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` 50/-Vol. XXVII Issue 18; September 2nd fortnight i ssue 2015 A DDP PUBLICATION Pages :56

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SEPTEMBER 2ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2015 TRAVTALK 3

Vinod Zutshi appointedTourism SecretaryThe Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has announced the

appointment of Vinod Zutshi as the new Secretary, Ministry ofTourism, Government of India. He succeeds Dr Lalit Panwar, whoretired from service last month. A Rajasthan cadre IAS officer of 1982batch, Zutshi was Deputy Election Commissioner in the ElectionCommission of India prior to his elevation as Secretary-Tourism. Apost-graduate in Business Administration and anMBA, Zutshi started his career as an SDO inRajasthan in 1984 and had been ManagingDirector, Industries, Secretary forEducation, Agriculture, etc. in his homecadre Rajasthan. He was also SecretaryTourism, Rajasthan, and Chairman,Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation(RTDC) between 2004 and 2007 inRajasthan. On Central deputationsince 2009, Zutshi has been OSDand subsequently DeputyElection Commissioner in theElection Commission of India.

After concluding all itsRegions and Chapterelections, the Travel

Agents Association of India(TAAI) is gearing up for itsNational elections on September30, 2015 to be held in Mumbai.

The association has sentout notices for its national elec-tions and 64th AGM that will be

held together on September 30,2015 in Mumbai. Revealing thisinformation is HarmandeepSingh Anand, Hon SecretaryGeneral, TAAI. "The electionsand our AGM will be held atSahara Star Hotel at 11:30 am.The elections will be for the postof four Office Bearers and sevenManaging Committee mem-bers. September 16 is the lastday to file the nominations andSeptember 24 is the deadline to

withdraw them. However, it ispremature to name the mem-bers who will be standing for thenational body elections,” he said.

The four Office Bearersthat will be elected that day willbe for the posts of: President,Vice President, Hon SecretaryGeneral and Hon Treasurer.TAAI elections are held everytwo years and this term will befor 2015-17. All chapter

bearers - four Regions and 16Chapters - that have beenelected will also take chargefrom the same day.

TAAI elections on Sept 30 in Mumbai

Harmandeep Singh AnandHon Secretary GeneralTAAI

Bengaluru hosts PATA Travel Mart

PATA Travel Mart 2015 (PTM 2015) opened in Bengaluru, on September 6, and attracted over 1,000 delegates from 61 destinations.Here, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is seen with Tourism Minister Dr. Mahesh Sharma and RV Deshpande, Ministerfor Large & Medium Scale Industries and Tourism, Government of Karnataka.

HAZEL JAIN

Key datesSept 16 is the last day tofile the nominations andSept 24 is the deadline towithdraw them


BULLETIN

The election for office bear-ers and core committee

members of FAITH was heldfor the term starting October 1,2015 till September 30, 2017.But in a remarkable show ofunity, all the four positions foroffice bearers were nominatedand elected unopposed by theboard of directors of FAITH,each representing one mem-ber association.

The federation re-elect-ed Nakul Anand, ExecutiveDirector, ITC, as its chairmanand Sarabjit Singh, SeniorVice President, IATO, as thevice chairman, nominated byHAI & ITTA respectively.Former president, FHRAI,S.M. Shervani, nominated byFHRAI, has been elected tothe post of secretary. Hereplaces outgoing Honorary

secretary SubhashVerma who had rep-resented ADTOI.

Akshay Kumar,President, AdventureTour OperatorsAssociation of India(ATOAI), will be thetreasurer. He replacesoutgoing treasurerSunil Kumar, whorepresented TAAI.

Aashish Guptacontinues as theConsulting CEO.

FAITH, anational platform setup by 10 nationaltourism and hospital-ity associationsnamely, HAI, FHRAI, IHHAIATO, ADTOI, ATOAI, ITTA,TAAI, TAFI, ICPB, waslaunched in May 2013. It func-

tions as the nodal strategicpolicy think tank for tourism &hospitality for India and hasbeen actively engaging with

Centre and StateGovernment policyover the past two years. It has been involvedin eTV, ForeignTrade Policy 2015-20 (tourism com-ponent) NationalTourism Policy2015, EconomicSurvey FY14,FY15 (tourismcomponent),Cenvat taxationalignment, Unionbudget FY 14, 15(tourism compo-nent), nationaltourism ministersmeeting FY 13, FY 14, first jointstrategy meeting

between aviation industry & tourism industry,WTO/RCEP/SAARC sugges-tions and the likes.

The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality Industry(FAITH) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and elections for the term2015-17 on September 5, 2015.

FAITH committee elected unopposed

TT BU R E AU

Nakul AnandExecutive Director, ITC

S.M. ShervaniFormer president, FHRAI

Sarabjit SinghSenior Vice President, IATO

Akshay KumarPresident, ATOAI


STATISTICS

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.

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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.

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Occupancy, Average Daily Rate (ADR) and Revenue Per Available Room(RevPAR) trends nationally have revealed that Mumbai has strongoccupancy levels, but hotels remain diffident on rates.

Mumbai hotels occupancy at 74.3%VIEWPOINT

The IATO Convention 2015 and thePATA Travel Mart (PTM) 2015, both

took place one after the other, at the endof August and beginning of Septemberrespectively. This is immediately before thetourism season takes off in India, and wehope they will give a great boost toinbound tourism to India. They were well attended by a large number ofinternational buyers/sellers from variouscountries and from across India.

Both events were strongly supportedby the state governments — IATO inIndore, by the MP Government and PTM in Bengaluru, by the KarnatakaGovernment. Realising the importance oftourism in building the state’s economy,the state governments are alsoencouraging international airlines to flydirectly into the state by providing visa ande-Tourist Visa (eTV) facilities at the stateairports. These events give the muchneeded boost not only to the metros butalso to secondary and tertiary cities,winning them recognition and word-of-mouth marketing, other than across-the-table business opportunities.

At the PATA event, while appreciatingthe eTV facilities being offered by theIndian government, travel associations,airlines, travel agents and others voicedtheir concern about the Indian visa normsstill restricting tourism growth into thecountry; they need to now go one stepfurther and relax the rules to allow touristsmultiple entry, allowing them to visit othercountries in the region and return to India.

With the economic mess manufacturedin China and the falling rupee against thedollar just before the tourist season, as wehead towards the festival season in India,can we use our reputed intellect andastuteness to make true what our PM hasstated, ‘Let China’s loss be India’s gain!’

Need of the hourMultiple entry eTV

Occupancy 64.9% 59.0% 58.2%Average Daily Rate `5,716 `5,754 `5,954RevPAR `3,539 3,393 `3,464Total branded rooms 30 Jun 107,449 98,643 85,778

H1-2015 H1-2014 H1-2013

Source: H1-2015 edition of the India Hotel Market Review Report in partnership with STR Global. The report is basedon hotel performance statistics from STR Global and its analysis by Horwath HTL–India.

Chennai has gained 8.6 points occupancysince H1-13. Rates at luxury and upper-upscale hotels breasted the 8k mark with3.8% growth and remain ahead of Delhi butbehind Gurgaon and Mumbai. Goa’s storyrevolves around a slowdown of group andcharter inbound travel, impacting occupan-cies but also enabling better rates from FITand other demand. Kolkata continues adownward slide since H1-12.


S E P T 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 7EXHIBITIONS

Even though eTV facility hasbeen introduced and

extended to many nations,other visa facilities will be cru-cial to increase tourist footfallin the country, feels KevinMurphy, Chairman, PATA.According to Murphy, India islimiting its options of tourism growth due to its stringent visa norms.

“Today, people don’tplan a holiday 18 months inadvance and tourist destina-

tions need to adapt to that.Since technology is availableto facilitate holidays that areplanned in a short time, poli-cies should also facilitate thesame. With many young peo-ple coming forward to revamptourism development in India, it appears that the sec-tor is in for a major boost.However, we want the govern-ment to allow visa-on-arrivalapplications to be reinventedso that more internationaltourists can make multipleentries to this part of the worldand business travellers canalso make tourism commit-ments,” he suggested, whiletalking about his reservationson the country’s visa policy.

Regarding the businessgenerated during this PTM

2015, he added, “Over the yearsthe Mart’s continued successhas been due to its ability to con-tinue to add further value for ourdelegates and members, whilestriking the right balancebetween quality and quantity forour registered buyers and sell-ers. This year’s event attracted1,000 delegates from 61 desti-nations, including 242 buyers.

The event being held in the cityalso means it will open up newtourist destinations in Karnatakato a worldwide audience.”

On what prompted themto come to Bengaluru for the38th PTM, Murphy informed,“Going forward, the strategyof PATA will be to look at des-tinations with potential for

tourism rather than alreadyestablished destinations forhosting our PTMs. We werequestioned on why we arecoming to the IT city of India,but Karnataka has a lot ofpotential beyond just beingthe IT hub of India. Thus,coming to the city was a verystrategic decision and is inline with our model.”

Setting the tone for more friendly initiatives by the Indian government, KevinMurphy talked about moving beyond just visa norms for garnering more revenuesat the recently concluded PTM 2015 in Bengaluru.

eTV not enough, India needs more

The governmentshould allow visa-on-arrivalapplications to bereinvented so thatmore tourists canmake multipleentries to this partof the world andbusinesstravellers can alsomake tourismcommitments

Kevin MurphyChairmanPATA

Philippines attends 38th PTM The Department of Tourism

(DOT), Philippines, attended theannual PATA Travel Mart 2015held in Bengaluru fromSeptember 6-8, 2015. This year,Gerard O. Panga, TourismAttaché, Market DevelopmentGroup, and James Sy, OIC forASEAN and the Pacific Division,led the delegation of thePhilippines, comprising six sellersfrom the Philippines who partici-pated in the PTM 2015. The del-egates were Shroff InternationalTravel Care, BC Travel and ToursCorporation, New GoldminesTours and Travel, ARK TravelExpress, Select Travels andCelebrate Life. Alongside attend-ing the various PATA events,Panga interacted with the media

and updated them on the latestmarketing strategies for 2015 and2016. Panga said, “The PATATravel Mart is a premier traveltrade show, offering a remarkableplatform to showcase travel prod-ucts and services and bringingtogether hundreds of internationalbuyers and sellers.” He also saidthat “a successful year-long cam-paign in 2015 has inspired theDOT, Philippines, to extendanother year of welcome to over-seas travellers. The upcomingVisit the Philippines Again (VPA)2016 campaign will focus on trav-ellers especially those who havehad a great time at the destinationbefore, with lures being exclusivetravel deals, discounted airfaresand hotel stays.”

ME G H A PAU L


8 TRAVTALK S E P T 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 ASSOCIATIONS

Staff training key for moving forwardTT BU R E AU

No change in Northern Region office bearers TAAI East team gets re-elected

We will invite leaders of different political parties, Parliamentarians andmedia for the meetings as there is a need for intensive interaction withmembers, media and government authorities. We have submitted theconcerns of TAAI agents to Dr Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State withIndependent Charge for Tourism and Culture and Minister of State forCivil Aviation, who has assured full support.

Rajan SehgalChairman, TAAI Northern Region

There is a need toexpand businesshorizons by educat-ing travel agents ondomestic andinbound tour pack-ages and sellinghotels and cruisingoptions. DGCA isyet to implement the order of Kerala HighCourt, issued around four years ago, of giving a required amount of commission to agents.

Neeraj MalhotraSecretary, TAAI Northern Region

The NorthernRegion will focus onproviding morevalue for TAAImembers. TAAI-NRwill work closelywith tourism bodiesand the govern-ment to createmore business opportunities for agents in theregion. Our Facebook page, ‘Travel Agentsof India’, is being followed by 578 members,along with airline officials and bureaucrats.The page provides updates on the events inthe industry. TAAI-NR would start consideringtaking chapter members from cities such asPunjab for international FAM trips.

Gaurav DograTreasurer, TAAI Northern Region

There are a fewmain issues that wewant to look into.One is the educa-tion of our mem-bers, specially fortheir frontline staff.We want to trainthem on communi-cation and soft skills as they deal with theclients directly. For the senior staff, we arelooking at management training. Meanwhile,efforts are also on to educate membersabout various destinations and products –both inbound and outbound. We have organ-ised two Fam trips for our members – onewas to Sri Lanka in August and the other toGujarat in September this year.

Devesh Kumar AgarwalChairman, TAAI Eastern Region

The team is tryingto connect with allits members on aregional level andencourage them tobe more active andparticipative. Thereare many agentsoutside Kolkata butthey remain moreor less isolated from the rest of the commu-nity like Patna, Bhubaneshwar, Jamshedpur,Imphal, Dhanbad, Cuttack, Darjeeling,Siliguri. The plan is to conduct out-stationmeetings in these smaller cities and engageagents there. We also invite them for all ourmeetings and our annual show that is like aget-together we do every year.

Vikas SarawgiSecretary ,TAAI Eastern Region and ITA winner

Our focus is to try and get the agents exempted from paying servicetax to the excise department or alternately, get the airlines to re-imbursethem. We have already got Indigo to do this and now we will try for theother airlines as well.

Chandra Prakash PoddarTreasurer, TAAI Eastern Region

Contd. on page 10

TAAI Elections


Switzerland Tourism hasreportedly achieved a 26

per cent increase in the first sixmonths of this year with3,47,056 overnights fromJanuary to June 2015. But it isnot resting. Claudio Zemp,who joined the NTO as its newDirector (India) from May 1,2015, has revealed that it haslaunched a webinar for thefrontline staff who haven’t hadthe opportunity to travel toSwitzerland.

“We will cover one desti-nation every month starting thisSeptember. It will be a 30-minute webinar which will coverall the products from accommo-dation, activities and even sug-gestions on how to combine thetwo. We will invite the people wehave on our database but thoseinterested can also contact usfor this. This will be a regularthing from now on. There willalso be a competition at the endof it,” Zemp adds.

Meanwhile, its specialistprogramme which now hasover 600 agents will see a totalrevamp by 2016.

Speaking about his firstimpressions, Zemp says,“Nowhere in the world isSwitzerland as popular as it ishere. This is my first time work-ing in India but I was welcomedby the trade from the start.

Agents here are extremelymotivated and hard-workingand they come up with a lot ofcreative ideas.”

Having completed afour-city roadshow in Mumbai,Ahmedabad, Chennai andNew Delhi in August, he willtravel to Zermatt for theSwitzerland Travel Mart fromSeptember 21-23, 2015 with25 hosted Indian buyers.

His immediate plansinclude promoting wintertourism and self-drive options.“For the first time we had ourIndia workshop in winter thisyear in Switzerland and thefeedback was really good. Ourtrade partners loved our winterexperience so we are going toput some packages together.We have also introduced ourself-drive programme inSwitzerland starting this sum-

mer called the Grand Tour ofSwitzerland,” Zemp says.

Switzerland Tourism hasannounced the launch of its ‘InLove with Switzerland’ cam-paign for Mumbai to celebrate150 years of winter tourism. Thiscampaign is to promote tourismto Switzerland from India, notonly during summer but alsoduring autumn and winter. Thewinter campaign was launched

in presence of tourism regionsfrom Switzerland - St. Moritz,Davos Klosters, RhaetianRailways and Ticino.

Apart from an increasein overnights, Switzerlandalso saw a rise in revenue fortrain tickets. “We have figuresfrom our railways that indicatean increase of over 40 percent in revenue for ticketsbought mostly by individual

travellers. Indians love traintravel and we have thereforelaunched a super special offeron our passes. Our SwissPasses will be valid for fivedays instead of four and oureight-day passes will be validfor an extra two days. Many ofour tour operator partnershave come up with amazingoffers as well giving away freeaccommodation as well,”Zemp adds.

Switzerland Tourism has gone on an overdrive with a new webinar launched this September for the frontline staff.It will cover one destination every month.

