ddppl.com travtalkindiatravtalkindia.com › pdf › 2015 › 12-dec-2015-2.pdf · faisal h. bhat...

Trav

Talk

Indi

a.co

m

ddpp

l.com

` 50/-Vol. XXVII Issue 24; December 2nd fortnight i ssue 2015 A DDP PUBLICATION Pages : 40+8 Pages Supplement

Pink City celebrates travel excellenceNorth India Travel Awards 2015 celebrated the accomplishments of the travel

and tourism industry of North India at the Crowne Plaza Jaipur Tonk Road onDecember 8. The awards commemorated the achievers from different segments

of the industry, such as GDS, Hotels and Resorts, Travel Agents, Tour Operators andTechnology. Gracing the occasion with his presence was Gajendra Singh Khimsar,Cabinet Minister of Indus0tries, DMIC, NRI, Sports & Youth Affairs, Government ofRajasthan, as well as other dignitaries from the travel and tourism industry in North India.

Radha Bhatia, Chairperson, Bird Group, joined the Gallery of Legends, while Bhim Singh, Managing Director, Rajasthan Tours and President, Federation ofHospitality and Tourism of Rajasthan (FHTR), was honoured as the DDP Trailblazer.Ajeet Bajaj, Founder & MD, Snow Leopard Adventures was declared as the DDPGame Changer and it was Mittu Chandilya, MD & CEO, Air Asia India, who wasnamed the Face of the Future at the glittering ceremony.

More than 120 guests attended the black-tie event, which was full of applauseand accolades. The winners of India Travel Awards (ITA) are defined by a fair and unbi-ased selection process done through online voting and judgement by a panel of juryconsisting of travel industry luminaries. The total scores of the judges and the numberof votes received by each nominee determined the final scores of the winners.

Radha Bhatia, Chairperson, Bird Group, joins the ‘Gallery of Legends’. She is felicitated by Gajendra Singh Khimsar, Cabinet Minister of Industries, DMIC, NRI, Spor ts & Youth Affairs, Government of Rajasthan, Dr. Tanushree Pandey, Mrs India 2015 and SanJeet, Director, DDP Group

North India Travel Awards

MOT steps up safety and cleanlinessIn 2015, the Ministry of Tourism implemented measures to make India safer andcleaner, including Swachh Bharat Mission, Incredible India Helpline and Tourist Police.

Encouraging touristarrivals, cleanlinessand safety schemes

have been adopted by MOT. This supports the simplified visa-on-arrival policy and the government

is leaving no stone unturned to increase foreigntourist arrivals.

The number of arrivalsare already on the rise as FTAsduring January-November2015 are 71 lakh with a growthof 4.5 per cent, as compared

to 67 lakh in the same period last year.

As part of the nationalcleanliness campaign, atheme based cleaning drivefocused on tourism sites was undertaken fromDecember 1-15, 2015. To

keep the focus on cleanli-ness, MOT encouraged practices including the instal-lation of flex board messagesin religious places and heritage sites on importanceof cleanliness and print entry

TT BUREAU

Dr Mahesh SharmaMinister of State for Culture and Tourism(Independent Charge) & Civil Aviation Contd. on page 22

FINAL_Trav Talk December-2nd-2015:TT Layout 12/17/2015 11:10 AM

BULLETIN

Destination Canada inaugu-rated its Radio Cab brand-

ing at Canada House and thebranding campaign in SelectCitywalk Mall, Saket onNovember 24, and December7, 2015 respectively.

“We are very excitedabout our promotional activitiesin India. There is high demandfrom the Indian market forCanada and we are raisingawareness about the destination. We have branded200 radio cabs in New Delhi, which will run throughoutDecember 2015. Our other promotional activitiesinclude radio promotions, print advertisements whichpoint out the price points along with itineraries and experiences in Canada,” said Rupert Peters,

Regional Managing Director,Destination Canada.

The campaign at SelectCitywalk Mall, Saket, was offi-cally inaugrated by Nadir Patel,High Commissioner for Canadato India. Speaking at the event,Patel said, “The mall branding isa fantastic opportunity for us toshowcase Canadian visuals,scenery, colours, and tourismproducts at one of the busiest

public places in the city. We arepromoting the winter tourismseason in Canada.”

Discussing the specialdeals being offered by Canadafor the winter, SanJeet, IndiaRepresentative, DestinationCanada, said, “We have beencollaborating with the traveltrade and with their efforts wesaw a growth of over 10 percent till now. Travel agents are

selling packages to the clientsin the mall and if someoneavails those packages at this time, they get a specialdeal. This is a way of workingwith the agents who can meet their numbers for Canada and spread aware-ness about the destination.Also with the direct flightbetween Toronto and NewDelhi, we expect to see a sub-stantial growth.”

Canada has gone all out to promote the destination to Indians in excitingcampaigns. As part of their marketing initiative, Destination Canada branded200 radio taxis and Select Citywalk Mall, Saket in New Delhi.

Canada on a branding spree

TT BU R E AU

Rupert PetersRegional Managing DirectorDestination Canada

Nadir PatelHigh Commissioner of Canada to India

SanJeetIndia RepresentativeDestination Canada


VIEWPOINT

Backed by the current growth impetus, travel,hospitality, luxury and leisure companies

saw strong benefits in 2015. However, it’sbecoming imperative to leverage technologyto effectively respond to competition and aglobe-trotting online customer, the Millennial.

The Millennial group is expected torepresent up to three quarters of the globalworkforce within 10 years. To be successfulwith this group, any consumer business mustunderstand their needs and desires. The goodnews is that Millennials love to travel. They wanta customised experience. Their experiencebegins already with the online search and thenevolves to the doorstep of the travel companyor hotel. The industry needs to find the rightamalgamation of information and technologyto win loyalty of the Millennial customer.

In 2016 total global passengers areexpected to rise to 3.8 billion travelling oversome 54,000 routes, making it an exciting timefor the tourism industry.

A combination of some of the factors thatshould add to the success of the industry are:

• Lower oil prices

• Strong demand for travel

• Stronger economies - India’s growingmiddle class and faster recovery of theeurozone (which should outweigh theslower growth in China)

• Airlines increasing capacity and high loadfactors - Passenger capacity growth isexpected to accelerate from 6.0% in 2015to 8.4% in 2016 as new aircraft aredelivered to accommodate this growth(especially in major emerging markets likeIndia).

• e-Tourist Visas being offered by India andother countries to promote tourism globally

Even though everything seems to bespiraling upwards, steps need to be taken veryquickly to ensure tourism is not hampered dueto lack of security and safety.

To motivate the industry and celebrate theirsuccess, India Travel Awards felicitated theachievers at four separate regional events in2015, awarding them with the Maya, andindulging them with elaborate black-tieceremonies in the North, South, East andWest. The appreciation for these awards andthe concept has been overwhelming!

Targeting Millennials

TRAVTALK is a publication of DDP Publications Private Limited. Allinformation in TRAVTALK is derived from sources, which we consider reliable and a sincere effort is made to report accurate information. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. The publisher regret that he cannot accept liability for errors and omissions contained in this pub-lication, however caused. Similarly, opinions/views expressedby third parties in abstract and/or in interviews are not neces-sarily shared by TRAVTALK. However, we wish to advice our readersthat one or more recognised authorities may hold different viewsthan those reported. Material used in this publication is intendedfor information purpose only. Readers are advised to seek specific

advice before acting on information contained in this publicationwhich is provided for general use, and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances. Contents of this publication are copyright. No part of TRAVTALK or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systemor transmitted in any form without the permission of the pub-lication in writing. The same rule applies when there is a copy-right or the article is taken from another publication. An exemp-tion is hereby granted for the extracts used for the purpose offair review, provided two copies of the same publication are sentto us for our records. Publications reproducing material eitherin part or in whole, without permission could face legal action.

The publisher assumes no responsibility for returning any material solicited or unsolicited nor is he responsible for material lost or damaged.

This publication is not meant to be an endorsement of any specific product or services offered. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw, amend or otherwise deal with all advertisements without explanation.

All advertisements must comply with the Indian andInternational Advertisements Code. The publisher will not beliable for any damage or loss caused by delayed publication, erroror failure of an advertisement to appear.

VikramajitChairman

SanJeetEditor & Publisher

Deepa SethiEditor-in-Chief

EditorialDevika Jeet

Kanchan NathHazel Jain

Samapti DasAhana GurungAnkita Saxena

Ruchi J SinghDesk Editor

Shivani KaulAsst. Desk Editor

MUMBAI:504, Marine Chambers, 43, New Marine Lines, Opp. SNDT College,

Mumbai - 400 020, India, Ph.: +91-22-22070129; 22070130

MIDDLE EAST:Durga Das Publications Middle East (FZE)

Z1-02, PO Box: 9348, Saif Zone, Sharjah, UAE Ph.:+971-6-5528954, Fax: +971-6-5528956

TRAVTALK is printed, published and edited by SanJeet on behalfof Durga Das Publications Pvt. Ltd., printed at Cirrus

Graphics Pvt. Ltd., B-62/14, Phase II, Naraina IndustrialArea, New Delhi - 110 028 and published at

72, Todarmal Road, New Delhi - 110 001Ph.:+91-11-41669575, 41669576

Advertising (Mumbai)Suchita Saran

Branch ManagerHarshal Ashar

General ManagerPriyanshu WankhadeManager Advertising

Susan EapenMarketing Co-ordinator

Advertisement DesignersVikas Mandotia / Nitin Kumar

Design: Nityanand Misra Sudhir Mudgal

Production: Anil KharbandaCirculation: Ashok Rana

AdvertisingGunjan Sabikhi

Asst. Vice PresidentAnand Dutt

Sr. General ManagerAarti Nagrath

General ManagerKarishma Khanna

Deputy General ManagerGeetika Pathak

Sr. Manager AdvertisingGaganpreet Kaur

Asst. Manager MarketingPrableen Pasricha

Asst. Manager MarketingNaveen Kumar

Executive Marketing

PhotographersSimran KaurFaisal H. Bhat

CIN: U22210DL2012PTC230432

STATISTICS

`1,224bn in tourism visitor exportsVisitor exports generated `1, 224.4bn (4.1% of total exports) in 2014.This is forecast to grow by 5.2% in 2015, and grow by 6.3% p.a., from2015-2025, to ` 2,377.2bn in 2025 (4.2% of total).

India: Visitor Exports and International Tourist Arrivals

Source: WTTC Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2015

India: Capital Investment in Travel & Tourism

Money spent by foreign visitors to a country (or visitor exports) is a key component of the directcontribution of Travel & Tourism. In2014, India generated ` 1,224.4bn in visitor exports.

In 2015, this is expected to grow by5.2%, and the country is expected to attract 7,757,000 internationaltourist arrivals.

By 2025, international tourist arrivals areforecast to total 15,291,000, generatingexpenditure of ` 2,377.2bn,an increase of 6.3% pa.

Travel & Tourism’s share of totalnational investment will rise from 6.6%

in 2015 to 6.9% in 2025.

Travel & Tourism is expected to haveattracted capital investment of` 2,107.2bn in 2014. This is expectedtorise by 9.3% in 2015, and rise by6.5% pa over the next ten years to` 4,337.8bn in 2025.


The year 2015 has beenquite an eventful one for

the travel trade and tourismindustry in India, with reformstaking place in every aspect –some for the better, some forthe worst. One of the majormilestones achieved so far isthe implementation of the e-Tourist Visa, a radical steptaken towards boostinginbound tourism in the countrybut one that still needs somefine-tuning here and there.

