travtalk may 1st 2014

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` 50/-A DDP PUBLICATIONVol. XXVI Issue 9; May 1st for tnight issue 2014 Pages: 68 (Excluding covers)

29-FINAL_TT May_1st ATM Issue:TT Layout 5/1/2014 3:08 PM

29-FINAL_TT May_1st ATM Issue:TT Layout 5/1/2014 3:08 PM

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MAY 1ST FORTNIGHT ISSUE 2014 TRAVTALK 1

NewsBulletinPush for regionalconnectivity by air

See full story on page 6 u

Mobile is the way to go for Yatra


Going beyond plain vanilla ticketing


A bigger travelplatform


Usha Sharma, AdditionalDirector General,Ministry of Tourism,

Government of India, said thatthe collaboration with EcoleHoteliere de Lausanne,Switzerland, will lead us to fur-ther reviewing the existing cur-riculum, identifying opportuni-

ties of improvement to therequirement of the global mar-

ket and faculty developmentprogramme leading to global

standards of academic deliv-ery. With regards to the same,72 faculty members from IHMsall over India are to be trainedby LCH Switzerland.

As per the agreementbetween the two parties,Lausanne HospitalityConsulting SA (LCH) shallassist the National Council for

KANCHAN NATH We need to go back to our traditions of the Gurukul, to inculcate in students the confidenceto have a questioning mind withmore practical training

Lausanne gives IHM a one-up

Usha SharmaAdditional Director GeneralMinistry of Tourism

As per an agreement, Lausanne Hospitality Consulting SA shall assist theNational Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology and provideconsulting services to NCHMCT institutes and faculty on a short-term basis.

This minimal charge willvary between Dh7 toDh20 per room, per

night, depending on the hotelcategory and rating. The moveis based on global benchmark-ing and funds raised will

The Dubai government has introduced the 'Tourism Dirham' tax from March 31, 2014. It is aminimal charge to be applied to guests staying in all genres and rating of holiday accommodationincluding hotels, hotel apartments, guesthouses and holiday homes.

TT BU R E AU

Comments on page 4 u

Shrugging off ‘Tourism Dirham’Contd. on page 4 u

Seema PandeGroup Director of Sales and Marketing,

The Address Hotels and Resorts

Spencer H. WadamaGeneral Manager

The Address Dubai Marina

Vincent MercurioGeneral Manager

The Address Dubai Mall

Michael SorgenfreyGeneral Manager

The Palace Downtown Dubai

29-FINAL_TT May_1st ATM Issue:TT Layout 5/1/2014 3:08 PM Page 1

ASSOCIATIONS

What are the pressingissues of the industryright now and how doyou plan to address it?

My first goal is payingattention to the challenges facedby our members. The key set-back before the industry is theexisting ‘connect’ between ourprincipals and agencies. Thepractices of our principals unfor-tunately do not meet the expec-tations of the travel fraternity.There is an urgent need for usto re-establish a mutual win-winapproach. We lived that waybefore. We understand that air-lines are having a hard time, butthat must not imply that thosewho have taken up travel as aprofession must face the samecrisis. Surely the pressing issuesinclude reasonable remunera-tion for the investments wemade, credit card pass-through,parity in pricing, airlines settle-ment period not in rhythm withbusiness practices, uncertaintyin insurance cover, growingcosts versus depleting profits,service tax challenges, the NDC(IATA’s new distribution capabil-ities) and many more that keepoccurring frequently.

The bottom line is clear:Many of us are uncertain aboutsustainability, which is the keyissue. Getting together, workingwith all associations to make ourvoice heard, making our plightvisible and addressing theseissues with the principles amidstindustry players rather than lim-iting it to leaders, is one way toaddress these challenges.Keeping members updated andtrained is another way. Theassociation must proactivelyhandle uncertain situations.

What do you think is theway ahead for TAAI?

TAAI and its committeemust focus their attention onmember needs. There is an

immediate urgency for us toget together and be united inour way forward. One of themajor weaknesses in TAAI,growing over the years, is ourworking in groups. This has tostop. I am willing to listen to all,meet up with all, and join all toherald the dialogue with theprincipals and authorities. Let’sdo it, together. This must com-plement our joining hands withother associations as well. Thismust be tried out and I willsoon initiate this process.

Being the oldest associ-ation, what is the growthin membership that youare targetting?

Our members are ourcustomers. My immediate pri-ority is to cater to them.However, we may not be ableto please all the people, allthe time. As long as there is asincere desire to addressmembers’ issues with higherlevels of commitment, mem-bers will respect TAAI and ouractions. Of course, moreindustry players will be admit-ted. TAAI has the unique gloryof successfully facing chal-lenges for over six decades.This is truly outstanding. Whatwe do in the immediate futurewill determine how manymore will join us.

How important are yourregional chapters, andwhich is your strongestchapter?

Every region, everychapter of TAAI is importantand strong. The structure inTAAI is that we access ourmembers, we brief them onchallenges and updates, andwe seek their participationthrough our regions/chaptersat our meetings. They are anintegral part of TAAI and animmediate access for our

Sunil Kumar, Acting President, TAAI, chats with about pressing industryissues and how the association must proactively handle uncertain situations.

‘We have to stop working in groups’

I am willing to listen to all,meet up with all, andjoin all to herald thedialogue. Let’s do it,together.

Sunil KumarActing President, TAAI

PE D E N DO M A BH U T I A

Contd. on page 4 u


VIEWPOINT

TRAVTALK is a publication of DDP Publications Private Limited. Allinformation in TRAVTALK is derived from sources, which we consider reliable and a sincere effort is made to report accurate information. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. The publisher regret that he cannot accept liability for errors and omissions contained in this pub-lication, however caused. Similarly, opinions/views expressedby third parties in abstract and/or in interviews are not neces-sarily shared by TRAVTALK. However, we wish to advice our readersthat one or more recognised authorities may hold different viewsthan those reported. Material used in this publication is intendedfor information purpose only. Readers are advised to seek specific

advice before acting on information contained in this publicationwhich is provided for general use, and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances. Contents of this publication are copyright. No part of TRAVTALK or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systemor transmitted in any form without the permission of the pub-lication in writing. The same rule applies when there is a copy-right or the article is taken from another publication. An exemp-tion is hereby granted for the extracts used for the purpose offair review, provided two copies of the same publication are sentto us for our records. Publications reproducing material eitherin part or in whole, without permission could face legal action.

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All advertisements must comply with the Indian andInternational Advertisements Code. The publisher will not beliable for any damage or loss caused by delayed publication, erroror failure of an advertisement to appear.

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COVER STORY

members. That is why our MCmeetings have chairpersonspresent, who join us in draftingour policy and our decisions.Every chapter is our strongestchapter. There surely are somewho represent a large percent-age of our members and thusare of great value to us. But

that should not imply that mid-size or smaller chapters arenot strong. Every member inTAAI is important and is capa-ble of making TAAI strong.

How do you plan tostrengthen the regionalchapters?

We plan to strengthenour chapters by organising

regular meetings, memberdebriefing, active memberparticipation and a system tokeep the meetings formal,business-like and receivingsolutions from memberstowards the challenges weencounter. Our chaptersmust invite those who areready to volunteer their serv-ices to help us.

Have you decided onanything about the TAAIConvention?

That is not our immediatepriority. Let us work towardsrefocussing on our prime issuesfirst, seek member participationand oneness, for unless we aretogether, we can’t achievemuch. Then, we can talk aboutthe convention.

We have to act as a unit: Kumar

Hotel Management andCatering Technology (NCHM-CT) in providing the followingconsulting services to upgradeNCHMCT institutes and facultyon a short-term basis by:

1) Conducting a gap-analy-sis to NCHMCT institu-tions in New Delhi andMumbai to identify dis-crepancies and possibleimprovements for NCHM-CT institutions.

2) Creating and coachingthe implementation teamfrom NCHMCT, which willwork closely with theLCH.

3) Delivering qualified learn-ing facilitator programmesto the NCHMCT faculty.

4) Conducting annual aca-demic audits to NCHMCTinstitutions to assess theirprogress in the implemen-

tation of LHC recommen-dations.

The new agreement islikely to give a new lease of lifeto the curriculum and teachingstyle at IHMs all over India. Thiswill not only encourage stu-dents to pursue their educationin hospitality in India itself butalso prepare them for globalcareers in hospitality. Sharmaadds, “We need to go back toour traditions of the Gurukul, toinculcate in students the confi-dence to have a questioningmind with more practical train-ing. A liking, interest, passionand a sense of pride can beinculcated in students throughthe right education.”

As per the recommenda-tions of UNWTO, a need wasfelt to bring further improve-ment in the curriculum and syl-labus of IHMs. Taking cog-nizance of the same, the

Ministry of Tourism got in touchwith six international universi-ties, two were shortlisted, andfinally an MoU was signed withEcole Hoteliere de Lausanne,Switzerland.

She added “As per therecommendations of the 12thPlan, there will be a require-ment of 36.18 lakh persons forjobs related to tourism andhospitality. In view of this, thereis a need to build capacity witheducation. Keeping the aboveneed in mind, NCHMCT hascome up with various short-term skill-based courses,diploma, hunar se rozgar, andgraduate courses.”

The National Council ofHotel Management andCatering Technology is anautonomous body underMinistry of Tourism,Government of India. NCHMJEE 2014 scores will be

accepted by 21 CentralInstitutes, 14 StateGovernment Institutes and 15private institutes of HotelManagement. Sharma addedthat till date 20,000 applica-tions have been received to getadmission in these prestigiousinstitutes across India.Induction is on merit basis fol-lowed by counselling.

support the international pro-motion and marketing of theEmirate and drive growth of itstourism and trade industries.The measure will helpstrengthen Dubai’s position asa leading tourist destination,bringing the Emirate in linewith international industrystandards.

Seema Pande, GroupDirector of Sales andMarketing, The AddressHotels and Resorts, saidthat, “Though, Dubai is ashort-haul destination, just

two and a half to threehours away, India has only discovered Dubai truly in the last fewyears. Tourism Dirham issomething that has beenimplemented there and it issomething we have toembrace. I do not see thedemand going down becauseof that. The demand is verymuch there for Dubai.”

Spencer H. Wadama,General Manager, TheAddress Dubai Marina,said that, “Tourism Dirhamwas initiated by theGovernment. We hope that it

does not affect theinbound tourism to Dubai. Ithink there is enough value of Dubai for the Indian market. The Indian com-munity is very large in Dubaispecifically and we hope as aresult of the tax people do notshy away.”

Vincent Mercurio,General Manager, TheAddress Dubai Mall, said, “Ithink taxes are inevitable in life.It has happened and it is goingto support our market. I think itis kind of minimal and exists inother countries as well. Therewill be an impact but it will

slowly go behind us and peo-ple will understand.”

