Show calendar of TTF’s 9 city network, BLTM Delhi and OTM Mumbai 2019-20 announcedDelhi and Mumbai shows will be held within a gap of just 1 day, to be presented as ‘Outbound Week’Fairfest Media, India’s leading travel media company, has announced its travel trade show calendar for the Financial Year 2019-2020. Here’s a quick glance over all shows to be organised in the coming year.

TTF 2019-20 seriesThe traditional favourite, TTF-branded regional shows will be held in 9 cities, retaining its position as India’s largest network of travel trade shows.

TTF in Hyderabad, rebranded as TTF South has witnessed massive transformation for a couple of years. It is scheduled to be held on July 5 and 6 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). Last year, the show witnessed 200 buyers who were hosted within the venue hotel, Novotel and they completed 4322 meetings, using the hi-tech online meeting diary. In addition to hosted buyers, there were 930 travel trade visitors and 900 general visitors who attended the two-day event, making it a very successful show.

The Hyderabad show will have a special emphasis on Outbound this year. South India contributes more than 50% of the India outbound market and it is distributed in several cities in South India, e.g. Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Cochin, Calicut etc. To cater to this market in one go, outbound focused buyers from all Southern cities will be hosted at the show, after passing through a stringent qualification criteria.

Positioned as the gateway to the lucrative East and Northeast India markets alongside the huge Kolkata and Bengal market it already serves as well as Bangladesh which has emerged as the top most source market for India, TTF Kolkata is scheduled to be held from July 12-14. Last year, TTF Kolkata was a huge success, with packed halls of Netaji Indoor Stadium and the adjacent Khudiram Anushilan Kendra.

Scheduled to take place at the Gujarat University Exhibition Hall on August 30, 31 and September 1, TTF Ahmedabad, a traditional favourite among exhibitors is going through an unprecedented growth phase as well. TTF Ahmedabad has emerged as the biggest show in the 8-city TTF series last year, serving the booming Ahmedabad and Gujarat travel markets.

TTF Mumbai, Fairfest’s second show in Mumbai (in addition to OTM Mumbai), has the distinction of being the leading travel show in the city, right before the Diwali and winter seasons.

The ‘satellite’ shows of TTF Ahmedabad and Mumbai respectively - TTF Surat will be held from September 6-8 at Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium and TTF Pune will be held from September 20-22 at Messe Global Laxmi Lawns.

TTF Bengaluru is scheduled from January 17-19 at Palace Grounds, Tripuravasini followed by TTF Chennai from January 24 to 26 February at Chennai Exhibition Centre. Plans are afoot to reposition these shows as well, taking into account several source market factors and in close coordination with the industry thought leaders.

TTF Delhi, part of India’s largest travel fair network, comes back at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex, from January 30, 31 to February 1, 2020. Delhi is a top destination in terms of attracting foreign tourists in India, accounting for more than 10% of all arrivals. It is also an attractive destination in itself and serves as a gateway to highly popular tourist places in India, for Indian and foreign tourists alike.

TTF Summer SeriesThe TTF Summer Series debuted this year with two shows, TTF Summer Ahmedabad and TTF Summer Kolkata. Focussed on the promising summer holidays travel market in India, the TTF Summer series is the only consumer-centric show in the organisers’ repertoire that provides a unique mix of travel trade as well as general consumers, catering to the summer travel market in these regions.

TTF Summer Ahmedabad will take place from February 8 to 9, 2020 at the Gujarat University Exhibition Hall, followed by TTF Summer Kolkata from February 14 to 16, 2020 at the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra, Netaji Indoor Stadium Complex.

OTM Mumbai & BLTM DelhiAs Mumbai, followed by Delhi are the top two source markets for the outbound and domestic tourists in India, OTM and BLTM are organised in these cities every year to capture the booming travel market of the country. These are also the strongest markets of Business, Leisure and MICE travel for international as well as domestic segments.

The 2020 edition of BLTM Delhi will be held from January 31 to February 1 at the Leela Ambience Convention Hotel followed by OTM Mumbai at the Bombay Exhibition Centre from February 3 to 5.

BLTM Delhi, since its debut, has been very well-received as India’s first full-fledged travel mart focussed on business, MICE and leisure travel.

The third edition of BLTM Delhi garnered great response. 110+ exhibitors from 24 Countries and 13 Indian States and Union Territories showcased at the two-day event. BLTM Delhi experienced an unprecedented footfall of 1,225 B2B visitors and more than 260 buyers from all over India. All participants were fully hosted at the show venue hotel. 2:1 Hosted Buyer to Seller ratio and additional footfall ensured the travel mart was always abuzz. The show was timed strategically a couple of days ahead of OTM Mumbai, to make it convenient for the international participants to attend both shows in one go.

OTM Mumbai, the outbound-focussed travel mart has been a favourite among a huge number of countries and states for many years.

In 2019, over 15,000 travel trade visitors attended the three-day show along with more than 800 top buyers from travel trade and corporate sectors who had qualified for special hosting privileges. With participants from 50+ Countries and 30+ Indian States and Union Territories, OTM Mumbai has won accolades as the leading travel show in Asia-Pacific.

The show is the only one in India which was graced by four tourism ministers from India and abroad. Anil Kumarsingh Gayan, SC, M.P., Minister of Tourism, Government of Mauritius; Derek Hanekom, Minister of Tourism, South Africa; K J Alphons, Minister of State of Tourism (Independent Charge), Government of India and Satpal Maharaj, Minister of Tourism, Government of Uttarakhand were present during the first two days of the show.

In addition to exhibitor pavilions, Cine Locales area within OTM Mumbai was created as a marketplace connecting film, television and advertising production houses of the world’s largest film-making community to global destinations. 50+ top production houses like Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Viacom and many others visited Cine Locales at OTM Mumbai 2019. A report on promoting film tourism within India sponsored by OTM and prepared by Ernst & Young (EY) was also released at the show.

Parallel sessions on Destination Weddings, Cruise Tourism and Travel Technology were held. Facebook was the Knowledge Partner for OTM Forum and conducted a specialised skill-development workshop on digital marketing for travel companies.

Expanding on its theme, ‘From Mumbai to the World’, OTM Mumbai 2020 is all set to retain its lead in not only India but the entire Asia Pacific region.

Fairfest Media has also launched an innovative opportunity in 2020, combining the powers of tradeshows and roadshows.

NTOs and other destination promoters, in addition to participating in BLTM Delhi and OTM Mumbai, will be able to organise exclusive roadshows on the sides of the two shows, in 5-star settings. Spanning for a week from January 31 to February 5, the tradeshow-cum-roadshow opportunity will be called the ‘India Outbound Week 2020’. The strategic scheduling of these shows will make it convenient for the sellers to attend both at one go.

Fairfest Media, the leading travel trade show organisers since 1989, remains committed to providing a unique marketing platform for the travel industry stakeholders to interact, connect and do business. TTF-branded shows, BLTM Delhi and OTM Mumbai are ready to achieve new milestones in FY 2019-2020.

Posted at NDPSO, New Delhi - 110001 on 15 & 16 of every month | Date of Publication 1st day of every month | Postal Registration No. DL(S) - 01/3532/2018-20 | RNI No. DELENG/2014/73425

Volume V l Issue 12 Pages 32 www.travelnewsdigest.in `50 / uS$5 aPrIL 2019

INDIA 04 AsIA 06 mIDDle eAst 08 techNology 26 respoNsIble tourIsm 28 eveNts 30cruIse tourIsm 29europe 12 AfrIcA 14 oceANIA 22cArIbbeAN 21 globAl 23AmerIcAs 18

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 2 • COVER STORY

Editor & Publisher Sanjiv Kumar Agarwal(editor@fairfest.in)

Editorial BoardV SureshGazanfar IbrahimHarsh AgarwalAbraham JohnSandrine ClaracAbhinav Bhat

Executive Editor Annapurna Agarwal(annapurna@fairfest.in)

assistant EditorLaboni Chatterjee

Sub EditorGopanjali Roy

Head of DesignLeo Abrahams

DesignPriyam VoraDilip MannaRitam MaityMaruti MoreMohit Prakash

Managing Director Rajiv Agarwal

Director Raj Kapoor Singh

associate DirectorsGunjan DuttRajarshi DeR MaheshTarique EbrahimRaminder Singh

ManagersFatima D’CostaUma SurekaYC AnilPhilomena D’SouzaTania DasRamesh ChauhanSanjeev GuptaAnkit Chetan Gandhi

assistant ManagersShiv Shankar DuttaGagandeep SinghAakash VermaDimple TakIshika MukherjeeAbhinav DahiwadeKiran M

ExecutivesPriya DasAishwarya LunaniNazhat Abdul Aziz Shaikh

Circulation Shiv Sagar Mishra

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This is my first time at OTM and I’m utterly impressed with the quality of the exhibits and I’m quite overwhelmed. I had a great experience at OTM 2019 and you are enticing us to be here ourselves. I would like to congratulate Team OTM. Really good job!

Derek HanekomMinister of TourismSouth Africa

I am extremely happy to be here at OTM 2019. It is specially heartening to note that the organisers pioneered these shows three decades ago and are organising these on a sustainable basis, without subsidy.

K J alphonsMinister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge)Government of India

It has been a wonderful experience at OTM 2019. OTM is the ideal place for inbound and outbound tourism. This is a good opportunity that OTM has provided to understand what is happening in the world and what we should do. I congratulate Team OTM and I will support and participate in the upcoming OTMs.

Satpal MaharajMinister of TourismGovernment of Uttarakhand

OTM has done a wonderful job in organising this fair. This is a great occasion to showcase not just what India has to offer but also what other participants have to offer. I would like to thank the organisers of OTM for making me the Guest of Honour. I look forward to working very closely with OTM in the years to come.

anil Kumarsingh GayanSC, M.P., Minister of TourismGovernment of Mauritius

We have been participating in BLTM for the past two years and the show has grown enormously since then. Last year, we received some great response from the travel trade sector and this year too, our co-participants were glad to be a part of BLTM. The buyers here at BLTM mean business and they have great potential as well. I would love to be a part of upcoming BLTMs.

Dr Trust LinDirector of Taiwan Tourism Bureau

This was my first time at BLTM and I was surprised by the number of participants who came here from all over India and the world. It’s a great platform for Sri Lanka to showcase our MICE and business tourism products. Next year we will lend our best support to the organisers of BLTM who have done a great job in conducting such a grand show.

H.E. John a E amaratungaMinister of TourismSri Lanka

It was a pleasure to be here at BLTM. It was a great event. We always encourage tourism and platforms like BLTM which is an excellent place to showcase our products to qualified buyers from all over India. I congratulate the organisers on such a great show.

H.E. rabie NarshAmbassador of Lebanon

This was our first time at BLTM and responses from the buyers were outstanding. We met many quality buyers who were interested in our products. BLTM helped us in networking with high quality travel trade from all over. Overall, BLTM 2019 was a well-organised event.

Lisha KrishnanTrade Manager, Tourism Office of Spain-Mumbai

I am very happy to visit TTF Bengaluru and I’m delighted to see the participation of so many countries, state tourism boards and private sector operators in the hospitality and travel industry. We also welcome the organisers to hold travel and tourism fairs more often. We will support them to organise this show in other major cities of the state.

Sa ra MaheshTourism MinisterGovernment of Karnataka

I really appreciate the point that TTF Kolkata had brought together the tourism player not only from Eastern and North Eastern region, but also from Bangladesh and across the country. Destinations in this part of the world can collaborate and offer joint packages to the tourists.

atri Bhattacharya, IaSPrincipal SecretaryDepartment of Tourism, Government of West Bengal

Hear what industry leaders have to say about OTM, BLTM and TTF:

To book your vantage stand write to us at contact@fai�est.inwww.�fotm.com - www.otm.co.in - www.bltm.co.in

Be a pa� of India's biggest travel show network.

*TTF SUMMER is our new line of shows focussed on the huge summer holidays travel market in India.

TTF SOUTH (Hyderabad) 05, 06 July

TTF Kolkata 12, 13 & 14 July

TTF Ahmedabad 30, 31 August, 01 September

TTF Surat 06, 07 & 08 September

TTF Mumbai 13, 14 & 15 September

TTF Pune 20, 21 & 22 September

TTF Bengaluru 17, 18 & 19 January

TTF Chennai 24, 25 & 26 January

TTF Delhi 30, 31 January & 01 February

BLTM Delhi 31 January & 01 February

TTF & OTM Mumbai 03, 04 & 05 February

TTF SUMMER* Ahmedabad 08, 09 February

TTF SUMMER* Kolkata 14, 15 & 16 February

2019. 2020.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 4INDIA

cox & Kings expands its urban footprint with new holiday club in Dwarka, New Delhi

thomas cook India empowers customers with ‘contactless payment’ across its prepaid forex cardsThomas Cook (India) Ltd has announced the added ben-efit of ‘Contactless Payments’ on its Prepaid Cards (the Borderless Prepaid Card and One Currency Card). With this unique contactless feature, the Company’s prepaid card users can now shop on the go, faster than ever - with merely a tap. The launch reiterates the company’s focus on technology in driving customer experience.

Contactless payment is a secure method that enables consumers purchase products and services by using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology or near-field communication (NFC). To make a contact-less payment, the user merely needs to tap his or her card near a point-of-sale terminal also referred to as ‘tap-and-go’. Contactless payment has steadily become a popular payment method for smaller purchases, with the prime advantage of enhancing the speed of trans-actions. Tap-and-go customers shorten the queue, so to speak, thereby benefiting both the merchant and the customer with a significant saving of time.

Speaking at the launch, Kailash Gupta, Senior Vice President and Head of Payment Solutions, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd said, “Throughout its pioneering journey, Thomas Cook India has always focussed on

innovation and technology to maximise customer expe-rience and hence the ‘contactless’ feature on our Border-less Prepaid Card and One Currency Card serves to reit-erate our customer centric philosophy.”

He concluded with, “The tap-and-go solution has been made possible by leveraging smart technology, driven by our aim of enhancing convenience and speed of transactions, an essential ask of today’s new age global traveller.”

Keeping with the growing demand for travel and other related services in the capital, Cox & Kings has opened its fifth Holiday Club branch in Dwarka, New Delhi. Besides unique holiday packages and a string of experiential offerings, the branch will also serve as a comprehensive forex shop. The Holiday Club was inaugurated by Sanjay Gupta, ex-President, The Institute of Cost Accountants of India.

India’s outbound segment is poised to grow sig-nificantly. The UNWTO estimates 50 million tour-ists to take on a foreign trip until 2020. The figure reflects an impressive doubling of the number of travellers as compared to the current 25 million. In addition, India’s outbound travel expenditure has also increased by 7% year-on-year on average from 2006 to 2016. Metro cities being the major drivers of this positive graph, Cox & Kings realises their growth potential and has hence charted its urban expansion.

Karan Anand, Head - Relationships, Cox & Kings said, “Our Holiday Club concept has received a phe-nomenal response until now. The Dwarka Holiday Club branch is the seventh in the country. These branches are distinctly unique because of its cus-tomer-centric approach where travellers can resolve their travel queries; plan their journeys while taking pleasure in a comfortable setting.”

Cox & Kings’ latest travel innovations including the culinary specialist brand – Tour to Feast, tours for disabled – Enable Travel, the adventure special-ist – Trip 360 and several other luxury brands will all be available under one roof for the convenience of the discerning travellers.

Sanjeev Joshi, Director, Tourism India Management Enterprise Pvt Ltd has been elected, as the President while Nitin Sachdeva, Executive Director, Venture Mar-keting is the new Vice President for Society of Incen-tive Travel Excellence (SITE) India Chapter. The other office bearers are Barun Gupta, VP-Corporate Alli-ance Group as Vice President- Secretariat, and Vikrant Gulani, Head-Commercial and Operations, Icon Plan-ners as Vice President-Finance.

The Board members include Amaresh Tiwari, Man-aging Director, A T Seasons and Vacations; Abinash Manghani, Area Manager and HEAD, ITC Hotels; Vikas Suda, Managing Director, VDOIT4U; Prashant Yadav, Managing Director, Liberty India DMC Pvt Ltd; Vishal Yadav, Director, IDMS Pvt Ltd; Naveen Rizvi,

Executive Director, Pacific World; Rajeev Kohli, Joint Manag-ing Director, Creative Travel; and Anup Nair, Managing Director, Inspiration India.

Shoba Mohan, Give & Seek will be the Director of Communications – Ex Officio.

Sanjeev Joshi said, “I feel extremely happy, privileged and honoured to be trusted with this position which allows me to take SITE India Chapter to the next level.”

SITE India Chapter elects new board, appoints Sanjeev Joshi as new President

Multinational hospitality giant Accor returned for the third edition of ‘The Accor Showcase 2019’ in Mumbai on March 13 at Sofitel Mumbai BKC, followed by Delhi on March 15 at Pullman New Delhi Aeroc-ity. The Showcase saw participation from 23 countries with 1,600 delegates as well as representation from 45 global Accor properties and 30 national ones.

