OTM emerges as the leading travel trade show in India...of few halls should be auctioned on lease,...

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OTM emerges as the leading travel trade show in IndiaOTM 2015 held in Mumbai from February 4 to 6 at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre, was the biggest-ever travel trade show in India. With participation of 1,000 plus exhibitors from 50 countries, OTM was spread over 20,000 sq m. Around 10,000 travel trade visitors, including Pre-registered and Hosted Buyers from all over India visited the show. It was the only travel trade show in India having the distinction of inauguration by the Chief Minister of the host state, Maharashtra. Not only that, the Chief Minister and the Tourism Minister of the partner state Uttarakhand also visited the show. page 2

OTM is one of the biggest travel exhi-

bitions in the coun-try, where delegations from countries around the globe came to pro-mote tourism. I think

tourism brings nations and communities closer. Tourism is also a major source of revenue and gives empowerment, and OTM provides the platform for the devel-opment of tourism.

Devendra FadnavisChief Minister

Government of Maharashtra

The scale and size of OTM not only reinforces the leadership position and popularity of the show, but also the strong trends in the

tourism industry, helped by increasing public policy support from the governments at the central and state level to the tourism industry.

Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who also holds the charge of tourism, inaugurated OTM on February 4. He remarked, “I would like to congratulate OTM for successfully organising a travel trade show of this magnitude. Both Indian and international tourism is set to get a huge boost out of this show. We have a special focus on promoting Maharashtra as a destination and by participating in OTM, tourism in Maharashtra too will get a good boost.”

Sanjiv Agarwal, the Chairman & CEO of Fairfest Media, organiser of OTM was thrilled by the fact that not only the Chief Minister agreed to inaugurate the show, he came 20 minutes earlier than the appointment and walked the show. “It is a refreshing change and augurs very well for the tourism industry,” he added.

Harish Rawat, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and Dinesh Dhanai, Tourism Minister of Uttarakhand, visited OTM on Day 3 (February 6). Apart from the keen interest and encouragement to their home state, the two dignitaries walked the show, interacting with the various other domestic and international participants and also engaged the tourism stakeholders from Uttarakhand in an interactive session on the importance of domestic tourism for the state’s economy, and their future plans for boosting tourism in Uttarakhand.

Ram Shankar Shinde, Minister of State for Tourism, Maharashtra, also visited on Day 3 (February 6). He also presided over the OTM Awards and Valedictory Function. The OTM awards were eagerly awaited by all participants.

International ParticipationThe largest pavilions at the OTM were from the National Tourism Organisations of Turkey, New

Zealand, Mexico, Dubai, Japan, Thailand, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Philippines, Macau, China, Argentina, Oman, Bangladesh, Seychelles, Jordan, Bhutan, the Czech Republic, Romania, Fiji and Taiwan though many other countries too were represented in the show. Bahrain participated for the first time in OTM Mumbai 2015.

Indian ParticipationThe largest Indian pavilions were from the State Tourism Organisations of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Kerala, Daman & Diu, Karnataka, Punjab, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra.

Other Noted Names at the ShowThe Taj, Best Western, Sri Lankan Airlines, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Adlabs Imagica, Ark Travels and Heena Holidays were some of the

other big participants at the OTM, to name just a few. OTM 2015 also saw for the first time, a strong participation from Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) in an Adventure Tourism Pavilion comprising operators specialising in the niche.

OTM India’s Top 100 Travel Producers AwardsThe annual OTM Top 100 Travel Producers Award is an annual celebration of travel producers’ contribution to the industry. The 470 nominations to the OTM Top 100 Travel Producers Award 2015 was restricted to the Indian Travel Producers with high buying potential of Outbound or Domestic products for their Indian clientele. The Top 100 winners of the award and runners up were selected on the basis of number of votes secured from 800 responses.

OTM 2015 Awards for best marketing and engagement campaignsThe OTM Awards are much sought after by all the participants. The aim is to highlight the marketing, creative and engagement efforts put in by the various participants to promote their respective destinations and travel products and services at OTM. 36 awards across 16 categories were given away to various domestic and international participants.

OTM-Kuoni Knowledge Series Focusing on its core business as a service provider to the global travel industry, Kuoni partnered with OTM for the first time to organise a Knowledge Series. The conferences saw industry experts and veterans talk about the Future of Tourism, comprising three tracks on Corporate Travel, MICE Travel, and Leisure segments. The conferences saw enthusiastic participation from visitors and participants on all three days.

Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman & CEO of Fairfest Media (organiser of OTM) welcomes the chief guest Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | march 2015 • 2EDItorIal

Editorial

Editor & Publisher Sanjiv Agarwal

Editorial DirectorGazanfar Ibrahim

content WriterGopanjali Roy

Marketing

advisors Abraham JohnSheila Leongassociate DirectorsRajarshi DeRaj Kapoor SinghR MaheshTarique EbrahimHema ManghnaniNitin TelangGeneral managerFatima D’CostaDeputy General managerShruti AggarwalProject managersKavita KalraPratiksha RajapurePurbita DuttaYC AnilShreyas Jainassistant Project managersPhilomena D’SouzaDeepti V MurthyShiv Shankar DuttaRamesh ChauhanKanika Singh

Production

media DirectorJune Mukherjee

Design teamDilip MannaMrityunjay KumarRitam MaitySuman Pramanik

Administration

Joint managing Director Rajiv Agarwal

Executive DirectorHarsh Agarwal

chief technology officerRudradeb Mitra

senior manager - accounts & FinanceUma Sureka

Travel News Digest (TND) is printed and published by Sanjiv Kumar Agarwal on behalf of Fairfest Media Ltd.

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E-Visa a big hitOur campaign for easing visa procedures bears fruit two decades later

The e-Visa facility launched by the Union Government late last year is already getting superb traction. Over 75,000 e-Visas had been issued in the last 75 days, and on average 1,000 electronic visa authorisations are being issued daily now. In December 2014 itself, there was a 421% spike in foreign tourist arrivals over December 2013, reaching 14,083, as against 2,700 the previous year.

Though success has many fathers, let us put the record straight on the pioneering and consistent stand taken by the undersigned, on the necessity of introducing Visa-on-Arrival and e-Visas. The first suggestions was made as far back as in the late 1990s to M P Bezbaruah, then Secretary Tourism, Government of India.

Recently, we had published an open letter in September 2013 issue of Travel News Digest to the Prime Minister and all the Chief Ministers and Tourism Ministers. The Prime Minister, and then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendrabhai Modi, not only acknowledged (see beside) but also incorporated promotion of Tourism as an important promise in the party’s manifesto.

This was followed-up by another editorial by this Journal in the June 2014 issue as a wish list for the new government, which included the important facility of Visa-on-Arrival.

Now we have e-Visa and on-arrival visa, and rest is history as they say.

Here is a follow up of our other recommendations:

• Define maximum threshold of all central and state taxes on International and Domestic Tourism, to be at par with IT Industry, or lower

• Income Tax Holiday on foreign exchange earned by travel industry, for 10 years, like it was done to promote IT and ITES Exports

• Government should get out completely from running travel related businesses and concentrate on better preservation of the historical monuments, finding new archaeological sites, and present India to the rest of the world as the Liveliest Wonder of the Orient

• Promote India as a favourable Trade Fair and MICE destination, like Germany and China who have recognised Trade Fairs as ‘Engines of Growth’ (60% of hotel rooms in Paris are booked due to Trade Fairs). Double the capacity of Pragati Maidan and halve the rates - still its revenues and profitability will be higher, due to better occupancy. This will have a positive impact in all India trade show and MICE market. Preferably, each plot housing a hall or a cluster of few halls should be auctioned on lease, where world’s leading players can be invited to bid on build, operate and transfer basis. Ask the leaseholders of airports in Mumbai and Delhi to also build exhibition venues near the airports, like they have done in several countries, including Dubai. Also encourage approved SEZs near city centres to open exhibition venues

Hope the union budget will effect some of the above recommendations too.

Good days for travel industry!sanjiv agarwal

Editor & [email protected]

Inauguration of OTM Mumbai 2015: Picture of the Month

Reprint

4 TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MARch 2015 4 TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MARch 2015

OTM 2015: Inaugural Panel Discussion on Promoting Tourism in India - Challenges & Opportunities

Sudhir PatilPresident, Maharashtra Tour Operators Association

Sanjiv AgarwalEditor & Publisher, Travel News Digest

Ioannis E RaptakisAmbassador of Greece

Valsa Nair Singh, IAS Secretary - Tourism & Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra

SanJeetDirector, DDP Publications

India is a huge travel market, with unique oppor-tunities and challenges. A country of over one

billion people and as many trips within India, and over 15 million Indians going abroad, it can only be a lucrative market for destination promoters. At the same time, there are unique challenges, like increased competition among destinations vying for a slice of this price-sensitive market.

Immediately after the ceremonial inau-guration of OTM 2015 by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, an inaugural panel discussion took place. The panel was moderated by NDTV and participated by esteemed thought leaders comprising practitioners in the field sharing their experiences on opportunities and challenges of promoting tourism in India.

Panelists

Valsa Nair Singh, IASSecretary - Tourism & Cultural Affairs Government of Maharashtra

Ioannis E RaptakisAmbassador of Greece

Sudhir PatilPresident Maharashtra Tour Operators Association

SanJeetDirector, DDP Publications

Sanjiv AgarwalEditor & Publisher, Travel News Digest

AnchorHeena Gambhir, NDTV

Audience engaged with the Panel Discussion


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6 TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MARch 2015

Kuoni India collaborated with OTM in a first of its kind Kuoni Knowledge series 2015 event.

This unique forum served as a platform for direct exchange of ideas and insights between the vari-ous businesses in the tourism industry. OTM-Kuoni Knowledge series 2015 devoted itself to mastering the challenges and opportunities within the travel indus-try. Topics for discussions across three days included Corporate Travel, MICE and Luxury.

The Business Travel session was conducted by Manoj Chacko, Chief Executive Officer, Kuoni Travel Group, India. He brought to light some interesting insights to the macroeconomic scenario and future trends of Business Travel highlighting the key driv-ers for effective travel management and smart cor-porate travel policies. Significant cost savings were possible through a simple travel policy, empowering travellers encouraging them to take the lowest fare and advance purchase of fares by studying the behav-ior of travellers.

SD Nandakumar, Head - SIT & Business Develop-ment, Kouni Travel (India) Pvt Ltd conducted the ses-sion on the second day. He discussed best practices and asked what future expertise could bring to MICE Travel especially for the fast-growing markets. The session highlighted on how Incentive travel has now been recognised as a powerful business tool for help-ing organisations achieve key business objectives and drive bottom line results which is the result of MICE gaining significance in the last few years. Reward and Recognition for employees, dealers & distribu-tors is important to companies and MICE operators

have become the medium through which the compa-nies look to achieve their objective of motivating their important constituents.

The Luxury session by Vishal Suri, Chief Execu-tive Officer, Tour Operating, Kouni Travel (India) Pvt Ltd highlighted key drivers for the growth of Lux-ury Travel. It highlighted the key trends in Luxury Travel such as Theme based holidays where each holiday trip has to be crafted to exclusivity, popular destinations and characteristics of the luxury seg-ment. While planning a luxury holiday authenticity, experience, exclusivity, and privacy tend to be the most favored choices when luxury travellers plan

their holidays.This exclusive event consisted of plenary expert

sessions with plenty of time for questions and discus-sion with extensive networking opportunities.

