ddppl.com TravTalkIndiatravtalkindia.com/pdf/2016/02-feb-2016-2.pdfFeb 02, 2016 · Pan Pacific Nirwana Bali Resort and around 300 delegates are expected to attend the convention,”

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` 50/-Vol. XXVIII Issue 4; February 2nd fortnight i ssue 2016 A DDP PUBLICATION Pages : 56

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It’s that time of the year again when Travel and Tourism industry unites to raise its demands in unison seekinggovernment’s support for its amelioration. spoke to industry leaders about their expectations from theUnion Finance Ministry’s Budget 2016-17 and found out issues ailing the industry, such as Goods and ServicesTax (GST), industry status for Tourism, better connectivity and infrastructure.

Budget: Cautiously optimistic

Service tax: a spoiler� Tourism industry should be treat-ed at par with exporters � Like exporters, based on foreignexchange earnings, tour operatorsshould also get exemption of servicetax on package tours as the pay-

ment is received in foreign exchange� With the service tax added at present, India packageslose on account of price competitiveness and cannotmatch the prices on holiday packages, which are onoffer by our competitive countries

Karan AnandHead - Relationships, Cox & Kings Ltd

Surprise me!To be honest, I have stoppedexpecting anything from the budg-et. They have not given any indica-tions of what they are doing. Lastyear we had very high expecta-tions. So now I just want to leave

everything and get surprised if they give us anything.

Anil MadhokManaging Director, Sarovar Hotels

Wider tax netAs a citizen, I would like to see a widertax net rather than a deeper one forindividuals and corporates. TheIncome Tax department's KPIs needto change from revenue targets, asthis tantamounts to harassment.

Varun ChadhaCOO, TIRUN Travel Marketing

Exemption from service taxBased on foreign exchange earn-ings, tour operators should beexempted from service tax, just likeGems and Jewellery traders.

Subhash GoyalPresident, Indian Association of Tour

Operators (IATO)

Strengthen infrastructureThe initiatives taken so far to pro-mote tourism have yield noteworthyresults and I hope that the Budget2016-17 will be in favour of the trav-el and tourism industry. Provisionsto strengthen the infrastructure,

increase connectivity and tourist safety, conveniencein visa processing, favourable tax reforms etc. will def-initely catalyse the development of tourism services.

Dev KarvatMD, TrawellTag Cover-More India

Maximum 8% GST� If GST is coming into effect, itshould not exceed eight per cent.� If the GST is not in place, the serv-ice tax should be reduced and mademore flexible and easy� Since a lot of foreign exchange is

earned by the travel agents and tour operators, thereshould be an export credit facility also available� Income tax exemptions and rebates to be given to travelcompanies, investing in tourism industry� It’s time that tourism also gets an industry status as weemploy over 10 per cent of the workforce and are one ofthe top five revenue and Forex earners in the country

Jay BhatiaNational Treasurer and Chairman (Tourism Council), TAAI

Industry statusFAITH has been invited to partici-pate at this year’s pre-budget discus-sion. We hope having taken this ini-tiative to involve FAITH, Govt. willgive some kind of relief to tourismindustry. Indian tourism expects an

industry status. Infrastructure needs immediate attention.

Jyoti KapurPresident, ADTOI

India on international radarWe hope that the government willfocus on the overall environment ofthe tourism industry and help drivethe industry towards its projectedgrowth. It is time to showcaseBrand India globally and provide

sufficient impetus to put India firmly on the internationaltourist radar and we are hopeful that the governmentwill consider effective solutions for the same.

Ankur BhatiaExecutive Director, Bird Group

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Tackle airport taxesThe government needs to look atserious issues such as insufficientinfrastructure and connectivity, highairport taxes, state tax reforms andabove all ATF prices to truly drivegrowth in the aviation sector.

Wolfgang WillDirector - South Asia, Lufthansa

Simplify taxes The travel and tourism sector hasbeen growing fast globally, and ineconomies like ours, tourism is a sig-nificant contributor to economicgrowth. For the industry, the bigexpectation is rationalising and sim-plifying the tax structure.

Paul John MaliekkalDeputy CEO – Visa Services, VFS Global

Single-window clearanceThis year’s budget seems to have setthe bar higher with the hospitalityindustry in India expecting a growth-based budget. From rationalisationof tax structure to single-windowclearance, the industry’s expecta-tions this year is wide and varied.

Kunal SampatGeneral Manager - India, MSC Cruises

Skill development� There is significant scope forexpansion of both transport infra-structure and the hotel and accom-modation sector� The travel and tourism is a highlytaxed industry making it an expen-

sive destination. This is an important issue that needsto be dealt with � Enhancing the skills & handicrafts of the rural folks

Rajan Dua Managing Director, UDAAN India and India Travel Award

Winner (Best Visa Facilitation Company)

Develop world heritage sites� We are quite hopeful that theupcoming Budget will focus on infra-structure development be it hotels,world heritage sites, road or railways� The new initiatives should furthercomplement previous initiatives

Amit Agarwal Senior Marketing Manager, Hotels.com

Focus on smart cities� Attention to the newly unveiledsmart cities where a lot of focus oninfrastructure, hotels and airportdevelopment is leading to a bigboost to the tourism and travelindustry

� Tax breaks and tax holidays would further provide afillip to corporate India in order to invest in such smartcities� Effective implementation of the new civil aviation policy,security of the travelers, better road and rail connectivity

Anil ParasharPresident and CEO, InterGlobe Technology Quotient and

India Travel Award Winner (Best Global Distribution System)

Contd. on page 9


Optimistic about reapingthe benefits of e-Tourist Visa (eTV) facil-

ity and the upcoming NationalTourism Policy, Zutshi says,“Domestic tourist visits in 2015was a mind-boggling 1.45 bil-lion, while the Foreign TouristArrivals (FTAs) have seen a4.4 per cent average growthrate, which is almost the aver-

age growth rate that is beingregistered the world over.” Inorder to make the eTV regimemore facilitative, he said thatthe government is trying tomake the application time peri-

od to three to four monthsinstead of the current 30 days.Also, he added that the MOTis working towards changingeTV from single entry to dou-ble or multiple entry and alsoconsidering extending thevalidity from 30 days to 60days. “Compared to 40,000people who availed the eTVfacility in 2014, in 2015 it hasexpanded to 4.45 lakh, whichis more than a thousand times.This is the kind of effect that eTV has had ontourism,” he said.

Zutshi also revealed thatamong the many initiatives pro-posed at the first meeting of theNational Medical and WellnessTourism Promotion Board,chaired by Dr. Mahesh

Sharma, Minister of State (I/C)for Tourism and Culture andMinister of State for CivilAviation, one was the introduc-tion of the e-Tourist MedicalVisa facility. “Most of the mem-bers of the board were of theview that in order to give a bigpush to medical tourism inIndia, we need to streamlinethe visa facility for the same.We are talking to the con-cerned ministry to work

on the possibility of having e-Tourist Medical Visa as well.So, we are working on it, and ifpossible we can combine it witheTV,” he said.

Big on businessHe further stressed that

the government is makingsure that private investors getinvolved in big projects, whichwould further boost inboundnumbers. “The government

has opened 100 per cent FDIin the hospitality sector. TheMinistry of Finance hasalready included the hospital-ity industry in the harmonisedlist, with more than ` 200crore of investment, which willbring it under infrastructuresector status. In fact, Dr. Sharma is making allefforts that the hospitalityindustry gets the infrastruc-ture status,” he said.

With a slew of initiatives to ensure smooth stay, experience and security of tourists, Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Tourism,Government of India, tells that the coming months will see MOT in a very aggressive mode.

e-Medical Visa on the cards NI S H A VE R M A

Vinod ZutshiSecretary, TourismGovernment of India

Boost to tourist support systemThrough the Incredible India Helpline, tourists from different

countries will get the communication in the language of theirchoice. We have proposed that as soon as an international touristcomes to the immigration counter at any airport in India, they

should be given a small welcome kit, may be with a SIM card forsome emergency calls to his parent country or within India.

We propose to give E-to-E tourism (End-to-End tourism) for thosevisiting India. As soon as we receive our tourist friends from different

parts of the world, we propose to give some sort of connectivity andescorting to their different destinations. We have even proposed to

have separate tourist coaches in trains frequently boarded by tourists,which might have different colour, better facilities, etc.

Dr. Mahesh SharmaMinister of State (I/C) for Tourism and Culture and Minister of

State for Civil Aviation

2016 InitiativesMOT has invested almost ` 1,500 crores (approx.$300 million) in various circuits under SwadeshDarshan and PRASADscheme and will organiseinvestors’ meet to attractprivate companies

Buddhist conclave will beorganised in 2016 fromSeptember to November inVaranasi and Sarnath

Conception of nationaltourism advisory board andnational tourism authority in plans to quicken deci-sion-making and projectimplementation

Compared to 40,000 people whoavailed the eTV facility in 2014, in2015 it has expanded to 4.45 lakh,which is more than a thousandtimes. This is the kind of effect thateTV has had on tourism

With the onset of the summer season for traveland tourism industry, conducted a poll tofind out which European destination will be mostpopular this season. 58 per cent of the respondents identified Spain asthe leading summer destination, followed by Switzerland with 24 per centand Eastern Europe with 18 per cent. Spain witnessed nearly 70,000Indian tourist arrivals by September 2015 while Switzerland witnessed a26.7 per cent growth in arrivals from India during the first half of 2015.With the Eastern European countries aggressively marketing their OldWorld charm to the Indian market, they are at No. 3 as solid entrants.

Spain: Sizzling this summer

58%Spain24%

Switzerland

18%Eastern Europe



BULLETIN

OTOAI announced its sec-ond Mega Convention to

be held in Bali, Indonesia,

from March 17-21, 2016. RiazMunshi, Vice President,OTOAI, was declared as theConvention Chairman at the curtain-raiser of the convention in New Delhi. Thetheme of the convention is‘India Outbound - The GameChanger.’ “The venue of the convention will be

Pan Pacific Nirwana BaliResort and around 300 delegates are expected toattend the convention,”Munshi said.

Guldeep Singh Sahni,President, OTOAI, said, “Aftera lot of deliberations, we havezeroed in on Bali for our 2nd

convention, and our intentionis to promote Indonesia as acomplete destination beyondBali as well. We will also beselecting B2B buyers, who willbe showcasing tourism prod-

ucts on table tops at the convention, so that ourmembers can get completeknowledge of Indonesia. Inaddition, we want to showcase

that we have the real outboundtour operators selected byOTOAI from India. Our inten-tion is to take serious players with us who are interested in business.”

The first three days ofthe convention will be at thevenue in Bali, and will see

members engaging in busi-ness sessions, networking,shopping and local sightsee-ing. This will be followed by aday trip to Ubud.

Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) is all set to hostits 2nd Mega Convention from March 17-21, 2016 in Bali, Indonesia.

2nd OTOAI Convention from March 17

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Bali PackagesOTOAI offers early bird discount of `3,500++ till February 20

Active Members - ̀ 39,900++

Allied Members - ̀ 49,900++

Non Members - ̀ 59,900++

OTOAI Members at the announcement of the 2nd Mega Convention in Bali


VIEWPOINT

EDITORIAL

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ARRs inch upward in 2014-15Indian hotels recorded an average rate of `4,789 in 2014-15, a modestimprovement over last year (`4,729). Hotel occupancy, too, increased to 61.3%after two years of stagnation at 60.4%. The last few years witnessed a steadydecline in the contribution of revenue from Rooms while that from F&Bcontinually improved; this trend was observed in the current year too.

There are many issues to be addressedin the upcoming Budget, like prioritising

key issues such as safety, cleanliness andinfrastructure, ease of doing business with asingle clearance window and rationalisation ofthe tax system which is leading to very highcosts, making our neighbouring countries farmore attractive for foreign and domestic visitors.

The efforts of the government to restoreinvestor confidence needs to be established inthis Budget to put tourism in India in the rightdirection. A healthy tourism sector, both domesticand international, can only be a thrust for directand indirect employment, sustaining a largesegment of the population and the region.

Other than granting some of the necessarydemands of the industry, a realistic Budget needsto be sanctioned to market ‘Brand India’internationally in a positive light, showing not onlythe historical grandeur but also the moderncontemporary real India, where transportation,hotels, airports actually match any other in the world.

Budget for BrandIndia

25 years agobrings to you the events and people that made headlines 25 years

ago and are relevant to the travel & tourism industry even now.

In 1991, Madhavrao Scindia, the then Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation proposed the tourism policy, which would bring in the concept of special tourism pockets.

These pockets will be developed as complete destinations in themselves.It will involve one or more entrepreneurs with whom the government will enter into a contract.The ministry is considering the creation of a single area development authority with adequate powers for a single window clearance of projects.

O.P. AhujaFormer PresidentIATO

Shashank WartyArea General ManagerTaj Palace Inter-Continental

Late Madhavrao ScindiaThe then Minister of Tourismand Civil Aviation

Stalwart speaks

Shashank WartyHead-Marketing &Communications-North IndiaSotheby’s International Realty

Shashank Warty has come a long way after his stintwith Taj Hotels to now working with Sotheby’sInternational Realty

With 40 years of experience in luxury hospitality, ShashankWarty has worked with some of the biggest luxury hotelchains. He has even chaired New Delhi Luxury HotelierForum as President for three consecutive years and boardmember for leading hospitality chains. Today, he worksas Head-Marketing & Communications-North India atSotheby’s International Realty, New Delhi.

Then Now

O.P. Ahuja, President, IATO in 1991, shared his suggestions to boost tourism in India.The minister himself should lead delegations to major destinations and provide some reassurancePromotional seminars in Europe and America should be organised.India is outpricing itself with respect to its neighbouring countries.

From the archives

With PM Narendra Modi calling for countriesunder South Asian Association for

Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to aim for acommon goal of growth, the same spirit istranscending into the tourism industry.Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan—comprise 21 per cent of the world’s populationand contribute about 9 per cent to its economy.Since it allows the best opportunity for short-haultravel, intra-regional tourism can only get better.However, for that to happen, SAARC nationsneed to work on liberalising the visa regime andexplore business opportunities within the region.In fact, religious tourism can perhaps be the bestbet to take things forward. With a Buddhist circuitbetween India, Nepal and Sri Lanka alreadybeing talked about, there are discussions onAyurveda trail between India and Sri Lanka aswell. In addition, IATO is organising its firstoutbound convention in Sri Lanka; while TAAIand UFTAA are in talks with SAARC travel tradeassociations for intra-regional tourism.

Love thy neighbour

Source: HVS-FHRAI SurveySample size: 1368 respondents


QWhen will the newtourism policy see the

light of day?The draft tourism policy

will be out by mid-February thisyear. We have received morethan 80 comments from theindustry which we have incor-porated as much as we could.The draft policy has been sent to all the concerneddepartments for their comments. We expect this pol-icy to give us direction.

QWhat new productscan the trade look for-

ward to?We have been introducing

a lot of products for domestictourists. They are our mainstaycomprising almost 80 per centof the total tourists visitingMaharashtra. Currently, we areworking on introducing certifica-tion program for city guides thatwill be certified by theMaharashtra TourismDevelopment Corporation(MTDC) from this April. We will

start with Mumbai and introduceit in five other cities in the statesuch as Aurangabad, Nagpurand Nashik. This was done atthe behest of the IndianAssociation of Tour Operators(IATO) because agents face ahuge scarcity of trained guides,specially German andJapanese speaking ones.

