TravTalk February 2nd Issuu

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` 50/-A DDP PUBLICATIONVol. XXVI No. 4; February 2ND fortnight issue 2014 Pages: 28 (Excluding covers) + 4 Pages Supplement

FINAL_TT February-2nd-2014:TT Layout 2/18/2014 3:38 PM Page 1


In a bid to bolster visa liberalisation policies, theGovernment of India has now

extended Visa-on-Arrival (VoA) and Electronic TravelAuthorisation (ETA) facilities to180 countries around the world.This news comes as a massiverelief to the industry as theMinistry of Tourism (MOT) hasbeen pushing for visa liberalisa-tion policies for a long time now.Following news reports of VoAbeing extended to 40 countries,Parvez Dewan, Secretary,

MOT, had said, “Why just 40, wewould like to extend this facilityto all countries.”

Talking exclusively to, Planning Minister Rajeev

Shukla said that by September

this facility will extend to all the 26 Indian internationalairports, making it the right time for the airports to receivetourists during the peak seasonstarting October. Shukla said,“Yes, VoA and ETA are beingextended to 180 countries for aperiod of 30 days from theirentry in the country. Touristsneed to log on to theImmigration Bureau’s websiteand pay the required fees. Theywill get a confirmation within 3days, after which they canboard their flight and get a visaafter debarking.”

Talking about their expectation from FTAs in thecountry following the VoA move, he said, “We are not talking in terms of figures, butyes, we want the whole quantum to be augmented.Also, we want tourism earningsto go up to US$ 50 billion, and accordingly, we are stepping up our efforts.”

The 8 countries that havebeen exempted from this facilityinclude Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq,Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Sudan.

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FEBRUARY 2ND FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2014 TRAVTALK 1

NewsBulletinDDA to raise FAR by up to 66%

See full story on page 3

New GT circuits inHaryana


Air Asia, GoAir to start flights from Odisha


With the Kerala govern-ment announcingmajor tax conces-

sions for the state tourismindustry in the state budget

2014, ‘God’s Own Country’ ispoised to become a ‘round-the-year destination’ for travellersand an important centre forinternational conferences. Themajor announcement includesa reduction in luxury tax to five

per cent on hotels from June toAugust to promote off-seasontourism. The step is expectedto help reduce tariff in hotelsand resorts in the state’s majorbackwater and hill destinations.According to AP Anilkumar,

Tourism Minister, Kerala, thetax concessions announced in the budget will give a new fillip to the tourism industry in Kerala.

Industry leaders feel the concessions in the budget – 5% cut in luxury tax on hotels during the off-season, promoting MICE tourism and allocation of `206.65 crore for development will go a long way in promoting Kerala.

Kerala slashes off-season taxes

ME G H A PAU L

AP Anilkumar Tourism Minister, Kerala

Contd. on page 6

In an interview with , Rajeev Shukla, Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairssaid that Visa-on-Arrival facility will be available at 26 Indian international airports by September.

VoA for 180 countries by OctoberPEDEN DOMA BHUTIA

Rajeev ShuklaMinister of State for Planning andParliamentary Affairs

Parvez DewanSecretaryMinistry of Tourism

Dewan: TapGermany & Chinamarkets




In a recent development, theDelhi Development Authority

(DDA) has decided to increasethe cap on total floor area forhotels by up to 66 per cent.According to DDA, theAuthority will increase the FloorArea Ratio (FAR) or FloorSpace Index (FSI) — the ratioof the total floor area of a build-ing to the size of the plot onwhich it is built — to 3.75 forhotels outside the Lutyenszone that stand on roads withmore than 30-metre width, upfrom existing FAR of 2.25. Thismeans the gross floor areaacross different floors of sucha hotel can be 3.75 times thesize of the plot. In the case ofhotels next to roads with widthof under 30 mt, again outsidethe Lutyens zone, FAR is beingraised to 3.25, up 44 per cent.While some hotels like theLeela Palace in Chanakyapuriwill benefit from the move,industry experts say mostother hotels might not becausethe ground coverage has notincreased, and older buildings

may not be able to supportextra floors.

Only some hotels willbenefit from the move but other hotels might not

because the ground coveragehas not increased.

Talking about the devel-opment, SM Shervani,President, FHRAI, said,

“Hotels will have to examinewhether vertical expansion ispossible given the strength of their buildings as groundcoverage has not been

While some hotels like the Leela Palace in Chanakyapuri will benefit fromthe move, industry experts say most other hotels might not because theground coverage has not increased, and older buildings may not be ableto support extra floors. reports on Floor Area Ratio (FAR).

NEWS

DDA to raise FAR by up to 66%

ME G H A PAU L

We will definitely find thebest possibleusage to renderthe move asmost marketable

Without extragroundcoverage, it will be difficult to utilisethis additionalFAR

Hotels will haveto examinewhether verticalexpansion ispossible giventhe strength oftheir buildings

SM ShervaniPresidentFHRAI

Sushil GuptaCMDAsian Hotels

Rajiv KaulPresidentThe Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts

Contd. on page 12


NEWS

VIEWPOINT

MOT has been pushing for visa-on-arrival formaximum number of countries to increase

tourism into India, and the recent sanction fromthe Home Ministry has been heartily welcomed.On being asked why we would give the visa-on-arrival facility to countries that don’t reciprocate,Rajiv Shukla, Planning Minister, GOI, has said very correctly that we need them more than they need us.

If the government can match improvedinfrastructure, safety for women, and securitythen India is on its way to becoming one of themost preferred tourist destinations. MOT’s‘Clean India’ campaign to sensitise all sectionsof society on the importance of cleanliness andhygiene at monuments and tourist destinationsis being pushed through by the Ministry withpersuasion, education, training, and by involvingprivate and public stakeholders as a part of theirCSR activities.

The airports will need to be well-equippedto deal with the increased number of touristsexpected under this category. The advantagewill be totally hampered if people have to waitfor hours in queue. The eight months to October(the start of high season), when the VoA andelectronic applications become a reality, shouldbe enough time to move systems into place forthis. We do have the experience of VoA for 11countries already.

There is a sudden excitement in the industry.International airlines are increasing their flightsand the number of destinations they fly to inIndia. Hotels should speed up their unfinishedprojects and states need to market their touristcities and festivals internationally to exploit thesituation to its fullest. MOT takes part in manytravel marts around the world, giving theindustry an affordable option to promote theirproducts. Tour operators, DMCs and OTAs needto now take maximum advantage of thisopportunity.

Increase in tourism, both leisure andbusiness, will not only benefit the industry butalso help in increased employment and boostearnings for the country – not only throughmetro cities but also by sustaining small townsthat hold the fascination for tourists.

Catapulting Tourismwith VoA

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Reactions from the industry regarding the India Budget-2014 can be termedas ‘lukewarm’ at best. Despite these hopes, many choose to stick to oldneeds like getting ‘industry status’.

Examining Pre-Budget hopes...

Outbound tourism in India is grow-ing, while the rise in inbound hasnot been the way we wanted it tobe. I would request the CentralGovernment to recognise thetourism sector and make sure thatthe Budget helps to improve theinfrastructure. Also, the taxesshould be removed. There shouldbe exemption of entry tax fortourists. The entry fees at various

monuments and places of interest should also be reasonable.

Iqbal MullaPresident, TAAI

We want tour operators to getexemption from service tax. Also,because we are the foreign-exchange earners for the countryand we help to create jobs; we wantthe government to give us funds atreduced rates to upgrade IT facili-ties and other such measures. Wewant a tax break, if any of the touroperators invest in infrastructuredevelopment. Also luxury tax

should be reduced and there should be uniformity of taxbetween the Centre and state.

We wish to see the service taxissue being solved. As this isElection year, there will be nothingnew to look forward to in this budg-et. However, we would still hopethe multiple taxation system istackled. A clarity in taxation and asingle-window system is the needof the hour.

