Voyager's World February 2016

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February 2016

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KOCHI

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14, 15, 16 January 2016

4, 5, 6 March 2016

CHENNAI

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29, 30, 31 July 2016

5, 6, 7 August 2016

MUMBAI

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23, 24, 25 Sep. 2016

30 Sep 1, 2 Oct 2016

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25, 26, 27 November 2016

2, 3, 4 December 2016

Boosting medical tourism in India...Need to run some internal ‘tests’!

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ast month, the Ministry of Tourism held the first meeting of ‘National Medical & Wellness Tourism Promotion Board’ in New Delhi to build and channelise mechanisms to lend solutions to the immediate concerns in the health and tourism sector. While the Government has been making steadfast efforts in tapping the international medical clientele to bring them here, even as the country has been ailing as the ‘World’s Diabetes Capital’, South Korea, known for its vibrant cosmetics industry, has announced Value-added Tax (VAT) free tucks, as part of its endeavours to boost inbound tourism. From April 2016, foreigners will receive refunds of VAT for getting cosmetic surgery in South Korea. I think the need of the hour is to build a ‘practise before you preach’ approach because a healthier nation is a better index of our healthcare values and system.

In this issue, we have featured the future of In-flight Wi-Fi on the cover, besides writing on ‘cultural tourism’, adventurous road trips, glimpses of travel events that concluded last year including the Outbound Travel Roadshow (OTR), GPS Nagpur 2016, etc.

Happy Reading..

Warm Regards

PRIYAMVADHA BALARAM

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Industry Buzz

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Hospitality

30 45

Industry professionals talk about growth prospects in 2016

Cover Story Trends and developments in in-flight Wi-Fi services

18

Cultural Tourism

Travel Events OTR, GPS Nagpur, CSTF bash 2016

Top Appointments

Japan, Spain and Turkey talk about cultural tours and trends

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Industry Buzz

6>> Adventure activities will attract high-spending tourists: AKTO

Visa openness levels continue to progress: UNWTO

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he Association of Kashmir Tour Operators (AKTO) appreciated the tourism department for conducting adventure sports activities during winter months, reported Rising Kashmir. In a statement, Nazir Ahmad Mir, Chairman, AKTO said national ice-skating held at Gulmarg and ice-climbing event at Pahalgam would help promote Kashmir among the adventure lovers and bring good adventure enthusiasts to Valley.

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ccording to World Tourism Organization UNWTO’s latest Visa Openness Report, the share of tourists requiring to obtain a visa prior to travelling continues to decline and is at its lowest level ever. In 2015, 39% of the world population could travel for tourism without obtaining a traditional visa prior to departure as compared to only 23% in 2008. On average, 18% of the world’s population was able to travel to a destination without a visa in 2015, while another 15% could receive a visa on arrival and 6% was able to obtain electonic-visas. UNWTO has been long advocating for the need to advance travel faciliation as a means to promote tourism development and multiply its socio-economic benefits.

OTOAI to hold 2016 convention in Bali

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utbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) has announced its second Mega Convention at Indonesia’s premier resort destination, Bali, between March 17 and 21, 2016. The Convention will be held at Pan Pacific Nirwana Hotel Bali. While first three days of the convention will be dedicated to deliberations and business sessions, the remaining two days will be spent on postconvention familiarization trips.

“Adventure tourism has lot of potential in the State and organizing events would promote Kashmir for adventure tourism also. Adventure tourists are high-spending tourists who needs to be attracted to Kashmir in large numbers,” said AKTO Chairman. AKTO praised the Secretary Tourism and Director Tourism Kashmir for giving adventure tourism priority in winter months.

Centre to grant INR 85.23 cr for tourism projects in Puducherry

T AI to accept agent corporate credit card for bookings

T

he Air India (AI) management is said to have agreed to accept corporate credit card from travel agents for booking tickets. An agreement was reached on this in a meeting of travel agents associations with AI’s management in January in New Delhi. Sunil Kumar, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) said the decision of the carrier to allow agents to use corporate credit cards for booking tickets was a major relief ‘when getting credit is becoming tough’ for agents.

he Union Tourism Ministry approved of allocation of INR 85.23 crore tourist circuit projects in Puducherry under the “Swadesh Darshan” scheme of the Ministry, reports PTI. P Rajavelu, Welfare and Tourism Minister, Puducherry, said that the Tourism Ministry had in the first instance released twenty percent (INR 17.05 crores) of the approved outlay which was being used to develop integrated theme based tourism circuits in coastal villages in Puducherry and its outlying regions. The allocation was in response to the details furnished by the Puducherry government for funds under the Swadesh Darshan scheme, he said in a release.

Nagpur Darshan bus service in the offing

T

he winter capital of Maharashtra is set to get a Nagpur Darshan bus service on the lines of Mumbai Darshan. This announcement was made by Manohar Roy, Associate, Global Panorama Showcase at Hotel Centre Point last month. He said that GPS, along with Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) will plan the launch in a month’s time. MTDC will popularise the concept on various platforms and trade shows. The capital costs and logistics will be borne by GPS. Initially, Nagpur Darshan will be a half day tour on Saturday and Sundays. Mine Tourism will be added into the itinerary.

Rajasthan unveils new tourism promotion campaign

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he Government of Rajasthan launched a multiyear, multi-modal, multi-narrative and multi-crore global campaign to galvanise tourism in the state with a view to raise the annual tourist arrivals past the 50 million mark by 2020. The campaign will play an important role in the Government of Rajasthan’s vision of doubling the annual footfall of International Tourists to from 1.5 million to 3.0 million by the year 2020. In the same period, the Government also aims to increasing the Domestic Tourist traffic from the present 33 million to 50 million tourists annually.

Voyager’s World > February 2016

Industry Buzz

7>>

IIFTC Locations Show 2016 to be held in Chennai, Hyderabad & Mumbai this month

Incredible India mobile app soon to be available real time

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inod Zutshi, Secretary-Tourism, Government of India, informed that the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) is in the process to update the Incredible India mobile app and operate it in real time. The revamp of Incredible India website is underway to make it more userfriendly. Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation officially launched the toll-free 24x7 tourist infoline in 12 international languages (including Hindi and English) in New Delhi. Information and help will be available in Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

T Singapore records 1 million tourism arrivals from India

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ingapore Tourism Board announced the record of over 1 million visitor arrivals from India in 2015 and celebrated this achievement by offering special in flight celebratory experiences in partnership with 3 airlines like Air India, Jet Airways and Singapore Airlines for passengers travelling to Singapore on 31 December 2015.This growth marks a year on year growth of 7.4% in visitor arrivals. In conjunction with this celebration STB conducted contest for travellers flying on these flights.

Jet fuel prices become cheaper by sharp 12%

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ccording to a report by Business Today, Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) or jet fuel price was slashed by nearly 12 %. ATF price in Delhi was reduced by INR 4,765.5 per kilolitre (kl) or 11.94 % to INR 35,126.82 per kilolitre. ATF price in Kolkata and Mumbai now stands at INR 41,482.09 and INR 34,284.02 per kilolitre, respectively.

In Chennai, it stands at INR 37,594.24.

This is the fifth reduction in a row since October 2015. Prices were cut by 10% on 1 January.

Swiss Travel Pass SuperStar 2016 registrations to open on 1 March

Japan Airlines to fly Boeing 787900 from Delhi from 1 March

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aving recorded a growth of 21.5% in Indian overnights during January to November 2015,

Switzerland Tourism, Rail Europe and Swiss Travel System have launched the Swiss Travel Pass SuperStar 2016 for travel agents, tour opearators and GSAs. This time around the gateway city of Zurich and for the first time, high-speed train TGV Lyria has collaborated for the training programme, scheduled to go live on April 1. Registration for the programme will open on March 1.

he apex trade body of Indian film industry, Film Federation of India (FFI) will organise the fourth edition of the annual film tourism convention, IIFTC Locations Show 2016 this month in Chennai on 23rd at Crowne Plaza Hotel; in Hyderabad on 25th at Radisson Blu Plaza and in Mumbai at JW Marriott, Juhu on 27th. IIFTC Locations Show is organised by Mercury Integrated Marketing Services and supported

by Film Federation of India. IIFTC Locations Show will witness participation from Asian, African and European countries vying to garner a larger slice of the foreign shoots market in India.

apan Airlines will be replacing its older aircraft Boeing 787-800 with Boeing 787-900, on the New Delhi-Tokyo daily route, with effect from March 1, 2016, informed Shuzo Okamoto, GM – Corporate Sales, Japan Airlines. With the addition of the brand new Boeing aircraft, the Business Class configuration will increase by 6 seats and the Economy Class seats will increase by 20 seats. Premium Economy will remain unchanged. Overall the seating capacity will rise by 20%. With the Cherry Blossom Season stepping in, March is very crucial for Japan Airlines as it notices an increased demand from the Indian market, he added.

TAT appoints Isra Stapanaseth as Director New Delhi

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ith effect from 1 February, 2016, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) appointed Isra Stapanaseth as Director for New Delhi with North & East India, Bangladesh, Bhutan & Nepal. Also, to target young golfers from India, TAT appointed Vani Kapoor as its Golf Brand Ambassador in India.

Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor, TAT, said,” We are trying to uplift the perception of Indian travellers about Thailand as a quality leisure and Golf Tourism destination. There are about 200,000 golfers in India, out of which 50,000 are active ones. Golf is gaining popularity among Indians between 12 to 18 year age group. TAT too is targeting young Golf travellers from India, thus we have appointed Vani Kapoor, currently Indian’s number 1 lady golfer as the Golf Tourism Brand Ambassador in India.

IATO Outbound Tourism Council announces 1st Convention in Sri Lanka

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he Indian Association of Tour Operators’ (IATO) Outbound Tourism Council announced its maiden Annual Convention in Sri Lanka this year. The dates and venue would be finalised later. Subhash Goyal, President, IATO, said the association wanted to hold the 1st Annual Convention of its Outbound Tourism Council in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region, and Sri Lanka was a unanimous decision. Travel to SAARC countries is short-haul and majority of IATO members wanted neighbouring countries in their itineraries, he stated.

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Cover Story

8>>

wi-fi gets wings! the in-flight story IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

In-flight Wi-Fi service continues to offer seamless connectivity and enhanced experiences for

Emirates Airlines

passengers in the industry.

Patrick Brannelly, Emirates Divisional Vice President – Customer Experience

Travelers connectivity is a critical concern and the demand for in-flight WiFi service is growing as we offer connectivity on about two-thirds of our flights with more aircraft getting connected each month.

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he aviation industry witnessed that in-flight Wi-Fi service is playing an important role in the industry and there is a huge demand in this service in most of the airlines nowadays as the passengers want to be connected all the time and expect the same level of connectivity. The demand on in-flight Wi-Fi will grow over the years. Industry professionals representing Emirates and Oman Air talk about initiatives taken by them to provide Wi-fi in-flight.

In-flight Wi-Fi to boost the growth of the industry With connectivity being a critical concern for most travellers today, Emirates invested over US $20 million in 2015 alone to offer passengers data connectivity and improve the onboard passenger experience.

Patrick Brannelly, Emirates’ Divisional Vice President – Customer Experience, says, “Every industry’s growth and vitality is driven by innovation and progress.

Emirates has consistently strived towards staying ahead of the curve and pioneered several initiatives that enhance the customer’s experience.”

Similarly, Oman Air, alongside many other airlines, is constantly looking for new ways to add value to the passenger experience. Sunil V A, Senior Manager Sales – ISC, Oman Air states, “Since the launch of in-flight mobile phone and Wi-Fi connectivity which Oman Air had pioneered in 2010, passengers have increasingly come to expect the same level of connectivity in the air as on the ground.”

Sunil notes “In-flight Wi-Fi probably

contributes little to the aviation industry’s overall sales, but does help customers to choose the airline they would like to fly with connectivity,” he added.

‘magic hour’, when travelling, as they use this time to check mails, access flight information, browse the web and send messages prior to boarding their flight.

While Wi-Fi is gaining rising importance inside the flight, airports too are not far behind in ensuring that the needs for travellers to stay connected are met.

Although the vast majority (78%) of passengers are generally happy with their travel experience, half of all passengers see room for improvement while 22% report major levels of dissatisfaction.

Public Wi-Fi hotspots are slowly emerging as one of the most preferred services for data access on-the-go for customers via their small screen mobile devices. As per SITA’s Report ninth annual global survey Passenger IT Trends Survey , provision of airport Wi-Fi represents a top three priority for passengers. This has also given rise to the phenomenon of ‘Magic Hour’. Airport Wi-Fi-users have created their own version of the

Globally, collecting baggage at the destination is the most frustrating travel step with 27% of passengers wanting significant improvement.

Not surprisingly security was also high on the list of pain points needing a big improvement for one in four passengers. The Americas region had the highest proportion of passengers (28%) wanting to see a significant improvement, followed

Cover Story

9>>

by Asia Pacific, while passengers from Europe and Africa/Middle East were generally happier with their travel experience.

Technology helps reduce frustration Responses to the survey indicate that, in general, travel steps where technology has been, or is starting to be, widely implemented – such as the searching and purchasing of tickets, check-in and in-flight – give passengers lower levels of frustration.

of more kiosk services. Investment in mobile services had a strong regional dimension with half of passengers in Africa and Americas wanting more services, but it was a much lower concern in Asia Pacific and Europe where just over onethird of passengers saw it as a priority area.

technologies are having on their travel experience with online, smartphones and airport kiosks particularly valued.

Accessing online services has been almost universally adopted by travelers, with 95% of surveyed passengers using websites for some part of their travel arrangements.

pre-flight experience, such as fare searches, flight booking and, to a lesser extent, check-in. Although self-service kiosks have been around for over ten years, 13% of passengers had yet to use one.

Nevertheless, for those that have used them, 40% thought they were a ‘definite’ improvement.

Are passengers happy with technology today?

Online technology has had the biggest impact Passengers appreciate the positive impact

Of these, a majority (53%) rate the experience as a ‘definite’ improvement over traditional means. In particular, the internet is highly rated for improving the

Mobile is making its mark Smartphone apps are less well established with 24% of passengers not currently using them for any travel related activities. However, of

Bringing technology solutions to the most frustrating steps is already starting to happen.

Streamlining security processes are a focus for the industry. Initiatives, such as IATA’s Smart Security program are gaining traction and the deployment of Automated Passport Control kiosks for faster inbound clearance, are going to make passengers’ lives easier.

There are also plans to improve the bag delivery stage of the journey with initiatives such as the IATA resolution with Resolution 753 to be in place by 2018. In addition, mobile apps that inform passengers how long their baggage will take and at which carousel their baggage will arrive are under development. This will enable passengers to make better use of their waiting time in the baggage hall.

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Where do passengers want the industry to invest?

