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Vol. XXXII Issue 19; October 1st fortnight i ssue 2020 Pages : 28A DDP PUBLICATION
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A look at M!CE & luxury outbound ... 07
European expectations from India .....10
Policy intervention is a must! ........... 15
TAAI for TCS withdrawal & STZ ......... 24
Trav
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Vol. XXXII Issue 19; October 1st fortnight i ssue 2020 Pages : 28A DDP PUBLICATION
Trav
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ddpp
l.com
On World Tourism Day, Ministry of Tourism organ-
ised a virtual show where it launched that was inaugurat-ed by chief guest Dharmen-dra Pradhan, Cabinet Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel. Through the virtual show, emphasis was laid on domestic as well as rural tourism as drivers for the recovery and growth of the tourism sector in India in a post-pandemic world. Prahlad Singh Patel, Minis-ter of State (I/C), Tourism &
Culture, welcoming the chief guest, also stressed on the im-portance of domestic tourism. “In 2021, we should focus on domestic tourism and follow the Dekho Apna Desh cam-
paign. The Prime Minister talk-ed about it one year ago, saying that every citizen should visit 15 places in the country by 2022. However, times are such that in 2021 people will only travel within India. This campaign could be helpful for us. Year 2021 should be the ‘Dekho Apna Desh Year’ and we should be promoting it in full force,” he said. The Minister also urged Pradhan to help propagate the campaign by promoting it across petrol pumps, which see regular footfall of people across the country. He also thanked all
Celebrating World Tourism Day virtually this year, Ministry of Tourism (MOT) highlighted the importance of domestic tourism, with the Tourism Minister even dedicating year 2021 to it.
Travel domestic in 2021
Nisha Verma
Hazel Jain
Prahlad Singh PatelMinister of Tourism & Culture (I/C)
Contd on page 8
‘Adaptability is part of our DNA’Government initiatives, need for multi-tasking, and his wish list, Madhavan Menon, Chairman & Managing Director of Thomas Cook (India), discussed a variety of issues in a free-wheeling, hour-long interview with TRAVTALK.He believes that we, as Indians, have it in our blood to adapt to changing dynamics of the world.
Do you think the government has done enough for
the industry so far?To answer that, we must look at what tourism does for In-dia. At a USD 194 billion billing, which is about 6.8% of GDP, we are amongst the biggest contributors to country’s economy. It is also an employment multiplier. So the government could have
been a lot more sensitive to the needs of the indus-try. I don’t think it needed to directly fund anybody. I wish it had looked at things on a broader perspective such as moratorium on loans, which would have helped. Also, easing indirect tax-
es and waiving off TCS would have helped. TCS adds 5% to the cost of the traveller which they have to claim a refund for which takes a year. I know the gov-ernment has reduced GST on low-end rooms for the hospitality industry.
Have our trade associa-tions been able to push the industry’s interest forward?I can see that multiple or-ganisations are talking to the government on the industry’s behalf. There is IATO, PATA In-dia Chapter, FICCI and CII Tour-ism Committees, and without a doubt, their representations have been very good. I only wish they talked to the govern-ment together. While I’m not privy to all the conversations that are taking place, I believe
an amalgamated entity putting out all the requirements of the industry would have made a
lot of difference. Right now, everybody is trying to get their voice in and so some of that messaging gets diluted. All associations now need to focus on how to restart the business and that’s where we will all need help.
What about FAITH?Given the circumstances, we are all in unchartered terri-tory. Nobody was very clear as to what to do or expect.
Madhavan MenonChairman & MD, Thomas Cook (India)
Contd on page 12
Full refund to agents: SC
The Supreme Court has pronounced the verdict on the
airline refund case that was led by Pravasi Legal Cell. It has accepted all recommendations made by DGCA regarding refund of airfare to passengers for tickets booked during the lockdown, whereby agents will get a full refund for tickets booked by them, and not directly to the passengers. Both, the Indian Tour Operators Association of India (IATO) and Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) had filed petitions in court. Pradip Lulla, Acting President and Vice President, Travel
Agents Federation of India (TAFI) says, “Tickets purchased through travel agents will be refunded back to them as well as the credit coupons of passengers booked through agents. The refund deadline for airlines is 31 March, 2021.” The judgement copy stated, 'It is the case of the petitioner that where the tickets are
booked by travel agents from their account, refund should be made in the same manner and channel though which payments for tickets have been received by airlines.' Refund for tickets will only be applicable for flights originating in India, both domestic and international. There cannot be any refund for flights originating out of India, irrespective of whether it is an Indian or an international carrier flying into India. For those who made bookings prior to lockdown up till May 24, refund would be governed by the credit shell scheme. For bookings made during lockdown for travelling during lockdown, refund shall be made by airlines immediately.
Pradip Lulla Acting President and VP, TAFI
Hazel Jain
BULLETIN
A large number of tourism profes-sionals embarked
on an awareness campaign throughout the country in an attempt to bring to the public’s attention their plight. The peaceful protest with
participation from over 250 people in 100 vehicles in Delhi, and groups gathering in other parts of country such as Varanasi, Khajuraho, Hy-derabad, Agra, Jaipur, Nashik and Amritsar, demanded im-
mediate remedy to help save tourism and also save lives. The demands include imme-diate release of SEIS benefits,
collateral-free loans with low interest, moratorium benefits, concession on entry fee for monuments, national parks withdrawing road taxes on tourist vehicles, abolishment of TCS regime, and faster RT-PCR tests and results, among others.
Sharing more details, Vishal Yadav, MD, IDMS Group, said, “We flashed banners to appeal to the government and the Prime Minister to apprise them about the present con-dition of the industry and ask them to help save tourism and the livelihood of around 20 crore people.”
Atul Rai, MD, Ananya Tours, thanked the entire frater-nity for joining in this appeal. “We were the first ones to get affected and will be the last ones to recover. So, the recovery period for us is
very long compared to any other industry. Hand-holding from the government be-comes really important.” The team is planning another such initiative in various parts of the country, soon.
In solidarity with the distressed tourism industry, members of the trade conducted a peaceful drive through various cities of India on World Tourism Day to appeal to the government to provide relief.
Manas Dwivedi
#SaveTourism, appeals trade
Vishal YadavManaging Director, IDMS Group
Atul RaiManaging Director, Ananya Tours
We appeal to the
government to save tourism
and the livelihood of 20 crore people
– Vishal Yadav
Recovery period for us is very long.
Hand-holding from the
government is important
– Atul Rai
gUEsTcoLUmN
VIEWPOINTVIEWPOINT
Let me start by ad-dressing the el-ephant in the room
– what is the future of travel agencies and travel business-es? Let us not fool ourselves into believing that things will get back to normal soon. In-stead, we must use this time to equip ourselves for the fu-ture. A lot of us can use this time to make our migrations happen and get used to work-ing with these technology tools that are either available for free or come at a nominal price. I would like to narrow this down to the basics – how basic technology can help grow our business.
CommunicationsEmail is and will remain the primary form of communica-tion for the industry, but using Google Suite is probably one of the most secure, func-tional and with 99.9 per cent uptime. Priced at Rs125 per user per month, with 30 GB of cloud storage plus access to GSuite, it does not get any better than this.
Microsoft Teams or Slack are also excellent tools for inter-nal team communication and built for business. WhatsApp is simple, however, it is not the best for work communica-tion as official messages get mixed up with personal ones.
WebsitesYour website is the face of your company. Most of our websites are old, not up to
date or very tough to navi-gate. Wix.com, SquareSpace, WordPress, and Bokun are easy-to-use website builders with which anyone can make great-looking websites by
themselves without using or knowing any code.
Payments & financeIf someone is convinced and wants to buy a particular service, we must make pay-ments simple. Complicated bank transfers, CC Auth Forms are passé. Razorpay is probably one of the best online tools which can be integrated into websites and company accounting soft-ware as well. Debit/ credit cards, NEFT, wallets - all kinds of payments are ac-cepted and credited to the bank account within 3-7 days at minimal fee.
Marketing & Social MediaToday, everyone is on social media. Facebook is losing steam and Instagram is the new tool for any social media communication - a constant
flow of content, probably the easiest for the travel industry. Some reading up on the use of hashtags can build a decent following for any travel com-pany. Updating social media channels consistently can lead to a lot of verified leads from interested travellers.
Short videos have proven to have much more engage-ment than just wordy posts. Canva.com is a tool that can-not be stressed on enough.
‘A decade into this industry, while there are several exceptions, the general norm is the inertia against change. My goal, through the article, is to bust myths and garner interest in the use of tech,’ says Suyash Gupta, Founder & CEO, Transportal and Director, Travel Bureau.
Simple tech tools for agents
(Views expressed are the author’s own. The publication may or may not subscribe to them.)
Suyash Gupta Founder & CEO, Transportal and Director, Travel Bureau
We can use this time to make our migrations
happen and get used to working with technology
Along with TRAVTALK, the au-thor has agreed to help our readership with ques-tions and assistance with technology. While we cannot assure we can ad-dress all, we will try our best to address as many. Suyash can be reached at [email protected]
Get in touch!01
02
04
03
COMMunICATIOn Google Suite, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp
MARKETInG Instagram, Facebook, Canva.com
WEBSITE Wix.com, SquareSpace, WordPress, Bokun
PAYMEnT Razorpay and several other gateways
From the philatelic archives!
Gajesh Girdhar Owner, Paryatan Holidays; Chairman - Governing Body, NIMA
Gajesh Girdhar, Owner, Paryatan Holidays; Chairman - Governing Body, NIMA (Network of Indian MICE Agents) and a corporate travel advisor, shares this rare stamp release on PATA (then called Pacific Area Travel Association) from his personal collection. Dating back to January 24, 1966, the stamp depicts Akbar’s Tomb in Sikandra suburb of Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
The pandemic wave is far from dying down.
In its wake, it has affected industries, economies and people. Everyone, and we mean every-one, has suffered and lost – owners have lost deposits (some even business), employees have lost jobs or taken massive salary cuts – and there is still no guarantee of how long our struggle will continue and when we will see the light of day. But, can we just take things lying down and not do anything about them?
John F Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States of America, once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” The idea behind these words reso-nates even today, as tourism associations continue to put several demands to the ministry and govern-ment, when it is now time to individually and as associations put heads together to solve the crisis, dig deep into the reserves of the mind and see how one can make amends. The blame game, the gov-ernment bashing is passé! The question now is – what have we done to help ourselves? At the end of the day, in business as in life, we have to fend for ourselves. What we do today and how we treat our business, employees and members today will either reap benefits or create obstacles tomorrow.
