Express Travelworld (Vol.11, No.5) June, 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE

A story of lost opportunities

B

ollywood, the buoyant and buzzing Hindi film industry is 100 per cent Indian but has undoubtedly made a global impact. India has been home to some spectacular offerings in creative fields like films, fashion, music and dance, which has a global appeal. However, like in most cases, India's quality offerings such as Yoga, herbal products, spices and more have been quickly acquired, recreated and redefined by the rest of the world. Yoga has made a worldwide impact with various permutations and combinations. We have finally given it its official due by celebrating World Yoga Day, on June 21.

The latest on record of adopting an Indian creation and making it work for its economy is the soon-to-open Dubai Parks and Resorts with a mega park dedicated for Bollywood. All the action, drama, dance, emotion and more can be experienced in the park with live shows and performances, with a promise to make the visitor experience Bollywood unadulterated. I wonder what stopped India to make its own Bollywood park on lines of a Warner Bros experience.

Imagine what it would do for the inbound tourism business. Alas, Dubai sensed this well

HEAD OFFICE MUMBAI EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD® Ashwin Kamble The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Business Publication Division 2nd Floor, Express Tower, Nariman Point Mumbai- 400 021 Board line: 022- 67440000 Ext. 527 Mobile: +91 9833666558 Email id: ashwin.kamble@expressindia.com Branch Offices NEW DELHI Baljinder Singh The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Business Publication Division Express Building, B-1/B Sector 10 Noida 201 301 Dist.Gautam Budh nagar (U.P.) India.

Board line: 0120-6651500.

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Business Publication Division New No. 37/C (Old No. 16/C) 2nd Floor,Whites Road, Royapettah, Chennai- 600 014 BENGALURU Ravindra Pawar The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Business Publication Division 502, 5th Floor, Devatha Plaza, Residency road, Bangalore- 560025 Mobile: +91 9632428272 ravindra.p@expressindia.com HYDERABAD The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Business Publication Division 6-3-885/7/B, Ground Floor, VV Mansion, Somaji Guda, Hyderabad – 500 082 KOLKATA Ajanta Sengupta The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Business Publication Division JL No. 29&30, NH-6, Mouza- Prasastha & Ankurhati,

“I wonder what stopped India to make its own Bollywood park on lines of a Warner Bros experience.Imagine what it would do for the inbound tourism business”

Vill & PO- Ankurhati P.S.- Domjur (Nr.Ankurhati Check Bus Stop), Dist. Howrah- 711 409 Mobile: +91 9831182580 Email id: ajanta.sengupta@expressindia.com KOCHI The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Ground Floor, Sankoorikal Building, Kaloor – Kadavanthra Road Kaloor, Kochi – 682 017 COIMBATORE The Indian Express (P) Ltd. No. 205-B, 2nd Floor, Vivekanand Road, Opp. Rajarathinam Hospital Ram Nagar, Coimbatore- 641 009 AHMEDABAD Nirav Mistry The Indian Express (P) Ltd. 3rd Floor, Sambhav House, Near Judges Bunglows, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad - 380 015 Mobile: +91 9586424033

and speedily implemented the same. Destinations like Dubai and Singapore are known to create manmade tourism wonders and hats off to their vision and implementation abilities.

However, we in India are slowly getting our act together and are waking up to alternate tourism specialities. The amusement park industry is in its nascent stage in India and there are few entrepreneurs who are and have already looked at it as a serious business opportunity. Another game changer in the tourism business is its connections with technology. Our cover story is dedicated to the tech age in travel business. Next on the list could be Drone Tourism, along with a series of tech initiatives in tourism. The tech edge story highlights how few future next travel companies are using technology to their advantage and consider it a clear boon rather than a bane. We at Express TravelWorld felt it was time to celebrate these professionals who are looking at staying ahead of the curve.

REEMA LOKESH Editor editorial.etw@expressindia.com

BHOPAL Ashwin Kamble The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Business Publication Division 2nd Floor, Express Tower, Nariman Point Mumbai- 400 021 Board line: 022- 67440000 Ext. 527 Mobile: +91 9833666558 Email id: ashwin.kamble@expressindia.com JAIPUR Baljinder Singh The Indian Express (P) Ltd. S2,J-40, Shyam GHP Enclave, Krishna Marg, C-Scheme, Jaipur - 302 001 Mobile: +91 9868848013 Email id: baljinder.singh@expressindia.com

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CONTENTS MANAGEMENT Vol 11 No 5 JUNE 2016 Pages 40

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Chairman of the Board

Viveck Goenka Sr Vice President - BPD

Neil Viegas Editor

PIONEERS OF OUTBOUND MARKETING BORN OUT OF LOVE FOR TRAVEL AND AN INTERESTING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, OUTBOUND MARKETING, LEAD BY VASUDHA SONDHI AND SANJAY SONDHI, HAS GRADUATED FROM A REPRESENTATION ORGANISATION TO A ONE STOP OUTSOURCED SOLUTION FOR SALES AND MARKETING

Reema Lokesh* Chief of Product

Prabhas Jha Assistant Editor

Steena Joy Sr. Associate Editor

Sudipta Dev CONTENT TEAM Kolkata

Joy Roy Choudhury New Delhi

Saloni Bhatia DESIGN National Design Editor

EDGE

Bivash Barua Assistant Art Director

Pravin Temble Senior Graphic Designer

Rushikesh Konka Senior Artist

Ratilal Ladani, Kiran Parker SCHEDULING & COORDINATION

Ashish Anchan Photo Editor

Sandeep Patil MARKETING Regional Heads

Harit Mohanty - East & West Prabhas Jha - North

THE TECH EDGE

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Technology is a key differentiator in the travel industry with tour operators, OTAs and offline agents steadily adopting cutting edge solutions for competitive advantage

RVC 2016: NEW SHOWCASE OF 'COOL' CANADA RENDEZ-VOUS CANADA 2016, ORGANISED IN MONTREAL RECENTLY, SHOWCASED THE NON-TRADITIONAL ASPECTS OF CANADA'S TOURISM HIGHLIGHTS

(24-27)

Manager

Ashwin Kamble Marketing Team

Debnarayan Dutta Ajanta Sengupta Mathen Mathew Ravindra Pawar CIRCULATION

MARKETS

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LIFE

FILLIP TO MICE TOURISM IN INDIA

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TAFI EASTERN REGION TO FOCUS ON INCREASING ARRIVALS IN THE REGION

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PHILIPPINES AIMS FOR 25% GROWTH IN INDIAN ARRIVALS IN 2016

Mohan Varadakar PRODUCTION General Manager

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B R Tipnis Manager

Bhadresh Valia Express TravelWorld® POSTAL REGD. NO. MCS/163/2016 – 18 RNI Reg. No.MAHENG/2005/15993 Printed by The Indian Express (P) Ltd. and published by Ms Vaidehi Thakar on behalf of The Indian Express Press, Plot No. EL-208, TTC Industrial Area, Mahape, Navi Mumbai - 400710 and Published from Express Towers, 2nd Floor, Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400021.

(Editorial & Administrative Offices: Express Towers, 1st Floor, Nariman Point, Mumbai – 400021)

ETHIOPIAN WINS AFRICAN AIRLINE OF THE YEAR AWARD

P03: EDITOR’S NOTE P35 : APPOINTMENTS P36 : WEEKEND

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POWER OF ABORIGINAL TOURISM KEITH HENRY, CHAIR & CEO OF ABORIGINAL TOURISM ASSOCIATION OF CANADA TALKS ABOUT THE FOCUSED EFFORTS TO PUT TOGETHER A NATIONAL STRATEGY TO HIGHLIGHT THE COUNTRY'S 1,527 ABORIGINAL TOURISM BUSINESSES

Copyright © 2016 The Indian Express (P) Ltd. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction in any manner, electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. *Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act

IN THE NEWS

Fillip to MICE tourism in India India's first edition of 'Global MICE Travel Mart' held in New Delhi Saloni Bhatia New Delhi THE FIRST edition of 'Global MICE Travel Mart' was held from May 19 to 21, 2016 at The Lalit, New Delhi.

The mart was hosted by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) jointly with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and India Convention and Promotion Bureau (ICPB). Addressing the audience on the first day, Jyotsna Suri, immediate past president FICCI, chairperson, FICCI Tourism Council and chairperson and managing director, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, said, “MICE tourism has shown

maximum potential across the globe and has grown over the years. It has a deep impact in a destination's growth and its economy. MICE, as we have understood, is an important segment and we wish to promote India as a destination. This travel mart would be an annual issue and the next one would also be held in New Delhi in July.”

Chander Mansharamani, vice chairman, ICPB and managing director, Alpcord Network Travel & Conferences Management Company, said, “An average spend of the MICE traveller is US$ 1511 to an average normal tourist in India staying for four days, which is US$ 600.

Estimated size of the global

An average spend of the MICE traveller is US$ 1511 to an average normal tourist in India staying for four days, which is US$ 600 meeting market is US$ 650 million. In 2014-2015, ICCA

tracked more than 12,000 events over the year where India's share was only 1.1 per cent. This year India's global ranking has increased from 35th to 31st, which is a good sign. We at ICPB, with the help of Ministry of Tourism, are doing everything to direct the global business traveller towards India.”

Suman Billa, joint secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and chairman, ICPB, shared, “We are currently working on a national tourism policy that would include all aspects of tourism. The MICE segment has tremendous potential and creates more jobs in the economy. We plan to increase India's share in the global

travel and tourism industry to one per cent by 2020 and two percent by 2025. We are also pushing on e-visas for business travellers, as the organic growth in travellers comes from MICE travel.”

The conference also saw a session on 'Furthering MICE Tourism into India – Rejuvenating the Roadmap’ which saw key people speaking on the importance of the sector. The major takeaway from the session was how the private organisations and government sector need to come together and bid for international conferences. The two-day business meeting saw global buyers from over 12 countries, majorly from Russia and the USA.

Rise of Indian millennials impacts business travel HRS sets up first office in India Sudipta Dev Mumbai GLOBAL HOTEL solutions provider, Hotel Reservation Service (HRS), recently set up its first office in India, which according to Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), is the world's 10th largest business travel market. HRS has 25 offices around the globe, with the latest two in New York and Mumbai. “India is likely to be amongst the top five business travel markets in the next 15 years. Relationships with corporates in these countries allow HRS to enter the India market with regional know-how and support, enabling us to service both global corporations headquartered in India, and big local companies alike,” said San-

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Santosh Kumar

tosh Kumar, director of Corporate Solutions for HRS in India.

An interesting trend being witnessed in India is how the rise of millennials has changed the face of business

travel. “This is, in large part, a result of the growing number of millennial business travellers – which comes as no surprise given that approximately half of India’s population is made up of individuals

below the age of 26. In order to capture a greater share of the corporate travel market, businesses and travel managers alike will have to keep up with, and evolve alongside

the preferences of millennials,” said Kumar. He pointed out that hotels in India are already warming up to the growing number of younger guests who are more likely to combine business and travel, offering luxury services such as entries to night clubs and complementary extended hotel stays.

The 180,000 independent hotels in HRS’ inventory include more than five million rooms across bed & breakfasts, hostels and apartments.

“In a market like India, where hotel content is extremely fragmented, working with an existing base of over 4,000 major hotel chains and independent hotel properties in our inventory becomes a distinct competitive advantage,” said Kumar.

IN THE NEWS

FHWBengaluru 2016 to feature an array of special events FHW Staff Mumbai FOOD HOSPITALITY World (FHW) Bengaluru 2016, scheduled to take placed from June 9 to 11, at White Orchid Convention Centre, will host over 250 national and international brands and will see the participation of over 200 companies.

The event will feature six power-packed special events, live demonstrations and panel discussions. Alongside, South Indian Culinary Association (SICA) will be organising events such as Chef Lounge, South India Culinary Challenge, Mixology Championship and Live Cooking by Bengaluru chefs. The Mixology Championship will be organised for the first time at FHW, providing opportunity for mixologist and bartenders to showcase their innovative skills.