Subhash GoyalPresident, IATO

Praveen ChughVice President, TAFI

FHRAI president welcomes measures to liberalise visa norms

“On behalf of FHRAI, I applaud the historic steps announced by the Central Government to modernize India's tourist visa regime. Electronic Travel Authorisation will offer multiple advantages of speed, efficiency, convenience andflexibility, while minimsing security related risks. A seamless and differentiated visa mechanism to encourage and facilitate foreign tourist travel is imperative to position India as an attractive and welcoming destination and enhance theglobal competitiveness of our tourism sector.

We extend our full support to the Home Ministry and other Government agencies to ensure that the requisite infrastructure is expeditiously put in place, so that this initiative can be operationalised well before the onset of peak tourist season this year.”

SM ShervaniPresidentFHRAI

There are two fundamental issues that we need to take up:

1) Service Tax on rooms and food: With luxury tax already being charged for rooms, how can servicetax also be charged to the guests? Today, because of these taxes, our room rates are higher than thoseof SE Asia. We are, as an industry, paying the Highest Taxes on F&B in India, compared to any other countryin the world. With such taxes, I do not see the industry giving any growth to the exchequer.

2) Although infrastructure for hotels over 100 cr investment has been approved by the RBI, I fail to seehow a hotel that chooses to spend less than ̀ 100 crore is not Infrastructure! This anomaly must be correctedand the benefits offered to the big hotels should also given to the smaller players in the industry.

Bharat MalkaniExecutive Committee Member, FHRAI

There is no point in making a wish-list for domestic tourism. Until thetaxation process is streamlined, noincentives will work. Also, as this isthe election year, we are expectingno game-changers. Because thereis tremendous potential in the seg-ment, domestic tourism will growwith or without any incentives.

Mukesh JaggaInterim President, ADTOI


F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4 TRAVTALK 5MOT

No visa for Maldivians onmedical tourism

Maldives has been givena major visa liberalisationmeasure. Maldivians can cometo India for 90 days for medicaltourism without a visa. It isimportant to note that this is afacility that India has given onlyto Nepal or Bhutan so far. This is a major initiative by the Minister for Tourism, K Chiranjeevi. This move will help South India, as thehospitals of Bengaluru,Hyderabad and Chennai willbenefit the most from this, andso will the Ayurveda facility atThiruvananthapuram.

Focus on Germany andChina

While we are delightedabout our relationships withUSA and Britain, there are twomarkets that we have not paidattention to. Germany hasbeen the No 1 market for theworld, but for us, it is No. 4. Weshould be making efforts to getmore German tourists to ourcountry. The other market isChina. We are training Chineseguides at the rate of 200 ayear. I encourage everyonehere to get your employeestrained for the Chinese market,he said. The other market thatshould go up is the Australianmarket. Thanks to Air India’sefforts, we now have directconnectivity.

Aviation sector flying highThe number of interna-

tional airports has also goneup. Three domestic airportshave now been made intointernational airports, includingImphal which is a long-stand-ing demand of the industry.Soon we will be getting a newlow-cost carrier, Dewan said.

MOT state initiativesA festival of South India

is coming up in partnershipwith private sector. TheMinistry of Tourism (MOT) has committed to five south

Indian states, includingPuducherry, that we will sup-port the Festival of SouthIndia, he said. However, weare concerned about the off-season i.e. mid May-midSeptember. The first of thisinitiative is 777 Days of TheIndian Himalayas. Also, thetourism minister has

announced 50 per cent sub-sidy on the climbing fee and itbecame a reality in January2014. Another initiative isplanning a Buddhist circuitcampaign for the off seasonas we are sitting on a majortourist destination –Bodhgaya - the mecca of theBuddhist world.

We also have aNortheast initiative in which weare promoting the 7 northeast-ern states and Sikkim andDarjeeling as the off-seasondestinations, he concluded.

The secretary wasaddressing the audience atSATTE 2014.

Talking about the Government’s initiatives, Parvez Dewan, Secretary, MOT, saidall efforts should be made to tap China and Germany markets for inbound arrivals.

2014: Year of hard implementationsPE D E N DO M A BH U T I A

I feel that 2013 has been the year of decisions, 2014 the year of hardimplementations and 2015will be the year we willbe benefitting from this

Parvez DewanSecretary

Ministry of Tourism

� Three domestic airportshave now been made intointernational airports,including Imphal which is along-standing demand ofthe industry

Highlights


The government hasalso reduced luxury tax onconvention centres and audi-toriums with a daily rentexceeding `20,000 to 10 percent from the existing 20 percent, in a bid to promote MICEtourism, a niche category forfacilitating national and inter-national conferences, conven-tions and seminars. Otherannouncements for thetourism industry relate to sub-stantial increase in allocationfor marketing destinations andimplementing special tourismprojects. Suman Billa,Secretary, Kerala Tourism,said, “Kerala has always beena destination for travel through-out the year. By reducing lux-ury tax on hotels and resortsduring June-August, the gov-ernment is helping the statetourism sector to promotemonsoon travel.” The luxury taxcut for convention centres andauditoriums is expected todirectly help MICE tourism inKerala. The reason quoted bymany companies for not com-ing to Kerala for organisinginternational conference, seminars and conventions was the high tax. Now with the

lowering of taxes, the state willattract more MICE travellersand companies from abroad,he affirmed.

“High taxation in seg-ments like MICE and hotels

has been a major bottleneck inthe growth of the tourism. Therecession in Europe, competi-tion in traditional markets andfrom Sri Lanka and a host ofother factors have hit touristarrivals in the state. Thus, we

welcome the government’sdecision for the sector andtheir decision to reduce luxurytax on hotels and conventionfacilities,” EM Najeeb,Chairman-Kerala Chapter,IATO, informed.

According to JoseDominic, MD & CEO, CGHEarth, Kerala’s success isfocussed on three key princi-ples - sustainable, inclusiveand local. The state hasdemonstrated how tourism can

be a catalyst for communityparticipation, empowerment,inclusive development andecological preservation.“Developing destinations suchas Kovalam, Kumarakom,Thekkady, Fort Kochi, Munnar,Wayanad and Vagamon andrural tourism in Idukki areproactive steps,” he added.

As per Saji Joseph, GM,Le Meridien Kochi, this is gen-erally the leisure off seasonperiod and any value additiongiven to the domestic cus-tomers will only encouragemore visits and generate thevisibility and viability of thedestination. He added, “This isimportant for Kerala as allthese MICE events generateextension of holidays to all thedestinations in the state andcreate an overall developmentfor all stakeholders.”

High taxationin segmentslike MICEand hotelshas been amajorbottleneck

By reducingtax, the stategovernmentis helping thesector in abig way

Suman BillaSecretaryKerala Tourism

EM NajeebChairman-Kerala ChapterIATO

State’s blessing for ‘God’s Own Country’Contd. from page 1

MICE eventsgenerateoveralldevelopmentfor all stake-holders

Developingdestinationsand promotingrural tourismprojects areproactive steps

Jose DominicMD & CEOCGH Earth

Saji JosephGeneral Manager Le Meridien Kochi

COVER STORY6 TRAVTALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

� 5% reduction in luxury taxon hotels for three months

� `50 crore for prime touristdestinations

The Tourism Breather

Under the concept of CircuitTourism introduced by the

Ministry of Tourism, theHaryana Tourism Departmenthas identified a Rural Tourismcluster to be developed in theBrij area of Palwal district. Thegovernment will develop newGT circuits from Panchkula toMahendergarh for whichexpenses will be borne by theMinistry of Tourism,Government of India. This wasrevealed by Vijai Vardhan,Principal Secretary, HaryanaTourism and Vice-Chairman,Surajkund Mela Authority.

The circuits alreadydeveloped under the schemeare Panipat-Kurukshetra-Pinjore Circuit (Phase-1);Panipat-Kurukshetra-Pinjorecircuit (Phase 2); andYamunanagar-Panchkula-Paonta Sahib as a megatourism circuit. Under theCircuit Tourism concept, intro-duced by the Ministry, develop-ment of infrastructure, upgra-dation, beautification andrestoration of old monuments

and places of historical andcultural importance are takenup for integrated developmentand financed by the Centre.