It’s time that associations led from the front, mak-ing the most of this downtime to formulate strate-gies that would yield results, saving membership, members, businesses, and the industry at large. Survival is not bereft of challenges and calls for thinking out of the box. Could associations help their members cope with the times by calling in experts, planning for the present and the future by ensuring they always have a financial reserve at hand to help those in need, or suggest to members and colleagues alternative sources of business to tide over the situation? The trade and associations need to think how this can be done. They need to hand-hold each other before requesting the gov-ernment to hand-hold them. In the process, it be-comes imperative to stay up to date with the latest happenings in and around the world, and learn of examples that have been set by many in the trade. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
The power TALK
CIN: U22210DL2012PTC230432
Vikramajit Chairman
SanJeet Editor & Publisher
Editorial Devika Jeet Nisha Verma Hazel Jain
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DirectorArumita Gupta Senior ManagerGaganpreet Kaur
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Production: Anil KharbandaCirculation: Ashok Rana
TRAVTALK is a publication of DDP Publications Private Limited. All information in TRAVTALK is derived from sources, which we consider reliable and a sincere effort is made to report ac-curate information. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. The publisher regret that he cannot accept liability for errors and omissions contained in this publication, however caused. Similarly, opinions/views expressed by third parties in abstract and/or in interviews are not necessarily shared by TRAVTALK. However, we wish to advice our readers that one or more recognised authorities may hold different views than those reported. Material used in this publication is intended for information purpose only. Readers are advised to seek specific advice before acting on
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ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 TRAVTALK 7qUIckByTEs
VFS resumes visa applications for 25 countries
Travel Agents Association of Kashmir elects Kuthoo as President
MoCA removes restriction on baggage for domestic flights
DGCA specifies rules for refund to agent on unutilised credit shell
Pre-pandemic hotel occupancy by Q3 2022: Mandeep Lamba
Convince people to trust the industry: Rakesh Verma
Iraq, Japan and Nigeria join India’s air travel bubble list
KTM 2020 to be held virtually from Nov 23-27
If you want to deal with the Indian market, you need to have a lot of patience and be aware of the nuances of our culture and our way of life. One segment which is very important and is fast catching up is luxury. The outbound traveller from India is also spending a huge amount of money – especially on shop-ping. Sometimes, shopping takes over the total budget of the trip.
There are a lot of myths surrounding this market. But, it is a very rewarding market once you get through this love-hate courtship that happens in the beginning. Get over this initial hurdle. India has a lot of people, and the good part is that a lot of them still book through travel agents. Approach the market slowly and steadily. Do your research and find a good partner in India.
India is the second largest M!CE source market from Asia. The biggest chal-lenge for the hotels and the suppliers who are catering to the Indian market is how to identify the right partner. We all talk about big groups from India, but that’s not go-ing to happen for the next one and half years. Also, it is going to be a mix of online and offline.
Inputs by Hazel Jain
A look at M!CE & luxury outbound
Mahendra Vakharia MD, Pathfinders Holidays
Loveleen Multani Arun Founder & Director, Panache World
Tanuja Pandey Founder Director, MICE Online (MOL)
nagsri Prasad Sashidhar Chief Happiness Officer, NAGSRI
SanJeet MD, DDP Publications
Luxury is very innate to the Indian community. It res-onates with our culture, our heritage and even when we take a holiday, because we know how to appreciate and enjoy luxury. We as agents need to decide whether we talk about experiences or we talk about hotels or we talk about a combination of both. But, do not short-change the Indian clientele; instead, marry the right product to the right client.
India is a unique market. Just because we speak Eng-lish does not mean that we do business the English way. Many countries live within India; we have so many dif-ferent cultures and it changes every 200kms. Who is going to guide the suppliers? When it comes to M!CE, this be-comes important especially for dealer conferences. Also, Indians are late starters and they don’t book holidays like other markets do.
The panel discussion on the sidelines of UNITE 2020 analysed the Indian luxury and M!CE outbound market and how suppliers can identify them and cater to their needs perfectly. Only the right partner with the right knowledge of the market will help secure business.
8 TRAVTALK ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 NTo
Korea Tourism Or-ganization (KTO) brought together
representatives from Jeju Tourism Organization, wed-ding planners, Korea DMCs as well as KTO in an in-depth virtual discussion on the potential for weddings, honeymoons and celebra-tory events in South Korea, particularly Jeju Island. The online event was attended by over 75 reputed wedding planners, wedding industry suppliers and honeymoon holiday planners. Apart from destination information, all at-tendees also received Korean luxury cosmetic souvenirs to physically experience Korea during this period when travel is not happening. Jong-Ho Choi, Minister, Embassy of
Republic of Korea in India, in-augurated the event with his welcome remarks. To initiate Indian destination weddings in Korea, KTO is focusing on small boutique and themed weddings along with pre and post-wedding photoshoots at unique locations. The luxury honeymoon segment in Ko-rea is also a prime audience. Young-Geul Choi, Deputy Di-rector, Korea Tourism Organi-
zation New Delhi office, said, “I was pleasantly surprised with the positive response from the market for weddings in Korea. Now that we have
got the ball rolling, we will be taking more steps in devel-oping this market once ac-tual travel begins. Destination
weddings have been a very big industry in India for many years now, and Indians are famous for leaving no stone unturned when it comes to a destination wedding. For South Korea, this was its first step into this multibillion-dollar industry.”
The webinar brought together industry stakeholders from both India and Korea where they could discuss opportuni-ties for collaboration. From the Korean side along with Korea Tourism Organization, the panel comprised of Jeju Tourism Or-ganization - the regional tour-ism board of Jeju Island - and suppliers Jane DMC Korea and Shanti Tour. From the Indian side, the panel comprised of reputed Indian wedding plan-ning companies Cosmic Light Events and Golden Aisle.
South Korea is ready to host weddings and honeymooners from India, positioning Jeju Island as the perfect destination for this. It will take further steps in developing this market once actual travel from India begins.
Korea ready for Indian weddings
TT Bureau
Young-Geul ChoiDeputy Director, Korea Tourism Organization New Delhi office
Indians leave no stone unturned for destination
weddings; we will be taking more steps in
developing this
All ibis hotels in India have been audited and veri-
fied to ensure compliance with a new set of cleanli-ness protocols designed to assure guests of the high-est standards of hygiene achieved prior to reopen-ing, and a comprehensive list of elevated standard operating procedures has been implemented. ibis has been awarded ALLSAFE certification co-created by Accor, Bureau Veritas, and leading medical authori-ties, across its 19 hotels in India. The purpose of the label is to reinforce confi-dence and trust in travel, with guests able to seek reassurance that their hotel has implemented additional safety measures to protect their well-being. On this development, Sylvain La-roche, Director of Opera-tions, ibis and ibis Styles
India, says, “The safety and well-being of our guests and team members have always been, and remain, our priority. Receiving the ALLSAFE certification for all 19 ibis hotels in India
is a testament to the strin-gent hygiene protocols that we have adopted across all touchpoints. As one of the leading economy hotel brands in India, we believe it is imperative for us to reinforce confidence and trust in our guests.”
Accor awards ALLSAFE label to all ibis hotels in India
Sylvain LarocheDirector of Operations ibis and ibis Styles India
the stakeholders for their support and fighting through the pandemic.
Putting focus on rural tour-ism, Yogendra Tripathi, Sec-retary, Tourism, said, “This year’s global theme of rural tourism laid out by UNWTO is in the right context and has come at the right time. We all know that rural communities are custodians of indigenous natural and cultural heritage, having an inherent abil-ity to coexist with the natural ecosystem. It is important, especially at this juncture in human history, that we leverage this to develop and promote sustainable tourism models. Urban agglomera-tion also needs reorientation in this context. In a country as diverse as India, where a significant number of people are deeply rooted to the villages, it is both an oppor-tunity as well as a necessity that tourism develops itself and in turn develops the ru-ral communities. Every part
of the country has differ-ent cultural, musical, dance and cuisine-related diversity, which offers variety and op-portunity for promoting and activating rural tourism in the country. In fact, this is com-pletely unmatched globally. We need to work towards
it and on ensuring that the potential of rural tourism in the country gets exploited.” “As part of Swadesh Darshan scheme, the rural tourism circuit is also one of the
themes we have taken up for the purpose of development. In fact, as part of ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ promotions for domestic tourism, we have looked at rural tourism prospects and development opportunities. I also express my gratitude to the Ministry of Rural Development for having looked at its potential. I am sure that with concerted efforts of the government and concerted interest taken by all stakeholders, rural tourism is going to grow, offering alter-native employment opportu-nities in rural areas at a much larger scale. Hence, we need to be responsible and build in the required safeguards,” he concluded.
Rural tourism also a driver Contd from page 3
Rural tourism will grow, offering
alternative employment
opportunities at a much
larger scale
Yogendra TripathiSecretary, Ministry of Tourism V
irtual PATA Travel Mart 2020 wel-comed over 1000
delegates from 60 destina-tions across the world. A total of 208 sellers from 199 organisations and 40 des-tinations attended the event along with 152 buyers from 147 organisations and 39 source markets. Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) was also pleased to welcome 900 international students and young tourism profes-sionals as part of PATA Youth Symposium, designed as a four-part series that took place from September 22-25.In his welcome address, Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA, said, “Asia Pacific will be the leading force of tourism’s global recovery from CO-VID-19 as both an inbound destination as well as a robust
source market. As some des-tinations have slowly restarted tourism through either domes-tic or regional travel, eventu-ally, international markets will follow. Not only is Virtual PATA Travel Mart 2020 the perfect occasion for organisations to start planning for recovery in 2021, it is also the perfect opportunity to discuss how we can build a stronger, more responsible and more sustain-able industry post COVID-19.”
The virtual event had two full business days and two trade
visitor days. The event also included two PTM Forums on ‘The Current State of Travel Me-dia’ and ‘The Impact of Health and Hygiene on Post COVID-19
Destination Competitiveness in the Asia Pacific’; quick fire presentations on ‘Future Travel on Destinations, Aviation, Hospitality and Industry’; and group chat sessions during the networking break.
Virtual PATA Travel Mart (PTM) 2020 saw delegates indulge in B2B meetings online and discuss how they could work together under changed circumstances induced by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
1000+ delegates at Virtual PTM
Nisha Verma
APAC will be the leading
force of tourism’s
global recovery from
COVID-19
Mario HardyCEO, PATA
Divided into three regions, the PATA India Chapter we-
binar provided key insights into how Europeans perceive India, and what can be done to attract tourists from the region in even greater num-bers. With COVID-19 hav-ing changed the dynamics of tourism the world over, it is time that India make the most of the opportunity and market its products as per the source market.
German-speaking markets: Austria, Switzerland & GermanyGiving an insight into how TravelMarketing Romberg (TMR) dealt with clients during the COVID-19 crisis, Gabi Romberg, Owner & General Manager, TMR, said that while their clients cut costs and budgets, nobody cancelled contracts because post the crisis, they all want to come back and work in the German market again. “The most important thing for TMR was that just after the lockdown in March, we started sending ‘TMR Coro-na Update’ thrice a week to all our clients, with detailed numbers, market news, trends, etc. We also shared best practices from other destinations,” she said.
Philipp Grimm, Account Manager, TMR, said that their company conducted a sur-vey among more than 100 participants regarding their travel preferences, especially focusing on India. Stating that Germans are open to travel within Europe, he said, “We asked participants if they had
travelled abroad since March, and nearly half of them (48%) said yes. However, places which are safe to travel to and from where it’s easier to get back home are preferred, like Austria and Western Europe which includes Netherlands, Belgium, France, etc. In fact, Southern Europe — sunny beach areas like Spain, Italy, and Croatia — were also a big hit.”
He added that after hitting zero bookings at the onset of the crisis, travel book-ings have slowly but steadily been rising again, mostly for short-distance holidays
booked on a short notice. “In fact, loss of summer busi-ness could be over 60 per cent in turnover and winter season almost 40 per cent,” he informed.