Speaking on the collaboration, Rajeev Wagle, Managing Director, Kouni Travel Group, India said, “Kuoni India has always strived to be the new age innovative holiday maker. As a leader in all travel segments namely Escorted Tours, Free Individual Travel, Domestic Holidays and MICE, defining new horizons is essential to creating sustainable growth opportunities. Through Knowledge Series 2015, we brought a highly informative and unique opportunity

for industry leaders to contribute to a constructive dialogue on the future of sustainable tourism.”

Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman & CEO of Fairfest Media Ltd, the organiser of OTM said, “We are sim-ply thrilled at this partnership on a long term basis. It adds a very important education element to the show.”

The aim of the knowledge series was to continue to strengthen awareness of making holidays a pri-ority with Indians. It also fostered closer co-opera-tion between tourism boards, corporate executives and partners and contributed to the enhancement of marketable holiday solutions.

otm-Kuoni Knowledge series 2015

Vishal Suri, Chief Executive Officer, Tour OperatingKouni Travel (India) Pvt Ltd

Rajeev Wagle, Managing Director, Kouni Travel Group, India

Manoj Chacko, Chief Executive OfficerKuoni Travel Group, India

SD Nandakumar, Head - SIT & Business Development Kouni Travel (India) Pvt Ltd

Audience listening to the Kuoni Knowledge Series speakers


OTM is a wonderful platform to participate as a destina-tion where we have got many quality people coming in for OTM. The agents have been extremely well experienced and they are actually looking for niche destination. OTM is providing us the opportunity to connect with the agents from other cities too. We are also delighted and quite sur-prised with quality of consumer that came in to visit our

booth and it was an amazing experience because we can connect directly with the consumers highlighting the destination at the OTM.

medha SampatDirector

‘Knack’ Marketing (India Representative for Argentina Tourism)

OTM is very well organised and my expectation is to network with as many travel agents as possible, and expose this beautiful brand of Macau to the travel

industry. My entire experience in OTM has been very productive.

arzan KhambattaHead of India Representative Office

Macau Government Tourist Office

We expect a lot from OTM Mumbai or else we would not have been here. We are trying to get in touch with the travel agencies as well as the travellers from

India just to educate them about our destination and to see what kind of facilities we provide, so that they come to Jordan.

sami harfoushiArea Marketing Manager

Jordan Tourism Board

This is our second time in OTM Mumbai. Last year, we had a very good year for us, especially from the Indian market. The good thing about OTM is we are

marketing along with several travel agencies, and the market to Greece has risen over the past three years.

alice NazzourDMC Manager

Mideast Travel Worldwide (Greece)

In OTM Mumbai business prospects are promising, and it is a very important market for us. OTM is well organised and is one of the biggest travel

marts in India. For the first time, we are not only promoting the classic tours, but also the Red Sea destinations, and expecting to have bigger number of travellers than last year.

Ismail a hamid amerEgyptian Tourism Counselor (Mumbai)

The Indian market is very important for us. Though we are returning to this market after a few years, we have been pleasantly surprised at OTM this year –

many people already know about us and there is good interest about the Czech Republic, which we are trying to present as a romantic destination.

tereza matejkovaHead of Trade Fairs

Czech Tourist Board

It is my first time in OTM Mumbai and so far I am very happy about the quality of the buyers. We have seen a lot of interest, especially for Dubai, and we are very optimistic.

We are expecting at least 30% increment in business.sunny augustineExecutive Director

White Sands Tours & Travel, Dubai

We have been attending OTM for the last three years and our basic expectation is to make our presence felt and show to the world that there is a destination called

Bhutan. This year Bhutan is celebrating 25th year as Visit Bhutan year to celebrate the 60th birth anniversary of our beloved King His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.

Namgay WangmoTourism Officer, Marketing & Promotional Division

Tourism Council of Bhutan

OTM is a very professionally organised travel trade fair, which is why we at China Tourism have been very supportive. OTM Mumbai is a very big market for China Tourism, and I am here to promote China to attract more and more Indian visitors. This year we are celebrating ‘Visit India’ year in China, which we are officially launching here in OTM Mumbai.

li QianguoDirector

China National Tourist Office (New Delhi)

OTM has become bigger and more professional with more participants this year. Next year we hope you will have even more countries. We are expecting to

generate traffic to our country for the whole tourism sector, especially FITs and corporates.

a hameed al-halwachiManaging Director

Al Safir Hotels, Bahrain

We are here for the first time in OTM Mumbai, and we expect a lot of tourist to our country. OTM is a good platform where lots of people have come, exchanged

their contacts, and collected information about our coun-try. We thank OTM for all the help and support, and we hope to come back next year.

Veronita melkonyanDirector

Armenia vis a vis Tour

OTM is a big event, and is a very good opportunity for us to share information regarding our country Japan, Osaka, and more with the travel agents.

Yoshimoto masashiDirector, Southeast Asia

Osaka Government Tourism Bureau


This is our first time taking part as association in TTF New Delhi. We are here to promote Ladakh tourism on the basis of safeguarding the

environment. We got good response from our own authorisations as well as from other travel agents all over India and abroad.

rinchen NamgyalPresident

All Ladakh Tour Operators Association

We have joined OTM since 2010 and this is our sixth time attending OTM Mumbai. OTM for us is a very good platform to promote Philippines. We expect more

and we get more with the support from the travel trade in OTM. This time too, it was beyond our expectations and there was a lot of crowd in our booth.

Glen agustinChief Tourism Operations Officer

Market Development Group, Department of Tourism, Philippines

We have been participating in OTM from the last 10 years with higher and higher expectations, and we have never been disappointed. We are getting positive

response from the travel trade, so we are very hopeful that this time too we will see lot of tourists to Nepal from OTM.

shradha shresthaSenior Officer, Regional Office, Pokhara

Nepal Tourism Board

We have started participating in OTM since 2010 and it’s been a great platform. We are growing year-on-year and last year we have crossed few milestones.

OTM is a mix of B2B and B2C which works very well for a tourism brand like ours, and Mumbai is an important source market for us.

lubaina sheeraziIndia Representative

Ministry of Tourism, Sultanate of Oman

It is my first time in OTM and I think it is a good idea and concept, especially for our part of the world. There are so many countries participating, and so many

cultures are being introduced to every one of us.

sylvia mulwaTour Consultant

Karibu Travels & Tours Limited, Kenya

For us it is very important to be at OTM. India is a very important market for Argentina. OTM is a very good platform for the ministry of tourism as well as for

the private sector, and our DMCs and agencies are very happy to be at OTM. The idea is to work here, to encour-age the number of Indians who come to Argentina.

roberto PalaisExecutive Manager

Argentina National Institute of Tourism Promotion


We are really excited to have the opportunity to be here as we are a start up based in India at Gurgaon. We are going to launch in mid March. We already

have few hundred contracts signed up and hope to have more signed up so that customers have wider range of choices.

meilinda huangMarketing Officer

Tripdaddy

OTM Mumbai is a good trade show. I have been attending for the last two years through the government of Dubai and every year there is a

growth. This year we are participating on our own as exhibitor and expecting something really good. Business is blooming and we met lots of potential buyers from Mumbai which makes us very happy. We

will be back next year.ramesh PatnaikGeneral Manager

Discovery Travel LLC, Dubai

OTM is a very useful fair because it creates goodwill and bridges the gap between people from different countries, and different tourist destinations.

Bangladesh shares with India common literature, culture as well as tradition. In future, Bangladesh will participate in OTM which will play a very important role.

syed muazzem aliHigh Commissioner (Minister of State)

Bangladesh High Commission (New Delhi)

We are here for the second time and since last year OTM has grown a lot. We saw a wide cross-section of audiences, to get the flavour and exposure to the

Indian market. The set up was like a breeze - it was easy to set things up and get things organised, and we are really happy with that.

sareena BaldhirajRegional Manager

Customer Support Operations, APAC, TripAdvisor

OTM is a very good platform where we improve every year. We have been participating since many years and this year we are campaigning for ‘Discover

Thainess year 2015’. We are trying to promote the essence of Thainess, which comes in seven categories, and we have 23 sellers from Thailand, including Thai Airways.

soraya homchuenDirector

Tourism Authority of Thailand (Mumbai)

In OTM the kind of people I met are very professional, to the point and not time-wasters. They know exactly what to ask, what they want from us and we are very

happy to provide them information about our country. We are visiting OTM for the second year after getting success from the last year.

razvan marcDirector (UK, Middle East and India)

Romania Tourism

I feel that OTM is a good platform for us where we can share information and interact face-to-face with our partners and tour operators. As we have just started

venturing in the Indian market, OTM will help us to be more visible in this market.

Nathalie DidonDeputy Chief Executive Officer

Seychelles Tourism Board

OTM is one of the leading tourism events in India, and Mumbai is one of the biggest source markets in the country. We are participating as Ministry of Culture

and Tourism, Turkey together with the private sector, and we are expecting more business B2B interactions with the Indian travel agents and tour operators.

ozgur ayturkCoordinator

Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Turkey

This is my second visit to OTM as an exhibition in Czech Tourism pavilion. It is growing and I see a bright prospect of OTM. OTM Mumbai is also a very

good medium for the small agents who are working via big agents and don’t have a direct access to DMCs from an international end. This medium can join us like a bridge and that is why I feel participating in OTM is very

important for a foreign DMC.

shailesh PatelCEO

Eastern Europe Tour

OTM Mumbai is a big name and I think it doesn’t need any sort of introduction. From year to year it’s going on strength to strength and I can say that you are

doing brilliant. OTM is the best platform for establishing brand, especially in the domestic and outbound segment, which is apparently new to us.

Bharat Bhushan atreeManaging Director

Caper Travel Company

OTM Mumbai is a big event and the kind of people who participate is a feather in your cap. Every year new products are evolving which means everybody in the

travel industry is looking for new products, which gives you leverage. OTM is one of the best travel marts in the region, and my congratulations to you.

Guldeep singh sahniPresident

OTOAI (Outbound Tour Operators Association of India)

OTM is quite good and worth coming to, since it’s a way to reach out to the tour operators in India, to let them know about new destinations, and about the new

trends in the world market. We plan to come back next year hopefully.

sidney V linharesDirector, Del Bianco

South America Group

OTM Mumbai is a very good national and international travel trade show where we get the chance to connect with many clients. We have come

for the second time to promote our country, Vietnam, to the local travel partners in India and hope to have more travel partners corporate with us for further business.

Phan trong thangEnglish Market Sales Manager

Luxury Travel, Vietnam

We are participating in OTM since eight years and until now, we are very much satisfied. We have got many positive responses from public as well as tour

operators from India which is more than we expected.

Guru sharmaManaging Director, Travel Group Peru

South America Group


OTM is a major event in the area of tourism development in our country. We have a wonderful experience about

the way the states are participating here. I am happy that our presence is very effective here.

harish rawatChief Minister

Government of Uttarakhand

OTM Mumbai is an event where you get a range of travel agents attending. For us the main intention is to do the branding because OTM as a brand is in

the market for long time. We have been participating for many years representing our company and I am very happy with what we saw.

savio PereiraDirector, Benchmark

Latin America Travel Concept

OTM Mumbai as an entire event is really good. The arrangement, the way of interaction with customers, the areas, everything looks great. We participated

for the first time in OTM Mumbai which will give lots of exposure and boost our business.

shweta IsaacRepresentative, Business Development / Operations

Yoko Tourism, Dubai

OTM Mumbai is a very well organised show. We are looking at the connection with travel trade and we had a great experience here. We met lot of people and got

quality buyers coming in. We are promoting ITB Berlin & ITB Asia and made very good contacts. We look forward to be here in next year as well.

