Express Travelworld (Vol.11, No.11) December, 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE

On a final note...

A

fter the initial chaos, following the surprise announcement made by PM Narendra Modi to demonetise `500 and `1000 denomination notes, things seem to have settled down a bit. The industry sentiment is rather low key but clearly with a hint of positivity. The general feedback is that the 'Band Baja Baraat' of the wedding space is surely seeing a visible calm. While ostentatious weddings are under control, the next in line is the high-end FIT business, which has witnessed cancellations and postponements of travel. It is the corporate travel segment which looks reasonably stable though. The common word across the industry is that it supports the move and is positive that this initiative will only benefit the business in the future. The wait and watch game will continue for the next couple of months, but experts and travel consultants feel this is yet another industry challenge and will also pass.

On the inbound tourism front, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has

HEAD OFFICE MUMBAI EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD® The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Business Publication Division 2nd Floor, Express Tower, Nariman Point Mumbai- 400 021 Board line: 022- 67440000 Ext. 527 Branch Offices NEW DELHI Prabhas Jha 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.

Mobile: +91 9899707440 BANGALORE Mathen Mathew The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Business Publication Division 502, 5th Floor, Devatha Plaza, Residency road, Bangalore- 560025 Mobile: +91 9840826366

“The wait and watch game will continue for the next couple of months,but experts and travel consultants feel this is yet another industry challenge and will also pass”

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strongly appealed to the PMO to address issues concerning monument payments and more. Members of IATO say that they support the demonetisation move, and also the Digital India initiative, however they feel the government also needs to support them. They want the ASI and ministry of culture to accept DD/NEFT/credit cards for bulk purchase of monument entrance tickets for foreign tourists. Their request is to install credit card swipe machines at all ASI monuments. They are also hoping for permission to allow tourist vehicles to pay inter state tolls online or by credit card.

On a positive note, as 2016 comes to an end, the New Year should bring in better times for tourism across sectors and businesses - airlines, hospitality, car rentals, cruises, rails and more. Enjoy our cover story this issue and keep exploring new routes and paths in the tourism space.

AHMEDABAD Nirav Mistry The Indian Express (P) Ltd. 3rd Floor, Sambhav House, Near Judges Bunglows, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad - 380 015 Mobile: +91 9586424033 BHOPAL Prabhas Jha The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Business Publication Division 2nd Floor, Express Tower, Nariman Point Mumbai- 400 021 Board line: 022- 67440000 Ext. 527 JAIPUR Prabhas Jha The Indian Express (P) Ltd. S2,J-40, Shyam GHP Enclave, Krishna Marg, C-Scheme, Jaipur - 302 001 Mobile: +91 9899707440

REEMA LOKESH Editor editorial.etw@expressindia.com

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December 2016

CONTENTS MANAGEMENT Vol 11 No 11 DECEMBER 2016 Pages 40

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Chairman of the Board

Viveck Goenka Sr Vice President - BPD

Neil Viegas Editor

Reema Lokesh* Assistant Editor

"GUIDELINE HAS COME A LONG WAY WITH PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE" GUIDELINE TRAVELS IS ALL SET TO ENTER IT'S 20 YEAR OF OPERATIONS IN 2017.

PRADEEP SABOO, MANAGING PARTNER, GUIDELINE TRAVELS, NARRATES THE COMPANY'S JOURNEY AND THE WAY FORWARD.

Steena Joy Sr. Associate Editor

Sudipta Dev CONTENT TEAM New Delhi

Saloni Bhatia DESIGN National Design Editor

Bivash Barua Assistant Art Director

EDGE

Pravin Temble Senior Artist

Ratilal Ladani, Kiran Parker SCHEDULING & COORDINATION

Ashish Anchan Photo Editor

WALKING WITH

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THE VINES

Sandeep Patil MARKETING Regional Heads

Harit Mohanty - East & West Prabhas Jha - North Marketing Team

Debnarayan Dutta Ajanta Sengupta Mathen Mathew CIRCULATION

Mohan Varadakar PRODUCTION

The evolving preferences of the global Indian traveller for tourism experiences has earned wine tourism its own niche across destinations globally.

Tour operators and NTOs in India are looking to tap this segment of matured travellers that are growing in numbers

HIGH IMPACT DELIBERATIONS THE 8TH ANNUAL HOTEL INVESTMENT FORUM INDIA (HIFI) CONFERENCE HELD IN MUMBAI RECENTLY SAW INDUSTRY LEADERS DELIBERATE AND DISCUSS THE CRITICAL ISSUES THAT ARE HAVING FAR REACHING IMPACT ON HOTEL INVESTMENTS IN THE COUNTRY

(22-25)

General Manager

B R Tipnis Manager

Bhadresh Valia Cover image courtesy: Mike Heydon 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

MARKETS

06

LIFE

INDIGO TIES UP WITH TRAVELPORT TO LAUNCH ITS FIRST GLOBAL GDS SYSTEM

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INTERVIEW WITH DAVID SCOWSILL, PRESIDENT & CEO, WTTC

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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

P03 : EDITOR’S NOTE P35 : APPOINTMENTS

Point, Mumbai – 400021)

P36 : WEEKEND

INTERVIEW WITH MUBARAK AL NUAIMI, DIRECTOR, PROMOTIONS AND OVERSEAS OFFICES, TCA ABU DHABI

34 A MOUNTAINOUS FEAT THE EMERGING NEW TREND OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS TAKING TO ADVENTURE ACTIVITIES SEES PUNE BASED SIX-YEAR-OLD ADVAIT BHARTIA BECOME THE YOUNGEST INDIAN TO SUMMIT EVEREST BASE CAMP IN WINTER

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

IndiGo ties up with Travelport to launch its first global GDS system Saloni Bhatia New Delhi INDIA’S LOW COST carrier, IndiGo has partnered with global commerce platform Travelport to launch its first ever GDS (Global Distribution System). The platform offers fully integrated, industry leading merchandising capabilities and is used extensively by travel agencies in India as well as other key markets. This is the first time, the domestic carrier has opted for a GDS system. Speaking on the occasion, Aditya Ghosh, president

Aditya Ghosh

and whole time director, IndiGo, said, “This is a logical extension of our global strategy as Travelport will enable us to reach out to more customers.

There are over 60,000 online and offline travel agents that will have access to IndiGo’s fares and ancillary services through the platform. This strategic step allows us to reach out to more customers without incurring the traditional costs of marketing.”

Commenting on the partnership, Gordon Wilson, president and CEO, Travelport, stated, “IndiGo’s airfares and ancillar-

ies will now be available to global travel agents around the world. This is a great step for the domestic airline to get better international tractions. A total of 192 airlines actively merchandise their products through our portal and have been able to reach wide range of consumers.

India is currently the third largest market in air bookings after US and Germany but it is likely to rise in the near future.”

Travelport, a travel commerce platform provides distribution, technology, payment, mobile and other solutions for the global travel

and tourism industry. Also, one of the leading B2B platforms, its association with IndiGo will make the local carrier reach out to a wider audience and with better services.

Mathew Powell, regional managing director, Middle East and Asia, Travelport, mentioned, “It is common for local airlines to consider Travelport at a later stage in order to reach out to more customers. Many airlines in the past like Ryanair, SpiceJet, Tigerair have benefitted from the platform in the past.”

In pursuit of the Northern Lights Sudipta Dev Mumbai A SPECIALIST in Northern Lights chase tours, Mumbai based The Villa Escape (TVE) has been focusing on bespoke experiences for outbound to Iceland, Finnish Lapland, Norway, Greenland and Swedish Lapland. “We have been selling Northern Lights Chases for the last sixseven years and there has been a substantial increase in the number of enquiries over the last two years,” said Yogi Shah, founder, The Villa Escape, adding that apart from trying to get a chance to view the Aurora Borealis, travellers can enjoy unique activities like husky dog rides, visit to reindeer farms, meeting Santa Claus in his official hometown, go snow mobiling on a frozen river and more.

Interestingly, the travellers comprise all age groups

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and locations across the country. The clients range from children who are excited about going to Finnish Lapland to visit the Santa Village to the adventure seekers who are keen to ride snow mobiles to the mature age group who are fascinated by the Aurora Borealis. “We get enquiries from metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru as well as enquiries from places such as Mangalore, Ahmedabad, and other Tier II and Tier III cities,” mentioned Shah. He acknowledged that most enquires are for Finnish Lapland as it is the official hometown of Santa Claus and there is so much one can do apart from Chasing the Lights.

The Northern Lights are visible from mid October to mid April. When asked whether the tours guarantee Northern Lights sightings,

Shah stated, “The Aurora Borealis is a natural phenomenon and as is with all natural activities - it all depends on

Mother Nature’s moods and whims. So even though we do not guarantee sightings, we maximise the odds by having

local counts in all our locations who tell us where the Lights are and we ‘chase’ them to those areas.”

IN THE NEWS

'TRAVELADVISORIES CANNOTISSUE A BLANKETBAN ON ACOUNTRY' In an exclusive interaction David Scowsill, president & CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) shares his views on the resilience of travel and tourism sector and why travel advisories need to be geolocation specific

By Sudipta Dev Recently many countries have been issuing travel advisories for their citizens travelling to India, what should be the do's and dont's?

When foreign offices put in places travel advisories they need to be very specific, geolocation specific. It is not acceptable to say that a state or even a country is off limits for Germans or Brits or Australians. Most countries are ensuring that these travel advisories are specific because if you think about it every country receiving inbound tourists have some problem areas. There cannot be a blanket ban on a country.

Our industry at global level is very robust, people are still travelling, we will grow 3.1 per cent this year, which is the same as last year. We will continue to grow and support the countries where terrorist attacks happened and help them recover.

India has introduced the e-visa, but the inbound tourist numbers have not really gone up as expected, what should be the focus areas for the government?

The first great thing is that prime minister Modi has made a very clear statement of intent that the travel and tourism industry will be one of the key pillars of Indian economic development. That is really key because when the prime minister makes that move, other things fall into place as a direct result. The things we have to focus on for domestic tourism is building

factor is about taxation, there is a big debate about GST, it is better that our industry is in lower band from 9 to 14 per cent, that way we will stimulate the market in a better way. The final focus area is need for an overall plan for aviation development. The domestic aviation market is the fastest growing in the world, we need five-10-15 years strategic plan including both public and private sector.

David Scowsill

out of the infrastructure.

Mumbai airport and Delhi airport are great airports now but there is a lot more investment required in other airports, roads and rail systems.

Infrastructure for us is also about telecom, banking and financial services. I am delighted that electronic visa process has been introduced.

It needs to be spread to more countries. Even from terrorism point of view investing in electronic visa is more safer.

An important part of inbound growth is the Incredible India campaign because it is a fantastic brand campaign and positions India beautifully, but it needs more funding. There are two ways to it - use the visa fee like the US does and put some of it in marketing fund; and ask the private sector to match the government fund to create a much bigger fund.

Brand USA created a US$ 200 million marketing fund from zero. Another important

There are lot of challenging issues with the aviation sector in India, are there any markets worldwide we can learn from ?

The aviation sector here is buffeted by a number of difficult factors - the taxation on fuels is very high, airport handling charges are high and fares are low because of amount of competition going.

You have to look at aviation markets like China and the US. The Chinese government for the last 25 years has been very focused on travel and tourism and domestic growth in China. There are a lot of things to learn from what is happening in China in terms of infrastructure. In the US, the taxation on aviation is nothing like the level in India. And the way the airports and airlines interact with each other is more partnership oriented than here. Airports have moved their focus from landing charges to retailing and car parking for their income streams.

What is your perspective

about the hospitality market in India ?

The market will grow about 7.5 per cent a year, so growth is there. More and more people are travelling for business and leisure in India.

The hoteliers have not been able to up their rates and occupancies, they have had a tough time. My sense is now it is beginning to change, the supply and demand equation is coming much closer. What needs to be developed is more mid level properties where business roadrunners stay when they travel for work.

How will the established brands compete with internet accommodation aggregators and providers like Airbnb ?

The customers will make a choice – Airbnb is growing dramatically around the world but I do not see big hotel brands suffer. Hotel brands will put properties in locations where they will get a good return, but alongside there will be smaller entities, B&Bs, which will stimulate the market. From our perspective, Airbnb and Uber operating globally are consumer driven technology platforms, are part of the travel and tourism industry and here to stay.

Your views on OTA space and the consolidations happening worldwide?

There has been a lot of consolidation in OTA space globally - Expedia, Tripadvisor have made many acquisitions.

Indian market has many similarities with the Chinese mar-

ket there are some great online businesses. Within India you will see more consolidation, along with consolidation between companies in India and China and other parts of the world.

What is your perception of the efforts by the government for skill development at grassroots level ?

The more training that is done, the better it will be. The shortage will not be at the managerial level but entry level. It is a great way of taking people out of poverty, putting them in their first job in the services industry. We know there will be a shortage of people, and training is really important. Primarily, domestic travel and tourism in India is by far more important than international travel and tourism.

WTTC has been at the forefront of sustainable travel and tourism, what are the key areas ?

Climate change is an important aspect and the aviation sector comprising onethird of travel and tourism industry has got its act together on that in terms of new aircraft design, better air traffic management, etc. The other segments are not so focused, like destination management. Our Tourism For Tomorrow Awards honours big and small companies to showcase what they have done, we need to encourage more companies in India to showcase their initiatives in sustainable tourism.

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IN THE NEWS

‘INDIAIS CURRENTLYABU DHABI’S LARGEST OVERSEAS SOURCE MARKET' Mubarak Al Nuaimi, Director, Promotions and Overseas Offices, Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) talks about India’s potential as a MICE source market for the UAE capital and the future roadmap How do you see the potential of the India market?

Abu Dhabi is expected to see a surge in inbound business and leisure tourism from India following our hosting of the 63rd convention of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) recently. The feedback from the event has been nothing short of exceptional and many of our stakeholders believe this is the start of a relationship which can only go from strength-tostrength with follow-up meetings on business prospects already in the pipeline.