Entering its 16th edition worldwide, the Accor Indian Showcase hosted exhibitors from Seychelles, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Hungary, New Zealand, Australia, Mauritius, Maldives, Switzer-land, Azerbaijan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Spain. It also witnessed the presence of well-known Accor properties including Raffles Seychelles, Raffles Mal-dives, Rixos Premium Belek Antalya, Fairmont Monte Carlo, Fairmont Maldives Sirru Fen Fushi, SO Sofitel Vienna, Fairmont Nairobi, Fairmont Dubai, Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, Fairmont & Swissotel the Stamford Singapore, Fairmont Marina Abu Dhabi, Swissôtel The Bosphorus Istanbul, Novotel & MGal-lery Phuket, MGallery Bangkok, Sofitel Budapest, Mövenpick Hotel Switzerland, Movenpick Colombo, Pullman Bali, Pullman Baku, Grand Mercure Bang-kok, Novotel Madrid Center and Adagio Paris.

Arif Patel, Vice President Sales, Marketing, Distri-bution & Loyalty, Accor India & South Asia said, “In just three years, the Accor Showcase has become the most awaited event for the travel and tourism indus-try. With a chance to interact with multiple Accor hotels across brands and countries, the Showcase equips industry representatives with greater insights into the newly launched products and with informa-tion that enables them to position our hotels to top clients and partners in the market. We are excited to

host the delegates from around the globe along with partners from the industry to make this year’s Show-case even more successful than before.”

He added that as the globally evolving travel mar-ket makes headway for experiential travel, Accor, with its offering has embraced the change. The hos-pitality group is ahead of the game in many prospects compared to its peers and is dedicated to delivering the emerging demands of travel with quality.

Talking of the Indian market, he disclosed that the country continues to hold a very important position as a source for a growing outbound travel

market worldwide. Adi Satria, Vice President for Sales & Market-

ing, Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore explained India being the third most important market, Indian travel-lers holds a crucial place in the company’s marketing plans. He also revealed that the three most important sectors of focus are MICE, Weddings and FITs and roadshows for MICE in Bengaluru and Hyderabad are already under consideration.

The Accor Showcase provided insights into the group’s hotels, new developments, products and ser-vices to better serve outbound travellers.

Accor showcase returns for its third edition to India

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 5 INDIA •

Shortly after a successful third edition of the Accor Showcase, the French hospitality giant have surprised the Indian hospitality sector by bringing its iconic Raffles brand to the country. The announcement of two brand new properties, Raffles Jaipur and Raffles Udaipur was made by Sebastien Bazin, Chairman & CEO, AccorHotels Group in the presence of proprietor Ratankant Sharma. Raffles Jaipur will have 55 suites while Raffles Udaipur will boast of 101.

Speaking at a select media roundtable on the occa-sion, Bazin said, “It is with immense pride that we announce the arrival of the Raffles brand in India, a hallmark of luxury and sublime service in a country that is famous for delivering luxury at the highest level. With our strategic partners, we look forward to pro-viding an oasis of calm and charm in two of the most incredible destinations in India. We thank Ratankant Sharma and our partners for entrusting us with these landmark properties and we look forward to delivering the distinctive Raffles experience to travellers in India. We also thank Ratankant Sharma for bringing the first Fairmont to India in Jaipur and extending this partner-ship to the Raffles brand.”

Ratankant Sharma echoed Bazin’s sentiments, add-ing, “Bringing the Raffles brand, which is synonymous with excellence, taste and luxury, to India is a perfect fit for our vision. The opening of Raffles Udaipur and Raffles Jaipur is a key moment in our strategic growth in India and represents a new era of highly differen-tiated ultra-luxury experiences for both destinations. We are very grateful to the Accor Group and Sébas-tien Bazin for giving us the opportunity to bring our vision to both these historic cities of Rajasthan to cre-ate new icons in India. This partnership reinforces our foresight of India becoming a global gateway with

world-class facilities that set new standards for resi-dents and visitors alike. We look forward to welcoming guests and offering them the most memorable experi-ence in a timeless destination.”

The signing of the papers was followed by a detailed Q&A with Indian media. The session was attended by Jean-Michel Cassé, Chief Operating Officer (COO) – India and South Asia; Michael Issenberg, CEO, Asia-Pacific and Gaurav Bhushan, Chief Development Officer along with Chairman-CEO, Sebastien Bazin. Answering questions on Accor’s brand USP of aug-mented hospitality, Bazin explained that with over 300 million clients and an average frequency of interacting

with a client only two times a year, it is crucial to multi-ply touchpoints across which Accor can interact with its clientele. The idea of pioneering augmented hospi-tality is to be able to serve the clientele in a wholesome manner by offering every possible service under the Accor-Live Limitless programme.

The 130-year-old Raffles brand is renowned for its uber-luxury hotels with 13 properties in 11 countries across the world. The addition of India to the Raffles portfolio indicates the country’s growing appetite for luxury hospitality venues. Bazin added that Accor is looking at opening 24 new hotels in India in the com-ing years.

Accor introduces its iconic Raffles Hotels to India

taj rishikesh resort & spa, uttarakhand opens its doors in the spiritual and yoga capital of the worldThe Indian Hotels Company Lim-ited (IHCL) is introducing the iconic Taj brand in Rishikesh with the open-ing of Taj Rishikesh Resort & Spa, Uttarakhand. This will be the compa-ny’s third hotel in the state.

Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Direc-tor and Chief Executive Officer, IHCL said, “We are honoured to partner with Arjun Mehra for Taj Rishikesh Resort & Spa, an exciting new addition to IHCL’s expanding resort portfolio. With its idyllic setting and unrestricted views of the Himalayas, the resort is well posi-tioned to tap into the growing potential of the wellness and spiritual tourism market. This is consistent with our com-mitment to offer global travellers new and unique experiences in hospitality.”

The resort, 30 km from Rishikesh, is spread over 12.5 acres of terraced gar-dens on the banks of the river Ganges in the shadow of the mighty Himala-yas. Each of the spacious 79 rooms has panoramic views of the Ganges with its white sandy beach and the majestic mountains. It is an architectural tribute to the Garhwal region in the Himalayas where it is located.

“Rishikesh is an extremely popular destination across the world. We are delighted to partner with The Indian Hotels Company Limited. We look for-ward to working with them to bring the legendary Taj brand to this unique location,” said Arjun Mehra, Managing Director, Darrameks Hotels & Develop-ers Pvt Ltd.

“Taj Rishikesh Resort & Spa is ide-ally located to enjoy nature while also staying connected to the pulse of Rishikesh. I am looking forward to welcoming our guests to this spectacu-lar new resort with its exclusive villas and secluded beach,” said Devraj Singh, General Manager, Taj Rishikesh Resort & Spa, Uttarakhand.

Guests can also partake in a pri-vate Ganga Aarti on the resort’s Pebble Beach or in adventure-filled activities like white-river rafting, rock climbing, rappelling, kayaking, local village vis-its and hiking.

Located in the foothills of the Hima-layas in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, Rishikesh is known as the spiritual and yoga capital of the world.

hyatt’s presence in India to expand from 19 cities to 27 cities by 2020Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced that 2019 will mark record growth for Hyatt in India. Expansion plans fore-see the addition of over 2,100 guest-rooms through the opening of more than 14 new properties over the next 24 months. Aside from growth in the larger capital cities, the emphasis will be on leisure and cultural destinations with a focus on emerging cities within India.

As a result of an increasingly favourable business climate and height-ened tourism spend, encouraged by relaxed visa rules and a growing upper-middle class, there is a general demand for growth in the hospitality industry in India. This expansion includes hotels in eight new markets in the country, thereby establishing Hyatt’s brand presence across 27 cities in India over the next 24 months.

“Hyatt is one of the longest-run-ning international hotel management brands in India, the first Hyatt hotels in India opened over 30 years ago,” said Dhruva Rathore, Vice President Development - India, Hyatt. “Our her-itage and experience in this complex market, paired with the strong rela-tionships we hold with local develop-ers and owners has helped make India

one of the top three growth markets for Hyatt globally.”

This year’s expansion began with the introduction of the Hyatt Centric brand through the opening of Hyatt Centric Candolim Goa. New to the Hyatt portfo-lio as part of the Two Roads Hospitality acquisition in November 2018, the Alila brand also added two new properties in India, located in Diwa Goa and Fort Bis-hangarh. Later in the year, Hyatt plans to expand its brand footprint in Ker-ala with the opening of Hyatt Regency Kochi Malayattoor, a resort property on the banks of the Periyar River, and Hyatt Regency Thrissur, providing travellers with the first premium hotel in Thrissur. Hyatt also plans to add its first resort in the foothills of the Hima-layas with the anticipated opening of Hyatt Regency Dharamshala Resort in the second half of 2019. Gurgaon will also be in focus later in 2019, with the scheduled opening of Grand Hyatt Gur-gaon. These hotels will add over 1,000 guestrooms to Hyatt’s existing offer-ing in India and will establish its brand presence in four new markets.

“For Hyatt, India has a high growth potential and remains a market where we can expand our brand represen-tation. Being focused on intentional growth gives us a unique edge as Hyatt can differentiate by having the right assets in its portfolio,” said Sunjae Sharma, Vice President Operations - India, Hyatt. “We look forward to col-laborating with owners who want per-sonal, flexible relationships and to stand out in a slightly overcrowded market. Most importantly, we want to be where our guests are travelling, and our growth strategy is in line with their preferred destinations.”

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 6ASIA

Pullman debuts in North China’s Inner Mongolia regionPullman announces the debut of Pullman Baotou, which is its first property in North China’s Inner Mon-golia Autonomous Region.

Baotou is an important industrial and manufactur-ing base in China as well as a hub and logistics busi-ness centre for Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. With abundant resources, distinctive cultural relics, science and technological development, it has been showing steady progress with a reputation as Chi-na’s steel capital on grassland.

Pullman Baotou is situated amidst a mixed-use complex that includes a shopping mall and commer-cial tower in the city’s new central business district. It is adjacent to Baotou Municipal Government, Interna-tional Convention and Exhibition Centre, and Olym-pic Sports Centre Stadium. The hotel’s geographical location features a bird’s eye view of Saihantala Eco-logical Park, Asia’s largest urban wetland grassland. It is a 20 minute drive to the airport and the city’s train station, as well as Baotou’s historic downtown.

Gary Rosen, Chairman and Chief Operating Offi-cer, Accor Greater China said, “We are delighted to open our 35th Pullman property. Pullman Baotou is the latest in the brand’s fast growing network within Greater China, and weaves the brand’s strengths with the historic city’s characteristics. Pullman hotels are inspiring – they are places where business meets pleasure – and augment how Baotou is developing today. The introduction of Pullman to Baotou, as the city’s latest international branded hotel to launch in Baotou in more than a decade sets a new benchmark for premium hotel experiences in the city and further enhances the development of Baotou’s new CBD.”

Each of Pullman Baotou’s 263 guestrooms and suites enjoy either stunning grassland or garden views. Designed to be uplifting, stimulating and com-fortable, guestrooms allow travellers to easily connect with and be their personal best, regardless of whether they are in town for business or leisure.

Pullman Baotou features the brand’s new meeting concept Meet/Play tailored events that combine work and play in an energised atmosphere imbued with cul-tural elements for fun interaction. The hotel’s grand ballroom contains 2,000 sq m function space with state-of-the-art equipment for a combined capacity of 1,200 attendees, making it ideal for business events, banquets, weddings or milestone parties.

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) con-solidated its ‘So Sri Lanka’ brand idea at the 52nd ITB in Berlin by rolling out the next phase of its strategic brand identity.

SLTPB presented a captivating documentary film to the global media at the ITB press conference as the digital film launched across the UK, Germany, France, India and China supported by an innovative, well exe-cuted, digitally led PR strategy.

Speaking at the press conference Minister for Tour-ism, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs, John Amaratunga said, “Sri Lanka is an evolving tour-ist market. In the last 10 years, Sri Lanka has seen a steady growth in arrivals and investments. Based on qualitative research findings on inbound tourists for the last three years, the most endearing feature of Sri Lanka as a destination brand is its authenticity. This authenticity is an attribute that is alive in our heritage, in our cuisine, in our landscapes, in our architecture, in our culture and mostly in our people, we are invit-ing the world to experience ‘So warm and welcoming’ Sri Lanka!”

SLTPB Chairman Kishu Gomes added, “Sri Lanka is like nowhere else in the world. We wanted to visu-alise what travellers can do, see and feel when they visit Sri Lanka in a way that is as unique as our coun-try – which is why we wanted to tell our story from the viewpoint of our amazing wildlife. Sri Lanka is one of the best safari destinations outside of Africa, and we also have many other pleasures for visitors to discover; our beaches that have sunshine all year round, our warm and welcoming people, and our food is abundantly flavourful. Sri Lanka must be felt to be believed, and we welcome all travellers to our coun-try for an experience like no other.”

Gomes further stated, “Sri Lanka tourism has a vision to become the preferred destination brand of choice among global travellers. We are develop-ing a strategically powerful amplifier brand that will support a very aggressive and ambitious marketing agenda. We are unlocking the untold power of brand Sri Lanka and empowering the global traveller to cre-ate the narrative with us – the amplifier effect of #sos-rilanka is already evident and this is exactly what we need to navigate the challenges of a digital first world.”

“The brand ‘So Sri Lanka’ is focused on elevating Sri Lanka’s destination brand to include all its diverse offerings and unique attributes. ‘So Sri Lanka’ goes beyond being a place descriptor and embodies the vibrant qualities that inspire us about Sri Lanka. It is an expression that is easy to use by locals and travellers of diverse origins, be it a first time travel-ler from China or the 4th time return guest from the UK, a couple from India looking for a destination wedding, a family from Germany or a French mil-lennial,” explained CEO, J Walter Thompson, Alyna Haji Omar.

‘So Sri Lanka’ garners overwhelming response globally

Tourism Promotions Board Philippines recently held its India Sales Mission in Ahmedabad and Kolkata to pro-mote the destination in the Indian market.

Apart from the Tourism Promotions Board Philip-pines, Shroff Travels, Philippines Airlines and Singa-pore Airlines was part of the sales mission.

Held at the Novotel Ahmedabad and The Park, Kolkata, the sales mission began with a destination presentation by Philippines Tourism followed by B2B meetings and networking lunch.

In the past five years, tourist arrivals from India increased by an average of 18.2%, prompting Tourism Promotions Board to include India in its 2019 work programme.

The Tourism Promotions Board is also strengthen-ing the country’s presence in the market in line with the revival of direct flights between New Delhi and Manila by the end of the first quarter.

The country’s pristine beaches remain as the main draw for Indian visitors. India is among the top 12 source markets of the Philippines, with a total of 121,124 Indians visiting the country in 2018 alone.

philippines tourism conducts its India sales mission in Ahmedabad and Kolkata

AirAsia has launched a new route connecting Bang-kok with Ahmedabad. The four times weekly service, available on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sun-day, commences on May 31, will expand AirAsia’s network in India and stimulate tourism to Thailand.

AirAsia is offering BIG members a promotional all-in-fare from THB 1,990 for Bangkok-Ahmedabad on www.airasia.com and the AirAsia mobile app till April 21 for travel between May 31, 2019 and Febru-ary 4, 2020.

AirAsia Thailand CEO Santisuk Klongchaiya said, “India is a strategic market that is fast becom-ing an important contributor of inbound tourists for AirAsia Thailand. To fully leverage on this, we plan to regularly introduce routes connecting the two countries, focusing particularly on India’s burgeon-ing metros. Thailand’s own worldwide fame for hos-pitality should attract travellers from Ahmedabad, which is the capital of Gujarat state and India’s fifth

most populous city.”Thailand welcomed 1.5 million Indian visitors in

2018, up 12% from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Thailand.

AirAsia Thailand has recorded a positive load fac-tor of up to 87% on its India routes, with guests trav-elling between Bangkok and existing destinations in India increasing 7% on-year.

AirAsia introduces bangkok-Ahmedabad direct flights

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 7 asia •

For the fourth time in a row, Singapore welcomed more than one million Indian travellers in 2018, rein-forcing itself as one of the most preferred destina-tions for Indian outbound travellers. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) announced that India retained its third position, after China and Indonesia, as a Vis-itors Arrival (VA) source market for Singapore, hav-ing first gained the spot in 2017. It recorded the sec-ond highest growth at 13%, after USA (14%).

Key metro cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai continue to contribute the highest number of visitors to Singapore with 498,000 trav-ellers in 2018 and a year-on-year (YOY) increase of 8%. STB’s efforts to engage other key metros and secondary cities has resulted in them providing good growth in visitations. These cities, including Hyderabad, Kolkata Pune, Amritsar, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam contributed 253,000 travellers in 2018, registering a YOY growth of 12%.

Singapore received 160,000 cruise holiday mak-ers from India in 2018, showing a 27% YOY increase. India remained the top cruise travel source market for Singapore. Up till the third quarter of 2018, Sin-gapore had welcomed two million BTMICE global visitors, a 14% YOY increase. Singapore contin-ued to draw a high number of meetings & incentive (M&I) travel groups in 2018, including MICE travel-lers from prominent organisations like Amway India and Voltas.

As far as the Indian market is concerned, 2018 was an eventful year for STB. It promoted the destination brand ‘Passion Made Possible’ enthusiastically and presented Singapore’s diverse offerings to audiences across India - families, early and established careers,

cruise travellers, meetings and incentive groups and travellers from Tier II and III cities. It embarked on several creative consumer engagement initiatives like the first-ever English music video collaboration by an international tourism agency in India with Vh1, marketing partnerships with high consumer-touch brands Paytm and Ola and a music promotional asso-ciation with Maestro Ilaiyaraaja targeting the South India market. STB also undertook intensive travel trade outreach efforts across 21 cities to connect with travel intermediaries promoting Singapore holidays.