Training travel agents through webinar TT BU R E AU

S E P T 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 9NTO

This is my firsttime working inIndia but I waswelcomed by thetrade from thestart. Agentshere areextremelymotivated andhard-workingand they comeup with a lot ofcreative ideas

Claudio ZempDirector – IndiaSwitzerland Tourism


1 0 TRAVTALK S E P T 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 ASSOCIATIONS

Strengthening ties with membersGiving back to the association A younger team in the West

We will focus onkeeping our mem-bers updated andwell informed on allthe current issuesof the travel indus-try. To facilitate thiswe shall haveknowledge sharing

sessions for smooth communication. Weintend to bring about an awareness oninbound tours which is going to be a majorrevenue generator. To provide hard work,dedication, determination and confidence tothe job is going to be our role.

Hema RV ChanderChairperson, TAAI Southern Region

I have been electedas the treasurerand I take a resolu-tion to contribute bymaking some muchneeded changeslike spendingample time for theneeds of the mem-

bers and for the committee. We will contributeas a team with frequent meetings and regularfollow ups. We will also ensure that adequatefunds through subscription payment collection on time, for the needs of the travelindustry is done by being consistent andtrustworthy.

Santhi SakthivadivelTreasurer, TAAI Southern Region

I am proud to be an active member of TAAI since 2001 and I am proudthat I am elected as the Hon. Secretary of the Southern Region. TAAIhas been recognised as the voice of travel agents and tourism industryin India which celebrates six decades of phenomenal growth with highethical and professional standards. Travel agents have some coreissues which emerged since 2008 onwards. Despite that 75 per centof travellers still prefer personalised services offered by travel agents.We need to bring about an awareness on inbound tours which is goingto be major generator in near future.

Joseph Jaya RaviSecretary, TAAI Southern Region

I would like to thank the members who have entrusted their faith in meagain. We had started off with a vision of empowering our members inthe last term but the task is still undone. We did a lot of sessions in part-nership with VFS and destinations like South Africa and Vietnam. Weare in the process of negotiating similar sessions with Korea, Luxemburgand a few others. We also plan to increase our membership.

Sampat DamaniChairman, TAAI Western Region

We did a lot ofactivities for ourmembers in the lasttwo years. I nowplan to carry thesame momentumforward in a muchbigger spirit than Idid in my earlierterm. There are a lot of things that havealready been planned that includes a lot ofnew activities.

Sameer KarnaniSecretary, TAAI Western Region

To make TAAI’sbase even stronger,I am looking atincreasing mem-bership, conductingmore fundraisingdrives for theregion, offsite meet-ings, team-buildingexercises, andworkshops with more destinations. Detailswill follow soon as we crystalise the programme.

Madhuri KangaTreasurer, TAAI Western Region

TAAI Elections

QWhat is your new agenda?

We recently had our AGM to passthe accounts and we discussed that weneed to have familiarisation (Fam) tripsto Bulgaria and Georgia. We are intouch with the Indonesian TourismBoard also for Fam trips for North Indiaagents to Jakarta and Bandung. We willhave one Fam in October end or postDiwali. We are also in talks with a newairline from Bhutan besides Drukair.

They have agreed to provide us 20-30seats. We have also tied up with hotelsin Bhutan. We will soon update you onthese developments as and when theyare finalised.

QWhat kind of support does theNorthern Chapter get from the

All India TAFI?They are a big support. The North

India Chapter Chairman is part of the

All India Managing Committee and theNational Joint Council. Wherever theyhave their meeting in the country theyinvite all the chapter chairmen. NorthIndian is the biggest chapter in India.As most of our North India chaptermeetings happen in Delhi, most of theagents from outside Delhi are unable tocome here. So I talked to my nationalcommittee and they have allowed meto hold meetings in different places withagents of those places. The nationalcommittee supports me in whatever Ineed from them.

QWhere will you have your nextconvention?That is not yet decided and our

Managing Committee and ConventionCommittee are working on two tothree options and we will have theconvention wherever we get a gooddeal. It is basically for the benefit ofour agents and the tourism promotionof the place we have our conventionat. Tourism has always shown agrowth in those places.

QPlease throw some light on the recent discussion

with Lufthansa regarding the faredisparity?

There was a lot of oppositionabout Lufthansa’s new step not onlyfrom India but also from across theworld. But they still went ahead with itfrom September 1 as a yearly return(YR) and they have put it as a tax. Butthey have assured us that whatever YRis added, when somebody booksthrough them it will be there also. Let’ssee what happens, as our ManagingCommittee is in touch with themthrough all channels available trying tosort out this issue.

Vijay K Gupta, Chairman, TAFI Northern India, updates on their future initiatives andagenda. He also throws light on the discussion with Lufthansa.

Indonesia & Bhutan on TAFI radar

SAMAPTI DAS

We will have the convention wherever we geta good deal. It is basically for the benefit ofour agents and the tourism promotion of theplace we have our convention at. Tourismhas always shown a growth in those places

890% surge in eTV arrivals fromJan-Aug

A total of 1,69,976 touristarrived on e-Tourist Visa dur-ing January- August, 2015,as compared to 17,120 dur-ing January-August, 2014registering a growth of 892.9per cent. During August, atotal of 22,286 tourist arrivedon eTV as compared to2,705 during the month ofAugust, 2014 registering agrowth of 723.9 per cent.

This high growth maybe attributed to introductionof e-Tourist Visa for 113 countries as against cover-age of earlier TVoA schemefor 12 countries.

The percentage sharesof top 10 source countriesavailing e-Tourist Visa facilityduring August 2015 were asfollows: USA (25.93%),Germany (10.00%), UAE(8.92%), France (8.76%),Australia (7.20%), Canada(6.39%), Republic of Korea(4.23%), Japan (3.41%),Russian Federation (2.37%)and Singapore (2.22%).

Vijay K GuptaChairmanTAFI Northern India

Going internationalTAFI discussed during its AGMthe need to have Fam trips toBulgaria and Georgia

The association is in touch withIndonesian Tourism Board forFam trips for North Indian agentsto Jakarta and Bandung

TAFI is in talks with airlines fromBhutan besides Drukair and has also tie ups with hotels in Bhutan



The selection of Indore asHost for the 31st IATO

Convention was the reasonwhy this question cropped up,as many felt that the city mightnot be able to handle such abig event. As many as 1,260delegates attended the con-vention, and as IATOConvention Chairman PronabSarkar pointed out, over 350potential delegates had to berefused participation due to ashortage of accommodation.He said that as a result of theconvention in Indore, the IATOmembers would now be ableto promote Madhya Pradesh(MP) destinations at shows likethe ITB and WTM.

Raj Bajaj, MD, AdventureWorld, and an active IATOmember, said that the MPadministration has been verypro-active and the event helpeddelegates to learn about MICEand other facilities in the city.The quality and variety of foodserved came in for much praise,

dispelling the view of some thatsmaller, newer towns were notsuitable for conventions of suchmagnitude. The exposure tonew areas far outweighed anyminor drawbacks in the facilities,most delegates felt, even assome said that compelling thedelegates to stay during thesessions was not the best wayto ensure attendance.

Connectivity was anotherissue that drew some criticism

from delegates from Odisha,who had to change flights morethan once to get to Indore.Sudhir Patil, of Veena World,opined that minor inconven-iences in smaller place werenot serious and holding themeet in Indore was wise, as hecould explore the region, justas he had done in Lucknowduring the UP Travel Mart ear-lier this year. Patil, however,feels that time and schedulesshould be adhered to at all

costs. The Grand BhagwatiPalace provided good network-ing opportunities, as there wereno distractions, Patil said.Sehar Shamim, GeneralManager-Sales and Marketing,Mapple, was impressed by thequality of the food and serviceand the convention gave her anopportunity to explore a newarea. Tanuja Panday, Founderand CEO, IncentiWise, was fullof praise for the conventionvenue but was quick to add that

a 200 room hotel near the con-vention centre would help pro-mote the convention business.Promod Dalvi, Vice President-PR, Kesari Tours, praised theefforts of MP Chief MinisterShivaraj Singh Chauhan. Headded that the infrastructureneeds to be improved. HarishMathur, Managing Director,Concord Travels, said MICEprospects were good andattention should be given todetails. Also, safety was a mat-ter of concern.

Andhra Pradesh PrincipalSecretary Tourism, NeerabhPrasad, used the convention topromote the State's experts andapex programmes. Amrawati,Tirupati and the Buddhist cir-cuits must be promoted, he toldthe delegates.

Sunil Gupta, MD, TravelBureau, Agra, said that it wasnot a question of small versusbig cities, but one of old andnew destinations for holdingsuch meets. IATO stood for pro-moting new places and so

Indore was the right choice,even if it meant overcomingsome logistical challenges, likegetting good coaches from farand near. Bjorn Noel DeNiese, Director, Mayfair SpaResort & Casino Gangtok, saidthat Indore gave him an oppor-tunity to see a new area anddestination. He felt that therewas a need for star brandedhotels in the region.

C Nagendra Prasad,Chairman, Travelexpress, tookthe opportunity to go on a postconvention tour to Bhopal, whichhe had never visited earlier.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) Convention 2015 held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh,made it imperative for the organisers to ponder on whether an event of such magnitude should be heldin smaller cities and towns or be left for the bigger ones.

IATO puts Indore on MICE map

AN I L MAT H U R

Success StoryAs many as 1,260 delegates attended the convention

The Grand BhagwatiPalace provided goodnetworking opportuni-ties, as there were nodistractions


S E P T 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 3STATES

The Kerala Tourism depart-ment has launched an

online bidding game offeringholiday packages to the stateat virtually no cost. First-ever inthe country for a destination,'Visit Kerala Bid Wars' will beplayed out on the hugely popular Facebook page ofKerala Tourism.

The bid, joined byaccredited tour operators in thestate, will include packagesfrom `8,000 to `78,000.

The bid, aimed atdomestic travellers, is organ-ised as part of the 'Visit Kerala2015' campaign inauguratedby Kerala Tourism Minister A PAnilkumar in the national cap-

ital in April. "Kerala Tourismenjoys round-the-year engage-ment with our huge fan baseacross the world," said KeralaTourism Secretary G KamalaVardhana Rao. "This biddingprocess is a unique way toacknowledge the bond witheach other," he added.

The campaign will beanchored on an online biddingsystem known popularly as the'lowest unique bid'. In this bid-ding system, the package,which is up for bidding, is wonby the person whose bids thelowest as well as unique. If twopeople bid the same price, thatamount will get cancelled. Forexample, if a person bids for apackage worth ̀ 20,000 at ̀ 10,the package will be awarded toher if nobody else has bid `10and no other unique bid ismade which is less than `10.

Kerala Tourism, whichhas more than 1.2 million fanson Facebook, is a pioneer in

using Information Technologyto spread awareness about the state's destinations. The tourism department's website, one of the most popular tourism websites in the world, has won severalnational and internationaltourism awards. "The onlinebidding not only carries forward the conversation with our fans, but also takes it to the next level," said

Kerala Tourism Director P I Sheik Pareeth.

For making the bidding asuccess, Kerala Tourism haspartnered with accreditedservice providers from thestate such as Kerala TourismDevelopment Corporation,Voyages Kerala, IntersightHolidays, Spice Land Holidays,Cosima Holidays, DravidianTrails, Indus Holidays, and

Kerala Travels & TravelPlanners. The packages range

from two nights to 10 days. Thebidding process begins with

signing up on Kerala Bid WarsFacebook App or downloadingthe VisitKerala BidWars appfrom Play Store. After search-ing the package on offer, bidthe lowest possible price, say-ing “this is the best year to visitKerala”. The bid will be activefor a few days initially. The win-ner will be announced for eachpackage soon after it ends andbefore the next package is upfor bidding.

Visiting 'God's Own Country' has gone under the hammer. And the winner will be the one bidding the lowestprice. Holiday packages worth `8000 to `78,000 for lowest bids are up for the grabs.

Kerala Tourism starts holiday bid warsTT BU R E AU

Kerala Tourismenjoys round-the-yearengagementwith our hugefan base acrossthe world

G Kamala Vardhana RaoSecretaryKerala Tourism


1 4 TRAVTALK S E P T 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 FAMILY ALBUM

Webinar facility at new Bonton officeIts new 10,000 sq ft corporate office in Andheri East, Mumbai, will now allow Bonton Holidays to host a training room equipped with state-of-the-art multi-location webinar facilities.

Seychelles boosts air linksAir Seychelles has estab-lished strong air linksbetween Mumbai andSeychelles with direct fourweekly flights to Mumbaiand expanding code-shareagreement with Jet Airwaysto nine cities in India.


S E P T 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 5FAMILY ALBUM

Gearing up for national electionsWith the national elections knocking at the door, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Northern Region Managing Committee is hopeful to supportand work together with each other. The team met the trade fraternity at a fun cocktail evening.


1 6 TRAVTALK S E P T 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 is not just India which is pro-moting its tourism segment

by introducing e-Tourist Visa tovarious countries. Joining thebandwagon is Indonesia thatis now looking at visa freeentry for Indian travellers. TheMinistry of Tourism, Indonesiais contemplating adding Indiain the list of countries that areextended free visa by the endof the next month. This wasrevealed by Arief Yahya,Tourism Minister, Indonesia.

Talking about the newdevelopment, Yahya said, “Wehave not done enough for theIndian market till now. We hope this initiative will act as a catalyst that will lead todirect connectivity between the two countries. Our govern-

ment is going to soon have dis-cussion with India’s CivilAviation Ministry to have direct flight between the two countries.”

The move is expected topush airlines in both the coun-tries to begin direct air connec-tivity, which is a long-standingdemand from the industry. Thecountry will look at addingdirect connectivity from NewDelhi, Mumbai and Chennai,Yahya added. Earlier this year,the Government of Indonesiahad rolled out visa free entryto citizens of 45 countries,including Asian markets suchas China, Japan and SouthKorea. Indonesia is now look-ing to add 48 countries to itslist of visa free entry, thus tak-ing the total to 93 countries bythe end of this year. Visa-free

arrivals are valid for 30 days inthe country.

The Tourism Minister of Indonesia was in India at the recently concluded PATA Travel Mart in Bengaluru. Indonesia is gear-

ing up to host the PATA TravelMart from September 7-9,2016.

According to IgdePitana, Deputy Minister forTourism, Indonesia, it is theright time to create new

demand from the Indian mar-ket. “There has been a 10-foldincrease in our marketingbudget for India compared tothe last year. We will engage infocused trade and consumeractivities in cities such as NewDelhi, Mumbai, Chennai,Bengaluru and Kolkata,” Pitanasaid. At present, the countryreceives more honeymoonersand leisure travellers fromIndia. Post the direct connec-tivity, it will look at MICE trav-ellers in a big way, Pitanaaffirmed. The country is alsolooking at becoming a golfers’top destination. “We are nowalso seeing a huge spurt indemand from the outboundgolf travellers in India. Werecently organised golf for anIndian incentive group lastweek and 600 more Indiangolfers are expected to play in

Indonesia this month.Indonesia will engage with golfassociations in India to tap thissegment as well.”

Indonesia recorded2,40,000 Indian arrivals in2014 and is expecting to wel-come over 2,70,000 arrivalsfrom India this year.

Indians may no longer require visas to enter Indonesia, as the next batch of countries for visa free facility isto be announced later this year and India will feature in that list. The long awaited demand for direct flightsbetween the two countries may also become a reality soon.

India on Indonesia’s visa-free travel list

ME G H A PAU L

Our government is going to soonhave a discussion with

India’s Civil AviationMinistry to have directflight between the two countries.

Arief YahyaTourism Minister, Indonesia Island Hopping

Indonesia is now lookingto add 48 countries to itslist of visa free entry, thus taking the total to 93 countries by the end of this year

Visa-free arrivals are validfor 30 days in the country

The three-city roadshow ofMauritius Tourism

Promotion Authority saw par-ticipation from 20 stakehold-ers, such as Air Mauritius, topluxury hotels, DMCs and activ-ity companies. The objective ofthe event was to create a platform where the Indian trav-el trade partners could interact with the stakeholders and understand the destina-tion better.

