` 50 / us $5 16-31 MAY 2013Volume II l Issue 13 Pages 32 www.travelnewsdigest.in

INDIA 04 AsIA 10 oceANIA 15 mIDDle eAst 16 AmerIcAs 22europe 18 AfrIcA 26 cArIbbeAN 29 eveNts 30

Page 04

Page 05

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Page 07 Page 10 Page 18 Page 28Page 16 & 30

Maharashtra installs tourist kiosks

BTM (Business Travel & MICE)co-located with OTM

Kids tourism in Gujarat

Kerala to get more Russian tourists

20th edition of ATM addresses key industry issues

Czech Republic to promote J&K Tourism

Mauritius aims to increase tourist arrivals from India

India is the fastest growing business travel market in the world. Mumbai is the business hub of India harbouring

major commercial organisations and leading corporations including multi-nationals, with huge business travel and MICE spending.

To cater to this niche, BTM has been launched and co-located with the OTM. BTM will provide guaranteed access to hundreds of business travel and MICE buyers from top companies in the region.

BTM will focus on buyers from corporate travel plan-ners with purchasing authority, business travel managers, meetings, incentives conventions and exhibition planners, film destination managers, etc.

BTM exhibitors include national and state tourism organisations, convention bureaus, hotels, convention and exhibition venues, destination and travel manage-ment companies, professional event management compa-nies, airlines and railroads, ground handling and logistic

companies, and other MICE service providers.According to industry expert Ashwini Kakkar,

Executive Vice Chairman, Mercury Travels, between 1.2 million and 1.5 million Indians will travel for MICE purposes only. They might include people going abroad, or those who will attend meetings, conferences and exhi-bitions within India. These 1.2 to 1.5 million people will induce expenses of more than ₨5,000 crore or approxi-mately $1 billion to $1.3 billion.

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Thailand Tourism gets new boss, Somsak Pureesrisak

Contd. on page 2...

Rajasthan to focus on new tourism products

Event Alert

Block Your DatesTTF, 2013Kolkata: July 5, 6, 7Hyderabad: July 12, 13, 14Ahmedabad: August 16, 17, 18Surat: August 23, 24, 25Mumbai: August 30, 31, September 1Pune: September 6, 7, 8

TTF, 2014Bangalore: January 3, 4, 5Chennai: January 10, 11, 12

OTM, 2014Mumbai: February 7, 8, 9New Delhi: February 13, 14, 15

In response to the growth and diversification of the booming travel market, Fairfestis launching two new segments at its successful travel fairs: BTM, for business traveland MICE, and Outbound Village, for international destination marketers

GBTA sees business travel in developed economies slow while emerging markets soarEmerging markets drive global business travel spending up 4.5% in 2011 to over $1 trillion

Growth of Business Travel in Top 15 MarketsExpected Growth (2012-2016 CAGR) in Business Travel Spend(BTS) and Current Level of BTS (Size of bubble) of Top 15 Markets

China

20.0%

18.0%

16.0%

14.0%

12.0%

10.0%

8.0%

6.0%

4.0%

2.0%

0.0%

India

Brazil

Russia

Spain

NetherlandsAustralia

Canada

Country(Arranged By Current BTS Level)

South Korea

France

United States

Japan

Source: GBTA Foundation, Rockport Analytics, 2012

United Kingdom

Germany

APAC Key Markets: Business Travel% Share in Total Travel

Country % Business Travel

CHINA 27.8%

INDIA 26.2%

INDONESIA 20.6%

APAC 25.5%Source: World Travel & Tourism Council

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 2

Contd. from page 1

Travel News Digest (TND) is printed and published by Sanjiv Kumar Agarwal on behalf of Fairfest Media Ltd.

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Editor Sanjiv Kumar Agarwal

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• COVER STORY

Total Outbound Tourists from IndiaApprox 14 m (100%)

Major Outbound Airports in India

Source: Bureau of Immigration, 2011

outbound village @ ttf

India’s largest B2B focused travel trade show net-work TTF announced a new section: Outbound Vil-

lage @ TTF, at Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai.

Apart from the leading outbound markets of Mumbai and Delhi, the regional source markets emerg-ing from these cities are also sizeable and growing fast.

According to data from Indian government sources, out of the total number of approximately 14 million out-bound tourists, the share of these cities are as follows: Kolkata 0.5m (3.3%), Hyderabad 0.8m (5.6%), Ahmad-abad 0.3m (2%), Bangalore 0.75m (5.5%), Chennai 1.5m (11%). These figures correspond to the direct outbound tourists from these international airports. These are in addition to outbound tourists from these cities fly-ing via more popular international airports of Mumbai and Delhi.

The Outbound Village @ TTF is designed to cater to international destination marketers interested in these very strong and growing regional markets in India, especially the MICE, business and leisure travel sec-tors. After all, a continent-size country like India can-not be fully served by marketing promotions in just one or two city centres.

Exhibitors from several countries like Thailand, Dubai, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Cambodia, Mauritius, United Kingdom, Oman, Swit-zerland, Korea, Turkey, etc, have been participating in these cities. With the introduction of a specialised sec-tion branded as Outbound Village @ TTF, the interna-tional participants are likely to grow.

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) is supporting the initiative to also promote and consolidate outbound activity in all parts of the country.

With more than 2,100 exhibitors and 1,86,000 visi-tors, TTF is the oldest and the largest network of travel shows in India. It is organised by Fairfest Media Ltd.

“The concept of BTM is highly innovative and will surely

add value to the already successful OTM. OTOAI and OTM have

long been supporting each other and look forward to extending the collaboration to include educative

seminars on outbound promotions for leisure, business and MICE.”Guldeep singh sahni

President, OTOAI(Outbound Tour Operators Association of India)

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 • 4

India’s Jet Airways recently gave the green signal to the sale of a 24% stake to UAE based Etihad Airways for $379 million (₨2,058 crore), the first foreign investment in an Indian airline since the coun-try eased restrictions on avia-tion deals last year.

Jet Airways said in a state-ment to the Bombay Stock

Exchange (BSE) that it is sell-ing 27.3 million new shares to Etihad at $13.90 (₨754.73) a share, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Mumbai-based Jet, founded in 1993, is one of India’s larg-est domestic airlines and its second-largest international carrier behind state-owned Air India.

Jet is most likely to use Eti-had’s cash infusion to expand its fleet of 100 aircraft.

Rapidly expanding Etihad was set up in the UAE in 2003 and of late has been building partnerships and other alli-ances across the globe as part of its fierce competition with Gulf rivals Qatar Airways and Dubai-based Emirates.

Jet Airways seals $379 million stake sale deal with Etihad

Maharashtra installs tourist kiosksMaharashtra government has recently launched electronic kiosks at various locations across Mumbai and the state to make available relevant infor-mation of popular tourist loca-tions to visitors.

The machines, which are touch-screen, were inau-gurated by Chief Secre-tary JK Banthia and Jagdish Patil, Managing Director, Maharashtra Tourism Devel-opment Corporation (MTDC).

Banthia said that 300 such kiosks will soon be set up at various tourist destinations,

government offices, rail-way stations and airports in Maharashtra. Within Mumbai, the kiosks will be put at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, Dadar, domestic and interna-tional airports, Sanjay Gandhi National Park etc.

“The kiosks are touch screen and user friendly giv-ing away all important infor-mation about the tourist des-tinations in English and Marathi. It also enables book-ing of MTDC resorts and rail-way tickets,” said an official.

Goa approves single-window clearance for tourism eventsThe government of Goa recently approved a single-window clearance system for granting approval to tourism events like music festivals, beach weddings, craft bazaars, trade fairs and other tourism events in the state.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that such tour-ism events will be given clear-ance through a single-window system but the organisers will need to obtain separate per-missions from departments like excise, VAT, Goa state pol-lution control board and Goa coastal zone management authority as these are statu-tory bodies.

The Department of Tourism will be the nodal department

to give permission to events like music festivals, craft bazaars, night bazaars, beach weddings, cultural events,

exhibitions and MICE (meet-ings, incentives, conferenc-ing, and exhibitions) and other tourism-related events.

Tourists carrying liquor bottles and drinking copiously on Goa’s beaches will soon be a thing of the past. The State Tourism

Department has recently directed the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB), a wing of Goa Police, not to allow anybody to

step on the beach with alcohol or glass bottles.

With this new step the state tourism department wants to stop littering and nuisance caused to women tourists.

“The ban has been imposed under the Goa Tourist Places (Protection and Maintenance) Act, which gives the right to the state government to ban things that create nuisance in the tour-ism zones. The act envisages protecting and maintaining the tourist places from deteriora-tion and erosion and preserving the tourism potential,” Nikhil U. Desai, Managing Director, Goa Tourism Development Corpo-ration (GTDC), said.

Goa Tourism bans alcohol on beaches

Maharashtra to expand eco-tourism model to more wildlife sanctuaries

In an attempt to ensure the long-term survival of for-ests across Maharashtra, the state government is to imple-ment the eco-tourism model that has been in practice in the Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve near Nagpur.

The model involves relo-cation of villages from the core areas of the forest, creat-ing tourism-dependent live-lihoods and providing alter-native source of fuel, such as cooking gas for the villagers. At present, villagers use fire-wood sourced from the forests.

State Forest Secretary Praveen Pardeshi said that following the establishment of ‘Tiger Force’, an armed

force for protecting the wild-cats, regular strict anti-poach-ing patrols and other proac-tive measures, the number of tigers in various forests across the state has increased significantly.

“In 2011, there were 160-170 tigers in these areas. The num-ber rose to nearly 200 early this year,” he said. “In the Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve, only 117 vehicles are allowed from the main gate of the reserve. The rest of the vehicles are allowed inside the forest from the villages in the buffer zone. These vehicles are charged about ₨1,000 per safari. This income goes to local villagers,” he added.

INDIA

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 5

Madhya Pradesh Tour-ism Development Corpora-tion (MPTDC) has chosen to implement new modern tech-nologies like quick response code (QRC) and near field communication (NFC) for domestic and foreign tourists in their own language. After its sanction by Chief Minis-ter Shivraj Singh Chouhan, it has been decided to use these techniques at Khajuraho and Orchha tourist sites.

Quick response code (QRC) will be placed at the entrance of these heritage sites. For this, tourists will have to install QR code application on their smart phones or iPad. After scanning this code, tourists will get detailed information about the tourist destination.

Similarly, near field com-munication (NFC) is a tech-nique by which information will be contained in a micro-chip actually powered by radio frequency field of the

NFC-enabled smart phone. With the help of this tech-nique, tourists will be able to obtain information about the heritage through digital map, roadmaps and other facilities.

MPTDC adopts new technologies to help tourists

Madhya Pradesh allots ₨180 crore for tourism development in stateIn a bid to give a major boost to the tourism sector in the state, Madhya Pradesh gov-ernment has sanctioned ₨180 crore for the development of various tourism destinations across the state. This amount has been sanctioned for four years.

These funds will be uti-lised for infrastructure devel-opment at religious places, development of rural and heritage tourism, encour-agement of wildlife and eco-tourism activities, develop-ment of water reservoirs and adventure sports destination,

improvement of Jain and Bud-dhist corridors in the state and development of new tourist destinations, fairs, festivals, air services etc.

Of these funds, ₨30 core will be spent on development of tourist facilities under MICE (Meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) tourism, ₨5 Crore on devel-opment of Buddhist corridor in western Madhya Pradesh, ₨10 crore on Jain corridor, ₨10 crore on heritage hotels and ₨50 crore will be spent on providing eco and adventure tourism facilities to tourists.

As part of its strategy to proj-ect the state as a major tourist destination, Andhra Pradesh (AP) Tourism is stepping up efforts to take up major desti-nation development projects

across the state.As a start, the tourism

department has identified various projects on Pub-l i c-P r ivat e -Pa r t n e r sh ip (PPP) mode in the port city of Visakhapatnam, which would comprise theme parks, health city, science city, aqua-marine park, international convention centre, etc.

Chandana Khan, Special Chief Secretary, Tourism

& Culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh said a global tender has been floated for six projects on a 30 kilometre radius around Visakhapatnam, and so far

the response has been good.She confirmed these proj-

ects will be completed within three years. Apart from this, Andhra Pradesh Tourism is also planning to develop a 30-kilometre beach corri-dor in Visakhapatnam with funding from the Centre.

Khan said the focus is on developing water sports and adventure sports infra-structure in destinations like Visakhapatnam in a big way.

Gujarat to promote kids tourismThe Gujarat Tourism Depart-ment, which recently bagged national awards for its various initiatives, has come up with an innovative idea of promot-ing ‘kids tourism’. The depart-ment is likely to launch a new campaign promoting destina-tions that would be appealing

or attractive to children.With summer vacations

round the corner, a time when children play an important role in deciding the travel

destinations, the department thought it would be an apt time to launch the campaign.

“We want to promote what can be called ‘kids tourism’, fea-turing destinations that might be interesting or exciting to chil-dren. We want to educate the children about the attractions

in our state,” said Vipul Mittra, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Government of Gujarat.

Gujarat tourism has divided the major attractions in the

state into eight hubs, which are Ahmedabad metro, Ahmed-abad rural (north Gujarat), Surat (south Gujarat), Vado-dara (central Gujarat), Rajkot, Junagadh and Jamnagar (Sau-rashtra) and Bhuj (Kutch). Of these, places like the sanctu-aries, hill-stations and in-city attractions like heritage walks etc can be interesting to chil-dren, said a senior official in the tourism department.

The department is stepping up its effort to launch a cam-paign that would include tele-vision commercials, newspaper advertisements etc, as a part of promoting kids’ tourism.

The department has also taken up initiatives to develop private golf courses, and five memorandums of under-standing (MOUs) have already been signed in this regard. A budget of ₨654 crore has been earmarked for tourism infrastructure.

Tourism will continue to be a top priority sector: Gujarat CMThe inauguration of Gujarat Travel Mart (GTM) by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi underscored the importance given by him to the tourism sector. Tourism has become one of the major focus areas for the state government in the recent past. The State Tourism Department has embarked on several initiatives, includ-ing the highly successful and award-winning advertising campaign, ‘Khushboo Gujarat Ki’, featuring the state’s brand ambassador Amitabh Bach-chan, and launching GTM in order to position Gujarat as a ‘vibrant’ tourism destination on the global tourism map.

“A decade ago, the state was

nowhere on the tourism map of India. In 2006, my govern-ment decided to give top pri-ority to tourism and the year was also declared as ‘Year of Tourism’. Today, tourism is an

important sector and we shall continue to give it top prior-ity in the coming years,” Modi said in his opening speech at the trade fair. “We need to improve infrastructure fur-ther and continuous efforts are being made on that front. We want tourism develop-ment in the state to be holistic,” Modi added.

AP to develop Visakhapatnam as major tourism hub

INDIA •

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 6 • INDIA

MoT to spend ₨3 crore for promotion of HimalayasIn a bid to boost the image of the Himalayas as an adven-ture tourism destination, the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) of the Indian government has allocated ₨3 crore for the pro-motion of the region. This was recently announced by Subhash Goyal, President of Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) at a sem-inar on Adventure Tourism organised by the Confedera-tion of Indian Industry (CII).