Deepika unniRepresentative, Berlin Fairs

AHK, Indo German Chamber of Commerce

In OTM Mumbai the participators and exhibitors are good. The expectation was more footfalls; staffs were very cooperative, in terms of help and all. We are very

fine with it. anju tandon

CEOArk Travels

Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat and Tourism Minister Dinesh Dhanai attend OTM and spend quality time with the domestic and international participants to promote their state


OTM Mumbai is a wonderful platform to meet people from different ethnic city, different culture, and different religion and of course different travel

experience. It is good to share experience in a big platform like OTM.

Devesh sharmaManager, Business Development

Dook Travels

OTM Mumbai is a good platform to do travel business. Since many years we are getting good response and hope it will continue to do same. The experience is very good.

Good number of people, good business and the business is increasing day by day and hopefully it will grow more.

suresh K DoshiManaging Director

Classic Holidays

OTM Mumbai is a fascinating platform allowing lot of inbound and outbound tour operators to join. OTM gives us an opportunity to meet the people directly

working in the local DMC and local tour operators in our own country. OTM is that kind of platform that allows global reach and allows putting a name to the face.

shahir razickSenior Sales and Marketing Manager

Best Western, Elyon Colombo

I have been attending OTM Mumbai more than 11 years and compared to the last year it is good. The response was good and the people those who are

coming to attend the particular place is most wanted.

haridas BDirector - SalesThe Silver Tips

OTM Mumbai is a very good platform and we are attending OTM since 15 years approximately. OTM is an opportunity you get here where you can exchange

business cards, do good business and people understand what you are doing. So, every year we are growing.

raja Gopaal Iyer hari haranCEO

Raj Hospitality

OTM Mumbai is a very good platform to launch new project and since we are beginners, we needed some platform and OTM is quite wonderful and useful. OTM

has lots of connection, lot of interaction possibilities and lots of travel agents.

Jamsheer chelakkadan hussainGeneral ManagerOrchid Highlands

This is my first time in OTM Mumbai; the platform for my work has been quite well and I am very impressed. Since I am new in the work I am looking forward to a

good promotion and the response is quite satisfying.miftah shaw

Managing DirectorKolahoi Green Resort

OTM Mumbai is great platform for us and we got a very good B2B response from here. We are getting good business from abroad as well as domestic,

especially from Maharashtra and Gujarat. We are in OTM for business purpose, for improvement of our branding and business.

rajiv mishraGeneral Manager, Sales & Marketing

Hotel Pine Spring

OTM Mumbai is a very sophisticated travel event and as usual is very good. This year the crowd is huge and good travel agents. We are participating almost

every time in OTM as well as in TTF. We got very good responses.

harish V VAssistant Manager in Marketing

The Tamara Coorg

This year OTM Mumbai has a growth of 20-30% compared to last year. There is 30% more growth in the movement of the people. Business interaction

is very good. Our main target is more B2B and we are getting good response. We believe it will get better by the end of the event.

uday PradhanGeneral Manager

Nanu Resorts, Goa

OTM Mumbai is the major revenue generating market for us. Mumbai is the main market for us as per the tourism industry is concerned. People from Mumbai

and nearby places are coming to Kerala and Kerala is the hottest destination.

remesh KumarGeneral Manager

Isola di Cocco

OTM Mumbai is the best platform for showcasing either a property or a traveller company. OTM is the best place for us and we are participating for the third

time. We are here for B2B partners.anwar sadath

Managing DirectorGalaxy Travel Club

OTM Mumbai is a very good platform which helps to expose our property. As an opening platform we have chosen OTM and we are getting good response.

We have got lots of good travel agents and good business.P Prince

Resident ManagerForest Glade

OTM Mumbai is a very good platform for the hoteliers and travel agents. OTM is conducting everybody in the tourism company to come together and meet everyone

and discuss business and participate themselves with them.t G Gopan

DirectorEdakkadu Group of Companies

OTM Mumbai has a history of being the biggest exhibition that takes place in India. This is a platform where we get to meet fraternity people from all

over the country. People come here and you make new relationships and get new travel lead as well. OTM is a very good platform to showcase and brand our company.

adl KarimDirector

Creative Tours & Travels

OTM Mumbai has lot of footfalls and is growing over the years. I have been in OTM for the last seven years and it has helped us in publicity, building brand. It

helped us a lot to grow. OTM and TTF have helped us in a big way, big footage and big footfall.

Wilfred loboNational Head, Sales & Marketing

Hotel Fidalgo


TTF New Delhi is a good platform for travel agents and hoteliers where they meet each other and share appointments. We have been participating since

10 years. TTF is a good platform for domestic people. Business is good and the venue is better than the last year.

raj GuptaDirector

Global Odyssey

TTF New Delhi is impeccable; the venue in fact is very worthy competition to Pragati Maidan. The main benefit that most of the agents received is being able to

forged partnership making this platform one of integrity and professionalism.

Punam singhExecutive Director

OTOAI

TTF New Delhi is a platform where we meet domestic tour operators. Although our destination is not known for leisure market but we are venturing it out to

domestic tour market for our destination. Business is good and we have met numbers of domestic tour operators who promised us to do something good for our location.

saurabh PantAssociate Director, Sales & Marketing

Radisson Blu Hotel, Indore

TTF New Delhi is a great and common platform for the people involved in travel industry. It is lovely that we are part of this event. It is a good platform for the

new comers. We get more interaction between each other and understand how the travel industry works.

amardeep KalraManager, Channel Sales

Matrix

We have been participating in TTF New Delhi since eight to nine years. We are attending TTF exhibition all across India and of course we wish to see them

expanding their wings out of India as well. We have taken appointments in advance regarding some discussion and it came out with so many expectations from our company, half of them are our partners and half are new to us.

madhu K GExecutive Director

Spiceland Holidays

This is my first time in TTF Delhi. We did a good interaction with lot of travel agencies and people, mainly they are asking for Dubai. It is very much

beneficial and 75% of the business is fulfilled here already.

aileen D ayaquilGeneral Manager

Ramee Group of Hotels & Resorts, UAE

OTM Mumbai gives exposure to our properties and it has been very successful. We are having very good footfalls; There are large numbers of people, travel

agents and other segments. They are talking to us for lot of business possibilities.

Pramod singhDirector

Habitat Hotels

This year OTM Mumbai is fantastic. I am participating from last eight years and I guess this is the best OTM. This year the exhibitor and visitors are in large

number. This year OTM has given us fantastic business.

Nagarjun sharmaAssistant Manager, Sales & Marketing

Mountain Edge, Port Blair

OTM Mumbai gives a great exposure and a great platform for everyone to come together. We are participating for last two to three years and it adds

on our business. I have met lot of new travel associate sticking to the point and speaking business with you. It is something benefiting us and we will continue to participate.

Kunal aggarwalSales Manager

The Solluna Resort

OTM Mumbai is a brand and whenever this exhibition happens, you cannot ignore OTM. Here you get a flow of participants, and many agencies visiting, so

everything is awesome and fantastic. We are glad to see such heavy crowd and so many participants, probably looking forward for something good to happen for the upcoming season.

a V moorty Director, Operations

Narayani Holidays

It is my pleasure to be here in TTF New Delhi. One of my priorities here is to promote Serbia as a travel destination inbound Indian tourist. I understand that

OTM Mumbai is even a bigger show, so I am hoping next year we will be participating in OTM Mumbai and in TTF New Delhi as well.

Vladimir maricAmbassador

Embassy of the Republic of Serbia

In TTF New Delhi we get to meet many people, so we insist of coming each and every year to ensure that the number gets bigger. The expectation is presuming

that the number of Indian traveller will increase to our country. Lots of visitors and people are coming and we are informing about Tanzania, most of them are eager to visit Tanzania.

Peter makuntianTourism Officer

Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, Tanzania

Visitors throng all three days

14 TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | MARCH 2015

top 100 travel Producers awarded by otm in mumbaiThe annual Top 100 Travel Producers Award was instituted by OTM this year. This recognition is only one of its kinds to give travel producers in India an annual opportunity to celebrate success and more importantly, to highlight the important role they contribute to the travel industry. The awards were presented on the first day of OTM in Mumbai - India’s largest source market for outbound and domestic travel. The award winners, runners up and nominees were invited to personally receive awards / certificates, participate in interesting panel discussions and network with thousands of leading industry players assembled at the event. The nominations were restricted to Travel Producers based in India, with high buying potential of Outbound or Domestic products for their Indian clientele. A list of about 470 nominees was prepared from desk research and feedback from the industry. It was then put to poll by thousands of industry thought leaders. The Top 100 winners of the award and runner ups were selected on the basis of number of votes secured from 800 responses. There was No Ranking of award winners, runner ups or the other nominees.


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The List of Awardees


Jammu & Kashmir makes a strong pitch

Thailand showcases new regions at OTm On the sidelines of OTM 2015 in Mumbai, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Mumbai office hosted a high-tea for the travel trade fraternity, showcasing the new regions and provinces which will be promoted as part of the ‘2015 Discover Thainess Campaign’. The destination training presentation highlighted various new locations such as Trat, Rayong, Chiang Mai, Chi-ang Rai, Kanchanaburi, Hua Hin, Cha Am, Ko Phangan and Chumphon, among others.

Soraya Homcheun, who has recently assumed charge as Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai, said, “We have created new and special routes for these destinations focusing on family vacations, catering to their needs of entertainment for both chil-dren and parents.”

Amnuay Tiamkeerakul Executive Director, ASEAN, South Asia and South Pacific Region Department was

also present for the high-tea session. He urged the Indian travellers to experience these new routes, and encouraged the trade fraternity to promote these new

locations to their end consumers. Suladda Sarutilavan, currently Director of Tourism

Authority of Thailand, Pattaya office, and who was pre-viously based in Mumbai, said, “With my past experi-ence of the Indian market, I have tried to bring products and attractions which would appeal to all segments like FIT, families, honeymooners etc.”

There was an entire entourage of Thai suppliers including Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways who participated in OTM to showcase their various prod-ucts for the Indian market. Thailand Tourism has recently appointed Mary Kom as the brand ambassa-dor for Muay Thai, which is being extensively promoted in India as a family or group activity. TAT is initiating many unique activities and projects this year focusing on promoting luxury and experiential experiences in the Indian market.

During OTM Mumbai, West Bengal Tourism conducted a travel trade and media road show announcing its plans to engage and reach out to the travel trade and consumers

countrywide to promote itself as a ‘complete destination’. West Bengal has a very important geo-strate-

gic location. The state capital, Kolkata is the com-mercial hub of the entire region. The state shares its borders with three major SAARC nations namely Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Over the last few years, the flow of tourist traffic in West Bengal is steadily increasing.

Speaking on the occasion, Umapada Chatterjee, Director of Tourism, Government of West Bengal said, “The present government has taken several initiatives to boost tourism in West Bengal. Going by the current trends, tourism is a fast growing and thus an impact-ful sector for the state economy. Keeping this in mind, we shall be actively participating in all major travel and tourism fairs spanning across India, coupled with road shows and consumer campaigns in print, TV, radio and digital platforms.”