This initiative, led byArnaud Martin, Chairman,MTPA, saw an enthusiasticparticipation from top touroperators in Mumbai,Bengaluru and Delhi.Speaking on the occasion,Martin said, “From January toJuly this year we have had atremendous growth of 21.5per cent as compared to asimilar period last year andwe expect to close the year atover 70,000 tourists fromIndia. India represents a veryfertile ground for futuregrowth and we expect it tobecome the source market inthe next five years.” Thestakeholders were veryhappy to see a fantasticturnout in all three cities,which included the top man-agement of outbound tour

operators, wedding plannersand golf tour organisers.

Vivek Anand, CountryManager, MTPA, said, “Theincredible natural beauty ofMauritius is complemented by

some of the best and most lux-urious seaside resorts in stun-ningly picturesque surround-ings. Mauritius is the perfectdestination wedding spot forcouples looking to tie the knotin a far off and enticing loca-

tion. Martin said, “It is a greattribute to all the stakeholdersof the Mauritian tourism indus-try who contributed towardsthe Wedding PlannersCongress in May 2015 and itwas a great honour for us toreceive it on behalf of theMauritian tourism industry. Idedicate it to everyone.”

As part of the marketinginitiative, MTPA India is conduct-ing trade presentations andseminars in all major cities toincrease the visibility ofMauritius to the trade and MICEpartners. In addition, familiari-sation trips are being organisedfor travel agents, wedding plan-ners and the media to give thema first-hand experience of thedestination. MTPA India is alsoparticipating in trade, weddingand MICE fairs and sponsoringgolf and polo tournaments.

Mauritius recently conducted a three-city luxury roadshow in Mumbai,Bengaluru and Delhi, where Indian travel trade partners interacted withthe stakeholders to understand the destination better.

Mauritius eyes 70,000 Indians

TT BUREAU

The naturalbeauty ofMauritius iscomplementedby some of themost luxuriousseaside resortsin picturesquesurroundings

India representsa very fertileground for futuregrowth and weexpect it tobecome thesource market inthe next fiveyears

Arnaud MartinChairmanMTPA

Vivek AnandCountry ManagerMTPA

Number SpeakFrom Jan-July this year,Mauritius recorded agrowth of 21.5% intourist arrivals

The country expects toclose the year at over70,000 Indian tourists

Over 24% surge in Indiantourists to New Zealand

Tourism New Zealand iscelebrating the milestone ofreaching three million interna-tional visitors annually for thefirst time, saying it spells jobs,income and economic value forall New Zealanders.

Tourism is this country’sbiggest services export andTourism New Zealand’s ChiefExecutive Kevin Bowler saysthe industry is growing strongly.“The International Visitor Surveyshowed total international visitorexpenditure up 28 per cent to$8.7 billion, and now havingtopped three million arrivals. It’sgood news for all NewZealanders.”

“International visitor spendis distributed widely across theeconomy; it’s not just accommo-dation or tourism activities thatbenefit; spending occurs at thelocal supermarket, petrol sta-tion, dairy, retail shops, and amyriad of other local business-es,” he adds. Even before thisrecent surge in visitor numbers,the tourism industry was directlyresponsible for nearly 100,000jobs (4.7 per cent of employ-ment) in New Zealand. A further

73,000 people are indirectlyemployed bringing the totalnumber of people employed asa result of tourism to around170,000 (or 8.3 per cent of allNew Zealand’s employment).

“We are also starting tosee more visitors arriving out-side of the traditional summerperiod and a wider regional dis-tribution of visitor spending – allpositive signs for the long-termgrowth of the industry and NewZealand’s regions.”

Data released by StatisticsNew Zealand show that for theyear-ending July 2015, overthree million visitors came to thecountry, an increase of 7.3 percent over the previous 12months. Leading the way wasthe Australians at 1.29 millionmaintaining steady growth of 4.1per cent. New Zealand’s secondlargest source of visitor arrivalsis China at 315,248, growing at29.5 per cent year on year.Whereas, there has beenincrease of 42,896 (+24.4%) vis-itor arrivals from the Indian mar-ket for the year ending July2015. The UK, US, Germanyand Japan round out NewZealand’s top six source mar-kets. Kevin says potential visitorsto New Zealand continue toassociate the country with land-scapes and scenery, wildlife,and adventure. “For the past 15years we have been playing tothese strengths through the100% Pure New Zealand cam-paign, during which time annualvisitor arrivals have grown fromaround 1.54 million to wherethey are today.”

Kevin BowlerChief ExecutiveTourism New Zealand


QWhat is the theme for the50th Annual Convention for

FHRAI? Tell us what initiativesare you taking for it?

The theme of the conventiongoes with the inherent spirit of Indianhospitality and elaborates as “AtithiDevo Bhava” - Guest is like God. Ashoteliers, we want to spread this mes-sage across the world to bring moretourists to our shores as well as pro-mote our domestic destina-tions. The venue will is thesprawling Mayfair Convention,with state-of-the-art facilities.

QKindly elaborate onthe convention taking

place in Odisha. The partner state for the

convention, Odisha, hastremendous potential forbecoming a major tourist huband this event will be instru-mental in furthering this objec-tive. We are thankful to OdishaTourism for agreeing to partnerwith us and expect them tocome up with a policy framework for creating betterinfrastructure to help in thegrowth of the hospitality and tourism sector.

QTell us about theHeritage Walk that will

take place during the convention.

We are planning to hosta “Heritage Walk” and carnivalon Sept 27, which is alsoWorld Tourism Day. This willbe a 2-km walk, in which all

the delegates and their spouses willparticipate. This will showcase thefolk dances and culture of variousparts of the country. We will be look-ing at industry excellence, guestexperience and human resourcedevelopment, and welcoming ourupcoming members, associates andthose new to both our industry andour conference.

QHow many delegates are youexpecting for the Convention?

Tell us a bit about the technicalsessions.

It’s a historic milestone that wehave the honour to host the goldenjubilee of our prestigious Annual Convention. Being the gold-en jubilee convention, we areexpecting more than 1,000 |delegates. High voltage technicalsessions have been included on all three days. First day: AtithiDevo Bhava - The LegacyContinues; Taxation in Indian

Hospitality Industry - Challenges & Solutions. Technical sessions on Day 2 Include: Odisha Tourism: Opportunities unlimited;Voice from the Top; Iconic HospitalityProperties Creating TourismDestinations - Is it Lack ofGovernment Support or Absence ofEntrepreneurship; Hotel Design -Futuristic Hotels.

There will also be Heart Talk: DilSe, where there will be a discussion

between Prabhu Chawla face to facewith Rakesh Sarna, MD & CEO,Indian Hotels Company.

Day three will see sessions like:Social Media & Technology -Influence on Hospitality Business;Restaurants of the Future and finallyOnline Portals - Necessary Evils?Entertaining performances and top of the line food and beveragesare in store for delegates in the evenings.

The Golden Jubilee Convention of the Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI) will beheld in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, from Sep 25-27. T S Walia, President, FHRAI, tells us more about this mega event.

FHRAI Convention expects 1000 delegatesTT BU R E AU

We are planningto host a“Heritage Walk”and carnival onSep 27, which isalso WorldTourism Day.This will be a 2-km walk, inwhich alldelegates willparticipate

T S WaliaPresidentFHRAI

S E P T 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 7INTERVIEW



Indian Wildlife Travel Experts(IWTE) is an alliance

between some of India’s bou-tique jungle lodges andPurequest Adventures Indiafor building and promotingwildlife tourism to India. Thegroup will collectively work tomarket India worldwidethrough its combined pres-ence at select travel fairs orthrough roadshows in sourcemarkets in association withthe India Tourism offices.Prabhat Verma, Director,India, Purequest Adventures,says, “Our objective is to pres-

ent to our customers the bestwildlife experiences in Indiathrough a collection of excel-lent itineraries. Promoting

responsible wildlife tourismdriven by exceptional experi-

ences will be at the heart ofIWTE’s agenda. Each mem-ber has been carefully select-ed and represents some of

the most unique experiencesthat the Indian wildlife productcan offer.”

Purequest AdventuresIndia is a part of a globaladventure platform with spe-cial interest in curating wildlifeand safaris experiences in thesub-continent. PQA India pro-motes its specially craftedexperiences through its 16local offices in India.

Mario Habig, ManagingDirector, Le Passage to India,says, “To conquer new frontiersit is important that things aredone differently. I am very excit-ed about the new venture as

this is the first strategic andstructured approach betweenthe best safari lodges in Indiaand a DMC to bring Indianwildlife on the global map. Wehave hand-picked best lodgesas well as naturalists in thecountry who have put togetherexceptional experiences.”

Explaining the methodol-ogy of the initiative, Verma says,“The initiative will work as abridge between best safarioperators overseas and bou-tique lodges in India. We will goout of our way to educate ourpartners and create awarenessof India’s magnificent wildlife wealth.”

Purequest Adventures, the adventure and wildlife arm of Le Passageto India, together with wildlife experts and select lodge owners acrossIndia has launched a first-ever industry initiative – Indian Wildlife TravelExperts to promote wildlife tourism in a sustainable manner.

India answers call of the wild

TT BUREAU

I am very excited about the newventure as this is the first strategic andstructured approach between thesafari lodges in India and a DMC tobring Indian wildlife on the global map

Mario HabigManaging Director, Le Passage to India

(L) Mario Habig, Managing Director, Le Passage to India, with wildlife travel experts and Prabhat Verma, Director, India,Purequest Adventures (R)

At its recently held AGM, thecommittee members

informed about their forthcom-ing events and initiatives.

Skal International Delhirecently had its Annual GeneralMeeting (AGM) at The ParkHotel in New Delhi. The main

points covered at the AGM arethe initiatives and events thatSkal has in pipeline. SanjayDatta, President, SkalInternational Delhi, says that theAGM was a reflection of whatthey did in the years 2014 and2015. He says, “We had a feed-back of our activities in the pastfew months. We also had a pres-entation of accounts for ourmembers and discussed the

upcoming events. We are goingto have a Sufi night on Sept 23at Four Points by Sheraton.”

Sunil Ghadiok, VicePresident, Skal InternationalDelhi, informs that Skal’s futureinitiatives include a lot of lunchesand presentation by guestspeakers and golf tournaments.He adds, “With our newFacebook page and updatedwebsite we expect to have moremembers and more participationduring our dinners and lunches.”

Greesh Bindra,Secretary, Skal InternationalDelhi, says, “We had a verygood gathering and we dis-cussed whatever events wehave done till now and what isgoing to happen next.”

Sanjiv Tyagi, PastPresident, Skal InternationalDelhi, says, “The AGM was to discuss the balancesheet of the previous year. We have a young team nowwhich is dynamic and withSanjay Datta being thePresident, the club has wokenup. We are the largest club in the world and with our new members, who knows, we could be the number onevery soon.”

Riding high on its rising membership,SKAL Delhi has eyes set onbecoming the No. 1 club in the worldin terms of membership.

Aiming for the top spot

TT BU R E AU

Sanjay DattaPresidentSkal International Delhi

Ahoy, India! Dubai comes callingDubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) held a multi-city roadshow in India. The roadshows were held in Bengaluru, Chennai,Mumbai and Delhi. The Cruise Tourism delegation included cruise brands, MSC Cruises, Costa Cruises, and Royal Caribbean International, who participatedin the roadshows to develop better relations with the Indian travel industry.


S E P T 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 9STATES

According to RVDeshpande, Tourism and

Industries Minister ofKarnataka, the state is thefirst in India that has come upwith a scheme where corpo-rate companies can adopttourist sites. These compa-nies will maintain a tourist siteas part of their corporatesocial responsibility (CSR) ini-tiative. “For the same, thestate tourism department islooking to partner with privatesector for development of

tourism infrastructure in her-itage tourist sites such asHampi, Badami and Bijapur.Karnataka has identified 319tourism destinations in thestate and all these places willbe developed in a phasedmanner,” Deshpande said.

The state is also launch-ing a portal that will offer trav-el and hospitality stakehold-ers a platform to market andpromote their products andofferings in Karnataka. Givingmore information about theupcoming portal, he revealed,“The design of the portal isready and the departmentexpects to launch the portalvery soon. This portal will actas a one-stop shop fortourists. The website will haveinformation on all tourismassets of the state, routes,tour package bookings, etc.Even a payment gateway will be available. The portal

will help tourists plan a holi-day as well.”

Karnataka Tourism isalso looking to develop Mysoreand Bengaluru as a destinationfor wellness and medicaltourism. “Mysore andBengaluru are the places thatare perfectly placed for well-ness and medical tourism.

These places provide state-of-the-art facilities at reasonableprices compared to any othercountry. We are targeting mar-kets such as Middle East andRussia for medical and well-ness tourism,” he added.

For boosting safety andsecurity measures for tourists,the state in the next three

months will introduce TouristMitras in all major tourist destinations.

Deshpande alsorevealed that the Union gov-ernment and the TourismMinistry have accepted therecommendations made bySwaminathan Committee onrelaxation of Coastal

Regulation Zone (CRZ). “Thebeach resorts are beingallowed in a radius of 50-100metres of the seas in otherstates and nations whereasno such construction was allowed within 500-metreradius in Karnataka. We have 90 beaches along the 320-km coastline, but have identified only 44

beaches and four islands for tourism purposes,” helamented. Karnataka fallsunder CRZ-3 (meaning a no-development zone and allprojects need approval from the Union Minister of Environment and Forest) which is a challenge before the Stategovernment.

In a bid to increase inbound and domestic traffic to the state, the tourism department of Karnataka is looking at a slewof activities. This will include development of a one-stop portal for travellers, aggressive promotion of wellness and heritagecircuits and introduction of tourist ‘mitras’ for safety of tourists.

Adopt tourist sites, says Karnataka

ME G H A PAU L

This portal willact as a one-stop shop fortourists. Thewebsite will haveinformation onall tourismassets of thestate, routes,tour packagebookings, etc

RV DeshpandeTourism and Industries MinisterKarnataka


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Experience Meetings wouldprovide an atmosphere

beyond the traditional meetingroom settings. They have beendesigned in order to merge thecasual atmosphere with seri-ous corporate environment.They create an ideal environ-ment for all types of smallmeetings and conferenceswhere innovative and creativethinking is paramount. In AsiaPacific, there are 45 RadissonBlu hotels in operation and another 34 under development.

Telling us more about theconcept, Sandy Russell, VicePresident, CommercialOperations, Asia Pacific,Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group,said, “This is the result of a lotof research we have done overa period of time, to try and findout what could we do thatwould differentiate us from ourcompetitors. The conceptwould also impact the outcomeof the meetings.”

Talking about the BrainBox concept, she explained,“Brain Box speaks to the set-upfor the meeting room. We havedesigned Brain Box to impactthe way people learn. There are

four distinct learning styles:Kinesthetic, auditory, visual andtactile. We have addressed allfour types of learning styles;with the type of furniture, thecomfortable flexible seating, thebright colours, with the thingsthat we offer in the meetingrooms — such as the canvasesor the white boards that we linethe rooms with.”

She adds, “People whoneed to write things can usethe white boards. Auditory peo-ple respond mostly to sound,they are impacted by sound.That’s how they remember it.So you will always find, at anExperience Meeting, the finestquality of sound equipment.The audio part of audio visualwill always be the best quality.That will help put those peoplewho learn through auditory intothe best possible state. Wehave come up with a playlist ofappropriate music, to play inthe background that isdesigned to spark creativity.That is one component ofmeetings.”

Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group’s innovative meetingsconcept, “Experience Meetings” for its Radisson Blubrand, hopes to provide successful meetings with theBrain Box and Brain Food concepts.

Unconventional meetings

KA N C H A N NAT H

The new team that hastaken over the Managing

Committee for IATA AgentsAssociation of India (IAAI)Maharashtra Chapter recentlyis already in the thick of things.The team, led by ChetanMomaya as president ofMaharashtra Chapter, IAAI, isin intense discussions with theMunicipal Corporation ofGreater Mumbai (MCGM) tobring down the number oflicenses that travel agencies inMumbai need to acquire.

Momaya said, “We havebeen talking to MCGM andhave already shared our sug-gestions to tackle some of theissues that we travel agentsare having with them. One ofthem is the number of licensesthat agencies need to operate.We have requested them tomake it a single-windowlicense system for us.Currently, agencies go througha lot of problems as they needa number of licenses including

labour license, performancelicense, Provident Fund, med-ical and women’s cell for medi-um to big companies.”

