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` 50/-A DDP PUBLICATION Pages: 68 (Excluding cover)Vol. XXIV No. 9; May 1st fortnight issue 2012

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Setting therecord straight

MAY 1ST FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2012 TRAVTALK 1

Middle East has beenon a boil for sometime now. Dubai

plunged into an economic cri-sis when, in 2009, DubaiWorld asked for a 6 monthpostponement to prepay itsdebts. While the region wasstruggling to regain its bal-ance, political protests inEgypt, Tunisia and Yemengathered momentum to giverise to what we today call anArab Spring. The region is stillstruggling with many issuesand therefore is not a thrivinghub that it used to be.

Saudi Arabia, forinstance, has shown a growthof over 41 per cent in theiroutbound numbers to India. “Ifone considers the economicpolitical scenario, the increasein traffic is highly commend-able. A closer look at the trafficdemographic reveals that alltravellers were residents ofKSA and no expats.”

A Saudi tourist predom-inantly is a high spender andtravels to India either formedical/health care or forshopping. They demand lux-ury and are ready to pay forit. “India, as a leisure desti-

nation, would do very well ifwe can increase the level ofawareness in this market.Saudi Arabia is a unique mar-ket yielding very good results

once contacts are established.Therefore, we are targettingfashion and wedding market as establishing

spoke to Vikas Rustagi, Regional Director, India Tourism, Dubai on his expectations from2012. He is confident that India will be able to register a minimum growth of 20% from the region and particularly from countries like Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Iran.

RUPALI NARASIMHAN

‘India to grow 20% from ME’

50% cut in luxury taxVikas RustagiRegional DirectorIndia Tourism - Dubai

Swapnil NaikDirector TourismGovernment of Goa

Harnessing wellness at India Tourism pavillion

To unlock business poten-tial within the ME for inboundand outbound tourism profes-sionals, the India participationat ATM this year has becomemore vibrant. The pavillion for

India Tourism in the event, isthemed, as ‘Medical Wellnessand Luxury Tourism’. India isbeing showcased as one of themost lucrative health andwellness tourism markets inthe world that has promoted

SU S M I TA GH O S H

The April 2nd issue of carried an interview of Mr R H Khwaja,Secretary, Ministry of Tourism,Government of India. In this interview,Mr Khwaja has been quoted out of context thereby creating a wrongimpression that the Ministry is not doingenough for getting the tourism sector anindustry status. The interview was predominantly on the Union Budget’simplication on tourism and the initiativesundertaken by the Ministry of Tourismfor getting the maximum concessionsfor the tourism sector. One of the questions during the interview wasregarding the grant of Industry Status tothe tourism sector. The journalist hasquoted Mr Khwaja’s response in isola-tion and written the story out of context.

We deeply regret the mistake andapologise if the article has inadvertentlycaused any harm or conveyed a wrongimpression about the commitment of MrKhwaja and the Ministry of Tourismtowards the cause of the tourism sector.

We sincerely recognize the earnesteffor ts made and initiatives taken by Mr Khwaja and the Ministry of Tourismto get the Industry and InfrastructureStatus for the tourism sector.

Editor

Contd. on page 52

Contd. on page 52

The Goa Government has offered a 50% concession on the luxury tax to themid-scale and upper-segment hotels during off season from May 1 to Sept. 30.

Goa has just marchedahead to redefine itsforemost position in

the travel map of the coun-try. The Manohar Parrikar-led BJP government has

offered an incredible 50 percent concession on the lux-ury tax to the mid-scale andupper-segment hotels dur-ing the off season – fromMay 1 to September 30. To cash in on the concessionsprovided by the state

government in Goa, thetourism and hospitalityindustry has raised a toast as well. Extremely bullish on the off-seasonmarket, they are designingattractive packages to luremore travellers.

According to SwapnilNaik, Director Tourism,Government of Goa, the pres-ent government’s 50 per centconcession on luxury tax willboost the industry. The travel

ME G H A PAU L

Contd. on page 6

As part of its cost-cuttinginitiative in the wake of

surging international crude oiland ATF prices, Indian legacycarriers had represented thePassenger Agency Conferencein Singapore in October 2011to instate the ‘weekly settle-ment plan’ (from fortnightly)in India effective June 1, 2012.The decision has left theIndian travel trade and indus-try associations scavenging fora feasible solution to the prob-lem. This is yet another blow to the traveltrade when they are alreadybattling the crippling doublewhammy of a hike in the serv-ice tax. Besides, the withdraw-al of credit card pass throughfacility (traditionally extendedto the agents) is now beingwithdrawn by Air India.

Calling for a rollback ofdeferment of weekly paymentand service tax, Iqbal Mulla,President, TAAI said, “This is adeath blow to one of the India’stop foreign exchange earningand employment generationindustry. All the three legacycarriers (Air India, Jet Airwaysand Kingfisher) have proposedfor weekly settlement plan,

which if introduced will alsomove all the international car-riers to the same plan underIATA rules. We know airlinesare going through tough timesbut instead of supporting travelagents, who are their vitalpartners in selling them, theyare forcing us to shut ourshops. If the weekly settlementplan gets instated, then close

to 60 per cent of the travelagencies across India will beforced to shut down business.Indian air travel business hasalways been widely supportedby credit system, but now withthe new system in place, cor-porates would be required tomake payments in advance orat short notice, which couldamount to a breach of the con-tract they have with the travel agents.

Ajay Prakash, President,TAFI said, “The associationshave appealed the govern-ment to roll back the proposedhike in service tax on air tick-ets and to look into the issueof weekly settlement. We triedtalking with our airline part-ners on this issue but due tono response from them, wehave filed a case against theairlines on this issue inKarnataka court.”

BULLETIN

Travel agents and airlines are again in a tussle due to the weekly-paymentsettlement plan effective June 1, 2012.

AN I TA JA I N

Survival with weekly payments?

Iqbal MullaPresident, TAAI

Ajay PrakashPresident, TAFI

STATISTICS

VIEWPOINT

With tourism ethicsgradually transform-

ing from ‘leisure’ to ‘experi-ence’, niches involving thelocal community as a corecomponent of the producthave gained strong momen-tum, giving rise to the con-cept of ‘IndigenousTourism’- with ‘involve-ment’ and ‘adaptation’ tothe traditional lifestyleforming a crucial element oftourist behaviour. That itworks with a conservation-oriented approach is whathas made such productmodels a widely acceptedapproach for inclusivedevelopment.

Trends in tourist inflows

Although India’s sharein the world tourism is stillquite small as compared tothe top destinations, therehas been a steady growth inboth the sects of theinbound as well as the out-bound tourism. While theformer on some part hasbeen a consequence of

aggressive marketing andpromotion from theGovernment’s end, growthin domestic and outboundtourism has been a result ofthe economic growth thatthe country has witnessedover the years, leading to higher disposableincomes and increasingpropensity to travel.

Another important fac-tor to note here is that thetourism economy is growing,both in terms of touristspending, as well as thespending from the serviceproviders’ end, which include

the Government as well asthe private stakeholders.

Emerging patterns

Research on the tourismglobalisation has largelyfocused on tourism as anactivity or a service, ratherthan the real estate aspectsand implications (AshokBardhan, 2008). Keepingtravel aside, infrastructure-related investments accountfor 50-60% of the totalinvestment, of which accom-modation facilities and asso-ciated amenities form themajor chunk. Major interna-tional hotel chains and

resorts are the dominantplayers in this sphere. Aninteresting trend observed

here is that revenues acrossthe world for these principlesare true, irrespective of thenature of the economy inwhich they operate. Forinstance, 5-star hotel rates inMumbai are comparable tothose in major cities of the developed economies like New York or London. This equanimity, however,dissolves as we move down the categories, but, isin some part, balanced by the other spheres of thetourist activity.

The figures in thisstory also reflect that whilethe inbound figures havedipped due to credit andhousing market collapses inmany countries, the domes-tic and outbound figureswere comparatively less hitand registered positivegrowth. This emphasises theneed to keep the domesticand outbound tourism on aneven keel with inbound, foreven though the lattermoves ahead in terms ofmonetary receipts, it ishighly susceptible to eventsin a macro scale – be itinternational markets, nat-ural calamities or humanviolence.

Realising the potential of indigenous tourism, the FICCI-YES Bank report was released during the recently concluded GITB in Jaipur. gets excerpts:

TT BUREAU

Tourism on ‘indigenous’ path

Incredible India has woken up to the callof doubling its share in the global

inbound market, which as per UNWTOprojection will cross the 1 billion mark in2012. The success of the Great IndianTravel Bazaar 2012, an Indian inboundshow now in its fifth year, reflects theoptimism Indian and Overseasstakeholders have from the Indian market.

India's tourism industry continues togrow because of the burgeoning middleclass, which is driving domestic tourismgrowth and luxury tourism, which isattracting more foreign tourists, therebyearning much more foreign exchange.

The tourism ministry's consolidatedcampaign to promote 'In credible India',which has helped create a colourful imageall over the world, has increased touristarrivals. Both directly and indirectly,tourism has created jobs in a variety ofrelated sectors, like handicrafts,agriculture, construction and even poultryand horticulture. The ministry promises toadd 25 million new jobs in the tourismsector under the 12th five-year plan.

Sustainable and rural tourism is helpingthe smaller towns and villages with anearning capacity that was earlier unheardof. Even poaching of our wildlife has almoststopped because of tourists visiting these sanctuaries. They live in hotels andguest-houses in and outside the parks,thereby creating large local employmentand sale of locally manufactured goods andfarm products.

It is now up to the people of thiscountry and the travel industry to supportthe ministry in its nationalistic ideals,namely the 7S: Swagat (welcome), Sahyog(cooperation), Soochna (information),Sanrachna (infrastructure), Suvidha(falicitation), Safai (cleanliness) andSuraksha (security).

Hope all the Indian participants at ATM2012 market destinations across the lengthand breadth of India in the manner it trulydeserves, and in its new modern avatar.

Inbound Magic

TRAVTALK is a publication of Durga Das Publications Private Limited. All information in TRAVTALK is derived from sources, which we consider reliable and a sincere effort is made to report accurate information. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. The publisher regret that he cannot accept liability for errors and omissions contained in this publica-tion, however caused. Similarly, opinions/views expressed by thirdparties 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

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10-pointroadmap

Reinforce policy with actionmeasuresMarketing and promotionCapacity buildingTourist behaviour Train entreprenuersCommunity trust 'Real' ownershipConserving traditions and valuesInfrastructure developmentSupport agrarian models

Room shortage in Delhi?Not again. The Delhi

Development Authority(DDA) is considering a pro-posal to increase the floorspace index (FSI) for hotels inDelhi to three, which wouldhelp many hotels to add a

number of rooms to theirexisting capacity. DDA hadearlier increased the FSI forhotels in Delhi from 1.5 to2.25 in 2008 to help addmore rooms in anticipation ofthe rush of tourists for theCommonwealth Games.

Reacting to the recentdevelopment, SM Shervani,Vice President, Federation of Hotel & RestaurantAssociations of India (FHRAI)says, “An increase in FSIwould imply a rise in the

number of rooms. There is anevident room crunch in Delhiand hence, this is surely awelcome step.”

Delhi has around 14,000approved hotel rooms. If theFSI goes up, an additional5,000-6,000 rooms could beadded in Delhi. Late last year,the civic authority had invitedsuggestions for a mid-termreview of the Delhi MasterPlan 2021 where the FHRAIhad recommended that the FSIbe increased to three, aligningit with what is prevalent inother parts of the country.Currently, DDA is also invitingsuggestions from all stake-holders while discussing themaster plan. However, DDAhas also clarified the higherFSI will not be applicable in

the Lutyens Bungalow Zone.This includes hotels such asthe iconic Taj Mahal, ShangriLa, Le Meridien, The Oberoi,Taj Palace, ITC Maurya andClaridges. Hotels that are partof a larger commercial estab-lishment will also be kept out-side the purview of the higher

FSI. Commenting on the sit-uation, Shervani feels, “FSIshould be applied to all hotelsequally to help increase theroom supply. Excluding thehotels in the central hub ofthe city is unfortunate. I don’tsee why the increase in FSI inthese hotels will damage the

heritage value of the region.”One of the prime hotels thatwill benefit from this hike isThe Leela Palace New Delhi,Shervani adds.

“This is a loss of oppor-tunity for hotels in theLutyens Bungalow Zone. In

all countries, hotels exist inthe central locations. Sobeing a part of the largercommercial establishmentdoes not mean the hotel can-not add to its existing infra-structure. For example - TajMansingh has so many floors.How will the addition of oneor two more floors harm theenvironment of that area?Hence, I would firmly urge

The Floor Space Index (FSI) in Delhi hotels could be increased from the existing2.25 to three. speaks to the industry stalwarts to know their reactions.

ME G H A PAU L

HOTELS M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2 TRAVTALK 5

Making room for higher occupancy

SM ShervaniVice PresidentFHRAI

Peter J. LeitgebPresident & CEOThe Claridges Hotels & Resorts

Ratan MarothiaVice PresidentFHRAI Contd. on page 10

industry will now be able topass the benefits of this con-cession to the customer.Consequently, packages willbecome far more attractive.A number of cheaper andmore competitive deals willbe available now.

Highly optimistic aboutthe upcoming season, Traveland Tourism Association ofGoa (TTAG) spokespersonRalph D’Souza says, “Earlierluxury tax varied from 5-10per cent, depending on thestar category of the hotel.From this year on with the lux-ury tax discount, the off-sea-son luxury tax will be in therange of 2.5-5 per cent, whichis a great boost to the hotelindustry and the travel indus-try in large.” Elaborating onthe benefits of this discount,D’Souza informs, “In Goa,

there are mainly two seasons.The winter season sees a lot offoreign traffic. However, in

season 2 or the off-season, wereceive more of domestictourists and groups. In therecent times, with the centralgovernment pushing up air-fares, the packages to Goa

have become more expensive.Also, with the neighbouringdestinations such as Thailandand Malaysia becoming moreaffordable, the hoteliers andtour operators who form analliance to sell packages to Goahave been finding it difficult tosell economy packages. Hence,this price correction was theneed of the hour.”

According to the TTAGspokesperson, the local taxeson the ATF have also beenslashed. This will now encour-age airlines to land in Goa and attract more footfalls. In its pre-budget memoran-dum submitted to Parrikar,

the TTAG had urged for concessions to the industry.The Goa Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(GCCI) has also termed

NEWS

A big relief from tax blow

Ralph D’SouzaSpokesperson, Travel and TourismAssociation of Goa

Guitry VelhoGeneral Manager, The Heritage Village Club, Goa

Anurag Jain Director –SalesBest Western Devasthali, Goa

Priti ChandVP Corporate CommunicationsZuri Group Global

Contd. from page 1

It’s of great significance forthe stakeholders in thetourism industry to realise

the strengths India hasacquired over the past fewdecades. These strengthsshould clearly be portrayed to the rest of the world at various international traveltrade events.

Subhodh Kant Sahai,Union Minister for Tourism,apprised many of the leadingstakeholders in the Indiantravel trade along with closeto 300 hundred foreign touroperators, who had gatheredto attend the leading inboundshow, Great India TravelBazaar, in Jaipur.

“The economicresilience spread over thepast has led to impressivegrowth in all sectors in thetourism industry. More andmore foreigners are willing towitness and benefit from itsimpressive economic growth,which makes India an evenmore attractive inbound des-

tination. Moreover, India hasemerged as a very importantsource market for outboundtourism, while its domesticsector also continues to growon the back of rising purchas-ing power,” said Sahai.“UNWTO forecasts interna-

tional tourism to reach onebillion in 2012, whereinemerging economies willregain the lead with strongergrowth in Asia, Middle Eastand Africa. To ensure Indiabecomes one of the key ben-eficiaries, we have set thetarget of doubling our

inbound arrivals to over 1 percent of global arrivals in the12th Plan period and replicatesimilar growth pattern in thedomestic sector,” he added.

While policymakers areinclined to undertake manydynamic policy initiatives,Subhash Goyal, PresidentIATO, suggests that like manyleading destinations, Indiashould tap the transit passen-gers. “We need to extendtourist VoA facility to many ofour key source markets, intro-duce uniform taxation and capincidence of tax to a maximumof five per cent. While many ofthese initiatives may taketime, we can immediately ini-tiate measures to tap transitpassengers,” said Goyal.

“Like many other coun-tries, we can offer them shortduration sight-seeing pack-ages in special buses throughdedicated entry and exitpoints. Singapore does thisvery successfully and takessuch passengers for sightsee-ing, while keeping their pass-ports deposits,” he added.

MOT is also toying with various modalities to tap thetransit passengers, wherein the department of tourismofficials will play a pivotal role.

VI V E K SE T H I

Triggering tourism growth

Subodh Kant SahaiUnion Minister for Tourism

Contd. on page 30

In its fifth edition, the GreatIndian Travel Bazaar(GITB)

set many new benchmarks inline with the increasing focusthe sector has been drawing inIndia. Like one of the mostremarkable achievements ofthe sector, which is now beingrecognised as an important

tool for poverty alleviation and employment creation,GITB has also become a mustattend trade show on the global travel calendar.