Passengers have clear views on where they think technology can make a big difference to the travel experience. Top of the wish list is making it easier to compare air fares, with 54% of passengers globally suggesting it should be a priority investment. While some travel markets, such as Europe and the United States, are well served by flight comparison websites, passengers in others find airline by airline comparisons a time consuming process.

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In particular, 67% of passengers surveyed in the Middle East and Africa region stated a definite need for investment in this area.

Real-time information and in-flight Wi-Fi take up the remaining two places in the top three priority wish list each with 52% of passengers wanting further investment in these areas. Investments in additional self-service options were ranked lower priorities across all regions, although passengers in the Americas had the highest requirement for the introduction

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Flight Talk

Oman Air

10>>

Sunil V.A , Senior Manager Sales – ISC, Oman Air

In-flight Wi-Fi service means staying connected at all time and is a necessity for all the passengers. This demand will only grow and Oman Air is ready to meet the growing demand.

those passengers that do use the smartphone, 43% indicated they have made a ‘definite’ improvement to their travel experience, with a further 51% rating them ‘nice to have’.

The latest innovations have been well received Newer self-service technologies, such as unassisted bag-drop and automated boarding gates, are not yet widely deployed across the industry, but for those passengers who have experienced them, 37% and 40% respectively, believe they are a ‘definite’ improvement. While passengers expressed an intention to use all technology choices more in the near future, the strongest growth is in the usage of mobile apps, with online and kiosks also growing, but to a lesser extent. This year’s survey found 97% of passengers carried a phone, a laptop or a tablet when they traveled.

In fact, 18% of passengers travel with all three. More often than not the phone carried by passengers is a smartphone loaded with travel apps. Just over four in five passengers now have a smartphone and 76% of smartphone owners use airline

Voyager’s World > December 2015

apps, either occasionally or on a regular basis.

Strong interest in new services Passengers surveyed expressed a strong interest in using newer mobile services. Wayfinding at the airport leads the list with 57% of passengers wanting access to such applications. The second most popular application is the ability to scan a phone for access for boarding or entering a lounge.

Getting personal during times of disruption Passengers have a high expectation that airlines should provide a personalized alert and response in the event of travel disruption. Over half (53%) of passengers definitely expect the airline to inform them of problems via either a mobile app or a voice call. In comparison, only 29% of passengers would definitely expect notification through social media. The majority of passengers also expect personalized rearrangements, with automatic rebooking, to resolve the impact of disruption. A significant percentage (45%) of passengers would expect to have access to self-service

options via a mobile or a kiosk.

Rise in passengers through connectivity In the opinion of Patrick, consumer behaviour and brand preference are extremely complex systems due to which many books have been written on those subjects.

“Innovation is an investment and not a cost, so the effects of enhancing one part of a product or customer experience may not be directly identifiable or directly attributable to specific increased sales,” he says.

On the other hand, Sunil says that Oman Air has experienced continuous year-on-year increase in the number of passengers it carries. However, he says it is not yet possible to establish the degree to which in-flight connectivity affects buying decisions, although market research shows that such services do play an increasingly important part in buying behaviour.

Promotional plans Currently, Emirates offers 10MB of Wi-Fi for free on all Airbus A380s and about half of its Boeing 777 fleet. Later on, users can enjoy 500MB of data for a token $ 1 (USD)

charge. The Dubai-based carrier may change this pricing structure but its principle is that passengers should have the ability to stay connected for free. Ever since it made connectivity free in late 2014, about 1 in 4 passengers now connect during a flight. That rises to well over 60% on some ultra-long haul flights. In 2015, over four million passengers logged on to Wi-Fi onboard, which was six times as many as the year before for Emirates.

Demand for Wi-Fi in the future “With today’s technology and social media savvy passengers, there is always a need to connect wherever they are, a need to stay connected to the internet and to be kept informed through live television, especially on long-haul flights. The passenger’s appetite for data is growing and we now offer connectivity on about two-thirds of our flights with more aircrafts getting connected each month,” says Patrick.

The demand for Wi-Fi in air will only grow, like Sunil says as staying connected at all times has become a necessity for most of us and more so for passengers on the move.

Flight Talk

12>>

Civil Aviation Minister Inaugurates Airport Marketing Conference PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU

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he Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju has called upon various stakeholders to come out with new ideas on air services development for improved air services delivery.

He was inaugurating the Airport Marketing Conference on Air Services Development in New Delhi last month. The Minister said India is on the path of growth providing immense economic opportunities.

He said that along with growth of air passenger traffic, growth of air cargo traffic also needs to be given due importance. The Minister added that there is need to plan for the future while deriving inspiration from the past.

Addressing the conference Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Minister of State for Tourism & Culture (Independent Charge) Dr. Mahesh Sharma said that with

strong middle income group India has strong potential for growth of air services and effective marketing plays an important role in this regard. Highlighting the importance of aviation sector for growth of tourism he said it is high time that the air connectivity is further improved. He urged all departments to make joint efforts for improving air services delivery.

Speaking on the occasion Director General Civil Aviation, M. Sathiyavathy said that considering the security scenario, business can be generated only through passengers who use airports.

She emphasized on ensuring maximum use of airports and passenger requirements are taken into account. She underlined that proper and trained manpower should be there for management of airports. R.K.Srivastava, Chairman,

Airports Authority of India (AAI) said that despite the projected growth, India remains the least penetrative market with 0.4 trips per capita per annum compared to 2 in USA. He said India has strong 300 million middle income group with disposable income to travel at least once in a year by air. Stating that India’s strong economic growth projections are likely to ensure the sustenance of traffic trends both in the passenger and cargo, he said AAI is working zealously towards enhancing the capacity to meet the projected growth.

AAI has completed the development of 33 airports. Of these, the capacity at 10 airports which was enhanced to 30 million passengers per annum has already reached the levels of saturation and requires further augmentation. He said the available terminal capacity as on date is 250

million of which capacity utilized is only 190 million. However, the capacity required in the next ten years with the present trend of growth is 572 million. It would require creation of an additional capacity of 222 million.

AAI has planned an expenditure of about Rs. 20 thousand crores, spread over Aerodrome schemes amounting to around Rs. 18000 crores, Information Technology upgradation by Rs. 128 crores, Airport Systems by Rs. 865 crores.

Similarly for Air Navigation Services another Rs. 550 plus crores and for Ground Safety and Security Equipment Rs. 515 crores will be required to be spent. The AAI has already initiated the process of engaging the PMC for development of 11 airports namely Agartala, Guwahati, Srinagar, Lucknow, Pune, Patna, Trichy, Chennai, Leh, etc.

Digital commerce to be key enterprise for customer relations COURTESY: TNOOZ

Dominic Clarke, Senior Vice President - Global Sales for Datalex, talks about how airlines must look at embracing digital engagement to combat future challenges of customer engagement.

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ver the course of the past decade or so, many airlines have built high-performing ecommerce organizations from the “outsidein” – embracing the opportunity to disrupt the industry and deliver strong return on invested capital.

Airlines increasingly followed this approach, embracing ecommerce as an opportunity to reduce cost of distribution and to extend new product offerings such as ancillaries for increased revenues. Extending the product offering beyond the air fare through digital engagement with the customer has delivered upwards of 30% in incremental or ancillary revenues. Airlines have further experienced 30%+ increases in purchase conversions through innovative merchandising techniques such as the bundling of branded offers. However, the growing demand for omni-channel

Voyager’s World > February 2016

retail requires a digital commerce system which must deliver an unprecedented level of control and agility to support consistent offer and order management across rapidly evolving channels and points of sale.

The system must also enable an ever expanding ecosystem of developers, partner merchants and enterprise systems. As global airlines increasingly converge on a model focused on revenue and cost outcomes which directly align to digital consumer engagement, the next challenge will be to future proof the commerce enterprise system which will be the primary system of customer engagement going forward.

Integrated commerce Merchandising and

offer

management must now extend beyond the B2B and B2C channel divide and converge to serve a digital C2B marketplace. IATA NDC capable commerce platforms and continued industry alignment to IATA NDC are evidence of the industry’s willingness and intent to simplify and more effectively control all offers across all channels.

Offer Management Omni-channel (the ability to seamlessly move between devices/ channels with a consistent user experience) and multi-channel (the capability to sell in each sales channel such as B2C, B2B, airport, onboard, contact center, among others) require dynamic offer management. This requires unified systems which can combine real-time customer segmentation with dynamic pricing strategies for

any offer that generates revenue; whether a product (air, ancillary) and action (change, cancel, refund) or a bundle, package, subscription, redemption etc.

Order Management This must be simplified and centralized to control the end-to-end purchase cycle of all offers across all channels while ensuring one single view of the customer throughout their travel retail experience. IATA ‘One Order’ is a very welcome industry initiative which will leverage NDC to modernize and simplify the order management process across all channels. New digital distribution channels emerge at a rapid pace.

Increasingly sophisticated ‘digital consumers’ require consistent, contextual and relevant engagement from the travel retailer, irrespective of the channel, device or touchpoint.

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Hospitality

14>>

indian Hotel industry anticipates exponential growth in 2016 IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Professionals from the city’s leading hotels talk about their observations.

Parmeet Singh Nayar, General Manager- Shangri-La’s - Eros Hotel, New Delhi India is a lucrative market for International organizations and visitors with its rich history. The hotels in India recognize the potential of the Indian customers to increase the occupancy levels.

Biswajit Chakraborty,General Manager, Sofitel Mumbai BKC

IThe current year also looks buoyant in terms of both, Average Room Rate (ARR) and occupancy levels.The hospitality segment is essential to grow and is completely linked to the economics and growth of the country.

T

he hospitality scene in India, in general, has seen the emergence of many international brands entering the country, brands expanding into Tier 2 and 3 cities, existing brands re-branding their portfolios, mergers, acquisitions, asset management trends, etc.

These sudden shifts and changes have been accompanied by increased importance for business travel and M.I.C.E as well. Another noteworthy trend on the hospitality trend has got to be the way hotel inventory is being distributed.

There are a number of mobile booking apps, OTAs and last minute distribution channels that are revolutionizing the way rooms are getting sold.

The Indian hospitality industry noticed an increase in Average Room Rate (ARR), occupancy levels and a high ratio of repeat guests.

It has been observing an upward rise in terms of growth from last year and expects that this trend of growth would continue this year too, on account of the several new hotels that have opened across the country, from mid-scale to luxury.

Growth in terms of occupancy in 2015 Biswajit Chakraborty, General Manager, Sofitel Mumbai BKC, said, “The Indian hospitality segment has seen an upward trend in the

Voyager’s World > February 2016

last year and continues to evolve.

The improved tourism policies have encouraged the inflow of travellers in 2015, a trend that we will also see in 2016. New hotels have opened across various segments, from midsize to luxury, in anticipation of the increase in demand.

“The hotel has witnessed enhanced occupancy levels in the previous year and this growth has been a judicious mix of volumes as well as ARR and a high ratio of repeat guests. The current year also looks buoyant in terms of both, Average Room Rate (ARR) and occupancy levels,” he added.

Parmeet Singh Nayar, General Manager, Shangri-La’s - Eros Hotel, New Delhi explains, “The Indian hospitality industry has projected a remarkable growth in the last three years and has placed India as the second-fastest growing tourism market in the world.”

“The hotel industry is most likely to experience further growth with regard to the performance of this sector in the coming years. In accordance with this, there has been a significant increase in the demand-supply ratio for rooms in India, demonstrating the untapped potential that continues to exist in this industry,” he says.

“India is a lucrative market for International organizations and visitors with its rich historical, cultural and architectural attractions. It is imperative that hotels in India recognize the potential of the Indian customers across segments to generate more revenue and to increase the occupancy levels.” He added.

Biswajit says “The hospitality segment is essential to grow and is completely linked to the economics and growth of the country. If the country’s economy is rock-steady the segment grows and is a complete reflection of the economic and political situation of the country.”

Expected growth for 2016 Biswajit states that the RevPar and ARR of the hotel expect to see a significant growth in 2016, especially with the new government focusing heavily on India as a tourist destination. The initiative of Make in India and the new tourism policies will have a positive effect on the hospitality industry as well.

In the opinion of Parmeet, the booming tourism industry has had a cascading influence on the hospitality sector with an escalation in the occupancy ratios. Hotels in India saw 6 out of every 10 rooms occupied last year. However, in 2016, we are anticipating addition

of new rooms to keep up with the swift pace of incoming foreign tourists and business travellers.

“With the increased Government initiatives in Defence, Insurance and Infrastructure, the occupancy will witness a remarkable growth. The facility of visa on arrival, increase in Head of States visits and Business delegations will also contribute significantly,” he added.

Trends Parmeet explains, “Food and Beverage plays an imperative role in generating hotel revenue, majority of these trends will definitely be steered by the hotels. The trends emerging in 2016 will focus on authenticity in the cuisine served in the restaurants. Keeping food simple and real is definitely the way to go in 2016.”

Parmeet goes on to state that with technology making sturdy inroads in almost every industry, the Indian hospitality sector is also set to grow leaps and bounds using technology as a springboard. “The use of information technology in the hospitality industry has grown immensely over the past two decades, making it a catalyst for the growth of this sector. The Indian hospitality industry is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years,” he concludes.

Hospitality

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Hotels, wearables and the internet..

COURTESY: TNOOZ

David Chestler, Executive Vice President, Global Enterprise Sales and Business Development, SiteMinder, talks about how hoteliers can use gadgets to understand their guests better.

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ince undertaking the role of co-chair for HTNG’s Software Resources Team, I have had the privilege of taking a regular deep dive into the technologies emerging within – and disrupting – the travel industry as we know it.

And it is from this privileged perspective I can share that new technologies are coming with a greater velocity than ever before. In spite of the way we as an industry – perhaps dangerously – continue to speak about wearables and other new technologies as predictions, they are no more a prediction than the mobile phone. Wearable technologies are already here.

Watch this space Within the US alone, eMarketer estimates that the use of wearable technology rose over 50% last year and we will likely see more than 81.7 million users among US adults by 2018. In fact, many consumers are planning to purchase some form of wearable technology in the next 12 months, including smartwatches, fitness trackers and sleep trackers.

What is driving the adoption? Health and fitness.

How many hoteliers reading this can say they know which of their guests are hypoglycemic? What is the optimal temperature for guests to get a good night’s sleep? We need to remember technologies which enable better service and offer support will drive the increased usage, not simply their availability.

With the help of the cloud and the internet, I have witnessed commerce over recent decades driven to the e-frontier. Gone are the days when communication and transactions could occur only over the counter. If we aren’t already thinking seriously about logistics and security, we need to.

But what do we do with all the information available to us? What does it all mean? What does it mean to architecture and to your bandwidth? What does it mean for how you operate at the front desk and engage with guests? Can you

Voyager’s World > February 2016

move that engagement from the front desk to the lobby – and to the mobile phone, iPad or Google’s latest Glass?