Michael Sorgenfrey,General Manager, ThePalace Downtown Dubai,said, “I do not think that the taxis going to impact tourism atall. If you go to Germany,where I am from or if you go toAustria or Switzerland, youalways pay a tax. Even whenyou drive on the highways youpay a tax. Bearing in mind,what all is happening interna-tionally, It is only 20 Dirham or4 Euros and knowing what youwill spend for the family inDubai it is not much.”

For excellence in hospitality

“Enough value in Dubai for India”

uContd. from page 1

uContd. from page 1

� The new agreement islikely to give a new leaseof life to the curriculumand teaching style at IHMsall over India

� This will not onlyencourage students topursue their education inhospitality in India itself but also prepare them for global careers inhospitality

What This Means

uContd. from page 3

India has the advantage of being a long-stayleisure destination, the average stay being

of one week to a fortnight because of thevariety of tourist destinations within thecountry. India is a destination that has to beplanned for in advance, you can’t just packyour bags and move for a short weekend.And now, with its announcement of extendingthe Visa-on-Arrival (VoA) facility to allcountries (except eight), India is hoping todouble the number of tourists visiting thecountry over the next 2-3 years.

VoA and Electronic Travel Authorisation(ETA) to visit India should both greatly boosttourism into the country. In fact, India inboundtourism is expected to experience the biggestsurge as ETA becomes operational inOctober this year. The government is takingmajor steps to be prepared for this swell.

India may not be riding high in FTAs butthe average amount of money spent here ona per-capita basis by international travellersis more than anywhere else in the world.According to the United Nations WorldTourism Organization (UNWTO), althoughIndia is ranked 41st in terms of inbound touristarrivals, it is 16th in total tourism receipts. Thisshows that India is attracting high-spendtravellers. In 2013, India tourism earned $18billion with only 6.8 million foreign tourists. Inspite of an economic slowdown, the rate ofgrowth in tourist earnings has been higherthan the global average. For instance, in 2012when world tourism receipts grew by 3.2 percent, India's earnings went up by 7 per cent.

Despite all these positive trends,challenges persist. Inbound tourism was slowin 2013, but with all the sops being offeredby the government and the depreciatedrupee value, travel companies are hoping fora better 2014.

Newer destinations are being developed,360 degree online virtual tours of ourhistorical sites, the Clean India Campaign being taken on strongly bycorporates, improved infrastructure and better distribution network should help attract not only leisure travellers but also corporate travellers.

Advantage India


According to Uma PadaChatterjee, Director, West

Bengal Tourism, the state gov-ernment is planning to promotevillage tourism beyond Dighato attract domestic and foreigntourists. The Chief Minister’sOffice (CMO) and the StateTourism Department hasdirected the local administra-tion and Digha SankarpurDevelopment Authority (DSDA)

to prepare a Detailed ProjectReport for a village tourismproject surrounding Digha, herevealed. The idea is to set upeco-friendly rural tourism clus-ters in coastal villages. Givingmore details about the newproject, he informed, “The ̀ 25-crore project aims to taketourists to spots beyond Dighalike the pristine Tajpur beach,which got electricity only a fewmonths ago. CRZ rules will bestrictly enforced in Tajpur.”

Going forward, the stateis also betting big on socialmedia websites such asFacebook and Twitter. “WBTourism Department hasdecided to explore these toattract more travellers to thestate. The purpose is toacquaint tourists across

the country with the hotspots in the state along with details of how toreach there, transport optionsand the accommodation facil-ities available, including therates,” he affirmed. TheDepartment is chalking out

plans with the IT department and WEBEL(West Bengal ElectronicsIndustry DevelopmentCorporation Limited) for the same. It will also look attapping the GPS application,he added.

Regarding promoting theheritage of the state, the direc-tor pointed out that the govern-ment is working on a MasterPlan for the conservation ofcolonial heritage on the west-ern banks of river Hooghly.“Around 116 heritage buildings

have been identified forrestoration by the government.The National Museum ofDenmark has expressed inter-est in conservation of few ofthe heritage structures already.Since the work would involvelots of investment, the

government will take up theconservation project in aphased manner. The govern-ment has plans to convert afew of these heritage struc-tures into heritage hotels with the help of private investors,”he stated.

The ̀ 25-crore project aims to take tourists to spots beyond Digha like the pristine Tajpur beach, which got electricityonly a few months ago. This is along with restoration work in several areas to preserve historical sites.

Village Tourism on West Bengal’s radarME G H A PAU L

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

The governmenthas plans toconvert a few ofthese heritagestructures intoheritage hotelswith the help ofprivate investors

Uma Pada ChatterjeeDirector, West Bengal Tourism

� The government isworking on a Master Planfor the conservation ofcolonial heritage on thewestern banks of riverHooghly.

Restoration


AVIATION6 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

InterGlobe Established PrivateLimited, branded as THE

ESTD., is a subsidiary ofInterGlobe Enterprises. Thecompany was started in 2007as InterGlobe GeneralAviation, with a focus on sellingand servicing the Beechcraftrange. Later, the portfolio wasexpanded to include LET,Cessna and the Sikorskyrange of aircraft and helicop-ters. Currently, THE ESTD. pro-vides a spectrum of services,whether it is the acquisition ofa private jet by a corporatehouse or a start-up aviationcharter company.

THE ESTD. can help pro-mote tourism in the Himalayanstates and within other stateswhich are inaccessible or poor-ly connected. Fewer peopletravel to these regions, so a 9-seater Caravan turbo-prop or

a 19-seater LET would be idealinstead of larger 40-70 seateraircrafts. “Their operating costsare so easy to work with thateven if you have 6 seats filledon a 9-seater or 16 seats on a19-seater, it makes economicsense,” says Lokesh Bardia,Associate Vice-President,InterGlobe Established PrivateLimited, ESTD.

THE ESTD. can also helpwith regional connectivity.Lokesh explains, “We are alsolooking at a niche industry,which probably has the biggestpotential in India. Our turbo-props would be ideal for con-necting smaller cities.Surprisingly, the largest seg-ment showing an interest inthis comes from the smallercities, not the metros,” he adds.

Tier-III cities are keen toincrease their regional produc-tivity, but a lack of long runways

and insufficient infrastructureare the major bottlenecks.Airports in Tier-III cities are pre-dominantly meant for smalleraircraft. However, economicpressures and fear of socialstigma attached with ‘superluxury’ are preventing localindustrialists, landowners and politicians from making the purchase.

“Connecting smallercities to each other and to themetros is where our aircraftwould be very useful for theIndian economy. For example,in the Northeast where landtravel would take 15-16 hours,the same distance can becovered in an hour by air. Ora classic example of connect-ing Surat with Bhavnagar,

which is separated by thesea, but the distance is only100 km – a 9-hour journeyconverts to a 20-minute flight,” clarifies Bardia. “Weare very gung-ho on regionalconnectivity. Many state gov-ernments have initiated dis-cussions and are keen to takethis forward.”

Talking about the govern-ment support required, hegoes on to say, “Taxes andinfrastructure issues are the biggest deterrents toimproving regional connectivityand that is why we are looking at some sort of regula-tory support. Fuel costs consti-tute 40-50 per cent of overallcosts. In addition to this, a 40per cent fuel charge is levied.If the fuel surcharge is min-imised, we will be able toreduce 16-17 per cent of ouroverall taxes. On the infrastruc-ture side, parking is not readily

available. Approvals also taketime and it can be monthsbefore finally an aircraft isallowed to fly.”

Regional connectivitywould not only be a fillip for ourindustry but also give a boostto the economy.

Indian tourism is opening its gates with VoA, concession on Himalayan climbing fees, virtual tours of heritage sites, atravel infoline and much more. What is needed now is quick connectivity to smaller towns without commercial flights.InterGlobe Established (ESTD) is in talks with state governments for aircrafts and services to these far-flung areas.

Push for regional connectivity by air

DE E PA SE T H I Our turbo-prop range would be ideal forconnecting smaller cities andtowns. Surprisingly, the largestsegment showing an interestin this comes from the smallercities, not the metros

Lokesh BardiaAssociate Vice-President,InterGlobe EstablishedPrivate Limited, ESTD Services and

offerings� Widest range of aircraft

solution under one roof

� Comprehensive solutions for

aircraft import including:

�AOP application

� Import Procedures

�Aircraft Induction in country

�Aircraft Ferry

�Manpower Assistance

�Statutory Manuals

�Custom Clearance

�Pre-owned Aircraft


AVIATION8 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

LAN Airlines is a part of theglobal airline alliance

oneworld since 2000 and TAM Airlines has joinedoneworld as of March 31,

2014. To the LATAM AirlinesGroup passengers, thismeans greater conveniencewhen travelling, since they will

have the same standard ofhigh-quality customer service,regardless of their internation-al destination.

To celebrate its entry intooneworld, TAM Fidelidade pro-

gram will offer double pointsto all passengers flying withthe alliance’s member airlinesin May 2014. Members of the

frequent flyer programs ofoneworld member airlines will also receive double the points or miles when flying on TAM during the month.

The ten million membersof the TAM Fidelidade pro-gram will keep the points theyaccrued before the transitionto the alliance, as well as their

premium status level, inaccordance with the pro-gram’s rules. Also, as ofMarch 31, 2014, 140 millionmembers of the frequent flyer programs of oneworldairlines can earn points ormiles and redeem ticketswhen flying TAM Airlines,while also enjoying all the benefits offered by the alliance.

LAN Airlines andTAM Airlines have recent-ly launched the LAN &TAM South AmericaSpecialist Program inIndia which trains localtravel agents and out-bound tour operators asexperts in South AmericaDestinations, LAN & TAMnetwork and itinerarydevelopment. To findmore information aboutthe LAN&TAM SouthAmerica SpecialistProgram please visit:www.lanandtamsas.com

LAN Airlines has three cabin classes across its fleet. The number of cabin classes depends on the aircraft type and routeflown: Premium Business,Premium Economy andEconomy. TAM Airlines has three in-flight classes,depending on the aircraft and the route: Firstclass, Business class andEconomy class.

With LAN Airlines being part of the global airline alliance oneworld since 2000, TAM Airlineshas also joined oneworld recently, giving passengers greater convenience while flying.

TAM flyers now get new benefits

TT BU R E AU

� LAN Airlines and TAM Airlines form LATAM Airlines Group, whichserves more than 135 destinations in 22 countries.

� LATAM is one of the world’s largest airlines groups in terms ofnetwork connections within South America.

� The merger of LAN and TAM has enabled both airlines to offerbetter itineraries, shor ter connection times, higher flightfrequencies and flights to more international destinations.

� The airlines serve more than 115 destinations in South Americaincluding Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

� LAN & TAM offers through fares from India, travellers can usepartner airlines to fly up to Europe and use LAN & TAM beyondto South America.