“The presence of over261 foreign buyers from 54countries speaks volumesabout the significance of theshow. I also have a smallbusiness proposal for all theforeign and Indian stakehold-ers present at the show,which is to help us double theinbound business for them.Doubling the inbound pie, asenvisaged in the 12th planperiod, will mean that the

earning potential is also dou-bled and our Ministry is allset to facilitate the growthprocess,” said Subhodh KantSahai, Union Minister of Tourism.

The show was inaugu-rated by the Union Ministerof Tourism in the presence ofBina Kak, Minister ofTourism, Rajasthan, UshaSharma, Principal Secretary,Rajasthan Tourism, R VKanoria, President, FICCI,Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson,FICCI Tourism Committee,Dipak Deva, Co-Chairperson,

FICCI Tourism Committee,and SanJeet, Co-Chairperson, FICCI TourismCommittee on April 15, 2012in Jaipur.

For the uninitiated,GITB aims at targetting thepotential consumers frominternational as well as theIndia market. The event is

organised by the Departmentof Tourism, Government ofRajasthan, Ministry ofTourism, Government ofIndia and Federation of

Indian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry(FICCI) on an annual basis.

“In a very short periodof time, the Great Indian

Travel Bazaar (GITB) hasbecome one of the most cov-eted marts in South East Asiaregion. The success of any of

TT BU R E AU

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

Bina KakMinister of Tourism, Rajasthan

Usha SharmaPrincipal Secretary, Rajasthan Tourism

Contd. on page 42 u

The Great Indian Travel Bazaar GITB 2012 sets new benchmarks by hosting 9,043 B2Bmeetings registering close to 23 per cent increase in prefixed appointments. Subodh Kant Sahai

Union Minister of Tourism

261 foreign buyers from 54 nationsGITB 2012

STATES8 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

Post the Bengal govern-ment’s recent announce-

ment to increase the budget-ary allowance for the tourismsector for the financial year2012-13 to ` 90 crore, theTourism Minister is upbeatabout the tourism prospectsin the State. “Adequate fundswere the need of the hour forthe development of tourismin West Bengal and the entire East,” Singh said. TheMinister revealed that theState Government has iden-tified five districts for tourismdevelopment through publicprivate partnership route.

Talking about the utili-sation of funds allocated inthe budget, Singh informed,“The Union Government’sIncredible India campaignhas not adequately focussedon the eastern region so far.Hence, a large part of theallocated money would be

spent on developing a theme-based advertising campaignfor the State.”

With Shah Rukh Khanroped in as the brand ambas-sador of West Bengal, the Stateaims to cash in on the star’sworldwide popularity. “Theservices of the star will beused to build ‘Brand Bengal’.West Bengal receives a lot ofdomestic tourists. However,foreign tourists give the Statea miss due to lack of marketing campaigns. Hence, we are targetting a chunk of foreigntourist arrivals with SRK as our Brand Ambassador,” Singh added.

Giving informationabout promoting tourism inthe Sundarbans, Singh con-firmed that the StateGovernment is planning tointroduce an African safarikind of expedition in the area.“At a recent rally in theSundarbans, Mamata

Banerjee, Chief Minister,West Bengal, has announcedthe possibility of Africansafaris in the Sundarbans,”he stated.

Tourism in Bengal willbe developed and enhancedin a two-pronged way. Firstly,the State will identify newtourism circuits. Secondly, itwill develop infrastructure,Singh said. Places such asDarjeeling in North Bengaland islands of Sundarbans

offer immense scope fortourism development.However, lack of adequateinfrastructure has alwaysbeen a bottleneck. Accordingto the Tourism Minister, CIIhas submitted a feasibilityreport based on its studies inDarjeeling and Sundarbans tothe State Government.

The Government is alsocreating new tourism circuits.Betting big on ReligiousTourism, he commented,

“During the month ofFebruary and March everyyear, we receive at least10,000 tourists in Mayapur,which is a religious destina-tion. We are developing a newtourist circuit coveringMayapur, Kalna and Nabadwipto boost these numbers. Wehave constructed a separatejetty in Mayapur. Similarly,independent jetties would beconstructed in Kalna andNabadwip to strengthen theinfrastructure.”On similarlines, three-four historicaltourism circuits are beingcreated at Murshidabad,Singh concluded.

The tourism sector has been allocated ` 90 crore for this financial year. Rachhpal Singh, Tourism Minister, West Bengal chalks out strategies and talks about the way forward for the development of tourism in the State.

` 90 crore to build ‘Brand Bengal’

Rachhpal SinghTourism MinisterWest Bengal

Shah Rukh Khan Bollywood Actor

The State will identify newtourism circuits.

Places such as Darjeelingin North Bengal and the islands of Sundarbansoffer immense scope for tourism development

Steps Taken

TT BU R E AU

ITDC andNSFDC joinhands India Tourism Develo-

pment Corporation (ITDC)has signed an MoU withNational Scheduled CastesFinance and DevelopmentCorporation (NSFDC) underthe Ministry of Social Justice& Empowerment, for jointlyconducting skill developmentprogramme for Indian youthbelonging to scheduledcastes for their employmentin the tourism and hospitalitysector, promoting theMinistry of Tourism’s ‘Hunarse Rozgar’ initiative.

The ITDC-run AshokInstitute of Hospitality andTourism Management(AIH&TM) will impart skillstraining to candidates anddevelop human resource fortourism and hospitality sec-tors. As a part of the tie-up,AIH&TM along with itsassociates will place mini-mum 70% of the Batch injob, subject to minimum90% attendance of the can-didate. ITDC or its associ-ates will also provide alltraining infrastructurealong with training materi-als and trainers.

STATES1 0 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

During the last tourist sea-son, Goa witnessed a 15

to 20 per cent increase in thetourist arrivals compared tothe previous year. “Each year,we have either been at par orare doing better than the pre-vious years. Goa has alwaysdone exceedingly well and weare extremely optimistic aboutthe coming year,” saysSwapnil Naik, DirectorTourism, Government of Goa.

Goa has embarked on a360 degree tourism targetedcampaign. “We are proactivelypitching Goa as a holiday des-tination to the European coun-tries, Scandinavia, Russia, CIScountries and the East includ-ing Japan,” adds Naik.

Their marketing agendafor this year includes roadshows and participation in thetrade marts across the globe.“Last year, we did extensiveroad shows at St Petersburgand interacted with tour oper-ators and travel agents. We

receive an approximate of 11charters per week with closeto 250 people onboard. Welook to see that figureincrease. While earlier StPetersburg and Moscow werethe key cities which attractedtourists to Goa, as of recently,we have seen new marketsopen up. We will visit Spain, France, Italy and otherparts of Europe”.

Along with targettingEuropean countries, GoaTourism has high hopespinned on Japan, “We success-fully promoted Goa in Japanlast year where we showcasedGoa as an ideal destination tothe urban Japanese tourist. Weare looking to attract all agegroups of tourists from Japanthis year; however the focuswill be on the young traveller.There has been a keen interestexpressed by the travel andtrade fraternity in Japan onadding Goa to the travel itin-erary of the Japanese traveller.Japan has already been granted a Visa-on-Arrival facility by the Indian govern-

ment, and we are looking totap this opportunity.”

In spite of their focuson the international mar-ket, they are not ignoringtheir domestic tourismpotential. “As a parallelapproach, we will launch acampaign to attract domes-tic tourists as well.Monsoon tourism or rain-drop tourism, as we call it,has seen positive resultsover the years. Over 10 percent of the total touristinflow into the state is com-

ing during the monsoonmonths. We will also tapmarkets in West Asia,where rains are sparse. Thecampaign will be marketedextensively through theinternet, social networkingsites and at travel marts.”

Goa continues to bepopular for its beaches andthe coastal belt amongst trav-ellers. However, the tourismdepartment has taken thepromotion of heritage andhinterland tourism very seri-ously. Goa has much to offerin terms of its vast rich her-itage and culture.

Goa enjoys the maxi-mum number of repeattourists. “Foreign touristsarriving into Goa stay for anaverage period of two weeksincluding short and long termstays, not less. In terms ofroom nights, Goa does excep-tionally well. Goa receivesclose to 750 charter flightsinto Goa from different partsof Europe through the touristseason,” concludes Naik.

Pitching Goa as an ideal holiday destination to the European countriesand Japan, Goa Tourism is going all out to attract international tourists.

DE V I KA JE E T

Goa to cash in on Visa-on-Arrivals

Swapnil NaikDirector TourismGovernment of Goa

Increasing FSIthat FSI should be hikedunanimously for all hotels inDelhi,” he advocates.

According to Peter J.Leitgeb, President & CEO,The Claridges Hotels &Resorts, the deluxe boutiquehotel, The Claridges, NewDelhi has an inventory ofonly 140 rooms. An addi-tional FSI would have defi-nitely enabled us to addmore rooms and suites.”This would have generatedmore revenues and signifi-cantly, improved the bot-tomline of our hotel.

Talking about the vary-ing FSI in different territorial

regions, Ratan Marothia, VicePresident, FHRAI urges, “FSIshould be increased for allregions jointly. First, therewas an increase in FSI in Mumbai and then Delhiwitnessed a boost in FSI in the name of theCommonwealth Games.”

It is high time thatKolkata also witnesses a hike in FSI. “Would Kolkatahave to celebrate the cente-nary of Rabindranath Tagoreto get a sanction for hike inFSI?” asks Marothia.

“Hence, I would urgethe government to raise FSIin all metros collectively,” heconcludes.

Contd. from page 5

The AirportEconomic RegulatoryAuthority (AERA) hasrevised developmentcharges for theMumbai airport.Domestic flyers willnow have to pay Rs100 and international trav-ellers will have to pay Rs600 towards airport devel-

opment charges. Thecharges will be in effectfrom May 1, 2012 till theend of April 2014.

Mumbai Airport to charge ADF

STATES1 2 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

Aluxury train covering allthe leading Sikh shrines

in the country will be flaggedoff in December this year. Arecent agreement has beensigned between the IndianRailways Catering andTourism Corporation (IRCTC)and the Punjab Heritage andTourism Promotion Board(PHTPB) to run this train, VBKumar, Executive Director,PHTPB informed.

According to Kumar,Punjab Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal hasapproved the name of thetrain as Panj Takhts YatraExpress. It would flag off onDecember 26 this year.

Attempting to attracttwo fast-growing populationsegments in India — follow-ers of Sikhism and a fastexpanding inbound tourismmarket in India, the initiativeaims to target the upscaleluxury segment in India

along with visitors fromsource market such as UKand Canada.

The train would coverAkal Takht in Amritsar, TakhtSri Damdama Sahib atTalwandi, Takht Sri KeshgarhSahib at Anandpur, Takht SriPatna Sahib in Patna and TakhtSri Hazur Sahib at Nanded inMaharashtra. Starting fromAmritsar, the train will embarkon a nine-day journey viaDelhi, Agra and Gwalior andculminate at Nanded.

Throwing light on thenew agreement, Kumarrevealed, “The IRCTC agree-

ment with PHTPB is for threeyears. According to the pact,the train will see a minimumof at least two runs in eachfinancial year. The first trip ofFY 2012-13 will be onDecember 26.” The secondtrip will soon follow suitaround March 20. Thesedates, however, need to befinalised by the railwaysdepartment, he added.

This train is the sametrain that is running on theBuddhist circuit as well. We have chartered the sametrain on specific dates for thejourney to the five Takhts.The train will be a Rajdhanirake type with a capacity ofaround 240 seats. Hence, theowner and operator for both the religious circuittrains is IRCTC. “We are themarketing partner for IRCTC.Going forward, PHTPB hasalso roped in a private mar-keting firm – The LuxuryTrains – for this endeavour,”he confirmed.

The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation(IRCTC) and the Punjab Heritage and Tourism PromotionBoard (PHTPB) will flag off the Panj Takhts Yatra Express.

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Religious tourism on track

The train would cover AkalTakht in Amritsar, Takht SriDamdama Sahib atTalwandi, Takht SriKeshgarh Sahib atAnandpur, Takht Sri PatnaSahib in Patna and TakhtSri Hazur Sahib at Nanded

Green Signal

“We have a very suc-cessful tourism

model and the awards wereceived at the NationalTourism Awards is a testimo-

ny to this,” said VinodSemwal, Principal SecretaryTourism, Culture &Parliamentary Affairs,Madhya Pradesh.

The state received fourawards at the recently con-

cluded National TourismAwards- First Best State forComprehensive Developmentof Tourism, Best CivicManagement of a Tourism Destination, BestTourism Publicity Material, and Excellence in Best Film on Tourism.

“After having estab-lished our supremacy at the

domestic level, we now wantto make our presence felt onthe world stage. Initially, wewould like to concentrate onEurope (especially the UnitedKingdom, Austria, Italy, andSpain) and the United States.In a bid to aggressively pro-mote MP’s sights and sounds,we have developed new dig-ital and print campaigns tosuit each of the markets,”added Semwal.

Madhya Pradesh is also in the process of devel-oping water sports in thevarious water bodies dotted along the state. Withthe implementation of theWater Tourism Policy, MPST-DC has the monopoly todevelop water sports andtourism infrastructurethrough private initiative.“Indra Sagar (largest water reservoir in the India), Ban Sagar, andGandhi Sagar have beenidentified for developingwater sports facilities.”

Madhya Pradesh Tourism with its tagline Heart ofIncredible India has expanded its marketing initiativesto aggressively promote the destination globally.

Heart of Incredible India

RUPALI NARASIMHAN

Vinod SemwalPrincipal Secretary Tourism, Culture &Parliamentary Affairs, Madhya Pradesh

We now want to make ourpresence felt onthe world stage.Initially, we wouldlike to concentrateon Europe(especially UK,Austria, Italy, andSpain) and the US

EXHIBITIONS1 4 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

This year’s Gulf Incentive,Business Travel, and

Meetings Exhibition (GIBTM)recorded an increase of 17%exhibitors from 34 countries.Over 330 exhibitors and over273 hosted buyers attendedthe two and a half event at

the Abu Dhabi NationalExhibition Centre.

Talking about the 6thedition of the event, Lois Hall,Exhibition Manager, GIBTMsaid, “The Middle East meet-ings industry represents a significant part of theregion’s success and offerssubstantial contribution tothe future potential growth.”

GIBTM is both a busi-ness as well as an educationforum where experts fromthe meetings industry sharethe new trends and educatethe industry professionals.One of the highlights of theshow was the 6th Middle EastMeetings Industry Researchreport that was presented onMarch 27th. Presented bySally Greenhill, Right

Solution and Rob Nicholas,Meetme, the research indi-cated that 48.2% of theMiddle East buyers and47.2% global buyers said thattheir business has improvedover the last 12 months as compared to the previous year.

The research also indi-cated that in the next 12months, the Middle East buy-ers predict a growth in India,Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey,Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,Maldives, France, Japan andthe UK where as the globalbuyers are going to buy fromIndia, the USA, Singapore,Thailand, Italy, the UK,France , China and Macau.

Within the Middle Eastregion, the UAE, SaudiArabia, Egypt Qatar andKuwait are the countries thathave exhibited the highestgrowth in business.

Acknowledged as a high yield vertical within the travel business, MICE isan integral component of business travel. In the wake of the economic crises,this sector came under severe pressure. However the experts have predicted a gradual recovery in the year 2012 which will accelerate in 2013.

RUPALI NARASIMHAN

GIBTM grows by 17% in 2012

Craig MoyesGroup Exhibition DirectorGIBTM

Lois HallExhibition ManagerGIBTMGIBTM is both a business

as well as an educationforum where experts fromthe meetings industryshare the new trends andeducate the industryprofessionals

The Middle East buyers predict a growth in India, Thailand,Malaysia, Turkey, SriLanka, Bangladesh,Maldives, France, Japanand the UK

Strong Platform

Reed Travel Exhibitions(RTE) recently announcedthe launch of World Travel Market LatinAmerica – the first globalevent for this increasinglyimportant region for traveland tourism.

The first World TravelMarket Latin America willtake place in São Paulo inApril 2013. RTE is workingwith the Brazilian touristboard EMBRATUR over ahosted buyers programmefor WTM Latin America.

The event is targetedat the booming Brazilianand Latin American traveland tourism industry. LatinAmerica will attract33,127,000 tourists(including those travellingbetween countries and intothe region) in 2011 risingby 5.2% a year to55,191,000 in 2021,according to the WorldTravel & Tourism Council.

This increase in visitorssees Latin America top thetable of percentage increasein tourists spending overthe next 10 years rising7.5% over the period to

$70.8 billion in 2021.Richard Mortimore,

Managing Director, RTE,said, “Reed TravelExhibitions is launchingWorld Travel Market LatinAmerica at an exciting timefor the Brazilian and widerLatin American travelindustry.”

“WTM Latin Americagives the Latin Americaninternal and outbound travelindustry the perfect shopwindow to heighten itsalready growing profile in theglobal tourism industry.”

“It will be region’s onlyglobal marketplace to conduct business, negotiatedeals and sign the contracts which will see itgrow to one of the mostimportant regions in thetourism industry.”

Caio Carvalho,President of São Paulotourist board SPTuris said:“It is a pleasure to welcomeWTM Latin America to SãoPaulo, largest market inSouth America, foremostdestination in Brazil andone of the 2014 World Cuphost cities, in 2013.”