West Bengal Tourism rolls out nationwide campaign Taj hotels displays its luxury properties

The Indian Hotels Company Limited (Taj Hotels) made a presentation on the various packages they were offering from February 01 till October 31. They focussed on weekend packages and minimum one-night stay offers. Bandita Patnaik, Director of Sales, gave a presentation on behalf of Taj Lands End, Mumbai. Christopher Viegas, General Manager - Sales, Travel Industry Sales, Taj Hotels said, “This is the only hotel in the city which has the sea view from any room.” The other two luxury properties-promoted were Vivanta by Taj, Kumarakom, and Vivanta by Taj, Malabar in Kerala. The audience was informed about the luxury experiences at best prices provided by these hotels. Taj Lands End, Mumbai was the official Partner Hotel of OTM 2015.

For a state recovering from the aftermath of a devastating flood, the presence of over 100 exhibitors from Jammu and Kashmir at OTM Mumbai was testimony to the resilience of the travel trade in the state, and their strong belief that only aggressive promotions would help them get back their pre-eminent position as India’s favourite tourist destination. The delegation, among the biggest from any state in OTM, was buoyed by the return of Farooq Ahmad Shah as Director Tourism, and MD, JKTDC.

Farooq Ahmad Shah along with R K Verma, Director, Jammu, addressed an impromptu gathering of all stakehold-ers from the state to listen to their problems and suggestions, and to assure them of the state government’s proactive and aggressive initiatives to help restore vibrancy to the state’s tourism industry.

The J&K Tourism Alliance organised an interactive sem-inar on February 5, at The Club (Andheri), to interact with the Travel Trade and Media from Mumbai and Maharashtra, and assure them about the safety and security of tourists in Jammu and Kashmir.

OTM 2015 Parallel Activities

Full house audience at the TAT workshop

Trade visitors and media watching the WB Tourism presentation


OTM 2015 records unprecedented visitor footfall

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis walks the show

Fairfest Team, the Organiser of OTM

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis taking a virtual tour at Japan pavillion


The first two weekends of January saw TTF (Travel and Tourism Fair), India’s biggest travel show network successfully taking place in Chennai & Bengaluru. The first show of 2015 TTF series took place at the Chennai Trade Centre, Nandambakkam. Just after Chennai, the second show was in Bengaluru, at Dr Prabhakar Kore Convention Centre. A large num-ber of travel and tourism organisations showcased top destinations for holidays, leisure and business travel in both the shows.

The three-day annual trade fairs in two cities brought together more than 300 participants from all over India and abroad, including representations from 20 Indian states and 10 countries.

Participating in TTF Chennai, with private sector operators were Partner States Odisha and Gujarat and Feature States Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Jammu & Kashmir. Other states being repre-sented were Andaman & Nicobar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Tamil Nadu, the Host State, also had a strong presence at TTF Chennai.

Gujarat and Uttarakhand were the Partner States of TTF Bengaluru, whereas Rajasthan, Him-achal Pradesh, Kerala, Goa, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Mad-hya Pradesh were the Feature States. Nepal continued to be the Partner Country in TTF Bengaluru also. Kar-nataka, the Host State, as always remained a strong participant in TTF Bengaluru.

In spite of the devastating floods, elections and political uncertainty, there was a sizeable contingent from Jammu and Kashmir Tourism, including 10 pri-vate operators, pointing to the importance of tourism, and the utility of TTF as a marketing and promotion platform.

Uttarakhand Tourism held a special roadshow for the travel trade and media on the second day of TTF Bengaluru. Tourism Minister of Uttarakhand, Dinesh Dhanai addressed the gathering and shared in detail about the developments on how Uttarakhand is reshaping itself after the disaster and how tourism is coming back to normalcy in the state. The roadshow was a power-packed event.

International participation at TTF Chennai was led by Nepal, the Partner Country; and New Zealand & China - the Feature Countries. TTF Chennai also had private representations from Cambodia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

With the new Tourism Minister and Tourism Sec-retary at the helm of affairs, India Tourism was pres-ent with a sizeable pavilion displaying Swachh Incred-ible India.

Some of the prominent names in the exhibitors’ list included Tata Motors, Makemytrip.com, IRCTC, Yeti Holidays, Vythiri Village, Vythiri Resort, Orchid Highlands – Munnar, Holiday Links, Journey to Ladakh, Southern Travels, etc.

ttF New Delhi gets excellent response at the brand new venue, thayagaraj sports complex

Chennai & Bengaluru set the ball rolling for TTF 2015 series

OTM Mumbai was quickly followed by TTF New Delhi at the swanky Thyagaraj Sports Complex near INA Market. Many of the international and domestic participants of OTM Mumbai were also present at TTF New Delhi. With over 275 exhibi-tors representing 19 countries and 19 Indian states & UTs, TTF New Delhi showcased leading inter-national and domestic destinations and their products & services to travel trade visitors and consumers.

With a visitor profile that included travel trade members, MICE operators, Leisure and Holiday Travellers, TTF New Delhi had participation from National Tourism Organisations (NTOs), State Government Tourism Departments, Tour Oper-ators, Travel Agents, Hotels & Resorts, Airlines, Online Travel Agencies and many other segments of the travel and tourism industry.

Exhibitors at TTF New Delhi 2015 included NTOs from China, Macau, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bangladesh, and private operators from coun-tries like Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Bhutan, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Rus-sia, Tanzania and Vietnam who opined that TTF New Delhi was an excellent opportunity to tap the huge potential of the Indian outbound tour-ism market.

The fast growing domestic tourism sector had operators and tourism organisations from states like Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Assam, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, vying for a slice of the high-potential travel market from the National Capital Region and its hinterland.

The brand new venue, the Thaygaraj Sports Complex came in for a lot of appreciation from exhibitors and visitors, for its excellent facilities, overall ambience and ease of accessibility.

I have seen TTF for the last 20 years and it is one of the must visit event for the travel trade in India. TTF have been able to retain

their position as number one exhibition company in travel and tourism industry. Quality is very important and TTF have been able to attract right kind of exhibitors, be it foreign or Indian. This exhibition is not only for one sector of tourism industry, it promotes outbound as well as domestic and inbound. I think TTF will go to a different height in time to time.

Arun SrivastavaRegional Director (Northern India)

Ministry of Tourism, Government of India

TTF New Delhi is a very good show for Thailand to participate. Normally, we participate in other TTFs and OTM, but this is our first year in TTF

New Delhi. We are very happy to be in TTF New Delhi promoting Discover Thainess 2015 Year. We are getting more exposure and very good networking facility with buyer and media attending TTF New Delhi.

Runjuan TongrutDirector

Tourism Authority of Thailand (New Delhi)

TTF should be widely spread across the country, as the opportunities are endless. We

want to support this event in a greater way as this will enable in a larger growth of the Indian travel industry. At the fair, I got to meet many people associated with the tourism sector and got a good chance to interact with them.

Har Sahay Meena, IASCommissioner of Tourism & Managing Director, TTDC

Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation Ltd

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TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | march 2015 • 23INDIA

The present Government was one of the first in recent history to put tourism as a key component of its eco-nomic policy, one of the 5Ts of building ‘Brand India’. Over the last few months it has been putting in place on-ground initiatives and strat-egies to implement this, like extending Visa-on-Arrival, introducing e-Visa, etc.

The travel and tourism industry has high expec-tations from the Finance Minister in Budget 2015-2016. On the wish list are infrastructure status to the hospitality industry, strengthening infrastruc-ture including at cultural and heritage locations, expanding road networks and expressways especially in the north-east, extend-ing industry benefits to even those projects below `200

crores, boosting regional connectivity by developing airports in Tier II and Tier III cities, high-speed rail connectivity, rationalising and simplification of tax structure, extending LTA benefits in international travel, ensuring safety for

tourists and women, etc.Based on recommenda-

tions by industry bodies and experts, and the Pre-Budget Consultative Com-mittee, the Ministry of Tourism has sought an allo-cation of `3000 crores from Budget 2015-2016.

tourism industry has high expectations from the Budget 2015

Secretary Tourism launches offline mobile guide

India Tourism North Office collaborates with IRCTC & DMRC to educate tourists

Dr Lalit K Panwar, Union Secretary Tourism, recently launched Holiday IQ’s ‘offline mobile guide’, a mobile appli-cation which has information on over 1,300 destinations, including details on hotels, sightseeing options, reviews and maps, which are accessi-ble even offline.

Dr Panwar appreciated the innovative application, and said that it fitted in well

with the Ministry’s priority to promote travel and tour-ism in the country, and to make it more accessible for the common man.

The mobile guide has information on “37,000+ hotels, 50,000+ sightseeing options across 1300+ destina-tions, which includes resorts, home stays, serviced apart-ments, tented camps etc. for each destination.”

Minister wants domestic tourism to become more affordableDr Mahesh Sharma, Union Minister of State for Tour-ism, has stressed on the need for domestic tourism to be brought within the reach of ordinary citizens by making it more affordable.

The Minister was speaking at a meeting of the Parliament Consultative Committee of the

Ministry of Tourism and Cul-ture, in Kutch, Gujarat.

The Minister also elab-orated on the Ministry’s recently launched initiatives, Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana, HRI-DAY, and Pilgrimage Rejuve-nation and Spiritual Augmen-tation Drive, PRASAD.

Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) is all set to host their 62nd Annual Convention at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua Bali in Indonesia from March 26 to 29, 2015. This was informed by Harmandeep Singh Anand, Secretary General, TAAI.

Harmandeep Singh Anand said, “We are glad to hold our convention in Indonesia. The sessions and the event line up

are yet to be decided. We are looking forward to a robust participation and are planning out an interesting and a mean-ingful convention for all our attendees.”

“The event is to be held towards the end of the finan-cial year (2014-15) and the dele-gates will be busy with closing of books of accounts, hence we thought a nearby destination is

suitable for holding the annual convention. In addition, Indo-nesia offers Visa-on-Arrival, and the convention centre where the event is scheduled to take place is on the prem-ises of The Westin Resort Nusa Dua. That is the advantage for the visiting delegates. The ses-sions and the entire schedule of the event will be decided in due course,” added Anand.

The India Tourism, North India Regional Office has partnered with Indian Railway Cater-ing and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to display their contact details at prominent locations. Accord-ing to Arun Srivastava, Dep-uty Director General/Regional Director, Northern India, Min-istry of Tourism, Government of India, tourists can now reach by dialling the info line (#1363) at the time of distress.

Over 24,000 guides (which represent approximately 90% of the total capacity in India) are based in North India and issued licences from the India Tourism, North India Regional Office. Srivastava is also making sure to inform them of all the latest updates such as the tourist info line.

“We are also assisting the nodal Ministry in promot-ing the ‘Hunar Se Rozgar’ and ‘B&B’ schemes. Recently over 11 workshops promoting the ‘B&B’

scheme were organised across all states and one union terri-tory of North India,” he stated.

Speaking about the activities undertaken by the office, Srivas-tava said that regular participa-tion in travel trade exhibitions is ensured to promote various des-tinations within India. Likewise, we are also pushing corporate houses to assist the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) in the Clean India campaign by adopting more heritage sites and major tourist attractions.

TAAI Convention 2015 to be held in Bali, Indonesia

The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | march 2015 • 24ASIA

Indian visitations to Indone-sia registered a record growth of 17%. 2,37,990 Indians trav-elled to Indonesia in 2014 as compared to 2,04,756 in 2013, which clearly indicates that it was a good year for the des-tination for India outbound market.

Shelly Chandhok, Country

Manager, Visit Indonesia Tourism Officer - India said, “Last year we covered metros and Tier II cities and organ-ised destination seminars to educate the travel trade fra-ternity. We will focus on newer markets this year and concen-trate all segments of travellers as Indonesia is a destination

to be experienced by persons from varied interests and all walks of life.”