Speaking to the media in Chennai and Bengaluru,

as part of STB’s first trade engagement programme in South India for 2019, GB Srithar, Regional Direc-tor SAMEA (South Asia, Middle East and Africa), STB said, “We are grateful to all our partners who promoted Singapore actively in 2018, making us welcome a record 1.44 million visitors from India. With Singapore’s diverse sightseeing and attrac-tion offerings, an array of exciting events and year-round festivals and celebrations catering to the dif-ferent passion points of travellers, we look forward to welcoming more visitors from India to experience Singapore in 2019.”

India retains its position as the third largest visitor source market for Singapore

SriLankan Airlines reaffirmed the global appeal and innovativeness of its marketing communication endeav-ours yet again as it won three awards at Golden City Gates Awards 2019 at ITB Berlin.

SriLankan Airlines was awarded a First Star award in the ‘Airlines - Cor-porate’ category for its product video, another First Star for its India Out-bound video in the TV Cinema spot category and a Third Star award in the same category for its Melbourne Mar-athon video 2018.

SriLankan Airlines’ Chief Execu-

tive Officer, Vipula Gunatilleka said, “This is the third consecutive time that SriLankan Airlines was commended at this esteemed forum, and the second consecutive year that we managed to bag three prestigious awards. They will be an inspiration for us to explore new avenues in creative conceptuali-sation and creation of unique content to aptly portray SriLankan Airlines as a global brand with inherently Sri Lankan attributes.”

SriLankan Airlines General Man-ager Marketing, Saminda Perera said, “As the national carrier of Sri Lanka, we have always endeavoured to por-tray SriLankan Airlines in the most appealing way so as to inspire travel-lers to experience our world renowned service and convenient connectivity. These three awards prove that we have communicated our message loud and clear, in a manner that transcends all boundaries. We take pride in produc-ing marketing communication con-tent which is universally admired and commended.”

Last year, SriLankan Airlines was awarded a ‘first star’ in the campaign category for its Melbourne launch campaign ‘Two Cities, One Spirit’. It also bagged a ‘second star’ in the same category for its brand campaign in China themed ‘The Spirit of China, the Story of Sri Lanka’. The third, another ‘second star’, was bestowed upon SriL-ankan for its video ‘The Largest Car-rier to India’ in the TV Cinema spot category.

srilankan Airlines scores the second hat-trick at golden city gates Awards 2019

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 8middle east

Israel gears up for midburn festival; to witness the best of classic rock with bon Jovi, slash and Air supply

Petra named one of the Top 100 Sustainable Destinations for 2019The Petra Archaeological Park has been selected by the Green Destinations Foundation as one of the Top 100 Sustainable Destinations for 2019 at ITB Berlin 2019. The event, the 2019 Sustainable Top 100 Destination Awards, not only highlights but also recognises inno-vation and best practices in tourism management of destinations and tour operators whose hard work and perseverance has helped lead the way towards quality, attractiveness and sustainability in tourism.

The competition was organised by 12 leading sustain-able tourism organisations and networks. Destinations were nominated upon submitting a comprehensive application that addresses 30 key criteria. Applications were then reviewed by an international jury compris-ing 12 experts from USA, Germany, Thailand, the Neth-erlands, Australia, Norway and the United Kingdom, with the aim to identify the best sustainability success stories and good practices.

From a total of 100 top-sustainable destinations from around the world, 44 sustainable tourism sto-ries submitted their applications to this year’s award. Of these 44 stories, 10 award winners have been care-fully selected by a jury represented by 12 international organisations.

This award provides destinations with the opportu-nity to showcase the global state-of-the-art green des-tination to the travel sector and the media at ITB Ber-lin 2019.

H.E. Majd Shweikeh, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities was in Berlin to receive the award. She said, “Petra is one of the Kingdom’s most important and most famous archaeological sites and this award underlines our ability as a sector not only to increase demand for our tourism product but to simultaneously maintain and protect our heritage in a sustainable way, both for the antiquities and the local communities.”

She also added, “Petra provides us with the frame-work to reflect everything we’ve learned onto every tourism attraction in the country and ensure that our heritage, hospitality and culture live on for generations to come.”

In addition to winning this award, the Petra Archae-ological Park was also chosen as the number 2 finalist in the Best of Culture & Communities category for global leadership in protecting culture and tradition, involv-ing local communities, and avoiding over tourism. Both of these selections will help elevate Jordan as a global leader in tourism sustainability and conservation.

Burning Man’s Israeli offshoot, Midburn is a special 5-day festival held in the Negev Desert around May – June every year. It is the second largest regional Burning Man after Africa Burns where, for six days, a temporary city is set up creating a platform for com-munal lifestyle, creativity, art and self-expression. Unlike a typical music festival with big acts, one can camp in the desert that host parties and in the centre of the platform are incredible art displays and a huge temple that is burned on the final night. This year, Midburn will be held between June 4 and 9.

This summer, Israel will also host some of the biggest names of rock music like Bon Jovi, Slash and Air Supply. Air Supply, comprising the soft-rock duo of the 80s, Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock are set to tour Israel to play at the Caesarea Amphi-theatre on May 16. The show will be a rock extrava-ganza featuring popular hits like ‘Making Love Out of Nothing At All’ and ‘I’m All Out of Love’.

The iconic guitarist Slash of Guns N’ Roses fame will perform live in Israel at the Tel Aviv Fair Grounds on July 9. Slash along with Myles Kennedy, lead vocalist of Alter Bridge and The Conspirators will perform as part of the promotional tour for their latest album, ‘Living the Dream’.

Legendary rock singer Bon Jovi is also set to make an appearance in Tel Aviv on July 25 as part of the band’s European tour ‘This House is Not For Sale’ starting Spring 2019. Jon Bon Jovi, aged 56 announced the concert in a video encouraging his fans to join him at the HaYarkon Park in Tel Aviv.

Dubai always sets the best foot forward when it comes to promoting tourism opportunities. From world-class cuisine and drinks to great nightlife, shopping hubs and adventure sports, you name it - Dubai has it. Most of these were included in the itinerary of a FAM trip organised by Dubai Business Events for selected Indian travel agents and trade media to help position Dubai as a MICE destination.

In this issue, Travel News Digest will take you through some of the adventure activities that delegates who were a part of this FAM trip.

Seawings Seaplane ToursA typical Seawings Seaplane tour offers a bird’s eye of the city of Dubai as the vehicle takes off from the sea and takes you on a scenic ride with a view of landmarks like Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, Atlantis The Palm, World Islands and of course, the widespread desert.

Indian travel agents and trade media who were a part

of the FAM trip got an opportunity to experience Dubai from the sky.

Seawings has access to over 24 destinations in the UAE and offers customised charter flights to MICE and corporate groups.

IMG Worlds of AdventureDubai’s first themed entertainment park, IMG Worlds of Adventure is an indoor amusement park. It is divided into five epic zones - Cartoon Network, Marvel, Lost Val-ley - Dinosaur Adventure, IMG Boulevard and Novo Cinema.

Opened in 2016, IMG Worlds of Adventure is the world’s largest temperature-controlled indoor themed entertainment destination.

IMG Worlds of Adventure is open all year round and all types of visitors can include it in their itin-erary as IMG offers something for every age group. Hence, MICE and corporate groups can include IMG

in their itinerary. IMG Worlds of Adventure was one of the places

included in the itinerary during the FAM trip and every-one enjoyed this amusement park thoroughly.

Dubai AutodromeAnyone who likes driving would love to visit Dubai Autodrome not just once but every time they travel to Dubai. There are high chances of getting addicted to driving and racing at the Dubai Autodrome.

FAM trip delegates experienced karting in a 15 min-utes long session. Autodrome also provides karting suits, helmets, balaclavas and gloves for safety. Before going karting, one of the experts at Dubai Autodrome conducts a small session on how to go about karting.

Dubai Autodrome also offers customised events for companies and group as per their requirements.

Located in Dubailand, Dubai Autodrome is FIA sanctioned 5.39 km motorsports circuit.

Travel and media representatives get a taste of adventure in Dubai through FaM trip

Come to Thailand:

in the world

idyllic beaches

With the most

New Delhi: T: +91 11 4674 1111 E: tatdel@tat.or.thwww.facebook.com/tatnewdelhi | www.tourismthailand.in

Tourism Authority of ThailandMumbai: T: +91 22 2202 0264/ 65 E: tatmumbaimail@gmail.com

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Jordan Tourism Board recognised by Expedia Group Media Solutions as EMEA Partner award winner

BTEA successfully wraps up the fourth edition of Bahrain Food Festival

As a part of its strategy to increase attendance at a range of Abu Dhabi-based events in 2019 and beyond, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has recently launched a refreshed events website.

Abu Dhabi Calendar, the rebranded website aims to attract greater levels of web traffic with a new look and feel that better communicates with DCT Abu Dha-bi’s priority target markets and key audiences in India, China, Australia, the Middle East, USA and Europe.

Ali Al Shaiba, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications at DCT Abu Dhabi said, “Through making specific improvements to our website, DCT Abu Dhabi will be better placed to publicise the full range of programming and events we have on offer across Abu Dhabi, increasing footfall to events and increasing the volume of ticket sales.”

“The Abu Dhabi Calendar rebrand shows our com-mitment to digital innovation and we see this fresh, new and bold calendar as a means to help residents and visi-tors alike. Users will be able to access all the latest infor-mation about upcoming events taking place in Abu Dhabi in 2019 – from music to art, culture to tourism and everything else in between.”

DCT Abu Dhabi has also launched the www.inabud-habi.com platform, which acts as a personal guide for visitors planning trips to a wide variety of events tak-ing place across Abu Dhabi and will be even bigger than any of the previous editions. Whichever nationality or language a user speaks, they will be able to navigate and plan their attendance from the hundreds of events that are taking place across the emirate. The rebrand is expected to see hundreds of thousands of users visit the website annually.

Jordan Tourism Board announced that it has been recognised by Expedia Group Media Solutions, the digital advertising organisation of Expedia Group, as a winner of ‘Middle Eastern Campaign of the Year’ category. Presented at ITB Berlin, Expedia Group Media Solutions’ annual partner awards recognise partner campaigns that demonstrate innovation, cre-ativity and achievement in travel marketing.

The Jordan Tourism Board leveraged its strong relationship with Expedia Group Media Solutions to promote new Ryanair flight routes from 10 dif-ferent Eastern European countries, including Bel-gium, Greece and Romania. Routes to Amman and Aqaba were promoted on Hotels.com in these loca-tions, resulting in strong engagement and increased lift in the target markets.

H.E. Majd Shweikeh, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities and Chairwoman of the Jordan Tourism Board said, “We are very excited to be receiving this award which highlights not only the importance of our partnership with Expedia over the years but the

innovation and creativity with which Jordan can be portrayed in international digital marketing cam-paigns and the impact that can have on the destina-tion. We look forward to more successes with Expe-dia in the future.”

“This campaign and award further solidify

Jordan’s position as a destination of choice in interna-tional markets that is now more accessible than ever with new low cost carrier routes operating into Jor-dan every year,” said Dr Abed Al-Razzaq Arabiyat, Managing Director of the Jordan Tourism Board. He added, “Our ability to partner with Expedia and pro-duce these results highlight the efficacy of our cam-paigns and we hope that we continue on this path to continued success in the years to come.”

“This year’s EMEA Partner Award winners push the boundaries of travel marketing with creativity, sophistication, targeting and insights-led strategies,” said Wendy Olson-Killion, Global Vice President at Expedia Group Media Solutions. “The winning cam-paigns showcase how brands from around the world can come to life on our travel platforms to success-fully increase brand awareness, shift perceptions or drive demand.”

Jordan Tourism Board was one of eight brands recognised by Expedia Group Media Solutions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority (BTEA) recently announced that the Bahrain Food Fes-tival has attracted more than 220,000 visitors since it opened to the public on February 28. The fourth edi-tion of the festival, which ran until March 16, served as a platform enabling participating local Bahraini busi-nesses to showcase their concept, contributing to the development of the food startup ecosystem and local food businesses in the Kingdom.

A record number of outlets took part in this year’s edition, with a total of 108 participants, 81 of which were local alongside 73 other outlets, boasting a wide assort-ment of cuisines. Visitors embarked on a culinary tour around the world in a fun experience involving the whole family. The fourth edition of Bahrain Food Fes-tival also offered its visitors of all ages the opportunity to enjoy family entertainment including live cooking shows, musical performances and other fun games and activities.

“We are delighted to see so many promising and innovative local ventures in the food sector that exceed our expectations one year after the next. We look for-ward to hosting the next edition of the festival, which comes as part of our efforts to further strengthen the Kingdom’s tourism sector,” said the Chief Executive Officer of BTEA, H.E. Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa.

The Bahrain food festival has continued to grow in popularity since its launch in 2016, attracting food enthusiasts from the within the Kingdom as well as neighbouring countries from across the GCC region.

The strategic partners of the festival include Batelco and Al Osra; the other partners include Awal Gas, Gulf Finance House (GFH), Bahrain Bay, The Avenues Bah-rain, House of Uniforms and IKEA.

Hosting this event comes as part of BTEA’s long-term strategy to further develop the Kingdom’s tour-ism sector on a regional and international level under the slogan ‘Ours. Yours.’ which contributes towards the Kingdom’s economy and the Economic Vision 2030.

Mandated by the Ministry of Interior, State of Qatar, Qatar Visa Centre was inaugurated by H.E. Saif Bin Ali Almohanndi, Consul General, the Consulate General of the State of Qatar, in Mumbai. Having already launched centres in New Delhi and now in Mumbai, five other visa centres in Kochi, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Chennai and Kolkata will be operational shortly.

At the new Qatar Visa Centre, work visa applicants for the State of Qatar will be able to sign on work con-tracts digitally, enrol their biometrics and undergo man-datory medical test all under one-roof, thus saving time and making it a hassle-free process for the applicants. The move to get work visa applicants to complete the most essential and critical part of their visa processes in the country of origin (India in this case) is aimed at guar-anteeing prospective employees their rights in a manner consistent with the best international standards.

The visa centre is in sync with international stan-dards guaranteeing greater transparency, traceability and improved anti-fraud measures and security screen-ing mechanisms for the visa applicants. The centre will operate between 08:30 am to 04:30 pm from Monday to Friday.

As part of the visa application process, the employer in Qatar will ensure all necessary procedures and make the visa payments on behalf of the applicant. The appli-cants will only need to book an appointment online and visit the Qatar Visa Centre 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time on a given day. Once at the centre, iden-tity of the visa applicant will be verified and the list of required documents will be checked, following which a token will be issued. Once the token is being referred to, the respective visa applicant will be explained the con-tract terms and can thereby digitally sign the work con-tract. Biometric enrolment and the mandatory medical tests will be done at the centre. Upon completion of the

processes at the visa centre, the visa applicant then can choose to track the status of his application online or through their employer in the State of Qatar.

H.E. Saif Bin Ali Almohanndi, Consul General, the Consulate General of the State Of Qatar, Mumbai expressed gratitude and said, “Our thanks and appre-ciation to the officials in the Ministry of External Affairs - Republic of India, and the Government of the State of Maharashtra for their continued support to achieve this goal by opening the Qatar Visa Centre (QVC) in Mumbai. This project is one of the advanced projects for the State of Qatar in the field of protection of labour rights, and would facilitate the recruitment procedures in countries where centres have been opened includ-ing the Republic of India, and would provide neces-sary services for obtaining visas, both for the purpose of visit and residence. Indian expatriates who travel to Qatar for employment, can complete their medical tests and sign work contracts before their departure and this stand confirms to the State of Qatar’s keenness to ensure safety and protection for expatriates and residents.”

Qatar Visa Centre inaugurated in Mumbai

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TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 12europe

Finland was named the happiest nation on earth for the second consecutive year in the UN’s World Hap-piness Report 2019 recently. The margin of victory was even greater this year with Finland beating sec-ond ranked Denmark by .169 compared to .38 the pre-vious year ahead of Norway. Rounding off, the rest of the top 10 countries that have consistently ranked among the happiest are Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada and Austria.

Published by the United Nations, the report ranks 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be. Based on the report, the Finns’ hap-piness can be credited to their high GDP, long lifes-pan, connection with nature, lack of corruption and the people’s control over their own life, among other things.

Markku Ojanen, Finnish Emeritus professor of psychology, an expert on happiness, believes the Finn’s secret is their ability to enjoy ordinary life.

Ojanen said, “Our northern climate has taught us to work hard and cherish the times when things are going well. Finnish people are also typically very honest, and Finland is one of the safest countries in the world. Safety and trust are key elements for happiness.”

This summer, travellers have a chance to discover happiness with the locals in Finland. Through their new Rent a Finn initiative, Visit Finland is inviting people from around the world to see how the Finns live in true harmony with nature.

Paavo Virkkunen, Head of Visit Finland at Busi-ness Finland said, “Our Rent a Finn campaign is a response to the global travel trend of living like a local, which is all about sharing genuine experiences with regular people. It allows travellers to experience the Finns’ strong, personal connection to nature with the help of our happiness guides.”

The Rent a Finn initiative has initially enlisted 80 Finns to work as happiness guides for travellers. The

guides, who were chosen from among hundreds of applicants, will host visitors for a few days and show their own ways of relieving stress in the lap of nature.

Visit Finland has already had 755 video appli-cations from 78 countries for the Rent a Finn cam-paign, with the country predicting 1000 applications by next week. USA tops the rankings with the most applications followed by Bangladesh, Turkey and Canada with the UK in fifth spot.