QWhat is the statedoing to get cruise lin-

ers into Mumbai?The Cochin Port Trust

has completed infrastructurework on one of the best cruiseterminals. Maharashtra nowneeds to have a cruise termi-nal separate from a normalport because one cruise linerbrings in so much business tothe destination. I have writtento the Mumbai Port Trustchairman and discussed withhim to step up our infrastruc-ture in the Mumbai terminal.We will work out an upgradeplan for this and MOT will fund it under the SwadeshDarshan scheme. The

short-term plan is to ensureeasy immigration and cus-toms with the current infra-structure. We had a series ofmeetings with some of thebiggest cruise liners when wewere at WTM London lastyear that led us to think in thisdirection. There is a high-pow-ered committee set up by theMinistry of Shipping to pro-mote cruise tourism.

QHow are you promot-ing the state’s

Buddhist Circuit? We want to improve con-

nectivity into Aurangabad,now that the airport has beenupgraded. Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis has takenup this issue with the CivilAviation Minister to re-startthe Jaipur-Aurangabad flightwhich we had as well as the

Pune-Aurangabad one. Weare also looking to start a newroute from Aurangabad toBodh Gaya to cater to theheavy Buddhist tourist traffic.It’s still in discussion thoughand we are looking at a cou-ple of airlines for this.

QAre you doing any activities and

events internationally?

We have partnered with Baden-Württembergstate in SouthWest Germanythis year for a festival they are organising in Stuttgart in July. It will be a bigBollywood movie festival and they have invited us to attend it and leverage the event to our benefit and promoteMaharashtra there.

Valsa Nair Singh, Principal Secretary-Tourism & Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra, highlights theimportance of the domestic market, the draft tourism policy and the need to leverage the benefits of having amajor port for cruise tourism.

Domestic tourism thriving in Maharashtra

HA Z E L JA I N

INTERVIEW F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 TRAVTALK 7

Buddhist ConnectionMaharashtra Govt. hasurged the Ministry of CivilAviation to re-start flightsfrom Jaipur and Pune toAurangabad

They are also looking tostart a new route fromAurangabad to Bodh Gayato cater to Buddhist tourists

Valsa Nair SinghPrincipal Secretary-Tourism & CulturalAffairs, Government of Maharashtra


The International Institute forPeace through Tourism

(IIPT) India Chapter has facil-itated the launch of a one-yearMBA program in Tourism at theMumbai-based institute Sir MVisvesvaraya Institute ofManagement Studies &Research (SVIMS). AjayPrakash, President, IIPT

India, said, “SVIMS is part ofthe IIPT Consortium ofCollaborating Universities andthis MBA program will be inassociation with LivingStoneInternational University inZambia, which is also part ofthis consortium.”

The 30-year-old institutealso celebrated the firstanniversary of its India

Chapter. Prakash adds, “Oneof the things we are working foris creating a sustainabletourism product which is wherethe trade comes in. The idea isto encourage the tourismindustry to look at sustainabil-ity which is going to be a criti-cal need in the future. We wantto inculcate this idea amongthe young.”

IIPT will be holding itsfirst global awards for empow-ered women in tourism at theupcoming ITB Berlin show onMarch 11 to be presented byTaleb Rifai, SecretaryGeneral, UNWTO. “We arealso working with universitiesacross India. We have creat-ed the first IIPT centre ofexcellence at CentralUniversity of Jammu. Wewant to create centres ofexcellence at various

universities across the coun-try. By the end of 2016 we hope to have 100 such centres across India,”Prakash adds.

Explaining the course,Kiran Yadav, ExecutiveDirector & Dean,Entrepreneurship Develop-ment, SVIMS, says, “It isdesigned to allow students towork and study in India,Zambia, UK and Finland. Wehave also invited people fromthe trade to guide us on howwe can make it relevant. Wewant to focus on creating man-agers and entrepreneurs forthe future.”

The advisory board willhave representatives from the government, travel andhospitality associations, senior executives from theindustry including the e-com-merce companies and major hotel chains in India aswell as the academia. It has CEOs on its advisorycouncil from companies who are looking to enhancethe quality of future workforce.

The International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) India Chapterhas helped create an MBA program in Tourism at Mumbai-based SVIMS institute.

IIPT facilitates MBA in Tourism ASSOCIATIONS8 TRAVTALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6

PATA CEO Mario Hardy, andJohn Koldowski, MemberTourism Action Group,Thamassat University Thailand,will deliver a seminar on April 5,2016, at The Park New Delhi, tohelp prepare tourism stakehold-ers for future growth, opportuni-ties and challenges.

While Hardy is optimisticabout the growing role and con-tribution of tourism in worldeconomies, he will focus on howmarkets can get their fair shareof this growth as well as address,both present day and futuristicchallenges and opportunities.Hardy leads PATA’s charge at theGlobal Travel AssociationCoalition. Koldowski, who was

former Deputy CEO of PATA,specialises in analysis and inter-pretation of information regardingmovements and trends in thetourism sector based on emerg-ing consumer preferences and destination development.Koldowski will share his in-depthknowledge of the impact of glob-al trends on Asia Pacific tourism.

Mario Hardy CEO, PATA

PATA CEO comes calling

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Ajay PrakashPresident, IIPT India

Kiran YadavExecutive Director & Dean,Entrepreneurship Development, SVIMS


QUICKBYTES F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 TRAVTALK 9

Tax-free holidays� It would be beneficial for all if people are tax-incentivised to devel-op facilities at pre-determined touristdestination� If the cost of a family’s annual hol-iday in India is made tax-free with a

cap on value or days, then people will start moving morewithin the country, creating demand for tourism alongwith job opportunities

Prakash BangManaging Director, roomsXML Solutions

and India Travel Award Winner (Best Innovative Product)

Create business environment� Reduce luxury hotels barriers andcreate a business environment � As hoteliers, our biggest need isrationalising multiple taxes that arepaid � Additionally we are hopeful that

the introduction of GST will streamline things. � Hospitality and tourism are dependant heavily on infra-structure, so I am hoping for a good budgetary allocation

Rohan SableGM, Novotel Goa Shrem Hotel and Grand Mercure Goa

Shrem Resort & India Travel Award Winner (Best Spa & Wellness Resort)

RBI’s 5:25 scheme� Rationalisation of taxes and earlyimplementation of GST� Lower the minimum project costmandated for inclusion of hotels inthe Reserve Bank of India'sInfrastructure Lending List from ` 200 crore to ̀ 20 crore

� Eligibility to avail the 5:25 scheme of RBI� The Union Govt should ensure that all states must rec-ognize tourism as an industry so that hospitality estab-lishments can avail incentives and concessions

Luv MalhotraVice President, FHRAI

Allocate funds for promotionThere is a need for tax reduction forthe travel and tourism industry. Thehospitality sector in India is highlytaxed, and this has to be checked.There is also a need for higher allo-cation of funds on marketing and

promotional activities for India as a destination.

Amit AggarwalManaging Partner

Wish Bone India and India Travel Award Winner (Best MICE Operator)

Standardise taxesCurtailment and standardisation oftaxes nationally can play a significantrole in balancing costs for the travelindustry. This initiative alone canboost both occupancies and ARRsfor the hospitality industry. Additional

charges like Public Performance License (PPL) andIndian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) tariffs increasescosts for events. A parity has to be brought in place tostreamline this grey area.

Manish DayyaArea General Manager, AccorHotel’s – Lavasa Hotels &

Convention Centre and India Travel Award Winner (Best Mid Market Hotel)

Trade demands industry status Contd. from page 2

Contd. on page 12

Improve infrastructure� The government should look attax restructure� Development of infrastructure,new recreational sites, and issue likesafety of tourists should be on theagenda

Jagrut ThakkarDirector, JJs Tours & Travels and India Travel Award Winner

(Best Innovative Product of the Year)


ASSOCIATIONS

Members of the TravelAgents Association of

India (TAAI) are reaping thebenefits of having their presi-dent heading the UnitedFederation of Travel AgentsAssociations (UFTAA) Globalas well. Through his recentappointment, Sunil Kumarwas able to get Yossef Fatael,Vice President and Chairmanof Air Matters, UFTAA, to visitIndia from Israel and addressmembers on matters mosturgent – IATA’s NewDistribution Capability (NDC)and its NewGen ISS.

TAAI Western andNorthern Region Chaptershad invited Fatael to conductan in-depth presentation titled ‘Changing Trends in the

Travel Industry and its Impact’that highlighted the travelagents’ perspective on thesetwo important subjects. TAAI conducted a similarworkshop in New Delhi onJanuary 30. Present at theworkshops were Kumar, a fewmembers of the ManagingCommittee, as well as somemembers of the Travel Agents

Federation of India (TAFI),who were also invited to bepart of this.

Kumar said that this was part of TAAI's MemberEmpowerment Program, underwhich it will organise frequent

sessions. “In a fast-evolvingmarket, unless we emerge pro-active and take our skills tonewer levels, we may not beguaranteed sustained growth.UFTAA has expertise on futuretrends and IATA matters andthe presentations gave mem-bers an idea about thechanges that are coming andhow they need to evolve and

change their approach. Thispresentation on NDC andNewGen ISS programs being launched by IATA will be made throughout thecountry in all the 20 Regionsand Chapters of TAAI,” he adds.

TAAI members were witness to intense training sessionsregarding IATA’s NDC and NewGen ISS in Mumbai and New Delhi as part of the association’s MemberEmpowerment Program.

Know IATA’s new programs

QPlease explain NDCand NewGen ISS?NDC will create a totally

new environment in distribu-tion facilities as they aretoday. Instead of having majorGDSs, we’ll see many new ITcompanies coming into themarket and providing infor-mation and facilities to thepublic and travel agents. NewGen ISS, on the other hand,will dramatically change the

agency program as well asthe contract that the agentshave with the airlines today.

QHow will it changethe dynamics of the

industry?It will totally transform

the way of paying the airlinesthrough the IATA system forthe purchases. There will benew accredited agent mod-els, which will create newopportunities for small agen-cies to come back to thearena. The field itself ischanging and will in turnchange the infrastructure,rules of the industry, createopportunities and will makemany of us adopt moves tomodify the business modelwe are running.

QHow wouldyou advise

travel agents tohandle this situ-ation?

Travel will becomemore of a commodity. We willmove from a reservation sys-tem to a trading system.Decision-making process willbe a paramount skill thattravel agents would need.Unlike today, where everyagent gets the same price onGDSs, airlines will offer personalised prices foragents and customers. It isgoing to be much more complicated and if it is implemented as planned byIATA, it will create a new profession and a new industry.

Selling the design of theexperience or being expert ina niche is the new businessmodel that many agentswould have to move to. We will see collaborationbetween agents across coun-tries and groups, just like airlines and hoteliers aredoing today.

New challenges bring new opportunities

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In a fast-evolving market,unless we emerge pro-activeand take our skills to newerlevels, we may not be guar-anteed sustained growth.

Sunil KumarPresident, TAAI & President, UFTTA

Yossef Fatael, Vice-President, UFTAA, explains howNDC and NewGen ISS will have to be dealt with in thenear future.

Opportunities GaloreThere will be new accredit-ed agent models, which willcreate new opportunitiesfor small agencies to comeback to the arena

Agents will move from areservation system to atrading system



1 2 TRAVTALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 QUICKBYTES

Bridge gaps in travel facilities� Areas where we need to focus arebridging gaps in travel facilities,improving infrastructure, working onsafety norms and introduce a bettertax regime � The government needs to put in

place a budget that helps and promotes tourism resulting in better industry revenues and employmentopportunities

Jaal ShahFounder, RezLive.com and

India Travel Award Winner (Best Online Travel Product)

Hospitality: Infrastructure status� Exemption limit on Service taxfrom ̀ 10 lacs to ̀ 25 lacs� Treat travel industry at par withexporters based on its foreignexchange earnings� Services which are not rendered

in India should be exempt from service tax� Tourism industry is currently highly taxed and makesIndia an expensive destination in spite of weaker Rupee. � Infrastructure status to the hospitality industry

Jagat MehtaPresident, Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA)

ATF should be declared goods� Exemption from MinimumAlternate Tax (MAT)� Exemption from withholding taxon aircraft / engine lease rental pay-ments and obligations arising out oflease agreements

� We need to allow our financial institutions to purchaseaircraft and lease it to airline operators� ATF to be considered as declared goods

Kiran Koteshwar CFO

SpiceJet and India Travel Award Winner (Best Airline)

Priority to global contractsService Tax should be relaxed.Industrialists who intend to develop3 star and 4 star guest housesshould be incentivised with taxdeductions. Better infrastructure(road, transport etc.) for tourist

destination is required. Implementation of the contracts signed with the tourism fraternity globally shouldbe a priority.

Sanjeev MehraDirector, Aaryan Leisure and Holidays and

India Travel award Winner (Best MICE Consolidator)

Better internal connectivityTourism should be a key focus witha push on infrastructure develop-ment to improve domestic andinbound tourism. The FinanceMinister should invite private invest-ments and focus on segments like

adventure, MICE, cruise, heritage and culture. We alsoneed rationalisation of taxation. There is also an urgentneed to solve internal connectivity issues and need toshowcase the culture of India to the world.

Rajat BagariaNational Managing Committee Member and Co-

Chairman Convention Committee, TAFI

Encourage PPP model� The roll out of the GST bill will bewelcomed with open arms by allplayers of the industry. We hope thathotels will be placed under the lowerslabs of GST� The current taxes are very high

and need to be checked.� We hope to see progress in infrastructure and con-nectivity issues� Public Private Partnerships need to be encouraged more

Harikumar BGeneral Manager, Radisson Blue, Mysore and India Travel

Award Winner (Best Debut Hotel)

Favourable tax reforms to boost revenue Contd. from page 9

Contd. on page 16


Talking about the product,Sandeep Dwivedi, Chief

Commercial Officer, InterGlobeTechnology Quotient said,“Recently we have started work-ing on a new initiative which weare going to launch sometimein March 2016. This is related toproviding a financial packagewhich will boost the functioningof the travel industry. We havedone a tie-up with Tally, which isone of the best accountingpackages available for travel fra-ternity. We have created a layerin-between from GDS, or fromLCC carrier that will communi-cate with the system, automat-ically pushing the required infor-mation in the accounting pack-age. From the agency point ofview, it will not lose any revenuebecause all the postings willhappen automatically into thesystem. Also there will be anease of use and reporting willbe available to the travel agent.Plus the resources especiallyon the travel agencies side area challenge. Because of Tallythe resources will be easilyavailable to the travel agenciesin the market itself.”

He added, “We havereleased Smartpoint 6.5,which comes with a lot ofchanges, keeping in mind theIndian requirements especiallyfrom the travel agent’s view-point. Smartpoint offers brand-ed fares from over 400 leadingairlines from around the worldand over 650,000 unique hotelproperties. It is designed toincrease the productivity ofeveryday jobs such as Queueand PNR management.”

About the TravelportUniversal API, he said, “UAPI isgaining a foot in the Indian mar-ket especially the OTA space.This Application ProgrammingInterface aggregates contentfrom GDS, accommodationproviders, LCCs and merchan-dising and ancillary servicesthrough a single connection. Itenables travel consultants togain access to multiple contentsources by writing code for onlyone solution, decreasing thetime required to launch newtravel applications.”

The company’s travelapp, Trip38, has real-timeaccess to travel content and

branded ancillary services thatassists the travellers onunknown grounds. “It managesa traveller’s itinerary-startingfrom check-in alerts, baggageallowance, flight details, terminalinfo, airport facilities and so on,”Dwivedi said. The App offersunique feature of professionalservices and branding for theagents. He added, “If as a travelconsultant you incorporate thisApp and register in it with your

credentials (which is a onetimeaction) you can do your compa-ny’s branding free of cost. Theonly thing you have to do next isask your customer to downloadthe App and register himself.After that, during his journey hehas to open the App and getdetailed information aboutplaces he is visiting with yourcompany’s branding on it. Andyou get to increase your brandand service loyalty.”