He added that the teamhas requested for an appoint-ment with Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis.MCGM had in the pastassigned IAAI the responsibil-ity to bring forth the issues oftravel agents to the corpora-tion. Momaya said, “We havealready submitted the sugges-tions and one of the happyresults is that tour operatorscan now function 24x7 on thecondition that every employeein the agency puts in not morethan 48 hours per week.”

The new team, that hasbeen elected for a two-yeartenure, will also approachMaharashtra TourismDevelopment Corporation.“We want to request them toimprove the experience forour clients – provide moreand better guides, introducewater activities, improve infrastructure for cruise liners at the passenger port, and not delay MTDC’shop-on hop-off bus service,”Momaya adds.

The new team at IAAI Maharashtra Chapter hasjumped into the thick of things with intense discussionswith the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai onbringing down the number of agency licenses.

IAAI fights license Raj

TT BU R E AU

The ExperienceMeetingsconcept wouldimpact theoutcome ofbusinessmeetings

Sandy RussellVice President, Commercial Operations,Asia Pacific, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group

Tour operatorscan now function24x7 on thecondition thatevery employeeputs in not morethan 48 hoursper week

Chetan Momaya President Maharashtra Chapter, IAAI


HOTELS

St. Regis Hotels & Resorts,part of Starwood Hotels &

Resorts Worldwide, has madeits debut in India with the highlyanticipated St. Regis Mumbaion September 1, 2015. Ownedby Pallazzio Hotels & Leisure,the erstwhile Palladium Hotelunderwent extensive rebrand-ing and now flies the St. Regisflag, bringing bespoke luxuryand refined elegance to the cityof Mumbai.

Located in Lower Parel,the hotel combines timelesssophistication with modern lux-ury and is a befitting debut forthe St. Regis brand in this fastgrowing market. AnuraagBhatnagar, Area GeneralManager, India, StarwoodHotels & Resorts Worldwide,said, “We are glad to bring theSt. Regis brand to India. This isan extremely important marketand it is now that we have suc-cessfully found the right partnerand the right project to introduceour seventh brand in the country.Luxury makes up 15 per cent of

Starwood’s total pipeline, and 90per cent of its future luxuryhotels, will open in emergingmarkets such as India. We areoptimistic about the growth ofthe hospitality industry going for-ward and believe that the timeis perfect for the entry of The St.Regis as the Indian luxury trav-ellers today are much moreknowledgeable and adventur-ous and we are sure that we willmeet their expectations with ourexquisite brand offerings.”

Speaking about introduc-ing other Starwood brands toIndia, Bhatnagar said that the

hotel company is on the cuspof a new golden age of luxurytravel as technology and glob-alisation drive new traderoutes, capital flows and wealthcreation. “As domestic travelincreases and Indian travellerscontinue to demand moresophistication in terms of bothquality and experience, wehave significant opportunity togrow our brands across thespectrum in gateway cities aswell as in resort destinations.One of the greatest successesfor Starwood has been to domore deals with our existingowners and developers. Ourmantra for development hasalways been, ‘right location,right product, right partner’. Weat Starwood are always opento the apt opportunities by part-nering with the right owners;Starwood has been able todemonstrate much morerobust growth than our com-petitors. Having been in Indiafor almost 40 years, we expectto be in India for the next 40and are not strangers in thiscountry that many of our competitors are,” he said.

St Regis debuts in India The erstwhile Palladium Hotel in Mumbai’s Lower Parelarea has become the first hotel to fly the St. Regis flagin India after extensive refurbishment and rebranding.

TT BU R E AU

Anuraag BhatnagarArea General Manager, India, StarwoodHotels & Resorts Worldwide

Radisson Blu Resort & SpaAlibaug strikes the perfect

balance between accommoda-tion and meeting areas setamidst picturesque settingsthat make it different from otherhotels. The hotel has a Mango

Deck with reflection poolswhere one may want to con-duct an evening theme dinneror choose the manicured lawnsas an option to host an enter-tainment function or alterna-tively choose the sedate set-tings of the courtyard to host asmall gathering.

Shridhar V, Director(Sales & Marketing),Radisson Blu Resort & Spa

Alibaug, says, “This is theonly hotel in the region acces-sible by a catamaran from theGateway of India. The locationitself has made the hotel, adestination of choice of fami-lies looking at a quick get-away, corporates looking toorganize an offsite and also

as a wedding destination. Thehotel is very popular with fam-ilies looking at a quick get-away, Corporates looking at aresidential offsite or a dayconference, social groups andalso the wedding segment.”

Guests can choose fromone of the many hotel venueslike the Pool Side, MangoDeck, Lawns, Courtyard, RazzMaTazz Terrace to host a pri-

vate event, cocktails or team-building activities. Alternatively,they can enjoy a live pianorecital at the Piano Bar &Lounge every evening orshake a leg at Razz Ma Tazz,the state-of-the-art dis-cotheque at the hotel, enjoyindoor games at the Time Out,swim at the Olympic size poolor spend the evening at theThinking Room or just go backin history reading coffee-tablebooks at the library.

The resort features sevendifferent accommodation cat-egories to choose from, in acombination of rooms, suites,Duplex villas, Spa Villas andTop Suites. All rooms offercomplimentary high-speedinternet. The resort also fea-tures five different meetingareas/breakaways to conductan offsite or a conference. Themeeting areas are fullyequipped with Wi-Fi facility andthe best of conferencing equipment.

The hotel has alsobecome a sought-after wed-ding destination in India. It isbooked as far as a year inadvance for weddings.

Alibaug next stop for MICERadisson Blu Resort & Spa Alibaug strikes the perfectbalance between MICE and destination weddings,located conveniently between Mumbai and Goa.

TT BU R E AU



Indore welcomes IATO membersMP welcomed around 1,500 delegates fromacross the nation and many internationaldelegates at the 31st IATO Convention.Amaresh Tiwari, Treasurer, IATO, said,"The level of bureaucrats who are inaugu-rating the event shows the importance andthe position of IATO. Indore is one of thecities with an excellent infrastructure. Theway MP positions itself as a tourist destina-tion is fantastic, the tourism board hashelped us a lot to organise this convention.Also, this destination has a lot of unexploredplaces which many of our tour operatorsare not aware of. This convention will helpa lot in understanding the destination. ”

Contd. on page 36


A DDP PUBLICATION SEPTEMBER 2 N D FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2015 TRAVTALK 2 3

Having achieved a turn-around of ITDC as its CMD

and successfully launched theHindustan Ka Dil Dekho cam-paign for Madhya PradeshTourism, ‘Mr Turnaround’ -Ashwani Lohani, has taken onhimself to make the Maharajahfly high again. Lohani, erstwhile MD of MP TourismDevelopment Corp, will nowtake over from Rohit Nandan as

the new Chairmanand Managing

Director ofAir India.

A quali-fied

mechanical engineer, Lohanibelongs to the Indian RailwaysServices Mechanical engineer-ing 1980 batch.

Unlike many bureaucrats,Lohani is highly active on socialmedia platforms, he is a regular

on Twitter and also runs his own blog. In his blog dated August 21, 2015, titled ‘On the move once again’,he shares news of his appointment at Air India.

Calling it a dream to headthe national carrier, he writes,“This time to head the belea-guered Air India, the erstwhileMaharajah of the nation with itstrademark logo. The sheen has been lost but not the inner strength, this is my

firm belief and this alone gives me the hope that theskies can be ruled once again. And it shall happen…My experience in running commercial enterprises is that leadership by apex management indeed remains

the primary issue, while themundane takes priority andthat too in a reactive manner. Providing proactiveleadership is the crux and playing on the front foot theeasiest way to demonstrate thesame, is what I believe in.” At

a time when the government isfinding it difficult to make theairline more sustainable,Lohani’s appointment comesas a relief. He sounds opti-mistic in his blog, as he concludes, “Like always before I shall not fail this

time also, perhaps my last innings in the service of the nation, is a promise that I have made to myself.May God give me thestrength.” We sure hope you’ll live up to your sobriquet- Mr Turnaround!

Ashwani Lohani, erstwhile MD of Madhya Pradesh Tourism DevelopmentCorporation, has taken over from Rohit Nandan as the new Chairmanand Managing Director of Air India.

AI gets Lohani wings

PEDEN DOMA BHUTIA

Ashwani Lohani

This time to head the beleaguered AirIndia, the erstwhile Maharajah of thenation with its trademark logo. Thesheen has been lost but not the innerstrength, this is my firm belief and thisalone gives me the hope that theskies can be ruled once again

IndiGo is enhancing its cus-tomer experience in the

domestic market with thelaunch of its nine new flightsconnecting Bengaluru toVaranasi (via Kolkata),Varanasi to Mumbai,Ahmedabad to Pune, Delhi toPune, Mumbai to Goa,Bengaluru to Kolkata and Delhito Lucknow. Furthermore, theairline is introducing its firstflight on the Varanasi-Goa (viaMumbai), and Kolkata-Varanasi routes, effectiveSeptember 1, 2015. With 647daily flights connecting 38 des-tinations (as of September 1,2015) across the globe, thesenew flights will allow corporateand leisure travellers to expe-rience the matchless on-timeperformance IndiGo is synony-mous with, thus further consol-idating IndiGo’s position as thefastest growing airline in India.

On the new flight sched-ule, Aditya Ghosh, President,IndiGo, says, “We are delight-ed to announce the take-off of

IndiGo’s new flights betweenDelhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Goa,Lucknow, Pune and Varanasi.The increased flow of touristand business traffic to andfrom these cities gave us justthe opportunity to allow pas-sengers to experience thehassle-free and on-time per-formance that IndiGo is syn-onymous with. We are certainthat these flights will prove tobe immensely popular andconvenient to our passengers.”

Effective September 1,2015, IndiGo’s first daily

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IndiGo’s nine new flights will operatebetween Bengaluru, Varanasi,Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Delhi,Goa, Kolkata and Lucknow.

IndiGo adds 9 new flights

Contd. on page 32

Aditya GhoshPresident, IndiGo

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AVIATION2 4 TRAVTALK S E P T 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

Virgin Atlantic operates adaily service between

Delhi and London Heathrowon a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner,the newest aircraft in its fleet.The Dreamliner boasts anenhanced customer experi-ence with Wi-Fi on every aircraft and the latest in-flight entertainment system, Vera Touch 2, featur-ing over 400 hours of ondemand entertainment.

With the latest expansion in the code-shareagreement with Jet Airways,Virgin Atlantic customers willbe able to purchase ticketsfrom Bengaluru, Hyderabad,Chennai and Kolkata, con-necting to Virgin Atlantic’sDelhi - London Heathrow. Theextended agreement will offercustomers the convenience ofhaving all of their boardingpasses issued at the originat-ing airport, whether their traveloriginates in the India or UK. Nick Parker, Head of

India and Middle East, VirginAtlantic, says, “We haveexpanded our code-sharewith Jet Airways, providing asecond daily code-share con-nection from Mumbai toLondon, connecting Mumbaieffectively with our transat-lantic network. So it is really does help us expandour reach within India, givingour customer more choice to pick up our services and experience.”

On Virgin Atlantic com-pleting 15 years in India,Parker says, “I’ve been fortu-nate to work with VirginAtlantic since 1999 and this isreally an exciting time for us interms of business. We’ve gotvery clear targets from ourCEO, which is to drive recordlevel of profitability, becausewe want to keep investingback in the customer. So wegot £300 million worth invest-ment coming back into cus-tomer experience in the next

few years. So there are invest-ments going in, whether in theform of cabin products thatwe’ve got or on some of ourexisting aircraft, or rolling outWi-Fi. But we are also retro-fitting it onto the rest of thefleet. We are investing in ouronboard catering products

because we want to makethem even better.”

On the airline's experi-ence of working with agents inIndia, Sameer Duggal, Headof Sales-India, Virgin AtlanticAirlines, says trade is very

important for them. “We dealvery closely with the trade inIndia. Currently to focus moreon the trade community we are strengthening our call centre and sales supportas we see more and more calls coming in from thenew code-share cities that we

have started. Besides, we have also started a VSFlying Hub which is our trade-dedicated website,where they can log in and getupdates. We keep coming outwith special packages andpromotions for them."

Virgin Atlantic has completed 15 years in India and is upbeat about the expansion in code-share withJet Airways. The airline says agents are very important to them, especially in the Indian market.

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We have expanded our code-sharewith Jet Airways, providing a seconddaily code-share connection fromMumbai to London, connectingMumbai effectively with ourtransatlantic network

Nick ParkerHead of India and Middle East, Virgin Atlantic

To focus more on the tradecommunity we are strengtheningour call centre and sales support

Sameer DuggalHead of Sales-India, Virgin Atlantic Airlines

(L-R): Sameer Duggal and Nick Parker

15 years on, Virgin flying high


Air India, on July 11, com-pleted a year of partner-

ship with Star Alliance. It wason this day last year that India’snational carrier formallybecame the 27th member ofthe Star Alliance network and with it opened up a com-pletely different world to its passengers.

Abhay Pathak, GeneralManager (Commercial)Northern India, Air India, says,“We are celebrating this first year anniversary of Air

India joining Star Alliance,which is one of the biggestalliances in the world. It has27 prestigious members.”

Air India became thefirst Indian carrier to be induct-ed into Star Alliance network.This partnership gave thepassengers an opportunity to travel to 1,316 destinationsacross the network and enjoy world class services,better connectivity and seamless travel.

It has earned the globe-trotter innumerable perks

besides seamless connectiv-ity across the globe with morethan 18,500 daily flights in 193countries. The frequent flyerbenefits between Air India’sFlying Returns programmeand those of the existingmember carriers have bene-fitted customers a great dealin earning and redeeming,upgrading and obtaining StarAlliance Gold Status. Flying Return members who hold Maharajah Club orGolden Edge Club status are automaticallyupgraded to Star AllianceGold status, giving

them access to more than1,000 lounges across theglobal network.

Pathak adds, “We havea flying returns programme ofAir India. So, any alliance airmember or our members canredeem and also can accruethe mileage across the world for any airlines or 26members. We have complet-ed all those parameters whichare required to become a StarAlliance member.”

Talking about the air-lines’ future initiatives, Pathak

says, “We have a number ofaircraft joining including the brand new aircraft 787 with new technologies.We also have a number of routes which will be unfolded in the upcomingmonths. This will furtherspread our wings and help us to network and provide ourseamless products to all over the world.”

Air India celebrated theoccasion across its offices inDelhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,Chennai, Hyderabad andBengaluru.

With the completion of one year of partnership with Star Alliance, Air India is looking forward to grow more withnew routes and aircraft. Abhay Pathak, General Manager (Commercial) Northern India, Air India, talks to about the airline’s new initiatives.

1st year of Air India’s Star Alliance

SA M A P T I DAS We have a number of aircraft joining includingthe brand new aircraft 787 with newtechnologies. We also have a num-ber of routes which will be unfoldedin the upcoming months.

Abhay PathakGeneral Manager (Commercial)

Northern India, Air India

Conquering SkiesAir India became the first Indian carrier to be inductedinto Star Alliance network

The airline has presence across theglobe with more than18,500 daily flights in193 countries.

Air India has a number of aircraftincluding the brand newaircraft 787 with newtechnologies

Flying Return members who holdMaharajah Club orGolden Edge Club status are automaticallyupgraded to Star Alliance Gold status

The appointment, whichwas made with immediate

effect, sees Axiom TravelServices handle the airline’ssales development, bookingsand ticketing services, as wellas conduct direct support serv-ices to the Peru’s travel trade.

By appointing AxiomTravel Services, PeruvianAirlines aims to improve thepositioning of its brand andgenerate awareness of itsproduct and services in Peruby strengthening relationswith existing trade partnersand forging new strategic part-nerships with specialisedoperators in a number of var-ious segments. Another keyfeature of the appointment isthe qualified support offeredto travel agencies. This is alsoa strategic move by Peruvian

Airlines, which feels the Indiangrowing market of extremeimportance, which can surelycontribute to the airline’sgrowth in the coming years.

