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` 50/-A DDP PUBLICATIONVol. XXV No. 1; January 1st fortnight issue 2013 Pages: 44 (Excluding cover)

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JANUARY 1ST FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2013 TRAVTALK 1

Incredible India has linedup a multi-prongedapproach to aggressively

promote tourism in India, saidK Chiranjeevi, Minister forState for Tourism withIndependent Charge to theglobal audience that had gath-ered to witness the grandfinale of the World TravelAwards in India.

“Our ministry has pre-pared a multi-pronged strate-gy to increase India’s share inWorld Tourist Arrivals. Itincludes the development of

the world-class infrastructureand manpower and undertak-ing aggressive promotionaland marketing activities. Therecently launched phase twoof Incredible India campaignindicates a paradigm shiftwith the focus now being onconsumers. The emphasis ison the fact that internationaltourists can find their destina-tion or product of desire inIndia,” said Chiranjeevi. Indiaoffers a wide variety of travelattractions, which exhibitour traditional culture, ethos and modern outlook.Tourism also draws strengthin India from its diverse

wildlife, breath takingmountains and vibrant festivals. In fact, Indiabagged three prestigiousWorld Travel Awards (WTA),namely World’s LeadingDestination- India, World’sLeading Tourist Board-Incredible India and World’sLeading Tourist Attraction-Taj Mahal.

“Tourism is now recog-nised as the driver of the economic growth. It’s alsoreckoned as the best tool topromote sustainable develop-ment and address the inclusivegrowth concerns. Tourism hasthe potential to stimulate othereconomic factors through its linkages with a host of sec-tors like agriculture, manufac-

turing, etc. Another uniqueaspect of the tourism sector isthat it provides employmenteven to the unskilled and semi-skilled manpower,” said Chiranjeevi.

The new initiative includes developing world-class infrastructure and training manpower. It alsoincludes undertaking aggressive promotional and marketing activities…

India ready with a new approachTT BU R E AU

Seaplanesto soar inIndian skiesWith extensivecoastlines andnumerous lakesin several parts of the country,Maritime EnergyHeli Air Services(MEHAIR) plansto introduce sea-planes in Kerala,Mumbai and Goa.See full story on page 18

The interactive sessioncalled by the WorldTravel & Tourism

Council, India Initiative(WTTCII) titled ‘LeadingTourism Through TurbulentTimes’ in New Delhi brought

the top decision makers in thetravel and hospitality industrytogether. The four eminentpanelists included Arun Maira, Member, PlanningCommission, Parvez Dewan,Secretary, Ministry of Tourism,Kapil Kaul, CEO, South Asia,CAPA and Ian Angell,

Professor Emeritus, LondonSchool of Economics, whodwelt deep into various possi-bilities of making tourism aprofitable and priority sector.Here are the excerpts from thevarious expert insights:-

Experts believe that bringing change in orientation of thetourism industry as pro-poor sector and its ability to generatejobs will put its genuine demands on a stronger pedestal.

Tourism needs a makeover?

VI V E K SE T H I

Contd. on page 6

K ChiranjeeviMinister for State for Tourism

Lufthansa bags WTA

SanJeet, Director, DDP Publications presents the World Travel Award (WTA) to AxelHilgers, Lufthansa’s Director-South Asia. The service has been adjudged as the World'sLeading Airline- Economy Class. WTA has capped its year-long search for the most popular travel and tourism brands in the world with its glittering Grand Finale GalaCeremony in Delhi - NCR, India on December 12, 2012. The decision-makers of theindustry attended the VIP evening, which was officially supported by the Ministry ofTourism, Government of India, and hosted at The Oberoi, Gurgaon.

Our ministry has prepared a multi-pronged strategy to increase India’s share in World Tourist Arrivals

BULLETIN

The Ministry of Tourism isnow preparing to study

the ground realities, as tocreate a more conducivebusiness environment in the tourism industry. K Chiranjeevi, Minister ofState for Tourism withIndependent charge hasannounced that his Ministrywill conduct comprehensivestudy on impact of taxationon the tourism sector.

“The ministry will con-duct the study of compari-son of the impact of exces-sive taxes on tourism indus-try viz-a-viz the exportindustry and also the com-parative analysis on the taxstructure on the Indiantourism industry with com-peting neighbouring coun-

tries,” said Chiranjeevi,while addressing the dele-gation of the IndianAssociation of TourOperators (IATO) in New Delhi.

The EC members ofIATO had met the minister inhis office and apprised him ofthe pertinent issues. SubhashGoyal, President, IATOapprised the minister that ifVisa-on-Arrival is expanded

and export industry status isgiven to the tourism industry,tourism will go up by at least50 per cent in the country.

“Visa-on-Arrival schemeshould be extended to alltourism-friendly countries. Incountries where Visa-on-Arrival is not possible, e-visashould be issued for travellingto India. Indian tour operatorsare being discriminatedagainst the physical exporters

as the export industry isexempted from service taxwhereas the tourism industryis not. This is resulting in discrimination not only against the exporters, but also against tour operators inthe neighbouring countrieslike Sri Lanka, Nepal etc, who are not paying any taxesand the business for India is being routed through them,” Goyal added.

The ministry will conduct the study of comparison on the impact ofexcessive taxes on tourism viz-a-viz export industry and also with thecompeting neighbouring countries.

MOT to study tax impact on tourism

TT BU R E AU

IATO team with Tourism Minister Chiranjeevi (third from left)

STATISTICS

VIEWPOINT

The Travel & Tourism Industry ismoving forward on a very positive

note… The policy initiatives launchedduring the last two months of the calendaryear 2012 hold promise for more path-breaking measures that shall be rolled outin 2013. The two new marketingcampaigns covering both international anddomestic markets, followed up by acomprehensive study on the fall-out ofexcessive taxation and setting up of aregional tourism promotion council in aspan of less than two months, furtherstrengthens our hopes for 2013.

New Year brings with it a feeling of goodwill, cheer and relief. One more year hasgone and our business is doing well despitethe global crunch. I don’t want to sound likea messiah or a doomsday nemesis, but if wewant to reach international standards, thentogether as an industry we need to take avow for 2013 to carry our business and this country forward with a feeling of prideand ownership.

There are plenty of opportunities in Indiafor it to be sold as a destination, bestowedwith incredible travel offerings that haveplenty to satisfy the needs of all segmentsof travellers. To do this, even the smalleroperators need to organise and work witha strategy:

1. Five years from now, what is the worldgoing to look like in which we run ourbusiness?

2. What will be the role of our company inthis changed future?

3. What are the steps we need to take,starting today, to get there?

We must learn to value our people asmuch as we value the opinion from theother captains of the industry. Ask themfor their views, let them evaluate theirown everyday work and fit it into thebroader discussion of what to achieve inthat time period. This will help us drawthe path of operations, which will help inachieving the desired targets five yearsfrom now.

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year, filledwith success and peace of mind.

Together in 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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STATISTICS

1 bn tourists = 1bn opportunitiesAccording to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO),one billion tourists have travelled internationally in 2012. This is equalto one in every seven people on the planet travelling the world in 2012,up from just 25 million in 1950.

PhotographersSimran Kaur-Delhi

Bharat Dangiya-Mumbai

The figure establishestourism as one of the

world’s largest and fastestgrowing economic sectors. Itaccounts for: • Nine per cent of global

GDP (direct, indirect andinduced)

• One in every 12 jobsworldwide (direct, indirectand induced)

• US$ 1.2 trillion in exportsa year

• Six per cent of world trade

• Eight per cent of theexports of least developedcountries

For developing countries,tourism brings much needed-foreign exchange and invest-ment. Tourism has also provento be an extremely resilientsector, despite uncertain eco-

nomic conditions, and is key tosupporting the global economyin current challenging times.

UNWTO forecast point-ed to the one-billionth touristarriving somewhere in theworld in December. UNWTOchose December 13 as thesymbolic arrival date of theone-billionth tourist.

To celebrate, the associ-ation ran a global campaignto raise awareness of

the power of one billion tourists to affect positive change by making small changes to their travel behaviour. The campaign, One BillionTourists: One BillionOpportunities, called on theone billion tourists to maketheir actions count by savingwater and energy, using public transport, protectingheritage and more.

TT BU R E AU

Tourism matters a lot

1 out of 7 people travel in 2012& how they make a difference

In 2012, a record one billion tourists crossed internationalborders in a single year.Another five to six billion are estimated to travel in their owncountries every year.

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“Like Italy, India hascities that are world-

famous with great touristattractions. However, over2,00,000 Indians visit Italyp.a. while only half the num-ber of Italians come to India.Both countries need toenhance the bilateral flow ofvisitors and explore the truepotential of tourism in bothcountries,” said Dewan.

The Secretary, whilediscussing the withdrawal ofthe mandatory requirementof the two months gap forforeigners visiting India on a tourist visa, stated, “Weneed to build awarenessabout Indian cuisine and cin-ema, among many things toincrease the flow of Italianvisitors to India. The with-drawal of the mandatory gapfor foreigners visiting willdefinitely function as anincentive for our Italian visi-tors, as well,” he added.

On the other hand, “Weare reinstating our NationalTourism Board’s office inNew Delhi from January. Wewill also undertake severalinitiatives with our Indian

counterparts to enhance thebilateral flow of visitorsbetween the two countries,”said Marco Bruschini,Director General, ItalianState Tourist Board reactingto the gesture extended

by the Indian TourismSecretary.

“India is an importantmarket for us. Over the lastfive years, Italy has witnesseda tremendous growth of over

94 per cent from India. Wehad received 1,97,000 trav-ellers in 2010 who consumedan equivalent of 4,61,000overnights. We aim to furtherstrengthen these numbers byalso strengthening our rela-

tions with our Indian traveland trade partners,” headded. The National TourismBoard ENIT, instituted to promote Italy had conducted

the said exhibition in otherBRIC countries successfullyand was now held in Delhiand Bengaluru in December2012 over five days.

Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism at the inauguration of the exhibition titled - ‘Italia comes to you’, highlighted the need to increase bilateralefforts to increase the two-way flow of tourists between Italy and India.

Say Namaste, Italia!

VI V E K SE T H I (L-R): Dewan and Bruschini at the exhibition

MOT J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3 TRAVTALK 5

As per the statisticsreleased by the Ministryof Tourism, the ForeignTourist Arrivals (FTAs)during the periodJanuary-November 2012were 58.99 lakh with agrowth of 5.9 per cent,over the same period in2011, as compared to theFTAs of 55.72 lakh with agrowth of 9.4 per centduring January-November 2011 over thecorresponding period of2010. FTAs during theNovember 2012 were6.90 lakh as compared toFTAs of 6.70 lakh duringthe same month in 2011and 6.08 lakh inNovember 2010. Therehas been a growth of 3per cent in November2012 over November2011 as compared to agrowth of 10.1 per centthat was registered inNovember 2011 overNovember 2010.

FTAs growby 5.9% during Jan-Nov.

NEWS6 TRAVTALK J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3

While Chinese domesticmarket continues to

expand ‘very strongly’despite a slowdown earlierthis year, the Indian market,by contrast, went into a‘sharp reverse’ in 2012 following the problems faced by Kingfisher Airlinesand the slowdown in the Indian economy.Following are excerpts froma speech by Tony Tyler,Director General and CEO,IATA during the event:

We are also keeping aclose watch on regulation.Just as the solution for avia-tion and the environment

(and safety for that matter) isglobal standards, the same istrue for much of the way thatthe industry is regulated.Some areas which have beenparticularly newsworthy over

the past year are slots andpassenger rights. Europe pre-sented initial proposals for anAirports Package of legisla-tion which included somevery positive changes such asthe introduction of greatercompetition for ground han-dling services at Europeanairports. But it also proposedchanges to the regulation ofslots which would have takenEurope away from some basicprinciples of the global bestpractices which are codifiedin the Worldwide SlotGuidelines. Among otherthings, the use-it or lose-itrule would have beenchanged to 85-15 from theglobally accepted 80-20. As

a priority, the IATA Board ofGovernors asked us to defendthe global system. And yes-terday, we had good newsfrom the EuropeanParliament that the corner-stones of the Worldwide SlotGuidelines have been main-tained. And it is not justEurope. We are working inChina, Colombia, India,Mexico, Poland, the UK and the US, among othercountries, to defend theappropriate application of the global system.

InfrastructureGrowth can be facilitat-

ed or inhibited by infrastruc-ture. There are two dimen-

sions to this - cost and avail-ability. As governmentsstruggle with tight budgets,many are looking to the pri-vate sector for help in devel-oping airport infrastructure.India, for example, devel-oped Delhi into a first classhub airport with the partici-pation of private partners.The facilities are great. Butthe structure of the conces-sion agreement requires theconcessionaire to return 46%of the top line revenue to thegovernment. And this year,after a long process, the reg-ulator approved a 346%increase in charge. That’sunacceptable for the indus-try. And a more realistic

concession agreement mighthave prevented it. We have seen progress in Indiasince our protests. TheMinister has directed the airports to remove airport development fees.That challenge now is to getthat implemented.

According to IATA, India, China and Latin America would continue to lead the growth next year in theglobal aviation industry which would improve its profit from USD 6.7 billion to an estimated USD 8.4 billion.Excerpts from speech by Tony Tyler during the IATA event.

TT BU R E AU

Tony TylerDirector General and CEO IATA Europe presented initial

proposals for an AirportsPackage of legislation whichincluded some very positivechanges such as the introductionof greater competition for groundhandling services at Europeanairports

Taking off

Priya Paul, Chairperson, The Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels has been appointed

as the Chairperson and DipakDeva, CEO, DestinationManagement, India & SouthAsia, Kuoni DestinationManagement has beenappointed as the ViceChairman of WTTC, IndiaInitiative 2013 at the recentlyheld Annual General Meetingof the World Travel & TourismCouncil, India Initiative(WTTCII) in New Delhi. Paul,who was the Vice Chairpersonof WTTCII for the year 2012,

takes over from VikramMadhok, Managing Director,Abercrombie & Kent India,who completed his term at therecently held AGM in Delhi.The World Travel & TourismCouncil, India Initiative(WTTCII) was launched in year2000 with a purpose to unitekey players from the industryto work closely with theGovernment and other stake-

holders to address issues ofconcern and advocate policydirectives to support the devel-opment of the Travel &Tourism sector.

