palace, The Cromwell, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, MGM Resorts International, The Venetian and The Palazzo Las Vegas. This festival is also a premier wine and food event that showcases the top culinary talent in Las Vegas some of the participating chefs for this year are Bobby Flay , Buddy Valastro, Charlie Palmer, Giada De Laurentils, Gordon Ramsay, Guy Savoy, Julian Serro, Shawn Mc Clain, Thomas Keller, Michael Chow, Nobu Matsuhisa, Woflgang Puck and more.

Uncork'd by Bon Appetit, Las Vegas Shunki Reitaisai (Grand Festival of Spring), Japan

Online Travel

38>>

Caption Hospitality: Looking from the eyes of the customer!

Caption Hospitality aims to reinvent what hotels offer to match what the customer wants in point of fact, says its Content & Community Manager, Clarita Pinky Diorisa.

IRENE SUSAN EAPEN personalized and to be technologyenabled to catch up with modern market," says Clarita Pinky Diorisa, Content and Community Manager of Caption Hospitality.

Technology and hospitality Caption Hospitality was started to work on a hotel that makes sense for modern travellers. "We see that the current hospitality industry is still orthodox as they do not focus on what the customers really want.

We work in such a way where we want to invent our solutions through the eyes of our customers. We want to encourage hotels to be more

Unlike other technology solution for hotel that makes their products to be general, Caption Hospitality wants its products to be personalized for each hotel. It works in a way where listening to its customer is its main task every day, so that it can create customized solutions that really meet their needs. "We want small and independent hotel to believe that shifting to technology is not that difficult when they work hand in hand with us in the process. We integrate front office, central reservation, and back-office into one cloud based software that is easy and simple to use. Hotels can easily manage their property inventories across multiple travel agents, generate reports,

automate book keeping, and store their guest’s information using their mobile gadgets."

Products "The products that we provide are Crono POS (Point of Sales), Crono CMS (Channel Management System) and Crono CRS (Central Reservation System). Crono POS is the system used by front office to input the details of hotel's guests including their detail information to check-in date. This really helps front office to work faster and efficiently.

Meanwhile, Crono CMS helps customer to update the inventories when there is a transaction in one of the distribution channels.

It minimizes the possibility of overbooked that is usually caused by traditional channel manager. Lastly, Crono CRS helps to keep updating the hotel's activities including inventory, rate status, budgeting to

revenue management data."

Cities using the services Currently Caption Hospitality has two cities in Indonesia using its product- Yogyakarta and Bandung.

It is now developing its product distribution to other cities in Indonesia. It looks forward to work with strategic partners out of South East Asia market to enable the long tail travel accommodations market.

Marketing Plans It is presently focusing on digital marketing which includes Search Engine Optimization (SEO)and social media promotion. "We are also organizing offline events to educate hoteliers as our current target now is not really a tech-savvy.

We want to encourage more hotels to shift to technology and really make use of technology itself for their business," Clarita concluded.

Refining group travel planning WeTravel is a timesaving and user-friendly platform for trip organisers, says its CEO and Co-Founder Johannes Koeppel.

IRENE SUSAN EAPEN to serve European customers and accept payments in Euros more efficiently," says its CEO and CoFounder, Johannes Koeppel.

W

eTravel is a platform that intends to empower anyone to lead the best group travel experience possible. It curates a collection of trips, currently focused in large part on the yoga retreat market. WeTravel officially launched its payment and booking platform in 2016. "Since then, our payment and booking platform has transacted over $12 million. For 2017, we expect a 500% growth increase over 2016. We are also opening a Europea office

Voyager’s World > April 2017

Services in India "We already do have a few travel agencies that are based in India and are selling to USA retail customers.

One example is 'Offroads India', a travel company specializing in young, eager travellers. Our payment platform has been used to organise tours to over 30 countries. Our users are travel companies that sell to USA customers but are unhappy about the way they currently collect payments. With WeTravel, any travel organiser can sell their tours online within minutes."

It can create a listing for free that puts your brand front and centre.