About LAN Airlines & TAM Airlines

SingaporeTourismlaunches newcampaign n Singapore Tourism Board(STB) has launched the fourthphase of its ‘The Holiday YouTake Home With You’ market-ing campaign in India. Thenew campaign comes with thetagline ‘Leave as Mum & Dad,and return as superheroes’.The tagline of this campaign isbased on the insight of urbanparents’ continual struggle toremain connected to, and fea-ture positively in their chil-dren’s lives, even as they goabout their daily family rou-tines, juggling multiple rolesof guardians and caregiver.

The campaign will alsoengage parents online, byencouraging them to partici-pate in a one-of-a-kind con-test, that can win them a‘superhero’ summer holidayfor the entire family inSingapore. For this, STB hasdeveloped a microsite linkedto YourSingapore.com thatinvites parents to send theirentries revealing their ‘super-heroes’ qualities for their chil-dren, together with familyphotographs or videos. Parentscan also send their entriesusing #SuperParents on socialnetworking site, Twitter.


One of the leading travelservice providers based in

Nagpur, Jagsons Travels is bet-ting big on the potential ofNagpur. Talking about thepotential of the region,Harmandeep Singh Anand,MD, Jagsons Travels, says,“The potential of Nagpur hasnot yet been explored fully.Being in the centre of India, the‘zero-mile’ of India starts fromNagpur. Rudyard Kipling had

conceived the story of JungleBook in the backyard ofNagpur, The Pench TigerReserve, which is just about 90kms or about 90 minutes drivefrom Nagpur. Being the tigercapital of the world, Nagpurhas several other nationalparks such as Kanha, Tadoba,Bandhavgarh, which are withina 300 km radius of Nagpur.Thus, in terms of inbound, thenational parks are doing well.”There is also incoming trafficfor medical tourism and treat-ments as Nagpur has goodmedical facilities and hospitalsto cater to this industry at rea-sonable costs.

In terms of outboundtravel, there has been a lot ofinterest for family holidays andconsumers have started totravel long-haul as well. “AirArabia is operating threeflights out of Nagpur per weekdirect to Sharjah and also con-necting onwards to severaldestinations within a four-hourflying distance of Sharjah.Thus, there has been a pas-

senger traffic growth. As thereare several engineering andmedical colleges in andaround Nagpur, there hasbeen an increase in students’traffic to Europe, USA andAustralia. There has been anexponential growth year-on-year in the last five years in

terms of VFR, Leisure, MICEand also business travel.” Last year was a bit slow compared to earlier years dueto depreciation of IndianRupee, he admits.

According to Anand, since2010 the group has been

aggressively tapping the B2Bsegment. “Over a period of time,the credit facilities for travelagents have been transformed.We realised B2B is the new wayforward. Here margins are less,but turnovers are high. Currently,almost 70 per cent of our busi-ness is from B2B.” Going ahead,

the company aims to integratemore hotels, weddings andevents into its portfolio.

Jagsons Travels alsoorganised Central India’s firstever B2B travel trade interac-tion in January. The two-dayevent titled ‘Showcase

Jagsons’, in Nagpur witnesseda congregation of leading travelsuppliers representing variousdestinations and products fromacross the country. The eventaimed at bridging the gapbetween the travel agents and suppliers saw 28 leadingsuppliers.

Jagsons Travels, that started as a B2C travel company in 1978, has been aggressively tapping the B2B travelmarket since the last two years. Currently, almost 70 per cent of their business is from the B2B segment.

Nagpur sees surge in tourist inflowAGENTS M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4 TRAVTALK 9

ME G H A PAU L

Air Arabia’soperations from Nagpurhas led to agrowth inpassengertraffic from the region

Harmandeep Singh AnandManaging DirectorJagsons Travels


AGENTS

The strategic move will createa combined company worth

over Dhs365 million. Both enti-ties will retain their brandnames, but will operate underBK Group Holdings, and willoffer complete travel and mobil-ity solutions to more than 2.5million customers of the group.

“The expansion of Dubai’sinfrastructure in preparation forExpo 2020 has motivated us totake this step and invest for thefuture,” said Kulwant Singh,CEO and MD of the new group.He will share 50:50 ownershipof the new entity.

Talking about the merger,Singh said, “With this merger,

we have grown more than tentimes in size. This brings us a lotof infrastructure, a lot of rawmaterial. Worth US$ 100 million,this makes us one of the largesttravel companies in the region.Earlier, we had around 470 cars,now we'll have around 3,500cars. We had around 20 luxury

coaches and 50 limousines; wewill now have 100 luxury coach-es and 200 limousines, besidesinvesting in another 200 chauf-feur-driven limousines."

He continued that withthe merger, their offices in UAEwill increase from six to 40."With the new merger, we willbe investing in more resources,more verticals, and will bestarting the new LAMA VisaExpress service centres.”

“Both our companies havewitnessed high growth and suc-cess over the years, so it madesense to combine our strengths.We will be able to significantlybroaden our reach in the UAE,and continue to take substantialmarket share from existing com-petitors. This merger gives usthe advantage to create a trulyglobal company, a market leaderin providing complete travellingsolutions for both individual andcorporate clients,” said JasbirBassi, MD of both the Groups.

The merger will allow thecompanies to diversify growthopportunities while continuing

to invest in its current business.Nearly Dh50million will beinvested in infrastructure proj-ects in the next six months tosupply the demand that will begenerated after the merger.

The expansive networkand diversified portfolio of

products and services of thecombined organisations willstrengthen the company’sability to serve a large numberof resident customers andarrivals from India, the GCCand other markets. Both com-panies will exhibit at this year’sArabian Travel Market toinform business partnersabout the merger and seekpotential clientele. The com-pany will have the strength of650 employees workingacross a network of 14branches in the UAE and nineabroad. BK Group HoldingsCo., will expand both compa-nies operations into a newhead office in DubaiInvestment Park, spread overnearly 40,000 sq ft and serv-ice center.

Lama Group, a DMC in the UAE, and Carfare, a privately-owned comprehensive mobility solution group,recently announced the signing of an agreement to mergetwo premier services in the hospitality industry.

A bigger travel platform

HR I T V I C K SE N

� Nearly Dh50million will be invested ininfrastructure projects in thenext six months to supplythe demand that will begenerated after the merger

Up Next

Increased baggage allowancen For tickets issued effec-tive April 17, 2014, pas-sengers flying EconomyClass on Air France-KLM-Delta from India to USA,Canada and Mexico will beallowed two pieces ofcheck-in baggage per per-son with maximum weightbeing 23 kg perbaggage.This change isapplicable for journeysoriginating in India,regardless of the place of

ticket issuance. “We areconstantly looking at waysto fulfill the needs of ourcustomers and provide thebest possible service tothem. Revising our bag-gage allowance to NorthAmerica is one such step inthat direction,” comment-ed Yeshwant Pawar,General Manager, AirFrance-KLM. “With ourpartners Delta and Alitalia,AIR FRANCE and KLM

operate the biggesttransatlantic joint ventureand offers more than 196daily flights. So whether onbusiness or holiday, ourcustomers can exploreNorth America seamlesslywith Air France – KLM –Delta.” There is no change to the per personbaggage allowance for passengers flying inPremium Economy andBusiness Class.

Worth US$100 million, wehave grownten times andare now one ofthe largesttravelcompanies inthe region

Kulwant SinghCEO and MDLAMA Group

This merger allows us to create a truly global company, a leader in providing full travel solutions

Jasbir BassiManaging Director LAMA and CarFare

See pictures on page 60 u


NTO1 2 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

While most other marketsreported a negative

growth in outboundovernights last year, theIndian overnights in Germanygrew year-on-year by 5.3 percent in 2013. Going forward,Germany is targetting 8-10per cent more travellers fromIndia and is set to invest €500,000 into the market in2014. This was revealed byRomit Theophilus, Director,Sales and Marketing, GermanNational Tourist Office(GNTO) India. According toTheophilus, Germany hasbeen consistently placedamongst top three most pop-ular European destinationsout of India. “Last year, Indiantourists arrivals in Germanygrew by 5.3 per cent to615,617,” he informs.

GNTO has recentlyannounced its new campaign

theme for 2014 – ‘Germany -UNESCO World Heritage des-tination’. The campaign is

focussed on increasing the cultural diversity and supporting cross-cultural

dialogue between Germanyand other countries across theglobe.

Chalking out a newstrategy under this campaign, GNTO will bet bigon Germany’s UNESCO her-itage. “Under the campaign,we aim to promote theme-based tourist packages suchas Snow White and Hanseland Gretel. Germany has 38UNESCO World Heritagesites. Thus, Germany isamong the top threeUNESCO World Heritagesites location in Europe,” hepoints out.

Talking about the initia-tives taken to facilitate visaapplication procedures in India,Michael Steiner, GermanAmbassador to India, says, “Tomake travel more convenientfrom India, 15 of the proposed16 visa application centres inIndia have been opened in

collaboration with VFS Globalover the last year.” These are in New Delhi, Gurgaon,Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Chennai, Hyderabad,Puducherry, Bengaluru,Mumbai, Goa, Pune,Ahmedabad, Kochi andThiruvananthapuram. A visa application centre in Kolkata will be opened shortly.

The German National Tourist Office recently announced its new campaign theme for 2014 –‘Germany - UNESCO World Heritage destination’. Under the campaign, it aims to promotetheme-based tourist packages such as Snow White and Hansel and Gretel.

Germany to pump in €500K into India

TT BU R E AU

� Germany comes second to Spain as aEuropean destination forIndians

� 15 of proposed 16 visa application centresin India have beenopened

� 60 per cent increase in Indian overnightsbetween 2007 and 2013

German offerings

ME Visa forIndians byAfghanistann At the Interactive Sessionorganized by Federation ofIndian Export Organisations(FIEO) recently, H.E. Shaida Mohammad Avdali,Ambassador of Afghanistan inIndia, said that Afghanistanwill be extending MultipleEntry Visa for Indians on long-term basis with a view tostrengthen economic ties withIndia. Avdali added that anMoU would be signed between

Federation of Indian ExportOrganisations (FIEO) andExport Promotion Agency ofAfghanistan (EPAA). AjaySahai, DG & CEO, FIEO saidthat the bilateral tradebetween India and Afghanistanhas witnessed modest growthin last four years and there isurgent need to diversify theexports and imports betweenthe two countries.

(L-R): Romit Theophilus and Michael Steiner

Ajay SahaiDG & CEO, FIEO


NEWS1 4 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

The political situation inThailand notwithstanding,

tourism in the country contin-ues to draw tourists to itsbeaches and shopping com-plexes. Runjuan Tongrut,Director, Tourism Authority ofThailand, said, “The touristshave never been the target ofprotestors. The protests arepeaceful, life in Bangkok is nor-mal; there is nothing to worryabout. In spite of protests,Indians are still visitingThailand and we thank themfor their support to the country.”

Banking on the confi-dence of the tourists, TATexpects 1.1 million Indians tovisit the country in 2014. “Forthe leisure market and to cap-ture the family crowd, weattend various travel marts andfairs, not just in the big citiesbut also in Tier-II and Tier-III

cities. The road shows that weconduct every year are alsoimportant instruments tospread awareness aboutThailand as a tourism destina-tion. This year, we plan to haveroad shows in August in

Odisha, Jaipur and of courseDelhi. We have invited manyservice-providers fromThailand to join and we have

invited many travel agents fromthose cities too,” said Tongrut.