India is currently Abu Dhabi’s largest overseas source market with 152,423 Indians checking into the emirate’s hotels in the first half of this year – a 20 per cent year-overyear uplift and accounting for 7 per cent of all the emirate’s hotel guest stays. Indian guests currently stay in the emirate’s hotels for an average of 3.4 nights.

Currently three airlines fly from India, from 15 different destinations, to Abu Dhabi – accounting for more than 300

flights a week. Indian travellers are no more than four hours flying time away.

This makes Abu Dhabi a great short-break alternative.

How can Abu Dhabi and India work together to grow tourism numbers, especially MICE? Abu Dhabi was selected as the TAAI Convention’s host venue following a successful bid by the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau – the dedicated division of Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) which champions the emirate as a dynamic global business events leader. Our location and ease of access makes Abu Dhabi a superb meetings and conventions choice – where delegates can arrive fresh and ready to get down to business.

India is a key market for corporate and incentive groups, and offers great potential from the Weddings sector as a convenient wedding celebration destination. Abu Dhabi has the facilities to host large groups

Mubarak Al Nuaimi

and intimate wedding celebrations, while offering the depth and diversity of experiences for add-on elements. We also have an extensive network of professional conference organisers and destination management companies to help plan festivities, supported by an Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau scheme which offers a range of incentives to support wedding planners.

What are the new hotel and convention facilities that will soon be available in Abu Dhabi?

In addition to the recent opening of the Marriott Downtown, Four Seasons Abu Dhabi, Al Maryah Island and the Millennium Bab Al Qasr hotels, there is a stream of major hotel developments under construction and slated for opening between now and 2018. The 400+ roomed citycentre Fairmont Marina on the Corniche Breakwater, five-star Jumeirah Beach Resort on Saadiyat Island which will have 297 rooms and is due for completion in Q4 2018; another five star property is the Grand Rotana Saadiyat, which will have 341 rooms and is due to open Q4 this year. Also under construction is the deluxe city hotel apartments Park View Arjaan Saadiyat, which will have 217 rooms and is due for completion in Q3 2017. A Hard Rock Hotel has also been announced for opening in 2018.

What is the future roadmap?

There will be continued investment in the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau to position Abu Dhabi as a leading business events destination and attract and host major conference and congress meetings. It will work in a coordinated joined-up approach bringing government, Government Related Entity, public and private sectors together under a ‘one Abu Dhabi’ for bid developments to target conferences, congress and association meetings from sectors identified as pillars of 2030 Vision – education, medical, transport, environmental, sustainable energy etc.

The Convention Bureau will continue to offer the Advantage Abu Dhabi incentive programme which acts as a catalyst to support and stimulate the sector for attracting business events to Abu Dhabi, and we are improving event licensing system to ease application process for all event hosts and planners. I believe these actions will appeal to the Indian market.

Mauritius Tourism targets Tier II & III cities ETW Staff Mumbai MAURITIUS Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) India, in association with Air Mauritius recently organised seminars for travel agents in Trichy, Madurai, Jaipur, Kolkata and Amritsar.

The events saw participation from India offices of Orange

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Tourism, My Value Travels, Akquasun, Shanti Maurice, InterContinental, Constance and Beachcomber Hotels.

The product presentation was conducted by Vivek Anand, country manager, MTPA India and Vinit Gupte, manager – India and South Asian sub-continent, Air Mauritius. The DMCs and hotels also gave product

presentations to share information about their offerings.

Around 400 travel agents were present across all cities, at the seminars.

Anand said, “The responses of the travel trade partners in all five cities were awe-inspiring.

More and more Indian travellers are planning to travel to the affordable luxury destination,

Mauritius. We are getting enquiries for quite a few Indian weddings. Film producers are also showing interest in shooting Bollywood movies in Mauritius.”

He added, “Mauritius offers amazing activities for adventure lovers like sky diving, ziplining, quad biking, seakarting, submarine rides, helicopter tours and also life time experience of walk-

ing with the lions and safari.

Rum and tea tasting tours are also gaining popularity among the tourists. Besides its natural splendour, the island has all the key facilities required for organising successful meetings, conferences and events. The DMCs and hotels are geared towards providing all facilities required for large Indian weddings.”

IN THE NEWS

Namaste Tourism Heritage 365 promotes Hungary in partners with Italian embassy India market

to promote craft tourism Saloni Bhatia New Delhi

Mohit Rathod Mumbai MUMBAI-BASED Namaste Tourism recently conducted a travel trade workshop for Hungary in Mumbai, to promote the various destinations of Central and Southern Europe in the India market. The workshop was also attended by Dr Norbert Revai-Bere, consul general, Consulate General of Hungary, Mumbai; Bollywood actor Yusuf Hussain; and Mehmet Akay, general manager, Southern and Western India, Turkish Airlines.

Speaking about the destination, Revai-Bere said, "History, infrastructure and cultural offerings are among the key points in tourism promotion for Hungary.

We have much more to offer and I urge the Indian travel fraternity to explore Central and Southern Europe."

Since the Consulate General of Hungary commenced Visa issuance last year, the number of visas issued to Indian travellers

History, infrastructure and cultural offerings are among the key points in tourism promotion for Hungary has grown three-fold. Hungary also has a contract with VFS for visa processing.

"Namaste Tourism is planning to approach promoting the destinations of Central and Southern Europe through Hungary by organising such workshops on a regular basis for the members of the travel trade and giving them recommendations on putting together unique itineraries that they can offer to their client base as per their niche segment of specialisation MICE, luxury holidays, FITs or group departures," commented Subhash Motwani, founder and director, Namaste Tourism, who

shared various itineraries with the travel partners.

Alongside the workshops, Hungary is also banking upon film tourism to the region. RevaiBere added, "Being in Mumbai, we have a good reach to Bollywood and I urge film producers to shoot in Hungary. The film industry has a key influence on growth in the number of travellers. We are also going to hire more human resource at the consulate to improve efficiency in visa processing."

The capital of Hungary, Budapest, is presently well connected by Turkish Airlines, through its hub in Istanbul.

IN ORDER to promote heritage tourism of the country, Aman Nath, chairman, Neemrana Hotels has initiated the concept of Heritage 365. The event held on November 25 and 26 in New Delhi featured design, fashion, crafts, jewellery, lifestyle and heritage tourism. Heritage 365 is a unique publicprivate partnership venture between the TNM Foundation and the governments of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan along with the embassy of Italy. Nath informed, “We hope that heritage will not just be locked away as a vestige of the past that more and more craft products will be used daily by discerning guests. Also, using heritage properties for holidays will take development to far flung regions and make us more India proud – all the 365 days.”

Speaking to Express TravelWorld, H E Lorenzo Angeloni, ambassador of Italy to India, stated, “Cultural heritage is certainly one of the most important asset of Italy and we have persevered it over the years.

There are many locations in India like Hampi that have great scope of being promoted as heritage destina-

tions. Through this initiative we would like to join forces with the Indian states and work on restoration as we will be able to share our experience on the science of conservation.”

Preeti Sinha, vice president, Yes Culture, added, “Yes Culture has worked on four areas to make a unique development model for India, namely craft clusters, heritage management, food culture and spiritual tourism. We will identify projects with the help of governments of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to make sure the heritage is being well preserved.”

Deepika Roy Choudhary, general manager, Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation; N Srivastava, commissioner, department of tourism of Gujarat and Sanjay Pande, additional director, department of tourism of Rajasthan were also present at the conference to talk about the potential in the three states.

Heritage 365 will showcase and promote brand Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and garner recognition for these states. The entire event has been conceptualised and organised by Vandana Haksar and Gunjan Mubayi.

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IN THE NEWS

Nijhawan Group,Guideline Travel join forces to launch WWWTravel Mohit Rathod & Saloni Bhatia Mumbai IN ONE OF the first-of-its-kind move in the Indian travel industry, leading travel conglomerate Nijhawan Group and Mumbaibased Guideline Travels have partnered to launch a global destination management company World Wide Web Travel (WWW Travel). The unique selling point of the company is its presence in the home country promoted by WWW Travel in India.

Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Anahita Avari, CEO, WWW Travel, elaborated, "We are a network of Destination Management Companies (DMCs) with our own of-

Anahita Avari

Ankush Nijhawan

fices, in the countries we promote." Ankush Nijhawan, managing director, Nijhawan Group, added, "WWW Travel will bridge the gap between offline agents in India and other coun-

tries. The project will collaborate with travel agents worldwide through the platform and help them offer their packages to the potential travellers."

The business model of

WWW Travel comprises stake acquisition in established travel companies in destination countries, which then houses WWW Travel's staff and ensures smooth operations and better customer experiences through co-ordination with Mumbai India office.

WWW Travel already has a presence in the USA and Canada, Bhutan and East Africa.

WWW Travel operates exclusively on B2B business model and is looking to expand with the inclusion of East African countries such as Rwanda, Zanzibar, and Uganda; the Philippines, among other destinations.

Avari, who possesses about 25 years of industry experience

and has recently joined WWW Travel, added, "We serve B2B customers as full-fledged DMC, for the countries we represent. As we are one of the early entrants, we will expand in a planned manner. We are hoping to conduct business with pan India travel agents and tour operators for the countries we offer."

The Nijhawan Group has seen a fruitful year with investments in groups like Deyor camps and representation of Dubai Parks and Resorts.

Speaking about future plans, Nijhawan said, "We will be launching our charter services from Mumbai. It will be a four to five seater aircraft for shorter routes like MumbaiRajkot or Mumbai- Surat.”

Domestic bookings witness exponential growth: Booking.com Sudipta Dev Mumbai ONE OF THE world's leading online hotel booking and accommodation provider, Booking.com has seen exponential growth of domestic bookings in the India market in recent times. Remco Van Zanten, director of Partner Services at Booking.com revealed that in early 2014 more properties being booked on Booking.com were by international travellers and since then, the ratio of international bookers to domestic bookers has dramatically changed. “We are seeing more domestic bookings than in-

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ternational bookings. Within India domestic bookings has increased significantly over the last couple of years. Indians are choosing to travel and explore their own backyard and travel and visit all the amazing places this country has to offer. More and more Indians are also opting for weekend breaks, close to home,” stated Van Zanten.

The Partner Services Department focuses on servicing Booking.com’s 815,000 plus accommodation partners around the world. Pointing out that India is an extremely important market with great potential for Booking.com in APAC, he men-

Remco Van Zanten

tioned, “It is an exciting time for the company to be in India. More than the whopping growth in

property count, what is more satisfying for us is the changing complexion of our Indian business.” Van Zanten believes that the fact that the company has kept the customer at the center of everything, has been a key driver for its growth and success in the market. “We consistently worked on optimising our product, building relationships with Indian property owners to ensure good availability, prioritising customer service and user experience,” he remarked.

Elaborating on how the company's global positioning benefits both hoteliers and customers in India, Van Zanten stated,

“Our customers benefit from unparalleled choice and diversity of accommodation through Booking.com’s more than one million properties in 220 countries with 35 accommodation categories from apartments, villas, guesthouses, tree-houses, boats and more.”

Booking.com has an awardwinning 24/7 customer service in 42 languages. The company enables its partners to capitalise on the growing internet opportunity, helping them attract guests from all over the world.

“We are a highly cost-effective marketing channel with global reach,” he said.

IN THE NEWS

Switzerland eyes 10 per cent growth with two new campaigns

Saloni Bhatia New Delhi AFTER SIGNING Ranveer Singh as the brand ambassador, Switzerland has launched two new campaigns to attract Indian travellers. Titled 'Nature wants you back', the winter and summer campaigns will combine adventure and leisure activities in the country. The winter campaign will focus on all the action and adventure that can be explored in the wilderness. Talking to Express TravelWorld, Ritu Sharma, deputy director, Switzerland Tourism, India, stated, “The new campaign talks about activities that can be enjoyed in both winters and summers. Ranveer Singh was the perfect fit to the new campaign due to his Bollywood connect.

Although Bollywood has pro-

moted the country in a big way in the past, the campaigns will make people aware about the numerous other offerings in the country. ” The campaign was launched in the presence of the tourism partners of Switzerland like Zurich, Basel, Ticino, Matterhorn and Swiss International Air Lines. The summer campaign will be led by Singh and new TV commercials will be launched in January 2017, informed Sharma. The destination witnessed 16 per cent growth in Indian tourist arrivals in 20152016 and we aim to sustain this double digit growth through these new campaigns, she added.

Claudio Zemp, director, India, Switzerland Tourism, said, “In India we see people getting more adventurous these days.

Peru augments India efforts ETW Staff Mumbai COMMERCIAL Office of Peru in India is augmenting its promotional initiatives by imparting destination knowledge and increasing destination visibility. The recently organised seminar by the Office titled, 'Peru: Empire of Hidden Treasures', was aimed at firsttime travellers to Peru.

Peru is no longer unfamiliar for the Indian traveller. This emerging destination has a lot to share with its travellers and those who attended the seminar had the opportunity to enjoy some of it - the majestic Amazon jungle, the Andes mountain range, the extraordinary architecture of the capital city Lima, ancient cultures and cities like Caral, the majestic city of Machu Picchu and the city of Cusco.

Year on year, the num-

ber of tourists from India to Peru has been increasing by almost 20 per cent on an average. The Commercial Office of Peru in India has highlighted that this upward trend in number of Indians visiting Peru, for leisure as well as business, is now firmly established.

The changing tastes of the Indian traveller and the developing commercial and investment ties between India and Peru are both factors that will continue to contribute to this upward trend. For the Indian tourist travelling for leisure, Peru is away from what is hackneyed and gives one a chance to explore the unexplored, the untold and the imaginative! In terms of business travel, aspects like the Free Trade Agreement, already underway between India and Peru will contribute positively to outbound travel from India to Peru.

They do not only want to take a cable car up a mountain and take pictures but also want that thrill and rush which one gets while doing adventure sports.