Bakery & Pastry Display Challenge, in association with SICA, will showcase artistic display of the evolving bakery and pastry industry of South India.

On the first day of the event, the panel members for GM's Conclave on 'How technology is impacting hospitality' are: Nicholas Dumbell, GM, Marriott Hotel Whitefield; Saurabh Gahoi, area GM, Bangalore region, Lemon Tree Hotels; Subroto Banerjee, GM, Mövenpick Hotel & Spa Bangalore; Mahesh Pillai, GM, Zuri Banga-

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lore; and JP Menon, GM, St Marks Hotel Bangalore.

The Hospitality Knowledge Exchange on Day 2 will see F&B heads/executive chefs discuss their views on `Banqueting: The game changer' and will witness participation from Taj Bangalore, Zuri Bangalore, Lemon Tree Hotel (Electronic City), Davanam Sarovar Portico, Holiday Inn Bengaluru and The Park Bangalore.

FHW Bengaluru 2016 is endorsed by eminent industry associations such as SICA, South India Hotels & Restaurants Association (SIHRA), Hospitality Purchasing Manager's Forum (HPMF), Professional Housekeepers' Association (PHA), Kerala Hotels & Restaurants Association (KHRA), Tamil Nadu Hotel Association (TNHA), Telangana Hotels Association (TGHA) and more.

The event will offer over 50 product categories on showcase; from ready-to-eat food to kitchen equipment, bakery and food ingredients to housekeeping products, fresh juices and snacks to F&B service products amongst others.

Leading food and hospitality companies such as Adani Wilmar, Dinewell, Daawat Basmati, Dolar engineering, Cornitos, Go Cheese, Royal Linen, Trinity, Sula wines, Rite Equipment,.

Morde Chocolates, Charnock Equipments, etc, will be participating this year.

TAFI Eastern Region to focus on increasing arrivals in the region Joy Roy Choudhury Kolkata THE EASTERN Region of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) is foreseeing an increase in both outbound and inbound tourism in this part of the country.

Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Anil Punjabi, the newly re-elected chairman of TAFI, Eastern Region, said, “In the coming years, we foresee an increase in both inbound and outbound tourism in this region, so we are looking at further improving our relations with the suppliers to negotiate and ensure our members always get the best possible rates from hotels, airlines, tour packages etc.

We want to work closely with the stakeholders to promote inbound as well as outbound tourism in this part of the country.”

Bilolaksha Das has been reelected as secretary and Pawan Kumar Khemka as honorary treasurer of the Eastern Region chapter of TAFI. Punjabi stated, “Now travel and tourism business operates in a completely different environment. Technology has changed the entire dynamics of the trade. Travel professionals are no longer mere ticketing agents but are required to offer value-added services to the customers, so, we have to involve all the stakeholders like the airlines, allied members, hotel owners, the government and others to meet the varied demands of the new age traveller.”

Bilolaksha Das

Anil Punjabi

TAFI’s objective is to increase foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) as well as domestic tourists in this part of the country. The association also plans to invite tourism boards of different countries to showcase their destinations in the form of road shows and keep TAFI’s members updated with the latest product offerings and deals. The state tourism boards too will be invited to showcase the tourism

destinations and products of their respective states.

The Eastern states of the country need further support from the government and other stakeholders to increase both outbound and inbound tourism.

TAFI’s efforts will be to organise tourism exhibitions to promote and create awareness about new destinations and provide special offers to prospective clients.

“Efforts will be made to conduct familiarisation tours for the members so that they can experience a destination first hand and promote them better. TAFI Eastern Region also plans to hold a ‘Travel Quiz’ for the travel fraternity that will act as information as well as a learning session. Besides, we would work closely to keep our members updated with the latest information of the different verticals of the travel industry. We hope that these measures will help the industry to grow and will be beneficial for all our members,” he added.

The association also plans to invite tourism boards of different countries to showcase their destinations

IN THE NEWS

'flydubai offers connectivity to popular and underserved destinations' Sudhir Sreedharan, senior vice president commercial (GCC, Subcontinent, Africa), flydubai speaks on how the airline is committed to offering Indian passengers convenient, reliable and affordable travel to Dubai and beyond. By Sudipta Dev In the over-crowded India Dubai sector, how do you think flydubai has created a distinct brand identity among Indian travellers? flydubai’s offering of connectivity, flexibility and convenience is what sets us apart from other carriers. flydubai operates 30 weekly flights to Dubai from eight destinations in India namely Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram. Travellers can take advantage of our extensive network of more than 85 destinations across 43 countries. We enable travellers to explore new destinations as our network includes 59 new routes that did not previously have direct air links to Dubai or were not served by a UAE national carrier from Dubai. In terms of flexibility, flydubai’s unique product offerings allows travellers to choose if they wish to travel no frills or avail of value added of-

ferings like additional baggage, meals, inflight entertainment which are the characteristics of a full service carrier.

In the next two years which are the other Tier II and Tier III cities in India you are looking at connecting with Dubai?

India is a significant market for flydubai and we are keen on expanding our footprint further and tapping the unexplored potential of the aviation sector. We are committed to offering passengers from India with convenient, reliable and affordable travel to Dubai and further afield on the flydubai network. Having said that, we work within the bilateral agreement discussed at a government level.

In terms of forward connectivity what are the advantages for Indian travellers? flydubai offers Indian travellers connectivity to popular

destinations as well as underserved or previously unconnected markets. For instance, we now connect India to Tblisi in Georgia, which wasn't accessible directly earlier. We also have one of the most comprehensive and well served networks in the GCC. Out of the 18 points that we operate to in GCC, 13 are in Saudi Arabia.

We also have high frequencies to Kuwait and Doha with 12 and nine weekly flights respectively.

For onward connections, travellers can transfer in Dubai to another flydubai flight without collecting their baggage in Dubai and without a UAE visa using the flydubai connect service. Business Class passengers can relax and rejuvenate at the flydubai Business Lounge located at Terminal 2 of the Dubai International Airport.

Your focus on service excellence We are committed to enhance our product offerings, which

Sudhir Sreedharan

is why we are constantly listening to our customers to gain valuable feedback from them. The introduction of our various offerings such as the Business Class, a refreshed website interface, WiFi and live television streaming onboard are a few examples of what we have done to ensure that our travellers have a convenient and comfortable personal experience.

What is your promotion strategy for this market ?

India is an important market for flydubai and we are continuously exploring avenues to offer our customers the best value in what we offer.

Travellers get an opportunity to connect to and explore over 85 destinations across 43 countries on our network from the eight destinations in India that we operate from.

Our connectivity to destinations that were previously underserved or unconnected from Dubai allows travellers to conveniently travel to these points. Our continuous innovations on board through the introduction of the Business Class, flexible travel options and an enhanced entertainment system enables us to offer a complete package that is of convenience to the traveller, affordable and succeeds in exceeding expectations.

Ethiopian wins African Airline of the Year award ETW Staff Mumbai ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES has announced that it has won the African Aviation ‘African Airline of the Year’ award for 2016 during the 25th Anniversary African Aviation Air Finance Africa Conference & Exhibition and African Aviation Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The award was presented to

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Ethiopian in recognition of its financial performance, fleet modernisation, route network expansion, in-flight service, overall customer care and its contribution to aviation development in Africa.

Commenting on the award, Mesfin Tassew, chief operating officer, Ethiopian Airlines, said, “We are pleased to win the award, which is a testimony of Ethiopian’s 70 years of commitment to bring Africa together

Ethiopian Airlines is a source of great pride to Africa

and closer to the rest of the world. It is also a recognition of the leadership of Ethiopian management and the hard work of Ethiopian employees who work hard to keep our airline shining in the skies. On behalf of the Ethiopian executive management and myself, I would like to thank African Aviation for the recognition.”

On presenting the award, Nick Fadugba, CEO, African Aviation, remarked, “Ethiopian

Airlines continues to set the pace through its tangible achievements and is a source of great pride to Africa. In addition, ET has also excelled in the provision of technical services to African and non-African airlines and has made enormous contribution to the development of aviation human resources for the African continent, particularly in the fields of aircraft maintenance, pilot and cabin crew training.”

IN THE NEWS

Philippines aims for 25% growth in Indian arrivals in 2016

Sudipta Dev Mumbai AMONG THE FASTEST GROWING MARKETS for the Philippines, there has been a consistently high double digit growth in Indian arrivals in the last few years, and the trend is expected to grow stronger in the near future. “The Philippines has welcomed 74,824 Indian visitor arrivals in 2015, in comparison to 61,152 visitors in the year 2014, exceeding the year’s original target of 20 per cent growth and representing a 22.36 per cent increase over the previous year,” said SanJeet, tourism attaché, Philippines Tourism Marketing Office India, adding that the target for 2016 is 25 per cent growth in number of Indians travelling to the Philippines

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by focusing on a yield driven strategy. One of the important factors is Department of Tourism (DOT) Philippines' focused efforts under the ongoing Visit the Philippines Again (VPA) 2016 campaign.

In India the Philippines is being promoted as a luxury, wedding and MICE destination. “The latest reports show that the leisure section has shown growth in comparison to MICE. However, the Philippines hold a tremendous potential for MICE activities,” stated SanJeet, pointing out that a lot of targeted effort is being made to highlight the Philippines as a preferred MICE destination.

Beyond Manila, the major attraction for Indian tourists has been the islands of Boracay, Palawan and Cebu. “However, Indian travellers are showing

keen interest in exploring other destinations like Davao, Bohol, Zamboanga, Ilolo and Siargao,” remarked SanJeet. He pointed out that from pristine beaches and astounding natural wonders to interesting historic sites and once-in-a-lifetime experiences, the Philippines pack many exciting things to match the expectations of new age Indian travellers. “The visitors are now keen on attending traditional festivals, shopping and food festivals and the vibrant nightlife.

The Philippines has variety of offerings to match the taste of every visitor,” he added.

There is visa-free entry for Indian travellers having valid and current AJACSS UK visas (US, Japan, Australia, Canada, Schengen, Singapore and UK), for 14 days and can enter from all international airports/seaports.

China's Chongqing targets Mumbai for tourism,trade Mohit Rathod Mumbai CHONGQING Tourism Administration, tourism authority of one of the four municipality cities of China – Chongqing, recently conducted a tourism promotional event in Mumbai, for the travel trade community. The event was aimed at informing travel agents and tour operators about the destination and various iteranaries available, through a presentation. As part of attracting arrivals from Mumbai, Chongqing Tourism Administration is planning to setup a representative office in Mumbai, for which the tourism authority is in talks with Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC). The tourism authority is currently targeting the Mumbai market, however, it plans to enter other Indian cities.

Liu Qi, director, Chongqing Tourism Bureau, revealed that they

are looking for an Indian travel company to serve as Chonging's India representative. He said, "Indian tourists form the largest share of arrivals in Chongqing from South East Asia. More tourists from Chongqing are also travelling to India. We want to promote the bilateral tourism co-operation between India and Chongqing."

"Mumbai is a high potential market for us.

There is also a huge scope for trade between Mumbai and Chongqing. In order to boost trade, we will also hold a meeting with Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC)," he added.

Chongqing Tourism Administration's marketing approach is based on various incentives and offers. Qi informed that they are targeting upper middle class families and business traveller segment. Chongwing currently does not have direct air connectivity with Mumbai.

IN THE NEWS

Bahrain slashes visa fee to boost Indian arrivals Bollywood Parks Dubai to open doors in October 2016 Promises to be a tourism game changer for the region Reema Lokesh Dubai Reema Lokesh Bahrain BAHRAIN is all set to attract the Indian traveller into the country and the obvious sign for the same is the reduction in visa fee from 25 Bahrain Dinar (BD) to five BD, which was announced three days ago. The tourism department, which is part of the Economic Development Board (EDB), has prepared a focused plan to offer the Indian clientele a comprehensive tourism product offer-

ing, both for the FIT as well as the MICE market.

Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Jerad Bachar, executive director, tourism and leisure, Bahrain EDB, stated, "Tourism is a big part of the economic growth of the region.

It is the fastest growing sector and the EDB is responsible for product development and the tourism office is responsible for demand development. The reduction of visa fee clearly states our commitment toward the Indian market."

The aviation sector is also upgrading its current airport, getting it ready for future business and there are talks to increase air connectivity between India and Bahrain

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Bahrain aims to offer the India market a niche tourism experience, providing a product portfolio of art, culture, shopping, history and nightlife.

The Bahrain International Circuit proves to be a major attraction for Formula 1 sports enthusiasts. The aviation sector is also upgrading its current airport, getting it ready for future business and there are talks to increase air connectivity between India and Bahrain.

Bahrain also plays host to a 200-year-old Krishna temple, churches and other religious places of worship. From pearl diving experiences to its forts and museum, the region offers a new bouquet of experiential tourism. With a progressive and investment-friendly environment, the country is confident to bring in the right tourism clientele to experience a unique product in the GCC region.

TO ADD another feature to its tourism portfolio, the region of Dubai will witness a state-of-the-art Bollywood theme park, which will be part of its mega project - Dubai Parks and Resorts. Bollywood Parks, a theme park spread across 1.7 million sq ft, is scheduled to open in October 2016. Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Neelabja Chowdhury, director – marketing, Bollywood Parks, Dubai, stated, “This park is the first-of-its-kind theme park showcasing the real Bollywood experience. This theme park and the other attractions within the Dubai Parks and Resorts, will prove to be a game changer for the entire region. Dubai is well

connected to most regions on the globe and with robust flight connections. It’s truly a project that attracts more visitors to the region.”

The Bollywood theme park is scheduled to create Bollywood themed attractions and rides spread across five zones, namely, Bollywood Boulevard, Mumbai Chowk, Rustic Ravine, Royal Plaza and Bollywood film studios featuring hall of heroes. The place will also have a 850-seat Rajmahal theatre that will house a separately ticketed Broadway style, Bollywood theme musical. During the day, the park is scheduled to have 30 live shows, across six stages, Rock On, Crossroads, Mumbai Express, Rangmanch, Stars on Steps and Cinema Circle.

IN THE NEWS

Self-drive cars segment gaining pace in India Mohit Rathod Mumbai SELF DRIVE car service is slowly gaining popularity among those who wish to enjoy the convenience of their own cars, without owning one. Numerous such service providers have sprouted recently and have attracted positive response. One such service provider is Revv, which provides self drive car rentals for hourly, daily, weekly and monthly requirements. The company drops and picks up cars from customer’s doorstep.

Currently, Revv’s fleet consists of 300 cars across three cities – Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Its pricing model includes costs such as taxes, insurance etc, except fuel, which is paid by the customer.

Outstation travel forms the largest segment for Revv, which includes leisure and work-related trips. Intercity travel is also considered an important market, due to paucity of intercity mobility options.

Over a period of time, the com-

pany has seen a larger share in work-related self-drive segment, which is expected reach 60-70 per cent share in the long term.

Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Karan Jain, cofounder and COO, Revv, stated that this concept can become a US$ 3-5 billion revenue market by 2020. He said, “Taking a leaf from China’s market, self-drive

With the entire ecosystem (self-drive rentals, taxi hailing apps and ride-sharing apps) coming together against private car ownership, the growth can be much sharper than predicted

concept was non-existent there until 2007, and just eight years from then, the market is already more than US$ 4 billion there. India’s car rental market is bigger than China’s. The sharp growth in domestic travel, both work and leisure, will be a big driver for this.

Also, with the entire ecosystem (self-drive rentals, taxi hailing apps and ride-sharing apps) coming together against private car ownership, the growth can be much sharper than what we are predicting.”

“India has the highest penetration of people who know how to drive, but the lowest penetration of car ownership.

This essentially creates an opportunity for delinking car usage from car ownership, by allowing non-owners to access and use cars,” he added.

Commenting on market response, Jain, said, “We have seen rapid uptake by the customers despite minimal spend on marketing. Revv is already seeing repeat usage and positive customer feedback on its innovations.”

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IN THE NEWS

IHCL to reduce financial exposure; eyes domestic & GCC markets Mohit Rathod Mumbai THE INDIAN Hotels Company (IHCL) revealed the company's plan reduce its financial exposure across properties by engaging in more management and operations contracts instead of ownership.

Moving in that direction, the board of directors has accorded its approval to allow United Overseas Holding (UOH), a wholly owned subsidiary of IHCL, to pursue divestment of Taj Boston through sale/disposal of the LLC interests in IHMS Boston LLC, at a consideration not lower than US$ 125 million.

However, IHCL will retain brand presence on the property through management agreement. The company intends to complete this divestment in the current financial year.

Rakesh Sarna, managing director and CEO, IHCL, said,

Rakesh Sarna

"We will be divesting certain assets; and using proceeds from those divestments, we will not only reduce our financial exposure, but also fuel growth. Our growth agenda remains intact. Our top market to develop is India. We feel

Apart from the GCC countries, IHCL is also looking at Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Combodia, but will be taking cautious steps in investments

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that Mumbai, Delhi, Goa, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderebad are key markets for quality earnings. Alongside, we are also considering the Kerala circuit and the North East region."

"Outside India, our area of focus remains the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations. We have been successful in securing deals in Dubai.

We will be introducing more hotels in Dubai in the next 3.5 years," he added.

Apart from the GCC countries, IHCL is also looking at Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Combodia, but will be taking cautious steps in investments. "Markets like Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul require intensive investments, and our interntional expansion plan doesn't include any financial exposure and undue risks. We will grow the company, but we will not expose it to risks," informed Sarna.

Anil Goel, executive director – finance, IHCL, commented, "Our desire is not to increase debt, whilst we continue to grow our business.

We want to bring our balance sheet back to the level we are comfortable with."

During 2016-17, the company will open its fifth lodge under Taj Safari, in Chitwan, Nepal; a Taj Exotica in Andaman; a Vivanta by Taj hotel in Amritsar; two hotels under Gateway brand and four under Ginger brand.

Airbnb eyes India as the next big market Saloni Bhatia New Delhi THE GROWTH percentage in Indian Airbnb listings has tripled in the last year with more than 18,000 houses listed across 100 cities. Last month the Indian tourism ministry indicated that they would be reviewing the current laws and regulations regarding home sharing to make it easier for people to have the chance to experience Indian hospitality. Welcoming this change, AirBnB cofounder and CTO, Nathan

year. Additionally, the Indian economy is growing very fast and so is travel, and as expected, India's travel market is set to cross the US$ 40 million mark by 2020. So India is a very big and exciting opportunity and now is the time, so we have made this a top priority. India is a popular destination for Airbnb travellers from the US, the UK and Australia.” He added, “The government's move is a great validation that home sharing has something to offer and it is growing. There are some great

Nearly five lakh Indian guests have travelled on Airbnb, which has over two million listings across the globe Blecharczyk visited India, declaring it as the next big market for the company.

Around 80 million people have already travelled through the portal and there are over 34,000 listings registered in over 190 countries. Nearly five lakh Indian guests have travelled on Airbnb, which has over two million listings across the globe.

Speaking about the India market, Blecharczyk said, “We are seeing a lot of momentum in the India market. Today we have around 18,000 properties and that number has increased by 115 per cent last

properties at offer here in India that include tree houses, palace hotels, suburban penthouses and beach side villas.”Amanpreet Bajaj, country manager, Airbnb, India also talked about the country's potential, he stated, “India has one of the most charismatic cultures and is very diverse. And this has made it more accessible to the people, and who better to do it than the common people of India, so that tourists can have authentic experiences. We have a great opportunity at hand to share a new way to travel in India.”

IN THE NEWS

‘Security is of paramount importance to us’ VFS Global, which is already working with certain state governments, plans to work with more in the area of government to citizens (G2C) services in India, which will be enabled by technology platforms. The company has operations in 124 countries, nine data centres with over 2100 offices. Dhiren Savla, group SVP and CIO, VFS Global Services Group on the recent business and IT initiatives at VFS Global. By Abhishek Raval Technology centric recent global trends in the space of visa processing VFS Global is the largest partner for various governments in the visa processing space. Globally, there are several developments happening in the visa processing space. Introduction of Electronic Visas (e-Visa) is gaining momentum, wherein visas can be applied for by using mobile and other alternate channels. Another trend is around security. The governments now want to add biometric information as an additional layer of authentication for the travellers visiting their countries. The governments are becoming more and more sensitive about the profile of people visiting them.

What kind of businesses is VFS Global entering into, in India?

With an objective to provide easy access of government services to the citizens, recently, we have got into citizen

services wherein we become the interface between the citizens and the government. Partners like us have a much larger reach and options of offering alternate channels like mobile, website and other mechanisms of consuming various services.

This supports governments to reach out to programmes that adopt a PPP model.

Please elaborate on the recent announcement by VFS Global on using portable biometric devices for issuing visa to the citizens.

The ‘On Demand Mobile Visa’ service brings the visa application procedure to the citizen’s doorstep. It enables applicants to complete the entire visa application procedure, including biometric data enrolment, from their homes, offices or any location of their choice. The service is available at any location throughout India, and is especially useful for larger travel groups like corporate employees, college students or even

film production crews. Right now we have introduced this service for visa applicants to the UK and some Schengen client governments subject to a risk assessment of the proposed location, and on any day of choice, including weekends.

We have also developed the latest generation of fully automatic visa kiosks as part of a pilot project in Mumbai.

These kiosks allow customers to submit their applications, biometric data, photos and make payments on their own at the visa kiosk. These kiosks are VFS Global’s response to the increasing demand for automated ‘self-service’ application facilities. Data during capture, transfer and storage is always encrypted and is not readable or accessible by any third party tools. This gives required sense of security to the applicant VFS Global is a kind of a Government arm, and thus security is of paramount

BOOK PAY

importance. Any new initiatives in this space lately Security is of paramount importance to us. We are almost in the security business as well. The internal and external threats are increasing by the day. Due to the sensitivities of our business and partnerships with different client governments, we are naturally often susceptible to attacks from hackers. So, we have 24/7 security monitoring and the service function

to ensure security against internal threats and zero loss of data. We have put variety of security tools for data – be it at rest, in transit and when data is created. A lot of preventive work is also done with security vendors and security advisory companies to validate what we do. We follow a ‘Four-Eye’ principle, there is a maker and checker always.

We also run continuous security awareness programmes in the company.

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IN THE NEWS

Making travel agents smarter through Travelport Smartpoint ETW Staff Mumbai SMARTER' innovation has replaced agency desktops and made the entire process of travel offerings more easier – and easier does not mean lesser. Travelport is a technology provider that has been facilitating travel agencies from across the world.

They have now introduced Smartpoint, a futuristic interface designed to deliver exceptional travel selling experiences to travel consultants across geographies. This is a one stop shop platform, that seamlessly down plays the inconvenience of manual programming, minimises mistakes, manages booking queues, offers best travel options, and brings to you real-time access to booking content and available ancillaries.

Smartpoint offers unmatched updated content which includes fares, latest offers, images of the cabins and seats in a single window, product descriptions, and ancillaries provided within the fare. This enables the travel agent, to be more result oriented and target achieving.

There is also an option of comparing various features and selecting the best suited results for the clients.

As a modern day travel specialist, you need to recommend a complete itinerary plan with the best offers in hand as per your clients’ requirements. For this, Smartpoint offers a unique assortment of car and hotel inventories (through Travelport Rooms). As the fourth largest hotel aggregator in the world,

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Travelport is offering 650,000 unique hotel properties with over 1.5 million offers and 35,000 car rental locations across the globe.