Priya PaulChairman, WTTCII

Dipak DevaVice Chairman, WTTCII

Priya Paul is newChairman, WTTCII

Arun Maira, Member, PlanningCommission- The travel industry hasa strong case to present to the government and get most of its genuine demands addressed. But,firstly, it requires itself to change itsimage and portray itself as a sectorthat has immense job creation andpoverty alleviation potential. Thetravel industry needs to understandthat like the tourism and hospitalitysector, all the industries want taxconcessions from the government. Here, change in orientationof the tourism industry as pro-poor sector and its ability to generate employment will put its case on a stronger pedestal.

Arun MairaMemberPlanning Commission

Kapil Kaul, CEO, South Asia,CAPA - The aviation sector in Indiahad long been selling below costs.The under recoveries had beenhuge and are contributing to thepresent position. One needs tounderstand that the IncredibleIndia tourism can’t stand without ahealthy aviation sector. After somany years, the demand and supplydynamics look favourable to theIndian airlines.

Kapil KaulCEOSouth Asia

Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Ministryof Tourism We are willing to workwith the industry to facilitate variousmeasures and try to ease the permis-sion seeking process, so that only afew permissions shall be required forvarious processes, like opening ahotel. But then having said that oneneeds to keep the federal set-up ofour country in mind. Everybodyneeds to understand that the centralgovernment can help them only to acertain extent.

Parvez DewanSecretaryMinistry of Tourism

Ian AngellProfessor EmeritusLondon School of Economics

Ian Angell, Professor Emeritus,London School of Economics-Excessive taxation is bad. In circum-stances where it’s possible for a project to pay for it, the governmentshould support it to pay for itselfthrough measures like tax holidaysand other incentives.

‘India, China to lead Aviation this year’

Ease taxation: A loud cryContd. from page 1

According to its AnaLarranaga, Director,

FITUR 2013 promises muchmore, as it has enhanced itslegacy of niche B2B platformsand tools that are made avail-able to its travel trade part-ners. This will cater to theexhibitors’ delight and con-tribute important perspectiveto the industry on pertinentglobal developments. The

director elaborates more onleading FITUR as the gatewayto the Latin American marketsand more. Excerpts:-

Strategic B2B forumsand tools

Larranaga says thatFITUR is committed to the ideaof innovation, always based onnew trends and new marketneeds. In this respect, in addi-tion to its most important newinitiative on this occasion, inthe form of the business forumknown as FITUR Know How &Export, the fair will incorpo-rate a new forum devoted towine tourism and hotels, aswell as others that focus onvarious areas of interest or ofup-and-coming importancewithin the tourism business,such as tourism efficiency(FITUR Green), the applicationof technology in tourism(FITURTECH) and the spe-cialised sections known asFITUR LGBT, ReceptiveTourism Spain and FITURActive. “All of these initiatives,offer important tools totourism professionals and inthis respect, we seek to makeour contribution to the futuregrowth of the tourist industry,”she says.

FITUR Know-How &Export Forum, which seeksto add a value-added dimen-sion to the business andinnovation prospects of com-panies operating within thefield, is promoted by the fair,in conjunction with SEGIT-UR and the Spanish Foreign

Trade Institute (ICEX). Itaims at promoting the valueof expertise and experiencewithin the tourist industryas a means of boosting inno-vation and development.Around 30 companies willpresent their potential,know-how and experiences,

products and services, to buyers from other foreign markets.

Gateway to LatinAmerica and more

FITUR effectively servesas a hub for the LatinAmerican tourist market

and this is a characteristic thatsets the fair apart from other events.

Exhibitor’s delight These B2B meetings

will take place within theframework of the ThirdHosted Buyers Workshop

and have produced someexcellent results in the past,in terms of providing accessto new markets, strategicalliances and trade opportunities. These trademeetings have proven to be highly effective in previous years.

At FITUR 2012 in Madrid, around 1,800 trade appointments took place at different workshops that wereorganised within the framework of the fair.

Witnessing innovations@FITUR 2013TT BU R E AU

The strongattendance ofinternationaltourismprofessionalsreflect theirinterest in FITUR

Ana LarranagaDirectorFITUR

EXHIBITIONS J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3 TRAVTALK 7

HOTELS

The new Kolkata airporthas been upgraded to

handle 20 million passengers,double the current capacity.

The initiative of AirportsAuthority of India (AAI) totransform Kolkata airport intoa hub for South-East Asia willsoon be a reality. The newintegrated terminal in theupgraded Kolkata airport is tobe fully functional by the firstquarter of 2013. Industryleaders see a big spurt in thehospitality development inthe region.

Saugata Mukherjee,Regional Director - EasternRegion, CII feels, “An increasein international flights is antic-ipated, as Kolkata is the onlygateway to all of eastern India.Also, with the increase ininbound footfalls from ASEANand the Far East, destinations in this regionhave also been growing.Hospitality growth can neverhappen in isolation and thesedevelopments will surely affectthe hotel industry in Kolkatapositively.” Also, with morenumber of MICE travellers thatmight visit the city now,Kolkata will witness a new

league of hotels - the businesshotels that will cater exclusive-ly to the MICE segment, headds. With a focus to promotethe East as a potential tourismhub, CII has been hosting the

event Destination East, thefirst B2B event in the region.The airport development willboost this event as well. Thethird edition of ‘DestinationEast’ will be organised fromFebruary 8-15 in Kolkata, he informs.

MJ Robertson, Co-chairman, TourismCommittee - Bengal Chamberof Commerce & Industryopines, “The new airport willnot only bring in more hospi-tality business, but will alsorelieve the considerable con-gestion presently seen at theexisting airport. It will alsoprovide the much-neededsupport to the airlines toexpand operations in theeastern sector.”

Regarding the boost tothe hospitality sector,Robertson says, “There area number of hotels comingup on the connecting roadfrom the airport. Big-ticketoperators are in the fray and the hotels are all slated

to be operational by 2013-14.” The occupancywill also increase, if theGovernment is able toattract investment to the city. The success of

their efforts will also reflect on occupancy, he points out.

According to MarcoSaxer, General Manager,Swissotel Kolkata, the new ter-minal will help Kolkata toachieve greater number of visitors. Not only corporate,but more of transient guestswill now frequent the city.MICE and smaller meetingswill be held in Kolkata as manycompanies in Kolkata wouldlike to showcase the new air-port to their colleagues andpartners, he comments. TheGeneral Manager expects arise in occupancy from theexisting 76 per cent to over 80per cent. The ARR should alsowitness some growth ofalmost 20 per cent. To cash inon the new airport, the hotelwill tie-up with the local cor-porate houses and airlines.“We have teamed up with airlines flying to Kolkata andhave optimised the searchengine for our hotel on the web,” he adds.

With rise in the number of existing flights, introductionof new routes and ever-increasing tourists, hospitalitydevelopment will also rise. speaks to some eminent stakeholders to get their views on the same.

Kolkata airport boosts biz

ME G H A PAU L

Companieswould like toshowcase thenew airport totheir colleaguesand partners

The new airportwill bring morehospitalitybusiness andrelieve aircongestion

The developmentat the airport willhave positiveeffects on thehotel industry inKolkata

Saugata MukherjeeRegional Director - Eastern Region CII

MJ RobertsonCo-Chairman Tourism Committee - BengalChamber of Commerce & Industry

Marco SaxerGeneral ManagerSwissotel Kolkata

A two-day DelhiInternational Kite Festival wasorganised by Delhi Tourism &Transport DevelopmentCorporation (DTTDC), in asso-ciation with the Delhi govern-ment on December 8-9. Thefestival witnessed around one

lakh footfall on both the days.According to GG Saxena,

Managing Director and CEO,Delhi Tourism & TransportDevelopment Corporation(DTTDC), Delhi Tourism plansto promote more of these oldfading traditions and will fea-

ture this festival in its regularextravaganza. Going forward,Delhi Tourism will bring backthe successful and much-awaited food festival - Dilli KePakwaan. The festival will beheld at Baba Kharak SinghMarg from December 24-30.

1 lakh footfall in Kite Festival

Gujarat is one of the mostproactive states when it

comes to taking initiatives inthe tourism segment. Addinganother feather to its cap,there is another interestinginitiative coming up. At theIITHE 2013, hoteliers andother stake holders canexplore new market products,services and destinations,sign long-term deals, meet

top international buyers andgenerate sales leads. Besidesthis, they can meet existingcustomers and channel part-ners, recruit new agents anddistributors and launch newproducts and packages atmust-visit show of the year.

Talking about themuch-awaited event, MLWadhwa, CMD, TAFCONpointed out, “India’stourism industry is experi-encing a strong period ofgrowth, driven by the bur-geoning Indian middle class,growth in high-spendingforeign tourists and coordi-

nated government cam-paigns to promote‘Incredible India’.” Owing tothe booming IT and out-sourcing industry, a growingnumber of business trips aremade by foreigners to India,who will often add a week-

end break or longer holidayto their trip. Foreign touristsspend more in India thanalmost any other countryworldwide, he added.

The expo is expected tohave participation from over

25 countries. ITTHE 2013will be an ideal platform forboth national and interna-tional tourism organisationsto meet, collaborate and dis-cuss inbound and outboundtourism. It will help thetourism professionals from

all over the world showcasea diverse range of tourismproducts. The Expo presentsa perfect platform for bothlocal and international trav-el and tourism organisationsto collaborate and discussinbound, domestic and out-

bound tourism. It will alsosee tourism professionalsfrom India and around theworld showcase a diverserange of accommodationoptions, breathtakingtourism attractions and newairline routes.

As an integral part of the Vibrant Gujarat Trade Show, TAFCON is organising the International Travel TourismHospitality Expo (ITTHE) 2013 under the aegis of the Government of Gujarat from January 8-13.

Gujarat gets ready with ITTHE 2013TT BU R E AU

NEWS J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3 TRAVTALK 9

India’s tourismindustry isexperiencing astrong growth,driven byburgeoningIndian middleclass, rise inhigh-spendingforeign touristsand governmentcampaigns

M L WadhwaCMDTAFCON

ITTHE 2013 will be an idealplatform for both nationaland international tourismorganisations to meet,collaborate and discussinbound and outboundtourism

Meeting Point

HOTELS

Chicago-based PreferredHotel Group is targeting

an increase in its clientele to35 hotel members in India bythe end of April 2014. “Overthe next 18 months, we planto have 35 member hotels. Iam very confident that wewill achieve these numbers,”Bhatnagar said.

The company currentlyhas 29 hotels, including NewDelhi-based Imperial andThe Leela Palace New Delhias its members. In its 10-year old operations in theIndia market, the memberhotels are present in all sixbrands, from five-star luxuryPreferred Hotels and Resortsto four-star Sterling Hotelsand Sterling Design. “We arelooking at both business and leisure destinations toexpand our portfolio of travellers,” he revealed.

In the changing sce-nario, where hospitality busi-ness has been hit worldwide,the group is moving cautious-ly in India as well. Accordingto Bhatnagar, growth in Indiacannot just be defined bynumbers. “In our businessproposition, it is of utmostimportance that utility of theexisting hotels ought to bemaximised. With new supply

of hotels in the market, weare fully committed to deployour existing infrastructure forour long-time partners byadding to their competitivestrength,” he added.

Going forward, thegroup will also look atreassessing its relationshipwith member hotels. Hepointed out, “Our primeobjective is to increase thebrand presence of the hoteland its profitability. So evenif one of these get realigned,it is important to reassess therelationship. While hotelowners are riding throughchoppy waters, it would notbe surprising if owners arepushed to take some harshdecisions such as selling theirhotels or letting it go toanother operator. We doanticipate changes in

alliances owing to the diffi-cult financial conditions asthese are anyways nicheproducts.” The group typical-ly works on a five-to-sevenyear contract with the hotel;which is relatively shortergiven the average duration ofmanagement contracts of the hard brand operators.“However, despite having ashorter term contract, wehave over 95 per cent reten-tion rate,” he revealed.

Confirming that theOTAs are a fundamental partof online travel, Bhatnagaremphasised, “We considerthem as partners and wewould like to ensure that wewill continue our regionalchannel management. Forretail, an OTA will pull in anentire inventory of the hotel,and henceforth, we have tied up with over 140 keyOnline Travel Distribution(OTD) companies around the world.”

Saurabh Rai Bhatnagar, Regional Director (South Asia),Preferred Hotel Group, talks about commitment to consolidate the existing portfolio along with the futuregrowth in key business and leisure cities in India.

Moving ahead with caution

ME G H A PAU L

Saurabh Rai BhatnagarSouth Asia Regional DirectorPreferred Hotel Group

It is of utmost importance thatutility of the existing hotelsought to be maximised

While hotel owners are ridingthrough choppy waters,owners may be pushed totake some harsh decisionssuch as selling their hotels

Future Talk

Visit Finland adds X-Mas fervour

Visit Finland invited travel trade to celebrate the spirit of Christmas and mood of the coming New Yearwith Santa from Lapland in New Delhi, which was very well attended by its travel trade partners.

Domestic tourist visits toUttarakhand increased

from 1.9 crore in 2007 to2.66 crore in 2011, repre-senting 4.1% growth. Theforeign tourist visitsincreased from 96,000 in2007 to 1.14 lakh in 2011showing a 0.73% increase.For 2012, the tourism boardexpects these numbers to risefurther and is going all out toattract more tourists.

The State recorded goodgrowth in the tourism sectorand has prioritised this indus-

try due to the festival. Effortsto get Uttarakhand recog-nised worldwide as a tourismdestination are underway.

In 2013, the tourismboard is going all out to pro-mote Nanda Devi Raj Jatt, animportant spiritual and cul-tural festival of Uttarakhand,which takes place after every12 years. This legendaryyatra will take place for thefirst time after the State’sformation. It would takeplace from August 29 toSeptember 16, 2013 and will witness hundreds ofthousands of devotees and enthusiasts from acrossthe world. It will cover along trek of about 280 kmswith 18 halts on the way at an altitude of 3,960 metres in 18 days.

Uttarakhand is seen asfount of spiritual energy.Everyone cherishes comingto the hilly state to rejuve-nate oneself by the virtue ofits pristine beauty, wildlife,natural environs and placesof religious and pilgrimageimportance. It is ideal fortourists seeking peace andtranquillity, along withleisure and adventure activ-ities. The State has a perfectblend of spiritual, adventureand nature. The charm ofmeditation, spirituality, yoga,rural tourism, skiing,trekking, rafting amidst thefascinating views of mighty

Himalayas and the revered Ganges.