It accepts cheques and credit card

payments onlinewith transaction fees of only 1%. One can save time with its easy booking management like automated receipts, easy collection of outstanding payments and much more. Users can automatically collect trusted reviews and build their brand reputation in the USA. "Our platform brings together tools for promoting your offerings, gathering and managing participant information, securely processing payments, communicating with your group, and collecting participant testimonials. It works equally well for local, short-term getaways and longer trips further afield, as well as yoga-specific offerings such as daylongs, trainings, and immersions.

Yoga retreats are one of our main markets as we work with a lot of yoga teachers, WeTravel Marketplace offers more than 500 different

yoga retreats all over the world.

We organise thousands of student trips every year in all the top 20 US business schools (Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, Berkeley, etc.

WeTravel is presently used by 100+ tour operators and travel companies.

WeTravel Business lets travel companies use its payment and booking system while putting their brand front and centre. Customer does not see any links to other offerings on WeTravel and receipt and message emails contain companies logo.It has done its marketing mostly through word-of-mouth. In 2017, it plans to more actively reach out to travel companies and tour organizers to achieve its growth targets. Most of its marketing is direct sales to organizers, but it also runs online marketing campaigns for certain trip segments.

Online Travel

39>>

India's first travel phone comes calling!

Sunali Aggarwal, Co-Founder, Trabug, talks about a phone designed to facilitate easy communication for foreign travellers in India based on their travel duration and budgets.

IRENE SUSAN EAPEN "Trabug is a first-of-its-kind product in India that we have built and are getting great reviews from our customers," begins its Co-Founder Sunali Aggarwal, while talking about how the phone has been designed to assist foreign travellers.

T

rabug is India's first travel phone that is designed to comply with Indian mobile networks all over the country. It helps one save over 70% of international roaming costs by enabling a local mobile connection with a compatible smartphone. A Trabug pack will be delivered to the guest at the hotel or place of stay upon arrival in India and upon departure, it will be picked up at no additional cost.

"We have also added various important contacts like police, hospitals and embassies. You can tap on the device and get to create a hotspot and use internet on other devices. We also help travellers to exchange currency which is done via our Forex partners. Travellers can order currency via the phone and can be delivered to their doorstep."

"In a span of just three months, we have catered to over 100 tourists.

This shows that our product is useful and relevant for tourists who prefer

to travel on their own without a guide or an agency. We want foreigners to get services and products at fair rates.

The platform in the future will also allow travellers to book event tickets, day tours and much more. Since we intend to curate content for them they would have an option from selecting only the best and most relevant options. We want to also focus on optimizing a traveller's spend per day and obviously the end objective to attract and encourage more tourists to come to India."

Marketing Trabug markets itself via both online and offline channels. It intends to reach out to independent travellers and aims to serve more than 5000 tourists by the end of this year,

besides hoping to raise funds to help it scale within India and to other countries. "We are primarily focusing on online marketing; we are active on Google, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We have tied up with privately owned hotels, BnBs, guesthouses and travel agencies who are focusing on inbound travellers. We are partnering with embassies who host delegates of their respective countries. Medical tourism has been on a rise in India; so we are in talks with various agencies who coordinate on behalf of patients, with hospitals and also manage their stay and transport."

In the next three months, Trabug plans to add a lot more features to the phone and plans to launch in many other countries.

MyBhutan: A sustainable tourism plan!

Sarah Cahlan, Communications & Marketing Lead, MyBhutan, shares insights on how the travel platform seeks to make travel to Bhutan simpler, budget-friendly and personalised.

IRENE SUSAN EAPEN location, at the lowest rate allowed by the government.

M

y Bhutan is a social enterprise that aims to preserve Bhutan's culture and landscape whilst supporting traditional industries, travel being one of them. Its travel platform, MyBhutan.com helps make booking a trip to Bhutan easy with details of guides and tour operators and hotels in one central

Sarah Cahlan, Communications & Marketing Lead of MyBhutan, says the portal's mission is to extend tourism to every district in Bhutan.

"We try to promote every destination in the country we have witnessed that a lot of travellers enjoy a mix between the luxury and exploratory. Last year, we noticed that Indian tourists had increased 50%, from 97,000 arrivals in 2015 to 146,000 in 2016."