Vardhan was speaking on thesidelines of the 28th SurajkundInternational Crafts Mela.

Talking about the evolu-tion of Surajkund Crafts Melaas a Haryana Tourism product,Vardhan added, “For the firsttime, 10 per cent rebate will begiven for online booking for thefairs. In 1989, the Mela had afootfall of 1.75 lakh, while 2010saw 7.54 lakh visitors in theMela. 2011 saw a 20 per centincrease in the number of vis-itors with 1,42,000 footfalls,creating a record.”

According to Vardhan,the department is expandingbanqueting and conferencingfacilities and several hotelmanagements, catering insti-tutes and amusement parksare also being set up. “TheCorporation had previouslycommissioned convention cen-tres at Surajkund, Faridabadand at Tilyar Lake, Rohtak. Aconvention hall of 1000-personcapacity is now being constructed at Red BishopTourist Complex, Panchkula,”he stated.

The government will develop new Golden Triangle (GT)circuits from Panchkula to Mahendergarh; for whichexpenses will be borne by the MOT, Govt of India.

New circuits in Haryana

ME G H A PAU L

The 2013edition ofSurajkund Melahad createdhistory with thehighest footfallsrecorded on asingle day at1,42,000

Vijai Vardhan Principal Secretary, Haryana Tourism and Vice-Chairman, Surajkund Mela Authority


The MTDC’s new alliancewill create new tourism

products and packages, whilealso promoting its travel tradepartners. The alliance will haveplayers from restaurants,resorts, hotels, tour operators,transport operators and air-

lines among others. Under thisinitiative, MTDC will be thenodal agency and will jointlyhelp design new tourism prod-ucts and packages. Thealliance will become a realitysoon as the state tourismauthority signs the MoUs withthe members.

Jagdish Patil, ManagingDirector, MTDC said, “Weinvited the stakeholders fromacross sectors; and after hold-ing two rounds of meetings,we have prepared the MoU.We will start signing it soon.Hospitality players like Oberoiand Marriott have alreadybecome a part of the alliance.

Informing about the criteria ofselection, Patil said that themembers have been selectedon the basis of pre-decidedparameters. The players havebeen chosen on a first-come,first-serve basis. “From each sector, we will have three to four partners and wehave reached that number for

this year. We will go onexpanding it during the nextyear,” he added.

MTDC has been activelyrolling out new tourism projectsin order to promote statesoffering while easing out theclearance process for keytourism players. One of the

major breakthroughs in thisdirection is digitalisation of the clearance process. Last year, the state tourismauthority, along withDepartment of Tourism andDepartment of UrbanDevelopment, have appointedAccenture ManagementConsulting (AMC) to review

rules and regulations, licences, permits and the appli-cation procedures pertainingto the hospitality industry.MTDC has recentlyannounced to offer packagedtours in association withDadasaheb Phalke ChitraNagri (Filmcity - Goregaon),starting February 8, 2014.

F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4 TRAVTALK 7STATES

In a bid to jointly promote tourism in the state, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) hasforged a ‘Diamond Alliance’ with key players in the travel trade and hospitality sectors.

MTDC’s Diamond Alliance for tourism

Accor strongon Sofitel

Contrary to a newspaperreport about Accor’s divest-ment in its Sofitel Mumbaiproperty, Accor has said that

it is not in talks with anyoneto sell its stake in SofitelMumbai BKC. The hotel hasseen significant improvementin its operating performancesince its opening in 2012.According to Jean-MichelCasse, Sr VP Operations,India, the group sees a steadyincrease in operating revenueand remains confident in thefuture of the hotel.

SAU M YA TE WA R I

From eachsector, we will have threeto four partnersand we havereached thatnumber for this year

Jagdish PatilManaging DirectorMTDC


Garhwal Mandal VikasNigam has signed an

MoU with 14 hotels for TheInternational Yoga Festival(IYF), and these hotels will bethe accommodation partners

for the festival. Talking aboutthe expected turn-out, RRajesh Kumar, MD, GMVNand Chairman of the festival,said, “This year, we are target-ting 500 international andabout 2,000 domestic touristsfor the festival.”

HD Pandey, OSD, IYF,said that last year, the festivalreceived 315 registeredtourists, out of which 50 wereforeign tourists and 260 weredomestic. “After which, the fes-tival was opened for the localsin Rishikesh,” he said.

CM Bhandari, Advisor,IYF, said that the festival hasbeen organised to attractinternational attention and topopularise Rishikesh as adestination for wellness andyoga. He added, “Most peopletoday suffer from some dis-

ease or the other, it maybehypertension, diabetes, orother lifestyle-related prob-lems in India. In the West,emotional issues alone are somany that they just want somerelaxation. That is why there isa huge scope for yoga, espe-cially in Uttarakhand.”

The festival will be held atThe Hotel Ganga ResortRishikesh, right next to thebank of the Ganges. Classeswill be held indoors, as well asoutdoors.

What The festival OffersThree hotel properties of

GMVN offer a range of accom-modation from dormitories toAC rooms. Schedule on theinaugural day includes Yog Yatraon bicycle, and a Rudra ShantiMaha Yajna, Ganga aarti andcultural programmes.

The International Yoga Festival, an initiative of theTourism Department of Uttarakhand (UTDB), is beingorganised along with the Garhwal Mandal VikasNigam(GMVN). The festival will be held in Rishikeshfrom March 1-7, 2014.

NEWS

U’khand for yoga tourism

KA N C H A N NAT H

This year, we are targetting 500international and about 2,000domestic tourists for the festival.

R Rajesh Kumar, MD, GMVN & Festival Chairman

Wang Xuefeng, ChineseConsul General in

Kolkata, Zhou Zengrong,General Manager of ChinaEastern, Delhi Office, and JP

Shaw, Regional Director (East)of India Tourism, SL Soni,Chairman of IATO WesternBengal Chapter, as well assome local tour operators werepresent at the event. The magic performance, publicgames and China tourismknowledge competition attract-

ed enormous footfalls duringthe Inauguration Ceremony,and the following two-day public promotion of China Tourism organised bythe China National Tourist Office, New Delhi.

For the year 2014, thecampaign of ‘Beautiful China’will continue in the Indianmarket, targetting not onlythe Tier-I cities, but also theTier II and III tourists-gener-ating cities in India.According to the statisticsreleased by China National

Tourism Administration(CNTA) during 2013, thenumber of Indian arrivals tothe mainland China reachedabout 6.77 lakh, which wasan increase of 10.9% overthe year 2012. Plus, 2014 -

Year of Smart Travel - is des-ignated by CNTA to promotethe optimal combination of information technology and tourism industry including travel productsdesign, travel service upgra-dation and tourism marketdevelopments.

The Inauguration Ceremony of Beautiful China, 2014 – Year of Smart Travel was held at South City Mall, Kolkata, recently.

China rises in the east

TT BU R E AU

Inauguration ceremony for China Tourism promotion at the South City Mall, Kolkata, recently


Succeeding Axel Hilgers,who served as

Lufthansa’s Director, Indiasince 2008; Will moves toIndia from Mexico City wherehe was Director, Mexico andCentral America.

On the occasion, Willsaid, “We expect to continueour success and growth in theIndian market and will continueto invest and improve our prod-ucts and services.” ThankingAxel Hilgers for his commit-ment in his tenure in India,Steffen Harbarth, Vice

President Asia & Pacific,Lufthansa said, “Despite chal-lenges, we have introducednew products and services andit was the first market in Asia toreceive our new BusinessClass in the B747-800.”

The airline is clearlyfocussing on reliability and pro-viding quality products andservices, than just witnessinghigher growth rates. Harbarthadded, “India is now our focusand we know we will work hardtoday to secure our success inthe future.”

Will further added, “I amcoming to a country 10 timesbigger than where I had been,and it’s a challenge and com-mitment to maintain the air-line's position in this market.There is a lot of work to dosince we are in a very compet-itive market.”