In a digital age of hyperconnectivity and immediate gratification, should we be concerned that Aloft remains one of the only hotel brands using tablets to facilitate a faster check in beyond the front desk? For us within the travel industry, these questions are about evolution, not revolution.

Changing connections We have, for the most part, been focused on the Connected Property – the rooms, the facilities. We have seen room service robots, keyless room entry with cell phones and smartwatches, and the use of RFID technology for location-enablement and tracking.

Today, however, is about the Connected Guest and it’s important we ponder this from several perspectives: the operational perspective (is your guest happy with their stay?), the social (how engaged is your guest with your hotel?) and the commercial (how can you get your guest to convert?).

The Connected Guest forces us to be present at every stage of the traveller journey. We need to consider the full lifecycle of the Connected Guest transaction, from the early inspiration stage, to the planning and purchasing experience, to the prearrival experience to arrival to stay, to departure and reflection, and then back again.

Many different technologies need to collaborate to make this a seamless experience for the guest – from any device, in any location, at any time.

Mobile devices and wearables should play a big part.

As a technology company, we hear a lot from our hotel customers.

One area we have been focused for years is on mobile and, ultimately, how to enable the online booking transactions through the multitude of channels we connect.

And we not only want to enable constant communication but also

make it relevant and, where possible, personalized.

communication tool to help navigate the world.

Individual preferences A recent study by Forrester Consulting demonstrated the power of a personalized experience for hotels to win guests. Most travelers have no loyalty to any particular brand; they are loyal to those that can leverage data and technology to meet their individual needs.

Forward thinking The internet of things has illustrated how far – and fast – things are evolving. Wearables are evolving; RFID, bracelets and location devices are helping to create ways for payments as shown by Disney and Royal Caribbean. But there is so much more we can do.

And they are willing to share their personal information if it means their individual preferences can be better met, such as their preferred room, check-in and check-out times, and local activities.

Consider a world where a driverless Uber arrives at the airport to whisk guests away to their hotel with beacons and geo-location devices tracking their location and Tripit-like apps enabling data-sharing; where they will check-in by simply entering their room using their smartphone, watch or RFID implant; where they will find their luggage already in the room because it’s been delivered by drones.

How many hotel services today utilize Skype or other engagement tools to provide that personal touch and wow factor for interested guests? (Of course, privacy can become a critical issue here but that’s a whole other post unto itself.)

Wearable technology and mobile challenge us as an industry to be continuously available – as the traveller is. For those of us who serve as technologists in this sector, it is our job to be aware of what is coming and to deliver it as an experience, even before the guest knows they want it.

Similarly, for others within hospitality and travel, disruption will occur among those that can leverage technology to automate and create precognitive knowledge so they know – and can anticipate – the consumer’s every need.

Gaining this understanding has become ever more important in our global, internet-led economy where the English language has become just one, increasingly-devaluing

The amenities, entertainment and surroundings are personalized, based on the guest’s established preferences, with beacons and location-based technologies tracking and supporting the guest. Mobile devices, which are tied into their virtual reality, can let guests adjust the thermostats for comfort wherever they are. Room service, room supplies and issue resolution can all be signaled from their watch, eyeglass or other mobile device.

And their multiple devices are already logged into Wi-Fi with their existing password and ID, making the operational and social collaboration much simpler for both the guest and the hotel to manage.

The mobile era is bringing more than just a phone and a laptop. Will you be a spectator to the change or a participant?

Hospitality

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Novotel Imagica Khopoli expects larger booking in 2016 IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Srinivas Srirangam, General Manager, Novotel Imagica Khopoli, says the hotel noticed an occupancy rate of over 75% in 2015 and expects a larger occupancy rate for 2016.

With the hotel planning to spread out this year, Srinivasan Srirangam, the hotel’s General Manager, is optimistic about good occupancy in 2016. “The hotel has been faring well since the launch in the last few months. Novotel Imagica Khopoli is targeted at families, M.I.C.E, thrill seekers and weddings. Our average occupancy has been over 75% and we expect even larger booking this year as we will also launch phase 2 and 3 of our property,” he says.

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ovotel Imagica Khopoli, which opened in September 2015, has been faring quite well in terms of occupancy, having recorded an average of over 75%. The proximity to the Adlabs Imagica and Aquamagica theme parks may be attributed to this encouraging trend.

Segments like M.I.C.E and weddings Aiming to be the only theme park property in Asia, Novotel Imagica Khopoli‘s main customer segments include leisure groups, M.I.C.E, individuals, long stay groups and

weddings. For its leisure guests, the hotel organizes interactive sessions such as storytelling, swimming classes, craft sessions, painting, clay art, Zumba, indoor games and treasure hunts, in addition to the activities of the park.

As for M.I.C.E and wedding, the hotel features one of the largest meeting spaces in the Lonavala area with a pillar-less ballroom ‘Casper’ at 446 sq m and a seating capacity of around 460 guests, equipped with the latest audio-visual equipment and wireless internet access for corporate events.

Promotional plans The hospitality industry is undergoing an extensive transformation and

technology has taken the front seat in the form of social media. Novotel Imagica Khopoli plans to shape itself into a destination in itself, be it entertainment or business. It uses social media to promote and build awareness as well as to stay connected with its guests. “We use a multipronged marketing strategy using both modern and traditional tools to increase awareness. We use traditional forms of communication like radio, print, hoardings, hotel collaterals to inform people and also engage them through social media contests, videos or posts,” he states, while adding that YouTube videos showing tips from its Executive Chef and cooking demonstrations are also part of their promotional activities.

Easy-to-use booking engine helps boost revenue PRIYAMVADHA BALARAM

Jean Francois Mourier, CEO, Revpar Guru, enlists six ways to boost direct revenue in hotels this year.

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ccording to Phocuswright, 74% of independent hotel reservations in Europe come from an OTA. As such every hotelier’s 2016 resolutions should include boosting direct revenue for your property. By increasing direct revenue, you can decrease the cost of acquisition and increase repeat business. It’s a win/ win situation for every property – no matter the property type, location or star rating. Here are six tips to boost direct revenue this year.

Ensure that your room rate is the same on your own website as on the OTAs A large number of hotels continue to offer their best room rates through the OTAs rather than their own website. Because most consumers are price-conscious shoppers (meaning that they will most often choose the room with the cheapest

rate), it makes sense to offer the same rate on the OTA channel and the direct channel (where your property keeps 100% of the booking amount), to ensure that less consumers will choose to book through the expensive OTAs. Use loyalty programs to incentivize repeat customers It is much more expensive to secure new business than it is to keep an existing customer. Marketing Metrics also demonstrated that “the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 to 70%... the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5 to 20%, once again making it a more profitable business practice to secure repeat business from prior customers, instead of searching out new ones.

One of the best ways to secure repeat business is by implementing

a loyalty program and letting customers know that they should book directly in order to earn and/ or redeem points.

Ensure that the booking engine on your site is easy-to-use Make sure that you don’t confuse potential guests with the booking process and that you accept all possible forms of payment (including Paypal, Bitcoin, etc.) to ensure that you aren’t losing possible direct bookings.

Simplify your pricing options Consumers are looking for one thing: a good price. They don’t want to have to try to figure out eight different pricing options in order to find the best rate.

Make it easy to find the ‘Book Now’ button on every page of your website

Some consumers may assume that you don’t offer a booking engine on your site if they don’t see a call-to-action clearly displayed on every page. The button should be large, brightly colored and placed prominently to garner as much attention as possible.

Sign up with all of the last-minute booking apps/sites This year, oil prices will decrease which means that there will be more walk-in guests arriving – either by plane or car – with no prior booking. In 2016, hoteliers should have a complete revenue management strategy designed to attract last-minute bookers and should use all of the lastminute booking apps/sites (like HotelTonight) to reach as many potential guests as possible within a shorter booking window.

www.voyagersworld.in

India Outbound

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local customs inspire indians to experience ‘cultural tours’

While one can, by default, discern the culture of a place during one’s travel, tourism boards are taking steps to specifically define ‘cultural tours’ when travellers approach them for local experiences.

Corrida en Pamplona

INSTITUTO DE TURISMO DE ESPAÑA

IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Ignacio Ducasse Gutierrez, Tourism Counselor, Embassy of Spain in India and Director of the Tourism Office of Spain- Mumbai Cultural Tourism is becoming popular and we recorded good number of Indian tourists travelling to experience the local festivities and to live as a local.

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ny travel, short or long; business or leisure; solo or group; will always bring a perspective of the destination’s culture to the traveller - be it en route to the place or there, the food or the way of life. The term ‘Cultural Tourism’, however, tends to bring to one’s mind a larger picture of the heritage of the place including the architecture, language, religion, art, etc. While one can, by default, observe and discern all of the above during one’s travel, destinations and tourism boards, in particular, are taking steps to specifically define ‘cultural tours’ when travellers approach them for local experiences.

Cultural Tourism involves various local activities like guided tours, visits to historic places like museums, monuments, palaces and stay at a farmhouse. These days, Indian travellers, are keen to travel merely to experience local festivals and cultural attractions. Cultural tourism is a potential segment and is in huge demand what with the growing number of Indian outbound travellers. This growth is expected to

Voyager’s World > February 2016

continue in 2016.

Cultural tourism Ignacio Ducasse Gutierrez, Tourism Counselor, Embassy of Spain in India and Director of the Tourism Office of Spain in Mumbai, India says that cultural tourism has been promoting the country to a great extent. Culture is the key word when promoting tourism to any country and Spain’s cultural heritage is one of the world’s richest and most varied, and is the result of the interaction of many interesting elements over the course of thousands of years of history.

In the opinion of Ozgur Ayturk – Director, Turkish Culture & Tourism, Asia Pacific, travellers who engage in cultural tourism activities visit, art galleries, theatres, museums, historic sites, cultural events, ethnic communities and neighbourhood, architectural and archaeological treasures.

Daisuke Kobayashi, DirectorSingapore, Malaysia & India, Japan National Tourism Organization

(JNTO), said, “We started to promote Cultural Tourism by promoting stay at farmhouse or at a regional small fishing village to experience the local flavor of Japan one must experience the tea ceremony or attend the making of Japanese traditional craft and must take part in agriculture farming.”

“We don’t promote cultural tourism separately as we think that we need to introduce typical attractions in Japan, like the Cherry blossom season, Mt. Fuji, Shinkansen etc. We in the near future intend to introduce more subdivided attractions including Cultural Tourism,” he added.

“2016 marks 400 years of the death of the famous Miguel de Cervantes, world known for writing ‘Don Quixote’. San Sebastián has also been declared the European Capital of Culture for this year.

This city in northern Spain offers a programme full of activities and events to promote coexistence through dialogue and links with the

rest of Europe,”Ignacio added.

Ozgur says, “ Cultural tourism has a potential to produce a huge market demand. We may also say that there exists a significant potential demand within Turkey for developing cultural tourism.”

Campaigns or online promotions Ignacio says, “We do a lot of campaigns and online promotions every year and this year also we will continue promoting this cultural tourism segment in India. We will be organizing a group familiarization trip for journalists to explore some of the World Heritage Cities of Spain.”

“We firmly believe that culture and tradition are some of the most important factors that attract Indians to Spain and hence we also promote this via other online mediums like our Facebook page and through electronic newsletters,” he added.

Ozgur said, “We have been promoting Turkey in various platforms in India, be it participating in travel trade fairs, workshops and roadshows,

India Outbound

Turkish Culture & Tourism - Pamukkale

Japan National Tourism Organization - Tea ceremony

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Ozgur Ayturk,Director, Turkish Culture & Tourism, Asia Pacific

Turkey is a country that preserved thousands of years of history and a land of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Cultural tourism is based on the mosaic of places, traditions and art forms and a huge demand is noticed within Turkey for developing cultural tourism. cultural tourism is also a part of it.”

Activities for cultural tourism In Spain, some of the main activities for cultural tourism are visits to museums, monuments, parks, palaces, art galleries, theatres, World Heritage Cities of Spain.

Festivals like La Tomatina, Running of the Bulls, Las Fallas are very popular among avid Indian travellers who also like to indulge in traditions like going for tapas, flamenco shows and bullfighting.

Turkey has a lot to offer in cultural segment, be it art galleries, theatres, museums, historical sites, archaeological treasures. Turkey is a country that has preserved thousands of years of history, it is a land of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Growth from India in 2015 The Cultural Tourism to Spain from India is becoming generally more popular and in 2015 we have recorded good number of Indian tourists travelling to Spain for cultural activities such as guided

tours, visits to historic places like museums, monuments and palaces.

Indian tourists love festivals like La Tomatina, Running of the Bulls, Flamenco Shows have gained much popularity in the Indian market. We have noticed several Indian tourists planning a trip to Spain just to experience the local festivities and to live it ´like a local´ in Spain.

2015 was a great year as Japan had welcomed 16,316,900 tourists, a growth of about 48% compared to the corresponding period in the previous year. In this period 87,000 Indians visited Japan, showing a growth of 18.2%.

Spain has maintained a double digit growth every year in the numbers of arrivals from India to Spain. A good percentage of this growth can be attributed to the cultural factor of Spain. “Although small, India is a very potential and emerging market for us. Spain has a lot to offer, and this is something officially endorsed

by UNESCO: Spain is the country with the third greatest number of

World Heritage Sites. Spain offers a total of 15 World Heritage Cities which are of immense cultural value for a variety of reasons. Our cultural heritage is priceless for the tradition, history, wealth and diversity,” says Ignacio, adding that UNESCO’s recognition was a special honor as it certified the role of those sites as points of reference and as supreme examples of the world’s cultural diversity. “However, it also requires a deep commitment: to guarantee their protection and conservation for the enjoyment of future generations,” he says.

Cities like Cordoba, Toledo and Salamanca reflect Spain’s urban history, displaying the transformations and influences they have undergone over the ages. An important element is the way the urban landscape is integrated into its natural surroundings: rivers, mountains and gorges are all part of the personality of cities such as Segovia, Cuenca and Toledo and these cities also possess some of the world’s most important

monuments: the Great Mosque in Cordoba, City Walls of Avila and the Cathedral in Santiago are just three examples,” he added.

Turkey has experienced 10% growth overall from India as compared with 2014. The increase in this segment is expected to be in accordance with the overall growth, notes Ozgur.

As for Japan, Daisuke aspires to maintain the consistent growth trends in the in-bound tourist flow to Japan. JNTO will continue with its outreach program to reach out to the travel and trade industry. Year 2016 is packed with events and some unique celebrations.

“We look forward to attracting more and more tourists to come and experience the festivities and also the uniqueness that our destination offers. We also intend to work closely with the travel trade and introduce customized itineraries for the tourists which could include some of the lesser known destinations in Japan,” he concluded.

www.voyagersworld.in

India Outbound

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Tech-ties boost India’s arrivals to San Francisco!