Some of the important destinations in Bhutan are the Tiger’s Nest in Paro, National Memorial Chorten, Buddha Dordenma in Thimphu and Punakha Dzong in Punakha. "The best months to visit are September,

November and March-May mainly because of the beautiful weather during spring and the winter months are one thing you should not miss the snow covered mountains. We have mostly had a different range of travellers that include families, solo travellers, especially women, bikers, foodies, culture seekers and millennial travellers."

Marketing Some of our main segments are leisure and business as you get to have access to places and networks with businesses, government officials and public figures are unparalleled. We are glad to organize MICE events as we had organized MICE events with earlier customers from the Indian market.

We are also planning to organize wedding events.

Our marketing plans are focused on our extensive visual and written content. We publish photographs, videos and write-ups on our social media channels and external publications.

We also invite influencers to visit and share their personal experiences with their followers. We encourage our producers to create content that highlights various perspectives. This commitment to transparency is not only at the forefront of our marketing plans but in all of our departmental strategies. For instance, our payment processing system removes hidden fees that most industry players apply to all standard trips.

www.voyagersworld.in

Flight Talk

40>>

Air India cruises on expansion mode Pankaj Srivastava, Director-Commercial, Air India Ltd., discusses about 2016 being a turnaround year for the company as well as plans for 2017-2018.

ANJU ANNA ALEX

2016 for Air India Air India, which is on a route network expansion mode, hopes to boost profit “significantly” this year after making a dramatic turnaround from losses in 2016. The airline, which for the first time in nearly a decade, reported an operating profit of Rs1.05 billion in 2015-16 fiscal, has been taking various steps such as rationalisation of certain loss-making routes, closure of overseas offline offices at certain locations, phasing out of old fleet and consequential

reduction in maintenance costs to sustain profitability. The main factors that helped to turn around the airline were increased operational efficiency and reduced oil prices.

Plans for 2017-2018 Air India has a fleet of nearly 140 planes, and is expanding its domestic network to cater to the fast growing demand by adding new aircraft to its fleet and adding new International routes in 2017. Air India, which currently has 23 Dreamliners and 15

Boeing 777 in its fleet will be adding four B787 Dreamliners by end of 2017 and 3 B777 – 300ERs in its fleet by mid of 2018. For domestic deployment, we have placed an order for 29 Airbus 320 aircraft on lease.

The on-going expansion plan will see Air India adding more international destinations and increase frequencies on domestic routes like Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Leh. Following the commencement of direct non-stop flights to San Francisco, Madrid, Vienna and Ahemdabad-Newark via London, Air India plans to start direct flight operations on Delhi-WashingtonDelhi route in July 2017. This flight will be the fifth direct connection with the US and will be operated by Boeing 777 aircraft.

Air India also plans to start services to Tel Aviv in May 2017. In order to establish connectivity with the Scandinavian countries Air India will commence a direct non-stop flight to Scandinavia in Aug/Sep 2017. This flight service will offer convenient onward connections to Scandinavia and other countries in the Nordic region.

Currently, Air India’s regional arm, Alliance Air has eight ATRs in its fleet and 70 pilots who fly these small planes for short haul operations.

We are in the process of recruiting at least 200 more pilots for ATR operations. We will be adding 20 more ATR planes by this year end.

We are also planning to set up a simulator unit in the national capital by this year- end for training pilots for the ATR aircraft – largely meant to be deployed for short haul operations.

Way forward for Indian Aviation The rapid double digit growth in

Voyager’s World > April 2017

Domestic traffic in the last five years would be difficult to sustain as the Airport Infrastructure in the metros is fully choked, unless we have second Airport in Delhi and Mumbai and other major metros the potential of Domestic Traffic cannot be fully exploited. There is a huge pressure on both the Airside/ Terminal Handling as well as the Air Traffic Management. We have witnessed a lot of congestion in the terminal building and large delays in landing/take off from the two biggest Airports in India.