At the visit.brussels Awards Ceremony & Networking Night, nine Brussels cultural and tourism initiatives that marked 2018 were rewarded. The winners were elected by a combination of the general public and a jury of tourism professionals.

Many Brussels stakeholders contribute to the world-wide renown of the capital of Europe through their day-to-day work and original initiatives. The aim of the visit.brussels awards is to encourage and reward the projects that have most contributed to Brussels’ image.

The event was held at KANAL in the Pompidou Cen-tre. After the general public selected the three finalists of each category among 86 projects, the jury of tourism professionals elected the winners based on the follow-ing criteria – the impact of the projects on tourism in Brussels, their international influence, their original-ity, their sustainability as well as their accessibility to persons of limited mobility.

Finland finishes first for the second year running as the Happiest Nation in the world

mövenpick hotels & resorts signs management deal to open its first european mountain resortIn order to diversify its portfolio of premium proper-ties, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, a part of AccorHo-tels Group, has signed an agreement with Panorama Development Corporation to manage the brand’s first European mountain resort, the Mövenpick Resort Savognin. The hotel is set to open in 2021 and will be Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts’ seventh property in Switzerland, featuring 110 rooms and suites, four din-ing outlets, a children’s area, wellness facilities, several retail outlets including a sports and fashion boutique and easy access to the adjacent ski area.

Situated in the heart of Savognin in the canton of Grisons, the 110-key Mövenpick Resort Savognin is set to become one of Switzerland’s leading ski resorts and will reinforce Savognin’s reputation as one of the coun-try’s top family destinations.

“Savognin, a playground for adventure-lovers, is undergoing infrastructure enhancements to meet growing visitor demand with Mövenpick Resort Savognin being the focal point of these developments as the destination looks to attract more families, lei-sure tourists and skiers,” explained Duncan O’Rourke, COO Accor Central Europe. “The partnership with Panorama Development Corporation is an impor-tant strategic step for Accor to further develop Möv-enpick Hotels & Resorts as a premium brand and to enter the auspicious mountain resort segment. At the same time, it raises brand awareness in some of our target markets such as Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.”

Mövenpick Resort Savognin will be a modern yet family-oriented property spread across two connected wings. It features four dining venues: a specialty ‘Piste Terrace’ restaurant overlooking the slopes; an all-day dining outlet; the Mövenpick Coffee Wine Lounge, and a large living room-style lobby lounge.

The resort, which will provide access to the main gondola lift system serving the mountain area, will also offer children’s recreation facilities, a spa and sauna, and several retail outlets including a sports and fashion boutique. Guests will also be able to pur-chase tickets for the mountain railway and gondola at the property.

lufthansa inspires India to travel with its new brand campaign #lifechangingplacesBuilding on the global success of its latest brand claim ‘Say Yes to the World’, Lufthansa launched a new cross-media brand campaign in India, namely #LifeChangingPlaces. Following the brand’s legacy of promoting open-mindedness, this campaign cel-ebrates five real-life explorers who were rewarded with enriching experiences on their travels.

Through strong visual storytelling, #LifeChang-ingPlaces invites global travellers to explore the limits of who they are and find out who they can be. First launched globally in 2017, the campaign has now come alive in India with the story of Somnath Haldar. An IT consultant based in India, Somnath turned to music after he stumbled upon New York’s vibrant Jazz scene on a trip to the city. The journey transformed his life, inspiring him to leave his job and pursue his passion as a music teacher back home in India.

Commenting on the strategic thought behind the campaign, Michael Knapp, Director B2C Marketing, Asia Pacific, Lufthansa said, “Places can change peo-ple. They can inspire and motivate them to become more of who they are by opening them up to new experiences. At Lufthansa, we want to enable such experiences for everyone. That is the main goal of our brand campaign. As a premium international air-line and a proud driver of globalisation, Lufthansa remains committed to being a preferred travel part-ner to the global Indian who values quality, reliabil-ity and a sense of adventure.”

With the India story launched, the thought behind #LifeChangingPlaces now resonates with five incred-ible travel stories set in New York, Mexico, Lofoten,

France and Cape Town. Speaking on the launch of the latest phase in India,

George Ettiyil, Senior Director - Sales, South Asia, Lufthansa Group Airlines said, “As a travel market, India is constantly evolving and expanding at a tre-mendous pace. A growing number of travellers, from different industries, demographic groups and parts of the country are now choosing international desti-nations in search of enriching experiences. Our latest marketing campaign lends support to our sales activ-ities in India by reaching out to a new generation of would-be explorers to go on inspirational journeys with Lufthansa. We wish to serve as an enabler for a travel savvy Indian nation to pursue newer adven-tures and horizons in their quest for self-discovery.”

Backed by powerful audio-visual content, the roll-out of #LifeChangingPlaces in India will differenti-ate itself on its strong cross-media interlocking and engagement across online, social media, TV, print, OOH and cinema. The campaign will further lever-age innovative tools, creative formats and localised content to enhance the delivery of the brand message to target audiences.

One such innovative tool launched for this cam-paign is Lufthansa’s Artificial Intelligence-led ‘Mobile Inspiration Tool’, which recommends poten-tially ‘life-changing destinations’ based on photos of where users are. One simply needs to log on to www.lufthansa.com/places on a mobile device, click the photo of any surrounding object, and allow the tool to search through a database of several object-loca-tion combinations to suggest a ‘life-changing place’ for the user.

visit.brussels rewards nine brussels initiatives

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 13 EUROPE •

Hillsborough Castle, the Northern Ireland residence of Queen Elizabeth, has been restored, reimagined and is ready to reopen to the public.

The Hillsborough Castle and Gardens in County Down, which has witnessed pivotal moments in his-tory for over 300 years, is set to welcome the world as it reopened on April 18.

Following an ambitious restoration project, car-ried out by an army of skilled craftspeople, many of the original features of the elegant Georgian house and its extensive gardens have been reimagined and re-presented.

The castle’s stories of celebration, diplomacy and negotiation, once confined within its walls, are now the subject of a fascinating guided tour of its stun-ningly restored State Rooms. The tour includes guided access to the grand Throne Room, State Drawing Room, Lady Grey’s Study, State Dining Room, Red Room and Stair Hall.

Undoubtedly the grandest room in the house, the Throne Room has wall coverings of green, silk damask fabric forming a rich backdrop to paintings from the Royal Collection. The ruby red ‘thrones’ are

actually Chairs of State, which represent the mon-arch in absence.

The splendid Red Room, which also displays a collection of art, has been the setting for important political meetings since the 1970s, including a his-toric meeting between the Queen and President of Ireland Mary McAleese.

Hillsborough Castle, which is more accurately an Irish ‘Big House’, was the grand family home of the Hills for hundreds of years before it was sold to the British Government in 1925. The family also built the impressive courthouse and terraces in the pretty vil-lage of Hillsborough nearby, which is named after them.

Surrounding the castle are 100 acres of exquisite gardens, including ornamental lawns, the newly restored Walled Garden, the previously unseen Lost Garden, meandering waterways and pictur-esque glens.

The Walled Garden dates back to the 18th century and is a four-acre site historically used to produce fruit, vegetables and flowers for the castle. Produce from the garden is now used in the café within the

new visitor centre. A garden explorer map reveals the garden’s

unique features, including the Yew Tree Walk, Moss Walk, Ice House, Pinetum and the Quaker Burial Ground, enriching the delights of a stroll through the grounds.

Northern Ireland’s royal residence restored and ready to reopen

Patrick Alexandre, EVP Commercial, Sales & Alli-ances at Air France - KLM and Christian Mantei, Managing Director of Atout France, signed a part-nership agreement recently to strengthen the joint actions of Air France and Atout France to promote France as a destination.

The partnership agreement signed was in line with the desire to further strengthen the long-stand-ing collaboration between Atout France and Air France to promote France in international markets.

The agreement provides for several joint pro-motional and information actions highlighting the diversity of French tourism, with the aim of devel-oping tourism at various different French destina-tions while strengthening the service offered to Air France customers.

In 2018, Air France contributed to France’s rep-utation as a tourist destination by carrying 12.1 mil-lion customers to and from the country, including 8.3 customers to and from Paris and 3.8 customers to and from the other French regions. Atout France has organised more than 2,700 events to promote

French destinations abroad, trained 25,000 profes-sionals and organised more than 2,000 press confer-ences in France.

Patrick Alexandre, EVP Commercial, Sales & Alliances at Air France-KLM said, “I am delighted that we have renewed our partnership with Atout France. By developing joint actions to increase the number of tourists, not only to Paris, but also to our French regions, we are committed to maintaining France’s attractiveness at the heart of our commer-cial strategy.”

Christian Mantei, Managing Director of Atout France, “In the current social context, which has an impact on everyone in the tourism industry, the agreement we signed with Air France is a strong signal. The actions deployed will make it possible to support activity in Paris, the Paris region and all French destinations. The benefits of this collabora-tion will benefit the entire sector.”

Air France is also a major partner of the Ren-dez-vous en France exhibition that Atout France organised recently in Marseille. On this occasion, the company provided air travel for more than half of the 950 international buyers invited, by making more than 700 tickets available. Last year, as part of the promotional actions requested by the Interminis-terial Tourism Council, Air France and Atout France also organised a joint promotional campaign for France in three markets (Brazil, China and Japan), with the aim of extending it in 2019.

Air france and Atout france strengthen their partnership to promote france as a destination

Alitalia has confirmed itself as the most punctual airline in the world with 89.31% of flights landing on schedule time in March 2019. The Italian airline is at the top of the ranking even when considering the first quarter of 2019.

The March on-time performance report was pub-lished by FlightStats, the authoritative U.S. indepen-dent society which drafts the list of the major airlines in the world for on-time performance every month, com-paring data of equivalent airlines for size and network.

The excellent on-time index performed by Alitalia in March follows the results of February, when Alitalia had ranked as the most punctual airline in the world, and January when the Italian airline had taken second place. The analysis performed by FlightStats reported that Alitalia’s on-time performance was, in March, about 10 percentage points higher than the average punctuality index of world airlines (79.5%). Further-more, Alitalia was the only European airline in the top

five of the most punctual airlines in the world.FlightStats is one of the few data service companies

that monitors almost every flight operated by each air-line. FlightStats follows the ‘A14’ on-time performance method, monitoring flights which arrive at the gate less than 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival time.

prague hosts the Jubilee 10th meeting Industry Awards ceremonyThe Prague Convention Bureau paid tribute to distinguished Czech scientists, professors, phy-sicians and other elite experts for their contribu-tion to the Prague meeting industry, at the 10th Ambassador Awards Evening. The award cere-mony took place on April 3 at the Residence of the Mayor of Prague.

Ambassador Awards Evening celebrates the 10th anniversary of its founding this year. More than 40 Prague congress ambassadors were pres-ent at the anniversary ceremony. The event was held under the auspices of Zdeněk Hřib, Mayor of the City of Prague, who attended the ceremony in person.

In all, 42 events were awarded over the course of the Ambassador Awards Evenings’ 10 years existence. The events attracted more than 130,000 delegates to Prague, generating more than 377,000 room nights.

“I would like to use this opportunity to express our gratitude to the ambassadors awarded this year, and to all our congress ambassadors. Their active engagement in the process, starting from the candidacy and ending with the congress itself requires a great amount of their effort and patience. The awarded and nominated congresses often hold many primacies and records indicat-ing the increasing attractiveness of Prague as a meeting destination. Local scientific community can thus profit from numerous opportunities to develop and improve its knowledge in a wide range of scientific fields,” said Lucie Čapková from the Prague Convention Bureau Ambassa-dor Program.

The Ambassador Awards Evening was held with the support of Prague City Hall, CzechTour-ism agency and Czech Convention Bureau and the event was moderated by Veronika Paroulková.

Alitalia confirms itself as most punctual airline in the world: FlightStats

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 14AfricA

Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) has launched its global advertising campaign film that will be showcased across traditional and digital mediums in the Indian market. The film is a first-of-its-kind initiative by the Seychelles Tourism Board - India Office. Directed and developed by digital content creators – TheVibe, the film captures the essence of Seychelles and highlights diverse aspects of the destination.

Seychelles being a popular destination for island hopping, the video begins with mesmerising aer-ial views of the main islands of Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, highlighting the world’s most photographed beach Anse Source D’Argent known for its beautiful granitic boulders. Moving on from the views of pow-dery soft sand and clear blue waters, it takes viewers through the journey of a young couple enjoying vari-ous adventure activities on their romantic vacation. The video homogeneously combines a series of ideal activi-ties to be availed while on the island including cycling on the sandy beaches and self-driving to steal some private moments along with trekking and hiking on the island pathways to savour the delights of the country’s pristine environment. It also subtly mixes luxurious and acces-sible activities such as thrilling helicopter ride to cap-ture some scenic views, relishing local cuisine, sailing

on a luxury yacht along with indulging in exciting water activities and stealing some romantic moments while relaxing on the beach; all of this showcasing an ideal and adventurous honeymoon in paradise.

Speaking about this recent development for the Indian market, Sherin Francis, STB Chief Executive mentioned that the collaboration with TheVibe has been an opportunity to maximise on the destination’s visibil-ity on the Indian market.

“Seychelles remains amongst one of the dream desti-nations for weddings and honeymooners and our mar-keting efforts as STB is to carry on promoting Seychelles aggressively in the Indian market and in countries around the world. The film’s international appeal show-cases the beauty of this country beyond its beaches. An increasing number of young couples have been opt-ing for destinations that offer more than just relaxation on their honeymoon. Our aspiration is for our guests to indulge in the recreational activities of their choice and create memories of a lifetime. We believe that this new film has put together an interesting mélange of all these aspects which will appeal to young audiences; while helping to boost footfall in the coming months,” said Francis.

Lubaina Sheerazi, COO, Blue Square Consultants,

Seychelles Tourist Office – India further added, “The film is a big development for us, as it is an initiative from the India market which will be used for global distri-bution and promotional purposes. We believe this will facilitate our trade partners to reach out to their audi-ences and highlight the varied adventurous experiences Seychelles has to offer. We are also delighted to say that Seychelles received 13,901 tourists from India in 2018, retaining India’s position as the top 6th source market for the tourism board.”

Ethiopian Airlines won the prestigious African Cham-pion of the Year Award recently at the ongoing Africa CEO Forum in Kigali which was attended by more than 1,800 delegates.

The Africa CEO Forum is the leading international conference dedicated to the private sector in Africa and hosts the continent’s top CEOs, international investors, experts and high-level policy makers every year.

Every year, the Africa CEO Forum Awards recognise the companies and investors that have shaped the year in Africa, during the Africa CEO Forum Gala Dinner.

While receiving the awards, Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam said, “We are honoured to be awarded as African cham-pion. Thank you very much for the strong vote of confi-dence that Africa has given us even at the most challeng-ing time in our history. We are still mourning for the loss of the lives of our esteemed passengers and colleagues at the tragic accident on ET 302 on March 10. My sincere sympathy and heartfelt condolences for the families of the victims, the country and the continent of Africa. But we are very grateful to the travelling public who have stood with us in such a difficult time. The vote of confi-dence is unbelievable. We have never seen such kind of large number of vote of confidence for one of the stron-gest brands in Africa. Thank you all for all the support you have given us and continue to give us. Together, we will make Africa great and we will put our continent in its right place on the global stage.”

Seychelles Tourism Board launches first-of-its-kind global advertising campaign

mauritius tourism promotion Authority organises golf fAm trip for key Indian golf operatorsFollowing the India visit of Anil Kumarsingh Gayan, Minister of Tourism, Republic of Mauritius and his meeting with IGTA, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) organised a five day golf FAM trip recently for key Indian golf operators to Mauri-tius. The objective was to give them a country over-view and a first-hand experience of golfing facilities in Mauritius so that they are better informed when selling Golf in Mauritius.

These Golf travel representatives expressed great satisfaction over golf in Mauritius. The Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority indicated that the success of the golf FAM would help to lift the profile of Mauritius as a year round destination for golfers.

Arvind Bundhun, Director, MTPA, further high-lighted the importance of the golf FAM, “This is one of the major components of the Mauritius promo-tional campaign in India. The golf FAM allowed the Indian golf operators to experience world-class golf, luxury tourism and activities on the island. The deci-sion makers personal inputs will help to promote Mauritius golf tourism in India.”

Bundhun also added, “Organising such trips will add the necessary impetus required to promote Mau-ritius golf tourism. These FAMs are a great way to communicate with key golf operators and it gives them first-hand golfing experience of the destination. This trip will help the agents to guide their customers when planning a Mauritius golf holiday package.”

The members of the delegation expressed eager-ness to take advantage of Mauritius as a year round golf destination for Indians, saying that the island is well positioned to be one of their most prominent golf destinations. Anil Kumarsingh Gayan, Minis-ter of Tourism, Republic of Mauritius added his per-sonal touch by playing the perfect host over dinner with his special guests.

marriott International announces the opening of four points by sheraton setif in AlgeriaMarriott International announced the opening of Four Points by Sheraton Setif in Algeria, in partnership with Prombati SPA owned by Rachid Khenfri. With 191 rooms, the hotel is conveniently situated in the centre of the city, providing easy access to Setif’s new tram line and Setif International Airport just 20 minutes’ drive away. The modern hotel towers high above the city and is situated in one of the most desirable areas in Setif which is steeped in history and surrounded by national landmarks dat-ing back to the Berber Kingdom and the Roman Empire.