Subhash Goyal,President, IATO, feels that sev-eral other issues need to belooked into for these changes tohave an effective impact andsays, “For eTV to achieve thedesired effect, it needs to be wellpublicised by the Indianembassies abroad. There arestill so many tourists who haveno clue about these develop-ments and I have heard of manysuch instances where a groupof tourists have been left waitingfor a normal visa. Another mat-ter of importance is that at theairport, some of the machinesthat clear approval of eTV atimmigration either do not func-tion, or are not sufficient in num-ber. It should ideally take just 2-3 minutes to clear the visa, butcurrently, it takes about an hour.”

Goyal highlights severalother matters that need to beworked on. “One of the biggestchallenges, I would say, is theexemption of service tax basedon foreign exchange earnings,”says Goyal. “This is very impor-tant because we feel that we arebeing discriminated againstsince the physical exportersbased on FEE are exemptedfrom service taxes. Therefore,the tour operators, especiallythe smaller ones, are reallybeing hassled because of this. Additionally, the SwachhBharat cess of 0.5 per cent hasalso come into effect. Althoughwe have always been support-ive and have participated in theSwachh Bharat campaign sincethe very beginning, this levy ofcess, I feel, is not justified. I’mnot in favour of over taxation aswe are already a highly taxedcountry,” he elaborates.

Goyal also throws lighton the compulsory licensing oftravel agents and is of theopinion that although they areagainst the idea as an associ-ation, bringing about disciplinein the industry is crucial. “If youare recognised by MOT, allyou need to do is present yourregistration papers to DelhiTourism and you will get thelicense. The misuse of theIncredible India branding by

unscrupulous agents needs tobe curbed and strictly regulat-ed,” he says.

He goes on to address the issue of lack of coordinatedefforts between Civil Aviationand the tourism industry. “Wewant air services to be liber-alised,” he states. “The mostcrucial factor for the benefit of

the consumer is the capping ofair fare. It is a common fact thatduring the peak season, theairlines charge a higher fare onfrequently travelled routes.When the Government of India is regulating hotel tariffand taxi tariff, I fail to under-stand how they can not sta-bilise air tariff. There needs tobe an upper limit to the fares – people today are nottravelling just for leisure.”

IATO President Subhash Goyal voices his opinion on the various challenges in the Indian tourism industry and identifiesseveral areas that need swift improvement for a more competent industry.

‘Capping of airfare crucial for industry’AH A N A GU R U N G & SA M A P T I DAS

D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 TRAVTALK 5AGENTS

If one-window clearance for tourism and hospitality industry can be created,a lot would be achieved. This would

also encourage investment.

Subhash GoyalPresident, IATO


As part of its marketingdevelopment strategy, the

Department of Tourism (DoT),Philippines recently branded100 radio cabs in Mumbai.Rajshree Birla, ConsulGeneral (A.H), ConsulateGeneral of Republic ofPhilippines, inaugurated thisinitiative on December 7, 2015.

Navritu Kaushal Rai,Account Director, PhilippinesTourism Marketing Office,India, said, “The DoT ofPhilippines is focusing on con-sumer promotions for 2015and 2016 and we feel thatbranding taxis and buses arean appropriate method to pro-mote the Philippines as a fundestination since these coverprint as well as mobile forms ofadvertising. This increases thenumber of eyeballs and aware-ness and presence of thePhilippines as a tourist desti-nation in the India market.”

She added that 2015was a phenomenal year in

terms of numbers and DoT’smarketing campaign, ‘Visit thePhilippines Year 2015 (VPY2015) which is an invitation toexperience “It’s More Fun inthe Philippines,” was a big hit.The Indian market has contin-ued to be one of the importantcontributors of internationalvisitors to the Philippines. Indiahas jumped up to the 12th posi-tion for tourist arrivals in thePhilippines till September this

year, with over 22.4 per centmore Indians choosing thecountry as their preferred travel destination. February2015 recorded an impressivegrowth of arrivals to almost 40 per cent.

The growth in arrivalscould be attributed to the mar-keting efforts and participationof the country in internationaltravel fairs as well as tourism

infrastructure developmentbeing undertaken. India’sgrowing outbound touristmarkets are an impor-tant source of visitorsto the Philippines. Thedestination wants toleverage on its tourismproduct offerings andattract the Indian trav-eller to achieve its targetof 100,000 tourist arrivals by 2017.

To create more awareness among the growing Indian outbound travellers, the Department of Tourism of Philippinesrecently undertook a marketing development strategy of branding 100 radio cabs in Mumbai.

Philippines brands Mumbai’s radio cabs D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 TRAVTALK 7NTO

TT BU R E AU

Open DoorsIndian travellers holdingany of the valid and cur-rent AJACSSUK visas(US, Japan, Australia,Canada, Schengen,Singapore and UK) areallowed visa-free entryinto the Philippines for aperiod of 14 days.

Branding taxisand buses are anappropriatemethod topromote thePhilippines as afun destinationsince these coverprint as well asmobile forms ofadvertising

Navritu Kaushal RaiAccount DirectorPhilippines Tourism Marketing Office


8 TRAVTALK D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 QUICKBYTES

This year we saw an unexpectedboost in luxury travel segment andthus 2015 was a wonderful year forus. The luxury sector in tourism onthe whole did fairly welll in compar-ison to previous years and workedwell for all luxury tour operators.

Atul SinghFounder and CEO, Travel Connection India

Overall, 2015 was a good year forthe MICE and hospitality industry.People took advantage of the euroand dollar being lower and steady.In 2015, we saw newer destina-tions picking up, like CentralEurope, Seychelles, Tashkent apart

from the regular must-see destinations.

Zelam ChaubalDirector, Kesari MICE

The biggest achievement in 2015 isthe extension of travel access tomore people to journey all acrossthe world. This enabled companiesto enjoy the overwhelming growthof interest from travellers to have aneasier process to travel. The newdirect flight from Dubai to Orlando

on Emirates opens doors to accomodate and encouragemore people to travel to the USA, Canada & South Afica.

Akarsh KolaprathDirector, 7M Tours USA

Travel and Tourism already accountsfor five per cent of India’s employ-ment and its huge potential for furthergrowth. India’s relevance as businesstravel destination is increasing alongwith its economic growth, it remainsa price-competitive destination and

recent changes in its visa regime have the potential toboost international arrivals. In 2015, we saw consistentgrowth, both in terms of revenue and markets.

Rishi KhandelwalManaging Partner, Wish Bone India

The year 2015 for the tourismindustry overall has been a year ofmixed feelings. There was a boostin some segments of tourism buton the whole the industry was low.For us in particular, the year wasmostly about expansions. Weextended our operations from Latin

America, China, Korea and North Africa in 2015.

Madan KakChief Operating Officer- Tours, Minar Travels

The year 2015 was a year of skep-ticism. There was no particular sen-timent in the tourism industry. 2014was a very good year and we hadhoped that 2015 would be better.However, from business point ofview it was not as expected. Theeconomy in 2015 could not pick up

and the travel trade could not unite for a cause. Wehope it would be better in the coming time.

Rohit ShoreyDirector, International Tours, Destination Travel Service

Year-end thumbs up to 2015

Contd. on page 10

Industry players reflect on how 2015 was, and, though the year had its ups and downs, they remain upbeat on the future and tackling challenges by involving all the players.

TT BU R E AU


1 0 TRAVTALK D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 QUICKBYTES

Contd. on page 12

Contd. from page 8

Growth is here to stay2015 has proven to be favourablefor the hospitality industry with allits key drivers of growth in placeespecially with the implementationof pro-tourism initiatives by the newgovernment, such as e-Tourist Visato drive tourist arrivals in the coun-

try. India’s vast size with its population, urbanisation,strong emerging middle class, cost-competitivenessand massive talent pool have contributed to a rapid growth in travel, which has led to an increase indomestic travel of 740 million travellers.

Jean Michel CasseSenior Vice President

Operations – AccorHotels, India

Whilst the industry has seen manypositive developments in the lastcouple of years, there remain a num-ber of key areas that need to beaddressed. Top among them are: 1)The inadequacy of infrastructure -More can be done to improve the

country's infrastructure – such as air, rail and road con-nectivity. The Government’s announcement detailing theplans to develop more infrastructure is welcome newsand a positive sign. 2) Lack of skilled workforce - By 2020,the hospitality sector in India will require an additional180,000 rooms and more than 200,000 people to runthem. The industry itself has to play a role in respondingto the need for skill development to meet this demand.

Shantha de SilvaHead of South West Asia, IHG

Things are looking up. Our hotels operating performance has beenimproving with Pune having shown a significant demand surge in thehotel occupancy and the ARRs. The supply growth has slowed downand we don’t expect too many new hotels opening up over next fewyears. This coupled with the economic growth revival in India, wouldfurther improve the performance of the hospitality industry over thenext few years.

Naveen JainPresident, Duet Hotels

The easing of visa policies by Government of India and e-Tourist Visafacility has definitely helped in growth of tourism in India. After almostfour years of downward trend, our industry has now started picking upand I am sure the coming months are going to be the best for hospitalityindustry. The signs are positive.

Sanzeev BhatiaGeneral Manager

The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa

2015 saw the tourism industry beginning to appreciate and endorsesafety, safety standards and recognise its value. Customers arebeginning to value and pay for quality, especially safety. Thegovernments, states and other stakeholders are increasingly becomingconscious of the environment. 2015 has marked the importance ofeco-tourism as a key player.

Zia HajeebhoyDirector, Aquasail

The intent of the government to frame a 'cruise tourism policy’ is regard-ed as a milestone in the cruising industry. The year 2015 has been agreat year for this segment as more individuals are experimenting withdestinations and are looking for experiences more than just a holiday.

Varun ChadhaCOO, TIRUN Travel Marketing, Exclusive India Representative

Royal Caribbean Cruises

Due to the economic sentiment,the last few years have been toughfor the hospitality industry in thecountry. Sarovar Hotels managedto consolidate its presence despitetough operating conditions by cut-ting down on costs and putting ina lot of energy conserving meas-

ures. I believe that 2016 will be a turning point for hoteloperations as well as for new hotel development. Itshould again be a great time in the hospitality industry!

Ajay BakayaExecutive Director, Sarovar Hotels and Resorts

Business in Delhi has indeed fallen in terms of occupancy and ARRand a large part of this is credited to the additional surplus of room inven-tory in the city. Furthermore, visits from international travellers hasreduced significantly. The image of the city- Most polluted city, unsafefor women, toxic air, poor hygiene etc., has deterred foreign travellersfrom visiting the capital city. In fact since the taxes paid by the customerat hotels is so high, many international travellers are choosing alternative

destinations while planning vacations. Many digital room distributers such as OYO and ZOrooms have entered into the market and have also taken a share of business.

S.M ShervaniE.C. Member, FHRAI, MD, Shervani Hospitalities


1 2 TRAVTALK D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 QUICKBYTES

In 2015, the extension of e-TV tomore countries was a big step forward. It is surely a big move toattract more tourists. We have seena remarkable boost in MICEtourism. New destinations alsocame up like Lombok, Bandung,

Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Bintan, and Batam beyond theusual destinations like Bali.

Shelly ChandhokCountry Manager-Visit Indonesia Tourism Office, India

The Tourism Industry saw someups and downs in 2015 such as thefluctuating euro rate. However, theoverall tone has been positive, withoutbound figures from India growing steadily. The disposableincomes available with the evergrowing middle class have been

expanding and we see this as a contributing factor tothe increase in outbound travel from India. Germanywitnessed a growth of 10% until January to August 2015as compared to the same period last year.

Romit TheophilusDirector of Marketing and Sales Office India

German National Tourist Office

2015 has been very fruitful with theimplementation of the Multiple-EntryTourist Visa and the recent additionof Dreamliner Boeing 787 on theBangkok-New Delhi route by Thai Airways. From January toSeptember, we received over 8 lakh

Indian visitors and are expecting the numbers to rise to10 lakh by the end of the year.