Regarding the A380,Harbarth said, “We have the

A380 on our list for India since years and we were oneof the carriers wanting accessto A380 operations into thecountry. We are happy that we can operate the aircraftnow, however, we are still inthe process of evaluating asto where and when we can

deploy it.” When questionedabout the high ATF costs and airport fees, Hilgersadded that the airline hasbeen facing the increases atthe new terminals since thepast one and a half years, andobviously it is hampering theprofitability of the routes. “If an

airport like Terminal 3 in Delhi is increasing the airport fees by over 340 per cent, it will decrease your profit margin. We consid-er this increase too high and not justified, which made us take the issue to thecourts.”

In an interview with , Wolfgang Will, the new Director of LufthansaPassenger Airlines for South Asia, talks about the airline’s future strategies.

Lufthansa’s focussed approach to IndiaRAMYA JS D’ROZARIO

India is one of the mostimportantintercontinentalmarkets forLufthansa

Wolfgang Will Director, Lufthansa Passenger Airlines for South Asia

Bidding farewellAxel HilgersI had a lovely time in India. It was reallyintense for business and also very pleasantpersonally. I travelled a lot in India and Iloved the last 5½ years here. India grewtremendously in aviation. Also, the domesticand international sides have increased inboth capacity and frequency. My next posi-tion is in France. It is a difficult mission, where I have to restructurethe team in France to downsize the organisation and make it moreeconomical for us and bring in modern features into French airports.

Axel HilgersFormer Director, South Asia, Lufthansa

AVIATION F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4 TRAVTALK 9




The first-of-its-kind servicebeing offered by an airline,

Emirates passengers canapply for visas to 10 destina-tions, namely – the UK, USA,Canada, Switzerland, France,Germany, Italy, theNetherlands, Nigeria andSouth Africa. With VOTW, pas-sengers will not have to physi-cally visit a visa office to collecttheir application forms or checktheir documentation.

“Emirates has alwaysbeen committed to improvingthe convenience of its passen-gers by providing best-in-classservices both on ground and

on board. VOTW is another ini-tiative to make it even easier forIndian passport holders to con-

nect with friends, family andbusiness contacts in 10 keyglobal travel destinations,” said

Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Vice-President India and Nepal,Emirates. “We are happy topartner with VOTW to offer aunique service that will assistmany Indian customers to trav-el abroad with increased ease.”“VOTW will be providingtrained personnel to ensure that the service offeredis of high standard thatEmirates’ passengers are usedto,” said Vishal Suri, CEO,Visas of the World.

The VOTW service willbe initially offered from all 10 ofEmirates’ Indian gateways(Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai,Kolkata, Ahmedabad,Bengaluru, Kochi, Kozhikode,Hyderabad andThiruvananthapuram).

In addition, the VOTWservice will be available in sixcities where Emirates does notoperate direct flights - Baroda,Pune, Goa, Jaipur, Lucknowand Mangalore.

In partnership with Visas of the World (VOTW), Emirates recently launcheda new customer initiative in India, where Emirates’ customers can nowdirectly arrange their visas online for 10 international destinations.

Emirates’ visa service for Indians

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We will ensurethat theservices are ofthe standardthat Emirates’passengersare used to

Emirates hasalways beencommitted toimprovingconvenienceof itspassengers

Essa Sulaiman AhmadVice-President India and NepalEmirates

Vishal SuriCEOVisas of the World

AVIATION1 2 TRAVTALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

� With VOTW, passengerswill not have to physicallyvisit a visa office to collecttheir application forms orcheck their documentation

Fast Fact

University tours for studentsThe University Tours

have been launched byThomas Cook India inassociation with The RedPen College Tours, USAand is aimed at helpingIndian students betterunderstand and shortlistsuitable colleges for theirstudies. The company islooking at tapping the

large Indian student mar-ket with this initiative.Thomas Cook India’s‘Travel & Learn’ productteam created specialisedUniversity Tours (for US).The University Tourswill provide a glimpse

into university life experiences with visits to US colleges.

increased. DDA hadincreased the FAR for hotelsfrom 1.5 to 2.25 in 2008 tohelp increase the number ofrooms in the city for theCommonwealth Games but atthat time it had also allowed10 per cent more ground cov-erage because of which somehotels had added rooms.”

Hotels in Delhi’s LutyensBungalow Zone like the TajMahal, Shangri La, LeMeridien, The Oberoi, TajPalace, ITC Maurya andClaridges will not profit fromthe new rule because of her-itage laws. Even hotels being

built near the airport in thenew hospitality district will notbenefit because of heightrestriction. According toSushil Gupta, Chairman andManaging Director of AsianHotels, which owns the Qutab Hotel and the JWMarriott at the Aerocity,“Without extra ground cover-age, it will be difficult to utilisethis additional FAR.”

Rajiv Kaul, President,The Leela Palaces, Hotels &Resorts, welcomed the move.“This is extremely valuable real estate so we will definitelyfind the best possible usage to render it most marketable,”he informed.

Breather for hoteliers Contd. from page 3


India’s domestic airline, GoAirwill start domestic operations

from Bhubaneswar toBengaluru and Mumbai in May.AirAsia is also expected tostart international operationsin March from Bhubaneswar toKuala Lumpur.

After having beenaccorded the international sta-tus, the Biju Patnaik Airportsought to increase internation-al operations. Sharad Kumar,Director, Biju PatnaikInternational Airport, held a meeting on January 20, 2014at the regional headquarter inKolkata, where representativesfrom 10 airlines converged.

“This meeting focussedon the inclination of airlines tostart flights to Bhubaneswar,discuss flight schedules,among others. flydubai, AirCosta, Silk Air, Air Arabiaamong others have showninterest in starting flights to theairport, however flydubai iswaiting for governmentapproval on traffic rights. Thesenew flights are expected tocommence from April 1, thisyear,” said Kumar.

“We want to market ourairport. Thus, I made a presentation on the day of themeeting where we showcasedour infrastructure. This type ofan interaction with the airlinesis a long process, where multiple agencies are involved,” he added.

SpiceJet, Thai Airwaysand Silk Air have even showedinterest to fly to this airport innear future, he said. “Weexpect six domestic airlinesand two international airlinesto commence flights to this air-

port in 2014. Jet Airways also plans to resume flights insummer, this year. The VAT onthe Air Turbine Fuel has evenbeen decreased from 20 percent to 5 per cent to attractmore business.

With the Biju Patnaik Airport (BBI), Bhubaneswar in Odisha having receivedinternational status, GoAir and Air Asia will soon start operations on thedomestic and international routes, respectively.

Air Asia, GoAir to start flights from Odisha

RAMYA JS D’ROZARIO

AVIATION F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4 TRAVTALK 1 3

flydubai, Air Costa, Silk Air, Air Arabiaamong others have shown interest instarting flights to the airport

Sharad KumarDirector, Biju Patnaik International Airport

Besides GoAir and AirAsia; SpiceJet, Thai Airways and Silk Airhave also showed interest to fly to this airport in near future

India’s FirstMonorail

India’s first Monorail final-ly made its debut in Mumbaiin February 2014.Maharashtra’s Chief MinisterPrithviraj Chavan inaugurat-ed the service. The 8.9-kmroute connecting Wadala-Chembur stations on thenortheastern fringe of themegalopolis is expected toferry around two lakh passen-gers a month with four coach-es having a combined carry-ing capacity of around 570passengers at an interval ofevery 15 minute.




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WhatsApping to networkingA travel trade party was organised by Pankaj Nagpal, Siddharth Jain, Ankur Kalra and Rohit Shorey from Delhi and Ajay Chabria from Mumbai at theBudapest World Cuisine and Bar on January 29. The event was originally supposed to be a small get-together of a few friends (30 to 40) from Delhi andMumbai who are together on the Whatsapp Group named ‘Travel Synergies’ and ‘Travel Fraternity’. However the event soon became popular and morepeople from the trade joined in.