Talking about their focusin Tier-II and Tier-III cities, shesays, “Odisha is a Tier-II statewith a lot of potential. In the last

three years, we have beengoing all out to promoteThailand and raise awarenessabout the destination in smaller

cities in India. Last year wehosted a road show in Raipur,Chhattisgarh and Ludhiana,and the year before that inChandigarh and Kolkata.Thailand has managed tobecome a popular destinationamong Indian travelers inmetro cities. Now, we want towin crowds in smaller cities.”

Besides leisure and fam-ily crowds, wedding and hon-eymoon is one of the highestpotential segments that TAThas been targetting in India.She adds, “Thailand has beenvoted as the best wedding des-tination for Indians three yearsin a row. This is to show thatIndians prefer Thailand as awedding destination. To reachout to the wedding market, wework very closely with weddingplanners and every year weorganise a FAM trip for wed-ding planners as well as eventorganisers.”

Banking on the confidence of the tourists, TAT expects 1.1 million Indians to visitthe country in 2014. Runjuan Tongrut, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand,says that after Raipur and Ludhiana, they will hold road shows in Odisha andJaipur in August this year.

Thailand thanks Indian travellers

TT BU R E AU

Since three years, we havebeen promoting Thailandand raising awarenessabout the destination in the

smaller cities in India.

Runjuan TongrutDirector,

Tourism Authority ofThailand

Cox & Kings has tied up withLiverpool FC E.L.I.T.E.S to

launch a special student travelplan. Liverpool FC E.L.I.T.E.Sis a joint venture between theEnglish premier league clubLiverpool FC and LondonSchool of Business andFinance, which was formedabout a year ago. The newtravel plan enables kidsbetween 11 and 17 of years tolearn to play football with thecoaches of Liverpool FC. Eachfull programme is for twoweeks and costs approximate-ly `1.20 lakh per week. Theprogramme also includesEnglish language tuitionamong others.

According to RaviMenon, Vice President, Cox &Kings, the football passion hasstruck India and is rapidlygrowing as people are increas-ingly following the game and

ardently supporting theirfavourite teams. It is hearteningto see that more and moreyoungsters want to play thegame beyond just a hobby.With this partnership, we aimto give these young Indian foot-ballers an opportunity to honetheir talent and train with thosewho inspire them. Cox & Kingshas also been awarded exclu-sive rights to promote hospital-ity packages for FIFA WorldCup 2014.

Cox & Kings in association withLiverpool FC launched a travel planthat enables kids to play football withthe coaches of Liverpool FC.

Betting big on football

TT BU R E AU

Ravi MenonVice PresidentCox & Kings


STATES1 6 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

Initially intended as an eco-tourism workshop to sensi-

tise local people towards envi-ronmental issues, the eventorganised by Manipur’sdepartment of tourism andESOI later evolved into a two-day conference on how todevelop Manipur as a tourismdestination.

The two-day EcotourismConclave in Imphal on April 7and 8 sensitised the partici-pants about good environmen-tal practices, waste manage-ment, energy conservation andpollution control.

Inaugurated by VKDuggal, Governor of Manipur,who was also the Chief Guest,the conclave witnessed theattendance of ShilabhadraBanerjee and M Bezbaruah,who are both formerSecretaries of the Ministry ofTourism, Government of India.Banerjee and Bezbaruah were

the Guests of Honour at theconclave.

Apart from senior gov-ernment officials and represen-tatives of ESOI, the attendeesat the conclave comprised rep-resentatives of the statetourism industry, NGOs, academicians, tourism man-agement students, and potential investors.

Talking about the con-clave, Rakesh Mathur,Honorary Secretary, ESOI,says, “Along with the MOT we

have established a code ofconduct for sustainable tourismthat needs to be implementedby the state and the new codefor water-based tourism should

also be adopted by the state.We gave suggestions on howto promote many of the tourismassets of the state, apart fromnature and wildlife. Very fewpeople know that polo sportsoriginated in Manipur. We havealso talked about how we canpromote the culture of thestate, tribal tourism as well as

medical tourism. Manipur haspleasant temperature roundthe year and the state is alsowell-connected now with flightscoming in from Guwahati and

Kolkata. This makes it an ideal tourist destination. Thestate also has great potentialfor golf, adventure and wildlife activities.”

However, when asked ifsecurity is an issue in the state,he says, “The security issue ismore a hype that has been cre-

ated. All border states havesecurity issues, in spite of theunrest, tourism in Kashmir isbooming. The Northeast has ahuge potential for tourism, and

the security is an issue like inall other border states.”

Mathur also highlightedthat among the investors whowere present at the conclavesome have expressed greatinterest in investing in the state.“We were also able to take withus investors who had

expressed an interest in invest-ing in the state and at the con-clave, we have had at least 2-3 investors expressing an inter-est in setting up hotels andresorts in Manipur. These willbe hotels of internationalbrands and if this happens thiswill change the perception ofthe state.”

Besides discussing con-servation of biodiversity andfocussing on the state’stourism assets, the attendeesalso talked about joint promo-tion of tourism amongNortheastern states. “So, theKaziranga Sanctuary, the teaestates of Assam, Tawang,Ziro, Shillong, can all be pro-moted together. We also sug-gested forming a nodal body tomonitor eco tourism practiceswithin the state,” says Mathur.

The Conclave also coincided with the International Thailand-BhutanCar Rally arriving in Manipuron April 7.

The two-day Ecotourism Conclave in Imphal in April 2014 sensitised the participants about good environmentalpractices and had 2-3 investors keen on setting up hotels and resorts in Manipur.

ESOI bats for green tourism in ManipurPE D E N DO M A BH U T I A

Rakesh MathurHonorary Secretary, ESOI

Delegates at the two-day Ecotourism Conclave in Imphal


AGENTS1 8 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

Traditional operatorsmaking strategicacquisitions

Highlighting the impor-tance of M&As in the travelscenario in India, MadhavanMenon, Managing Director,Thomas Cook (India), says,“M&As in the travel space arepicking pace more than ever,and this may have a lot to dowith the margins in air-ticketingwitnessing tremendous pres-sure. Travel companies areincreasingly focussing on non-air revenue, resulting in acqui-sitions in hotels and the holidaybusiness. The relative sluggish-ness has created a pent-updemand for M&A activity, whichis likely to trigger more and big-ger deals in the coming years.It is also the fact that creatinga market-leading business inthis sector organically isbecoming more difficult and

expensive, and so companiesare looking at M&A activity.Companies are seeking toevolve their businesses from alow margin to high margin orconsolidate their presence inthe market. This could be doneby enhancing service offeringsto customers.”

M&As definitely enhancethe market. They inevitablyresult in an amplification ofservices; ancillary servicesalso end up benefitingimmensely. There is a growthof players offering completetravel solutions, end-to-endproducts that are both credibleand convenient. The consoli-dation of services will improvethe quality of products as well,making travel increasinglystress-free, he adds.

Talking about the mergerdeal of Thomas Cook (India)with Sterling Holiday Resorts

(India), which is expected tocreate India’s largest holidaycompany, Menon confirms,“The decision to invest inSterling Hotels Resorts wasprimarily driven by the fact thatthey have a robust and attrac-tive business model(Timeshare + FIT). SterlingHolidays are a manufacturer ofservices. Thomas Cook Indiais a multi-service provider inthe travel space and so, thereare synergy opportunitiesacross the domestic holidayspace, as well as the incen-tives business.” With theincredible Indian hungry fortravel and a boom in domestictravel, Sterling’s pan Indiaresorts offer a readymadesolution for our diversity of trav-el consumers. “Today, theThomas Cook India Group(Thomas Cook India, Ikya andSterling Holiday Resorts) hasa combined strength of morethan 9,000 employees. Hence,

from a shared services plat-form, we see a whole host ofsynergies that wait to beexploited, be they in terms offacilities management, HRservices, food services, shar-ing of office space, etc. Goingforward, the company will cap-italise on Sterling HolidaysResort’s existing suite ofresorts for its domestic andMICE consumer base.

Integrating travelsearch and travel con-tent with distribution

Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and CEO-India,MakeMyTrip, feels India will def-initely see a lot of action in thecoming years with allied indus-tries (such as aviation) in needof investments and internationalinvestors looking for potentialmarkets offering better returns.“India is a key focus market formany global travel companies

Since 2009, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the leisure travel market have been recovering. As the travelindustry looks for ways to survive, ‘buy or be bought’ is becoming the rally cry. The credit crunch, leisure traveldemand and economic uncertainty are accelerating mergers and consolidation as a constructive response.

Going beyond plain vanilla ticketing

ME G H A PAU L

PrivateEquity firmsare usingacquisitionsto leverageconsumerdemand

M&As result inamplification ofservices; thereis a growth ofplayers offeringcomplete travelsolutions

Madhavan MenonManaging DirectorThomas Cook (India)

Rajesh MagowCo-Founder and CEO-IndiaMakeMyTrip

Contd. on page 20 u


both for the inbound and out-bound potential. While majormultinationals, travel suppliers,airlines and hoteliers arefocussing on India, there arealso thousands of small unor-ganised travel players,” heaffirms. PE firms are usingacquisitions to leverage con-sumer demand. Also, the Indiantravel ecosystem throws upinteresting opportunities forinvestors – such as the largemarket for online bus-reserva-tions and subsequent invest-ment by global funds into nicheplayers operating in this area.Operators with strong brandsexposed to favourable demo-graphic trends, high levels ofcustomer loyalty and an exclu-sive or distinctive product that isdifficult to replicate will make themost preferred targets, he adds.

Regarding the new trendof M&A transactions involvingonline providers, he opines,“The potential growth in under-penetrated online travel mar-kets and the importance ofonline as a sales channel totraditional operators is alsodriving investment throughM&As. With consumersincreasingly turning to theinternet to satisfy their travelneeds, online operators areattempting to increase theirmarket share.”

Talking about the OTA’sacquisition of Amsterdam-based EasyToBook.com (ETB)group of companies toenhance its presence in hotelbookings, he comments, “Theacquisition ofEasyToBook.com will addmomentum to our stated objec-tive of growing our hotel andonline holidays business. Likeus, EasyToBook has a strongfocus on technology and inno-vation. Being a pure-play hotel

site, it brings a strong domainexpertise to the table. ETB’srich inventory of online hotelreservations in Europe, North

America and other key globaltravel destinations will enableus to enhance the hotel offer-ings for our Indian customerstravelling to Europe and NorthAmerica. Furthermore, as weexpand our presence beyondthe South-East Asia region, welook forward to welcominginbound customers to ourhotels partners in Asia.”