Now, WTM Latin America in April 2013

AVIATION1 6 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

Social media has made the customer powerful.

Expressive opinions, quickresponses and shared con-cerns, all spread like wild fireon a social network.

Lufthansa decided tolaunch a special Facebook pagefor India in 2010 in view of thefact that India is a strategicmarket and Indian customershave distinct preferences. It is

the only country in theLufthansa network with anindependent Facebook pageand is actively engaging over1,00,000 fans. “Within the fastgrowth of social media, it isextremely important to decidethe space you want to be in

and why. We believe our socialmedia platform is a powerfultool to listen to our customersand actively engage withthem. Far beyond anotherchannel to expand our reach

or crowd source ideas, it helpsus understand the preferencesand concerns of our customersbetter, thereby enhancing our ability to serve theirneeds,” says SangeetaSharma, Manager, MarketingCommunication, South Asia,Lufthansa.

Following their footsteps,Turkish Airlines is also plan-ning to launch a local Facebookpage for India this summer.“We are developing a localfacebook page for India as wewant to be present on socialmedia. India is one of the firstcountries for Turkish Airlinesto introduce a local Facebook page,” says Adnan Aykac,General Manager, Northernand Eastern India, TurkishAirlines.

Indian carriers are notlagging behind in their socialmedia presence. Air Indiadecided that it would beaggressively targetting thesocial media industry byusing Facebook and Twitteras its primary platforms. Jet

Airways is the first Indianairline to add over five lakh fans on Facebook. Theyprovide real-time newsupdates about flight sched-ules, new customer pro-grams, route additions, services and special offers oftheir Facebook page.

SpiceJet decided to start flight services from Surat following many requestsfrom its fans on Facebook.Surat is the first destinationthat will see launch of flight

from SpiceJet on passengersdemand from Facebook.

While the airlines are allgeared up to engage with theircustomers, OTAs are also mak-ing the most of social media.“Social media outreach is nowa critical element of market-ing-mix and customer rela-tionship management strate-gies. As an enabler of delight-ful travel experiences, it is toour advantage to be sensitizedto our customer’s conversa-tions in order to better under-

stand and fulfill their needs.Not only do these platformsallow us to pick on customerconcerns quickly and improvecase-time resolution, but wealso monitor conversations toaddress traveller concerns andindustry issues to positivelyinfluence outcomes,” saysMohit Gupta, Chief BusinessOfficer, MakeMyTrip.com.

Addressing the concernof the impact on OTAs of therelationship airlines build withcustomers on social media,Sunny Sodhi, Vice PresidentAir products,Yatra.com, says,“Airlines keep coming up withoffers for customers directlybut it has never impacted ourbusiness. We offer all the air-lines in one search which isextremely convenient for thecustomer. This is evident fromthe fact that a sizeable portionof the airline inventory is dis-tributed through the OTAs.Our distribution numbers aremuch higher than what theairlines sell directly throughtheir websites”.

International and domestic airlines are strengthening their presence on social media and are actively engaging with passengers. Will this direct contact change the airlines’ relationship with OTAs?

DE V I KA JE E T

Social Media: A new of the airlines

Sangeeta SharmaManager, Marketing CommunicationSouth Asia, Lufthansa

Adnan AykacGeneral Manager Northern andEastern India, Turkish Airlines

Mohit GuptaChief Business OfficerMakeMyTrip.com

Sunny SodhiVice President Airproducts,Yatra.com

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

The report said that, in2009-10, the Delhi

Airport added ̀ 29,470 croreor 0.45 per cent to India’sGDP, which turns out to be13.53 per cent of Delhi’sGross State Domestic Product(GSDP).This contribution islikely to increase to ̀ 90,925crore by the year 2020.

A sample survey of pas-sengers was carried out inthis study to understand the

profile of passengers usingthe airport and their expen-diture pattern. Among theIndian residents travelling byinternational flights, the top20 per cent reported an aver-age monthly income to theextent of ` 4.2 lakh permonth and the bottom 20 percent had a monthly income of` 15,525 per month.

Around 91 per cent of the foreign tourists arrive in India by air. Delhi airport plays an important role in tourism industry

of Delhi where 34 per cent out of total foreign touristsarrive in India come throughDelhi airport.

Distribution passengersby purpose of visit suggestedthat a majority of 33.4 per centhad come for business pur-

pose, followed by 20.2 per centfor visiting friends and rela-tives; travelling during vaca-tions for tourism purposesformed 18.7 per cent.Attending conferences or com-ing for education and medicalpurpose formed 6.0, 2.7 and1.3 per cent respectively.

The spending activitiesof air passengers in Delhi sug-gested that about 70 per centof those who had come onbusiness purposes spent morethan ` 5,000 on hotels.Similarly, about 80 per cent

of the passengers who hadcome for tourism purposesspent more than Rs 5,000 onhotels. About 70 per cent of the passengers in these twocategories spent between`1,001-10,000 on transporta-tion. In other expenditure,such as, shopping, watchingmovies, more than 60 per cent of the passengers whohad come for business andtourism purposes spentbetween ` 1,001-10,000 on these activities during their visit.

A study entitled ‘The Economic Impact of Delhi Airport’ conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) focused on providing an assessment of the economic impact of the Delhi Airport on the regional and the national economies. gives details of the report:

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IGIA: Only 18.7% arrivals for tourism

Middle East carriers guid-ed the aviation industry

in traffic growth as airlinesrecorded 23.4 per cent year-on-year rate of growth inFebruary 2012, according to the International AirTransport Association (IATA)report.The capacity growthstood at 16.1 per cent and theaverage load factors for theregion showed the most dra-matic improvement to 76.9per cent in February 2012compared to 72.4 per cent inthe previous year.

From seamless connec-tivity to food requirements,competitive prices and addi-tional baggage allowance, thecarriers are addressing all thewhims and fancies of theIndian travel. This might bea warning to European air-lines as they might start los-ing business to the boomingMiddle Eastern carriers.

“A majority of our pas-sengers are transit passen-gers. Over 70 per cent travelbeyond Dubai and themajority of these fly onwardsto the Western Europe,” saysMajid Al Mualla, DivisionalSenior Vice President, WestAsia & Indian Ocean,Emirates Airline.

With a suitable geo-graphical position, qualityproducts and widespread network, Middle East Airlinesare all set to strengthen their position on the global industry map.

“Turkish Airlines hasnearly 85 per cent transit pas-sengers from India. We fly toover 190 international desti-nations with a high load factorand the load factor for ourEuropean destinations is evenhigher. However, our US pas-senger volume is also increas-ing with every passing day,”says Adnan Aykac, General

Manager, Northern andEastern India, Turkish Airlines.

Aircraft improvementshave put most of the world'spopulation within a directflight from the Gulf, resultingin airport and fleet expansionand shifting more of the glob-al network map to large hubssuch as Dubai from the USand Europe. More than halfthe passengers flying OmanAir are also on an onward

journey. “Approximately 53per cent of our passengersare transit. They are usuallyconnecting to Europe or the GCC,” says VineetNayyar, District SalesManager, Delhi, Oman Air.

Discussing the profile ofthe Indian traveller, Muallasays, “Emirates enjoys ahealthy mix of all profiles oftravellers from India. Whilethere has been an increase

over the years to Europe,lately, there has been a slow-down in this traffic. Leisuretravel, earlier, was increasingduring the vacation season inIndia, but, in recent years, wehave seen a year-roundgrowth in this segment; thereis traditionally an upswing inMICE travel during January– February when events andexhibitions are on a higharound the globe.”

Oman Air witnessed anincrease in traffic to Europeover the previous year.“Majority of the travellers arein the leisure segment andwe see some MICE travellersalso,” says Nayyar.

Turkish Airlines flies toover 70 destinations in Europealone and the passenger trafficon this route has been on asteady rise in the recent years.The passengers travelling toEurope are usually a mix ofboth leisure and MICE trav-ellers. According to a study byOxford Economics, the avia-tion has been at the centre ofthe economic transformationin the Gulf region over the past25 years. The industry in theMiddle East supports 2.7 mil-lion jobs and $129 billion inGDP. Aviation’s role is set togrow rapidly as internationalpassenger numbers rise from77.1 million in 2010 to 220million in 2030.

While European airlines are struggling for survival and reducing flights, the Gulf carriers (including TurkishAirlines) are becoming the popular choice amongst transit passengers. studies the trends.

DE V I KA JE E T

The Middle East: An ideal transit hub

Majid Al Mualla, Divisional SeniorVice President, West Asia & IndianOcean, Emirates Airline

Adnan AykacGeneral Manager, Northern andEastern India, Turkish Airlines

Vineet NayyarDistrict Sales ManagerDelhi, Oman Air

AVIATION2 0 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

According to Ajit Singh,Union Minister for Civil

Aviation, cash-strapped AirIndia is expected to earn cashprofit by 2018 through itsrecently announcedTurnaround Plan (TAP) worth` 30,200 crore. The Cabinet

Committee on EconomicAffairs has approved the TAPand financial restructuringplan of Air India under whichthe government will infuse

the total amount into the air-line by 2020-21.

According to a top offi-cial of the airline, withregards to the TAP, the airlinewill now hive off MRO(Maintenance, repair andOverhaul) and ground-han-dling services into two differ-

ent business units with dif-ferent profit centres. The air-line will induct the first of the27 Boeing 787 Dreamlinersby end of May this year while

it will receive another twoaircraft by end of 2012.Mumbai and Delhi would beAir India’s operational basesfor the Dreamliner and thecarrier has already proposedthe flying schedule for theseaircraft. Furthermore, toensure excellent load factorson international routes, theairline has announced toappoint GSAs in 56 overseasmarkets. To streamline thefluctuating ATF prices, theairline is in process of intro-ducing ‘Fuel pass through’, a

fare system where fares willbe changed and priced as perthe ATF price, informed K Swaminathan, DeputyGeneral Manager - CorporateCommunications, Air India.

Providing further details,Swaminathan said, “The TAPcomes as a relief to the airline. Of the total ` 30,200 crore, the airline willget equity support of ` 5,500 crore in this fiscal,which will be used to clear alldues to oil companies, airports,

employee salaries, etc. Thevarious tranches of equitywould be subject to achieve-ment of various milestoneslaid down, which includeachieving load factor of 75 percent and attaining On-TimePerformance (OTP) of 85-90per cent in the next four to fiveyears.” Adding further on GSAnetwork in overseas markets,he said, “The board hasapproved the appointmentproposal of GSAs in 56 coun-tries which will help the airlineexpand its horizons, increase

presence and enhance loadfactors on the internationaland domestic route. We willsoon come out with five yearGSA contracts’ global tendersfor those who are interested tobecome Air India GSAs inregions like Gulf, Asia Pacific,West Asia, Africa, Europe,Latin America and Australia.They would have an initialcontract for five years, whichwould be subject to reviewevery year.” However, hedenied commenting anythingwith regards to Air India’s StarAlliance membership.

With an approved Turnaround Plan of ` 30,200 crore, will Air India get into profit making by 2021 or will it require another financial restructuring plan by 2021? finds out by talking to the airline’s official spokesperson.

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Turnaround Plan to turn AI’s fortunes?

‘India is our 3rd most important market’

A ‘Twist’ in the storyThe release of funds

would be subject to certainareas like increasing the payload factor (PLF), improvisingon-time performance, wellfleet management, enhancingthe yields, etc. But will the‘Maharaja’ manage to achievea PLF of 73 per cent by 2015

and 75 by 2020 when at pres-ent; it has the lowest PLFamong seven domestic air-lines? Moreover, while evenKingfisher (with a truncatedschedule) had a load factor ofover 80 per cent in February2012, Air India could notmanage to cross 70 per cent.

Talking about OTP, the plansays Air India needs to moveto 75-85 per cent and to 90per cent within two years.The DGCA data show AirIndia was last in February on this count. However, theOTP performance indicatesreliability.

According to Arved VonZur Muehlen, Head

of Sales & Marketing –Intercontinental, SwissInternational Air Lines,2011 was the most expen-sive year in oil prices foraviation industry. With ATFconsisting of 25-30 percent operating costs (inIndia, it goes up to 50 percent); and other globalchallenges, airlines have tobe extremely flexible intoday’s world and age. Dueto the strong marketgrowth in Middle East,

India and China, the airlinehas recorded an excellentincrease in the load factorsfrom these markets.

“India is a strategicand important market forSWISS as it’s the third top market in theIntercontinental region forus. About 45 per cent ofthe loads in Indian routesconsist of Indian passen-gers and there is still a lotof growth area. India isnow a 12-month marketbut when the loads areless, we focus on non-lucrative segments likeVisiting Friends and

Relatives (VFR). We arestudying other markets inIndia and will operate asand when we think the

demand is high but it will all depend on our air-craft delivery.”

The airline is celebrat-ing 10 years of operations in2012 and flies to 70 destina-tions worldwide with plansto further expand the routenetwork. With an extremelyflexible schedule; the airlinewitnessed an operating mar-gin of 6.2 per cent in 2011.With an investment of 2.5billion CHF; the airline willreceive delivery of five A320in 2012-14 and five A330-300 in 2012-13. Elaboratingon challenges faced by globalcarriers; Muehlen said,

“Airlines have to consistentlymonitor economic develop-ment in various markets asit impacts the yields andmargins. Secondly, since fuelcost is not under our control,we are hatching withLufthansa Group to help usreduce the cost in short-term. Another issue faced byus is the weak Euro andstrong Swiss Francs; as weare earning in Euros andspending in CHF. Talkingabout the international mar-kets; many carriers haveadded frequencies to MiddleEast and India resulting instrong competition. Last but

not the least is public debtcrisis; world is so connectedtoday that airlines are affect-ed directly or indirectly withglobal crisis.”

As a solution, the airlineis strengthening its positionwith help of its parent compa-ny – Lufthansa Group.“Everything which is customerrelated is managed independ-ently with a unique Swissidentity. However, the non-passenger side like optimisingrevenue, route networkexpansion, taxes, fuel costs,etc is done with the group,”adds Muehlen.

With excellent connections from New Delhi and Mumbai, SWISS is planning for its network expansion to other cities.

Arved Von Zur Muehlen, Head of Sales & Marketing – IntercontinentalSwiss International Air Lines

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SWISS

Of the total ` 30,200 crore, the airlinewill get equity support of ` 5,500 crorein this fiscal, which will be used toclear all dues to oil companies,airports, employee salaries, etc

K Swaminathan, Deputy General Manager -Corporate Communications, Air India

To streamline thefluctuating ATF prices, theairline is in process ofintroducing ‘Fuel passthrough’, a fare systemwhere fares will bechanged and priced as perthe ATF price

Taking Off

AVIATION2 2 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

At a time when the domes-tic airlines are fighting for

their survival, air charters arenow in vogue. Air chartercompanies are not committedto flying a fixed schedule andit is the demand factor decid-ing its flight schedules.Companies operating in thisnon-scheduled aviation spacehave been adding fleet, plan-ning regional services andexpanding operations.

“Flying in a non-scheduled or private aircraftgives a great sense of flexi-bility. One can schedule thetime of departures andavoid any kind of delaysthat may be caused whiletravelling in a scheduledairlines. It also providesconnectivity to remote areasand places that are not con-nected by the scheduled air-lines. It takes care of yoursecurity, privacy and confi-dentiality, ensuring youarrive fresh at your destina-tion,” says Rohit Kapur,

President, Business AircraftOperators Association.

While corporate travelcontinues to drive the aircharter market, leisure-basedtravel has also started pickingup. “There is a lot of demandfor charter flights but thepresent supply does not meetthe requirement. The privatecharters available cater toeither a very small group oran extremely large one. We’lleither get an aircraft for 6 to12 people or one for over 70people but there are no

resources for 40 to 60 pas-senger flights. The shortageof mid-sized aircraft needs tobe addressed,” says J GArora, Chief OperatingOfficer, Spring Travels.

Understanding themarket demands, manyIndian operators have start-ed diversifying into this field.Minar Travels, one suchoperator, has decided to pro-vide non-scheduled airtransport services withinIndia under the banner ofMinar Air Charters.

“Realising the growingdemand from tourists and cor-porate houses for dedicated aircharter service, Minar Travelsdecided to open a new field ofoperation, Air Charters. Weproposes to operate this char-ter service to places such asAgra, Khajuraho, Jaipur, andUdaipur for the tourists and toChandigarh, Patiala andAmritsar for the corporatetravel,” says HS Duggal,Managing Director, MinarTravels. A couple of foreignplayers are looking to enter

allied areas such as air man-agement services. South Africa-based chartered flight operator, SRS Aviationis looking at launching oper-ations in India.

Looking at the markettrends and growth patterns,Arora says, “The Ministry ofCivil Aviation and theTourism Ministry mustencourage charter flightsespecially regional ones.Cities such as Ludhiana and Jalandhar don’t havedaily scheduled services and therefore easy availabil-ity of charter flights to such destinations will definitely be a boon.”

While domestic airlines are battling hard for their survival, the travel industry is looking at airchartering as a promising alternative. studies the emerging opportunities in this sector.