VisitBritain welcomes the travel tradeTo acknowledge travel agents as their extended arm in India, VisitBritain hosted an eveningparty for the travel fraternity at Le Meridien in Delhi. The evening was a fun-filled affairattended by important officials of VisitBritain and members of the travel trade.


NEWS

Valentine Vacations for 2014

Indian air travellers, flyingwith Etihad Airways to the

United States of America cannow clear US customs andimmigration at Abu DhabiAirport, enabling them toarrive in the US as domesticpassengers. The pre-clear-ance facility allows passen-gers to be processed throughUS immigration and customs,public health, and Departmentof Agriculture inspectionsbefore boarding their aircraft, eliminating the needto do so on arrival in the US.Indian air travellers, flying withEtihad Airways, can now con-nect from cities likeAhmedabad, Bengaluru,Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad,Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai,and Thiruvananthapuram. The flights will go via Abu

Dhabi, to international destinations like Chicago,New York, and WashingtonDC. The airline will continue toexpand and build depth into itsflight network in 2014

benefitting Indian air travellers,with flights to Jaipur to start inApril, and Los Angeles andDallas-Fort Worth to join the network in June andDecember, respectively.

Etihad’s new pre-clearance facility will allow Indian flyersto the United States to arrive at their destination asdomestic passengers, eliminating hassle.

US Visa pre-clearance

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HolidayIQ.com has recently released its ‘Insights: Report on Valentine’s Day Travel 2014’, which is an analysis of romantic holidays planned by couples on HolidayIQ.com for February 13 – 18, 2014.

Indian air travellers, flying with Etihad Airways, can now connect fromcities like Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi,Kozhikode, Mumbai, and Thiruvananthapuram

Etihad service from 9 cities

Having very successfullygrown as a joint venturesince 2005, Le Passage toIndia (LPTI) has entered thenext phase following TUIincreasing its stake in LPTI.

Arjun Sharma will nowassume the position of

President of the company andshall also be the ManagingDirector for Inbound.

On the occasion, he said,"It will be a pleasure to leadand be a part of the successstory that is LPTI and TUI inthe Indian sub-continent.”

Arjun SharmaManaging Director (Inbound) & President, LPTI

TUI increases stake in India Operations



FITUR 2014 shows Hispanic resurgenceThe 34th edition of the International Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR 2014, witnessed promisingparticipation from over 50 Indian companies. Held in Madrid from Jan 22-26, this first globaltrade event for the year sent a reassuring message for the industry with 9,083 participatingcompanies from 165 countries.

Contd. on page 20




A spirited response from all quartersContd. from page 18

International Tourism TradeFair, FITUR 2014, saw a

total number of participantsincreased by 5.1 per cent to 2,17,780 and the number of visitors and buyers increased by nearly 4 per cent.FITUR 2014 ended at a high note with participants feeling satisfied and hoping fora progressive year.

“The general sentiment ismuch more positive this yearand travel to India is expectedto increase. This positive sen-timent is the key factor and willbe the game changer com-pared to the last year,” felt

Luv Malhotra, Joint ManagingDirector, The Suryaa.

Tejinder Grewal,Director, Caper TravelCompany, feels the same sen-timent highlighting that, Caper

Travel has been present in thismarket for a long time and nowfinally they are coming out ofrecession. “The past couple ofyears were slow but now thatthey are out of the crises, wehope to see numbers grow.”

While Bharat BhushanAtree, Managing Director,Caper Travel Company,agrees to the views he sug-gests that the real gamechanger will be visa-on-arrivalfor more countries. “Thebiggest advantage will be withthe opening of visa-on-arrivalfor the Spanish market and

with that it will definitelyincrease the numbers fromthis market.”

Supporting a similarview, Chander Kant Abbott,Chairman, Vasco Travel, says,“Our biggest drawback is the visa process and it’s a tedious task. While the government is working on this, India tourism needsto be very aggressive to reachthe masses in these marketsand focus on India being a safe destination. The vibeabroad is still very scepticalabout India being safe

for women and single trav-ellers and promoting this isthe need of the hour.”

India tourism guaran-teed its commitment to the tourism market with a huge presence at FITUR. While different itineraries and travel optionswere discussed with theMinistry of Tourism, a special emphasis was laid on the new IncredibleIndia website. Indeed remark-able, the website will soon beavailable in 10 different languages, including Spanish.

“The interest for India isdefinitely increasing in theMexican market. Though theyare big spenders and love totravel in luxury, a problem weface is that we don’t find toomany Spanish speaking guidesin South India,” says a renownedMexican tour operator, GeorginaDe Leon, Ventas, Orleviasa.

Both the India andSpanish speaking nations left FITUR feeling the relief ofthe economy being out ofrecession, business hopes tosoon show better results fromthis market.

Over 50 Indian companies exhibited at FITUR 2014 reinforcing the importance of Spain for the Indian market. TheMinistry of Tourism showed its commitment with a soon-to-be-launched Spanish website.

Hola! Spain finally out of recession

DEVIKA JEET FROM MADRID

Luv MalhotraJoint Managing DirectorThe Suryaa

Tejinder GrewalDirectorCaper Travel Company

Bharat Bhushan AtreeManaging DirectorCaper Travel Company

Chander Kant AbbottChairmanVasco Travel

Georgina De LeonVentasOrleviasa

During FITUR 2014, Ministry ofTourism laid special emphasis on the new Incredible Indiawebsite which will soon beavailable in 10 different languages, including Spanish


Tourism is a US$58 billionindustry in Nevada,

employing more than 450,000Nevadans and generatingUS$2.7 billion in tax revenuefor the state. Most importantly;Las Vegas, one of the mostfamous destinations in theUnited States of America, iswithin Nevada.

Krolicki says, “We knowthat Nevada is already a topdestination for Indian travellersand that can only increase asthe Indian economy strength-ens in 2014. Around 60-70 per cent of the Indian tourists to the US come to LasVegas, Nevada at some pointin their journey.”

Talking about the poten-tial of the India market,Krolicki says, “With more than50 million passport-holders inIndia, and a large and grow-ing middle class with a desire

to travel internationally, Indiais the next big market forNevada.” Indian travellerswant a destination with shop-ping, fine cuisine, entertain-ment, culture, adventure, andbeauty, and Nevada has all ofthat and more.

Nevada plans to promoteitself in India aggressively andthe tourism board will be visit-ing India again in Septemberfor a marketing tour. Krolicki fur-ther says, “This market is veryimportant and it’s going to bemore important to the interna-

tional tourism base. We want toinvolve tour operators, airlines,visa officers and try and get ridof any friction in the chain. Weexpect 50 million Indians totravel outside the country in thenext 5 years. Though it’s far, theUS is an attractive destination,

but because of the ease of lan-guage and the brand value ofLas Vegas, we think that moreIndians will feature the state intheir itinerary.” Talking about thestrategy, Krolicki pointed outthat, “You start with the largermarkets and penetrate as

the market grows. For this, theprivate sector, especially tour operators, are critical tocapture and enter those mar-kets. We are counting on smaller tour operators to bringthose tourists from the Tier-IIcities to US.”

Brian K Krolicki, Chairman, Nevada Commission on Tourism, says that 60-70% of tourists from India to US, atsome point in their journey come to Nevada, to Las Vegas.

Agents to tap Tier-II cities for NevadaTT BU R E AU

NTO F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4 TRAVTALK 2 1

Because of theease of languageand the brandvalue of LasVegas, we thinkthat more Indianswill feature thestate in theiritineraries

Brian K KrolickiChairmanNevada Commission on Tourism

� With more than 50 millionpassport-holders in India,and a large and growingmiddle class with a desireto travel internationally, Indiais the next big market forNevada

� Indian travellers want adestination with shopping,fine cuisine, entertainment,culture, adventure, andbeauty, and Nevada has allof that and more

Brand Value


TECHNOLOGY2 2 TRAVTALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

The recent years have seen a voracious demand for e-commerce and online bookings. Today, the hotel websiteis becoming a key medium to communicate information about the brand and also a tool to share offerings andengage with the guest. Experts share insights on the importance of websites, SEO and SCM.