PRIYAMVADHA BALARAM

The Golden City saw 163000 Indian arrivals in 2014 thanks to increased VFR movements in the Silicon Valley, says Tom Kiely, EVP-Tourism, San Francisco Travel & San Francisco International Airport. hence, their daily spending would be suppressed.” The VFR market is extremely important to San Francisco due to the Bay Area, the Silicon Valley and the kind of region around it.

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n 2014, San Francisco received 163000 visitors from India, largely due to the strong Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) market living in the Bay Area. On that note, Tom Kiely, EVP-Tourism, San Francisco Travel & San Francisco International Airport, expects a 5% increase in the forecast for 2015 arrivals at about 172000. “We see India as a consistent and strong market and by the end of 2017 or 2018, we hope to see the arrivals touch 200000,” he says while adding that in 2014, 381 million dollars were recorded as spending by Indians. “Although the spending is a little below the general average of international visitors, Indians stay the longest and

New places to see This year, San Francisco Travel is opening the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The art and culture scene has significantly expanded in the city for people to come and experience the various activities.

Indians, in particular, are drawn to its robust and vibrant cultural establishments. The recent launch of the non-stop Delhi to San Francisco flight is something to look forward to. It has a very diverse offering of things for people do, ranging from fine dining, shopping, getaways from the city, etc. Tom says that San Francisco Travel may increase its spending in a couple of different markets, though. It is doing a little bit of promotion in the UK and China and may expand to few other markets including India.

M.I.C.E “The Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (M.I.C.E) segment is really important

to us and we are most popular for incentives,” states Tom as he explains how San Francisco lends itself well for the M.I.C.E market, be it India or anywhere else. There are great meeting facilities, hotels, gourmet meals, wine tasting, national parks, ocean walks, shopping and much more. SF Travel has a MICE division, which is part of its Conventions Department; it helps develop customised itineraries that include the meeting, select evening activities and special meal arrangements.

“A four-day itinerary in the city is a really good idea because the West Coast is far from India.

We recommend this itinerary for Indians to explore San Francisco, know the city, go on organised tours and also take time to get on to the hop-on and hop-off buses.

San Francisco is not a very large city geographically or in terms of population. In fact, many a time people wish they had spent more time in San Francisco than in Los Angeles or Las Vegas,” he adds.

Top Attractions Some of the top places that visitors do not miss when in San Francisco

are the Golden Gate Bridge, the Union Square, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, the waterfront along the Embarcadero, etc. The Union Square has some great hotels including the Taj, as well as shopping. One must see attraction that Tom recommends is the Alcatraz Prison. In summer, the tickets sell out weeks in advance.

The Alcatraz Prison, in particular, does not sound exciting, but it actually offers interesting stories of the place along with popular guided tours. “It is by far, one of the most popular attractions in the city,” says Tom. The de Young Fine Arts Museum in the Golden Gate Park and the California Academy of Sciences offer hands-on experiences for families, children as well as large group travellers.

“The Silicon Valley and the tech connection that exists between both India and the USA have resulted in many people coming on short business trips, visit friends and relatives or extend their trip after work to see the place. We see India as an up and coming market. There is great potential for growth here,” he signs off.

Turkey unveils ‘pre-application system for Turkish Sticker Visa’ VW BUREAU

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n line with the procedure observed

by Schengan countries and to make it transparent, Turkey has updated its visa application process for various sub categories. For this reason, the Turkish Ministry of External Affairs has come up with ‘pre-application system for Turkish Sticker Visa’ system which will require applicants to fill basic details and agree to the terms and agreements online. “Travel agents may enter the details, but the application form needs to be signed

Voyager’s World > February 2016

by the applicant. Applicants will upload their biometric photograph, income proof, flight reservation, hotel bookings and other supporting documents online, which after uploading successfully will be given a confirmation and a physical application form to be printed and signed by the applicant,” the Consulate General of The Republic of Turkey said in a statement.

With this update, one can seek an appointment online and a travel

agent/applicant can visit the Consulate and submit all documents with the passport and make payment. Applicants will have the option to submit their photograph online. However, the online preapplication system is different from the E-Visa system.

Addtionally, Turkey has witnessed a growth in tourist arrivals from the Indian market. In 2013, the country welcomed 95,000 nationals from India, and in 2015, the figure

touched 140,000. “We expect a lot of diplomatic traffic between 2 countries this year. We expect changes at foreign secreatary levels, and hopefully a bilateral agreement.

We are hopeful of policy changes and Turkey being offered Visa on Arrival by India,” said Erdal Sabri Ergen, Consul General, Turkish Consulate General in Mumbai.

Currently, Turkey issues visa to Indian nationals through Consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad, and Embassy in New Delhi.

India Outbound

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TravelNevada enhances its Product Portfolio....bets on India!

ROHIT HANGAL

Mark Hutchinson, Lieutenant Governor of Nevada and Chairman of the Nevada Division of Tourism, urges Indians to look at much more that the state offers beyond the quintessential and buzzing Vegas. campaign started way back in 2003.

Circa 2016, the destination has evolved into a land of entertainment and unadulterated glitz, gaming, family holidays, Meeting venues, scenic vistas and more.

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as Vegas and the state of Nevada has long cherished its tagline ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’! A brand-line that succeeded like no other. It drove hundreds and thousands to Las Vegas driving their aspiration to be free! To be in a state of Holiday Nirvana! Well this

The Nevada Division of Tourism recently participated in SATTE 2016 at New Delhi, from January 29 to 31, 2016. TravelNevada targeted in strengthening partnerships and promoting the state to the buyers from the Indian travel trade. With better flight connectivity to get straight into Las Vegas, Indians can now fly get in via British Airways via London or use Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong.

Mark Hutchison, Lieutenant Governor of Nevada and Chairman of the Nevada Division of Tourism,

who led the delegation into India, said “Nevada’s wealth of diversity makes it a truly unique tourism destination. From the quintessential tourist experiences of Las Vegas to the scenic rural towns of Ely and Tonopah, from the buzzing downtown scene at Reno to the tranquil alpine beauty of Lake Tahoe, the cowboy traditions of Elko to the engineering marvel that is Hoover Dam, there are a wealth of experiences for visitors to the state.

One the most mountainous states in the USA, Nevada offers dramatic landscapes and spectacular sites”.

On their hopes from the Indian market, he further added “India is an extremely important market, as about 53 million people visit our State every year. We are proud

that Nevada established an India representative office with Sartha Global Marketing in 2015 and are excited to use this opportunity to promote Nevada’s other unique cities and attractions.”

Larry Friedman, Deputy Director of Sales and Industry Partners of the Nevada Division of Tourism added, “India is an exciting market, we have seen the steady growth of visitor arrivals from India to US in the last few years. As a large number of these visit Nevada as a part of their itinerary, our main objective is to showcase the best travel experiences to Indian travellers.”

The Nevada Division of Tourism is marketed and represented by Sartha Marketing in India.

India is top source market for Dubai VW BUREAU

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ndia is the top international source market for Dubai, according to the annual findings for 2015 by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM). With a year-on-year growth of 26%, bringing in over 1.6 million tourists, India was the second fastest growing top 10 source market for Dubai Tourism in 2015.

Overall, Dubai attracted more than 14.2 million overnight visitors, recording a 7.5% increase over 2014, double than the United Nations World Travel Organization’s (UNWTO) projected 3-4% global travel growth for the same period.

South Asia has been one of the largest regions by volume bringing in 2.3 million visitors reflecting a 21.7% increase versus 2014.

Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General, Dubai Tourism, said, “2015 has been a very strong year for Dubai’s travel sector with double the global industry growth levels firming up our position as the fourth most visited city in the world. South Asia,

especially India, has performed phenomenally well. India has always been a key market for us and we believe our efforts to adopt a highly segment-specific approach in cities with the highest connectivity and latent capacity, as well as building stronger trade ties in market with digital travel intermediaries, have yielded results and will continue to enable Dubai capture share of the growing Indian upper middle-class family and business segments.

“In addition to strong tourism ties, 2015 saw progressive bilateral talks between our two nations spurred by the state visit from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UAE, which further cemented our deeprooted relationships and will be a cornerstone of future collaboration and connectivity.” With an aim to become the world’s premier family destination, Dubai is set to further enhance its family-centric offering by opening doors to 4 new theme parks.

IMG Worlds of Adventure will open its doors to visitors later this year.

Following this will see the launch

of the first theme park in the world dedicated to Bollywood– Bollywood Parks Dubai along with Hollywoodinspired motion gate Dubai and family favourite LEGOLAND Dubai by Dubai Parks & Resorts.

Dubai Tourism will further strengthen its festivals calendar with key events like the inaugural XYoga Festival that will bring world renowned Yogis to Dubai in February, Dubai Food Festival and Dubai Motor Festival and Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS).

Almarri shared, “Repeat visitation from Indian travellers remains a priority and as our destination

proposition continues to grow and diversify, we are better placed than ever to continually offer visitors more reasons to come back time again, whether for leisure or as part of an ever increasing business and event line-up. We are also seeing strong forward bookings from family travellers around the upcoming summer holidays and look forward to welcoming even more visitors during this period, which is set to be further evolved with a spate of new attraction openings, a richer hospitality offering and a more robust family-friendly visitor agenda.”

www.voyagersworld.in

India Outbound

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Kenya unleashes new initiatives to boost tourism

President Uhuru Kenyatta announced a range of new incentives last month to put in place to encourage tourism in Kenya.

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peaking at the opening of Kenya’s first luxury yachting marina (English Point Marina) in Mobasa, last month, the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled new initiatives including the Charter Incentive Scheme, changes to Kenyan visa regulations, and reduced costs on park fees. to encourage tourism in Kenya.

As part of the $11.7m USD Charter Incentive Scheme, charter airlines which travel to the coastal cities of Mombasa and Malindi, will now be able to land without any cost. Charter airlines will also be further incentivised as the Ministry has announced that they will be subsidised by $30USD per every passenger brought to the region.

The scheme will continue until 30 June 2018. Tourist fees have also been revised as the Ministry of Tourism builds upon last year’s new and simplified e-visa process, by wiping the usual $50USD fee for visa applications of children under 16 – this will be effective from 1st February 2016. Additionally, the original KWS park fees of $90USD will now be reduced and capped to $60USD, with a complete removal of VAT charges on national park fees.

services are critical to the socioeconomic transformation that we all desire.” Improvements include: •Expansion of JKIA and Malindi airports to handle greater numbers •Construction of the Port – Reitz Mombasa Road and the DongoKundu Bypass that will allow tourists to travel to the South Coast (Diani) without using the ferry •Kenya Ferry Service to buy and operate two new ferries for the Likoni Channel crossing

The President also announced a number of coast infrastructure improvements that will ease travel to and around the Kenyan coast, saying, “We continue to invest heavily in our infrastructure in the knowledge that quality roads and

He thanked the governments of the USA, UK and France for lifting their travel advisories on the coast saying, “International governments recognise that security here has vastly improved and there is much to be gained by partnering with

Kenya and the East Africa region.

We must not allow that momentum to be lost.”

Cabinet Secretary for Tourism, Hon. Najib Balala, said, “We are engaged in a high-level tourism recovery effort in consultation with stakeholders from the government and private sector. This is the right way to shape the strategies we need to transform and sustain our tourism industry. The government is behind our ambition to restore Kenya’s tourism crown and we ask all tourism stakeholders to respond to our initiatives with the seriousness they deserve. It is time to maximise the heritage and natural gifts we possess and give the world’s travellers the experience they deserve.”

Phillip Island Nature Parks expects over 13% growth from India IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

Phillip Island Nature Parks is a unique natural locale with interesting wildlife experiences that are sure to appeal well to Indian travellers, says its International Sales & Marketing Representative, Stephen Peppard.

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he Phillip Island Nature Parks in Victoria, Australia, was created two decades ago by the Victorian State Government as a self-funded organization for animal conservation and research. Located 1.5 hours drive south of Melbourne and spread over 1805 hectares of reserves, the nature park allows visitors to observe Australian wildlife in their natural habitat.

Voyager’s World > February 2016

Unique highlights Some of the noteworthy attractions include the Penguin Parade, Antarctic Journey at the Nobbies Ocean Discovery Centre, Wild Ocean Ecoboat Tours, Koala Conservation Centre and Churchill Island Heritage Farm. While the Koala Conservation Centre allows people to view koalas on treetop boardwalks, the Ecoboat tours take visitors out to see seals at Seal Rocks. The new Antarctic journey features a fun and interactive experience to see virtual wildlife. Other conservation reserves and recreation areas found here are Pyramid Rock, Rhyll Inlet, Swan Lake, Oswin Roberts Reserve, Cape Woolamai and the Nobbies Centre which overlooks Australia’s largest population of fur seals. One can observe penguins in their natural habitat in the Penguin Parade.

Indian market “The nature park witnessed tremendous growth from the Indian market,” said Stephen while adding that the reserve recorded an increase of about 25% from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015, partly attributing the surge to the World Cup. He expects the growing trend to continue in 2015-16 and exeed 13% from India. “India is an important market for us and we really want to strengthen our ties with the Indian travel trade. We hope to see the 13% figures grow to around 18% by the end of this financial year at the end of June and then continue the growth to be somewhere around the 20% mark by December.”

He further stated that Indians were becoming more sophisticated and socially aware as travellers. They have been found to look for unique,

memorable and real experiences.

“Fortunately at the Phillip Island Nature Parks, we can offer a very rewarding wild animal encounter with our various Penguin Viewing options,” he said.

Marketing and promotional plans At the start of 2016, the nature park has appointed Blue Square Consultants as its sales and marketing representative in India.

Stephen revealed that there were plans to conduct product training within the next few months. “We attend the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) event every year, which happens to be attended by most of the Indian agents also.

Many of these agents do site inspections pre and post ATE, thereby, providing us with a great opportunity to promote our amazing wildlife experiences.”

Incredible India

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MoU signed to open Cauvery River Gallery in Mysore VW BUREAU

The modalities to execute the project are being worked out now and the gallery, which will have multimedia exhibits, is expected to be thrown open to the public in six months from now.

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“The proposed gallery would be set up with the support of the National Academy of Sciences of India (NASI). The government has already earmarked Rs 3.5 crore for the project. NASI would run it for first three years, train local personnel and then hand it over to the state government,’’ said R V Deshpande, Minister for Tourism and Large & Medium Scale Industries, after signing the MoU.

under the chairmanship of Dr. K. Kasturirangan, recommended action for intuition building, policy innovation and excellence in the field of education, health, science and technology, industry, entrepreneurship, research and innovation, traditional knowledge, agriculture, E- governance, rural development etc. KJA has identified the Cauvery River Gallery as the most important manmade tourist attraction that can be located in world famous Mysore. A number of meetings were conducted to examine the proposal and it was recommended by the KJA that setting up of the river museum would be most appropriate at that juncture.