DE V I KA JE E T

Air charter demand surges in India

Rohit KapurPresident, Business AircraftOperators Association

J G AroraChief Operating OfficerSpring Travels

HS DuggalManaging DirectorMinar Travels

GoAir has addedChennai on its networkwith double daily servicesbetween Chennai andMumbai and a daily serv-ice between Chennai andPune. Chennai will alsoconnect Port Blair withfive weekly flights. Theairline will also offer daily connectivity fromChennai (via Mumbai) toDelhi, Chandigarh, Patnaand Ranchi.

‘GoAir’ fliesfrom Chennai

The Annual Convention of ATOAI is going to beheld in Assam Guwahatifrom October 28-31, 2012.For the first time ever, theAssociation will have anactivity orientated convention. Where, in thefirst half of the day, the delegates would be involvedin learning sessions and inthe other half of the day,they will be experiencingoutdoor activities likeswimming with the dol-phins, visiting tea gardens, etc.

QUICK READ

According to the lateststatistics available with theDirectorate General of CivilAviation, in 2010, therewere 127 registered non-scheduled operators. Thisis a major jump from only36 operators in 2000

Upping Numbers

HOTELS2 4 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

Currently, Yatra.com dealswith over 9000 agents

and records over 3000 hits aday on its portal. It recorded agrowth of over 70 per cent in

the last fiscal ending March2011 over the previous fiscalending March 2010. It hasalso roped in Bollywood actorSalman Khan as its brandambassador who has bought

a stake of five per cent in thecompany. Through the newbrand ambassador, the OTAplans to penetrate smallerIndian cities (Ahmedabad,Surat, Varodara, Coimbatore,Lucknow, Kanpur, Guwahati,etc) and also increase visibilityin the overseas market.Yatra.com also recentlylaunched a ‘Hold Your

Booking' facility for customerson international flights. Thisfacility enables customers tochoose their flights in thetravel-planning stage andmake payments when theirtravel plans are confirmed.

Talking to , DhruvShringi, CEO & Co-Founder,Yatra.com said, “There’s a lot

of technology investment hap-pening on technology front toensure that the agents have afantastic platform to do prof-itable business with us. We areexpanding our data-base ofsub-agents this year as it’s notabout replacing the old oneswith new ones; it’s aboutworking together for a long-term business prospect. We

will soon launch the EMI hol-iday product for end con-sumers which will also beavailable on B2B level for oursub-agent network.”

In a move to attract fre-quent travellers, the OTA haslately launched a unique holi-day-cum-shopping card inpartnership with SBI Cards.Benefits of the card includesattractive discounts acrossYatra.com travel and holidaypackages; exclusive preview of Yatra.com’s best deals;reward point conversionagainst Yatra.com holidayvouchers etc.

Yatra.com has recently gone through a complete revamp of the portal along with introducing new add-ons, promotions, products and services for its affiliate partners and end customers to further streamline its booking engine.

Yatra.com now dons a new look

Dhruv ShringiCEO & Co-FounderYatra.com

Opaque PricingYatra.com has been

offering opaque priced prod-ucts for quiet some time nowwhich has received goodresponse from the customers.Shringi said, “I think it’s afantastic thing from the con-sumers and suppliers point ofview. I think it’s been wronglyinterpreted in few newspa-pers few days back. If you seecompanies like priceline.com,hotwire.com, etc, they arebuilding globally on opaque

fares. Opaque fares allow asupplier like a hotel or an air-line to offload excess inven-tory without diluting theirbrand, so it’s a fantastic valueproposition for them.Unfortunately what has hap-pened is, some of the opaquefares (during the mediareports) were of Kingfisherand those flights have gotcancelled. The two factorshave combined togetherwhich is absolutely incorrect.

I think it’s just not the rightway of looking at it. Oneneeds to look at both of them in isolation, one is the consumer benefit, wehave got number of customercomplains, when we modifiedor switch off opaque fares option for few days. Wewould work actively with ourairline partners to find a solu-tion which is mutually accept-able to them and work for theend-customers.”

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Yatra ropes in SalmanKhan as brandambassador to increasebrand recall value

This initiative will help it inpenetrating into smallIndian cities and overseasmarket

Endorsing brand

VoA up by 18.2%As per the recent statistics

released by the MOT duringMarch 2012, a total number of1287 Visa-on-Arrival (VoAs)were issued as compared to1089 VoAs during the monthof March 2011 registering apositive growth of 18.2 percent. During the period ofJanuary-March 2012, a totalnumber of 3905 VoAs wereissued as compared to 2905VoAs during correspondingperiod of 2011 .

The number of VoAsissued under this Scheme dur-ing March 2012 for nationalsof the ten countries were Japan(369), New Zealand (246),Indonesia (212), Singapore(195), Philippines (151),Finland (78), Vietnam (12),Cambodia (10), Luxemburg (8)and Myanmar (6). The numberof VoAs issued under thisScheme, during January-March 2012 were Japan (925),New Zealand (887), Indonesia(663), Philippines (527),Singapore (512), Finland (282),Vietnam (40), Luxemburg (24),Myanmar (23), Cambodia (20)and Laos (2).During the periodJanuary-March 2012, the maximum number of VoAswere issued at Delhi airport(2265), followed by Mumbai (914), Chennai (493) andKolkata (233).

HOTELS2 6 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

After affiliating with 10properties across the

country, Worldhotels havedecided to introduce its firstco-branded property under theGlobal Hotel Brand concept inIndia. The global brand licenseprogramme offers services likemarketing, training, sales, rev-enue management, etc,enabling hotel owners todevelop and manage theirhotels in profitable and sus-tainable way. It has alreadytied up with an upcomingproperty with 72 keys inChandigarh (WorldhotelTurquoise Chandigarh) whichwill be opened in August thisyear. Priced at about ̀ 5000 anight, the upscale four-starproperty will also have tworestaurants, a night club, spa,business centre and swimmingpool. Worldhotels is in talkswith other hotel owners incities like Pune, Hyderabad,Goa, Jaipur, Aurangabad,Nagpur and Coimbatore for

similar deals. Understandingthe potential of the Indianmarket, Worldhotels is inprocess of developing tenmore hotels with a mix of affil-iate and co-branded propertiesby 2014 with a total inventoryof over 2000 rooms. Launchedin 2011, the company has itsco-branded properties inAlmaty, Hamburg, Munich,Hague, Wuxi, Bali and Makati.

Divulging company’splans for the Indian market,Roland Jegge, Vice President

– Asia Pacific, Worldhotelssaid, “To identify the gapbetween ownership and fran-chise model, Worldhotelsintroduced the Global HotelBrand concept where the own-ers have the freedom to takedecisions while we will helpthe property by driving busi-ness, managing revenue andmarketing it through ourstate-of-the-art distributionchannel, global marketingcampaigns and partneringwith the travel agents in localmarkets. In return, we willcharge a certain percentage ofoverall revenue from the prop-erty. This model is well accept-ed in global market as weintend to develop and supportover 50 hotels under theWorldhotel brand by end of2014 out of which about tenwill be in India.”

With this targetedexpansion, India is likely tocontribute 5 per cent toWorldhotels’ global sales by2014, compared to about twoper cent at present.

Worldhotels will soon open its first branded hotel in India with ten more in the pipeline by 2014. gives details on the future strategies of the Group.

AN I TA JA I N

‘Global Hotel Brand’ concept

Roland JeggeVice President – Asia PacificWorldhotels

Carlson Rezidor HotelGroup has signed an

agreement with BestechGroup for developing 49 Park Inn by Radisson Hotelsacross North and CentralIndia. This was revealed by Simon Barlow, President- Asia Pacific, Carlson RezidorHotel Group.

Highlighting the impor-tance of India, Barlow said,“India is also the first marketto introduce the Generation Y brand. This shows our con-fidence in the market. We aimto capture the emerging GenY traveller segment with thisnew brand.” India’s middleclass is expected to grow from170 million in 2010 to close to600 million by 2025. Thisgrowing middle class andinvestments in infrastructurewill spur domestic travel and demand for affordable andyet modern accommodation,he added.

Out of the 49 proper-ties, the first two hotels willcome up in Sector 88Gurgaon and Mohali inChandigarh. To develop thesetwo properties, CarlsonRezidor and Bestech will havea joint venture to invest $42million. For the first time,Carlson Rezidor is investingin developing these proper-ties along with Bestech,Barlow informed. While theGurgaon property, part of a mix-use development, will have 200 keys, the

Chandigarh Hotel, again partof a mix-use property, willhave 160 keys. Both theseproperties are expected to beoperational by late 2015.

KB Kachru, ExecutiveVice President, South Asia, Carlson Rezidor HotelGroup confirmed, “We jointly believe that Park Inn by Radisson provides aneffective and compellinginvestment opportunity forthe Indian hotel propertymarket.”

Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group has signed an agreementwith Bestech Group for developing 49 ‘new generation’Park Inn by Radisson across North and Central India.

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‘Gen Y’ Park Inn by Radisson

Simon BarlowPresident - Asia Pacific, CarlsonRezidor Hotel Group

K B KachruExecutive Vice President, SouthAsia, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group

Mumbai-based ConceptHospitality, a hotel

management group recentlybagged a first class eco-friendly hotel award for itsfive-star ecotel hotel inMumbai – Meluha The Fern,part of Fern Hotels & Resorts.

Currently operating andmanaging 16 propertiesacross India, the group will beopening new properties inChandigarh, Chennai, Jaipur,Mumbai, Tejpur, Rajkot andVarodara this year and willhave presence in Ahmedabadand Cochin by next year. Allthe properties will be partially

or completely following the environment friendlypractices depending on theinvestment brackets. Thegroup intends to manage and operate over 30 proper-ties by 2015.

All the developing prop-erties are undertaking eco-

friendly practices either par-tially or completely dependingon the investment bracket.Conservation of water, solid waste management and reduction of energy useare low risk investment initiatives that ensure highreturns as the savings are sig-

nificant, informs ParamKannampilly, Chairman,Concept Hospitality.

Talking to aboutthe benefits of managing eco-friendly properties,Kannampilly said, “We wantto position our brand The

Fern as India’s leading environmentally sensitivehotel brand. In fact, hotel industry should look atecotel hotels as a sustainablebusiness prospective to over-come ‘a constant feeling ofcrises’ in hospitality sector. Iagree the return on invest-

ment in most cases variesfrom a year to ten years butthe savings are sizeable. Theoperational expenses areimmensely reduced for properties implementinggreen initiatives. While thecapital expenses will be rela-tively higher, the savings on

a monthly basis on opera-tional costs help boost the bottom line. Furthermore,the investment should not be just limited to conserv-ing the resources but educating all the stakehold-ers, from employees to guestsand suppliers.

With the top-rated eco-friendly certification for its property in Mumbai, Concept Hospitality is getting furtherstrong in eco-hospitality business…

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Riding high on eco-friendly certification

HOTELS M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2 TRAVTALK 2 7

Param Kannampilly Chairman Concept Hospitality

Consolidatingpotentialmarkets To consolidate poten-

tial hospitality markets inIndia, the group is intro-ducing properties in vari-ous categories in thesame city. For instance, itplans to have five proper-ties in Chennai by 2015.Talking about Mumbai,the company manages141 rooms Meluha – The Fern (five star) inPowai; 36 rooms Rodas(three star hotel) in Powai; 35 rooms GrandResidency (boutiquehotel) in Bandra. Another75-room hotel is currentlyin the final stages of completion in Chembur under The Fern brand (upscale property)and one more inGuregaon to be opera-tional by 2014.

ANALYSIS2 8 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

From religious and jazz festivals, to shopping bonanzas, art extravaganzas, sports events and cultural shows,there’s always something special on, somewhere in the world. And National Tourism Boards are successfullyharnessing these as special bonuses to attract foreign visitors, promising them greater value from their visits.

Special Tourism Draws

Runjuan Tongrut, Director,Tourism Authority of Thailand, feels special eventsare always welcomed by visi-tors to a country, and Thailandoffers these in plenty.

Celebrated in Thailand,especially in Chiang Mai as thetraditional New Year's Dayfrom April 13-15, Songkranprovides a wonderful insightinto Thai culture. In Bangkok,traditional celebrations areheld near the Grand Palace,with bathing of the sacredPhra Buddha Sihing image. AMiss Songkran contest is heldin the Wisutkasat area.

Among Thailand’s mostpopular and romantic tradition-al festivals, Loy Kratong or the'festival of light‘ provides visi-tors a special experience. InBangkok, people flock to the

banks of the Chao Phraya Riverto float their kratongs. Themost interesting are the LoyKratong celebrations held inChiang Mai. On the night ofLoy Kratong, there's a parade ofgiant kratongs. Loy Kratong inChiang Mai has the added fea-ture of a parallel festival calledYi Peng, celebrated by launch-ing hot air balloons made of ricepaper into the night sky.

Loy KratongHanneli Slabber, Country

Head, South African Tourism,feels South African festivals arean excellent way to learn about the country’s vibrant culture. With festivals aimed at getting entire familiestogether, they form an excellentcombination to make the entirefamily happy.

Offering food lovers andsporting enthusiasts family-funactivities, the Pick n Pay KnysnaOyster Festival is a special treat.Oyster-eating, oyster-shucking,oyster farm tours, oyster recipechallenges, and gourmet oys-ter-themed dinners happenthroughout the festival. Besidesoysters, the festival hosts 2 top-notch competitive sportingevents – the Pick n PayWeekend Argus Rotary CycleTour and the Pick n Pay Cape

Times Knysna Marathon. Heldover the Easter weekend everyyear in Cape Town, The Two Oceans Marathon, is popular with locals and visitors alike. Ranked No 4 inthe world, the Cape TownInternational Jazz Festival’swinning formula of bringingmore than 40 International andlocal artists has made it themost prestigious event on theAfrican continent.

Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival

Ozgur Ayturk, Culture &Tourism Counsellor, TurkishEmbassy, feels special eventsfurther enhance special desti-nations like Turkey.

Against the setting ofIstanbul's historical and cultur-al assets, Istanbul ShoppingFest, is bringing shopping andfun together again. Thousandsof tulips bloom all around

Istanbul in spring, and in Aprila riot of flowers takes overEmirgan Park with the annual Tulip Festival. Pitting man against nature ina tough geographical and climatic conditions, the RunFire Cappadocia Marathon isvisited by thousands of touristsevery year due to its historyand natural beauty.

Istanbul Shopping Festival

Radka Neumannova,Director, Czech TouristAuthority –India, feels there’splenty going on in the CzechRepublic to ensure visitorsget greater value for money.

Admire the local sightsand stay fit in the bargain!The Volkswagen PragueMarathon course is one of themost attractive in the world,providing a chance to runalong the Vltava and throughthe heart of this medievalcity. A three-day celebrationof Czech food with a traditiongoing way back, the PragueFood Festival brings togetherthe best chefs and drinks pro-ducers. One gets the chanceto admire Prague’s beautyand romance, and enjoy thebest food the country has tooffer. One can try Czech and

more exotic specialities fromthe country’s most interest-ing restaurants listed in thepublication called Maurer‘sGrand Restaurant Selection.One can choose from Czech,French, Belgian, Italian,Spanish and Japanesecuisines, and look forward to a demonstration of the barman’s art, guidedwine-tasting sessions etc.

The Volkswagen Prague Marathon

Ritu Sharma, SwitzerlandTourism, is upbeat aboutSwitzerland’s festivals whichare huge tourist draws.Keeping its finger on thepulse of music , the MontreuxJazz Festival allows musicjournalists, festival friendsand programme managers toexchange their views aboutthe latest exhilarating concertexperiences or new and excit-ing discoveries on montreux-

jazz.com. In addition, themusic blog brings together allthe major links to the variousactivities of the Festival, andthereby serves as a virtualsignpost in the “MontreuxJazz Universe”. The world'spremier international artshow for modern and con-temporary works, Art Baselfeatures nearly 300 leadinggalleries from North America,Latin America, Europe, Asia

and Africa, with over 2,500artists represented in theshow's multiple sections.

Montreux Jazz Festival

Runjuan TongrutDirectorTourism Authority of Thailand

Hanneli Slabber, CountryHead, South African Tourism Radka Neumannova, Director,

Czech Tourist Authority –India

Ritu SharmaSwitzerland Tourism

Chandra Sehgaran,Deputy Director, TourismMalaysia, feels a destination’stourist success depends on itsversatility and ability to gettourists’ attention and inter-est. In this scheme of things,special events play a signifi-cant role and greatly enhancethe destination’s status.Colours of Malaysia is a pop-ular event and great tourist –draw, with its grand parade

being a national highlight. Assuch, it has been prominentlyfactored into TourismMalaysia’s marketing and pro-motions campaigns, and iscentrally featured in severaltour packages. Tourists great-ly enjoy the feast of culturalofferings on display at theevent. Also significant, are theannual Mega Sales thatinvolve a host of shoppingestablishments, and enable

visitors to buy quality merchandise at attractive,discounted prices.

Colours of Malaysia

Chandra SehgaranDeputy Director,Tourism Malaysia

Ozgur Ayturk, Culture & TourismCounsellor Turkish Embassy

IN D E R RA J AH LU WA L I A

Adventure tourism plays asignificant role in the

growth of tourism in India.Shouldering greater respon-sibility, ATOAI conducted aworkshop to ensure safe andhonorable adventure tourismpractices in the country. TheAssociation highlighted fourimportant factors, ethics,safety, sustainability and stan-dard operating procedures,and will introduce them as anew mission for ATOAI.