Sanjay Sondhi CEO, OM Tourism added, “India is a fast growing source market for Indonesia and we are hopeful that we will achieve our tour-ist arrival targets from India this year. It is overwhelming to see a substantial growth rate in the arrival numbers from India. It is a team effort and we will strive to continue to work towards achieving the target number with a consis-tent and impactful strategy.”

Visit Indonesia Tourism office India will continue to promote places Beyond Bali such as Lombok, Bandung, Jakarta, Jogjakarta, Bintan and Batam. The aim this year is also to be visible in the digital medium. Indonesia has many untold secrets which the tour-ism board plans to promote through various campaigns.

Indonesia tourism witnesses 17% growth in 2014

Mongolia, the Official Partner Country of ITB Berlin 2015Mongolia is the partner coun-try of ITB Berlin 2015 which will present new concepts for air, rail and road transport.

In the period between 2003 and 2013 passenger numbers doubled, reaching 800,000. Currently, direct flights to Ulaanbaatar are available from Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, Mos-cow, Istanbul, Tokyo, Osaka, Beijing, Seoul, Bishkek, Singa-pore, Hong Kong, and Bangkok.

In order to meet rising demand a new airport is under construction in Khushigt, in the valley of Tuv Province, only 52 kms from Ulaanbaatar. As of 2016, two million passengers are expected to arrive here. A num-ber of international airlines, including Korean Airlines,

Aeroflot, Lufthansa, Air China and Turkish Airlines have already expressed interest in the new airport as a hub for their Central Asian flights.

Starting in Russia or China, a journey to Mongolia on the leg-endary Trans-Siberian Express is one of the last railway adven-tures in the world. International trains connecting Moscow, Ulaanbaatar and Beijing run four times on a weekly basis. “This is the first major invest-ment in the 65-year history of the Ulaanbaatar railway net-work,” said A Gansukh, Minis-ter of Roads and Transport.

By 2020 the Mongolian gov-ernment intends to have paved roads connecting all provincial centres with the capital. Several

of the main tourist attractions such as Kharkhorin in Arkhan-gai Province and the Gobi Prov-inces can be reached by paved roads. According to Minis-ter A Gansukh, “Close to 1,900 kms of paved roads were built in 2013. This year we aim to fin-ish building over 2,200 kms of roads, including in the Gobi Desert which is three and a half times the size of Austria and one of Mongolia’s most popu-lar attractions.”

Malaysia’s MyFest 2015 to woo Indian touristsMalaysia, which has declared 2015 as the year of festivals (MyFest 2015), is planning to spend more than USD 5 million on promotions to attract close to 8,00,000 travellers from India to visit the South Asian country this year.

To promote the Malaysia Year of Festivals (MYFest) 2015 in the Indian market, Dato Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz, Min-ister for Tourism and Cul-ture, Malaysia, was in Mumbai recently, accompanied by the Malaysian Sales Mission dele-gation, officials from the Min-istry, state representatives, and members of the travel trade fra-ternity. The Sales Mission was organised to strengthen the presence of Malaysia in the South Asian market, and to keep India’s travel trade, media, and corporate sector updated

on the current issues and tour-ism development in Malaysia, especially during the MYFest campaign.

“India has always been an important market for Malay-sia. It has consistently been one of the top 10 tourist generating markets to Malaysia, and has continuously made significant contributions to our tourist arrivals and tourist receipts,” said Aziz.

With 165 direct flights from various destinations in India

per week, travel to Malay-sia has become very con-venient and the country is expecting to welcome close to 800,000 Indian guests this year, he added. From Janu-ary-October 2014, Malaysia had registered 6,43,335 Indian tourists, which is a 20.7% increase 5,32,964 over the same period in 2013.

With the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) pre-dicting India to be the third fastest generator of travel and tourism demand from 2010-2019 with an annualised growth of 8.2%, promotions to the Indian tourists is high on the agenda, the minister said. Malaysia will be spending more than USD 5 million on market-ing and promotions in India, which will include the Tier II and III cities. Myanmar aims 4.5 mn tourists in 2015

In Myanmar the targeted visi-tor showed historical record of an increase of 50% from 3.5 mil-lion last year for the country which opened its doors to tour-ist in 2011. Thailand, Japan and China are the top tourist coun-tries from Asia visiting Myan-mar making up 67% of visitor arrivals. In 2014, Myeik Archi-pelago in Kawthoung Dis-trict, Taninthayi Region, gen-erated more than USD 85,000 through ocean tourism cre-ating a new record as per the Ministry of Hotels and Tour-ism in Kawthoung district.

The government is taking active parts to improve the tourism sector in combination with counterparts from Thai-land and Germany, Norway, the Asian Development Bank, Japan, Luxemburg, Switzer-land, Australia and Italy. Nor-way and Asian Development

Bank offered USD 500 million to Myanmar for implementing the Myanmar Tourism Mas-ter Plan of reaching 7.5 million tourist arrivals by 2020.

Tin Tun Aung, Co-General Secretary of Myanmar Tour-ism Federation, mentioned that the government recently proposed an idea for open-ing of Tourism Development Bank this year, to provide financing for facility develop-ment projects, tour companies and related businesses, has already received permission from the government to start its operation.

India is one of Thailand’s most significant markets, standing at rank 1 in South Asia and rank 6 globally. In order to maintain and increase loyalty from travel agents consequently notch up tourist numbers, Her Excellency Kobkarn Watt-anavrangkul, Minister for Tourism & Sports, Thailand was in India to engage travel agents, trade leaders and media in dialogue. Organ-ised by the Thai Ministry of Commerce, in collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand – Mumbai Office and the Royal Thai Consul-ate-General in Mumbai, her visit, titled the Thai Trade Investment and Tourism Roadshow took place on Feb-ruary 25, 2015.

The Minister also offi-cially launched the Discover Thainess campaign in India. 2015 has been earmarked The Year of Thainess by the Tour-ism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in January this year and promotions are under-way. The Minister’s visit to India was aimed at lending wings to the new tag line and corresponding strategy in the high-potential/ high-delivery Indian market.

H.E. added, “It is my

pleasure to expand our global marketing campaign to India and officially launch it here. I urge you to discover the 12 hidden gems or unknown regions of Thailand, to par-ticipate in the festivals and events charted out for each month of the year and to indulge in all the experi-ences that form the pillars of Thainess i.e. Thai Food, Thai Arts, Thai Way of Life, Thai Wellness, Thai Festivals, Thai Wisdom and Thai Fun.”

Soraya Homchuen, Direc-tor, Tourism Authority of Thailand – Mumbai Office said, “I am sure that the Minister’s official stamp to the Discover Thainess cam-paign will add steam to our efforts to promote authen-tic Thai experiences in India through creative means that we will employ in the months ahead.”

There is a marked rise in Thailand in the number of Indian film-makers, MICE, destination weddings, hon-eymooners, seniors and special interest groups like golfers, divers and bikers; increasing average length of stay and average spend and a shift in market mix in favour of FIT and higher yield travellers.

Thai Tourism Minister makes maiden visit to India

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | march 2015 • 25OCEANIA

Tourism Fiji successfully con-ducted a series of multi-city work-shops from February 2 to 6, cov-ering four cities, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. The del-egation was led by Faiyaz Koya, Minister for Industry, Trade & Tourism, Lorna Eden, Assis-tant Minister for Industry, Trade & Tourism along with indus-try partners, Ahura Resorts, Fiji Airways, Captain Cook Cruises, Namale Resort & Spa, Rosie Hol-idays, Royal Davui Island Resort, The Pearl South Pacific and Tour Managers. The response

to the roadshow was fantas-tic with about 450 travel agents and tour operators attending the roadshow.

In addition to the Tourism Fiji India market representatives, Sally Cooper, Director of Events and Kathy Koyamaibole, ASIA Marketing Manager attended the roadshow. The strong presence from the Ministry of Tourism, Tourism Fiji and industry part-ners further reiterates our com-mitment towards developing the Indian market and its importance.

An exclusive Fiji brochure for

2015 developed by Kuoni-SOTC and Tourism Fiji for Indian travellers was also launched in Mumbai. The brochure was unveiled in the presence of the Fijian delegation which included Faiyaz Koya and Lorna Eden, as well as Rajeev Wagle, Managing Director Kuoni India; Vishal Suri, CEO Tour Operating Kuoni India and Amod Thatte Head Product & Innovation Tour Operating, Kuoni India.

“Tourism Fiji is excited to be part of this new publica-tion, which will deliver great

destination awareness to con-sumers and in turn drive more demand for our beautiful islands of Fiji,” said Wayne Deed, Acting CEO of Tourism Fiji.

Visitor arrivals to Fiji from

India have been growing steadily year-on-year. Fiji witnessed an eight percent growth in Indian visitors arrivals from January to December 2014 compared to the same period in 2013.

Tourism Fiji conducts multi-city roadshows to focus on Indian travellers

icc World cup 2015 to boost tourism in new Zealand and australiaICC Cricket World Cup 2015 host countries - Australia and New Zealand aiming to leverage the opportunity to increase their presence in Indian outbound tourism market.

New Zealand has identified India as one of the key strategic markets and for the first time ever the country launched India specific brand campaign target-ing various segments in 2014. It expects a 33% growth from Indian market triggered by this World Cup season.

“The World Cup will improve

our profile as a tourism destina-tion. For the tournament, we expect 5,000-10,000 if India does well,” said David Craig, Tourism New Zealand General Manager for Asia.

Tourism Australia, on the other hand, is expecting about 5,000-6,000 Indian cricket enthusiasts and hopes to attract no less than two lakh Indians this year.

Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager, India & Gulf, Tour-ism Australia said, “In addition to the vast number of Indian fans

anticipated to travel to watch the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, the opportunities are expected to have a halo effect to encourage and drive future travel.”

The Australian High Com-mission has disclosed that in the month of January the appli-cations received for tourist visa was 37% higher than that of the same month last year.

Stephen Fleming, former New Zealand cricket captain, has been roped in by Tourism New Zealand to promote the destina-tion. Fleming said, “New Zealand

and India share a great history when it comes to cricket, and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is the perfect opportunity for fans from both nations to relive this

excitement. With cricket being one of the most popular sports in India, we expect to see many Indian fans travelling to New Zealand over the tournament.”

Australia has launched a new pilot program for online lodge-ment of subclass 600 visas for Indian business and tourism visitors through selected travel agents in India.

Andrew Robb, Minister for Trade and Investment said, “India is one of the world’s fast-est growing outbound travel markets. This trial will make it easier for Indian visitors to apply for visas to travel to Australia.”

“Under the Australian Gov-ernment’s national tourism strategy, Tourism 2020, India has the potential to contribute between USD 1.9 and USD 2.3 billion annually to our tourism

industry by 2020. That’s why in the first half of 2015, the Austra-lian Government is rolling out a trial of online visa applications to capitalise on this rapidly grow-ing visitor market and create jobs,” added Robb.

In January, Robb led Austra-lia’s largest ever trade mission to India for Australia Business Week. He said, “The trade mis-sion and this visa trial are put-ting runs on the board under the

Australia-India Memorandum of Understanding on Tourism, signed by me during Prime Min-ister Modi’s visit to Australia in November 2014.”

Under the MOU, Australia and India will work together to encourage cooperation and information sharing on tourism policy, and encourage coopera-tion between tourism stakehold-ers in Australia and India.

For the year ending Sep-tember 2014, Indian visitors to Australia reached 189,866, an increase of 14.5% on the previ-ous year. Indian tourists contrib-uted almost USD 800 million to the Australian economy. Tour-ism Research Australia fore-casts arrivals from India to Aus-tralia will reach almost 300,000 by 2022-23.