The Karnataka Jnana Ayoga (KJA), which is an apex advisory body

The gallery will use state-of-the-art technology through which tourists

he Government of Karnataka signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Academy of Sciences India (NASI) on 6 January, 2016 in Bangalore, to establish a Cauvery River Gallery in Mysore.

and children can visualize and have real time experience of cruising along the belt of River Cauvery which is around 765 km in length.

It will have audio visuals, detailed satellite images, exhibits on the river’s journey, myths and legends, physiography, tributaries, geoscientific importance, bio-diversity of the basin, socio-economic importance, tourism, culture, fair

and festivals, threats to the river, conversation and restoration efforts and research. These would be projected through interactive multimedia with diorama, animation, backlit graphic display, RFID based interactive exhibit with graphics in interactive map browser and interactive virtual tour. It is expected to be opened to public in six months from now.

MoT supports ‘Spirit of India Run’ by ultra marathon runner VW BUREAU

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he Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India along with State Tourism Departments of the States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and Union Territory of Chandigarh are supporting ‘ Spirit of India Run ’ by Pat Farmer, an ultra marathon runner from Australia. Pat will run over 4600 km in 60 days starting from Kanyakumari and finishing in Kashmir. He has initiated his run on 26 January 2016 celebrating India’s Republic Day and Australia Day. Pat is a multiple world record holder for endurance running and has run from the North Pole to the South Pole and across Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Middle East and North America. He has served eight years as a Member of Australia’s Parliament, with three

Voyager’s World > February 2016

years as Parliamentary Secretary for Education, Science and Training.

He has raised millions of dollars for worthy causes during his 20 year running career. He will run on an average 70-80 Km., daily through the States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir and cover a distance of 4600 km.

Pat’s ‘Spirit of India Run’ is aimed at cementing relations between India and Australia; encourage tourism and personal relationships to create awareness of India as a ‘Must Experience’ destination for travellers from Australia; and support causes and charity which in the current endeavour is to raise funds for education of girl child.

‘Spirit of India Run’ is also being supported by Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), Federation of

Hotels & Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI), Hotel Association of India, Indian Heritage Hotels Association, etc. He is accompanied

by TV crew which would cover the entire run and make a documentary that would be screened times on Australia’s Channel 9 TV Network.

He entered Goa at Margao on 08 February and Goa Tourism is assisting and coordinating all his arrangements while he is in Goa. To

felicitate Pat, India Tourism Mumbai along with Goa Tourism organised an ‘Incredible India Evening’ at Margao on 8 February, which was attended by the media, travel industry, hotel industry, Government officials, students and sports enthusiasts.

As he enters Maharashtra on 9 February India Tourism Mumbai along with Maharashtra Tourism will give a traditional welcome him at Banda, the border of Maharashtra.

future of business travel buying lies in mobile presence!

PRIYAMVADHA BALARAM

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owards the second half of last year, ExhiAsAp, the world’s first Smartphone application for the exhibition and convention industry, was launched in Mumbai by Viraat Technology Labs Pvt. Ltd., thus, marking the way forward for the M.I.C.E industry. The application is custom-designed to meet the needs of participants in trade shows and MICE. It results in a huge saving of time, money and manpower during and after the exhibition.

When the visitor enters the exhibition stall, the ExhiAsAp user takes an instant scan of his business card with the smartphone camera to capture the visitor’s details instantly. The user can also select what products are of interest to the visitor. Each visitor’s data is automatically transmitted to the company’s central database.

This is just one of the many technology-driven trends that will influence the MICE sector this year and in the near future.

According the Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s 2016 Meetings and Events Forecast, the MICE industry is poised for good growth in the

coming 12 months.

While the news of overall growth is positive, the report also sounds a note of caution. As attrition and cancellation terms are becoming stricter, supplier negotiations will be more important than ever to meeting planners.

The fourth annual edition of Forecast provides event planners with comprehensive regional data, including average attendee cost per day and average group size, so they can plan and budget for the coming year.

David Moran, Executive Vice President, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, said: “Our Forecast is about providing clients with valuable insight for the coming year, so they armed with the most relevant information for their upcoming budgeting and negotiations. Whether they are focused on meetings, events or the widespread global adoption of Strategic Meetings Management, it’s a vital tool in preparing for the year ahead.”

Key findings from different regions around the world include:

·The unpredictable economy in Asia Pacific could cause challenges in the region, although stronger demand from China and India could drive up group size and prices. · High demand for meetings and events venues in North America is exceeding supply, resulting in a sellers’ market. Careful planning is therefore very important; · Meanwhile, in Europe, buyers are gaining greater negotiating power as the region sees slow but steady growth;

·

Pockets of high demand will be created around the Rio 2016 Olympics; and Paralympic Games next summer, resulting in a potential shortage of meeting space.

This year’s report also offers a range of practical tips for those planning meetings and events in 2016. Tips include: 1.Plan ahead – be aware that some hotels in high-demand markets no longer hold space when responding to availability requests. Make internal decision makers aware, and decide if you can be flexible on dates.

2. Fuel your budget as well as your attendees - food and beverage (F&B) continues to be a significant driver of per-attendee costs. Adjust F&B patterns to manage budgets while promoting the healthy alternatives that remain very popular with attendees.

3. Tick tock - lead time for registration and venue contracts continues to shrink. However, by increasing the lead time for larger events, event and meeting planners can increase their negotiation power.

In particular, global M&E clients with a presence in Asia Pacific are becoming more interested in SMM programs, but they seek to balance the improved control and potential cost savings generated by SMM strategies with local business needs.

India’s growing interest in organising meetings and incentives abroad have encouraged the tourism boards of various countries to devise interesting meeting concepts and offerings for the discerning Indian business traveller.

A number of meetings and conventions bureaus have been coming up with offbeat and attractive campaigns to sustain and

www.voyagersworld.in

26>> increase customers.

This month, The Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) is celebrating its sixth annual Miami Romance Month to invite visitors to take advantage. “When it comes to planning a romantic milestone from engagements and bridal party celebrations to weddings and honeymoons, Miami and the Beaches is more popular than ever. We’ve been breaking our own records when it comes to tourism numbers and we are proud that our destination inspires so many couples to fall in love and celebrate here,” says GMCVB President and CEO William D. Talbert, III, CDME. The constantly on-the-move business traveller hops on and off flights and checks in and out of hotels in a frequently evolving industry, struggling to keep pace with technology and other trends that strive to make business and travel easier for him.

The sliding rupee, rising fuel costs, soaring ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) prices, user development fee at airports, excess baggage, hotel loyalty programmes, flying miles and other ancillary costs,.

Asia Pacific cities have the highest occupancy rates in the world for the upcoming year. The law of supply and demand will create interesting dynamics in India and China. In India, the excess construction of global chains has created too much supply, exceeding the demand, thereby creating opportunities for buyers for negotiations.

Meetings and Events Projections The strongest overall growth will take place in Asia Pacific, with both group sizes and daily attendees sizes anticipated to increase. The demand will remain strong though supply vs. demand will vary according to the country.

Challenges According to a survey by Abacus last year, it identified some key trends that are anticipated to have an effect on business travel in the next few years.

97% of respondents have received instructions to further tighten business travel policies. There is no relaxation of the rules in sight, despite the more favourable economic outlook acknowledged by all. 73% reported business clients implementing policies to decrease

Voyager’s World > February 2016

the number of business trips. Six in ten clients are extending economy class thresholds to reduce business class travel. 47% of travellers are also now encouraged to opt for lower-star accommodation. 43% of respondents felt that their role had recently shifted more in favour of business procurement.

73% of business clients have increased their preference to use low cost carriers. Other parameters in the policy include the flight time, booking channel, trip changes, etc.

73% of business travel companies have implemented a business booking tool (CBT). 64% of respondents agreed that a good number of travellers want to deal with travel management companies and agencies, with 55% perceiving business travel itineraries to be too complex a task to undertake themselves.

Over 83% of travel management companies and agencies felt that smartphones would have a moderate to significant impact on business.

Only 33% had implemented any mobile web or native applications for smartphones, leading with a simple mobile itinerary tool. Though the adoption rates of smartphones and tablets are high in Asia Pacific region, only four in ten enable flight and hotel bookings on mobile. 33% of business travel companies have created a mobile web or native mobile app for smartphones for business bookings.

Keeping aside the trends and expectations, let us take a look at the challenges that business travel is burdened with. Rising costs of travel and accommodation seem to be the biggest concern presently.

In the last few years, airfares have gone sky-high, so also the room rates, thereby adversely affecting travel budgets. Going beyond complaining, the need to travel is still there. Employees demand access to first class travel and hotel arrangements; hence companies have to design their travel budgets in a way as to keep costs at a certain level. While people talk about technology pervading all levels of travel on the one hand, a lot of people still find it difficult to book a LCC flight. There are several issues pertaining to booking the seat, hand luggage, meals onboard, window seats and making reservations in the first 10 rows, for instance. With varying demands on part of the employees and rising airfare and different airline policies, it is quite

a challenge for companies to draw up a cost-effective, value for money travel and accommodation plan.

Hence, it is not surprising that businesss these days are resorting to a single-window booking system to take care of all the booking aspects. Some of them also engage a separate travel concierge desk in their organizations. This kind of a set up not only eases the process, but also brings about a lot of deals and discounts in hotels and flights for the employees.

is sold at INR 8 /Air Mile and in comparison Mumbai-Ahmedabad is sold at INR 12/Air Mile.

Besides this, companies can also formulate a meticulous travel policy in order to keep a lid on costs. These policies can be about fixing a ceiling on the accommodation category like star hotels, guest houses or serviced apartments and also go on to limiting budget on first class travel and opting for economy class.

Through this, companies will be able to effect a substantial cut in their travel spending. As for those who face disagreement on such conditions, the best alternative would be to re-look at their suppliervendor contracts. Business travel planners can reach a deal with longstanding suppliers and bring about contracts that reward loyalty while ensuring a win-win situation for both the parties.

In so far as fares are concerned, Zero Frill Carriers are found to offer a reasonable alternative to the premier carriers. A successful LCC in India is very clear about what it promises to deliver. If the airline charges a fare without any frills, whilst promising a certain standard of service, with ‘Arriving on Time’ being their USP, then it stands to win hands down in terms of running full or almost full. Meals, water and other such add-ons have to be borne by the passenger.

They can negotiate with the airlines and the hotels for a certain number of seats and rooms during a certain period and reach an amicable policy while drafting their request for proposals. Other problems encompass increase in the number of new airlines entering the skies, growing passenger numbers, route expansion, need for trained manpower and infrastructure, all required to grow at the same pace.

As for price sensitivity, airlines have become cost conscience more than just Passenger Revenue by changing the business models constantly. For instance, carriers generate revenue on sale and lease back (wet lease).

Indigo 89 % planes are on lease. Jet Airways is 90%, SpiceJet is 69% and GoAir is 93%.

It is expected that the near future capacity will increase in the domestic market. As of today, the entire industry in India is 62 million passengers annually; but the market will add 40 million passengers over the next four years.

LCCs have paved for a new trend with the industry going for adding capacity in short haul segments that are usually more profitable. On an average, a Mumbai-Delhi flight

Airlines in India are following models like Air Asia and Southwest Airlines by charging extra for specific seats like by the window or the aisle seat, reducing baggage allowance and increasing cancellation of ticket and no show charges. Indigo is expected to add nearly 10 aircrafts a year over the next decade or so mostly to operate domestic segments.

This kind of a policy is better than running a LCC and supplying a newspaper, a sandwich and a water bottle. Tiny supplementary costs can go a long way in adding to its overall cost. A common problem faced by businesss while dealing with travel plans for their employees would be demanding and insistent colleagues who want a certain standard of accommodation or airline, as a result of having been exposed to national and international travel.

With online booking tools offering user friendly booking ideas, people still tend to check with their travel concierge or a travel agent over the phone, simply with a need to understand technology by personal communication. While it was mentioned earlier that a single window booking system could alleviate booking hassles, what organizations look for are a comprehensive technology solution that covers all aspects of bookings.

A solution that would be a one-stop site listing all the types of travel and hotel choices quickly, including ground transportation, is likely to be adopted by a business.

Going forward, mobile phones and mobile-driven bookings will eventually overpower other modes of bookings. It makes sense for companies to review their budgets and strengthen their mobile presence for all their business travel bookings as the future of travel buying lies on the mobile platform.

12th Annual Convention of ATOAI 12th to 14th February 2016

Indira Sagar Dam (Hanumantiya), Madhya Pradesh What does ATOAI Convention 2016 offer?

Offbeat location - Keeping the tradition of holding the convention in an adventure destination every year, ATOAI has selected Hanumantiya, near Indira Sagar Lake in Madhya Pradesh, as a venue for its annual convention.

You will have to be there to see the beauty of this place.

Inspiration - ATOAI has invited speakers to not only share their experiences with you but also to inspire you to take up the challenges in life. They are the true ambassadors of adventure travel!

Success stories - For the first time, ATOAI has called some of the successful individuals to share their success stories with its members in an informal setting.

Activities - The convention will offer a plethora of adventure and other activities to make it a memorable experience such as climbing an artificial wall, Obstacle Course, Beach Volleyball, Cycling, Community Service & Hiking, Cruise boating, local fishermen catching fish, banana rides, water parasailing, island overnight camping, star gazing, tree plantation activity, hot air ballooning, para motoring, bird watching, etc.

Bonding time - Above all, the convention offers a genuine bonding time with fellow industry colleagues over dinners around a bonfire.

Networking - There will be ample opportunities to network with the decision makers from the trade.

Experiences - ATOAI and MP Tourism are offering very interesting and value-for-money post event Fam trips to destinations that you cannot afford to miss!

Interactive sessions - Today's business challenges need to be addressed jointly and understood in collaboration. The convention will be a one-stop shop which one should not skip.

MEDIA PARTNERS

OTA

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RezLive.com Wins ‘World’s Greatest Brands & Leaders 2015 – Asia & GCC VW BUREAU

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he Global Reservation System, RezLive.com (A Product Of Travel Designer Group) has won “The World’s Greatest Brands & Leaders 2015 – Asia & GCC” award. This award was facilitated

by United World Holdings LLC, URS Media Consulting P. L. and AsiaOne, with Indian Business & Professional Council (IBPC), Dubai as the Associate Partner and PricewaterhouseCoopers P. L. as the Process Reviewer at a ceremony held in Dubai, UAE. The World’s Greatest Brands & Leaders Awards is a premier award recognition event, which honors the top Brands across different industries.