Demand for specialisttravel is leading toacquisitions

According to VirenSinha, Chairman & ManagingDirector, Balmer Lawrie, thetravel industry has seen morechanges in the last one yearthan what it had to go throughin a whole decade. “While

most airlines are bleeding, airtravel - both business and hol-idays – has shown double-digitgrowth year-on-year. In theface of this, diminishing com-missions from the airlines andthe weekly payment has mademany travel agents, who offerplain vanilla ticketing, questiontheir own survival since theircorporate clients pay any-where between 30-90 days,”he points out. Most ticketingagents will now require hugecash reserves just to managetheir cash flows. Obviously thiswill lead to a high level of attri-tion in the travel trade andwould spur consolidation in theindustry, he adds.

Talking about how the newtakeover of Vacations Exoticagoing to benefit the company, hereveals, “Balmer Lawrie has ahuge customer base in the cor-porate travel sector. It has apresence in more than 88 loca-tions. We took over the premierholiday brand Vacations Exoticaalong with its people and busi-ness with the objective ofstrengthening our foothold in theHoliday sector. This takeover willhelp Balmer Lawrie to expandits value proposition and offerend-to-end services in the Toursand MICE segment asVacations Exotica brings with ita multi-talented work force anda wide range of holiday pack-ages. The synergy between thetwo will make it a very potentforce.” Going forward, the com-pany is planning to merge Tours& Travel business unit withVacations Exotica. “We will beactively pushing growth in theleisure market and also theinbound tourism business. We have our own travel portal,www.balmerlawrietravel.com,and you will find that the pricestherein are among the bestavailable,” he states.

AGENTS

M&As and the road ahead

Marriott’s new hotel in Bilaspurn Marriott International hasstrengthened its presence inCentral India with the launchof its Courtyard by Marriottbrand in Bilaspur, in the stateof Chhattisgarh. The new

Courtyard by MarriottBilaspur offers 106 rooms andsuites plus a restaurant, bar,and extensive conference andbanqueting space catering formore 1,000 people. The new

property becomes the 11thCourtyard in India, joiningexisting hotels in Mumbai,Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad,Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Kochiand Bhopal.

u Contd. from page 18

Low airlinecommissionshave mademany travelagentsquestion theirsurvival

Viren SinhaChairman & Managing Director BalmerLawrie


AGENTS2 4 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

Recently, the rupee strengthened and is perched at ̀ 60-61 against the dollar. The outbound travel sector believes this holidayseason will see at least 15 per cent growth over last year, and that over 15 to 20 million Indians are likely to go abroad.

Stronger ` takes the Indian out of India

The fate of out-bound tourism isalways influencedby the fluctuationsof the Indian rupee.Thus, with thestrengthening of therupee, India will be

one of the emerging outbound markets.The market is also expected to witnesshigher participation of young travellers.MICE and business travel will be thesegments that will drive outbound travelfrom India this season. Sri Lanka haspicked up really well for Indian outbound.The entire chunk of India outbound thatwas earlier going to Nepal, is now visit-ing Sri Lanka for its emerging casinoscene. In addition, the upcoming elec-tions and policy decisions will also influ-ence outbound. However, the demandfor experiential travel will continue to rise.

Rajan SehgalPresident, IGTA

The worrying part isthat elections will beheld in 2014 aroundthe peak summermonths. Thus, thestrengthening of therupee is seen as abig relief. The luxury

segment will increase rapidly and thetrend of experiential travel and exploringindividual destinations will dominate,especially among FIT segment. Therewill be an increase in FIT travel, andleisure trips by families. We expect a ris-ing interest in MICE and incentive trips.Among long-haul destinations, Europe,USA, Canada, Australia and NewZealand will receive its fair share oftourists.

Bala Venkateswara Rao SCMD, Travel Choice (Winner of Best Travel

Management Company at the South India Travel Awards)

Last year, weakening of the rupee made itbeyond the average traveller’s reach to afforda reasonable holiday abroad. With the strength-ening of the rupee, we see an increase in travelbudgets. Outbound clientele that earlier pre-ferred to travel short-haul, will look at mid-hauldestinations now. Emerging destinations suchas S. America, Philippines, Korea, USA,

Canada and Eastern Europe will attract Indian tourists this season.

Guldeep Singh SahniPresident, OTOAI

Outbound tourists have waited a while for therupee to reach an acceptable level and this isthe season when bookings look very healthy.Though the first-time outbound travellers wouldprefer closer-to-home holidays, the seasonedtraveller will prefer Africa for safaris, hot-air bal-looning, New Zealand for sightseeing, kayakingand general leisure or Turkey. Cruises are also

becoming very popular among the seasoned Indian outbound

Ratti DhodapkarManaging Director, Abercrombie & Kent Vacations

ME G H A PAU L



CD Dyavaiah, ManagingDirector of Karnataka

State Tourism DevelopmentCorporation, says that IITB hasgiven them a good platform topromote and sell the productsof their state. “Karnataka is avast state, which has beenruled by many dynasties. Theyhave left a lot of heritage in theform of palaces, tombs andtemples. We have two worldheritage sites in the state, andabout 40 per cent of theWestern Ghats lies in the stateof Karnataka. The virgin forestsof the state also add to the nat-ural resource and beauty of thestate. Also, we have our luxuryproduct - the Golden ChariotTrain - and we have tried tomarket that at IITB this year,”he says.

He admits that travellersstill need to be more aware ofthe state. “Karnataka is knownonly for a few tourist attractions.

We are using this platform tohighlight the whole of the stateto the world community. Wehave 320 km of virgin coastlineand we are trying to develop thiscoastal belt. We have been ablysupported in this endeavour bythe Government of India, whohas sanctioned a project of Rs50 crore to develop the coast-line. Along with that money, weare also using our ownresources,” says Dyavaiah.Coastal tourism sure seems tobe on the cards for the stategovernment.

He also highlighted thatthere are many other unknowndestinations in the Westernghats that have great potentialfor tourism. “We have formed theCauvery Development Authority,the river Cauvery is the lifelineof Karnataka and it travels along way and on its way it pass-es through many picturesquelocations and we are developingthese parts for tourism purpos-es.” says Dyavaiah.

Karnataka is a vast state but is known only for a few touristattractions. In order to highlight the whole of the state to the world,Karnataka plans to focus on coastal tourism to attract tourists.

Coastal tourism for Karnataka


Cauvery is thelifeline ofKarnataka and ittravels a long waythrough manypicturesquelocations and weare developingthem for tourismpurposes

CD DyavaiahManaging Director of Karnataka StateTourism Development Corporation

As the entire travel andtourism industry waits with

bated breath for the elections,it’s a ‘wait and watch’ policy thathas been adopted by TAFINorthern India Chapter.According to Vijay Kumar

Gupta, Chairman, NorthernIndia Chapter, TAFI, travelagents are facing the brunt ona daily basis. The biggestchapter of TAFI has about 500members, including active,

associate and allied. Guptapredicts, “We see an apparentmembership growth in thechapter post the elections.”

Regarding the pressing issuesfor the travel industry, he says,“The service tax, weekly pay-ment and commission issue

will be taken up with the newgovernment. Passports havealso been outsourced to TCS.There is no travel agentinvolvement in the scenario.We will also approach the gov-

ernment for an increased roleof the travel agents in the‘Passport Seva Kendras’.”

Gupta also points out thatthe hotel and airline industriesshould be more efficient in jointlypackaging India. Domestictourism should be developed ona priority basis. A uniform taxa-tion policy should be adoptedand the tax burden on thetourism industry should be con-siderably reduced to bring it atpar with other countries.

He feels, “New markets,technologies and segmentsawait the Indian travel trade.The travel agent is now com-peting with his suppliers suchas cruise companies, hotelsand airlines as well as with hiscustomers, who have moreinformation than they can han-dle. Thus, repositioning them-selves, rebranding the servicesthey offer and reinventing thebusiness model are the onlyways to survive.”

The TAFI North India Chapter is looking forward to the timeafter elections where members will come together to createbetter business models for the future.

Eyeing growth in members

TT BU R E AU

Repositioning themselves,rebranding the services theyoffer and reinventing thebusiness model are the onlyways to survive for travelagents.

Vijay Kumar GuptaChairman

Northern India Chapter, TAFI


RAILWAYS2 8 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

What are the othertourism initiatives thatIRCTC is working on?

IRCTC is an importantarm of the Indian Railways fortourism. For all e-ticketingneeds, we have the largest e-commerce website in the AsiaPacific. We also have a bou-quet of offerings for all cate-gories of tourists, be it budgetor luxury. For budget tourists,we have Bharat Darshantrains, we have rail tour pack-ages for those interested inreligious tourism, we also havetrains to cater to the Buddhistcircuits in UP and Gaya, wheretourists are taken up toLumbini. In addition, we arealso promoting hill tourism: wehave toy trains running in hillstations like Kalka, Shimla,Pathankot, Dharamshala,Ooty, Coorg, Darjeeling and the Neral MatheranExpress. Rail enthusiasts

come from all over the world toexplore these places and trav-el on these sections. Throughthis, we are trying to revive thetourist potential of theseplaces and we hope to see a difference in the next 6-8 months.

How does MOT’s initia-tive to introduce VoA forinternational travellersbenefit IRCTC?

The MOT has been verysupportive of IRCTC, be it withBuddhist trains, Maharajas’Express or our other initiatives.The VoA facility is going to giveus a wonderful opportunitybecause IRCTC is now movingtowards inbound tourism, andwe are looking at it as a greatsource of revenue. We havelots of tourists who are interest-ed to travel by rail, and the facil-ity of VoA is going to make a

big difference to the responseof foreign tourists.

Are you planning anynew trains or routes?

We are organising spe-cial AC trains for the temple cir-cuit of South India and thecoastal circuit of West India.This is something we are plan-ning for the coming season.We are also looking at out-bound tourism. IRCTC hasalready taken a step in thisdirection; we have run morethan 20 outbound tours, we arealso making our presence feltin countries other than India.

How has the IITB plat-form helped you to high-light your products?

IITB has been a wonder-ful experience, and a greatmeeting ground for those whowant to do serious business. Itgave us a great platform tointeract with potential clientsand has given us a lot of time

to have detailed one-to-onemeetings. At IITB, we promot-ed Maharajas’ Express, thesuper-luxury train that hasbeen rated as one of the bestluxury trains in the world. Ourpotential clients are partici-pants who are into luxury trav-el, those in the upper segmentof tourists and they all werepresent at IITB. We alsoarranged some tours for ourbusiness interests to go andsee the train. A little event hadalso been arranged on the trainfor the participants. More than 88 people visited the trainon the first day and an equal number on the second day.

AK Brar, Director (Tourism & Marketing), IRCTC, says that while they are very keen to promotehill tourism, they are also starting special AC trains for the temple circuit of South India andthe coastal circuit of West India.