The Airport Infrastructure has to keep pace with the double digit growth in the India Market. The airport infrastructure at many airports is breaking as there seems to be no more capacity. The aviation sector has a risk of capacity crunch as the expansion in landing slots and terminals fails to keep pace with the number of jets entering the market.

I believe that the timely and efficient implementation of Regional Connectivity scheme of the Government with the support of State Government and Private Entrepreneurs will be the way forward for growth of Civil Aviation in India. The Aviation sector in India is largely untapped with great opportunities. Air Transportation in India is still expensive for majority of people in India. I believe that all stakeholders should engage and collaborate with policy makers to implement efficient and rational decisions that would boost India’s civil aviation industry. If we stay focussed and put right policies in place, which are in the best interest of the passengers, India has the capability to become the largest Aviation Market.

Cruise

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India's luxury cruise market gets new product

Konstantin Smirnov – Chief Commercial Officer, Running on Waves, shares plans to tap the rising number of cruise travellers in India.

IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

R

unning on Waves, a premiumclass ocean-going passenger sailing vessel with a capacity 42 guests in 18 ensuite cabins, offers cruise as well as charters to client for sailing ashore in countries like Greece, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, Turkey, France, Spain, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt.

"In 2017, we are offering seven Mediterranean cruises to the Aegean and Ionian sea as well as charters and crossings - CYCLADES CRUISE: Athens/Lavrion – Milos – Santorini –

Ios – Paros – Delos – Mykonos – Siros – Athens/Nafplio, SOUTH AEGEAN CRUISE: Kos – Astypaleya – Santorini – Paros – Delos – Mykonos – Patmos – Bodrum – Kos, NORTHERN SPORADES CRUISE: Athens/Lavrion – Andros – Skiros – Alonisos – Skopelos – Skiathos – Euvoia Athens/Lavrion, IONIAN CRUISE: Corfu – Paxos/Antipaxos – Lefkas – Kefalonia – Zakynthos – Saranda and Corfu, PELOPONNESUS CRUISE: Nafplio – Monemvasia – Pylos – Katakolon/Olympia – Kefalonia – Itea – Corinth canal – Aegina – Nafplio.

The ship can also be chartered for groups of Special Interest and MICE etc., " says Konstantin Smirnov, Chief Commercial Officer of the vessel. Venture Marketing has been appointed as India Representative for Running on Waves. The Indian connoisseurs of luxury travel will also definitely like this experience of Running on waves in terms of luxury and royal comfort."

Special offerings "We can customize the offerings based as per the requirement like MICE and weddings. We sail in the Mediterranean and can offer unique itineraries for the Indian traveller like an itinerary in the Black Sea from Israel to Egypt for example, which is very unique."

are expecting 2017 to be positive.

In 2017, we will be planting the seeds of relationships in the Indian market, as we are investing in a long term strategy. We noticed a lot of interest from Asia and the young traveller between 30-45 were really happy to be on our product."

Cruise industry in India The cruise industry is on a rise and with the Indian traveller looking out for more experiential options. "We

"We are targeting the upper end market for leisure, MICE and special events as it is a luxury product and experiential in nature."

Welcome to Holiday Expo another exciting brand to take your business to a level of growth and establish an opportunity to create a brand new market. Medium sized Indian cities have emerged as one of the fastest growing markets or quality leisure products and 'Holiday Expo' is just the perfect Travel Exhibition reachout to this very market,thus ensuring your product profits to its optimum potential.

VADODARA

18, 19, 20 August 2017

NAGPUR

6, 7, 8 October 2017

VIZAG

3, 4, 5 November 2017

COIMBATORE

26, 27, 28 January 2018

Holiday Expo Secretariat: Plot No. 15, H. No.: 3-41-374, 2nd Floor, Devi Temple Street Lakshmi Nagar Colony, Picket Secunderabad - 500 026 Tel: +91-40-4014 9950 | Mob: +91-97018 66695 Fax: +91-40-4018 9951 | Email: info@holidayexpo.in www.holidayexpo.in

www.voyagersworld.in

OTA

42>>

Evolving travel demographics inspire new trip planners

Viren Batra, CEO & Co Founder, Nirvana Excursion, talks about what sets them apart from the multitude of trip planners in the country.