Sandeep Dwivedi, Chief Commercial Officer, InterGlobe Technology Quotient, tells about their new initiative,set to launch in March, that promises to boost the functioning of the travel industry.

New Apps to ease agency’s business

KA N C H A N NAT H Trip38 also offers a unique feature of professionalservices and branding. If as a travel consultant youincorporate this App and register in it with your cre-

dentials (which is a onetime action) you can do yourcompany’s branding free of cost.

Sandeep DwivediChief Commercial Officer, InterGlobe Technology Quotient

TECHNOLOGY F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 TRAVTALK 1 3

Tech TalkA new financial package, with supportfrom Tally, will makeresources easily availablefor travel agencies in the market


GUEST COLUMN1 4 TRAVTALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6

Since the first hand-writtenpassport emerged in a

recognisable form around1915 there have only been twomajor revisions to the way theylook and work. The first camein 1980 when the now familiarMachine Readable Zonesstarted to appear at the bottomof the biographic page.

The second came in2004 with the introduction ofthe first chip-bearingePassports. Both are steps ina gradual but planned transi-tion away from paper towarddigital passports.

Directing the transitionfrom behind the scenes is aUN agency called ICAO (theInternational Civil AviationAuthority). ICAO sets the stan-dards that ensure passportswill be accepted anywhere inthe world. It remains theabsolute prerogative of individ-ual sovereign states to issuepassports; however it is ineveryone’s best interests if thesame standards are imple-mented at the same time,hence there is broad accept-ance of ICAO’s role.

Themicro-chip in anePassport containsbiometric details that can beused to identify the traveller.The biometrics used in this arefacial recognition, fingerprintrecognition, and iris recogni-tion. From the traveller’s per-spective, ePassports withreadable chips containing bio-metrics are good news.Border control is usually atrade-off between security andease of passage: the higherthe security, the slower thepassage. ePassports buck thattrend by allowing for bothimproved security and greaterefficiency. The chip adds an

extra layer of security mak-ing the passport harder todefraud, but it also allowsfor more efficient checks.You will be able to take

advantage of spe-cial channels

availableonly to

ePassportholders, usually

leading to someform of automatic

gate. As ePassportholding is still relatively

low, you’ll probably be join-ing a much shorter queue in

the arrival hall. This is a greatreason to become an earlyadopter.

Automatic gates work byauthenticating the travelleragainst the biometrics storedon the ePassport chip. If theface of the traveller at the gatematches the face stored digi-tally on the chip the gateopens. Although the time tocomplete this process may beabout the same as a check bya human border guard, therecan be more automatic gatesper meter which means short-er queues. The alternative is

building bigger arrival halls,which is more expensive andnot always feasible.

As of this year, 120 out of191 ICAO member states nowissue ePassports and about 500million have been issued world-wide. So a tipping point in uptakehas definitely been reached.Almost all the major flight hubshave some form of ‘eGate’, usu-ally tucked over to one side inthe hall with conspicuouslytempting shorter queues.

Looking toward thefuture, ICAO already has plansto implement fully electronicpassports, where the bookletformat is replaced with asmart-card on which all youridentity details, visas and travelhistory will be stored in thechip. This will be the next rev-olution in the rather uneventfulhistory of the passport, butgiven the slow pace of changethis is still some decades away.For now, and for some years tocome, the ePassport remainsthe state of the art.

Passports haven’t changed much in a century, but all that is changing,albeit rather slowly.

Ushering in the e-Passports era � Biennial IATO elections on April 23

� Indian visitors top Dubai market with1.6 million

� Kozhikode-Ras Al Khaimah 4 times aweek on AI Express

� SQ’s Scoot to start India operationsfrom March

� 33-room Lords Inn hotel launched inJammu

� Now, AirAsia X from New Delhi toKuala Lumpur

� HRANI Conclave in Delhi on Feb 27

� Mauritius records 18% growth inIndian tourist arrivals

� ‘Genting Dream’ to dock in Mumbai on Oct 29

� Kashmir tourism bounces back with75,000 visitors in Jan

The author, William Sillery, is theHead of Transitions at TT Services



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Infrastructure status� We definitely are looking for theinfrastructure status for our industry � Taxes have to be rationalised.They are completely out of the way.

Naveen JainPresident, Duet Hotels

Better infrastructure, safety paramount Contd. from page 12

Ease luxury tax� A levy on taxes would be a hugerelief especially for the inbound sec-tor, where foreign exchange revenueis applicable. � Apart from the service tax, easein luxury tax would also be a huge

welcome that would definitely help further the growth ofthe tourism industry in India.

Amit MalhotraDirector, India Operations, Bestway Tours & Safaris

Set off service taxes� The government should dosomething about the service taxes-- even if there is no waiver, theyshould have a set-off. � As wholesalers, the retailers buyfrom us and sell it to clients who

have to pay double due to the service tax.

Shyam UpadhyayDirector, U&I Holidays

Promote Brand India� We need waiver of service tax ontourism services � The FM also needs to allocatebudgets for better infrastructure toback the vision of the Hon PM of pro-moting tourism in India.

Subhash MotwaniDirector, Namaste Tourism

Tax rebate on forex� Service tax ought to be levied atonly one point for air tickets - notupon the airlines and the agentsseparately.� Abolition of service tax for serv-ices provided overseas i.e. on inter-

national outbound tours.�Withdrawal of the ‘Swacch Bharat’ cess. � Restoration of the tax rebate for earnings in foreignexchange � Mandatory merging of the bizarre fuel surcharge withthe basic fare.

Ajay PrakashPresident, IIPT India and Immediate Past President of TAFI

Scrap double taxation� There should be a definite budgetfor better connectivity by buildingnew airports, improving airport facil-ities and building better roads to keytourism destinations in the country� A reduction in airport fees and the

taxes on airline fuel � Indian tour operators have to pay double taxes for thearrangement for outbound tours� ATF prices needs to be slashed in order to boosttourism industry

Tadesse TilahunRegional Director - India Sub Continent, Ethiopian Airlines

Multitudes of taxes challenging� Try and bring the GST� Multitude of taxes is challenging � Rationalising the tax structure

Dilip PuriManaging Director India and Regional

Vice President South Asia, Starwood Hotels & Resorts




F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 TRAVTALK 1 9NEWS

In order to create more aware-ness about India among the

long-haul international markets,especially Australia, the Ministryof Tourism, Government of India

is supporting a ‘Spirit of IndiaRun’ by former member ofAustralian Parliament andmarathon runner – Pat Farmer.This was flagged off fromKanyakumari on January 26and will conclude in Kashmir onMarch 30. The event is beingsupported by various state gov-

ernments as well as industryassociations like the IndianAssociation of Tour Operators(IATO), Travel AgentsAssociation of India (TAAI),Federation of Hotel andRestaurant Association of India

(FHRAI), and Hotel Associationof India (HAI).

Vikas Rustagi, RegionalDirector, India Tourism, Mumbai,MOT, Government of India, said,“We want to expose India’stourist attractions to the domes-tic and international markets and

are definitely looking at Australiaas a market where this run willbe telecasted in a big way. Wewould like more Australians tocome to India and explore ourofferings. We are working veryclosely with the state tourismdepartments for this like Kerala,Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat,Rajasthan, Punjab, and Jammu & Kashmir. We alsohave good cooperation from thehotel industry.”

Talking about how thisevent can help the travel trade,NS Rathore, Chairman, IATO(Western India), says, “We hopethat with the publicity created bythis event, business fromAustralia will increase. This doc-umentary will help potential trav-ellers in Australia realise thatIndia is safe to travel in. A lot ofinternational tourists, especiallywomen still feel India is not safe.That is why we are involved, andevery chapter from Chennai toGujarat and J&K will be involvedand provide the drivers.Accommodation and meals willbe taken care of by the stategovernments.”

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has initiated a unique event totap the international markets, specially Australia and hasinvolved state governments and key industry associations.

Betting big on Australia

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Vikas RustagiRegional Director, India Tourism,Mumbai, Ministry of Tourism,Government of India

NS RathoreChairmanIATO (Western India)

Gujarat hosts International Kite Festival

The International Kite Festival, which took off on the right bank of River Sabarmati, was inaugurated in the pres-ence of O. P. Kohli, Governor of Gujarat, and Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister, Gujarat, among other dignitaries.Kiteists from 31 countries, 27 Indian states and Gujarat were seen flying kites of different sizes and shapesand myriad colours. Jayesh Radadia, Minister of State (Tourism), said that the Kite Festival, organised by theTourism Department of Gujarat, is a center of attraction for both Indian and foreign kiteists.


NTO

Recognising the dynamismand influence of the India

outbound market, a seniorthree-member team from theIsland of Crete was in Mumbaito interact with the travel trade.In what can be considered itsdebut visit to the country, theIsland of Crete in Greece is keento tap the potential of Indiatourism market. MichailisVamiedakis, Commissioner ofTourism, Island of Crete, wholed the delegation, said, “Webelieve in the Indian market; it isevolving with a promise of bignumbers. The arrivals in Greeceand specially Crete from Indiaare still very small. But we per-ceive a lot of scope and expectgrowth in middle to long-term –not right away. We want to havea long, stable presence here.”

The island has chalkedout plans for 2016 starting withmore destination presenta-tions and marketing promo-tional activities, not only inMumbai but also in other citieslike New Delhi, Chennai,

Bengaluru, Hyderabad andKolkata. Its target audienceincludes FITs, families, GITS,MICE, weddings and youth.

“The response inMumbai was overwhelmingspecially because this is thefirst time that Greece andCrete have tapped the Indiamarket. Currently, we see onlya few thousand Indians com-ing into Crete but that is alsowhere we see a lot of scopefor growth and improvement.We will participate in travelfairs in India, conduct somemore presentations and road-shows in other cities, andorganise Fam trips for agentsand tour operators,”Vamiedakis added.

The TourismCommissioner has set the tar-get low for now, since it is start-ing from scratch. “We just wantto have stable growth and aserious presence here. Ourplan is also to organise work-shops between the trade ofboth countries in the secondhalf of 2016. We will also intro-duce our specialist trainingprogram in 2016 that includeseducational kits locally as well as virtually via Skype,”Vamiedakis revealed.

Having made its first official presentation in India in Mumbai,the Greek island of Crete is happy to start low but reach bigtourist numbers.

Creating demand for Crete

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We’ll participatein travel fairs inIndia, conductpresentationsand roadshowsin other cities,and organiseFam trips

Michailis VamiedakisCommissioner of TourismIsland of Crete

Switzerland Tourism, SwissTravel System, TVG Lyria

and Rail Europe recentlylaunched the Swiss TravelPass Superstar Program 2016in Mumbai and several otherIndian cities, through a joint ini-tiative to promote brand aware-

ness and enhance knowledgeof various Swiss Travel Passesamong travel agents and tour operators in India.Registrations for the SwissTravel Pass Superstar programwill start from March 1, and

the modules will begin fromApril 1, 2016.

Ritu Sharma, DeputyDirector & Media Manager-India, Switzerland Tourism,says, “The idea is to increaseawareness of the Swiss TravelPass among the trade while giv-ing them a chance to win prizes.In 2015, we gave prizes likeApple iPhones, iPads and Swisswatches. We want to incentivisethe person selling the maximumnumber of passes. Last year, theprogram witnessed around 850participants and this yearSwitzerland Tourism along withits partners expects to doublethe number of participants.”

Switzerland TourismBoard recorded a 21 per centgrowth in 2015. The thrust ison encouraging agents to sellmore travel passes withlonger durations to cus-tomers. The minimum numberof days is three to four but with this program agentsare expected to sell travelpasses of eight days.Switzerland Tourism alongwith its partners organisedtraining sessions in Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhiand Ahmedabad. Mumbai saw 62 attendees whileChandigarh and New Delhi recorded 45 and 108, respectively.

The Swiss Travel Pass Superstar 2016 program will act as anincentive tool for the trade to get more Indians to Switzerlandand make them stay longer. Registrations start from March 1.

Swiss training for agents

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Ritu SharmaDeputy Director & Media Manager- India,Switzerland Tourism

It will be a six-month program in which every month agentshave to answer 7 out of 10 questions correctly and sell maxi-mum number of travel passes to stand a chance to win excitingprizes monthly. Also, agents will have to upload the number ofpasses being sold by them and score a minimum of 80 percent to qualify for the grand prize at the end of six months. Thetop 30 performers will win a week-long holiday to Switzerlandwhich will include airfares, stay, sightseeing, meals etc.

About Swiss Travel Pass Superstar program


The annual Kerala Tourismroadshow in New Delhi

saw the state showcasing itstourism products with 60exhibitors (including hotels,resorts and attractions) andmore than 200 buyers from thetravel fraternity. Outlining theaim behind the event,Nandakumar K. P., DeputyDirector, Kerala Tourism, said

“The national capital is veryimportant for us, and we havea huge market share fromDelhi. Hence, we do this road-show every year.”

He added that despite theindustry expecting a slump in2015-16, Kerala has not felt it.Supporting this with numbers,he said, “In 2014, we achieved7.6 per cent and 7.7 per cent ofinternational and domestictourists respectively. However,in 2015, we only have figuresfrom January to October, andwe have achieved 6.6 per centof international arrivals and 7.6per cent of domestic arrivals in

this period.” However, he saidthat they are not satisfied withonly this, and claimed that thestate is aiming for about 10 percent growth in tourist arrivals inKerala in 2016.

Revealing other market-ing efforts, he added, “We arecoming up with differenttourism products like cuisineand Ayurveda at variousplaces. Apart from traditional

markets we would like to con-centrate on new markets,which could grow in future.China and Russia are impor-tant for us. Also, East Europeis an emerging market. We areplanning to participate in inter-national exhibition and showsincluding MITT in Moscow, ITBBerlin, TUR Gothenburgh, etc.”

However, amidst con-cerns over passenger traffic

shifting from Kerala to SriLanka, Nandakumar says,“Kerala and Sri Lanka havesimilar products, whether it’sthe natural greenery, beachesor Ayurveda. However, ourUSP is the quality and we wantto concentrate on that.”

Adding that the MICE andwedding sector is very impor-tant for them, and contribute tonumbers in a big way, he said,

“We have big plans for MICE in2016, and we will be putting inplace new projects after thenew government in Keralacomes in May.” He further saidthat they are expecting morebudgets once the politicalchange in the state comes intoeffect. “Last two years, we havebeen running with almost thesame budget, but now weexpect it to change,” addedNandakumar.

Kerala Tourism is upbeat about seeing growth in tourism arrivals despite competition from similar destinations. It aims for 10 per cent growth in tourist arrivals in the state this year.

Kerala targets 10% rise in arrivals in 2016

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STATES F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 TRAVTALK 2 1

Apart fromtraditional marketswe would like toconcentrate onnew markets.China and Russiaare important forus. Also, EastEurope is anemerging market

Nandakumar K. P.Deputy DirectorKerala Tourism

Quick FactsNumber of FTAs to Kerala:7,75,390 (from Jan-Oct,2015)

Number of domestic vis-its in Kerala: 76,71,277(from Jan-Aug, 2015)

In 2016, Kerala has bigplans for the MICE &wedding sector

In the airThere are 61,000 people in theair over the U.S. at any giventime on any given day. This isbecause the most number ofairports in the world are actually in the U.S.


2 2 TRAVTALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 CRUISES

"We have launched anew concept on Star

Cruises, an entertainmentcruise. These sailings will addmore fun, entertainment andfood in addition to the normalinclusions on board," saysAnju Tandon, Director, Ark Travels.