IRCTC on inbound tourism track


PATA, JATAto developtourism inAsia Pacificn The Pacific Asia TravelAssociation (PATA) andthe Japan Association ofTravel Agents (JATA)have agreed to worktogether to benefit bothsets of members. AMemorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU),signed in April, will focusefforts on implementingjoint activities related totourism. The MoU showsthe membership commit-ment by both associationsto enhance the role of thetourism sector and todevelop the tourismindustry in Asia and thePacific. The MoU wassigned by Martin JCraigs, PATA ChiefExecutive Officer, andJungo Kikuma, Chairmanof JATA. The agreementcommits the two organi-sations to continue theirproductive on-goingcooperation throughPATA’s participation in theannual JATA TourismEXPO Japan and JATA’sparticipation in PATA’sprogramme of work.

The VoA facility is going to giveus a wonderful opportunitybecause IRCTC is nowmoving towards inboundtourism, and we arelooking at it as a great

source of revenue

AK BrarDirector (Tourism &Marketing), IRCTC


STATES

While the tourism industrystakeholders are vying to

sell Goa to newer buyers, eventhe Goa state tourism depart-

ment is increasingly looking atunexplored markets such asBulgaria, Czech Republic,Poland, Hungary, Philippines,Indonesia, Malaysia and evenChina. Goa is also being mar-keted in places like Singaporeand Australia from where theindustry can attract sizeabletourists, says Nikhil Desai,Managing Director, GoaTourism DevelopmentCorporation (GTDC).

According to Desai, GoaTourism is now looking beyondthe current mantra of ‘sun, seaand sand’. Going forward, thedepartment has decided toimplement a new marketing

strategy to promote Goa nation-ally and internationally. The stateis also eyeing heritage tourism.He points out, “The proposedTourism Master Plan will have aspecial focus on the promotion

of cultural and heritage tourismin Goa. The department is iden-tifying forts like Chapora, Cabode Rama, etc., where soundand light shows can be organ-ised and history of these mon-uments could be highlighted tothe tourists. We will also launchthe Goa Heritage housesscheme, which aims at provid-ing subsidies and soft loans toheritage home owners. We arealso in the process of beautify-ing old churches and temples inmany mini tourism circuits in the state”.

Elaborating on heritagetourism offerings, Desaireveals, “We will be digitising

data on historic monuments sothat tourists can access dataon their phones through appsand NFC. We will also installQR codes based systems nearmajor forts and heritage areas,so that tourists can access thedata easily. Thus, leveraging oftechnology will help in promo-tion of heritage tourism.”

After re-launching itswebsite recently, Goa Tourismnow plans to have it in five tosix foreign languages.“Currently, the content of thetourism department’s websitecan be read in any of the for-eign languages by using aGoogle translator. We need tohave a permanent multilingualwebsite,” he adds. The statecurrently attracts 2.6 milliontourists; out of which almostfive hundred thousand areinternational tourists.

Goa State Tourim Department is identifying forts likeChapora, Cabo de Rama, etc., where sound and light showscan be organised and history of these monuments couldbe highlighted for tourists.

Beyond sun, sea & sand

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� Goa Heritage housesscheme to providesubsidy to heritage home owners

� Identifying cer tain for tslike Chapora, Cabo deRama for sound and light shows

� Beautifying variousancient churches andtemples in many minitourism circuits in Goa

New avenues

The proposed Tourism Masterplan will have a specialfocus and emphasis on thepromotion of cultural andheritage tourism in Goa.

Nikhil DesaiManaging Director

Goa Tourism DevelopmentCorporation

Canada honoured Shiamak DavarBollywood’s starchoreographerShiamak Davarwas presentedwith the GovernorGeneral’sMedallion andCitation for hisrole in connectingIndia and Canadaby forging newopportunities forcultural dialoguesthrough his passion for theperforming arts.Shiamak hascontinued to buildfriendship andunderstandingbetween the twoculturally diversenations and thisparticular awardserves to honourand celebrate hiscommitment.


STATES3 0 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

Tourism in South India is no longer restricted to just a few cities. With the state tourism board going all out to promotethemselves, new airlines coming up and connectivity increasing, the region is now turning into a major tourism destination.

South India puts new spin on tourism

The stock of SouthIndia in the tourismmap is rocketingup. The South ofIndia is still bestknown for its infra-structure. It alsohas very good

connectivity, even the roads in ruralareas are in very good condition. Theairports are also excellent. Hyderabadhas one of the best airports in thecountry. The safety aspect is also verystrong in South India as it is consid-ered a safe haven for tourists. To befair, it's not that the rest of India is not,but there have been a few sporadicincidents in other parts of the country.Also, the people of this region are thebest brand ambassadors to promotetourism.

Chandana KhanSpecial Chief Secretary, Andhra Pradesh

Tourism

South India haspitched in extremelywell and comingfrom Hyderabad, Ifeel delighted in themanner in whichSouth India is pitch-ing itself in the travel

industry; we have some of the best prop-erties that have come to Chennai,Hyderabad or Bengaluru, not to mentionKerala. Now, it seems to be the focalpoint as far as India is concerned. It’sbecome very difficult for a tourist to nowsay that he has visited India and has notvisited South India. And in spite of beingin South India, it's not enough to spendjust a few days in Chennai, Madurai orKerala. Every part of South India has somuch to offer. It's a great boon to belongto this part of the country.

Sunil KumarWinner of DDP Game Changer Award at the

South India Travel Awards, and Vice-President, TAAI & CEO, Travel World

It's great that there is a lot of development com-ing and a lot of thought is going into South Indiabeing developed into a tourism destination, withKerala taking the lead. It's also great to see newdestinations coming up, which is very important.It's not just about the established destinations,there's so much more to South India whichneeds to be explored and developed.

Zaheer Ellias NajeebWinner of Face of the Future Award at the South India Travel Awards, &

Executive Director, ATE Group of Companies

When I initially started in the travel industry, wehad a small airport flying 10 flights a day, nowthere are more than 200 flights taking off andlanding. The region has a lot of potential andthere is still a lot that can be developed withregards to tourism in the region. The statetourism departments and travel agents andother stakeholders in the travel industry can takethis higher and higher.

MS NagarajuMD, Epicurus Hospitality

There's been an incredible surge in terms of the way inwhich South India has been positioning itself. States areinvesting in some very brilliant campaigns. Kerala wasthe first to start and Andhra Pradesh has been comingin as well as Karnataka. There is so much more to SouthIndia that we haven't discovered yet.

Amruda NairHead of Asset Management,

The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts

Runway upgrade at Dubai Airport n Dubai Airporthas confirmed thatall systems are togo for a compre-hensive runwayupgrade projectset to be launchedat DubaiInternational onMay 1, 2014 toboost safety, serv-ice and capacitylevels at theworld’s secondbusiest interna-tional airport. Theupgrade work willlast 80 days during whichthe runways will be closedalternatively – the southernrunway from May 1 to May31, and the northern runwayfrom May 31 to July 20,2014. The project involvesthe resurfacing of the entire4,000-metre long northernrunway, which is nearing theend of its design life, as well

as the upgrading of runwaylighting and construction ofadditional taxiways andrapid exits on the southernrunway. During this periodthe number of flights atDubai International will bereduced by 26 per cent whileflight movements at AlMaktoum International atDubai World Central (DWC)

are set to increase dramati-cally as eight airlines thatcurrently operate into DubaiInternational have reservedslots to operate into Dubai’ssecond airport during the80-day period. More than300 flights a week areexpected to depart fromDubai’s second airport dur-ing this period.


HOTELS

The discerning Indian trav-eller has made it to the top

list of The Address Hotels &Resorts, a Dubai-based five-star premium hotel brand.According to Seema Pande,Group Director of Sales andMarketing, The Address Hotelsand Resorts, “India is amongthe top three markets for thecompany. It has pleasantly sur-prised us with a fabulousincrease in the numbers of top-end business in leisure, FIT,corporate and MICE front. Withan increase in the family travelfrom India, we have witnessedan impressive growth in Indianweddings and engagements atour properties as well. Indianfamilies with members spreadall over in USA, UK, Europeand other parts of the world,find Dubai to be an easilyaccessible destination withadequate air connectivity anda welcoming visa regime.”Talking about trends from theIndian market, she added,“The Indian visitors spend anaverage of three to five nightsand are among the topspenders. Indians are willing tospend on premium productsonly when they are convinced

about deriving true value formoney. The good thing is thatAddress Hotels have a ‘resi-dence’ component. Thedemand for the residence sec-tion has picked up big timefrom the Indian market.” Thegroup is now adding to its port-folio with the The AddressResidence Fountain Views,

The Address Residence SkyView and The AddressBoulevard in DowntownDubai.”

The fact that India isemerging as a major sourcemarket for the Address

Hotels was reiterated by allthe general managers of var-ious Address Hotels whowere in New Delhi recently tothank their IndiaRepresentative – theNijhawan Group and theIndian travel trade thathelped them receive goodbusiness from India.

Spencer H. Wadama,General Manager, TheAddress Dubai Marina,pointed out, “The Indiancommunity in Dubai is prettylarge. In my hotel, we focusstrongly on the corporatemarket and 45 per cent of

the revenue for the corporateclientele is generated fromthe Indian market.”

According to VincentMercurio, General Manager,The Address Dubai Mall, this isthe fifth year of operations ofthe hotel. “We count on theIndian market and this will onlycontinue to grow. To spruce upour F&B offerings for the Indianclientele, we have also unveiled‘Le Porte des Indes’ which willliterally lure more Indian clients.Dubai is a key market forfinance and business. We seea consistent increase in thehigh-end segment from India,”he commented.

Indian market con-tributes eight to ten per cent oftheir annual business, MichaelSorgenfrey, GeneralManager, The PalaceDowntown, Dubai, remarked.“Last year, the Indian marketgrew about four per cent andthis year, we are expecting agrowth of six per cent for ThePalace Downtown, Dubai.Our main source markets arethe Gulf countries and UK followed by India. Dubai is also becoming morepopular in the Indian marketowing to its attractions,” he said.

With an increase in the numbers of top-end business inleisure, FIT, corporate and MICE front, the Dubai-basedAddress Hotels is betting big on the Indian market.

India in top 3 markets

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45% ofrevenue forcorporateclientele isgeneratedfrom theIndia market

Indian familiesall over USA,UK, Europe andthe world, findDubai an easilyaccessibledestination

Seema PandeGroup Director of Sales and Marketing,The Address Hotels and Resorts

Spencer H. WadamaGeneral ManagerThe Address Dubai Marina

This year, weare expectinga growth of sixper cent.Dubai isbecomingmore popular

We count onthe Indianmarket andsee a steadyincrease inthe high-endsegment

Vincent MercurioGeneral ManagerThe Address Dubai Mall

Michael SorgenfreyGeneral ManagerThe Palace Downtown, Dubai


HOTELS3 2 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

What’s the USP of AlilaDiwa Goa? What differenti-ates the property fromcompetition?