PRIYAMVADHA BALARAM travels. We always believed in going the extra mile and seek experiences which would leave a lasting mark on us. We intended to offer our knowledge and expertise to travellers who are not first timers but are moving beyond packaged group tours and trying something new," said Viren Batra, its CEO & CoFounder.

A

s new travel portals, booking software providers, apps, trip planners and ground service providers constantly shape the preferences of today's traveller, Nirvana Excursions, established in 2013, is one such company in the travel space that specialises in unique travel experiences and customized solutions. "The inspiration to start Nirvana Excursions came from our own

Revealing its target demographics and services, he said, "Nirvana caters to both budget and luxury travellers, providing a host of travelrelated services, backed by a very enthusiastic operation team and an ever-growing home agent base across the country. So, whether you want to travel as a couple or with your extended family, whether you love meeting new people or prefer to go it alone, you can choose from a wide variety of pre-packaged tours for individuals, couples, families

and groups or have us customize something totally unique for you."

Categories of services "We provide end-to-end services at Nirvana Excursions. We help you to decide a destination and then plan the perfect itinerary for you. We work to get you the best possible deals for flights, hotels, sightseeing etc. Post booking, we help arrange for visa, travel insurance and foreign exchange."

In the case of Little Nirvana Explorers, the company understands the requirements and interests of child travellers and incorporates elements accordingly in the packages so that children are engaged and entertained while the parents relax and have a good time.

Challenges "The biggest challenge we faced at

the time of establishing this was understanding the travel industry.

On the surface of it, travel seems to be a very straight forward business; however, it is one of the most complicated industries. It took us some time to come to terms with this and create a strong supplier network."

Main markets Concluding that the retail travel space has mostly moved beyond the traditional storefront, Viren said, "In our experience most of our customers prefer talking to us on the phone or through email.

With this in mind, we do not restrict ourselves geographically and deal with customers from all over India.

We connect with them online through our social media presence and our website. We also work with home agents who act as a face for our company in their networks."

Demonetization leads to surge in digital bookings

75.3% Indians say that demonetization has had no impact on travel plans in the latest survey

by Yatra.com.

VW BUREAU

Y

atra.com, conducted their annual summer survey which showcases the trends of Indian travellers planning a vacation this summer. The latest survey clearly shows that demonetization has had no major impact on travel plans. Nearly 90% respondents are planning a summer vacation this year opposed to only 83% in 2016.

Another key finding from the survey established that there has been more than 100% increase in Indians looking to travel to USA since last year and 208% increase in Indians travelling to Europe since post Brexit.

As an alternate solution to minimize the impact of demonetization on vacations over 80% Indians are opting to reduce the number of days to travel and compromise on

Voyager’s World > April 2017

accommodation. Ironically, luxury travel has also witnessed a rise with 48% Indians willing to spend more than Rs.50000 per person on travel this summer versus 18% last year. While nearly 80% Indians are looking to stay in hotels this summer, only 4% prefer staying with friends/ relatives. Homestays, a trend that is rapidly gaining popularity in India, has seen an increase in preference by over 100% this summer. New age travellers seek unique experiences in their travels and self-expenditure is a priority for the travellers while vacationing.

While desktops and laptops continue to be the preferred medium of booking, a significant 40% prefer booking via mobile indicating the

increased smartphone and internet penetration across the country. Also, nearly 80% Indians prefer to book their travel through an Online Travel portal. The survey shows that more than 50% Indian travellers read online reviews before planning their vacation followed by 30% seeking recommendation from friends. On the back of continued low airfares, more than 80% travelers prefer air travel to any other mode of transport.

The survey revealed that hill stations are the most popular summer holiday destination this year followed

by Kerala and Goa. While 24% of travellers believe that relaxation during holidays is the key reason to travel, 72% of the respondents said that they do not switch off from work

even during vacation. Nearly 40% Indian travellers use their laptops while travelling by air.