Winter is coming up and is an absolutely beautiful time to visit Switzerland. One can enjoy various winter activities and explore their hidden passion for adventure with sports such as skiing, snow-shoe trekking, tobogganing.” When asked whether the demonetisation will affect the winter traffic to Switzerland, Sharma mentioned, “The demonetisation in the country might affect the winter travellers to a certain extent but the actual rush to Switzerland starts during April. Hopefully the economy will be back on track by next year and numbers will increase.

Switzerland has a lot to offer than just scenic locations.”

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December 2016

IN THE NEWS

Cosmos and Globus unveil 2017 offerings

ETW Staff Mumbai AS PLANS of travelling make resurgence on must-do lists in 2017, both cost-conscious and seasoned travellers alike are turning to packaged vacations with value inclusions. The Globus family of brands has unveiled scores of vacations, including new getaways, travel styles and savings on its vacation prices for as much as 25 per cent.

Cosmos, one of the leaders in budget travel segment, will continue to focus on growing its niche by reaching out to travellers who are seeking the real experiences with a balance of included sightseeing and free time of their own to personalise their vacation experience, whether to Europe, Asia, North or South America. Targeted towards travellers interested in international experiences, Cosmos is suitable for travellers who prefer sampling local cuisine instead of seeking Indian fare in overseas destinations. These segment is said to have grown numbers over the last few years.

Cosmos is offering savings for 2017 and also has unveiled its collection of nine vacations under US$ 1000 that include accommodation, coach tours, sightseeing with local guides, services of a trained tour director, breakfast and some addi-

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tional meals.

The list features packages priced at US$ 999 such as British Panorama (six days), Lisbon, Seville and Madrid (nine days), Best of the Netherlands (seven days), Highlights of the Canyonlands (seven days), Prague, Vienna and Budapest (nine days), Irish Explorer (nine days), Highlights of Morocco (10 days), Costa Rica Escape (eight days), and Grand Tour of Turkey (13 days).

Cosmos’ 2017 list additionally includes new destinations like Vietnam, China, Japan, Mexico and Cuba.

Globus currently offers a choice of destinations across 82 countries throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia including China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Globus travel styles range from the multi-country Panoramas to indepth Regional Discovery Vacations and from all-inclusive Avalon river cruises to Monograms’ Independent travel vacations, for those who do not wish to travel with a group.

“Our vacations appeal to the evolved traveller and are different from what any other tour operator is offering in India. Our choice of itineraries, destinations, travel styles, the length of stay, travel dates and prices is unmatched and we will continue to focus on providing value to our travellers and that would

mean the best experience at the least cost possible,” said Varesh Chopra, regional director – South Asia and the Middle East, Globus.

“This is also the singular reason why Indian clientele have chosen our brands as their preferred choice for more than three decades now. The repeat

clientele factor stays at 60 per cent as they keep coming back to their favourite way of travelling.

Repeat travellers also get attractive loyalty discounts. All this adds up to help agents and sellers effectively retain clientele, whilst ensuring they have a superlative experience,” added Chopra, while encouraging sell-

ing partners to look out for a host of new benefits, also including fully paid FAM and industry discount opportunities for 2017.

Globus family of brands vacations can be booked through one’s preferred travel agent or any of their general sales agents (GSA) and can be viewed at globusfamily.com/india.

Sunil Kumar re-elected as UFTAApresident ETW Staff Mumbai SUNIL KUMAR R has been re-elected to serve United Federation of Travel Agents’ Associations (UFTAA) as the president for 2016-2017 term, at the Golden Jubilee Congress’ Annual General Assembly of UFTAA held in Istanbul recently.

The new UFTAA Board for 2016-2017 has the following members: Sunil Kumar, president (India); Yossi Fatael, vice presdient (Israel); S G Kaka, vice president, Finance (Kenya); Mario Bevacqua (Italy); Richard Lohento (Benin); Leonce Diarra (Burkina Faso); Madhusudan Acharya (Nepal); Cetin Gurcen (Turkey). Ramesh Marwah (India) will serve as the secretary general of UFTAA. Kumar is also the current president of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI ) for the term 2015-2017.

IN THE NEWS

Mega Maldives Airlines launches non stop flights from Delhi to Male Saloni Bhatia New Delhi THE LARGEST international carrier of Maldives, Mega Maldives Airline has launched nonstop flights between New Delhi and Male, starting November 15, 2016. The flights will run thrice a week with a journey time of three hours and 40 minutes (outbound) and four hours and 20 minutes (inbound). The 737-800 aircraft will be flying on this route with 12 business class and 156 economy class seats. The round trip tickets are fairly priced at `40,000 for business class and `26,800 for economy. The capital-to-capital connect along with nonstop connectivity is expected to increase tourist traffic to both the countries.

The flight will depart from Delhi in the morning and arrive in Maldives just after mid

day. George Weinmann, founder and CEO, Mega Maldives Airline said, “The schedule provides significant benefits as the travellers will land in Maldives just after mid-day which shall give them the time to spend the day at leisure. This shall enable the travellers to make the best use of hotel check-times and sea-plane transfers.”

The airline will soon be starting its Mumbai operations with two flights a week and plans to further add domestic connectivity between the two cities, Mumbai and Delhi. The future plan also includes flights between New Delhi and Dhaka.

Talking about the tourism potential of both countries, Ahmed Mohamed, Ambassador of Maldives to India, said, “The flights will increase connectivity between northern In-

dia and Maldives. India is an important market for Maldives as it jumped from rank eight to six in 2015 on the inbound tourist arrivals. The first eight

months of 2016 has already witnessed an increase of 21.4 per cent Indian tourist arrivals as compared to last year. This flight shall mutually benefit

tourism in both the countries.”

The airlines operates in 15 destinations and has over 40 per cent share in the China market.

Dragonair rebranded as Cathay Dragon ETW Staff Mumbai DRAGONAIR has been officially rebranded as Cathay Dragon. At an unveiling ceremony at the newly-named Cathay Dragon House, the airline’s headquarters in Hong Kong, Algernon Yau, CEO, Cathay Dragon, said, “This is a momentous day in the history of Cathay Dragon and I am excited about the future of the airline and the fresh opportunities that our rebranding brings.

As we align more closely with Cathay Pacific, new prospects

will open up on multiple fronts enabling us to become stronger and thrive in this intensely competitive industry.”

The airline’s customers also joined in the launch celebration at a separate event at Hong Kong International Airport, which involved Cathay Dragon pilots, cabin crew and ground staff. Local celebrity Nicholas Tse was also present to welcome Cathay Dragon passengers at the departure gate with an assortment of treats from his Chef Nic’s Cookie Cha Chaan Teng range. In a newly formed partnership with the singer-actor,

Cathay Dragon will carry Chef Nic’s Cookies in all classes for selected periods and flights as part of the rebranding celebration.

The Dragonair-to-Cathay Dragon brand conversion process started earlier this year following an initial rebranding announcement in January. The most visible change to date has been the introduction of the new Cathay Dragon livery, which includes the Cathay ‘brushwing’ logo, serving as a visual association to the integrated airline group.

The rebranding will introduce both airlines to a wider au-

dience, from the growing inflow of overseas passengers who are more familiar with the Cathay Pacific brand, to the numbers of Cathay Dragon passengers from Mainland China.

Cathay Dragon has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific since 2006.

Passengers will be greeted with the new Cathay Dragon identity at check-in desks, boarding gates and lounges across the airlines’ networks, from crew uniforms to boarding passes. The airline’s website will become fully integrated into a single shared

website with Cathay Pacific in early 2017.

In addition, the G16 lounge in Hong Kong, which is currently undergoing an extensive renovation, will reopen as a group lounge in 2017.

“I am confident that Cathay Dragon will maintain the highest level of operational and service excellence built by our people over the past 30 years. I truly believe that we have great potential and an amazing future ahead of us by working together to make the most of the opportunities for both our airline and our people,” added Yau.

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December 2016

IN THE NEWS

Thai Smile Airways launches Jaipur-Bangkok direct services ETW Staff Mumbai THAI SMILE Airways is expanding international routes with the launch of its Jaipur – Bangkok flight. The new A320-200 Airbus will fly directly from Jaipur to Bangkok where passengers can continue travel connections to other cities in Thailand.

Captain Woranate Laprabang, acting CEO, Thai Smile Airways, stated, “After the launch of Bangkok – Gaya – Varanasi route in early October, we found that the feedback is very impressive. We

are proud and ready to start operating another route to India, that is between Bangkok and Jaipur. This is to underscore our aggressive strategy in expanding international routes while encouraging passengers from both countries to explore the new travelling experience. Opening this new route is to answer to the demands of the Indian tourists who love the charm of Thailand.”

Thai Smile has also joined forces with partners that include Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Thailand Convention and Exhibition

Bureau (TCEB) to organise “Explore Your Smile, Explore Thai Taste” event at Radisson Blu Hotel, Jaipur, India. The purpose is to raise awareness and provide updated information about the tourism and MICE market in Thailand to associated agencies both from government and private sectors.

Thai Smile operates three flights a week from Bangkok to Jaipur, on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. It also operates three flights a week from Jaipur to Bangkok, on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

The new flight will offer a

premium economy class (12 seats) and economy class (150 seats) and features such as the in-flight entertainment experience, and Indian cuisine and beverages. Thai Smile offers free baggage allowance of 40 kgs for premium economy or Smile PLUS and 30 kgs for economy or Smile Class.

Moreover, all passengers of Royal Orchid and premium economy class can enjoy a privilege lounge at Suvarnabhumi.

“With a commitment to becoming one of the most popular airlines in Asia, we therefore continue to expand

international routes and increase frequency for flights to facilitate the passengers. The opening of Bangkok – Jaipur route is considered one of the major destinations in the strategic region of the Indian subcontinent. To follow this success, we shall introduce additional route to India, that is Lucknow – Bangkok , on the December 16, 2016. We are sure that with our good reputation in terms of delivering impressive traveling experience, Thai Smile will become a leader in the India market in the near future, certainly,” added Laprabang.

AirAsia Berhad invests `115 crore in AirAsia India ETW Staff Mumbai MALAYSIA’S AirAsia Berhad has invested in additional funds worth `115 crore in AirAsia India, which reported a net loss of `62 crore in the September quarter this year. In AirAsia India, which started operations in June 2014, the Malaysian carrier holds 49 per cent stake while the remaining 51 per cent is with the Tatas.

Announcing its earnings for the three months ended September 2016 to the Malaysian stock exchange, AirAsia Berhad said it has increased investments in the Indian joint venture airline.

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“In the current quarter, AirAsia Berhad, through its wholly-owned subsidiary AirAsia Investment, subscribed to 1,14,905,000 shares of `10 each aggregating `1,149,050,000 equivalent to RM 71.1 million.

This has increased total investment in AirAsia India,” the Malaysian airline said in a filing.

AirAsia India saw its loss marginally narrow to `62.18 crore in the latest quarter, from `63.14 crore in the yearago period. However, revenues rose to 31 per cent to `175.11 crore in the three months ended September. It stood at `132.95 crore in the same period a year ago.

In India, the forecast load factor for the third quarter of 2016 is at 84 per cent. For the remaining quarter of 2016, AirAsia India will remain focused on building a footprint in India with the introduction of new routes and frequency increases During the quarter under review, the number of people carried by AirAsia India rose

42 per cent with a unit passenger revenue of ` 2,976. Ancillary income per passenger was

at `409 while the load factor was at 88 per cent for the local carrier, the filing said.

“In India, the forecast load factor for the third quarter of 2016 is at 84 per cent. For the remaining quarter of 2016, AirAsia India will remain focused on building a footprint in the Indian domestic market with the introduction of new routes and frequency increases,” the filing said.

Earlier this month, AirAsia India CEO Amar Abrol had said the airline will continue to make investments and expand fleet size to 10 in the current financial year ending March 2017.

(PTI)

IN THE NEWS

Italy eyes luxury market through cruise tourism

Jet Airways to operate on Fiji–Shanghai route ETW Staff Mumbai

Mohit Rathod Mumbai ITALY is tapping the luxury travel segment in India, through cruise tourism. The tourism authority of Italy, Agenzia Nazionale Del Turismo (ENIT) Mumbai, recently organised a travel trade event onboard Costa Luminosa at Mumbai Port Trust. The event was orgainised as part of the Festa Italiana 2016 festival. Focused on explaining visa norms and related issues for the upcoming tourist season, the event was headed by Ugo Ciarlatani, consul general of Italy, Mumbai; Salvatore Ianniello, India representative, ENIT and Nalini Gupta, managing director, Lotus Destinations (GSA for Costa Cruises – India).

Speaking about cruise tourism, Ianniello said, "We realise the potential of the India market. During the last two

years, we have focused a lot on the luxury segment, and cruising is an ideal product for this segment. In 2015, we have seen an impressive growth, amounting 4,26,000 Indian visitors to Italy, which is a huge number."

Adding to that, Gupta pointed out that the Indian travel fraternity lacks proactiveness in cruise business.

"The Indian travel trade must look at cruising more actively.

Cruising has been in demand in the India market, but there are less people in the industry to take care of it. I realised that cruise can take travellers to some of Italy's unexplored places and coastlines. On an average, each Costa Cruise has about 350-400 Indians onboard, including the crew. In the beginning, we had only family bookings, but now we have been getting MICE, groups and weddings business too. The whole topography of demand

and clientbase has changed in the recent years. Also, the margins in cruising are high," she said.

This year, the Consulate General of Italy in Mumbai has issued 60,000-65,000 visas.

However, Ciarlatani suggested to submit visa applications well in advance. Ciarlatani stated, "Italy is one of the biggest destinations for Indian travellers in Europe. One of the main businesses in Italy is tourism.

Every year, we have witnessed 10-12 per cent increase in tourism from India, but the main challenge in front of us right now is visa processing.