Peruvian Airlines wasfounded in November 2007,receiving its Air OperatorCertificate from Peru's avia-tion authority on August 7,2008. The airline commencedoperations on October 29,2008. Today the airline has itsheadquarters in Lima andconnects Arequipa, Cuzco,Iquitos, Piura, Tacna,Pucallpa, Tarapoto and LaPaz with their existing fleet ofBoeing 737-200, 737-300 and737-500 www.peruvianair-lines.com

Axiom Travel Services isan aggressive marketing,sales and representationcompany that is managed

and run by trade profession-als. ATS has its headquartersin New Delhi’s prestigiousarea of Vasant Vihar and hasa pan-India presence. ATS isa boutique tourism marketingand PR company providing afull spectrum of integratedservices specialising in devel-oping and building the brandwith sales the distributionthrough the Indian travelindustry and consumer direct channels, StrategicMarketing Solutions,Representation Services,Public Relations Services andMedia Management, BrandBuilding and BrandManagement, Event/Roadshow Management,Strategic Communication andBusiness Solutions, ProductLaunches/Promotions,Market Intelligence,Familiarisation trips andSeminars.

Peruvian Airlines has chosen Axiom Travel Services asits new General Sales Agent (GSA) for India, Nepal,Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

Peruvian-Axiom take off

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QHow competitiveis the air charter

business?The air charter business

is extremely competitive.Clients often choose to gothrough operators and agentswho provide them with thebest deals which can be unfa-vorable to purely charteredbusinesses like ours. At theend of the day, customerswant and get the best dealsas price is a major factor.

QHow has theprivate jet

service industrydeveloped in Indiain the last 10 years?How can it progressfurther?

The industry has definite-ly gained more popularity in thelast couple of years. However,

for a country as large and pow-erful as India, the standardsneed to be higher with moreroom for improvement. As ofnow, we have very limitedoptions in terms of aircrafts.Another aspect that needs tobe taken into consideration inthis industry is that we are high-ly location centric. Currently,Delhi and Mumbai serve as themajor hubs for these services

but in order to progress further,other cities need to be givensimilar importance.

QHow hasbusiness been

for Air Limousinesin 2015?

I would like to admit thatbusiness has not been asgreat when you compare it to2014. I would call it averagebut last year was definitelybetter. 2015 has seen anapproximate decline of about8-10 per cent.

QWhat is yourUSP?I have learned that it is

extremely crucial to be trans-parent and build a strongclient-customer bond. Sincethis is the aviation industry,clients are more likely to beregular when they know theycan trust you.

Col S Bhutani, Partner, Air Limousines, shares hisopinion on the growth of the private jet sector in thecountry and discusses strategies to enhance it.

Sky high luxury charter

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Col S BhutaniPartner, Air Limousines

AVIATION S E P T 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 9

In a gripping finale, NandiniDiwakar and Sanjeev

Gakhar beat six other finalists in a live cookout ses-sion to win India’s largestonline culinary talent hunt,Lufthansa #cookandfly con-test held in partnership withThe Leela Palaces, Hotels &Resorts. Diwakar and Gakharwere announced winners at agrand finale ceremony at TheLeela Ambience Gurgaon.The winning recipes will be featured in Lufthansa’s in-flight menu.

Lufthansa #cookandflycontest is Season 2 of StarChef Contest where thenationwide hunt for India’slargest online culinary talentis conducted by MasterChefsKunal Kapur and VinodSaini of The Leela andLufthansa’s culinary expert forthe Asian region, ChefThomas Brockenauer.

Wolfgang Will, Director,South Asia, LufthansaPassenger Airlines, said,“Lufthansa’s presence in Indiaof 60 years gives it an unpar-alleled understanding of the

needs of its Indian customers.The brand has made huge progress towardsembracing Indian culture andits needs, and the contest pro-vides the right opportunity tonot only help us understandIndia’s food preferences but also help our Indian customers see the brand’s‘Indian’ side and connect with the brand even more. We are also happy that our decision to host the

contest on a social media platform helped us reach outto a wider target audienceespecially the younger audiences and connect with a new target group. Our brandphilosophy of ‘Nonstop You’gets very well-integrated withthe contest as the winningrecipe becomes a part of our in-flight menu. This definitely goes on to reflect a more Indianised version of the brand.”

Conceived underLufthansa’s ‘Non Stop You’positioning and ‘More IndianThan You Think’ philosophy,the Lufthansa #cookandflycontest celebrates India’s cul-tural and cuisine diversity andaims to engage with targetaudiences on a topic close totheir heart – their food prefer-ences. Hosted on Facebook,the contest also harnessedthe power and reach of socialmedia and received over-

whelming response with entry submissions pouringeven after the submissiontimeline was over.

The winner received aLufthansa Business Classticket to Europe and a six-week internship withcelebrity chefs at The Leela.The winners also gets excitingprizes from The Leela including 1 voucher for 1 night stay for 2 in executivesuite with regular inclusions.Other prizes for contestantand runners-up include 1voucher for Lungo pranzo(long Sunday lunch) atZanotta for two with sparklingwine (for second runners up);three vouchers for spectraweekend dinner for two andtwo vouchers for Diya week-end lunch. Other contestprizes include a premiumquality Morphy Richardsblender which was given to the “Chef’s pick of theweek” recipe.

The two winning recipes from the online culinary talent hunt, Lufthansa #cookandfly contest, will be featuredon the airline’s in-flight menu.

Winning recipes on Lufthansa menuTT BUREAU

Lufthansa’s presence in India of 60 years gives it an unparalleledunderstanding of the needs of its Indian customers

Wolfgang WillDirector, South Asia

Lufthansa Passenger Airlines


Delivering the keynoteaddress at the Aviation

Day India organised by IATAtogether with India’s Ministry ofCivil Aviation (MoCA) and theConfederation of IndianIndustry (CII), Tyler, compli-mented Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and his Cabinet for focusing on theaspect of ease of doing business in the country.

"Indian aviation market isestimated to be valued at $282million by 2031 and will exceed a market value of $360 billion post FY34," he said.

He further elaborated,“Already aviation and aviation-related tourism support 7 mil-lion Indian jobs and $23 billionof India’s GDP. But there areimmense challenges whichmust be overcome — as seenin the sector’s financial per-

formance. While demandgrowth is robust and some air-lines are generating profit,sector-wide losses for Indiaare still expected to exceed $1billion this year. Onerous reg-ulation and processes, debilitating taxes and expen-sive infrastructure are holdingback the industry’s ability to deliver greater economicbenefits to India.

In his address, Tylerhighlighted three priorityareas where work is neededto reduce costs in India:

Reducing the tax burdenThe application of

Service Tax should be alignedwith a principle that it does notapply to services rendered out-side of India, including those foroverflight charges, global dis-tribution systems, extra bag-gage fees and internationaltickets. He also highlighted thatthe incoming GST regimeshould also zero-rate interna-

tional air transport services inline with OECD guidelines, theneed to follow internationaltreaties that protect airlinesfrom double-taxation onincome and the need to avoid double-taxation withinIndia in situations where air-lines are effectively taxed ontaxes collected.

Competitive Fuel PricingState taxes on jet fuel

can be as high as 30 per cent.Tyler urged the government to

grant “declared goods” statusfor jet fuel which would limit tax-ation. “The decision to intro-duce competition in jet fuelsupply at key airports needs tobe followed up with openaccess to the pipelines that get fuel to the airport in order for efficiencies of a liberalised market to berealised,” said Tyler.

Let AERA be independentTyler highlighted the

importance of allowing the

Airports Economic RegulatoryAuthority (AERA) to do its workindependently. He called foraction in three areas:

Protect the independ-ence of AERA and the principleof a “single till” for airportcharges in light of stockexchange filings which showthat the Ministry of CivilAviation had instructed AERAto use a hybrid till for its “inde-pendent” determination of air-port charges at Hyderabad.

Carefully assess the pro-posed privatisations of Jaipur,Kolkata, Ahmedabad andChennai to ensure that the “sin-gle till” principle is maintainedand that the privatisation termsare appropriate to the level ofdevelopment at the airports.Significant public investment inthese airports should be con-sidered in a cost/benefit analysis aimed at determiningif the public interest would be best-served by a concession contract or a man-agement contract.

Smarter Regulation“Regulation is also hold-

ing back the development ofthe sector. Well-intentionedregulations, but which areinconsistent with global standards, make doing busi-ness in India very difficult forthe airlines. India imposes rules and requirements that are not seen anywhere else,” said Tyler.

Tony Tyler, Director General and CEO, IATA, spoke of the challenges faced by players in the Indian aviationsector and highlighted priority areas to reduce airline operational costs in India.

Make India airline-friendly: IATA TT BUREAU

India needs smarter regulation. This essentiallymeans taking a business-like approach to regulationusing common-sense and proven principles. Theseinclude targeting regulation to address real issues,

using global standards where they exist, satisfying arigorous cost benefit analysis and consultation

with industry.

Tony TylerDirector General and CEO, IATA

Contd. on page 32 �

��


Flight No. Origin Desination Departure Arrival Fare* Via Effective

6E 711 Varanasi Goa 10:15 14:55 4499 Mumbai 1 Sep 20156E 712 Goa Varanasi 14:50 19:15 4499 Mumbai 1 Sep 20156E 713 Kolkata Varanasi 8:25 9:45 1999 1 Sep 20156E 716 Varanasi Kolkata 19:45 21:05 1999 1 Sep 20156E 713 Bengaluru Varanasi 5:25 9:45 4499 Kolkata Sep 20156E 716 Varanasi Bengaluru 19:45 23:55 4499 Kolkata 1 Sep 20156E 711 Varanasi Mumbai 10:15 12:40 3399 Sep 20156E 712 Mumbai Varanasi 17:00 19:15 3589 1 Sep 20156E 674 Ahmedabad Pune 21:55 23:15 1999 1 Sep 20156E 673 Pune Ahmedabad 23:45 1:05 1998 1 Sep 20156E 671 Delhi Pune 20:50 23:00 3293 1 Sep 20156E 672 Pune Delhi 23:30 1:40 3127 1 Sep 20156E 711 Mumbai Goa 13:25 14:55 2117 1 Sep 20156E 712 Goa Mumbai 14:50 16:15 1862 1 Sep 20156E 713 Bengaluru Kolkata 5:25 7:55 4512 1 Sep 20156E 716 Kolkata Bengaluru 21:35 23:55 4675 1 Sep 20156E 406 Delhi Lucknow 21:30 22:40 1616 1 Sep 20156E 769 Lucknow Delhi 6:40 7:50 1888 2 Sep 2015

Flying far and wide Need smarter regulationflight from Varanasi to Goa(via Mumbai) will take off,besides the commencementof its first daily non-stop flight between Kolkata andVaranasi, 2nd daily flight fromBengaluru to Varanasi (viaKolkata), 2nd daily non-stopflight between Varanasi andMumbai, 2nd daily non-stopflight from Ahmedabad toPune, 5th daily non-stop flightfrom Delhi to Pune, 6th daily

non-stop flight from Mumbaito Goa, 7th daily non-stopflight from Bengaluru to

Kolkata, and 8th daily non-stop flight between Delhi and Lucknow.

Contd. from page 23 We are delighted to announce thetake-off of IndiGo’s 9 new flights.We are certain that these flights willprove to be immensely popularand convenient to our passengers.

Aditya GhoshPresident, IndiGo

Tyler highlighted severalexamples where Indian regula-tion is out of step with globalstandards and best practices.“India needs smarter regulation.This essentially means taking abusiness-like approach to reg-ulation using common senseand proven principles. These

include targeting regulations toaddress real issues, using glob-al standards where they exist,satisfying a rigorous cost benefitanalysis and consultation withindustry. If we can work togetherto build regulations that meetthe public interest, are consis-tent with global standards andwhich can be implemented effi-ciently then we are all winners,”

said Tyler. “There is a greatopportunity for the government’sease of business agenda in avi-ation. By working with MoCA we could develop and deliver an effective action plan for aviation in India. Aviation should be the model sectordemonstrating India’s efforts tomake it easier to do businesshere,” said Tyler.

Contd. from page 31

Etihad Airways has beenannounced as one of thefounding members of theUAE Business Council inIndia, formed under the lead-ership of HE SaedMohammed Saed AlMuhairi, Charge de Affairs,Embassy of UAE. JamesHogan, President and CEO,Etihad Airways, said, “Indiais a crucial market not onlyfor Etihad Airways but theUAE itself and therefore wewelcomed the opportunity to

become a founding memberof the UAE Business Councilin India.” Etihad Airways is

one of nine founding mem-bers of the UAE BusinessCouncil in India alongsideFirst Gulf Bank; EMAAR; DP World; Abu DhabiCommercial Bank; DNATA;NMC; Lulu Group andBorouge. One of the keyobjectives of the organisa-tion is to act as a catalyst forcommercial entities toexchange ideas which in turn promotes economicsynergy between the UAE and India.

James HoganPresident and CEOEtihad Airways

Etihad is founding member of UAEBusiness Council in India


QHow is theprivate aircraft

and helicoptercharter business inIndia for you?

With more and morecorporate houses opting foreither hiring or owning a pri-vate aircraft, the growth hasbeen encouraging. At thesame time, there has beenupward trend as far as touristinflow in concerned in India.A decent number of them utilises private plane for cov-ering tourist destinations.However, though currentlythe private charter businessis witnessing a pretty slowmovement, I'm sure the trafficwould increase soon.

QFrom whichcities and what

segments does thedemand arise from?

A major chunk of ourbusiness comes from Delhiand Mumbai market which isprimarily dominated by corpo-rate house and travel agentsand tour operators respectively.Apart from these two cities, we get a decent amount offlights from Pune, Chennai,Bengaluru and Kolkata market.

QHow do youexpect the

charter business togrow in the next fiveyears?

A decade ago, therewere hardly any privateplanes or helicopters. But thescenario has changed dras-tically. At present, India has afleet of 550 helicopters,planes with propellers andjets under the general avia-tion category. Over a periodof time the business leaders

in India realised the benefitsof owning their own privateplane and hence, witnessedthis growth. India is expected to become thethird-largest aviation marketby 2020 and is expected tobe the largest by 2030.

Though the currentmarket condition doesn't givea very positive picture, I'm sure with proper policiesin place, scenario will certainly change.

QShare yourperspective on

the travel and flyingpatterns of Indiansat the moment?

Indian travellers haveshown a drastic change in theway they travel, whetherdomestically or internationally.Not only they have started toopt for unconventional desti-nations but also they havestarted exploring alternates to packages which suits their requirements.

Holidays have becomean integral part of Indian fam-ilies, especially in today'sstressful & busy world. It is notjust the trip but the wholeexperience which matters to the family. This also

implies that the tendency ofIndians to spend more on holidays has increased.

Also, with new airlinescoming up in India, we have large number of peoplepreferring to fly than using

alternate mode of transporta-tion. This is also due to luringoffers introduced by the air-lines. Still, there is a hugepotential here which remainsto be tapped.

QHow do youreach out to the

travel trade?We have a dedicated

marketing division whose pri-mary role is to devise andimplement marketing strate-gies. Under the current mar-ket scenario, where there is a cut throat competition,marketing plays a very critical role in reaching our target clients.

Our sales department isin constant touch with thetravel trade players throughmeetings. We also participatein travel trade fairs which area wonderful platform to inter-act with these players andshare our perspective withthem. Also, we have a prac-

tice of sending emailers anddirect mailers though whichwe try to keep our travelagencies & tour operatorsupdated with the latest trendin private charter market. Wealso prepare customized pre-sentations for these players,

which is also a part of theirmarketing tools.

Very importantly, wehave also held 30-60 minutessessions with the tour opera-tors and travel agencies onan individual basis sharinginformation about charter andhow to handle private charterflights. This has proved to beextremely beneficial for themto grab charter business fromthe foreign markets.

QHow are youpromoting your

products amongcorporates?