Alila Diwa Goa relies onAlila’s ‘Surprisingly Different’approach to create a destina-tion experience, that is both styl-ish and one of its kind.Architecturally, it has managedto strike the perfect balance ofbeing contemporary and yet tra-ditionally Goan with its steeplypitched roofs, high columns,cool verandahs and tranquil

courtyards. From the use ofmaterials to its design and inte-riors, all aspects reflect theregion’s rich heritage. Our localexcursions and activities, coor-dinated by our LeisureConcierge team, offers anopportunity for guests to interactwith the local people and enjoythe flavor of the destination.The Diwa Club, our exclu-sive Club wing, has grownin stature among discerningtravellers with its private pooland all-day a la carte breakfastat Bistro. Our room inventorycomprises 18 suites and 135

rooms with the total inventorybeing 153 rooms and suites.

What packages are youoffering for the summers?

We have introduced the‘Diwa by Design’ packagewhere guests booking a roomat The Diwa Club can availunrestricted use of our restau-rants, bars, the Spa Alila andall ancillary hotel services. Weexpect this to be our game-changer this year in the high-

end luxury segment. For ourmain wing guests, we havethe ‘Getaway Your Way’ pack-age which lets individualscraft their vacation with differ-ent hotel credit plans.

What are the challengesfaced by the Indian

hospitality industry?I think one of

the major chal-lenges we face isretaining and

recruiting skilled personnel.Also, today there are so manybrands adopting a ‘cookie-cut-ter’ approach. Luxury travel isheading towards more exclu-sive and unique experienceswhere people want to do thingsthat are not accessible to oth-ers. Hence, the need toengage with these travellers toascertain their interests andcreate memorable journeys forthem is what we at Alila aspire to do.

Alila Diwa Goa, a luxury boutique resort in Goa, reflects the region’srich heritage, from the use of materials to its design and interiors.

finds out more in conversation with Siddharth Savkur, theGeneral Manager of Alila Diwa Goa.

Towards exclusive experiences

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Siddharth SavkurGeneral Manager, Alila Diwa Goa

Free mobile app for guided tours n The AudioCompassGuide, a recently launched,free iPhone and Androidmobile app, will now serve

as a mobile tour guide andas an aid to tourism profes-sionals. With the click of abutton, the guide provideseasy-to-use, experientialtours of destinations inIndia. On launching the app,users can easily select a des-tination of their choice.Content specific to that des-tination is downloaded ontotheir phones so that it canbe accessed even if theirphone is in “offline mode”.The company has beenappointed the official audioguide provider by theArchaeological Survey ofIndia for several UNESCO

world heritage sites in Indiaincluding the Taj Mahal. Thecompany has been recog-nized as a partner to theMinistry of Tourism’sIncredible India campaign.Parvez Dewan, Secretary,Ministry of Tourism, speak-ing about their partnershipwith AudioCompass, said,“We are pleased to partnerwith AudioCompass for amobile phone based audiotour platform. We believe

that this innovative use oftechnology will helpimprove the tourist experi-ence in India by allowingvisitors to convenientlylearn more about our cities,cultural sites, and monuments. It will add acompletely new facility toour global Incredible India campaign.”

Parvez DewanSecretaryMinistry of Tourism

We have introduced the ‘Diwa byDesign’ package where guestsbooking a room at The Diwa Clubcan avail unrestricted use of ourrestaurants, bars, the Spa Alila, etc.


CRUISE3 4 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

Discover the World is theleader in global travel and

tourism services and distribu-tion. The top brands in thetravel industry trust Discoverto perform sales, marketing,business processing and dis-tribution needs for themacross the globe. Talkingabout its products, VrushaliDalvi, Business DevelopmentManager, Cruises-India,Discover the World, says, “Weare proud to represent the pio-neer in contemporary cruisecompany - The CarnivalCruise Line in India.

Carnival Cruise Line isthe largest cruise corporationin the world and its group com-panies include HollandAmerica Line, P&O cruises,Cunard Line, Princess Cruises,Seabourn Cruises, and CostaCruises amongst others. Wehave 24 beautiful ships that sailaround the ports of Bahamas–Caribbean – Mexican Riviera

– Alaska – Hawaii – Canada –New England – Pacific Islands– New Zealand – Tahiti –

Panama Canal, all year roundand Seasonal: Seattle –Ensenada, Mexico – Honolulu– Vancouver – Sydney,Australia, with length of cruisesfrom 3-23 days.”

Giving more details aboutofferings of Carnival CruiseLine, she adds, “The cruise line

has always been proactive withtheir promotions and offers,especially for the holiday sea-son. We have a fantastic ‘Kids

for Free’ offer for this summeron all our cruises in NorthAmerica. Carnival Cruise Linesalso has a Price GuaranteePolicy worldwide. The pricethat a consumer sees onCarnival's official website ishonoured in any part of theworld, including India. All theoffers that our travellers see on

www.carnival.com will be hon-oured by Discover the World,India.” The company also rep-resents some of the other lead-

ers in cruise industry such asHurtigruten Cruises, LouisCruises, Variety Cruises andPortuscale Cruises.

Hurtigruten Cruises sailaround the coastline betweenBergen and Kirkenes which isover 2,400 km long. LouisCruises takes you to the placesyou’ve dreamt of: iconic desti-nations famed the world overand exquisite smaller islandswhere you’ll feel as if you’vestepped back into a bygoneGreece. When you cruise withus, you cruise with family – thisis the essence of cruising withLouis, she points out. LouisCruises sails around some ofthe most beautiful islands inthe world around Greece andTurkey. They have cruises forthree, four and seven nightsstarting from Athens-Greece,Kusadasi-Turkey and Istanbul-Turkey.Variety Cruises offersthe traveller intimate onboardprivate yacht/small ship expe-rience. Variety Cruises willintroduce you to mesmerising

destinations and ports of callsoffering you an authentic andmemorable holiday. Whencruising with Variety you’retravelling with a select few, upto just 44 to 72 guests, offering you an intimate experience that is pro-fessional, yet family like, wherethere’s a decidedly casual andpersonal approach. VarietyCruises takes you to TheExotics Costa Rica, Seychelles& West Africa, Treasures ofSouth Italy & Malta, La Dolce Vita, Classic Greece and many more.

The cruise line fromPortugal – Portuscale Cruisesalso has innovative packages.Portuscale is the firstPortuguese company that isdedicated to maritime cruises.With four ships in its fleet, thecruise line travels around toIberian Peninsula andMorocco, Holland Tulips, BritishIsles, Norwegian Fjords,Atlantic Isles, Spitsbergen andmany more.

With the all-inclusive packages that make cruises a preferred holiday option for an increasing number of outbound Indiantravellers, the company is betting big on the segment. reports...

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The CarnivalCruise Line hasbeen proactivewith promotionsand offers,especially for theholiday season

Vrushali DalviBusiness Development ManagerCruises-India, Discover the World

The Carnival Cruise Line


Nowadays, holidays havebecome a need than a lux-

ury, and travellers want toexplore exotic holiday destina-tions than merely travelling to‘regular destinations’. Indianoutbound market is expandingat the rate of 20 per cent each year, and this mightincrease further as overseasholidays have become a must-do activity for high net-worth individuals.

Indian travellers havestarted visiting destinations like Dubai for shopping andweekends. MICE has been themain driving force, as holidaysare offered as incentives to dealers and sub–agents by many organisations, followed by FIT’s.

This process of ‘repre-sentation’ saves on the costsof infrastructure, operationsand marketing.

Tourism Enterprises is arepresentation company whichrepresents DestinationManagement Companies,Hotels and Resorts fromacross the world in India. ItsUSP is their DMC partners

who are eminent among alldestinations. “Having won thetrust of many small and bigIndian travel agents and sup-pliers abroad, the company isnow focussing on future busi-ness development by more

competitive services andprices,” says Kumar Utkarsh,Senior Manager, Sales &Marketing, TE.

With time and effort, busi-ness has streamlined and TEis witnessing significantly highnumber of queries and conver-sion. The agencies have showntheir trust in TE and as a result– they have succeeded in intro-ducing exclusive destinationsin the Indian tourism marketlike Latin America, CentralAmerica, Morocco andRomania.

Their future plans arefocussed on assisting their col-leagues from the tourismindustry in making the best ofholiday experiences. TourismEnterprises would try and bringmore and more DMCs to helpagencies based in India to dodirect business with them; thiswould prove beneficial for cus-tomers, travel agencies and theDMCs as a whole.


The Jammu and Kashmirgovernment is looking at

unveiling direct Srinagar-Dubaiflights in the near future. Thiswas revealed by Talat Parvez,Director, J&K TourismDepartment. Parvez, whorecently attended the promo-

tional and marketing campaignby J&K Tourism in Dubai, said,“The proposal to startSrinagar-Dubai flight serviceis in process. Once completed,

it will be forwarded to the Union Civil Ministry forapproval. The demand fordirect connectivity (betweenKashmir and the Gulf coun-tries) has come up during theproceedings of this roadshow.”

Throwing more light onthis recent promotion in the

Middle East, Parvez informed,“The J&K Tourism Departmenthas launched a promotionaland marketing campaign inMiddle East starting from

Dubai. The campaign seeks topromote Jammu and Kashmirtourism among leading travelagencies of UAE. It also aimsto invite non-residentKashmiris to invest in J&Ktourism industry.” Tourists fromGulf countries have carved aniche among the ‘high-end’category the world over.

According to Parvez,Kashmir received more than amillion tourists in 2013.Majority of this includeddomestic travellers. “We hardlyget any share from the Gulf,owing to the unavailability ofshortened air routes for it,” hepointed out. To combat this, thetourism department is alsoplanning to introduce Arabictourist hotline and text mes-sage service that will be avail-able round-the-clock.

The state is also target-ting Southeast Asia andRussia to promote J&K as atourist destination. “

The state tourism department has kicked off a campaign inthe Middle East to promote Jammu and Kashmir tourismamong leading travel agencies of UAE.

Promoting J&K in ME

Talat ParvezDirector, J&K Tourism Department

J&K Tourism Department haslaunched a promotional andmarketing campaign in MiddleEast. It aims to invite non-residentKashmiris to invest in J&Ktourism industry

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Focussing on increasing demand and growing tourism –Tourism Enterprises works to bridge the gap between Indianagencies and suppliers, who are based abroad.

Bringing DMCs to India

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Kumar UtkarshSenior Manager, Sales & Marketing,Tourism Enterprises


Within a short span of one-and-a-half years since its

launch, World Travel Studio,the customised holiday spe-cialist, has received an over-whelming response from

Indian travel agents. This is inparticular for destinations likeAmerica, Europe and Africa.Currently, they offer over 130pre-packaged FIT internationaland domestic packagesaround the world.

Koyande says,“Personalised Europe andAmerica vacations are hotfavourites this summer. Weoffer more than 50 customiz-able well-planned packageoptions for Europe andAmerica, wherein the travelagent can offer them ‘as is’ totheir clients, or the agents can get the plans customisedfrom us as per their clients’specifications.”