Due to security concerns and the ongoing migrant crisis, we have to inspect each and every visa application carefully, therefore we urge people to apply well in advance."

The consulate is also planning to expand its staff to boost visa processing efficiency.

JET AIRWAYS is planning to operate flight services to South Pacific nation Fiji and Chinese city of Shanghai and is likely to tie up with Fiji Airways and China Eastern Airlines as it seeks to expand its global network further with direct flights and forging partnership with overseas carriers. At present Jet Airways, in which Gulf airline Etihad Airways holds 24 per cent stake, has codeshare pacts with 19 international airlines besides having over 100 interline partners.

“Jet Airways is in the process of providing direct air connectivity to Fiji and Shanghai. It has filed codeshare schedule with Fiji Airways launching services on Hong Kong – Nadi route. It has also filed codeshare schedule with China Eastern Airlines for operating flight services to Shanghai’s Pu Dong International Airport from New Delhi,” a source said.

When contacted, Jet Airways said it was constantly evaluating opportunities to provide enhanced connectivity to its passengers. “As a network carrier with international operations, Jet Airways is constantly evaluating

opportunities to offer greater connectivity and benefits to its guests,” a Jet Airways spokesperson said in a statement to PTI. Fiji Airways, the flag carrier of Fiji is based in Nadi and operates international and domestic services to 10 countries including Oceania, the US,

Jet Airways has codeshare pacts with 19 international airlines besides having over 100 interline partners Hong Kong and 17 cities.

China Eastern Airlines, which has three subsidiaries as well including a cargo carrier and is a member of the global airlines grouping SkyyTeam, operates to 217 destinations.

(PTI)

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December 2016

IN THE NEWS

Tourism industry experiences initial slump after demonetisation but supports move Reema Lokesh Mumbai THE SURPRISE announcement made by PM of India, Narendra Modi to demonitise `500, `1000 denomination notes, in order to tackle corruption, did send an initial panic wave across businesses, with the tourism industry being no exception. The tourism industry, especially those in the outbound travel space have expressed their views that business will definitely witness a dip, particularly in the high-end leisure travel space and the wedding business, atleast during the initial few months period. Tour operators in that space have already received requests from clients for cancellation of trips. As per reports, weddings in Thailand and some other select destinations have seen cancellations, hence tour operators catering to the destination weddings niche sector, predict that they will face challenges in the coming months.

Subhash Motwani, founder, Namaste Tourism, Mumbai, said, “The destination wedding industry will be adversely effected. In the short term, the travel business will have an impact, but in the long run it will be positive for the tourism industry as paying by cheque, demand draft, wire transfer or credit card will be the positive norm and this is a positive sign for the industry.”

Whereas, a few in the industry feel this move will shift bookings to online space. Anuj Singhal, head, Travel Representation House, New Delhi, commented, “Black money is used in travel and tourism especially in smaller cities. This will certainly have a negative impact on tourism. People will have more tendency to book online.” Jayesh Asher, head, Pearl Travels, Pune, said this

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Bjorn Deniese

Vikas Khanduri

Veneeta Rawat

Swaytank Maheshwari

Siddharth Jain

Ajay Chhabria

move will definitely put an initial curb on extravagant leisure travel expenditure. Jyot Jhaveri, Sunday Holidays, Mumbai supported Asher’s view, but felt this will all pan out over the months for the benefit of the industry. Sudhir Patil, founder and director, VeenaWorld, said, "With this move we expect to tap into the untapped markets, as there will be better systems from the banking view point. There is a slow down but which is rather temporary. It will be beneficial in the long run."

Speaking about the sentiments of the industry espe-

cially in the region of Rajasthan, Swaytank Maheshwari, MD, Rainbow Vacations, Jaipur, opined, “Leisure travel in the short term will be affected, but corporate may not be impacted. It is the wedding market, which has taken a big hit in the tourism space. People are not taking any chances as of today as it is more a wait and watch game. I also feel people should come back to us and the business will see an upswing again in the coming months."

Representing the hospitality industry in Odisha and Sikkim, Bjorn Deniese, VP, sales and marketing, Mayfair

Hotels and Resorts, mentioned that scale of weddings have been reduced in both regions.

"The demonetisation decision has surely affected our casino business. Since our property has the only casino set up, the business out of that niche area has seen a dip," he said.

New Delhi based industry thought leader, Rakesh Lamba, believes it is a positive move.

"The economy will benefit and the people will enjoy the benefits in the long run. This move will also bring in a lot of structure in the tourism business.

The honest have nothing to worry," mentioned Lamba.

Vikas Khanduri, founder and CEO, Holiday Merchants said, "The problem arrives when one has to pay directly for entrances of monuments, local transport, meals, spot payment form oval guides etc.

The travel trade is ready to service and manage crisis as always, it's the clients who are holding back. The business community which prefers cash payments are facing the problem. The month of November which is normally active on the business front was slow. The Dubai Shopping Festival looks low key. It is surely a wait and watch situation yet."

Ajay Chhabria, director, In Time Travels, commented, "As much as I am with the PM of India being an honest individual and the love for India, I yet believe the corrupt system will never be able to completely eradicate black money." Siddharth Jain, director, Click2Travel and partner Sapphire Ventures, stated, "There have been postponement of trips and people are surely holding back. The corporate travel with us has been been affected. The high end leisure business has taken a beating.

However having said that the future is going to be good I feel."

Veneeta Rawat, director, Amazing Vacations and VP, AK Travel and Tours aptly concluded with a postive note, "We are positive that the situation will bounce back as enquires for the summers have already started coming in. We are into high-end FITs and family. We as a company have always handled corporates and our procedures have been transparent. The initial reaction was of cancellations and travel has been postponed.

Business is picking up slowly and people still have travel on their mind."

IN THE NEWS

New visa policy aimed Washington,DC at boosting trade; taps India market increasing foreign for first time arrivals ETW Staff Mumbai

ETW Staff Mumbai AIMING to attract more tourists and boost trade, the central government has approved a new liberalised visa policy that includes longterm multiple-entry comprehensive visa by merging tourist, business, medical and conference visas into one. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also decided to extend the e-Tourists Visa to eight more countries, taking the total number of countries which are under cover the scheme to 158. The Union Cabinet has given its approval for liberalisation, simplification and rationalisation of the existing visa regime in India and incremental changes in the visa policy decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with various stakeholders, according an official statement.

The approval will facilitate entry of foreigners for tourism, business and medical purposes. This is expected to stimulate economic growth, increase earnings from export of services like tourism, medical value travel and travel on account of business and to make ‘Skill India’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Make in India’ and other such flagship initiatives of the government successful.

This will also considerably ease the travel of foreigners to India for the above-mentioned

This is expected to stimulate economic growth, increase earnings from export of services like tourism, medical value travel and travel on account of business and to make ‘Skill India’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Make in India’ and other such flagship initiatives of the government successful purposes, the release said.

Tourists, businessmen or people coming for treatment or to attend conferences or even for film shoots will be covered under the new category of visa, which was first mooted by the Commerce Ministry following a suggestion by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to boost services trade. The long-term, multiple-entry visa will be given upto 10 years but under this category the visitor will not be allowed to work or stay permanently, a government official said.

Except those covered under the 10 year travel and trade visa policy, citizens of other countries would be offered five year multiple visa for travel and trade. As per the proposal, if a foreigner is granted long-term, multipleentry non-working or nonpermanent stay visa and his or her stay is restricted to 60

days on a visit, the government may waive the visa fee as well. However, the visitors have to give biometric details and fulfil certain security obligations, the official said. The plan is part of the Commerce Ministry’s initiatives to boost India’s services trade.

India is said to be missing out on a huge opportunity worth about US$ 80 billion annually in terms of attracting foreigners and foreign exchange. Medical tourism in India alone is estimated at US$ 3 billion and projected to grow to US$ 7-8 billion by 2020.

Foreign patients travelling to India for medical treatment in 2012, 2013 and 2014 stood at 1,71,021; 2,36,898 and 1,84,298 respectively.

Small countries like Thailand attract millions of people whereas tourists flow in India is far less.

(PTI)

DESTINATION DC, the official destination marketing organisation for Washington, DC, recently visited India, in its first direct effort to market the nation’s capital to the South Asian country. In partnership with Etihad Airways, Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and US Travel Association, the delegation has visited Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.

According to the US Department of Commerce, nearly 1.13 million Indian travellers visited the US in 2015. This number is forecasted to increase 25.6 per cent by 2020, to 1.41 million visitors.

IAD is served by 39 airlines flying nonstop to over 50 international destinations around the world. The airport is served by Etihad Airways from its hub in Abu Dhabi, with daily scheduled flights operated by its new generation Boeing 787 Dreamliner. With strategic Indian partner Jet Airways, Etihad Airways operates 252 weekly flights between 15 cities in India and Abu Dhabi, offering onward connections to the US. India is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for air travel, and the number of Indians travelling by air is increasing rapidly. Passengers flying on all Etihad Airways flights from the Indian sub-continent to the US are processed through the US Preclearance facility at Abu Dhabi Airport, which means they pass through all US im-

migration and customs checks in Abu Dhabi and arrive in the US as domestic passengers.

In 2015, Washington, DC welcomed 80,000 visitors from India, making it DC’s sixth largest overseas market. Visitation from India to DC has grown 40 per cent since 2013, when it ranked ninth. Capital Region USA, the region encompassing Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland has seen 70 per cent increase in Indian arrivals.

“India is a strong and emerging market for Washington, DC and the region with lots of potential in terms of leisure travel and business development. In 2015, one out of every 10 Indian visitors to the US visited the capital region,” said Elliott Ferguson, president and CEO, Destination DC. As part of the mission, the delegation will promote attending IPW in Washington, DC, from June 3-7, 2017. Hosted by US Travel Association, IPW is the largest generator of travel to the US. The five-day trade show will take place in Washington, DC for the first time in the event’s over 40-year history. More than 6,000 attendees from over 70 countries, including 1,300 international and domestic travel buyers, will conduct business during IPW, resulting in more than US$ 4.7 billion in direct bookings to US destinations over the next three years. According to Rockport Analytics, Washington, DC is expected to receive a US$ 1.7 billion economic impact over the three years.

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IN THE NEWS

Lemon Tree Hotels to focus on enhancing the guest’s digital and online experience Sudipta Dev Mumbai WITH THE LAUNCH of two new properties recently, in Goa and Bandhavgarh, Lemon Tree Hotels reaffirmed the brand's increasing focus on resort and leisure destinations. The company is also looking at increasing footprint in emerging getaway destinations like the North-East, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal and Odisha, disclosed Vikramjit Singh, president and chief revenue officer, Lemon Tree Hotels.

“After the Middle East, internationally, we wish to be present in locations where Indians frequently travel to in an attempt to cater to their discerning needs, even outside India,” stated Singh. He informed that in the

coming months, the brand strategy will revolve around enhancing the digital and online experience of the guests.

“With more and more guests taking to exploring products online and seeing comfort in e-purchases, we have focused on providing a single window, user-friendly platform by way of integrating the booking engine for all member transactions and engagements,” said Singh, adding that the company has also fast-tracked its activities to take its rewards programme, Lemon Tree Smiles, to the next level, with the introduction of greater customisation, more bonus points, and exciting member benefits. “In fact the brand website and the rewards website are being seamlessly integrated

The brand and the rewards websites are being seamlessly integrated Vikramjit Singh

so that a member can either book our hotels by using his/her stay points with ease, or choose to redeem his/her points online on various retail platforms,” he mentioned. Lemon Tree Hotels has 40 per cent repeat guests

and over five lakh loyalty members signed up with it.

Singh has much to be proud of with all hotels under the Lemon Tree Group achieving over 75 per cent occupancy in the last year, which is much

higher than the average industry standard. “Currently, our economy hotel, Red Fox Hotel, Hyderabad has been clocking 100 per cent occupancy over 100 consecutive days, and has its eyes set on 150 days. Thus, while occupancies at Lemon Tree are at an all time high, our focus towards achieving higher ARRs is growing, of course within the value-for-money proposition that our brands present across segments,” he remarked.

Lemon Tree Hotels presently owns four per cent of the organised mid-market inventory in India and all the three brandsLemon Tree Premier (upscale), Lemon Tree Hotels (midscale) and Red Fox Hotels (economy) are positioned across the midmarket segment.

Goibibo enables digital payment collection from walk-ins ETW Staff Mumbai IN THE BACKDROP of the demonetisation drive, Goibibo has launched a feature for its partner properties to collect online payments from their walk-in and offline customers. There is no requirement of POS machines.

This is said to be a secure and scalable feature launched by Goibibo for its partners.

About 85 per cent of accommodation booking is offline in India and there is a significant volume of properties in India that have a large percentage of walkin guests. Also these properties do not have access to POS ma-

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chines or digital payment instruments. Goibibo aims to solve this problem by enabling 9,000 properties in the first phase.

Properties range from budget hotels, guest houses, BnBs, alternate accommodation, homes, villas, cottages, houseboats etc. It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 such long tail accommodation units in India that lack access to digital payment solutions. Walkin customers can pay at the hotel via credit and debit cards, EMI linked payments, net banking and a host of wallets. Unlike wallets, this channel does not have any payment limit.

The process to collect online

Online travel is one of the few industries that has 100 per cent of its transactions in a digital format. With this feature, we are catalysing the movement from offline to online payments from a walk-in guest is as follows: The property manager uses Goibibo’s business dashboard (ingobibo.com) to generate a real time payment link that is sent to the customer’s

mobile phone. The customer uses the link on mobile phone to make the payment online via debit/credit card or net-banking or wallets. All of this is a 3D secure-based transaction. The

hotel is notified real time of the success or failure of the payment and the customer is notified too.

Goibibo then settles the payment to the hotelier.

Ashish Kashyap, founder and CEO, ibibo, said, “We welcome the demonetisation and digitisation of transactions. Our mission is to organise the accommodation and transportation industry.