Runjuan TongrutDirector, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), New Delhi

eTV: Highlight of 2015 Contd. from page 10

2015 has been a very successfulyear. We could achieve somethingthat we have been trying for thepast 20 years, i.e. e-Tourist Visa(eTV). We are thankful to theGovernment that the eTV wasimplemented. We are hopeful that

many such initiatives will be in place that will benefitthe tourism industry greatly and in turn help the countrygrow further.

Subhash GoyalPresident, IATO

2015 saw a lot of growth in thetourism industry as a whole, butthe most visible growth was wit-nessed in the outbound sector.This year also witnessed anincrease in online bookings, whichhave become hugely successful

and have been a boon not just to the airlines, but tothe online travel agents as well. This shows that con-venience is primary for travellers, and cost secondary.We need to enhance our capabilities especially in thedigital aspect.

Sunil KumarPresident, TAAI

In the past 30 years of my experi-ence in this industry, this is the firstIndian government that has givenimportance to tourism and hasrecognised it to be one of the primesectors contributing to the growth ofthe country. Despite the low share

market and property rates, we still saw the outboundmarket grow steadily. It was expected that the marketwould be buoyant and more disposable income wouldbe available, which was not the case earlier.

Guldeep Singh SahniPresident, OTOAI

Contd. on page 14


Stars descend on Jumeirah Vittaveli

The Jumeirah Vittaveli Maldives was the perfect spot for actor Dia Mirza and her husband to unwind and enjoy warm Maldivian hospitality.Marketed in India by Iris Reps, the property has villas with private pools and plenty of privacy.

United marks 10 years in India

United Airlines celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Delhi-New York service in India by hosting a gala night for its travel trade partners. The airline added over200 aircrafts to its fleet over the last five years. By the end of 2015, the airlines plans to add 25 new Boeing 787 Dreamliners, expects to take delivery ofBoeing 777-300 aircraft in December 2016 and by 2018, United Airlines will also add the Airbus 350-1000 to the fleet.

QUICKBYTES

Robust year for aviation Contd. from page 12

India witnessed the entry of threescheduled domestic carriers —Vistara, Air Pegasus, True Jet — in2015 and now they hold 1.4 per centof the market share (average Jan-Oct 2015). Vistara started its oper-ations in January followed by Air

Pegasus and True Jet in May, August respectively. Theentry of these carriers to Indian skies amidst low ATFprices and rebounding economy — Indian GDP — couldnot have been better than this. Due to high load factor —82 per cent, average of Jan-Oct 2015 — Indian carrierscarried more number of passengers and clocked agrowth of 20 per cent. IndiGo was market leader in 2015followed by Jet Airways and Air India.

Satyendra KumarAssociate Manager, CAPA India

Poised to become the world’s thirdlargest travel market by 2026, theIndian aviation industry is on a highgrowth trajectory. It is one of the fivefastest growing aviation markets.With 150 million flyers daily, theindustry is growing rapidly marking

a year-to-date growth of 16.5 per cent. Forecasting thegrowth trends for the coming decade, experts foreseethe industry growing at over 10 per cent annually, cor-responding to double the average global growth rate.

Ankur BhatiaExecutive Director

Bird Group & Member of CII’s Core Committee on Aviation

India is a very important and strategic market for Ethiopian Airlines. With its vast potential and the recentimprovement in Indo-African ties, Ethiopian Airlines views India as a huge source of its future revenues.We have been operating daily flights from Delhi and Mumbai and both our routes are doing well and we had an average load factor of more than 75 percent on both routes. We are aiming for much better performance in 2015 and observing good results in the last few months.

Tadesse TilahunRegional Director India Sub Continent

Ethiopian Airlines


D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 TRAVTALK 1 7NTO

The Korea Tourism Organisation(KTO) is focused on increasing

the Indian tourist arrival numbersand has been striving towards thesame by organising various travelmarts and other such campaigns.Elated by the outcome of theirefforts, Byungsun Lee, Director,Korean Tourism Organisation, com-ments, “For the first time ever, thenumber of Indian tourist arrivals areexpected to exceed 1,50,000 by theend of this year,” he says. “In thepast five years, the growth of Indiantourist arrivals to Korea hasincreased by over 70 per cent. Eversince I began my role as the directorof the KTO in India, I’ve noticed asharp growing interest in Korean tourism from the travelindustry. Korea is now becomingtheir top priority in terms of a newdestination,” he adds.

Of late, major developmentshave been made between Indiaand Korea’s relationship in theform of a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) signedbetween Ministry of Civil Aviation,Government of India and Ministry

of Land, Infrastructure andTransport of the Government ofRepublic of Korea, which was con-veyed by Dr. Mahesh Sharma,Minister of State for Culture,Tourism and Civil Aviation in a writ-ten reply to a Lok Sabha question.

Commenting on the initiative,Lee says, “Thanks to the MoU, theair route between Korea and Indiawill get a lot busier. With flight oper-ations increasing to 19 times froma mere six times a week, the fre-quency of flights operating betweenthe two countries will triple,

thereby bringing about a drasticchange for airline business. Wehope that this will help increase thetourist arrivals from India.”

With one of the chief obsta-cles out of the way, KTO is nowfocusing on promoting wintertourism in Korea. “Korea hasworld-class ski resorts and wewant to spread awareness aboutit in India. Our winter tourism facil-ities are top-notch, so much sothat the next Olympic WinterGames in 2018 is scheduled totake place in PyeongChang,

Korea. However, this fact is notvery well known in India and weare aiming to vigorously promotethis,” Lee adds.

Recently, New Delhi playedhost to the annual roadshow heldon November 30 where over 250travel agents attended the travelmart. It was followed by a celebra-tory Korean Night at Hyatt RegencyNew Delhi where KTO appreciatedits Indian travel trade partners fortheir efforts in promoting the desti-nation with an awards ceremonyand entertained the guests with afun-filled performance by a non-ver-bal martial arts performance calledJump. The chief guest of theevening was H.E. Cho Hyun, theAmbassador of the Republic ofKorea to India.

Byungsun Lee, Director, Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO), shares his views with about India’s growing interest in the destination and the steps they are taking

to boost arrivals from India to Korea.

MoU to boost India-Korea traffic

AH A N A GU R U N G

CGH Earth finalist at World Legacy Awards

CGH Earth is the lone finalist from Indiafor the World Legacy Awards in theCategory: Sense of Place — Recognisingexcellence in enhancing cultural authenticity,including implementing vernacular architec-ture and design, support for the protectionof historic monuments, archaeological sites,indigenous heritage and artistic traditions.

The World Legacy Awards, a partner-ship between the National GeographicSociety and ITB Berlin, showcases the lead-ing travel and tourism companies, organi-sations and destinations — ranging fromlarge resorts to small eco-lodges and fromwildlife conservancies to geoparks — drivingthe sustainable tourism transformation ofthe travel industry based on NationalGeographic’s work of inspiring people tocare about the planet.

CGH Earth operates 16 properties insouthern India emphasising local culturalheritage, including lodge design, communityrelations and helping guests experienceauthentic local culture. All of its propertiesemulate the traditional design of the region’s villages and are built using local,recycled and reclaimed materials, while theintroduction of organic farming and localmarkets contributes to the conservation oflocal biodiversity.

The winners will be announced onstage at the World Legacy Awards ceremo-ny on March 10, 2016, during ITB Berlin.

Finalists and winners will also be featured in National Geographic Traveler magazine and other NationalGeographic media.

With flight operations increas-ing to 19 times from a mere sixtimes a week, the frequency offlights operating between thetwo countries will triple, therebybringing about a drastic change for airline business.

Byungsun LeeDirector

Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO)

Year WrapThe number of Indian touristarrivals to Korea are expectedto exceed 1,50,000

The air route between Koreaand India will get a lot busierwith 19 flights a week


1 8 TRAVTALK D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 AGENTS

Giving an insight on theworkings of Travelport,

Rabih Saab, President &Managing Director of Africa,

Middle East & Asia, said,“Although we are technically aGDS, we have done a lot ofwork in the past few years toreposition ourselves as redefin-ing travel commerce.” Talkingabout the changing role of theAirlines, he added, “Airlineshave invested a tremendousamount of money in their brandidentity. They want to projectthis brand identity at the point

of sale. No other GDS hasinvested at the point of sale inhelping airlines to sell the waythey want to. So if airlines are

able to sell all the ancillaries,they make more money, theconsumer is better lookedafter, and the travel agent getsto provide all the products andservices that any airline has tooffer, rather than the consumerhaving to do it himself and losing that opportunity. He con-cluded, “Traditionally travelagents were used to sellingonly air tickets but now there

is an opportunity to up sell hotel side, car rentals and go so far as to even selltheatre tickets.”

Will Owen Hughes,Senior Director, AirCommerce Middle East andAfrica, elaborating on redefin-ing air commerce, said, “Inspite of security issues weare seeing a huge growth inGulf carriers and also the Indian carriers. Thatgrowth is coming both in terms of wide and narrow bodies on the low costside. We continue to expectto see 10 per cent YOYgrowth till 2020 on the lowcost side.”

Telling us about theevolving travel agents, hesaid, “They will need toreevaluate their proposition,look at their service fee models and make sure they are driving value there, as airline productsbecomes differentiated, they need to integrate all of that choice. Travel agentshave to change the way

in which they shop/sell/service for their customers.Price is the key factor for

the proposition, but there is a lot more to it. Travel agents need to become the

one-stop-shop so that theycan speak in an informed wayto the customer.”

The Travelport e-volve Middle East Summit took place at the Shangri-La Bosphorus hotel in Istanbul, Turkey.brings you the trends as disclosed by senior spokespersons.

Agents need to be one-stop shopKA N C H A N NAT H F R O M TU R K E Y

The training programmesconducted by various

Tourism Boards in India, pro-vide certification to agentsalong with exclusive benefits toget an edge over others. “Atpresent, VisitBritain’s onlinedestination specialist programhas over 800 qualifiedBritAgents in India and over2,000 registered to completethe course,” says Shivali Suri,Country Manager-India,VisitBritain. ChristineMukharji, Director, AustriaNational Tourist Office,explains, “We also conductpersonalised training pro-grammes for our partners andtheir sales staff at their conven-ience which happens in personat their offices. We offer a sep-arate program for Vienna

called Vienna Experts Club (VEC).”

Discussing the need for atrained agent in the evolvingtourism industry, SaraGonzalez, Market Executive-Emerging Markets,VisitScotland says, “A trainedagent not only knows the des-tination better but can also sellthe destination better to one’sown clients.” Navritu KaushalRai, Account Director,Philippines Tourism Marketingoffice, India, outlines theimportance of these pro-grammes. “A trained agent ismore aware of the Philippinesas a destination and since he

would have better productknowledge, he would be ableto chalk out better itinerariesfor his clients as per theirrequirements,” she adds.

Talking about the learn-ings of the programme, Surisays, “The program enablesagents to increase their com-mission rates along with basicinformation and tools theyneed to plan and book theclient’s visit. As a BritAgent, theagents can sell tourism relatedproducts at a commission ofeight per cent.”

SanJeet, IndiaRepresentative, Destination

Canada, highlights the specificregional learning. “The CanadaSpecialist Program is organ-ised for learning through vari-ous modules to cover each andevery aspect of Canada. Theagent can learn to sell just onestate for in-depth visits or learnto plan longer itineraries bycombining stays across statesfor their clients. In addition theycan easily learn about the air-line connectivity from eachstate, connecting their clientsto the Canadian SignatureExperiences,” he says.

Agents who complete thetraining programmes get exclu-sive benefits. They receive

monthly newsletters onupdates about the destinationand new tourism products;accredited certification fromthe respective NTO; commis-sionable deals; marketingmaterial; NTO logo to compli-ment the company collaterals;special incentive and FAMtrips; priority invites to B2B

engagements and directory ofsuppliers of the destinationamong many others. SanJeetexplains, “Canada Specialistgets access to key suppliers ofall experiences listed in thetraining module and can alsoenjoy Canada Specialist

Program (CSP) reduced travelrates from various states ontheir personal trips to Canada.”