Changes in 2020 Highlighting the trends of 2020, Grimm said that safety and hygiene were a top cri-teria for people to travel. “A survey by insurer Allianz has revealed that the proportion of German citizens for whom security at the vacation desti-nation is important has risen
from one-fifth to one-third within one year, and the need for good medical supplies has almost doubled. Also, Germany has been a mar-ket reliant on tour operators and travel agents, which is set to rise further owing to
safety, assurance, refunds in case of cancellations, and timely travel warnings. The winners in this crisis are holi-days where one can be on
their own, socially distanced, such as rural holidays, camp-ing, self-driving and holiday homes, while holidays that lose out are where one has to be with many foreign and unknown people, like cruises, city tours, group travel and hotels in general,” he said.
Perception of India as a destinationSharing insights from their survey on how the German-speaking markets perceived India as a vacation desti-nation in a post-pandemic world, Grimm said that on the positive side, people think that India is a very diverse country with good food, rich culture, impressive buildings, monuments and attractions.
“On the other hand,” he added, “we saw that people consider India as a place with many crowded cities, some hygiene deficits and poverty, but they don’t have any knowledge of life beyond the hotspots that are shown in the media. We think that targeted awareness and mar-
keting campaigns to show all facets of India would be vi-tal at this time. Hence, India must communicate its adap-tion to the current situation through all channels. There is a need to communicate the positives — what’s good, what’s happening in differ-ent areas, what’s happening with businesses, and present a good concept. Then, India will have a very good chance to come back on top of peo-ple’s minds or travel bucket lists when it’s possible to travel again.”
Concluding, he said, “Our message for India is to get prepared now. It’s time to raise awareness, good con-tent pieces and good mes-sages, as people are get-ting inspired by future travel destinations now.”
PATA India Chapter recently organised a webinar titled ‘Europe: The New Order - Market Expectations and Opportunities’, where reputed Destination Management Companies (DMCs) from different regions in Europe shared how these markets interpreted India as a destination, and what Indian tour operators could do to attract numbers.
The most important thing for TMR was that after the lockdown,
we started a corona update
– Gabi Romberg
Nisha Verma
German citizens for
whom security at destination is important has risen from 1/5th
to 1/3rd
– Philipp Grimm
Philipp GrimmAccount Manager, TMR
Gabi RombergOwner & General Manager, TMR
v Open borders and reachability, which is availability of flights and other travel options within a country in a comfortable, safe and hygienic way
v Availability of attractions, restaurants, hotels, etc. v Safety, hygiene and medical infrastructurev Wide, open spaces to travel tov Flexibility in terms of booking on short notice, cancella-
tion and re-bookingv Travel preferences include slow travel, eco travel, road
tripping, well-being
German criteria to travel to India
10 TRAVTALK ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 assocIaTIoNs
European expectations from India
Flexibility super trend for Benelux
India must attract young Spaniards
Speaking at the we-binar, Teun Kees, Director, Benelux
TMC, claimed that while the COVID-19 situation in the Benelux region (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg) is quite similar to that of Germany, the Dutch are big on saving. “Being Dutch, we started saving ever since the crisis started and in the four months since, we’ve saved 25 million Euros extra, and the same was the case with the economic crisis. Year 2020 was expected to be a big year of expenditure on cars, holidays and everything else, which has now shrunk to almost zero in terms of long-haul travel. Hence, we expect huge expenditure when COVID-19 subsides,” he said.
They have been setting up recovery strategies, and have also seen some sectors per-forming better than others.
“Domestic travel is boom-ing, car holidays where you are not dependent on trains or planes are also popular. We also did a small survey and we saw some trust re-turning, but mainly focused on European travel. Safety and hygiene are extremely important,” he shared.
Way forward Taking the presenta-tion further, Susan van Egmond, CEO & Director, Benelux TMC, shared that operators believe that they will be back in business if
there is a vaccine available and that travel will rebound very fast as demand is still there. “Hence, to cope with such circumstances, we need to work on clear pro-cedures. This means that every airport and port needs
to apply the same rules. For example, in India, Goa and Mumbai should have the same rules. The operators
also indicated from experi-ence that when you decide to open borders, it’s im-portant to open them for a certain period and there is a need to indicate when travel will start, because people want to be sure that they get home. Whenever a country plans to open, they need to start promoting and being clear in the procedures two months in advance. Gen-erally, the period between promotions, actual booking and actual travel is at least 6 months for a long-haul trip,” she said.
The European way of travel is popular because one can just get into a car and be sure to be back. Egmond added, “Flexibility is a super trend, hence, cancellation policies should be the same. For example, international
airlines allow cancellation, but on domestic tickets, no rebound is there post cancel-lation. For those in the travel
business, this has a lot of ef-fect on money flow. Hence, people are hesitant when changes to travel advisories occur and fear whether they will get their money back. In the Netherlands, we have a voucher system in place, where one gets a voucher on cancellation and they can rebook something else with the same voucher. Most of the long-haul tour opera-tors have said that about 60-80 per cent of their bookings in 2020 are rebooked already before 2021. Let’s hope all borders open and those trips happen,” she shared.
In fact, she added that a lot of DMCs are preparing for the reopening and many are applying for WTTC’s COVID-free stamp, which means that they have in place the new safety and security protocols in every part of the journey.
Spanish people love travelling within Spain, claims
Margreet van Egmond, Di-rector Spain, Travel Market-ing Concept (TMC). “The Spanish economy is heav-ily dependent on tourism, and unemployment can affect the spending capac-ity of people on holidays. Before COVID-19, around 980 Euros were being spent on a weekly basis by Span-ish people if they travelled abroad. This has now been reduced to 780 Euros. This has to be kept in mind,” she said.
Craving for outboundAnother point she highlighted was that while people were travelling domestically, they were craving to travel abroad. “One of the travel agents who loves travelling to India shared that people are crav-ing to discover again. When people can travel, borders open, and if the vaccine is there, they really want to make that first trip extremely special and that’s the infor-mation we can project to our clients,” she added.
Egmond also said that stay-cations, rural holidays and
holiday homes are thriving as people want to stay out-doors. “Outdoor activities like biking and other sports are on the rise. Also, people want to travel with their fami-lies, and would like to meet somewhere in the open. Be-fore COVID-19, people were looking at honeymoons, gastronomy, culture, heritage, tradition, modern life, nature and wildlife, history, hotspots, island-life and beaches, land-scapes, quality of life as well as safety,” she added.
What can India offer?In a research made by OTA
Atrápalo, the long-haul desti-nations listed by respondents were Japan, Mexico, Cape Cañaveral (Florida, United States), Israel, Uganda, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Vancouver (Canada), and Bhutan, revealed Egmond.
“Tour operators said that India used to be in the top 10 but they have seen a de-cline recently. They think it’s
because of the competition entering the market with In-donesia and Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. However, they mentioned that the average age of most of the travel-lers from Spain to India was 50 years. The millennials and Gen-Y were not travel-ling to India yet, which is a market India can focus on.” She also added that around 9,000 travel agen-cies in Spain were asking for only one focal point. “India needs to make one fo-cal point so that people can just go to one destination and have all the inputs, and everybody must convey the same rules. Also, I have got some special requests from tour operators in Spain. One of them is to promote di-rect flights. While they were happy with India starting direct flights, they would like to have better flexibility on domestic flights. This should
be considered for promoting traffic to India. Also, regard-ing promotional material, the tour operators have asked for differentiation in programmes and revising projects that are running right now, to cater to Gen-X, which is travelling with the elderly and children. There can be discounted programmes made for them. One can take them to natural parks and different areas of India to show them the beau-ty and diversity of the coun-try. Another request is that the elderly Spanish people who go to India face difficulties in e-Visa application, and that should be simplified. Also, hygiene and safety should be maintained at all places,” she pointed out. Concluding, she said that luxury travel is a possibility. “Spain is in the top 10 for millionaires and we have over 820,000 registered millionaires living in the coun-try. This should be looked into,” she said.
Teun KeesDirector Benelux TMC
Margreet van EgmondDirector Spain, TMC
Susan van EgmondCEO & Director Benelux TMC
2020 was to be a year
of expenditure; we now
expect huge spending when
COVID-19 subsides
– Teun Kees
We need to work on clear procedures. Every airport
and port needs to apply the same rules– Susan van Egmond
Millennials and Gen-Y
are not travelling to
India yet, which is a market India can focus onv Uniform protocols
v More direct flights and better flexibilityv Revision of programmes and projects to cater to
Generation-X travelling with children and the elderlyv Simple e-Visa application process for the elderlyv Maintenance of hygiene and safety in all places
India must focus on
october 1 st Fortnight issue 2020 travtalk 1 1associations
12 TRAVTALK ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 NTo
Launched in the presence of Steven Dixon,
Regional Trade Marketing Manager, Asia, Tourism New Zealand and His Excellency David Pine, New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India, the campaign showcases lo-cals who embody the values of manaakitanga (hospital-ity) and kaitiakitanga (care for the land) through posi-tivity and encouragement. This beautifully captures their wholesome message of kindness and compas-sion towards family, friends and loved ones all around the world, and released through social media and
digital channels. Each of these ‘Messages’ will show that New Zealand is a coun-
try which is driven by what matters in life, underpinned by the purity of its values.
To further engage and edu-cate agents, Tourism New Zealand will launch a ‘Vir-
tual Road Trip’ campaign as well. The ‘Virtual Road Trip’ will showcase a dif-ferent region of the country each month. This campaign
will be shared on Tourism New Zealand’s travel trade website. To bring to life the
campaign in India, Tourism New Zealand will be partner-ing with its Indian whānau, including influencers – who have a strong affinity with New Zealand – highlighting their own personal experi-ences and connections with the country.
Commenting on the cam-paign, Dixon said, “The travel industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis tremendously in the past few months and it is im-portant now more than ever that we stay connected to visitors and our travel trade friends in India. Almost 80 per cent of all transactions for New Zealand from In-dia are made through travel
agents. Through ‘Messages from New Zealand’, we are staying in touch with our in-ternational family, including those right here in India, and letting them know that we are waiting to welcome them to our shores again when the time is right and borders reopen.”
Talking about future plans for the Indian market, he said, “We are looking forward to revamp the New Zealand specialist programme and looking at more exciting ways to engage with the audience. So far we have had over 2000 specialists, and we plan to increase that number by about 30 per cent over the next year.”
Tourism New Zealand has virtually launched its new campaign - Messages from New Zealand - which features New Zealanders sharing video messages of hope and care with their international 'whānau' (family), presenting a unique Kiwi perspective on what is important to them.
Get to know true New Zealand
Steven DixonRegional Trade Marketing Manager, Asia, Tourism New Zealand
Almost 80 per cent of all
transactions for New Zealand from India are made through travel agents
Manas Dwivedi
ICPB will host the 13th Conventions India Conclave
(CIC) as a hybrid event with the theme ‘Physical & Digi-tal Meetings – A Harmoni-
ous Blend’, from October 30-31, 2020. Amaresh Tiwari, VC, ICPB and Con-vention Chairman, says, “We, at ICPB, have to set an example and be at the fore-front of getting the events industry back.”
ICPB’s 13th CIC a hybrid event from
October 30-31
Amaresh TiwariVice Chairman - ICPB and Convention Chairman
‘We must all try and induce demand’None of us even anticipated how long this would run. I think FAITH has done a good job without a doubt. They lob-bied hard and they continue to do so. But one must recognise that there are lots of travel agents who support air travel, hotel bookings, and overseas travel. And that’s where they have got left out.