This payment feature for offline use is a step in this direction. Online travel is one of the few industries that has 100 per cent of its transactions in a digital format.

With this feature, we are catalysing the movement from offline to online and also solving problems for the hotel industry.”

IN THE NEWS

'WE OFFER ARANGE OFCUSTOMISED SERVICES FOR INDIAN GUESTS' The Montcalm Luxury Hotels is an independent upscale hotel group in London. Honoured with the NRI Foundation Excellence Award by the Govt of India in 2015, Ramesh Arora, MD, The Montcalm Luxury Hotels highlights the group's hospitality focus. By Sudipta Dev Brief background of your hospitality ventures. Any key milestones?

I am very passionate about hospitality and have been in the hospitality business for last 40 years and worked in five continents experiencing all culture of different nations. My major milestones are opening new ventures in various places (UAE, Bahrain and London). I have always believed in the Indian philosophy of ‘Athithi Devo Bhava’ and have implemented this attitude in both my personal and professional life. I am a strong believer in Indian values and have always taken my Indian culture to places wherever I have travelled.

What differentiates brand Montcalm in London's hospitality market?

Our USP vis-à-vis other luxury hotel brands in UK is our

tent and impeccable service standards leading to guest satisfaction which has strengthened our position in the market.

Ramesh Arora

personalised and excellent customer care. Every one of our Montcalm Luxury Hotel offers guests the height of indulgence and relaxation combined with outstanding facilities and exceptional service. We have always been proud of our consis-

What kind of focus do you have on India as a source market?

India is a very important market for us as Indian outbound market is a rising force with a mega potential to travel abroad. Now Indians are moving beyond budget accommodation to experience luxury and we have a range of products to cater to Indian market. In addition, we offer a range of customised services specifically for our Indian guests, from Indian cuisine to Indian TV channels.

We also have staff of Indian origin well versed with various Indian languages to take care of our guests. During WTM, we offer complimentary transfer from our hotels to WTM venue

for our Indian guests. We have recently launched ‘Handy’ in all our Montcalm and Park Grand London Hotels that enable guests to make free unlimited international including India and local calls along with accessing 3G data for internet.

Have you observed any interesting trends in terms of profile and preferences of Indian travellers?

Indians visit London for both business and leisure. A very interesting trend I have observed is that Indians love to visit Hyde Park to breathe fresh air.

What are your future plans for the company? Are there any plans of opening a hotel in India?

We are an ever expanding group with three exclusive brands in London – Shaftes-

bury Hotels, Park Grand London Hotels and Montcalm Luxury Hotels. Since its inception in 2000, Shaftesbury has been investing in under-performing properties and successfully converting them into exclusive accommodations of high standards. In a span of 15 years, the brand has 22 properties, which can be classified as 'contemporary' even by London boutique standards. Recently we have opened our sixth Montcalm hotel – The Royal London House in Finsbury Square, London.

The 253-bedroom hotel marks a remarkable transformation of an imposing mid-century office building into a stylish five star property with uniquely striking views of London’s City skyline.

In future we have some more projects in pipeline in London.

We do have plans to enter the Indian market and will be doing so at the right time.

Airbnb signs MoU with SEWA ETW Staff Mumbai AIRBNB has signed an MoU with the Self-employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA), through which, Airbnb will work with SEWA members to help them share their homes with Airbnb’s community of international and domestic guests, creating economic opportunities for women in rural areas and promoting tourism spend in parts of India that have not traditionally benefited from tourism and

hospitality. The MoU aims at expanding the network of Airbnb homes in rural areas through SEWA’s member network. The initiative will begin in Gujarat and eventually expand to other states that have a significant presence of SEWA members.

Airbnb and SEWA will train SEWA members on home sharing, hospitality and amenity standards, and responsible hosting practices. Airbnb will also help SEWA build a community of SEWA hosts who can learn

from each other and improve hosting standards. Airbnb will also use its digital platform to create awareness of SEWA homes to its community of international and domestic guests.

Airbnb and SEWA will explore opportunities to create visibility and drive demand for the SEWA homes through joint partnerships with various state governments, academic institutions, media partners and other civil society organisations.

“The partnership is an important step in Airbnb’s commit-

ment to enable economic empowerment for female entrepreneurs and promote digital inclusion in rural areas. Our mission is to democratise travel and through the partnership, we can help promote economic opportunities across diverse communities, help revitalise the rural economy,” said Thao Nguyen, director of policy partnerships, Asia Pacific, Airbnb.

“Gujarat is an important market for Airbnb. Today’s partnership, along with our recent MoU with the Government of

Gujarat, signals our commitment to work with local stakeholders to build a model of home sharing that contributes to the local community,” stated Amanpreet Bajaj, country manager, Airbnb India.

“By partnering with Airbnb, we hope to create meaningful, productive and sustainable livelihood opportunities through the new age economy for our two million women members across 14 states of India,” commented Reema Nanavaty, director, SEWA.

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IN THE NEWS

Marriott launches joint meetings offer in Asia Pacific ETW Staff Mumbai MARRIOTT International has launched its first ever joint meetings offer in Asia Pacific for members across its three loyalty programmes: Marriott Rewards, The RitzCarlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). The offer rewards members for booking meetings or events at any of the portfolio’s participating hotels and resorts across Asia Pacific.

“We want to invite our members to celebrate with us as we unlock a new world of destinations and opportunities with our new combined portfolio,” said Peggy Fang Roe, chief sales & marketing officer, Asia Pacific, Marriott International. “With this offer, we bring more options and consistent benefits to all members across three loyalty programmes.

Members can now enjoy over 500 hotels, across 19 brands and 20 countries across Asia Pacific. This is just the first step to making it easier for our members to do business with us and we are excited about offering even more benefits to come.”

Until December 31, 2016, members can book a meeting or event at a promotion participating Mar-

20 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD December 2016

riott Rewards, The RitzCarlton Rewards, or SPG hotel or resort in Asia Pacific for arrivals by December 31, 2017, and get benefits.

Customers can earn loyalty points in the currency of the loyalty programmes that the hotel is part of. For example, customers who book an event at a Renaissance Hotel will earn their loyalty points with Marriott Rewards. The loyalty points can either be redeemed with Marriott Rewards or transferred to one of the other two programmes should the customer wish to redeem points for experiences, stays or benefits from one of the three programmes. While Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and SPG work together to build the world’s best loyalty programme, customers can easily link accounts or join to receive: The combination of Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and SPG now enables customers to have unprecedented choice and access to meetings venues in over 500 hotels in more than 20 destinations across Asia Pacific, from gateway cities such as Shanghai, Bangkok and Tokyo to exciting resort destinations such as Maldives, Langkawi, Fiji and Bali.

Bollywood Parks Dubai opens doors ETW Staff Mumbai DUBAI PARKS and Resorts, the Middle East’s largest integrated theme park destination, has marked opening of Bollywood Parks Dubai, following the opening of Legoland Dubai and Riverland Dubai two weeks ago. Bollywood Parks Dubai is a first-of-its-kind theme park that showcases rides and attractions based on some of Bollywood’s blockbusters. The park opened with a ceremony that included various live entertainment shows performed

by Bollywood artists.

Raed Kajoor Al Nuaimi, CEO, DXB Entertainments PJSC, the owner of Dubai Parks and Resorts, said, “Following the successful opening and commencement of operations at Legoland Dubai and Riverland Dubai, we are very excited and eager to witness our guests’ reactions when they experience Bollywood

Parks Dubai. Today we celebrate the opening of the first Bollywood inspired theme park in the world, and we are confident that it will appeal to a large segment of fans due to its popularity in the region.”

“We are extremely proud to see this magnificent entertainment destination revealed to the world after three years of hard work and perseverance.

Dubai Parks and Resorts is paving the way for future entertainment destinations, and shall forever change the face of family tourism and entertainment in the region” he added.

Bollywood Parks Dubai will feature themed attractions and rides spread across five zones: Bollywood Boulevard, Mumbai Chowk, Rustic Ravine, Royal Plaza and Bollywood Film Studios. Visitors can experience action, story-telling and dance sequences inspired by nine popular films: Rock On, Don, Lagaan, Sholay, Dabangg, Mughal-e-Azam, Zindagi Na

Milegi Dobara, RA One and Krrish. Bollywood Parks Dubai’s flagship offering is the 850seater Rajmahal Theatre that will be home to a separately ticketed Broadway-style, Bollywood -themed show. During the day, the park will have up to 20 live shows across five stages: Rock On, Crossroads, Mumbai Express, Rangmanch and Stars on Steps.

The park will also offer six themed restaurants and eight retail outlets.

Dubai Parks and Resorts comprises three theme parks: Bollywood Parks Dubai, Motiongate Dubai, and the region’s first Legoland Park and a Legoland Water Park. The entire destination is connected by Riverland Dubai, a retail and dining destination at the heart of Dubai Parks and Resorts.

Expected to open in late 2019, Six Flags Dubai will be the destination’s fourth theme park and the region’s first Six Flags theme park.

IN THE NEWS

Yatra.com to focus on hospitality, experiential vacations Saloni Bhatia New Delhi THE CASH CRUNCH in the economy may have affected travel plans in the short term but it is not stopping OTA players from planning big for 2017.

Yatra.com is looking to expand in hospitality and at the same time focus on creating experiential vacations for its customers. Talking to Express TravelWorld, Sabina Chopra, co-founder, Yatra.com stated, “The younger generation is starting to research online for new destinations and experiences which has given more mileage to online portals.

There is more demand for new

experiences like heritage walks, unique food joints and local experiences in a city that come along with the package.

While our main focus will remain to add more hotels, home stays in our portfolio, the concentration will also be in making these experiences available online with the right content.”

The way people travel will soon change as India is headed towards a cashless economy.

Commenting on whether the move affected the online travel sales, Chopra said, “99 per cent of transactions on Yatra.com are done through cards as OTAs were the first to introduce digital transfers. In the

Sabina

initial days post the demonetisation announcement, we certainly saw a dip in traffic to our site, however things are coming

back to normal since then. The move will encourage more people to shift to digital money which will benefit everyone.”

Commenting on the MakeMyTrip and Ibibo merger, she opined, “It is surely a good move for the industry as investors are now looking at the true potential of this sector.

The merger will bring fair competitiveness among players who were earlier fighting off discounts. At Yatra.com we will continue to focus on providing the trusted service to our customers as we always have.”

Targetting the Tier II and Tier III cities, Yatra.com had launched its new mobile application Yatra Mini in August this

year. The team continues to introduce new features like self serve, Facebook chat bots, seller marketplace and voice search on the app in order to be relevant in the market. Chopra stated, “With everyone owning a smart phone today, the day isn't far when the economy entirely shifts to transactions through mobile. These apps are the ideal way to make the product reach the consumer while the content further drives the sales.”

In order to expand into further verticals, Yatra.com will also be looking at partnerships in the homestay space. The brand is already in talks with a few tourism boards, added Chopra.

Goa Tourism at the forefront of cashless facilities ETW Staff Mumbai GOA TOURISM Development Corporation (GTDC) has positioned itself at the forefront of PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Cashless India’ mission. GTDC has already taken the lead bringing all tourism businesses under the ambit of cashless transactions. For businesses such as hotel reservations, package tours, cruise rides or any other tourism service, GTDC has introduced systems that have facilitated cashless transactions, both on-line and offline.

Cashless facility is made possible by GTDC through online web portal, booking of services and products through mobile app available on iOS and Android platforms at GTDC residencies and restaurants through point-of-sale (POS) machines thus enabling

a 360 degree approach to the new cashless system.

GTDC is also working to introduce pay wallets and talks are underway with pay wallet providers. The Santa Monica Jetty also offers payments through credit cards and debit cards. To further this process, the launch of the new e-commerce portal and mobile app in February this year has provided a fool-proof platform for e-business and cashless transactions, also bringing other tourism stakeholders into the cashless circuit.

Official records from the GTDC reveal that cashless transactions to the tune of `2.5 lakh to `3 lakh are executed daily for various services provided by the GTDC, which is in addition to cashless transactions recorded on GTDC’s e-commerce portal and mobile app. Gavin Dias, general man-

GTDC is also working to introduce pay wallets and talks are underway with pay wallet providers. The Santa Monica Jetty also offers payments through credit cards and debit cards ager (hotels), GTDC said, “All GTDC residencies are provided with point-of-sale (POS) machines to facilitate cashless payments and most tourists prefer to use this facility. It is encouraging to see tourists opting for cashless transactions,” while pointing out that in addition to cashless business for GTDC’s hotel accommodation,

GTDC through the e-commerce portal has direct tie-ups with more than 160 hotels and also has tie-ups with channel managers like Staah and Maximojo for tourists to book accommodation using cashless modes of transactions.

He further added that cashless transactions have already become popular and an easy

way out for both tourists and tourism stakeholders. Goa attracts more than five million tourists annually and GTDC is eventually looking at bringing in every tourism stakeholder whether tourist taxis, souvenir shops, guest houses, restaurants etc under cashless business.

Nilesh Cabral, chairman, GTDC stated, “GTDC moves ahead of time and we have one more feather in our cap. I am extremely pleased that GTDC introduced cashless transactions several months ago. Today the world has already logged in to cashless processes and India would have eventually introduced the same. GTDC has succeeded in professionalising the services through cashless systems and we are fully geared to deal with it post December 31, 2016.”

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cover story)

T

HE TRAVEL and tourism industry, in India and across the world, has been witnessing continuous development across various niche segments. Not just confined to evolution in existing tourism segments, the industry has also seen numerous new segments flourishing. In India especially, the rise in disposable income of people has given thrust to outbound tourism market.

More Indians are now travelling the world, which has evidently made them more acquainted with international cultures which include food and beverage as one of the key experiences. In wake of this growing trend, wine has created its own niche in the global tourism space.

While international destinations already enjoy an established wine tourism market due to their historical and cultural associations with the beverage, India is also gaining pace in the space. However, this can be largely attributed to the experience preferences of the discerning traveller and penetration of wine companies in the country.