The various agent train-ing programmes can be com-pleted within a stipulated timeor at the pace of the agent’sconvenience. There is a par-ticular pass percentage for

each module to become acertified destination agent.“The program consists ofeight lectures and sevenhours of content of all about the Philippines, frombeaches to malls to nightlife,”adds Rai.

Agent training programmes, for educating travel and tour operators to become destination specialists, allow them to become well-versed with the products that they sell to their clients.

Get the edge with training programmes

Rabih SaabPresident & Managing Director ofAfrica, Middle East & Asia

Will Owen HughesSenior Director, Air CommerceMiddle East and Africa

Anthony Hynes, MD & CEO, eNett, gave five important trends for the Indian market.

Posting cash depositswith airlines is not a verysensible thing to do. InEurope 90 airlines wentbroke in 10 years. Somesort of electronic payment(globally accepted and aguaranteed payment)should be the mode for pay-ments instead of cashdeposits.

Even with the culturalrequirement of face to facecommunication, people arestill of the opinion that theycan grow their business withbetter supply relationshipsor better deals.

However, I feel whattravel agents need to focuson is to grow business it isessential to better the inter-nal process, have more process efficiencies.

As online grows, pay sup-plier/vendor through cardand not cash. In case of

default, your money will notbe stuck. The idea of takinga card paying from the con-sumer and paying the sup-plier in cash is not sensible,because if the supplier goesbroke, your payment isstuck and you still have torefund the customer.

There is always a lot ofnoise about different formsof payment. It is important tounderstand the ones con-sumers really want and trust. Use the ones whichhave resulted in good customer experience.

There may be 210forms of payment but the world only uses 20. Havevalue with few tested formsof payment.

Reduce risk, improve rec-onciliation and efficiency andbeing able to deal with sup-pliers in all markets, becauseyou can satisfy them with the form of payment that they accept. Prepayment means a better rate on thehotel and better relationshipbetween you two.

Anthony HynesMD & CEO, eNett

AN K I TA SAX E N A

Shivali SuriCountry Manager-IndiaVisitBritain

Christine MukharjiDirectorAustria National Tourist Office

Sara GonzalezMarket Executive-EmergingMarkets, VisitScotland

Navritu Kaushal RaiAccount Director, PhilippinesTourism Marketing Office, India

SanJeetIndia RepresentativeDestination Canada

National Tourist Registered Office Number Of Indian

Agents (Approx.)

United Kingdom 800Scotland 2300Canada 2900Philippines 600


2 0 TRAVTALK D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 NEWS

Movers and Shakers of 20152015 was a roller-coaster ride for the travel industry. Mergers, takeovers, new appointments, there was no dearth ofactivities throughout the year. lists the 10 groundbreaking news of the year which have the potential to changethe face of our industry.

MOT gets new SecretaryMinistry of Tourism got a new tourism secretary in Vinod Zutshi onAugust 30, 2015. An IAS officer of 1982 batch Rajasthan cadre, he wasDeputy Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India,before being appointed for his new assignment. He was alsoSecretary Tourism, Rajasthan, and Chairman, RajasthanTourism Development Corporation (RTDC) between 2004 and2007 in Rajasthan. On Central deputation since 2009, Zutshihas been OSD and subsequently Deputy ElectionCommissioner in the Election Commission of India.

Air India’s first direct flight to SFO Air India’s inaugural flight from Delhi-San Francisco took off with 230 passengers on board

on December 2 this year. With the launch, the national carrier of India has become the first airline to offer direct connections from India to San Francisco. A

special cake was cut to celebrate the occasion and passengers were presentedwith rose buds at the time of check-in. In attendance for the special

day, at Indira GandhiInternational Airport,was Ashwani Lohani,CMD, Air India.

Bengaluru hosts PATA Travel MartThe PATA Travel Mart hosted by Department of Tourism, Government of Karnataka, was heldat Bangalore International Exhibition Center (BIEC) from September 6-8. This edition of PATATravel Mart for the first time had an Investment Forum. About 1,100 delegates from 61 participatingcountries registered for the 38th PATA Travel Mart 2015. Twelve hotels from the city were theofficial hotels as part of the PATA Travel Mart, which accommodated these delegates. Extensive media publicity campaignhas been launched for the promotion of PATA across the globe by Karnataka Tourism department. PATA Travel Mart is aPATA signature event and a premier travel trade show in the Asia-Pacific region.

Sunil Kumar wins over TAAISunil Kumar, Former Acting President of Travel Agents Association of India(TAAI) was elected as the President for tenure of two years (2015-17). TAAIrecently concluded its 64th annual general meeting and elections. A total of745 votes were casted, out of which Kumar bagged 284 votes. Theother candidates, Harmandeep Singh Anand and Rajji Rai got 239and 219 votes respectively. Other office bearers are – MarzbanAntia as the Vice President; Lokesh Bettaiah as Secretary Generaland Jay Bhatia as Treasurer. The managing committee membersare Anil Kumar, Jyoti Mayal, Shreeram Patel, Imtiaz Qureshi,Bhagwan Ramnani, Devaki Thiagarajan, R Venkatachalam.

Marriott acquires Starwood The boards of directors of Marriott International and Starwood Hotels &Resorts Worldwide on November 16 approved a definitive mergeragreement, under which the companies will create the world’s largest hotelcompany. The transaction combines Starwood’s leading lifestyle brandswith Marriott’s strong presence in the luxury and select-service tiers, aswell as the convention and resort segment, creating a more comprehensiveportfolio. The merged company will offer broader choice for guests, greateropportunities for associates and should unlock additional value for Marriottand Starwood shareholders. Combined, the companies operate or franchisemore than 5,500 hotels with 1.1 million rooms worldwide.

Sabre acquires AbacusSabre Corporation completed the acquisition ofAbacus International, the leading Global DistributionSystem (GDS) in the Asia-Pacific region, on July 1,2015. It had announced the acquisition plans on May14. Sabre, which previously owned 35% of Abacus,acquired the remaining portion for net cashconsideration of $411 million. The acquisition includesnew long-term distribution agreements betweenSabre and the 11 Asian airlines that previouslyshared ownership of Abacus with Sabre.

50years of FHRAI Convention,in BhubaneswarThe 50th annual convention of Federation of Hotel &Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) opened atMayfair Convention in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, onSeptember 25. Minister of State for Culture (IndependentCharge), Tourism (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation,Dr. Mahesh Sharma, and Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshiwere present during the inauguration. The three-dayconvention concluded on September 27, 2015. Technicalsessions were held on all three days. Heritage Walk andcarnival had been planned to celebrate World Tourism Dayon Sept 27, which showcased the folk dance and cultureof various parts of the country.

AccorHotels adds Fairmont, Rafflesand Swissôtel to its portfolio

French hotel chain Accor is buying the company thatowns luxury hotel lines Raffles, Swissotel and Canada'sFairmont in a deal worth about $2.9 billion US in cashand shares. Accor isbuying the companyknown as FRHI fromjoint owners Qatar InvestmentAuthority; King Holding Co., which is the privateinvestment arm of Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal; andOxford Properties Group, the real estate division ofOMERS, Ontario's municipal workers pension plan.

Lohani takes over Air IndiaAshwani Lohani took over as the new Chairman & MD of Air India, on

August 31, 2015. He succeeded Rohit Nandan. An Indian Railway Serviceofficer of the 1980 batch, Lohani will have a three-year term. A

qualified mechanical engineer, Lohani is a fellow of the CharteredInstitute of Logistics and Transport. He is the founder member ofthe Indian Steam Railway Society and member of CII NationalCouncil on Tourism.

Thomas Cook takes over Kuoni India businessThomas Cook concluded the acquisition of 100 per centshareholding of Kuoni Travel (China) Limited, Hong Kongfrom the Kuoni Group on November 9. In August,Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. signed an agreement withKuoni Group to acquire its entire travel businesses inIndia and Hong Kong for ` 535 crore. As part of theacquisition, Thomas Cook will take on the approximately1,800 employees of Kuoni’s in India and Hong Kong.

India Travel Awards (ITA) - 2015ITA - South VisakhapatnamApril 16

Chief Guest Ganta Srinivasa RaoMinister of HumanResource Development,Governmentof Andhra Pradesh

ITA - West GoaOctober 14

Chief Guest Dilip ParulekarMinister ofTourism,Government ofGoa

ITA - East ChandigarhNovember 19

Chief Guest Basanta RajkumarExecutive Director,Punjab Heritage &Tourism PromotionBoard, Governmentof Punjab

ITA - NorthJaipurDecember 8

Chief Guest Gajendra SinghKhimsarCabinet Minister ofIndustries, DMIC,NRI, Sports & YouthAffairs, Governmentof Rajasthan


2 2 TRAVTALK D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 NEWS

Big leaps of the year

Mittu Chandilya was appointed as the Managing Director of AirAsia India in additionto its role as the CEO of the airline. The AirAsia India Board appointed Chandilyaas the Managing Director and as first full time independent Executive Director ofthe company. On the appointment, Tony Fernandes, Group CEO, AirAsia said that

Mittu was given the added portfolio because of his exemplary performance leadingAirAsia India.

Mittu ChandilyaAir Asia

Zubin Karkaria became the first Indian to have been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Kuoni Group. Karkaria was the COO of the Kuoni India Tour OperatingDivision in 1999, and moved on to become the Deputy CEO and Head BusinessDevelopment in 2003. He conceptualised and launched VFS Global in 2001, andwas appointed as the CEO and MD of Kuoni India and South Asia in 2005. InMarch 2013, in line with the development of VFS Global as an important Divisionof Kuoni Group, Karkaria was appointed on the Executive Board of Kuoni Group. He graduated from Mumbai University and completed his BusinessManagement studies from Mumbai.

Zubin KarkariaKuoni

Umang Narula was appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of ITDC.Narula, an IAS officer of 1989 batch, Jammu and Kashmir cadre, was the ChiefElectoral Officer of Jammu & Kashmir prior to this role. He successfully conductedthe Lok Sabha Elections and the J&K State Assembly elections in 2014. He was

Deputy Secretary in the Department of Culture under the Union Ministry of Tourismand Culture during 1998-2002. He also worked as a Director in the Ministry of Home

Affairs (MHA). In J&K, he was Deputy Commissioner in Kargil and later shift-ed to Anantnag district.

Umang Narula India Tourism Development Corporation

Greesh Bindra was appointed as Area General Manager, North India,InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). In his new role,Greesh is in charge of IHG’s growth in the northernIndian markets and oversees the performance ofthe company's hotels in the region, includingCrowne Plaza New Delhi Rohini, Crowne PlazaNew Delhi Mayur Vihar, the Holiday Inn hotels inMayur Vihar, Pune and Amritsar and the recentlyopened Holiday Inn Chandigarh Panchkula.

Greesh Bindra InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)

Vikramjit Singh Oberoi took over EIH, which runs theOberoi Hotels under the aegis of The Oberoi Group, on24 March 2015 as the Managing Director (MD). He wasappointed as the MD following the resignation of ShibSanker Mukherji as Chief Executive. The decision ofrestructuring the top management was taken at a

board meeting chaired by the Chairman Prithvi RajSingh Oberoi. Vikram Oberoi is also the President,

Hotel Association of India.

Vikramjit Singh OberoiEIH Limited under Oberoi Group

After playing a crucial role in establishing the Lemon TreeHotels brand, Rahul Pandit came back to Taj Hotels, afterbeing appointed as CEO of Roots Corp. Limited whichoperates ‘Ginger’ chain of hotels, a wholly owned sub-sidiary of The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL). An indus-try veteran with over two decades of experience in the

hospitality and travel industry, Rahul is one of thefounding members of Lemon Tree

Hotels Ltd.