Be it an independent boutique hotel or pocket friendly hostels, Travelport offers all kinds of accommodations with apt location details and reviews.

It also equips you with a map that exactly defines the area where is your customer’s hotel, how far it is from the airport and the drivable spots from there.

Also, due to the pre-bookings made by you, traveller will not have to worry about booking cabs.

Think about your customer’s relief when he is assured that a rental car is waiting for him at his destination. Right after the flight, he can use it on his own volition without having to worry about hiring cabs, standing in queues for the same, facing linguistic challenges or currency issues.

In addition, Travelport Smartpoint is embellished with a plethora of features that ease everyday job of a travel consult-

Smartpoint has been designed specifically to ease modern day travel businesses workflow

ant. With this in your system you can multitask on a single screen, make your own screen adjustments, operate in a language of your choice, rename windows, get help from the user guide, create quick command keys, access the interactive window, set up the GDS language and get it translated using the translator, replay entries, check out hotel availability with dates, keep hard copy or soft copy (via word format) for documenting your work, access Smartpanel, filter fare shopping results, receive automatic updates, use the graphical screens for hotel and car booking, access Travelport Rooms and More, get automatic agency reminders on hotel offers, and easily view PNR history.

Travelport Smartpoint has been designed specifically to ease modern day travel businesses workflow. Its multiple workability features, automatic updates, single window viewing and other smart features are attributed with the specific purpose of helping modern businesses to grow and evolve with time. Minimising time, optimising effort, easing workflow and reducing manual labor are the key benefits of using Smartpoint.

Its creation also keeps in mind the wide spectrum of users it can have. It can be used by any GDS user, which completely does away with the hassle of getting trained on multiple GDSs. With lesser focus on GDS language, it is so easy to use this interface and grow your business.

Travel and tourism can be peace drivers: WTTC report ETW Staff Mumbai NEW RESEARCH by World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) shows that the travel and tourism sector can be a driver of peace. With terror and security scares against tourists filling many headlines in the past few months, WTTC has launched a new research report quantifying the links between tourism and peace.

While travel and tourism has often been recognised for its ability to drive peace, security, and understanding, to date, there has been little empirical evidence to support this link.

The report, Tourism as a Driver for Peace, conducted with the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP), shows the significance of an open and sustainable tourism sector f or the levels of peace in a country.

Countries with more open and sustainable tourism sectors have higher levels of peace and lower levels of conflict and violence.

Over the last decade, the world has become increasingly unequal in terms of its levels of peacefulness, with the most peaceful countries enjoying increasing levels of peace and prosperity, while the least peaceful countries are facing greater levels of violence and conflict. The research shows that the more sustainable and open a country’s tourism sector, the less peace levels have declined. Even in conflict affected countries, all of which saw their levels of peace drop

in the period between 2008 and 2015, those that had more open and sustainable tourism saw a significantly lower drop in peace than countries with less sustainable tourism sectors.

David Scowsill, president and CEO, WTTC, said, “Travel and tourism sector’s economic impact is now well established and widely recognised, and governments around the world are increasingly looking to the sector to provide livelihoods and jobs, and drive economic development. However, the benefits of tourism as a force for good, its ability to bring peace, security, and understanding have been harder to quantify. I am delighted that this research now shows that travel and tourism does have a strong link to creating peaceful societies. In a world of increasing risk and security concerns, this research is compelling evidence of why governments should continue to focus on tourism development for the good of their people, and make policy decisions that balance the safety of their citizens with the continued facilitation of travel for business and leisure.”

Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman, IEP, added, “The data shows how tourism and peace can support each other and increase societal resilience, prosperity, and peace in the long term.

This also shows how the tourism sector is one of the key areas in which the private sector can play a positive and tangible role in contributing to global peace.”

IN THE NEWS

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED The only Indian to be awarded the Ness award by Royal Geographical Society, UK for mountaineering and polar expeditions and encouragement for youth exploration, Mandip Singh Soin, founder and managing director, Ibex Expeditions, is all set to lead an expedition to Antartica in February, 2017. His love for the outdoors has taken him trekking, skiing and exploring around 45 countries and six continents. Speaking to Express TravelWorld, he shares about his latest adventures

By Saloni Bhatia

A MOUNTAINEER, explorer and motivational speaker, Soin is also an adventure specialist.

The award winning travel company, Ibex Expeditions is led by him and his wife, Anita Soin.

Their passion towards the environment has directed them to work with various collaborations in order to raise awareness about eco-tourism. Their well planned trips are customised in a way that leaves the traveller in awe of the country.

Sharing about the company, Soin said, “The concept of Ibex was already born in 1979 and for the first 10-15 years, we focused on mountain expeditions, treks, exploring new areas and then we got into jeep

safaris and wildlife. By later in the 90s, when Anita joined me, we got into customised trips and started organising culinary journeys, artist tours and photography trips. Along the lines we thought the idea is not to go big in numbers, but to restrict ourselves to stay customised and give people an in depth experience that inspires them.

We always like to pepper in some ideas for depending on what the client's profile is.”

For someone who followed the adventure trail at the age of 14, Soin has come a long way in changing the travel segment in our country. Talking about his efforts to promote eco-tourism, he shared, “From the begin-

Everything can be balanced if done responsibly, because in case you offer a cheap trip, it simply ruins the experience of the traveller ning we have been very conscious about the environment.

It was the right thing to do and we helped government make the policy. I think our travel industry doesn't need be a cheap cookie cutter industry, where you have to keep very high profits. Everything can be balanced if done responsibly, be-

cause in case you offer a cheap trip, it simply ruins the experience of the traveller. It is the duty of the organisations who are offering these trips to be aware and inform others as well.” Soin's last expedition was to Peru, covering the iconic Machu Picchu and Amazon forest. He expressed, “What we

did again with Peru was a combination of going to the iconic Machu Picchu, but also doing a trek and through the Amazon.

Where most people go on the Northern part of the forest, we picked the Southern part. We also spent two nights at a research centre as part of the trip. So we designed it in a way that it would give us the Taj Mahal of Peru along with a great experience. We rafted down the river and also walked with the local community and stayed in one of their homes as well.”

He added, “One of my best expeditions was to the Arctic.

It was a special expedition and we were measuring the hole in the ozone layer at that time at 80 degrees North Arctic area. We were based there for a month and we could see the sun going from one point to the other as there was 24 hours of daylight. Now I am really looking forward to the Antarctica expedition under the 2041 campaign. That is the year when the Antarctica treaty would come to an end and will be negotiated. The current treaty says that no country can own any part of Antarctica, so there is no mining apart from the research activities. And that is the way we would like it to be. The idea is to take the travellers who are conscious about the environment and become more aware this journey”

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IN THE NEWS

Fxkart eyes travel and tourism to drive growth Joy Roy Choudhury Kolkata FXKART.COM, an online aggregator of RBI-licensed money changers, has tied up with several forex dealers, tour operators, travel agents and overseas educational consultants, as a part of its ongoing initiative to provide free services pan-India to its customers for carrying out forex transactions. “We are in talks with many others to expand our network in the country,” informed Dhruba Khatua, zonal business head, North and East, Fxkart.com, while speaking to Express TravelWorld.

Fxkart.com FZ LLC is a UAE based free zone company having its research and development, and marketing base at its India headquarter in Bengaluru.

At present, the company has tied up with several tour operators such as Vensimal Travel, Vayu Seva Tours & Travels, Just Holidays, Raj Tours & Travel, Swann Travels and others.

The Fin-Tech start-up, which started its operations in India in January, 2015 has 200 dealers listed currently, catering to over 1,000 locations in the country. “On an average, 1,500 to 2,000 transactions are

recorded from the web platform and the mobile app each month with an average transaction size of US$ 1,000. We are witnessing a significant Y-O-Y growth of around 30 per cent,” added Khatua.

Khatua suggested that the

company is all set to raise US $ 5 million in Series-A Funding by the end of this quarter. The company is in advanced stage of negotiations with several private equity players. The funds will be used for product development, increasing the dealer net-

Fxkart.com FZ LLC is a UAE based free zone company having its research and development, and marketing base in India

work and strengthening marketing effort. The company also has plans to increase the headcount at its Bengaluru facility.

The company had earlier received US $ 2 million in seed funding from its investor Dr Mushtaq Shah and strategic advisor Dr Faraz Naqvi in March last year.

Khatua feels that in the coming days, travel and tourism sector is likely to propel its growth as most of the transactions are by Indians travelling abroad on leisure, business or higher studies. He feels that outbound travel is likely to grow even further in the coming days.

Cruise Club to represent Oceania, Regent Seven Seas Cruises in India ETW Staff Mumbai NORWEGIAN CRUISE Line Holdings (NCLH) has appointed India’s Cruise Club (Cruiseclub Vacations) as preferred sales agent (PSA), for its upper-premium and luxury brands, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, catering to the growing India market.

“India is a significant growth market for the cruise industry and we are delighted to partner with an agent offering extensive insight into the local market.

Cruise Club’s expertise is ideal for the Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands

20 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD June 2016

and we are looking forward to collaborating to create memorable voyages for discerning Indian travellers, beginning with the 2016-17 season,” commented Steve Odell, senior vice presi-

dent and managing director – Asia Pacific, NCLH. Tarique Hussain, cofounder, Cruise Club, said, “We’re excited to become the preferred partner in India for

both Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. With a fleet of intimate, contemporary ships, a reputation for delivering the finest cuisine at sea and a series of itineraries calling at

unique ports, Oceania Cruises sets the benchmark in upperpremium cruising, and is an excellent choice for those seeking an upscale cruising experience.”

“Similarly, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, an inclusive luxury cruising experience, featuring fine wines, spirits and shore excursions at every port, as well as all-suite accommodation, a personalised service, is matched to selective clientele,” he added.

Hussain also noted that with expert Indian chefs aboard all Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises ships, the specific culinary preferences and dietary requirements of Indian guests will be catered to.

IN THE NEWS

New Australian 3-yr multiple entry visa trial to benefit Indian travellers ETW Staff Mumbai

Indian visitor arrivals to UK sets record ETW Staff Mumbai THE LATEST International Passenger Survey figures show visits from India to the UK in 2015 are up eight per cent, from 390,000 to 422,000, setting a new record. Indian visitors spent £ 433 million in Britain last year along with 9.2 million nights.

These figures indicate that India retains its position as Britain’s No 1 BRIC market in terms of visitor volume and among the 20 top source markets for Britain globally.

Growing outbound travel trends fuelled by increased flight connectivity into regional Britain has helped India cement its position with growing visitor numbers over 2014.

“India is the top BRIC market for Britain in terms of volume and the year-on-year robust visit figures ensure our way to achieve our 2020 target of 500,000 visits. Our focused strategy for the India market featuring the Bollywood Britain campaign, combined with our trade engagement, targeted consumer engagements and tactical offers with tourism partners will be crucial for us to deliver our tourism targets in 20162017,” said Sumathi Ramanathan, director – Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, VisitBritain.

In 2015, VisitBritain India launched ‘Bollywood Britain – Shaandaar’ digital campaign, featuring Northern England, in association with Indian cinema productions and Turkish

Airlines, carrying forward their Bollywood Britain showcase in India and engaging Indian travellers through their favourite films and celebrities.

Such campaigns throughout the year, coupled with tactical fare follow up campaign, aims to showcase Britain’s countryside and culture, increase regional dispersion into Britain from India, resulting in record visitor figures yearon-year.

Overall, globally inbound visits to the UK were up five per cent over 2014 at 36.1 million, which is a new record. Business visits have grown by seven per cent over 2014 to 8.9 million. Whereas, spending by business visitors reached £ 5.4 billion, a record and an increase of seven per cent.