Wine routes For France, the quintessential wine destination of the world, wine tourism has been an integral part of communication and promotional strategies across both, B2B and B2C platforms. The country leverages upon its numerous wine routes to drive tourism. The key wine routes in France include St Emilion, Bordeaux, nestled in the Aquitaine Poitou-Charentes region, the region of Burgundy; the Loire Valley; the Auvergne Rhone-Alpes region; Provence Alsace and the UNESCO recognised region of Champagne Ardenne. Elaborating on the flourishing wine routes in France, Sheetal Munshaw, director, Atout France - France Tourism Development Agency, Mumbai, shares, “The region of Picardy, which is well known for being part of the Champagne Tourist Route, is also trying to establish its presence in the India market. We are also trying to showcase the wines of the Occitanie (the Midi Pyrénées and Languedoc Roussillon region located in the South-West).”

Australia has more than 2,400 wineries dotted throughout 65 wine regions around the country. These regions produce over 100 different grape varieties that end up in over 30 million glasses of Australian wine that are consumed around the world every day. The popular Australian wine growing

22 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD December 2016

regions among tourists include the Clare Bay to Marlborough. The main wine reValley, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley in gions, each host an annual wine and food South Australia; Yarra Valley and Morning- festival, and most of New Zealand’s winerton Peninsula in Victoria; Hunter Valley in ies offer tastings. Many of the larger winerNew South Wales; Margaret River and ies run restaurants or cafés as part of their Swan Valley in Western Australia and business, and offer both retail and online Tamar Valley in Tasmania, among others. wine sales."

“Among the new wine trails, New South Switzerland’s wines are considered Wales’ Blue Mountains to Orange, the Mur- one-of-its-kind and offer a unique experiray River’s Echuca Moama Trail and Port ence. However most of these are family Macquarie to Byron Bay; Canberra’s Poach- owned and produce limited amount of ers Way; and the Geelong wine region in wine. This is usually consumed within the Victoria have been gaining popularity,” high- region or within the country itself and not lights Nishant Kashikar, country manager, much is exported to other countries. ReIndia and Gulf, Tourism Australia. gions like Zurich, Ticino, Geneva have Although Australia’s wine offerings their special wine offerings, but the largest spread across the country, South Aus- producer is the canton of Valais and the tralia, which is recognised as the birthplace of Australian wines, has garnered special interest. This year, the state’s standing has been cemented further as Adelaide has become a ‘Great Wine Capital of the World’, marking itself on a network of 10 major global cities in both the northern and southern hemispheres, which possess wine regions as their key economic and cultural asset. At Adelaide’s National Wine Centre, travellers can enjoy their wine with a view of the The evolving preferences of the global picturesque botanic gardens.

The wine industry in New Indian traveller for tourism experiences has Zealand has achieved notable success and an international earned wine tourism its own niche across reputation in a relatively short destinations globally. Tour operators and time. The long growing season and cool maritime climate of NTOs in India are looking to tap this the country make conditions ideal for grape growing, prosegment of matured travellers that are ducing distinctive and premium quality wines. The grape growing in numbers varieties, soil structure and mini-climates in these geoBY MOHIT RATHOD graphical areas are varied, producing a broad spectrum of wines. New Zealand has 10 major wine producing areas, which include Lavaux vineyards, a UNESCO World Herthe leading wine regions such as Auckland, itage Site, in the Lake Geneva region. Ritu Gisborne, Wairarapa (Martinborough) and Sharma, deputy director, India, SwitzerHawke's Bay in the North Island and Marl- land Tourism, points out, "We do not proborough, Central Otago and Canterbury in mote this as a stand-alone product, but as a the South Island. supplement to other segment such as culCommenting on the wine tourism space ture traveller, lifestyle traveller and attracin New Zealand, Steven Dixon, regional tions tourer. We also have been promoting manager – South and South-East Asia, this region as a part of the 'Grand Tour of Tourism New Zealand, says, "There is a Switzerland. We have been promoting this growing awareness of wine tourism in New region with most major tour operators and Zealand, and visitors are encouraged to ex- quite a few include a visit to Lavaux as a plore and interact by following the Classic part of their Lake Geneva itinerary. We New Zealand Wine Trail from Hawke’s also had a TV series which included this

WALKING WITH THE VINES

(

THE MAIN FOCUS

Selecting a bottle of wine at Yaldara Estate, Barossa

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cover story) segment as a part of the adventures possible in Switzerland. We will also come up with more ideas in the near future pertaining to the market growth and developments."

Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre

Domestic trails

"Picardy, part of the Champagne Tourist Route, is also trying to establish its presence in India" Sheetal Munshaw Director, Atout France France Tourism Development Agency, Mumbai

"We work in synergy with our Indian trade partners and Australian products" Nishant Kashikar Country manager, India and Gulf, Tourism Australia

"SATC has committed to spend AU$ 2 million during 2015-2017 towards marketing initiatives in India, including promotion of the various wine regions in South Australia" Dana Urmonas Regional director, South East Asia and India, South Australia Tourism Commission (SATC)

24 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD December 2016

In India, wine tourism isn't as established as the international destinations and is largely concentrated in Nashik and its surrounding regions in Maharashtra which produce about 80 per cent of India's wines.

Home to various Indian wine companies, Nashik has been witnessing growth in visitors in this segment. Spread over about 3,000 acres, Sula Vineyards in Nashik is a hotspot for domestic wine tourists. Its flagship initiative, SulaFest, offers music performances, culinary and wine experiences, and a flea market. SulaFest attracts a large footfall of both domestic and international visitors every year. Sula Vineyards also conducts regular wine tours, wine tasting sessions and dining. The facility also features 10 luxurious rooms for guest accommodation.

For another leading domestic player, Grover Zampa, wine tourism is an integral part of its business and experiential marketing programme. Grover Zampa Vineyards, at Nandi Hills and Nashik, offer guided tours of the vineyards with explanation about grape varieties and basic of viticulture practice at Grover Zampa. This is followed by a guided tour of the winery, covering basics about winemaking and wine tasting.

Elaborating on tourism experiences, Sumedh Mandla, CEO, Grover Zampa Vineyards, highlights, "We have been successfully working on annual events like The Great Grover Wine Stomp in Nashik, The Great Grover Wine Festival in Bengaluru and numerous stomping events across various cities to entice wine lovers to visit our wineries regularly and enjoy our personalised tours and tastings and experience the vineyards and winemaking techniques that we follow for making quality wines."

The Blending Bench, d'Arenberg

Royal Champagne 239

Fratelli Vineyards

"Over the recent years, Maharashtra has successfully marked itself as a wine territory of the country" Kapil Sekhri Co-promoter and director, Fratelli Vineyards

One of the recent entrants in the Indian wine space, Fratelli Vineyards offers vineyard tours, visits to the winery and cellar, and tasting sessions. As most of the tourism is concentrated in Nashik, Fratelli Vineyards looks at making Akluj a tourism hub, mapping the town as one of the wine regions in the country. Fratelli's vineyards at Akluj also offers accommodation facility for 8 to 12 people. From the main living area of the guest house one has a view of

the Motewadi vineyard straight ahead and on the left one has a view of the winery.

The winery is situated in a glass structure, allowing guests to view the tanks, bottling process and packaging from the outside. The facility witnesses a footfall of around 2,000 visitors and is growing with more visitors during winter and the harvest season.

Kapil Sekhri, co-promoter and director, Fratelli Vineyards, opines, "Over the recent years, Maharashtra has successfully

marked itself as a wine region of the country. The quality of domestic wine is getting better which has resulted in increased inclination towards wine. Indian wines are receiving global recognition which is largely contributing to the growth of wine tourism in Maharashtra."

Unique experiences There is an absolute diversity in terms of activities that the discerning traveller could engage in while in France, such as vineyard discoveries and interaction with wine-growers, visits of local cellars, participating in the harvest, attending a wine appreciation course, participating in a wine and cheese or even a champagne pairing with Indian food (available in Picardy) and enjoying meals in wine cellars. For those enamoured by the offbeat can look forward to hotair balloon rides over vineyards, cycling through the vineyards or enjoying a wine

(

Roadmap France, on an average, sees tourists aged between 25-50 who enjoy a wine trail experience. A large part of it includes families, friends on a holiday, and young adults. Speaking on promotional strategies, Munshaw explains, "We've seen a growing number of travellers who also like to integrate a wine experience while on their

Rhone Alpes Beaujolais

Credit Photo - RA TourismeP. Fournier

tasting and chateau spotting experience aboard a barge, making your own wine, bottling and personalised labels.

Travellers can explore some of the world's oldest shiraz vineyards in South Australia's Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale, or Sauvignon Blanc in Western Australia's Margaret River. They can also join one of the wine events in Hunter Valley near Sydney, or taste the flagship Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and sparkling wines of Yarra Valley near Melbourne. Almost every wine growing region in Australia has an annual festival where local wine, food and culture can be sampled. The largest is the biennial Tasting Australia, which showcases some of the best Australian offerings. In addition, each vineyard has its own unique experiences, be it the centenary and birth year wine tours in Seppeltsfield, food pairing and cooking classes in Jacob’s Creek, or the "blend your own wine experience" in Penfolds.

Classic New Zealand Wine Trail is a self-drive expedition for food and wine lovers. At around 380 km, the trail covers both the North and South islands, and is reportedly one of the best wine drives in the world. More than 230 wineries are found along the trail and about 100 have an open cellar door for wine lovers. An increasing number of vineyards also offer dining, accommodation and visitor tours. Each region on the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail is famous for its own distinctive wine style, thus offering a unique experience for wine enthusiasts.

Grover Zampa Vineyards

French sojourn. Our next year's campaign, Made in France, will focus on authentic experiences possible in France and wine tourism will continue to be an integral part of this focus. We will continue to showcase wine through several platforms such as the 'Gôut de France/Good France event that is a celebration of French food and wine."

Tourism Australia initiated a global marketing campaign in 2013, titled "Restaurant Australia", to highlight the food and wine experiences. As per the findings of its Consumer Demand Project, since the launch of the Restaurant Australia campaign, spend on food and wine by Indian travellers in Australia has grown to AU$ 127 million, an increase of 51.2 per cent. "We have a robust marketing, communication and trade plan. We will continue to collaborate with key distribution partners, including online travel agencies, and execute

campaigns on television, print, digital and social media. To meet the discerning demands of contemporary Indian travellers, we work in synergy with our Indian trade partners and Australian products. Tourism Australia’s marketing plan and consistent trade engagement programme focuses on promoting the Australian wine regions and inspiring Indian travel enthusiasts to experience the diversity and quality of Australian wines," informs Kashikar.

Adding to that, Dana Urmonas, regional director, South East Asia and India, South Australia Tourism Commission (SATC) states, "SATC has committed to spend AU$ 2 million during 2015-2017 stowards marketing initiatives in India primarily to collaborate with travel agents, airlines and consumer branding programmes. These initiative include promotion of the various wine regions in South Aus-

tralia like Barossa, Adelaide and Kangaroo Island. SATC has also collaborated with tour operators like Thomas Cook, Ottila, Flight Shop and Mercury Travels to include Adelaide and surrounding wine regions as a part of their itinerary."

Tourism New Zealand is looking at the age group of 2554 who are independent professionals and are keen to explore the country along with the fine dining and wine experiences. "We do know it’s a small segment of our visitors who prefer wine and we know the segment is growing slowly, but steadily," comments Dixon.

Grover Zampa, which receives 80 per cent domestic and 20 per cent international travellers, is promoting its winery and vineyard tourism through digital space and majority of its communication in the print channel. Mandla explains, "We have also done tieups with several premium outlets from HORECA space to recommend and promote our winery and vineyards tours to their guests. We work closely with various tour operators to promote both Bengaluru and Nashik locations. We have a tie-up with Cox & Kings as part of their itinerary for luxury train Deccan Odyssey for majority of their tours reaching Nashik."

Fratelli Vineyards is looking at expanding it guesthouse facility, in wake of the growing visitor footfall. "We have already been instrumental in building awareness about Akluj in Maharashtra being a wine region internationally with the wine awards that we have won. A lot of people, who are not wine lovers, are also seen visiting the vineyards, as the location being quite a scenic beauty, it also acts as a perfect getaway for those looking for a short vacation. We strongly believe that timing is right to put up a destination hospitality project which will cater to both kind of guestswine lovers as well as nature adventure lovers."

THE MAIN FOCUS

"We do know it’s a small segment of our visitors who prefer wine and we know the segment is growing slowly, but steadily" Steven Dixon Regional manager – South and South-East Asia, Tourism New Zealand

"We have been promoting the Lake Geneva region as a part of the Grand Tour of Switzerland" Ritu Sharma Deputy director, India, Switzerland Tourism

"We have tie-ups with premium outlets in HORECA space to recommend and promote our winery and vineyard tours” Sumedh Mandla CEO, Grover Zampa Vineyards

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PHOTO FEATURE

North Konkan tourism initiative places the region on the tourism map Maharashtra Tour Operators Association's (MTOA) effort to place North Konkan on the tourism map was received positively by tour operators. On a recently held FAM trip to the region, led by the MTOA's president Sudhir Patil, supported by the president of North Konkan Chamber of Commerce and Agricultural Foundation (NKCCA), Dr Rajeev Churi, along with support of Prabhakar Thakur, Balan Chaudhary, Jagdish Thakur, Prabhakar Save and Shrikant Save, the delegates were introduced to this untapped area for tourism development.Priyanka and Nagesh from Hotel Hill Zill, Suryahans and Chandrahas Choudhary of the Chikoo Festival team and Prabhakar Save and team shared insights on chikoo wine, Chikoo Festival as well as various information about the sightseeing during the visit to Bordi and Gholvad.