Rahul Pandit Roots Corporation Limited

tickets to these sites with acleanliness message.

In order to counteractand regulate crime againsttourists, the Ministry ofTourism has come up withseveral guidelines to ensuretheir safety and security. Onpilot basis, the IncredibleIndia Helpline has been setup by the Ministry to guideand provide assistance totourists in need.

Additionally, a set ofguidelines that serve as a codeof conduct for safe and honourable tourism has beenadopted which encouragestourism activities to be undertaken, with respect tobasic rights like dignity, safety and freedom fromexploitation of tourists and

local residents, women andchildren in particular.

The state governmentsand union territory administra-tions of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala,Maharashtra, HimachalPradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu &Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi,Punjab, Madhya Pradesh andOdisha have deployed Tourist Police. Moreover, theimmediate implementation ofeffective steps have beenrequested to all the chief ministers and administrators ofstate governments and union territories, along with theprovision of central financialassistance to state govern-ments of Rajasthan, UttarPradesh and Andhra for setting up of the TouristFacilitation and SecurityOrganisation (TFSO).

MOT steps up safetyand cleanliness

Contd. from page 1

Abdul Hadi Shaikh, CEO,Fxkart.com, says the focus

will be on inbound as well asoutbound tourists. “We enablethe exchange of forex in a verytransparent and quick way. It isa very essential service and itneeds to be smooth and has-sle-free. We have developed amobile application for money-changers and a mobile-enabledportal for the travel agents.”

Launched in April this year,Fxkart.com is a UAE-based FreeZone Company with its R&Dcentre in Bengaluru. Accordingto Shaikh, it has already enabled2,500-plus transactions. “Agentscan buy forex for their clients

online when they sell an interna-tional trip and have it deliveredto their clients at the best priceavailable in the city. The portalshows all the available rates andthe location of that moneychang-er. The best rate emerges in realtime. Agent can not only offervalue-added service to their cus-

tomers, but also earn a biggercommission since they are freeto fix their own rates/margins.They can get a cheaper optiononline as against their regularmoneychanger thereby max-imising their margins,” he adds.

Explaining the process,Shaikh says that once thedeal is booked, their call cen-tre co-ordinates between thetravel agent and the money-changer, and helps close thedeal. The transaction can bemade in 10 minutes and thecurrency can be obtainedwithin one hour. It’s also geo-located allowing the agent toknow where the moneychang-er is. It does not require anyregistration fee.

Shaikh says, “Travelagents have responded wellso far. Bengaluru is doingexcellent and so are Mumbaiand Delhi. Hyderabad andAhmedabad have been thesurprise elements that aredoing very well. We havesome big travel agents as wellas local agents who do 100pax a month already on ourplatform. We are now lookingto tie up with big travel agents and negotiations areon. Our portal is as per regu-lation with verified andlicensed moneychangersacross the spectrum. We alsoverify them on the RBI web-site and collect the licensecopies and verify them by ourlegal consultant.”

Fxkart.com a new portal offering quick and easy foreign exchange hascreated an opportunity for travel agents and tour operators by offering value-added services to their clients while earning a bigger commission.

Add value with quick forex

HA Z E L JA I N

Abdul Hadi ShaikhCEO, Fxkart.com

The tourism and hospitality industry saw some of the most discerning institutions handing over their reins into trustedhands. brings to you a round-up of such appointments.

TT BU R E AU


2 4 TRAVTALK D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 NTO

It was revealed at a pressmeet organised by Visit

Indonesia Tourism Office orVITO (India) that Indonesiahas recorded a growth of10.94 per cent in Indiantourist arrivals duringSeptember 2015 over thesame month of the previousyear. January-September2015, witnessed 195,214Indian tourists while 2014 reg-istered 237,990 Indianarrivals with a growth of 16.23 per cent over 2013’s204,756 FTAs.

With the implementationof 30-day visa-free facility, theMinistry of Tourism, Republicof Indonesia hopes it willboost tourism and providesubstantial growth in terms ofIndian arrivals in India. Rita Sofia, Deputy Director,Ministry of Tourism, Indonesiaexpresses, “We hope that therecently introduced free visascheme will give the numbersthe necessary push and helpus achieve our goal.”Commenting on the key mar-kets for Indonesia, she says,

“At present, India ranks 13 onthe list of our source markets. We are hopeful that India’s rank will increaseto at least eighth position by the end of next year. As of now, the number onesource market is Singapore,followed by Malaysia, Chinaand Australia.”

She states that this year,three regions in Indonesia are in focus, namely GreaterBali, Greater Jakarta andGreater Batam. “The threeregions, Greater Bali(Surabaya, Banyuwangi, Bali,Lombok and KomodoIslands), Greater Jakarta(Jakarta, Bandung, Puncak,

Bogor and Banten) andGreater Batam (Batam, Bintanand Riau Archipelago), haveplenty of tourism attractions,with the likes of pristinebeaches, shopping hubs andheritage sites,” she says.

Furthermore, Sofia feelsthat Bali particularly wouldprove to be a big winneramong Indian tourists, thanksto the close proximity in reli-gion and the availability ofIndian cuisine. “Bali is highlypopular among honeymoon-ers and is also a fine leisuredestination, along withLombok. Jakarta is mainly aMICE hub and is a popularvacation spot for families.Surabaya, as well, is frequent-ly visited by numerous fami-lies,” she elaborates.

Sofia informs that theyhave also tied up with TUI tooffer packages to Indonesia.“The package depends on thelength of the stay and is cur-rently available for Bali andJakarta. We hope to have moresuch tie-ups with other touroperators in India in the nearfuture,” she adds.

Rita Sofia, Deputy Director, Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia,gives details on the newest tourism products they have onoffer and the various tie-ups with Indian tour operators.

10.94% Indian catapult

AH A N A GU R U N G

Rita SofiaDeputy DirectorMinistry of Tourism, Indonesia

Bali Tourism Promotion Boardhas appointed Repre-sen-

tation World LLP, as its India representative with effect fromDecember 1, 2015. This was

announced at an event hostedby the Ministry of Tourism of theRepublic of Indonesia along withConsulate General of Indonesiain Mumbai, where theIndonesian delegation made adestination presentation andinteracted with the travel tradefraternity to promote a new segment of adventure and eco-tourism.

Vineet Gopal, whoheads New Delhi-basedRepresentation World LLP,

says, “The Bali TourismPromotion Board head office islooking at the India market in avery big way and being presenthere is the first big step. Theidea is to go forward aggres-sively, and we have charted out

a plan for 2016-17 starting witheducating the travel trade,which will remain our primefocus. We want the travel tradefraternity to understand theproduct well before they canstart selling to the clients. Ourupcoming activities will be ona mega scale as we want toclose this year with 1,20,000arrivals.”

Further he added, “Apartfrom roadshows for Bali, wewill launch a destination

specialist program by March2016 and they will qualify forfamiliarisation trips.”

Gilda Sagrado, ExecutiveDirector (Promotion &Marketing), Bali TourismPromotion Board, who was alsopresent at the event, says, “Year2014 saw Indian arrivals touch88,074, which was already anincrease of 36 per cent over theprevious year. This year, up untilOctober 2015, we have record-ed 90,327 Indian tourists intoBali and we are looking at dou-bling these numbers by 2016end. We expect Garuda Air tolaunch direct flights betweenIndia and Bali soon.”

Monica Mohindra, BrandAmbassador, TourismPromotion Relations throughBali Tourism Promotion Board,said, “This is the first time we arefocusing on India, which is avery important for us. We wantit to be among the top ten mar-kets for Bali. There’s a huge con-nect between the countries interms of culture, religion, lan-guage, heritage, etc and wewant to tap India’s potentialthrough this aspect.”

In an effort to grab a bigger chunk of the Indian outboundmarket, Bali Tourism has appointed Representation Worldto promote itself amidst the travel fraternity.

Face of Bali Tourism in India

HA Z E L JA I N

250 Delhi agents @Travelshop roadshow

Travelshop Turkey recently conducted a seven-city roadshow from Dec 7-15, in New Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabadand Mumbai. The fourth edition of the annual roadshow witnessed stakeholders such as Movenpick Hotel, Istanbul, Gamirasu Cave Hotel, Cappadociaand Dosso Dossi Hotel, Istanbul as partners of the event. The B2B event featured presentations on airlines, hotels and products, along with B2Bnetwork meetings, and registered over 250 travel agents in the New Delhi edition, held on Dec 7 at The Royal Plaza.

Providing end-to-end man-agement for services such

as ticketing, hotel reservations,tour packages, training and on-ground management duringan event, Catapultt Sevices

offers a variety of domesticand international tours.

Catapultt recently partici-pated in WTM London 2015 andspeaking about the experience,

Manish Fitkariwala, Director,says, “Our expectations weresimple from WTM – we havebeen successful in both busi-ness and branding. We conduct-ed some very good meetings atWTM with prospective clientsand things have already startedmoving for us.” Fitkariwala addsthat the group eagerly looks for-ward to WTM 2016 to furtherenhance their presence andreach into Europe.

When it comes to workethics, Fitkariwala believes inadapting to the clients’ way ofworking. “Catapultt’s USP isthat our way of working is yourway of working,” he says. “Wedon’t ask our clients to workaccording to us but we adaptto their work culture, process-es, service standards etc., tomake it extremely convenientfor them to work with us. Ofcourse, as and when required,we do make suggestionsbased on our local expertise ofthe destination,” he states.

Manish Fitkariwala, Director, CatapulttServices enthuses about theirparticipation at WTM London 2015.

A successful stint at WTM 2015

TT BU R E AU

Our expectationswere simple fromWTM – we havebeen successful inboth business and branding

Manish FitkariwalaDirector, Catapultt

Services

Gilda Sagrado, Vineet Gopal and Monica Mohindra


The devaluation of rublesaw Russian tourism mar-

ket spiral down in 2015. “Theyear has been a disaster dueto various reasons—the dwin-dling economic situation;unpredictable fluctuations inlocal currency market; changein government policy to pro-mote domestic tourism overoutbound tourism; restrictionson government employees toholiday outside Russia amidstthe general unrest in the cur-rent geopolitical situation,” saysBharat Bhushan Atree.

In these tough timesIndia, however, can be ofimportance to the Russiantourists. Atree says, “Thetourism market shall not sud-denly improve as the reasonshampering outbound tourismare still in force. However, withthe closure of Egypt as a des-tination for Russian tourists,we expect to see an increasein the demand for India as adestination.” He also pointedout that the Russian touristscoming to India are mostlybudget clients.

Discussing the chal-lenges India faces in attractingRussian tourists and therequired support of the traveltrade partners, Atree says,“Travel agents are crucial net-work for us and we are keepingthem motivated and enthusi-astic about the destination byoffering them many lucrativeholiday packages.” He adds,

“All concerned partners likehotels, transporters, DMCsetc., should offer competitivepackages for the Russian mar-ket at least for the coming oneto two years and thus makeIndia an affordable destinationfor Russian tourists.”

Speaking about the mainagenda in 2016 to tap theRussian market, Atree adds,

“Our main focus currently is tomaintain low costs due to thedevaluation of the Russiancurrency by almost 100 percent. For the Russian tourists,almost everything has becomedouble the price. We are alsolooking at an effective use oftechnology to make the distri-bution of products easier andcost-effective. We aim to con-tinue promoting India as a

destination in the Russianmarket in these difficult timesas well. It is also important thatthe Indian tourism marketincreases its marketing spendin Russia to continue to gettourists from the Russian mar-ket.” Atree calls upon the Indian government to support Russia by offeringtrue visa on arrival facilityinstead of e-Tourist Visa.