Akshay Kumar, President of Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) thanked the MoT for realis-ing the potential of the Indian Himalayas.

With promotion of the Himalayas, India can emerge as a year round tourism des-tination because peak tour-ist season in India is from October to March, and from March to October the travel trade can promote the Indian Himalayas.

India has 60% of the Hima-layas encompassing six states. “The Indian Himalayas has huge potential for adventure tourism. The country should optimise existing air strips at various parts of hilly states such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, etc,” Ajeet Bajaj, Managing Director, Snow Leopard Adventures, said.

In an effort to promote tourism sector in the state, a two-day seminar on ‘Strategy for Tour-ism Development and Capac-ity Building’ was recently held in Imphal.

“We anticipate and pro-mote tourism as one of the key sectors that can pro-vide immense benefit to the community and stake hold-ers without any major capital investment as compared with other industries. And also, Manipur is the gateway of the Southeast Asian countries,”

Manipur Chief Minister, Ibobi Singh said.

The seminar was organ-ised by the Manipur Tour-ism Forum with the backing of the state government. The seminar came to a consensus about encouraging public-private partnership model to strengthen the tourism sector in the state.

The growth of tourism will help generate employment opportunities for the youth and give a boost to the hospi-tality sector.

Kerala to witness surge of Russian tourists with new agreementPegas Touristik, one of the larg-est Russian tour operators head-quartered in Moscow, recently signed an agreement with tour-ism authorities in the southern Indian state of Kerala to bring more Russian tourists to India.

The overwhelming response from Russian tourists to the state known for its backwaters, beaches and Ayurvedic spas is a key factor that resulted in the pact for the next season. The agreement also confirms the operation of Russian chartered flights to state.

The travel industry in the state reacted positively to the decision of the Russian tour operators to run chartered

flights in the next tourist season.Popular destinations for

Russian tourists include the

beaches of Kovalam, near the capital city of Thiruvantha-puram and Varkala.

Tourist arrivals in Tamil Nadu up 34%The number of tourist arriv-als in Tamil Nadu increased by 34.1% in 2012 to 187.6 mil-lion from 140 million. To strengthen the sector further the government is devising a new tourism policy in conjunc-tion with a ₨500 crore project, with Asian Development Bank

(ADB’s) assistance.P Chendur Pandian, Minis-

ter for Tourism in Tamil Nadu said that tourist arrivals in 2012 stood at 187.6 million, including 184.1 million domestic and 3.5 million foreign tourists, com-pared to 140 million in 2011 and 105.8 million in 2010.

Tamil Nadu comes sec-ond after Maharashtra in for-eign tourist arrivals and third in domestic tourist arrivals, and is aiming to achieve the number one position, said the minister.

The minister attributed the growth in the flow to aggressive promotion and marketing cam-paigns, creation and upgrada-tion of basic amenities and infrastructure at tourist spots.

“A new tourism policy is being formulated, which aims to attract more high-spending tourists and also investments in tourism and hospitality-related infrastructure. The policy will also ensure employment for skilled and unskilled persons, besides inclusive develop-ment for the local people,” said the minister.

Manipur aims to revive its tourism sector

The age old tradition of Indian Ayurveda is rapidly turning Kerala into an international medical tourism destination, attracting holidayers from across the world as well as top international celebrities to the state.

When British supermodel Naomi Campbell came to Ker-ala last year for an Ayurvedic massage session at Leela Kov-alam Beach hotel, she added a celebrity endorsement to the healing system and also to Kerala.

According to Kerala Tour-ism department Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, well-known for his global hits like ‘Last Tango in Paris’ and ‘The Last Emperor’, recently visited the state for Ayurvedic treatment of a chronic ailment.

German TV and film actress Ingeborg Schoener has been visiting the state for the last eight years for Ayurveda

treatment. Completely cured of her painful knee problem, she thanked the tourism offi-cials for the fact that she had stopped allopathic treatments.

“Thanks to Ayurveda, I feel fantastic. I make ghee at home and have stopped using oil to fry food. I do my yoga, drink a glass of hot water first thing in the morning and buy one-year worth of Ayurvedic med-icines,” a spokesperson of the tourism department quoted her as saying.

“Ayurveda, practised in Kerala in its traditional and authentic form, has been a major attraction for tourists. We are now planning to lever-age its healing and curative aspects, along with its wellness system, to woo tourists dur-ing the monsoon season,” Ker-ala Tourism Secretary Suman Billa said.

“It can help Kerala become a 365-day destination and ensure

repeat visits by overcoming the element of seasonality,” Billa said.

Ayurveda in Kerala recently took the digital route to reach the global audience, with Ker-ala Tourism launching two e-books on the Indian healing system.

“The e-books on Ayurveda are aimed at people around the world, to help them learn about the age-old system of medicine so that they can come to Kerala and experience its health ben-efits,” said State Tourism Min-ister A.P. Anil Kumar, releasing the two e-books.

Ayurveda helps Kerala emergeas a major medical tourism hub

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 7 INDIA •

As part of the state’s strategy to reposition itself, Rajasthan has initiated a major shift in focus towards innovative tourism products like resort tourism, archaeological tourism, tribal tourism, adventure and sports tourism, and ecotourism, said Bina Kak, Minister for Tour-ism in Rajasthan while deliv-ering the inaugural address at the sixth edition of the Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) in Jaipur.

“There is a major shift from the traditional focus on cul-ture and heritage now as far as tourist offerings are con-cerned,” she said. “We are changing the positioning of Rajasthan to a multiple-inter-est destination, attractive to

diverse tourist groups from India and abroad.”

New tourism circuits are also on the anvil, covering places such as the Keoladeo National Park, Darrah Sanctu-ary, Sajjangarh Wildlife Sanc-tuary and Kumbhalgarh Wild-life Sanctuary.

Kak said that focus is also on bringing top quality and efficiency in service delivery to visitors in order to increase the number of repeat travellers to the state.

Commenting on GITB 2013, the minister said the B2B travel market has evolved into a very productive platform for busi-nesses, as well as policymak-ers in the country ever since its inception.

With more than a million for-eign tourists coming to Bihar, the state government has now taken steps to focus more on developing infrastructure for the hospitality sector. The state government recently commissioned several proj-ects to develop tourist destina-tions under Buddhist, Jain and Ramayana circuits.

According to the data of the State Tourism Department, 1.09 million foreign and 22.5

million domestic tourists vis-ited the state in last year.

“We are very happy with the increasing numbers of foreign tourists,” said Tour-ism Minister Sunil Kumar Pintoo. “It reflects the grow-ing acceptance of Bihar on the world tourism map. Until a few years ago, not many people could gather strength to visit Bihar. However, today we are among the top seven states to have a large number of foreign

visitors. Our government’s constant efforts on improving law and order and governance are now paying off.

“We have substantially increased the budget of the Tourism Department. This year we will be spending more than ₨105 crore on the construction of infrastruc-ture in the hospitality sector for the comfort of foreign and domestic travellers,” the min-ister added.

Bihar aims to develop hospitality sector

In a brand new initiative to attract more tourists to Uttar Pradesh, the state government is planning to set up two resorts based on rural themes similar to Jaipur’s famous Chokhi Dhani. The resorts are to come up on the way to Taj Mahal via Yamuna Expressway and are expected to be a unique mix of tradition with five-star facilities.

The resorts, once they come up, will depict the culture and village life of UP.

Rajasthan’s Jaipur has a similar kind of resort named Chokhi Dhani that attracts a large number of foreign as well as domestic tourists.

According to the UP tourism department, the Chokhi Dhani management has shown interest in

developing concept-villages in UP along national highways and near tourist places.

The government said these resorts will be developed on a public-private-partnership model, with the manage-ment of Chokhi Dhani or any other interested groups willing to promote UP’s tourism.

Rajasthan shifting focus to new travel products from heritage and culture

New village-style resorts to come up in UP to boost tourism

Chiranjeevi inaugurates new IITTM campus Union Tourism Minister K Chiran-jeevi inaugurated the new campus of the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) in Noida.

The campus is spread across 10 acres in Sector 62 of Noida and was constructed at an estimated cost of ₨27.70 crore.

IITTM is an autonomous organ-isation of the Ministry of Tour-ism offering education, training, research and consultancy in sustain-able management of tourism, travel and other allied sectors. The institute

has pan-India presence with centres in Gwalior, Nellore, Delhi, Goa and Bhubaneswar.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 8 • INDIA

Progress, Harmony and Devel-opment (PHD) Chamber of Com-merce and Industry recently conducted a seminar on ‘Cara-van Tourism – India by Road’ in New Delhi. The main intention of the seminar was to develop and

strengthen the marketing of Car-avan Tourism and tourism by road and offer new innovative strategies to give a boost to tour-ism businesses and promotion of less visited tourism destinations.

In addition to this, PHD aims to market and partner with states and industries in the country and overseas for strengthening Road Tourism.

Delegates at the seminar emphasised that caravans are a unique tourism product, pro-moting family oriented tours even in circuits and destinations, which do not have adequate hotel

accommodation. In India, Mad-hya Pradesh is the only state that took the initiative to promote Car-avan Tourism.

“The transport system of an economy is essentially linked to the tourism of that economy. Of

the various modes of transport that connect the cities and vil-lages of the country, road trans-port constitutes the crucial link. Caravan Tourism can be increased in India by developing public-private partnerships,” Suman Jyoti Khaitan, President, PHD Chamber, said.

Appreciating the Ministry of Tourism’s (MoT) initiatives for promotion of Road Tour-ism through developing infra-structure on highways, Subhash Goyal, President, Indian Associ-ation of Tour Operators (IATO) said “Motor Home is the need of

the hour. In this context, Caravan tourism holds a vast opportunity for the country and the industry should grab this opportunity. With all the facilities needed by the people being available in car-avans, this can become a big hit in the near future.”

Also present in the semi-nar, Parvez Dewan, IAS, Secre-tary, Ministry of Tourism, Gov-ernment of India said, “Caravan Tourism could attract a wide range of market segments includ-ing young people, families, senior citizens and also international tourists. Caravan is a concept of mobile tourism that can be a great help during peak tourism periods.”

He also informed the audi-ence about the latest directive released by the Ministry of Tour-ism (MoT) regarding granting Visa on Arrival facility for for-eigners from 11 countries.

Om Vijay Choudhary, Chief General Manager, Madhya Pradesh Tourism said that Car-avan tourism is a unique prod-uct. He informed that MP Tour-ism has three coaches operating where travellers can stay and travel the length and breadth in three major circuits where they have launched the service.

PHD Chamber organises seminar on Caravan Tourism

West Bengal to introduce tourist policeThe West Bengal Government is planning to introduce a spe-cial police force for important tourist destinations in the state. According to Krishnendu N. Choudhury, State Tourism Minister, the service would soon begin with popular sea-side destinations like Digha and some places in Kolkata.

“We have to promote des-tinations from hills to sea-side; mangroves to heritage sites to woo more tourists. We have taken up a few plans and

introducing tourist police to ensure safety of the travellers is one of them,” Choudhury said.

The minister also empha-sised the need for developing

proper road infrastructure for connecting tourist destina-tions in the state with Kolkata. “We are concerned about the road infrastructure to tourist destinations in the state. Dis-cussions with local people in a couple of regions have been initiated to get land for devel-oping proper roads,” Choud-hury added.

The state government is also planning to publish different maps for religious, cultural and heritage tourism.

In a bid to provide more to the tourist itinerary in the state, Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) has planned to orga-nise wildlife tours for tourists in the summer season.

For the wildlife tour, HPTDC will conduct safaris for tourists inside the Shimla Reserve For-est Sanctuary and Catchment Area in Chharabra.

The tour, which is expected to cost around ₨700 per head, will start from the Tourist Information Center near Vic-tory Tunnel. Special HPTDC mini buses will be scheduled for pick and drop of tourists to and from the Forest Reserve.

HPTDC will also make arrangements for food within the Catchment Area. It is also

known that lunch will be served to the tourists inside the Forest Reserve itself.

“All arrangements for the tour have been completed, only an approval from the For-est Department is awaited,” said Yogesh Behl, General

Manager HPTDC.This charming wildlife

tour will help tourists to catch a glimpse of various spe-cies of birds and animals at close quarters in the Forest Reserve spread over an area of 14 kilometers.

In a bid to expand its outbound tourism offerings beyond South East Asia and Gulf, the Indian Railway Cater-ing and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC), for the first time ever, plans to take passengers

on ‘value for money’ package tours to far-off destinations like Australia, Greece and South Africa this year.

Rahul Himalian, Addi-tional General Manager, IRCTC, said, “In the past, we organised tours to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Dubai. Now, we want to introduce economical package

tours to Australia, Greece, Turkey and South Africa.

“Our profit margins are not as high as those of private operators and we are fully accountable for our services. This is why, citizens prefer our

packages,” Himalian added.IRCTC will also incorpo-

rate new destinations to the existing packages. For exam-ple, a Thailand package, which usually covers Bang-kok and Pattaya in five days, will include Phuket as an additional destination and the number of days will be increased, he said.

Bollywood Tourism launched – potential blockbuster

Bollywood Tourism (BT)’s new itinerary launched recently has half and full day tours for vis-itors to peek into the elusive world of Bollywood. In a first of its kind, they have made it possible to comfortably watch live shooting and participate in Bollywood dance numbers.

The new tour starts from South Mumbai, takes route through star homes in Bandra and Bandstand along with an audio guide.

A two hour tour begins with a traditional welcome and a walk along the Bolly-wood Gallery, a wall painted with blockbuster movie post-ers. A professional guide intro-duces Indian cinema at the Bol-lywood star gallery. At the mini theatre a short film is played for the sample view of amaz-ing VFX effects used in popu-lar movies.

The second part of the tour proceeds through perma-nent studio settings of a court, prison, hospitals and apart-ments used in many films and television soap operas. Witnessing the actual shoot of course is the highlight, before ending the tour with a

40-minute interactive Bolly-wood dance extravaganza. A peek into a star’s vanity van, Bollywood café and a Bolly-wood souvenir shop complete an introduction to the world’s largest entertainment industry.

A 6-7 hour day tour also includes visit to a sound pro-duction studio. The tour can be conducted for a minimum of two persons to a group of 50.

A 2-3 hour studio tour costs ₨3,250 per pax for a mini-mum of two pax and ₨2,850 per pax for a minimum four people travelling together respectively.

Manoj Gursahani, MD, Bol-lywood Tourism stated that we are introducing a Bollywood theme night shortly. Delegates will be given props, make-up and technical direction to shoot and make their own movie. Bigger 5,000 and 10,000 sq. ft. venues have been created for the purpose. The tour can also be customized for team building and gala dinners.

Soon to be launched tour ‘Sab Ki Sawari’ at Mumbai Film City studios will take visi-tors on the working sets of pop-ular television serials.