MICE constitutes asmall percentage of our total business. We havedevised a comprehensivestrategy to promote our services for MICE.

Last year, we did fewgroup movements. The num-bers could have been moreprovided we had aircraft avail-

able for large groups. Thisyear, one of the main focusareas would be MICE move-ments. We are already working on a good number oflarge charter movements andI'm sure we will see some def-inite improvements in thenumbers this year.

In spite of the rapid eco-nomic growth and technologi-cal advancements in ourcountry, the air travel sectoris still waiting for a majorchange. While the governmentis positively working towards encouraging growthin the aviation industry bybringing drastic changes in policies, current infrastruc-ture is hardly capable to handle growth.

As a result of unprece-dented growth that we havewitnessed in the last fewyears, unfortunately the cur-rent infrastructure is unable tohandle the flights, both sched-ule and non-schedule.

Though there has beena substantial increase in thenumber of private business jetaircraft and helicopters, thenumber of players who areoperating charter flights in adedicated way is limited.

Most of the charteroperators work with one ortwo aircraft or helicopters andare not able to optimise theirfleet utilisation, as it is notperceived as a serious busi-ness for them. It is time that 'air charter' is seen as adedicated business, whichwould need substantialinvestments & of course poli-cies, too, need to be re-looked and made favorablefor this business.

Operating in the general aviation market for over four year now, Foresee Aviation has beenexperiencing encouraging growth in India.

Huge potential for private charters

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We have a practice of sending emailers and directmailers though which we try to keep our travel agen-cies & tour operators updated with the latest trend in

private charter market. We also prepare customizedpresentations for these players.

Santosh Kumar SharmaDirector, Foresee Aviation Pvt. Ltd.

Tony Tyler toretire as IATADG & CEO in 2016

The International AirTransport Association (IATA)has announced that itsDirector General and ChiefExecutive Officer (CEO),Tony Tyler, will retire in June2016 after serving five yearsin the position. “Tony Tyler is avery effective leader of IATA,who is achieving much in hisrole as DGl and CEO. I regretthat he will be leaving theAssociation, but respect hisdecision to retire next yearafter a long and successfulcareer in aviation. The searchwill now start for a successorto be appointed at the nextIATA Annual General Meetingin Dublin in June 2016. In themeantime the Board will con-tinue to guide and supportTony and his team in their mis-sion to deliver a safe, efficientand sustainable airline indus-try,” said Andrés Conesa,Chief Executive Officer,Aeroméxico and Chairman ofthe IATA Board of Governorssince June this year.

“After five years asDirector General and CEO ofIATA, I believe it will be time forme to retire and leave theorganisation. It is a great priv-ilege and responsibility to leadIATA, and I am proud of whatthe IATA team is achievingduring my term of office. Igreatly appreciate the supportI receive from the Board ofGovernors and the member-ship at large, and from my col-leagues. I remain fully com-mitted to leading IATA until mysuccessor is appointed inJune next year,” said Tyler.Before joining IATA in 2011,Tyler was Chief Executive ofCathay Pacific Airways inHong Kong, in which capacityhe also served on the IATABoard of Governors includingas its Chairman from June2009 to June 2010.


On domestic markets, India continues to record very strong growth, up 16.3 per cent, likely owing to market stimulationby local carriers as well as notable improvements in economic growth. Supportive monetary policy is expected to helpeconomic growth in India surpass that of China during the next 2 years.

16.3% surge in domestic air traffic in June

Domestic Passenger Growth by Country Domestic Passenger Load Factor by Country% change over year % of ASKs

India’s 5/20 rule was a popu-lar topic of discussion at the

Aviation Day conference.Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO,Vistara, called for the abolitionof the rule mandating fiveyears of domestic operationsand fleet of 20 aircraft for air-lines to fly international, androute dispersal guidelines.Tony Tyler, Director Generaland CEO, IATA, said, “Theproblem with such regulationsis that by creating distortionsto the free market, they influ-ence long-term decisionsmade by airlines. And so, oncethey are imposed theybecome very difficult tochange as circumstances

evolve, because doing so can’thelp being unfair to some orthe other key industry player.”

However, PusapatiAshok Gajapathi Raju,Minister of Civil Aviation, saidthat instead of opposing theeasing of the 5/20 rule, exist-ing players on the internation-al route must use existingbilateral allotted to them. Rajuwas addressing a gathering ofsenior airlines executives, offi-cials from the Civil AviationMinistry and DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA), as well as aviationindustry experts at theAviation Day India, organisedby IATA, India’s Ministry ofCivil Aviation (MoCA)

and the Confederation ofIndian Industries.

Delivering the keynoteaddress at the conference,Tyler called for the develop-ment of a comprehensive pol-icy for aviation aligned with the

Indian Government’s statedintention to make it easier todo business in India.

On the ministry’s highly-awaited aviation policy, Rajusaid that the new policy wouldbolster growth and ease the

investment climate. He saidthat while the aviation sectorwould continue with the regulations, the rules wouldbe amended for the growth of the sector. Replying to aquestion, Raju also said that at the moment govern-ment has put low-cost airport projects on hold due to feasibility issues.

Talking more about theaviation policy, RN Choubey,Secretary, Civil Aviation, saidthat the aviation policy wouldlook to reduce cost of acquisi-tion of aircrafts and airports,they would also work moreclosely with states and mod-erate taxes on ATF at thestate level. “We are working to

see that all states can bring down the VAT rates to four per cent on ATF. This is crucial as India has toimport crude oil and moderatefuel prices are a key compo-nent to making the industrycompetitive,” he said.

Choubey mentioned thatthe aviation policy hastouched upon all the concernsof the industry, “The govern-ment is looking at variousways to reduce cost of opera-tions for the airline, includingways to order for aircraft inbulk for all Indian carrierstogether. We are thinking onthese lines and a final deci-sion will come after consulta-tions,” he said.

The Aviation Day hosted by IATA, Ministry of Civil Aviation, and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII),brought into focus the areas of opportunities, as also the multiple challenges that need to be addressed.

Aviation policy to ease businessTT BU R E AU

(L-R); Ankur Bhatia, Tony Tyler, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, GV Sanjay Reddy andSoma Banerjee

Source: IATA's Air Passenger Market Analysis June 2015

S E P T 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 5AGENTS

Sterling Holiday Resorts hasappointed Travstarz

Holiday and Destinations as itsGeneral Sales Office (GSO) inNew Delhi. The formal agree-ment was signed betweenAjay Kumar, National Head-Sales, Hotel Division, SterlingHoliday Resorts and PankajNagpal, Managing Director,Travstarz Global Group.Sterling Holiday Resorts wasincorporated in 1986 and isnow a 100 per cent independ-ently managed subsidiary ofThomas Cook India, a part of

Fairfax Financial Holdings, a$38.2 billion global investmentand insurance holding compa-ny, headquartered in Toronto,Canada. It has a network ofleisure resorts at some of thebest holiday destinations inIndia. Currently, Sterling has aninventory of 1,767 roomsspread across 24 resorts located in Corbett, Daman, Darjeeling, Dindi,

Dharamshala, Gangtok, Goa,Karwar, Kodaikanal, Lonavala,Manali, Munnar, Mussoorie,Nainital, Ooty, Puri, Sariska,

Shirdi, Thekkady, Yelagiri andYercaud. The company hasexpansion plans in order tooffer travellers with a choice of

varied holiday experiences.“Travstarz is one of the fastestgrowing travel wholesalers inthe recent years and we seegreat value in this partnershipbetween Sterling andTravstarz,” says Kumar.

Nagpal says, “We havebeen expanding rapidly in thehotel wholesale business forthe last three years and havemany global brands associated

with us. We are also about tolaunch our online portal nextmonth. All of Sterling’s existingresorts have been upgradedand they are continually addingnew resorts and destinations.We look at Sterling as a com-prehensive holiday player andlook forward to getting moreand more people to holidaywith them across the countryand overseas as and whenthey expand.”

With Travstarz and Sterling Holiday Resorts coming together, both companies aim at getting more inboundtourists into the country.

Travstarz is GSO for Sterling ResortsTT BU R E AU

Pankaj NagpalManaging DirectorTravstarz Global Group

We look at Sterling as acomprehensive holiday player andlook forward to getting more andmore people to holiday with themacross the country and overseas

Sterling SpotsSterling has an inventory of1,767 rooms spreadacross 24 resorts locatedin Corbett, Daman,Darjeeling, Dindi,Dharamshala, Gangtok,Goa, Karwar, Kodaikanal,Lonavala, Manali, Munnar,Mussoorie, Nainital, Ooty, Puri, Sariska, Shirdi,Thekkady, Yelagiri andYercaud

Travstarz is oneof the fastestgrowing travelwholesalers inthe recent yearsand we seegreat value inthis partnershipbetween Sterlingand Travstarz

Ajay KumarNational Head- Sales, Hotel Division,Sterling Holiday Resorts



Opening up new destinations for MICE

Contd. on page 38

Contd. from page 22



IATO lands in the heart of India Contd. from page 36


4 0 TRAVTALK S E P T 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 ATTRACTIONS

Bastar Dushehra, a vibrant repertoire of rich tribal traditions, colourful rituals, folk music, danceand a lively crowd is simply not worth missing. This festival begins with the dark moon (amavasya)also known as Hareli amavasya in the month of Shravan and ends on the thirteenth day ofthe bright moon in the month of Ashwin. It’s the time when deities from all the villages con-

gregate at the temple of Danteshwari in Jagdalpur, the district headquarter.

The Bastar Dushehra reaches its crescendo in the last 10 days of the 75-day festival. The presiding deity is Ma Danteshwari Devi and Dussehra is pro-pitiation of the goddess for having rescued the Bastar king from an evil oppo-nent. Chalukya Purushottam Deo Kakatiya, the 15th century Bastar king,once visited Puri’s Jagannath temple and returned with the title ofRathpati. This fourth Kakatiya king initiated the Dushehra rathyatra which is celebrated to this day with the same enthusiasm.

The longest Dushehra celebrated in India begins withKachhangadi and Paat Jatra ceremony in front of theDanteshwari temple. The rituals include making offerings toa wooden log brought from nearby Bilauri village for thepreparation of an eight-wheeled, double-storied woodenchariot. After the divine sanction granted by a young girl,symbolising the goddess, the chief priest performs theKalash Sthapana ceremony in the Maoli temple on the fol-lowing day (Pratipada). On Mahaashtami, Devi Maoli, a man-ifestation of Ma Danteshwari, is led to the temple at theBastar palace. On the last day of Navratra, members of theroyal family sit on the chariot while the head priest holds aloftthe umbrella of Ma Danteshwari. The path of the chariot islit by nearly 10,000 clay lamps. The festival concludes withKachan Jatra (a thanksgiving ceremony) and a MuriyaDarbar (tribal chieftains’ meet).

► Jogi Bithai (The Jogi's Penance): A youth of the Halbatribe sits (buried shoulder deep in a pit) in penance for thesuccess of the festival.

► Rath Parikrama (Chariot Circuit): The four wheeled flowerchariot begins to circumambulate the Maoli Temple everyevening up to the seventh day in the month of Ashwin

► Nisha Jatra (The Nocturnal Festival): On Durgashtami,a procession of lights leads to the puja mandap in Itwari.

► Jogi Uthai (Raising of the Jogi): When the penance of theJogi ends, he is ceremoniously raised from the pit he satburied in, and honoured with consecrated gifts.

► Maoli Parghav (Reception of Devi Maoli): A warmwelcome is given to Devi Maoli, an elder sister ofDanteshwari Devi at the congregation of deities. A gala eventis accompanied by spectacular fireworks.

► Bheeter Raini with Rath Parikrama (The Inner Circuit):On Vijayadashami, the eight wheeled chariot takes acircumambulatory course around the Maoli temple. Afterthe completion of this inner circuit, it is parked for the nightand as a ritual around 400 marias and murias steal thechariot away to Kumdakot (a sal grove).

► Baahar Raini with Rath Parikrama (The Outer Circuit):The day after the chariot is stolen, the king visits Kumdakotto offer cooked rice from the new harvest to the Goddess.After having prasad from her, the chariot is pulled backceremoniously through the main road to the Lion Gate ofthe palace.

► Ohadi (Farewell to the Deities): After Kachan Jatra andMuria Darbar, the deities who congregated at Jagdalpurfrom various parts of Bastar are ceremoniously bid farewell.This marks the culmination of the Bastar Dushehra.

Bastar abounds in natural beauty with rich deciduousforests, stunning waterfalls and caves, rare flora andfauna and enchanting tribal culture. Besides, it is alsoknown for its unique Dushehra celebrations.

Bastar DushehraOther important rituals at Bastar Dushehra


S E P T 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 4 1EXHIBITIONS

Family travel is one of the sta-ples of the industry with a

truly global reach. The market isnot only growing but also evolving. The seminar will look at how it is changing andwhat hotels and resorts can doto take advantage of the oppor-tunities.The seminar will be host-ed by the Worldwide KidsCompany, a childcare consultan-cy for hotels and resorts whichhas been in operation for 30years. Its services range fromhealth and safety audits, to pro-viding registered childcare,sourcing equipment and design.Its senior consultant and founderKate Dicker will host the semi-nar, with director Richard Liddleone of the panelists.The otherconfirmed speakers at the ses-sion reflect the variety of brandsand destinations which areactive in the market while theseniority of the participants indi-cate the organisational impor-tance of family travel.

The speakers includeDavid Thompson, ChiefOperating Officer, JA Hotels &Resorts; Amanda Hills, Founderand CEO, Hills Balfour on behalfof its client Westin CostaNavarino in Greece; Lyle Lewis,General Manager, ConradRangali Island, Maldives;Remko Werkhoven, GeneralManager, Doubletree by HiltonResort & Spa Marjan Island UAE;Julian Houchin, CommercialDirector, Sun Gardens Resortand Spa in Dubrovnik, Croatia;and Andreas Birner, ManagingDirector, INOVA HospitalityManagement.

The session will sharebest-practice examples of howto deliver an exceptional familyholiday experience. Case stud-ies will highlight how investmentin the luxury family product cangenerate significantly higher rev-enues for hotels and resorts.

Simon Press, SeniorDirector, World Travel Market,said, "Family travel is an estab-lished part of the travel industryand is changing in response towider shifts in society at large.Hotels and resorts at the topend of the market need to beaware of this so that they canoffer an exceptional experience

to families. This seminar will provide practical guidance, insight and advice from the mar-ket leaders."

The seminar takes placeon November 4. Almost 51,500 senior travel industryprofessionals, government min-isters and international press,embark on ExCeL - Londonevery November to network,negotiate and discover the latest

industry opinion and trends at WTM.

WTM London, now in its36th year, is the event where thetravel industry conducts andconcludes its deals. WTMLondon is part of Reed TravelExhibition’s World Travel Marketevents, which also includesArabian Travel Market, WorldTravel Market Latin America andWorld Travel Market Africa.

World Travel Market London 2015, the leading global event for the travel industry, has linked up with Worldwide KidsCompany to host a seminar giving hotels and resorts detailed advice on how to appeal to high-spending families.