Bharat Bhushan Atree, Chairman & Managing Director, Caper TravelCompany, speaks to on what is affecting Russian arrivals to India andwhat can be done to put Russia back on the top of tourism chart.

Russia on revival routeD E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 TRAVTALK 2 7NTO

AN K I TA SAX E N A

Kapil Chopra,President, TheOberoi Group,has beenappointed as theChairman ofWorld Travel &Tourism Council,India Initiative(WTTCII) for the year 2016. Chopra, who served as the Vice Chairman of WTTCII for the year 2015, takes over fromManav Thadani, Chairman, HVS, South Asia. WTTCIIannounced its new office-bearers for the year 2016 during itsAnnual General Meeting that was held on December 9, 2015in New Delhi. Ashwani Lohani, Chairman & ManagingDirector, Air India has been appointed as the Vice Chairmanof WTTCII for the year 2016.

With the closureof Egypt as adestination forRussiantourists, weexpect to seean increase inthe demand forIndia as adestination

Bharat Bhushan AtreeChairman & Managing DirectorCaper Travel Company

Kapil Chopra

WTTCII appoints newChairman and Vice Chairman

Ashwani Lohani


In a B2B engagement with trav-el and tour operators, the four

countries presented their prod-ucts on offer to increase thenumber of Indian tourists to theirrespective countries.

Talking at the event,Emilia Kubik, Project Leader,Department of MarketingInstruments, Polish TouristOrganisation, says, “2015 has

been a good year. We saw30,000 Indian tourist arrivalsinto Poland.” Explaining theproducts on offer, Kubik says,“The tourist attractions that weoffer are very inspiring, emo-tional and something that onecan not find anywhere inWestern Europe,” In meetingswith agents, Kubik explainedthe two important events in thecities of Kraków and Rzeszow

in 2016, which the agents cantarget to sell to their clients.“The infrastructure in Poland isgrowing and improving to wel-come a larger number oftourists.” Discussing the signif-icance of the travel trade in thepromotion of the four countries,Kubik said, “We engage withthe tour operators on a dailybasis via newsletters, socialmedia and B2B meetings tocommercialise our products,”Kubik says

Jan Herget, Director ofForeign Offices & Online,Czech Tourist Authority, says,“We want to invite Indiantourists not just to Prague butto other cities in the Czech

Republic which are equallybeautiful.” Roman Masarik,Deputy Head of Mission,Counsellor, Embassy of theCzech Republic, says, “Weissued 8,000 visas to Indiantourists but the real numbersmay differ as tourists can travel to multiple countriesacross the border with oneSchengen visa.”

Matej Franco, Managerof Marketing, EventsDepartment, Slovak TouristBoard, says, “We are relatively new to the Indian market and number of Indians visiting Slovakia is very less. Weare working towards engagingwith as many tour operators toincrease awareness about ourproducts and packages.”

Zsolt Pakozdy, SeniorEconomic and CommercialCounsellor, Embassy ofHungary, says, “India is animportant source market forHungary. We issued nearly7,000 visas to Indian touristsbut the number may be higherdue to Schengen visa.” Talkingabout initiatives taken byHungary, Pakozdy says, “We

have opened a visa consulatein Mumbai to make visa regi-ment conducive to the tourists

and promote Hungary better.In 2016, we hope to grow by30 per cent.”

European Quartet, comprising the countries of Czech Republic, Hungary,Poland, and Slovakia, conducted roadshows in New Delhi, Bengaluru andMumbai to promote their countries in the Indian market.

European Quartet eyes India marketD E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 TRAVTALK 2 9NTO

Emilia KubikProject Leader, Department of MarketingInstruments, Polish Tourist Organisation

Jan HergetDirector of Foreign Offices & OnlineCzech Tourist Authority

AN K I TA SAX E N A

Matej FrancoManager of MarketingEvents Department, Slovak Tourist Board

Zsolt PakozdySenior Economic and CommercialCounsellor, Embassy of Hungary


D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 TRAVTALK 3 1AVIATION

Emirates, and the NationalCouncil of Applied Economic

Research (NCAER) in NewDelhi, released the results of aneconomic impact study thatmeasures Emirates’ contributionto the Indian economy. NCAERestimates that Emirates’ opera-tions have contributed overUS$848 million annually toIndia’s GDP, supporting over86,000 Indian jobs and generat-ing almost US$1.7 billion inForeign Exchange Earnings.

Talking about the Indianmarket, Essa SulaimanAhmad said, “We are notplanning to start any new des-tination that we haveannounced in India, but weare looking at our bilaterals.As per the announcement ofNCAER, we have Kochi as thebusiest route in India at 91%.seat load factor.”

Talking about year 2015and plans for 2016, he said, “Wehave been growing positivelyand we have a great travel pat-tern from different type of indus-

tries and different types of trafficmixes. Year on Year (YOY) wehave been getting more desti-nations out of Dubai. New mar-kets have been created and weare also coming up with newproduct offerings. In the next fiveyears, we are looking for 67 per-cent growth in the number of

passengers flying to and fromIndia. The outlook for 2016 alsolooks positive.”

Talking about competition,he said, “With Emirates it’s abouthow we have grown all theseyears. There was confidence inthe brand, as well as in our prod-uct offerings. Going forward ourstand has always been to keepon spending on our productsand on how to make that expe-rience even better. At the end ofthe day, the choice remains withthe consumers, and they willdecide whom they want to travelwith.” Currently, Emirates Airlineoperates 183 weekly flights tonine Indian cities with its hubs atMumbai and Delhi.

Commenting on the draftcivil aviation policy for India,Ahmad, said, “The governmenthas taken a very positive step toinclude the stakeholders andtalking about it. We have beenasked by the government to lookat the draft civil aviation policy,and respond with our views asstakeholders and we will bedoing that in due time.”

In an interview with Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, VicePresident–India and Nepal, Emirates Airlines, finds out more about the carrier’s plans for India.

Kochi, Emirates’ busiest route

KA N C H A N NAT H

We have Kochi as thebusiest route inIndia at 91% load factor

Essa Sulaiman Ahmad Vice President – India and Nepal,Emirates Airline

In a major move, Oman Air willdouble its connectivity from

Muscat to Bengaluru and Kochiand will operate 11 flights toLucknow and 10 flights to Jaipur,weekly. Adding frequency toGoa, Oman Air will now fly dailyfrom Muscat as compared to sixflights per week.

With the increase in thenumber of flights, Oman Air willnow offer more than 5,000 addi-tional seats to these key Indiansectors and will operate Boeing737-800 and 737-900 aircraft.Once the uplift in frequencieshas been introduced, Oman Airwill operate a total of 126 flightsper week between Muscat andits destinations in India. OmanAir flies to 19 destinations inthe Indian Subcontinent (ISC)that includes India, Pakistan,Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka,and the Maldives, out of which11 destinations in India.

Sunil V.A., SeniorManager Sales, ISC, OmanAir, said, “The demand fortravel from Muscat to key des-

tinations in India has beenconsistently on the rise. Withdaily or double daily flights toall our eleven destinations inIndia, we are delighted to beoffering many more air trav-ellers the opportunity to flywith us and strengthen ourpresence in the Indian market.

“Our new flights toBangalore, Kochi, Goa,Lucknow and Jaipur will offerimproved connectivity and con-venience for both leisure andbusiness travellers. This movenot only supports the growth oftourism in Oman and India, butwill also help to promote vitaltrade partnerships between thetwo countries. We are confidentthat our additional flights will be greeted with enthusiasm by both our frequent flyers and those who are new to Oman Air.”

From December 1, 2015, Oman Air, the national carrierof the Sultanate of Oman, will increase its frequencies tosome key destinations in India.

Oman Air increases frequency

TT BU R E AU

With daily or doubledaily flights to all oureleven destinationsin India, we aredelighted to beoffering many moreair travellers theopportunity to fly withus and strengthenour presence in theIndian market

Sunil V.A.Senior Manager Sales, ISCOman Air

Key DestinationsOman Air flies to 19 destinations in the Indian Subcontinent


3 2 TRAVTALK D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 AWARDS

Maya takes Jaipur by storm

The best in the business oftravel and tourism fromNorth India raised a toast

to achievers from the region at the North India Travel Awards,2015, held at the Crowne Plaza Jaipur Tonk Road onDecember 8, 2015.

The black-tie eventbrought together more than120 attendees for an excitingevening celebrating tourismexcellence. The chief guest atthe glittering ceremony was

Gajendra Singh Khimsar,Cabinet Minister of Industries,DMIC, NRI, Sports & Youth Affairs, Government of Rajasthan.

North India Travel Awardscommemorated the achieversfrom different segments of theindustry, such as GDS, Hotelsand Resorts, Travel Agents, TourOperators and Technology. The evening started with the ribbon cutting, followed by thefelicitation of Radha Bhatia,Chairperson, Bird Group, whoentered the Gallery of Legends

at the North Indian TravelAwards 2015. Bhim Singh,Managing Director, RajasthanTours and President Federationof Hospitality and Tourism ofRajasthan, was honoured asDDP Trailblazer. After that, AjeetBajaj, Founder and ManagingDirector, Snow LeopardAdventures, was named theDDP Game Changer.

Also, Mittu Chandilya,CEO and Managing Director,AirAsia India, was declared asthe Face of the Future. Due tothe airline’s rescue operation inChennai, he could not be pres-ent at the ceremony.

SanJeet, Mentor, IndiaTravel Awards, said, “Theseawards signify the growth ofthe industry, which has developed immensely in thelast few years. Encouraged bythe enormous success of India Travel Awards in otherregions, we wish to continuewith this. India Travel Awards isa platform, which recognises and applauds the true leaders of the fraternity, to acknowledge the emerging leaders. We are proud to have been instrumental in helping it flourish, and will continue withour endeavours.”

TT BU R E AU DDP TRAILBLAZER

The award was given to Pankaj Nagpal, MD, Travstarz Holiday & Destinations, and was felicitated by Gajendra Singh Khimsar, Cabinet Minister of Industries, DMIC, NRI, Sports & Youth Affairs, Government of Rajasthan, Dr. Tanushree Pandey,Mrs India 2015

DDP GAME CHANGER

Mittu Chandilya, MD & CEO, AirAsia India, joins the ‘Face of the Future’. His colleagues SuhailBhalla (left) Manager, Distribution, and Pawan Nagpal (right) Commercial-Sales & Distributionreceived the award from Gajendra Singh Khimsar, Cabinet Minister of Industries, DMIC, NRI,Sports & Youth Affairs, Government of Rajasthan, Dr. Tanushree Pandey, Mrs India 2015

FACE OF THE FUTURE

Ajeet Bajaj, Founder & MD, Snow Leopard Adventures, joins the ‘DDP Game Changer’. He is felicitated by Gajendra Singh Khimsar, Cabinet Minister of Industries, DMIC, NRI, Sports & Youth Affairs, Government of Rajasthan, Dr. Tanushree Pandey, Mrs India 2015

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR

Bhim Singh, MD, Rajasthan Tours and President, Federation of Hospitality and Tourism of Rajasthan (FHTR), was awarded the ‘DDP Trailblazer’and was felicitated by Gajendra Singh Khimsar, Cabinet Minister of Industries, DMIC, NRI, Sports & Youth Affairs, Government of Rajasthan, Dr. Tanushree Pandey,Mrs India 2015

The North India Travel Awards held in the Pink City saw the who’s who of the travel and tourism industry being recorgnised for their excellence in a formal black-tie ceremony.

Celebrating a successful 2015, Destination Canada in conjunction with Nadir Patel, HighCommissioner of Canada to India, organised a dinner reception at Canada House on November26, 2015, to thank the trade for their continuous support. The affair was organised to introduceDestination Canada’s new regional managing director, Rupert Peters, and to highlight theimportance of the trade as a key to success for the NTO.