AUSTRALIA’S High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu, has welcomed the announcement of the trial of a three-year multiple-entry visitor visa for India to be implemented by July 2016. The trial, which is targeted at frequent short-term travellers to Australia, will allow entry into Australia multiple times on the same visa with each stay valid for up to three months.

India is among three other countries – Thailand, Vietnam and Chile – where the trial will be implemented.

“Australia welcomes

the tremendous interest Indians have in visiting Australia for tourism and business. With India among Australia’s nine key tourism markets, the trial will naturally drive our tourism growth from this part of the world. The trial will make it easier for Indian visitors to make repeat visits. Travellers will not need to re-apply for visa within the three-year period,” said Sidhu.

The trial applies to eligible applicants within the tourist and business visitor visa streams. The announcement was made as part of the Australian Government’s 2016-17 Budget to boost Australia’s future tourism growth.

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IN THE NEWS

India’s Ramco Systems to power MRO provider, Patria Helicopters ETW Staff Mumbai AVIATION SOFTWARE provider Ramco Systems has secured an order from Patria Helicopters AB (PHAB), the authorised service centre in the Nordic region for mixed fleet of AgustaWestland, Bell and Airbus Helicopters to implement Ramco Aviation on cloud.

PHAB will be implementing Ramco’s complete suite which includes maintenance, materials management, MRO sales, engineering and programmes, compliance and quality, coupled with finance and accounting. With Mobile enabled features, Ramco Aviation suite will help the company track and

monitor activities and inventory across its MRO and engineering services. The suite is expected to reduce costs, improve service and minimise revenue leakage for PHAB. “We were using multiple disparate IT systems which of-

ten yielded inaccurate data and required extensive manual labour to rectify. This was potentially leading to revenue leakage as there was lack of visibility of parts, and components in stores vs sales and invoicing.

With a mobile-ready com-

AudioCompass joins Amadeus Next ETW Staff Mumbai AUDIOCOMPASS recently received the ‘Amadeus Next’ award and gained entry into Amadeus’ Asia Pacific travel tech startup community.

Amadeus Next leverages the technology, expertise, network and reach of Amadeus, to support travel technologyfocused startups in Asia Pacific. The community gives travel startups advice and technology, connects them with customers, other entrepreneurs, and provides access to funding.

AudioCompass is a mobile app that turns smartphones

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into personal tour guides.

The company brings local experts onto their platform with whom they work to curate digital, “do-it-yourself” experiences at over 1,500 tourist attractions across India, Bhutan, Oman, and Singapore. AudioCompass is available for consumers to download, as well as bundled into holiday packages sold by large travel agencies, such as MakeMyTrip and Cox & Kings.

In a statement, Gautam Shewakramani, founder and CEO, AudioCompass, said, “Our admission into Amadeus Next just after winning the people’s choice award is vali-

dation of our mission to bring local experiences to every traveller, regardless of budget.”

Simon Akeroyd, vice president, corporate strategy, Amadeus Asia Pacific, commented, “It’s great to see a startup truly embracing mobile as an extension of the traveller, and with the smartphone penetration in Asia Pacific, the opportunity is huge.

We are impressed with AudioCompass’ innovative approach to solving a pain point for millions of travelers globally, and look forward to working with the team to help them grow their business.”

pletely integrated system from Ramco, we will be better equipped to address these challenges and benefit from a scalable, integrated and web-architected cloud-based system. A sound technology backbone will ultimately help us improve cus-

tomer satisfaction with better visibility and quicker turnaround time,” stated Jouni Majuri, managing director, PHAB. Virender Aggarwal, CEO, Ramco Systems, said, “Having built a strong track record in the global helicopter industry, we are delighted to have been chosen by PHAB. This partnership has expanded our reach in Europe’s MRO network, and underscores our position as the preferred nextgen vendor of choice in aviation MRO. Having recently set up a dedicated MRO Innovation Lab, we’re confident that Ramco’s advanced aviation offerings are all set to transform the aerospace industry.”

WNS Holdings partners with OTA Etraveli ETW Staff Mumbai WNS HOLDINGS, one of the leading providers of global business process management (BPM) services, has announced its partnership with Etraveli, an OTA in the Nordic region. Under the terms of the agreement, WNS will manage the client’s travel operations, drive improved efficiency, enhance the end-client experience, and help accelerate their digital initiatives.“We are delighted to partner with Etrav-

eli. WNS is confident that we can help the client manage its rapid growth and improve its competitive positioning by delivering industry-leading solutions which leverage our domain and technology expertise,” said Keshav R Murugesh, group CEO, WNS. Mathias Hedlund, CEO, Etraveli, added, “For a fast growing international business such as Etraveli, it is imperative to work with an adaptive partner. I am confident WNS will do their outmost to meet our increasing requirements.”

IN THE NEWS

Yatra.com launches cab marketplace; integrates with cab vendors ETW Staff Mumbai

Cabinet gives ex-post facto approval to India-Maldives MoU on tourism ETW Staff Mumbai THE UNION Cabinet chaired

by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has granted ex-post facto approval to the MoU signed between the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and the Ministry of Tourism, Government of Maldives for strengthening co-operation in the field of tourism.

The MoU is considered in-

strumental in increasing arrival from Maldives. In recent years, Maldives has emerged as an important tourism generating market for India.

The main objectives of the MoU are: to expand bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector, to exchange information and data related to tourism, to encourage co-operation between tourism stakeholders including hotels and tour operators, to establish exchange programme for

co-operation in human resources development, to invest in the tourism and hospitality sectors, to exchange visits of tour operators, media and opinion makers for promotion of twoway tourism, to exchange experiences in the areas of promotion, marketing, destination development and management, to participate in travel fairs and exhibitions, and to promote safe and sustainable tourism.

TRAVEL PORTAL Yatra.com has launched a cab marketplace with various cab aggregators that will provide cabs across 450 cities in India. This tieup with multiple cab service providers will allow Yatra customers to book their

options. At launch, we have aggregators offering both intra-city hourly cabs and inter-city taxi services. Going forward, we will be also tying up with intra-city point-to-point aggregators as well as self drive and car pooling options.”

Yatra’s cab marketplace provides hourly intra-city and outstation

The company has built technology to simultaneously showcase the offerings of multiple cab aggregators, allowing the traveller, the freedom to choose from a variety of service and price options local and inter-city transport on the company’s Android mobile app itself.

Manish Amin, cofounder and CIO, Yatra.com, said, “The company has built technology to simultaneously showcase the offerings of multiple cab aggregators, allowing the traveller, the freedom to choose from a variety of service and price

rides where bookings can be made up to two hours in advance. While availing hourly cab rides, customers can pay directly at the end of their travel, and for outstation cab bookings, customers will have to make a 25 per cent advance payment. Travellers can choose one-way, round trip and multi-city trips for outstation cab bookings.

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cover story)

THE TECH EDGE

Technology is a key differentiator in the travel industry with tour operators, OTAs and offline agents understanding the need to adopt cutting edge solutions for competitive advantage.

BY SALONI BHATIA AND MOHIT RATHOD

24 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD June 2016

(

T

ECHNOLOGY has brought about metamorphic changes in the travel industry with online travel agents (OTAs) and an important segment of tour operators and agents focused on adopting the latest technology for enhancing operational efficiency and providing better customer service. It was in the

past when the app was the next big thing, now it is all about innovative products to further engage the traveller.

The sector is already flooded with apps that can book tickets, provide tracking details, give detailed travel lists and even audio guides as travellers explore new places.

Last five years have seen advancement in big data and predictive analytics, cloud technology and artificial intelligence.

Cutting edge technology is adding to the convenience of the traveller and also aiding an agent's operations. Big data and predictive analytics have already helped OTAs in reaching out to a wider audience by analysing consumer behaviour. The latest advancement in technology are chatbots or artificial intelligence that serve as a virtual guide, engaging an interactive conversation with the customer.

THE MAIN FOCUS

Artificial intelligence and predictive analytics Tripoto.com is a travel community where people share their travel itineraries. It was one of the first portals to launch artificial intelligence, Tripoto.ai to assist their travellers. Talking about the new programme, Michael Lyngdoh, co-founder, Tripoto.com says, “Tripoto.ai is simply a computer programme that answers questions by travellers automatically. It acts as

a virtual, chat based travel concierge that is available 24*7. You can ask for information about hotels, destinations, attractions, itineraries, how to reach, best time to visit, getaways, restaurants, culture, festivals, activities, weather, time,distance, etc.

The programme is self-learning and improves itself by learning from travellers that share their itineraries on Tripoto.� Travellers access information in a variety of ways

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June 2016

cover story) ment (CRM) called Infinity, which is tailor-made for our needs, deeply integrated with rest of the platform and simplifies the customer work flows so that customer service agents can focus on solving the the user's problem rather than struggling with a complex tool,” informs Verma.

“The AI programme is self learning and improves itself”

Back-end efficiency

Michal Lyngdoh Co-founder, Tripoto

“The statistical tool enables agents to see how their employees perform” Pratiroop Mehta Director-product, TravelTriangle.com

“An agent should be able to provide the information faster than a computer” Guldeep Singh Sahni Director, Weldon Tours

26 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD June 2016

and the path to decision is quiet complex. “We want to be available to help at multiple touch points in the travellers journey. Within a few weeks of the launch we have more than 10,000 user chats every day on the platform.

We are widening the scope of questions that tripoto.ai can answer - including flights and buses. We are introducing a package planner in the product and partnering with travel agents to transfer qualified holiday leads directly to them,” adds Lyngdoh.

Lyngdoh believes that virtual reality, panoramic content and augmented reality content are going to change how people get inspired, plan their trips and share their memories. “Personalised virtual travel assistants that understand your travel interests, budgets needs, etc, will be available on mobile or let's say your watch - so that you can just pick up your bags, start your holiday and leave the mundane tasks of research, planning and booking to the personalised AI system,” he mentions.

Now many travel agencies are working to integrate better mobile messaging to ease the travel booking process. There are also dis-

Virtual reality, panoramic content and augmented reality content are going to change how people get inspired, plan their trips and share their memories cussions of introducing new service that would provide concierge like assistance in the online travel booking space. An app called Lola has already been launched on Apple store that combines the augmented chat feature with artificial intelligence and a staff of travel agents to book for its travel users. Himanshu Verma, chief technology officer, Yatra.com, says, “Automation of travel related tasks was the first phase of technology enabling travel and now technology is moving towards providing intelligence to all the stakeholders in the ecosystem. We are experimenting with Natural Language Processing (NLP) based text search so that cus-

tomers can express their queries easily. We are also focusing heavily on mobile so that users can access all our services on the go as well as get mobile only services like instant flight check-in, last minute hotel bookings, location based hotel search, cab bookings, etc.” Yatra has recently introduced a feature to book outstation and hourly cabs on the mobile app and will be going deeper into the ground transportation area.

“We are also using all these technologies in some shape or form on the website behind the scene like public cloud for data processing and analytics. At the same time we have also rolled out a homegrown customer relation manage-

TravelTriangle, which is an online portal connecting travel agents and travellers all across the country, has a system in place to increase back-end efficiency and enable easy access to the agents. Pratiroop Mehta, director- product, TravelTriangle states, “We at TravelTriangle have built a SaaS based sales management tool solution that is 10x salesforce tuned to travel agent needs.

The tool enables agents to manage the requests that the portal receives from its customers. The CRM solution has also revolutionised the way agents work, bringing efficiency into their day to day sales and operations.”

The app is assisting the agents in different ways. “We have introduced chat on the agent dashboard that allows them to connect with travellers in real-time and solve their concerns. This has led the response rate from agents to increase by 100 per cent which has led to higher number of conversions. The TravelTriangle statistics tool also enables agents to see how their employees are performing on day-to-day basis.

Detailed statistics on whether the employees are following up enough with travellers, are they prompt in sending quotes, etc. This has enabled agents to improve their sales and operations,” informs Mehta.