Himachal tourism to organise wildlife tour in Shimla

IRCTC plans to launch packages to Australia, Greece and South Africa

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TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 • 10

Tourism Authority of Thailand New Delhi Office: (Areas of Responsibility: Northern and Eastern India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal),B - 9/1A, (GF) Vasant Vihar, New Delhi - 110057Tel: 91-11-41663567-69, 46741111, Fax: 91-11-41663570 | E-mail: tatdel@tat.or.th | www.facebook.com/tat.newdelhiTourism Authority of Thailand Mumbai Office: (Areas of Responsibility: Western and Southern India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives),45 Free 45 Free Press House, 4th Floor, 215 Free Press Journal Marg, Nariman Point Mumbai - 400021Tel: 91-22-22042727-28, Fax: 91-22-22042729 | E-mail: tatmumbai@tat.or.th | Website: www.tourismthailand.org Visit: http://www.facebook.com/TourismAuthorityofThailandIndia

“Two years in a row”Thailand won Travel + Leisure Awards for

THE WORLD’S BEST COUNTRY & THE WORLD’S BEST WEDDING DESTINATION

ASIA

Thailand has taken steps to set up a tourist court in the country to make quick deliv-ery of justice to foreign tour-ists who would depart from this country before any law-suits they have filed could be judged by an ordinary court.

“The so-called Tourist Court will handle varied crim-inal and civil lawsuits lodged by foreign visitors against any accused person in Thailand in relatively prompt fashion,

compared to the existing courts of justice that may spend a longer period of time than the plaintiff tourists can wait,” said Tourism & Sports Minister Somsak Pureesrisak.

“There are so many cases in which plaintiff tour-ists such as those who may have been robbed or physi-cally assaulted have already departed from the country before they are eventually ruled in court. We’ve been

concerned that such legal snags might inadvertently fail to serve justice or maintain the confidence of the tour-ists in the safety of their own lives and property while stay-ing in our country,” the min-ister added.

The proposed tourist court might not only work in the daytime but also in the night to ensure justice is served before the foreign plaintiffs return home.

Thai Tourist Court to deliver prompt justice to foreigners

Nepal promotes Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the first ascent to Mount Everest

Last month, the Nepal Tour-ism Board (NTB) held three roadshows in Kolkata (West Bengal), Bhubaneswar (Odi-sha) and Ranchi (Jharkhand). The roadshows were a part of the campaign aimed at increasing awareness on Nepal and educating trav-ellers, travel agents and the media on Nepal’s tour-ism products and offerings, which go beyond the casinos at Kathmandu.

At the roadshow held at Hotel Hindustan Interna-tional, Kolkata, Madan K Lamichane, Officer(Tourism Marketing & Promotion), Nepal Tourism Board said, “We are organising various programmes to mark the Dia-mond Jubilee Celebrations of the first ascent to Mt. Everest. The NTB will conduct famil-iarisation trips for high-level dignitaries to Everest Region and also for media persons.”

Thailand urged to explore new tourism routesThailand is being advised to explore new tourism routes to

connect with its neighbouring countries to keep up with the

increasing demand from tour-ists visiting the region.

The Association of Thai Tourism Marketing (ATTM) urged the government to sup-port small tourism-related asso-ciations to help them promote tourism in a sustainable man-ner, said ATTM President Min-gkwan Metmowlee.

To celebrate its first anniversary, the associ-ation encouraged mem-ber operators to survey new tourist destinations in a bid to develop new products and services.

Thai Smile launches new routes to IndiaThai Smile, a low cost airline from Thai Air-ways International, recently launched two new routes to India. The twice-weekly flight will connect Phuket to New Delhi and Mumbai.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Thai Smile Airlines of Thai Air-ways organised a familiar-isation trip for media and travel agents for the inau-gural direct flight from Delhi. Ticket prices for both Indian routes start from ₨13,689.97 return, excluding taxes.

TAT expects more than 1.1 million Indian travellers to Thailand in 2013.

Somsak Pureesrisak has been appointed Minister of Tour-ism and Sports in Thailand. He replaces the late Chumpol Silpa-archa, who passed away in January this year.

Pureesrisak, 62, is an elec-trical engineer by training and holds a Master’s degree in development administration. He began his professional life in 1993 in the Department of Town and Country Planning. He has served as Governor of Suphan Buri Province in Cen-tral Thailand twice. He is also a member of the Chartthaipat-tana Party (Thai Nation Devel-opment Party).

After assuming the posi-tion, Pureesrisak said that he would make visitor safety and security a primary focus of attention.

This decision was wel-comed by Suraphon Svetas-reni, Governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). “Safety and security for vis-itors is becoming an over-arching area of importance all through the global travel and tourism industry. We con-stantly get questions about this matter at international trade shows, and are pleased that the minister has taken up this issue as a matter of prior-ity,” Svetasreni said.

“TAT is looking forward to implement new initiatives from the minister in further advancing the role of travel and tourism as the country’s largest service industry and contributor to national socio-economic development,” he added.

Thailand tourism gets new minister

With the introduction of Thai Smile, visitors can fly directly from New Delhi or Mumbai to

Phuket, making it a lot more convenient for Indian travellers to experience Phuket and

beyond. Thank you to our travel and trade partners for your constant support to

Amazing Thailand.Runjuan Tongrut

Director, TAT, New Delhi(Tourism Authority of Thailand)

Tourism Authority of Thailand New Delhi Office: (Areas of Responsibility: Northern and Eastern India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal),B - 9/1A, (GF) Vasant Vihar, New Delhi - 110057Tel: 91-11-41663567-69, 46741111, Fax: 91-11-41663570 | E-mail: tatdel@tat.or.th | www.facebook.com/tat.newdelhiTourism Authority of Thailand Mumbai Office: (Areas of Responsibility: Western and Southern India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives),45 Free 45 Free Press House, 4th Floor, 215 Free Press Journal Marg, Nariman Point Mumbai - 400021Tel: 91-22-22042727-28, Fax: 91-22-22042729 | E-mail: tatmumbai@tat.or.th | Website: www.tourismthailand.org Visit: http://www.facebook.com/TourismAuthorityofThailandIndia

“Two years in a row”Thailand won Travel + Leisure Awards for

THE WORLD’S BEST COUNTRY & THE WORLD’S BEST WEDDING DESTINATION

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 12 • ASIA

Bali’s provincial adminis-tration is stepping up efforts to issue four major policies related to the island’s tourism development.

The four major policies cover the development of tourist des-tinations, effective marketing, industry and institutions.

I Ketut Astra, head of the destination development sec-tion at the Bali Tourism Agency, said the four major policies were in line with the national development plan for the tour-ism sector in Indonesia.

In relation to destination development, Astra said the government would focus on tourism mapping to determine the best spots on the island.

“Some plans are already on the table, developing the exist-ing tourist sites and upgrading

their facilities and accessibili-ties,” Astra explained.

Improving the manage-ment of tourist-related busi-nesses and human resources to empower local communities was also in the plans.

“It is also important to develop new destinations in some unexplored areas. Bali has

an abundant pool of natural and cultural attractions, although some of them must be developed more appropriately,” he added.

In the past, people came to Bali to look for cultural attrac-tions. “Now, many of them are enjoying water sports, spa facil-ities and other new attractions,” he said.

The Indonesian government has joined hands with Mus-lim scholars to turn the coun-try into a world hub for ‘Sharia tourism’ in a bid to create an environment and amenities that go in line with Islamic teachings.

“Basically Sharia tourism is a concept involving leisure accompanied by religious val-ues,” Firmansyah Rahmin, director general of destination

development for the Minis-try of Tourism and Creative Economy (MTCE) of Indone-sia, said. “It provides facilities and services closest to the val-ues of Islam.”

The MTCE recently signed a memorandum of under-standing with the Indonesian Ulema Council to promote tourism in line with Islamic teachings.

The agreement aims to turn

the Muslim-majority coun-try into an attraction to devout Muslim holiday-makers seek-ing to abide by their religious teachings.

“Interestingly most Muslim travellers were not only com-ing from the Middle East but also Europe, Australia, Japan, and China,” said Riyanto Sofyan, chairman of the Indo-nesian Sharia Hotel and Res-taurant Association (AHSIN).

Indonesia links with Muslim scholars to create ‘sharia tourism’ hub

Taiwan aiming to draw more Muslim tourists

Taiwan expands the range of its health tourism sector

Indonesia’s foreign tourist arrivals up by 14.5% in February

Taiwan is stepping up its efforts to attract more Mus-lim tourists as part of its strategy to expand its tour-ism, the Tourism Bureau of Taiwan said.

Last year, the num-ber of foreign tourist arriv-als to Taiwan reached a record high of 7.3 million, but the percentage of Mus-lim tourists remained small, said Eric Lin, director of the bureau’s International Affairs Division.

Lin explained the bureau has been working with the Taipei-based Chinese Mus-lims Association over the past few years to create a Muslim-friendly environ-ment that would include the certification of Muslim res-taurants and hotels.

With the focus on Mus-lim tourists, we now need to step up our efforts to under-stand and cater to their needs to make Taiwan more attrac-tive to them, Lin said.

The Taiwan government wants to develop the infra-structure of its health care sector for foreign visitors and encourage overseas medical investment.

Taiwan’s tourism indus-try heavily depends on the massive influx of tour-ists from China. The better quality of medical treatment in Taiwan is the predomi-nant reason for the arrival of tourists from the Chinese mainland. Now it is possible for tourists from mainland China to travel to Taiwan on their own. Until a year ago, it was necessary for them to be

a part of organised groups.Between the start of

2011 and the end of 2012, medical tourist spending increased four-fold to $135 million. Naturally the Tai-

wanese government wants to increase the number of patients receiving health care treatment in Taiwan.

The new government plan seeks to attract medi-cal organisations from other countries into the special economic zones to serve for-eign and Taiwanese patients, and further improve the island’s high quality health care system.

The number of foreign tour-ist arrivals in Indonesia in Feb-ruary rose by 14.5% to 678,400 on yearly basis, the National Statistic Bureau of Indonesia announced.

In Bali, the centre of Indone-sia’s tourism industry, the num-ber of foreign visitor rose 13.3% to 237,000, said, the head of the bureau.

Holidaymakers visiting Indonesia by February also rose

by 3.82% to 1.29 million year on year, he said.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy expects more foreign tourist to visit the country this year with a target of 9 million, higher than that of 8.04 million last year.

The Indonesian government is trying to encourage more for-eign holiday makers to visit the country by luring more Mus-lim tourists particularly from the Middle East, and boosting health tourism.

Bali announces four major tourism policies

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TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 14 • ASIA

Malaysia appoints new tourism and culture ministerMohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz has been named Malaysia’s tourism and culture minister with Joseph Salang Gandum as the deputy minister, in the new cabinet formation announced by the Prime Minister recently, following the 13th General Election on May 5.

Mohamed Nazri was for-merly a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department while

Salang was the deputy minis-ter of Information, Communi-cations and Culture.

Malaysia Inbound Tour-ism Association honorary secretary-general, Adam Kamal, said he welcomed the new appointments and that the association planned to invite Mohamed Nazri to the annual gala dinner next month.

Indian travellers flock to Malaysia during summerMalaysian tour operators doing business in the Indian market

have reported a sharp rise in bookings for summer, the peak

travel season for Indians.Arokia Das, Senior Man-

ager, Luxury Tours Malay-sia, said “We have witnessed a more than 30% year-on-year increase in business. Travel-lers were mainly from Mumbai, New Delhi and Ahmedabad.”

“A lot of them are travel-ling from India via Singapore, where there is better connec-tivity and cheaper airfares,” he said.

Tina Travel & Agencies’ Managing Director, Adam Kamal, shared the same view. “We’ve seen a 10% year-on-year increase in bookings, but it is still too early to tell how this season will fare as many travel-lers tend to book last minute,” he said.

Malaysia Airlines is adding to its daily direct flights between Colombo and the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur with three extra daytime flights, making a total of 10 weekly flights between the two cities.

Malaysia Airlines’ Regional Senior Vice President for South Asia and Middle East Azahar Hamid said, “With the over-whelming response received from the Sri Lanka market we are pleased to announce our three additional daytime fre-quencies. With new aircraft, authentic South Asian inflight cuisine and Malaysian hospi-tality delivered by our award

winning crew, as well as com-petitive pricing, we are cer-tain our customers will cher-ish their travel experiences with us.”

With the introduction of the three weekly services, the capacity of this route is increased by 40% (480 seats) in each direction.

Changi Airport strengthens connectivity to MyanmarChangi Airport Group (CAG) in Singapore recently announced the arrival of a new carrier, Golden Myanmar Air-lines, at Singapore Changi Air-port. The carrier will operate daily services connecting Sin-gapore via Yangon to Man-dalay, the financial capital of Myanmar.

The new service by Golden Myanmar Airlines further enhances Changi Airport’s

position as a key gateway to the region.

“We are delighted to wel-come Golden Myanmar into Changi’s family of airlines. This is a significant mile-stone for us given the tremen-dous growth opportunities for business and leisure travel between Singapore and Myan-mar,” said CAG’s Senior Vice President for Market Develop-ment Mr Lim Ching Kiat. “We are confident the additional flights will make it easier for people to travel between the two countries and we look for-ward to working closely with the airline to realise the growth

potential that exists in the two markets,” he added .

Bilateral trade between Singapore and Myanmar increased 8.6% last year com-pared to 2011. The starting of Golden Myanmar’s flights to Singapore comes at an appro-priate time as Myanmar steps up efforts to accelerate social-economic development in the country.

“Singapore and Myan-

mar have enjoyed strong trade and economic links over the last few years and Singapore currently ranks among one of Myanmar’s top trade part-ners. Coupled with Changi Airport’s strength as a well connected aviation hub, it was not a difficult decision for us to make it our first international destination. We plan to uti-lise Singapore as an extended gateway into Myanmar’s lead-ing commercial cities and we also hope to reach other parts of Asia from Changi Airport,” Aung Gyi, Golden Myanmar Airlines’ Managing Director said.

Malaysia Airlines increases Colombo-Kuala Lumpur service

The Korea Tourism Organisa-tion (KTO), a statutory body under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of South Korea has hired ‘Gangnam Style’ phenom-enon PSY in a series of TV com-mercials to promote tourism to the country.

The advertisements entitled ‘PSY’s Wiki Korea’, inspired by online encyclopaedia Wikipedia,

has the South Korean rap artist highlighting some of the coun-try’s key attractions, from sam-gyeopsal, a Korean pork belly barbecue, and the Jeju Olle trail, a walking path on Jeju Island off the country’s southwest coast, to Myeongdong, South Korea’s famed shopping destination.

The TV advertisements, along with the print media

versions, will be simultaneously launched next month via major international media.

KTO’s tourism brand and product department exec-utive director Jeon Hyo Sik said, “PSY’s fans are all over the world regardless of age or region. Hopefully, our promo-tional videos will attract world-wide attention”.

S Korea appoints ‘Gangnam Style’s’ PSY for promotional video

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 • 15

New Zealand has become the centre of attraction for tour-ists from various corners of the world with the help of the images provided by Peter Jack-son’s Hobbit films, said Tour-

ism New Zealand.The first released film of

the sequel, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey helped increase inbound travel and enhanced the image of Tour-ism NZ brand, said Catherine Bates, General Manager Brand and International PR at Tour-ism New Zealand.