The advantages of SEO & websites

KA N C H A N NAT H

Avijit Arya, Chief Mogul, InternetMoguls, said, “It’s high time thehoteliers realise that their projectedrevenues will not meet the target,unless their brand website is deliv-ering revenues.” Talking aboutSearch Engine Optimisation (SEO)and Search Companion Marketing(SCM) for hotels, he said, “I thinksearch companies and searchexperts in India are shrinking.

Especially SEO for hotels, the experts are few and far inbetween. So, the scope for those who get it right is huge.”

Nikhil Sama, Cofounder, CEO,Snaplion, feels that the targetaudiences for hotels are mostlyaffluent consumers and corpo-rate executives. This segment ofthe audience prefers saving time,and convenience, over deals anddiscounts. Websites and mobileapps offer these in routine taskssuch as service discovery, reser-vations, ordering and conciergefunctions. “This is the key driver behind the growing relevanceof websites and mobile apps for hotels today,” he says.

Raman P Rama, Vice President& CTO/CIO, JHM Hotels, feelsthat if a hotel does not have awebsite, they are losing exposureglobally. International as well asdomestic guests, business ortourists, are becoming morecomfortable using technology fortheir research. If a hotel is notpresent online, customers will notbe able to find them, thus losinga lot of potential business.

He added, “If a business link does not appear on the first 5spots or at least on the first page, they tend to lose exposure.Hence, the SEO is of utmost importance for customers to visitthe site, know more about the hotel, and help them book aroom based on their preferences of location, type of hotels,facilities and rates.”

Vinnie Jauhari, Director IIMT, Oxford Brooks University, feels that thereis a growing relevance of websites for hotels today. She said, “It isbecoming a key medium to communicate about the brand and also, isa tool to share offerings and engage with the guest. The website createsa moment of truth and can communicate the philosophy around guest-orientation giving online tours of facilities and also access to the city.The website has to be attractive and also at the same time provide thefunctionality that the guest is looking at.” The guest expectations mustbe kept in mind when building in features or enablers on the website.The website, by deploying applications, can offer value added servicesto the guest such as travel bookings or links to tours or other information

that guests would be seeking for the destination. SEO is certainly very helpful if appropriate wordsare deployed and tagged, helping to bring guest traffic to the hotel website.

Sajid Mailk, Chairman and Managing Director, Genesys InternationalCorporation, feels that ensuring visibility in a crowded market hasalways been a tricky issue for the hospitality industry. “Technologymakes this visibility a lot easier to manage, thanks primarily to searchengine optimisation. Any hotel with an online presence cannot ignorethe benefits of SEO when it comes to ensuring that more potential

customers are made aware of the property's presence. Managing their social media presence is,however, becoming as crucial, if not more,” he shared.

Speaking to ; YogeshSrivastav, Senior

Secretary, Tourism and CivilAviation, PHD Chamber ofCommerce and Industry saidthat the Conclave will be inau-gurated by Parvez Dewan,Secretary, Tourism, Govt of

India. It will be organised inassociation with the Ministry ofTourism (MOT) and all theHimalayan states. This year, theConclave will put emphasis onHimalayas as a sustainable des-tination round the year. This ini-tiative is to strengthen therecently launched MOT’s cam-paign called ‘777 Days of the

Incredible Indian Himalayas’.“We are also looking at releas-ing an extensive study onHimalayan Heritage Tourism atthe Conclave,” Srivastav said.He also informed that interac-tions would take place betweenGovernments (both Central andState) and the private sectorinvestors regarding issues and

opportunities affecting invest-ment in tourism sector inHimalayan states “By organis-ing various events, we providethe industry a platform formeaningful discussionsbetween the industry practi-tioners as well as with policy-makers,” said Srivastav. Heinformed that the Heritage

Tourism Conclave will be fol-lowed by a Wellness TourismConclave in May inUttrakhand, a TourismConclave in Bihar inNovember, Eco TourismConclave in Madhya Pradeshin November and Holiday onWheels Conclave in New Delhiin December 2014.

The PHD Chamber of Commerce has planned a series of events for the travel & tourism industry in 2014. TheChamber announced that the 3rd India Tourism Conclave will be organised on Feb 21 at the India Islamic CulturalCentre in New Delhi, with special focus on all Himalayan states.

PHD’s 3rd India Heritage Tourism Conclave

RATA N KR PAU L

Yogesh SrivastavSenior Secretary, Tourism and Civil Aviation, PHDCCI

India to see 65% rise in hotel roomsAccording to real estate

consultancy Cushman &Wakefield, the Indian hotelindustry will see a 65 percent rise in the total num-ber of hotel rooms by 2017.Approximately 52,000 newhotel rooms are expectedto come into the system inthe next five years. TheNCR is likely to contributeabout a third of these with17,000 keys, while Kolkatawill see the highest per-centage increase in inven-

tory by adding 3,813 roomsor 105 per cent more thanthe current supply. Punewill contribute the lowestportion of rooms at 41 percent or 2,853 rooms to theexisting 6,970 keys.

Akshay Kulkarni,Regional Director -Hospitality, South and SouthEast Asia, Cushman &Wakefield, said, "Even whileIndia is considered to be anattractive market for bothleisure and business travel,

there are some inherent defi-ciencies due to which hospi-tality projects have hithertotaken long to come upincluding aspects like fund-ing and regulatory issues,which have either delayed orin some cases stalled proj-ects. Despite a significantnumber of leisure travel bothinternational and domestic,hoteliers are seen to be con-centrating on business des-tinations, specifically NCR,Mumbai and Bengaluru."

First Conrad Hotel in Pune Hilton Worldwide has

signed management agree-ment with Palm GroveBeach Hotels, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the K.Raheja ConstructionsGroup to open India’s firstConrad Hotel in Pune.

“Conrad Hotels & Resortshas a global portfolio of 23 properties and Pune isa key gateway destina-tion,” said John TAVanderslice, Global Head,Luxury and Lifestyle

Brands, Hilton Worldwide.

Conrad Pune will bestrategically located atMangaldas Road within thecentral business district ofthe city. Conrad Pune willfeature 310 guestrooms withthe latest in-room technologyand six-fixture marble baths.Guests at the hotel will havethe choice of six contempo-rary and innovative diningoutlets.

The 16,200-square foot(1,510-square metre) meet-

ing and event space at thehotel will include a grand8,300-square foot (780-square metre) ballroomdivisible into three, a break-away function room, spa-cious pre-function area, fourboardrooms as well as a fullyequipped 24-hour businesscentre.

Recreational options willinclude an outdoor swim-ming pool, fitness centre,luxurious full-service spa anda salon.




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ACTE organises all meet-ings and education pro-

grammes for travel industrypeople, so that they can learncorporate travel market prac-tices. With offices in Africa,Asia, Canada, Europe, MiddleEast and the United States,ACTE is able to provide sup-port to its members in over 100countries worldwide. This is inaddition to the professional

staff residing at the internation-al headquarters nearWashington, DC. As an inter-national association represent-ing corporate travel industry,ACTE provides global platformfor its members and industryaffiliates to network and tolearn from each other interna-tionally. “We believe best prac-tice sharing and new trendforecast are the only ways toraise our corporate industrystandard to a new horizon.Hence, we organise a few hun-dred events around the worldto make aware of globaltrends,” said Tang.

According to Tang, globalcorporate travel market willcontinue to expand. Currently,the corporate travel globalexpenditure is more than US$1 trillion and for Asia, theexpenditure is roughly a littlebit more than US$ 300 billion.As a result, 30 per cent of thetotal global expenditure for cor-

porate travel base is in Asia.Emerging markets like China,India, Korea and Central Asiawill be the focus area for cor-porate travel.

In Tang’s opinion, Indiahas huge opportunities for bothoutbound and inbound corpo-rate travel traffic. “As one of theBRICS countries, the India out-bound market remains verystrong, particularly the businesstravel sector, where many Indiaconglomerates are expanding

their business around theworld,” he pointed out.Meanwhile, many internationalMNCs have moved their back-offices or data centres to India.“There are huge business parksin Bengaluru in particular withmajor firms like IBM, HSBC,INTEL, Goldman Sachs andFidelity. The trend will surelycontinue,” he emphasised.