“Four Points by Sheraton Setif is Marriott Interna-tional’s ninth property in Algeria and a great addition to our rapidly growing portfolio in North Africa. Situated in a prime area in the city centre the hotel offers the brand’s renowned comfortable hospitality experience that meets the needs of today’s modern traveller,” said Alex Kyriaki-dis, President and Managing Director, Middle East and Africa, Marriott International.

Henricus Broekhoven General Manager of the Four Points by Sheraton Setif commented, “We are excited to open the Four Points by Sheraton Setif set in a his-toric and sought-after part of the city. The hotel offers an uncomplicated travel experience with its comfort-able room offering, convenient location and wide range

of facilities. We look forward to serving our guests with the warm and genuine service that the Four Points brand is known for.”

Four Points by Sheraton Setif caters to the needs of business travellers offering four meeting rooms equipped with the latest technology, 24-hour Business services and a dedicated events team tasked to deliver seamless busi-ness experiences.

ethiopian Airlines wins ‘African champion of the year’ Award

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 15 africa •

Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) conducted roadshows in Chandigarh, Pune, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Kolkata as part of its efforts to create destination awareness. A total of 20 Mauritian partners like DMCs, hotels, airlines and attractions were part of the roadshow.

When asked about connectivity issues from India to Mauritius, Arvind Bundhun, Director, MTPA while talking to the media from Mauritius, expressed that in order to attract large number of tourists from any coun-try, air connectivity is a must and from India there is only one carrier that flies directly to Mauritius. This needs to increase considering the growth from the Indian market. “There is scope for one more airline to fly to Mauritius directly from India very soon consid-ering the growth in Indians travelling to the island,” he said.

Arvind informed that Air Mauritius, the carrier operating five times a week from Mumbai, two times from Delhi and once a week each from Bengaluru and Chennai plans to add more flights to cater to the increasing capacity. “We can see the growing interest in the aviation sector and are willing to support any Indian carrier willing to fly to Mauritius,” he added.

Speaking exclusively with Travel News Digest, Vijaye Haulder, Deputy Director, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority said, “India is very important for us because of the cultural links. India is the seventh source market for us after France, UK, Germany, South Africa and Reunion Island. Every year we receive 8-10 big Indian weddings, so Mauritius is fast becoming a wedding destination for not only India but all over the world. We are now promoting golf as well. We have 10 golf courses spread across Mauritius and we also have

a big tournament coming up in Mauritius. We are here to create awareness and remind travellers about Mau-ritius. We come to India every year and hold roadshows twice a year in different cities. We are expecting to reach 100,000 visitors in Mauritius by 2020.”

The Country Manager of MTPA said that the roadshows are the most efficient and cost-effective way to meet a large number of quality agents. It is a must for educators wanting to connect, build and maintain long-term partnerships. The senior official also added that

Mauritius has received footfalls of more than 85,000 visitors from India last year. India is one of the most crucial and promising tourism markets for Mauri-tius. In 2019, we will continue showcasing ‘Mauritius Beyond the Beach’. This will be done through an adver-tising campaign.

Sanjay Sondhi, MD, OM Tourism mentioned that the overwhelming response of the Indian travel agents, media and wedding planners in these five cities proves the success of our endeavour.

Mauritius organises roadshows across five Indian cities to attract Indian tourists to its exotic locations

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TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 18americas

los Angeles tourism partners with sonam Kapoor in new campaign

los Angeles tourism unveils new look for discoverlosangeles.comFollowing more than 12 months of planning, research and development, the Los Angeles Tourism & Conven-tion Board unveiled its latest iteration of discoverlosangeles.com. Built by Los Angeles Tourism’s digital team, the mobile-first design ensures faster response, enhanced search and better accessibility while featuring an edito-rial-led, visual storytelling focus that serves up the inspiration and research travellers seek in official destination websites.

L.A. Tourism has tapped some of the most talented writers and pho-tographers in the L.A. area to create a fun, robust library of content, rang-ing from guides on hidden neigh-bourhood gems to favourite beaches by playlist and places to visit based on astrological signs. Throughout the coming months, newly created content will focus on the rise of the millennial parents, neighbourhood experiences and quick-read guides, in direct response to traveller trends.

“We know that the previous ver-sion of our site was one of the highest trafficked tourism sites in the United States of America and we look for-ward to serving travellers’ needs with our latest mobile-first version, which is packed with user-friendly attri-butes,” stated Bill Karz, Vice President of Digital Marketing for Los Angeles Tourism.

Other highlights include:Interactive maps: Featured prom-

inently on the homepage, the maps allow site visitors an in-depth look at L.A.’s distinct neighbourhoods; while reviewing any of the guides, the maps auto-populate with guide locations, helping visitors understand L.A.’s geography through heat mapping technology.

Personalisation: Visitors are invited to bookmark content, ‘flag’ places they have been and share places they are considering going. These actions are saved within an individ-ual profile, allowing them to serve as a personal itinerary for future visits; bookmarked content can also be easily accessed while in-destination.

Events calendar: Featuring the most robust events calendar for the city of Los Angeles, this page is truly the ‘go-to’ source for events.

Multi-lingual: Available in French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, and Japanese.

Los Angeles is no stranger to star power, so when it was time to showcase the city’s thriving arts and culture, culinary, sports and hotel scenes to Indian trav-ellers, Los Angeles Tourism looked no further than one of India’s favourite cou-ples, Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja. The destination has featured the duo in its latest digital marketing campaign which was launched recently.

Tapping into Sonam and Anand’s passion for reading, vegan cuisine, the film industry, basketball, art and more, the four-episode campaign shows them visiting the legendary Los Angeles County Museum of Art, experiencing the one-of-a-kind Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, tasting Chef Esdras Ochoa’s famous vegan tacos at Salazar and vibing at the hot Hollywood Roo-sevelt Hotel. Paid content will run on

Facebook and through a partnership with Times of India, while Sonam will also be posting content on her social media accounts.

Los Angeles Tourism began invest-ing in travel trade efforts in India back in 2016 and consumer marketing efforts began in 2017. In 2018, the city welcomed more than 130,000 visitors from India, a 5.1% year-over-year increase. On aver-age, Indian travellers spend 8.6 nights in Los Angeles with research indicat-ing sightseeing (95%), shopping (77%) and art galleries and museums (37%) as top preference.

The destination aims to grow its share of visitors from India and will undertake continued trade and con-sumer marketing initiatives throughout 2019 to include thematic familiarisation tours, trainings and more.

Palladium Hotel Group celebrated the official open-ing of its two new resorts, TRS Coral Hotel and Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres Resort & Spa, located in Costa Mujeres, north of Cancun, Mexico. The resorts house a one-of-a-kind ‘Rafa Nadal Ten-nis Centre’ that was officially inaugurated by the leg-endary tennis player Rafael Nadal himself alongside Abel Matutes, CEO of Palladium Hotel Group.

“This is the first tennis complex that we opened outside the ‘Rafa Nadal Academy’ in Mallorca and I am very excited to be able to do so in a compound as incredible as this. The Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre will be the ideal place for fans of this sport to com-bine their holidays with short tennis programs and I am positive about its stupendous success,” stated Rafa Nadal during the press conference.

“The alliance of Palladium Hotel Group with Rafa Nadal for the launch of Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre is

further evidence that the company has long focussed on achieving differentiation while being the best in its offering. Our brand Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts has always given much importance to sport and effectively enhancing sports facilities. Having the opportunity to work with Rafa Nadal is a source of pride, as he is not only the best tennis player, but the values he represents, transmits and inculcates are impeccable,” added Abel Matutes, CEO, Palla-dium Hotel Group.

The Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre Costa Mujeres offers tennis programs developed by Nadal and his technical team for all levels and ages, which will be taught to both hotel guests and local residents. Each tennis programme is personalised and run by coaches from the Rafa Nadal Academy of Movistar. With eight clay tennis courts, a football field, a pad-dle tennis court, a gym for warm-up, stretching and

basic training, a Rafa Nadal exhibition area, a shop with exclusive top quality sports products and a bar-cafeteria with television screens, the Rafa Nadal Ten-nis Centre Costa Mujeres is one of the most complete tennis facilities in Mexico.

Hilton Washington DC National Mall will welcome visi-tors to the nation’s capital beginning April 1. The hotel is the latest expansion of the brand in Washington and is the product of a multi-year modernisation of an existing property at the top of historic L’Enfant Plaza.

Located at the hub of public transit, the hotel adds to the neighbourhood 367 guest rooms, 23,000 sq ft of flexible meeting and private event spaces and exqui-site dining options. The space has been designed to serve today’s traveller – someone seeking an afford-able yet elegant home away from home – in an incom-parable location with sweeping views of the city and the Potomac riverfront.

The hotel is perfectly situated above the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station, granting guests direct access to metropolitan Washington, D.C. year-round. It places them squarely among iconic institutions as well as a rich

selection of cultural experiences. Magnetic attractions, including the ‘District Wharf’ and its alluring restau-rants and shops, the renowned Smithsonian museums, modern sports arenas, and the forthcoming new Inter-national Spy Museum all await less than a 10-minute walk from the hotel. The hotel’s direct elevator access to the Metro connects guests to Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) and Union Station with door-to-door convenience, facilitating hassle free travel to the nearby Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) and Dulles International Airport (IAD).

“We are so excited to introduce guests to Hilton Washington DC National Mall, not just because of its contemporary design and amenities, but because of the doors it opens to experience D.C.,” said General Man-ager Claudia Eggspuhler. “Our unique location brings incomparable access to all DC has to offer. As a hotel,

our goal is to help our guests create incredible memories by revealing the gems of Washington. We are hoping to convey what a world-class international destination our city is, no matter what occasions bring travellers here.”

The hotel will be the first in Washington to offer exclusively King Deluxe beds in every guest room with two king beds in several. Many rooms bring D.C.’s iconic cherry blossoms – a symbol of international diplomacy and the city’s springtime celebration – inside with subtle inspired artwork and floor to ceiling windows. Modern elements include plank flooring, barn doors, porcelain bathrooms, granite countertops, barstools, and slimline desks. Guests will be able to unwind and freshen up with Crabtree & Evelyn bath amenities.

Hilton Washington DC National Mall will debut a variety of modern events and meetings spaces, includ-ing a sunlit Solarium.

Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres Resort & Spa and TRS Coral Hotel is now home to an official ‘Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre’

hilton Washington Dc National mall to debut in the heart of D.c. this April

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 20 • americas

The Brazilian Government recently announced that Brazil would allow visa-free entry for citizens of The United States, Canada, Australia and Japan, effec-tive from June 17. Until then, the current e-visa will be required.

Citizens of those countries wishing to visit Brazil will no longer need to apply or pay for a visa. They will be able to stay in Brazil for 90 days from the date of first entry in the country, extendable for an equal period, provided that it does not exceed 180 days, every 12 months, counted from the date of the first entry into the country.

These developments come as part of a series of measures that Brazil has taken to facilitate vis-itor access to the country. Last year, the govern-ment launched an e-visa platform through which travellers could apply for visas with more efficiency and ease.

Brazil has already seen extremely positive results with the increase of about 35% in the visa applica-tion in less than a year since implementing e-visa. These four countries are considered strategic for the

development of tourism in Brazil.According to the Foreign Ministry, in 2017,

169,910 visas (either for business, tourism or tran-sit) had been issued to citizens of the four countries. With the implementation of e-visa, the number rose in 2018 to 229,767.

“This is one of the most important achievements of the Brazilian tourism industry in the last 15 years and we are confident that it will be extremely ben-eficial to the country. This decision of the Brazilian government proves that we are living a new moment and that tourism is being seen as a vector of eco-nomic and social growth of the entire nation. This is the first step; we still have much to celebrate,” said Marcelo Alvaro Antônio, Minister of Tourism.

“The United States was very receptive to the issu-ance of electronic visas. The World Tourism Orga-nization says that when adopting an electronic visa, visa issuance increases by 25%, so we have exceeded that mark,” said Teté Bezerra, President of Embra-tur (Brazil’s Tourism Board, a federal agency and part of the Ministry of Tourism).

Brazil waives entry visa requirements for U.S. citizens

The Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival returned to the Disneyland Resort in March. Featuring the flavours of the Golden State, the culi-nary celebration offers incredible food and bever-age menus complimented with signature events. The festival will run until April 23.

14 Festival Marketplace kiosks can be explored to sample and sip the flavours of California. Each kiosk deliciously pairs themed food and drink offerings. Here’s a look at some of the selections:

• Pay homage to Orange County’s history at Citrus Grove where you can sample Citrus-brined Pork Roast with tangy barbecue sauce and lemon pepper slaw.

• Spice things up at Peppers Cali-ente withGhost Pepper Mac and Cheese with Chili Cheese Corn Chip Dust.

• At Avocado Time, you can pair yourPetit Impossible Burger with Guac and Pepper Jack Cheese with a Kombucha Mojito Cocktail with Fresh Mint.

• BlackGarlicSoy-braisedPorkBellyBanhMiand a Bloody Mary with Garlic-stuffed Olive cele-brate California’s garlic production at the Garlic Kissed kiosk.

• Treatyourself toaStrawberryandCoconutRice “Frushi” with Sweet Oikos Yogurt Wasabi Sauce or Fresh California Berry Pie at Berry Patch.

In addition to the thoughtfully paired food and wine offerings available at the kiosks, the Para-dise Garden Grill and Festival Beer Garden will each have their own menus with beer flights and dishes. Dietary preferences can be accommodated with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-friendly selec-tions offered.

The best way to get a taste of the Food and Wine Festival is the Sip and Savor Pass, available to all guests. A souvenir lanyard and credential come with eight food or non-alcoholic beverage offerings from any of the participating marketplaces, festival food and beverage carts, and Paradise Garden Grill. Sip and Savor Passes are available throughout the park, including Trolley Treats, Elias & Co., Seaside Souvenirs, and the festival carts.

Explore Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival 2019 this April

Destination DC, the official destination marketing organisation for Washington DC held its maiden India Sales and Media Mission in Mumbai on April 1 at Air India Auditorium. The show was taken to Ahmed-abad, followed by Delhi in the first week of April. The DMO’s premiere visit comes in recognition of India being Washington DC’s fourth largest overseas mar-ket. Visitations from India peaked in 2017, growing 31.5% to reach 135,000 visitors, prompting the need for a dedicated sales mission to the subcontinent.

The special occasion was captained by Elliot Fergu-son, CEO & President, Destination DC. Ferguson also serves as the First Vice Chair, Board of Directors, U.S. Travel Association, presenting the best of Washing-ton DC as well as the Capital Region.

Inaugurating the premiere venture, Fergusson addressed a select group of sales and media represen-tatives. He elaborated his newest plans and efforts in promoting the Capital City among the Indian travel trade fraternity, guiding them in building inclusive tour packages and new, exciting itineraries.

Ferguson’s speech was followed by an in-depth cul-tural tour of Washington DC by Theresa Belpulsi, Vice President, Tourism, Sports & Visitor Services, Desti-nation DC. The Destination DC team joined hands in giving the Indian travel trade a taste of the city’s hos-pitality and its unique offerings.

In an exclusive interview with Travel News Digest, Fergusson also talked of his visit to India and future plans for the tourism sector. He said, “It has been great meeting new customers and having a refreshingly different itinerary in India.” He attributed the recent increase in visitations from India to a hassle-free visa process alongside direct Air India flights from New Delhi to Washington DC.

Shedding further light on the visa application pro-cess, he explained, “From the feedback that we’ve

received, the process has gotten much better. It started with the former Obama administration and continues with the current administration.”

He also divulged the main objective behind the India Sales Mission was to promote the idea of dis-covering Washington DC, covering all the aspects from food to nightlife, shopping, restaurants, out-door activities, sporting events and much more. He added, “I think for the long term, we anticipate addi-tional investment in promoting Washington DC in India. We see the return on investment. So, mis-sions like this give us the opportunity to continue to review what makes the most sense for us as a desti-nation. So, we will continue our efforts to explore the Indian market.”

Speaking of his plans for the Indian market, he disclosed that focus areas will include MICE, leisure,

family and youth travel. “The last decade we’ve invested more in grow-ing with the MICE mar-ket as a city. We still rely heavily on trade shows to assist us in pursu-ing the MICE market. We’re relatively new to the frontier. We’ll con-tinue to focus our ways to get first-time MICE meetings to Washington DC.”

The first-ever India Sales and Media Mission con-ducted by Destination DC revealed a future full of promises and new opportunities to be explored in building constructive travel and tourism ties between DC and India.

Destination DC holds its first India Sales and Media mission

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 21CAribbeAn

The ninth edition of the Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festi-val will witness Maroon 5, Ozuna, Gladys Knight and Third World who will make their appearance at the festival at the World Trade Center at Piscadera Bay. The organisation is still busy with various other art-ists who will be announced in the course of the com-ing months. The festival opens on August 29 with free concerts of Havana D’Primera and Aymee Nuviola.

Maroon 5: American band Maroon 5 has sold over 20 million albums and received three Grammy Awards. Their debut album, Songs About Jane, became their big breakthrough and its successor, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, did even better.

Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado: Known simply by his surname Ozuna, is a Puerto Rican reggaeton and Latin trap singer. In early 2016, Ozuna rose to prominence for his appearance on the single La Ocasión, going from strength to strength ever since.

Gladys Knight: Six years after making her debut in Curaçao the ‘Empress of Soul’ Gladys Knight is return-ing to the island. With her band The Pips she had great hits, such as I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Mid-night Train To Georgia, and Baby Don’t Change Your Mind, in the 1960s and 1970s. Knight now has seven Grammy’s and numerous other awards to her name.