Do you agree that domestic tourism will lead the rest?Yes, I think domestic will be the first one to kick-start. We are already seeing green shoots. It is slow recovery but it’s happening. Look at Goa to-day that has multiple flights coming in from Mumbai and Delhi. Uttarakhand opening up is also creating demand. Once the quarantine requirements that states have start peel-ing away, domestic travel will start. This will seamlessly lead to many other activities as we go forward.
What about agents who have never done domestic? What do they do?Adaptability is part of our DNA. Trust me, each and every travel agent will adapt, and is adapt-ing already. I can see agents approaching us to book holi-days for their clients, asking if we can provide them with packages. If you have the will to survive, you will adapt how-ever big or small you are. Even we are now adapting, with an increased focus on domestic business, which we had never put in before.
What according to you is the new normal? The new normal to me is abnormal and uncertain. Nobody knows where this world is going. I believe we will live in uncertain times for many years to come.
Will the basic structure of the industry change?No, it is not going to change dramatically. There is place for the OTAs, the tour operators, the travel agents. For me, what is going to change is customer behav-iour. The customer is going to now look for brands that they can trust. They are go-ing to look for health and hy-giene. No longer can we take our customer for granted. What COVID-19 has done besides everything else is made the customer far more aware. Over time, we as a country will understand that hygiene is a very impor-tant element.
Will travel become more expensive from now? Air fares haven’t jumped dra-matically so far – it is too early to tell. But I don’t think prices are going to change dramati-cally, because all of us are responsible for inducing de-mand. So I don’t see air fares and hotel prices going up dra-matically in the next 12 months – they may correct from where they are a little. All of us want to fill seats and rooms right now. I used to champion the cause of annual budget. I now talk of weekly budgets. So I don’t know where things will be a year from today.
Will the Work from Home cul-ture continue in this industry?It will continue in some form, but I don’t think it is going to dramatically change the way we work. Yes, organ-
isations are going to be far more adaptable but we need human interaction. Small weddings are already happening. People tell me that I’m an optimist and if COVID-19 has taught me something, it is patience and optimism.
How is Thomas Cook India strategising to tackle the un-certain future? The longer business takes to come back, the more despair it will create in our minds. What we did at the Thomas Cook Group is focus on re-structuring the organisation to meet the situation. All we knew is that we had some downtime and how to use it optimally. So we embarked on a lot of technology projects to try to transform ourselves into a far more technology-
driven entity. We recognised that using technology could improve our productivity and our service. We also did a lot of training of more than 400 tour managers. We insisted on training everyone across the major cities that were part of our itinerary around the world. If we are never allowed to go back to the office, we can operate the way we are from home. Multi-tasking is the need of the hour.
If you were the PM for a day, you would:I would rationalise taxes across air travel, across hospitality, across all these other facilities, which our tax officers believe is the easiest way to milk people. There has to be a degree of trust, I genu-inely believe it is lacking. Why would you have TCS because you don’t trust an individual traveller? There are many other ways to keep a check on individual spends. I don’t understand this concept.
Contd from page 3
I don’t see air fares & hotel prices going
dramatically up in 12 months;
they may correct slightly
14 TRAVTALK ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 avIaTIoN
Etihad Airways is championing wellness as its priority with the launch of ‘Etihad Wellness’ that builds on the stringent measures already put in place by the airline in light of COVID-19. Its Wellness Ambassadors, an industry-first initiative by the airline, also provide guidance and care to guests.
Wellness a priority for
Etihad
The COVID-19 pan-demic brought the world to a halt and
redefined daily lives and indus-tries across the globe. Avia-tion, an industry that usually connects the world together, also witnessed minimal move-ment with the onset of the pandemic. With restrictions now beginning to ease, a new normal is gradually emerging from this global health, social and economic crisis.
With the general sentiment currently remaining around fear and uncertainty, people’s needs have evolved. The pan-demic will also change how people travel, and there will be a much larger focus on their safety and wellness.
Catering to this exact need, Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, announced the launch of ‘Etihad Well-ness’, an expanded and more comprehensive health and hygiene programme and customer guide. This builds on the stringent measures already put in place by the air-line in light of COVID-19.
Etihad Wellness initiatives are being communicated through an easy-to-use online guide highlighting the high standards
of cleanliness, health and hy-giene being applied at every stage of the customer journey. This includes measures rang-ing from aircraft cabin deep-cleaning, check-in and health screening to the boarding and inflight experience.
An industry-first initiative – Wellness AmbassadorsThis programme is cham-pioned by specially trained ‘Wellness Ambassadors’, an industry-first initiative by the airline. They are a dedicated team, trained at the airline’s fa-cilities in Abu Dhabi, providing essential travel health informa-tion and care so guests can fly with greater peace of mind.
v Available 24x7: For those needing more specific and personalised information, skilled Wellness Ambassa-dors can be contacted directly 24x7 via e-mail. This dedicat-ed multilingual team will offer reassurance to customers by sharing advice on travel well-being and details of the health and sanitisation measures being implemented through-out their journey. Etihad will expand the service to include a web-chat option.
v On-ground assistance at Abu Dhabi International Airport: Etihad will also intro-duce these Wellness Ambas-
sadors at Abu Dhabi Interna-tional Airport in partnership with Abu Dhabi Airports (ADAC) to ensure guests are assisted at every point of their journey with the airline, right from check-in and security, to immigration and board-ing, providing added comfort and confidence.
v Enhanced level of cus-tomer care in-flight: Etihad’s ‘Wellness Ambassadors’ are also available on-board pro-viding safety and wellness assistance in-flight.
COVID-19 global insurance by Etihad AirwaysGuests who are diagnosed with COVID-19 during their trip won’t have to worry about medical expenses or quarantine costs when they fly with Etihad. The airline has introduced COVID-19 global wellness insurance cover as part of Etihad Wellness and in association with AXA. All Etihad tickets regardless of date of booking, for travelling between now and December 31, 2020, will include COV-ID-19 insurance. Guests with existing bookings won’t need to do anything as they will be automatically enrolled into the programme. The insurance is valid worldwide for 31 days from the first day of travel. If a guest is diagnosed with CO-
VID-19 while they are away from home, COVID-19 global wellness insurance will cover up to EUR150K of medical costs and up to EUR100 a day of quarantine costs in case of a positive diagnosis, for 14 days.
Cabin air filtration cleaningMany guests have raised concerns about the risk of contracting the COVID-19 vi-rus while travelling on flights. To minimise risk, significant measures have been imple-mented prior to departure, in flight and after arrival. The Eti-had aircraft have HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filters which can filter more than 99 per cent of airborne microbes in the air. The cabin
air flow is continuous, and delivered at a rate equivalent to up to 30 changes per hour.
Aircraft and cabin deep cleaningEtihad undertakes cleaning of its aircraft on arrival at each destination, a practice which was already in place prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. For any aircraft arriv-ing from a territory deemed
medium or high-risk by the relevant international health authorities or if a suspected case has travelled on the air-craft, Etihad is deep-cleaning and disinfecting all cabin areas, cargo holds and crew rest areas. Seat covers from a potentially affected area are removed and incinerated. Dis-infection of the entire cabin is also carried out, including the entire seat, overhead bins, light fixtures, air outlets, cabin panels, entertainment con-trols and screens, windows, tray tables, storage space, magazine racks and crew seats, using a cleaning prod-uct which is effective for up to 10 days. All the on-board galleys and lavatories are also completely disinfected.
On flights deemed low-risk, a general clean and disinfection is conducted in Abu Dhabi when ground time exceeds two hours.
Stricter measures at Abu Dhabi International AirportAt Abu Dhabi International Airport, strict measures are in place at check-in counters to practice social distancing and a safer airport environment.
These include floor marking to ensure social distanc-ing, check-in teams wearing gloves and face masks, and regular sanitisation of check-in counters. Thermal screen-ing at airports is carried out prior to boarding an Etihad Airways flight, and screen-ing agents wear full personal protection equipment.
Highest standards of safety on-board with EtihadEtihad’s teams on-board will wear surgical face masks and other protective gear, at all times. The airline is also providing special well-ness kits including non-latex gloves, face mask and hand sanitizer. During every cabin service, the cabin crew will
limit their direct interaction with customers and will re-strict their presence in the cabin at all times, unless to carry-out safety and cleanli-ness checks, or if called by a guest. During the journey, if any passenger or crew mem-ber begins to feel unwell, their teams will create an on-board quarantine zone and inform medical authorities prior to arrival at the destination.
TT Bureau
Adve
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ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 TRAVTALK 1 5HoTELs
What are the tour-ism board’s focus areas?
Our immediate focus for India is on product develop-ment, brand awareness and education. Regardless of the pandemic, travel will resume, and India will be an important market to support Utah's visi-tor economy recovery. Visi-tors will want to explore our
stunning landscapes and en-joy a road trip when they are able to travel again.
What traveller segments are you aiming to tap? We are aiming to tap into the FIT/luxury visitor segment. These are visitors that typi-cally have already travelled to the US, and are looking to expand their exploration beyond the East Coast and West Coast. Comprised of
honeymooners/couples, families and small multi-fam-ily groups that will enjoy the vistas and viewpoints along our scenic byways, hiking in our national and state parks, bespoke cuisine, glamping and other unique experienc-es. The pandemic will lead to many people looking for a destination that offers respite and scenic beauty, which is what they will find in Utah.
When do you expect a recovery in numbers for utah?Our forecasting data for our core markets via Tour-ism Economics reflects a small recovery in 2021, (by spring of 2021), with slowed growth through 2023, and a 6.2 per cent growth from 2019 to 2024. We expect the FIT/luxury segment to
recover first, which is also one of the reasons why this segment is a primary focus for us in India.
What are some of the learnings for you in the time of COVID? We have learned how to be adaptable and how important it is that we do not abandon
our efforts across the world. Brands that stay in-market, continue to invest, forge part-nerships and increase brand awareness will not only re-cover quicker, but also gain market share. Now is not the time to abandon our industry, but do all we can to rebuild.
What are your expectations from India market?With strategic co-operative marketing, partnerships,
education and product devel-opment, as well as targeted consumer marketing, we will see growth. We must inspire consumers to visit Utah while creating an accessible, book-able product for our travel trade partners. We are fairly new to the market, but I am optimistic that with the right messaging, partnerships and education, we can increase visitation and visitor spending from India.
Rachel Bremer, Global Travel Trade & Destination Development Manager, Utah Office of Tourism and Film, discusses how the state will build its brand in India through its representative in the country – IndiJo Consulting. The FIT/ luxury segment is a primary focus for them in India.
India will be key for Utah's recovery
Hazel Jain
Rachel BremerGlobal Travel Trade & Destination Development Manager, Utah Office of Tourism and Film
Utah saw US$9 million in visitor spending from India in 2019, with an average spend per visitor of US$1,092.17. This av-erages to 8,300 visits to Utah from India in 2019.
2019 figures from India to utah
Brands that increase awareness and forge
partnerships will
recover quicker
To go where we want to be as an indus-try, there has to be
a big policy intervention and one cannot drive that without changing the structure, said JB Singh when speaking at the recent CAPA India webi-nar. “As an industry, we touch multiple ministries, right from urban affairs and home affairs to local municipalities, and we all have spent enough time to figure out that there is a need for some convergence in terms of alignment and com-mitment to drive this forward in a singular way,” he shared.