Sharat Dhall, President, Yatra. com says, “It is heartening to note that demonetization did not have a major impact on the peak travel season. The surge in international travel highlights that things are back to normal and also underlines that millennials are relatively intrepid and unlikely to be phased by economic problems or political unrest. Helped by relatively low airfares, there has been a shift in the passengers from rail to air. This is on account of the continued low oil prices and an increase in the capacity by both new entrants and the incumbent players.�

Travel Technology

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Impact of emerging technology on corporate travel Courtesy: Tnooz.com

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gencia has been taking a look at how technology such as artificial intelligence will affect the corporate travel world in the near, medium and long-term. Alongside Phocuswright, Egencia put together a white paper entitled the 'Emerging Tech-Driven Corporate Travel Revolution.' It provides a current state of the nation look as regards technologies as AI, machine learning, Natural Language Processing and chatbots in business travel as well as looking further out. In three years time, for example, the research predicts AI will be embedded in corporate travel in terms of how data is used to make for smarter, more efficient travel and improved compliance.

Natural language processing and chatbots are not expected to be fully embedded at this early stage. This is interesting as many airlines now seem to have developed a chatbot and are addressing various elements of travel from booking a ticket to customer service. How these evolve into something more than a “me too” exercise will be where the point of differentiation lies.

of care obligations by monitoring the health of safety of travelling employees and providing location information. 10 years down the line, the study reveals a time when our travel needs are anticipated

and met automatically. Friction will be removed from all areas of corporate travel including security at airports and hotel check-in and checkout processes.

Recent trials from various quarters

around biometrics and ongoing work to alleviate some of the friction around security are bringing the dream of seamless travel alive but most, it seems, believe it’s at least a decade away.

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Moving a little further ahead to five to seven years, the report sees the “true impact of AI” on the corporate travel experience.

The 'always connected travel environment' helped by IoT devices and wearables is expected to be at play and will continue to drive the expectation for immediate service.

The study also reveals voice and intelligent chatbots will have come into play in five to seven years time with the ability to offer a blend of human and computer interface to the traveller according to his or her preferences. Problems of travel policy compliance should also be greatly reduced as technologies will not only be more aware of preferences and requirements but also flag non-compliance in realtime.

The report also reveals wearables and IoT devices will help with duty

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Travel Trends

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Skyscanner foresees dynamic shifts in airline distribution VW BUREAU

S

kyscanner recently launched a White Paper setting out its vision for the future of airline distribution and the changing role of metasearch within this.

The paper, authored by the metasearch engine’s CEO and CoFounder Gareth Williams, sets out Skyscanner’s intention to transition towards becoming a marketplace in which travellers can shop for a rich array of air fares with a seamless process from start to finish across any device.

Williams argues that the evolving technology landscape, with the increasing consumer preference for mobile, and evolving click-tap platforms such as chat bots, has blurred the lines between what can be considered a ‘direct’ air ticket purchase. In this evolving environment, the former line between direct and third party intermediaries has blurred while the need for a frictionless shopping experience and for rich and dynamic airline products to stand out has increased. Skyscanner hopes to lead the field when it comes to distributing carriers’ products by creating an airline marketplace offering carrier ‘store-fronts’ which are virtually indistinguishable from airlines’ own booking sites.

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Williams states, “Our vision for the future is collaborating with airlines in

delivering our version of the supplier managed marketplace to travellers worldwide. We want to bring airline products on our site as close to the direct experience as possible, with carriers controlling their products and brand while benefitting from our traffic, and audience, across a range of devices. This means offering a form of airline store-front.

Airlines must have the opportunity to stand out in the next generation of distribution, particularly as travellers increasingly expect to be able to transact on smaller screen sizes with shorter purchasing journeys which offer a seamless booking process.”

In the last decade, significant shifts have taken place both in the way travellers search and discover their trips, and the ways the aviation industry has made its flight products discoverable.

Airlines have traditionally viewed direct bookings as only those that take place on their own site or app.

This current landscape disrupts the old world of direct or third party.

How did this landscape shift? First apps came along, offering an even more direct solution than websites, and a route to customers that cut out the more complex world of navigating the major search engines.

Since then, technology has moved at pace and more recently messaging, chat bots and voice platforms have entered the fray, bringing with them

the possibility for brands to meet users and interact with them on the devices they use daily. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter take this even further, being both entrenched customer interaction tools as well as providing environments for air ticket deals to be pushed.