Third World: Jamaican band Third World cele-brated its 45th anniversary last year. Calling themselves ‘Reggae Ambassadors’ and describing their sound as reggae fusion, Third World mix reggae with many other genres such as soul, funk, and disco.

Havana D’Primera: Cuban Timba band Havana D’Primera was founded by Alexander Abreu in 2008, the band was formed by a collective of musicians in the Cuban music scene, numbering 17 members in total. Fusing rhythms across salsa, jazz, funk, and Afro-Cuban, the band has released four studio albums so far.

Aymée Nuviola: Nicknamed ‘La Sonera del Mundo’, is a well-respected singer from Cuba who trained at the Manuel Saumell Conservatory in Havana. Nuvi-ola is one of the biggest Cuban stars of today, and she even recorded a song with American legend Jackson Browne.

The Bahamas witness historic visitor numbersThe Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation has her-alded the highest number of international arrivals ever, resulting in record hotel occupancy levels. The Baha-mas won numerous tourism industry awards and media accolades in 2018 and 2019. The Bahamas began 2019 strong with the launch of a new brand campaign high-lighting the beauty and authenticity of its 16 islands in partnership with Lenny Kravitz, urging travellers to Fly Away to The Bahamas. The Ministry also announced exciting plans for the development of a state of the art cruise port in Nassau.

“It is my great pride and pleasure to report that The Bahamas is experiencing its strongest tourism numbers ever on record,” said Minister D’Aguilar. “We look for-ward to building upon the success of our progressive plans and continuing the momentum in 2019 as we forge ahead with exciting new initiatives.”

The Ministry’s data partner, ForwardKeys that tracks and reports inbound, visitor data 365 days in advance, from key designated marketing areas reported that inter-national arrivals to The Bahamas grew by 15% in Janu-ary 2019 versus January 2018. Several key markets reg-istered double-digit growth. In February, international arrivals increased by 11.1% year-over-year. The forward booking situation for the next three months (March to

May) is optimistic, with forward bookings running 9.0% ahead for international arrivals. April (ahead by 15.6%) shows the most favourable outlook.

The Ministry launched the new, multi-channel cre-ative campaign featuring Bahamian-American rock leg-end Lenny Kravitz which reveals the authentic spirit of The Bahamas as a destination for adventure and discov-ery. Set to the lyrics of Kravitz’s hit song Fly Away, the television commercial and supporting marketing cam-paign capture his deep personal connection to The Baha-mas, as well as the pure adrenaline rush of exploring the archipelago’s 100,000 square miles by boat and plane.

St. Kitts & Nevis ‘Takes Off’ in 2019Demand for St. Kitts & Nevis as a premier destina-tion for travellers continues to rise, with air arrivals for the first two months of this year, posting a year-to-date increase of 15.3% system-wide as compared to the same period in 2018.

Results are even better from North America, the destination’s largest source market, registering a year-to-date increase in air arrivals of 19.3% for Jan-uary and February 2019 as compared to the same months in 2018. This continues the growth of air-lift from major gateways in 2018, which increased over 2017 by 9.3% system-wide and reached a total of 153,364 air passenger arrivals for the full year, the highest number ever recorded in the destina-tion’s history.

“I am extremely pleased to see such strong increases in air passenger arrivals to our Feder-ation for 2018 continuing into peak season 2019,” said Lindsay F P Grant, Minister of Tourism for St. Kitts & Nevis. “These numbers are a clear indica-tion that we are gaining momentum towards reach-ing our goal of 150,000 stay-over visitors in the next few years.”

“We redoubled our marketing efforts in the fourth quarter of last year specifically to support our additional peak season air service and these num-bers demonstrate that we have achieved very suc-cessful results,” added Racquel Brown, CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority. “With the milestone air-lift arrivals recorded for 2018 and performance last year in the months of March and June nearing 30% growth over the same months in 2017, the signifi-cant growth measured so far in 2019 signals a rising demand for St. Kitts as a highly desirable travel des-tination, particularly from North America and for key events such as St. Kitts Music Festival. We will continue to employ this successful marketing for-mula as we strive to reach our goal of 150,000 stay-over guests by 2021 from our primary source mar-kets of the U.S., Canada, UK and the Caribbean.”

St. Kitts’ marketing strategy maintains a partic-ular focus on reaching individuals who are a match with the geo-demographic lifestyle data of its tar-get visitors in key gateway markets to support airlift year-round as well as marquee island events includ-ing St. Kitts Music Festival.

Guyana wins ‘Best of Ecotourism’ at sustainable destinations awardsGuyana has been named the #1 ‘Best of Ecotourism’ destination in the world. The award was presented to Guyana at ITB Berlin. The second annual ‘Best of Top 100’ Awards is a selection of the finest top 100 desti-nations selected by a panel of experts who reviewed sustainability success stories submitted by destina-tions worldwide. The newly created ‘Best of Ecotour-ism’ category was added in 2019 and put Guyana up against very well-known and experienced ecotourism destinations like Sierra Gorda in Mexico, Tmatboey in Cambodia and the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.

The announcement was made this evening at Berlin’s Messe Berlin exhibition grounds by Albert Salman, President of Green Destinations Founda-tion. Brian T Mullis, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority was in attendance to accept the award on

behalf of Guyana.“Guyana has expended considerable effort in

recent years not only to develop new and innovative eco-friendly tourism products as a part of the national Green State Development Strategy, but also to incorpo-rate sustainable tourism best practice into all aspects of its strategy, planning and programming while edu-cating the world about its deep commitment to maxi-mising the positive socio-economic and conservation outcomes from tourism,” said Brian T Mullis, Direc-tor of the Guyana Tourism Authority. He continued, “It is a tremendous honour for us to be recognised glob-ally alongside our fellow leaders in eco and sustain-able tourism.”

When asked about Guyana’s selection as #1 in the ‘Best of Ecotourism’ category, Albert Salman, Presi-dent of the Green Destinations Foundation said, “The Top 100 Awards Jury was impressed by the dossier prepared by Guyana Tourism Authority for the Top 100-nomination and by the success stories submitted of Surama and Rewa. Both these eco lodges have ambi-tious and admirable goals and successes, are commu-nity-owned and led, and aim at preserving Guyana’s ecosystems and indigenous traditions. The Jury also liked that Guyana has a policy of a ‘Green, Inclusive and Prosperous Guyana’ that provides a good quality of life for all its citizens based on a sound education and social protection, low-carbon resilient development, green and decent jobs, economic opportunities, indi-vidual equality, justice, and political empowerment.”

curaçao North sea Jazz 2019 gears up, first batch of artist names announced

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 22OCEANIA

vivid sydney 2019 enters a new decade of innovation and creativityVivid Sydney, the largest festival of light, music and ideas in the Southern Hemisphere, will ignite the Harbour City this winter from May 24 to June 15 as it enters a new decade of innovation and cre-ativity with an inspiring and star-studded pro-gramme of events.

Destination NSW CEO and Executive Producer - Vivid Syd-ney, Sandra Chip-chase said, “Austra-lia’s most loved and awarded festival, now in its 11th year, will bring together light artists, music makers and brilliant minds to

showcase Sydney as the creative industries hub of the Asia-Pacific. I am proud to say our marketing activities saw a record 185,887 travel packages sold to domestic and international visitors for Vivid 2018 - an increase of 37% over the previous year. Vivid Sydney is a must-attend event for travellers and motivates people to visit Sydney and beyond,” Chipchase said.

Sandra Chipchase, CEO, Destination NSW and Executive Producer, Vivid Sydney shared some insights about the Indian market in an exclusive interview with Travel News Digest:

How do you see India as a potential market for New South Wales?With Indians’ love of world-class nature, family-friendly attractions, aquatic and coastal experi-ences, the appeal of New South Wales (NSW) to

Indian travellers is extremely strong. Over the last decade, the Indian traveller has evolved and their interest in exploring new locations and experi-ences has grown dramatically. Tourism Research Australia (TRA) has forecasted that India is expected to be the leading performer among Aus-tralia’s top 10 tourism source markets in coming years. Estimates suggest that visitor growth will be up by 21.1% from 278,000 visitors in 2016–17 to 337,000 in 2018-19.

What are your promotion and marketing strategies to tap the Indian market?Destination NSW’s market activity in India con-tinues to leverage three core pillars – consumer messaging, trade partnerships coupled with edu-cation and support, and PR/media outreach.

Our trade and consumer engagement is tar-geted towards all the key Tier I, II and III cities of India, and the challenges of covering a large geo-graphical area are being met using publicity, mov-ies and travel programmes and digital technology for tools like webinars. Currently, the majority of visitors to NSW from India are from the north and west, however, we are seeing growth from south and east Indian markets too.

Currently, where does India rank as per tour-ist arrivals for New South Wales?According to the International Visitor Survey year ending September 2018, India ranks con-sistently in our top 10 countries and is seventh in NSW based on visitor numbers, third based on visitor overnights and seventh based on expenditure.

Which segment of the Indian market are you tar-geting and what are the trends witnessed amongst Indian travellers in Australia?The growth in India’s economy has shifted traveller behaviour in India with visitors transitioning away from travelling with tour groups and exploring semi-independently or solo. This shift has affected a number of target markets including; business, leisure, honey-mooners, family travel as well as high value travellers (HVT) as it has enabled travellers to spend more time in regional areas, with most staying an average of nine nights and exploring a number of attractions in both Sydney and Regional NSW.

Please share some details about Vivid Sydney. What are your expectations from this festival?Vivid Sydney, the largest festival of light, music and ideas in the Southern Hemisphere, is owned, managed and produced by Destination NSW, the NSW Govern-ment’s tourism and major events agency, and in 2018 attracted 2.25 million attendees. Returning to the Har-bour City this winter from May 24 to June 15, Vivid Syd-ney enters a new decade of innovation and creativity with an inspiring star-studded programme of events.

We’re always looking to do more, push boundar-ies and see how we can raise the bar for ourselves and the festival. This year we have launched the inaugu-ral Vivid School, an exciting initiative to enable high school students and their teachers to meet the profes-sionals behind Vivid Sydney’s iconic building projec-tions and Light Walk installations, and to hear from artists, designers and technicians about their career paths and how they harnessed opportunities to build their skills for future projects and employment.

It is the must see event in Australia!

Timed with the 2019 International Day of Happiness on March 20, Tour-ism Fiji released its inaugural Bula-naires List; a global list of individu-als who are rich in happiness. With global happiness on the decline, the tourism board has launched a cam-paign that addresses what we are all ultimately seeking.

The initiative ties into the brand ethos of ‘where happiness finds you’ and focusses on what sets Fiji apart from other destinations; its people – with an inaugural list of ‘Bulanaires’ celebrating people rich in happiness.

Compiled under the guidance of Professor Lea Waters (PhD), a psy-chologist, scientist, author and TEDx speaker who specialises in positive psychology, the list includes those that follow Waters’ guiding princi-ples for happiness, such as being self-less or giving back, or making time for connections through family and community.

Many of Professor Waters’ princi-ples are found among the people of Fiji, which likely explains why Fiji was deemed the Happiest Country in the World in the 2017 annual Gallup International Survey on Happiness, Hope and Economic Optimism. The

same survey found that the world’s happiness had declined since the previous year, with Fiji bucking this trend.

Commenting on what a ‘Bulanaire’ is, Professor Lea Waters said, “Bula-naires redefines the way we mea-sure success. A common measure of success is often portrayed through the annual ‘rich lists’ that showcase the increased number of billionaires each year. But perhaps instead, we need to consider finding happiness and contentment as a measure for being rich.”

“The inaugural Bulanaire list cel-ebrates people from across the world who inspire us and share happiness with those around them,” continues Professor Waters.

The campaign, which has also partnered with Arianna Huffington and Thrive Global, rolled out globally on International Day of Happiness, with brand assets created to show-case the ‘Bula Spirit’ and why people in Fiji topped the 2017 Gallup Inter-national survey.

“Happiness and well-being are not just magical traits that some are blessed with and others are not – they’re a way of living and work-ing that we can nurture and grow,” commented Arianna Huffington, CEO of Thrive Global and an advo-cate for happiness and wellbeing in the workplace.

With family and community being of huge importance to Fijians, it is easy to feel their happiness and warmth in the destination. With 333 islands, year-round warmth, and only 3.5 hours from Australia, Fiji is the perfect place to find happiness.

Accor has chosen Australia as the first Asia Pacific market to expand its part-nership with sbe outside of the U.S. and bring its luxury lifestyle hospital-ity brand, Hyde to its shores following Accor’s acquisition of a 50% stake in sbe in October 2018. Launched in Gold Coast in March 2019, Hyde Paradiso is a fashionable playground for an end-less summer, inspired by LA’s famous Sunset Strip. The venue is open all day and evolves into an evening lounge and dining experience.

Simon McGrath, Chief Operat-ing Officer of Accor Pacific said, “We are extremely excited to open the first sbe venue for Accor in Australia, on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Our part-nership with sbe and its Founder and CEO Sam Nazarian will com-bine the best of both our worlds to provide unparalleled lifestyle expe-riences for our guests. Hyde Parad-iso will be a game changer for the Gold

Coast, which is befitting of a sophisti-cated and energetic venue which will become the place to see and be seen by the sea.”

Sam Nazarian, Founder and CEO of sbe said, “Everyone at sbe is hugely excited to expand our hospitality brands through the strategic partner-ship with Accor and to work closely with Simon McGrath and his talented team. Australia is such a welcoming, youthful, and dynamic market full of growth opportunities for our brands, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to launch Hyde on the Gold Coast. The sbe portfolio will grow to over 50 hotels by 2020, paired with tremendous expansion in the residential, culinary and entertainment venues, including over 150 global venues in the pipeline. We look forward to bringing more of our brands, dining and entertainment experiences to Australia and across the globe with Accor in the future.”

Tourism Fiji celebrates happiness with inaugural Bulanaires list

Accor and sbe to launch iconic Hyde brand in Australia

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 23global

Tripoto, the global travel community, has partnered with the Singapore Tourism Board, to create an inno-vative, fun and exciting travel web series ‘Trails 2 Pas-sion – Singapore Redefined’. The seven-episode, web-series which showcases the experiential exploration of Singapore by Naveen Kasturia and Veer Rajwant Singh, well known faces of internet web series scenario was aired on April 1.

‘Trails 2 Passion – Singapore Redefined’ takes you along the journey of these two actors in Singapore, where they plan their own trails in order to ensure the deep exploration of their true passions, fulfilled to their hearts content through this journey. Naveen Kasturia, a creative guy who is extremely busy in life and ruled by stress will indulge in well curated, local experiences, whereas Veer Rajwant Singh, a happy go lucky guy, will have ultra-luxe experiences.

Speaking about the experiences Naveen Kasturia said, “When Tripoto approached me for this project, I didn’t give it a second thought. I said yes as I knew I had to do it. It is for the 1st time that I have done an experien-tial travel show and it has been quite an experience. As an actor, I had my moment of truth and got a chance to improvise and be spontaneous in front of the camera. Travel puts a lot of things into perspective and shoot-ing for this show made me explore Singapore by break-ing off the monotonous planned schedules I am used to following. Veer and I had a blast travelling through Sin-gapore, revelling in the culture and the offbeat experi-ences this place had to offer. I am sure our audience too will be left awestruck following our travel trails through Singapore.”

Adding to his experience Veer Rajwant Singh said, “I have been wanting to do a travel show for some time. It is because you are not merely acting, you are living your

passion and enacting as is. I explored a whole new side of me in Singapore in an entirely different light. Most of my shots were the real-time reactions to the experiences curated. Not only did I try some cool adventure activ-ities, but I also came in touch with local experiences, more of which you will see in Trails 2 Passion – Singa-pore Redefined.”

The 6-7 minutes, 7-episode web-series will have upbeat and catchy content on Singapore, with extra worthy information and illustrated trail map of the theme at the end of each episode. Speaking on the asso-ciation with Singapore Tourism Board and coming with such fun series, Michael Lyngdoh, Co-Founder, Tripoto said, “Tripoto and STB are collaborating to showcase a different side to Singapore. It is an amalgam of excit-ing culinary experiences, adrenaline pumping adven-tures and beautifully diverse cultures packed into one city. Singapore now appeals to the global experiential traveller. Our new web series ‘Trails 2 Passion’ is the story of two friends travelling through Singapore and discovering their passions along the way. It’s entertain-ing, fun and informative; just as great immersive travel content should be.”

The series will be around themes such as food, explo-ration, adventure, culture etc., to showcase Singapore as not only a fun and adventurous destination but also high on art and culture. The episodes intend to spark the interest in the viewer to see Singapore in a new light and to introduce them to the 6 passion tribes under the Pas-sion Made Possible brand i.e. Foodie, Explorer, Collec-tor, Culture Shaper, Action Seeker or Socialiser.

Speaking on their association with Tripoto, G B Srithar, Regional Director (South Asia Middle East and Africa), Singapore Tourism Board said, “With a high penetration of smart phones and growing number of

digital native young consuming content online, there are new, exciting opportunities to connect with them. Our partnership with Tripoto is a creative way of telling Sin-gapore tourism stories. We are happy to have two cool millennials - Naveen and Veer showcase their recent trip. ‘Trails 2 Passion - Singapore Redefined’ tells their stories, in their own voices. Their escapades will entice Indian travellers to enjoy our diverse offerings and live up their own passions.”