The team under the leadership of Balan Choudhary and Prabhakar Thakur in association with various resorts supported the move. From a visit to the old fort at Shirgaon and the reception given by local the Grampanchayat team, the delegation was introduced to some new tourism features.

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PHOTO FEATURE

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IN CONVERSATION

‘GUIDELINE HAS COME ALONG WAYWITH PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE’ Guideline Travels is all set to enter it's 20 year of operations in 2017.

Pradeep Saboo, managing partner, Guideline Travels, narrates the company's journey and the way forward

By Reema Lokesh What is the story behind the dream to set up the firm 20 years ago?

The journey of Guideline began on February 18, 1997. The idea was rather simple, to bring into existence a travel company, which marks itself as a pioneer and also a game changer.

What has been your growth story and the landmark years in business?

We started off from an office space of merely 80 sq ft with a team of two colleagues. In the year 1999 we went on to become the PSA of Star Cruises in India and that is when the B2B business started off. Then came the big year 2003 when the ICC Cricket World Cup took place in South Africa. We partnered with Pyramid Travels consortium to help operate almost 3000 passengers to the cricket event.

This gave birth to the tour operator focus of our company.

SuperStar Libra homeported in Mumbai, India in the year 2005-06 and 2006-07 and changed the way Indians looked at cruising as a concept and holiday option.

Thereafter new innovative concepts were developed at regular intervals like religious groups on sea in 2008 and in Switzerland in 2010. Wedding groups abroad in 2013 - 2015 to Malaysia added feathers to our cap. Simultaneously, we started MICE operations and are growing by 20 per cent annually on a very niche and captive clientele.

Post this period it has been a conscious effort to keep increasing the scale of the business and to sustain the growth

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forward to an organic growth with branches and franchises all across Western India to market and sell leisure products.

Pradeep Saboo

Each passing day our resolve to be one of India’s finest travel companies becomes stronger and the level of perseverance to achieve that dream soars higher rate over these years. Guideline has come a long way though patience and perseverance.

What are the main challenges facing the travel and tourism industry today?

For the conventional travel agent/tour operator of course the online options are the most challenging. More so today as no service provider believes in a long term partnership with travel agents/operators like ho-

tels, airlines and transport all wish to connect directly with the traveller and try to bypass the travel agents/operators.

This is the biggest challenge to the very basis of this trade.

As a business head, what is the future of the sector?

Inspite of all the challenges, the travel trade faces, the future is very bright as the overall industry is very bullish with an ever growing demand

for new innovative products.

What is the vision for your company and the expansion plans as you step into the 20th anniversary year?

In 2017, as we step into our 20th year of operations, we feel humbled. Each passing day our resolve to be one of India’s finest travel companies becomes stronger and the level of perseverance to achieve that dream soars higher. We look

How would you define the cruise segment in India?

Cruise industry is today not only one of the fastest growing sectors of the travel industry in India, it also remains by far one of the better rewarding verticals than others like ticketing, hotels or even packages. Main reason for high margins in the cruise sales is non penetration of most OTAs and hence a level playing field to the normal travel agent. This has led to large scale reach of cruise as a product in remote corners of the country. Another advantage on cruise holidays is that it requires limited planning and execution from the travels agents side as not only the accommodation but also food, destinations and sightseeing are all inclusive on a cruise holiday.

Is there a message you wish to share with the industry, as both a B2B and B2C specialist?

Indian travel trade has to play a patient game and wait for a revival of business, which is not going to be very long. Even if the leisure segment takes some time to recover, MICE is surely going to boom in 2017, which shall more then make up for the shortage of passenger numbers.

(With inputs from Mohit Rathod)

EVENT ROUNDUP

Fillip to medical tourism Indian Merchants' Chamber's (IMC) first Medical Tourism Conclave highlighted the opportunities, challenges and roadmap to develop medical tourism in Maharashtra and across the country. By Mohit Rathod

M

aharashtra is looking at developing the medical tourism segment in the state. At the recent Medical Tourism Conclave organised by Indian Merchants’ Chamber, Valsa Nair Singh, principal secretary of tourism and culture, Government of Maharashtra, indicated the state goverment and its tourism arm, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation’s (MTDC) plan to attract investments in

the sector and develop relevant infrastructure. IMC will play a significant role in developing the medical tourism sector, in co-ordination with the state government and MTDC. In line with Maharashtra Tourism Policy 2016, MTDC will work on reviving the now defunct Medical Tourism Council, to ensure efficiency in this space.

In her address, Singh said, “Medical tourism is one of the key focus areas for us.

Singapore, India and Thai-

land account for 60 per cent of medical tourism in Asia.

About 2,30,000 foreign patients travel to India for healthcare tourism every year. We have the second largest accredited healthcare facilities in the world. Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are among the top medical tourism destinations in India,” while highlighting that Maharashtra has a robust private sector environment.

Singh acknowledged the current hindrances on both,

state and national level, which should be eliminated.

Absence of a single government agency to represent Indian medical tourism industry, lack of end-to-end services, differential pricing, absence of seamless services, low investment in public healthcare infrastructure and lack of marketing and promotions have been identified as some of the challenges facing the government.

However, the central government has some dedicated

mechanisms already in place.

These include introduction of Medical Visa (M Visa) and no-hindrance clearance at airports for travellers arriving for healthcare purposes.

As part of the Maharashta government and MTDC’s roadmap for development of medical and healthcare tourism, Singh revealed plans to leverage upon MICE travel from pharma and healthcare industries to the state, which holds potential to attract private sector investments and

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EVENT ROUNDUP

This vertical is very important for our country and PM Modi has also given thrust to this area. A lot of people are coming to India for treatments

develop infrastructure.

This was the first time, IMC organised a conclave on medical tourism. The trade body now plans to hold it every year. Deepak Premnarayan, president, IMC, commented, “This vertical is

30 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD December 2016

very important for our country and PM Modi has also given thrust to this area. A lot of people are coming to India for treatments, due to stateof-the-art facilities and costefficiency, which provides a bigger opportunity for us to

grow this space.”

The conclave saw participation of representatives of travel and tourism, hospitality and medical and healthcare services industries. Two panel discussions were also organised to shed light on

co-ordination among the medical, healthcare, tourism and hospitality sectors. The first discussion on specialists' perspective on medical tourism, was partcipated by Dr S Natarajan, CMD, Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital; Dr Darius Soonawala, orthopaedic and joint replacement surgeon, Jaslok Hospital; Dr Vinay Jacob, cosmetologist, Bombay Hospital; Dr Kirti Punamiya, cardiologist, Breach Candy; and Dr Nikhil Parchure, cardiologist, Apollo Hospital, who shared insights and potential of their respective areas of specialisation towards medical tourism. Dr Natarajan opined, "There is a potential for tour operators and travel agents in this segment, but many of them are not putting serious efforts. It is essential to have partnerships with the travel industry."

Whereas, the panel discussion on medical tourism's opportunities and challenges, had Rajiv Duggal, CEO, Lavasa Hospitality; Devendra Bharma, EVP, Oberoi Hotels,

Mumbai; Hidayat Khan, CMD, Human Care Air Ambulance; Parag Rindani, associate vice president and head, Wockhardt Hospital; Dr Raj Bhojwani; and Essa Ahmad, VP – India and Nepal, Emirates on the panel. Duggal expressed, "There is a need to have a regulatory body, which will ensure that only the accerdited operators work in the medical tourism sector.

All hospitals must also have their own partner hotels and tour opearators."

Sharing the hospitality industry's perspective, Devendra Bharma, EVP, Oberoi Hotels, Mumbai, added, "The medical tourism segment is fragmented in India. As a hotel, it is difficult for us to keep a track of guests who come for medical and healthcare purposes. We work closely with Saifee Hospital, Breach Candy and Bombay Hospital, wherein we offer preferred rates to them. However, there can be a more formalised system between hotels and hospitals."

IN FOCUS

INDORE’S IMMENSE POTENTIAL Indore's largest hotel, Radisson Blu Hotel Indore, in many ways represents the city – from great food to a vibrant environment. Rahul Joshi, GM, Radisson Blu Hotel Indore shares what makes his property so unique

By Sudipta Dev

I

ndore, popularly referred to as the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, is a city that has created a unique identity because of its thriving social scenario and excellent food culture. The city's biggest hotel, Radisson Blu Hotel Indore, that started operations six years ago, has grown with the industry. For its new general manager, Rahul Joshi, both the city and the immense potential of the hospitality business he foresees here, have been a pleasant surprise. “I have worked in Delhi, Goa, Jaipur, Agra, Pune and have been out of India for a while. I really did not know what to expect from Indore. When you talk about the hospitality sector, you kind of don't see Indore much on that map. Indore has offered me many pleasant surprises. It has been great.”

Joshi started his career in 1994 and has been associated with the Carlson hotels for a long time. “In between I had gone way from Carlson, and it has been a homecoming for me.

With Carlson, the brand is so fantastic that you do not take time to return and get adjusted,” he says. Pointing out that he is one of those general managers who did have formal hotel management education, he adds, “I am very proud to say that I've come up from the ranks. Every day is a new learning.”

Visitor profile Radisson Blu has the largest rooms inventory in the city including a significant number of suites. Elaborating on the guest profile, Joshi remarks, “We cater to a niche market when it comes to the city of Indore. From hospitality perspec-

tive, the city caters to business travellers and comparatively lesser to tourists. Tourism which is happening as of now is more to do with religious tourism, though Indore and surroundings have much to offer, Madhya Pradesh has much to offer. That's where we see the potential. Yes, there are challenges in terms of infrastructure which is coming up now. But basically as of now, the guests come for business purpose to Indore.” He adds that in specific months and on specific days the city attracts domestic Indian tourists. More than 90 per cent of time they come for religious reasons which they combine with some heritage sites.

Indore is still to see much of

MICE movement. The hotel has impressive banqueting facilities which are perfect for large conferences. Joshi states, "We are a forward looking brand, the hotel has been built keeping in mind the potential and the growth that we have experienced. There is potential in both social and corporate segments. So far the social business is already there.

There is a huge expanse as far as the social business is concerned - from the kind of requirement guests have and their budget.

MICE is growing at a very fast pace. A lot of day meetings (nonresidential) happen; even in the corporate world people want to get away from the usual environments, and the kind of sophistication in terms of audio visual

and backup that we provide is not available everywhere.”

The property is patronised by high end corporates. The property has a capacity of hosting meetings from 10 people to 500 people, while corporate dinners for 1,000 people can be hosted. “We did not design the hotel for a couple of years, we knew the potential of the market and fortunately the market has given us those returns. The occupancy of our conference hall is high, and there is more scope for growth. The kind of growth that we have seen is fantastic and we look forward to taking it further,” affirms Joshi.

Reminding that the requirements of the social functions are completely different from the corporates, Joshi mentions, “We have a team for events that is subdivided into corporates and social. They are anticipating the needs of the clients in both areas. For social events there is a large variety in terms of themes, care, the food, etc.”

Asserting that occupancy is not a criteria that can be compared in isolation, he says, “It is satisfactory. The city is growing and when you look at the potential, it is huge. My effort is on that direction, what can we get more out of that potential. There are industrial belts in the area which are being supported and revived by the government. Industries like automobile, pharma are growing and IT is the next big thing that will happen.”

Foodie’s delight Indore is a foodie's delight. People here love their food and they have been appreciative of the offerings at the property. The

Rahul Joshi

hotel has an all day dining – a multi cuisine restaurant; a traditional Indian restaurant and a Chinese restaurant. “All the restaurants have done well and have been appreciated by the locals and resident guests. The success of a restaurant depends a lot on local patrons. Only if they like the food and environs, will they come again and again.

We understand the local populace and have been focused in terms of our offerings which suits their taste buds. We have done some innovative things here. The Chinese food is very authentic, which is really appreciated. All the F&B outlets have live music in evenings,” informs Joshi.

Radisson Blu Hotel Indore is one of the few hotels in India with a rooftop swimming pool and jacuzzi. The property opened six years ago and a big part of the team has been there since the pre-opening time. “Human resources is the focus area for us as a group and it has yielded results. With the team being around for a while, the whole delivery becomes easier in terms of quality and understanding, and consistency. Lot of success that we have, the credit goes to them,” concludes Joshi.

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SPOTLIGHT

HIGH IMPACT DELIBERATIONS The 8th annual Hotel Investment Forum India (HIFI) conference held in Mumbai recently saw industry leaders deliberate and discuss the critical issues that are having far reaching impact on hotel investments in the country

By Sudipta Dev & Mohit Rathod

A

s Mumbai played host to the Hotel Investment Forum India (HIFI) conference after a gap of a few years, the fact that the state government and the tourism department are trying their assiduous best to make the city the events capital of the country was reiterated by Valsa Nair Singh, principal secretary, tourism and cultural affairs, Government of Maharashtra.

In his opening remarks, James E Burba, president, BHN spoke about the optimism in the India market.

“This market is at an early stage of upturn in terms of hotel investment,” he stated.

Giving his outlook on the Indian hotel industry, Vijay Thacker, MD, Horwath HTL India pointed out that demonetisation will have long term benefits though there will be reduction in discretionary spending. “For hotels, the wedding months and F&B business will take a hit. The Big Fat Indian Wedding will take some time to come back.

Healthy room rate will take sometime to grow till occupancy stabilises in different markets,” said Thacker, adding that demonetisation should be looked at as a big detox, in the long run it will be positive and a good time to invest.

Demonetisation in fact dominated the panel on business and the Indian economy.

Harshavardhan Neotia, president, FICCI and chairman, Ambuja Neotia Group, welcomed the move on behalf of FICCI, though he averred that the hospitality industry will

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James E Burba

be impacted, in particular impulse spending in restaurants and leisure travel. KVS Manian, president – corporate, institutional and investment banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank felt that there will be short term negative impact, however starting from the smaller segment to the organised sector, there will be restructuring of business.