Discussing this visionTejbir Singh Anand,

President, ATOAI, says,“This is a historic move andfirst of its kind by a nationalassociation in India. Wehave compiled our thoughtstogether and have specifi-cally addressed issues per-taining to safety, standardoperating procedures, ethicsand sustainable tourism vis-à-vis adventure travel. Wehave prepared a documentencompassing safety guide-lines for various adventureactivities, sustainabletourism criteria for India asapplicable to adventuretourism, ethics, and standard operating proce-dures for the adventure fraternity.”

Anand Kumar, JointSecretary, Ministry ofTourism, Government ofIndia, welcomed the move ofATOAI for coming up with auseful and instructive work-

shop and offered to extendfull support in promotion andregulation of these safetyguidelines in the country.

The safety guidelineswere highlighted under fourcategories thus constituting

the four pillars for the adven-ture fraternity.

EthicsTo facilitate the delivery

of responsible and sustainableadventure travel experience,the association has workedout a Code of Ethics for its

members to conduct theirbusiness. This will help theindustry guide the travelerwith honesty and integrity.

SafetyAdventure activities

involve risks that need to bemanaged by the operators.

This can be achievedthrough careful supervision,training, instructions, andinformation. “As the namessuggest, we discussed basicsafety standards for eachactivity. The idea is to lay down basic minimumstandards for tour operators

to take reasonable practica-ble measures to ensure safety of the travellers.

Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) has adopted a new vision andmission focusing on ethics, safety, sustainability and standard operating procedures.

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Four pillars for Adventure Tourism

ASSOCIATIONS M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2 TRAVTALK 2 9

Anand KumarJoint SecretaryMinistry of Tourism, Government of India

Contd. on page 47

We have compiledour thoughts andhave addressedissues pertaining to safety, standardoperatingprocedures,ethics andsustainabletourism vis-à-visadventure travel

Tejbir Singh AnandPresidentATOAI

VISA3 0 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

Apart of the larger plan toboost business and

tourism between the US andIndia, the US has recentlyunveiled a new initiative thatexempts interviews for somecategories of Indian appli-cants who are applying forthe US visas. Under the newprogramme, Indian appli-cants who are renewing full-validity visas, if the visa is

still valid or expired within 48hours, will be exempted frompersonal interviews by the USconsular officer. The cate-gories of Indian applicantswho qualify for the interview waiver under thenew scheme includes busi-ness/tourism, transit andcrew members. The newscheme that was unveiled inthe third week of March byUS Assistant Secretary ofState for Consular Affairs

Janice L. Jacobs during herIndia visit is expected toboost outbound travel to USeven more.

Talking about the bene-fits of this scheme for thetravel industry in India, theUS Embassy Consular Sectionreveals, “The travel commu-nity has responded positively.We encourage travel agentsto recommend the pro-gramme to applicants whoqualify for the same.” Thenumber of applicants usingthe interview waiver pro-gramme is growing everyday, it informs.

Commenting on thedevelopment, the US EmbassyConsular Section says, “Thisinitiative is one of the manysteps the Department of Stateis taking to meet increasedvisa demand in India. In 2011,consular officers in Indiaprocessed more than 670,000

non-immigrant visa applica-tions, an increase of morethan 11 per cent over the pre-vious year.” The US Embassyis now anticipating non-immi-grant visa demand to increaseover the next ten years.

It has also increasedconsulate staffing by 60 percent in the last six years andhas invested more than $100million to update and expandconsular facilities. In 2009, itopened a Consulate General

in Hyderabad, and in 2011,moved into a new, state-of-the-art consulate in Mumbai.Presently, applicants wait lessthan ten days for visa inter-view appointments, spendless than one hour at our con-sular facilities, and in morethan 97 per cent of cases,receive their visas within 24hours. Regarding the applica-ble visa fee for the new pro-gramme, the Embassy states,“The US Department of Stateis required to recover, as far

as possible, the cost of processing visas through the collection of application fees.For a number of reasons, thecurrent fees no longer coverthe actual cost of processingnonimmigrant visas.

The non-immigrant visafee increase will support theaddition and expansion ofoverseas facilities, as well asadditional staffing requiredto meet the increased visademand.” Although most cat-egories of non-immigrantvisa processing fees willincrease, the fee for E visas(treaty-traders and treaty-investors) and K visas (forfiancé(e)s of US citizens) willdecrease. Because of a real-location of costs associatedwith immigrant visas, all cat-egories of immigrant visaprocessing fees will decrease.The fees for employment-based applications have also decreased.

The new scheme that exempts interviews for some categories of Indian applicants who are applying for USvisas will boost outbound travel to US even more…

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Interview relief for US visa applicants

Nonimmigrant Visa Processing FeesType of Visa Previous New

Fee Fee

Tourist, Business, Transit, Crew Member, $140 $160Student, Exchange Visitor, and Journalist visas

Petition-Based visas (H,L,O,P,Q, and R) $150 $190

Treaty Investor and Trader visas (E) $390 $270

Fiance(e) visas (k) $350 $240

Border Crossing Cards (age 15 and older) $140 $160

Border Crossing Cards (under age 15) $14 $15

Immigrant Visa Processing FeesType of Visa Previous New

Fee Fee

Immediate Relative and Family Preference $330 $230 Applications

Employment-Based Applications $720 $405

Other Immigrant Visa Applications $305 $220

Diversity Visa Programme Fee $440 $330

Determining Returning Resident Status $380 $275

This is effective April 13, 2012 Source: US Department of State

A smart move by Goa govermentthis reduction as a ‘smartmove’, which will keep theeconomy vibrant even duringthe off-season.

Market estimates revealthat around 1,500 mediumand big hotels will gain fromthe incentives. Expecting ahigh occupancy this off-sea-son, D’Souza reveals, “Lastyear’s off-season was blessedwith the long weekends,which saved the industryfrom facing losses. The aver-age occupancy was around 75per cent during weekendsand approximately 60 percent during the week days.We expect this off-season tobe as good as last year.”There are high chances thatoccupancy this off-season

would even surpass the lastyear occupancy, he hopes.

Guitry Velho, GeneralManager, The HeritageVillage Club, Goa asserts themove will help bring inmore domestic tourists thisoff-season. “In the summermonths, the hotels areforced to drop prices andbecome more competitive tocater to the domestic andMICE market. This reduc-tion in tax is a welcome stepand will help hotels promotethe summer months aggres-sively and thereby, facilitatethe cash flow of the hotelsduring these months.” From May to September in thelast financial year, TheHeritage Village Club, Goaachieved a healthy occupan-cy of approximately 52 per

cent. This year the hotelforecasts a surge of about10-12 per cent in thedomestic market, which willincrease occupancy to 62-64per cent.

Anurag Jain, Director–Sales, Best WesternDevasthali, Goa feels, “Weare expecting a good off-season this year but this isnot due to the recent tax discount. Our property ismore in the budget categoryand hence, the luxury taxwas never that high for our hotel.” The hotel thatwitnesses an average of 30per cent occupancy duringthe off-season is planning tocash in on the online mar-keting system for drawingmore travellers. “We getalmost 90 per cent of our

business via online market-ing. Going forward, this off-season, we will be aggres-sively promoting our prop-erty through this medium,”he added.

Priti Chand, VPCorporate Communications,Zuri Group Global opines,“For the first time, the gov-ernment has tried this out. Itis a new concept for us too.We are quite certain that itwill make some difference inoccupancies during the off season. From what we can foresee, there shouldbe 10 per cent increase inoccupancy.” According toChand, the occupancy in TheZuri White Sands, Goa Resort& Casino is around 70 percent on average during the off season.

Contd. from page 6

Operational since April2, the Japan VisaApplication Centre (JVAC)managed by VFS Globalwill process all general visaapplications on behalf ofthe Japanese Embassy. Theclients can now approachthe new centre even onSaturdays.

Speaking about thedevelopment, Aya Yoshida,Counsellor, Embassy ofJapan in Delhi said exceptfor official Diplomatic Visasand Emergency Visas, allother general visa applica-tions will now be routedthrough this outsourcedagency on behalf of theJapanese Embassy. JapanConsulate in Delhiprocessed around 12,000visas last year, sheinformed. Apart from Delhi,

Japan has consulates inMumbai, Chennai, Kolkataand Bengaluru. However,this tie up is limited to theDelhi consulate.

Explaining the newdevelopment, VishalJairath, Regional Head -South Asia, VFS Globalrevealed, “This is an exten-sion of VFS’ associationwith the Government ofJapan. VFS Global has beenassociated with theEmbassy of Japan inThailand since 2010 and provides similar services in Bangkok andparts of Thailand.”

Throwing light on thenew procedure, Jairathexplained, “VFS Global willaccept and process applica-tions for Japan visas fromapplicants residing in India.

JVAC open on Saturdays

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

In the second phase of the multi-million

pound ‘GREAT Britain –You’re Invited’ campaign,VisitBritain looks forward towork closely with the keystakeholders in the Indianoutbound segment. As perParamjit Bawa, RegionalManager– India & MiddleEast, the 2012 inbound visi-tor forecast suggests that thenumbers of visits expectednext year will remain at thesame level as that of 2011.This would see 30.7 millionoverseas visitor arrivals in

2012, spending £17.6bn. Asimilar trend can be expectedfor visitors from India.”

In fact, VisitBritain hadrecently launched its multi-million pound ‘GREATBritain– You’re Invited’ cam-paign in several marketsaround the world. The firstphase of this strategic cam-paign was an image-buildingand branding exercise to raisethe profile of Britain and cre-ate aspiration to explore itsvarious attractions.

“In the second phase,we plan to incorporate sometactical offers in the form ofpackages, itineraries, etc.This we plan to do by work-ing with the travel trade partners to reach out to the Indian outbound trav-eller. We will use a variety ofmedia channels to implementthis,” said Bawa.

“Certainly, this is also akey part of our engagementwith the travel trade partners.We held several of these in2011/12 including our 2-cityIndia Sales Mission lastFebruary. This process willcontinue in tier 1 and 2 cities

across India. These will beconducted in partnership withkey UK tourism partners suchas London & Partners,Manchester, etc and with thesupport of the Associations(TAAI, TAFI, and others),” headded. For the uninitiated,

more than 120,000 roomnights at more than 200hotels will now be available tovisitors to London this sum-mer from 5 star to budgethotels, and of course, homestays and B&Bs as well. Bawaadded that The London

Organising Committee of the Olympic Games andParalympic Games (LOCOG)has confirmed that approxi-mately 20 per cent of the hotel room nights it hadreserved in London will bereturned to the hotels.

VisitBritain had recently launched its multi-million pound ‘GREAT Britain–You’re Invited’ campaign, in which they plan to work with the travel tradepartners in India to reach out to the Indian outbound traveller…

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A multi-million pound campaign

Paramjit BawaRegional Manager– India & Middle East, VisitBritain

VisitBritain had recently launched itsmulti-million pound‘GREAT Britain– You’reInvited’ campaign inseveral markets aroundthe world

Highlights

Number of Australian tourists to India up by 29% India is fast emerging

as a favourite travel destina-tion for Australians with a 29per cent surge in touristsfrom Australia to the country,according to official figures.According to a report, the lat-est radical reshaping ofAustralian tourist and busi-ness travel has put India at10th most visited destinationwith 17,400 visits a monthwhich was mere 4,000tourists ten years ago.

Country's Bureau of

Statistics figures have dis-closed that in February thisyear more Australians visitedChina or India than the con-ventional UK. Australia has47,000 visitors a month fromChina (and a further 15,000from Hong Kong), well inexcess of the 40,000 thatcome from the US and closeto the 49,000 who come fromBritain. China was on track toreplace UK as the biggestsource of visitors to Australiaafter New Zealand.

FAMILY ALBUM3 4 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) organised a trade workshop in Mumbai on April 11 and in Delhi on April 13 respectively. Macauinvited the travel trade to showcase its new attractions and promote its new slogan - ‘Touching Moments Experience Macau’.

Macau promotes its new attractions DELHI

MUMBAI

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

In its fifth edition, the Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB 2012) held from April 15 to 17, 2012 set many new benchmarks in line with the increasing focus in the inbound sector in India. Over 9,000 B2B meetings that were conducted at the event simply reflects the enthusiasm and confidence stakeholders in India and overseas have on the Indian market.

Presenting the Great Indian Travel Bazaar

FAMILY ALBUM3 8 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

Busy networking & building relationships

Over 9,000 B2B meetings conducted

FAMILY ALBUM4 0 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

Contd. on page 60

the leading travel mart large-ly rests on the number of B2Bmeeting,” said Kak.

“The 2013 edition ofGITB will be held from April14-16, 2013,” she added.

As per the recent statis-tics, the participants at theGITB set a new record withan increase of over 1693 B2Bmeets, registering a growthof over 23 per cent. “9043B2B meetings stand testimo-ny to the growing signifi-cance of the GITB platformand interest being shown bythe stakeholders in the globaltravel business to createbusiness opportunities in

India. On first day, 4377 B2Bmeetings were held and onsecond day, 4666 B2B meet-ings were held at GITB2012,” said Sharma.

Going forward, thestakeholders are inclined toundertake all possible meas-ures to take the show to the next level. As per Suri,“We will now brainstorm on how to take the show tothe next higher level.”

The exhibitors and foreign buyers also came forward to share their expe-riences and feedback on GITB 2012. Here, DeepakBhatnagar, Executive

Director – Le Passage to Indiais of the opinion that the for-eign buyers don’t get muchfree time. It will be good ifthese foreign buyers aregiven more free time on daytwo prior to the start of thevarious fam trips and beallowed to witness more of

the host destination and net-working opportunities.

Elated at having metboth the scheduled and theunscheduled buyers, AbilashKumar, Associate Head Sales,Travel Trade, said “We arehappy that we ended upmeeting more travel partnersthan scheduled. In the next edition, we will

like to meet even more num-ber of overseas and Indiantour operators.”

Echoing similar views,Vijay Prasad, Business Head-Marketing, BRYS Hotels said,“Hotels will always cherish aplatform like this, as they

need to be visible as much aspossible. Addition to thenumber of tour operators willreally create an added advan-tage for us to participate inthis show and create lucra-tive business opportunities.”

The foreign tour opera-tors also looked pleased withorganisers. John Forsyth,General Manager, Asia TravelExperts based out of GoldCoast said,” We keep frequent-ing all the leading shows likeITB and WTM. We are pleasedto be in India, which is a grow-ing market. I would suggestthat the organisers, who areenthusiastic and efficient,should collect refundable

deposits at the time of regis-tration, so that on the spothassles of deposits and refundsare avoided. People here areserious stakeholders and it willnot affect them, or the show.”

Similarly, KlausRastatter, Owner, IkarusReisen, said, “GITB is a goodplatform to work out withthe stakeholders in theIndian travel business. Weare here to build more prod-ucts and itineraries that takeus beyond Rajasthan,Golden Triangle packagesand help explore travelattraction in other parts ofIndia like southern andwestern regions.”

This year, GITB alsosaw release of two knowledge reports titled,Emerging Dimensions: New Products andIndigenous Tourism andDiverse Beliefs: Tourism of

Faith (Religious tourismgains ground) through partnership between YesBank and FICCI.

According to theresearch report, developmentof Indigenous Tourism is crit-

ical to support the develop-ment of other niche tourismsegments. Here, Yes Bank andFICCI presented a 10-pointroadmap on developingIndigenous Tourism in India,

which showed that institution-al innovation shall hold key to the development of an appropriate framework forthe development of thistourism segment and the cur-rent policies need to be basedon successful models ofindigenous tourism running inthe country.

“Marketing andPromotion and Capacitybuilding are the other twocritical pillars to supportdevelopment of indigenoustourism in the country. Abetter marketing strategymight be useful to assimi-late the ethos into tradition-al tourism products as New Zealand has done in

case of certain adventure activities. Although capacitybuilding programmes areconducted across variousaspects of the tourism and hospitality sector, the quality of training

resources and infrastructureneeds to get to the next level to churn out a competitive workforce,”highlighted the 10 point roadmap.

EXHIBITIONS4 2 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

GITB sets new benchmarks in 2012Contd. from page 7

John ForsythGeneral ManagerAsia Travel Experts

Klaus RastatterOwnerIkarus Reisen

Vijay PrasadBusiness Head MarketingBRYS Hotels

Tan Sri Dato’ HajiMuhyiddin Bin Mohd. Yassin,the Deputy Prime Minister,Malaysia, declared thePacific Asia TravelAssociation’s (PATA) 2012Annual Conference on April21, at The Royale Chulan,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hejoined Hiran Cooray,Chairman, PATA and DatukSeri Najib Tun Razak, PrimeMinister, Malaysia in striking

the drums to open the con-ference.

In his address, hereminded that expectationsfor global tourism arrivalsare 1 billion for 2012 and 1.8billion for 2013. He suggest-ed that Asia will have thelargest growth due to theunique sights that Asia-Pacific nations have to offer.

He appealed for countrytourism officials to be

responsive to the needs ofthe private industry and tosmooth border facilities andease visa processing whileconfirming that Malaysia isready to take a lead in thisendeavour. The Deputy PMsaid Malaysia recognisestourism as one of its 12 maineconomic pillars. Malaysia isexpecting a 45 per centgrowth in tourism over thenext few years.