But, is repackaging exist-ing products enough? Singh says that while that is impor-
tant, we, as a country, have to move away from these small islands of excellence and start thinking about a holistic tourist experience. He added, “For instance, the UAE is the most researched destination for 2021. Their Twitter pro-grammes are very powerful. We have our technology, but we have not leveraged or pre-pared ourselves for the same. By 2030, there will be 70 bil-
lion connected devices, and Internet of Things (IoT) will be a big $2 trillion industry. Hence, we first need to get the structure right in terms of the ministry’s perspective, so that there is adequate institu-tional accountability that gets
built into the whole system for everything to move.” Hav-ing said that, Singh asserted that there are a lot of existing product opportunities as well. “We don’t have huge tour-ist numbers even though our capacity has increased sig-nificantly. I think, our culture must be presented in a new avatar. The demographics are changing and the younger population wants something different. According to a study, by 2030, 57 per cent of the new demographic popu-lation will travel to emerging markets, and India will be one of them along with Rus-sia, China and Brazil. Clearly, we are not in that game if our numbers are hitting at 3.3 per cent. Hence, we need to pres-
ent our heritage in a different way. I think the policy must have something that can bring transformational changes. We have a lot of existing festivals like Pushkar, Hornbill and more, for the young travellers. Those need to be looked at,” he recommended.
Work on room supply“It’s very expensive to build capacity in India because of
the laws,” said Singh, add-ing, “Delhi will become the world’s largest metropolis by 2028. It will house 38 million people, which means that there is going to be shortage of land. Hence, it is apparent that urban affairs would move into the realm of tourism, and everybody needs to under-stand how things need to be structured because there are many ministries involved.”
JB Singh, President & CEO, InterGlobe Hotels, says that the industry needs policy intervention to come out of the current situation. He adds that while there do exist opportunities for new products, there is still room for innovation in existing ones to make them more appealing to the younger travellers of today.
Policy intervention is a must!
Nisha Verma
JB Singh President & CEO, InterGlobe Hotels
Our culture must be
presented in a new avatar. The younger population
wants something else
16 TRAVTALK ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 gUEsTcoLUmN
If anyone had told us that on the morning of March 14, 2020,
we would wake up to a new world, a world with health asapriority over the economy, where safety was in distanc-ing, where love meant mini-mal contact and where life would be all about a totally new set of priorities that nev-er even crossed our minds, it still wouldn’t have prepared us for what came next.
After being homebound for more than five months in the strictest manner, it was time for us as a family to start taking those baby steps again, especially for our own 10-year-old son who had
been schooling online and could do with a small dose of Mother Nature. Out of a few choices, we zeroed in on Lo-navala. A two-hour drive from home with our car fully sani-tised and as COVID-repellent as possible, we decided to get going on a Monday to evade a full inventory which was a sentiment shared by most, as all hotels in Lonavala were running at full capacity. So, it was a weekend getaway on a weekday.
The first few obvious things we noticed were the glass panel along the reception area, complete gloved and masked management per-sonnel, no touchscreen
signature as it’s difficult to sanitise, baggage handling done right, a sanitised private pool, in-room orders served in biodegradable corn starch containers and no unsealed toiletries. Even housekeeping had an additional supervisor who approved the room sani-
tisation and only once he put the sanitised seal outside the main door was the room to be ready for next occupancy.
A cluster of 26 treehouse accommodations spread across more than 27 acres of land on a mountain pla-teau overlooking the valley and most times hidden by clouds, one could be rest assured that it doesn’t get any more socially distant
than this. Having always been a big fan of visuals and fewer words, I still manage to slip in more things to see than to read as truly, pictures speak a thousand words. The show-stealers here were the eclectic art pieces
Activities like guided nature trails, wildlife documentary,
stargazing, bird watching, forest bathing and in-room spa are always available if there's any room in that idyl-lic time.
All in all, the five-month wait was worth it, although it came at a price (literally) as COVID-19 has made things expensive. But, when safety is a priority, all else takes a backseat.
‘My journey as a globetrotter started progressively when I was 15 years old and ended up being the anchor to my profession as a travel designer,’ says Reena Sachdev, Founder of Mumbai-based Travel Arena. And, though the five-month wait during the lockdown came at a price, when safety became a priority, all else took a backseat, she shares.
What the ‘new normal’ weekend is
(Views expressed are the author’s own. The publication may or may not subscribe to them.)
Reena SachdevFounder Travel Arena
If anyone had told us that we would wake up to a new world, it still wouldn’t have prepared
us for what came next
I took a three-day holiday with my family and two
other friends to Jaipur during the 15th August weekend. We were three families that in-cluded seven adults, two chil-dren and two infants in total. I would like to share our travel experience on what seems like a risk during a pandemic and why I feel it is important.
The lockdown was a dif-ficult phase especially for my two daughters who are both young. Our house had become their playground for months, but lately, we were missing the outside world. Even for my 67-year-old mother, it was quite a chal-lenge to stay indoors as she
enjoys her evening strolls.At first, it did appear to be a huge risk, going out with the entire family, little ones and an elderly all the way to Jai-pur from Delhi and staying
at a hotel. However, when I spoke to the team at Trident, Jaipur, they reassured me about all possible safety pre-cautions that the hotel staff
had undertaken. Even our breakfast would be served in our rooms and we did not have to go to the restaurant. This constant reassurance from the hotel was a big
factor in taking the decision to travel.The riskiest part of our journey was the 250-ki-lometre drive between Delhi and Jaipur. We knew that we
had to take multiple stops be-cause of the young ones and my mother, so we planned accordingly. We stopped at the McDonald’s restaurant at Manesar for breakfast. We knew it would be empty in the morning and so it was.
The lunch was at a highway restaurant that was also quite empty. We made sure to wipe all the plates with wet-wipes to sanitise them even more. We did the same with the chairs and tables. We never took off our N95 masks dur-ing the trip, except for when we had to eat or drink. In addition, we ensured there was no stranger present within six feet.
We followed the same regime while in Jaipur. The meals we had were pre-booked at restaurants and our table was always in the corner, away from the crowds; there were hardly any though. We managed to create a ‘health-bubble’ around us
and took the responsibil-ity of ensuring we maintain a consistent routine throughout the trip. Instead of fear, we placed our faith in science. There is plenty of guidance available from WHO on how to maintain safety and hygiene while travelling.
Thinking of a family holiday but not sure if it’s safe? Here’s a personal account from one of our fellow industry colleagues who shares his family holiday experience. Shuja Bin Mehdi, B2B Manager, India, VisitBritain, drove from Delhi to Jaipur in August, and experienced the new normal first-hand.
A family holiday in a pandemic
(Views expressed are the author’s own and VisitBritain bears no responsibility.
The publication may or may not subscribe to them.)
Shuja Bin MehdiB2B Manager, India VisitBritain
I hope the trade will be
encouraged to resume travel;
revival for our industry will
not come on its own
According to a recent STR report, travellers, when asked about future holiday plans, shared a desire to stay much closer to home and to explore what was on their doorstep. Holidays abroad were for 2021 and, for some, 2022.
ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 TRAVTALK 1 7NTo
Mentored by Raj Singh, well-known and respected in
the international river cruis-ing industry and a veteran of the tourism industry of India, Antara will introduce the con-cept of luxury river cruising in the domestic Indian market. Speaking about the con-cept, Singh says, “Heritage River Journeys is well-known internationally. Our new brand – Antara – is focused on the domestic market, wherein the company and quality of service have already been established.”
Introducing the brand, Hemant Mediratta says, “Antara stems from the word ‘antar’, which means difference or distinc-tion, and it’s our effort to make a difference to the journey of a
guest when they sail on a river cruise. Not many Indians have experienced river cruising or even cruising for that matter. However, it’s very intimate and an epitome of luxury. With An-tara, the intent is to take guests to untouched destinations. We have two ships — Ganges Voyager and Ganges Voyager II, which are all-suite vessels. It’s an all-inclusive experience, which means everything is taken care of, be it meals, drinks, experiences, excursion
guides, etc.” He adds that a personalised butler service is also available in each room.
“We sail on the Ganga from Kolkata and we can go up to Varanasi and even Dhaka. Our typical cruise itinerary is 7 nights for international trav-ellers, but for Indian travellers, to initiate them into luxury riv-
er cruising, we have special 2 to 3-night itineraries. Hence, currently, we are selling them as bespoke charters, wherein special events like milestone birthdays, bachelor parties, or pre-wedding events and even weddings can be done. While we don’t know when the situation will be nor-mal, for Christmas we have one departure planned and for New Year as well there is a 3-night departure,” Mediratta shares.
Passionate about river cruis-ing, Singh says that the expe-rience is quite different from that of sea cruising. “Local people are involved and we offer experiences in villages and small towns. With only 28
rooms, we can offer intimate journeys,” he elaborates, add-ing that they are adhering to all
safety and hygiene protocols with systems in place, apart from having duly trained staff. When it comes to promotions through the travel trade, Medi-ratta says that “the intent is to build the business through the travel trade model and popula-rise the Antara brand not only domestically but internationally, too. We have direct consumer activation plans as well.”
A peek into the futureCommenting on expansion plans, Singh says, “We will be coming up with a new ship called Ganga Vilas, which will be unique. As for expan-sion, our targets are Kashmir, Punjab and even Kerala back-waters. We have done our research and we are prob-ably the only ones who have an MoU with the Ministry of Shipping, Inland Waterways Authority of India.”
Antara Luxury River Cruises, a first-of-its-kind luxury river cruise brand in India, has been launched by Hemant Mediratta, who has joined the brand as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer under the expert guidance of Raj Singh, Founder and Chairman - Group, Antara Luxury River Cruises & Heritage River Journeys.
Luxury stay and events on a riverNisha Verma
Raj SinghFounder and Chairman, Antara Luxury River Cruises & Heritage River Journeys
Antara is focused on the
domestic market, where the quality of
service has been established
– Raj Singh
Hemant Mediratta Co-Founder and COO, Antara Luxury River Cruises Currently,
we are selling them as
bespoke charters where special events can be done– Hemant Mediratta
Talking about the road to opening of the destination,
Bader Ali Habib, Manager, Indian Subcontinent, Inter-national Operations, DTCM, shared that the combined ef-fort of UAE’s leadership and tourism stakeholders as well as Dubai Airports, Emirates Airlines and flydubai has re-sulted in the effective man-agement of the pandemic and opening of the destination. “Dubai also received the Safe Travels stamp from World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which was extreme-ly positive news. The UAE comes first in the region and in the top 10 of the world’s
safest countries in terms of managing COVID-19. On July 7, we re-started, and have been welcoming tourists back to our city. We have ensured that all establishments across all tourism touchpoints com-ply with the health and safety guidelines as part of our ef-fort to instil confidence and trust in travellers, including a new compliance programme called ‘Dubai Assured’ - a certification given to estab-lishments for compliance to health and safety measures and protocols,” he said.
Sharing how the interest of tourists for visiting Dubai is there, Habib said that they have been tracking volumes across all major booking platforms,
adding, “Dubai is featuring in the top five almost all the time across all verticals. This data shows that people intend to travel and that Dubai is on their list. Hence, it’s important for us to offer a great product in the next few weeks and that we highlight the safety of the des-tination and that all COVID-re-lated regulations are in place to
protect each individual traveller. The earlier reports from online bookings from our airline part-ners — Emirates and flydubai — show that bookings are being made for individuals as well as small groups. Hence,
we are very optimistic about future travel. Both these airlines are providing free global cover of COVID-19 health expenses and quarantine cost.”