Australia launches online visa for Indians on trial basis

Hawaii tourism authority chooses 2015 product enrichment program events and organisations

Destination NSW looks at improving air-connectivity with India, targets honeymooners

The Hawaii Tourism Author-ity (HTA), the state’s tourism agency, announced the selec-tion of 156 statewide programs and events through its Product Enrichment Program (PEP) for 2015.

The PEP consists of three HTA programs: County Prod-uct Enrichment Program (CPEP), partnership with the City and County of Honolulu, and the counties of Hawaii, Maui and Kauai; Kukulu Ola: Living Hawaiian Culture Pro-gram (LHCP) and Natural Resources Community-Based Program (NRCBP) in partner-ship with the Hawaii Commu-nity Foundation. There are 91 CPEP programs, 33 LHCP pro-grams and 32 NRCBP programs statewide supported in 2015.

“Hawaii is a destination like no other in the world and our Product Enrichment Pro-gram highlights different ways in which our commu-nity comes together to make our home a better place for both residents and visitors to

enjoy,” said Ronald Williams, HTA Chief Executive Offi-cer. “These programs not only highlight the unique experi-ences found across the state, but also support the perpetua-tion of our host culture and the sustainability of our vast natu-ral resources.”

Hawaii’s tourism economy has reached record highs in both visitor spending and arriv-als, for the third consecutive year. Visitor expenditures to the state reached USD 14.75 bil-lion in 2014 (+2.3%), exceeding the target of USD 14.69 billion. 8,282,680 visitors to the Hawai-ian Islands in 2014 (+1.3%) was recorded, reporting year-over-year growth and surpassing the target of 8,250,937 visitors. Vis-itor arrivals from Hawaii’s core North America market picked up during the second half of the year, supported by increased seat inventory, which provided more options for connectivity and resulted in lower airfares due to increased competition in the market.

New South Wales, the largest state in Australia, also has the largest Indian population. Mike Baird, premier, New South Wales, Australia was in India recently on a personal invita-tion of the Indian Prime Min-ister for the Vibrant Gujarat Summit. Baird has signed a new MoU with the Chief Minister of Gujarat, and met the Tour-ism Minister. He was a part of the 450 people delegation from Australia that was led by the Trade Minister of Australia.

Talking about the need to improve airline connectivity between NSW and India, Baird

said, “That is one of the things we are discussing with the chief ministers. Collectively we are trying to approach the air-lines. Accessibility is one of the important aspects. The direct Air India flight has made a big difference. Jet Airways is one of the airlines we are talking to, and similarly Australian airlines.”

Mike Baird said, “The Jhappi Time online marketing campaign, created by the NSW Government’s major events agency Destination NSW, started in India early last year and helped contribute to a 21%

increase in Indian visitor arriv-als to NSW for the year ending August 2014. More than 86,500 visitors from India arrived in NSW in the year ending Sep-tember 2014. Those who trav-elled on Jhappi Time packages added USD 6.3 million in vis-itor expenditure to the NSW economy.” He added that this second phase of the campaign will assist the NSW govern-ment to double visitor arriv-als from India in the next five years. “We will target the Honeymoon segment for the next campaign in India,” informed Baird.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | march 2015 • 26middle eastEditorial...

As the host country of the annual convention of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) which was scheduled from Feb-ruary 22-25, 2015, Israel was keen on promoting the destination in India and breaking the common perception of the country being only a pilgrimage destination. The Israel Ministry of Tourism was looking at tapping the lei-sure, MICE and honeymoon seg-ments in addition to the pilgrims visiting the country.

Hassan Madah, Director

- India, Israel Ministry of Tour-ism, said, “India is an important market for us and with an inten-tion of attracting Indian travel-lers, the Israel Ministry of Tour-ism opened its office in Mumbai in 2014. We felt the TAFI con-vention would be a great plat-form to showcase Israel to the Indian travel agents, and are keen to welcome the esteemed delegates to the country. When the travel trade and media vis-its and explores the country, they will understand that Israel

is more than a pilgrimage desti-nation. It has a lot to offer to the leisure, honeymoon and MICE travellers as well.”

Zakkir Ahmed, Presi-dent, TAFI added, “TAFI has always believed in being a path breaker and under this guid-ing principle this year we have chosen Jerusalem as the venue for the annual convention. We felt Israel is a destination that should be explored by Indians, because it has diverse attractions and charm.”

Israel tourism hosts taFI convention

Abu Dhabi Tourism and Cul-ture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) wants to increase con-ference and corporate visi-tors from India after achieving record tourist arrivals in 2014.

The emirate received 3.49 million guests last year, 400,000 more than it had expected. The focus this year is on India, the Arabian Gulf and China, said Mubarak Al Nuaimi, the Direc-tor of promotions and overseas offices at TCA Abu Dhabi. The agency is looking to grow the India market by 20% this year, which provided 231,702 guests last year. TCA Abu Dhabi’s India office is expected to send at least 4,000 travellers under the MICE segment to the emir-ate this year.

“India is a mature market, we have several flights between Abu Dhabi and India,” Al Nuaimi said. “The numbers are

growing, and if we can attract only two percent of its total outbound market, it is huge.” Also, as part of its expansion plans, Etihad Airways this week launched daily flights to Kolkata.

Abu Dhabi has also set eyes on major Tier II and III Indian towns to reach out to prospec-tive tourists. To market itself as an ideal tourism spot amongst backpackers, Abu Dhabi Tour-ism and Culture Authority

(TCA) has planned a series of promotional events and work-shops in Chandigarh, Lucknow and Kolkata.

“So far, we had been concen-trating on the Indian metros, which would in any case con-tinue to grow for us. Now, we want to also focus on smaller cities...We are focussing on all types of travellers, including leisure, business, wedding, cor-porate etc,” said TCA Country Manager (India) Bejan Dinshaw.

Abu Dhabi targets corporate travellers and small cities in India

Bahrain Tourism revenues up by 17.37% in 2014The overall revenues grew by 17.37% last year (2014) to top BD 228 million, compared with the same period in 2013, Bahrain’s Minister of Industry and Com-merce Zayed bin Rashid Alzay-ani announced.

Citing updated statistics, he said that around 10 mil-lion individuals visited Bah-rain with a growth by 11.1% than 2013, including 6.6 million visi-tors from GCC countries with an increase by 16.8% compared with 2013. Saudis represented majority of GCC visitors of around six million visitors with an increase by 19.3% compared with 2013.

Bahrain’s hotels registered

occupancy rate of 50.2% in 2014 with an increase by 11.6% com-pared with 2013 that reached 45%. During the cruise season (2014-2015), a total of 26 ships transporting 41,000 tourists onboard docked in Bahrain sea-ports, increasing by 8.5% com-pared with the 2013-2014 figures. Alzayani stressed his readi-ness to meet all investors and hoteliers to discuss issues con-cerning the hospitality sector, stressing the ministry’s resolve to promote sustainable tourism which takes into account Bah-rain’s traditions and values.

According to a top official, multiple-entry Visa-on-arrival and longer validity visas will be

available from the second quar-ter onwards in Bahrain.

The Nationality, Passport and Residence Affairs (NPRA) Assistant Under-Secretary Shaikh Ahmed bin Isa Al Khal-ifa said that the validity of the visas would be increased from two to four weeks and they would be renewable for three months.

While on a FAM tour courtesy Israel Tourism, I sat down to write down this editorial.

I searched on the Internet “why visit Israel”.

The top three reasons I could find are:

1. Jerusalem is the holy city for three religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

2. The Dead Sea is a natural wonder, the lowest place in the world, you float in its salty water!

3. A lot of archaeological sites dating back thousands of years.

Let me add to it two more reasons which I felt the most:

1. It is absolutely safe, although there may be a misconception that it is not so. Like India cannot be said to be unsafe for travel because there is crossfire at the Kashmir border, same is true about Israel - it is perfectly safe except in a very few troubled areas that the tourists would any way avoid.

2. Extremely friendly people, specially friendly with Indians: Most Israelis we met either have been or wanted to go to India some day. They love India and Indians, for some strange reasons. There seems to be a lot of mutual respect between an ordinary Israeli and Indian, with a lot of soft power visible on both sides. Israelis know about India, its cinema and ancient culture. Indians of course know about Israel’s technical prowess and military capability to contain its adversaries on all sides. A typical Jewish Israeli and a Hindu Indian is likely to have an unexplained connect!

In my experience, many Indians may not know that a rather large number of Israeli Muslims (over 15% of the population) live peacefully with Jews and are patriotic to Israel. In my informal talks with a very senior Jewish couple, I took a chance to test my speculative hypothesis that a modern state is perhaps better off without an official religion, especially if its majority has a dominant religion. My argument was that the dominant religion of a majority anyway gets imbibed in the values of the state, like Christianity in the U.S. or UK, Hinduism in India and Islam in Egypt for that matter - it may be problematic if these are declared Christian, Hindu or Islamic states, except that in a very broad sense they are as such. This was a political discussion of course and we need not worry about it here.

Although it may be a bit more expensive than the southeast Asia, it is worth it, specially if packaged with other exotic destinations in the region.

At present, more Israelis visit India, than Indians visit Israel. There is no good reason, except that Indian food is a rarity. It was hard to impress our hosts that Indians want no adventure or variety when it comes to food - they simply want only their food! But this can be easily tackled by enterprising group tour operators who have developed expertise in serving daal-roti in Timbuktu!

Israel’s Ministry of Tourism is all out to promote tourism from India to Israel. They deserve industry’s support.

Let’s all Chalo Israel!

sanjiv [email protected]

Why we must all promote Israel as a destination

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | march 2015 • 27europe

Switzerland Tourism is offer-ing the best experience of the summer season in the coun-try with the Grand Tour of Switzerland, a journey of the country of more than 1,600 kms. Also a grand train tour can be added by using the Swiss Travel System, consist-ing of the country’s renowned railways and other public transport.

Urs Eberhard, Executive Vice President - International Markets & MICE, Switzerland Tourism, said, “The recent study by ITB World Travel Trends Report 2013 indicated increase in road touring by 27 percent from 2009 to 2013. A round trip in one or more coun-tries is becoming one of the strong driving forces in inter-national tourism. Switzerland is highly suitable for such a tourist product since there are few countries that offer attrac-tive landscapes and cultural diversity at close distances

from each other. We have excel-lent road infrastructure, which ensures easy driving and thus makes the trip more enjoyable. With the Grand Tour, we look forward to a great 2015. Since

Indians are also one of the larg-est users of the Swiss Travel Pass and absolutely love the travel system, a Grand Train Tour can also be undertaken using public transport.”

summer Grand tour put forward by switzerland tourism

2015 set to be a promising year for cyprus tourismAccording to the Tourism Min-ister of Cyprus, Giorgos Lak-kotrypis, tourism prospects in 2015 will be just as challenging as the last year.

Lakkotrypis stated that the first half was satisfactory both in terms of arrivals, and in terms of revenue with a six per cent increase in the former and a 12% increase in the latter, “showing that initial estimates for a good year would come to pass.”

The year ended with a slight increase in arrivals of 1.5%, or some 2.4 million.

Lakkotrypis said the gov-ernment had also succeeded

in promoting new air routes to and from Cyprus from Bar-celona, Rome, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Vienna and other cities. Beyond that, he said there were plans for promo-tional campaigns which would include outdoor ads, radio and online advertising.