Uttarakhand has 65%forest cover and thus is hometo the ‘Valley of Flowers’, theNanda Devi Biosphere

Reserve, Corbett NationalPark and Rajaji National Park. The national parks areideal for those seeking thecall of the wild. Till now,Uttarakhand has welcomedpilgrims for thousands of

years who come to visit Gangotri, Yamunotri,Kedarnath and Badrinath, thefour most holy pilgrimagesknow as the Char Dham. Now, the government is also promoting ‘village stays’.

The Nanda Devi Raj Jatt is going to be held after 12 years in 2013 and thestate tourism board is ready to attract visitors, especially during this festival.Focussing on religious tourism, Uttarakhand is also promoting adventure.

Uttarakhand lays out the welcome mat

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STATES J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3 TRAVTALK 1 1

Poonam ChandRegional Tourism OfficerUttarakhand Tourism

HOTELS

The Address Hotels & Resorts

India is among the top fivemarkets for us. This has set

an all-new definition for glob-al standards in luxury hospi-tality, says Seema Pande,Group Director, Sales andMarketing of The AddressHotels & Resorts.

“India has pleasantlysurprised us with a fabulousincrease in the numbers oftop-end business in leisure,FIT, corporate and MICEfront. With increase in thefamily travel from India, wehave witnessed an impres-sive growth in Indian wed-dings and engagements atour properties. The Indianfamilies with membersspread all over in USA, UK,Europe and other parts of theworld, find Dubai to be aneasily accessible destinationwith adequate air connectiv-ity and a welcoming visaregime,” informed Pande.

“The Indian visitorsspend on an average of 3-5nights and are among the topspenders. Indians are willingto spend on premium productsonly when they are convinced

about deriving true value formoney. With our portfolio ofThe Address DowntownDubai, The Address DubaiMall, The Address DubaiMarina, The AddressMontgomerie Dubai and The

Palace Downtown Dubai, weexpect to close our 2012 yearwith over 10-15% growthfrom the Indian market. Weare also looking at expandingour presence in key destina-tions in the Middle East, NorthAfrica, the Indian subconti-nent, South Asia and Europe,”she added. The NijhawanGroup has been taking care ofthe sales and marketing oper-

ations in India for The AddressHotels & Resorts over the lastthree years. “We have success-fully extended our reach inDelhi, Mumbai and Bengaluruthrough our Indian partner.Going forward, we look for-ward to strengthening ourreach in Chennai andAhmedabad,” said Pande.

“We value all our B2Bpartners and are always acces-sible to all our, small, mediumand large travel partners. Weare fortunate to have an equalbalance of corporate andleisure travellers and theweekdays are as good asweekends. Even though wehave multiple teams takingcare of various travellers, weremain accessible and value allour small, medium and bigB2B partners,” she stated.

The discerning Indian traveller has made it to the top list of TheAddress Hotels & Resorts, a Dubai-based five-star premiumhotel of Emaar Hospitality Group with an average of 3-5 nights.

India shining for Dubai Address

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Seema PandeGroup Director, Sales and MarketingThe Address Hotels & Resorts

India is among the top fivemarkets for us

We expect to close our 2012year with over 10-15 per centgrowth from the Indian market

India Market & Address

In February 2012, reported the interest of

Dubai-based luxury hotelmanagement group -Jumeirah Hotels, Resorts &Residences to enter theIndian hospitality sector. In alatest development, thegroup has recently signed itsfirst management agreementfor a five-star property inLower Parel area of CentralMumbai. The property isexpected to be launched by2017 and will house about470 spacious rooms, suitesand apartments along withwide range of banqueting andF&B services. The name ofthe property, investmentdetails and additional factswill be disclosed by mid2013. The group's operatingmodel is expansion throughthe acquisition of manage-ment contracts in both keygateway cities and aspira-tional resort destinations

worldwide. At the macrolevel, Jumeirah will adhere toits core business in India;managing luxury and five-star hotels and resorts usingan asset light approach.

Gerald Lawless,President & Group CEO,Jumeirah Group said, “Indiais one of the major players inthe global hospitality andtourism industry, particularlyAsia. It is currently the thirdfastest growing market for

our group properties, withroom night occupanciesimproving by close to 50 percent year-on-year. We haveset our sight on city centresand resort destinations likeMumbai, New Delhi,Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Goaand Kerala.

The need for five-star hotels in Indiahas been growingand we are happy tohave initiated thefirst phase of ourexpansion in Indiawith our first project in Mumbai.”

The group currentlyoperates 20 luxury hotels and serviced apartments, including 10 in the UAE,seven in Europe, seven in the Maldives and 1 inChina with 15 additionalunder development.

The Group signs the first management agreement fora Mumbai property. They are also involved in advancenegotiations on potential projects.

Jumeirah set to enter India

AN I TA JA I N

Gerald LawlessPresident & Group CEO Jumeirah Group

HOTELS J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3 TRAVTALK 1 3

The Khyber Himalayan Resort & Spa

With peace prevailing inKashmir, tourism has

now got a boost in the Valley.With an unprecedented 10.73lakh tourists till September

30 in 2011, it seems that thelove for Kashmir has beenrediscovered. This is a first,as it is the highest number oftourist arrivals in the state,over the past 25 years. Last

year, the growth story of increasing footfalls only got better. However, now theproblem that still looms large is the issue of accommodation.

Addressing this dilem-ma is The Khyber HimalayanResort & Spa in Gulmarg.The resort opened its doorson December 21 last year.The 85-key resort isGulmarg’s first luxury resortand is spread over seven acres and located at an eleva-tion of 8,825 ft in the Pir Panjal range of theHimalayas while overlookingthe Affarwat peaks.

Supporting the desti-nation with the hotel, AlexKoshy, General Manager,The Khyber HimalayanResort & Spa said, “Alltourists include Gulmarg intheir itinerary. However,owing to the dearth of goodhotels in the region, theyvisit Gulmarg during day-

time and return to Srinagarat night. Thus, the objectiveof the hotel is to convert theday trips to overnight trips.”

“Right from its openingon December 21, the hotelwas sold out for the first twoweeks,” he adds.

Being the best skiingdestination in India, the hotelis targetting skiing enthusi-asts all over. “Domestic travelis still at its peak during thesummers in India.”

“We are eyeing the inbound market, specificallythe travellers who visit Gulmarg for skiing during winters while during summers, we willeye the domestictourists,” the GM reveals.

The new Gulmarg enterprise will aim at converting hordes of tourist daytrips to Gulmarg into overnight stays and more.

Adding value to the Valley

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Alex KoshyGeneral ManagerThe Khyber Himalayan Resort & Spa

Marriott Hotel Whitefield,Bengaluru city’s first Marriottsits atop the newest mallInorbit. It has one of thelargest ballrooms in the citywith 2,500 sq metres of outdoor space. The hotel has 324 rooms, including 17

suites. The executive loungeon the 15th floor offers the viewof Whitefield and is availableto guests staying on the exec-utive floor to conduct businessand meetings.

Talking about the choice of location for thehotel, Matthew Cooper,General Manager, MarriottHotel Whitefield, says,“Bengaluru’s business hub isclearly moving to micro-mar-kets. Whitefield is the largest

IT hub in India and also hasa GDP growth four times thatof Bengaluru city.

Although the city has a lotof hotels but in Whitefieldarea, there is yet a dearth ofrooms. There are no interna-tional five-star hotels in thisarea at this given point andtime. Whitefield not onlyhouses most of the Fortune500 companies but also has asteadily growing residentialpopulation. The area itself isabout 18km from the heart ofthe city. The city roads are choc block almost allthrough the day, and residentsprefer to stay in Whitefieldover the weekend, constantlylooking for places to go to.There are also plenty of com-panies around the hotel andthese companies have ampleMarriott Rewards memberswho are currently stayingelsewhere. Given this scenario, the hotel is bound to do well.”

The hotel property is alsobanking on the MICE segmentto boost their occupancy, sincethe hotel houses a large func-tion space. The hotel estimatesthe business mix to be about80:20 in the initial period.

Bengaluru gets itsfirst Marriott Hotel

Matthew CooperGeneral ManagerMarriott Hotel Whitefield

NTO

In 2011, Turkey received31.4 million foreign

tourists of which 74,000were from India. In 2012,from January to September,the arrivals from Indiareached 66,700. In a bid tohard-sell itself as a businessand leisure destination inIndia, the country is now tar-getting a 30 per cent growthto get more than one lakhIndian arrivals by 2013.

This is the first time theTurkish Hoteliers Federationhas organised a roadshow inIndia. Emphasisng on wed-ding, golf and honeymoon des-tinations such as Istanbul,Cappadocia and Antalya, EminCakmak, Founding Chairman,Turkish Healthcare TravelCouncil pointed out, “India is one of the key markets for us and the positive growth rateof Indians visiting Turkey has strengthened our confidence in the market.Currently, a chunk of Indiantravellers visit Turkey only asa transit destination. The road-show is to convert these transits into overnight stays in the country.”

Turkey has plannedmedia and ad campaigns apartfrom workshops and joint mar-keting events with leadingIndian tour operators. RevealedOzgur Ayturk, Culture andTourism Counsellor, Turkey, “In

2013, we have also increasedour promotional budget, whichhas been earmarked for US$two million. We will be spend-ing nearly US$ 1 million formedia and advertisement cam-paigns as well.”

For the first time, Turkish Hoteliers Federation hosteda 5-city roadshow in India to focus on the varied destinations such as Istanbul, Cappadocia and Antalya.

More than just stop-overs

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Turkey hasplannedworkshops andjoint marketingevents withleading Indiantour operators

The motive forthis roadshowis to convertthis transitbusiness into overnightstays

Emin CakmakFounding ChairmanTurkish Healthcare Travel Council

Ozgur AyturkCulture and Tourism CounsellorTurkey

India remains one of ourmost important inbound

markets,says Patricia Yates,Director - Strategy andCommunications,VisitBritain.“This partnership will helpus to broaden our appeal asa special destination andpromote all that is greatabout Britain, as to capitaliseon all the positive mega cov-erage after the LondonOlympics. Indian tourists canvery well choose from a tourof Buckingham Palace, see-ing the sunrise atStonehenge or watching acricket test match to name afew,” she says.

The joint promotionalinitiative is estimated to beover £ 100,000 and will bebeamed across electronic,print and B2B channels.Here, Neeraj Dev, Head-Outbound Product, Yatra.comadded, “We aim to utilise thestar power of Salman Khan toengage with the audience.The first TVC will go on air by

the end of December. Theprint campaign will kick-startin mid of January to be fol-lowed up by an intensiveonline campaign. The idea isto create various new itiner-aries spread across 5-12 days.They can cost anywherebetween ` 90,000-2,25,000,

which can be customised fur-ther and they will deliver onthe Indian aspiration to visittourist attractions beyondLondon.”

“The B2B players inIndia will also be able to ben-efit from our strategicalliance, as they can sell thevarious itineraries that willbe a part of our campaign

through our TSI-Yatra initia-tive. It has over 3,000 B2Bpartners, which will help usmake the strategic allianceinto a successful partner-ship,” Dev Added.

Yatra.com has alreadydone successful joint cam-

paigns with other destina-tions such as Thailand andMalaysia. According to Dev,Yatra.com has seen growth inits visitor arrivals to Britainby over 50 per cent.VisitBritain on the otherhand, has set an ambitioustarget of welcoming over5,00,000 Indian visitors by 2012.

In a strategic initiative, it announced partnership withYatra.com in New Delhi. Both entities will work on promoting new itineraries via a 3600 media campaign.

VisitBritain ups promotion

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(L-R); Neeraj Singh Dev, Patricia Yates & Shivali Suri

ASSOCIATIONS J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3 TRAVTALK 1 5

IAAI had decided to con-duct its IAAI biennial

National Convention (ICON2013) from January 24- 26,2013 at The Retreat, Hotel &Convention Centre, Mumbai.About 400-500 members ofthe travel fraternity fromIndia are expected to attendthis convention. The associ-ation feels that this conven-tion will add extra mileage in promoting India Tourism. The theme of ICON 2O13 is, ‘EmergingChallenges and Opportunitiesin Aviation Industry’.

“Under this theme, wewill address the biggestchallenges faced by theindustry today. We want toprovide meaning to the

issues and are working toput airlines, travel agentsand GDS on the same plat-form that will help usdebate relevant issues andaddress all uncertainties,”said Biji Eapen, NationalPresident, IATA AgentsAssociation of India (IAAI).

The main business ses-sion is, ‘ASHA: Agents semi-nar on Handling Adversities’,which they feel, assumeshumongous significance at ajuncture when airlines, GDSand Travel Agents are strug-gling for co-existence. “In thebusiness session, we want to

discuss survival strategiesand different ways to handlethese issues,” he adds.

There will be four tofive business sessions alongwith the annual generalmeeting and the electionsduring this convention. “Our

convention will be very busi-nesslike and professional. Weare also planning to circulatea white paper discussing thetragic difficulties faced by theindustry and address issuessuch as weekly payments and highlight its misfortunesfor us. We want to create

widespread awareness about such importantissues,” adds Eapen.

IAAI hopes this conven-tion will help evolve newstrategies in the present andan all the more challengingaviation industry.

IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) is organising its National Convention from January 24-26, 2013 in Mumbai.The theme for this year’s convention is, ‘Emerging Challenges and Opportunities in the Aviation Industry’.

IAAI National Convention in January

We are planning tocirculate a whitepaper discussingthe tragicdifficulties faced bythe industry andaddress issuessuch as weeklypayments

Biji EapenNational President IATA Agents Association of India

Starting January 1, 2013,Cathay Pacific Airways isintroducing its new PremiumEconomy Class cabin alongwith Business Class onChennai-Hong Kong route.Following the recent increaseof Chennai flights, from fourtimes a week to a daily serv-ice, Chennai will be the firstcity in South India to offer athree-class configuration –new Business Class, PremiumEconomy Class and the newlong-haul Economy Class forpassengers travelling.

Premiumeconomy classin Cathay

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FAMILY ALBUM1 6 TRAVTALK J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3

Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson &Managing Director, The

Lalit Suri Hospitality Grouphas been elected as the VicePresident of FICCI at the 85th

Annual General Meeting of FICCI held in December2012. Suri has been vocifer-ously promoting Indiantourism both nationally andinternationally.