Ready for M!CE with all pro-tocols in place, Habib said that while local M!CE events resumed from September 15, 2020, international M!CE events can resume from October 1, 2020. “Leisure and other events also re-sumed form September 15, all adhering to precautionary measures for safety and se-curity of visitors and attend-ees. We’ve issued circulars on clear safety protocols that must be adhered to by event organisers and attendees, which includes sanitisation,
social distancing, manda-tory face masks and isolation zones,” he added.
Habib also said that India has always been an important market for Dubai, especially as the emirate is second home to many Indian citizens. “India retained its ranking as Dubai’s top source market in 2019. We started the year strong ahead of the pan-demic. We have a very close partnership with our Indian stakeholders and we remain hopeful that India will recover from the pandemic as soon as possible. We look forward to welcoming Indian travel-lers back as soon as they are ready,” he shared.”
Dubai Tourism recently organised its first virtual Fam that saw the destination as well as Dubai Department of Tourism Commerce Marketing (DTCM) showcasing major attractions of the emirate, while also highlighting the safety and security protocols being followed post opening of the destination in early July.
Dubai is ready for M!CE and FIT
Nisha Verma
Bader Ali HabibManager, Indian Subcontinent, International Operations, DTCM
We have a close
partnership with Indian
stakeholders & look forward to
welcoming them
18 TRAVTALK ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 HoTELs
An industry that usu-ally connects the world together has
seen minimal movement since the onset of the pandemic. Since everyone has been confined to their homes for months now, families have started planning short trips to catch a break. For October itself, members have started booking weekend getaways. Travellers are very cautious and hence, safety norms of the resorts and hotels as well as availability of information on their website play a big role in occupancy. Domestic tourism in India will see a new lease of life, especially places within 5-10 hours of driving time. Road trips, staycations, work-from-resorts, trips to lesser-
known places and away from cities (to avoid crowds) will be some of the biggest winners. Wellness resorts and desti-nations will also attract more
travellers interested in improv-ing their mental and physical well-being.
Going forward, travel will look different in a number of ways. Noticing the pattern
of people travelling these days, both the travel indus-try and travellers are putting all their energy on domestic travel for the remaining bit
of 2020, as it offers mas-sive opportunities. India is bigger than 24 countries of Europe and has a wide vari-ety of tourism products and hidden potential which is yet to be discovered. Before
booking any family holi-days, people will read up on travel restrictions pertaining to each state or place they travel to. People will choose their destination wisely. Over the years, Indians have increasingly been bitten
by the travel bug and have shown keen interest to re-discover hidden treasures in our geography and beyond. Between 2012 and 2018, domestic tourism activity grew around 10 per cent. In the aftermath of the pan-demic, we expect interna-tional travel to be muted for a while until countries agree to common standards of safety protocols.
With COVID at its prime in most of the cities, fami-lies have been reluctant to move to transient places away from their permanent stays. But, the demand of relaxing at nearby destina-tions persists. With these circumstances in mind, hill
stations close to metro cit-ies, wildlife sanctuaries and offbeat destinations will be the next big thing in the hos-pitality industry. People are not meant to stay confined to their homes and cities; exploring and discover-ing new places is a part of human nature.
While the COVID-19 crisis carried things to a halt for a while, the hospitality industry has been assessing the situation and reinventing itself to effectively revive the sector. ‘We have now started witnessing a steady revival of travel and tourism and the new normal is beginning to set in,’ says Rishi Verma, Head of India Subcontinent - RCI.
Family travel: How, where & when?
(Views expressed are the author’s own. The publication may or may not subscribe to them.)
Rishi VermaHead of India Subcontinent - RCI
Travellers are very
cautious and hence, safety
norms of hotels play a
big role in occupancy
The position paper mentions that for India, global recog-
nition has come by practising the age-old Indian tradition of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ and by using local resources, be it money, material, machine or manpower. “The Indian indus-try deploys more than 90 per cent local resources, making it an embodiment of an At-manirbhar Bharat,” states the report. The salient points of the paper are:
v Self-reliance: The indus-try aims to increase its focus on local sourcing of ingredi-ents/components in its key pillars of food & beverage, infrastructure and engineer-ing equipment. From about 65% in 2000, there has been
a consistent effort to increase the extent of local sourcing which rose to about 87% in 2020. The industry aspires to increase this to 95% or more by the year 2025.
vEpitome of national pres-tige: Indian hotels have played host to heads of state, celebri-ties, senior officials, industri-alists and entrepreneurs; fa-cilitated large and prestigious national and international con-ventions and events to provide a safe and comfortable abode for people during disasters. Hotels showcase Indian archi-tecture and the traditional way of life; promote Indian heritage, textiles, cuisines, handicrafts; and act as wellness centres.
v Providing local opportuni-ties: The Indian hospitality sec-tor employs close to 4.5 crore
people and provides livelihood to many more by employing unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers. From import subsidisation to vendor de-velopment, creation of green supply chains and minimising the carbon footprint, the hotel industry does it all.
According to the position pa-per, while the procurement of local products and resources as a percentage of total utilisa-tion stood at 80 per cent for toiletries and cosmetics, and at 60 per cent for other cate-gories such as electronics and gadgets, mechanical equip-ment, elevators, etc., in year 2000, these numbers stand at 95 per cent and 90 per cent in 2020, expected to increase to 99 per cent and anywhere between 95-100 per cent by year 2025.
Hotel Association of India (HAI) has come out with a position paper titled ‘Indian Hospitality – An embodiment of Atmanirbhar Bharat’, which details the initiatives and contributions of the sector in making it self-reliant. The paper also defines the role that hospitality plays in aiding livelihoods and serves as a symbol of national heritage.
HAI endorses an Atmanirbhar Bharat
Nisha Verma
KB Kachru VP, HAI and Chairman Emeri-tus & Principal Advisor South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group
MP Bezbaruah Secretary General Hotel Association of India
Puneet Chhatwal President, HAI and MD & CEO, IHCL
Be it imbibing and promot-ing the cultural abundance of the country or the utilisation of local resources, we have always strived to work to-gether in harmony with our surroundings and support the lives of communities that we operate in. We as an industry are a role model to those who are looking for a roadmap to begin their journey towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
Hotels are perhaps one of the few industries that can actually transform and aid the fostering of the Prime Minis-ter’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. The industry in India has come a long way from dependency on imports to driving greater procurement locally. Competencies have increased, the use of technol-ogy has gone up and India can well be proud of the way it has evolved.
It is the Indian hospitality that attracts luxury travellers. As the industry plays host to travellers from across the globe, it brings international best practices to the country as well. The sector contributes over Rs10,000 crore to the ex-chequer every year. There is a very healthy hospitality ecosys-tem deploying more than 90% of local resources. The industry also promotes gender diversity and equal opportunity.
20 TRAVTALK ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 EXHIBITIoNs
The webinar was an attempt to discuss concerns of differ-
ent stakeholders of tourism in the times of COVID-19, and to also understand the challenges and opportunities of the Indian tourism sector. Prof Archana Shukla, Direc-tor, IIM Lucknow, mentioned the importance of the tourism sector in India's economy and called for a joint effort from different stakeholders to revive the confidence of tour-ists. Prof Satyabhusan Dash and Prof Priyanka Sharma were the conveners of this event.
Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, MOT, said that being fragmented, the industry is
divided into hotels, transpor-tation and tourism, but this is the first time that everyone stands together. She referred to work being focused on three key areas: how the pan-demic grows, governance and need for change in pro-motional campaigns.
Mukesh Meshram, Princi-pal Secretary - Tourism &
Culture, Government of UP, spoke about the importance of digital assistance, while even highlighting the impor-tance of eco-tourism, medi-cal tourism, religious tours, organic farming and various initiatives with assistance from World Bank.
Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, focused on the need for ac-
curate and reliable informa-tion more than ever, and also the need to relieve the anxiety of the consumers by ensur-ing that a robust framework is developed for prioritising safety and hygiene.
Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, VP, FHRAI, expressed his con-cern that the industry has almost no consumer confi-
dence as of now and is fac-ing a severe economic crisis. The immediate strategy to be adopted is to address survival, which must be in the form of public-private partnership with support from the government in the form of restructuring of loans and certain tax waivers for the survival of this labour- intensive sector.
Sunil Suresh, Chief Market-ing Officer, MakeMyTrip, said that since the lockdown has been lifted, there are a lot of people who are willing to travel, but signs of business travel are not visible. He men-tioned how China, Japan and India have seen more busi-ness during the COVID-19 era as compared to last year. “MMT is taking several
marketing initiatives such as ‘MySafety’ and to have an open conversation with the customer and try being as transparent as possible on all aspects of travel and safety-related information,” he said.
Rajni Hasija, Director - Tour-ism & Marketing, IRCTC, Ministry of Railways, said that they used this period for re-inventing themselves and restoring the confidence of customers. She said that IRCTC is focusing on inbound tourism during 2021, 2022 and 2023. Many aware-ness programmes are being launched and campaigns are run to create positivity and awareness among the citi-zens. Special touring pack-ages and programmes were invented during this time.
During a webinar organised by Indian Institute of Management Lucknow – Noida campus and Centre for Marketing in Emerging Economies (CMEE) on ‘Tourism in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era: Challenges and the Way Forward’, eminent leaders and stakeholders shared their views and vision for revival.
Tourism needs a changed focus
Manas Dwivedi
What was the main idea behind or-ganising unITE
2020?It all started with a worldwide lockdown. When Saleint CEO and Owner, Mahima Tripathi, who represents Yatrik.com for Canada and USA, came up with the idea of a virtual global event, it grabbed my attention. The idea was to provide a sense of collabora-tion, unity and an opportunity to look beyond the horizon with a positive mindset. We decided to take this idea forward – and UNITE the leisure and M!CE fraternity, help build relationships and be ready when travel is back to normal. With all physical
events cancelled, this was the logical path to tread. We chose to combine leisure and M!CE segments, which most trade shows don’t do.
What were some of the challenges the team faced while working towards this?Getting a software company that could build a platform specific to the travel and tourism industry was the first challenge. All compa-nies we approached had done all kinds of events but never one based on tourism. It also meant they would have to create software from scratch. Add to that few as-pects we wanted to add that had never been attempted before and something dif-ficult to replicate in the fu-
ture, if not impossible. Fi-nally, after speaking to over two dozen companies, we decided to move forward with one that checked most of the boxes on our list.
How was it different than the other virtual exhibitions that are happening right now?For one, we did not wish meetings between buyers
and exhibitors to collapse due to internet speed issues. Hence, we decided to have all three options – video, au-dio and chat. This decision did help immensely during the show. We also wanted to be the first one to do a show
through global time zone. This meant keeping the show floor open 48 hours over two days, with tech support for those many hours.
Can we expect a unITE 2021?UNITE will be an annual event and be held in Septem-ber each year, maybe even the same dates. For now, it will strictly be a virtual trade show only.
What do you think will help open up the sector faster?The countries that get their fundamentals right will be the first to recover, and those who ignore it at the national and international level will have a long wait. India may do well to fol-
low an aggressive path by using IATO and DMC/hoteliers to educate FTOs and consumers directly, showcasing safeguards the country is taking to protect visitors. It will have to put in place a medical mecha-nism and facility where such incoming clients can take refuge in case of COVID suspicion.