End of the 'Sorted-by-price' Era At the same time as travellers have experimented with new ways to discover trips, the airline industry has begun experimenting with more direct ways of presenting products to travellers. One carrier who has embraced the shift to mobile and even bots is KLM; the airline's CEO Pieter Elbers has even said he envisages a future where consumers do not visit its website. While most airlines have embraced social media to the extent that they now push air ticket deals via these platforms, some still have mobile experiences which offer more limited functionality than their sites and the majority are yet to fully engage with more cuttingedge platforms such as bots.

Right now we are witnessing a new generation of distribution which offers fundamentally different ways to purchase. While the amount of information available has increased in recent years, screen sizes have decreased (and may eventually even disappear) so only a very limited number of flight options can be presented. Most importantly, these

new services are creating even fewer steps on the path to purchase, so airlines have consequently had to be innovative about how they distribute their tickets in this new online environment.

The New World of Distribution: Spectrum not Binary While airlines have therefore traditionally viewed “direct bookings” as those that take place on their own site or app alone, this current landscape disrupts the binary world of direct or third party booking. There are now a whole host of platforms within which a booking can take place; a booking through social media, or on a voice platform, or in a chatbot messenger will feel fairly direct to a customer for example, but would these interactions be considered direct or third party?

What the current landscape looks like is arguably a spectrum, with direct distribution at one end, through to third party distribution at the other. At the third party end remains the OTAs and TMCs who are still heavily reliant on GDS, while at the direct end lies airline.com.

Which points in the spectrum airlines choose to direct their distribution strategy towards will determine how things unfold; the way they approach new opportunities will be key, and will shape the future of airline distribution.

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Happenings

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India is top market for cruising from Singapore Singapore Tourism Board (STB) organized the second edition of its India Cruise Forum in Mumbai on 30 March which was attended by 120 people. The day-long forum featured a thought provoking panel that touched on the challenges and opportunities of growing India’s Cruise Travel Market, led

by GB Srithar, Regional Director for South Asia, Middle East & Africa (RD SAMEA), STB with panelists Nalini Gupta, Managing Director, Lotus Destinations (GSA of Costa Cruise India), Naresh Rawal, Vice President Sales, Genting Cruise Lines – Star Cruises, Dream Cruises and Crystal Cruises, Suzanne Perreira, Senior Vice President Sales, Trade Relationships and Communications, Thomas Cook India, Anita Raja, Regional Manager – South India, TIRUN Travel Marketing and Harshali Darpel, Senior Manager – Western India, Cruise Professionals.

Key tourism partners sign MoUs with Arunachal Pradesh The Department of Tourism, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh, held its first Arunachal Pradesh Tourism Conclave 2017 in New Delhi on 24 March. The Conclave was graced by Kiren Rijiju Honorable Union Minister of State for Home, Government of India and P.D Sona Honorable Parliamentary Secretary Tourism, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh and witnessed a compelling programme of anchor events, content for new partners and delegate representation from the entire spectrum of the travel and tourism industry. Speaking at the Conclave, Dr Joram Beda, Tourism Secretary, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh said, “Arunachal Pradesh is investing to become the adventure and exotic tourism hub of India. In 2017, we expect the number of tourist arrivals to grow exponentially."

Argentina co-hosts polo match with YES Bank in Mumbai The 6th YES Bank and the Consulate General of Argentine International Polo Cup at the Royal Western Indian Turf Club, Mahalaxmi racecourse featured a thrilling match between the Argentinean and Indian (Amateur Rider´s Club) team both of 14 goals that clinched in a tie for the first time.

Alejandro Zothner Meyer, Acting Consul General and Suresh Tapuriah, President, Amateur Riders Club; Rajashree Birla, Cyrus Poonawalla; Radha Kapoor Khanna and Aditya Khanna were the guests of honour. The event saw a gathering of about 1000 guests that flocked to the game in their polobest ensembles, fascinators and hand-fans to beat the heat.