She has been theChairperson of FICCI TourismCommittee for the last fiveyears. Under her leadership,FICCI introduced ‘The GreatIndia Travel Bazaar’ in 2008and ‘The Great DomesticTourism Bazaar’ in 2011 – twoheavily-attended events facil-itating tourism business inter-actions. It is the first suchoccasion, when a popular fig-ure in the travel and tourism

has been bestowed such hon-our. Her popularity is evidentas she was recently voted asthe most popular woman inthe travel industry surveyconducted by .

This was a survey done torecognise and felicitatewomen, who have achievedexemplary results in the fieldof travel and tourism. Theresponse received from the

survey was overwhelmingand Suri had registered aclean sweep over other nom-inees. Lately, Suri was alsoconferred the ‘Hall of FameAward 2012’ by PrithvirajChavan, Chief Minister ofMaharashtra at the 28th IATOAnnual Convention held atNCPA, Mumbai in September.

The Award is given bythe Indian Association of

Tour operators (IATO) annually to the most prominent personalities,who have contributed to the growth of Indiantourism. Suri has createdmany new benchmarks inthe tourism industry by fol-lowing her dictum of‘Developing the destinationand not just hotels’, which has won her manyaccolades.

It is the first occasion, when a popular figure in travel and tourism has been bestowed such an honour. Herpopularity is evident as she was recently voted as the most popular woman in a survey conducted by .

Jyotsna Suri Vice President , FICCI

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Jyotsna Suri is new FICCI Vice President

Le Passage to India (LPTI) organised its annual cookout to bring together the travel trade partners and set the jovial mood for usheringin the year-end celebrations, which was held on December 22, 2012 at the Select City Walk.

LPTI sets mood for festivities

AVIATION

Internationally, India is thebiggest operating market

(in terms of number of citiesconnected to Dubai) forEmirates Airline with 185weekly flights from 10 Indiancities. With an average loadof over 70 per cent on everyroute in India, the airline isnot looking at expanding itsoperations but consolidatingon current routes. It hasrecently renewed its partner-ship with Jet Airways underwhich all the Emirates fre-quent flyer members haveoptions to fly on five dailydirect flights of Emirates anddaily flights of Jet Airways onMumbai-Dubai route.Moreover, considering Indiabeing a late booking market,the airline also introduced anetwork-wide fare promotionfrom November 23-December 2, 2012 for travelbetween January 21-June10, 2013, offering maximum

60 per cent and minimum 30 per cent discount on select routes to encourageearly bookings.

Talking about India asan aviation market, EssaSulaiman Ahmad, VicePresident – India & Nepal,Emirates Airline said,

“Our focus on Indiaremains where it is bullish and confident and thatwe are operating ina fundamentallystrong economy.

Taking into account thelong-term potential of theIndian market, our operationsreflect this outlook. With FDI

in aviation being relaxed thisyear, it is a matter of timebefore international carriersdecide to participate.”Moving forward, the airline isoptimistic that the industrywill record a positive growthin 2013. “Airlines venturinginto newer markets andexpanding their current net-work will be a key.Consolidation in some mar-kets will take place while inothers operators will look topool resources and reducetheir costs. InternationalLCC’s will continue to growand prosper with areas such as back-offices, groundhandling and cargo logistics,becoming outsourced,” adds Ahmad.

Furthermore, Ahmadexplained about some verypromising trends in theindustry in 2013. The airlineexpects a substantial increasein the number of MICE trav-ellers with many globalevents and is expected toattract tourists from acrossthe globe. Leisure travel isexpected to rise around themid-year period as the indus-try approaches the summervacation period. Adding tothis, will be a good amount ofstudent traffic during thepeak admission time of April– September. “All in all, Iwould say the year 2013looks exciting for the industryas well as Emirates,” con-cludes Ahmad.

Emirates launched a network wide ‘fare promotion’ campaign,renewed partnership with Jet Airways and also introducedunique packages to increase loads from the Indian market.

Emirates: Confident of India

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Essa Sulaiman AhmadVice President – India & NepalEmirates Airline

Emirates will launch services to Warsaw and Algiers in Februaryand March 2013 respectively, adding to its global network of 128locations, while its fleet will also increase as the airline takes deliveryof new aircraft. The airline has 212 aircrafts on order worth USD62 billion and is the leading customer of the Airbus A380 with 27in its fleet and 63 on order.

Growth chart for 2013

Lounge@New Delhi Railway Station

IRCTC has unveiled its swanky new"executive” waiting lounge at the AjmeriGate entry point of the New DelhiRailway Station. For ̀ 300 a person, onecan now enter the facility for three hoursand enjoy complementary buffet mealsor snacks, tea, coffee and accessing wi-fi, The lounge has TV screens with traininformation display, apar t from otherscreens that display other channels. Ifpassengers want to stay beyond threehours, ` 125 will be charged for anhour.Catering services are provided bySSP Catering India, which also providescatering to Emirates’ lounge at T3, IGIAirport. Spread over 300 sq m and twofloors, the lounge has a seating capacityfor 125 persons.

AVIATION1 8 TRAVTALK J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3

MEHAIR will undertake avery ambitious project

in the skies of Mumbai byintroducing seaplanes in thecity. The operations will beundertaken in two phaseswith phase one involvingservices from Juhu to MullaDam for Shirdi, Varasgaon

Dam for Lavasa, MurudJanjira, Girgaum - Chowpattyand Bhandardara Dam. Phasetwo will be begin fromOctober 2013 and includeroutes on the Konkan coastlike Tarkarli, Harihareshwarand Ganpatipule.

“The services will com-mence by late January, 2013once we clear a few permis-sions that are pending andwill be undertaken on aCessna 208 amphibian air-craft which can carry 9 pas-sengers and 2 pilots at a time.We have signed an MoU withMDTC for three years whowill promote and market ourseaplanes in their resorts,websites and buses and willalso sell some tickets on ourbehalf. We are also planningon partnering with someleading travel operators tosell the tickets,” saysSiddharth Verma, Director,MEHAIR

How will it benefitMumbaikars?

The company is quiteconfident of the success ofthe project in Mumbai. Thisservice, Verma says, is “idealfor the people in Mumbai toreach places that don’t evenhave runaways.” This willalso generate employmentand infrastructure in theseareas and the government isalso keen on implementingthis service as it is more cost-effective than building air-

ports in these areas, addsVerma. It is also expected toboost spiritual tourism fromMumbai as the time requiredto travel from Mumbai toShirdi is less than one hour.There are also plans to intro-duce our seaplanes as airtaxis in Mumbai to fly fromJuhu to Chowpatty. This willcut down the time drasticallyfor someone who needs tocommute from suburbs tosouth Mumbai everyday.

Pilot Project was inAndaman and NicobarIslands

MEHAIR started intro-ducing seaplanes in the skiesof India from the inlands of

Andaman and Nicobar. Thephenomenal response theyreceived in their pilot projecthas encouraged them tointroduce a second and big-ger seaplane in Andaman bylate quarter of 2013. Besidesthis, they will also be intro-ducing seaplanes for the firsttime in Kerala. “We hope tostart our services in Keralaby January-end. Our inten-tion was to introduce this asa novel experience for leisuretravellers coming to Kerala.And we are concentratingmore on volume rather thanmargin. Hence, are not over

pricing the tickets and mak-ing it an economical journey.So a 25 minute ride fromCochin will cost only Rs4,500 or so,” says Verma.

“Kerala has a beautifulaerial view and we want ourtourist to get a glimpse of thepicturesque landscape of thestate. By travelling on a sea-plane, the tourist visitingKerala will get a very differ-ent perspective and experi-ence of the state. We plan tostart the services fromCochin to Munnar,Kumarakam and Alappuzha,”

says AP Anilkumar, Ministerfor Tourism, Kerala.

Investment incurred andfuture plans

MEHAIR has invested ` 25-30 crore in each of theprojects in Kerala andMumbai and will invest Rs` 250 crore in the next fiveyears in other projects acrossIndia. The company hopes tointroduce services in Goa in 2013 also which will allow people to commutefaster from Goa airport toNorth Goa.

Siddharth VermaDirectorMEHAIR

DE N CY MAT H E W

The operations will beundertaken in two phaseswith phase one involvingservices from Juhu to MullaDam for Shirdi, VarasgaonDam for Lavasa, MurudJanjira, Girgaum - Chowpattyand Bhandardara Dam

The services will commenceby late January, 2013

Modus Operandi

Sea taxis to fly over Mumbai skies

The much-awaited Shangri-La Hotel, Mumbai recently opened its doors to guests. The hotel is located15 kilometres from Mumbai's international airport, nestled between the city’s two main commercial areas— Nariman Point and Bandra Kurla Complex. “It is our pleasure to announce the official opening of theShangri-La Hotel, Mumbai, which is the group’s second hotel in India. We look forward to welcomingguests and providing them with our hallmark hospitality from the heart,” said Greg Dogan, President andCEO, Shangri-La International Hotel Management.

Mumbai gets Shangri-La Hotel

The total domestic pas-sengers carried by thescheduled domestic airlinesin the month of November2012 were 50.20 lakhs. Thetotal domestic passengerscarried by the scheduleddomestic airlines in the

month of October 2012were 45.55 lakhs. Thisshows that 4.65 lakh morepassengers travelled in themonth of November 2012compared to October 2012.The market share of sched-uled domestic airlines for

the month of November2012 is as follows: AirIndia-20.7 per cent, JetAirways-18.3 per cent,JetLite-6.9 per cent,IndiGo-27.3 per cent, SpiceJet- 19.5 per cent and GoAir- 7.4 per cent.

4.65 lakh domestic air passengers

AVIATION

Singapore-based low costcarrier (LCC) Tiger

Airways has now more to offerto the Indian traveller. TigerAirways has joined hands withVia.com as the exclusive travelagent distributor for its tickets in India, Indonesia andthe Philippines.

According to VinayGupta, CEO, Via.com, thispartnership perfectly alignswith Tiger Airways andVia.com’s strategic initiativesto expand their existing cus-tomer base, while also expand-ing into new geographic mar-kets. This enables both com-panies to better serve the bur-geoning Asian business andleisure travel market. “Thiswill also act as one-stop assis-tance for other travel needssuch as hotels and travelinsurance. This partnershipalso enables the airline toactively promote its otherroutes by allowing the cus-tomers from India to connectwith other destinations, con-nected through the airlinesuch as Indonesia, Hong Kong,Macau, China and Australia,”he added.

The alliance will helpVia.com and its agent part-ners to tap the leisure seg-ment with value-for-moneypackages with the airline’snetwork of over 50 destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Talking about increasingties in the B2B and the B2Cmarket, Kaneswaran Avili,Commercial Director, Tiger

Airways revealed, “Theobjective of this alliance is tomake it easier for customersto book flights with TigerAirways. They can nowaccess the full range ofTiger’s offerings throughVia.com’s network of 7,000travel agencies throughoutIndia. This acts as an exten-sion to Tiger’s website,www.tigerairways.com.”

Regarding the impor-tance of the India market,Avili pointed out, “India is akey market for the airline. Weoperate from six Indian citiesand have been experiencingload factor of 80 per cent

from India.” Going forward,the group aims to increaseflight frequency on its Indianroutes and would like to addKolkata to the network in thenext 12 to 15 months.

To celebrate this part-nership, Tiger Airways isoffering special promotionalfares from INR 3,900 one-way all-inclusive of taxes.Booking period starts fromDecember 6 -19, 2012 with atravel period from February1- March 31, 2013.

Tiger Airways is keen tofurther expand with its recentmove to Changi InternationalAirport, Terminal 2.

The alliance will help Via.com and its agent partnersto tap the leisure segment with value for moneypackages with Tiger Airways’ network of over 50 destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tiger Airways on India route

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Customerscan accessTiger’sofferingsthroughVia.com’snetwork

Thispartnershipalso enablesthe airline toactivelypromote itsother routes

Vinay GuptaCEOVia.com

Kaneswaran AviliCommercial Director Tiger Airways

Japan tops VoA list

Travel agents on trackwith Rail Europe prog.

Kunal Kothari, Executive Director, Rail Europe India (Left) along with Jason Tarabo,a trainer from Rail Europe’s head office in Paris in New Delhi. In order to increase product awareness and educate the Indian travel agents aboutits products and offerings, Rail Europe India conducted training programmes forretail agents, General Sales Agents (GSAs) and their sub-agents across India. Theprogramme received a massive response from the travel trade. The agents weremade aware of new products from Rail Europe’s upgraded portfolio.

The Visa on Arrival(VoA) Scheme of the gov-ernment has become pop-ular with the tourists. Thescheme registered agrowth of 25 per cent dur-ing the period January-November 2012 over thecorresponding period of2011. A total number of13,903 VoAs were issuedduring the periodJanuary-November 2012as compared to 11,121VoAs issued during thecorresponding period of2011. The highest numberof 3,913 VoAs was issuedto tourists from Japan fol-lowed by New Zealand(2,645) and ThePhilippines (2,205).

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Recently, a Karan Johardirected movie showed

an India-based family choos-ing Thailand as a weddingdestination for their son’swedding. What followed onscreen were charter flights

and resorts being booked toconduct a traditional Indianwedding in the exotic islandsof Thailand. These glimpsesfrom reel life have now comealive in real life too, as manyIndian couples and familiesare opting for a destinationwedding away from India.

The global economicmeltdown had little effect onthe huge Indian weddingbudgets. With weddingthemes getting extravagantand over-the-top, manyinternational hotels andresorts are bending back-wards to accommodate therequests of Indians families.While special chefs arebeing flown down to cater to the large weddingentourage, there are alsospecial arrangements beingmade to facilitate the Indianweddings which includearranging special garlandsand lights to king-size chandeliers.

Spreading overseasAmong international

destinations, Indians haveshown a lot of interest inThailand, Malaysia, SouthAfrica and Mauritius for wed-ding destinations. Malaysiahas drafted many affordable

travel packages and tie-upswith Malaysia Airlines andother 5-star properties toencourage and attract Indianwedding planners. Besidesthis, they have conductedmany fam tours for Indianwedding planners to experi-ence first-hand service andfacilities available as well aspossible venues for differentbudgets. All these effortshave borne fruit as they haveseen an increasing interestamong people from Gujarat,Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu andAndhra Pradesh in holdingtheir weddings in Malaysia.