Traffic to the tourism organisation’s website which promotes travel to New Zealand increased signif-icantly helped by the film, Bates added.

Recent visitor arrival num-bers to New Zealand were up 13% on March 2013 as compare to the same period last year.

Research in the United States showed that 78% of those came to New Zealand cited the film as a motivational factor to think about New Zea-land as a holiday destination.

Hobbit helps bring tourists to New Zealand

Qantas signs deal to promote NSW tourism

In a bid to draw a diverse sec-tor of tourists to the state, a new campaign for Tourism Tasmania has been launched highlighting the pubs, art and unusual attractions of Tasma-nia, rather than the natural wonders of the state.

The innovative campaign, titled ‘Go Behind the Scenery’, has been launched nation-ally by JimJam Ideas with a 60-second TV spot along with

social and print media.Viewers and readers are

directed to log on to a web-site, where there are six mini documentaries showing the best Tasmania has to offer for each region.

The website also features 30 itineraries while social media promotes bits and pieces of the island state.

Tourism Minister Scott Bacon said the campaign was

a step away from traditional tourism marketing.

“In a sometimes comic and quirky way, the cam-paign encourages peo-ple who come to Tasmania to get to know more of our state, and travel beyond the major population centres and spend a few nights explor-ing those fantastic, truly Tasmanian experiences,” he said.

Tourism Tasmania takes visitors behind the scenery

Direct flights to begin between Christchurch and PerthDirect flights between Christ-church and Perth are to begin this December.

Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia have announced twice

weekly services from early December till late April, the first direct service between the two

cities in more than 20 years. The service is being primarily intro-duced for 21 weeks and it will need to prove itself financially viable for a longer run.

Christchurch Airport CEO Jim Boult said, “Direct flights would save three hours flying

and boost airfreight, already worth $475 million a year.

“This new service is the result of collaborative planning by two airlines and two airports – Air New Zealand, Virgin Aus-tralia, Christchurch and Perth airports. All four of us have long recognised the wisdom of offer-ing these flights and have now found timing to suit everyone,” he added.

“We have been working col-laboratively for more than a year to establish this new service and we are delighted that Western Australians and South Island-ers will have this exciting travel opportunity. We are confident this will be a successful route and are delighted with Air New Zealand’s commitment to Perth. We look forward to welcom-ing the new service in Decem-ber,” Perth Airport CEO Brad Geatches said.

OCEANIA

Qantas Airways has signed a major deal with the New South Wales (NSW) govern-ment to boost tourism in the state.

The new AU$30 million (U.S. $31m) deal was recently signed at Sydney Airport by NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell and Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce, and will see the two par-ties work together for a period of three years, promoting the Australian state in Qantas’ main international markets. It is the largest tourism mar-keting partnership in NSW’s history.

“This partnership with

Qantas is the cornerstone of our strategy to increase tour-ism to NSW, providing a boost to our economy and help-ing to create more jobs,” said O’Farrell. “We will be aggres-sively targeting big spending leisure and business travel-lers from overseas which will be a boon for our hotels, res-taurants and retail sector.”

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said, “We have seen a fan-tastic and tangible response to work we have done with Des-tination NSW in the past and we think working more closely will result in more people vis-iting NSW and flying Qantas.”

Sydney is getting ready to wel-come a new wave of next gener-ation tourists on its shores.

MTV’s online tourism arm is promoting the harbour city as one of the only five destina-tions showcased on its mtvtrav-elco.com site.

The tie-up will feature Syd-ney as the only city in the Asia-Pacific region on the site for the next two years.

The others cities are Lon-don, New York, Los Angeles and Berlin.

New South Wales Tourism Minister George Souris said it’s intended to attract a new group of tourists to Sydney shores.

“I am delighted that Sydney

will be showcased to a new gen-eration of travellers on MTV’s website,” he said in a statement.

“The Harbour City is the No.1 destination for inter-national visitors and the

partnership with MTV Travel Co will ensure that new audi-ences in key markets will see the best that Australia’s inter-national city has to offer,” he added.

MTV to promote Sydney tourism

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 • 16MIDDlE EAST

The 20th edition of Arabian Travel Market (ATM), which ended May 10 at Dubai Inter-national Convention and Exhi-bition Centre, focused on the challenges in the region’s rap-idly growing tourism sector, as well as technology and devel-opments in the industry.

In his inaugural address, Emirates Chairman and Pres-ident of Dubai Civil Aviation HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum highlighted the UAE’s key developments and achievements in travel over the last 20 years and spelt out the future plans for the city’s tour-ism growth.

Dubai’s ‘New Tourism Vision’ aims to double the num-ber of annual visitors over the next 8 years from 10 million in 2012 to 20 million in 2020.

“We are confident the DTCM is capable of achieving this, given the previous accom-plishments and positive results obtained,” he said.

According to His Excellency

Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), who spoke to Travel News Digest at the ATM, the tourism budget approved by UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohammed sets out ambitious plans to fur-ther increase tourist numbers and treble the economic contri-bution of tourism by 2020.

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the body that pro-motes responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tour-ism, was also present at ATM and set out a common agenda for air transport and tourism.

Google participated for the first time at ATM, and annouced the results of an independent study conducted by global market research com-pany Ipsos to better under-stand the decision-making process of travellers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The study revealed that users in both countries are

tech savvy and rely on mobiles and videos when making travel decisions.

A pivotal partner of ATM since its inception, Emir-ates group ended the show announcing a huge 34% rise in net profit for the financial year 2012-13. Net profit stands at Dh3.1 billion ($ 845 m).

Saudi Arabia, the neigh-bouring country of UAE, revealed it will relax visa rules to allow foreigners to visit cer-tain Islamic and historical sites as tourists.

Qatar also participated at ATM, showcasing its exclusive tourism products to the inter-national travel trade. Abdulla Albader, Director of Tourism with Qatar Tourism Author-ity, said the country’s upcom-ing summer campaign will revolve around attracting fam-ilies to the country.

In a significant development for the medical tourism sector in Abu Dhabi, U.S.-based well-ness specialist, DNA Health Corp, announced the open-ing of its first overseas flagship centre on Abu Dhabi’s Saadi-yat Island for residents and visitors looking for a differ-ent approach to personalised health and wellness.

India also participated in the event to showcase its rich cul-ture, natural beauty, vivid fes-tivals, exotic beaches and archi-tectural wonders to the global travel trade fraternity.

“In 2011, foreign tourist arrivals in India stood at 6.29 million, compared to 5.58 mil-lion in 2010. India Tourism has set a target of increasing the country’s share in world tourist arrivals from the current 0.5% to 1% by 2017 and has prepared a multi-pronged strategy. This includes the development of world class infrastructure and aggressive promotional and marketing activities,” Vikas Rustagi, Regional Director (West Asia and Africa), India Tourism, said.

20th edition of ATM addresses key industry issues

‘The future for ATM is assured’Mark Walsh, Portfolio Director at Reed Travel Exhibitions, organisers of ATM, speaks to Travel News Digest about the growth of the event after 20 years and looks to what we can expect from the future of travel trade shows

For more coverage, please go to page 30-31

In order to ensure the growth of the global travel market, the tourism and aviation sec-tors must work more closely together, said UNWTO

Secretary General Taleb Rifai.Speaking at the Ministerial

Forum at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai this month, Rifai said, “There were one

billion travellers globally in 2012, yet we still see the tour-ism and aviation industries that facilitate them working in paral-lel when they should be work-ing together.

“At least 50% of those one bil-lion travelled by air; the growth of tourism and aviation are intrinsically linked,” he added.

Some 25 ministers and air-line chiefs were present at the forum at which the growth and future of the tourism industry worldwide were discussed.

Rifai said the tourism and aviation sectors should adopt the Expo 2020 Dubai bid’s slo-gan ‘Connecting minds, cre-ating the future’ as its banner for building the industry in partnership.

1. This year was the 20th edition of the Arabian Travel Mar-ket. How did the success of the show compare to earlier years and how has the show grown over the years?

Over the past two decades Arabian Travel Market has grown significantly, in tandem with regional tourism. Look-ing back it seems incredible that an event that started with just 2,000 square metres in 1994 has grown to over 22,000 and now welcomes more than 20,000 trade visitors.

With this year being a landmark achievement, Arabian Travel Market has celebrated its 20th anniversary with a host of events and activities designed to raise awareness of the growth of the show and the travel and tourism indus-try over the past two decades.

Showcasing this was a special opening address present-ing the key accomplishments of Dubai and the UAE over the last 20 years in terms of developing its travel, tourism, aviation and hospitality infrastructure. The seminar, enti-tled ‘20 years: Now, Then and Tomorrow’ was led by key-note speaker H. H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President, CEO and Chairman, Department of Civil Avia-tion, The Emirates Group and Dubai World.

2. What was the overall footfall at the show this year? How many exhibitors participated and who were the newcomers to the event?

Preliminary figures show 2,982 exhibitors from 94 coun-tries across 22,000 sqm and 20,738 visitors. Final audited figures will be available at the end of May.

Turkey had taken an additional 25% exhibition floor space this year, with first-time exhibitors including two regional tourism bodies - the Bursa Eskişehir Bilecik Development Agency and Dogu Karadeniz Illeri Hizmet ve Kalkinma Birligi. Other new international exhibitors include Peru, Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, the Monaco Gov-ernment Tourism Bureau, Libya, Turismo de Portugal and BrandUSA.

3. How do you see this kind of event growing in the future?

Arabian Travel Market mirrors the tourism expansion within the region, and will look to continue to be the one stop shop for all inbound and outbound tourism require-ments, both regionally and internationally. Areas for inbound growth will include the increase in regional hotels brands exhibiting at the show, and for outbound tourism increased participation from Asia and The Americas tour-ism suppliers, who are targeting the affluent outbound tour-ist from the Middle East region.

Also, an ongoing assessment of growth will be subject to political and economic conditions at the time but we are planning to expand into Hall 5 by 2015. Considering the cur-rent positive growth estimates for the Middle East travel and tourism sector, the future for ATM and Middle East tourism is assured.

4. What do you see are the emerging markets for travel and trade exhibitions? Do you see India as a potential growth market?

China, India, Africa and South America are, I would say, the most predominant emerging markets for travel and trade exhibitions, all of which we at Reed are carefully monitoring.

UNWTO calls for more cooperation between airlines, tourist bodies

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 17

Air Arabia, the first and largest low-cost carrier in the Middle East and North Africa, celebrates nine years of successful operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Air Arabia launched its operations to KSA with regu-lar services to Jeddah in 2004.Since then the airline has seen rising demand for the great value for money that its prod-uct offers.

Currently, the budget air-line operates over 88 weekly

non-stop services from its two hubs – Sharjah in UAE, and Alexandria in Egypt – to eight destinations in Saudi Arabia. It has also announced their plans to launch non-stop services to Abha in Saudi Ara-bia from May 24.

Air Arabia celebrates nine years of operations in Saudi Arabia

IATA honours Qatar Airways for high safety standardsQatar Airways’ impecca-ble safety standards across the airline’s entire operations have been recognised by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on the 10th anniversary of IATA’s Operational Safety Audit Pro-gram (IOSA).

The safety audit is IATA’s stringent mandatory audit-ing program that assesses the operational management and control systems of member airlines worldwide and is an internationally recognised and accepted evaluation system.

Qatar Airways Chief Exec-utive Officer (CEO) Akbar Al Baker said the airline proudly became the first carrier world-wide to conform 100% with IATA’s safety audit when it was launched in 2003.

“Qatar Airways has taken part in IATA’s safety audit biennially for the past ten years, conforming 100% on every occasion, demon-strating our extremely high safety standards and highly effective operating systems,” Al Baker said.

“The safety and security of all our passengers and staff is our top priority and we are extremely proud of our safety record, setting a benchmark across the industry,” he said.

Indian travel agents got to witness the beauty of Oman on a FAM trip that was conducted by the Minis-try of Tourism, Sultanate of Oman in association with Oman Air. Travel agents from Mumbai, Delhi, Ban-galore and Chennai got first-hand exposure to the various activities that Oman offers and breathtaking scenery of the country.

The group travelled in

early April and visited the cit-ies of Muscat, Sur and Nizwa as well as the turtle reserve Ras Al-Jinz. They also got to experience camping in the desert at Wahiba Sands and up on the mountains in Eco Luxe tents at Jebel Shams.

These FAMs were used as a platform to showcase Oman’s cultural and natural unique-ness to travel agents and to promote Oman as a leisure destination in India.

Abu Dhabi advertises on Washington taxis to lure more visitorsTourism authorities in Abu Dhabi are expecting to wel-come more travellers from the capital of the United States by covering 150 taxis in Wash-ington DC with the emirate’s branding.

Abu Dhabi Tourism & Cul-ture Authority (TCA) claims the ‘tactical taxi promotion’ will reach more than half of the city’s residents over a four-week period. TCA is also branding the weather fore-cast on Washington’s popu-lar breakfast television show Good Morning America.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad

Airways began direct daily flights to Washington ear-lier this month. Abu Dhabi

is positioning the route as its ‘capital-to-capital’ service between the UAE and the U.S.

Dubai Tourism to open new office in BrazilDubai’s Department of Tour-ism and Commerce Mar-keting (DTCM) recently announced it will open a

representative office in Bra-zil as an integral part of its strategy to lure more visi-tors from the growing South

American market.The announcement was

made at the World Travel Market Latin America in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

“The opening of our first South American office dem-onstrates the importance we are placing in increasing rela-tionships with the tourism industry of this market. The office will focus on promoting Dubai as a leisure and MICE destination to the whole Latin and South American mar-ket, but specifically to Brazil and Argentina,” said Hamad Mohammed Bin Mejren, DTCM’s Executive Director Business Tourism.

Dubai-based Emirates Air-line operates direct flights to both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo and close to 40,000 Bra-zilians visited Dubai in 2012, a 28% increase on 2011.

Oman conducts FAM trips for Indian travel agents

A Turkish delegation recently visited Jordan to discuss rele-vant ways to improve coopera-tion in tourism between the two countries.

Jordan’s Secretary General of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Eisa Gammoh, met with the delegation, which repre-sents Turkish travel and tourism

agents, and briefed them on Jor-danian tourism attractions, as well as security and stability in the Kingdom.

Jordan is keen to enact the Free Trade Agreement, which aims to improve trade, economic and tourism cooperation, Eisa said.

Turkish Ambassador to

Jordan Sedat Onal, who was present at the meeting, called for closer tourism coopera-tion between the two countries, pointing to the recently launched Aqaba-Istanbul direct route and its anticipated role in increasing the amount of Turkish invest-ments and visitors in the Jorda-nian coastal city of Aqaba.

Jordan, Turkey discuss closer tourism cooperation

mIDDlE EAST •

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 • 18EuROpE

Belgium is to expand its net-work of visa application centres to six new places in India, taking the total number to nine.