“We are also promoting new partnerships with tour operators, which are expected to deliver significant results,” he said. He also spoke of investment in a new marina in Ayia Napa and the creation of a casino resort, a new push towards business tourism, and cultural and religious tourism.

Austria expects growth in tourist arrivals from IndiaAustria is confident of boost-ing tourist arrivals from India in 2015. Last year, 85,000 tourists from India went to Austria.

Speaking about the tourist footfall from India, Christine Mukerji, Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO) India Director, said, “We received around 85,000 visitors from India in 2014, which is almost same as 2013. But the average stay for Indians has increased to 1.9 nights. This year I expect a growth of anywhere between 10%-15%. Our major source market from India is towards

the south namely Bengaluru, Kochi, Chennai and also Guja-rat has shown a lot of growth.”

The Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO) is also all set to launch a mobile game ‘Snapshot Austria’ exclusively for the India market. The game focuses on promoting vari-ous destinations in the coun-try like Salzburg, Vienna and Tyrol. The game will be avail-able in both Android and iOS platform and will also include a lucky draw wherein the win-ners will get a chance to fly to Austria.

Speaking about the

applications, Christine Muke-rji added, “Since last few months we wanted to launch something new for the Indian market. According to our observations, Indians love to travel and play. We are all set to launch the new game ‘Snap-shot Austria’ in the next two to three weeks, as of now the game is under trial. First we will launch this game in India and later on we will plan to launch it in the Emirates, Jor-dan and China.”

The Austrian National Tourist Office recently held its annual roadshow in three

cities in India i.e. Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. Del-egates from local tourist boards, incoming agencies,

attractions, hotels and travel partners were part of the road-show to showcase Austria as a destination for summer 2015.

Weak Euro boosts tourism in Italy France focuses on Food Tourism with new Michelin Guide

The drop in the value of Euro is expected to bring more tourists to Italy this year. The strength of both the pound and the U.S. dollar to the Euro will surely entice more people from the UK and the U.S. to Italy, along with other euro zone countries. Visi-tors from China also seemed to be benefiting, as reported by a research consultant at the Euro-pean Tourism Association.

The Euro has weakened

over the past year but it fell to its lowest in nine years follow-ing the European Central Bank announcement of a stimulus package in mid-January. This devaluation has made holidays in the euro zone roughly 18% cheaper for those coming from the UK, and one fifth cheaper for those from America.

After a lackluster 2014, David Brenner who owns VillasFor2 a holiday rental

business in Abruzzo report-edly said that January was the best month ever for bookings ever since it’s opening in 2009.

Weaker Euro or not Italy is still one of the most popular hol-iday destinations in the world according to United Nations Tourism Organisation, since reportedly 48 million tourist visited in 2013 making it the fifth place among the world’s most visited countries.

Michelin announced the star rankings for the 2015 red guide to France. For the first time, to underline the impor-tance that the French govern-ment places on gastronomy’s role in tourism, the presen-tation was made at the Min-istry of Foreign Affairs, also known as the Quai d’Orsay.

French Foreign Minis-ter Laurent Fabius, who is also in charge of tourism

planning, introduced this year’s Michelin guide to the country’s best restaurants. The gala celebration of French cuisine underlined the mes-sage that France aims to cater to visitors who come for the food.

Fabius later tweeted, “Gas-tronomy is an important part of France’s heritage, as much as our countryside and our monuments.”

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | march 2015 • 28americas

The National Institute of Tour-ism Promotion (INPROTUR) in association with Knack Marketing, India representa-tive for INPROTUR, will be conducting a series of training programmes in March 2015 in India, with a view to educate and enhance the knowledge of the Indian travel trade about Argentina’s tourism offerings.

“We will be launching an e-learning platform for tour operators in the next two months and will conduct train-ing programmes for them in Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad, Ahmedabad,” stated Medha Sampat, Director, Knack

Marketing while commencing their roadshow for the year in New Delhi.

Witnessing over 100 tour operators for the roadshow, this was the first time that INPRO-TUR targeted the Delhi mar-ket. It saw participation from the Argentina Embassy as well as two DMCs – Eurotur and Helling’s Travel. INPROTUR is also planning to reach out to other markets like Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmed-abad, etc.

Looking at increasing the Indian visitor arrivals by 10% in 2015, Pablo Cagnoni, Market Coordinator for Asia, Oceania

and Africa, INPROTUR, said, “Apart from our popular areas, Buenos Aires, Iguazu, and El Calafate, we are also promoting the northern region, as Argen-tina is a luxury destination with mostly high-end travellers.” He also informed that they have recorded about 5600 visitors from the India market in 2014.

“India is a major source market, not just for leisure travellers but also for the MICE segment. And since Argentina is already well established as a football favourite, we are also targeting the sports and adventure tourism segment,” added Medha.

argentina tourism to conduct training programmes in India

Documentary shows innovative tourism helps protect forests in Amazonian PeruA documentary featuring locals and sustainable tourism organisations, demonstrates an innovative “agro eco-tour-istic” corridor that promotes preservation of the Peru’s Tam-bopata Reserve and way of life for locals.

The video entitled, “Bring-ing Tourism Home,” is an effort by the Mongabay.org’s Spe-cial Reporting Initiatives (SRI) program by Eli Gardner and reported by Barbara Fraser.

Gardner and Fraser went to the Tambopata Eco-Tourism

Corridor and found a com-munity of “homegrown ini-tiatives” offering tourism that focuses on a sustainable per-spective balancing tourism and the environment.

“We met with several entre-preneurs who have turned their passions into their businesses. I admire the way they live and the sacrifices they have made to be true to their values. In an area where there are lucrative opportunities in mining, devel-opment and timber, they have chosen a less popular path,”

said Gardner.The authors of the video

included interviews and beau-tiful views of the reserve. They brought in multiple perspec-tives and highlighted what could be a controversial venture.

“Business owners in the cor-ridor have different opinions about the impact of the reserve,” read subtitles in the video.

“One of the corridor’s goals is to help protect against defor-estation, mining, logging, and urban sprawl in the buffer zone.”

Various public, private and aca-demic organisations nation-wide officially started the “Astro Chile” project which aims to transform Chile into a first-class astrotourism destination to be recognised worldwide for its appeal, quality, variety and sustainability.

Tourism Undersecretary, Javiera Montes, said that this “is a great opportunity to diversify Chilean tourism in innovative ways, by collectively promot-ing the development of astron-omy tourism which now has a global potential, and we are the pioneers in this area.”

Fernando Comerón, Rep-resentative of the European

Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile, stated, “Some of the work at the local level has already been done: tourist interest, observato-ries open to the public, groups of enthusiasts and now we have to bring all these players together so that the product will become a part of the hotel and food sec-tors as well as the media to reach people.”

Pablo Alvarez, Manager of the project being undertaken by Verde Consultores (Green Con-sultants), said, “Today tourists are choosing destinations and products that offer them unique experiences, and astronomy tourism is an excellent option because it represents something

different, where we have huge advantages and it helps to pres-ent us as a must-see destination.”

The initiative brings together strategic players in the fields of tourism and astronomy: the Undersecretary for Tourism, SERNATUR, the Committee on Foreign Investment, Tour-ism Chile, the European South-ern Observatory (ESO), Asso-ciated Universities, Inc. (AUI), the Chilean Astronomical Soci-ety (SOCHIAS), the Catho-lic University, the Planetarium Foundation (of USACh), and Verde, consultants specialising in culture, heritage and tour-ism, who are in charge of project implementation.

A mystic, flat-topped moun-tain on the Venezuela-Bra-zil border that perplexed 19th century explorers and inspired ‘The Lost World’ novel is attracting ever more modern day adventurers.

The Pemon indigenous peo-

ple, several thousand hikers a year now make a three-day trek across savannah, through rivers, under a waterfall and along a narrow path scaling the cliffs of Mount Roraima.

Standing at more than 2,800 meters high, Roraima is sacred ground for the Pemons and a spiritual symbol for many other Venezuelans. “It used to be more solitary and inhospitable,” recalled Felix Medina, a 59-year-old guide who has been taking people up the mountain for more than a decade.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 people are climbing each year, up from hundreds a few years ago which creates queues during peak times over Christmas and Eas-ter. Helicopter services are available which bring for-

eign tourists, especially from Japan.

“It’s an exotic, faraway destination so it’s both very costly and very attractive,” said retired Japanese dip-lomat Edo Muneo, 68, who like other compatriots, had to pass a physical test before leaving Japan for Roraima.

Roraima lovers want the government, tour operators and local Pemon leaders to convene and make rules to limit the numbers who can roam the top each day to, say, a few dozen.

Chile to attract tourists with Astro-Tourism The Lost World of Venezuela attracts adventure tourists

Colombia builds tallest Jesus statue in AmericasA massive monument of Jesus Christ is constructed in the central-east Colombia, which is touted as the tallest such statue in the Americas.

Outside Bucaramanga, the capital city of the Santander state, works on a Christ statue standing as tall as 43 meters (including the 10-meter pedes-tal) are drawing to a close. Once completed, the Colombian Jesus will officially dethrone its more famous Brazilian counterpart from Rio de Janeiro and take the crown for the tallest Christ statue in the Americas.

The building will feature a look-out from the tip of Jesus’ head, accessible thorough ele-vators. In the vicinity, there will be a hotel, a zoo, a boulevard and a cable car.

The monument cost the gov-ernment of Santander around USD 20 million. The Christian-themed park should boost tour-ism into the region.

“We estimate that in the next 10 years, the state will have two million visitors annually,” said Carlos Fernandez Sanchez, Director of the Natural Park of Chicamocha, responsible for the

“El Santisimo” undertaking.There are more famous Jesus

statues in Colombia. The image of Cristo Rey towers over a vil-lage of Las Andes, just outside of Cali, at full 26 meters. A tour-ist attraction, Cristo Rey of Las Andes is classified as one of the modern wonders of Colombia.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | march 2015 • 29CAribbeAn

According to a new report from the Caribbean Tourism Organ-isation, the Caribbean reported record tourist arrivals in 2014. The Barbados-based Carib-bean Tourism Organisation, CTO, is projecting a five per-cent increase in tourist arrivals in 2015 after the region recorded its best year ever in 2014. CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley informed that a record 26.3 mil-lion visitors came to the Carib-bean last year, a 5.3% increase over the previous year, spend-ing a record USD 29.2 billion.

“Last year, we received more visitors than ever before – recording our fifth straight year of growth as a region,” said Richard Sealy, Minister of Tour-ism in Barbados and current CTO Chairman. “There was strong demand throughout 2014 and I am particularly pleased with our performance during the summer period when our growth rate was almost twice that of the summer of 2013.”

The increase represented a total of 1.3 million more visitors than in 2013, which was also a

record for arrivals.“With a strong year for air

travel, a positive performance by the accommodation sector, solid growth in cruise visits and faster-than-expected rise in stay-over arrivals, the Carib-bean Tourism Organisation is pleased to report that the state of Caribbean tourism is sound,” said Hugh Riley.

“The outlook for Carib-bean tourism is positive, and we project a further four to five per cent rise in arrivals in 2015,” he added.

caribbean expects 5% increase in tourist arrivals in 2015

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism recently welcomed the inaugural Silver Airways flight from Tampa to Marsh Harbour, Abaco. Director Gen-eral of Tourism Joy Jibrilu, executives and staff of the Min-istry of Tourism, MP for North Abaco Renardo Curry, Admin-istrator Preston Cunningham, and Silver Airways ground staff greeted the visitors upon their arrival in Marsh Har-bour. Joining them in the offi-cial welcome ceremonies were Tampa International Airport Vice President of Market-ing Christopher Minner and his wife, Andie Minner who arrived on the inaugural flight.