Elaborating on the sched-ule of the cruise, Tandon says,"The sailing on August 10,2016 is a normal two nightscruise from Singapore to PortKlang and back, and the cruiseon August 14, 2016, will be athree nights sailing fromSingapore to Penang and PortKlang and back."

Discussing the entertain-ment activities on board,Tandon says, "Additionalentertainment activities havebeen introduced like perform-ance by Bollywood and

Tollywood celebrities onboard, all day carnival withparty games and all nightmusical extravaganzas on anopen deck. A special food fes-tival on board will serve pop-ular Indian cuisines."

Talking about the supportfrom the travel trade partners,Tandon adds, "All our pack-ages are commissionable toour partners. We are educatingour trade partners about theproduct and are looking for-ward for their support."

Ark Travels has launched the Big BangNautical Fiesta on SuperStar Gemini ExSingapore, an entertainment cruise,scheduled to kick off in August 2016.

Entertainment cruisekicks off in August

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Anju TandonDirector, Ark Travels

With a fleet of eight super-liner ships, P&O Cruises

offers itineraries of various dura-tions ranging from short CruiseBreaks to Round the WorldCruises. Talking about the prod-uct, Nishith Saxena, Director,Cruise Professionals, says, “Weaim to provide the best holidaysafloat, combining British cruisingwith contemporary style andinnovation. In the last two yearswe witnessed a substantialdemand for premium UK basedcruise products and we feel thisis the perfect time for re-launchof P&O Cruises."

In the summers, the shipsoperate from Southampton,cruising to the Mediterranean,the Atlantic Isles, the Baltic andScandinavia, Canary Islands,Norway and Iceland. During thewinters, the ships sail to theCaribbean, and some under-take World Voyages, journeyingto Australia, New Zealand,South America, the Far Eastand the US. Saxena adds, "Theworld of choice, combined with

experienced, professionals andfriendly staff, accounts for P&OCruises’ continued popularitywith international and Indiantravellers. The dining, entertain-ment, style, décor of our ships reflects a high-end British sophistication which is highly appreciated by Indian passengers."

Talking about the facilitieson the ships, Saxena says,"Along with a range of facilitiesavailable, there are additionalactivities to choose from like amodern spa, well-equippedgymnasium, multiple theatres

and lounges, Internet café,libraries or kids activity area."

With an advantage offamiliarity of the product,Cruise Professionals is involv-ing and encouraging the travelagents to promote P&OCruises to their Indian clients.Saxena says, "While mostagents were familiar with thename, we are engaging themby providing training tools,brochures and point of sales material."

Discussing the pricing pol-icy for P&O Cruises, Saxena

says, "We have a unique pricingmechanism which provides pas-sengers a choice to pay a lowerfare for a guaranteed accommo-dation with lesser benefits andstricter cancellations. By payinga higher fare they can choosethe cabin, more benefits andrelaxed terms. With a standardpricing policy across the globe,our agents need not worry aboutdifferential rates in different mar-kets. Also, P&O Cruises offerscommission to travel agents onthe gross fare. If compared toany other cruise line, the com-mission offers would be at least2-3 per cent higher."

Cruise Professionals has re-launched the British cruiseliner P&O Cruises to theIndia market, opening doors to a revenue generation opportunity for travel agentsand provide their clients with a high demand and enriching cruise product.

Cruise commission on gross fare

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While most agents were familiar with the name, we are engaging them by providing training tools, brochures and point of sales mate-rial. Also, P&O Cruises offers commission to travelagents on the gross fare.

Nishith SaxenaDirector, Cruise Professionals


Former Tourism SecretaryParvez Dewan is well-

known for his considerablecontribution to the promotionand development of the NorthEast region. During his tenureat the Ministry of Tourism(MOT), Govt. of India, the min-istry initiated aggressive cam-paigns to advocate tourism inthe seven states, along with theDarjeeling region in WestBengal, and launched thethree-day International TourismMart (ITM) in 2013.

"The response to ITMhas been phenomenal so far,"enthuses Dewan. "After thefirst edition of ITM waslaunched, a considerablegrowth of 28 per cent in touristarrivals to the North East wasregistered during 2013 over2012. The year 2014 saw ahigh growth of 40 per cent andwitnessed an increase indomestic tourist visits to 68.90lakh as compared to 66.77 lakhduring 2013."

Apart from ITM's suc-cess, the past year has seenconcentrated efforts by MOT todevelop infrastructure and con-nectivity in the North East forwhich substantial funds havebeen allotted to various states."With a major chunk of chal-lenges addressed, theNortheastern states will defi-nitely see exponential growth

in tourist arrivals," commentsDewan. "Once Sikkim's airportis ready and functional, thenumber of tourist arrivals willsurely grow by at least 20 percent, owing to its existingstrong infrastructure and vari-ety of tourism products. Assamalready has a relatively highfootfall, so the growth will notbe as prominent, but I expect a

double digit growth forArunachal Pradesh."

While Dewan agreesthat the North East's vasttourism potential is not beingused to its full extent, he is ofthe opinion that the changewill not happen overnight. "To be able to effectively pro-mote the states, the private

sector needs to be equallyinvolved as well," he states. "Ifeel that culture plays a majorrole in attracting tourists,something the North East hasno dearth of. Their vibrant cul-ture should be displayed inthe architecture and in anyother way, for which the private sector has to activelybe a part of.”

In light of MOT’s continued efforts to promote the tourism potential of the Northeasternstates, Parvez Dewan, Advisor to J&K Governor & former Secretary, Tourism, reiterateshis ongoing support and says that the domestic market needs to be tapped effectively.

More private sector participation

AH A N A GU R U N G

F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 TRAVTALK 2 3STATESNew Sikkim-West Bengal railway line underway

A new 45-km-long railway line connecting Pakyong in Sikkim toSevoke in West Bengal has finally been approved by the SupremeCourt and is under progress, according to Dr. Jitendra Singh,Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER). Theproject had been curtailed since 2009 after wildlife activists and envi-ronmentalists opposed it. Singh said that funds to the tune of ̀ 4190crore have been allotted for the railway line, which will also include14 tunnels and 28 bridges. "This railway line will offer an exclusivelypicturesque and scenic journey while passing through the foothillsof the Kanchenjunga mountain range and the Teesta river valley,"the minister said.

Referring to the ongoing Greenfield Airport project at Pakyong,he said that it is expected to be ready by 2017 at a revised cost of ` 605.59 crore. Singh revealed that 183 projects supported by theMinistry of DoNER have been completed in Sikkim at a cost of ` 487.91 crore under the Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR). Furthermore, 41 additional projects worth ` 721.89 crore are underway.

Once Sikkim'sairport isfunctional, thenumber of touristarrivals willsurely grow by atleast 20%, owing to itsexisting stronginfrastructureand variety oftourism products

Parvez Dewan Advisor to J&K Governor, and Former Secretary, Tourism, MOT


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Mumbai-based DMCAkquasun Holidays India

Pvt. Ltd. recently went onlineby launching its ‘AkquasunB2B Online Partner portal’ atthe IITT 2016 travel show inMumbai. Explaining the prod-uct, Sujit Nair, Founder &Group Managing Director,Akquasun Holidays India,says, “It will have dynamicpackaging system, servedwith our own DMC locationsand backed by our own DMCsupport. Since the back-end isserviced by our own DMC, it is convenient for our part-ners as it ensures good serv-ice quality and dependability.It also has a payment gateway with all options for payments available and veryeasy to use.”

The first phase of this por-tal was launched almost a yearago in 2014 during its roadshowwith only two destinations –Maldives and Mauritius. Now,the portal has all the destina-tions that it offers – 17.

Nair adds, “We give thema login and password once theyare verified by us. Each partnercan login to our B2B interfaceand select the destination oftheir choice. A unique securedlogin, password and dashboard

will be provided to each of ourpartners. The partner can thenselect the destination of hischoice; each of our DMCs haveunique features, subject to local-isation. The website will offerreal-time information to bookonline or inquire about (a) Bookhotels/Akquasun preferredhotels (b) special offers (c) des-tination packages (d) roominventories. The website will pro-vide end-to-end tracking of eachbookings, invoices, servicevouchers and payments.”

Agents can pick andchoose whatever service theywant as the site offers variouspermutations and combinations.This was initially done manually.The company promotes thisthrough its e-mailers and tradeshows. It also provides trainingthrough in-house support aswell as its sales team that ispresent across India and is well-versed with the technology andthe system. Nair says that thecompany is now makingimprovements based on thesuggestions they are gettingfrom its partners.

In order to get more agents into its fold and make the bookingprocess easier, AkquaSun has brought all its DMCs worldwideonto one platform online for the benefit of its B2B partners.

17 destinations on one portal

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Each partner canlogin to our B2Binterface andselect thedestination oftheir choice

Sujit NairFounder & Group Managing Director,Akquasun Holidays India

Terrorism as a global phenomenon has affected tourism business in several parts of the world. Can a unifiedtourism industry help counter this issue? finds out from industry stakeholders.

Standing together in adverse times

HA Z E L JA I N

Terror can’t take away the tourismvalue of any destination. The bestway to overcome the problem of ter-rorism is by carrying on business asusual. Maharashtra as such doesnot face any problems regarding thisbut some of the tragic incidents thathave happened against women in

India have in fact had a larger impact on tourism thananything. However, there are initiatives undertaken by afew such as peace tourism which is a fairly new conceptand it can work if encouraged properly.

Valsa Nair SinghPrincipal Secretary-Tourism & Cultural Affairs

Government of Maharashtra Despite having an efficient securitysystem in place, terrorism is ourchallenge in the tourism industry.However, when tragedy hit usrecently, we had minimal cancella-tions from India as Indian touristsdon’t get bullied by terrorists easily.We will continue to inform the public

about the security measures and updates on the situation.We try and take it in our stride; it’s not in the interest ofthis industry to panic.

H.E. Erdal Sabri ErgenConsul General of Turkey

Sri Lanka has repeatedly experi-enced direct attacks on tourism. Inthose times, we had to offer our destinations below its price speciallytargeting repeat tourists. But thelocal travel trade helped us a lot andwas willing to sell the destinationbelow par and our national carrier

continued to fly. Dealing with terror has now become partof our coping mechanism.

H.E. Saroja SirisenaConsul General of Sri Lanka

Memories of terror attacks are stillfresh in France. But actions weretaken swiftly and we continued toremain closely in touch with ourtrade partners. This put things atease for tourists. Agents used socialmedia to reach out to their clientswho were in France at the time.

Communication played a key role in subduing the situa-tion. The trade in India in turn showed a lot of solidaritywith us at the time.

Sheetal MunshawDirector, Atout France in India

We need to educate the trade abouthow to react and deal with clients atsuch times. TAAI offers its officesacross India to any tourism board touse for dissemination of informationto all our members. They need tosquash wrong information about thesituation. The advisories sent out to

the trade and the general public needs to be accurate.The trade and the NTOs can use social media effectivelyin such times. I request all NTOs to work with us.

Jay BhatiaNational Treasurer and Chairman (Tourism Council), TAAI

No country is immune to terror andwe have had our share of attacks.We made visas free for Indians andestablished better air connectivity toensure that those incidents don’taffect numbers from one of biggestsource markets – India.

H.E. Saut SringoringoConsul General of Indonesia

Shandong Airlines startedoperations in India in

November 2015. They are usingthe Boeing 737-800 aircraft,which has 160 economic andeight Business Class seats.

Wang Shuai, GeneralRepresentative of India,Shandong Airlines, said, “In thealmost two months we haveexperienced a seat load factorof 70 per cent which is good forthe beginning. We are getting anincreasing number of passen-gers from China to India andIndia to China. Only last year,India opened eTV to China andwe are very hopeful that morepeople will travel from China toIndia and vice-versa.”

Giving information aboutthe flights, he said, “This is ournew flight route. We now havefour flights per week toKunming, which will fly on toJinan and Qingdao. Mondayand Friday, the flights havebeen scheduled to fly toKunming and Jinan. While onWednesday and Sunday theyhave been scheduled to fly to

Kunming and Qingdao. Thetime for the Delhi to Kunmingflight is four hours, while that

of the Delhi-Jinan-Qingdaoflight is eight hours.”

The flight will arrive atQingdao and Jinan late nightand transit passengers will beprovided free hotel stay.

Shandong Airlines arethe local airlines in ShandongProvince, Jinan is the capital ofShandong Province andQingdao is the largest city inShandong Province. Kunmingis the capital of and largest cityin Yunnan Province, Southwest

China, and is geographicallycloser to India.

Talking about the promo-tions they are offering, he said,“At the beginning of the flight,we will provide a variety of pro-motions. We will be offeringattractive fares for all sectorsand especially the transitionpassengers; we have the offerof 2 pcs of luggage, in depar-ture from Delhi and we will pro-vide free hotel for transfer pas-sengers.”

Travel agents can avail ofan IATA commission of 3 percent by selling ShandongAirlines. Bird Travels is its GSAin India.

He concluded, “As amember of Air China Group, weprovide the same member serv-ices as Air China. You can earnand accumulate miles andredeem them on 27 StarAlliance airlines and 11 partnerairlines; the consumer can accu-mulate/redeem mileage or enjoythe corresponding rights andinterests in merchant establish-ments in more than 220 non-air-line partners.”

Shandong Airlines is now operating four flights per week fromNew Delhi to Kunming, Jinan, and Qingdao in China.

Delhi to 3 Chinese cities

KA N C H A N NAT H

Wang ShuaiGeneral Representative of IndiaShandong Airlines


FEBRUARY 2 N D FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2016 TRAVTALK 2 5A DDP PUBLICATION

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SRI LANKA TALK2 6 TRAVTALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6

For Sri Lanka, India is thebiggest source market as

far as tourism is concerned. Inonly January 2016, out of thetotal 194,280 tourists arrivingin the country, 28,895 werefrom India, which means anincrease of 26 per cent on lastyear’s figures for the samemonth. In fact, India facestough competition from Chinawhen it comes to touristarrivals to Sri Lanka, with thelatter recording a total of26,083 tourists intothe country inJanuary 2016,which in itself is anall time record122.3% growth forChinese arrivalsto Sri Lanka.

Viranga Bandara,Assistant Director –Marketing, Sri Lanka TourismPromotion Bureau (SLTPB),Ministry of TourismDevelopment and ChristianReligions Affairs, says, “Indiais the number one touristsgenerating market for SriLanka. We reported about319,000 tourist arrivals in2015 from India, and this yearwe are targeting 450,000tourists from here.”

Discussing theplans SLTPB is goingto adopt to reach thistarget, he said, “This

year, we have anumber of promo-tional activitiesplanned for the

Indian market. We are partic-ipating in four trade fairs thisyear, and also organisingroadshows in major cities inIndia. Also, we will advertiseon TV and print, and evenorganise Fam trips for themedia and tour operators toshowcase the attractions inSri Lanka.”

In fact, there are plansto even work on developingcircuits between India and SriLanka. “We are planning topromote Sri Lankan tourist

circuits and Indian tourist cir-cuits together, and I believethis is the best time to do that,”says Bandara. “We, as a government body act like apromotional arm and create aplatform for the travel industryof Sri Lanka to promote it asa destination and work withtravel representatives from allparts of the world,” he adds.

With tourism on a risein Sri Lanka, investments arebeing made in the country tocater to the tourists. Bandara

says, “We have a separateentity called Sri LankaTourism DevelopmentAuthority, which comesunder Sri Lanka Tourism.They facilitate any invest-ments for companies willingto start any new business inthe country.”

Stressing on the factthat the country has comeway ahead of the unrests inthe past, he adds, “I want toconvey that Sri Lanka is avery peaceful country.

Whoever is planning to travelto Sri Lanka can feel secure. In fact, one can spend more than four daysand can explore more of the country.”