Customer service In recent times to enhance customer experience, SOTC Travel has introduced Plan My Holiday, a customisation tool, chat, web notifications,

( pop-up banners on its website. “We will also be introducing tools like ‘Call Back’ on the website going forward.

Our endeavour as a business is to make our customer acquisition more efficient and we have made investments in a robust CRM solution which also integrates with our online/digital platform. This CRM application allows us to collate all customer data and understand behavioural insights,” says S D Nandakumar, business head – B2B and e-commerce, SOTC Travel.

According to Amit Taneja, chief revenue officer, Cleartrip, his company is constantly striving to utilise technology to enhance customers' experiences. “We are able to connect to them through mobile. Our latest addition, Cleartrip Activities, features a comprehensive collection of local experiences.

The service was launched three months ago and we are thrilled that is has now extended to over 50 cities. Use of technology has been proven beneficial for the environment as well. Cleartrip was one of the first OTAs to launch the passbook feature on iOS and Android platforms. Additionally, when Apple Watch was launched, Cleartrip was the only OTA to support its functionality on the device.”

Leveraging the strengths The Chinese outbound market report from the Chinese Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) revealed an interesting trend - 20 per cent of the 120 million Chinese outbound travellers booked travel using an OTA in 2015 (a seven per cent increase over 2014 and the strongest indicator that booking sites continue to be more accepted throughout China); however, 80 per cent of Chinese travellers booked offline and used one of the more than 27,000 brick and mortar travel agents last year. It will be interesting to compare the booking trends in India outbound in the near future.

THE MAIN FOCUS

“Customer acquisition should be more efficient” S D Nandakumar Business head – B2B and e-commerce, SOTC Travel

Guldeep Singh Sahni, president, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI ) and managing director, Weldon Holidays, says, “Technology is surely the way forward and as a travel agent I need to analyse how can it help me to be faster. The customer wants to experiment with new places and that is when they head to the agents who can provide them specialised information. Basically, the information provided by a travel agent should be faster than a computer. An agent's strength is the information he can provide to the customer and that is what we should focus on, bringing forward through technology. ” Chatbots are based on the same concept. The chatbots in the future will not

only answer queries but will respond to emotional responses, just like humans. Artificial intelligence will be helpful in increasing customer base and maximising returns as the entire booking process will soon be automated.

Neil Patil, founder and director, Veena World mentions, “Bots is yet another trend setting technology that is engaging customers and enhancing their experience in making decisions regarding the booking of their favourite tour by assisting them in getting their holiday itineraries planned, all through an automated system. Technology is a boon in many ways. We recently introduced a smart phone app for our tour managers. Now-

“A good blend of desktop and app is the need of the hour” Neil Patil Founder and director, Veena World

a-days there is also the general trend of using big data and business intelligence (BI) tools. At Veena World, we have a full-fledged IT team providing us with the BI tools that help us in chalking out the future market strategy. In India we still have a very large number of people preferring desktop over mobile for their day to day transactions and for engaging in a holiday booking experience. Although mobile is the future, still a good blend of desktop as well as smart phone presence in the form of an app is the need of the hour.”

For offline travel agents also an online presence has become imperative with a growing number of travellers planning their itineraries online, be it hotel bookings, air tickets or full packages. The number of portals providing such services has not only increased but they have become a one-stop-destination for customers. New technology is not only enhancing the customer experience but encouraging them to explore new places. The more convenient it is for the customers to make a booking, better are the chances of them returning to your portal.

“We use public cloud for data processing and analysis” Himanshu Verma Chief technology officer, Yatra.com,

“Use of technology has proved beneficial for the environment as well” Amit Taneja Chief revenue officer, Cleartrip.com

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CORPORATE FILE

Pioneers of Outbound Marketing Born out of love for travel and an interesting business opportunity, Outbound Marketing, lead by Vasudha Sondhi and Sanjay Sondhi, has graduated from a representation organisation to a one stop outsourced solution for sales and marketing.

Almost 15 years in the travel and hospitality industry, the company continues to deliver the best results due to their deep understanding of the market

By Saloni Bhatia

O

utbound Marketing was formed in 2002 to meet the growing demand for new market approaches and cost effective distribution solutions in the hospitality industry. Soon it became one of the fastest growing travel representation companies in India and they have gone beyond representation, providing sales, marketing, research, PR and media solutions to international hotels, national tourism offices and travel related products.

Their understanding of the sector and strategic approach towards generating revenues has led the company to represent major tourism boards and hotels in India. Vasudha Sondhi, marketing director, Outbound Marketing, has been in the industry for more than 30 years.

She left a successful job as the regional director, Le Meridian, South East Asia to start with her husband the venture. Sharing how it all began, she states, “Sanjay's excitement and love for travel made us pick this opportunity. He felt that this business opportunity could have a life span. That is when we started outbound marketing in 2002 and started acquiring more clients.” With just love for travel and no background in tourism, Sanjay Sondhi, CEO, OM Tourism, ventured into the industry with his business skills.

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Sharing his thoughts, he says, “It was totally a new platform and you learn from the way other people are travelling. You see how the trends are changing and adapt and come up with the solutions accordingly.” Talking about the evolving trends in the industry, Vasudha Sondhi adds, “Changes are happening in a span of five years. Especially in India, we have seen the emergence of new cities, emergence of new travel segments as the younger lot is travelling now, they are more into adventure experiences and they are more into using different modes of travel. They could also do self drives, cycling trips, e-biking, mountain biking. We have seen the emergence of these sectors very sharply in the last five

years., making people independent in order to book by themselves.”

Evolving trends Talking about the changes in tourism, Sanjay threw some light on the noticeable trends, “The reasons are changing for tourism. Earlier tourism was aspirational, today along with being aspirational, people want it to be experiential as well. Now they want to experience wellness tourism, adventure tourism, etc, and wish to try different things. People are now able to compare on what would be cheaper place to travel or whether they should take an international trip instead.”

The Sondhis started OM Tourism in 2008 that specialises

in sales and marketing for the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. They used their market knowledge and expertise to best present the national tourism boards and market destinations, luxury resorts and other niche destinations. Vasudha Sondhi says, “The scope of our business was always handling marketing and public relations for tourism boards. We felt that to do marketing for tourism boards under Outbound Marketing would be a challenge and therefore we came up with Om Tourism. We were totally wired with sales and revenue and driving hard numbers in for hotels, but here you have a destination where you have PR, marketing and driving consumer demand which a different aspect of the work all together.”

Talking about the challenges she shares, “Making our clients understand the the India market and their requirements is surely a challenge. The culture differences also make a huge impact.

Anybody who needs business has to incorporate the cultural differences in order to cater to the market. The second challenge would be the market reach, for us to make the message and our product update to each and every travel consultant in India. Sanjay Sondhi points out that webinars have not been successful. “They can only work when people are willing to learn.

We have seen some great potential among agents, who are unaware about some things in a destination. There is surely a curiosity to learn, but lack of facilities leads to lack of interest,” he adds.

The travel industry has seen a great turnaround and it is evident with the number of people travelling abroad and withing the country. The emergence of new tourism sectors like golf tourism, MICE travel and corporate travel has also increased demand. Sanjay Sondhi opines, “I think travel is surely going to grow. Cruise tourism might get more attention in the coming time from Indian travellers.” Vasudha Sondhi foresees see great potential in the wedding and MICE travel segment.

DESTINATION OUTBOUND

Exploring Peru's fascinating contrasts Peru is known as the land of hidden treasures offering thrilling adventures and cultural explorations to global travellers. While the cities reflect modern development of the country, the trekking trails lead you on a transitional journey.

This issue of Express TravelWorld explores the 10 best activities you should not miss in Peru Mountaineering in the Andes The Andes mountain range is the second highest in the world, after the Himalayas. With its high, medium and low difficult peaks, the Peruvian Andes is a perfect destination for both beginners and experienced climbers. In 1975, Huascarán National Park was created with the aim of preserving the area's natural resources, archaeological sites, geological formations and beautiful landscapes, promoting scientific research and establishing sustainable tourism. The area was awarded UNESCO Biosphere status in 1977, and included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1985. The Peruvian Andes present an unrivalled setting for mountaineering. As a result, Peru is a real magnet for fans of mountaineering in the Americas.

Vuelo Libre). Hang-gliding really took off around the world in the 1970s, when it became a universal pursuit. There are hundreds of fans of the sport in Peru, and, although it has lost ground to paragliding, it is a daring way of combining tourism and sports.

The gliders currently used are five metres long when folded and 10 metres long when extended, weighing approximately 35 kgs.

They are immensely strong, and advances in aerodynamic technology have made the gliders stable and maneuverable, with broad safety margins.

Cave explorations

for all levels of difficulty and experience.

Trekking trails of Peru

Sandboarding along the dunes

It is a magnificent experience to trek glaciers and snowy peaks, forests and waterfalls, beautiful towns and, above all to meet the hospitable people. There are roads that are so steep that they get lost in abysses that take your breath away; zigzagging trails that stretch across the mountains; long, flat tracks that seem to lose themselves in the immensity of the desert; hidden and imperceptible paths in the dense vegetation of the Amazonian forests. Peru's trails are perfect

Sliding face-down on a board along the great sand dunes is the unique pleasure offered by sandboarding, an adventure sport that has spread to several destinations in Peru. The sport began in Ica, before spreading to Nazca, in Cerro Blanco (2,078 masl), the highest dune in the world, which is just for experts.

In many desert zones on the Peruvian coast, there are dunes in which sandboarding can be enjoyed, including Sarapampa (Lima), Camaná (Arequipa) and

Acarí (Arequipa), with the second highest dune in the world (2,068 masl). Boarding styles have been almost entirely copied from snowboarding techniques and include slalom (zigzagging between poles), boarder cross (a competition across an obstacle course between two or more riders), slopestyle (tricks and movements using rails and ramps) and big air (massive leaps from a ramp). The equipment consists of a board (a sandboard) with handles for the feet, a helmet, elbow and knee guards and special fall-resistant sand goggles.

Comfortable clothing and specialist advice is recommended, and many specialists are linked

to the companies that rent out the boards or travel agencies that prioritise adventure sports.

Hang-gliding and paragliding Soaring through Peruvian skies and seeing the sea, mountains and valleys is a truly gratifying experience. It is also a different way to appreciate Peru's immense geography. Paragliding in Peru offers a series of settings with beautiful landscapes in Lima and the country. There are companies that specialise in giving visitors the experience, with instructors registered with the Peruvian Free Flight Association (Asociación Peruana de

Tourists travel for many reasons, they love history and want to see great civilisations, they are attracted by nature, or because they are passionate about extreme sports. However, there is another group, the explorers of caverns or caves, who are able to enter a mysterious world through potholing. In Peru, the Huagapo Caves (Tears of the Mighty), close to Tarma City (Junín), are those that allow the inquisitive to enter a world of stalagmites and stalactites, with subterranean rivers of up to 2,000 metres deep. The cave has a 20 metres high access portal, and neighbouring people attribute a series of names to certain rock formations, including the Weeping Virgin. The Lechuzas Cave (Owls Cave) in Huánuco, 545 km north-east of Lima,

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DESTINATION OUTBOUND unfolds its mystery at the base of the hill known as the Sleeping Beauty, and is considered one of the main attractions of the Tingo María National Park. The cave is thus called because it is the habitat of the guácharo bird, otherwise known as owls. Inside the cave there, inhabit a wide range of fauna, flora and rock formations, particularly bats, swallows, enormous spiders and various species of flowers. Only 400 metres of the cave has currently been explored.

Mountain biking along ancient routes Cycling along ancient routes Ancient Inca and pre-Inca roads, archaeological sites, picturesque towns and passages, and the opportunity to pass through several ecological areas in just a few hours are the attractions of riding a bike around Peru. There are places like Olleros (to the south of Lima) where there is a descent of 3,600 metres in just 70 km of road. The activity known all around the world as mountain biking is the fastest growing adventure sport in the country. Thousands of mountain biking fans use lightweight bikes to cycle through ravines and along trails throughout the country. Almost every corner of Peru, with the exception of the coastal desert and the Amazonian plains, is suitable for mountain biking. Biking trails can be grouped into three main categories, defined by their difficulty and logistical requirements.