Maldives to host TTM 2017 in July The maiden International Travel Trade Show (TTM) of Maldives, scheduled to be held at Dharubaaruge, Male on 12 and 13 July, 2017, has received the participation of more than 60 resorts so far. It is expected that over 100 resorts/hotels will take part in TTM along with 150 international buyers/media. The premium exhibitors at the event include Adaaran Resorts, Universal Resorts, Crown & Champa Resorts, Bandos Maldives & Villa Hotels & Resorts Maldives. Airline partners include Maldivian & Trans Maldivian Airways which will be joined be 3 international airlines. TTM will host PATA Academy for the first time in Maldives. The TTM Gala night, which will be held at Adaaran Select Hudhuranfushi, will host the Maldives Travel Awards: People’s Edition, which will recognize 10 outstanding individuals from the hospitality industry.

Top Appointments Kamalakannan V

Cindy Szadokierski

Regional Manager Sales & MarketingSouth India, Fariyas Hotels & Resorts

Vice President - Airport Operations & Customer Services, IndiGo

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ndiGo has appointed Cindy Szadokierski as Vice President - Airport Operations and Customer Services. With a career in aviation spanning over 30 years, Cindy has held senior leadership positions primarily in the areas of airport operations as well as several other roles in operations, reservations and sales at United Airlines. She will take on the new role in IndiGo effective 17 April 2017.

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ariyas Hotels & Resorts has appointed KamalaKannan V as the Regional Manager Sales & Marketing- South India which is operating from Bangalore. He brings with him an experience of more than 14 years in the hospitality industry. He has worked with brands like Bogmallo Beach Resort – Goa, the Windflower Spa & Resort, Golden Palms Hotel & Spa, K Raheja Resorts & Hospitality and Sterling Holiday Resort .

Sachin Didolkar

Tristan Beau de Lomenie

Director of Business Development Conrad Pune

Director of Operation, LUXE Hotels India

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ullman and Novotel New Delhi Aerocity appointed Tristan Beau de Lomenie as Director of Operation LUXE Hotels India besides his current role as General Manager Delegate – Pullman & Novotel New Delhi Aerocity. Tristan has been associated with AccorHotels for almost 30 years now. With AccorHotels India, Tristan has been associated since 2013 and has successfully opened and launched 670 rooms combo property- Pullman & Novotel New Delhi Aerocity.

S

achin Didolkar joins as the Director of Business Development of Conrad Pune.

He brings with him an experience of 12 years in the hospitality industry. He has worked with some of the brands like Marriott International, Taj Hotels & Resorts, Jumeirah Hotels, Emirates Palace and Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Prior to this, he was with Sheraton Grande in Pune and Le Meridian Mahabaleshwar as Complex Director of Sales &www.voyagersworld.in Marketing.

NETWORKING ISthe THE networking iS ke KEY y April 2017

May 2017

June 2017

July 2017

August 2017

April 2017 19, 20, 21 World Travel Market Africa South Africa

24, 25, 26, 27 Arabian Travel Market Dubai

26, 27 VisitScotland Expo Glasgow

May 2017 7, 8, 9 GTM Germany Travel Mart Nuremberg, Germany

June 2017 1, 2, 3, 4 KOFTA (Korea World Travel Fair) Seoul - Korea

5, 6, 7, 8 16, 17, 18 IMEX Frankfurt/Main, Germany

ILTM (Int'l Luxury Travel Market) Shanghai - China

15, 16, 17, 18 ITE (International Tourism Expo) Hong Kong

16, 17, 18 Indaba Durban, South Africa

23, 24, 25 BITE (Beijing International Tourism Expo) Beijing-China

July 2017 10, 11, 12 Asia Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchange Bangkok, Thailand

15, 16, 17, 18, 19 GBTA Convention 2017 Boston, USA

August 2017 6 Discover the Americas Travel Expo Brisbane,Australia

11-13 Mitm Travel Fair Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

15, 16, 17

18, 19, 20

India International Travel Mart 2017 Chennai

Holiday Expo Vadodara

21, 22, 23

23-24

IITM Bangalore 2017 Bangalore

Ibtm China Beijing, China