Buoyed by the surge in Indian tourist arrivals, Sri Lanka Tourism is now focusing on developing and promotingtourism circuits between the two countries.

NI S H A VE R M A

26% rise in Indian arrivals in Jan’16

Quick FactsIn January 2016, SriLanka's tourist arrivalsrose 24.3% as comparedto the same period last year

194,280 tourists arrivedin the country in Jan’16compared to 156,246which arrived in Jan’15

Almost 1.8 milliontourists arrived in SriLanka in 2015, contribut-ing $2.86 billion of earn-ings to the governmentrevenues compared to $2.43 billion recordedduring 2014

This year, we have a number of promotional activities planned for the Indian market. We are participating in four trade fairs this year, and also organising roadshows in major cities in India.

Viranga BandaraAssistant Director – Marketing

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB)




India contributed 17.5 per centof the total number of tourists

visiting Sri Lanka in 2015, with316,247 Indian tourists, top-ping the chart as the largestsource market for Sri Lanka.Talking about the travel indus-try in Sri Lanka, Steve Harrop,CEO, TravelBullz Group, says,"We introduced Sri Lanka as adestination to our clients in thelast quarter of 2015. Thisstrategic move was put in placeas we see a huge potential inoffering 'value for money' pack-ages to the Indian market.India is the largest source mar-ket, however the destination isgrowing in popularity with theChinese market which is likelyto surpass the UK as the 2nd

largest market in Sri Lanka."

Discussing the incentivesbeing offered to travel agents,Harrop says, "TravelBullz hasa booker’s incentive for select

top agents which featuresexclusive products for SriLanka, bookable onlinethrough their Login IDs. Agentscan log on to www.travelbullz.com for the best availableoffers and products. We are the only DMC in Sri Lanka toprovide online, real-time package confirmations."

Elaborating on the seg-ments coming into Sri Lanka,Harrop says, "Our initial focusis to grow inbound into SriLanka. We have already seena wide variety of travel itiner-aries being booked, from budg-et travel through to luxury expe-riences. Given the country'sclose proximity and easyaccess from India, the itiner-aries that we offer can be tai-lored to meet anyone’s budget. We have also hadsome MICE group travel toColombo and Bentota this sea-son and more are confirmedfor future travel."

Along with being the only DMC in Sri Lanka toprovide online, real time package confirmations,TravelBullz offers a booker’s incentive to agents.

Bullish on Chinese tourists

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Covering a diverse range ofdestinations, Catapultt

specialises in offering pack-ages to Sri Lanka. The desti-nation's popularity hasincreased over the years,thanks to its diverse range oftourism hotspots that makesit a destination with somethingfor everyone, Fitkariwala says.

"The demand for SriLanka is rapidly growing.Some of the popular destina-tions among Indian travellersare Colombo, Kandy andBentota, while the demand forother places like Galle, Yalaand Hikkaduwa are quicklypicking up. Many Indians alsoopt for the Buddhist andRamayana tours which coverall the sacred places of inter-est," he adds.

The island, with itsbeautiful beaches, historical

spots, and a variety of accom-modation options makes it a sought-after holidaychoice. "It's a great place for family holidays, adventureenthusiasts or honeymoon-ers," says Fitkariwala."Arugam Bay is well-known as a surfer's paradise which receives a huge footfall every year while YalaNational Park is one of themost-visited places for wildlife safaris."

Fitkariwala informs thatSri Lanka's proximity to Indiaalso makes it a preferredchoice for weddings. "SriLanka gains an edge over theother South Asian countriessince it is so close to India," he says. "Moreover, the currency differentiation andvalue is also an important factor among travellers whichis why many choose it forbeach holidays and destina-tion weddings."

Manish Fitkariwala, Director, Catapultt, explainswhy the island is a preferred choice for destinationweddings, family and adventure holidays.

Spiritual, wildlife catch on

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Sri Lanka isgrowing inpopularity withthe Chinesemarket whichis likely tosurpass theUK as the 2nd

largest market

Steve HarropChief Executive OfficerTravelBullz Group

Many Indiansalso opt for theBuddhist andRamayanatours whichcover all thesacred placesof interest

Manish FitkariwalaDirectorCatapultt



QHow are youpromoting your

hotels in India? We attend the main travel

fairs (SATTE, OTM Mumbai,IITM Bengaluru), which puts usin close contact with existingand new suppliers and clients,along with business throughDMCs, advertising in selecttravel brochures, Fam trips foragents, sales calls, etc. JetwingBlue is a very popular choicefor Indian weddings due to itslocation and facilities. Overall,India is a strong market for uswith lots of potential.

QWhat is your hotels’USP?We believe in the same

values that are taught inIndian family culture, to treata guest as one of our ownfamily. In addition, the proper-ties that we operate arealways novel and unique,

such as Jetwing Vil Uyana –the country’s first luxury eco-resort, etc.

QWhat are you doingto promote your

properties to the trade inIndia?

We primarily promoteJetwing through a dedicatedsales representative, alongwith special packages. Delhi,Mumbai and Bengaluru are

showing good demand. Wefocus primarily on weddingsand MICE, along with leisure,business and religious travel.

QAny newdevelopments from

Jetwings this year?We’ll be opening Sunrise

by Jetwing in Passikudah (theEast of Sri Lanka) and Jetwing Colombo Seven, which is the first of our hotels in the cap-ital of Sri Lanka. There’s moreto come, including JetwingLake (Dambulla), JetwingPottuvil Point (Pottuvil), JetwingKandy Gallery (Kandy), etc.

QWhat kind of offerscan the travel trade

in India avail?We offer agents compet-

itive rates, unique positioningof resorts instead of DDpurely city hotels, a largeinventory of rooms inNegombo, along with pack-age/combo deals.

Ishanth Gunewardene, Head (Sales & Marketing),Jetwing and Jetwing Blue, says that Jetwing Hotelsoffers competitive rates to its Indian trade partners.

1st luxury eco-resort in SL

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Aitken Spence HotelManagements has a

strong foothold in its homecountry, as well as Maldives,Middle East and India. “Weare the first Sri Lankan com-pany that ventured overseaswith hospitality investments inMaldives, and today we areone of the largest foreignoperators there with a portfolioof 1200 beds, which shouldgrow to almost 2,000 beds inthe next two years. In 2008,we became the first SriLankan company to enter theMiddle East, where we tookover the portfolio of five hotels(almost 500 rooms), whichwas earlier under the man-agement of AccorHotels, butnow remains with us.”

Talking about their firstventure in India, he said, “Withthe trade links and relationsbetween India and Sri Lanka

becoming friendlier, and thebusiness opportunities grow-ing, we opened our first prop-erty in Chennai in the heart ofthe IT corridor- Turyaa, a five-star hotel with 140 rooms. Ourportfolio today has almost 30hotels under differentbrands—Heritance, Turyaa,and Adaaran, which is ourMaldivian brand.”

When asked about theresponse from India, he said,“We’ve seen more than 60 percent growth in visitors fromIndia to our hotels since the commencement ofour partnership with the Nijhawan Group. Not onlyare we looking at promotingour brand within the travel trade industry, we arealso looking at advertising in print and TV. The Indian outbound travel agent fraternity will be the key focus in our destination mar-keting strategy.”

Althaf Mohamad Ali, VP – Sales & Marketing,Aitken Spence Hotel Managements, says that theyhave seen a considerable surge in Indian guests.

60% rise in Indian guests

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Ishanth GunewardeneHead (Sales & Marketing) Jetwing and Jetwing Blue

The Indian outbound travel agent fraternity will bethe key focus in ourdestinationmarketingstrategy

Althaf Mohamad AliVice President – Sales & MarketingAitken Spence Hotel Managements



Strengthening their network toIndia remains a key focus for

SriLankan Airlines. Saminda Perera,General Manager, Marketing,SriLankan Airlines, said, “SriLankanAirlines’ operations to India reaffirmits commitment to strengthen con-nectivity in the region while contribut-ing to the commercial and bilateralties between the two countries.

“SriLankan Airlines currentlyoperates a total of 88 flights a weekto seven Indian destinations, whichtranslates to four flights a day toChennai, double daily flights toTiruchirappalli and Cochin, dailyflights to Trivandrum, Mumbai andDelhi and 11 flights a week toBangalore. The airline has a code-share with its sister carrier Mihin Lanka to Varanasi and BodhGaya. With the number of frequen-cies, we will appeal to both business and leisure customers aiming to provide convenience andbetter connectivity.”

He further added, “SriLankanAirlines, as a One World memberrepresenting the South Asia region,

is also a part of the special fare pro-gramme, called South Asian Sub-Continent pass, which coversSriLankan’s entire network of Indiaand Male, allowing the travellers toexplore the diversity and vibrancy ofthe Indian subcontinent.”

The Passenger Load Factorfrom India for SriLankan Airlines fur-ther cements the fact that India istheir biggest source market, “Duringthe financial year 14-15, SriLankancarried 621,464 passengers andfrom April to September last year, the

number was 345,579. We have wit-nessed a high demand in Chennai.”

In terms of future plans in India,Perera indicated that they will be join-ing hands with the tourism board topromote Sri Lanka in India. “We would

like to concentrate more on promotingtraffic to Sri Lanka as the tourismproduct of Sri Lanka is popular inNorth India. This year, we will focus ongetting more business from satellitecities in India and will work closely withSri Lanka Tourism,” he said.

With a total of 88 flights a week into India, SriLankan Airlines is pushing more initiatives to cash on India as itsbiggest source market for tourism in Sri Lanka.

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SRI LANKA TALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 TRAVTALK 3 1

Lankan DiariesOn August 16, 2016, SriLankanAirlines added three new flightsbetween Chennai and Colombo.

SriLankan Airlines has beenpart of the oneworld alliancesince May 1, 2014

We would like toconcentrate moreon promotingtraffic to Sri Lankaas the tourismproduct of SriLanka is popularin North India

Saminda PereraGeneral Manager, MarketingSriLankan Airlines

SriLankan flies to 7 Indian cities



Along with being a naturehotel, Tree of Life hotel in

Yahalatenna Kandy, SriLanka, also serves as a per-fect destination not just forweddings but also MICE.Shelly A. Thenuwara, MD, Tree of Life Nature Resort in Kandy, plans to tapthe potential that the Indiamarket offers.

This 45-key Tree of LifeNature Resort is well laid outon 60 acres of leafy privateproperty and offers nature-ledholiday experiences. Speakingabout the facilities that the hotelcan offer for an Indian wedding,Thenuwara says, “We have twolocations – an air-conditionedbanquet hall and an open-airrestaurant with a maximumcapacity of 400 guests and 200guests, respectively. Moreover,there are so many nice loca-tions for photo shoots and even

for a garden function. We wishto inform the travel agents inIndia that we will be able toundertake the planning of wed-dings according to the require-ment of the client. In fact, wehave three readymade wed-ding packages for Indians andother nationalities and we canprovide all the facilities and ful-fill all the requirements of anIndian wedding.”

The resort is also anideal place for guests to relaxand rejuvenate. The resortepitomizes the concept of‘nature-led experiences’ andis known for offering ‘simplepleasures’ when on holiday.The resort also offers typicalSri Lankan ayurveda treat-ment at the ‘Saukya AyurvedaCentre’. Since the resortfocuses on the importance ofayurveda it is not uncommonto spot an incredible range ofmedicinal trees and plantsfound all over the property.

Housed in Kandy, Tree of Life is among the bestnature hotels in Sri Lanka which can double up asa wedding as well as a MICE destination.

Tailor-made weddings

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Edoardo Giuntoli, GeneralManager, Anantara

Kalutara Resort, said,“Anantara Kalutara Resort isa part of Anantara, a well-known international brand.The hotel is adjacent to AVANIKalutara and the Resort willhave a large inventory forweddings, meetings, etc. witha ballroom where 300 guestscan be accommodated. The

rooms are spacious; villas andthe Presidential Suite haveprivate pools. Our hotel pridesitself for the excellence in

Food & Beverage variety and quality. We will have an Indian chef on board tocater specially to the taste and

palate of the Indian market.The hotel also housesAnantara Spa with 6 single, 3double and one Ayurvedictreatment room.

“The hotel has two largeoutdoor swimming pools andfor the amusement of theyounger ones we have our Kids & Teens Adventurers Club.”

Highlighting the impor-tance of the Indian market,Giuntoli said, “India will be akey source market for individ-ual and MICE travel for us and we aim to have 15 per cent of our guests coming from this country. We will cater to the needs of our Indian guests, especially when itcomes to the wedding functions. We will have anIndian chef to cater to all theculinary needs of the Indian traveller.”

Nestled along Sri Lanka’s southwest coast,Anantara Kalutara Resort, opening in May, has alot to offer to the Indian traveller.

Ballroom for 300 guests

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The hotel is adjacent to AVANIKalutara and the Resort will have alarge inventory for weddings,meetings, etc. with a ballroom where300 guests can be accommodated

Edoardo GiuntoliGeneral ManagerAnantara Kalutara Resort

Shelly A. ThenuwaraMDTree of Life Nature Resort in Kandy

We have threereadymadeweddingpackages forIndians and wecan fulfill all therequirements ofan Indianwedding



AGENTS3 4 TRAVTALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6

While the dates and venuefor the first convention of

IATO’s Outbound TourismCouncil has not been declaredas yet, Subhash Goyal,President, IATO, said that theywanted to hold the conventionin one of the countries in theSouth Asian Association forRegional Cooperation(SAARC) region. KaranAnand, Chairman, IATOOutbound Tourism Council,added that since IATO mem-bers wanted to include shorthaul destinations to their itin-eraries, it was unanimouslydecided that Sri Lanka, whichis a short-haul destination,should be the venue for thefirst convention.

Giving details about theIATO Outbound TourismCouncil, Goyal said,“Membership to the council iscomplimentary to all the exist-ing members of IATO. The purpose of forming this coun-cil was not competing with the other outbound associa-

tions, but this was a demandfrom our members for a long time, and we had aninternal debate whether to do it or not.

“However, it is high timeour members start thinking ofboth inbound and outbound.Already 50 per cent of ourmembers are doing both, butthere are those who are onlyfocused on inbound. Thus, wewill have training programs forthem because nowadays people have to think of addition-al methods to survive in the industry.”

Anand added, “As out-bound players with experi-ence in inbound and domesticholidays, we will be able togive information, strategy andknowledge with our expertiseto our members. Hopefully,this would help them to over-come many challenges.”

The Indian Association of Tour Operators’ (IATO) recentlyconstituted its outbound arm — Outbound Tourism Council —which will have its first convention in Sri Lanka in 2016.

IATO’s 1st outbound convention

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Subhash Goyal PresidentIATO

Karan AnandChairmanIATO Outbound Tourism Council

Eligibility CriteriaMembership to the council is compli-mentary to all the existing members ofIATO

Luxury+budget: what Indians want

We expect short-haul destinationsfrom South East Asia to do well thisyear. This is because Indian travellershave matured and are looking atspending more quality time withoutmaking a big dent in the budget andthat is where destinations like

Thailand and Singapore become favourites. One getsgood quality at economical rates compared to the moreexpensive European destinations and easy visa regimeis also an added advantage.

Pankaj NagpalManaging Director, Travstarz

Travelling out of the country is a reg-ular instance for young Indians;most of the regular less expensiveplaces have already been exploredby them. Combining business withleisure has become the norm,hence exploring newer exquisite

destinations remain high on their agenda and gives themopportunity to score over their peers. So be it honeymooncouples or family, they do come to us for something new.