Indian weddings are getting larger than life and are increasingly becoming a booming affair involving largescale expenditure. Realising the worth of hosting Indian weddings abroad, foreign tourism boards andhotels are keen to attract this niche segment.

Saying ‘I do’ on foreign shores

DE N CY MAT H E W

“A segment that has grownexceedingly well is the weddingsegment in Malaysia. Many dis-cerning Indian families now preferto host their weddings in moreexclusive surroundings andMalaysia has plenty of just that. In2011, over 30 Indian weddingswere held in Malaysia. Favouriteamongst the destinations areLangkawi, Pangkor, Penang andKuala Lumpur. More than a dozenof India’s leading wedding planners have been taken on host-ed tours to Malaysia to discover the best that is on offer,”says Manoharan Periasamy, Director, Tourism Malaysia.

Malaysia

Manoharan PeriasamyDirectorTourism Malaysia

Thailand too has witnessed alot of Indian weddings over theyears. “Over 100 large-scale wed-dings ranging from 200 to 800 peo-ple were organised in Thailand in2011. In 2012, the Mumbai officefacilitated 20 weddings in Thailand.To increase our growth and attractmore Indian weddings, we facilitatefamily or wedding planners in termsof immigration, welcome reception,provide Thai cultural show and ticket to bride and groom who arereally keen to see the wedding venue. We also support withupgrading flight tickets to business class and we also informthe family in terms of names of wedding planners in India andThailand,” says Sethaphan Buddhani, Director, TourismAuthority of Thailand.

Thailand

Sethaphan BuddhaniDirectorTourism Authority of Thailand

Seeing the large stream of income that weddings generateand the potential of this market, many new destinations areemerging which aim at wooing the wedding planners. Even long-haul and expensive destinations like New York City are ready tohost the Indian weddings on its soil. “NYC & Company has start-ed a ‘NYC I DO’ initiative to promote the City as a wedding des-tination for all couples. We work with wedding organisers toconsider New York City’s hot spots or most elegant venues totie the knot. The large NRI community in America often considersa reception or other events in India and New York City to invitefamily, friends and business partners for the big occasion. Ourhotel members offer year-round attractive wedding arrangements and fine Indian cuisinewith regional variations are available,” says Makiko Matsuda Healy, VP BusinessDevelopment, NYC & Company.

New York City

Makiko Matsuda HealyVP Business DevelopmentNYC & Company

Jet Airways has placed itscode on Etihad’s flight oper-ating out of Abu Dhabi toParis Charles de-Gaulle air-port from December 10,2012. This code-share willallow Jet Airways to offer itsguests excellent connectivityfrom India to Paris via AbuDhabi. The airline’sJetPrivilege members willearn JPMiles for their entirejourney when they fly on Jet

Airways code-share flightsfrom India to Paris. This

code-share to Paris is inaddition to the existingcode-share between JetAirways and Etihad Airwayson the Abu Dhabi-Mumbai/Delhi routes operated by Jet Airways andthe Etihad flights connectingAbu Dhabi with Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi,Thiruvananthapuram,Kozhikode, Chennai andHyderabad.

Jet Airways expands code-shareagreement with Etihad Airways

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“We are actively pro-moting more of our

northern areas like Bekal asthese places now hold thekey to attract tourism.Places like Bekal are stilluntapped and have a lot tooffer tourists. There will besubsequent infrastructuraldevelopments in these areasbesides beautifying them,”says AK Anilkumar,Minister for Tourism, Kerala.

In 1992, theGovernment of Indiadeclared Bekal as a SpecialTourism Area. The untouchedand scenic landscape, exten-sive beaches, backwaters andunspoilt environs qualified

Bekal as a potential site for aninternational standard beachdestination. Bekal also hasseveral historic and religioussites. And to tap the potentialof this destination, BekalResort Development Corpo-ration was formed for theimplementation of BekalTourism Project. The Bekal

Resort DevelopmentCorporation had acquiredland for the development of resorts and hotels of starcategory. In 2004, The Bekal Resorts DevelopmentCorporation had leased out 6plots of land to major hospi-tality players with BharatHotels (owner of The LalitSuri Hospitality Group) being one of them.

“The Lalit Resort & SpaBekal is the first Five Stardeluxe Resort & Spa to have

developed in the region. Fromthe initial stage itself a rigor-ous sales activity has beenongoing with focus on printmedia, developing a movie onBekal called ‘Bekal-The BigWater’,” says Dilip Mishra,Resident Manager, The Lalit

Resort & Spa Bekal. With theadvent of many more resortsand hotels in the region, Bekal,got a much needed impetus.“North Kerala is maturing as a region to look out for. Among the prominentplaces where travellers

go are Guruvayoor,Cheruthuruthy, Nattika Beach,Nilambur, Palakkad, Wayanad,Kannur, Calicut and Bekal. Outof these places, Bekal andWayanad are the fastest growing destinations for thedomestic as well as the

inbound markets. However,Bekal as a destination still suffers from lack of publicityand quality tourism infrastruc-tures like guides and qualitytransport,” says MathewJoseph, Managing Director,Pepper Tours.

Bekal has been identified as an untapped tourist destination by the Government of Kerala.Kerala will promote Bekal to attract repeat travellers and off- beat travellers.

AK AnilkumarMinister for Tourism, Kerala

Bekal – The new kid on Kerala’s block

Dilip MishraResident ManagerThe Lalit Resort & Spa Bekal

Mathew JosephManaging DirectorPepper Tours

TT BU R E AU

SPOTLIGHT-20132 2 TRAVTALK J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3

Arjun Sharma, Managing DirectorIndia is believed to be one of the best tourist destinations from2009-2018. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council,the country has the highest ten-year growth potential. Our focus,in the coming year, will remain on exclusive and differentiatedproducts. It is our intention to create a range of specific productstarget at different customer segments and tailored to meet tastesof the global consumer.

The coming year will definitely be better than the last, believe travel bosses. speaks to the biggest names intravel and tourism and asks them what they expect from 2013 in terms of business.

Travel Trade: All guns blazing for 2013

Nijhawan Group of CompaniesAnkush Nijhawan, Managing DirectorIn 2013, with an infusion of FDI in the aviation sector, domestic airlineswill get a major boost. The investment shall help in a significantincrease in load factors of the airlines and hotel occupancy. 2012 wasa challenging year, however the business of the Travel Boutique Online(TBO) grew by 40-45 per cent. We would also be focussing a lot oninnovating technology especially for the hotel content. We would alsolaunch our smartphone applications for our travel partners by early2013. TBO will continue to strengthen its position in India, MiddleEast and North Africa. We would start our operations in Thailand inearly 2013.

Jatinder Taneja, Managing Director India should focus on infrastructure growth. We need to have high-quality highways, which will help reduce travel-time from one cityto another. We also need high-speed trains connecting importanttourist cities, which will help increase tourism. Thirdly, when touristsare visiting monuments, we need to provide them with a good expe-rience. The cities should be clean and so should be the surroundingsmonuments. The developments and upgrading of various airports is commendable indeed. Now we have a lot new airports in India which convey a strong message that we are chang-ing for the better.

InterGlobe Technology QuotientJ B Singh, President & CEO The travel and hospitality sector has gone through unprecedentedtimes amidst challenges such as the economic slowdown, surgingfuel prices and rupee depreciation. These posed an imminent riskto the growth of the industry. However, the rate at which technologyis seeping into the travel and hospitality sector and the level atwhich innovations being introduced by companies, prospects appearoptimistic for both leisure and business travel.

WizieMoondeep Aggarwal, DirectorAs a technology company, I would be like to comment on the technologydemand dynamics for 2013. In this age of technology, we still believethat there is a high demand for a good online booking engine that worksfor wholesalers and travel agents. Moreover, automation products arehigh in demand, so that agents can reduce cost of operations and theairline debit memos. We are planning to launch a solution which willhelp travel agents to work on all three GDS sans training and increasesales and reduce cost of operations.

Jeet Sawhney, Managing DirectorAbacus is expecting to see India maintain its position as one ofthe leading travel markets within the Asia-Pacific region. The trav-el industry within India is set to see greater growth in 2013. Thiswill be brought about both by the stabilisation of the overall avi-ation situation as well as the continued rise of the middle class,leading to increased travel.

Arzoo.comAmal Purandare, Head OperationsInitiatives like FDI are always good news for the travel Industry,which means making more inbound travel. Currently, airlines aredoing their best to delve into Kingfisher’s share of business. In2013, we will also focus on consolidating our B2C customer baseand try and further strengthen our B2B stronghold. The end of2013 may also see the beginning of mergers and acquisitions inthe OTA space.

LPTI & TUI India

Kuoni IndiaDipak Deva, CEO Destination Management, India & South AsiaThe coming year looks positive. The government has recently easedrestrictions on tourist visas which had earlier mandated a two-month gap between consecutive visits by foreign nationals. This isa positive step and should show results in the coming year. Theeffort put in by the MOT, in the form of roadshows around the globe,is an important way of maintaining tourist interest in India as a des-tination. As for Sita, we will be focussing our attention on issuesthat will be crucial to our long-term success - the importance ofquality, technology and training to help meet and exceed customer expectations.

TECHNOLOGY

Travel Spirit International

Abacus India

Kuoni IndiaRajeev Wagle, Managing DirectorThe year 2013 looks optimistic for the travel industry. This is primarilybecause of various economic reforms introduced in the second half ofthe year 2012. Initiatives like FDI in retail and aviation are likely toboost the Indian economy growth thereby increasing discretionaryspending on services like travel. There is a tremendous scope for expan-sion and evolution in the market. Increase in number of young travellersseeking unique, off-beat experiences is opening up new doors to thetourism segment. With a view to enhance loyalty and productivity, cor-porates are setting increasing budgets aside for incentive trips.

Contd. on page 35

Arup Sen, Director, Special Projects The incoming foreign tourist arrivals in India registered a growthof 5.9 per cent and this is primarily due to a collective bag of positiveforces. The recovery of the euro and green shoots in USA, Australia,Canada, Middle East, CIS & Africa was a positive contribution alongwith augmentation of infrastructure including increased hotel inven-tory, modernisation of airports due to the Commonwealth Gamesprovided much required relief. On the domestic front, enhancedpurchasing power further contributed to the growth.

Cox & Kings

The leading decision-makers across different value chains in the tourism industry gathered to attend the interactive session ‘Leading Tourism throughTurbulent Times’ on 12-12-12 in New Delhi. The who’s who took time out to look into best perspectives and the needful directions which will helpthe industry to sail through present testing times.

‘Leading Tourism through turbulent times’

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SPOTLIGHT-2013

With mixed fortunes, the general outlook of hospitalitygrowth in India remained disappointing in 2012.However, industry experts forecast 2013 as being theyear when business will bounce back to good health.

Hospitality: What’s in store

The Lalit Suri Hospitality GroupSamil Malhotra, Vice PresidentThe start of 2013 may bring some relief to the industry. We expectthis to be a long slog to recovery but would want a real grip toreturn to the industry by 2013. However, we remain optimisticon the long-term growth story for the industry. As our expansionplans, the group is opening two new properties in 2013 - TheLalit Chandigarh and the re-opening of the much-awaited LalitGreat Eastern Kolkata. Also, The Lalit New Delhi has commencedwith celebrations of 25years.

Best Western India Sudhir Sinha, President & COOOverall, for the industry, the growth should be in the range of aroundseven-eight per cent based on how the global economic environmentpans out, specifically related to the European debt crisis and the USfiscal cliff. Also, guest preference is decisively shifting in favour ofchain hotels vis-à-vis standalone properties and this trend is expect-ed to increase steadily. Reservations through mobile-based platformsare expected to gain further momentum as more people use theinternet through their smartphones rather than through their desk-

top/laptop. The role of intermediaries is expected to shrink unless they are able to transformthemselves into MICE specialists and work., work as the in-house corporate travel agency forcorporate houses or focus on niche segments.

Leisure HotelsVibhas Prasad, DirectorWe continue to remain bullish on the future of the hospitality indus-try in India, especially in the domestic segment. The popularity ofshort-haul destinations from key metros will gain momentum thisyear. Another important development over the last two years whichwill continue in 2013 is the opening of Kashmir to ‘mass tourism’.India will attract a large number of spiritual tourists. Maha Kumbh2013 in Allahabad is also expected to be on the itinerary of everyspiritual traveller in the first quarter of this year. However, goingforward, there will be a few roadblocks which need to be tackled. Infrastructure issues withair and road connectivity and cheaper overseas destinations with easy connectivity can playspoilsport. Air traffic will remain muted due to high oil prices (high international Brent Crude).

The Suryaa New DelhiGreesh Bindra, Vice President and General ManagerThe industry will remain the same like last year because of the downturnin the European market. However, we can expect sustained growth inthe corporate and domestic leisure. Commercial activity and internationalleisure segment will pick up only in 2014. However, our hotel will witnesssome major movements in the international leisure segment. The industrywill also witness massive rate correction this year. Going forward, thestrategy that hoteliers should adopt this year is the exploration of newmarkets. New travel segments ought to be be created. Suiting the target

business areas, it will be wise for hoteliers to concentrate on product augmentation and differentiationand create a different experience for the customers.

Fairmont JaipurAtul Lall, General ManagerFairmont Jaipur opened at a time when the number of luxury roomnights offered in Jaipur has gone up to 1500 from 721 just two yearsago. In 2011, Jaipur showed a 13 per cent rise in the average roomrates. Thus, it is because of the nature of the hotel rooms that businessis changing in Jaipur. Traditionally viewed as a leisure destination,Jaipur has emerged as a MICE and wedding market too. The two seg-ments that will drive business for us and the entire Jaipur market in2013 are wedding and MICE. Incentives are expected to pick up inJan-March period. The transit travel segment has also been increasing over the last year. Therewill be fluctuation in the ARRs this year. However, whether it will be negative or positive, isdifficult to say now. But whatever the case, it will stabilise eventually.

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Korea Tourism Organisation(KTO) opened a represen-

tative office in Mumbai in2011 and the Korean Embassyalso appointed VFS to make iteasier for Indians to travel to

Korea. Since then the Indianoutbound to Korea has been onthe rise, says Jae Sang Lee,Director, Korea TourismOrganisation, New Delhi.“The number of documentsrequired to obtain a visa has been reduced and has

partly helped in boosting numbers from the India out-bound,” he said.