New centres are to open in Chandigarh in Northern India and Kolkata in Eastern India, Chennai and Hyderabad in

Southern India, and Ahmed-abad and Pune in Western India. The existing visa appli-cation centres are in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

“Catering to the growing demand of Belgium-bound trav-ellers in the region, this strategic

move is aimed at offering new services, facilities and bene-fits to visa applicants, as well as boost tourism, trade and invest-ments, and bilateral ties with India,” Belgium Embassy com-mercial partner VFS Global said in a statement.

Belgium to open six more visa centres in India

Czech Republic to promote J&K tourismThe Czech Republic is to soon send its tour and travel oper-ators and media representa-tives on a familiarisation trip to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to encourage its citizens to visit the state.

During a meeting with J&K Tourism Minister Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Ambassador of the Czech Republic Miloslav Stasak offered his complete support to the state govern-ment for promotion and show-casing of the abundant tour-ism potential of the state.

The Ambassador

appreciated the efforts of the state government for promot-ing tourism by creating world class tourist infrastructure besides offering adventure and golf tourism for high end tourists.

The Ambassador also wel-comed the state government’s effort to bring back peace and normalcy in the state and emphasised that Jammu and Kashmir State was as safe as other parts of the world, so there should be no reserva-tions to any tourist to visit the state.

The European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) and the city of Athens joined forces to strengthen tourism to the cap-ital of Greece.

On April 22nd a delega-tion of nearly 60 tour opera-tors and buyers, roped in by ETOA, went to Athens for a familiarisation visit and took part in a workshop where each buyer or tour operators had a series of up to 32 meet-ings with relevant local sup-pliers, such as hotels and visi-tor attractions.

Athens provided delegates with a familiarisation visit that included stops at the Benaki Museum, National Gardens, Greek Parliament and the new Digital Planetarium.

“ETOA was founded by those companies that spe-cialised in bringing clients from around the world into Europe. These people sold

cities to their clients know-ing that European city cul-ture was unique. The Euro-pean city of Athens stands proud. It has been a must-see destination for three millennia and we welcome the opportu-nity to showcase that,” Tom Jenkins, Executive Director of ETOA said.

“The city of Athens is delighted to host and co-orga-nise the first Travel Trade Ath-ens workshop, in cooperation with the European Tour Oper-ators Association. Our coop-eration with ETOA, such an esteemed and high profile partner in the field of tourism internationally, has proven to be a valuable asset to the city’s effort to showcase Ath-ens effectively and reliably to the international tourism pro-fessionals’ community,” said George Broulias, member of the Athens City Council.

Greece expects tourism revenues to bounce back this yearGreek tourism revenues are expected to rebound this year to pre-crisis levels, the indus-try said recently following the return of political stability to the country.

Visitors from Germany, Brit-ain and Russia are expected to flock to the country.

The Mediterranean country has banked its hopes on its sun-drenched beaches and ancient monuments to pull the country out of a deep recession. Tour-ism is Greece’s biggest revenue-earner, accounting for about 17% of output.

Andreas Andreadis, head of Greece’s main tourism body

SETE (Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises), said tour-ism revenues are seen rising by up to 10% this year to 11 billion euros on the back of an expected record 17 million visitors.

“We are heading for a record year in terms of foreign tourist arrivals,” he said. “Our target of about 11 billion euros in direct revenues is feasible and we may even exceed it.”

Macedonia, Albania seek to develop Lake Ohrid tourism

Macedonia NGO Aureola and Albania’s Association of Women with Social Needs have joined hands to develop tour-ism in Lake Ohrid. Lake Ohrid overlaps the mountainous

border between south-western Macedonia and eastern Alba-nia. It is one of Europe’s deep-est and oldest lakes, preserving a unique aquatic ecosystem that is of worldwide importance, with more than 200 endemic species. By increasing the number of tourists to Lake Ohrid, the two countries hope to develop stron-ger cultural ties between resi-dents on both sides of the lake’s borders.

“We want to improve the image of the region, help create a strategic vision for economic and social development, improve the economy and cross-border co-operation,” Bajana Cheveli,

president of the Durres-based Association of Women with Social Needs, said.

Nurie Zhaku, the project co-ordinator, said Macedonia and Albania will jointly promote Lake Ohrid at well-known Euro-pean fairs.

“Our top priority is to adver-tise at tourism fairs in London and Munich. We have much to offer and only few people abroad know about it,” Zhaku said.

“Here, tourism lasts only two months, a short time for Lake Ohrid residents to live from tour-ism income. The region needs tourism for several months out of the year that will impact both countries’ economies and local economies. Only good infra-structure is missing, which must be improved,” Ruhije Sulla, pres-ident of Aureola NGO said.

ETOA and Athens collaborate to boost tourism

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 19

Manchester Airport has been named by travellers as the best in the UK, according to a survey by leading global travel search site Skyscanner.

Fifteen of the busiest air-ports in the UK were rated in a study by 1,600 British flyers. Manchester Airport, the third busiest in the country welcom-ing more than 9 million passen-gers each year, hits the top spot. It was voted as having the best customer service facilities and shopping as well as the best bars and restaurants. Passen-gers of the airport also lauded it for being well organised and passenger friendly.

London Gatwick Airport, Britain’s second busiest came in second place, with passengers

praising its staff and large check-in areas.

Manchester named best UK airport

Cyprus aims to attract tourists from the NetherlandsThe Cyprus Tourism Organ-isation (CTO) has recently held meetings with Dutch Travel Agents, tour opera-tors and journalists in a bid to strengthen tourism from the Netherlands.

CTO President Alekos Oroundiotis said the meet-ing was held as part of the strategy taken by the CTO to reverse the negative image cre-ated for Cyprus with relation to some recent events in the

country’s economy.He said there was a very

constructive discussion on how to achieve the common goal of increasing tourist arriv-als from the Netherlands and promoting the Cyprus tourist product in the Dutch market.

The CTO President said the Dutch tourist market is one of the best markets for Cyprus in Central Europe, noting that in 2011, tourist arrivals from the Netherlands reached 45,000.

New resort in Portugal to attract upmarket touristsPortugal’s efforts to revamp its tourism industry received a major boost with the announce-ment of plans for a new luxury

resort worth $121 million.The project on the Alentejo

coast south of Lisbon will be conducted by Aman resort and

spa, according to Espirito Santo Group, a conglomerate whose Rioforte subsidiary is develop-ing the project.

Tourism contributes almost 9.5% of Portugal’s GDP and is key to the government’s efforts to revive growth and generate a current account surplus.

Tourism Secretary Adolfo Mesquita Nunes said Portugal needed to do more to stand out in the competitive market. It is also important to show that Portugal has more to offer than its beaches.

“We are a strong player in the sun and sea market, but we have work to do to get a more diverse image of Portu-gal as a tourist destination,” Nunes said.

A new web portal has recently been launched with the aim of providing information to help physically challenged people who want to enjoy a holiday in the Maltese Islands.

The website, www.acces-sibletourismmalta.eu, will be constantly updated with rele-vant and new information high-lighting the various accessible resources that differently abled or elderly tourists may make use of to help ease the challenges of travelling.

The website is an integral part of ‘Accessible Culture For All’, a project co-financed by the EU which aims to raise aware-ness about social tourism and identify ways how to help the tourism industry to increase competitiveness by targeting new markets.

Website to promote Malta tourism for differently abled travellers

Austria reports massive growth in tourist arrivals from Middle EastThe Austrian National Tour-ist Office (ANTO), the coun-try’s national tourism organ-isation revealed that 2012 was the most successful year for Austrian tourism in the last

20 years and the country has emerged as a preferred desti-nation for tourists especially from the Middle East.

In the last 10 years, the number of guests from the Middle East visiting Aus-tria has grown exponentially by 664.6% and the number of overnights generated by them has grown by 519.3%.

ANTO participated at the Arabian Travel Market

(ATM) 2013, the Middle East region’s leading travel indus-try event.

“Austria has grown faster than any other European country in this market. We

are growing twice as fast as other popular European des-tinations like Germany or Switzerland. ANTO’s main objective is to promote the holiday country Austria and to secure and expand Aus-tria’s competitiveness in cooperation with all Austrian tourism partners,” said Klaus Ehrenbrandtner, ANTO’s Regional Director for Asia & Middle East.

EuROpE •

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 20 • EuROpE

Rome tour operators are com-ing up with special Pope Fran-cis-themed deals and packages to both lure tourists and cater to the increased demands from pilgrims.

“Pope Francis is the Church’s

new speculative asset aimed at drawing religious tourism,” said Pietro Tognazzi, adviser for sev-eral tour operators.

Elected in March, Pope Fran-cis, who hails from Buenos Aires, Argentina, has turned out to be

a stimulator for Rome’s ailing economy. Tourism increased by 10% at Easter, according to Feder-alberghi, the Italian hotels’ lobby. Local authorities expect thou-sands of pilgrims to flock to the capital as summer draws near.

The Bulgarian caretaker gov-ernment has given the green

light to an intergovernmental agreement for a checkpoint on

the Danube River Bridge con-necting Bulgaria’s Vidin to Cala-fat in Romania.

According to a press state-ment from the Bulgarian gov-ernment, a new checkpoint will be erected to facilitate tourists visiting both countries. A joint two-country authority will be established to run this check post.

The agreement will provide the necessary legal basis for the effective management of the bridge and cut down the period of reclamation of the funds invested in building the bridge.

Ireland’s Minister of State for Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport Alan Kelly TD, recently opened a 4km long cycle way between Ennistymon and Lahinch in County Clare, Ireland.

The Ennistymon–Lahinch Cycleway Project connects two of North Clare’s busiest towns and is expected to deliver a major boost to the county’s growing leisure tourism sector.

Welcoming the official open-ing of the cycle path, Mayor of Clare Councillor Pat Daly said, “This cycle path has huge potential to further increase the numbers of leisure tourists visiting County Clare in recent

years. The cycleway also serves as an important piece of recre-ational infrastructure for the people of the local community.

“For example, the track

will serve as a conveyor for many different types of user including pedestrians, com-muter cyclists, leisure cyclists and tourist cyclists. Further-more, schoolchildren will be able to avail of this new infra-structure which by virtue of the segregation will make the journey safer.”

New pope packages to draw pilgrim tourists

Poland aims to boost medical tourism

The Polish Medical Tour-ism Consortium, an indepen-dent body of Poland’s Minis-try of Economy, is stepping up efforts to draw large num-bers of medical tourists to the country. It is targeting poten-tial patients, insurance com-panies, government health departments, medical tourism providers, business organisa-tions and trade associations,

interested in sending patients from Russia, Germany, Den-mark, Sweden, Norway, UK and U.S. to Poland.

The government is back-ing the Polish medical tour-ism sector with a promotional campaign funded by the EU. The Ministry of Economy in Poland has identified medical tourism as one of 15 high export potential sectors.

The key advantages being promoted are easy access to high quality services at lower costs than in Western Europe. The costs of medical treat-ment in Poland can be up to 40% lower than Germany or the UK, and even lower com-pared to U.S. prices.

Spain remains top spot for golf tourism

Belarus, Lithuania to develop joint tourism projects

Danube River checkpost will connect Bulgaria and Romania

New cycle way in Ireland’s County Clare to boost leisure tourism

Spain continues to be the most preferred destination for golf tourism according to a recent survey by KPMG’s Golf Advi-sory Practice. KPMG is one of the largest financial services companies in the world. The lush green of Spain is the key attraction for golfers in this European country.

With global golf holiday sales increasing by 9.3% in 2012 compared to the previous year, there are plenty of opportuni-ties to cash in from this grow-ing market.

It has been reported that golf-linked tourists possess a higher purchasing power and spend more than regular visitors. These holidaymak-ers come mainly from the UK, Germany, northern Europe, Ireland and Central Europe.

Belarus and Lithuania have stepped up efforts to develop joint tourism projects, Ambas-sador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Lithuania to Belarus Evaldas Ignatavi-cius told the media.

A Lithuanian delega-tion headed by the Ambassa-dor was recently in Grodno Oblast on a visit. The Lithu-anian guests met with senior officials of the Grodno Oblast Executive Committee to dis-cuss the relevant ways for further cooperation. One of the key areas for cooperation between the two countries is

tourism, predominantly the exchange of foreign tourists.

The ambassador believes the two countries can create a joint product - a tourist pack-age, which would allow for-eign tourists visiting Lithuania to go on a trip to neighbouring Belarus and vice versa. This is especially useful for the Belarusian-Lithuanian fron-tier regions.

The Ambassador empha-sised that Lithuania has been doing its best to promote tourism. Last year Lithua-nia received almost 400,000 Belarusian visitors.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 21

Iceland tourism is witnessing a boom in bus rental services among tourists visiting the country. This mode of trans-port offers the unique oppor-tunity for exploration of Ice-land’s exciting hotspots and landmarks.

The demand of bus rental services generally increases during the cruise ship season in Iceland – between April and August – because most tour-ists prefer to avail of this ser-vice to reach the port. These buses can hold large number of passengers and provide the scope to enjoy a customised travel experience.

Bustravel, a popular bus rental company in Iceland,

offers three different sized vehicles depending on the needs of the visitor. The com-pany offers a mini bus (12-25 people), a coach (40-50 people),

and a large bus (60+ people). Each of its buses is equipped with everything needed for a relaxing and enjoyable travel-ling experience.

Iceland tourism sees increase in bus rental popularity

Tourism poster from 1930s up for auction An image of York which was used to attract American tour-ists to spend more money in Britain more than 80 years ago is going up for auction.

The poster, which captures York Minster and Bootham Bar, was one of many distrib-uted in the U.S. and British territories as part of a tour-ism drive backed by Winston Churchill to encourage more tourists to come to the UK.

Photographer John Dixon-Scott took the picture shortly after the 14th century building had been renovated and saved from demolition.

Now, the poster, along with 50 others from the series,

is going under the hammer in England after recently being uncovered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Auctioneer Patrick Bogue said, “Just months before the stock market crash of 1929, the Travel Association of Brit-ain and Northern Ireland was founded by Lord Waldorf Astor and Winston Churchill to increase the amount of American money spent in the United Kingdom by tourists.

“In the late 1930s the Travel Association hired the best photographers to document the scenes of Great Britain including Scotland and North-ern Ireland.”

Turkish Airlines has dis-allowed air hostesses from wearing brightly coloured lipstick such as red or pink. The move has triggered fierce debate with the accu-sation of trying to Islamise the country.

Turkish Airlines defended the ban, saying in a statement recently that “simple make-up, immaculate and in pas-tel colours, is preferred for staff working in the service sector.”

In recent months the

airline, 49% state-owned, has also stopped serving alcohol on internal flights.

Numerous women posted pictures of themselves wear-ing bright red lipstick on social media websites to pro-test the measure.

Turkey’s tourism revenue jumps nearly 40% in first quarter

Turkey’s tourism revenues improved by nearly $5 bil-lion in the first quarter of the year, with a 38.6% increase on the previous year, Turk-ish Statistical Institution data showed.