Shivdatta WagleDirector, Meandering Vacations

Budget travellers now spend threedays of their vacation at a budget-friendly accommodation and splurgein a five-star the last two nights. Thisis what is happening in places likeSingapore and Thailand and explainswhy the numbers are so high. In

Thailand, the Indian traveller is going beyond Bangkokand Pattaya, similarly, Singapore has also become a transitpoint for many locations and end up touring there itself.

Guldeep Singh SahniPresident, OTOAI

Thailand and Singapore will alwaysdo well because of their proximity toIndia. Additionally, both countriesoffer competitive price for a varietyof holiday options. While Thailand isa spread-out destination with popu-lar places like Chiang Mai, Pattaya,

Phuket, etc, Singapore is a standalone destination withlots to offer to the Indian traveller. With affluence andwealth increasing in India, people definitely want toexplore more and travel to different destinations.

Sanjeet JoherVice President - Asia Pacific and Middle East, Cox and Kings

With globalisation and new oppor-tunities, income of Indians is increas-ing and the trends in tourism arealso changing. Many Indians aretravelling to Singapore to see thenew skyline which has changed overthe past few years. It is more lively

and vibrant and has all the charm and excitement Indiantourists love. Additionally, it has been a good incentivefor MICE and has helped many travel agents to pitchSingapore to the corporate traveller.

Zelam ChaubalDirector, Kesari Tours

While Thailand has always been oneof the most popular destinations forIndians, Singapore has been amongthe top five outbound destinationsIndians want to visit for the past 2-3years. We have noticed that a lot ofIndians are into ‘bleisure’ — a mix-ture of business and leisure which

is what many travellers do when they visit Singapore. Alarge number also visit the country on transit.

Amit AgarwalManager Marketing - India & South East Asia, Hotels.com

The year 2015 was big for Thailandand Singapore as they both

achieved the one million mark in Indian

tourist arrivals. While Thailandregistered 1,069,149 Indian arrivalswith a growth of 14.6 per cent,Singapore received 1,013,777 Indians

with a 7.4 per cent growth rate. Wespoke to industry specialists regardingthis remarkable achievementhighlighting the different qualities of

each country, and inferences suggestthat their popularity is attributed to thecombination of budget and luxuryoptions they offer. Additionally, with

more disposable income at hand, theytravel more often and often combinetheir business trips to go sightseeingonce the work is completed.

AH A N A GU R U N G



HOTELS3 6 TRAVTALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6

For Kanha Village Eco Resort,sustainability is the way of

life. Navneet Maheshwari,Owner, Kanha Village EcoResort, reveals, “We have mud

houses with most constructionat Kanha Village Eco Resortbeing eco-friendly and done with the help of locallyavailable material.”

Kanha National Park ispopular among tourists aroundthe world for tiger spotting andwildlife safaris. However, the car-

bon fuel based vehicles do havenegative impact on the local biodiversity. According toMaheshwari, “Sustainable useof resources is very importantand our management tries itsbest to follow eco-friendly prin-cipals in its running of the lodge.In this quest we request ourguests to try activities, which canreduce pressure on nationalpark, while giving them a betterexperience of Kanha Forestincluding bird watching in bufferzone, jungle walk, medicinalplantation conservation areavisit, tribal village visits, tryinglocal cuisines at tribal/local vil-lagers’ house, Yoga/meditationand wellness program, and reju-venation program.”

The property has a filterplant allowing them to re-use thewater from kitchen, bath areasas well as splash pools in all theircottages, for the plantation, andhence save water. “Ours is theonly wildlife lodge in Kanhawhich has two separate sewagesystems. Majority of the trees atour property are of ethnicspecies found in Kanha land-scape, and we do not use chem-ical insecticides, which harmlocal bio-diversity,” he adds.

In fact, a percentage of the profit made by the resort isused to improve education,empowerment of local people,environment issues and conser-vation activists.

Kanha Village Eco Resort has sustainability andresponsibility as its key mottos, and that’s what it plans to propagate to its guests.

Sustainable foot forward

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Navneet MaheshwariOwnerKanha Village Eco Resort

As part of its CSR initiatives,Country Inn & Suites by

Carlson, Mysore have spon-sored an 11-year-old orphanGirl Child — Bhumika — whomthey have identified throughKaliyuva Mane, a childcare

institution registered with theDepartment of Women andChild Development,Government of Karnataka.Pankaj Saxena, GeneralManager, Country Inn & Suitesby Carlson, Mysore, says, “All

expenses pertaining to theeducational need of Bhumikawould be taken care of by usthrough the collective contribu-tion made by the staff workingin the hotel.”

Speaking on the reasonbehind taking up this responsi-

bility, Vivek Chowdhary,Director, Sales & Marketing,Country Inn & Suites ByCarlson, Mysore, said, “Insearch of our quest of being acompany that has a caringspirit, heart for service and last-

ing legacy, each of our employ-ees have a part to play in notonly the responsibilitiestowards the guest and staff but also towards the communi-ty/environment we work in.”

Talking about the otherCSR initiatives taken up by the property, he said, “A few such commitments includea financial aid of ` 15,000 tothe Nepal Earthquake ReliefFund Victims; blood donationcamps in the hotel; aid of`10,000 for Sri Lakshmikanthatemple trust housing 40orphan children towards their basic needs and educa-tion; as well as planting ofsaplings by the staff on theirbirthdays as part of celebra-tions supporting the GreenEarth Initiative.”

However, he added,“Supporting Bhumika was anindependent initiative of ourproperty and every other hotelin the group have their ownCSR activities, which theymust be following as per their schedule.”

Country Inn & Suites by Carlson, Mysore aims to sensitisethe trade toward their social responsibility. The hotel recentlysponsored an orphan girl child as its CSR acitivity.

Responsibility at forefront

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While the travel trade is look-ing at ways in which it can

branch out, the amusement parkindustry on the other hand isexploring ways in which it caninvolve the travel trade and getagents into their fold. To enablethis, Ajay Sarin, President,Indian Association ofAmusement Parks & Industries(IAAPI), invites travel agentsacross India to come and visit its16th IAAPI Amusement Expo2016 that will take place fromMarch 3-5, 2016, at BombayExhibition Centre in Mumbai.

He says, “A large chunk ofagents are not connected toamusement park owners. Giventheir network and contacts, theyare the ones who can pushproducts to the consumers. Ifwe develop the connection withagents, the number of footfallsto these parks can be doubledin the five years. Not just agentsbut we also want to involvehoteliers and resort owners.”

He adds that the associa-tion can even arrange meetings

between its 320-strong mem-bership and the travel and hoteltrade. “They can even take ourmember directory directly thathas all the names and contactsof our members and contactthem later. There will be 150booths with 20 international

companies from countries likeJapan, Korea and China.Moreover, this will be the firsttime that we will have an outdoorsection with rides, etc,” Sarin says.

This year the expo willhave a lot of adventure relatedproducts that is of relevance tothe hotel industry such as arti-ficial rock-climbing wall, zipliner, rope-bridge, ATV bikes,etc. “The trade must visit thisexpo as it is the only one inIndia dedicated to amusementparks,” the president adds.

The three-day exhibitionwill provide a platform to bringtogether not just manufacturers– domestic as well as interna-tional – and amusement parkowners but also travel agentsand hoteliers. Spread over 1,800square metres in indoor spaceplus 350 square metres of out-door space, the expo will seearound 150 exhibitors from Indiaincluding 20 from other coun-tries. The first day will have a net-working dinner and the secondnight will witness an award cer-emony for the members.

In a bid to encourage interaction between its members and thetravel trade, the Indian Association of Amusement Park &Industries is inviting agents across India to its expo in Mumbai.

Amusement expo in Mumbai

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If we connectwith agents, thenumber offootfalls to theseparks can bedoubled in thenext five years

Ajay SarinPresident, Indian Association of AmusementParks & Industries


Starwood Hotels & Resortsis now looking to aggres-

sively focus on the secondarycities of India besides focusingon the metros. With this specificaim, the hospitality giant hasbeen participating in the GlobalPanorama Showcase (GPS)that focuses on the CentralIndia market since its inceptionfour years ago. DhananjaySaliankar, Regional Director,Sales & Marketing andStarwood Sales Organisation,South Asia, for Starwood Hotels& Resorts, says, “We look tocover secondary market citiesmore often now. The demandfor our hotels is there acrossbrands. We get bookings forluxury brands like W, althoughwe haven’t sliced and diced tofind out which part of CentralIndia this demand is from yet. Itis still a growing region for usbut we keep educating the tradehere about our brands andwhat benefits it has for the traveloperators. These are the littlethings we do and we surely seean escalation on this.”

New openingsSharing details of new

launches, Saliankar says,“Starwood has always had arobust pipeline of openings. In2015, we had the St Regis inMumbai which we expect totake off well. We aim to openW Goa by June-July this yearwhich will be the first luxurybrand by W to be launched inIndia. This will be a new built inVagator, which could also bethe big ticket item for us interms of launches. We are alsolooking at locations like Barodafor a Four Points, and Pushkarin Rajasthan that will be a newhotel but it is yet to be branded.There is huge opportunity inthe market and the companyseems to explore more hotelsin key locations.” The companyhad launched five Le Meridienproperties in the second half oflast year, namely, Le MeridienMahabaleshwar Resort & Spa,Le Meridien Nagpur, LeMeridien Thimphu, LeMeridien Paro, Riverfront andLe Meridien Dhaka.

Saliankar adds that thebiggest objective for Starwoodhotels is growth, which comesthrough driving sales out of itsSouth Asia locations and growth

in footprint of its hotels. “We aredriving sales in four of our pri-mary markets – Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru and Chennai. But itis also important to exploreother markets where we candrive sales for our multiple prod-ucts and brands. The agentsunderstand the brand now; touroperators have started recog-nising Starwood brands. Soright from a four-star like a FourPoints by Sheraton to our upper

upscale like a Le Meridien or aWestin or Sheraton and our lux-ury brands, the trade is nowinformed and they have startedusing our hotels – not just withinIndia but also internationally,especially in South-Asia andSouth-East Asia region.Awareness about the brandsbrings in more customers andthat is the way we are looking at the Central India market,” he says.

Always ready with a robust line-up of new openings, Starwood Hotels & Resorts is ready to launch yet anotherbig-ticket property in the form of W Goa in Vagator as it trains its focus on to Tier-II cities of India.

W Goa to launch in mid-2016HA Z E L JA I N

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Agents and tour operators have started recognis-ing Starwood brands. So right from a Four Points bySheraton to Le Meridien or Westin or Sheraton andour luxury brands, the trade is now informed andthey have started using our hotels–not just withinIndia but also internationally.

Dhananjay SaliankarRegional Director, Sales & Marketing and Starwood SalesOrganisation, South Asia, for Starwood Hotels & Resorts

Spotting StarsFour Points in Baroda is inthe pipeline

There will be a new hotelin Pushkar, Rajasthanwhich is yet to be branded


TECHNOLOGY

With over 10 years of expe-rience in the travel indus-

try, QuadLabs caters mostly totour operators, consolidatorsand online travel agents(OTAs) allowing them a distri-bution platform to sell their con-tent through multiple sellingplatforms.

Chiripal, explaining theunique selling points of thecompany, says, "The biggestadvantage of QuadLabs is ourpartnership with global suppli-ers that allows us content fromall around the world. Both con-tent and technology, puttogether, brings a perfect solu-tion for a TMC or a travel com-pany," he elaborates.

QuadLabs has recentlylaunched two new products inthe market. "The first one isKonnect.Travel which is an openmarket-place that caters tosmaller travel agents and pro-motes connectivity and workwith global suppliers," saysChiripal. He explains that thefree-of-cost solution not onlyprovides a place to source con-

tent, but also a complete tech-nology for the customer to cre-ate and manage bookings orenquiries, etc., all under oneroof. "We figured that in India,the affordability levels were low

which is why this first-of-a-kindplatform is free of cost," he adds.

The second product,Travog.com, is an expense andtravel management system forthe corporate industry. "This hasbeen created to manage cus-tomers' expenses while travel-ling and also allows them tomake direct purchases fromglobal suppliers," Chiripal com-ments. "It also has a global mar-ketplace of content coming infrom large marketplaces aroundthe world directly into the handsof the corporate traveller.

Chiripal hopes to capturea larger market share of therapidly-growing industry withthe two new products andplans of tapping the Far Eastmarket, particularly China, arealready on the anvil. Heshares, "We have offices inDubai, Latin America andBrazil, and are currently in themiddle of opening up an officein Singapore. We are mainlytargeting all the developingcountries with a need for tech-nology, while at the same timecontinuing our focus on theIndian domestic market."

In a move to keep up with the changing times, QuadLabs has addedtwo new products, Konnect.Travel and Travog.com, to its portfolio.Gaurav Chiripal, CEO, gives a low-down on its latest offerings.

Connect with global suppliers

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We figured thatin India, theaffordabilitylevels were lowwhich is whythis first-of-a-kind platform isfree of cost

Gaurav ChiripalCEOQuadLabs

eCare Technology Labs’ latestoffering, Rezofy, is a mobile

and web-based travel ecom-merce platform and allows travelbusinesses to publish their ownmobile apps in the respectiveApp stores (Play Store forAndroid users and App Store forApple users).

"The whole idea and pas-sion our team carries here is tomake all reservations online, beit on web or mobile platform,"says Vivek Sanghi, Co-founder,eCare Technology Labs,"Rezofy is one big step towardsproviding better opportunities toour customers to maximise theirbusiness as it opens a com-pletely new sales channel onmobile application, download-able from the travel agencies’own website as well as Appstores with personal brandingand identity."

Sanghi says that travelagencies do not need a vendorbut a partner to share the tech

journey and make sure that itis a win-win situation for bothparties. "One of the most

important aspects is thatRezofy comes at no additionalcost to the travel agency busi-ness and supports both B2Band B2C business model." Asan added benefit, agenciescan run and test the live portalwith their own APIs and evenmake successful live bookingswith a free live trial for twoweeks under the “Try BeforeYou Buy” plan.

Recognising the potentialof the domestic market, Sanghisays that they are currentlyfocused on Indian market sinceit occupies an important role intravel technology space. Hecomments, "We have realisedthat unless we complete andmeet at least 90 per cent of themarket requirements (ecosys-tem for Suppliers APIs,Payment Gateways, local cul-tural expectations), the resultswill not be satisfactory." To bemore approachable andincrease their reach, they haverecently added support anddevelopment centre in Noidaand is currently operational.

eCare Technology Labs’ newest product Rezofy, an ecommerceplatform, allows travel agencies to publish their own mobile apps onapp stores.

Get your own mobile Apps

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One of themost importantaspects is thatRezofy comesat no additionalcost to thetravel agencybusiness

Vivek SanghiCo-foundereCare Technology Labs



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"In 2014, we received 25,000Indian visitors to Ireland. The

figures for 2015 are underwaybut the number of visitors avail-ing the Irish visas has gone upby 20 per cent. As tourists canvisit Ireland under the British-Irish Visa Scheme (BIVS), it isdifficult to point the exact num-bers, but the BIVs has majorlyhad a positive impact on num-bers coming into Ireland," saysAubrey Irwin, Head of NorthernIreland, Tourism Ireland.

Talking about the agendaof the workshop conducted foragents, Irwin adds, "The work-shops and roadshows commu-nicate insights into how themarket functions, the con-sumer and industry trendswhich are beneficial to gatherinformation and product knowl-edge about the destination."

Huzan Fraser Motivala,Representative, India, TourismIreland, says, “There is a lot inpipeline for 2016. This is the firsttime when we have undergone

an exclusive Northern IslandMission. Ireland is being nowsold differently. We do notundertake any consumer tar-geted activities but deal onlywith the travel trade and media.We organise trips for the agentsto familiarise them with theproducts."