Team UNITE 2020 wanted to be the first ones to host a show through global time zone, which meant keeping the floor open 48 hours over two days. Sujit Banerjee, Ambassador – Team UNITE 2020 and Director of Yatrik.com, speaks about the show’s success despite the challenges.
The right technology for UNITE 2020
Hazel Jain
UNITE will be an annual
event in September
each year. For now, it willbe a virtual show only
Sujit BanerjeeAmbassador – Team UNITE 2020 and Director, Yatrik.com
UNITE 2020 saw more than 600 registrations, 37 exhibi-tors, 45 brands, showcas-ing 39 countries, five con-tinents, nearly 2000 global meetings, 15 sponsors, and $30,000 in prizes.
unITE 2020
ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 TRAVTALK 2 1agENTs
With this project, the team behind ‘Project TraVival-
Training for Travel Revival’ is coming up with a series of 150+ training videos in over 18 regional languages divided in 12 modules for homestay owners, village panchayats, teachers/youth and women of villages, as well as travellers across India, thus covering all stakeholders of rural tourism in India. The entire training will be kept as open source, free of any expenses, and aim to touch around 1,00,000 villages in India in the next one year. The project is an outcome of three months of contin-
uous efforts after conduct-ing more than 30 webinars involving over 2000 commu-nity members and around 50 organisations from across 17
states in India.
NotOnMap is a sus-tainable and socially-driven initiative with an aim to empower local rural communi-
ties by helping them capitalise on their untapped culture and heritage value. It realised the need for such a project in these times for rural pockets, and created a think tank from the industry to came together to conceptualise, design and execute the project. These modules have been de-
signed by subject matter experts.Rupesh Kumar K, Responsible Tour-ism Mission State
Coordinator, Government of Kerala; Raj Basu, Founder, Help Tourism and Rural Tour-ism advisor with Government of Arunachal Pradesh; Arun Chandan, Regional Director, RCFC North from AAYUSH Ministry, civil society DA (Development Alternative); and Sachin Kumar, expert in Green livelihood and impact evaluation, are some of the domain experts who have been an integral part of creat-ing the content.
“Merely informing these rural communities about govern-ment regulations and sustain-
ability practices to be followed may not be sufficient, rather, these are the people that need actual hand-holding,” says Kumar Anubhav, Founder, NotOnMap.
Project TraVival will also incorporate ‘develop and deploy’ to ensure ‘minimum service expectation’ from community and travellers
alike through training. Post that, there will be a certifica-tion and periodical audits to ensure that all the training imparted in the past is being followed. “What we did to es-tablish the basic principles of sustainable and responsible tourism practices in the last 15 years in Kerala, we aim to do across India,” adds Rupesh Kumar.
“Training content will aim to sensitise travellers about their duties and respect they should show while they ex-plore any rural pocket in India. Homestays should not be tak-en as cheaper or budget op-tions for travellers; someone opening their personal space to strangers is no less than luxury,” says Basu.
Help Tourism and NotOnMap, in association with International Centre for Responsible Tourism, have launched an ingenious project to aid rural areas in managing the crisis efficiently. Aptly named ‘Project TraVival - Training for Travel Revival’, it helps train rural tourism stakeholders in the sector's recovery, while periodically auditing the progress made.
TraVival to help rural India cope
Manas Dwivedi
Rupesh Kumar KResponsible Tourism Mission State Coordinator, Government of Kerala
Raj BasuFounder, Help Tourism and Rural Tourism advisor with Government of Arunachal Pradesh
Kumar AnubhavFounder NotOnMap
22 TRAVTALK ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 avIaTIoN
Ever since the pan-demic began, travellers have
placed emphasis on safety and flexibility in their travel plans, and these needs are on a par with pricing. To meet this demand, Cleartrip has launched products and ser-vices such as TravelSafe and Flexifly. Sharing more details is Aditya Agarwal, Head of Corporate Strategy, Cleartrip, who says, “TravelSafe is a curated offering from Cleartrip where customers can get all safety-related information in one place by simply entering their source and destination
airports. Information provided includes quarantine proto-cols, safety guidelines to be adhered to during travel, and details of cancellations and amendments. Additionally, we have videos and other content from regulators, airports and airlines aggregated in a snack-
able format that makes it easy for customers to comprehend all information quickly and helps give them more con-fidence in their travel plans.
The offering has received warm reception from our cus-tomers and we will continue to upgrade this with relevant content. Our Flexifly product insures customers against unforeseen contingencies, and this had strong traction even before the lockdown. We continue to see even greater adoption of this since May 2020, and are in the pro-cess of enhancing features to provide even more value to our customers.”
Talking of the shift in travel trends and consumer behav-iour, Agarwal shares data in terms of bookings and que-ries received by his company. “We have seen customers
place a greater emphasis on safety and flexibility, and we expect this to persist. Post lockdown, we initially saw a high degree of emergency travel as was demonstrated by more than 95 per cent of the trips being one way. Over time, the share of one-way trips has come down to around 75-80 per cent, indicating some amount of confidence coming back to travel. Easing of quarantine restrictions has also helped reduce anxiety in customers. We expect this trend to per-sist with increasing customer confidence in travel. In terms of major routes, in the initial months, the top routes were dominated by sectors from
major business centres like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru to destinations in the east and north such as Patna, Varanasi and Kolkata. However, in the last few weeks, we have seen this trend reversing with sec-tors from source destinations in east and north to major business centres dominating the top routes,” he says.
On working with the B2B community, Agarwal says that despite being predomi-nantly a B2C-focused OTA, Cleartrip offers near-similar consumer experience to the B2B business as well. “We also have a substantial cor-porate business with a loyal customer base. Last year we had launched ‘Cleartrip for Work’, which also saw strong traction. We will continue to engage this base with innova-tions,” he explains.
With a mission to make travel simple and flexible for its customers, Cleartrip has managed to rapidly pivot its product experience to meet changing needs of travellers, and has launched TravelSafe and Flexifly to address these needs. While the former offers a simple, comprehensive booking process, the latter insures customers against unforeseen contingencies.
Cleartrip now ‘insures’ a safe travel Manas Dwivedi
Aditya AgarwalHead of Corporate Strategy, Cleartrip
We have seen customers place emphasis
on safety and flexibility,
and we expect this trend to
persist
Losses continue, but recovery aroundFor the quarter ending June 2020, SpiceJet reported a net loss of `593.4 crore compared to a net profit of `261.7 crore in the same period last year. However, the airline recorded the industry’s highest domestic load factor of 66.4 per cent. Ajay Singh, Managing Director, SpiceJet, shares more details...
Operating revenue of SpiceJet during Q1 2021 was Rs514.7
crore as against Rs3,002.1 crore in the same quarter last year. For the same com-parative period, operating expenses were Rs1303.2 crore as against Rs2,887.2 crore. On an EBITDA basis, loss was Rs11 crore for the reported quarter as against profit of Rs747.5 crore for the corresponding quarter last year. On an EBITDAR basis, the profit was Rs13.5 crore for the reported quarter as against profit of Rs812.1 crore for the same quarter last year. The present operat-ing environment though, on
account of COVID-19, does not reflect the true compari-son of the current results with those of the corresponding quarter last year.
Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet, says, “This is the worst-ever crisis to hit the aviation sec-tor, but I am pleased that SpiceJet continues to inno-
vate and outperform the in-dustry. Flight operations were suspended for most part of the quarter and the partial resumption of flights initially and the weak demand there-after was a reminder of the significant problems that this pandemic has resulted in.”
“As expected, Team Spice-Jet showed remarkable resilience to deal with a crisis, once again. Our per-formance during the last six months clearly signifies our positive attitude and our ability to find opportunity in adversity. This has seen us quickly bounce back with industry-best load factors and emerge as India’s num-ber one cargo company. I
am confident that as more and more states ease travel restrictions and business activity gets back to normal, there will be significant im-provement in the operating environment for airlines, and
we are witnessing some early encouraging signs to-wards recovery. I expect our cargo business to continue to expand in the coming quarters. I am also encour-aged by the progress made in the re-entry of Boeing’s MAX aircraft into service,” he adds. In terms of opera-
tional parameters, SpiceJet had the best passenger load factor amongst all airlines in the country during the quar-ter. The average domestic load factor for the quarter was 66.4% and the airline maintained its market share of above 16% despie the impact of COVID-19.
Our performance in the last six
months clearly signifies our ability to find opportunity in
adversity
Ajay SinghChairman and MD, SpiceJet
IATA has called for the development and deployment of rapid, accurate, affordable, easy-to-operate, scalable and systematic COVID-19 testing for all passengers
before departure as an alternative to quarantine measures.
Manas Dwivedi
famILyaLBUm ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 TRAVTALK 23
Representatives of the Indian tourism fraternity conducted a peaceful drive-through campaign in various cities of India on September 27, in an attempt to bring to the public’s attention the plight of the Indian tourism industry today and appeal to the government for some relief. Members held placards and posters that appealed #SaveTourism.
‘On World Tourism Day in 2016, my initiative of taking specially-abled kids on tour was the most satisfying event till date for me,’ shares Vinod Zutshi, then Secretary at Ministry of Tourism. The sightseeing tour of monuments and museums was flagged off by then Minister of State for Culture & Tourism Mahesh Sharma, in New Delhi, sans face masks, of course.
World Tourism Day now...
World Tourism Day then...
assocIaTIoNTaLk
Constantly working with both Ministry of Tourism (MOT)
and Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on the way forward and for solving existing is-sues, Jyoti Mayal says that the meetings have helped eradicate some of the con-cerns and many airlines have even started giving refunds. “A lot of airlines are paying through the GDS. Another thing we are pursuing is ease of doing business, and that IATA should consider the agents as equal partners,” she shares.
Another issue that has been put forth by the Associa-tion is the non-acceptance of credit cards by airlines that is causing some concern.
“It has been cleared by the PAPJC and IATA, but we are still knocking on every air-line’s door. There should be a directive from the government for the same. There should be neutral capping of fares. Also, we are looking at remu-neration in a big way. As travel consultants, we should have a right to charge our fee, else our services can be treated as an MRP product so that we are protected. We should be allowed to charge
service fee like the hotels are charging 10% fee,” she suggests.
Mayal adds that another on-going process has been the creation of Special Tourism Zones (STZ) by MOT. “I ap-preciate that the government is considering it, because it’s the
need of the hour. The points we have asked them to con-sider include connectivity and trade opportunities, including rebates and reliefs. One impor-tant thing we have mentioned is to have single-window clearance. Also, it should be time-bound, sustainable and world-class,” she asserts.
GST and TCS have now been longstanding concerns of the industry. Mayal says that MoCA has asked all stakeholders to revert on GST. “Earlier, we did come to a decision, but it wasn’t formulated into a document. For TCS, we’ve had a meet-ing and we’ve also written individually as associations to the Finance Secretary. We are keeping our fingers crossed and just hope that our hard work pays off.
Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, has said that she is in constant touch with both MoCA and MOT for the resolution of some longstanding industry demands and pandemic-induced concerns, including creation of Special Tourism Zones (STZ).