The tourism income rose thanks to tourist numbers increasing by 18.7%, sur-passing 5 million in total in

three months.Revenues have surged

due to a sharp increase in tourists as well as their indi-vidual average expenditure, which was $982 per person.

While 72.5% of the income for the period was obtained from foreign visitors, 27.5% was obtained from citizens residing abroad.

Top Turkish companies’ workers to get UK visa easily The United Kingdom is set to ease visa restrictions for the employees of 500 com-panies, including many Turkish firms with large turn-overs and UK-based firms operating in Turkey, UK General Consul to Istan-bul Leigh Turner announced recently.

Workers of the listed 500 companies would get visas by just presenting a document that proved their workplace, he said.

“This scheme will facilitate conducting busi-ness between Turkey and the United Kingdom further,” Turner added.

Turkish Airlines prohibits its flight attendants from wearing bright lipstick

EuROpE •

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 • 22AmERICAS

Colorado eyes agritourism to boost rural economiesColorado is hoping agricul-tural tourism will signifi-cantly boost rural economies.

A plan recently unveiled by the Colorado Tourism Office and the Colorado Depart-ment of Agriculture provides a comprehensive three-year road map for the develop-ment of the state’s agritour-ism industry.

Agritourism refers to any activity that brings people to a farm, including pumpkin picking, farmers markets, corn mazes, winery tours and farm-stay holidays.

Many Colorado farms already offer these tourism opportunities, said Wendy White, a marketing special-ist with the Department of Agriculture, but the plan now intends to increase the industry education and pub-lic awareness.

“We wanted to provide

the public with the informa-tion for all the things that are available to see and do in rural Colorado,” she said. “We want them to know they don’t have to travel far to experience some of these really unique activities.”

The plan also suggests that Colorado Tourism Office develop a mentor programme to assist farmers and ranchers who want to get into the agri-tourism business or want to improve their offerings. The report also lays out extensive plans for regional and inter-national roadshows to high-light thriving agritourism businesses.

The goal is to bring more domestic and international tourists and eventually more money to rural farms, which are often neglected in favor of the Rocky Mountains or other outdoor recreational activities.

‘Colombia, Magical Realism’ highlights unique attractions

Kentucky tourism revenue hits $12.2 billion in 2012

Colombia’s Ministry of Com-merce, Industry and Tourism recently announced a new tour-ism campaign called, ‘Colom-bia, Magical Realism’.

The campaign intends to lure more visitors to the coun-try and highlights the exam-ples of 25 unique experiences in Colombia to tempt foreigners.

Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Sergio Diaz-Granados announced that the new international pro-motion campaign follows the strong growth experienced by the tourism sector over the past few years.

“We want to show interna-tional visitors what it is really like in the country, the magic that people find here and the great work that has gone into infrastructure, training

and the development of proj-ects and destinations,” said Diaz-Granados.

According to the minister, last year more than 3 million foreigners visited Colombia, which reportedly generated 96,000 jobs. These figures should increase manifold in 2013 as the minister believes

‘Colombia, Magical Realism’ will help to establish Colom-bia as a world-class destina-tion and draw approximately 3.6 million international trav-ellers by the end of 2013.

“We cannot claim Colom-bia as an excellent destination without working to strengthen the sector through focused development. The campaign is accompanied by public and private efforts which guaran-tee the success of the destina-tion,” added the minister.

The campaign, which has an initial budget of $7.1 mil-lion, focuses on attractions in Colombia related to nature, adventure, the beach, cul-ture and nautical activities as well as marketing Colombia as a business and convention destination.

In a new initiative to help trav-ellers explore the past of the state, the Alabama Tourism Department has introduced its first app for smart phones designed to take tourists in a tour of civil rights landmarks across Alabama.

State Tourism Director Lee Sentell said the app is for the Alabama Civil Rights Trail. He said it offers a convenient way for visitors to explore the people, places and events surrounding the fight for

equal rights.The app includes sites in

several cities, including Bir-mingham, Montgomery, Selma and Tuskegee. It also includes an interactive time-line and a calendar of events happening in Alabama this year.

The Tourism Depart-ment said the app can be downloaded for free by visit-ing the App Store for iPhone users or Google Play for the Android market.

Tourism brought more than $12.2 billion to Kentucky’s economy, Gov. Steve Bes-hear and tourism officials announced recently.

That is a 4.4% increase from 2011, according to the Kentucky Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Cabinet. The tourism industry employed 174,000 people in 2012, the survey showed, an increase of 4,078 jobs from the previous year. Those jobs created $2.7 billion in wages, an increase

of $117 million over the previ-ous year.

“The Kentucky tourism

industry continues to do well, which is good news for all of us,” Beshear said in a state-ment. “These figures illus-trate the importance of tour-ism in Kentucky as well as in communities big and small across the Commonwealth.”

Alabama launches civil rights tourism app

Travellers across the globe are most concerned about safety and price while choosing a holi-day destination, according to the findings of Global CNN Travel research.

A global study of CNN con-sumers’ travel perceptions and behavioural trends showed that safety and security remains the prime concern when selecting an international travel destina-tion, for more than two thirds of global respondents.• 67% say ‘safety and security’

matters most• 60% are ‘price’ driven• 58% are driven by ‘reputation’• 55% say ‘knowledge and

availability of information’ matters most

• 54% are driven by ‘diversity of things to do/amenities’“Destination branding has

become one of the most com-petitive aspects of today’s tour-ism industry and these insights are valuable for countries look-ing to market themselves as the destination of choice for

travellers,” Didier Mormesse, Senior Vice President, Ad Sales Research, Development & Audi-ence Insight at CNN Interna-tional, said.

“That safety and security is significantly more important for respondents than the cost of travel, even in austere times, is an indicator that, in times of regional unrest, the pendulum

has swung. With reputation also a key factor, tourist boards will clearly continue to have a vital role to play in shaping international perceptions of their country to encourage tour-ism growth,” he added.

Price comes second in travel decision making, reflecting the continuing impact of the eco-nomic crisis on consumers.

Security top priority for today’s tourists: CNN survey

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 23 AmERICAS •

NH to expand ‘Live Free…’ campaign beyond tourism

The tourism campaign for New Hampshire rolled out a year ago is showing such great results it may be expanded to economic devel-opment and other areas, a state official said recently.

The ‘Live Free and ….’ is a fill-in-the-blank play on the state’s longstanding ‘Live Free or Die’ slogan. The state has used many variations including ‘Live Free and Play,’ ‘Live Free and Explore’ in its advertising, and attractions

statewide have been incor-porating their own twist on it.

State Travel and Tourism Director Lori Harnois said the campaign has helped boost tourism spending, which increased to $4.4 bil-lion in the last fiscal year.

Jeff Rose, commis-sioner of the Department of Resources and Economic Development, said he plans to use a similar approach to attract new businesses to the state.

Travellers flying on Alaska Airlines will now get to enjoy new comfortable aircraft seats that feature a personal space-enhancing design and are equipped with power outlets. The airline is to soon finalise a decision to enhance inflight entertainment system that will allow customers to watch mov-ies, television shows and other programming streamed to any Wi-Fi-enabled device.

The $100 million project to upgrade the cabins on all of Alaska’s Boeing 737-800, 900 and 900ER aircraft is expected to be finished by the end of 2014.

“Passengers have responded very favorably to the innovative and comfortable Recaro seats on our 737-900ERs. Two other features we know they want the

most are power for their elec-tronic devices and enhanced inflight entertainment,” said Joe Sprague, Alaska Airlines’ Vice President of marketing. “Upgrading our other next generation 737 aircraft with

Recaro seats, along with add-ing seat power and an improved inflight entertainment system, will complement our award-winning personal service and make flying more enjoyable for our customers.”

The Guatemalan Tourism Institute (INGUAT) will increase the promotion of the country as a destination for

foreign visitors with the aim of boosting the economy.

The markets of the United States, Canada and Mexico,

as well as El Salvador and Honduras, are the primary areas for promoting Guate-mala as a vacation destina-tion, INGUAT director Pedro Duchez said.

The tourism plan for 2013 includes developing the infra-structure of different tourist sites and strengthening the position of the Central Amer-ican country’s tourism online since 95% of the travel book-ings by prospective tourists are done via the Internet.

Convention tourism, cruise ship stops, adventure tour-ism, ecotourism and sports are some of the market seg-ments Guatemala will push to attract foreigners.

Guatemala relying on tourism to boost economy

Alaska Airlines upgrading its aircraft interior

U.S. Airways upgrading international travel experiences

U.S. Airways is taking all the necessary steps to make international travel more comfortable and conve-nient with several in-flight enhancements starting this spring and summer.

Beginning this May, pas-sengers travelling in the economy cabin will receive complimentary headsets and complimentary wine with their main meal on flights to and from Europe, the Middle East and South America. Earlier this month, the airline also expanded DineFresh, its premium meal option paired with wine to select flights. DineFresh meals must be pre-ordered at least 24 hours prior to departure.

In July, U.S. Airways is to introduce new amenity kits in Envoy, its international business class. The airline has teamed up with Red Flower, a New York-based, eco-friendly beauty and life-style brand, to offer passen-gers travelling in Envoy a soft exclusive jute-lined bag filled with delicately scented botanical products made to provide an instant sense of invigoration.

“We’ve invested in improvements that will make international travel for business and leisure customers more comfort-able and convenient,” said Andrew Nocella, U.S. Air-ways’ Senior Vice President, Marketing and Planning.

Virgin Galactic’s passenger space plane, which is specif-ically designed to take tour-ists to the border of space, flew its first rocket-powered test flight recently, break-ing the sound barrier at high altitude.

The test now officially marks Virgin Galactic’s entry into the final phase of vehicle testing prior to the launching of commercial services from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

“For the first time, we were able to prove the key compo-nents of the system,” said Vir-gin Galactic founder Sir Rich-ard Branson in a statement. “Today’s supersonic suc-cess opens the way for rapid

expansion … with a very real-istic goal of full space flight by the year’s end.”

More than 500 people

have already reserved seats and paid a deposit on the $200,000 ticket price for few minutes of suborbital flight.

Space tourism endeavor passes important test

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 24 • AmERICAS

Mexico, EU agree to boost tourism cooperation

Los Angeles is attempting to reduce the number of cars on its roads. With over 120 miles of new bike ways created within the city of Los Angeles in the last two years and increased metro transit options, people are less

keen on using their own cars. Beginning this April 22, the Los Angeles Tourism & Con-vention Board (LA Tourism) invites travellers to take part in this green movement with the launch of ‘Car Free LA,’ an

eco-friendly initiative designed to showcase the city’s extra-ordinary car-free offerings.

‘Car Free LA’ features a wide range of meticulously-designed itineraries focused on exploring Los Angeles’ var-ious neighbourhoods on foot, bike and public transportation while popularising the city’s iconic attractions, vibrant music scene, historic architecture, arts and culture, diverse cuisine and endless entertainment.

These self-guided itinerar-ies provide visitors the required tools they need to navigate the city without relying on a car. In addition to saving money on fuel, travellers can add time to their vacations and explore a different side of Los Angeles they might otherwise overlook from behind the wheel.

los Angeles Tourism launches ‘Car Free lA’

Mexico and the European Union (EU) have joined forces to develop coopera-tion in the tourism sector, the Mexican Ministry of Tour-ism said.

“Europe represents a key market for the growth of tourism in Mexico,” Mexi-can Tourism Minister Clau-dia Ruiz Massieu said.

The Mexican government is working to “consolidate a

larger international pres-ence with increased trade and investment flows, and tourism is a priority due to its great capacity to spur economic development,” the minister added.

In January 2012, Mexi-co’s Tourism Ministry and the European Commission signed a joint declaration to strengthen tourism cooper-ation between the two sides.

Passenger guide to safe pet travel released

The Association for Airline Pas-senger Rights (AAPR) recently released its online publication, ‘Passenger Guide to Pet Safe Travel’.

The guide, which is published

as part of a strategic partnership with TripsWithPets (TWP) pro-vides airline passengers with information, helpful tips and resources intended to make pet- safe flying more achievable. The

guide is being made available for free for all airline passengers.

The guide includes infor-mation about pet-related inci-dents, pet health and immun-isation requirements, general airline information, cabin and cargo requirements, security procedures, service animals for passengers with disabilities and other resources.

“There is a lot to take into consideration when flying with pets, including varying air-line policies, getting through security check-points, pet friendly areas at airports and legal requirements, to name a few,” said Brandon M. Macsata, Executive Director AAPR. “We hope that airline passengers find our new travel guide use-ful when planning trips with their furry friend. It is a must-have resource considering all of the little things that go into pet safe travel.”

Connecticut’s 169 towns competing to draw tourism

Connecticut’s 169 towns are com-peting hard with each other to promote tourism in the state as part of the state’s spring market-ing campaign that includes tour-ism and business development advertising.

Residents can vote for their favourite town on the state’s ‘Visit Connecticut’ Facebook page. Des-tinations, attractions and busi-nesses also are encouraged to mobilise their towns to vote.

The town that wins the most votes will be featured in a two-minute video on Facebook.

Using all the towns in Con-necticut is seen as a way to draw tourists to historic and cultural sites, shopping and other activi-ties in the towns.

Peru and Mexico recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in the tourism sector and increase the flow of visitors.

The agreement was signed after a meeting between Peru-vian President Ollanta Hum-ala and his Mexican counter-part Enrique Pena Nieto at the Government Palace in Lima.

The MoU states that both countries will jointly work to increase tourist flows, mainly

involving cultural, luxury, adventure, nature and sports tourism.

Peru and Mexico also decided to endorse the imple-mentation of student training programmes and professional exchanges in the tourism sector.

The Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism and the Mexican Secretariat of Tourism will supervise and monitor the implementation of the agreement.

Peru, Mexico sign cooperation agreement on tourism

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 25

Louisiana attracted more than 26 million visitors in 2012, breaking a previous record set in 2003.

Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne announced the new numbers recently at the state museum in Baton Rouge.

Dardenne said the num-bers clearly indicate that the state’s tourism sector is gaining momentum. The numbers were released on an annual study by the University of New Orleans Hospitality Research Centre.

The study said 26.6 million people visited Louisiana in 2012, spending $10.7 billion compared to the 25.5 million people who visited in 2011 and spent $10 billion.

In 2003, the first year of the study, 26.2 million visitors came to Louisiana and spent $9.4 billion.

Dardenne said the increase in visitors last year resulted in the creation of 8,000 new tour-ism jobs and generated $665 mil-lion in state tax revenue.

louisiana breaks state tourism record with over 26 million visitors

Utah launches new $3.1 million tourism campaignThe Utah Office of Tourism is launching a $3.1 million regional television advertis-ing campaign to promote the state’s five national parks.

The spring and sum-mer advertising campaign, dubbed the ‘Mighty Five’, will include commercials aired in Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix, Portland, San Fran-cisco and Seattle, as well as a social media campaign. Also large digital billboards will appear on the sides of build-ings in Denver, San Francisco

and Los Angeles.“Utah’s five stunning

national parks contribute to Utah’s economy in a mean-ingful way by creating much-needed jobs and impacting local economies in surround-ing areas,” Gov. Gary Herbert said in a statement announc-ing the new effort to draw additional tourists to the state.