Talking about the growthof tourism in Ireland, Frasersays, "We missed out someprogramming for Ireland in theBIVS scheme initially for the touroperators' brochures, but nowwith the scheme doing well, wehave seen an increase of 20-30percent in the number of Irelandprogrammes being added to theitineraries along with UK itiner-aries. We have seen anincreased number of group itin-eraries coming to Ireland includ-ing good numbers for FITs andadded products."

Discussing the agenttraining programme of Ireland,Fraser says, "We do not havean agent training programmebut the Ireland SpecialistProgramme is the online system where agents canqualify as Ireland Specialists.However, we keep updatingand improvising the programme every year.” Indiacurrently has over 1,200 certi-fied Ireland Specialists, most of whom are fromMumbai, New Delhi andBengaluru.

In an attempt to attract and increase the number of Indiantourists, Northern Ireland conducted a B2B workshop with travelagents in New Delhi and Mumbai.

Exclusively Northern Ireland

AN K I TA SAX E N A

We have seen an increase of 20-30 percent in the number of Irelandprogrammes

Huzan Fraser MotivalaRepresentative IndiaTourism Ireland

Welcome brunch for expatsShanti Travel, in association with Fortis La Femme, hosted a New Yearbrunch in New Delhi for expatriates based in Delhi, primarily the AustraliaNew Zealand Association (ANZA), British Contact Group, Delhi Networkand IFCCI. The company organised lucky draws and interesting activitiesfor the guests.


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RezLive.com, a product ofTravel Designer Group,

had a massive presence at theIndia International Travel &Tourism (IITT) exhibition heldin Mumbai. Jaal Shah, GroupMD, Travel Designer Group,says, “We were able to lever-age real business opportuni-ties by engaging in valuablebusiness conversations, wenetworked in a fresh new envi-ronment and were able to gainbetter insights about the localmarket and at the same timewere happy to see our travelpartners coming in large num-bers to appreciate our workand the kind of extraordinaryservices we provide to themround the clock.”

Travel partners fromacross the region turned up ingreat numbers to look at vari-ous possibilities of associatingwith the company and at thesame time witness the innova-tions by RezLive.com. Theevent also gave the companyan opportunity to showcasethe newer version ofRezLive.com to the traveltrade. “We managed excellentclient engagements and net-working sessions, along withshowcasing new product offer-ings. RezLive.com is one of thefew wholesalers that offer sin-gle feed to 175,000+ interna-tional rooms around the world,offering real-time access torooms that are available at thebest net rates,” Shah adds.

RezLive.com also offers45,000+ sightseeing items and

over 5,000 tours in 500 citiesand 5,000+ transfer options inover 900 airport and city loca-tions. The system is empow-ered by direct inventories ofmultiple suppliers and theirown contracting with pricecomparison filters.

Rezlive.com recently showcased its latest version to the travel trade at theIndia International Travel & Tourism (IITT)exhibition held in Mumbai.

Real-time access to rooms

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We networked in a fresh newenvironment andwere able to gainbetter insightsabout the localmarket

Jaal ShahGroup MDTravel Designer Group

“The agreement adds theKazakh capital to the KLM

and Air France network and atthe same time makes it easierfor global travellers to fly with AirAstana to and from our homebase using the Paris hub,” saidPeter Foster, President andChief Executive Officer, AirAstana. The new code-share willcome into effect from 11th March2016, and will be a three times

a week service, which will carrythe marketing code of both KLMRoyal Dutch Airlines and AirFrance. With this alliance,

passengers from across KLMRoyal Dutch Airlines and AirFrance worldwide networks willbe able to purchase tickets and

travel seamlessly to and fromthe Kazakh capital.

Air Astana operates threeflights a week between Astanaand Paris, Charles de Gaulleon Sundays, Wednesdays andFridays, using Boeing B757-200 aircraft, configured with 16Business Class, 12 EconomySleeper Class and 108Economy Class seats.Guillaume Glass, GeneralManager Russia & CIS AirFrance KLM, said, “This strate-gic step will deliver significantbenefits to our business andprovide our customers withexclusive travel opportunities.Plus we will strengthen ourpresence in Kazakhstan in thecapital city, which will hold theExpo-2017.”

Air Astana has signed a code-share agreement with Air France andKLM Royal Dutch Airlines for flights between Astana and Paris.

New code-share for Air Astana

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The Human ResourceManagement sector in the

corporate world has gonethrough digital and technolog-ical evolution to match up withthe increasing dominance ofonline media tools.

The digital age is in aconstant state of flux, withinnovations whomping oneafter the other with each pass-ing day. It is also evolving one'sapproach to business prac-tices, customer interaction andemployee behaviour com-manding innovative ways ofadaptation to the new market expectations.

The corporate worldwhere customer dialogue andcommunication has rooted itsimportance via technology-based communications, marketing and customer serv-ice, Human ResourceManagement has also come interms with it in a steady paceto manage its employees.Within a very short period oftime digitalisation in Humanresources has created a wholenew sector known asElectronic HR or Digital HR.

Human ResourcesManagement has embracedtechnology and brought in var-ious ways of people manage-ment. The widespread usage ofelectronic technology hasshaped a new kind of HRM. Andtoday, with this kind of growth inIndia, Human Resource hasevolved from being a job to anindustry that had an annualgrowth rate of 21 per cent in thelast five years, as per Ernst &Young reports.

With advanced set oftechnological tools, HumanResources have become moreefficient in all the processes,starting from recruiting to retir-ing of employees. It has dras-tically changed the ways ofadministering and therebyimproving manager andemployee relationship, creat-ing an interactive andapproachable environment forall, irrespective of designation.

HR-IT has achievedmuch importance nowbecause of its use in most ofthe organisations to increasethe productivity through max-imising the value of the organisation’s most significantasset, people.

The increasing involve-ment and evolution of technol-ogy has brought in operational

efficiency for the HRM endow-ing them with 'presence' in thecomplete lifecycle of an employ-ee and helping them throughtheir professional journey.

The modern age innova-tions have brought in severaltests, e-Learning practices and

manuals that aide new joinersas well as on-going employeesto educate themselves at anypoint of time. It is through theHRM procedures every individ-ual within an organisation isaware of his contribution, per-formance, and role. Going dig-ital has helped HRM to be

present 24 hours for theemployee. A transparency hasbeen initiated that was neverpresent earlier.

In the digital age, it isimperative to train a humanresource base, that are capa-ble to handle large amounts of

information and subsequentlytransfer the same information,after processing and repack-aging the formation, efficiently,faster and effectively. With theeffect of Information andCommunication Technology(ICT), the world becomes theproverbial global village.

In the last few years, our day-to-day lives have transformed radically through a wave of digitalisation. Especially after the launch of Digital India program that increased Internetconnectivity within the country, rapidly developing the online infrastructure, and growthin digital literacy.

Digitalisation of Human Resource

IAAPIJ/P

GUEST COLUMN F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 TRAVTALK 4 3

The author, Juhi Mishra, is AVP-Human Resources at

InterGlobe Technology Quotient



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The IATA AgentsAssociation of India (IAAI)

has already jotted down themain issues which it willaddress in 2016. The one pointthat leads all the others is get-ting IATA to re-constituteAPJC-India under PAConf2014 Appendix ‘F’ guidelines.This, Biji Eapen, NationalPresident, IAAI, says, will bewith a strong team of knowl-edgeable agent representa-tives who are dedicated andequally representing the threenational travel associations tobring back the fortnightly sys-tem of payment.

“We also want to removeTAP to allow travel agents toissue all airline tickets, imple-ment Default InsuranceProgram (DIP) for better viabil-ity and flexibility to do business,and ensure minimum three percent commission by all airlinesoperating in India. IAAI will alsofocus more on educationaltraining on industry matters,promote inbound and out-bound tours and do everythingpossible to ensure parity toenable healthy competitionwithin the travel trade,” he adds.

DIP, he opines, wouldhave been the ideal substitutefor the present insurance guar-antee or the proposed JointBank Guarantee system. “Wehad tried to implement it throughthe IATA Regional office inSingapore, but failed as therewas no recommendation for DIPfrom APJC-India. The DIP ismore viable and flexible andcould have rescued travelagents from hefty insurance pre-miums,” Eapen adds.

Above all, however theKochi-based association willcontinue the battle for agencycommission through theHon’ble Kerala High Court

against DGCA to enforce, exe-cute and implement its ownorders of March 5, 2010 andthat of MoCA dated September16, 2013 to which final hear-ings are over and the outcomeis awaited.

The IATA Agents Association of India(IAAI) is keen to re-constitute APJC-Indiaby working with the three big travelassociations. Perhaps, this will set thetone for greater synergies in the industry.

IAAI bats for Default Insurance

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Biji EapenNational PresidentIAAI

Understanding the impor-tance of the digital seg-

ment, Travstarz has launchedwww.traverezonline.com, adedicated B2B online portal.

Giving an insight into theirlatest offering, Pankaj Nagpal,MD, Travstarz, says, "The portalis one of the few dedicated B2Bportals offering flights, hotels,sight-seeing facilities, transfers,

packages, as well as fixeddepartures all under one roof.Ever since the portal wentonline, we have registered morethan 500 agents on it. These areearly days for us for our portalbut we are constantly workingtowards better products anduser experience online."

After registering a con-stant growth over the past fewyears, Nagpal is optimistic thatthe portal will help make their

presence felt even more acrossthe tourism industry. "We areexpecting a 30 per cent year-on-year growth with the launch ofTravelrezonline.com," he shares.

The past three yearshave been a period of expan-sion for Travstarz across vari-ous sectors, including hotelwholesale, fixed departuresand DMC representations. "Wehave been concentrating onluxury hotels and now operate

our own fixed departures forIndian destinations likeKashmir, Darjeeling, Leh, Goa,Port Blair and Kerala," com-ments Nagpal. "Among theinternational ones, we coverDubai, Hong Kong, Singapore,Thailand, Mauritius andSeychelles."

Travstarz is on a growth trajectory with the launch of its portal,Travelrezonline.com.

500 agents and counting

TT BU R E AUPankaj NagpalManaging DirectorTravstarz


Creating Synergy amongst Travel Fraternity (CSTF) organised a gala event in Delhi to strengthen bonds with industry colleagues. The networkingextravaganza for the travel and hospitality industry was attended by nearly 600 guests from the trade. The dynamic event with lots of music anddancing, highlighted CSTF’s motto of networking with a difference.

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CSTF: Trade fraternity in


F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 TRAVTALK 4 7FAMILY ALBUM

Delhi let their hair down


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The third edition of the three-day India International Travel & Tourism (IITT) exhibition concluded in Mumbai with participation from over 400exhibitors, 300 Hosted Buyers, and 200 corporate buyers and wedding planners from across the country. Organised by ABEC Exhibitions, theshow’s highlight this year was ‘IITT Connect’ – a unique concept that allowed corporate and wedding planners to meet suppliers across the table.

IITT 2016 hits the right chord


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with 500+ Buyers, 400 exhibitors


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U&I Holidays, a DMC for Bali, recently held the first three of their firstfive-city roadshow in India. The roadshow kicked off from New Delhion Feb 5, followed by in Chennai on Feb 8 and Bengaluru on Feb 9respectively. Consisting of a total of 23 participants from Bali, 21were hotel properties, an Indian restaurant and the Bali Zoo, thatwere available to interact with guests and impart relevant information.

U&I Holidays’ debut Bali roadshowDE

LHI

CHENNAIBE

NGAL

URU


India is fast becoming animportant centre for the

United Federation of TravelAgents Associations (UFTAA)following the unanimous selec-tion of Travel AgentsAssociation of India (TAAI)President, Sunil Kumar, asthe president for UFTAAGlobal. The international asso-ciation has now appointed JayBhatia, National Treasurer andChairman (Tourism Council),TAAI, on UFTAA’s GlobalTourism Committee. This wasannounced at UFTAA’s boardmeeting that was held in NewDelhi on January 28.

Bhatia will help co-ordi-nate and enhance tourism ini-

tiatives among the UFTAAmembers that includes nationalassociations from over 80 coun-tries. On the appointment,Bhatia says, “Tourist movementfrom and into India is increasingmulti-fold. UFTAA and TAAI,both, endeavor to promotetourism through educating itsmembers. At TAAI, we havealready embarked on this pathtwo years ago and have con-ducted various training pro-grams for our members. This willbe undertaken globally atUFTAA too. Since the globalcommittee has just been consti-tuted, we shall sit and work away forward in the comingmonth and work towards creat-ing a networking platform for theUFTAA members globally.”

Due to the industry’sexponential growth, UFTAA nowadmits these categories ofmembers. “UFTAA has createda new category for institutionalmembers like tourism boards,educational intuitions, hotelchains, theme parks, etc toensure that all stakeholders inthe travel and tourism industrycome under the banner ofUFTAA since they are the futureof global tourism. This shall cre-ate a positive impact on drivingglobal tourism which is one of

the largest revenue generatorsfor most countries. UFTAA shallcreate a networking market-place between its membersthrough business interactions,partnerships, training, promo-tions and workshops through itsexisting programs as well,”Bhatia reveals.

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ETAA North India Chapter completes 3 yearsJay Bhatia on UFTAA'sGlobal Committee

Jay BhatiaNational Treasurer and Chairman(Tourism Council), TAAI

Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) recently held its 2nd Mega Event at The Metropolitan Hotel, New Delhi. More than 150 ETAA members fromacross India participated in the event. The association’s National President, Jagat Mehta, welcomed the guests along with National General Secretary, AbhijitKhadilkar; National Joint Secretary, Dipti Thakur; Treasurer, Dharmesh Advani; Director, Shripad Deshpande, and Director – National Board and Chairman– Northern India Region, Pankaj Nagpal. Sangeeta Manocha, Joint Secretary–North India and Manmeet Singh, Head – Events Committee North Indiafelicitated the guests by giving away a memento for the occasion.

With this appointment, UFTAA wants tocreate a networking marketplace betweenits members through business interactions,training workshops & promotions.

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NEWS

FEBRUARY 2016Jal Mahotsava Hanumantiya Feb 12-21

Routes Americas Puerto Rico Feb 17-19

PHD Aviation Summit Delhi Feb 18

CSTF Mumbai Feb 18

OTM Mumbai Feb 18-20

International Travel Mart Gandhinagar Feb 19-21

Garden Festival Delhi Feb 19-21

Uttar Pradesh Travel Mart Agra Feb 21-23

DOT Philippines roadshow Pune Feb 22

Visit Scotland & Eitihad Mumbai Feb 22Airways roadshow

Tourism Malaysia Delhi Feb 22sales mission

Visit Scotland & Eitihad Delhi Feb 24Airways roadshow

Tourism Malaysia Kolkata Feb 24sales mission

DOT Phillipines roadshow Ahmedabad Feb 24

TTE London Feb 24-25

BTS London Feb 24-25

Tourism Malaysia Mumbai Feb 26sales mission

IITE Vijaywada Feb 26-28

Visit Scotland & Eitihad Chandigarh Feb 26Airways roadshow

Destination Canada Chennai Feb 26roadshow

Bengal Travel Mart Siliguri Feb 26-28

ITM Goa Feb 27-29

HRANI Conclave2016 New Delhi Feb 27

Tourism Malaysia sales mission Chennai Feb 29

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

Pavan KakarGM, Park Inn by Radisson,

Davao, Philippines

Pavan Kakar,General Manager, ParkInn by Radisson, Davaopassed away in his sleepearly morning onJanuary 28. 45-year-oldKakar, who was at theRadisson Blu PlazaBangkok to attend theRadisson's GeneralManagers Meeting,passed away in his room.He is survived by his wife and daughter.