The Indo-UAE Business Summit and Awards 2015 on the theme Celebrating 44, India UAE a success Story – Strategic Partner – Consulate General India Dubai was held on 11th and 12th December 2015 at the GoDolphin Ballroom of Jumeirah Emirates Tower Hotel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The Summit was conducted

by United World Holdings LLC, URS Media Consulting P. L. and AsiaOne, with Indian Business & Professional Council (IBPC), Dubai as the Associate Partner and PricewaterhouseCoopers P. L. as the Process Reviewer. NDTV 24X7 was the broadcast partner; therefore the panel discussions at the summit were hosted by NDTV anchors and broadcast in 20 countries reaching 20 million homes. 90 Brand and Leader award winners were felicitated on 12th Dec ’15 with a presence of over 350 audience from the UAE, India and rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries.

Jaal Shah, Group Managing Director - RezLive.com, says “Thanks to the efforts of my team at RezLive.com, we have received the coveted The World’s Greatest Brands & Leaders award. It’s a great achievement for a hard working team, headed by great sales Team and well supported by

tech support staff & outstanding operation representatives. To win an award in the Asia & GCC region, showcases our strength and reach in this region.

RezLive.com is one of the few wholesalers who offer single feed to 175,000+ International rooms around the world, offering you real time access to rooms that are available at the best net rates.

RezLive.com also offers 45,000+ Sightseeing items and over 5000 tours in 500 cities & 5,000+ Transfer options in over 900 Airport and City Locations. The system is empowered by direct inventories of multiple suppliers and our own contracting with price comparison filters which provides the travel partners larger pool of inventory with competitive rates. Part of Asia Pacific and Middle East’s leading Travel Group i.e. Travel Designer Group, RezLive.com is backed by travel expertise, innovation and cutting edge technology.

VADODARA NAGPUR VIZAG AMRITSAR COIMBATORE

Voyager’s World > February 2016

: : : : :

As far as USP is concerned, there are many features that make us stand apart i.e. Mapped Inventory, XML connectivity, Search Apartment only, Book 6 Adults in one Room/ Apartment, VIP Desk, 24*7 service support, No registration fees, Filters to optimize search, Quotation templates, Option to book last 5 searched bookings, Option to Compare Hotels, Option to search Apartment only, Store last 5 bookings, searches and quotation details, Multi-Currency Payment Gateway, Local support and local currency offering, to name a few.

Through our offices in India, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Mauritius, Libya, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Nepal, Malaysia, South Africa, Romania, Vietnam, Algeria, Thailand and Morocco,RezLive.com is recognized as one of the fastest growing B2B reservation systems across the globe.

19, 20, 21 August 2016 14, 15, 16 October 2016 4, 5, 6 November 2016 16, 17, 18 December 2016 20, 21, 22 January 2017

OTA

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bigbreaks: Aiming to fill gap in product range flexibility IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

New OTA player BigBreaks helps personalize the travel needs of all types of customers, be it a separate guide for the older lot or women cab drivers for women, says its MD Kapil Goswamy.

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aunched by the Trans India Holidays Group, BigBreaks seeks to fill the existing gaps in the travel industry as far as customization is concerned. The online travel agent (OTA) aims to offer exceptional personalization in planning and booking travellers.

Objective Kapil Goswamy, MD, BigBreaks, cites several reasons to launch the OTA with 24X7 availability of online

bookings being a prime purpose.

It also offers the choice of having airfares for multiple destinations, hundreds of hotels for each destination, huge range of holiday packages and the comfort of being able to still rely on the company’s brick and mortar presence for things like visas and travel documentation.

“Having adopted the latest technologies for our operations and services and the internet as a selling medium, we are expecting to at least triple our revenues during 2016,” he says.

Services on online platform BigBreaks operates on what may be called a hybrid e-commerce model.

Having remained a vigilant observer to the transformation of OTA models in the Indian market, he took regular feedback of travelers using the online medium and realized that while OTAs

are competent in offering access to unique locations at attractive prices, they were not able to resolve some unsaid quests of travelers including a need for flexibility in product offerings. “Being a late entrant in the online world, we have taken care to address all the short comings and glitches that travellers often face while working through other OTAs. The lack of customization, poor customer service, slow and tedious refund and cancellation procedures were few things that several travelers had mentioned as hurdles while dealing with OTAs,” says Kapil while stating that BigBreaks has taken care to have systems in place to remove all those shortcomings.

Marketing and promotional plans At this point in time, the OTA intends to limit its marketing and promotional efforts to New Delhi

- NCR only, but Kapil notes that given the online business space, geographical boundaries will soon have no meaning. He says, “We are aggressively marketing BigBreaks via both online and offline mediums.

In the online space, BigBreaks is extremely active on social media, which has proven to be a very important marketing medium now.

We are also in the process of finalizing joint promotional deals with a couple of leading banks and credit card companies. In the offline space, of course, we are engaging in traditional newspaper and other forms of advertising. A lot of our marketing efforts are going into telling people how different we are and that we are not a ‘one size fits all’ vacation specialist. Our specialization lies in customization and customer service has been our forte for the last 25 years,” sums up Kapil.

Mobile more important to travellers than deodorant: expedia COURTESY: TNOOZ

The most used functions on a global scale are navigation, photographs and engaging in social media for leisure travellers, says the study by Egencia and Expedia.

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global study from Egencia and Expedia confirms that mobile devices are “indispensable” for leisure and business travellers alike.

The Expedia/Egencia Mobile Index is based on a total sample of some 10,000 travellers, with 500 or so from 19 different countries asked a series of questions.

The top-line global finding is that a mobile phone is “the single most indispensable item [travellers] carry with them, ahead of their toothbrush, deodorant and driver’s license.”

This applies to business and leisure travellers, and it is travellers from China, Thailand and Taiwan for whom their smartphone is the most

important. Expedia shared the full data with Tnooz, which opens up some interesting country-specific findings. For leisure travel, the most used functions on a global scale are navigation, taking photos and engaging with social media. Travellers from South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand lead the way, respectively.

The three nationalities most likely to use a booking app to change or check itineraries are the Chinese, South Korean and Japanese. Questions about the use of restaurant review and booking apps shows that Chinese and Malaysian travellers are the most likely users.

Findings about device ownership

didn’t make it into the press release, but are interesting nonetheless.

Mexicans top the percentages when it comes to owning both a smartphone and a tablet; the Japanese seem to be a mono-device culture, recording the highest percentage when it comes to owning a smartphone but not a tablet, and also top the table when it comes to owning a tablet but not a phone.

games without headphones, calls using speakerphones and taking videos or photos of strangers.

Travellers from Sweden are most sensitive to mobile etiquette as they are the most likely to be annoyed in all three of the above categories.

Meanwhile Brits, Australians and Americans expressed the lowest level of concern over mobile devices being used to take pictures of strangers.

Britain, Germany and the Taiwan are the three countries whose travellers are most likely to own neither a phone or a tablet, although Brits are the second most likely to own an e-reader after the Chinese. Overall the top gripes are playing music or

Finally, roaming charges are often the elephant in the room when it comes to mobile device use on vacation. On whether they look for and use “free” wifi hotspots, 70% said yes, with the Chinese the most likely to take advantage of free access.

www.voyagersworld.in

OTR

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power-packed response for otr 2016

The four-city roadshow saw many new players in this year’s edition including Lithuania, Croatia, Iceland, etc.

VW BUREAU

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he Outbound Travel Roadshow (OTR) 2016 kickstarted this year’s series from 14 - 21 January, starting from Mumbai and moving on to Bangalore, Kolkata and New Delhi respectively.

A brainchild of Sphere Travelmedia & Exhibitions, Bangalore, OTR is now

in its 13th year and has come a long way in making its imprints on the outbound buyer-seller events front.

This year, the countries participating in the OTR are Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK.

The Mumbai leg was held on 14 January at the JW Marriott Juhu from 10:30 am - 5:00 pm. The OTR Bangalore edition was held on 16 January at the Ritz Carlton; the Kolkata edition was organised at the Oberoi on 19 January and the New Delhi roadshow was on 21 January at the Shangri-La in Connaught Place.

A B2B Roadshow for International Travel Suppliers with India’s Top Buyers

India’s Only Multi-destination Roadshow Your gateway to the Indian Outbound Travel Market 17th - 22nd March 2016 Delhi - Ahmedabad - Mumbai For further enquiry and booking, contact: Sphere Travelmedia & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd., #245, Amar Jyothi Layout, Domlur, Bangalore - 560 071, India Ph: +91-80-4083 4100, Fax +91-80-40834101 Email: otrindia@otrindia.com Website: www.otrindia.com

Voyager’s World > February 2016

The power-packed multi-city roadshow witnessed top quality sellers from the aforesaid countries on an interactive one-on-one networking platform alongside presentations.

The objective of OTR was to serve as the ultimate business platform for representatives from tourism boards, tour operators, hotels and others to market their respective tourism products to the Indian travel trade.

The participants at OTR 2016 were Admire (Belgium), Amathus Travel (Croatia), Athenaeum Intercontinental (Greece), Brugge Tourism (Belgium), Europe Incoming (UK), European Voyages (France), European Mundo Vacationes (Spain), Evan Evans Tours (UK), FITbookings.com (UK), FIAP (France), Flanders Tourism (Belgium), Fraport Airports (Germany), Freedom Holidays Incoming (Europe), Frenchy Travel (France), Globus Family of Brands (global), Hello Tourism (Turkey), Iceland & Greenland Travel (Iceland), King Holidays DMC (Italy), Lido de Paris (France), Masy Tours (Greece), Matterhorn Zermatt Bergbahnen(Switzerland), Martin’s Hotels (Belgium), Marveltour (Turkey), Maxim Tours (USA/Canada), Orange Tourism Solutions (global), Rail Europe India Pvt. Ltd (Europe), Red Apple Travel (global), Red Tours Ltd (UK), Renaissance Hellas (Greece), Travel Designer Group (global), Rooms XML Solutions Ltd (global), Star Tours Ltd (UK), State Tourist Board South West Germany & Stuttgart Mkg (Germany), Swisstours (Switzerland), TA DMC (Portugal), TA DMC (Spain), Taj Tours (London), Titlis Cableways & Lake Lucerne (Switzerland), Tourismer (Czech Republic) and Visit Berlin (Germany).

While there were new participants in this year’s series, VisitFlanders, which has been a regular at OTR, also had additions. The Flemish delegation included Visit Bruges, Admire – a Destination Management Company specialising in individual (FIT) and MICE programmes to Belgium, and Martin’s Hotels. Since its showcase in the film PK, Bruges has seen significant surge in Indian arrivals.

The delegates plan to utilise this roadshow to maximise their outreach amongst the travel trade fraternity, and to build new alliances with potential tour operator partners.

OTR

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GLIMPSES OF OTR 2016

www.voyagersworld.in

Travel Events

CSTF PRESENTS 2016 BASH IN DELHI

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CSTF organised its third bash for the travel trade fraternity on 30 January, 2016 in New Delhi, along with Star Cruises, Macau Tourism, Nijhawan Group,Fiji Tourism. Lots of prizes enthralled the guests who were from all over the world. Ankur Kalra –Wellcome Tours, Ajay Chhabria - Intime Travels, Rohit Shorey –Destination travel services and Siddharth Jain-click2travel.in are the pioneers of this networking trend in the industry.

Voyager’s World > February 2016

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Travel Events

Global Panorama Showcase 2016 receives record participation ROHIT HANGAL

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he fourth edition of Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) held in Nagpur from 8 - 10 January, created a record with participation of 700 buyers over the first two days of the trade show. The 2017 edition of the Nagpur marketplace will be held on January 6 and 7.

Talking about the response at the annual event held at Hotel Centre Point, Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, Jagsons Travels Pvt Ltd. and Co-founder of GPS, said, “GPS Nagpur has witnessed tremendous response. We were expecting close to 450 buyers, and have crossed

700 buyers over the first 2 days.

On the first day itself, we witnessed attendance of over 370 buyers. The pre-event presentations saw close to 150 delegates in attendance on January 7.”

For the 2017 edition, GPS will do away with the B2C day as exhibitors were keen on working with customers on the B2B level, Harmandeep said. “We will try to workout something fruitful for the B2C delegates as well next year,” he added.

Jagsons

Travels

Pvt.

Ltd.

also

appointed Raju Akolkar as its CEO and Tanushka Anand joined the board as the Executive Director.

Genting Hong Kong and Star Cruises as Premium Cruise Partners of GPS announced the launch of Genting Dream, which is the first ship of the cruise liner’s newest brand, Dream Cruises.

Genting Dream will target the Asian market with its maiden voyage this year. Naresh Rawal, VP, Sales, Star Cruises announced the launch of Genting Dream in the presence of Pradeep Saboo, Partner, Guideline Travels; Kishan Biyani,

MD, Ark Travels; Rajesh Bisht, Club7 Holidays; Joseph J Jose, COO, Travel Tours Pvt Ltd.; Kiran Bhandari, Founder, Cruise Club and Gulshan Pal Singh, Chairman, Jagsons Travels Pvt. Ltd. Exhibitors at GPS included state tourism boards, international tourism boards, international & domestic hotels & resorts, DMCs, airlines, cruise liners, tour operators, travel & tourism products, travel technology companies, educational institutes, convention centres and medical & wellness tourism providers.

www.voyagersworld.in

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Adventure

road trips are now lifestyle choices for avid travellers IRENE SUSAN EAPEN

A road trip is the best way to experience India and the world, be it driving through multiple borders, dangerous roads or touching the tip of a subcontinent, says Tushar Agarwal, Co-Founder, Adventures Overland.

Road trips in a year from India “We do a lot of road trips in a year from India to the best destinations like Ladakh, Rajasthan, Rann of Kutch, Spiti valley, Madhya Pradesh, Bhutan and Myanmar. We also customize the same for people who want to travel at their own pace and time,” said Tushar Agarwal, the Cofounder of Adventures Overland, while noting that going on road trips have become a lifestyle choice for travel enthusiasts. “It has turned into something as indispensable as love in your life!” he added.

Types of travellers Adventures Overland has been getting bookings mostly from seasoned travellers who enjoy long distance driving expeditions with a unique passion for driving and adventure, especially in offbeat destinations. “Travellers come to us wanting to attempt something different and non-touristy. We get clients from all corners of the country. For example, for our latest drive from India to Bangkok, we have a client who has travelled all the way from Goa on his Harley Davidson to join us for the trip that will take two weeks and a drive of 5000 km.

We design each trip like fulfilling someone’s dream of a lifetime. A lot of families, couples and friends also want to experience unusual ways of exploring a region.”

Adventure activities The company has combined luxury with adventure expeditions and also facilitated all kinds of permits required for a certain destination.

The activities we indulge in depend

Voyager’s World > February 2016

upon the destination. In our trips to Iceland, our clients drive super modified Arctic Trucks over glaciers and volcanoes. In South Africa, they can do shark cage diving while in Alaska, they can trek through jungles and cruise on huge ships as they spot whales and penguins.