PATA Annual Conference 2012

Dipak DevaCo-ChairpersonFICCI Tourism Committee

SanJeetCo-ChairpersonFICCI Tourism Committee

Deepak BhatnagarExecutive Director Le Passage to India

Abilash KumarAssociate Head SalesTravel Trade

R V KanoriaFICCIPresident

Jyotsna SuriChairpersonFICCI Tourism Committee

EXHIBITIONS4 4 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

The closing report of the46th ITB stated that the

show witnessed an over-whelming upsurge in trade visitors and exhibitingpartners. Christian Göke,Chief Operating Officer, Messe Berlin said thatincreased participation createdan outstanding ‘climate for

efficient creation of new busi-ness contacts.’

Closer home the opti-mism was more cautious and measured.

Talking about the emerg-ing trends that will govern theinbound traffic into India,Pronab Sarkar, ManagingDirector, Swagatam Tourssaid, “Inbound Tourism is liv-ing through its toughest timesdue to the slow economicgrowth in our biggest source markets- Europe and the US. There is howeversome movement from the Far East but these are shortholiday packages.”

Samil Malhotra, VicePresident-Sales & Marketing,Lalit Hotels is of the opinionthat it is the new world that isnow going to be our biggestsource markets. “Countries ofthe Latin American continentand from the South East Asianregion are showing a lot ofpromise. In fact, travel isdirectly proportional to a coun-try’s economic performanceand largely unconventionalmarkets are growing at a rapidspeed. For example, the BRICScountry nationals are travel-ling frequently-initially forbusiness but eventually willturn leisure travellers. WhileRussia and South Africa areemerging markets, China isstill restricted largely to busi-ness travel,” said Malhotra.

Sanjoy Pasricha, VicePresident-Sales & MarketingLeela Palaces, Hotels &Resorts feels that it will bethe CIS countries that willlead the transition and

echoes Malhotra’s views thatIndia inbound will moveaway from the conventionalmarkets. “The key sourcemarkets for India will moveaway from the conventionalUK and Western Europe toemerging economies likeRussia and China,” he said.

Sanjay Basu, ManagingDirector, Far Horizon saidthat the country is witnessinga stable growth in inbound

numbers. While countries likePortugal, Spain, Greece andthe UK are slowing down,there are newer markets likeRussia, China, Scandinavia,Canada and Latin Americafilling in the gap.

The potential of theIndian inbound is verystrong, said DebashishBhowmik, Senior VicePresident, Clarks Group. “Thegrowth potential in the shortas well as long term looksvery promising. According tothe WTTC India report, 2009-18 are the high growth yearsfor India and the inbound willgrow at a rate of 9.8%. In factwe can already see the busi-ness improving.”

Jasmin Saini, Head-Travel Industry Sales &

Marketing, ITC Hotels, ITCHotels, though is not gung hoabout the present state of theinbound industry. “Inboundis gradually limping back tonormal since most of theeconomies are taking time torecover. While the number offoreign arrivals may be rising,

leisure travel is not buoyant.Travellers who used to stay in luxury hotels are opt-ing for value for money. Withmore international hotelbrands making its way intoIndia, a traveller is also spoiltfor choice.”

H K Duggal, ManagingDirector, Minar Travels, how-ever sees a very positive out-look for India. “Trends arevery encouraging and the

numbers too are graduallyincreasing. The IncredibleIndia campaign has paid div-idends. We would very easilybe able to touch the 12 mil-lion mark by the end of the12th Five Year Plan.”

Bharat Atree, ManagingDirector, Caper Travels is ofthe opinion that India tradi-tionally has been a culturaldestination but now is being recognised for health tourism, medical aswell as spiritual tourism.“Emergence of Ayurveda well-ness centres, spas, and yogaschools has caught the fancyof the world and India shouldcapitalise from this trend.”

Pasricha is also of theopinion that there has been ashift in the booking patterns

in the Western world.“Booking lead time to Indiahas become very short.Coupled with that the lengthof stay of travellers has beenreduced. An average holidaythat lasted two/three weekshad been reduced to a week.Also holiday goers will now

look for value for money des-tinations like Goa andKerala,” he said.

Echoing Pasricha’s pointof view is Neeta Gupta,Global Head- Sales &Marketing Boutique HotelsDevigarh Resorts who feels

that while the booking leadtime earlier was betweenthree months to a year, nowit has been reduced to a cou-ple of weeks. “The currenttrend therefore is not a trueindicator of the inbound sce-

nario or how the year will panout.” She too feels thattourism from the key marketslike Italy, Spain, and UK hasgot affected but has beenreplaced by new markets.

India Inc howeverneeds to address issues that

are affecting tourismadversely. The issues rangefrom high and erratic taxa-tion to visa and inadequateinfrastructure. Basu feels thatthe taxation levels are ludi-crous. “Today India is invogue but what is holding usback is our destination’s

inability to carry large num-bers. India has a total of82,000 star categories roomwhile an island of Manhattanalso has 78,000 rooms. Ourcarrying capacity is verylow,” said Basu. Gupta toofeels that lack of good infra-structure, high taxation arethe real dampeners whencompared to the rest of theAsian economies.

Malhotra has a veryinteresting explanation to this.“I have a theory. The furtherone travels to East fromEurope, the standards of serv-ice keep improving. Theimprovement is visible beyondTurkey and the standards risethe further one travels to East.Indian service levels are high-er than what is available in theWestern world but it is the FarEast that is extremely serviceoriented. In India, luxurycomes at a price, but in theSouth East Asian countries theservice standards are so highthat luxury is not missed. It istruly affordable luxury. This iswhere we are lagging behind.”

Saini cites the unsafetag of our cities as a majornegative as compared to ourAsian competitors. “AlsoIndia suffers from poor con-nectivity and inadequateinfrastructure when com-pared with other Asiancities. We lack the kind ofMICE facilities that most ofthe Asian cities have had fora long time now.” Atreefeels that pricing along withlack of basic civic infrastruc-ture are the main areas thatIndia is lagging behind.These problems do not makethe country appear touristfriendly. “We lack basicinfrastructure like goodroads, quality and cleantrains, clear signage at pub-lic places as well as monu-ments. Also, our tax struc-tures are unreasonable.”Fluctuating domestic air-fares, feels Sarkar is costingIndia dear.

Duggal too is of the opin-ion that India is becoming an

expensive destination withtaxes going up each year. Hefeels that tourism is a bigemployment generator andmust be given its due impor-tance. Sarkar feels that Indianeeds to focus on the visaissues. When compared toother Asian countries, gettingvisas to travel to India takesexcessively long. Basu saidthat India is making itself inac-cessible by its current visapolicies. “We are shooting our-selves in our foot and there isgeneral cry of distress. Theadministrative machinerymust address th\e issue.”

Bhoumik blames erratictaxation as well as the industrymind set for its problems. “Ifwe only concentrate on ourbottom line, then we will beable to achieve very little.Today everybody wants totravel yet they want to savemoney. This does not meanthat they will let the quality becompromised. They want thesame facilities at an affordableprice. India has not been verysuccessful in this.”

Calling the international tourism as one of the most exciting sectors, Taleb Rifai, Secretary General, UNWTO, saidon the sidelines of ITB, “All indicators point to the continued growth of tourism in 2012. ITB has been a fantasticopportunity to come together and see how to best harness this growth for economic well being and job creation.

RUPALI NARASIMHAN

ITB touches another milestone

Pronab SarkarManaging Director Swagatam Tours

Samil MalhotraVice President-Sales & MarketingLalit Hotels

Sanjoy PasrichaVice President-Sales & MarketingLeela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts

Sanjay BasuManaging DirectorFar Horizon

Debashish BhowmikSenior Vice PresidentClarks Group

Jasmin SainiHead-Travel Industry Sales &Marketing, ITC Hotels

H S Duggal Managing DirectorMinar Travels

Bharat AtreeManaging DirectorCaper Travels

Neeta GuptaGlobal Head- Sales & MarketingBoutique Hotels

Talking about India's par-ticipation at the ITB DavidRuetz, said, "India is the onlycountry that has its own halland it maintains a strongpresence at ITB Berlin.Demand from Indianexhibitors exceeds the avail-able floor space at ITB Berlin.We are greatly looking for-ward to 2014 when we willhave a new display hall andbe able to offer additionalfloor space. The recession hasnot negatively impactedIndian exhibitors at ITBBerlin. Indeed, Asia was the

region least affected by therecession. We are also regis-tering growing demand fromIndonesia, next year’s partnercountry at ITB Berlin.

India has its own USP at ITB

David RuetzHeadITB Berlin

Founded in 1924, Zurich-based Swiss Youth Hostels

has appointed Mumbai-basedMaison de Voyage as theirsales distribution partner inIndia. Offering 52 budgetaccommodation facilities forfamilies, groups, youth andindividuals, the range extendsfrom the romantic castle hos-tels to the stylish abode in a

superb villa to the ideallylocated stylish ‘Youth Palace’.The accommodation variesfrom three different categories– Simple, Classic and Top tomeet the varying needs forcomfort and budget of theguests. After being appointedas a partner for Swiss YouthHostels, Maison de Voyage istaking on the onus to first edu-cate both the trade and thetravellers about hostel accom-

modation before setting anysales target for the year.

Talking about the con-cept of Swiss Youth Hostelsand strategy to spread thebrand awareness in India,Faisal Siddiqui, Director,Maison de Voyage said,

“Hostels is a concept that isfrowned upon by us in India.However, we have notrealised how advanced andup-to-date the facilities havebecome at hostel accommo-dations. One of the biggestvalue propositions for theIndian travellers would be

experiencing a new kind ofholiday where they receivesimilar facilities like hotel,that too, at a budgeted cost.”

Adding further, Siddiquisaid, “More than a sales target,we intend on achieving suc-cess in educating our travel

partners and travellers so thatthey open up to the idea ofhostels. It is important that weget rid of the myth that a hos-tel equates to only dormitoriesas Swiss Youth Hostels have alot to offer ranging from dou-ble rooms to family rooms. Wewould advertise in the trade

magazines and regular news-papers, send mailers and par-ticipate in roadshows to reachout to all corners of our coun-try. In this fiscal year, wewould want to target mainlythe younger generation asthey are willing to experimenta lot more.”

Swiss Youth Hostels appoints Maison de Voyage as their new distribution partner in India. Offering 52 budgetaccommodation facilities, the range extends from the romantic castle hostels to the stylish abode in a superb villa.

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Pocket-friendly stay@ Swiss Youth Hostels

HOTELS M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2 TRAVTALK 4 5

All Swiss Youth Hostelsbear the quality seal ofapproval from SwissTourism plus the seal ofquality from HostellingInternational QualitySystem. All youth hostelsare certified with the EU-Ecolabel and the Ibex label.They also attach impor-tance to the trust, safetyand security of their guestand offer value for moneyaccommodations with nocompromise on quality.

QualityGuarantee

More than a salestarget, we intendon achievingsuccess ineducating ourtravel partnersand travellers sothat they open up to the idea of hostels

Faisal SiddiquiDirectorMaison de Voyage

FAMILY ALBUM M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2 TRAVTALK 4 7

Tasting Turkish delightsEmbassy of the Republic of Turkey andLe Meridian, along with TurkishAirlines, inaugurated a Turkish foodfestival in New Delhi. Turkish cuisineis rich and delightful and is renownedas one of the oldest and finest cuisinesin the world. Present at the event wasBurak Akcapar, Ambassador extraor-dinary and plenipotentiary, Embassyof the Republic of Turkey along withmembers of the travel fraternity.

This will help us increasethe safety rate and reduce the accident rate,”explains Anand.

Standard OperatingProcedure

This informationdescribes how adventure touroperators will use operational

systems on a daily basis. Thiswill also help bring consisten-cy to the actions of a team.

Sustainability

Sustainable tourism isabout refocusing and adapt-ing. A balance must be foundbetween limits and usage so

that continuous changing,monitoring and planningensure that tourism can bemanaged. This requires long term planning.Economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable developmentmust include the interests of all stakeholders including indigenous people,local communities, tourist, industry and the government.

“ATOAI approached theMinistry of Tourism to endorse the guidelines to statesfor recognition ofadventure touroperators.

These will be publishedand forwarded to the statetourism bodies and adventuretour operators to promote thespirit of safe, honorable andsustainable adventuretourism in the country,” con-cludes, Ajeet Bajaj,Chairman, 4 pillar workshopand immediate past presi-dent, ATOAI.

Ajeet BajajChairman, 4 pillar workshop and immediate past president, ATOAI

A new mission for ATOAIContd. from page 29

At the bi-monthly meetorganised by TAFI

Northern Region Chapter,Vijay K Gupta, ActingChairman- TAFI– NI helpedthe members take stock of the emerging challenges in the present scenario post the crucial announce-ments made by the UnionGovernment in the Budgetand the various airlines.

“We had delayed the bi-monthly meet a little tounderstand the implicationsof the budgetary announce-ments and the other recentdevelopments revolvingaround many of our princi-ples. Looking at the presen-tation made by PraveenChugh, Managing Director,Travel Services International,who had been kind enough tomake the presentation for ourmembers, we believe thatthere is an urgent need to getmore clarity of the implica-

tions of the budgetaryannouncement,” said Gupta.

“We are also in touchwith our ManagementCommittee as they work withclarity and are also taking upissues like the withdrawal ofcredit card pass through andweekly payments issue atvarious crucial platforms.

Going forward, we shallalso undertake more initia-

tives at our level, so that themembers get more clarity onall relevant issues that affectour business,” he added.

At the meet, there weresome voices that echoed dis-cord over the functioning of thepresident and rift among themanagement committeemembers, but Gupta deniedany such scenario saying, “Allis well at our end and every-thing is going on smoothly.”

Vijay K Gupta assured of new initiatives to give membersclarity on the implications of the budgetary announce-ment and all relevant issues that affect our business.

ASSOCIATIONS4 8 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

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Taking stock: TAFI NI

Vijay K GuptaActing ChairmanTAFI– NI

The annual convention ofthe Indian Association of

Tour Operator (IATO) in 2012 will be held in NewDelhi. IATO office bearersheld a series of meeting tofinalise the XXVIII IATOConvention likely to be heldin August 2012, or earlySeptember 2012.

“We have held a seriesof deliberations on makingthe XXVIII IATO Conventiona completely professionalaffair, with increased empha-sis on professional affairs. Itis scheduled to be held inNew Delhi in August 2012, orearly September 2012,” saidSarab Jit Singh, Sr VicePresident, IATO.

Subhash Goyal,President, IATO, a specialinvitee at GITB 2012 con-firmed, “IATO will be glad toconduct our convention inNew Delhi and have the

Prime Minister of India as thechief guest.”

On the theme and busi-ness session, Singh said thatall these details are beingworked out. “One thing I canassure you on this occasion isthat our annual convention onthis occasion will be purelyprofessional affair. In fact, weare looking forward to appriseall our delegate members even on the progress made bythe 13-14 sub committees thatwe had formed.”

“The conveners ofthese sub committees willalso share the details andprogress at their end withthe delegate members. Itwill serve the very purposethese sub-committees hadbeen formed, which is toengage as many members tocontribute to the associationin addressing crucial issuesacross various segments thatare relevant to growing ourbusiness and promotingtourism,” he added.

Sarab Jit Singh, Senior Vice President, IATO promisesa completely professional affair for organising IATOAnnual Convention in Delhi.

VI V E K SE T H I

IATO Convention in Delhi

Subhash GoyalPresidentIATO

Sarab Jit SinghSenior Vice PresidentIATO

Goverdhan hill, which LordKrishna's devotees considerone of their holiest shrines, isall set for a `.500 croremakeover. Mathura districtauthorities have drawn up anambitious plan for infrastruc-ture development, road connectivity and beautifica-tion of the 'parikrama marg'- a 21 km path around theGoverdhan hill.

QUICK READ

On March 28, 2012, theDirectorate General of

Civil Aviation (DGCA) issueda notice directing all airlinesto withdraw participation in any scheme where the complete information

about the carrier is notrevealed upfront.

The notice was issuedonce DGCA came to thenotice that airlines were par-ticipating in a special fareoffered by travel portalsnamely, opaque fares, wherethe identity of neither thecarrier nor the flight detailsare revealed till the paymentis through and ticketing done.This is in violation of Para (2)and (2A) of Rule 135 of theAircraft Rules, 1937. As perPara 2 every air transportundertaking shall cause to bepublished the tariff estab-lished by him under Sub-rule(1) in his website or two dailynewspapers, and shall displaysuch tariff in a conspicuouspart of his office and in theoffice of his agent, if any.Para 2A states that, the tariffto be published under sub-rule (2) or advertised in anyother way shall show the fol-lowing particulars, the total

amount payable by a passen-ger; and a complete break-upof the total amount, indicat-ing the fare, tax, fees or any other charge, if any, sep-arately.

Discussing Indigo’swithdrawal, Aditya Ghosh,President, IndiGo, says, “Theairline has withdrawn all con-tent from MakeMyTrip. Thearbitrary display of fares andopaque pricing is anti con-sumer and in violation of

DGCA norms and directives.We have raised this with theonline portal on several occa-sions but unfortunately, therehas been no resolution. Wewere therefore, left with nochoice. IndiGo can’t be seensupporting a blatant violationof the law and something thatis apparently anti-consumer.”