Family first @WTM LondonTT BU R E AU

Learning @WTMThe seminar will be hosted by Worldwide KidsCompany to look at howthe industry is changingand what hotels can do totake advantage of thisopportunity


INDIA TRAVEL AWARDS

Maya only for the best in trade

Vivek Nair, Chairman & MD, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, was conferred with ‘The Wall of Legends’Award. His daughter, Amruda Nair, Head of Asset Management, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, received

the award on his behalf from Chandana Khan, Special Chief Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Tourism

Om Prakash Sahgal, Director of Inorbit Tours, was conferred with ‘The Wall of Legends’ Award. He receives the award from Parvez Dewan, Secretary of Tourism, Government of India, Amita Motwani,

Mrs. India International 2013

Jitendra Kumar Mohanty, Managing Director, Swosti Group of Companies, was conferred with ‘The Wall of Legends’ Award. He receives the award from Bratya Basu, Minister of Tourism and Culture,

West Bengal, and Amita Motwani, Mrs. India International 2013 and SanJeet, Director, DDP Group

Dr Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson & Managing Director, Bharat Hotels Ltd.was conferred with ‘The Gallery of Legends’ Award. She receives the award from S. Sohan Singh Thandal, Tourism Minister

of Punjab, and Dr. Lalit K Panwar, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism

E.M. Najeeb Chairman and Managing Director, ATE Group joins the ‘Gallery of Legends’. He is felicitated by Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Minister of Human Resource Development,

Government of Andhra Pradesh, Neerabh K Prasad, Principal Secretary Tourism, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Sindhura Kaviti Miss Vizag

Sunil Kumar, CEO, Travel World and Vice-President, TAAI, receiving the ‘DDP Game Changer’ Award from Chandana Khan. Accompanying her are Amita Motwani, Mrs. India-International 2013

and SanJeet, Publisher, DDP Publications

On behalf of Sanjay Kaul, Commissioner of Tourism and Managing Director of the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat,Soman S. Pathy, Liaison Officer, Gujarat Tourism receives the ‘DDP Game Changer’ Award from Parvez Dewan,Secretary of Tourism, Government of India, accompanying him are Amita Motwani, Mrs. India International 2013

JT Ramnani, Managing Director, Vensimal World Travel Agents Pvt. Ltd receives the ‘DDP Game Changer’Award from Bratya Basu, Minister of Tourism and Culture, West Bengal, accompanying him are

Amita Motwani, Mrs. India International 2013 and SanJeet, Director, DDP Group

Ajay Bakaya, Executive Director, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts receives the ‘DDP Game Changer’Award from S. Sohan Singh Thandal, Tourism Minister of Punjab, and Dr. Lalit K Panwar, Secretary,

Ministry of Tourism, Amita Motwani, Mrs. India International 2013

On behalf of G V Sanjay Reddy, Vice Chairman, GVK and Managing Director, Bial, Raj Andrade, Vice President Business Development Marketing & Strategy, Bangalore International Airport Limited receives

the ‘DDP Game Changer’ Award from Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Minister of Human Resource Development,Government of Andhra Pradesh, Neerabh K Prasad, Principal Secretary Tourism,

Government of Andhra Pradesh, Sindhura Kaviti, Miss Vizag

India Travel Awards is a celebration of excellence and commitment of professionals toward this industry. TravTalkfeatures the winners of the Gallery of Legends and DDP Game Changers from all five editions so far.

Gallery of Legends

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DDP Game Changer

4 2 TRAVTALK S E P T 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


TECHNOLOGY

RezLive.com already has asolid base in the Asia

Pacific region and with its newoffice in Thailand, that will fur-ther strengthen its reach andscope of operations in this partof the world. Through theThailand office, RezLive.comteam will satisfy the growingtravel-related needs of thelocal travel partners, and alsowill expand and establish directcontracts with hotels acrossthe Kingdom. The companyoffers hotels, sightseeing andtransfers under one windowinterface to its travel partners.The system is empowered bydirect inventories of multiplesuppliers and our own con-tracts with price comparison fil-ters which provides the travelpartners a larger pool of inven-tory with competitive rates. Apart of Travel Designer Group,RezLive.com is backed by trav-el expertise, innovation andcutting edge technology.

Through offices in India,UAE, Qatar, Thailand, Kuwait,Jordan, Bangladesh, Pakistan,Mauritius, Philippines, Saudi

Arabia, Australia, Nepal,Malaysia, South Africa,Algeria, Romania andMorocco, RezLive.com isempowering 11,000+ satisfiedtravel partners in over 18 coun-

tries in four continents. TravelDesigner Group, which has itsroots in the Indian travel indus-try for 15 years, also offersproducts like designer pack-ages, designer Indya andproduct offerings for Qatar,with its arm named TravelDesigner WLL. In less than 15years, the group has made amark on the sector and hasgrown at a whopping 50 percent every year for the last fiveyears. Today it is a 250+ mem-ber team with self-ownedoffices in four countries andGSA offices in 14 countries.

Jaal Shah, GroupManaging Director,RezLive.com, says, “Thailandwill act as a potential marketfor us and we would like tocapitalise on the same byoffering better inventory atbest net rates to our travelpartners, complemented byworld class support. We areconfident that we will be ableto create a buzz aboutRezLive.com in this regionand will replicate the samesuccess story that we have inthe Middle East and AsiaPacific region.”

RezLive.com is expanding its reach further in Asia byopening a new office in Bangkok, Thailand. Jaal Shah,Group Managing Director, RezLive.com, tells more.

RezLive enters Thailand

TT BU R E AU

TravelBullz has signed anaffiliation partnership

agreement in Sri Lanka withWalkers Tours, the islandnation’s premier destinationmanagement company forover 40 years. Owned by SriLanka’s leading conglomerate,the John Keells Group,Walkers Tours has the advan-tage of being supported by thegroup’s two hotel brands

‘Cinnamon’ and ‘Chaaya’ alongwith the two most sought-afterluxury 5 star hotels inColombo, the CinnamonGrand and CinnamonLakeside. All together thegroup manages close to 3,600beds across the country. KDSingh, Managing Director,

TravelBullz, says, “We havefive offices across the world.The latest addition is the SriLanka operations. With over60,000 guests travelling on ournetwork this year, we haveover 78 per cent of our busi-ness which is completelyonline B2B business where

travel agents make bookingson our web portal. Over100,000 quotations are madeby different travel agentsacross the world.”

Dilshaad Buhariwala,Chief Operating Officer,TravelBullz, describes the part-nership as their next most sig-nificant step to haveTravelBullz people on groundin their office in Sri Lanka. Shesays, “We are the only DMC inSri Lanka to provide online realtime confirmations with thecountry’s largest tourist trans-port fleet, and our own directcontracts with hotels to providethe TravelBullz signature serv-ice and specialised productofferings in Sri Lanka, to ourindividual and group cus-tomers across all our sourcemarkets of India, Middle Eastand Asia.”

The product offering waslaunched in August with liveavailability and last minuteinventory for a wide choice ofhotels, land packages withoffers valid till next year.

TravelBullz, a fast-growing online travel companies inSouth East Asia, celebrated its 6th anniversary withthe opening of its sixth destination - Sri Lanka.

TravelBullz bullish on SL

TT BU R E AU

Thailand will actas a potentialmarket for usand we wouldlike to capitaliseon the same byoffering betterinventory

Jaal ShahGroup Managing DirectorRezLive.com

Dilshaad BuhariwalaChief Operating OfficerTravelBullz

We are the only DMC in Sri Lanka toprovide online real time confirmationswith the country’s largest touristtransport fleet and our own directcontracts with hotels



Atlastravelsonline, a simple, user-friendly online travel portal, recently opened a new office at Lower Parel in South Mumbai. The occasion was graced by many eminent travel agents, GDS companies as well as airlines stalwarts. The location of this officehas its own significance as the area is the business hub of Mumbai.

In Mumbai, celebrating new


S E P T 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 4 7FAMILY ALBUM

beginnings for atlastravelsonline


4 8 TRAVTALK S E P T 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

The PHD Chamber ofCommerce and Industry

through the Medical &Wellness Tourism Summitendeavoured to provide aplatform for open house dis-cussion between govern-ments (central & states) andthe medical and wellness fra-ternity regarding the issuesand opportunities affecting

medical and wellness tourismin the country.

Inaugurating the summit,Dr Mahesh Sharma, Ministerof Tourism, shared that themedical and wellness tourismpotential of our country has notbeen harnessed and the needof the hour is to have a holisticapproach and consolidate allthe parameters of generaltourism with this niche sector.

Dr Sharma compliment-ed the PHD Chamber fororganising a focused seminaron this sector and urged theprivate stakeholders to utiliseand promote the strengths ofIndia – in its traditional treat-ments, like Ayurveda, yogaand the best quality doctors.

The minister added thatthe Ministry of Tourism, as afacilitator, is working onaddressing the lacunas instreamlining this importantsector. He added that the min-

istry has already worked onthe issues of e-Tourist Visa,being granted to 113 countries,thus encouraging moretourists to enjoy the untappedfacilities in these areas.

Dr Sharma invited PHDChamber and private sector tonominate their representativesfor the proposed National

Medical & Wellness TourismBoard to forge partnershipsand guide the growth momen-tum in this sector.

Speaking on the occa-sion, AK Ganeriwala, JointSecretary, Ministry of AYUSH,shared that the ministry hasstarted a mission to promoteAyurveda and yoga worldwide.

Gopal Jiwarajka, VicePresident, PHD Chamber,Vijay Mehta, Chairman,Tourism Committee of theChamber along with Z USiddiqui, Managing Director& CEO, Delhi Tourism &Transportation DevelopmentCorporation Ltd.; TomaszLukaszuk, Ambassador,Embassy of Poland; Radu

Octavian Dobre, ChargeD’Affairs, Embassy ofRomania; Avjit Goswami,Central Council Member &Chairman Research andJournal Committee, Instituteof Cost Accountants of Indiaand Yogesh Srivastav,Director, PHD Chamber,addressed the inaugural session.

Close on the heels of the Ministry of Tourism formulating a National Medical & Wellness Tourism Board, the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently concluded a daylong Medical andWellness Tourism Summit. The summit talked about branding India as an ideal destination for medicaland wellness tourism.

Promote ayurveda & yoga worldwide

TT BU R E AU

Medical and Wellness Tourism to the forePHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised the Medical and Wellness Tourism Summit 2015 in New Delhi recently. The summit discussed thefact that in order to meet global standards, Medical and Wellness Tourism sector needs to focus on delivering quality service to patients, together withensuring availability of excellent medical infrastructure among other things.

MOT is working onaddressing the lacunas in streamlining thisimportant sectorThe Ministry has invitedPHD Chamber and pri-vate sector to nominatetheir representatives forthe proposed NationalMedical & WellnessTourism Board


With the intention ofbranching out and test-

ing newer routes for the Indianmarket, Star Cruise is lookingto introduce its Taiwan sailingsto Indians. Naresh Rawal, VPSales - India, South Asia,Russia, Middle East & SouthAfrica, Star Cruises, says, “OurSingapore and Hong Kong

products have been doing phe-nomenally well so we are tryingto develop a new segment rightnow. We did a familiarisationtrip with our PSAs onSuperstar Aquarius ex Taiwanthis September. The idea is tocreate a new business oppor-tunity for our PSAs becauseevery year the leisure or MICEmarket keep looking for newdestinations. This could be anew product for them to sell.”

This was done in part-nership with the TaiwanTourism Board head officewhich is sponsoring three outof the six nights on shore.Rawal adds that Star Cruisesis in high-level talks with themto see if they can relax visapolicies for Indian cruise pas-sengers. “It’s a working pro-posal,” he adds.

On the trip, agents metup with local DMCs and theOkinawa Tourism Board. Headds, “Nobody has tried sellingtoo much of Taiwan from Indiaso we are excited about thisnew product.”

The cruise company isalso in the process of getting anew build in 2016 followed by itssister ship in 2017. “It is notgoing to be a normal ship. It willbe a technologically advancedmega ship, double the size ofVirgo with 33 F&B outlets,”Rawal says but reveals no moreinformation.

Star Cruises introducedits specialist programme last

year that created 700 special-ists out of the total registrationsit received of 2,000 agents.Rawal says, “The entire pro-gramme was run over threephases. We plan to implementit again next year with our newproduct coming in. Next yearwill be on a much bigger scalewith two webinars – one for thenew set of agents who will reg-ister again and become spe-cialists and the other for those

who have already becomespecialists. Right now we arein the process of structuringthe entire programme.”

Star Cruises recentlyparticipated in the Hong KongTourism Board roadshow inAugust followed by aSingapore Tourism Boardroadshow in July 2015. As theyear goes on, it will do morefamiliarisation trips. “We have

always seen double digitgrowth year on year and thisyear will be no different,” Rawal says.

Star Cruises, togetherwith Ark Travels, recently host-ed more than 300 Ark partneragents to a party titled 'The BigBang Nautical Fiesta' inLavasa near Pune. The elabo-rate three-day event startingfrom August 26, 2015 saw their

top-performing diverge fromvarious cities mainly fromMaharashtra and Gujarat butalso from North and East India.Rawal says, “It was to thankArk Travels partners for sellingStar Cruises. We wanted to dosomething different for ourpartner agents in a differentlocation and we finally zeroedin on Lavasa. We wanted theagents to go back with a‘wow’ feeling.”

Star Cruises liner has partnered with new tourism boards to introduce Indian cruise passengers to newer routes.It is also in the process of getting a new ship in 2016.

Star Cruises setting sail on newer routes HA Z E L JA I N

S E P T 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 4 9CRUISES

The entireprogramme wasrun over threephases. We planto implement itagain next yearwith our newproduct comingin. Next year willbe on a muchbigger scale withtwo webinars

Naresh RawalVP Sales - India, South Asia, Russia,Middle East & South Africa, Star Cruises


Star Cruises, together with Ark Travels and Lavasa, recently hosted morethan 300 Ark partner agents to a party titled 'The Big Bang Nautical Fiesta'in Lavasa near Pune. The elaborate three-day event starting from August26, 2015 saw their top-performing agents diverge from various cities mainlyMaharashtra and Gujarat.

All onboard on a starry starry night 5 0 TRAVTALK S E P T 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 FAMILY ALBUM


HOTELS

QTell us about the col-laboration between

AIH&TM and NCHMCT?National Council for Hotel

Management & CateringTechnology (NCHMCT) hasaffiliated with Ashok Institute of Hospitality & TourismManagement (AIH&TM), rununder the HRD division of India Tourism DevelopmentCorporation (ITDC) to conducta three-year BSc Degreecourse in Hospitality & HotelAdministration (H&HA) from theacademic session 2015-16.With this affiliation AIH&TM isnow on a par with all existingIHMs under the umbrella ofNCHMCT. However, AIH&TM isthe first and the only IHM falling under a PSU. The intaketo this course is done throughall India Joint EntranceExamination conducted byNCHMCT which is anautonomous body underMinistry of Tourism. The presentstrength of students at AIH&TMunder this programme is 53. At

present one batch is being con-ducted under this course.

QHow will ITDC provideinnovative, depend-

able solutions to the needsof tourism developmentthrough education?

AIH&TM has fourdecades of experience in hospi-tality-related training for variouscategories of students andemployees. ITDC has alwaysstrived towards excellence intraining and development in thehospitality industry through itsHRD division, AIH&TM. Thetraining methods adopted by

AIH&TM are innovative and arein tandem with the latest trendsfollowed widely in the industry.

QHow urgent is theneed for skilled labour

in the Indian hospitalityindustry?

As per the report ofNational Skill DevelopmentCorporation (NSDC) on HumanResource and SkillRequirement in Tourism, Travel,Hospitality & Trade, an invest-ment of `10 lakh creates 78jobs in the tourism sector whilethe same generates just 18 jobsin manufacturing and 45 in theagriculture sector. Beingemployment intensive, travel &tourism provides employmentto approximately 31 million (bothdirect & indirect) peoplethroughout the country and isone of the largest employers inthe country; this number isexpected to rise to over 40 mil-lion by 2019 and over 43 millionby 2022. Looking at the futurerequirement and huge gap inthe demand and supply oftrained manpower to the hospi-

tality industry we are focusingmore on job-oriented short-termcourses. Apart from impartingskill development training inareas of food production, F&Bservice, accommodation oper-ations and front office, we haveadded new areas such as eventmanagement, travel agencymanagement etc., and intend toadd a few more courses oftourism and allied areas in thenear future.

QWhat are the road-blocks to promote

hospitality education?Lack of proper infrastruc-

ture and shortage of skilledtrainers in rural areas are road-blocks in spreading tourismawareness and tourism-relat-ed service providers in remoteparts of the country. Also themushrooming of institutes withbelow standard infrastructureand teaching facilities areresulting in poor placementrecords and are thus discour-aging the segment of studentswanting to take up a career inthe hospitality industry.

PEDEN DOMA BHUTIA

After a collaboration with NCHMCT, Anup K Chatterji, GM, HRD, ITDC andPrincipal AIH&TM, says to bridge the gap in the demand and supply of trainedmanpower in the industry, they are focusing on job-oriented short-term courses.