Korea has registered agrowth of 25 per cent fromthe Indian market, since itopened office in India, in

2008. Lee who was visitingthe newly opened KoreanCultural Center in NewDelhi informed. The Koreangovernment selected MICE as one of the ‘newgrowth engine’ industries,along with green energy

among others. Since then,the MICE market in Korea has garnered expert-ise with support from thegovernment and its initia-tive to develop creative content and technologyindigenous to Korea.

The organisation is alsotargetting the FITs and familytravel from India.

“According to a survey conducted bythe KTO in 2010,Indians spent US$1446 per trip. This isin contrast to othervisitors who spentUS$ 1298 per tripwhen visiting Korea.

Indian travellers spentan average of 13.5 days in con-trast with other nationalitieswho spent an average of 10days. This only reflects thatthere is a huge scope in thissegment,” he pointed out.Comparing India market withChina, Lee opined, “Ten yearsago, five lakh Chinese trav-ellers visited Korea. In 2011,we received 2.2 million. Thisis a very sharp curve and weexpect this kind of a spurtfrom India as well.”

Indian travellers spent an average of 13.5 days in contrast with other nationalities who spent an averageof 10 days. This only reflects the amount of scope outbound travel has as an opportunity for India.

Korea sees increase in India outboundTT BU R E AU

Jae Sang LeeDirectorKorea Tourism Organisation, New Delhi

Virgin Atlantic hasfinalised plans to launch adomestic flying pro-gramme within the UKfrom spring 2013. The air-line will be adding 24domestic flights a daywithin the UK to its exist-ing long haul network thatwill strengthen connectiv-ity for its Indian passen-gers. The airline will focusits operations on flights toand from Scotland. FromApril 2013, the airline willoperate six round-tripflights a day betweenHeathrow and Edinburgh,with three daily round-tripflights between Heathrowand Aberdeen. The airlinehas also utilised three of its own Heathrow slot-pairs tocomplement the newScottish routes with threedaily round-trip servicesbetween Heathrow and Manchester from March 31, 2013.

Virgin Atlanticto connectDelhi andMumbai withnew routes

After combating challenges in 2012, travel associations are looking forward to brighter prospects in 2013. Theveterans are hoping that taxes will be reduced, thereby bringing a breather for the industry. reports.

SPOTLIGHT-2013 J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3 TRAVTALK 2 7

Looking on the brighter side

Vikram Madhok,Former ChairpersonIndia is high on the priority radar ofleading developed countries, whichare now in the advanced stages ofeconomic revival. This means thatafter a lull due to difficult economicconditions, Incredible India will reg-ister rapid increase in arrivals. The

recent announcement of the Kerala Government to to start itsown airline is a step in the right direction.

IATO

Praveen Chugh, Vice PresidentThis uncertain trend might also spill overto the next year. Experts’ fears are com-pounded by the thought that the comingbudget might add to the existing tax bur-den adversely affecting the existing touristflow to the country. However, it is hopedthat India’s inbound tourist volume will

grow due to its rapidly increasing average disposable income, risingnumber of business opportunities, vast natural and culturalresources and increased spending by the government on developingtourism infrastructure.

TAFI

Subhash Goyal, PresidentWe had been pressing for thedemand of granting industrial statusand similar benefits to the tourismindustry. We hope that in year 2013,many such demands of our inboundindustry will be accepted. There isa strong case for extending the taxbenefits to the travel industry, whichwe’ll urge the MOT to pursue with the Ministry of Finance.There are merits in opening the skies further.

ADTOI

Biji Eapen, President2013 will be a promising year for theinbound business. The MOT,Government of India has a new team.Initiatives such as ‘Hunar se Rozgar’programme, Clean India campaign,safe and honourable tourism and thepromotion of medical and wellnesstourism are definitely going to yield

positive results. With the new team, it is expected that continuitywill be maintained in implementing above programmes in anaccelerated manner.

Subhash Verma, PresidentThe year 2013 will surely be a good onefor domestic tourism in India. As thegrowth in the international touristarrivals has been constant, the rise indomestic tourists will drive tourism.Tour operators should make use of theopportunity. They should utilise thetime in strengthening the manpower inthe office by providing special trainingprogramme and educational tours with-in the country to launch new packages based on new products.

WTTC, India Initiative IAAI

Guldeep Singh Sahni, PresidentThe industry is currently caughtbetween ‘A Rock and A Hard Place’. Onone side, it is extremely vulnerable toexternal shocks and events and on theother side, it is battling an internaltransformation with the increased useof technology and changing marketdynamics. Going forward, I feel, howthe industry faces the external head-

winds and internal shocks will define the market in the yearsto come. 2013 promises to be a great year for our association.

OTOAI

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Neptune Foundation’s charity polo matchThe Jaipur Polo Ground in New Delhi was buzzing with activity as diplomats, bureaucrats, businessmenand socialites got together to cheer their favourite team to victory at the Neptune Foundation Charity PoloMatch. The Ambassador of Thailand to India, Pisan Manawapat, was the chief guest at the event. TheAmazing Thailand Team lifted the cup beating Team Constance.

Even as people tighten their belts bracing for the year ahead, tourism boards get ready with a host of newproducts and promotional plans to woo Indian travellers. reports...

SPOTLIGHT-2013 J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3 TRAVTALK 3 1

South African TourismHanneli Slabber, Country Manager2013 will see some interesting initiatives by SouthAfrican Tourism in India. Increasing competitionfrom other tourism boards and the present con-dition of the economy will be a challenge for us.The key to success will be to deal with the chang-ing travel patterns and preferences effectively bydiversifying our products, maintaining excellentservice and innovating our marketing channels.The most critical element would be to ensure that we deliver value for moneyholiday experience.

Atout FranceCatherine Oden, Country ManagerThe global economic situation will, to a largeextent, influence travel trends for the first half of2013. At our end, we will renew our efforts to present France as an affordable destination andmake it attractive for our potential visitors. We are confident that we will find ways to cope withadverse situations and will find different means ofgenerating footfalls to France. All our best efforts

will be put forth to increase arrival figures for 2013.

Tourism AustraliaNishant Kashikar, Country ManagerWe expect the growth momentum for visitor arrivalsto continue in 2013. Our focus will remain on devel-oping demand for Australia as a holiday destinationamong the affluent, well-informed, seasoned trav-eller, residing in the top metro cities, especially inMumbai and Delhi. Simultaneously, there will beinitiatives to develop the business events segmentand on gaining more incentive visits to Australia.The Tourism Forecasting Committee estimates arrival of 178,000 visitors forthe year 2013/14.

Mischa Mannix-OpieRegional Manager - South &South East Asia Currently, India is our 12th largestmarket and we expect it to growat a steady pace. Based onTourism New Zealand’s research,there are approximately over 21million people in India who fallinto this category of travellers.This coupled with the rise inspending power of Indians makethe future appear pretty bright foran increase in the number ofIndian travellers

Ministry of Tourism, OmanLubaina Sheerazi, India Representative We have managed to reach out to people in Tier IIcities of Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad in 2012besides the Tier I cities of Mumbai, Delhi,Bengaluru and Chennai. In 2013, we want to takeit to the next level and reach out to more cities.We hope to increase the passenger numbers fromIndia to Oman. We also hope to create more brandawareness for Oman through our Bollywood asso-

ciation with the movie ‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Again’ which is slatedto release in mid 2013.

Wooing Indian travellers in 2013

Tourism NewZealand

Continued overleaf

SPOTLIGHT-2013

Tina Singh, Assistant Vice President In 2013, CTCs main focus continues to remain on the Travel Trade.Approximately 77% of the budget would be spent on marketing activitiesthrough the trade. While we have already obtained good presence in Delhiand Mumbai, we would be expanding our sales network in 2013 to newermarkets like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata by conductingtraining seminars to educate the travel trade in these cities on the desti-nation. Further, we will be launching Signature Experience Collection (SEC)in the India market where the destination will be repositioned as a trulyunique, experiential destination. We also plan to develop co-op programmes with tour operators. Wewill also be promoting our consumer website ‘Keep Exploring’ in 2013.

Canadian Tourism Commission, Representative in India

Madhvi Awasthi, Media ManagerDespite a gloomy global economy, the Indian market performed well invisitor arrivals in 2012.2013 is going to be an important year for Macau’s tourism industry, as wecelebrate the 60th Macau Grand Prix and 25 years of the Macau InternationalFireworks Display Contest. Besides promoting our heritage sites and otherattractions, we will continue to focus our efforts on business tourism initia-tives. We have been expanding our tourism products to diversify our source

market profile. We will also leverage our recently launched Wedding Incentive Scheme and StudentExcursion Incentive Scheme to boost visitor arrival figures. The Incentive stimulation plan offered byMacau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) helps agents and corporate look at Macau as a destination forbusiness movement. We have had group moments throughout the year to the tune of 200 – 1800.

Macau Government Tourism Office, India

Sterling Holidays, aVacation Ownership andLeisure Hospitality Company,opened its 19th resort,Dharamshala - TheSanctuary. Talking about thechoice of location for thehotel, Lata Subramanian,Vice President - Marketing ofSterling Holiday Resorts

(India) says, “At Sterling,great emphasis is laid onchoosing the locations for theresorts within each destina-tion. The goal remains todelighting holidayers withstunning views. With thatvery philosophy, when itcame to choosing a destina-tion for our new resort, it had

to be one that exudes beautyand charm. The USP of TheSanctuary thus is its location.With the majestic view of theDhauladhar range and thegurgling, perennial brooks ofthe Beas River, it is the loca-tion which is the property’sbiggest draw. It offers won-derful scenic canvas of

Himalayas and the emeraldgreen Kangra Valley. Theproperty is also very close tothe Norbulingka monastery.”

The full-service, modernresort has 26 elegantly fur-nished rooms, a multi-cuisinerestaurant, bar, conferencefacilities and a range of recre-ational activities designed to

engage members and guestsin fun-filled, memorable hol-iday experiences.

The hotel also hopes toattract MICE inspite of beinglocated in a leisure zone. Allof Sterling’s resorts in factare located in leisure localesin India and are built to offerstunning views of the desti-

nation. “This factalone makes eachof our resorts theperfect choice foroffsite conferencesand events as thebreathtaking viewsand fresh air proveto be invigouratingfor MICE dele-gates. The MICEoffering fromSterling is not anew venture asour resorts havebeen built to hostconferences frominception. Sterling

offers complete MICE solu-tions at value pricing, whichinclude well-equipped con-ference facilities and guestrooms, banquets, airporttransfers and a team of ‘FunRangers’ who organize arange of holiday and teambuilding activities,” saysSubramanian.

Sterling Holidays opens 19th resort

Phillipines Tourism Marketing Office, India Chetna Singh, Senior Marketing Manager India is an emerging market with a vast source of potential travellers.Over the past ten months, the Phillipines recorded a double-digit growthof 42.0 per cent with month-on-month comparison for October 2011and 2012. This milestone may be attributed to the recent implemen-tation of the 14-day visa-free entry facility for Indian tourists with theexisting valid multiple entry visa of US, Japan, Australia, Canada,Schengen, Singapore or UK (they should have travelled to these desti-nations at least once). The Phillipines Tourism Marketing Office in Indiais expecting to bolster Indian travel to the Philippines through integrated marketing efforts in 2013.We predict an increase in the number of inbound travellers from India in the coming years as thePhillipines is fast becoming a destination of choice amongst the Indians.

Contd. from page 31

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The year 2012 saw a lot of ups and downs in the tourism industry. In the initial months tourism was movingslowly, but picked up towards the end of the year. spoke to some of the leading travel agents and askedthem to review the year that was 2012.

New Year to see more in-out traffic

Ajay Prakash, Chief Executive2012 was a year that saw some tough times for the industry. YoungIndians have shown a move towards niche or experiential holidays -and this trend will grow. We shall crawl past the 6 million mark forinbound tourists, but at less than 0.5% of global tourism. India is farfrom realising its potential for inbound tourism - and the reasons arethere for all of us to see. It's heartening to see additional rooms beingadded in all the major cities. Hopefully, that will keep room rates at areasonable level for both inbound as well as domestic tourists.

Thomas Cook (India) Madhav Pai, Director – Leisure Travel (Outbound)Thomas Cook India has bucked the trend by launching Summer Tours – ‘European Holiday Supermarket’ and ‘American HolidaySupermarket’ this October for 2013. This unique ‘Super Market’ concept has been impactful and our forward booking position isalready up by an impressive 65% . Almost 45% of our individual holiday travellers are youth, and this segment is poised to grow atan exponential rate of 25-30%.

Nomad TravelsContd. from page 22

Mathew Joseph, Managing DirectorIn 2013, business will be difficult and travel operators who are more proac-tive in terms of advertising, media and networking will do well. In termsof inbound tourists, UK, Russia and Australia will be our biggest sourcemarkets. Places like Kashmir will do well in 2013 as it is opening up andhas the potential to attract tourists. Kerala market will face stiff competitionfrom other markets unless it will become more flexible in terms of its hotelrates. Outbound travel will increase in 2013 to Far East and Middle Eastalong with niche destinations in Europe.

Pepper Tours Inorbit Tours & Travels OmPrakash Sehgal, DirectorThis year was full of evolution and changes and I'm happy to see thatwe all were able to adopt to the changes. For 2013, we will have tocome up with innovative strategies and business model. If there is anyexternal unrest in the Indian economy on macro level, our tourismindustry will be influenced on a greater scale. Thus, all service providersneed to be cautious and at the same time start with new products,innovative marketing strategies and come up with affordable travelpackages to attract our booming middle class.

FAMILY ALBUM3 6 TRAVTALK J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3

November was a busy month for the Indian travel industry as Abacus India staged trade gatherings in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata. The eventswere well-attended and received by the industry partners in the cities. Different themes were explored in each venue. Mumbai went Hawaiian, replete withflower garlands, while the Kolkata event went ‘Disco Nite’ with travel consultants turning up in grooving outfits and dancing the night away.

Abacus India gets trade on the dance floor

The ‘All-Inclusive’ pack-ages of Club Med include

accommodation and all mealsand transfers. The guestshave, at their disposal, exqui-

site buffets, chef ’s specialsand specialty bars. And alsothe dining locations are set inpicturesque spots such as

lagoons. Club Med’s corecharges also include unlimit-ed quantities of alcoholic andnon-alcoholic beverages. Theall-inclusive concept ensuresthat the guests’ adrenalinelevels don’t reach safe lows,thanks to a cross-section ofactivities and adventuressports at each resort. These

include the relaxing volley-ball, surfing, golf, archery,tennis, beach soccer, kayak-ing, snorkeling and flying tra-peze. The chain’s ‘Kids Clubs’are state-of-the-art facilitieswhere trained professionalslook over and entertain theyoung ones while their par-ents and guardians have their

time in the sunshine. Andthere is an element of enter-tainment behind every ClubMed stay as there are dailyentertainment shows featur-ing live performances.