Tripoto, Singapore Tourism Board come together with travel web-series ‘Trails 2 Passion – Singapore Redefined’

Travelport extends contract with united airlines to introduce NDC initiativesTravelport recently announced that United Airlines will continue its long-standing relationship with Travelport into 2021 as part of a multi-year agree-ment. This agreement demonstrates a joint commit-ment to deliver customer support and solutions for the benefit of travellers and travel agents alike.

United has benefited already from Travelport’s Rich Content and Branding merchandising solu-tion by differentiating its offerings and dynami-cally distributing content across the globe. This tool allows customers to easily compare airline offerings and take advantage of United’s comprehensive route network and improved customer experience. Both companies will continue to work together to enhance the delivery of United’s product offering, including ancillaries and fare families, to agencies and corpo-rations through Travelport’s traditional ATPCO and API platforms, including deployment of United con-tent made available consistent with IATA’s New Dis-tribution Capability (NDC) standard.

“I’m delighted to announce that our relationship with United has been extended for a multi-year term. United has seen great success with our Rich Content and Branding solution and extended global reach,” said Damian Hickey, Travelport’s Global Head of Air Travel Partners. “We look forward to support-ing United’s growth, its dedication to providing bet-ter experiences for agencies and travellers world-wide and pioneering NDC solutions.”

“While direct volumes through our award-win-ning website and mobile app continue to grow, we want to be available across a variety of booking chan-nels, and collaborating with Travelport helps us do that,” said Dave Bartels, Vice President of Pric-ing and Revenue Management at United Airlines. “United is excited to be working together with Trav-elport on our NDC initiative to provide tailored con-tent to our customers through the Travelport sub-scriber network, which will allow customers to better customise their travel with different ameni-ties and experiences.”

trawelltag cover-more and Zurich Insurance group hosts media roundtable with Judith cromptonLeading travel insurance provider Cover-more recently hosted Judith Crompton, Cover-More CEO, Asia Pacific and Dev Karvat, Founder & CEO, Trawell-Tag Cover-More, India & Emerging Markets in a select media roundtable in Mumbai. A key player in the travel insurance market, Cover-more reiterated its dedica-tion towards growth and differentiation in the Indian market. Cover-more acquired Trawelltag in 2012, itself becoming a part of the Zurich Group in 2017, making the combined business the third largest travel busi-ness in the world.

Speaking at the event, Judith Crompton said, “Cover-More remains very positive about the outlook for travel in India, especially international travel. And in recent years, we have also seen significant growth in the number of outbound travellers understanding the importance of quality travel insurance.”

Stressing that India remains one of the most prom-ising travel markets for the company to explore, she added there are many new avenues to explore in the country. Dev Karvat, continuing along the same line

of thought quipped, “In recent years, we have also become the partner of choice for airlines and leading online travel agencies (OTAs) including GoAir, IndiGo and Goibibo which underlines the strength of our inte-grated travel insurance offer and our ability to deliver differentiated solutions for our distribution partners.”

The association between TrawellTag and Cover-more remains committed to combining the best of the former’s market knowledge with the latter’s proven travel insurance capabilities. Both of the speakers con-firmed that Trawelltag Cover-more will continue with its customer-centric approach, positioning themselves as travel assistance partners than just a travel insur-ance service provider.

Crompton’s visit comes as a part of Cover-More’s global growth strategy roll-out as partner agency Trawelltag gears up for a deep-dive into the e-com-merce sector. Together, Trawelltag Cover-More aims to bring the best-of-its-kind customised travel insur-ance offerings to the growing Indian outbound travel market.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 24 • global

The International Congress and Convention Associ-ation’s (ICCA) Board of Directors has selected Sent-hil Gopinath to serve as the organisation’s new CEO. As per ICCA by-laws, the Board made the selection in a closed-vote process, with Gopinath winning by majority vote. He will begin the new role in April 2019.

“Senthil brings the qualities that we most need in a leader at this juncture,” said James Rees, ICCA President and Executive Director of ExCeL Lon-don. “Throughout his career, he has demonstrated not only that he can establish a vision, but also chart the tactical path to reach that vision, always work-ing from a solid foundation of operational and finan-cial expertise.”

Gopinath’s career in the meetings travel industry spans more than 20 years, with 18 years spent work-ing within ICCA member organisations. He joined the ICCA team in 2016 as Regional Director of ICCA Mid-dle East (ME). In that role, he has forged new rela-tionships with regional governments and industry partners, and grown ICCA ME membership by more than 80%.

The Board noted several career accomplishments as key to their consideration of Gopinath during the candidate review process, including:

• Dramatically elevating MICE operations forEmirates Group as its head of business development and operations, making the division one of the larg-est and most profitable in the region;

• Re-structuringandre-strategisingthebusinessmodel of VFS Global a part of Kuoni Travel Group. As Vice president – South Asia of VFS Global, growing annual profits exponentially over 60% growth in two years;

• Creatinganinnovativeprivate-publicpartner-ship model for the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau as its general manager and CEO, increasing business tour-ism by 78% and driving a 64% increase in revenue;

• Beingnamedoneofthreefinalistsforthe2019Business Event Strategist of the Year award from the Professional Convention Management Association, with the winner to be announced in May.

Commenting on the appointment, Gopinath said, “I am truly honoured to be appointed for such a pres-tigious position in one of the global meetings indus-try’s leading organisations. I take this opportunity to sincerely thank the President and Board of Directors of ICCA in placing their confidence in me. ICCA has been a family to me for over two decades. I have always cherished my involvement with ICCA and now being

at the helm will enable me to listen more closely to our members and key stakeholders, and service them in a more enhanced manner, making ICCA more relevant to the global membership. Together with the ICCA team, we will work on the transformation of ICCA.”

ICCA President James Rees added, “I am delighted that ICCA is now in a position to move forward with its new CEO Senthil Gopinath. However, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Interim CEO Dennis Speet for his incredible work over the past 10 months to help the Board of Directors lay firm foundations for ICCA’s future growth.”

ICCA Board of Directors selects Senthil Gopinath as incoming CEO

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TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 26technology

hajjumrahonline launches b2b mobile application

Oman Air launches all new revamped mobile app

Japan Airlines and travelport agree to launch new joint ventureJapan Airlines (JAL) and Travelport Worldwide agreed to form a joint venture to take ownership of Travelport Japan KK and JAL’s 100% owned subsidiary, Axess International Network, Inc. Under the unified Travel-port Axess brand, the joint venture will operate a Global Distribution System (GDS) tailored to the needs of the Japanese travel industry.

The proposed joint venture, which will operate under the brand name Travelport Axess, will combine Axess’ expertise in Japan and Travelport’s global tech-nology leadership. Travelport Axess will continue to offer travel agents services through Axess’ GDS plat-form, ‘Axess’, and enable access to Travelport’s GDS

platforms, ‘Apollo’ and ‘Galileo’. For Travelport, this joint venture will strengthen its

position in Japan’s growing international travel indus-try. Travelport Axess will benefit from a team of Japan-based service agents and product specialists uniquely able to deliver products tailored to customer needs. Through combining the strengths of the two compa-nies, Travelport Axess aims to build a strong position and plans to become the leading GDS provider in Japan.

Japan Airlines’ Yoriyuki Kashiwagi, General Man-ager, International Passenger Sales said, “We believe that the future of travel will be transformed by techno-logical innovation. I am confident that Travelport Axess, will be able to help Japanese travel agents to respond to growing global demands by offering services based on state-of-the-art technology.

Gordon Wilson, President and Chief Executive Offi-cer of Travelport commented, “This announcement and our ongoing partnership with Japan Airlines is a signif-icant advance in the provision of state-of-the-art tech-nology for the Japanese travel industry. We are very excited about the growth opportunities it presents for our mutual travel agency customers.”

Following the signing of a definitive agreement between Travelport and JAL, the new joint venture is expected to be formed on June 1, 2019. Initially, Travel-port Japan and Axess will continue to operate indepen-dently, with a gradual programme of integration to com-bine the two organizations commencing later this year.

EaseMyTrip has joined hands with VariFlight, a leading aviation data provider, to provide real-time flight informa-tion on both EaseMyTrip website and its mobile app. With this, EaseMyTrip customers will be able to track a flight while they are on the move i.e. real-time positional track-ing of flights would be available to the customers.

Users will also be able to look for updated information of their flights and optimise their travel plan accordingly. VariFlight is set to provide a comprehensive flight dataset which includes flight schedule and live flight status infor-mation. Users having EaseMyTrip app in their phones will receive instant push-notifications of any changes in the sta-tus of a flight booked through EaseMyTrip.

Speaking on this, Rikant Pitti, Co-Founder & COO, EaseMyTrip said, “We are extremely happy to be collab-orating with VariFlight to offer better experience to our

users. Our aim is to make travel bookings smooth-as-glass for our customers. By integrating VariFlight’s aviation data into the EMT app, our users will be able to track everything related to their flight bookings at the click of a button.”

“We are thrilled to be chosen by EaseMyTrip as the flight status information provider. We will continue to develop more competitive data-driven services for our worldwide partners, especially those from emerging mar-kets, with the hope that more people can enjoy an efficient air travel experience,” said Zheng Hongfeng, Founder and CEO of VariFlight.

With this partnership, EaseMyTrip will also provide its users with facilities like flight on-time performance index, real-time notifications about changing status of flights, boarding intimation, arrival/departure status, gate changes, etc.

With a vision to be unrivalled in the religious travel industry by continuously developing new relation-ships and opportunities, HajjUmrahOnline is a B2B and B2C online platform to market all Hajj and Umrah related service of Makkah Al Mukarmah and Madina Al Munawarah.

Over eight million pilgrims perform Hajj/Umrah each year and it is expected to increase up to 60 mil-lion by the end of 2020. Despite these numbers, there is not a single online platform that caters everything related to this pilgrimage.

HajjUmrahOnline.com helps address practi-cal challenges faced by pilgrims, tour operators in multi-billion dollar Hajj, Umrah and Ziyarat market-place. HajjUmrahOnline.com caters to both poten-tial pilgrims as well as tour operators who specialise in creating Umrah, Hajj and Ziyarat travel packages. Bringing together otherwise scattered information, the website and the newly launched mobile app allows travellers to find affordable and appropriate packages, which include accommodation and shop-ping alongside travel arrangements. Pilgrims can post reviews of their experiences and connect with other pilgrims as well.

Oman Air has introduced its revamped mobile appli-cation for iOS and Android smartphones allowing its guests to organise and manage their journey on the go. Utilising the latest innovations in mobile technol-ogy, Oman Air’s new app is a user-friendly platform with easy steps, providing guests with inclusive trip management capabilities like flight booking, online check-in, pre-selection of seats, flight status as well as information about Oman Air’s latest offers. The revamped app also enables guests to check their Sind-bad miles balance, claim any missing miles, request for redemptions, keep track of tier progress, see their upcoming bookings on Oman Air, and much more.

The new app is a one-stop-shop for Oman Air guests to access a number of services conveniently from their handhelds whenever and wherever they are. The app, which is available in both English and Arabic language versions, is designed to be simple and informative.

Furthermore, the app makes it easier than ever to book flights with Oman Air using credit or debit cards.

Oman Air’s launch of the revamped app is the lat-est in a series of digital developments at Oman Air which offer even greater convenience for its custom-ers. As the carrier continues to expand with new destination, codeshares and fleet, attracting inter-national acclaim for the quality of products and ser-vices, its award-winning digital presence is also ensuring that it is more accessible and responsive to the needs of its guests.

The impact of disruptive technologies on the tourism industry is set to create multi-billion dollar savings through the use of IoT, robotics, artificial intelligence (A.I), Virtual Reality (VR) and wearable technology according to data published ahead of Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2019, which is scheduled to take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from April 28 – May 1.

The latest research from Colliers International, in partnership with ATM 2019, reveals that in addition to vast cost savings, the customer experience is set to be more streamlined with travel set to become better, smoother and more personalised with travel book-ings on VR platforms, AI chatbots guiding customers through the booking process and IOT providing inter-net based inter-connectivity between everyday devices.

Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market said, “Technology, and the use of tech-nology, is evolving every day. The tourism industry is at the very forefront of tech innovation with companies investing huge sums of money to improve the customer journey and experience.

“Airports and airlines accounted for US$30 billion of investment in IT in 2018, however, this will be offset by the implementation of technology that will see fuel sav-ings alone top US$30 billion in the next 15 years.

“We’ve seen incredible developments in recent years, SITA, the multinational tech company to the air trans-port industry for example, is using robots to check

travellers onto flights and to transport their luggage, while, although in the infancy stage, robots have been used in some hotels to welcome guests and show them to their room.”

ATM 2019 has adopted cutting-edge technology and innovation as its main theme and this will be inte-grated across all show verticals and activities, including focused seminar sessions.

Running throughout the event, professionals from across the industry spectrum will discuss the ongoing unprecedented digital disruption, and the emergence of innovative technologies that will fundamentally alter the way in which the hospitality industry operates in the region.

Bots, AI, wearables and VR to create billion-dollar savings in the tourism industry: ATM report

easemytrip joins hands with variflight for real-time positional tracking of flights

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TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 28rESPONSIBLE TOurISM

oman Air turns off lights for earth hour 2019Oman Air’s headquarters in Muscat, as well as across its network destinations marked Earth Hour at 8.30pm (local time) on March 30.

The airline was joined by tens of thousands of organisations and hundreds of millions of people around the world to mark Earth Hour by turning off lights for one hour to highlight the importance of tackling climate change.

Oman Air’s Headquarters in Muscat has taken the lead on behalf of the airline, and has been joined by its offices in Europe, the Middle East, South and South East Asia and Africa. In addi-tion, many of Oman Air’s partners also partici-pated in the initiative.

Earth Hour was launched in 2007 by inter-national campaigning organisation WWF. Last year, 188 countries and territories participated and close to 18,000 landmarks and monuments around the world switched off their lights dur-ing Earth Hour, as people across the globe gener-ated over 3.5 billion impressions of #EarthHour and #connect2earth to show their concern for the planet.

Climate change and energy saving are amongst the greatest challenges facing the modern world and minimising energy use in all areas of lives is vital. Oman Air, as a responsible corporate citi-zen, is committed to highlighting the importance of tackling climate change, and to encourage as many people as possible to take part in Earth Hour, right across its network. To that end, Oman Air had also asked its staff to take part at home by switching off their lights for an hour from 8.30pm on March 30.

The Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), a GVK-led company that manages the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Air-port (CSMIA) bagged the Gold award at the ACI Asia-Pacific Green Airports Recognition 2019. The Airport Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific announced the results of the Green Airports Rec-ognition 2019.

The eminent panel of judges lauded the Chhatra-pati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai for its best practices towards creation of green air-port infrastructure and its continuous commit-ment in improving the environmental performance within the industry. The awards ceremony was held on April 3 at the ACI Asia-Pacific/World Annual General Assembly, Conference & Exhibition in Hong Kong, China.

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Inter-national Airport has completed several projects to address the challenges of climate change under environment management. These include airport

carbon management system, airport carbon neu-trality, sustainability reporting, renewable energy installations, waste water recycling, effective waste management system, organic waste treatment, etc. Similarly, CSMIA keeps a close check on noise man-agement, air quality monitoring, waste manage-ment and climate change helping minimise the avi-ation industry’s impact on the environment. Despite certain constraints, CSMIA is proactively initiat-ing activities towards an environmentally conscious airport.

The airport which sees over 45 million passen-gers every year has various initiatives in place, pro-viding an opportunity to the travellers to experience an environment-friendly airport on their arrival. The panel also heaped praises for the airport’s proj-ect ‘New Integrated Terminal 2’.

The ACI Asia-Pacific has set up a theme of Green Airport Infrastructure for this year. The Green Air-ports Recognition was established by ACI Asia-Pacific with the support of the Asia-Pacific Regional

Environment Committee. The committee received a total of 19 submissions this year from airports in the Asia Pacific region. The panellists ranged from Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management to the Aviation Environmental Consultant.

Mumbai airport bags Gold award at the aCI asia-Pacific Green airports recognition 2019

Dorsett Wanchai launches eco-friendly Dorsett ecovalue+ programme

The Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation Manage-ment Group (BIARMG) recently launched an initia-tive ‘Love Boracay: Celebrate, Rehabilitate’ to celebrate the rehabilitation efforts in the island which will run from April 26 to May 1.

This week long celebration aims to generate a sense of consciousness and participation for stakeholders, residents and tourists to support the government’s efforts on responsible and sustainable tourism. It will also help to better understand the importance of the environment in Boracay’s tourism industry.

Natividad Bernandino General Manager of BIARMG stated that the celebration will include activities like forum, retro music in the night in

establishments and paraw sailing.Around this time of the year many tourists visit

Boracay for parties called Laboracay, to celebrate the Labour Day holiday on May 1. However, Laboracay is not only remembered for the non-stop parties but also for the garbage left by the visitors.

Last year, the government’s inter-agency task force made a decision to cancel all Laboracay non-stop beach parties till the wee hours amid the rehabilitation of Boracay Island. Smoking and drinking in public places in rehabilitated Boracay area were also prohibited. Vis-itors also need to book their accommodations prior to their stay in Boracay after the implementation of new rules by national authorities.

Dorsett Wanchai, Hong Kong, an EarthCheck silver-cer-tified green hotel for three years in a row, is joining hands with travellers to show their love for the planet with the newly launched eco-friendly Dorsett Ecovalue+ pro-gramme. Guests who join the hotel to reduce the impact on the environment by opting out of the full housekeep-ing service will be rewarded with a free one-time mini-bar worth HK$600.