TAAI for TCS withdrawal & STZ
Nisha Verma
For STZ, the points we
have asked them to
consider are connectivity and trade
opportunities
Jyoti Mayal President, TAAI
Son of legend-ary mountain climber and sol-
dier, Kumar joined Mer-cury Himalayan Explora-tions, established by his father, and one of India's largest adventure travel companies. He was the President of ATOAI for two terms and Vice Chairman of FAITH.
Remembering Kumar is his dear friend Vishwas Makhija, Founder, India Insight Tours, who says, “Akshay, in the true sense, was a pious and selfless soul and I picked that up right at the beginning of our association during our inter-actions in common meet-ings on adventure travel,
which began more than 20 years ago. I had come to realise over the years that in Akshay I had found a col-league, a friend and a broth-er. Akshay was one human being that no one could ever find a flaw in and this sentiment echoed in the ad-venture travel industry. He always stood by his values and ethics, and would stand his ground irrespective of who he was facing. No one could shake his resolve if he knew what he was doing was the right thing to do. Very few people in today’s time have embraced those values. Always willing to help, Akshay would encour-age youngsters who were stepping into the business of adventure travel. For him,
safety in adventure travel was always a priority, as he valued human life more than anything else.”
Another close friend, Rajesh Ojha, Co-founder,
Banjara Camps & Retreats, remembers Kumar with fond memories he shared with him and Makhija. “The three of us believed in doing things in a way that would, at large, benefit the adven-
ture travel industry. We conducted several adven-ture travel events together. Akshay was always the man with a flair for writing, penning his thoughts down with clarity. He was loved by people in various gov-ernment departments as well, mainly due to his self-less work ethic and hands-down approach. During his two terms as ATOAI Presi-dent, considerable ground was covered in raising the bar of adventure travel both domestically and globally,” Ojha shares.
A devoted father and hus-band, no would could be-tween him and his daughter Saira from 18:30 hours till 21:00 hours, every single
day. That was his time with her. Kumar was also a die-hard Punjabi foodie and a perfectionist when it came to the quality and taste of food.
“The last few months brought the three of us even closer together, as we cre-ated a social bubble between us. We started cycling to-gether sometime in April, and got hooked onto it. Gradually, some other friends joined us in our morning rides in Delhi and Gurugram, and before we realised it, we had our own cycling bubble going,” Ojha reminisces.
We offer our deepest con-dolences to his parents, his wife and his daughter, and wish them courage.
A passionate skier, trekker and rafting guide, Akshay Kumar, immediate past president ATOAI and CEO, Mercury Himalayan Explorations, was one of the biggest names in the adventure travel world. Today, the industry mourns his passing away, sharing fond memories of times spent with their dear, dear friend and colleague.
Remembering Akshay Kumar
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Date Event Time
october 2020
1 PATA Membership Benefit Webinar 1:30 pm
3 ETAA The Comeback (New Delhi) 3:30 pm
3 IATO Interactive Members Meet 4:00 pm
5-6 SATTE GenX 11:00 am
7 IATO Webinar with Shiv Khera 11:30 am
8 PATA Destination Webinar on Maldives 1:30 pm
12-14 PITE- Virtual 6:30 am
14 Travel Business Azerbaijan Online 6:30 am
16 IATO Interactive Members Meet 4:00 pm
21-23 ITB Asia Virtual 9:30 am
21-23 MICE Show Asia 7:00 am
21-23 Travel Tech Asia Virtual 7:00 am
30 IATO Interactive Members Meet 4:00 pm
30-31 13th Convention India Conlave TBA
26 TRAVTALK ocTobeR 1 sT FoRTnighT issue 2020 movEmENTsHOTEL & RESTAuRAnT ASSOCIATIOn OF WESTERn InDIA (HRAWI)MumbaiSherry Bhatia, Managing Director of Golden Swan Group, has
been elected as the President of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western
India (HRAWI) for the new term. Prior to becoming the President, he served as the Association’s Senior Vice President and
has been an active member for over 20 years. Over the years, Bhatia
has helped implement several reforms in HRAWI.
THE InTERnATIOnAL ECOTOuRISM SOCIETY MaharashtraThe International Ecotourism Society (TIES) has appointed
A. Rahim Aslam as Chapter Head for Maharashtra for a duration of two years, while also further
appointing him as the sole authority of The International Ecotourism Society within the district. A known name in the
tourism industry, Aslam is the Founder and Advisor for One Above. While being
in business he also serves the industry through various tourism-based
organisations.
VFS GLOBALSouth AsiaVFS Global has announced changes in their South Asia operations leadership team with the appointment of Pranav
Sinha as Head - South Asia, VFS Global. In this role, Sinha will now be responsible
for overall business operations in South Asia with an emphasis on ensuring the highest customer service standards as well as managing client relationships. He reports to Vinay Malhotra, Regional
Group COO, and will be based in New Delhi, India.
UNWTO’s theme ‘Tourism and Rural Development’ for this World Tourism Day brings to focus the need for destinations to distribute tourism outside big cities to provide opportunities to its rural areas. We bring to you six countries that have already been doing this successfully.
Time to promote rural experiences
united KingdomIn many ways, the countryside is the soul of true England in visitors’ eyes. VisitEngland launched a campaign in 2013 designed to boost domestic tourism by promoting short breaks in some of England’s most beautiful rural locations. It focuses on what England has to offer – from picturesque villages and inspiring landscapes, to historic market towns and cosy country pubs.
MexicoThe Programa Pueblos Mágicos ‘Magical Towns Programme’ is an initiative launched in 2001 to promote a series of towns around the country that offer special experiences because of their natural beauty, cultural richness, traditions, folklore, historical relevance, cuisine, art and crafts, and hospitality. Every town offers a special experience. As of 2019, there were 121 Pueblos Magicos.
IndonesiaRural tourism is one of the prominent programmes for Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture & Tourism. Since 2011, the programme has been integrated into the national agenda for empowering community-based tourism. It identified possibilities of many villages in District of Ponorogo, particularly Margo Utomo in East Java, which offers activities like plantation visits and jungle treks.
SAROVAR HOTELSnew DelhiShatabdi Dutta has been appointed as the new General Manager – Marketing at Sarovar Hotels and Resorts. The move is in line with the company’s effort to strengthen its marketing department and bring an urgently needed edge for the brand. In the new role, Dutta will be responsible for database – quality, quantity and targeting; digital thrust - search engine optimisation, campaigns, lead generation, viral content reach, alliances, partner programmes, etc.
MOuRYA LORDS InnKurnoolLords Hotels and Resorts has appointed Vijayendra nath as the Operations Manager of Mourya Lords Inn at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. He comes with a rich experience of over 32 years in operations, specialising in front office and revenue management with the Oberoi and Trident groups to mention a few. His last assignment was with Daiwik Hotel, Shirdi - Maharashtra as Operations Manager. In his new role, Nath will ensure the hotel continues to make a mark for itself.
THE LEELA PALACES, HOTELS AnD RESORTSnew DelhiThe Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts has appointed Anupriya Ghosh as Senior Director Revenue Strategy. Ghosh brings with her over a decade of focused Revenue Management Strategy experience. Prior to joining to The Leela, she has worked with brands like Taj Hotels, Starwood Hotels and Marriott International in India. In her new role, Ghosh will be responsible for building and driving the overall revenue management strategy for the brand.
ThailandRecognising a growing interest for immersive experiences, the Thai Ministry of Tourism & Sports joined forces with the Ministry of Agriculture to promote agro-tourism. The collaboration started some years ago, in 2015, with four pilot destinations. Today, there are at least seven such agro-tourism projects across the country.
IndiaThe Ministry of Tourism has been doing a lot under its Swadesh Darshan Scheme. In 2018, it introduced three thematic cruises as part of the Malanad Malabar Cruise Tourism Project in Kerala. It has also started developing villages based on their USPs like local art and craft, eco-tourism, spiritual life, heritage, folk dance, tribal culture, etc.
FranceRural mayors of French villages have signed an agreement with property rental website Airbnb to develop tourism in the French countryside. Some 17,000 smaller communes in France with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants had at least one property advertised on the rental website by 2018. As a result, at least 10 communes that had no hotels welcomed 2,270 visitors that year.
Postal Reg. No.: DL(ND)-11/6044/2018-19-20; WPP No.: U(C)-178/2018-20 for posting on 1st-2nd and 16th-17th of the same month at NDHO, New Delhi - 110001, RNI No.: 53492/1991 Date of Publication: 30-09-2020
For Accor, the strat-egy in India re-mains unchanged,
claims Puneet Dhawan. He says that it continues to be based on three core pil-lars - focus, simplify and expand - and that all three pillars serve the purpose of bringing the guest closer, anchoring the system on the strengths of location and driving system-wide efficien-cies with the operating struc-ture. “This approach makes us agile and nimble, and helps us serve our guests better while providing great value to our hotel owner part-ners,” he says.
Having joined at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc everywhere, Dhawan says that for him and for Accor, dealing with it required them to be agile and proactive on the ground. “The most important thing was to provide a safe environment to our employees who we call ‘Heartist’, which means delivering the art of hospital-ity through the heart and of-fering a safe environment to
guests,” he says. Now, with hotels opening up, Dhawan believes that it’s time for the industry to show solidar-ity and work together to instil the confidence to travel in prospective guests, ensur-ing them of safety when they take a leisure trip and stay in a hotel.
M!CE in a pandemicWhen asked about how Ac-cor is tapping the M!CE and weddings market, Dhawan says, “We have got 20 No-votel properties across India. Since there is a restriction of having only 100 guests for a wedding, we have come up
with an idea to allow rela-tives to be part of a wedding through any sort of virtual platform and enjoy a similar food experience through a Novotel in their city, just as their relatives would enjoy at the actual wedding venue at a Novotel.”
He adds that a huge market for small weddings is now
being seen with their ibis brand. In fact, even Pull-man New Delhi Aerocity has created a permanent event setup, a model that Accor will replicate at some of its other properties. Dhawan elaborates, “We are partner-ing with key organisers in various cities. Pullman New Delhi Aerocity took the lead, and in Hyderabad as well, we are looking at new ideas and concepts with Novotel Hyderabad Convention Cen-tre and Novotel Hyderabad Airport, where we have expansive indoor and out-door spaces.”
Getting to the agentAccor has been in touch with its travel agent part-ners. Dhawan says, “While we are working closely with our OTA and travel agency partners, we are also reaching out to travel agents in secondary cities and smaller towns, to work with them. In fact, in
partnership with Vistara, we took our key clients, both from the travel trade and the corporates, to various cities to stay in our hotels. We recently announced a strategic partnership with IndiGo and 6E Rewards, wherein we are the exclusive hotel partner for the 6E Re-wards programme.”
The French group has a huge luxury portfolio that it is look-ing to expand. On October 1, Accor is expected to launch a new campaign 'For the love of Travel, for the love of Now' to stimulate domestic market.
Puneet Dhawan, the newly-appointed Senior VP – Operations at Accor for India & South Asia, has huge plans for the market, but believes it is imperative to first deal with the crisis and focus on domestic guests.
Nisha Verma
Accor charms domestic guests
We are also reaching out to travel agents in
secondary cities and
smaller towns, to work
with them
While the long-awaited Raffles Udaipur will be introduced early next year, Novotel Chandigarh will be part of the network soon, as will the 20th ibis in India, to be launched in Mumbai mid-2021.
upcoming properties
Puneet DhawanSenior VP – Operations Accor - India & South Asia
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