First is considered suitable for beginners, these trails include gentle slopes and compact, hard earth. Second for cyclists with a certain level of experience, these trails include moderate slopes and contain a degree of risk for those that travel them. And lastly for experts only, characterised by steep slopes and soft soil. These roads are highly risky and will often reach high altitudes.

Kitesurfing and windsurfing Wind is the main fuel for these two adventure sports in which man faces the sea at great speeds. The best winds for both kitesurfing and windsurfing can be found in the Paracas Bay area

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(Ica) and in Máncora (Piura), two important tourist destinations with a developed hotel infrastructure and services. From April to November, the Máncora beaches, with winds of up to 30 knots or more, become real vertigo-inducing racetracks. Tres Cruces and Lobitos have a strong and steady wind, while El Golf has beach break style waves. La Laguna, two km north of the surf point in Máncora, right next to the sea, is ideal for practicing jumps. The landscape is beautiful and the sunset unforgettable. In Paracas Bay, south of Lima, the winds are reliable (up to 10 knots), the sea is relatively shallow and the climate is pleasant as it is sunny all around the year. With lateral winds moving towards the shore, return to one's point of departure is guaranteed. With good on-shore winds, you are sure to return to your point of departure while the u-shaped formation of the bay guarantees that, regardless of any mishap that may befall you, you will always be close to the coast.

Gravity defying extreme jumps Bungee jumping is one of the most extreme adventure sports due to its level of risk. In Cuzco, close to the city centre, in Poroy, on the road to Urubamba, a special 122-metre tower has been built, with gravity-defying travellers in mind. Bungee jumping is the challenge of leaping into thin air. It entails jumping from a considerable height, with an elastic rope securely tied around the body. Participants can choose whether they want the rope tied to their ankles, waist or chest. After a few seconds, the elastic rope fires the suspended body into the air, rising and falling various times, until stopping, after several minutes, just metres from the floor.

Rafting the great rivers Peru has more than a dozen rivers that cover its varied coastal, hill and jungle regions.

Its five longest rivers cover more than 7,000 km within the

country's borders. The power of the water in some of these rivers makes rafting possible, a sport of pure adrenaline. Rapids are classified according to an international scale from I to VI, according to their difficulty. The best-known rivers for rafting are the Apurímac (Class II and V), the Cotahuasi (Class V) and the Tambopata (Class III and IV). Rafting arrived in Peru from Poland, thanks to adventurer Yurek Majcherzyck and his travelling companions who, after various attempts, managed to conquer the torrential Colca river and its 300 rapids in one of the deepest points of Arequipa. The sport uses inflatable boats or rafts, which are powered by oars and generally steered from the stern, carrying the raft and its crew along the turbulent waters of the rivers.

Surfing the waves Peru's beaches are considered by experts to be among the best in the world. There are permanent surfing opportunities throughout the year, as well as a

large quantity of waves that break closely one after the other. The central coast has permanent surf during winter (April to September), while the north coast offers its famous swells between the months of October and March, turning it into a surfers' paradise. The best beaches are: Cabo Blanco, Lobitos, Chicama (with the longest left wave in the world), Huanchaco, Pacasmayo and Los Órganos. There is a theory that states that it was in ancient Peru rather than in Polynesia or the South Pacific where the oldest evidence of men riding the waves with the help of rafts exists, as testified by textiles and ceramics from various pre-Hispanic cultures. Surfing, which is a 2,000-year-old practice in Peru, continues to be popular among fishermen in the northern coves of Huanchaco, Santa Rosa and Pimentel, in La Libertad and Lambayeque departments, where local inhabitants ride the waves on reed rafts searching for their daily catch.

RESEARCH

Luxury travel outpaces the rest of travel industry: Amadeus report New Amadeus report looks at luxury travel trends until 2025 to help the travel industry better target and service its fastest-growing segment

S

haping the Future of Luxury Travel is a new report commissioned by Amadeus and developed with data from Tourism Economics with interviews of global luxury travel experts across specialist travel concierge agencies, airlines, hoteliers and intermediary suppliers through Connections, a global networking event organiser for luxury travel providers. The report revealed that India’s luxury market compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13 per cent is higher than any of the other BRIC nations, and is the highest of the 25 countries explored in this report.

Global consumers are increasingly spending their disposable income on experiences rather than material goods. Consumers’ desire for life experiences is spurring a growth in luxury travel that is outpacing the rest of the travel industry.

Between 2011 and 2015, luxury travel, in terms of outbound flights on business or first class, saw a 4.5 per cent CAGR, versus 4.2 per cent for overall travel. This trend will continue to accelerate over the next 10 years, with luxury travel trips projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.2 per cent between 2015 and 2025, almost a third faster than overall travel at 4.8 per cent.

This trend is considered good for the luxury travel sector. The report reveals the fresh challenges and opportunities that the luxury travel market will face over the next decade. Other key findings

from the report include: We have entered a new age of luxury travel, where luxury is curated, real-time and experience-led North America and Western Europe account for 64 per cent of global outbound luxury trips, despite only making up 18 per cent of the world’s population A human desire for more rewarding experiences provides an essential catalyst to evolve and improve travel industry quality and service standards A hierarchy of luxury

travel needs is identified, ranging from five star quality and service standards to exclusive VIP privacy and security In 2015, Amadeus released a report called Future Traveller Tribes 2030, which identified six traveller tribes based on consumer behaviour, recognising that purchasing patterns change depending on the circumstances of each trip.

Using similar methodology, Shaping the Future of Luxury Travel, identifies six luxury traveller tribes to help travel providers better target

their luxury customer market: Always Luxury; Special Occasion; Bluxury; Cash-rich, timepoor; Strictly Opulent; and Independent Affluent.

“Luxury means different things to different people and this is especially true today. As emergent middle classes seek the material aspect of luxury travel, more mature markets are craving a new, evolved kind of luxury. This is why offering luxury customers a relevant personal and exclusive experience will become even more crucial than it is today – it will be a differentiating fac-

tor between old and new luxury,” said Rob Sinclair-Barnes, strategic marketing director, Amadeus IT Group.

“Understanding your business’s role in delivering an end-to-end luxury experience for a traveller is key to improving collaboration, and reinforcing an industry-wide push for consistent luxury service.

Exploring the latest technologies and innovations for making the industry work better as a whole is key to achieving a new level of luxury that has never existed before,” he added.

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EVENT ROUNDUP

RVC 2016: New showcase of 'cool' Canada Rendez-vous Canada 2016, the international tourism marketplace of Destination Canada organised in Montreal recently, showcased the non-traditional aspects of Canada's tourism highlights, inviting travellers from across the world to discover the unexplored attractions of the country

By Sudipta Dev

T

he 40th edition of Rendezvous Canada was organised at the iconic Montreal Convention Centre recently. The four-day annual marketplace of Destination Canada was the biggest in its history with over 1,680 delegates, and as many as 536 buyers from 28 countries. It also included a significant number of buyers from India. RVC 2016 saw more than 26,000 face-to-face meetings between Canadian suppliers and buyers from across the world, including those from non-Destination Canada markets.

During her keynote address at RVC 2016, Bardish Chagger, minister of Small Business and Tourism, Canada launched the Millennial Travel Programme and said, “It is really important that millennials travel, not only to see the world, but to come to Canada. You can discover the entire world in our country.”

The highlight of the first day at RVC 2016 was the Destination Canada Inside Track. Addressing the delegates, David Goldstein, president and CEO, Destination Canada, spoke about the need to change the old perceptions of Canada. “Canada is not cold, it is cool,” he asserted. Talking about the destination of the 40th convention, which was co-hosted by the tourism

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departments of Quebec and Montreal, Goldstein said, “Montreal is the most magnificent city and is a destination that keeps reinventing itself.”

In an exclusive interaction with Express TravelWorld, Goldstein mentioned that growth (of 8.6 per cent) from the India market last year was close to the expectations. “We are looking for the same or slightly more growth from the India market in 2016 and 2017.

Now we have direct flights and connections with other flights are also better. Even the visa situation has eased, along with a host of other factors – from Canada's cultural diversity, much more welcoming society to long history with India.

There is a lot of bilateral travel between the two countries. We think the prospects for middle class and upper middle class is very strong who have an appetite for long haul travel,” he mentioned.

Reminding that even in friends and family visitations, extra days and extra weeks are tagged on, he added, “We see continued strength from the market.” For Indians, the popular destinations are Vancouver and Toronto.

However, Goldstein pointed out that the Indo-Canadian community has become dispersed across Canada, for instance Calgary, Ottawa and Montreal, “We think that Indians who are sophisticated travellers, for

their second or third experience, there is huge opportunity in different destinations, though there is far greater comfort in English speaking Canada.”

There has been significant growth in FIT business from India, remarked Goldstein, adding that even though there is significant reliance on the travel trade. Another positive development has been an increasing interest among Canadians to travel to India.

“It's always productive when overall bilateral travel increases – it leads to familiarity; people tell stories,” he opined.

New itineraries Destination Canada's new focus

is on non-traditional Canadian highlights which, according to Goldstein, is the new exciting way to showcase Canada.

“Sporting events are very popular, so are cultural festivals.

There are parts of Canada travellers are looking beyond. For instance not just Vancouver, but the wine country in the interiors of British Columbia.

Getting out of Toronto and not just looking at Niagra, but going up along Lake Ontario towards Kingston or Ottawa,” he elaborated, adding that there are lots of opportunities to build those itineraries and Destination Canada has been working with the Indian travel trade to refresh the itineraries that they are building for their clients.

For India the biggest focus is on leisure travel, while for MICE the key markets are the US, UK, Belgium and France.

“The quarter of our marketing budget goes into APAC, and in the Asia Pacific it is only Japan, China, India and Australia and South Korea.

India is very prominent in that,” informed Goldstein. He is hopeful that with the government's new investment, Destination Canada will be able to look at augmenting its current campaigns in most markets, including India. “We are interested in figuring out how to get Indian travellers past the normal destinations that they see in Canada,” he asserted, adding that he wanted them to get past

EVENT ROUNDUP

the grandfather's Canada and explore what the new Canada looks like. “There is a wonderful diversity of places and communities across the country and there are tons of opportunities,” he affirmed.

Steady growth In 2015, the growth in Indian visitor arrivals to British Columbia was 8.4 per cent.

Monica Leeck, market development manager Asia, Destination British Columbia, said, “What continuous to be popular in the India market is the Rocky Mountaineer, Via Rail and Alaska cruise, so we are seeing a lot of continued interest in us. One significant aspect is promoting the shoulder season, that is October to April. One of the ideas is of course the Northern Lights, we combine that with Vancouver as well and that makes a nice package.” Spring time is ideal for Alaska cruise as prices are a bit lower and so is the airfare.

The other shoulder season theme is during autumn.

Reminding that from harvesting at vineyards to spawning of salmon, there are many interesting activities for visitors to enjoy, Leeck shared that another option is Christmas theme, for instance at Butchart Garden in Victoria. From India MICE and self drive holidays have been growing in recent times to British Columbia.

Last year Ontario hosted over 100,000 Indian travellers, and a year before that 94,000.

Harvey Hamazaki, trade consultant, Asia, Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation, pointed out that this number was before the new direct flight, so they expect another increase for 2016. “We

The highlight of the first day at RVC 2016 was the Destination Canada Inside Track know that the flight is full and Air Canada is very happy with the numbers. There is a double digit increase. Indian people like Canada in general, they like the weather and nature. We expect steady growth from the market. People always came to Toronto from India as they have friends and relatives and the latter take them to different places. But now we see the focus on peer travel.” MICE from India is a big market for Ontario Tourism, particularly since Toronto hosted around 5,000-6,000 Amway delegates about three years ago. “That was the largest international MICE group ever to Toronto.