“Through this programme, we want to let our guests know that being environmentally friendly doesn’t mean compromising on comfort, but a value-added stay expe-rience instead. While skipping the full housekeeping

service can help scale down water and electricity usage at the Hong Kong hotel, the best part about this programme is that every participating guest will feel as if they were at home because they can enjoy as many items from the mini-bar as they like without having to pay - just like when one opens up the fridge at home,” said Anita Chan, General Manager of Dorsett Wanchai, Hong Kong.

To celebrate the launch of this eco-friendly programme, Dorsett Wanchai is delighted to present a limited-time offer - Dorsett Value room package, offering guests up to 40% off best available rate if they book a Superior Room or higher room categories directly through the hotel’s web-site. This offer is valid for book-and-stay period between April 1, 2019 and September 30, 2019.

“We believe the Dorsett Ecovalue+ programme can lead to a significant effect in saving the planet when all of these small efforts from our guests are brought together. With the ultimate goal of achieving EarthCheck Gold-status in the coming year, we promise to deliver even more innova-tive offerings as an eco-friendly hotel,” said Anita Chan.

boracay launches new initiative ‘love boracay’ to promote responsible and sustainable tourism

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 29Cruise Tourism

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INDIA 12BUSINESS & MICE 22

ASIA 26

AFRICA 30

EUROPE 28

MIDDLE EAST 27

AMERICAS 32

FILM TOURISM 34

RESPONSIBLE TOURISM 36 EVENTS 38

CARIBBEAN 33

OTM 2018 receives overwhelming response;

98% of participants likely to return next year

Contd on page 2

OTM Mumbai, the largest travel show in the Asia

Pacific region concluded on an optimistic note. The

event recorded 1,000+ sellers from 50+ countries and

25+ Indian states who networked with more than 15,000

trade visitors from January 18-20, 2018.

In an exit survey, 98% of the participants confirmed

they are likely to return to OTM 2019. More than 90%

opined that participation in OTM was a must.

More than 800 quality buyers from renowned

companies scheduled meetings at this edition. OTM

2018 featured over 400 hosted buyers from across the

globe who met the pool of domestic and international

exhibitors showcasing their travel products and services

at OTM this year.

Several hosted buyers confirmed that they have been

ensuring their presence at OTM for many years now. A

number of them exclaimed that they had graduated from

visitors to hosted buyers.

The show was inaugurated by KJ Alphons, Minister

of State for Tourism (I/C), Government of India. In his

inaugural address he expressed his delight seeing the

turnout of the global participants. He also expressed

satisfaction about the mix of international and national

participants at the show floor - approximately 400 and

600 respectively.Host State Maharashtra had a powerful presence

presided over by the Guest of Honour Jaykumar Rawal,

Minister of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra. He

remarked that Mumbai was proud to host the leading

travel show in the Asia Pacific region. He also marvelled

at the long history of OTM as an o�shoot of the oldest

travel trade show in the country.

OTM 2018 had a balanced mix of participants from

outbound and inbound, outlined Neela Lad, Regional

Director (West), India Tourism Mumbai O�ce. Driving

an enhanced response from the travel show, she

added that OTM has assisted in creating awareness

on destinations in the North East. Through OTM, the

North Eastern travel destinations in India have initiated a

dialogue with the Indian film producers, she highlighted.

The dignitaries present at the inaugural session

included KJ Alphons, Minister of State for Tourism

(I/C), Government of India, Jaykumar Rawal, Tourism

Minister, Government of Maharashtra, Nabin Pokharel, O�ciating Director Tourism Marketing and Promotion,

Nepal Tourism Board, Michael Michailidis, Head of

Market Research Department, Greek National Tourism

Organisation, Majed Ishaq, Marketing Department,

Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, State of Palestine,

Betty Ichan, Regional Marketing Manager, Kenya

Tourism Board, Maipelo Mogotsi, Counsellor III,

Botswana High Commission, Tian Xin, Director, China

National Tourist O�cer New Delhi amongst other

o�cials. Turkey was the Premium Partner Country at OTM

this year. The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism

has been participating at OTM for the last eight years

with a large number of tour operators. Nuray Topuz,

Cultural and Tourism Expert - City Planner, Ministry of

Culture and Tourism, Republic of Turkey asserted that

they were very happy to be a part of OTM 2018 as it is the

largest travel show of the Asia Pacific region.

KJ Alphons, Minister of State for Tourism (I/C), Government of India & Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra

inaugurating OTM 2018 along with other dignitaries

Inauguration of the Incredible India pavilion at OTM 2018

OCEANIA 29

TECHNOLOGY 24

GLOBAL 35

We debuted the last year and

returned to OTM this year again! Greece

is very happy with the selection of buyers

at OTM this year. OTM has given us a great

oppo�unity to establish business with

the Indian stakeholders. Thank you to the

organising team for a great event and we

are definitely looking forward to the next

edition of OTM.

Michael Michailidis

Head of Market Research Depa�ment

Greek National Tourism Organisation

OTM is India’s largest and most

international gathering of travel trade

buyers and professionals. Most impo�antly

it is conducted in Mumbai each year

which is the headqua�ers of almost

all major outbound tour operators in

India. Pa�icipating in OTM works best

for Thailand as agents get to meet face-

to-face and build long-term business

relations with their pa�ners in India. Soraya HomchuenDirector

Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai

Over 3,000 tourists from Europe, Aus-tralia and Thailand arrived onboard two luxury cruise liners to Sri Lanka during the month of March reflecting increased interest in Sri Lanka since the launch of a new brand identity that amplifies Sri Lanka’s natural offering, wellness tour-ism and lesser known attractions. On their arrival, officers from the SLTPB welcomed the visitors and provided the necessary information needed during their short stay.

Luxury Cruise Liner Sapphire Prin-cess which embarked from Singapore on March 10 docked at the Colombo Port on March 15. The ship had departed from Phuket, Thailand prior to its arrival here.

Malship Ceylon Limited handled the line while ground handling was coordi-nated by Lotus DMC Lanka. There were 2,500 passengers on board who toured the Pinnawala Elephant orphanage, the southern coast, Dalada Maligawa, Colombo city tours, Kandy and lesser-known attractions.

The cruise ended its journey at Southampton, England on April 13 com-pleting 37 nights touring many coun-tries. The luxury liner has a vivid vari-ety of dining options onboard including eight restaurants, several lounges, piz-zeria, bars and cafes. The liner also has five swimming pools with 8 jacuzzi’s, aerobic studio, beauty salons, and many

entertainment options.The Pacific Princess, which is part

of the Princess Cruise line embarked its journey from Fort Lauderdale in Florida on January 5 and arrived from Phuket, Thailand to Sri Lanka on March 13. The cruise liner which will make its way to Male in Maldives is ferrying passen-gers from European nations, Thailand and Australia.

The line was handled by Mal-ship while Lotus DMC Lanka coordi-nated the ground handling. There were 600 passengers onboard who were impressed with the destination offering including special emphasis on spiritual and wellness tourism. Tourists toured the City Colombo, Kandy and popular attractions.

Within the last three months of this year, six cruise ships have arrived in Sri Lanka with a total combined capacity of 11,200 passengers.

Over 3,000 tourists arrive onboard two cruise ships to Sri Lanka

Royal Caribbean International has been honoured as the ‘Best Venue for MICE’ under the category ‘Best Incentive Packages and Facilities’ in a ceremony held during the MICE Conclave 2019. The three-day con-clave took place from March 13-15 at Sheraton Grand Bengaluru White-field Hotel & Convention Centre, Bengaluru.

As the name ‘Meet, Interact, Con-nect, and Expand’ suggests, the MICE Conclave served as the perfect experiential platform to meet, inter-act with, learn from and build strong professional networks with more than 150 corporate MICE buyers, solution providers, industry experts and convention bureaus from all over the world.

Royal Caribbean International’s top-notch short cruise portfolio of 3-7 night cruises to world class destina-tions for the ultimate corporate out-ing for team-members and business partners alike garnered immense appreciation from the attendees, win-ning accolades under the ‘Best Incen-tive Packages and Facilities’ category of the prestigious Aces of Corporate Travel (ACT) Award.

Expressing her happiness about the achievement, Ratna Chadha,

Chief Executive, TIRUN Travel Mar-keting remarked, “As a part of the Royal Caribbean International fra-ternity, it is a moment of immense pleasure and pride for us at TIRUN to witness it achieve success and laurels at every step. Receiving this award at the MICE Conclave 2019 is truly an honour as it is renowned for celebrat-ing and appreciating the outstanding work done by top performers in the corporate travel industry.”

Being a customer-centric brand, Royal Caribbean International has announced its India Sailings to connect better with the segment of Indian cruise travellers. Coincid-ing with the Indian travel season, these sailings are scheduled in April and May. It will offer a 5-night cruise onboard the Explorer of the Seas’ from Singapore to Kochi on April 18 via Penang, followed by a second sail-ing from Kochi to Dubai via Mumbai.

Moreover, ‘Spectrum of the Seas’ will be making its stop at the Mumbai port on May 9. To enjoy some of the stunningly beautiful ports in Dubai, Oman, Indian, Malaysia, and Sin-gapore, Indian cruise enthusiasts can either opt for the 5-night Dubai to Mumbai package, or the 9-night Mumbai to Singapore package.

Royal Caribbean International honoured as the ‘Best Venue for MICE’ at MICE Conclave’s Act Awards 2019

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2019 • 30EVENTS

Qrius connect organises an exclusive show mIce coNNect in colomboQrius Connect has been taking the favourable initiatives to promote a particular destination by curating a B2B platform.

In the month of May, they are organising MICE CONNECT in Sri Lanka by hosting the potential MICE agents and wedding planners from India market.

“I am delighted to share that this time we are com-ing up with MICE CONNECT in Sri Lanka at Hilton, Colombo. A concept like MICE CONNECT is defi-nitely a strength to the overall destination to promote

it in the MICE segment,” said Nishant Gulliya, Man-aging Director & CEO, Qrius Connect.

MICE CONNECT focuses on promoting Sri Lanka as an emerging MICE and wedding destination.

“We try to make a rich blend of destination promo-tion with the lucrative business development oppor-tunities. I have personally witnessed the emergence and growth of Sri Lanka as one of the most preferred destinations for incentive groups, corporate confer-ences and destination weddings from India. The key reason behind the growing preferences being it is con-sidered as a budget and pocket friendly destination with easier accessibility due to a significant growth and network expansion showcased by the national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines from Indian regions,” he added.

“Through MICE CONNECT, we intend to showcase the premium hospitality of Sri Lanka which is capa-ble to cater the Indian MICE and wedding segment. We wish to keep it exclusive primarily for the stand-alone hotels and resorts to come in front to showcase their MICE product and services to the decision mak-ers so that the agency can equally guide their partnered DMC for a right selection of hotel to meet their require-ment and taste.

In terms of the supporting DMCs, we will be hav-ing very few selected and premium names as our par-ticipants. Our plans are healthier in terms of conduct-ing this show year-on-year with a new touch and value ads to it. Apart from MICE CONNECT we would be organising different other events in different genre,” concluded Nishant.

With 3,500 exhibitors from over 150 countries, buy-ers can get stuck into some serious business at IMEX which is scheduled to take place in May 21-23 in Frank-furt. New exhibitors confirmed so far include Mallorca Tourist Board, Associated Luxury Hotels, the Faroe Islands, Pacific World Congresses & Exhibitions and Nobu Hotels. Jordan Tourism Board, Hilton Interna-tional, Evintra, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Azer-baijan and H-Hotels are among the exhibitors who have an increased presence at the show this year.

“IMEX in Frankfurt is truly a global gathering of the MICE industry – bringing together 14,000 senior indus-try professionals each May to meet, do business and advance the sector. The show is a melting pot of ideas, connections and shared experiences that can only hap-pen when meeting face to face. IMEX constantly seeks to innovate and deliver fresh and surprising content at each show – and this year’s IMEX in Frankfurt is no excep-tion,” Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group.

Exhibitor announcementsNew Leonardo hotel openings in Frankfurt and Zurich; the launch of a new tall ship for Sea Cloud Cruises; Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s Economic Impact Study results; Peninsula Hotels’ new Global Art Programme plus the launch of new exclusive experiences for Euro-star clients are just a few of the updates buyers will hear when talking business with exhibitors. More than 10 organisations also plan to make news announcements during IMEX including: SITE, Airport Authority Hong Kong, European Cities Marketing and Thailand.

New Discovery Zone – powered by imaginationImagination is IMEX’s talking point for this year and the theme informs content throughout the show, bringing with it a range of exciting new experiences, exhibitors and educational events. Imagination powers the show’s new Discovery Zone, which is set to showcase the latest

in experiential concepts and event technology. This spe-cially curated area will be packed with education and experiences to fire up the imagination of event planners and exhibitors alike, helping them to question the con-ventional and explore fresh approaches.

A talking robot, holographic show and 360 degree photography booth plus an interactive art mural are among some of the surprises in store.

EduMonday launches with keynote Learning opportunities are core to IMEX in Frankfurt, beginning with EduMonday, an afternoon of free profes-sional education taking place the day before the show on May 20. Anne Kjaer Riechert, Co-founder & Managing Director of ReDI School of Digital Integration, launches EduMonday with her keynote at She Means Business.

For the first time, MPI (Meeting Professionals Inter-national, Strategic Partners to IMEX America) will also be offering high level education sessions during

EduMonday: event marketing; risk management and-inclusivity. Erwin Steijlen, who was a huge hit at MPI’s recent European Meetings and Events Conference (EMEC) with also bring his show-stopping presenta-tion on ‘The Power of Music’ to IMEX.

Young planners learn ‘how to put the roar into their career’Young professionals will learn ‘how to put the roar into their career’ in Living life with a purpose, a session that’s part of Rising Talent, personal development education designed for planners under 35 years. Other sessions focus on how to develop leadership qualities, network-ing and career advancement strategies, and also ‘The impact of associations and their conferences on desti-nations’ detailing the importance of legacy.

Explore social learning, food waste and emotional engagementWith over 250 complimentary learning sessions in both English and German taking place on EduMonday and throughout the three days of the show, there’s no short-age of opportunities to update industry knowledge and contacts.

New for this year is the Red Lab where experts from outside the events sector will deliver fresh and imagi-native perspectives in sessions such as ‘Social learning: Connect. Share. Learn from game based learning plat-form’ and ‘What a waste! Finding solutions for world problems using co-creation’ – a session delivered by Laure Berment from Too Good To Go, the world’s num-ber one app for fighting food waste.

The importance of mindfulness in talent manage-ment will be presented by Jan Esswein, one-time monk and now Germany’s most widely-read author on the subject of mindfulness. Emotional engagement in event design is explored by experts including James Morgan, Founder of Event Tech Lab. There’s also a brand new Event Innovation Lab, by EventManagerblog.com – an immersive event planning training workshop aimed at high-performance agencies and corporate event teams.

IMEX in Frankfurt brings together global suppliers, world-renowned speakers and the latest learnings

www.travelnewsdigest.in

India’s Largest CirculatedTravel Trade Monthly

EVENTS CALENDAR 201928 APR’-01 MAY’ 19

ARABIAN TRAVEL MARKETDubai International Exhibition

and Convention Centre

07-09 MAY’ 19

INDABADurban ICC

16-18 OCT’ 19

ITB ASIASands Expo and Convention Centre,

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

19-21 NOV’ 19

IBTM WORLD Barcelona, Spain

04-06 NOV’ 19

WTM LONDON London

20-22 SEPT’ 19

TTF PUNEMesse Global Laxmi Lawns

18-20 SEPT’ 19

PATA TRAVEL MARTKorme Exhibition Center, Astana

Kazakhstan

09-12 MAY’ 19

PATA ANNUAL SUMMITCebu city

09-10 MAY’ 19

MICE CONNECTSri Lanka

15-17 MAY’ 19

ITB CHINAShanghai World Expo and

Exhibition Center

21-23 MAY’ 19

IMEXMesse Frankfu�

29-30 MAY’ 19

IBTM AMERICASCentro Citibanamex

Mexico

05-06 JULY’ 19

TTF SOUTH (HYDERABAD)Hyderabad International

Convention Centre, Hyderabad

12-14 JULY’ 19

TTF KOLKATANetaji Indoor Stadium &

Khudiram Anushilan Kendra, Kolkata

3-7 AUG’ 19

GBTA CONVENTION 2019Chicago, Illinois

28-29 AUG’ 19

IBTM CHINAChina National Convention Centre

Beijing

13-15 SEPT’ 19

TTF MUMBAINehru Centre

10-12 SEPT’ 19

IMEX AMERICASands ExpoLas Vegas

06-08 SEPT’ 19

TTF SURATPandit Dindayal Upadhyay

Indoor Stadium

30 AUG’-01 SEPT’ 19

TTF AHMEDABADGujarat University

Exhibition Hall

03, 04 & 05 Feb 2020Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon (E) - Mumbai

www.otm.co.inregister now!

The Leading Travel Show in Asia-Pacific

800+Top Buyers

15,000+Trade Visitors

1,000+Exhibitors

55Countries

29Indian States/UTs

OTM is the gateway to India’s travel markets. Find partners, discover new products and make the deals of tomorrow.

OTM is a trade show, visitors below 15 years are not allowed. (Rights of admission reserved)

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