Offering opaque fareswas a trade practice where aportal sells heavily discount-ed tickets but does not dis-close the name of the airlineuntil the payment is made bythe customer.

In response to the alle-gation and Indigo’s with-drawal, MakeMyTrip main-tained that fares and inven-tory on their website is con-trolled by the airlines. All thefares are displayed as per theguidelines received andapproved by airlines includ-ing the special fares that havebeen approved by the partic-ipating Airlines.

NEWS5 0 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

IndiGo withdrew its content from MakeMyTrip alleging that the online travel agency continued to offer arbitrary and opaque fares despite objection by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

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Tug-of-war over opaque pricing

Aditya GhoshPresidentIndiGoOffering opaque fares was

a trade practice where apor tal sells heavilydiscounted tickets butdoes not disclose thename of the airline until thepayment is made by thecustomer

MakeMyTrip maintainedthat fares and inventory ontheir website is controlledby the airlines and all thefares are displayed as perthe guidelines receivedand approved by airlines

Tangle

Royal CaribbeanInternational’ RadianceClass ship, Brilliance of theSeas, recently docked at theMumbai port as a part of its12 night roundtrip cruisefrom Dubai. TIRUN Travel Marketing, IndiaRepresentative for RoyalCaribbean Internationaltook this opportunity toshowcase the ship to itstravel partners in India. Theevent was attended by morethan 70 representatives ofthe Mumbai travel trade.

The programme com-menced with a ship tour tosee the spectacular 8-storyCentrum with glass frontedelevators, the Indian Rajthemed Solarium with anindoor pool & retractableglass roof, the FitnessCenter, the signature RockClimbing Wall, mini-golfcourse and sports area, theelegant Main Dining Room that seats 1242guests per seating, the glamorous Theatre wherenightly Broadway styleshows are featured, theCasino Royale, various barsand lounges and more!

The ship tour conclud-ed in the Colony Club for apresentation on the summeroffers of Royal CaribbeanInternational including theAsia debut of RoyalCaribbean International’sVoyager of the Seas May2012 onwards. Startingwith a Singapore maidenseason from May to June,Voyager of the Seas with a138,000-ton capacityaccommodating up to 3,840guests will be the largestand most innovative cruiseship to ever homeport inthis region.

The travel partnersthen headed to theWindjammer Cafe for asumptuous buffet lunchfeaturing cuisines of theworld including Indian foodand an array of vegetarianoptions. The event washosted by Samira Ravel,Regional Manager -Western India, TIRUNTravel Marketing, who wasdelighted by the turnout ofthe travel partners andthanked them for theirongoing support and com-mitment over the years.

‘Brilliance of the Seas’ visits India

Representing the world-renowned principals,

suppliers and products,Mumbai-based AmigoTravels has recently integrat-ed serviced apartments from

US and Europe into its systemdedicated exclusively to itstravel trade partners. Thecompany also offers all typesof land transport and travelrequirements along with tai-lor-made packages at attrac-tive commissionable prices.At present, there are close to100 travel agents registeredon its B2B portal and thecompany intends to haveclose to 1000 registrations byend of 2012.

Talking about the latestupdates, Shefali Gupta,Director, Amigo Travels said,“We are the first and onlycompany to have apartmentsintegrated in our system.There are a lot of operatorswho sell Interhomes in India,

but we have integrated thatin our booking engine; thusour travel trade partnershave accessibility to six toseven suppliers/ wholesales(two more are in pipeline), foraccommodation facilities inEurope and US. We currently

have 100 logins and weintend to make it 1000 byend of this year.” Talkingabout the strategy to achieveatleast a 1000 logins thisyear; Gupta said, “The idea isnot to impose the partner-ship, but it’s about working

together for the same goal,better service and targets.”

For agents based out ofMumbai and New Delhi,there are no depositsrequired to register.However, for other metro andsmaller cities, the company

requires certain amount ofsecurity deposit just to builda strong trustworthy businessrelationship. Amigo Travelshas tied up with traditionalwholesales across the world,offering packages for everycorner of the globe.

Amigo Travels has integrated leading Europe packages and products on its portal which helps the travel trade to book customised packages at one click. gives more details.

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AGENTS M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2 TRAVTALK 5 1

Shefali GuptaDirectorAmigo Travels

Kingfisher Airlines hasslipped from being India’slargest domestic carrier toits smallest in the space ofonly six months amid sig-nificant network rationali-sation by the strugglingcarrier as part of its ‘hold-ing plan’. This is a markedturnaround for Kingfisher,which was the largeststand-alone carrier in themarket in the first ninemonths of 2011 with a highof 20% market share inApr-2011.

According to DGCAdata, Kingfisher held only a6.4% market share in Mar-2012, surpassedeven by JetLite with a 7.1%market share and GoAir witha 7.5% market share. GoAirhas been the smallestdomestic carrier in theIndian market since Aug-2010, with Paramount pre-viously holding this position.

Kingfisher Airlines willlikely remain as the nation’ssmallest carrier in the com-ing months, as it continuesits much-curtailed summer2012 schedule, operatingapprox. 120 daily serviceswith 20 aircraft of whichonly 16 may be fully operational.

Kingfisher is smallest

One stop shop for your holiday bookings

COVER STORY5 2 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

communicaion with womenis crucial. Women decide onfamily vacations. It is womenin the society who are edu-cated and well-versed inEnglish,” said Rustagi.

Oman, with a GDP of 4.8per cent, is another marketwhich showed a huge growthin terms of inbound into India.“16,500 Omanis visited Indialast year registering a growthof over 28 per cent,” addedRustagi. In the near future,countries like Iran are expect-

ed to post good results.“Despite no direct air links andhandful players who can sellIndia packages, Iran’s out-bound to India is expected togrow at a rate of 42 per cent,”added Rustagi.

Marketing India, feelsRustagi, comes with a fewchallenges. He shared thefeedback that he has receivedfrom the industry. “One of thebiggest challenges we face isthat the Indian product is not100% reliable. Travellers fromthis region are used to the best

of the facilities both at home and when they travel.Moreover, our competitors aredelivering excellent products,while at times, we stumble.”

“Arabic speaking guidesis another area where we arelagging behind tremendously.Language continues to be amajor impediment for touristsfrom this region. Even themedical traffic is moving awayfrom India towards South EastAsian countries. The shiftseems to be due to both reli-gious affinity as well as higher

levels of professionalismexhibited there.”

Rustagi strongly rec-ommends that a concept of‘Halal Tourism’ be devel-oped. This should be a holis-tic approach which encom-passes all requirements of anArabian traveller. “This allpervasive approach whichcaters to every need; fromfacilitation at airports toplaces provided for prayer todietary requirements andease in travel will definitelygo a very long way,” said Rustagi.

unique travel experiencesacross the country.

And, as India gets moreincredible at ATM 2012, aslew of new products arebeing displayed. “While thesouthern state of Kerala istaking 50 per cent of thebooth in India pavilion torepresent its tour operators,wellness spa and somehotels, the north east stateof Meghalaya is participatingfor the first time to promoteits unexplored beauty. Thenewly introduced Indigo inMiddle East market and AirIndia are also exhibiting their

products. Specific travel pro-motions for the NRIs andPIOs will be done by ITDC.Besides promoting wellness,yoga, Ayurvedic treatment,rejuvenation therapies andMedical Tourism, the luxuri-ous Maharaja Express ofRajasthan is also beingencouraged, adding value toluxury tourism,” informsRustagi. Reiterating the growing importance of tech-nology, participation of thetravel and technology part-ners has also increased withfive new companies show-casing at the Travel andTechnology pavillion.

‘Marketing India is challenging’Contd. from page 1

Showcasing India at ATM

Contd. from page 1

Goa receives 910 charter flights this seasonDespite challenges from

the Southeast Asian coun-tries in the tourism sector,Goa has been able to crosslast year’s figures in charterflight arrivals. Statistics com-piled by the State TourismDepartment suggest that sofar Goa has received 910charter flights compared to900 last year. Swapnil Naik,Director, Goa Tourism said,

“We have received 910 char-ter flights till mid April andwill continue to receive themtill the first week of May.”

The Goa tourism ses-sion begins in October andends in May. Last year Goareceived 1.71 lakh touristsfrom 900 charter flights. Asper the provisional figures,around 1.75 lakh touristsarrived in Goa through char-

ter flights.Naik saidRussia, United Kingdom(UK), Germany,Netherlands and Norwaytop the list of countriesfrom where the maxi-mum number of charterflights has been receivedfor the current season.

“So far we havereceived 520 charter flightsfrom Russia with 95,000

tourists followed by 200flights from UK with 48,000tourists. Germany has

brought 8,000 tourists in50 charter flights. Thirtyflights from Netherlandsbrought 2,000 tourists toGoa while Norwaybrought 5,000 tourists in 28 charter flights,” said Naik

He added that Goahas received 25 charterflights from Poland whichbrought 2,700 tourists, 21

charter flights from Finlandbrought 3,400 tourists, 17charter flights fromKazakhstan brought 2,800tourists and 13 charterflights from Iran brought1,700 tourists. Naik also said that Goa has seen an increase of 40,000tourists as compared to lastyear. In 2011, Goa received26.8 lakh tourists.

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

Headquartered in the USwith over 1,000 inde-

pendently owned and operat-ed hotels around the world,Vantage Hospitality Grouphas now entered the Indian

market. The group, inalliance with three membersof the Asian American lodg-ing community (MukeshMowji, Yogesh Patel andTarun Patel) has introducedVanMYT Hospitality, withplans to introduce Vantage’s

Value Inn Worldwide andValue Hotel Worldwidebrands in India. With strongfocus on one, two and three

star category standaloneproperties across India, thegroup aims to affiliate over100 properties in next threeyears. With an annual flat fee,the group has created aunique membership modelfor India, wherein it will offer

most comprehensiveresources in branding, mar-keting, public relations, rev-enue generation and training.To provide an online market-ing, sales and branding plat-form, the group has appoint-ed Arzoo.com as the sole dis-

tributor of VanMYTHospitality. Furthermore, thegroup will also provide astrong presence to all its affil-iate member hotels onArzoo.com which has a net-work of over 50,000 distribu-tion agents in Southeast Asia.

Revealing further detailson the plans for the Indianmarket, Roger Bloss, President& CEO, Vantage HospitalityGroup said, “For a uniquemarket like India, VanMYTplans to emulate Vantage’sunique ‘Freestyle Brand

Affiliation’ model that allowhotel owners to be in businessfor themselves, not by them-selves. We are targeting thesmall standalone / small chainhotels across India which

Vantage Hospitality aims at improving the service standards of one, two and three-star properties across India by affiliatingthem with its global brands; ties up with Arzoo.com to offer online marketing platform for the affiliated properties.

AN I TA JA I N

A win-win for Aarzoo.com & Vantage

Affiliation benefits

Hotels in India that join theVantage brands will benefitfrom many of Vantage’sresources including:

Next generation GlobalReservation System poweredby Sabre Hospitality Solutions.

Distribution on all major globalinternet travel websites

Worldwide travel industry salesand marketing representation

Established partnershipmarketing alliances such asAmerican Express, HBO andAlamo

Vantage provides its NorthAmerican hoteliers with accessto an affiliated hotel brokeragecompany, insurance agency anda network of Preferred Vendors.VanMYT is developing similarresources in and around India.

Roger BlossPresident & CEOHospitality Group

Amalendu PurandareHead – India OperationsArzoo.com

Contd. on page 58

AGENTS5 4 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

Mumbai-based GuidelineTravels is pitching high

on cruise holidays in India byintroducing attractive andunique packages for NCL andStar Cruises. According toPradeep Saboo, ManagingDirector, Guideline Travels; acustomer is getting morevariety on the cruisingoptions by the day. As a com-pany, it has committed itsloyalties to Star Cruises andNCL. Both the cruise compa-nies belong to the same fam-ily and established their greatbrand image with more than12 years of service standardsand networking in India.Between the two companies,Guideline Travels offers lot ofcruise destinations optionsfrom Asia to Europe toBahamas to Alaska cateringto the needs of all category ofcruisers from short cruise ofone night to long cruises. Thecompany is strongly promot-ing all Far Eastern Countriesincluding Hong Kong andIndonesia, along with

Australia, New Zealand,South Africa, Switzerland andFrance for FITs and GITs.

Saboo said, “The biggesthit story in the retail in FIT for2012 is NCL. NorwegianCruise Line was formallylaunched as a retail product inIndia only in 2011. But thekind of response and aware-ness this cruise company gen-erated without frontline adver-tisement or marketing dollarsspent is a miracle successstory. All the credit go to theword of mouth of the pastcruisers and more so to a verystrong network of travelagents who are pushing theproduct and getting handsomereturns for the same. We arevery excited with the develop-ments on NCL in India and we

being part of the history beingcreated.” Elaborating furtheron expanding its B2B network,he said, “There is a very largevacuum in the B2B space intier 3 and tier 4 towns. Theretail agent in these smallercities rather towns is not fullyeducated about the interna-tional holiday products.However their clients wouldstill want to work with themwith advantage of conven-ience, trust and obligation. Soif one wants to increase theB2B network you have toreach these agencies. The Tier1 and Tier 2 town agencies cancome searching on their own.”

Another feather in thecompany’s cap is the launch ofSouth Africa as group tour des-tination in its portfolio for2012. “We are very bullish forthe destination as it is indeeda great value for money for thetraveller and so also untappedand virgin destination. We arealso looking to send some bigreligious groups in the nearfuture to South Africa,” con-cludes Saboo.

Guideline Travels is offering out-of-the-box packages forNCL and Star Cruises to popularise cruising among Indians.

TT BU R E AU

Making cruising an art

Guideline Travels offersmany cruise destinationsoptions from Asia toEurope to Bahamas toAlaska

Cruising High

QuadLabs has recentlylaunched ‘BOOKQ’ - a unified‘Mobile Distribution Platform’for the travel intermediaries.This platform helps the agentsto launch their own travelbooking applications on vari-ous mobile platforms withease. Travel products can besold seamlessly through themobile channels and the plat-form can connect to any exist-ing booking engine to fetchtravel content and pass it onto the mobile interface.

Moreover, they run an‘Xchange | travel ERP’ plat-form, providing a unifiedagent dashboard to each sales

staff. This sales dashboardprovides complete access toall content sourced from var-ious suppliers, airlines andGDS. The dashboard also pro-vides end-to-end bookingcapability keeping in mind thecredit policies of the end cus-tomer. The system has aninbuilt CRM whichprovides completecustomer datawhile making ormanaging anybooking. It alsoprovides inter-faces for postsales managementof the booking with

functionalities to do canx, re-issues, etc. Various financialdocuments, vouchers and e-tickets can be generatedthrough this interface and canbe sent to the client. On-sitetraining for each customer isprovided initially.

QuadLabsworks as technolo-gy partners with

every customerand providesthem the latesttechnologyupgrades every

time they launcha new version.

QuadLabs ‘BOOKQ’ agents!

Expanding their sales andmarketing mission in India,Toga Hospitality has appointedGlobal Destinations as theirIndian representatives. Talkingabout this new appointment,Pranav Kapadia, Partner,Global Destinations, says, “Asthe India sales and marketingrepresentative for TogaHospitality, our prime focuswould be to work closely with the Australian inboundoperators that have a presence in the Indian market

and thereby increase TogaHospitality’s base in the Indian travel industry.”

Toga Hospitality is com-

mitted to providing the pre-mier quality of accommoda-tion and service with a focuson consistently providingcomfortable guest rooms ingreat locations. “Our market-ing agenda for this yearinclude trade trainings acrossmain cities in India, mediaand trade familiarisation pro-grammes, participation inactivities organised byTourism Australia and co-opmarketing activities withagents,” adds Kapadia.

Pranav KapadiaPartner, Global Destinations

Toga Hospitality has India representatives

Incredible India in pursuitof doubling the inbound pie

has not lost track of the sig-nificant luxury market. On

back of the sturdy growth in the sector, many of the leading states are work-ing on aggressive plans to tapa bigger share in the inboundluxury market.

“It’s not difficult tounderstand the economic sit-uation in Europe and manyother parts of the developedworld. But, the luxury markethas not been impacted, as thecosting concerns are more onthe mid-managerial level.

The economic boom in Indiahas helped our countrychange the perception peoplehad. The positive pressaround the impressivegrowth rate and rise of

Indians at various global plat-form changed destinationIndia’s perception as a landof snake charmers, crowdedby cows and buffaloes. The Latin America, CISCountries and Asia, promisesto be reliable growth enginesof the future,” said DipakDeva, Co-Chairperson, FICCITourism Committee.

“The luxury segment inmy opinion needs to be clear-ly defined. To me it’s not

merely the cost of hotelaccommodation, but theexperience in itself should beluxurious. For instance, stay-ing in a heritage property inRajasthan will be a luxurious

experience and India has allkinds of luxury products tooffer to further enhance thetravel. This has lead to a gen-uine increase in demand fordestination India,” he added.

The State of Karnatakais also confident that thegrowth in demand for luxurytravel will only rise. “TheGolden Chariot - Pride of theSouth is our recent luxuryoffering that had been receiv-ing good response. It present-

ly has 40 per cent occupancyand we are hopeful that in the present year the occu-pancy level will touch 50 percent mark,” as perVishwanatha Reddy,Director, Karnataka Tourism.