The Utah Office of Tourism indicated that even during the recent economic downturn visits to the state’s five national parks increased steadily.

Nevada adopts new advertising sloganThe state of Nevada is getting re-branded with the slogan ‘Nevada: A world within. A state apart.’ Governor Brian Sandoval said “I think it’s awesome and it has cap-tured the essence of Nevada.

The wide open spaces, Lake Tahoe, Red Rock, every-thing that we’re proud of as Nevadans.”

“Tourists will come here and see all the many things that they can do,” Sandoval said. “They can have these authentic experiences that they cannot get anywhere else in the world.”

The branding emphasises Nevada’s diverse culture,

business-friendly environ-ment, natural beauty, and unique personality.

The campaign conceived by Y&R advertising agency comes as Nevada prepares to celebrate its 150th year of

statehood in 2014.The television ad cam-

paign kicked off April 15 in Nevada’s core tourism mar-kets — Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix.

State tourism direc-tor Claudia Vecchio said the umbrella message will appear on state agency bro-chures and literature. More than 52 million people visited Nevada last year.

Wisconsin Tourism has released its new television advertising campaign, ‘C’mon in. It’s easy.’

The new 30-second ad fea-tures ‘Airplane!’ actor Robert Hays playing a puzzled fisher-man and was directed by Hol-lywood veteran David Zucker.

The promotional advert will begin airing in May 2013.

Wisconsin Tourism revealed that the state’s tourism indus-try generated U.S. $16 billion in sales during 2011.

Governor Scott Walker has proposed to increase funding to promote tourism by 1.4% over the next two years, injecting a

further U.S. $500,000 into the local economy.

“Wisconsin has got

unbelievable attractions… we are proud to show them off,” Gov Walker said.

Wisconsin launches new tourism campaign

Missouri unveils new tourism campaign to draw more visitors

Missouri’s tourism division is adopting a new marketing strategy to draw more visitors to the state.

State Tourism Director Katie Steele Danner said Mis-souri is a top 15 state for tour-ism. She revealed that Mis-souri has marketed itself as

being relaxed, homely, tra-ditional and charming … but now it is time to think in a dif-ferent way.

The new ad campaign that begins in April show-cases Missouri’s arts, culture, sports, theme parks, fishing, wineries etc.

The Division of Tour-ism, part of the Department of Economic Development, reports tourism in Mis-souri brought in $462 million for the state’s general reve-nue fund in fiscal year 2012, which was more than the projected amount.

AmERICAS •

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 • 26

Egypt is open to visitors who drink alcohol and wear biki-nis, Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou has said, as the country aims to boost tourist arrivals.

Zaazou said the government had ‘optimistic goals’ for the tourism sector and dismissed the comments from radical Salafi Muslim groups who demanded a ban on alcohol and women wearing swimsuits.

Tourism is a strong pillar of the Egyptian economy but has suffered a setback since a pop-ular uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

“Bikinis are welcome in Egypt and booze is still being served,” Zaazou said during a visit to the United Arab Emir-ates (UAE).

“We had talks with these Salafi groups and now they understand the importance of

the tourism sector, but still you have some individuals who are not from the leadership say-ing these things,” added the minister.

Islamist President Mohamed

Morsi’s government hiked taxes on alcohol in Decem-ber last year but backed down after the move was criticised by the tourism sector and by liberals.

Booze, bikinis are welcome in Egypt: Tourism minister

Egypt opens alcohol-free hotelThe Egyptian Tourism Authority recently celebrated the opening of an alcohol-free hotel at the popular beach resort of Hurghada – a move they believe will lure conser-vative Muslim tourists to a region popular with foreign and local visitors.

Le Roi Hotel is one of the first dry hotels to open on Egypt’s Red Sea coast.

Many do worry such hotels could deter foreign tourists, whose numbers dropped sharply after the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Liberals, on the other hand, voice concerns that Islamists who came to power in 2012

were seeking to limit personal freedoms and impose conser-vative ideology.

However, Yasser Kamal, the owner of the hotel, dis-missed any such assumptions.

“The idea of launching a hotel without alcohol is not to adhere to any particular move-ment but rather to provide a new kind of tourism,” he said.

A YouTube video showed

hotel managers celebrating the launch by lining up bottles of alcohol outside the building before pouring out their con-tents and smashing them.

The hotel, which has 134 rooms and 35 suites, has allo-cated the top floor and a swim-ming pool to women only.

A new umbrella body for all tourism associations in Namibia to be called Feder-ation of Namibian Tourism Association (Fenata) has been established with properly defined objectives that include lobbying government and act-ing as the voice of the tourism industry.

The association will be

chaired by Ruddie Putter.The new committee mem-

bers will serve a two-year term, while the two additional members Roswitha Lowe and Almut Kronsbein will only serve one-year terms each.

The newly established body, which will operate as a voluntary association, recently adopted a new constitution.

Egypt resumes hot air balloon rides after two monthsEgypt resumed hot air bal-loon sightseeing in the ancient city of Luxor recently, weeks after an accident led authori-ties to halt the flights.

Mohammed Ibrahim Sherif, head of the civil

aviation authority, said the first hot air balloon was launched in the southern city after safety measures required by his office were implemented. He said five out of seven companies have been

allowed to resume the flights.Luxor governor Ezzat

Saad, who boarded the first balloon with several British, Australian and Arab tourists, said he was pleased with the resumption, and considers the activity “one of the most important touristic aspects of the city.”

Authorities suspended flights after 19 tourists were killed on February 26 when their balloon caught fire and crashed in a sugar cane field. One British tourist survived, along with the balloon’s pilot. Both were injured.

The disaster occurred as the balloon was landing. Initial investigations sug-gested the fire broke out when a landing cable tore a fuel tube used to fire the burner that heats the balloon’s air.

Egypt signs tourism agreement with Iraqi KurdistanEgypt’s Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou has signed an agreement with his Iraqi coun-terpart Dilshad Shahab in Iraq’s Kurdistan to enhance tourism cooperation.

In the first official Egyp-tian visit to Kurdistan, Zaazou invited his counterpart to visit Egypt to discuss the matter further.

In Kurdistan Zaazou dis-cussed several issues that aim at cancelling the entry-visa and increasing flight connections between Iraq and Egypt in order to boost tourism.

New tourism umbrella body established in Namibia

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TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 28 • AfRICA

Mauritius is mulling increas-ing the number of flights from India with the intention to tap the growing tourist traf-fic from the country. Mauri-tius has witnessed a boom in

tourist arrivals from India in recent years. In 2012, as many as 55,197 Indian tourists vis-ited Mauritius, a significant improvement from the previ-ous year’s figures.

“One more flight would be added in December 2013 from Mumbai. Mauritius has an approval to operate 14 flights in a week. We currently have seven flights in a month and would increase the number as footfall from India is on the rise,” Vijaye Haulder, Deputy Director, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), said.

“We expect a 10% growth in tourist arrivals by conducting road shows in India in 2013,” Haulder added.

Mauritius Tourism Pro-motion Authority (MTPA) recently conducted a roadshow in Bangalore. The board aims to target 1 lakh tourists from India in the coming months.

The Tunisian National Tour-ist Office (TNTO) has recently launched its first-ever tour-ism ad campaign to lure tour-ists from the UK and Europe. Aimed at bringing more visi-tors from the UK and continen-tal Europe, the innovative new ad campaign showcases the variety that Tunisia has to offer travellers.

The ad, broadcast over diverse range of channels, will portray all that is truly enthrall-ing about Tunisia, including the country’s history, ancient archaeology, white-sandy beaches and world class luxury hotels.

Tourism numbers so far this year show March witnessed an increase of more than 1% of arrivals from the UK, and first quarter numbers show a 20% gain for Q1 compared to 2012.

“We are very excited about

the launch of this European-wide campaign and I feel confi-dent about its potential impact on consumers. Initial feedback is promising and encouraging. Since tourism started in Tuni-sia in the early 1960s, the des-tination has managed to over-come all sorts of crises. Tourism

figures for 2013 are looking strong and we hope that with the aid of our campaign and our partners’ commitment, we can look forward to welcoming more visitors from the UK and the rest of Europe,” Wahida Jaiet, TNTO director, UK & Ireland, said.

Mauritius aims to increase tourist arrivals from India

Tunisia kick-starts first big tourism campaign

Foreign visitor numbers up 10% in South AfricaForeign tourist arrivals to South Africa grew by 10.2% year-on-year to almost 9.2 million in 2012, more than double the global average of around 4%, President Jacob Zuma announced recently.

“In 1993, South Africa received a mere 3.4 million foreign visitors,” Zuma said. “By 2012, the figure had grown 300% to 13.5 million visitors, of which 9.2 million were tourists.”

Zuma further empha-sised the “country’s phenom-enal tourism growth was evi-dence that we are successfully

setting ourselves apart in a competitive marketplace. It indicates that South Africa’s reputation as a friendly, wel-coming, inspiring and unique tourism destination continues to grow.”

Zuma also thanked the South African citizens for being warm and welcom-ing to foreign visitors. “In addition to the beauty of our country and its outstand-ing facilities, it is because South Africans treat visitors warmly and hospitably that we see such positive results,” he said.

Rwanda Development Board prepares Musanze cave for touristsThe Rwanda Development Board’s (RDB) Tourism and Conservation Department is to transform a famous cave in Musanze district into a

tourism site.This was recently announced

by Rica Rwigamba, the head of Rwanda Tourism and Conser-vation Department while on

a tour at the site together with tour operators to assess the progress.

“We have been planning this for a while. Our target is to increase tourism prod-ucts; caves are part of products attracting tourists. We want to discuss with tour operators to help us let tourists know about our new products,” said Rwigamba, adding that within a month, they will announce the price of touring the cave after the consultations with tour operators.

Rwigamba also urged local leaders to help in conserva-tion of the cave by preventing people from dumping wastes or anything that can pollute the cave.

South Africa tourism looks beyond the safari

South Africa is stepping up efforts to become one of the world’s top 20 tourism des-tinations by 2020, the coun-try’s Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said recently.

Business and leisure tourism is a major focus for the South African govern-ment, Van Schalkwyk said. “It is by the fastest growing segment in our economy — 9.6% — and we intend that to be in the double digits soon,”

he added.To reach that goal, he

explained, the country will have to show both business and leisure travellers that the country has much more to offer than just the safaris for which it is famous.

“We have to transform South Africa from a safari destination,” Van Schalk-wyk said. This means focus-ing on business tourism and emerging markets among other strategies, he added.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 • 29

The Bermuda Department of Tourism has kick-started the first phase of a booking engine tool on the destination’s official website, GoToBermuda.com, to provide visitors with a more efficient and comprehensive trip-planning and purchasing experience.

The new system signifi-cantly improves the process of finding and booking accommo-dation. Consumers at any stage of the travel planning process may search and choose based on location or type of desired property, including cottages, hotels, inns and bed and break-fasts, suites and apartments. When completely ready to book or purchase, visitors can easily find the booking appli-cation on any page throughout the site, which also provides the best available rate at no additional fee.

According to Minister of Tourism Development and Transport Shawn Crockwell, the goal of the new web tool is not only to improve the visitor experience but to increase sales and lend support to hotels and attractions.

“We believe this new tool makes planning a trip to

Bermuda easier than ever and will help lead the consumer more effectively from the plan-ning to the booking stage,” he said. “We believe our visitors can spend less time worrying about the planning process and more time looking for-ward to the great vacation that awaits them.”

Bermuda tourism launches online booking tool

Dominican Republic sees surge in tourism from Russia

Tirun Travel Marketing celebrates 20 years of association with Royal Caribbean International

The Dominican Republic’s tourism sector is witnessing significant growth from Rus-sia, according to Radhames Martínez Aponte, Deputy Minister of Tourism in the country.

The minister said the coun-try saw a massive arrival of Russian tourists last year, with a total of around 164,000 in 2012.

That growth remains robust thus far in 2013, with Russia overtaking Germany

in fourth place among global source markets to the Domin-ican Republic.

The Russian boom is a result of stepped-up efforts in tourism promotion, the min-ister said, as the Dominican Republic looks to new source markets.

“Right now, the Russian market is in expansion,” he said. Overall, the Domini-can Republic’s tourism indus-try saw overall growth of around 4.95% in 2012.

Tirun Travel Marketing, syn-onymous with the concept of cruise vacations for Indian trav-ellers, has been making waves in the industry for the last 20 years as the exclusive representative of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in the country.

The company pioneered and continues to promote cruise travel among Indian travellers

and offers an exciting portfolio of three leading cruise brands - Royal Caribbean Interna-tional, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises that are India’s gateway to 34 spectacu-lar cruise ships, sailing to 460 destinations.

Royal Caribbean Interna-tional, a Norwegian and Amer-ican cruise line brand based in Miami, operates the world’s largest floating cities that are brimming with activities for every age including Broadway-inspired shows, the Dream-Works experience and soon to be added first-at-sea inno-vations, like sky-diving, bum-per cars and more. The cruise line that already enjoys domi-nance in Alaska, Europe and the Caribbean, has now added

another feather to its cap by deploying the largest cruise ship in Asia this year - Mariner of the Seas.

Stretching more than a thousand feet in length, Mari-ner of the Seas, the largest and most innovative cruise ship to be based in Asia can carry 3114 guests on double occupancy.

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said “In the past one year, Royal Caribbean International’s guest capacity in Asia has witnessed a threefold increase and our regional cruise offering has been augmented with two Voyager Class ships. We are pleased to bring more opportunities closer to home for Indian travellers”.

The Chief Executive of Tirun Travel Marketing, MS. Ratna Chadha has been instrumental in bringing exclusive cruise hol-idays experiences to the Indian travellers. She has revolution-ised the concept of cruise vaca-tions in India over the past two decades.

MS. Chadha has over 35 years of experience within the travel industry, having worked with various leading travel brands during her career.

U.S. Virgin Islands to tap Scandinavian marketDenmark and the wider Scandi-navian market will continue to be a predominant tourism mar-ket for the United States Virgin Islands (USVI).

USVI Tourism Commis-sioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty, who was recently in Denmark on an official visit, said the Scan-dinavian countries generate more than 16,900 annual visitor

arrivals to the territory. She said the prospects for growing the market were encouraging.

Nicholson-Doty, who also is chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, met with leading trade and media houses in Denmark.

“It’s been busy here in Den-mark; [we’re] solidifying our historical ties as we seek to

increase our arrivals from the Danish and the wider Scan-dinavian market,” Nicholson-Doty said.

Trinidad and Tobago Tour-ism Minister Stephen Cadiz suggested recently that the Caribbean’s political leader-ship should hold a regional forum on tourism.

Cadiz, speaking at the con-clusion of the 14th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sus-tainable Tourism Develop-ment, said the tourism indus-try in the Caribbean needed full support from the regions’ government.

“There are islands in the Caribbean whose econo-mies depend 100% on tour-ism,” he said. “And yet still,

where is the support from the leadership?”