We showed the world we can handle big groups,” he informed.

Trade speak Canada being traditionally a leisure destination for Indians, it was interesting to see a few MICE specialists among the travel trade from India.

Kuldeep Sharma, group GM – MICE and Incentive, Naveen Tours, New Delhi, informed that his company is planning to bring a few groups this year. “It is the first time my company is participating in RVC. This platform is important to us as we are trying to explore the right

destination and products for our corporate customers.” For Anil Kalsi, managing director, Ambe World Travel, New Delhi, the very first RVC was a great learning experience. “I have increased my knowledge which will help me for future business.

It will open new vistas, specially for those going to the USA and Canada on long-term visa.

It has given me good insight into things and I am sure it will help us generate more business to Canada.” Avin Jain, chairman, Pleasure Tours, Agra and Delhi is also looking at combining Montreal and Quebec tours with the East Coast of the US. “This is one of the better organised travel trade events worldwide, in terms of business meetings as well as other aspects. The FAM tours were well organised. We met many small suppliers,” said Jain.

Pinky Rajput, associate VP – sales, Balmer Lawrie / Vacations Exotica, Mumbai, found RVC 2016 an informative experience. “This is going to help us design and offer packages to our end customers which will be beneficial both ways. I am looking forward to a wonderful season,” she said.

Havovi Tampal, tour counsellor with Canada specialist Shree Yash Destinations, Mumbai, has attended RVC before and considers the event an effective platform to meet Canadian suppliers personally and gather more information about the products that her company is selling.

One of the highlights of RVC this year was an interesting talk on why those in travel business need to create their distinctive brand identity, by motivational speaker and author Justin Kingsley.

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IN FOCUS

Power of aboriginal tourism Keith Henry, chair & CEO of Aboriginal Tourism Association of Canada talks about the focused efforts to put together a national strategy to highlight the country's 1,527 aboriginal tourism businesses. By Sudipta Dev

A

boriginal Tourism Association of Canada (ATAC) is an indigenous and cultural tourism organisation that has been focused on rebuilding the segment, which now is an integral part of tourism in the country. “We felt that there was a significant gap in how we are marketing and telling our stories. In part we also felt that the tourism industry did not have the vision and understanding of how to market and develop our businesses within the aboriginal communities in Canada,” says Keith Henry, chair & CEO, ATAC. Aboriginal tourism is not new in Canada, but according to Henry, the past initiatives have not been that effective so over the last six years, he along with other key aboriginal tourism leaders in the country, have worked towards redevelopment of ATAC. Though incorporated as a national nonprofit body in 2015, the aboriginal tourism national movement has been building for many years in the country.

The association is a one-window approach to work with the industry in Canada.

There are 1,527 aboriginal tourism businesses in Canada, and the challenge, believes Henry, is that there are very few that are export or market ready. While the association is guiding those businesses to meet the requirements of the industry, an important part of the initiatives has to do with cultural revitalisation and sustainability. He states, “We are now bringing everyone to-

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Keith Henry

While the association is guiding those businesses to meet the requirements of the industry, an important part of the initiatives has to do with cultural revitalisation and sustainability gether and growing the industry. We have been holding forums and discussions across the country for sometime. We also work with aboriginal businesses to share with them the vision and have put together a five-year plan to bring everyone together and grow the industry. It is a national strategy.”

Regarding integration with

mainline tourism, he points out that one of the key partners is Destination Canada (DC). An agreement has been signed for marketing. “We will work with DC in their key markets,” informs Henry.

On development side, ATAC is making efforts to create national standards of authenticity and market readi-

ness – implementing at the community level with the entrepreneurs and leadership.

“On the other side, we have to lift up the businesses that are market ready,” says Henry.

The five year plan covers development, including training and education because very few of the 1,527 aboriginal tourism businesses under-

stand marketing or working with the travel trade. “We have to do a lot of capacity building.

In other countries, in indigenous and aboriginal communities also, I have seen the same capacity learning challenge.

The other aspects of the plan are marketing with Destination Canada and provincial governments, leadership, advocacy and partnerships,” adds Henry.

ATAC aims to make Canada a great indigenous tourism destination. “We are an ancient culture in this country, though people do not think of Canada that way. For instance, when we think of India, we think of ancient culture and practices, we also have that but have not told people about it.

Our aboriginal people have been here for thousands of years,” he asserts, acknowledging that indigenous tourism in Canada is an international success story, ranging from F&B to artisanal experiences. “We have got a lot of best practices,” he affirms.

MOVEMENTS Before joining CWT, Yuaikwarmdee was deputy managing director of Reed Tradex Thailand and general manager of Reed Tradex Vietnam. The company has also appointed Wai Mun Wong as vice president, global supplier management, Asia Pacific.

Etihad Aviation Group

International Convention Centre, Sydney Goutam Deb

Department of Tourism, West Bengal GOUTAM DEB has been appointed as the new Minister-inCharge, Department of Tourism, West Bengal. He was appointed under the new state government headed by Mamata Bannerjee.

PATA VIKRAM MADHOK has been elected as the new chairman of the PATA Industry Council for the term May 2016-17. In addition to assuming this global responsibility, Madhok will also be on the PATA executive board. Madhok has, over the years, specialised in luxury tourism and hospitality industry. He has served on PATA India chapter for over 20 years and was also the chairman of World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) India Initiative. He has also held positions such as president of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (NI), EC Member – IATO and several other positions.

VFS Global VFS Global has appointed PETER BRUN as chief communications officer. In this role, Brun will be responsible for corporate communications, marketing and branding, and corporate social responsibility, and will be based at the company’s head office in Dubai,

Kathleen Taylor

UAE. Brun is a Swiss national with an experience of 28 years, who joins VFS Global from Kuoni Group. Prior to joining Kuoni, he spent 17 years in the media industry.

Air Canada KATHLEEN TAYLOR has been elected as director of Air Canada. Taylor is the chair of the board of the Royal Bank of Canada and director of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Adecco Group. She is former president and CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts where she served in a variety of senior roles during her 24-year-old career. She is also the chair of the Board of the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation, the chair of the Principal's International Advisory Board of McGill University and a member of the Dean's Advisory Council of the Schulich School of Business of York University.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) has appointed DUANGDEJ YUAIKWARMDEE as country director, Thailand. Reporting to Kai Chan, CWT’s president for Asia Pacific, Yuaikwarmdee will be a member of CWT’s South East Asia leadership team. He has worked with American Express Thailand, US Kall International Corporation and Reed Tradex.

International Convention Centre (ICC), Sydney has appointed MARTYN POTTER as director of building services.

With more than 30 years of experience, Potter will deliver the operating strategy for building security, housekeeping and sustainability across the integrated convention, exhibition and entertainment precinct. He also has knowledge of ICC Sydney, having been project director – facilities management (FM) at Spotless Group, part of the Darling Harbour Live consortium that is responsible for delivering the project.

Bruno Matheu

Peter Baumgartner

The Etihad Aviation Group board of directors has announced the new management structure. JAMES HOGAN, who has served as Etihad Airways president and chief executive officer since September 2006, has been appointed Etihad Aviation Group president and CEO. PETER BAUMGARTNER will take on this

new position as CEO, Etihad Airways and oversee the day-to-day running of Etihad Airways. BRUNO MATHEU has been appointed as the CEO, Airline Equity Partners; he will drive the identification and realisation of synergy benefits across the airline’s strategic partners.

SilkAir SilkAir has appointed FOO CHAI WOO as chief executive, taking over from Leslie Thng, who will be returning to parent company Singapore Airlines (SIA). Woo has been SIA’s divisional vice president, sales and marketing since May 2014. An SIA veteran with nearly 21 years of service, he has held positions in both head office as well as overseas. Before taking on his current role in sales and marketing, he was based in Los Angeles since November 2010 as SIA’s regional vice president, Americas. Prior to that, he was general manager, India for more than four years. Woo has also held positions in Japan, New Zealand and Pakistan.

Delta Air Lines, New York Delta Air Lines has appointed HENRY KUYKENDALL as vice president – New York, and promoted Chuck Imhof as vice

Henry Kuykendall

Gonzalo Gil Lavedra

president – sales, New York.

Since 2011, Kuykendall has served as Delta's vice president, airport customer service at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport.

GONZALO GIL LAVEDRA as general manager, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Since joining Khiri Travel in 2013, Gil Lavedra has been Khiri Travel branch manager in Phuket, Thailand and Bali. Gil Lavedra will report to Khiri Travel CEO Richard Brouwer at the head office in greater Bangkok.

Khiri Travel Khiri Travel has appointed

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E V E N T S

BRINGING DISASTER PREPAREDNESS L-R: G Padmanabhan, emergency analyst, UNDP India; Uthira Ravikumar, preparedness programme analyst, UNDP Geneva; Chris Weeks, director of humanitarian affairs, DHL; Deepak Shastri, airport director, Chennai International Airport and Tulsi N Mirchandaney, MD, Blue Dart Aviation at the recent 'Get Airports Ready for Disaster' workshop in Chennai

CULTURAL CAPITAL OF INDIA Foreign tour operators at a lunch hosted by Cox & Kings to celebrate CII Destination Kolkata at the Bengal Club in Kolkata recently

TOURISM THROUGH CULTURE Sichuan Tourism Administration recently conducted a cultural evening in Delhi, to promote tourism from India to China

DEFEXPO 2016 Union Minister of Defence, Manohar Parrikar and Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar recently met BEL and Thales representatives at Defexpo 2016 in Goa

ENCOURAGING ENTREPRENEURSHIP Wolfgang Will, director, South Asia, Lufthansa Passenger Airlines inaugrating Startup Expo, organsied by Lufthansa in in partnership with The Indus Entrepreneurs, at Gurugram

LEARN SOUTH AFRICA South African Tourism recently hosted a delegation of 25 Indian travel partners in the country to promote tourism

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UNVEILING OF LOUNGE L-R: Giam Ming Toh, former chief commercial officer, Vistara; Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO; Kareena Kapoor; Arjun Kapoor; Sanjiv Kapoor, chief strategy and chief commercial officer; and Mukund Rajan, director on board; at the launch of Vistara's signature lounge at T3, IGI Airport, Delhi

NEW LOUNGE EXPERIENCE Nick Hays, vice president, Canada, Cathay

EXPLORE MUMBAI Satish Soni, joint managing director, MTDC (third from

RED HOT FRIDAY Virgin Atlantic recently conducted a trade blitz, Red Hot

left) and Paraag Jaiin Nainuttia, managing director, MTDC at the recently organised Mumbai Darshan Recce Tour in association with Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST)

Friday, for the travel trade fraternity in Delhi

KWIBUKA 22 Clarence Fernandes, representative, Rwanda Development Board

MALBEC DAY CELEBRATIONS H E Alejandro Zothner Meyer, Acting Consul

(left) along with delegates at the commemoration of the 22nd anniversary of the 1994 genocide, Kwibuka 22

General, Argentina (centre), at the celebration of sixth edition of World Malbec Day at the Taj Mahal Palace & Hotel, Mumbai

Pacific (left); Vivian Lo, general manager, airports, Cathay Pacific (second from left); and Glenn McCoy, SVP and CFO, Vancouver International Airport Authority (right); recently unveiled the Cathay Pacific lounge at Vancouver International Airport

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REGD.WITH RNI NO. MAHENG/2005/15993,POSTAL REGD. NO. MCS/163/2016 – 18,PUBLISHED ON 11TH EVERY MONTH, POSTED ON 12TH,13TH,14TH OF EVERY MONTH, POSTED AT MUMBAI PATRIKA CHANNEL SORTING OFFICE,MUMBAI – 400001.