“Hailing from India, Kakar joined Carlson RezidorHotel Group in 2000 as Regional Sales Manager atRadisson Hotel–Regional Office in Bangalore. Overthe years at Carlson Rezidor, as well as other organ-isations, Kakar rose the ranks in various sales andmarketing positions. Recognised for his strong results,leadership and dynamism, he joined Park Inn byRadisson at Davao as general manager in May 2014,”an official statement from Carlson Rezidor HotelGroup said.

Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Asia Pacific, hasextended its deepest condolences and heartfelt sym-pathies to Kakar’s family, his loved ones and col-leagues. "He was a dynamic, loyal and kind leaderwho embodied our company’s Yes I can credo andhe will be dearly missed by all of us for his passionand commitment to his team and our company," thestatement added.

OBITUARY

As the exclusive ATR for RioOlympics 2016, all Indians

travelling to Brazil for thegames are obligated to pur-

chase tickets from FanaticSports. "A traveller can buy asingle ticket for a particulargame to a range of packagesfrom us. We also offer pack-ages or tickets to travel agentsat a net cost over which theycan add a host of services like

hotels, transfers, flights etc.They can also buy completepackages from us on commis-sionable basis," says AnantRoongta, Director, FanaticSports.

Talking about the promo-tional plans for the games,Roongta adds, "Now that wehave officially launched theticket sale, we will meet travelagents from across the countryto work out a structure benefi-cial for both countries, and offerthe best deal to the agents."

Discussing the growth ofsports tourism industry,Raghav Gupta, Founder andCEO, Fanatic Sports, says"Sports has become by far thelargest entertainment verticalin the world. Sports tourismaccounts for 10 per cent of theglobal tourism industry. Indiahas seen an explosive growthin sports tourism, not just inter-nationally but also for domesticsporting events.”

The International Olympic Committee(IOC) has appointed Fanatic Sports asthe official Indian Authorised TicketReseller (ATR) for Rio 2016.

Sports Tourism continues to thrive

AN K I TA SAX E N A

Raghav GuptaFounder and CEOFanatic Sports

MARCH 2016Destination Canada roadshow Ahmedabad Mar 2

International Confex London Mar 2-3

BTL Lisbon Mar 2-6

IAAPI Amusement Expo Mumbai Mar 3-5

UNWTO World Congress on Snow & mountain tourism Andorra Mar 3-5

Destination Canada Chandigarh Mar 4roadshow

IITM Kolkata Mar 4-6

Routes Asia Manila Mar 6-8

Destination Canada Delhi Mar 7

ITB Berlin Berlin Mar 9-13

IITE Raipur Mar 11-13

Best of Australia roadshow Pune Mar 15

Ace of MICE Exhibition Istanbul Mar 16-18

Best of Australia roadshow Ahmedabad Mar 17

Travel & Hospitality Tech Delhi Mar 17-18Conclave

OTOAI Convention Bali Mar 17-21

ITM Ahmedabad Mar 18-20

MITT Moscow Mar 23

Best of Australia roadshow Bengaluru Mar 29

WTM Latin America Sao Paulo Mar 29-31

UITT Kiev Mar 30

Best of Australia roadshow Hyderabad Mar 31

Vienna records49% rise in Indiantravellers in 2015

Vienna drew a record numberof 40,355 Indians in 2015,accounting for 89,628 overnightstays. While the number of Indiansvisiting Vienna increased by 49.5per cent over last year, the num-ber of overnight stays grew by38.7 per cent, according to ViennaTourist Board. Vienna continuedto attract more people with touristarrivals from around the crossedthe 6.6 million mark, representingan increase of 6.1 per cent.

Vienna is targeting 100,000Indian overnight stays by 2017. In2016, with the theme-‘Imperialand Contemporary’, Vienna is tar-geting the honeymooners, fami-lies and young travellers fromIndia. According to the data, thegrowth in Indian visitors to Viennawas among the highest after theArabic countries and Taiwan.During 2015 overnight stayscrossed the 14 million mark for thefirst time, representing a healthy5.9 per cent increase of over pre-vious year.

The Australian Airlines offersa direct flight between Vienna andDelhi daily (operated by AustralianAirlines through code-shareagreements with Air India) andthose embarking from Mumbai,Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad andBengaluru can reach Vienna aftera stop on Turkish Airlines,Emirates, Etihad, Air India, Swiss,Lufthansa and British Airways.


F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 TRAVTALK 5 3CLIPBOARD


5 4 TRAVTALK F E B R U A R Y 2 N D F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 6 MOVEMENTS

Shivadatta Wagle, Director, Meandering Vacations, lovesto travel, meet people and experience different cultures.“When I’m not on tour, I prefer listening to music. The choice

of music depends on my state ofmind. I like to have some ‘me’

time once a while. I also hitthe gym at least four daysa week to keep myself fit,”he says. Wagle hasplayed first-class cricket

representing Mumbai U-14, U-15 and U-19. His most memorable

holiday was his familyvacation to Israel. He’d like to

holiday in Kashmirin India and

South Africa.

Kunal Sampat, General Manager–India, MSC Cruises, feelsthat it is challenging to maintain a strict schedule and participatein extra-curricular activities with a job where one is on the move

most of the time. “However, being a foodieby nature, I find having good food

and trying out new cuisinesextremely de-stressing and I tryto indulge myself at regularintervals,” he says. His mostmemorable holiday momentwas when he made his

first international trip toSwitzerland. Sikkim in India, andArmenia make it to his list of

favourite destinations.

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

Sheraton Hyderabad Hotel HyderabadShibil Malik has been appointed as General Manager at the SheratonHyderabad Hotel. Prior to his new assignment he was the ClusterExecutive Assistant Manager of Sales &Marketing for The Westin HyderabadMindspace and Sheraton HyderabadHotel. With over 17 years of experiencein the hospitality and banking industry,Malik has been part of many significantassignments. He started his career withBNP Paribas soon after completing hisMBA in Sales & Marketing. He has worked with brands such as theOberoi Group in Mumbai & Delhi,IHHR Hospitality, and TheWestin HyderabadMindspace.

Park Hyatt HyderabadHyderabadThomas Abraham joins Park Hyatt Hyderabad as its new GeneralManager. He started his hospitality journey two decades ago with

the Oberoi Hotels, Mumbai as AssistantBanquet Manager soon after he completedhis Diploma in Hotel Management fromLes Roches, Switzerland. He hasworked with renowned hospitalitybrands such as Goa Marriott Resort,Hyatt Regency Delhi, Taj Luxury Hotels,

Leela Kempinski Mumbai, MövenpickHotel in Sana’a, Yemen. Prior to

this role, he was GM of Park Hyatt GoaResort and Spa fornearly four years.

World of Wonders TravelMumbaiPurvi Shah has been appointed as Vice President for Products andContracting for World of Wonders Travel. She held the post of

Associate Vice President at Thomas Cook for11 years. Shah brings with her immense

amount of knowledge, experience tothe specialist WOW DestinationManagement team. She has beeninstrumental in growth of severaldestinations in her past assign-ment. Shah specialises in USA,Canada, South America,Australia and New Zealand.

Thomas Cook (India) DelhiDipak Deva is the new Managing Director of Travel Corporation(India) Limited (TCI). He comes with over 26 years of experience inthe inbound travel business and will be respon-sible for overall business strategy and deliv-ery at TCI. Deva began his career in Jaipurin 1989, as the Branch Manager of TravelCorporation of India (TCI). He served hislast at TCI as the General Manager,Inbound at Mumbai. At present he isthe Chairperson WTTC-II, Co-ChairmanTourism Committee of FICCI and amember of the CII National Committee on Tourism.

ibis Chennai City Centre ChennaiAccorHotels has appointed Rajesh Gopalakrishnan as the GeneralManager for the newly opened ibis Chennai City Centre. In his newleadership role, Gopalakrishnan will spear-head operations at the ibis Chennai CityCentre. He brings over two decades ofindustry experience including strongChennai market expertise. He started hisAccorHotels career in 2005 as ExecutiveChef for the Novotel Hyderabad ConventionCentre and HICC. While at ibis Chennai SIP-COT, Gopalakrishnan played an instru-mental role in introducing the ibisbrand to the city and positioning itas a well-recognised and leadinginternational economy hotel.

Starwood Hotels & ResortsMaldivesSandeep Raghav has been appointed as Complex AccountDirector for Sheraton Full Moon Resort and W Retreat & Spa,Maldives. In his current role, he would developthe luxury market for both Maldives resortsfrom India. Raghav brings with himalmost 14 years of experience in hos-pitality with various hotel brands likeInterContinental, Radisson, JumeirahGroup, Accor and Frasers hospitality,Singapore. His new responsibility will also include planning and strategy to increase business throughcorporate and travelagents from India.

Philip Saunders, CCO, Kuwait Airways, says a visit to thetheatre or cinema helps him leave everything behind. “Timewith my family and walks in the English countryside are also

great ways to de-stress,” he says. His mostmemorable holiday moment was

visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris as achild with his parents. Having livedin Mumbai for some time now,Saunders loves its cosmopolitanenergy and diversity, Bollywood,historic buildings, and the Taj

Mahal Hotel with its view of theGateway of India. It’s a place for

boundless optimism andIndia’s future.”

Meandering Vacations MumbaiC.P. Shashidharan been appointed as the Senior Vice President –Visit India division at Meandering Vacations. He has invested threedecades in tourism domain enriching him withdynamic experience over the years.Shashidharan was associated with com-panies like Mercury Travels, UVI holi-days, Orbitz and Kesari MICE to namea few. He will drive the ‘Visit India’ divi-sion of Meandering Vacations, whichcaters to foreign markets and promotionof India tourism. In this role, he will beresponsible for strategic planning, salesand marketing in foreign markets, andvendor management.

Singapore AirlinesMumbaiSingapore Airlines has appointed David Lim as the new GeneralManager India. Lim will be overseeing all India operations ofSingapore Airlines. A Singaporean, Lim began hiscareer at Singapore Airlines in 1988 aftergraduation from the National University ofSingapore. With over 27 years of expe-rience with the company; he has workedin various capacities within passengerand cargo service operations. His over-seas assignments is spanned acrossBerlin, London, Copenhagen, Zurich,Hong Kong and more recently Tokyo.

Inder Residency Udaipur UdaipurInder Residency Udaipur has appointed Devendra Sharma asGeneral Manager. Sharma comes with 14 years of experience inthe hospitality industry. In his current role,Sharma will provide leadership expertiseto ensure effective and efficient operationof the hotel, including the achievementof stated operational goals and profitabil-ity objectives. He is an alumni of AsiaPacific Institute of Hotel ManagementCatering Technology and AppliedNutrition Ahmadabad and holdsa 3 years SpecialisationDiploma from CavendishUniversity London.



Postal Reg. No.: DL(ND)-11/6044/2015-16-17; WPP No.: U(C)-178/2015-17 for posting on 1st-2nd and 16th-17th

of the same month at New Delhi PSO, New Delhi - 110001, RNI No.: 53492/1991Date of Publication:15-02-2016

QHow was the past year for WestBengal Tourism?2015 was a year of development for

us, although we did face some setbacks.The main intention was to rebrand andreposition Bengal which we worked on byfirst changing the concept of our cam-paign. The logo has been modified from“Beautiful Bengal” to “Experience Bengal-- the Sweetest Part of India,” for which rel-evant creatives have been made to go insync. This was our main focus which wassuccessfully accomplished even thoughthere was a slight delay. 2015 was the yearof construction while 2016-2017 will be thepromotional years.

During Jan-Nov 2015, Kolkata air-port alone registered a 3.91 per cent shareout of a total of 71.03 lakh FTAs andranked sixth among the top 15 ports inIndia. West Bengal registered approxi-mately 4.90 crore tourist arrivals in 2014and ranked eighth. The numbers are def-initely growing with more domestic touriststhan international.

QTell us about some of the tourismproducts West Bengal has to

offer.Owing to the diverse nature of West

Bengal’s topography, the state has aplethora of products that appeal to tourists.The Himalayan zone in the north whichfalls under the Darjeeling district is a splen-did option as a hill-station, followed by theDooars Terai region that comprises amajority of the tea gardens. Then we havethe plains – most of the urban area fallsunder this category, while the Sunderbansprovide the wildlife experience. Finally,coastal Bengal has always been a popularhotspot for families and makes for a goodvacation.

QWhat are some of your growthstrategies?We are looking into other fields of

tourism such as film tourism. Last year, weparticipated in the International FilmFestival in Goa for the first time andrealised it has immense potential. As Imentioned earlier, Bengal’s variety oflocales is a huge advantage in this matter.Many Bollywood movies have alreadybeen shot in Bengal and while some areongoing, many more are expected.

Another aspect we are focusing onis cruise tourism. A large strip of the

Ganges remains unexplored with only twoor three currently operating cruises. Ouraim is to develop this by including amplesupport from the private sector. Alongside,coastal tourism is being encouraged forwhich the Central Government and theMinistry of Tourism (MOT) have providedconstant assistance and encouragement.

West Bengal has been included under thecoastal circuits for the Swadesh Schemeby MOT so this in itself is expected to helpboost tourism. Additional work, such asbeautification of the coastal hotspots, land-scaping, adding house boats, providingamenities for adventure sports, etc., is inprogress to ensure that this endeavour isa success. It will take one to two years forthis to be fully developed but once it isdone, it will surely be a winner.

Apart from these, we have identifiedthat homestays are a prospective area forprogress and have been looking intodeveloping it in a big way.

QWhat are some of the latest ini-tiatives to boost tourism?One of the newest projects is Eco

Park in Kolkata which is currently open forthe public. Situated close to the airport,the park is spread over 400 acres of landand is surrounded by 100 acres of water.It accommodates cottages, facilities forwater sports and has beautiful fountainsto add appeal. What's more, the BengalHandicrafts Bazaar is situated adjacent tothe park and together, it makes for a com-plete destination.

Another initiative that the state isworking on is the Gajoldoba area near theTeesta barrage in North Bengal. It is being

developed into an eco-tourism hub and isexpected to majorly help revitalise tourism.The project is under the public-privatepartnership (PPP) model where the gov-ernment is providing the land and privatebodies are setting up resorts. So far, threeproperties have already booked theirspace in the hub and additionally, we are

planning on including a golf course as well.This will take atleast four to five years butonce it is ready, it will be a game changerfor the Dooars region.

QIn your opinion, what is crucial toensure these efforts are a suc-

cess in giving fillip to tourism?The marketing aspect always has a

huge hand in the success of any project.We are going all out on campaigning viatelevision, radio, print, digital, apart fromparticipating in major trade events andhosting standalone roadshows. We recent-ly held roadshows in Nagpur and Indoreand will be heading to Delhi, Jaipur,Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Surat. Tier-II cities have the most potential for tourismso we are attempting to tap this market.

Surajit Bose, Joint Director, West Bengal Tourism, highlights the state's initiativesto foster tourism and their focus on Tier-II cities and the domestic market.

West Bengal on a roadshow drive

AH A N A GU R U N G

We recently held roadshows in Nagpur and Indore and will be heading to Delhi, Jaipur,Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Surat.Tier II cities have the most potentialfor tourism so we are attempting totap this market.

Surajit BoseJoint Director, West Bengal Tourism

Kolkata CallingDuring Jan-Nov 2015, Kolkata air-port alone registered a 3.91 percent share out of a total of 71.03lakh FTAs and ranked sixth amongthe top 15 ports in India

West Bengal registered approxi-mately 4.90 crore tourist arrivalsin 2014 and ranked eighth


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ddppl.com TravTalkIndiatravtalkindia.com/pdf/2016/02-feb-2016-2.pdfFeb 02, 2016 · Pan Pacific Nirwana Bali Resort and around 300 delegates are expected to attend the convention,”