Tang, however, under-lined the importance of changein mind-set of corporate hous-

es. “Many administrators orfinance managers think thattravel management is simply anoperational expense manage-ment tools for cost-control. Thiskind of thinking is too limited. Infact, travel management can bea strategic HR tool for staffretention and morale boost. Itcan also be a tool for businessgeneration,” Tang said.

He also emphasised onindustry-friendly governmentpolicies to encourage corpo-

rate travel. For example, hepointed out that, though Indiais extremely attractive place forMICE, there are a number ofbottlenecks. “The infrastructureneeded to be upgraded. Thepublic transportation system inmost cities is not as sophisti-cated, highways are also notworld-standard and manycities have serious traffic prob-lems,” he maintained.According to Tang, the 5 starhotel costs in India are asexpensive as New York City,even a bit too expensive. Visaapplication, on the other hand,is an important issue. Manycountries needs visa and visaform is very complex. “It mighttake more than two hours to filleverything in,” he said.Moreover, for many MNCs,safety and security is an issue,which need serious attentionof the government to developMICE as well as corporatetravel in this country.

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) has decided to hold one of its annual international eventscalled ‘Executive Forum’ in New Delhi and another one in Bengaluru in Sept 2014. Speaking to ; BensonTang, Regional Director, Asia, ACTE, informed that global corporate travel spend is more than US$ trillion annually.

ACTE to host travel meets in September

RATA N KR PAU L

The infrastructure needed to be upgraded.The public transportation system in mostcities is not as sophisticated, highways arealso not world-standard and many citieshave serious traffic problems

Benson TangRegional Director,

Asia, ACTE

� For Asia, the corporatetravel expenditure isroughly a little bit morethan US$ 300 billion.

� Therefore, emergingmarkets like China,India, Republic of Koreaand Central Asia will bethe focus area forcorporate travel.

Take-Aways


FAMILY ALBUM

FEBRUARYNATIONAL17 Delhi Tourism Malaysia’s Sales Mission18 Chennai Tourism Portugal’s Roadshow19 Bengaluru Tourism Portugal’s Roadshow19 Mumbai Tourism Malaysia’s Sales Mission20 Mumbai Tourism Portugal’s Roadshow21 Ahmedabad Canadian Tourism Commission’s

Workshop21 Bengaluru Tourism Malaysia’s Sales Mission24 Chennai Canadian Tourism Commission’s

Workshop24 Kochi Tourism Malaysia’s Sales Mission26-Mar 1 Kochi Focus Canada – India

INTERNATIONAL18-19 Melbourne, Asia Pacific Meetings and

Australia Incentive Expo (AIME) 25-26 Johannesburg South Africa Tourism’s Meetings

Africa

APRILNATIONAL1 Mumbai Tourism Poland’s Roadshow 2 Bengaluru Tourism Poland’s Roadshow

3 Delhi Tourism Poland’s Roadshow

4 Mumbai MICE Travel Mart + Luxury & LeisureTravel Mart,

INTERNATIONAL3-5 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan International Tourism

Fair (AITF)5-6 Ottawa The Travel and Vacation Show6-8 Marseille Routes Europe8-11 Singapore Hotel Asia9-11 Beijing China Outbound Travel Tourism

Mart (COTTM)10-12 Siberia SITT (TOURSIB)15-20 The Hague International Travel & Tourism Market23-25 Sao Paulo World Travel Market

Latin America

23-25 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan International Tourism Fair (KITF)

28-30 Cape Town IBTM Africa

MARCHNATIONAL3 Delhi Kenya Tourist Board’s Roadshow4 Mumbai Tourism Victoria’s Roadshow 4 Mumbai Four Seasons Roadshow4 Chennai Kenya Tourist Board’s Roadshow5 Bengaluru Kenya Tourist Board’s Roadshow6 Delhi Tourism Victoria’s Roadshow6 Delhi Four Seasons Roadshow7 Mumbai Kenya Tourist Board’s Roadshow7 Bengaluru Tourism Victoria’s Roadshow 14-15 Raipur Indian International Travel Exhibition

(IITE)14-16 Chennai India International Tours & Travels Fair21-23 Guwahati Holiday Expo25 Delhi Tourism Ireland’s Travel Trade Workshop26 Mumbai Tourism Ireland’s Travel Trade Workshop27-29 Ahmedabad Gujarat Tourism Mart

INTERNATIONAL5-9 Berlin ITB

17-19 Tokyo International Luxury Travel Market

19-22 Moscow Moscow International Travel and Tourism Exhibition (MITT)

24-26 Abu Dhabi GIBTM

26-28 Kiev UITT27-April 2 France Atout France’s Rendez-Vous en

France

For more information, contact us at: [email protected]

Trade unites for IITT 2014 in MumbaiThe first edition of India International Travel & Tourism (IITT) exhibition was recently held in Mumbai.The three-day event was a mix of action-packed exhibition and power-packed business sessions. Theevent also witnessed participation from not only every segment of the Indian tourism industry, butalso from travel trade associations.

GoAir, one of India’s fastestgrowing airlines, has started adirect - daily flight service

between the two major capitalsof Eastern India, Patna andKolkata from February 4, 2014.

Girish Nair, ChiefCommercial Officer, Go Airlines(India), shared,

“This indicates thestrong demand fortravel in the region

and is completely in linewith our strategy to bring con-

nectivity between the metrosand non-metros. Our networkdesign is forward looking andplaces emphasis on routes thatsupport the growth at destina-tions, connected through theseflights. Apart from a strongmovement for leisure, the twocapital cities attract travellersfor local businesses and trade.”

GoAir’s direct-daily between Patna-Kolkata


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The Fern Samali Resort, DapoliDapoliBasudev Mahapatra is a veteran hotelier with a 15-year career inthe hospitality sector across India. He will lead The Fern Samali,

Dapoli as the General Manager. Prior to this assignment, Mahapatra workedwith prestigious hotels and resorts inHyderabad, Goa and Bengaluru among others. Mahapatra has a diplo-ma in hotel management from NIHMC, Bhubaneswar. With his experience, Mahapatra aims to

renew bonds with existing clients, andgrow the hotel’s business.

The Floatel HotelKolkataUpal Sarkar is the General Manager at The Floatel Hotel, Kolkata,India’s only floating hotel. A career hotelier with a post-graduate

diploma in marketing and a diploma in hotelmanagement, Sarkar will lead the land-mark ship towards newer dining expe-riences. In his 20-year career, he hasworked with respected hospitalitynames such as Fortune, Radisson,Absolute Hotel Services and Ambuja

Hospitality.

The Fern Gir Forest Resort, SasanGirSasanGirDebasish Muduli takes over as General Manager of The Fern GirForest Resort. The only 5-star resort in SasanGir, his goal is to main-

tain their ranking and create new guestexperiences that are more rooted in the local environment. Apart from gaining experience throughhis career in hospitality, Muduli is also a diploma holder in hotel management from Orissa

Institute of Hotel Management(OIHM), Rourkela.

Carlson RezidorNCR GurgaonChirodeep Chakraborty is the new Associate Director, Global Sales, South Asia for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. In his new

profile, he will be directly responsible for allinternational hotel requirements forCarlson Rezidor as an entity. Before join-ing Carlson, Chakraborty has gainedexperience working with InterContinentalHotel Group, Crowne Plaza Today New Delhi and The Westin MumbaiGarden City.

The Khyber Himalayan Resort andSpa, GulmargKashmirAditya Mata has been selected to hold the post of Vice President& General Manager at The Khyber HimalayanResort and Spa, Gulmarg. Mata honed hisskills whilst working with world-renownedbrands such as The Oberoi Group; TheInter Continental, Sahar in Mumbai; TheDoha Sheraton, Qatar; Shangri-LaVillage Resort, Pokhara & SoalteeCrowne Plaza, Kathmandu in Nepal; TheGrand Ashok, Bengaluru and ZuriKumarakom Kerala Resort &Spa among others.