“Our concept of ‘All-Inclusive’ is still new in India.However, we now see a rise

in luxury travel in India. Indianow has a lot of FITs who takeshorter breaks to spend moretime with their familybecause of which we thinkthat this ‘All-InclusiveHolidays’ will work in India,”says Vijay Sharma, CountryManager, Club Med, India

Club Med, a Frenchcompany owns several pre-mium resorts across theglobe and currently, the com-pany receives more than2000 Indian families acrossits properties with 80 percent staying at their Asianresorts while 20 per cent intheir European resorts.

Having 80 resorts worldwide, the USP of the Club Med is their ‘All-Inclusive’ resorts. Sincesuccessfully launching the concept of ‘All-Inclusive’ resorts many years ago across the world,Club Med hopes that Indians too will soon see value-for-money in this product.

Club Med rolls out red carpet for Indians

TT BU R E AU

FICCI in partnershipwith the state govern-ments and the Ministry ofTourism will organise the first-ever two-dayfocussed Conclave onInvestment in TourismInfrastructure (CITI). Itwill encompass exclusivestate presentations, B2Bmeeting of investors withstate governments andexhibition by organisationsin the hotel supply chain,forging one to one meet-ings with their target con-sumers during January 16-17, 2013 at the FederationHouse, FICCI. Investors intourism infrastructurefrom across India and astrong 50-member AsianAmerican Hotel OwnersAssociation ( AAHOA) del-egation from USA led bytheir Chairman, membersof FHRAI, HAI, IHHA,members from state levelhotel associations andorganisations in the hotelsupply chain will forge tiesthrough B2B meetingswith one another.

FICCI rollsout CITI

Vijay SharmaCountry ManagerClub Med, India

The all-inclusive conceptensures that guests remainentertained thanks to activitiesand adventures sports

A la carte

JANUARY4-6 Chennai Travel & Tourism Fair8-13 Gujarat International Travel Tourism &

Hospitality Expo9 Coimbatore Tourism Authority of Thailand’s

B2B Event11 Mangalore Tourism Authority of Thailand’s

B2B Event11-13 Bengaluru Travel & Tourism Fair14 Pune Tourism Authority of Thailand’s

B2B Event16-17 New Delhi FICCI’s Conclave on Investment

in Tourism Infrastructure 201316-18 New Delhi Tourism Malaysia’s Roadshow19 Kolkata Tourism Malaysia’s Roadshow20-22 Guwahati ATOAI’s Annual Convention21 Mumbai Tourism Malaysia’s Roadshow21 Mumbai Tourism Fiji’s Roadshow22 Ahmedabad Tourism Fiji’s Roadshow23 Kolkata Tourism Fiji’s Roadshow23 Chennai Tourism Malaysia’s Roadshow24 New Delhi Tourism Fiji’s Roadshow24-27 Singapore Zak Salaam India Tourism

Expo - Singapore25-27 Switzerland Travel Expo25-27 Coimbatore Holiday Expo 25-27 Nagpur India International

Travel Exhibition25-27 Germany Leisure Travel Market30-3 Spain Fitur31-2 Kochi India International Travel Mart

Cochin

5 Mumbai Austrian National TouristOffice’s B2B Event

6 Chennai Austrian National TouristOffice’s B2B Event

7 New Delhi Austrian National TouristOffice’s B2B Event

12 Ahmedabad Tourism Philippines’ Roadshow13 Kolkata Tourism Philippines’ Roadshow19 Mumbai Disney Parks - Disney Days Trade

Event21 Delhi Disney Parks - Disney Days Trade

Event22 Ahmedabad Macau Govt Tourist Office’s Trade

Workshop22 Mumbai Canadian Tourism Commission

Agents Training Programme25 Delhi Canadian Tourism Commission

Agents Training Programme25-26 New Delhi ATOUT France’s Paris

Promotion27-1 Mumbai ATOUT France’s Paris

Promotion27- 2 Jaipur Canadian Tourism Commission’s

Focus Canada India28-2 Kolkata IITM Kolkata

FEBRUARY

3 8 TRAVTALK J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3

For more information, contact us at: talk@ddppl.com

MARCH 1 New Delhi Starwood Hotels Worldwide’s

Sales Expo for B2B / MICE & Corporate Agents

2 Kolkata Starwood Hotels Worldwide’sSales Expo for B2B / MICE & Corporate Agents

4-6 Thailand Kiwi Link South & SouthEast Asia

8 Chandigarh Macau Govt Tourist Office’s B2BWorkshop

22 Kolkata Macau Govt Tourist Office’s B2B Workshop

FAMILY ALBUM

OTOAI celebrates 1st anniversary OTOAI (Outbound Tour Operators Association of India), which was formed last year to boost India's outboundtourism, has recently completed one year of success and achievements. Moving forward in the next year,the association is all geared up with increase in its member base (currently has 170 active members), enhancedrelationship with NTOs and with its foraying into the smaller cities of India.

*For more details, contact: ddpexhibitions@ddppl.com

Calendar of Travel EventsJANUARY

4-6 Chennai Travel & Tourism Fair8-13 Gujarat International Travel Tourism &

Hospitality Expo8-13 Utrecht, Holiday Fair

The Netherland9 Coimbatore Tourism Authority of Thailand’s

B2B Event11 Mangalore Tourism Authority of Thailand’s

B2B Event11-13 Bengaluru Travel & Tourism Fair14 Pune Tourism Authority of Thailand’s

B2B Event16-17 Delhi FICCI’s Conclave on Investment in

Tourism Infrastructure 201316-18 Delhi Tourism Malaysia’s Roadshow16-18 Delhi South Asian Travel and Tourism

Exhibition (SATTE)17-20 Helsinki, Finland Matka Expo Nordic Travel Fair19 Kolkata Tourism Malaysia’s Roadshow20-22 Guwahati ATOAI’s Annual Convention21 Mumbai Tourism Malaysia’s Roadshow21 Mumbai Tourism Fiji’s Roadshow21-22 Mumbai SATTE Mumbai22 Ahmedabad Tourism Fiji’s Roadshow23 Kolkata Tourism Fiji’s Roadshow23 Chennai Tourism Malaysia’s Roadshow24 Delhi Tourism Fiji’s Roadshow24-27 Singapore Zak Salaam India Tourism

Expo - Singapore25-27 Switzerland Travel Expo25-27 Coimbatore Holiday Expo 25-27 Nagpur India International Travel Exhibition25-27 Germany Leisure Travel Market30-3 Madrid, FITUR*

Spain31-2 Kochi India International Travel Mart 31-3 Feb Istanbul, Turkey EMITT*

2-3 Innsbruck, Austria Travel Trend2-4 Chandigarh India Travel Mart (ITM)5 Mumbai Austrian National Tourist Office’s

B2B Event5-6 London, UK The Travel Technology Show5-6 London, UK Business Travel & Meetings Show5-6 Tel Aviv, Israel International Mediterranean

Tourism Market6 Chennai Austrian National Tourist Office’s

B2B Event7 Delhi Austrian National Tourist Office’s

B2B Event7-10 Prague, Holiday World

Czech Republic8-10 Mumbai TTF & OTM12 Ahmedabad Tourism Philippines’ Roadshow13 Kolkata Tourism Philippines’ Roadshow14-16 Delhi TTF & OTM14-17 Milan, Italy BIT18-21 Johannesburg, Meetings Africa

South Africa19 Mumbai Disney Parks - Disney Days Trade

Event21 Delhi Disney Parks - Disney Days Trade

Event22 Ahmedabad Macau Govt Tourist Office’s Trade

Workshop22 Mumbai Canadian Tourism Commission

Agents Training Programme22-24 Bhubaneswar Holiday Expo23-25 Ahmedabad Indian Travel Mart (ITM)25 Delhi Canadian Tourism

Commission Agents Training Programme

25-26 Delhi ATOUT France’s Paris Promotion

26-27 Melbourne, Asia Pacific Meetings and Australia Incentive Expo (AIME)

27-1 Mumbai ATOUT France’s Paris Promotion27- 2 Mar Jaipur Canadian Tourism

Commission’s Focus Canada India27-3 Mar Lisbon, Portugal BTL28-2 Mar Kolkata IITM Kolkata

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL4-6 Baku, Azerbaijan Azerbaijan International Tourism

Fair (AITF)*5 Lucknow Macau Govt Tourist Office B2B

Workshop8-9 Cape Town, International Luxury Travel Market

South Africa Africa (ILTM Africa)9-11 Beijing, China China Outbound Travel Tourism

Mart (COTTM)*11-13 Novosibirsk, Russia SITT (TOURSIB)*14-16 Jaipur Great India Travel Bazaar21-24 Auckland, Tourism New Zealand

New Zealand TRENZ 201323-25 Sao Paulo, Brazil World Travel Market

Latin America*23-26 Riyadh, Riyadh Travel Fair

Saudi Arabia24-26 Almaty, Kazakhstan International Tourism

Kazakhstan Fair (KITF)*

MAY

JUNE3-6 Shanghai, China International Luxury Travel

Market Asia (ILTMA)*11-13 Chicago, USA Americas Incentive

Business Travel & Meetings Exhibitions (AIBTM)*

13-16 Hong Kong, International Travel ExpoSAR China

13-16 Hong Kong, ITE MICESAR China

21-23 Beijing, China Beijing International Tourism Expo (BITE)

26-27 Auckland, Tourism New Zealand New Zealand MEETINGS 2013

JULY5-7 Kolkata TTF9 Chennai Macau Govt Tourist Office’s B2B

Minimart10 Bengaluru Macau Govt Tourist Office’s B2B

Minimart12-14 Hyderabad TTF19-21 Bengaluru IITM Bangalore26-28 Chennai IITM Chennai

9-11 Aurangabad IITE16-18 Ahmedabad TTF20 Chennai German India Pool, B2B Event 22 Delhi German India Pool, B2B Event23-25 Surat TTF30-1 Sept Mumbai TTF

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER2-3 Delhi Atout France’s ‘France

Promotion’2-4 Beijing, China China Incentive Business

Travel Market (CIBTM)*4-6 Mumbai Atout France’s ‘France

Promotion’6-8 Mumbai IITM Mumbai6-8 Pune TTF8-11 Prince Edward Canadian Tourism Commission’s

Island, Canada Go Media13-15 Delhi-NCR IITM Gurgaon17-20 Moscow, Russia Otdykh Leisure17-20 Moscow, Russia Luxury Leisure24 Kiev, Ukraine Luxury Travel Market24-27 Paris, France International French Travel Market

Top Resa25-27 Astana, Kazakhstan Astana Leisure*27 Almaty, Kazakhstan Luxury Travel Market 30-3 Oct Cancun, Mexico International Luxury Travel

Market Americas (ILTMA)*

OCTOBER1-3 Bangkok, Thailand IT&CMA CTW4-6 Indore IITE10-12 St. Petersburg, Inwetex-CIS Travel Market

Russia10-12 St. Petersburg, MICE Industry

Russia14-18 Hanzhou, China Canadian Tourism Commission’s

Showcase Asia18-21 Taipei, Taiwan Taipei International Travel Fair23-25 Singapore ITB Asia

NOVEMBER4-7 London, World Travel Market*

UK (WTM)

6-7 London, UK Business Travel Market11-14 Costa Daurada, International Golf Travel Market

Spain 22-24 Pune IITM22-24 Pune IITM Pune26 Delhi German National Tourist Board

Roadshow’s B2B Event27 Bengaluru German National Tourist Board

Roadshow’s B2B Event29 Mumbai German National Tourist Board

Roadshow’s B2B Event29 -1 Dec Hyderabad IITM Hyderabad

DECEMBER2-5 Cannes, France International Luxury

Travel Market*

1 Delhi Starwood Hotels Worldwide’s Sales Expo for B2B / MICE & Corporate Agents

1-3 Vijayawada India International Travel Exhibition (IITE)

2 Kolkata Starwood Hotels Worldwide’s Sales Expo for B2B / MICE & Corporate Agents

4-5 Warsaw & Polish Outgoing WorkshopKatowice, Poland

4-6 Thailand Kiwi Link South & South East Asia6-10 Berlin, Germany ITB7-9 Guangzhou, China Guangzhou International Travel Fair8 Chandigarh Macau Govt Tourist Office’s B2B

Workshop14 Moscow, Russia Luxury Travel Mart15-17 Raipur Indian International Travel Exhibition

(IITE)19-21 London, UK International Confex20-23 Moscow, Russia Moscow International Travel and

Tourism Exhibition (MITT)*21-24 Gothenburg, Sweden Tur22 Kolkata Macau Govt Tourist Office’s B2B

Workshop25-27 Abu Dhabi, UAE GIBTM*27-29 Kiev, Ukraine UITT*

5-7 Stuttgart, German Travel MartGermany

6-9 Dubai, Arabian Travel UAE Market (ATM)*

9-11 Shanghai, China World Travel Fair11-14 Durban, Indaba Expo

South Africa12-15 Ottawa, Canada Canadian Tourism

Commission’s Rendezvous Canada

13-15 Kuwait City, Travel World ExpoKuwait

16-18 Lugano, Meeting LuxurySwitzerland

India Golf Tourism Association (IGTA) will kickstart2013 on a positive note by participating in the Ministryof Tourism’s North East International Travel Martscheduled to be held in January in Assam…

NEWS

Leading golf enthusiastsfrom the tourism and

hospitality industry havecome together to launchIndia Golf TourismAssociation (IGTA), whichstrives to enhance India’s golfofferings. The new associa-tion also strives forward tobring International Golf MeetAsia 2014 to India.

As per Rajan Sehgal,President, IGTA, “The IndiaGolf Tourism Association hasbeen formed to bring all golfcourses and golf tour promot-ers on one platform. Thishelps in bringing betterunderstanding and coordina-tion among various stake-holders promoting golf inIndia. Our membership willbe open to travel and touroperators, golf courses,hotels, airlines, state tourismboards and internationaltourism organisations.”