Canada hosts an evening of revelry


EXHIBITIONS

Focus and Theme of BTS The Business Travel

Show is Europe’s leadingevent for buyers, bookers andmanagers of corporate travel. Exhibitors will also be able to enter the Disrupt Awards for the firsttime, the winner of which willreceive valuable mentoringand £8,000 stand at the 2017 show. There will be a greater focus on

issues such as data, distribu-tion and the sharing economy.

Exhibitors More than 250 leading

business travel suppliers from around the world exhibit at the event each year. This year, new exhibitors includeAmerican Airlines, Belmond,The Nadler, Avis, Eurostar,Hertz, HRG and India’s Jet Airways.

Growth in buyers, sellersand visitors

252 exhibitors were at theshow in 2015, an increase of 10per cent on last year. There arealways a few people attendingfrom India but the main focus forthe event is currently on Europe.

Technology at the showBTS has been around for

22 years and is committed to

provide the ultimate event forEuropean buyers to source,learn and network. We haveincorporated social registrationand there is a shift to a largerdigital spend from traditionalmarketing methods. We don’tuse an app as visitors prefer touse the show guide onsite.

Growth in online bookings

Visitor pre-registrationgrew 10 per cent in 2015 due to the introduction of social registration and peer invitations. Registering sociallyis having a huge impact on visitor conversion.

The Business Travel Showand Travel Technology Europe

take place at the Olympia GrandExhibition Centre in London, UKon 24-25 Feb, 2016.

David Chapple, Event Director, Business Travel Show (BTS), tells aboutthe comprehensive business conference programme featuring more than7,500 industry professionals.

Focus on sharing economy

VA I S H A L I DA R

252 exhibitors were at the show in 2015, an increase of 10 per cent on last year. There are always a few people attending from India but the main focus for the event is currently on Europe.

David ChappleEvent Director, Business Travel Show

“Travel Exhibitions areimportant in West

Bengal as it gives us thechance to showcase the state.With the State Governmenttaking active measures toimprove infrastructure in pop-ular tourist spots, we welcomethe chance to showcase WestBengal to the rest of India andthe world. We hope that othertourism bodies who are par-ticipating in the expo go backand actively sell West Bengalin their states. The expo willalso give people of Bengal achance to learn first-handmore about destinations theywish to travel to,” Punjabi said.

For this reason, TAFI(Eastern Region), with the offi-cial support of the IncredibleIndia campaign of the Ministryof Tourism, Govt. of India, isorganising the Mega Tourism

& Hospitality Expo in Kolkatafrom December 23-27, 2015.The event is held along withits flagship event — IndiaInternational Mega Trade Fair(IIMTF) — to encourage fur-ther growth.

According to the organis-ers, fairs like these provide aplatform to the GovernmentTourism Departments of differ-ent countries and states, nation-

al and International tour opera-tors, hospitality providers, etc.,to showcase and market theirtourist destinations and servic-es to a huge number ofprospective tourists.

The expo is also set tobe held in Visakhapatnam,Bhubaneswar and Ranchi inthe next one year. These fairsare jointly organised by theBengal Chamber of

Commerce & Industry and G.S. Marketing Associates andare approved by ITPO, underthe Ministry of Commerce,Government of India.

“We are indeed very for-tunate to get the valuable sup-port of the Incredible Indiacampaign of the Ministry ofTourism, Government of India.We are also very grateful to Sri Lanka Tourism,Bangladesh Tourism Board,the tourism departments ofMalaysia, Thailand and theTourism Departments of West Bengal, AndhraPradesh, Gujarat, Telangana,Puducherry and Jharkhand.Last and most important, weare very fortunate to tie-upwith the Travel AgentsFederation of India (TAFI) forPresenting this exclusive fair,”said Prakash Shah,Chairman, G. S. MarketingAssociates.

Anil Punjabi, Chairman, Travel Agents Federation of India (Eastern India) &Chairman, Tourism Committee, Bengal Chamber of Commerce, speaks onwhat Mega Tourism & Hospitality Expo can do for West Bengal.

New doors into Eastern India

TT BU R E AU

Salient FeaturesThere is a brand newfeature on the showfloor this year –Launchpad – whichprovides a platform forstart-ups with innova-tive travel products andservices.Visitor numbers haveincreased by 15 percent this year to 7,424compared to 6,459 in2014, which in itselfwas a 10 per cent riseyear on year.

About the venueThe show is using 8800 sqm of floor space and

Olympia Grand is a beautiful Victoria building with gablewindows (it used to be a train station), but with all modernfacilities for visitors and exhibitors.

Anil PunjabiChairman, Travel Agents Federation ofIndia (Eastern India)

Prakash ShahChairmanG. S. Marketing Associates

DECEMBER 2015NATIONAL

18-20 Siliguri Tourism Fair22 -24 Mumbai Travel Tourism Trade Fair – World

Travel Trade Mart23-27 Haridwar CII Uttarakhand Fair23-27 Kolkata Mega Tourism & Hospitality Expo

JANUARY 2016INTERNATIONAL20-24 Madrid, Spain FITUR

NATIONAL1-10 Visakhapatnam Mega Tourism & Hospitality Expo

8-10 Nagpur Global Panorama Showcase

8-10 Chennai Travel & Tourism Fair

14-16 Kochi India International Travel Mart

15 Kolkata Tourism Fiji Roadshow

15-17 Bengaluru Travel & Tourism Fair

15-17 Mumbai India International Travel & TourismExhibition

18 Delhi Tourism Fiji Roadshow

18 Kolkata South African Tourism Roadshow

19 Ahmedabad Tourism Fiji Roadshow

19 Delhi South African Tourism Roadshow

20 Mumbai Tourism Fiji Roadshow

21 Bengaluru Tourism Fiji Roashow

21 Hyderabad South African Tourism Roadshow

22 Mumbai South African Tourism Roadshow

22 Chennai Tourism Fiji Roadshow

22-24 Nagpur India International Travel Exhibition

22-24 Coimbatore Holiday Expo

22-24 Mumbai Travel Tourism Trade Fair – World Travel Trade Mart

23 Hyderabad Tourism Fiji Roadshow

29-31 Delhi SATTE

FEBRUARY 2016INTERNATIONAL11-13 Milan, Italy BIT

24 UK Travel Technology Europe24-25 UK Business Travel ShowNATIONAL1 Mumbai Koh Samui Roadshow

(Tourism Authority of Thailand)1 Kolkata Global Destinations event2 Ahmedabad Global Destinations event3 Bengaluru Global Destinations event4 Mumbai Global Destinations event6-8 Chandigarh India Travel Mart9 Mumbai Austrian National Tourist Office

roadshow10 Ahmedabad Austrian National Tourist Office

roadshow11 New Delhi Austrian National Tourist Office

roadshow11 Hyderabad India Expo12-14 New Delhi Travel & Tourism Fair

(Delhi Tourism Fair)13 Chennai India Expo (India Gulf Expo)15 Ahmedabad India Expo18-20 Mumbai Travel & Tourism Fair18-20 Mumbai OTM22 Pune DOT Philippines Roadshow24 Ahmedabad DOT Philippines Roadshow26-28 Vijaywada India International Travel Exhibition29 Chennai Destination Canada Roadshow

For more information, contact us at: [email protected]


RAILWAYS

IRCTC has launched twosemi luxury train services for

the desert and the heritagecircuit. Both trains will depart from the DelhiSafdarjung railway stationoffering deluxe facilities acrossits five days of round trip dot-ted with sightseeing facilities.Desert Circuit started onDecember 13 and will run tillApril 21 and will cover thecities of Jaisalmer and Jaipurin Rajasthan, while theHeritage Circuit will start onDecember 20 and wind up onApril 24 and will take the passengers to Varanasi,Khajuraho and Agra.

Dr. A.K. Manocha,Chairman and ManagingDirector, IRCTC, says “Now that the tourist season ison, we expect good occupancy.The tariff for the journey is competitive as well as all-inclusive.”

He adds, “We wouldlove the travel agents to comeand we would like to offerthem bigger discounts. Wehave already provided some margin for them. Wealso welcome suggestions.They may let us know if they

want some add ons or the circuit to be modified.”

IRCTC has done hugepublicity for these trains andare giving inaugural discountsto groups and individuals aswell. For example, a senior

citizen group will be given a 12 per cent discount.

Till now we have alreadybooked around 15 passengersand about 100 odd enquirieshave come. In his conversationwith , Manocha also talks

about the tie up with variousfood joints.

He says, “We take regu-lar feedback from passengersand following that we haveentered the e-catering serviceswhich the ministry has permit-

ted at 45 stations. We alreadyhave 85 joints listed likeBikanerwala, Haldirams and Dominos. We are lookingat a lot of aggregators likeFood Panda. This is a pilot project and we are open to any suggestions.”

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation unveils two semi-luxurytourist train services that will showcase the charm of deserts and heritage ofIndia. Dr. A.K. Manocha, Chairman and Managing Director, IRCTC, invitessuggestions from agents and offers them special incentives.

Incentives on semi-luxury trains

SA M A P T I DAS

No of IncentivesPassengersBooked

1-25 10%26-50 12%51-100 14%101-150 15%FOC-15:1

Dr. A.K. ManochaChairman and Managing DirectorIRCTC

Sprawling over 15000+square metres of area, IITT

2016 will have participation from500+ exhibitors from over 25+featured states and 20+ featuredcountries including travelagents, tour operators, airlines- domestic and international,hotel chains, cruise liners,resorts and allied industries.

Visited by 10,000+ tradevisitors and 15,000+ con-sumers, IITT is one of the lead-ing platforms to showcase yourbrand to the target audienceand plays a vital role in achieving success.

The organisers will behosting 300+ buyers from over30 cities pan India. These buy-ers generate large buying vol-umes & have the potential totransact business with theexhibitors. The buyers will alsoconsist of wedding plannersand MICE operators fromacross India.

Few key brands that willbe showcased at IITT 2016 are

Turkish Tourism & Culture,Kuwait Airways, LavasaTourism, Gem Tours & Travels,Akquasun Group, Booking.com,Treebo Hotels, OYO Rooms,DNATA, Ottila, Yatra.com,Vistara Airlines, Oberoi Hotels& Resorts, Marriott and manymore such brands

The event is supportedby Incredible India – Ministry ofTourism and is also backed byleading associations like TAFI,OTOAI, IATO, IAAI, ATOAI,ATTOI, ETAA, etc.

Mohit Mewani, EventDirector – IITT, says, “IITT hasgrown 40% in its 3rd edition andhas maximum visitor turnoutthrough its unmatched mediacampaign and B2B visitor pro-motion campaign. Conference,workshops, training academy& the corporate lounges arefew key drivers that generatereal time business. IITT beingthe first travel exhibition of thecalendar year, witnesses manybuyers contracting with suppli-ers at the exhibition itself.ABEC (the organiser) is thelargest exhibition organizing

company in India and has alarge portfolio of clients fromvarious leading industries. Weintend on harnessing theseexisting relations and invite

200+ large corporate compa-nies to visit the expo for theirMICE requirements.”

IITT 2016 will also intro-duce special workshops forpromoting some of the hottestdestinations of the world toencourage Indian out boundtourism. The program will coverinternational destinations like Switzerland, Indonesia,Mauritius, South Africa andmany more.

A Training Academy hasalso been planned to help theupcoming tourism profession-als to network with some of thesuccessful players in thetourism industry.

IITT is expected to havea growth of 40% in its portfolioin its 3rd edition in 2016.

Girish Shankar,Additional Secretary Ministryof Tourism, Govt. of India, who inaugurated IITT 2015,said, “The exhibition is at par with other exhibitions and comprises a very enthusi-astic team.”

IITT 2016 is scheduled to be held from January 15-17, 2016, at the BombayConvention & Exhibition Centre, Mumbai.