Courtyard by Marriott Pune ChakanPuneHemant Tenneti has joined Marriott International as the HotelManager of Courtyard by Marriott Pune Chakan. With a career spanning over 15 years in the field of Food& Beverage and convention business,Hemant undertakes the responsibility ofCourtyard Chakan from RenaissanceMumbai Convention Centre Hotel and Marriott Executive Apartmentswhere he was the Director of Food & Beverage.

Sofitel Mumbai BKCMumbaiBiswajit Chakraborty has been appointed as the General Mangerof Sofitel Mumbai BKC. Chakraborty comes to Sofitel Luxury Hotels

with over 25 years in the hospitality indus-try. Prior to Sofitel Mumbai BKC,Chakraborty has played the role of aGeneral Manager for over a decade.The two hotels the Yak and Yeti inNepal, The Leela Kempinski Kovalam

and Mumbai as well as the grandMövenpick Hotel & Spa Bangalore are

a few luxury hotels in India with whomhe has worked.

Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Business ParkBengaluru

Faiz Alam Ansari has been appointed asthe General Manager of Aloft Bengaluru

Cessna Business Park. He has beenassociated with Starwood Hotels &Resorts since October 2006 andhas over 20 years of experiencewith leading hospitality brands. Prior

to moving to Aloft Bengaluru CessnaPark, Ansari was the Hotel Manager

of the flagship Westin Hotel in India at theWestin Gurgaon,New Delhi.

Kunal Dewan has been appointed as the Director of Sales ofthe Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Business Park. He has been asso-ciated with Starwood Hotels & Resortssince December 2011 and has over 10years of experience with leading hos-pitality brands. He has been associat-ed with some of the leading hospitalitybrands like Le Parker Meridien Hotel,New York, U.S.A, The Oberoi Group ofHotels & Resorts. Prior to beingappointed the Director of Sales atAloft Bengaluru CessnaPark, Dewan was aManager at StarwoodSales Organisation.

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

EM Najeeb, Chairman, Air Travel Enterprise Group, starts his day withhis daily prayers and a round of golf. “I like to keep myself updatedwith news and other happenings in the world and thus, browse through variousnewspapers. I prefer reading than watchingnews on television.” In his free time, heprefers watching TV, listening to music andspending time with family. His musicpreferences include soft, Arabic and oldHindi and Malayali songs. An avid reader,he is fond of reading all kinds of books.Najeeb loves to maintain strong bonds with his near and dear ones.“For me, this is seriously a stressbuster,” he informs.

Roberto Palais, Executive Manager, National Institute of TourismPromotion- Argentina, loves to play football and go to theatre to watchmovies. An avid traveller, he is fascinatedby Europe and its offerings. “My favouritedestinations there include London andParis. Every time I go there, I discoversomething new and in the processrediscover myself. This is my first visitto India and I have added this to my listas well now,” he chuckles. Reading alsokeeps him busy. “I like readingmanagement books and reading aboutdifferent philosophies. I admireMahatma Gandhi and followhis principles,” he says.

Rose-Marie Hoareau, Director-Marketing, Seychelles TourismBoard, baking is the most innovative experience. “I have a passionfor baking. During my early days, I havemade many disasters while making acake but my quest for furtherknowledge and perfection kept megoing. And now I bake reallywell,” she smiles. She likesgardening too. Talking about hertravel journeys, she adds, “I lovegoing to the US and Austria. In Delhi,I visited the India Gate, Red Fort andKhan Market and did lots ofshopping and eating.”



HIGHLIGHT

Postal Reg. No.: DL(ND)-11/6044/2012-13-14; WPP No.: U(C)-178/2012-14 for posting on 1st-2nd and 16th-17th

of the same month at New Delhi P.S.O., RNI No.: 53492/91Date of Publication:15-02-2014

India ranks No. 1 amongBRICS market

It is the biggest of theBRICS (Brazil, Russia, India,China and South Africa)source market for Britain. Itrecorded 339,000 Indian visi-tors and GB£ 333 million inspending. Britain aims toattract 425,000 visits fromIndia by 2016, which will trans-late into GB£ 380 million inannual visitor spend from theIndian market. “The funding byBritish government for UKTrade & Investment, BritishHigh Commission andVisitBritain in India hasincreased over the years,which shows our commitmentin India,” she revealed.

Leisure and MICE surpass VFR

Traditionally, the visitingfriends and family (VFR) mar-ket from India has been good.However, the VFR traffic wentdown four per cent in 2013.

The growth from India wasdriven by leisure that grew by11 per cent and business trav-el that rose by 14 per cent.Going forward, VisitBritain islooking at family, groups,youth and HNIs. She furtherelaborated, “Britain is India’ssecond-largest business part-ner, receiving about 50 percent of Indian direct invest-ment into Europe. Thus, busi-ness is an important and high-er spending segment for us.The average holiday visitor inBritain from India spends GB£504 while the average busi-ness visitor spends GB£1,419. We are working withIndian MICE operators toposition Britain as a MICEdestination for India.”

The ‘youth’ tingeBy 2020, India is set to

become the world’s youngestcountry with 64 per cent of itspopulation in the working agegroup. This is a growing seg-ment for the Board and willdrive numbers from India. It

has been observedthat growth isdriven byyoung Indiantravellers who

are technology-savvy, with pur-chasing power and are lookingfor experiential tours. “We arelooking at tapping these seg-ments and engaging them withdigital programmes. It includesthe honeymooners, singlewomen, SINKs (Single IncomeNo Kids), DINKS (DoubleIncome No Kids) and otheryouth sub-segments,” sheshared.

Partnering with the travel trade

While talking about futuretrade plans, Dawe informedthat VisitBritain has strategical-ly scheduled B2B events toengage with the Indian traveltrade. “Currently, we have 900BritAgents in India. Thetourism board will host 15-20Indian travel trade partners

at Hosted BuyersMarketplace in Londonin March 2014. We arealso encouraging thetrade to introduce

new itineraries that promotenot only London, but a broaderrange of regions to consumers.To target the fast-growing FITsegment, we will continue toengage with OTAs such asYatra.com, MakeMyTrip,Ibibo.com and Expedia.com.We are looking at introducingco-op campaigns and tie-upswith the Indian travel trade to incentivise sales of Britain packages. Recently,VisitBritain along with MercuryTravels kickstarted a year-longcampaign. As part of the cam-paign, Mercury Travels hasdesigned nine itinerariesfocussing on destinationsbeyond London includingManchester, Liverpool, York,Peak District, Birmingham,Belfast, Wales and Scotland,”she said.

ME G H A PAU L

We are looking at segments suchthe honeymooners, single women,

SINKs, DINKs, other youth sub-segments and engaging them with

digital programmes

9% hike in Indian tourists to UKDespite the depreciating `, Indian travellers holidaying in the UK increasedby nine per cent during the first three quarters of 2013 led by a surge in leisureand corporate segments, reveals Sandie Dawe, CEO, VisitBritain.

In accordance with the UK Government’s agenda forIndia as a priority market, VisitBritain on January 30, 2014,announced the signing of an MoU between UK and IndianTrade Associations.

The MoU between European Tour OperatorsAssociation (ETOA) and Travel Agents Federation of India(TAFI) was signed by Karan Anand, Relationship Head forETOA and Praveen Chugh, Vice President, TAFI. The MoUbetween Outbound Tour Operator Association of India(OTOAI) and UKinbound was signed by Guldeep SinghSahni, President, OTOAI, and Ashley Jones, BoardMember, UKinbound. This is the first ever MoU between UKand Indian trade associations to enable a positive businessenvironment for the travel industries of the two countries.The signing of MoUs was witnessed by James Bevan,British High Commissioner to India and Sandie Dawe, ChiefExecutive, VisitBritain.

UK and Indian trade bodies join hands to boost tourism

Sandie Dawe, CEO, VisitBritain


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