The 'Global outlook on travel & tourism' saw David Scowsill, president & CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), talk about the unique WTTC India initiative. “Despite upheaval in global economy, travel and tourism has been resilient,” he remarked. Giving an overview of international hotel industry performance, Jesper Palmqvist, area director, APAC, STR, highlighted that

India showed third highest RevPAR growth till YTD Sept 2016, in APAC. “What is driving the growth is supply (three per cent) and demand (eight per cent),” he mentioned.

There were two high powered 'View from the boardroom' panel discussions. The first moderated by Arun Saraf, MD, Juniper Hotels, included David Kong, president and CEO, Best Western Hotels & Resorts; Sonica Malhotra, MD, MBD Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts; Ravi Raheja, group president, K Raheja Corp; and Rakesh Sarna, MD & CEO, Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces. Answering Saraf's query about OTAs and alternate accommodation options like AirBnB, Sarna stated, “We have to remain focused on what we can offer.

The only angst I have is that it is not a level playing field.” Raheja averred that while Indians are brand conscious, OTAs impact profitability, he however felt that the Marriott-Starwood merger will give more negotiable power going forward. Malhotra asserted that only the fittest will survive in the industry and the growth will depend on finances available. Moderated

by Thacker, the second 'View from the boardroom' panel discussion that touch based on many interesting aspects, had on board Navneet Bali, chairman, Meininger Hotels; SP Jain, MD, Pride Hotels, Thorsten Kirschke, president, APAC, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group and Suresh Kumar, MD, ITC Hotels. While Bali spoke about investors' expectations, Kirschke highlighted

that more efforts should be made by the operators to give right forecasting and advice to investors.

The two-day event was also utilised for attracting hospitality and tourism investments. Ras Al Khaimah's Al Marjan Island presented to Indian hospitality players the various investment opportunities, through a session conducted by Abdullah Al Abdooli, managing director, Al Marjan Island. Another such session was headlined by Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), wherein Gavin Dias, deputy general manager of GTDC, revealed plans about three hotel projects across Goa and invited potential investors to consider investing in the projects. Dias commented, “We create a lot of synergies with our partners. Goa's tourism potential is huge and tourism is a major driver of the state's economy.

Hospitality industry in Goa has flourished in the Goa due to the growing presence of MNCs.” The significance of technology in the hospitality

SPOTLIGHT industry has been growing in the recent years; this was supported by the fact that technology was one of the major talkpoints of this year's event.

There were two discussions categorised under the banner, Technology Track. Themed, 'OTAs and the explosion of online distribution channels', one of the sessions saw Avijit Arya, chief mogul, Internet Moguls moderating a panel consisting Atul Jain, CEO, Best Western Hotels & Resorts; Abhishek Logani, VP and business head – online hotels, MakeMyTrip; Darshana Shirodkar, director – market management, Expedia Inc; and Amit Taneja chief revenue officer, Cleartrip. The panel reiterate its insights into changing dynamics of online distribution channels. Logani shared an interesting forecast that India is expected to have about 700 million internet users by 2017 and a huge part of this will be mobile-based, thus the year will be technology-driven from OTAs, consumers and hoteliers standpoint. Whereas, commenting on one of the topics based on co-ordination among hoteliers and OTAs, Taneja said, “OTA-hotelier relationship is often looked upon as a transactional one, but hoteliers need to look at us as a platform for their business development, where they can attract more guests.”

A session based on best practices for effective development of properties, shedded light on key factors to be

considered in the planning and development of hotel projects. The session was moderated by Rushabh R Shah, associate director, Horwath HTL – India and the panel included Vijay Dewan, MD, The Park Hotels; Anika Gupta, director – development Eurasia, Wyndham Hotel Group; Rohit Hans, director of development, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts; and Kashyap Shah, GM, Unique Mercantile. Sharing his views, Shah said, “For us, development is a two-stage process – how you enter into the project and land analysis. We need to have professional setups for different aspects of development.”

Alongside, Amruda Nair, joint MD & CEO, Aiana Hotels & Resorts, was recognised with the Rising Star Award South Asia, created by ISHC in conjunction with HIFI. This was followed by a presentation by Chandrima Sinha, VP, Invest India, leveraging upon PM Modi's various initiatives such as Make in India and Skill India. Sinha focused on the diverse investment opportunities available across the country.

The event concluded with seven brief discussions on 'Boardroom challenges', which included topics such as 'How do you make money and maximise profits', 'How do you engage owners without having too much interference', 'How do brands and owners work in a partnership effectively', among others.

Vijay Thacker

Valsa Nair Singh

Harshavardhan Neotia

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SPOTLIGHT

AMOUNTAINOUS FEAT The emerging new trend of children and young adults taking to adventure activities sees Pune based six-year-old Advait Bhartia become the youngest Indian to summit Everest Base Camp in winter

By Sudipta Dev

A

dventure-Pulse specialises in Nepal and Indian Himalayan expeditions. The Pune-headquartered company with office in Nepal, has organised 34 expeditions to the Everest Base camp with groups from various countries comprising of six years to 61 year olds. The recent milestone has been that of Advait Bhartia, the youngest Indian to summit Everest Base Camp at six years and 10 months during the winter season. Advait Bhartia and his mother Payal Bhartia started the trek from Lukla town in north-east Nepal located at the foot of the Everest Valley at 8,900 ft. They reached the Everest Base Camp at 17,593 ft above sea level on November 3, 2016. It was a no small feat for a young child taking into consideration the tough mountain trails and climatic conditions, primarily lack of atmospheric oxygen and subzero temperatures which sometimes dropped to -12 degrees C. A seasoned marathoner, Payal Bhartia says that she had not set out to ensure her child made history or be one of the youngest climbers. “I was planning to go, he saw me training and he wanted to train himself.

He has been a very fit child, mentally and physically. I told him if he can do the training with me, we will see if he can come along. And he did do the training regularly," she states with evident pride. What Advait Bhartia enjoyed the most was that he was able to do something so tough, so he felt a sense of accomplishment. In

34 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD December 2016

an interaction with Express TravelWorld, he revealed what he found toughest was the breathing part - he had to learn how to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth.

While the new age Indian traveller's fascination with adventure tourism is well known, Samir Nicholas Patham, director, Adventure-Pulse foresees a tremendous growth potential

in the segment comprising children and young adults.

“Adventure sports, hiking and mountaineering contribute to the overall development of the child and these days a lot of parents realise this,” he says, pointing out that children are moving away from gadgets and parents are encouraging them to go out and experience nature, which is the biggest teacher of all. "We specialise in

trekking and mountaineering expeditions and had the pleasure of taking the students from Bishop’s School Pune to the Everest Base Camp, as part of the 150 years anniversary celebration. We have also taken children groups to Ladakh and regularly conduct adventure camps for children from Pune and Mumbai," mentions Patham.

The company is also focusing on taking adventure sports to a new level, particularly for corporate offsites, integrating the activities with concepts like leadership development and team management.

Patham avers that this unique blend of adventure sports and personality development helps the participants to overcome their fears and exceed their limitations.

MOVEMENTS Switzerland Tourism Bollywood actor RANVEER SINGH has been now named the first Indian ambassador for Switzerland Tourism. Under this role, Singh will be in charge of promoting Switzerland Tourism’s campaign for 2017 – 'Nature wants you back'. On his recent trip to Switzerland, the actor tried various activities such as wakeboarding on Lake Zurich, ski jumps at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne, bogganing on Mt Pilatus, paragliding and skydiving in Interlaken. He also visited the FIFA World Football Museum in Zurich and paid tribute to Yash Chopra by visiting the Yash Chopra Suite at Victoria Jungfrau and the Yash Chopra Statue in the Kursaal Garden. The board will soon release new set of ads it has created for the summer campaign.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel

Matt O’Keefe

Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) recently announced that MATT O’KEEFE has joined as chief technology officer of hotel distribution and MATT BRENNAN as vice president of hotel operations.

O’Keefe’s 20 years of technology and software experience include expertise and knowledge of the travel industry. He was most recently chief technology officer for Hyatt Ho-

Matt Brennan

tels & Resorts. Brennan has been in the facilities space since 2009 and has supported other third-party service industries since 1996. Earlier in his career, Brennan was vice president, vendor network and wholesale product marketing, GE Finance, launching a new business venture and managing US$ 60 million of annual third party vendor expense.

Boeing Boeing has recently announced the appointment of PAT GOGGIN as president of defense and space development. Goggin currently is the vice president of Airplane Programs Engineering for the company’s commercial airplanes unit, overseeing the engineering teams that support all the current seven series passenger planes. Before that, he was vice president of Boeing’s Development Program Excellence initiative, focused on starting programmes and identifying key risk areas. Goggin, who has worked at Boeing for 29 years, will move into his new role this month.

Asia Aviation Capital Asia Aviation Capital, AirAsia Berhad’s aircraft leasing unit, has appointed HARRY FORSYTHE as deputy chief executive officer and chief

commercial officer. Forsythe, a British and Australian dual citizen, has comprehensive knowledge of aircraft leasing with over 30 years of global expertise in sales and marketing across dry and wet leasing, sale-and-leaseback and aircraft sales in Asia Pacific and the US. He was most recently the managing director of dotAero, which provides representation and access to expertise and solutions in aircraft re-marketing, lease transactions, sales, sale-andleasebacks, asset management and aircraft acquisitions.

FCM Travel Solutions FCM Travel Solutions has appointed SCOTT REDDIE as the global director of account management, based in Philadelphia, USA. Reddie has over 16 years of experience in the travel industry and has worked across wholesale, reservations, travel media and adventure travel before moving into the corporate sector. He first started with FCTG in 2010 as a business development manager for corporate travellers in Brisbane, Australia. He then joined FCM in an account management role, managing key state accounts. In November 2012, Reddie relocated from Australia to the USA in an account management role, managing some of FCM’s key global accounts out of Boston. Since relocating, Reddie has worked in various positions supporting FCM’s growth in the USA and most recently relocated to San Francisco to focus on high-growth west coast markets.

Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines has announced that PETER SEAH LIM HUAT will succeed Stephen Lee Ching Yen as its non-executive chairman. Lim Huat, currently deputy chairman, will take over from Yen as chairman on January 1, 2017. Yen will retire from the board on the same day. He

Cathay Pacific Airways Cathay Pacific Airways has appointed VIREN RATHOD as the account manager of the sales team in the western region. In his new portfolio, Rathod will be responsible for revenue generation from strategic corporate and trade accounts and would be based out of Mumbai.

He has worked in the industry for eight years and before joining Cathay Pacific as the accounts manager, he worked with United Airlines for six years. He has also had

will continue as chairman of subsidiary SIA Engineering Company. Lim Huat joined the SIA Board as deputy chairman on September 1, 2015. A banker for more than 30 years, Lim Huat was with the former Overseas Union Bank between 1977 and 2001, retiring as vice chairman and CEO. Prior to that, he was with Citibank NA. Between December 2001 and December 2004, he served as president and CEO of Singapore Technologies. Lim Huat is chairman of DBS Group Holdings and DBS Bank. He is also chairman of LaSalle College of the Arts and Singapore Health Services.

stints with Korean Air and Tap Portuga Airlines in the past.

fulfilled senior leadership roles for AirPlus including director of Global Excellence and regional sales manager, Eastern Australia.

W Hotel, Goa W Goa has recently appointed RASHILA LOBO as the new W Insider. Taking on the role, that is one of its kind in the

Campus Travel Australia CATHRYN COLE has been appointed as the general manager of Campus Travel Australia. Cole is based in Campus Travel’s head office, which is located in the new Flight Centre Travel Group building in South Bank, Brisbane. She returns to Campus Travel and parent company Flight Centre Travel Group, following almost four years with corporate travel payment provider AirPlus. Prior to this directorship, Cole also

Rashila Lobo

hospitality field created by W Hotels, Lobo will play a major role by connecting the hotel’s savvy guests to the city’s happenings. W Insiders are inthe-know tastemakers, always on the cusp of what’s new and up-and-coming in their cities, providing guests with inside knowledge and going above and beyond to create extraordinary experiences.

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weekend

E V E N T S

SEEKING SUPPORT Dr Azad Moopen, chairman, Greater Malabar Initiative (left) submitting a memorandum to Union Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, seeking his intervention for securing DGCA’s speedy approval for landing of wide-bodied jets at the Calicut airport

AUGMENTING INITIATIVES Commercial Office of Peru in India recently organised a B2B seminar titled, “Peru: Empire of Hidden Treasures”, in Bengaluru

UNLEASHING THE POTENTIAL The ninth edition of Conventions India Conclave by India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) was recently held at The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel Delhi

50 GOLDEN YEARS India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) recently celebrated its 50th anniversary at The Ashok, New Delhi

PRODUCTIVE DISCUSSIONS Ahead of the recent Make In Odisha Conclave the Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik organised "Ambassador Meet" at New Delhi

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MULTI-CITY FOCUS Oman Tourism, in association with Oman Air, conducted roadshows in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune

weekend

E V E N T S

RIDE AGAINST CORRUPTION Air India, as part of its Vigilance Awareness Week, organised a cyclathon - Ride Against Corruption – in Mumbai, in association with SpinLife India

CATERING TO TRAVELLERS Ravi Menon, head, foreign exchange, Cox & Kings, inaugurating the company’s first dedicated foreign exchange branch at Panjim, Goa

BUILDING SYNERGIES Consul General of Switzerland, Martin J Bienz (left)

MICE EXCLUSIVE Visit Florida, along with five partners, hosted over 50 travel

interacting with travel partners at the recent dinner event organised by Rhätische Bahn, for the travel fraternity in Mumbai

trade members for an exclusive MICE event at St Regis Mumbai

DESTINATION TURKEY The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in collaboration with the Association of Turkish Travel Agents and Turkish Hoteliers Federation, conducted ‘Destination Turkey Workshop’ in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Lucknow, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chennai

REWARDING PERFORMANCE SriLankan Airlines recently oragnised SriLankan Airlines Agents & Cargo Awards at St Regis Mumbai

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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.