“We have two prongedstrategy when it comes tofocussing on the luxury travelmarket. We are inclined notonly to increase the numbers,but are equally keen toenhance their stay and spendin our state,” he added.

One of the crucial fac-tors that will determine howsuccessful the states canbecome in increasing their footprint in the global luxury market is theability to create diversity inluxury experience.

The State of AndhraPradesh in this regard hasdrawn up plans to develop amega tourism project inVisakhapatnam, also popular-ly known as Vizag. “ThroughCentre, State and private par-ticipation, we are developinga mega tourism project inVizag, which will include fourpristine beach points, resorts,bird park, world-class aquar-ium and other amusementparks to name a few,” saidSandeep Kumar Sultania,Vice Chairman & ManagingDirector, Andhra PradeshTourism DevelopmentCorporation (APTDC).

“The vision is to repli-cate the success ofHyderabad, to be introducedin Vizag as well. In fact, weare also toying with the ideato have a dedicated B2B showat Vizag on the lines of GITBthat is organised by FICCI andother partners,” he added.

The State of MadhyaPradesh is also working on

enhancing the infrastructureto cater to the luxury seg-ment. Post having launchedcruise options, air taxi serv-ice; it is now working onconnecting various touristcircuits with seamless luxu-ry bus service. “We hadfloated tenders to connectvarious tourist attractions

like Jhansi-Khajuraho,Bhopal-Jabalpur-Kanha andIndore-Gwalior-Mandu toname with Volvo bus serv-ice. It is in line with our efforts to attract luxurysegment and others to our state after havinglaunched air-taxi service and cruise options,” said

O V Choudhary, ChiefGeneral Manager, Marketing& Operations, MadhyaPradesh Tourism Develop-ment Corporation (MPTDC).

Rajasthan also offersmany attractions in additionto the heritage and palacesthat has always been its USP.

Usha Sharma, PrincipalSecretary, Rajasthan Tourismsaid, “We hope that luxury segment will perform very well in the year2012 and beyond. Today, atourist can explore many newwater activities, hot-air bal-loon ride and heritage prop-erties in Rajasthan.”

To grow the luxury travel market, states are inclined not only to increase the numbers, but are equally keen toenhance the stay and spend by tourists.

VI V E K SE T H I

Redefining luxury in India

ThroughCentre, Stateand privateparticipation,we aredeveloping amegatourismproject inVizag

We are inclinedto not onlyincrease thenumbers, butare equallykeen toenhance thetraveller’s stayand spend inour state

The luxurymarket hasnot beenimpacted, asthe costingconcerns aremore on the mid-manageriallevel

Dipak DevaCo-ChairpersonFICCI Tourism Committee

Vishwanatha ReddyDirectorKarnataka Tourism

Sandeep Kumar SultaniaVice Chairman & Managing DirectorAPTDC

Today, atourist canexplore manynew wateractivities, hot-airballoon rideand heritageproperties inRajasthan

Our Volvo bus service isin line with our efforts to attract theluxury segmentas well asothers to ourstate

O V ChoudharyChief General ManagerMarketing & Operations, MPTDC

Usha SharmaPrincipal SecretaryRajasthan Tourism

The LaLiT Suri Hospitality Group paid tribute to Late Lalit Suri during the inaugural ceremonyof The Lalit, Jaipur.

At the inauguration of The Lalit, Jaipur

ANALYSIS5 8 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

aspires to add more revenueto top-line and more profit toits bottom-line. With our affil-iation, small hotels will get anopportunity with raise servicestandards and install trainedstaff for better guest service.There’s a long list of hotelsunder one, two and three starcategory with no internation-ally acclaimed brand associ-ated with them. Thus, wehave a huge opportunity inIndia to grow and thus, weare putting in a big team inMumbai and aim to have 15-

20 properties affiliated thisyear with additional 80-85 innext three years.”

Shedding light on theunique alliance, AmalenduPurandare, Head – IndiaOperations, Arzoo.com said,“We are going to share ourhotel data-base withVanMYT which will help ourhotel partners tap the oppor-tunity to affiliate with aninternational hotel brand.We will also educate our net-work agents on VanMYTHospitality, offers and bene-fits of selling them by post-

ing the hotels on our web-site. In return, we willreceive customer confidencewho will opt for qualityaccommodation by VanMYTbrands over local standalonebrands. I think with theirVantage brand and VanMYTsupport, hotels in India willhave the best of both worlds;the global resources of arecognised internationalhotel company and ourexpertise in promoting andselling them through ourstate-of-art online platformon B2B and B2C level.”

Small brands, big bannerContd. from page 53

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It’s raining business@GITB 2012Contd. from page 40

The destination is lookingat emerging markets

like India, Brazil, China,Malaysia and Turkey apartfrom Europe for spreadingawareness about Wales as a‘value for money’ destina-

tion. In India, it is focusingon FITs, groups, honey-mooners, VFR and studentsegment through innovativemarketing and Bollywood.To strengthen the invest-ment, trade and tourism tieswith India, Carwyn Jones,First Minister of Wales(heading a trade delegation)visited India (New Delhi and Mumbai). He also metthe travel trade in NewDelhi to talk about theiropinion on Wales as a desti-nation and how it canimprove its brand imageamong Indian travellers.

Talking to , Jonessaid, “Wales is a destinationoffering wide range of activityoptions and at prices afford-able for every budget of trav-eller. We have more castles permiles than anywhere in theworld. Travellers can indulgein all sorts of weird and won-derful things like whisky tast-ing, surfing lessons, mountainbiking, playing golf on the2010 Ryder Cup course andcamping in a bell tent to namebut a few. Once our delegationis back, we will materialise amarketing and branding strat-egy for India which will beacted upon by next year.Currently, we have a team inMumbai, New Delhi andBengaluru and we are educat-ing the travel trade about Wales as a destinationfor second time or well-trav-elled Indian travellers toEurope. While talking to thetravel trade members in NewDelhi, we have also learnt

about Bollywood which is astrong marketing tool formany international destina-tions. We will be looking at it as many internationalmovies are shot in Wales andwe offer attractive incentivepackages to movie makers.”

The destination is looking at marketing fairs & festivals, sportingevents, golf tourism, adventure tourism and education to attract Indian travellers, especiallyduring Olympics.

After receiving an overwhelming response on its ‘ProperVacations’ campaign, Visit Wales is positive to receive a good response during the Olympics Games 2012.

‘Proper Vacations’ in Wales

NTO M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2 TRAVTALK 6 1

Carwyn Jones First Minister of Wales

‘Rajasthan: The Heritage Corridor’

Subodh Kant Sahai, Union Minister of Tourism, Government of India inaugurated the Conference on Rajasthan: The HeritageCorridor on April 15, 2012 at Hotel Rambagh Palace, Jaipur, which was recently organised by the PHD Chamber in Jaipur.Sahai along with Bina Kak, Minister of Tourism, Government of Rajasthan was warmly welcomed in Rajasthani style withTilak and a Chanderi Pagri.

TT BU R E AU

Currently, we have a team inMumbai, New Delhi andBengaluru and we areeducating the travel tradeabout Wales as a destination

India Presence

GITB concludes with cheers & smiles

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The Park Hotels and TravTalk organised 'Happy Hours' on April 23, a social networking session for the travel fraternity. The first-of-its-kind monthlyevent was launched in New Delhi and was very well-attended by industry representatives. The eclectic and friendly group filled the venue withwarmth, good cheer and laughter, providing the perfect platform to talk about what is happening in the industry and share new ideas and plans.

An evening of fun & frolic with

FAMILY ALBUM M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2 TRAVTALK 6 5

clinking glasses, chatter and cheers!

FAMILY ALBUM6 6 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

Happy hours for Monday blues

OPPORTUNITY / CLIPBOARD M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2 TRAVTALK 6 7

MOVEMENTS6 8 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 2

Nitin Sharma joins as Assistant Sales Manager, India forWorldhotels. He recently pursued hisMasters degree in Marketing withSymbiosis, Pune. He began his hos-pitality career in 2003 as SeniorTravel Assistant with Travelite India,rising to Sales Executive at Discoverthe World Marketing, representingclients including Carnival CruiseLines, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Hertzand Worldhotels.

Tejbir Singh Anand, Managing Director, Holiday Moods Adventures andPresident, ATOAI is extremely passionate about adventure travel and all sorts ofadventure activities. He enjoys land and water adventures and has been activelyinvolved in such activities for the last 27 years. His latest and favourite adventureactivity is skydiving. Anand, these days, is hooked onto an activity called Via Ferrata.This can be better explained as assisted rock climbing at great heights. The routesfor this are very well laid and you just have to cross the routes at great altitudes.“Photography and reading are great passions for me. Music is another preferredchoice,” he adds. Anand is also a foodie.

Tejbir Singh AnandManaging DirectorHoliday Moods Adventures andPresident, ATOAI

When you are in passion-driven profession, it becomes your lifestyle, says theoptimistic Debjit Dutta, Head, West Bengal and North East Chapter - ADTOI. Anextremely creative person, Dutta takes immense interest in the designing of adver-tisements for his company. Dutta is also an avid photographer. I like using vibrantcolours and pictures that I have clicked often for getting them featured in our printedads and other material. Travelling is not just a job but a calling for the ADTOI EastChapter head. “I like exploring the Eastern Himalays and take a trip to Sikkim orDarjeeling every year. Getting to know unknown places excites me,”he says. Dutta takes immense pride in his musical and theatrical prowess as well. I was one of the founder members of a theatre group in North Bengal where I grew up. “My theatrical skills work like magic when I make a presentation as itcomes naturally to me,” he adds.

Debjit DuttaChapter chairmanWest Bengal and North Eastchapter- ADTOI

Keyur JoshiCOO & Co-FounderMakeMyTrip

The Westin Hyderabad MindspaceHyderabadMayank Uniyal is promoted to the position of Associate Directorof Sales in The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace. Uniyal brings over

11 years of experience in the hotel industry. His stint with the hotel star ted in 2009 as SeniorBusiness Development Manager. Inhis present profile, he will beresponsible for enhancing talent

within the team, fostering corporativework environment and maximisingproductivity and tapping new market

segments among others.

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 & Devika Jeet

Keyur Joshi is a Co-founder and ChiefOperating Officer of MakeMyTrip and an integralpart of its strategic think tank. Joshi has beeninstrumental in jumpstarting the online travel mar-ket in India and is responsible for launching charterflight inclusive holiday packages for MakeMyTrip.Joshi holds a Bachelors degree in Chemistry fromGujarat University and a MBA from City Universityof New York, USA. He is also a certified pilot and abig cricket freak. Joshi says, “I enjoy playing golf.”

Akshay Anand is appointed as the new Sales Manager forWorldhotels India team. Based in New Delhi, Anand holds a BA(Hons) degree in Hotel & TourismManagement from the University ofPerpignan, France and a PostGraduate Diploma in BusinessManagement from India. He startedhis career with The Taj Mahal Hotelin New Delhi in 2003. His recentenrolment was at IHHR Hospitalityin 2010, looking after corporate sales.

JW Marriott MumbaiMumbaiGagandeep Singh has been appointed as the Director ofOperations at JW Marriott Mumbai. A hospitality management

graduate from IHM, Lucknow, Singh bringsover 13 years of experience while

having worked in different roles at various Marriott proper ties around the country. Prior to his current role, he was Director of Food &

Beverage at Pune Marriott ConventionCentre Hotel. He started his career with

the Marriott in 1999.

Universal AviationNew DelhiRajan Mehra has been appointed as the new Managing Directorof Universal India. He brings with him a wealth of rich experience,

knowledge and expertise in almost allfacets of the aviation business. Healso played a key role in the launchand business set up of QatarAirways, Finnair and Asiana Airlinesin India. Mehra holds an MBA in

Aviation Systems & Management fromthe University of Pennsylvania and a

degree in English Literaturefrom Delhi University.

Wonderla Holidays Bengaluru Arun K Chittilappilly is the new Managing Director forBengaluru-based Wonderla Holidays. He will move on from his

previous role as an Executive Director and willtake over his present profile. In his new role,Chittilappilly will now oversee the entireoperations of both the properties apartfrom looking into engineering and designaspects, marketing, communication andfinances as well. He has been the key

architect of Wonderla and is activelyinvolved in strategising and con-

ceptualising both the parks.

Travel Designer India GroupAhmedabadTirath Shah has been appointed as the new General Managerfor RezLive.com (Global Reservation System). In his new role,he will be responsible for providing lead-ership across the business in TravelDesigner. Shah is a managementgraduate and comes with 8 years ofexperience into Sales & Marketing.Prior to this, he was associated withPantaloons Retail as City Manager.

32nd Milestone GurgaonPatrick Reul – Smekens has been appointed as the VicePresident, Operations of 32nd Milestone. He brings with him 15years of experience in the luxury hotelssegment. In his present profile,Smekens will be responsible tostreamline, standardise and restructure the operation, in order tomaximise the efficiency, quality andsuccess of the business. He is a graduate from the Glion Hotel Schoolin Switzerland.

Brewster Travel CanadaNew DelhiMonica Jolly has been appointed as the General Manager forBrewster Travel Canada. With over 15 years of experience, shehas worked with companies likeLufthansa German Airlines andTravelpor t among others. Jolly’sexper tise and domain knowledgein sales, operations, business development and client servicing arecommendable. She also holds a goodselling experience of US, Australia andNew Zealand Markets.

Worldhotels Delhi NCR

HIGHLIGHT

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

of the same month at New Delhi P.S.O., RNI No.: 53492/91Date of Publication:30-04-2012

Expedia India, one of theworld’s largest online

travel players, to tighten itsgrip on the Indian market and

create more meaningful busi-ness opportunities for itstravel partners has more thandoubled its marketing budgetto augment its brand recall.

“The marketing budgetin the previous year was ` 25-30 crore, which now hasbeen revised to ` 55-60crore. Expedia has created astrong B2B foothold in Indiathrough its Travel AgentsAffiliation Programme(TAAP), who will be one ofthe largest beneficiary as

Expedia becomes one of the top OTAs, which has the strongest brand recall,” said Dan Lynn, CEO,AirAsia Expedia.

“We are nurturing ourB2B base and continue tooffer TAAP without any fee toB2B partners, who meet ourselection criterion and gen-erate desired results in termsof volumes. The increase inthe marketing budget is atestimony to our commit-

ment to the Indian marketand B2B partners. The B2Bpartners will definitely ben-efit through our enhancedefforts to put Expedia amongthe top brands, which will create plethora of newbusiness opportunities forthem,” he added.

To cheer the B2B part-ners, Expedia has also lined upa few strategic launches thatwill further reinforce its lead-ership position. Towards themid of the year, it will enableits travel partners to offer lastmile connectivity through bustours and also offer Visa facil-itation services.

“To enable our B2B part-ners extend end-to-end reach,

we have scheduled to launchbus tours from May 2012. Itwill create a new level of con-fidence among the end usersin our Expedia brand and willmake it easier for our travelpartners to sell. Further,towards the May-August, wewill also extend Visa facilita-tion services. For Visa facilita-tion, we will tie up withThomas Cook,” said Lynn.

Further, he appreciatedthe query to demystify

the apprehension that travel agents have on part-nering with online travelagents, wherein the small agents fear that the big online players eventually steal their clients details.

“We have had heardsuch apprehensions, but theyare nothing more than mererumours in our case. Travelagents are like our extendedhands and we don’t believe inchopping off our hands.When our B2B partners wantthat the booking details shall be shared by them totheir clients, we provide it to them. We also have the option of extending white label solutions, which

may be considered at a futuredate,” said Lynn.

Towards the last leg ofthe interaction, Lynn alsohighlighted the hard workcommitted behind the sceneto ensure that their B2Bagents always get the bestprice. “There are many fac-tors at work that determinesthat our B2B agents shall getthe best cost advantage. Onthe technology front, ourcomputer robots ensure thatthe pricing is competitive.Moreover, our dedicatedteams also put a strong vigilto ensure the cost advantageto all our B2B partners inaddition to the large volumesadvantage we have.”

“Our MoU betweenAirAsia and Expedia that ledto creation of AirAsia Expediahas also shown promisingreturns. We have receivedgood response from theIndian market, as most of theSouth East Destinations arealways popular with theIndian travelers,” he added.

In an exclusive conversation with , Daniel Lynn, who is the CEO of jointventure between Expedia and AirAsia spoke at length about their commit-ment to the Indian market and B2B partners. Here are the selected excerpts…

VI V E K SE T H I

Expedia committed to India

Expedia hascreated astrong B2Bfoothold inIndia throughits TravelAgentsAffiliationProgramme(TAAP)

Dan LynnCEOAirAsia Expedia

To cheer the B2B partners,Expedia has also lined upa few strategic launchesthat will fur ther reinforceits leadership position

Towards the mid of theyear, it will enable its travelpartners to offer last mileconnectivity through bustours and also offer Visafacilitation services

It is nurturing its B2B baseand continues offeringTAAP without any fee toB2B par tners, who meetits selection criterion andgenerates desired resultsin terms of volumes

Step ahead

‘Give them wings’- Expedia’s CSR programme for street and working children