Masterclass in hospitality

Anup K ChatterjiGM, HRD, ITDC and Principal AIH&TM

Of the over 30,000 flightsthat travel across

European airspace on a typicalJuly day, approximately a quar-ter of those flights occur withinUK controlled airspace (NATS),and this figure is set to rise inline with recent trends.

Figures recently releasedby the UK Civil AviationAuthority reveal that on-timeperformance for all scheduledflights operating from the UK’s10 main airports in 2014 dippedto 79 per cent. This is one per-centage point down from 2013figures. The overall on time per-centage of charter flights dippedfour percentage points to a lowof 73 per cent with an averagedelay of 18 minutes, up from 17minutes in 2013. Research byrefund.me, the global passen-ger rights service provider, con-firms that passengers areincreasingly experiencing dis-rupted travel from flight delays,cancellations and re-routings,with peak holiday season trav-ellers experiencing the worst inairline punctuality.

The company reports aspike in claims during busy hol-

iday seasons with data fromEaster 2014 alone showing arise of 35 percent in passengercompensation claims from air-lines compared to data outsidethe holiday period that sameyear. Peak travel days saw a riseof 45 percent, with claims mostoften filed due to flight delays inexcess of three hours.

India an important market India represents an

important tourism and VFRmarket to and from Europe. TheEuropean Travel Commission’s‘European Tourism 2014 –Trends and Prospects’ studyreports exceptional growth intraffic to certain European des-tinations such as Spain andBulgaria in terms of arrivals, andSweden and Finland in terms ofthe number of nights. The studyalso predicts continued stronggrowth in visitor arrivals andovernights from India across theUK and Europe as a whole.

Passenger rights Passengers travelling to

and from India via EU airportsare potentially eligible to claimcompensation for delayed flightsbased on European Union reg-

ulation (EC) 261/2004. TheRegulation applies to all world-wide airlines departing from anairport located in the territoryof a EU Member State regard-less of whether the airline is oris not an EU Community carri-er airlines. For flights from out-side the EU to a destinationwithin the EU, passengers areprotected if flying with an EU-based airline licensed.

Airlines will sometimesattempt to provide compensa-tion in the form of vouchers,but passengers are not obligedto accept this. They shouldalso be aware that monetarycompensation is always givenin euros. With skies becomingincreasingly crowded, many UKpassengers travelling in thesummer peak travel season ofmid-June through August arelikely to experience sub-stan-dard on-time performance.

Unfortunately many con-sumers are unaware of theirrights to compensation. Ninetyper cent of air passengersdon’t even know that they havethe right to claim for flightdelays, and of those who are

aware of their rights to claimcompensation, only 2 per centof passengers actually do soas they perceive the processto be too difficult.

How travel agents canhelp

Refund.me provides anapp for travel agents via theSabre Red App Centre whichautomatically monitors thou-sands of bookings, detectingdelays and cancellations eligi-ble for compensation. When aqualifying reservation isdetected, the travel agent isnotified and can then efficientlypass on this information and aclaim form to the passengerwith just a few clicks.

As the problem of delayed flights intensifies across UK airports refund.me datashows worst affected flights occur during holiday seasons.

Claim refund on delayed flights

Eve Büchner Founder and CEO, refund.meFor more information, contact us at: [email protected]

SEPTEMBER 2015INTERNATIONAL

24-27 Tokyo JATA24-26 Kazakhastan Astana Leisure

NATIONAL

16 Bengaluru VisitBritain’s ‘Great Tourism Week’ Roadshow

16 Hyderabad Hyderabad Fair17 Mumbai Scandinavian, Baltic and Nordic

Countries Workshop18 Delhi Scandinavian, Baltic and Nordic

Countries Workshop18 Hyderabad VisitBritain’s ‘Great Tourism Week’

Roadshow18 -20 Surat Travel & Tourism Fair24-26 Mumbai Travel & Tourism Fair28-30 Mumbai Maharashtra International Travel Mart

OCTOBER 2015NATIONAL

2-4 Pune Travel and Tourism Fair5 Mumbai Turkey Roadshow5 Mumbai Thailand Luxury Roadshow 20157 Chandigarh Tourism Authority of Thailand

Luxury Roadshow7 Delhi Turkey Roadshow9 Delhi Tourism Authority of Thailand

Luxury Roadshow9-11 Indore India International Travel Exhibition9-11 Nagpur Holiday Expo9-11 Goa Travel & Tourism Fair10-11 Gurgaon Vkonect Luxury B2B event14 Goa West India Travel Awards15 Goa India Cargo Awards West & South16-18 Lucknow India Travel Mart 16-18 Bhopal Madhya Pradesh Travel Mart26 Delhi Scandinavian Tourism Board

Media Brief26 Mumbai Spain Tourism Office

Leisure Workshop 27 Delhi Scandinavian Tourism Board Travel

Trade Seminar 27 Mumbai Spain Tourism Office MICE Workshop28 Delhi Spain Tourism Office

Leisure Workshop29 Delhi Spain Tourism Office MICE Workshop30- Nov 1 Noida India Travel Mart

NOVEMBER 2015INTERNATIONAL

2-5 London World Travel Mart17-19 Spain, Barcelona IBTM, World

NATIONAL

6-8 Visakhapatnam Holiday Expo20-22 Guwahati Travel & Tourism Fair23 Delhi German National Tourist Office

B2B Roadshow24 Bengaluru German National Tourist Office

B2B Roadshow25 Ahmedabad German National Tourist Office

B2B Roadshow25 Mumbai Monaco Government Tourist &

Convention Bureau B2B Roadshow26 Mumbai German National Tourist Office

Networking Event27 Mumbai German National Tourist Office

B2B Roadshow27 Delhi Monaco Government Tourist &

Convention Bureau B2B Roadshow27-29 Pune India International Travel Mart27-29 Ahmedabad India Travel Mart27-29 Kolkata Travel East

Guest Column


S E P T 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 5 3CLIPBOARD


5 4 TRAVTALK S E P T 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 MOVEMENTSEtihad AirwaysMumbaiNeerja Bhatia has been appointed to the position of Vice PresidentIndia and Indian Sub-Continent (ISC) of Etihad Airways. She joinedEtihad Airways in 2004 as Sales ManagerWestern India, shortly after the airlinehad launched its flights to Mumbai,its first Indian destination. Bhatiathen progressed to becomeManager for Western andSouthern India, before beingappointed as General ManagerIndia in 2007.

Yatra.com New DelhiYatra.com has appointed Chakrapani Gollapali as ChiefBusiness Officer, Holidays for the Company. Chakrapani, a formerMicrosoft India executive, will be responsible forthe strategic direction, operational executionand the overall business results for theHolidays Unit of Yatra. With over twodecades of experience in technology,mobile and consumer businesses,Chakrapani has had led several estab-lished and also incubating businesses.In his last role, he served as the CountryGeneral Manager for Microsoft India,leading all of Microsoft’s coreconsumer categories.

InterContinental ChennaiMahabalipuram ResortChennaiVijai Singh has joined InterContinental Chennai Mahabalipuram

Resort as General Manager. He comes toInterContinental from LUX Maldives. With20 years of experience, Singh brings toInterContinental Chennai MahabalipuramResort a wealth of industry knowledge.He held senior management roles atAsia’s first private island resort The

Rania Experience, One&Only Reethi Rahand Taj Exotica in the Maldives. He holds

a PG Diploma in Hotel Management andGeneral Administration and a BA

from the Hindu College,University of Delhi.

The ResortMumbaiThe Resort, Madh-Marve, Malad has appointed Satyajit Kotwalas its new General Manager. Prior to this, Kotwal was the HotelManager at Keys Hotel Temple Tree, Shirdi -- a brand of the

Berggruen Hotel. Kotwal brings to the table arich and diverse experience of over 10 yearsin the Hotel Operations, Human Resources,and Training sector. Armed with a degreein hospitality from the Institute of HotelManagement and Catering Technology,Mumbai, Kotwal has worked with some the

leading hotels in the country in various capac-ities.

RoomsTonite BengaluruRoomsTonite has appointed Riyaz Hyder as Head of Marketing.With 15 years of experience in marketing field, Hyder has spent entirecareer in core marketing functions with some of the globally reputedbrands like Samsung, HP & ING. In his last assignment, he was

heading marketing at Paladion, Asia’slargest pure-play information security

provider. In his earlier roles, Hyder wasa co-founder of Mobisy, a mobile appplatform that creates context and loca-tion aware real-estate for better mobilemarketing solutions. He is also activelyinvolved in various mobile start-up

ecosystem initiatives.

Sanchita Tuli joins Crowne Plaza Jaipur as Director of HumanResources in the soon to be commissioned hotel, wherein she willbe overseeing the complete human resource and training function.Tuli brings to Crowne Plaza Jaipur, experience spanning operations,

Sales, Human Resource and Learning &Development function across varied hotel seg-

ments in India. Her most recent position priorto Crowne Plaza Jaipur was as Learning &Development Manager – ibis Hotels India,Accor Group. She has been associated withpremier hotel companies like Accor India,

Marriott India, ITC Hotels, Taj Hotels,Mahindra Holidays etc during her career

spanning over 16 years.

Mohit Gupta has been appointed as Crowne Meetings Directorat Crowne Plaza Jaipur, wherein he will be overseeing MICE salesand event operations of the hotel. Gupta comes to Crowne Plazafrom Courtyard by Marriott, Bilaspur where he was Director ofSales. He has been associated with theHyatt, Taj and Intercontinental HotelsGroup (UK) before this assignment. Hehas completed his MBA (HospitalityManagement) from InternationalManagement Institute, Switzerlandand has done his dual degree anddiploma in International HospitalityManagement from QueenMargaret University.

Punish Sharma, Area General Manager- Meluha The Fern,Mumbai, says holidaying is a great way to rejuvenate and tobond with family. “I love to spend some quality time with myfamily at Mauritius if otherwise in India for a short break I preferGoa.” Sharma says, “Once out on a holiday I eateverything and anything. Prefer to digin the local cuisine, but still acontinental meal just fills me upwith gladness. When not ona holiday spree still I makesure to connect with myfamily for dinner so that we canshare what has gone by usthroughout the day.” He is afitness freak and once away fromwork he prefers to spend anhour a day at the gym.

Sandy Russell, Vice President, Commercial Operations, AsiaPacific, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, says she heads toSingapore to spend time with her family whenever she gets theopportunity. “We love to entertain, we love to cook, have peopleover at our home. We love going to restaurants. Apart from thatI love to read. Well, every country iswonderful to travel to, theposition that I have nowassumed in Asia Pacific hasafforded me theopportunity to experiencethings in Asia Pacific. I’ma Canadian and I stillhave a home in Canadaand if you ask me myfavourite place toholiday in, it’s atiny little resorttown, outside ofToronto calledMuskoko,”Russel says.

Ajit Sharma, Joint President – Operations, Jaypee VasantContinental says even though he doesn’t find enough freetime, he likes to read and spend time with family. “I generallyread trade magazines and like to keep myself updated aboutvarious travel destinations. And of course, there is nothinglike spending time with my familyand friends.” His ideal domesticdestination is Goa because ofits beaches. “My internationalfavorite destination is Geneva.From there, I like to visit Alpsfor their astounding picturesquebeauty especially Jungfraujoch,which is called the ‘Topof Europe’,”Sharma adds.

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 & Megha Paul

Crowne Plaza Jaipur

Renaissance Lucknow Rahul Maini has been appointed as General Manager at theRenaissance Lucknow. A graduate from IHM, Ahmedabad, Mainibrings with him an extensive global hospitalityexperience, having worked in many citiesaround the world. His association withMarriott started in 2001 where he wasthe Food & Beverage executive at theMarriott Executive Apartments andRenaissance in Powai, Mumbai.Following his three year stint at the hotel,Maini moved to the Taj Group where heworked in the F&B function at varioushotels including the iconic TajLake Palace Udaipur.

Praveen Sharma has been appointed as Director of Sales &Marketing. Sharma comes with over 16 years of experience andhis expertise lies in development, strategic planning, customerrelationship engagement, and pre opening with a complete under-standing of the hospitality markets like Bhopal, Lucknow and Delhi.He held various positions in many organisations in the hospitality

and MICE segment, before joining the Marriottgroup in 2009. His first role at the Marriott

Group was as part of the Global Salesteam based in New Delhi. In 2012,Sharma joined the Courtyard byMarriott, Bhopal as Director of Salesbefore joining Renaissance Lucknow.


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:15-09-2015

QYou’ve decided to start non-stopservice to Delhi after 10 years.

Previously you were operating theA340 and Boeing 767, has the intro-duction of the 787 Dreamliner bol-stered the move?

The Dreamliner is the key, it's had ahuge customer appeal since we've intro-duced it. The aircraft is perfect for thisroute, the economics are fantastic. The air-craft gives us the range and the pay loadto carry passengers, bags and cargo. Ournetwork in Canada has grown and our net-

work into the US is going to be thekey. We are the largest foreign air-line in the US. We connect 54 destina-tions, you arrive in Toronto and connecteverything into the US and the rest ofCanada and some of our internationaldestinations as well. The schedule isdesigned to make it much easier for Indiantravellers to network.

QDo you think that the advantageto clear US immigration at

Toronto Airport will help establishCanada as an international connec-tion over established US hubs?

The ability to pre-clear is a drivingfactor, we have had that for some time nowand our European travellers have beenavailing that facility. When you check yourbaggage in at Delhi airport you'll collect itat the domestic belt of your destination inUS. This is a great use for business trav-ellers especially and of course for leisuretravellers as well.

QHow does the Indian MICE sectorfigure into your growth strategy?

India is an exciting destination andnow being seen as a top-of-the-mind des-tination around the world. More and moreyoung people have been taking interest inthe country. There is a lot of growing inter-est from the Indian MICE market inCanada as a destination. As partners, VisitCanada is keen to promote the countryas a destination. It is great value at themoment with the exchange rate of theCanadian dollar versus other curren-cies in the world. It is a fabulous valuedestination at the moment. It is adiverse country made up ofcommunities from all over

the world it’salways had an open policy towelcome visitors. I think that isvery encouraging as a destination.MICE destination is about ambience, set-ting and destinations to choose from andvibrant cities and all these aspects areavailable in Canada.

QConsidering that you’ll have 30international executive lie-flat

seats, do you think India’s improvingeconomy will translate into moreBusiness Class seat sales?

We have three classes – InternationalExecutive Class, Premium Economy, andEconomy. I think India is a very sophisticat-ed market and they expect the best and AirCanada is geared up to offer that. The des-tination, the services at the airports, ouraward-winning lounges, our connectionproducts are all part of the package to getyou from one place to another as quickly

and comfortably as possible and that's whatthe Air Canada experience is all about.

QIATA Chief Tony Tyler hasappealed to the Indian govern-

ment to help airlines do business inIndia. How conducive is

the Indian environ-ment for airlines to conduct their business?

Judging by theset-up, the airport

authorityand the

government thatwe've been dealing with have been veryhelpful. Delhi is a very busy airport and forus to get the perfect schedule that wewanted has been very helpful. We are yetto start but I have not anticipated anyissues at this stage, there are complexitiesand there's bureaucracy to go through butI wouldn't necessarily say it’s overbearinghere compared to other places.

QAre you looking at any otherIndian destination?We are very keen to get back into

Mumbai we have a lot of new aircrafts - alot of new 787s coming in. There is a list of destinations that we want to serve throughout the world and Mumbaiis high up on that list, it's not a question of‘if’ but ‘when’.

As Air Canada gets set for its nonstop Delhi-Toronto flight on November 2,Gary Cross, Senior Director, International Sales, Air Canada, says Mumbai is high on their wish list of destinations.

Fly direct Delhi-Toronto from Nov 2

PEDEN DOMA BHUTIA

I think India is a very sophisticated market and they expect the best and Air Canada is geared up to offerthat. The destination, the services at the airports, our award-winninglounges, our connection products areall part of the package.

Gary CrossSenior Director, International Sales, Air Canada


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