Beverly Nicholson-Doty, the Tourism Commissioner of the United States Virgin

Islands and Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organiza-tion, said that the issue of tour-ism needed to be higher on the list of regional priorities.

Trinidad’s Tourism Minister suggests regional forum on tourism

Nevis’ first quarter tourism earnings for 2013 show positive growthTourism revenue for Nevis at the end of the first two months of 2013, witnessed an increase of 13% over the correspond-ing period for 2012 and a 39% increase over that of 2011. This was announced by the Deputy Premier and Minister of Tour-ism in the Nevis Island Admin-istration (NIA) Mark Brantley.

“Hotel revenues improved 15.7% island-wide for the first two months of 2013, compared with the same period for 2012 and are up a dramatic 49.3% com-pared with 2011. The revenue for guest houses increased by 61.4% for the same period in 2013 com-pared with 2012,” Brantley said detailing the figures further.

The Tourism Minister described the growth in tourism as positive and encouraging.

“I find this positive growth truly encouraging and tourism stakeholders can rest assured that every support will be given to ensure that tourism in Nevis continues to trend in the right direction,” he said.

CARIbbEAN

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 • 30

Brand USA’s ad campaign is all about promoting the U.S. as a sensory experience, Jay Gray, Vice President of Global Partnership Development told Travel News Digest. “There’s less of the chest-pounding ‘red, white and blue’ about this cam-paign,” Gray said. “We are sending a more welcoming message.”

The campaign, which fea-tures lesser known destina-tions and tells of the sensory experiences of the country – the imposing beauty of a California Redwood tree, the clack of the ball on a baseball bat – has had a great initial response. “In the UK, Canada and Japan, we have seen an increase in tourism of 12

to 14%,” Gray said. Brand USA is looking to replicate that suc-cess in emerging markets. The largest-ever delegation from the U.S. heads to India in Septem-ber and the group is to invest

heavily in trade fairs beyond Mumbai and Delhi. “India is a huge potential market for us. Our forecast for 2013 is to hit 800,000 visitors from India and to top 1 million by 2017.”

Brand USA: ‘We’re sending a more welcoming message’

Egypt taps in on India’s love of culture

Egypt is counting on the Indian traveller’s love of cul-ture to boost inbound tourism in the upcoming year.“Indians are greatly interested in culture and Egypt is cul-ture-oriented,” said Elhamy ElZayat, Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federa-tion (ETF). “Indian tourists offer more to our country in terms of employment, as they often will hire guides etc, and they are also higher spenders than Europeans, who mostly head to the beaches.” India is a growing market for Egypt, ElZayat added, with

great potential and said it is important for Air India to begin flights into the country.Air traffic is incredibly impor-tant for growing the number of tourists, he said.

Talking about the coun-try’s plan to expand into the Indian market, ElZa-yat said they were looking at possible cities and events to target their promotional campaigns. Moreover, he seemed confident in Egypt’s tourism potential this year. “We will surpass 13 million inbound tourists this year,” he said.

Dubai aims to be ‘world’s ultimate family destination’Dubai is to market itself as ‘the world’s ultimate family destination’.According to His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of DTCM, the tourism budget approved by UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohammed aims to increase tourist num-bers and treble the economic contribution of tourism by 2020.

Attracting more fami-lies will be a major part of that drive, Almarri said, with plans to expand parks and places of family entertainment, as well as ensure hotels are geared up for families. One of Dubai’s key

markets is India, whose visitors often travel in families. “India is our number two source mar-ket,” Almarri said. “In 2012, we received 764,000 visitors

from India, an 8.8% increase from 2011. It is a growing mar-ket and we have to make sure we are competing with other destinations.”

Sri Lanka: India market is growing for usIndia is an important market for Sri Lanka, the country’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development Muhammed Hizbullah told Travel News Digest, while outlining some of the country’s plans to boost tourism from the neighbour-ing state.

“The Indian market is our second largest market,” he said in an interview with Travel News Digest. “There are many flights between India and Sri Lanka, it is rela-tively cheap for Indians to visit and they are familiar with the environment.”

Sri Lanka surpassed its 2012 inbound tourism tar-get of 1 million, hitting 1.1 mil-lion visitors last year, he said, and aims to reach 2.5 million inbound travellers in the next three years. The opening of a second international airport in the south of the country has

greatly helped boost tourism figures, the minister said.

He also said there are plans to expand further into the Indian market with road-shows and participation in trade events.

As well as pushing the tra-ditional beaches and green-ery in the country, the tourism campaign for the remainder of 2013 aims to specifically pro-mote sports tourism and fam-ily holidays, Hizbullah said.

EVENTS

Bahrain pushes culture, business and family tourismThe Kingdom of Bahrain has laid out its extensive tourism plans for 2013 that include promotion of its cultural sites, marketing itself as a ‘twin des-tination’ along with Oman and Dubai, pushing nature tourism, and business travel. While the short-term focus is for the GCC region, Dr Heba Aziz, Tourism Sector Advi-sor to the Ministry of Cul-ture in the Kingdom of Bah-rain, told Travel News Digest,

the Kingdom also hopes to tar-get the luxury market of India. “Our strategy has been ‘small is beautiful’, but now we are looking to twin up with Oman

and Dubai,” said Aziz. “We will also try to target the lux-ury market of India. Wedding parties could be a big market for Bahrain,” she added.

The focus for 2013 is on cul-tural heritage, Aziz said. “Our culture assets are our most valuable tourism assets,” she said, drawing attention to the recently opened National The-atre. Tourism was boosted last year as the capital Manama was named Arab City of Culture.

Sharjah looks towards Indian marketOther emirates in the United Arab Emirates are following the lead of Dubai in looking to the Indian market as a potential growth market for tourism.“Dubai has brought us a lot of Indian tourists,” said Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, director gen-eral of Commerce and Tour-ism Development Authority for Sharjah, the third largest emir-ate of the UAE. “While origi-nally most Indians came here to work, now things are changing and they are coming for tour-ism. We are seeing a different

category of Indian, so we know there is potential,” he said, add-ing, “India is a very interesting market for us.”

Al Midfa told Travel News Digest the tourism strategy includes roadshows to India and heavily promoting sec-tors most relevant to the Indian market.

“Indians like culture, her-itage and family tourism,” he said. Al Midfa also credited the new cruise liners coming into Sharjah for the boost in tour-ism to the region.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MAY 2013 31

Due to its large Indian popu-lation, Kenya feels like a home away from home for Indian tourists. So said Wausi Walya, PR and corporate communi-cations manager for the Kenya Tourism Board. “India has grown as a market for us,” she told Travel News Digest from the colourful pavilion at ATM.“Indians like to travel as families and see the real African wildlife, and this is what Kenya has to offer,” she said.

India is Kenya’s fifth biggest market, with yet more potential Kenya is hoping to tap.

“In 2011, inbound from India grew 4.7%,” said Walya. “In 2012, we had 60,000 Indian visitors. It is a growing market

and we are looking to invest in promoting in India, with road-shows and more trade fairs.”

The incoming government has placed a priority on tour-ism as a key economic driver, Walya added, meaning budgets will be increased for infrastruc-ture and tourism promotion. Direct flights from Delhi have been instrumental in boosting figures, she added.

Kenya is ‘home away from home’ for Indians

The Maldives is reap-ing great rewards from its recent marketing efforts, Mohammed Adam, acting managing director for Mal-dives Marketing and PR told Travel News Digest from the Arabian Travel Market.

Reports show that March saw a 30% growth in tourism for the islands compared to the same month last year.

Figures from India are also on the increase, Adam said, with 30,000 Indians visit-ing the islands last year and

hopes these figures will fur-ther increase with the com-mencement of direct flights to the islands from Chennai and Mumbai.

“India is one of our leading markets,” Adam said. “This year we are aiming for 40,000 visitors from India.

“The islands have been pro-moting FAM trips to the region and have taken part in several international trade events, all of which have boosted num-bers,” Adam said.

“We are looking to renew

these marketing efforts,” added Adam, “and will be focus-ing on the OTM in Mumbai and Delhi.”

Maldives looking to increase Indian tourists by 10,000

New tourism minister aims‘to open Libya to the world’Libya is launching its new tour-ism drive with the fervor and energy of a country awakening from the darkness.“For more than 40 years, we have been closed,” said Libyan Tourism Minister Ikram Bash Imam speaking to Travel News Digest from the country’s pavil-ion at the Arabian Travel Mar-ket (ATM). “Now it is time to change the image of Libya and to show the real face of the coun-try… We want to open Libya to the world.”

Imam’s ministry is the first since the revolution. Short-term plans for the country include major infrastructure over-hauls and a rebuilding of the

ministry itself.Investment will be made in

maintenance of the cultural and historical sites, Imam said.

“Our vision is to have selected cultural tourism,” she said, as well as to promote the country’s 2,000kms of beaches, heritage buildings and its location in the Sahara desert. “In a very short time, we will have [tourism] offices all over the world,” she added. “People want to know what Libya is.”

Yemen has put the bad times behind it and is looking forward to more tourism growth in 2013.

“While 2011 was a bad year for us, we will successfully emerge,” Yaseen Al-Eshawee, marketing officer for Yemen Tourism told Travel News Digest at the Arabian Travel Market. “We are taking part in major trade events this year and hope also to expand into the

India market to make our pres-ence bigger,” he said. “The India

market is huge,” he added. “We would want just a small part of it.”

The country is focusing its promotional efforts on four major sectors: nature, eco-tour-ism, adventure and historical, Al-Eshawee said and dispelled any security concerns travel-lers may have. “Yemen is a very safe and very friendly country,” he said.

Being named as hosts of Expo 2017 is expected to boost inter-national visitors to Kazakh-stan and spread awareness of the country around the world, said Deputy Chairperson of Kazakhstan Tourism Mukhit Saimassayev.

The country has launched some major tourism and infra-structure projects in prepa-ration for the international

exhibition, including construc-tion at the natural resort of Burabai and in the capital city of Astana.

“More people are coming to Kazakhstan from India and

we are hoping more people will come from all over the world,” Mukhit told Travel News Digest. “We are also looking to ease visa regulations, that will increase tourism,” he said.

Yemen sees the good times ahead

Kazakhstan hopes Expo 2017, eased visa rules will boost tourism

Germany – much more than high-tech and cars

Mauritius pushing weddings and MICE in India

Germany is focusing on pro-moting itself as a young and fun destination and a place with ‘heart’. “There has always been a concept of Germany as a place for business,” said Gregor Gos-ciniak, head of marketing for Cologne Tourism Board, “but we are not just about high-tech and cars. Little is known about the green beauty and the coun-try as an enjoyment destina-tion,” he said. “We are changing the image of Germany.” India is a growing market for tourism, Gosciniak said, adding that it was expecting growth in terms of inbound visitors from India.

“India is a future market,” he said.

Germany’s tourism boards run frequent workshops in India, Gosciniak said, and spoke about the country’s pol-icy of an ‘India pool’. “We pool funds for promotion in India,” he explained. “We go to spread awareness and introduce our-selves to the industry. We also invite Indian travel agents to Germany a lot.”

India is the main focus in the stratgey for diversification of the tourism industry of Mau-ritius, Devendra Babooa, Research & Development Manager at the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Author-ity, told Travel News Digest.

“While there is a lot of focus on the Middle East,” he said, “we are looking to increase capacity in a big way from Mumbai of up to 100,000 a year.”

He added that the island is in touch with Emir-ates in discussions on

how to increase air traffic from India.

The target sectors for the industry will be weddings and MICE, he said.

“We are doing everything to reach wedding planners and organisers so they can sell Mauritius for weddings and business,” he said.

EVENTS •

Read more... 19

Read more... 07

Read more... 18

India sees increased

foreign tourist flow

in early 2013

India Outbound: New destinations get active

Arabian Travel Market

sells out a month

before opening

Matthew Hayden to

promote Queensland

among Indian tourists

Visit USA holds first-ever Kolkata

media and trade presentation

Foreign tourist arrivals in India grew

by 2.3% in the first three months of

2013, despite unfavorable incidents...

The 20th Arabian Travel Market

is already completely sold out one

month before...

In a bid to tap the growing Indian

overseas traveller market, the Aus-

tralian state of Queensland has hired

legendary cricketer Matthew...

Lama Tours, Dubai’s pre-

mier destination manage-

ment company, led one of the

biggest delegations ever to

India from April 8-12. Dubai

hotels, resorts, airline part-

ners and attractions from the

UAE joined the company for

a four-city roadshow, start-

ing in New Delhi...

100+ travel trade mem-

bers attended Kolkata’s

maiden U.S. Travel Trade

seminar to hear about Visit

USA’s plans to tap the India

market, the simplified visa

regulations and the cam-

paign to showcase Ameri-

ca’s lesser known tourism

destinations...

Even with the effects of

the global economic

slowdown now being felt in

India, with the GDP growth

bottoming out at around

5-6% from the dizzy heights

of 9% a couple of years ago,

the outbound travel market

continues to hold steady.

India is now firmly

entrenched as one of the

top outbound tourism mar-

kets in the world, with enor-

mous potential for growth

in terms of visitors and

spending.

The India outbound

growth story began around

a decade ago, with aggres-

sive efforts by early entrants

like Singapore, Thailand,

Malaysia, Mauritius, Dubai

and Britain, followed by

China, Egypt, Turkey,

Korea, Macau, Hong Kong,

Indonesia, Sri Lanka and

South Africa, to name a few.

Now it is estimated that

more than 60 countries have

established tourism promo-

tion offices or operations in

India to tap a market which,

according to World Tourism

Organisation estimates, is

expected to reach 50 million

outbound travellers by 2020

from the current 15 million.

While many of the

National Tourism Organisa-

tions have established their

own offices in the coun-

try, others are making use

of representations or their

embassies/cultural desks

to test the waters, before

taking the plunge.

Here we take a look at the

activities of some of the new

kids on India’s outbound

tourism block who have set

up shop in India recently,

and have been actively

promoting their destina-

tions, to catch up with the

early birds.

Read more... 30

Read more... 28

` 50 / US $5 16-30 APRIL 2013

Volume II l Issue 11 Pages 32 www.travelnewsdigest.in

INDIA 07AMERICAS 10 ASIA 14 MIDDLE EAST 17

EUROPE 20

OCEANIA 19

AFRICA 24CARIBBEAN 26

EVENTS 28

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Dubai’s Lama Tours leads largest

India roadshow to date

Read more... 24

Kenya Tourism Board

aiming for one lakh

Indian tourists

About 64,000 Indians visited Kenya

last year, and Kenya Tourism Board

(KTB) expects to achieve one lakh

inbound from India by 2015...

With the eyes of the global travel industry now firmly focused on India, a fresh crop of countries are

joining early entrants and traditional destinations in opening tourist offices in the country, and launching

aggressive promotional campaigns in a bid to get a piece of India’s booming outbound market

Contd. on page 2...

Abu Dhabi

Jordan

Canada

Port

ugal

MonacoUnited States of America

Arge

ntin

a

Fiji

Germany

Phili

ppin

es

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