“IGTA hopes to bring inthe prestigious InternationalGolf Meet Asia 2014 to India.Besides this, the associationwill work towards invitingforeign golf tour operators toexperience golfing in India,

conduct an annual GolfTourism Conference, work asa dialogue facilitator with allstakeholders to better pack-age the Indian golf product tomaximise foreign visitorarrivals in India,” he added.

IGTA has planned a hostof events and will kick start2013 on a positive note byparticipation in the Ministryof Tourism’s North EastInternational Travel Martscheduled to be held inJanuary in Assam. The IGTAwas launched in the firstweek of December 2012 atSuryaa, New Delhi and itsexecutive team also includesGajender Singh-VicePresident, Uday Marwah-

Secretary, Vipan Sharma- Jt.Secretary and RK Mathur-Treasurer. The IGTA officialsdesire to work closely withthe Ministry of Tourism toensure that Golf in nearfuture becomes a major con-tributor to the tourist arrivalsin India.

Here, Sehgal adds, “Golfis India’s best kept secret.The country has the rareadvantage of having an arrayof golf courses from the met-ros to the mountains as wellas courses with great histor-ical importance. Once inIndia, the tourists comingarriving for experiencing golfwill also be inspired byIndia’s attractions such asspa, culture, adventure, din-ing and business offerings.”

Teeing off on Indian grounds

TT BU R E AU

The IGTA was launched in thefirst week of December 2012at Suryaa, New Delhi

The IGTA officials desire towork closely with the Ministryof Tourism to ensure that Golfin near future becomes amajor contributor to the touristarrivals in India

Plan of action

Rajan SehgalPresidentIGTA

The IGTA was launched in the first week of December 2012 at Suryaa, NewDelhi and its executive team includes Gajender Singh-Vice President, UdayMarwah-Secretary, Vipan Sharma- Jt. Secretary and RK Mathur-Treasurer.The IGTA will strive forward to make India a leading golfing destination.

IGTA launched in New Delhi

Strategically located 300meters from the KochiInternational Airport,Courtyard by Marriott, KochiAirport is well connected toall major destinations in andaround Kochi. Designed to

have a contemporary lookand feel, the hotel reflectsthe refreshing hospitalityoffered by the MarriottGroup. The hotel has 107rooms that include 7 Suites,22 Twin Rooms & 78 King

Rooms making it the highestroom inventory in the vicin-ity of the Kochi InternationalAirport. All the rooms comefully equipped with hi-speedinternet, ergonomic seating,tea/coffee maker etc.

Courtyard Kochi Airport by Marriott

OPPORTUNITY

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MOVEMENTS4 4 TRAVTALK J A N U A R Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 3

Karim Makhlouf, ChiefCommercial Officer, Gulf Airwas in India to celebrate 31years of operations. He wasborn in Germany and startedhis career with Lufthansa,where he worked for over 10years. He loves the multicultur-al environment in Bahrain,which he believes has strongresemblance with Indian ethos.Makhlouf is passionate aboutgolf, cooking and fitness. He has recently been blessedwith a baby girl and loves spending time with his familythat includes his wife and son.

Karim MakhloufChief Commercial OfficerGulf Air

Yann GilletGeneral ManagerPark Hyatt Chennai

Simon Wan, Chief Executive andManaging Director, StayWellHospitality Group says, “I spendaround two weeks every month trav-elling for work. Thus, my wife hasstarted calling me Mr Who,” hechuckles. When Wan is home, he likesto spend time with his wife and twodaughters, aged 15 and 17. “I lovecooking. It acts as the best rejuvena-tion therapy for me. I grow my ownherbs and vegetables in my garden.”

Wan also likes sneaking in for a game of golf occasionally.He loves to watch action-packed movies. “Skyfall was thelast movie I saw and thoroughly enjoyed it,” he says.

Josef Schuppler has been appointed as the Director ofOperations at the JW Marriott Hotel New Delhi Aerocity, whichis scheduled to open in early 2013.Schuppler has over seven years ofexperience in managing the Food &Beverage division across Marriott hotelsin Asia including the JW Marriott HongKong, JW Marriott Beijing and JWMarriott Shanghai. He tables invaluablemulti-property experience, off-propertyevents and expertise in F&B as well asoperations management.

Bhutan Tourism Corporation LimitedDelhiVishal Kumar has been appointed as the Head Sales &Marketing - India Representative for Bhutan Tourism CorporationLimited (BTCL). He brings with him almost13 years of experience in Hospitality &Aviation industry. In his current role, hewould take care of Sales & Marketingand setting up Bhutan as a destinationfor the Indian Market. Kumar has workedwith Eaton Smart Transit hotel – T-3, DIALfor the T3 Operations & Project Planning& hotels in various locations in India suchas InterContinental The Grand &The Grand New Delhi.

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

Contributed by: Vivek Sethi, Dency Mathew & Megha Paul

Patricia Yates, Director of Strategy andCommunications, VisitBritain has done her mastersin Physics from Oxford University and treaded intotravel writing, while working for a science journal.She is also a fellow of the Tourism Society and hadjoined VisitBritain just prior to London wasannounced as the host city of Olympics andParalympic Games. Yates loves travelling, readingand is also a fitness freak. “I firmly believe that thetravellers today have a global vision and their needsshould be addressed accordingly,” she says.

Gaurav Apte has joined the Bengaluru Marriott Hotel, Whitefield as the Director of Rooms. In this

profile, he will be responsible for overseeingfinancial interactions & transactions.Previously, Apte was associated with theCourtyard by Marriott, Pune Hinjewadi asthe Director of Rooms, where he played asignificant role in ensuring its successful

opening. He has earlier worked with TheLakeside Chalet Marriott Executive

Apartments and TheRenaissance Mumbai Hotel& Convention Centre for 7 years.

Marriott Hotels India DelhiVishal Gupta is the new Director of Travel Trade Sales for theMarriott Hotels India. Prior to this stint, he was the Director ofSales for the Greenbelt Marriott and MarriottInn & Conference Centre UMUC in Maryland,USA. He has been with Marriott Internationalfor 12 years now and has extensiveinternational work-experience that coverscountries such as Australia, St. Kitts(Caribbean) and United States beforereturning back home to India.Gupta has worked witheminent brands such as HotelInterContinental, Sydney andThe Hilton New Delhi.

Renaissance Mumbai ConventionCentre Hotel and Lakeside ChaletMumbai, Marriott ExecutiveApartmentsMumbaiNeesha Mohapatra has joinedRenaissance Mumbai Convention CentreHotel and Lakeside Chalet - Mumbai,Marriott Executive Apar tments as the new Director of HumanResources. Her por tfolio includesworking with brands like The UnisonHotels Group, The Leela Groupand the InterContinentalHotels Group.

Hilton Mumbai International AirportMumbaiKasturi Deo has joined the Hilton Mumbai International Airportas the Executive Housekeeper. She brings in more than 15 yearsof experience with her to this new role. Inher former position at Bombay Dyeing& Manufacturing, she was headinghousekeeping operations for theMumbai-based company withdiverse interests in textile, airlines,FMCG and realty. Prior to this, Deoheld positions with LeelaKempinski in Mumbai, TajResidency in Vadodara,Hotel Ramada inMumbai and others.

Sonika Chaturvedi is the new Director of Human Resourceat the Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield. She

comes in with 14 years of experience inthe field of Human Resources,organisation development, training &customer service in hotels, telecom &BPO. Prior to joining this profile,Chaturvedi worked at the Renaissance

Hotel and Convention Centre & MarriottExecutive Apar tments, Mumbai as the

Director of Human Resources, whereshe successfully managed the

department with her experiencein this segment.

Courtyard by Marriott Pune City CentrePuneShubhendu Kadam is appointed as the Executive Chef atCourtyard by Marriott Pune City Centre. He brings with him 16years of experience in the hospitalitydomain. Kadam encompasses anexpertise in pre-opening and refurbishingof Hotel F&B, Speciality restaurants andCruise Ships in India, The Philippines andUSA. He star ted his career as a Commis - II chef at Hyatt Regency, NewDelhi in October 1996. His career stints alsoinclude working at Park Hyatt Goaand For t Aguada BeachResort, Goa as and theInterContinental Goa.

Simon WanChief Executive andManaging Director,StayWell Hospitality Group

Yann Gillet, General Manager, Park Hyatt Chennai was born and brought up in Pessac, a villagenext to Bordeaux in France, known for the Chateau Haut Brion. Hailing from a family of a physicistfather and three doctor sisters, Yann has travelled extensively as a child to countries that includeSweden, USA, South Africa, Spain, China and many others. This, he believes, is where the firstseed of his passion for the hospitality industry were sown.

Gillet is an avid sports enthusiast with interests ranging from football, running and watersports. He is adept at sailing, surfing, kite surfing and windsurfing and has also been an instructorof the latter at Bordeaux. “I love running and am doing a 10 km run with absolute ease everyweekend,” he says while talking about his daily routine.

Patricia YatesDirector of Strategy andCommunicationsVisitBritain

JW Marriott Hotel New Delhi AerocityNew Delhi

Bengaluru Marriott Hotel WhitefieldBengaluru Neeraj Maharshi is the new Director of Sales and Marketing

at JW Marriott Hotel New Delhi Aerocity. He comes with 15years of experience in the hotel industry. In his previous role,Maharshi held the position of the Director of Sales andMarketing at the Jaipur Marriott. He wasalso instrumental in positioning theJaipur Marriott as the ideal destinationfor MICE and leisure business. In hispresent profile, he will work towardsmaximizing the hotel revenue fromdifferent market segments and lead thehotel’s sales team.

HIGHLIGHT

Postal Reg. No.: DL(ND)-11/6044/2012-13-14; WPP No.: U(C)-178/2012-14 for posting on 1st-2nd and 15th-16th

of the same month at New Delhi P.S.O., RNI No.: 53492/91Date of Publication:30-12-2012

Despite turbulence facedby the Indian tourism

industry in 2012, KuoniIndia comfortably managedto record single digitgrowth. However, withthings looking cautiouslypositive and pleasantly con-fusing in 2013, the companyis well-prepared with a solidbusiness strategy to recorda higher double digit growththis year. Moreover, it is alsoready to take on its B2B divi-sion - Kuoni Business Travelto the next level by bringingin more efficiency and tak-ing it to the internationalmarkets in a few years.

The year 2012 witnessedunstable global economy,drifting currency, fluctu-ating airfares, etc. Howwill you see 2013 for yourbusiness?

During the first half,Indian tourism industry facedtough times, but the secondhalf was more pleasant withreforms coming from thegovernment’s side like FDI inretail and aviation, regulatingthe banking industry, amend-ment Bill being passed, stockmarkets performing well, etc.These reforms proved to be aboon for the Indian economymaking 2013 look more pos-itive. A feel good economymakes people do discre-tionary spend and thus, trav-el comes into picture. I thinkthe general view is good.Economy grew at 5.4% in thefirst half and is expected toend at 5.8-5.9%, whichmeans second half is alreadybudgeted at higher level.Since our tourism industry isdirectly attached to the coun-try’s economy at macro level,I’m cautiously optimisticabout the growth opportuni-ties for this year.

Why cautiously opti-mistic and not confident-ly positive?

This is because no onecan take a beat on the growthrates in 2013. I feel we are onthe right track and might hitthe seven per cent GDP.

With more travellerssearching online andgaining confidence inOTAs, what lies aheadfor the offline agents?

OTAs have done a greatjob by opening up the travelmarket in the country. Withseamless technology, they arereally good at air ticketingand one-destination pack-ages. However, complex andmulti-destination travelbookings market is stillowned by offline agents. Withevolving market, there isplace for both online andoffline travel agents. India isa unique market with ahybrid operating model (com-pany with both online andoffline presence).

Kuoni India has aspira-tions to go online, but we willnever try to compete withany OTA as the businessmodel is different. We dohave our website and high-light our products, but, forbookings, we will direct thecustomer to a branch.

Are you prepared for2013?

Rupee drift-ing with the econ-omy and travellersdown-trading wasobserved in 2012.Since it came insuddenly, travelindustry was notprepared for it. Thisyear we are betterprepared. We stillgrew last year but wedid not meet our tar-gets. So this year, we

are doing lot of stuff on theproduct, destination and dis-tribution sides which webelieve will take us to muchhigher growth in 2013. Weare used to the new level ofrupee and we still haveaffordability as a plank. AtKuoni India, we are ready forthis year with better hoteldeals, affordable travel pack-ages, revamped distributionmodel, our spread out reachin the country and with our differentiated productson-board etc.

There is a lot of growthcoming from Tier II and TierIII cities and we are all set totap that growth. Also, afterconsolidating our group tourbusiness, we are now lookingat FIT (both high-end andbudget), a segment where wewant to make a difference.This is now possible with ourstrong IT system (CRM) inplace which enables us toservice the customer at thepoint of sale with good rates.It will also help us maximiseeach line of product to caterto every segment of traveller.

Moreover, we are alsoworking closely with ourKuoni offices worldwide tobring in more diverse knowl-edge of various destinations,better deals with suppliersand seamless experience forour customers in any part ofthe world by consistent serv-ice under Kuoni umbrella.

How will you make travelmore affordable forIndian travellers in 2013?

I think the industryneeds to do a lot of affordabil-ity. Our economy is growing;our middle class travellers arebecoming richer and need fortravel is already implanted intheir head. So, if our travelpackages become more afford-able, the overall economy willbenefit out of it. Thus by mak-ing the price point cheaper,more numbers will travel. Thispart can be worked upon bythe industry, but, on the otherside, government should fur-ther open up our skies,improve air connectivity,develop infrastructure, etc.India is one of the highestspending markets for variouscountries and thus there aregood numbers of NTOs pres-ent here. This shows ourpotential and it’s time tomake travel affordable. Letmore people travel andexpand our market size.

Rajeev Wagle, Managing Director at Kuoni India is making all efforts to bringout the best business models, marketing strategies and product lines with morefocus on FITs. He also plans to make travel more affordable for Indians.

Affordable travel in 2013: Kuoni

AN I TA JA I N

Trends in 2012Trends of people travellingmore frequently becamemore pronounced

Category of travellers hasbeen widened with travellerstravelling with friends, family,in groups, etc

Travellers down-trading ontheir trips (cutting down on number of travelling days, opting for short-hauldestinations, selectingdomestic over short-haulinternational destinations etc)Rajeev Wagle, MD, Kuoni India