Silver Airways now offers twice-weekly nonstop flights between Tampa and Marsh Harbour, on Saturdays and Sundays.

In addition to the new non-stop service, daily one-stop connecting flights are avail-able. Silver is a major provider of routes between Florida and The Bahamas, connecting with

Marsh Harbour, Treasure Cay, Governor’s Harbour, North Eleuthera, Freeport, George Town, and Bimini.

The Prime Minister Rt. Perry G Christie at Baha-mas Business Outlook 2015 said that in Grand Bahama, during the first 10 months of last year, the island experi-enced an overall growth rate of 38%, which was marked by a 43% increase in air arrivals, and a slight decline of eight percent in sea arrivals.

“For the first 10 months of last year air arrivals grew 4.5% over the same period in 2013 and a small contraction in sea arrivals netted an overall growth in arrivals of 3.5% or 5.1 million visitors to The Bahamas,” added Christie.

association of caribbean States to help develop tourism sector in Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago tourism authorities recently held talks with the Association of Carib-bean States with an aim to “facil-itate dialogue on cooperation activities between the Associa-tion and the Tourism Authori-ties in their approach to sustain-able tourism development.”

Julio Orozco, Director of Sus-tainable Tourism at the ACS, said it was important to stress cooperation in sustainable tourism in order to strengthen the countries of the Greater Caribbean.

He said the ACS was will-ing to foster closer collabora-tion with tourism authorities in Trinidad as part of the Sustain-able Tourism Zone of the Carib-bean (STZC), an ACS initiative launched last year.

He said, “In this regard as an immediate next step, activities

suggested for joint collaboration in this area, included the selec-tion of Trinidad and Tobago as a STZC destination would be pri-oritised. Additionally, a num-ber of activities were identified for joint implementation.”

According to Brian Gift, a

Tourism Advisor at Trinidad’s Ministry of Tourism, the coun-try is planning a push to grow tourism in the country this year, including beach refurbishment projects, the restoration of cul-tural heritage sites and the expansion of airlift.

Saint Lucia Island celebrates an impressive six percent increase in total visitor arrivals in 2014 over 2013, with nearly 340,000 visitors and confident for con-tinued tourism growth in 2015. Equally impressive, the island reported seven record break-ing months – February, March, April, June, October, November and December, demonstrat-ing year round demand for the destination.

The top markets to Saint Lucia each reported healthy gains. The U.S., the island’s

leading market commanding nearly half (42%) of arrivals, saw a strong 11% growth over 2013. The second largest market, the United Kingdom, saw four per-cent increase in 2014 over 2013; while Canada, the fourth largest market for Saint Lucia, also saw a double-digit increase in arriv-als of 15% in 2014. Airlift to Saint Lucia also increased a com-bined 14% overall in 2014 with 10% from the U.S., 14% from the UK and 18% from Canada, and an expected increase in airlift in 2015 of 14%.

Top source markets to the island reported stay-over arriv-als of more than 340,000 in 2014, a nearly six percent increase over 2013, reported Louis Lewis, Director of Tourism for the Saint Lucia Tourist Board. “Partnership is key to keeping the momentum strong for Saint Lucia’s marketing efforts,” said Lewis. “We work closely with our hotel and product partners, travel agent partners, tour oper-ators, and airlines, to harness ideas and resources for the suc-cess of the overall destination.”

Saint Lucia poised for continued tourism growth in 2015

Puerto Rico seeks to revive direct UK flights

Bahamas Tourism welcomes nonstop Tampa-Marsh Harbour service by Silver Airways

Ingrid Rivera Rocafort, Executive Director of the government-run Puerto Rico Tourism Company, said that the Island is hopeful it can regain a direct air link with the UK by 2016.

The island has been with-out a UK flight since short-lived attempts by Virgin Atlantic and British Airways ended. BA began flying via Antigua in 2011, only to drop the service in April 2013.

A delegation is visiting Routes Americas 2015, a route scheduling conference, in Denver. “We are confident we can get it back before 2016,” she said.

Puerto Rican officials believe they can establish the island as an entry point for the Caribbean from Europe, taking traffic from Miami. “We’re working to make Puerto Rico an air transit hub,” added Rocafort.

The Puerto Rico Tour-ism Company (PRTC) also

recently launched a Bed and Breakfast (B&B) Program which encourages visitors to enjoy well-known cultural attractions, while experienc-ing an intimate stay with ser-vice provided from a local family.

PRTC inaugurated the program with the certifi-cation of three top-rated B&B’s. Casa Sol, the first cer-tified B&B, is a Spanish Colo-nial home located in Old San Juan and is known as one of the most romantic in the Caribbean. Casa Castellana, is a house distinguished by creole architecture in Con-dado, and Dos Angeles del Mar is a cosy beach house in Rincon.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | march 2015 • 30AfricA

South African Tourism kick-started 2015 on a robust note with the launch of its biggest travel trade engagement initia-tive, the annual roadshow in Mumbai. The roadshow trig-gered an incredible start to the multi-city tour with over 350 Indian travel agents attending the event in Mumbai.

Hanneli Slabber, Coun-try Manager, South African Tourism, said, “We are abso-lutely overwhelmed to see such a tremendous response from Mumbai. Every year, we put in our best efforts to make the road-show more promising than the last one. India is a fast emerging strategic growth market for out-bound travel and with the evolv-ing outlook and preferences of Indian travellers, the South Afri-can tourism industry is focusing on the Indian market with sub-stantial marketing budgets and bespoke campaigns to reach out to the consumer segments.

The roadshow provides an opportunity for South African

supplier delegation to inter-act and establish commer-cial ties with Indian trade. The Indian travellers’ palate has become experimental and therefore, through our numer-ous trade initiatives, we envis-age the influencers of the Indian travel market to sell the destina-tion more effectively to the end consumers.”

“In observation of the increasing outbound travel demand from the Indian mar-ket, we have welcomed several new South African suppliers

to sell their unique products to the Indian travel fraternity this year. In order to sustain our growth and widen our audience reach in the country, we will con-tinue to explore newer markets and traveller segments to lever-age the available opportunities,” added Slabber.

South African Tourism is tar-geting five lakh Indian visitors by 2020 as the rainbow nation is striving to make India its top tourism source market through new programmes and aggressive marketing.

south african tourism conducts its annual roadshow in mumbai

Kenya Tourism Board reassures Indians, country safe to travelKenya is hardselling its tour-ism, reducing concerns over safety and Ebola, to woo vis-itors from India which it expects to become one of the top three source markets by 2018.

The Kenyan government is taking adequate precau-tionary measures and there is no restriction to travel to Kenya’s popular tourist des-tinations like the Maasai Mara, Amboseli, Lake Nak-uru, Tsavo, Samburu, Lai-kipia and Mount Kenya, for safaris, or Lamu Island, Diani and Malindi at the Coast, etc.

During the first nine months of the year 2014, 42,910 Indian tourists trav-elled to Kenya. India still stands strong and is the big-gest market in Asia for Kenya. Overall, India is the fifth larg-est source market. Kenya is coming up with various pro-motions and activities to high-light the destination in India and attract travellers.

Muriithi Ndegwa OGW, Managing Director, Kenya

Tourism Board (KTB), said, “India is a very important source market for Kenya as a tourist destination. We are here to reassure the travel-lers that Kenya is open for business and is a safe des-tination to travel. To reas-sure the market and tour-ists, we recently launched #WhyILoveKenya online cam-paign. KTB is geared together with the private sector towards increasing the posi-tive image of the country. KTB has also launched various plans and strategies to grow the market. Besides the gov-ernment has taken adequate measures to improve secu-rity and is also taking several other initiatives to improve the infrastructure leading to rapid economic growth.”

In 2014, over 61,200 Indians visited Mauritius registering a growth of 6.8% over 2013, as per statistics from Mauritius Tourist Promotion Authority (MTPA).

A major increase in the lei-sure segment has been noted along with high-end MICE business from India, accord-ing to Vivek Anand, Country Manager, MTPA India.

Vijaye Haulder, Deputy Director, MTPA informed that MTPA will be conduct-ing workshops and will come up with newer promotional strategies and publicity cam-paigns. “Roadshows will be conducted during August and September this year, covering Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. We will con-duct workshops for tour operators during the course of the year and we aim to hold them in Tier II and III cities,”

he added.This year, Haulder is

expecting a 10% increase in arrivals from the Indian mar-ket. Promotion of adventure sports, Wildlife Tourism, and Golf Tourism in Mauritius will be on their agenda this year, he added. “We are keen to pro-mote the recently opened Casela Bird Park, which is a nature and adventure park located beside the Rempart Mountain on the South West of Mauritius, and which offers magnificent views of the coun-tryside rolling down the west coast of the country. It is a must-visit for every tourist,” asserted Haulder.

With a visa waiver program now in place, similar to the ones for South Africa and China, Reunion Island expects a sharp rise in visitor num-bers from India. A group of 16 arrived recently with Air Austral, which operates non-stop flights from St. Denis, Reunion’s capital, to Chennai.

Speaking to Travel News

Digest, Patrick Serveaux, President, Reunion Island Tourism Board, stated, “We are going to promote Reunion

Island as a destination in the Indian market as it is a very important market for us. We have programs for promotion in social media and in tradi-tional media as well. In 2015, we are targeting 5,000 Indian travellers to visit Reunion Island.”

Local tourism stakeholders and partners from across the island, in promoting Reunion Island abroad, met with Reunion Island Tourism (IRT) recently to review the perfor-mance of 2014 and map out the way forward for 2015 by find-ing answers and solutions to market challenges.

Welcomed by the Director of the IRT, Ariane Loupy, the partners of the regional plat-form of the IRT met for a full-day workshop. The aim of it was to take stock of the past year of 2014, and also to hear about the calendar of events and foreign marketing trips expected for 2015.

Morocco targets 20 million tourists by 2020 - Feasible GoalAttracting 20 million tourists by 2020 is a feasible goal if appro-priate means are provided, said the President of the National Tourism Confederation Abdel-latif Kabbaj.

“Reaching 20 million tour-ists as part of the 2020 vision is a feasible goal if we assign to it the appropriate means,” Kabbaj said, explaining that these means include increasing coastal resorts to match Moroc-co’s potential.

He stressed the need for

creating new resorts in south-ern Morocco by giving facili-tations to investors and rein-forcing infrastructure in cities such as Tan-Tan, Mir Left and Dakhla.

Kabbaj also pointed out to the need of encouraging domes-tic tourism to reach 40% of hotels’ clients by 2017, adding that national tourists represent a stable market that spend more than foreign tourists.

To attract more tourists from Europe and the Gulf

Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Morocco will launch a communication campaign said Abderraafia Zouitene, Director

General of Morocco’s tourism promotion office (ONMT).

Zouitene informed that 100 million dirhams have been

earmarked for this market-ing campaign, of which 20 mil-lion dirhams will be invested in France to promote the Moroc-can destination.

He said the campaign will start in the beginning of March with the aim to showcase Morocco’s tourism asset and its values of openness and tol-erance. He added that, within this campaign, special attention will be given to eastern Euro-pean countries and the GCC countries.

Mauritius records year-on-year 6.8% increase in Indian tourist arrivals in 2014

Reunion Island aims to attract more Indian travellers

OTM emerges as the leading travel trade show in India...of few halls should be auctioned on lease,...

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