IITT 2016 expects 300+ buyers

TT BU R E AU

IITT has grown40% in its 3rd

edition and hasmaximum turnoutthrough its mediacampaign and B2Bvisitor promotioncampaign

Mohit MewaniEvent DirectorIITT


D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 TRAVTALK 3 7CLIPBOARD


3 8 TRAVTALK D E C E M B E R 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 5 MOVEMENTS

Ashish Kumar Rai, General Manager, Westin MumbaiGarden City, says, "We are in an industry that demands usto be available all the time, which keeps us busy all the time.It is essential to make sure I take time out to invest in thingsthat I love doing especially something like spending time

with my family." Reading is something heenjoys a lot and considers it as one of

his favourite destressing activity. "Ialso love travelling and my all-timefavourite holiday destinations areLondon and Scotland. Somethingthat has been on my wish-list for alongtime is that I would like toexplore South America,"

he adds.

U. Gary Charlwood, Board Chairman & CEO, Uniglobe Travel,says he has travelled the world and seen groups of people. "Ialways say that I am on vacation 365 days a year, because Ienjoy what I do, blend my work time with pleasure time. I havea grown family and they are very much part of my life. On a

personal front I have tried to maintainfitness all my life. I have been a

marathon runner, I walk extensivelynow. I love to read and I used to bea professional musician. In myprivate time now I love to playmusic on my collection of Latin

American instruments." Hisfavourite city is Paris. For a

vacation, he loves to go toHawaii.

Monica Suri, General Manager, Le Meridien Kochi, saysher passion lies in exploring a new country every year."Beyond sight-seeing or clicking few photos, I travel toexperience the location, its culture and to learn somethingnew. Travel is a dream come true for me and I look forward

for a greater travel adventure the next time,which helps me bridge the gap

between the few ‘known’ and themany ‘unknowns’." She believethis helps her keep good healthand well-being. "I find time formyself and ensure that nothingdisturbs the outward andinward discovery," she says.

Talking People is a special dedicated corner, created as a sounding board for who’s who of the Indian and International travel industry. With Talking People, it is our endeavour to bring you face-to-face with people.Contributed by: Anupriya Bishnoi & Kanchan Nath

Shangri-La’s Eros HotelNew DelhiShangri-La’s Eros Hotel, New Delhi, has appointed Parmeet SinghNayar as its new General Manager. With an experience of over two

decades, he has played a crucial role in operations,renovations, re-positioning and assisting in

brand augmentation and expansion for manyprestigious hotels. Prior to joining Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel, New Delhi he held the posi-tion of General Manager at the HiltonWorldwide and Carlson Rezidor Hotel

Group. His international stints include Global& Asia Pacific Carlson Rezidor conferences

and hotels in Bahamas, Washington DC,Florida, Singapore, Phuket, Wuxi

(Shanghai) as well as Italy andNorth America.

Mirage Lords InnKathmanduAmrendra Kumar Karn has recently joined Mirage Lords Inn,Kathmandu in the capacity of General Manager. He carries with him

more than 19 years of long experience in theindustry and has worked in properties in Nepallike Soaltee Crowne Plaza, Hyatt Regency,KGH Group of Hotels, Grand Hotel Tahachal,Park Village Hotel, etc. A graduate in B.ScHonors in Chemistry from Lalit NarayanMithila University, Darbhanga, he spent earlypart of his career with Marco Polo Business

Hotel, Kathmandu as Assistant GeneralManager. Prior to joining Lords,

he was working with HowardPlaza, Agra in the capacity ofGeneral Manager.

Four Points by SheratonBengaluruFour Points by Sheraton Bengaluru has recently appointed JiteshPatta as the General Manager. Jitesh has been involved with the hos-

pitality industry for the past 18 years and his pre-vious association with Four Points bySheraton saw him in the role of GeneralManager at Four Points by Sheraton,Dehradun. Prior to his association with theStarwood Hotels & Resorts, Jitesh has

worked with brands like Carlzor Rezidorgroup, Country Club India Limited, Tivoli gar-

den, Royal Goan Beach Club,Fortune Jodhpur, TheClarks and The SuryaNew Delhi.

Victoriatour- VietnamNew Delhi Victoriatour and General Commercial Company Limited, Vietnamhas appointed Pruthi Ranjan as Market Manager for India. Prior tothis, Pruthi was Head Business development forICS Travel group for Pan India. With more than10 years in the hospitality sector, Pruthibrings a wealth of international experienceand expertise. He has been instrumental toestablish DMCs, hotels and Tourism Bureauacross several disciplines includingOperations, Marketing strategy and Businessdevelopment. An alumni of regional colleague of management,Bhubaneswar; Pruthi holdsMasters degree in TourismAdministration.

Park Plaza NoidaNoidaPark Plaza Noida has appointed Ankur Mehrotra as the newDirector Sales & Marketing. Before joining here,Ankur worked with Carlson Rezidor HotelGroup for three and a half years. With anenriching experience of 12 years behindhim, Ankur aspires to direct all sales &marketing efforts towards achieving theoperational goal of the hotel. Previousassignment was with Country Inn &Suites Sahibabad as Director of Sales.Other assignments in the past includehotel companies like The Claridges, JaypeeHotels & Intercontinental Hotels.

Radisson Blu Hotel New Delhi DwarkaMohammed Shoeb has been appointed as the General Manager ofRadisson Blu Hotel New Delhi Dwarka. He has done aPost Graduate Diploma in Tourism & HotelManagement and has been associated withthe hospitality industry for more than 25years. He was earlier working with AccorHotels and was involved in the successfulopening and operation of the NovotelVishakhapatnam and the Novotel Chennai.In the last 10 years Shoeb has opened fourhotels in the southern part of India. Hehas also worked in IT Welcomgroup andthe IntercontinentalHotels group.

Goa Marriott Resort & Spa GoaAbhay Singh joins the Goa Marriott Resort & Spa as Director of Food& Beverage from November 2015. Abhay started his career in 2008

at The Renaissance Mumbai Hotel andConvention Centre, as F&B Executive. Hethen joined Courtyard by Marriott, Mumbai,as Assistant Events Manager and latermoved to JW Marriott Pune as EventsManager with the pre-opening team. Whileat JW Marriott, Pune, Abhay also workedas a Front Desk Manager for a period of one

year. His next role was Director of Events atRenaissance Mumbai Hotel & Convention

Centre. His most recent assignment wasthat of Director of Events at JWMarriott Mumbai Sahar.

Humble UNA SmartAmritsar Ajay Thakur joins Humble UNA Smart, Amritsar as Rooms DivisionManager, where he will be overseeing the entire rooms division and

ensuring that the hotel attains desire occupancyand ARR. Ajay comes to Humble UNA Smart

from Sterling Holidays Munnar where hewas working as a Front Office Manager.Ajay brings to Humble UNA Smart,

Amritsar a wealth of experience in roomdivision management. He has handledhousekeeping & front office functions invarious capacities in the upscale and

business travel segments.

Park Plaza Noida has appointed Shivankar Kodesia as Food& Beverage Manager. He comes with over 14 years of expe-

rience. At Park Plaza Noida, he would beresponsible for directing all Food and

Beverage efforts towards achieving theoperational goal of the hotel. Prior tojoining Park Plaza Noida, he was withHilton Worldwide. He has also workedwith DoubleTree By Hilton Gurgaon asa Food and Beverage Manager.


Postal Reg. No.: DL(ND)-11/6044/2015-16-17; WPP No.: U(C)-178/2015-17 for posting on 1st-2nd and 16th-17th

of the same month at New Delhi PSO, New Delhi - 110001, RNI No.: 53492/1991Date of Publication:15-12-2015

QWhat are the latest initiativesKarnataka is taking to exploit

tourism’s potential?Tourism as a whole has a huge

potential, and I don’t think any industry cangenerate employment and revenue asmuch as tourism is able to. We are alsovery committed to the MICE product. Wehave an international airport, and a con-vention centre with a capacity for 6000.We always have people coming in for business meetings, conventions etc.

In India all the states have not beenable to tap the rich potential we have. Soin our wisdom, the state government ofKarnataka has made tourism a priorityand we are trying to attract large groupsof tourists by taking some definitive steps.We have come up with a unique tourismpolicy with 18 products. Good incentives,concessions, and some in the industrysay it could be the best policy in the country today.

We have also decided to be moreprofessional, so we have appointed 4 pro-fessional rating agencies to rate our hotels,homestays… we have also come out withan industries tourism facilitation act, wherewe licence our guides, so that nobody ischeated. We are pushing for infrastructurecooperation where we can go for publicprivate partnerships.

QWhat would you say are the top concerns for the tourism

industry?The concerns in this country and

industry and in the states are security,cleanliness, last-mile connectivity andinfrastructure. We are trying to tackle allthese one by one. The second big con-cern, with the help of the home depart-ment in the state government we havetrained young homeguards and we areposting them at all important destinationsin a phased way. Their job is to receive thetourists with a smile, guide them, helpthem and provide them security. Theyshould be in their position by the end ofthis year. More than 250 people havealready been trained in the first phase.

We are training our guides. Majorityof them do not know how to speak Englishor a foreign language. So we are takingthe help of five universities and trainingthem in English, Russian, French, Chinese

and many other languages so that it helpsthe foreign tourists.

QPlease elaborate on how thePPP format is working in

Karnataka.With regard to cleanliness, we have

got a new scheme for corporates.Corporates can now take on tourist desti-

nations with their CSR funds. So many ofthem are voluntarily coming forward toadopt these tourist destinations. They willkeep them clean, they will maintain them,they will improve them and they can buildsome infrastructure also there.

For example there are some touristattractions in Karnataka that are beingadopted by corporates:

� Belur and Halebidu - Cafe CoffeeDay

� Lalbagh - Bangalore Chambers ofIndustry and Commerce.

� Venkatappa Art Gallery – AbhishekPoddar, businessman, art collectorand gallery owner.

� Government Museum, KasturbaRoad – Sangita Jindal, JSWFoundation.

� Old Post Office, Museum Road -Prestige group.Likewise, we are trying to see

that roads are there and last-minute connectivity is also there. And in thesetourist spots there should be power,drinking water, toilets etc. We haveformed a regional group under the chairmanship of Mohan Das Pai whereeminent people help us in taking these

decisions. So we are marching aheadand our goal is to make Karnataka thebest destination.

We have also requested theGovernment of India to relax their CRZregulations. We have 320km of coast.Because of the CRZ regulations thebeaches are virgin. We can’t use them

because of restrictions. The Governmentof India and the Environment Ministry isalso very keen to relax it. Once this happens the entire coast of India will get a boost.

QWhat according to you areIndia’s marquee products as a

destination?We have all types of tourism; our

strengths are wildlife tourism, wellness,heritage, eco tourism and adventuretourism to name a few. We just need tomarket ourselves properly. Travel martsand roadshows help us to market Indiaand Karnataka to build a destination forthe world to visit.

R.V. Deshpande, Minister for Tourism and Large & Medium Industries, Govt. of Karnataka, in an exclusive to , elaborates on its CSR initiativesand efforts to ease travel in the state.

Karnataka’s 18 new products

DE E PA SE T H I F R O M LO N D O N

We are trying to see that roads arethere and last-minute connectivityis also there. And in these touristspots there should be power,drinking water, toilets etc. Ourgoal is to make Karnataka the best destination.

R.V. DeshpandeMinister for Large & Medium Industries &

Tourism, Govt. of Karnataka

Quick FactsKarnataka is training its guides inEnglish, Russian, French, Chineseamong many other languagesIt has appointed four professionalrating agencies to rate its hotelsand homestaysTrained homeguard are beingdeployed at key destinations


ddppl.com travtalkindiatravtalkindia.com › pdf › 2015 › 12-dec-2015-2.pdf · faisal h. bhat...

Documents