Other than planning trips in India, it also organises driving expeditions in areas where it can be confusing for anyone to plan a journey on their own, some of them being trips from India to Bangkok, London, Iceland, Alaska, Africa, South America, etc.

On the Bangkok route, clients drove through multiple borders; in Alaska, they will drive all the way to Dead Horse through the Dalton Highway, which is the most dangerous road in the world and in South Africa, they drove up to the southern tip of the subcontinent in Cape Agulhas.

Indian travellers “Adventures Overland has been seeing tremendous growth in self-drive expeditions in India. We have been receiving hundreds of enquiries through social media and word-of-mouth. Indians have traditionally been drawn to road trips because it is cost-effective and more flexible in terms of the pace of travel. They want to explore both offbeat and regular destinations by road and are open to push their boundaries for that,” summed up Tushar while citing expectations from more countries to open their borders for road trips this year.

We take care of everything from

route planning, advising clients on things to carry, where to eat, where to sleep, which places to avoid, we plan the day to day itinerary.Our

focus is to plan a lifetime road trip for our clients. We provide maps, radio sets, GPS, oxygen cylinder, medicines, first aid, air pump, etc.

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Travel Technology

35>>

Five SEO rules for travel industry Courtesy: Tnooz

W

hen it comes to SEO, there are best practices which are universal, immutable laws, and then there are a slew of strategies and tactics that you can/should employ depending on your industry, how competitive it is, and just exactly what it is that the competition is doing. CT Moore, SEO and inbound marketing director for socialed.ca. lists five (almost) immutable SEO laws that travel marketers should follow, regardless of the product/ service they offer.

1.Targeting destinations The vast majority of travel-related searches are destination-specific.

For instance, most travellers will plan their holiday by searching for the service they’re looking for plus the destination — e.g. “Maui hotel deals” or “cheap flights Costa Rica”.

You’re going to need to develop a number of destination-specific assets to support your rankings for each destination, including keyword research per destination; Geo-targeted landing pages (e.g featuring properties, flights, etc.) with optimized title tags and meta descriptions branded content (i.e. destination-specific travel themes); optimized local social profiles (e.g. Yelp, Google Business Pages, TripAdvisor, etc.)

2. Onsite SEO: coding navigation funnels Once your SEO targets and priorities are mapped out, it’s time to start developing destinationspecific assets that reflect them.

Regardless of the user-experience you’ve created, you must have (destination-specific) directories that search engines can find, read, and understand. This includes linking to destination-specific directories in navigation menus; using the Fetch as Google tool to ensure that your product/service results are indexable, markingup destination-specific directories and product/service pages for structured data using Schema.org schemas, etc.

3. Relevance: content strategy Developing indexable destinationspecific sub-directories with optimized title tags, meta descriptions, header tags and copy is only the first step in bolstering your site’s relevance for targeted keywords.

4. Offsite SEO: social signals and links Once your site is optimized and you’re producing content that supports your rankings on various travel themes, it’s time to take your SEO offsite. Backlink-related metrics are the most important factors influencing a site’s ability to rank, while social metrics also have an impact on rankings. So whether you

like it or not, taking SEO seriously means proactively building links and generating social signals.

5. Measurement: traffic > rankings Your SEO efforts will need to be tracked and measured. While strong rankings lead to more traffic, it’s also important to not pay too much weight on your rankings as a KPI. Between Personalized Search and Google

moving more toward an AI ranking algorithm, users’ search experience is becoming so personalized that accurately monitoring your rankings is difficult at best, and sometimes meaningless. Even monitoring tools that can provide you with agnostic ranking data can’t tell you what you really need to know: how well you are ranking among members of your target market.

Launching the biggest B2B platform in the

Middle East for outbound travel Where global sellers will meet premium buyers on a one-of-its-kind platform....

UAE - Kuwait - Qatar 30th April - 3rd May

First Ever Multi-destination Roadshow Your gateway to the Middle East Outbound Travel Market

For further enquiry and booking, contact: Sphere Travelmedia & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd., #245, Amar Jyothi Layout, Domlur, Bangalore - 560 071, India Ph: +91-80-4083 4100, Fax +91-80-40834101 Email: otrindia@otrindia.com Website: www.otrindia.com

www.voyagersworld.in

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FESTIVALS OF 19 - 27 February, 2016

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he Antwerp Chocolate Week starts from 19 to 27 February where all the chocolate lovers get the opportunity to follow the tasting route. For the 2016 Chocolate Week, all you need is a Chocolate Pass that you can purchase at more than 20 participating chocolatiers and brochure on the chocolatiers. You can stroll around the main sights and stop over at the best chocolate shops to try the latest creations.

Antwerp Chocolate Week, Belgium

29 January to 21 February, 2016

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he Gran Canaria Carnival happens annually in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the second most populous island of the Spanish archipelago Canary Islands. Taking place from 29 January to 21 February this year, the highlights include a gala celebration to choose the Carnival Queen, contests featuring typical musical groups singing their satirical songs, the body paint and disguises and the Grand Parade that attracts more than 200,000 people every year.

Gran Canaria Carnival, Spain

19- 20 February, 2016

3 March, 2016

T

he doll festival is held on 3rd March where the hinaningyo dolls are decorated specially in homes where daughters are there. This festival is also called Momo-no-Sekku or the Peach Festival. The doll stand is displayed with hinaningyo dolls along with miniature articles and furniture. Offerings of diamondshaped rice cakes, sweet and peach blossoms are made to accompany prayers for the healthy growth and happy future of the daughters. They also cook clams as a special dish for the festival.

Hina-Matsuri, Japan Voyager’s World > February 2016

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he India Bike Week is held from 19th to 20th Feb in Vagator, Goa the largest biking festival built around bikes and bikers. The event will brings in over 10,000 participants from stunt machines to speed demons, right from the Bikini biker girls to National Stunt Champions.

The India Bike Week will include Mototrails Show by Dougie Lampkin, Hard Enduro Challenge,IBW Main Street,IBW Film Festival, National Stunt Championship, Moto Art Collective, National Stunt Championship.

India Bike Week, Goa

37>>

THE WORLD 26 February - 20 March, 2016

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he New Zealand International Arts Festival a major biennial event 26 February – 20 March held in Wellington through 300 different dynamic acts over 24 days. In 2016, the festival celebrates its 30th birthday by bringing more than 900 artists to fill Wellington’s theatres, galleries and streets with vibrant music, dance, visual arts, tours. The festival also incorporates independent events such as the Wellington Jazz Festival, Lexus Song Quest, Shakespeare’s Globe Hamlet, Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

New Zealand International Arts Festival, Wellington

25 - 29 February, 2016

T

he Wairarapa Balloon Festival a five day event from 25-29th Feb showcases over 20 colourful hot air balloons and their masterful pilots. The 2016 Wairarapa Balloon Festival will be bigger and better than with the arrival of the festival’s newest special shapes of Owlbert, Eyenstein and Flighthouse. The balloons launches are displayed from locations near Masterton, Carterton and Greytown, including a spectacular night show, the Trust House Night Glow event.

Wairarapa Balloon Festival, New Zealand

5 March, 2016 29 January - 15 February, 2016

T

he Winterlude festival celebrates its 39th edition this year from 29 January to 15 February in Ottawa, with a participation of 600,000 people. The Snowflake Kingdom in Ottawa offers the experience of the snow maze, snow obstacle course, 30 giant snow slides and ice fishing, mainly for kids of all ages, Jacques Cartier Park in downtown Gatineau, etc. The festival highlights the historic Rideau Canal as the world’s largest naturally frozen ice skating rink. People can see ice carvings by artists from around the world.

S

et in the stunning Wanaka to Queenstown high country, each year for one day only, the pristine trails of the Motatapu welcomes thousands of all-comers to experience one of New Zealand’s favourite off-road sporting events. The 47 km High Country Mountain Bike races through an off-road course in New Zealand’s Southern Lakes. The race is a great mix of terrain to suit all mountain biking abilities with hills to climb, rivers to cross and a few steep descents thrown in the mix. It starts on the shores of Lake Wanaka and finishes at historic Arrowtown.

Motatapu Mountain Bike Race, Wanaka, New Zealand Winterlude, Ottawa, Canada www.voyagersworld.in

Travel Trends

38>>

tourism is next big forex earner after accessories: unwto

The tourism sector is the third largest foreign exchange earner for India after gems, jewellery and readymade garments.

VW BUREAU

I

n 2015, 39% of the world population could travel for tourism without obtaining a traditional visa prior to departure as compared to only 23% in 2008. On average, 18% of the world’s population was able to travel to a destination without a visa in 2015, while another 15% could receive a visa on arrival and 6% was able to obtain electonic-visas.

UNWTO has been long advocating for the need to advance travel faciliation as a means to promote tourism development and multiply its socio-economic benefits.

spending, investment spending, government spending and the value of the exports and deducting the value of imports. When we have a high GDP value, we can rest assured of a healthy and large economy.

So, how indispensable is this sector for the overall health of a country?

How has our country reaped from both inbound and outbound travel and tourism over the years? A few economic terms that we are familiar with include Gross Domestic Product (GDP), per capita income, fiscal, spending, expenditure, earnings, contribution, to name a few.

Yet, these calculations may come across as complex and difficult to tabulate when it comes to tourism arrivals and spending. It shows how much money people make on average at India might not have much to write home about when it comes to tourist arrivals when compared to the rest of the world, but the industry is nevertheless tremendously important for the country. Despite its size and the wealth of sites to visit, India counted as only the 38th-most visited nation according the United Nations.

Despite this, data from the Ministry of Tourism suggests that the sector has a significant impact on the country’s economy.

In lay man’s terms, GDP can be described as the quantity a place produces within a given time period; for a country, the GDP is analyzed based on its output within its borders by adding up consumer

Visitor exports are compared with exports of all goods and services Domestic Travel & Tourism spending is compared with GDP Government individual Travel & Tourism spending is compared with total government

Voyager’s World > February 2016

spending Internal Travel & Tourism consumption is compared with total internal consumption (i.e. total domestic spending plus total export) Leisure Travel & Tourism contribution to GDP is compared with total GDP Business Travel & Tourism contribution to GDP is compared with total GDP Travel & Tourism capital investment spending is compared with all fixed investment spending. The contribution of travel and tourism to the country’s GDP is expected to rise by 7.5 per cent to Rs 2,34,145 crore this year.

Overall, emerging economies continue to be more open than advanced economies. At the regional level, South-East Asia, East Africa, the Caribbean and Oceania remain the most open areas while Central Africa, North Africa and North America were in 2015 the most restrictive sub-regions.

“Prioritising travel facilitation is central to stimulating economic growth and job creation through tourism. We are pleased to see that a growing number of governments around the world think likewise” said Taleb Rifai, Secretary-

General,UNWTO. “The current security challenges should not deter us from advancing visa facilitation. On the contrary, enhancing security and facilitating tourism travel should always go hand in hand. In fact, at a moment when safety and security are top of the agenda for all of us, we need to work closer together to promote a safe, secure and seamless travel environment by using the possibilities offered by technology and international cooperation in data sharing,” he added.

Although much has been done, several areas of opportunity remain for destinations worldwide to promote a safer and more seamless travel experience.

UNWTO recommends destinations to focus in particular in a stronger segmentation of travellers, in improving visa application processes and entry procedures, in making use of regional integration opportunities, and last but not least, on providing precise and accessible information for tourist.

Countries are further encouraged

WTM Latin America’s Business Club – The WTM Buyers’ Club – will gather record numbers of the most relevant buyers of the Travel Industry The fourth edition of WTM Latin America, which will take place from 29th to 31st March, alongside the 45th Bratzoa Business Event, at Expo Center Norte, in São Paulo, Brazil, will once again bring together the most important decision-makers in the travel industry of Latin America.

The WTM Buyers’ Club is the leading travel business network, is the WTM events business club for senior travel industry decision makers with direct purchasing responsibility. The WTM Buyers’ Club has now established itself in the Latin American market as the best opportunity of the year for countries, regions and travel companies to sell their products to the most relevant buyers in the industry. T he Buyers’ are selected through a rigorous prequalification process. Last year, the show generated US$ 363

million in business over the 3 days of the event through successful meetings and in the months that followed.

The initiative, which has been part of WTM Latin America since its second edition, in 2014, offers several advantages to its members, since it allows for business negotiations through a series of networking opportunities and there by enables the signing of new contracts, as well as prospects for future meetings and business deals. With 1,353 buyers in the programme, the last edition of the event reached a 48% growth in comparison to the 2014 event.

One of the most important features of the WTM Buyers’ Club is the Speed Networking Session, during which buyers have 5-minute meetings with exhibitors, so each party can discuss their mutual business interests.

WTM Latin America 2016 and the 45th Braztoa Business Event 29 - 31 March | Expo Center Norte - São Paulo

Register now: wtmlatinamerica.com

Established as the trade’s leading B2B global event in the Americas, WTM Latin America stands out for its initiatives that enable exhibitors and visitors to close relevant business deals. Thefeedback given by the participants is always very positive.

Lawrence Reinisch WTM Latin America Exhibition Director

Travel Trends

not to depend on reciprocal improvements, but rather revise their unilateral measures, a tendency which is proving to be stronger than ever. The positive evolution registered in recent years is the clear result of determined actions taken by governments who have seen the positive impact of visa facilitation in terms of economic growth and job creation through tourism.

Research by UNWTO and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) on the impact of visa facilitation on the G20 economies, as well as on the economies of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), clearly shows that visa facilitation can boost demand, grow exports and create additional jobs. The UNWTO has forecast that the travel and tourism industry in India will grow by 8 percent per annum between 2008 and 2016. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism are likely to show annualised growth of 14 percent during the same period. The sector is the third largest foreign exchange earner after gems, jewellery and readymade garments, it added. As per the document, initiatives such as availability of visa on arrival significantly influences tourist’s travel plans to the country.

Recently the Indian government has also released a fresh category of visa - the medical visa or M visa to encourage medical tourism in

Voyager’s World > February 2016

40>>

India, it added. In 2013, Travel & Tourism’s total contribution to the global economy rose to 9.5% of global GDP (US $7 trillion), not only outpacing the wider economy, but also growing faster than other significant sectors such as financial and business services, transport and manufacturing. In total, nearly 266 million jobs were supported by Travel & Tourism in 2013 - 1 in 11 of all jobs in the world. The sustained demand for Travel & Tourism, together with its ability to generate high levels of employment continues to prove the importance and value of the sector as a tool for economic development and job creation.

from total internal spending by ‘netting out’ the purchases made by the different tourism sectors.

This measure is consistent with the definition of Tourism GDP, specified in the 2008 Tourism Satellite Account. The total contribution of Travel & Tourism includes its ‘wider impacts’ (ie the indirect and induced impacts) on the economy.

The ‘indirect’ contribution includes the GDP and jobs supported by: Travel & Tourism investment spending – an important aspect of both current and future activity that includes investment activity such as the purchase of new aircraft and construction of new hotels.

The direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP reflects the ‘internal’ spending on Travel & Tourism (total spending within a particular country on Travel & Tourism by residents and non-residents for business and leisure purposes) as well as government ‘individual’ spending - spending by government on Travel & Tourism services directly linked to visitors, such as cultural (eg museums) or recreational (eg national parks).

Domestic purchases of goods and services by the sectors dealing directly with tourists - including, for example, purchases of food and cleaning services by hotels, of fuel and catering services by airlines, and IT services by travel agents. The ‘induced’ contribution measures the GDP and jobs supported by the spending of those who are directly or indirectly employed by the Travel & Tourism industry.

The direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP is calculated to be consistent with the output, as expressed in National Accounting, of tourism-characteristic sectors such as hotels, airlines, airports, travel agents and leisure and recreation services that deal directly with tourists. The direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP is calculated

The GDP measure is different from gross national product (GNP) in that GNP = GDP + net income from assets in other countries (net income receipts).

The number of international tourist arrivals grew by 4% in the first half of 2015 according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.

Destinations worldwide received

some 538 million international tourists between January and June 2015, an increase of 21 million compared to the same period of 2014. Europe, Asia and the Pacific and the Middle East all recorded 5% growth in international arrivals and the Americas 4%. Limited data available for Africa points to an estimated 6% decrease in the number of international tourists in the region. At the subregional level, the Caribbean and Oceania (both +7%) were the best performers, together with Central and Eastern Europe and Central America (both +6%).

Despite this overall growth, results by destination are rather mixed. Safety and security remain a global concern while the economic scenario is comparatively more volatile with the recovery of advanced economies contrasting with the slowdown of emerging economies. Tourism demand has also been impacted by lower oil prices and currency fluctuations. “These results show that, despite increased volatility, tourism continues to consolidate the positive performance it has had over the last five years and to provide development and economic opportunities worldwide”, said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. This is the appropriate moment to call for a stronger support to tourism as the sector has the potential to deliver on some of the most pressing challenges of our time, namely job creation, economic growth and social inclusion.

Discover the World US$ 363

Million

of new business generated in 2015

US$ 363

Million

of new business generated in 2015

WTM Latin America 2016 and the 45th Braztoa Business Event 29 - 31 March | Expo Center Norte - S達o Paulo

1,000

9,707

from accross the world

from 60 countries

1,000

9,707

from accross the world

from 60 countries

exhibitors

exhibitors

attendees

attendees

Register now: wtmlatinamerica.com

Happenings

MoT constitutes Board for medical tourism

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he first meeting of “National Medical & Wellness Tourism Promotion Board” was held under the chairmanship of Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism & Culture & Civil Aviation last month in Delhi. Key members, including representatives of noted hospital chains, other stakeholders and representatives of related government departments, tourism & hospitality sectors and experts in various disciplines including wellness and yoga participated in the meeting. The Board will function in an effective, responsible and time bound manner to find solutions for immediate concerns in the efforts of health and tourism sector. It plans to build up a Data Bank of available resources in Medical and Wellness services in the country and to develop mechanism to disseminate such information to the source markets.

Yas Island organizes roadshows in New Delhi and Mumbai

Y

as Island organised roadshows in New Delhi and Mumbai wherein the delegation included Farah Leisure Parks Management; Yas Island; Abu Dhabi Tourism and Cultural Authority; Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi; Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi Yas Island; Yas Island Rotana; Radisson Blu and Park Inn Hotel Abu Dhabi Yas Island.

Yas Island offers a wide range of experiences for the young with its state of the art facets and the 5 iconic architectural structures: Yas Waterworld, the largest waterpark in UAE with towering Jebel Dana and the Lost Pearl, the expansive rooftop of Ferrari World, home to the largest Ferrari logo in the world at the world’s first Ferrari branded theme park, the Yas Marina FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS GRAND PRIX race track, the LED diamond-paneling of Yas Viceroy Hotel and UAE’s 2nd largest retail experience Yas Mall. Yas Island is the perfect place for the ultimate vacation experience.

Voyager’s World > September 2015

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Abu Dhabi Tourism meets Indian travel trade in multi-city roadshow

A

bu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) recently concluded a series of highly successful travel trade workshops in Amritsar, Ludhiana and Chandigarh, targeting the HNI Outbound Segment from the Punjab Market. TCA Abu Dhabi completed the year 2015 with India retaining the spot of the top outbound source market.

Bejan Dinshaw, Country Manager, India, TCA Abu Dhabi, said: “We are delighted to share that India has once again secured its top position as the leading overseas source market for Abu Dhabi. We are now placing greater emphasis on its growth potential, tailoring products to meet the needs and demands of the affluent Punjabi travellers.”

VFS Global organises diplomatic rendez-vous in Delhi

V

FS Global organized their annual diplomatic gathering, which saw the participation of around 350 members from the diplomatic fraternity and guests from the travel and hospitality industry. Representatives from over 35 diplomatic missions, along with the Ambassadors, Deputy Heads and Minister Counselors from the Czech Republic, Malta, Slovenia, Cyprus, Spain, Belgium, South Africa, China and the Netherlands, among many others, got together for an informal evening.

Judith M Helle (Head of Visa & Consular Section, Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi), said, “I would also like to use the opportunity to thank VFS for their cooperation and the great and professional efforts put in every day towards our applicants going to Norway and we look forward to the cooperation with VFS in the years to come.”

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Jordan Ambassador alludes to bilateral ties at ETAA event

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he Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) held its second mega event on 28 January 2016 in New Delhi around the same time as SATTE. The event, which was attended by over 150 ETAA members from across India, was sponsored by Jordan Tourism and co-sponsored by Air Arabia, Sterling Holiday Resorts and SATTE. His Excellency, Hassan Al Jawarneh, the Ambassador of Jordan, was the chief guest. The event was opened by Gurjit Singh Ahuja, Vice Chairman – North India. In his address, HE Hassan Al Jawarneh announced the close ties shared between India and Jordan, the recent visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and elaborated on the initiatives taken by both governments to enhance cooperation and tourism between the two countries.

Pankaj Nagpal, Director – National Board and Chairman – North India Region, ETAA, said, “The ETAA mega event will now be an annual feature as we have seen its success in the last two years by providing a very strong networking platform for our members as it coincides with SATTE,” Pankaj said.

Ashit Taneja, Country Manager - Jordan Tourism, gave a brief presentation about Jordan while Ajay Kumar, National Head – Sales, Sterling Holiday Resorts, also gave a presentation about the newly refurbished properties of Sterling across India.

Tendulkar launches India's first cricket and Bollywood cruise

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ricket star Sachin Tendulkar launched the luxury Monarch Cruise on 27 January. Somesh Jagga, CEO, Monarch Cruise and Josh Hill, Vice-Chairman, Monarch Cruise introduced the unique concept at the ceremony. Cabin sales now open for the glamorous cruise which offers seven itineraries with four 7-day legs, two 13-day legs, and one 26-day experience. The journey will include destinations in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. As per initial reports, ticket sales will be in high demand, with cabins are expected to sell-out fast.

MTDC launches heli-tourism services

ACTE organises volunteer day at IGIA Academy

T

T

he Chief Secretary of the Government of Maharashtra, Swadheen Kshatriya (I.A.S) launched Heli-Tourism services on 7 January in the presence of Valsa Nair-Singh (I.A.S) - Secretary Tourism and Culture, Government of Maharashtra and Paraag Jaiin Nainuttia (I.A.S), MD, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. Heli-Tourism has been introduced to give tourists an opportunity to explore Mumbai. The rides aim to attract those who have limited time but wish to see Mumbai and other parts of the state quickly. The helicopters will take off from Juhu Aerodrome daily for a 10-minute ride.

It will cost INR 3200, including taxes, per passenger and minimum four pax are needed for take-off.

he Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) held its annual volunteer day as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) on 23 January at the Indira Gandhi International Academy (IGIA) in Bangalore for a fun-filled sports day with children.

The IGIA works to help refugee children who have been displaced to India from Sri Lanka, educating and rehabilitating them.

The CSR activity was intended to support those children as they move on from the past and rebuild their lives. A number of people from the corporate sector participated in the activity and spent the day with the children.

www.voyagersworld.in

Association

44>>

TAAI initiates regional cooperation VW BUREAU

The meeting, which was called for by the leadership of travel trade associations of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, at the behest of TAAI, discussed on facing future challenges collectively.

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he Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has started the process of forming a joint front of travel trade associations of the South Asian region. An initiative, which has the blessings of the United Federation of Travel Agents’ Associations (UFTAA), which is chaired by Sunil Kumar, also President of TAAI, intends to strengthen communication amongst the regional associations and work out standards in terms of policies and practices, regionally. A meeting attended by leadership of trade associations of three countries of the region, at the behest of TAAI in New Delhi on 30 January, had decided to draft a memorandum for future collaborations.

Revealing details, Sunil said that the leadership of Pakistan and Bangladesh, who couldn’t attend the first meeting had given their “concurrence to be part” of the joint forum. He said that proper communication among the fraternal associations is important to equip “industry to face the future challenges” collectively. He said that TAAI will invite other associations in India to join the forum. “India being the fastest changing travel market in the world, we need to bring everybody in one team so that we can better face the challenges ahead of us,” he said.

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Association heads from Pakistan were the first to confirm their

participation but unfortunately, they had visa challenges. The association head from Bangladesh could not be present, despite his best efforts to be here, but concurred that all must work together as one team to help overcome some challenging trends that are arriving fast.

Sunil stated that countries like India had suffered because of the lack of communication on a regional scale in the past. He said that countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, etc. have been able to frame laws which support the rightful cause of the travel agents, while the Indian trade has been on the receiving end all along. He said that a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be framed and circulated to regional the associations and a joint forum will be launched after finalising the memorandum.

TAAI had initiated this regional cooperation on account of agencies being attacked by new norms in their business practices that are negatively impacting their success and causing extreme situations that affect their set up.

Sunil said, “Many of these norms are being introduced in the name of “way-forward due to technological advancement” or as “global trends”.

While they appear to be intelligent ways to drive an industry, some practices have a huge negative impact on our bottom lines.”

Agencies have invested extensively and supported its Principals to accomplish growth levels. However, it is unfortunate that some of the principals have come up with competitive offers that belittle agencies or dilute its impact in the market. Instead of growing with them, their practices are causing a divide and weakening the foundation of a win-win relationship.

It was unanimously concluded by all associations present that this must be taken forward. TAAI thanked the Association heads from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Mauritius who shared with their challenges and also heard about the practices prevalent in India.

The TAAI team included all the OBs; Airlines Committee and was supported by the Chairman of Northern Region Rajan Sehgal and his region officers.

In another initiative, the TAAI leadership also met Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Minister of State (I/C) Tourism and Culture, Government of India on 29 January and asked the government’s active interference in formalising and “interpreting the Aviation Commercials” in the country. The government cannot shirk its responsibility and allow airlines to do whatever they like, he said. “We asked the government to convene a round table of all the

stakeholders of the airline industry,” Kumar said.

Around the same time, TAAI took the opportunity to launch its Member Empowerment Programme on 27 January in Mumbai and on 30 January in New Delhi, through TAAI Western and Northern Regions.

It is TAAI’s major focus to have the empowerment programme organized frequently to support its agency colleagues to connect with the future.

“In a fast evolving market scenario, unless we emerge pro-active and take our skills to newer levels, we may not be guaranteed of sustaining or growing our success levels,” said Sunil.

UFTAA, with its vast global connectivity and expertise on future trends and IATA matters, was happy to be associated with TAAI and do presentations on ‘The FUTURE TRENDS – The NDC (New Distribution Capability)’ and NewGEN ISS in these two locations.

Stated Sunil, “The sessions, conducted by Yossi Fatael, Vice President and Chairman of Air Matters of UFTAA, were very well received. The presentations amazed the audience with the changes that are coming in and certainly demanded that in order to champion our tomorrows, we need to evolve and change our approaches to sustain viability and success.”

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Top Appointments

45>> Ankur Mehrotra

Camilla Chiam

Director Sales& Marketing Park Plaza Noida

Vice President- PR & Communications Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group

P

ark Plaza Noida appoints Ankur Mehrotra as the Director Sales & Marketing. In his earlier assignment, he worked with Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. He has worked with Country Inn & Suites Sahibabad as Director of Sales and other hotels like the Claridges and Jaypee Hotels & Intercontinental.

Harpreet Vohra

Vishrut Gupta

General Manager Park Plaza Gurgaon

Director- Food & Beverage Pullman &Novotel New Delhi Aerocity

H

arpreet Vohra has been appointed as the General Manager of Park Plaza Gurgaon.

Prior to this, he has worked with Radisson Blu Agra. He has also worked with Hyatt International, Taj Hotels, Golkonda Resorts and Angsana Spa, The Lalit New Delhi and Hyatt Regency in Mumbai.

P

ullman &Novotel New Delhi Aerocity appointed Vishrut Gupta as the Director of Food & Beverage.Prior to this,he worked as the F&B Director at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, The Westin Pune Koregaon Park. He has also worked with the LeelaKempinski, Mumbai, ITC Grand Central, Mumbai and ITC Mughal Agra.

Shivankar Kodesia

Thomas Abraham

Food & Beverage Manager Park Plaza Noida

General Manager Park Hyatt Hyderabad

S

hivankar Kodesia has been appointed as Food & Beverage Manager of Park Plaza Noida. Prior to this, he has worked with DoubleTree By Hilton Gurgaon as a Food and Beverage Manager. He has worked with Imperial New Delhi, Shangri-La New Delhi, Thistle Group of Hotels.

T

Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group appointed Camilla Chiam as the Vice President of PR and Communications for Asia Pacific. Prior to this, Camilla has worked as the Head, Group Corporate Communications at Pontiac Land Group and Patina Hotels & Resorts, she has also worked with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts.

Thomas Abraham has been appointed as the General Manager of Park Hyatt Hyderabad.

He started his career with the Oberoi Hotels, Mumbai as the Assistant Banquet Manager.

He has also worked Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa, Goa Marriott Resort, Hyatt Regency Delhi, Taj Luxury Hotels and Leela Kempenski Mumbai.

Pruthi Ranjan

Vikrant Mudaliar

Market Manager-India Victoriatour and General Commercial Co. Ltd.

Chief Marketing Officer Yatra.com

he Victoriatour and General Commercial Company Limited, Vietnam a Destination management company for Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar appoints Pruthi Ranjan as the Market Manager of India. Prior to this, he worked as the Head Business Development for ICS Travel group- India.

Y

atra.com appointed Vikrant Mudaliar as the Chief Marketing Officer and will be responsible for leading marketing activities across all Yatra.com business-lines. In his earlier assignments he worked as the Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Lenskart.com and also worked at Tata Sky Ltd. as the Vice President-Brand Marketing.

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