Adding, he says, “Apartfrom the quotation, travel

agents seek support in termsof guidance, suggestions andquick reverts. Our team makesevery effort to make the agentscomfortable and work to takecare of all the arrangements.”

Talking about howIndians have now changed

their way of travelling, Koyandesays, “India has changed dra-matically over the last decade,and so has consumer behav-iour. More and more clients arenow opting for customisedvacations as they want toexplore the destination as pertheir liking and pace. They are

no more interested in just vis-iting a number of countries;they’d rather indulge in uniqueexperiences, apart from seeingthe popular places. They wantto stay in city centre hotels toget the ‘real feel’, eat at localrestaurants, watch culturalshows and at least have one or

two days to explore the city ontheir own by travelling in localtransportation.”

“Today, an Indian travelleris well-informed and more con-fident than before,” Koyandesays, “We continuously monitorthese trends and accordingly

adapt our product portfoliosand services. This enables ourteam to effectively cater to theneeds and requirements of theclients in the shortest possibletime. This has helped usimmensely to get support anda good response from the trav-el trade in India.”

Haresh Koyande, Founder and Managing Director, World Travel Studio, says that they assist travel agents increating travel plans which are tailored to the clients’ needs and wishes.

Customised itineraries for agentsAGENTS M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4 TRAVTALK 3 7

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Our team makesevery effort tomake the agentscomfortable andwork to take care of all thearrangements

Haresh KoyandeFounder and Managing DirectorWorld Travel Studio

� Personalised Europe andAmerica vacations are hotfavourites this summer.We offer more than 50customisable well-plannedpackage options forEurope and America,wherein the travel agentcan offer them ‘as is’ totheir clients, or the agentspersonalise them.

Game Plan


HOTELS3 8 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

Anthony Ross, ExecutiveVice President-Asia

Pacific, Middle East and Africa,Preferred Hotel Group,revealed that this year,Chicago-based Preferred HotelGroup will be hosting its firstDistribution and RevenueManagement Workshop for itsmember hotels in India and theMiddle East. The workshop isdesigned to help the CoreRevenue Management teammembers, including RevenueManagers, Director of Salesand General Managers tounderstand the distribution net-work and enhance the revenueopportunities for the hotel. Thecompany is also targetting agrowth of 20 per cent from itsIndia portfolio in 2014.

The global provider ofsales, marketing and distribu-tion services to independentluxury hotels has 30 hotels inits portfolio in India currently

and the range of brandsinclude Preferred Hotels &Resorts, Preferred Boutique,Summit Hotels & Resorts,Sterling Hotels and SterlingDesign.

According to Ross, busi-ness and leisure travellers arebecoming more receptive tothe unique experiences thatindependent hotels or smallhotel groups offer. “At the sametime, travellers are embracingthe idea of interesting, unique,independent hotel experi-ences; hotel owners are re-evaluating the substantial costsand dilution of control over theirassets that they are subject towith hard brands. Soft brandslike Preferred Hotel Group pro-vide the brand endorsement,international connectivity, salesand marketing support of hardbrands, but at a fraction of thecost,” he points out.

In the changing scenariowhere hospitality business has

been hit worldwide, the groupis moving cautiously in India aswell. Talking about specificchallenges the company needsto tackle in the Indian market,Ross reveals, “We are notexperiencing any challengesthat are unique to India. As withother locations in which weoperate, new hotel develop-ment is rising faster thandemand for hotel rooms.Fortunately, we work withsome of the best hotel ownersand hoteliers in India who fullyunderstand the direct correla-tion between the quality of theirproducts and services andmaintaining strong marketshare.”

Confirming that B2B is theextended arm of the company,Saurabh Rai, Area ManagingDirector-South Asia and MiddleEast, Preferred Hotel Group,asserts, “We are diligently work-ing towards setting up the plat-form to launch a version 2.0 ofiPrefer Rewards Program,

which would incorporate a B2Bloyalty solution for our independ-ent member hotels focussed onour Meeting Planner and TravelManagement Company part-ners.”

In August last year, thegroup re-launched its iPreferRewards Program, the world’sfirst loyalty programme thatrewards travellers with pointsfor choosing the independenthotel experience. Outlining theUSP of the new programme,Rai informs, “With iPrefer, trav-ellers no longer have to choosebetween the unique perspec-tive of an independent hotelexperience and the appeal of apoints-fuelled loyalty pro-gramme. iPrefer presents asimple and flexible model thatallows the traveller to choosewhere, when, and for what theywant to redeem their points.This structure stands out as an attractive alternative tothe common ‘points-for-rooms-only’ model.”

In a freewheeling conversation with , Anthony Ross and Saurabh Rai talk about how the Preferred Hotel Groupis driving continuous development and strategic expansion of the company and its family of brands in India

A preferred B2B loyalty solution soon ME G H A PAU L

With iPrefer,travellers do nothave to choosebetween anindependenthotel and apoints-fuelledloyaltyprogramme

We will behosting our firstDistributionand RevenueManagementWorkshop inIndia and theMiddle East

Anthony RossExecutive Vice President-Asia Pacific, MiddleEast and Africa, Preferred Hotel Group

Saurabh RaiArea Managing Director-South Asia andMiddle East, Preferred Hotel Group

Hurtigruten offers departures every day of the

year with a choice of 6, 7, 11 or12 day voyages. "Apart fromlonger cruising experiences, italso offers a range of shortexcursions option. Whether it'sdog-sledding in Tromso, bird watching in Honningsvag, a visit to the famous snow hotelin Kirkenes or a historical tourin Bergen, each tour is operatedby one of Hurtigruten's knowl-edgeable multilingual guides.And it doesn't matter what fit-ness level or age the passengerare. With such a broad range ofactivities, there truly is some-thing for everyone", informedVrushali Dalvi, Business

Development Manager, Cruises- India, Discover the World.

Hurtigruten takes passen-gers into some of the mostremote and untouched destina-tions on the planet, allowingthem to witness sights andexperience cultures that few have had the chance to encounter. According to Dalvi,the most well-known journey isthe famous Norwegian CoastalVoyage, which is oftendescribed as the ‘world's mostbeautiful voyage’, provides acruise for people who want tosee more than just the sea. Shesaid, "The ship travels up anddown the magnificent coastlineof Norway from Bergen in the

south to Kirkenes in the northcalling at 34 ports along the way,most of them never visited bythe large cruise liners. There isno dress for dinner and no fight-ing for the Captain's table - thisjourney is about immersingyourself in the heart of the des-tination and its culture".

Norway's Hurtigruten Cruise, represented by Discover the WorldIndia in the Indian market, is one of the very few exotic cruiseliners offering flexible cruising experiences round the year.

Flexi cruising experience

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Apart fromlonger cruisingexperiences,we also offershort excursionoptions

Vrushali DalviBusiness Development Manager, Cruises – India, Discover the World


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Starwood Hotels & Resorts recently held their annual road show - Starwood India Expo 2014 in Le Meridien, New Delhi. Providing a platform for thehotels to engage with meetings, corporate and travel trade partners, the event witnessed the who's who of the industry.

Starwood India Expo 2014



As many as 400 films areshot every year at the

imaginatively built city, whichattracts as many as 1.6 millionvisitors - local, national andinternational - every year.

Rajeev Jalnapurkar,CEO, Ramoji Film City,informed that the new attrac-tions will add a new dimensionto the already well-known citycomplex, which is a one-stop

facility for film-making, com-plete with gardens, station, air-port, rail coaches, temple, hos-pital, equipment and manpow-er. The film city acts as an edu-cational and entertainmentcentre and the focus will be fur-ther enhanced by adding twonew major attractions. Ofcourse, the thrust on movies,MICE and other activities willin no way be diluted with thenew attractions. Shopping,entertainment, restaurants andmovie-related activities, com-plete with stunt shows, ensurea memorable experience forthe MICEguests.

The city has three hotels--Sitara, with 170 rooms, for theluxury segment; Tara, with 126rooms, for the economy, andSahara is an air-conditioneddormitory.

WingsThe new section is the Wings,which has been designed inan eco-friendly way, both forthe visitors and the birds ---

260 of them -- imported fromas far as South America, andhoused in tastefully done upenclosures. In few cases, it isthe birds which are free andthe visitors are in an enclo-sure. Like the rest of the filmcity, the Wings, too, will beboth an educational andentertainment tool. There is noseparate entry ticket for the Wings.

Sahas Adventure LandIt is the other new attraction,for which a separate entryticket is planned, Jalnapurkarinformed. Sahas has widerange of adventure and otheractivities, which will be amajor attraction for the youngand the old, who may comeespecially for this or as anadd-on to the film city experi-ence. Archery, target shooting,rifle shooting, zorbing, bungeeejector and mountain cyclingwith gear are some of theSahas offerings.

The popular Ramoji Film City, near Hyderabad,was established in 1996. It is set to add new attractions, which issure to boost the tourist arrivals and footfall at the sprawling, well laid-out 1,666 acre complex.

Enhancing movie magic experience AN I L MAT H U R

Rajeev JalnapurkarCEO, Ramoji Film City (Winner of BestFamily Travel Destination at the South India Travel Awards)

Achievements� The Ramoji Film City recently

won the Best Family Travel

Destination at the South India

Travel Awards in Hyderabad.

The film city has been

recognised by the Guinness

Book of World Records as the

largest film city complex

in the world.


TECHNOLOGY4 4 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

Talking about the USP of thecompany, Meenu

Sachdeva, Managing Director,TI InfoTech said, “We providesoftware solutions and supportservices to our clients acrossthe globe, following ‘A TotalSolution Approach’. Our prod-ucts ‘Travel Assist’ and ‘TravelCloud’ suite are the best in theindustry to maintain optimumprice-quality relation in ourservices in the market. Wehave customers in differentcountries like India, China,Kenya, Tanzania, Dubai,Riyadh, Barcelona, Croatia,Morocco, United States,Oman, Sri Lanka, etc.”

Elaborating the two traveltrades, she said, “Travel Assistis a complete tour manage-ment software that enables anorganisation to efficiently man-age a complete tour cycle,

from enquiry to tour operationsto financial accounting. Thisapplication enables a tour com-pany to manage operations ofall business segments; FIT,GIT, series, ad-hoc, chartersand excursion management. Itis seamlessly integrated toOracle Financials accountingfunctions. It can also be inte-grated with any third-partyapplication or e-commerce

platform solution using XMLService Oriented Architecture.Travel Cloud is an all-in-onesuite to automate the travelbusiness process from contentacquisition all the way throughdistribution. It equips the travelcompanies with the ability tosell across multiple channels,expand their distribution net-work and sell their online travelofferings in a differentiated way.

Talking about the trendsin Indian online space fortourism, she added, “In Indiathe biggest challengeimposed upon the tourismindustry is in adopting the righttechnology in line with theirbusiness. There is a very biggap between the tourismindustry and the technologyindustry. Some organisationshave been able to tap into thisgap and have turned intoOnline Travel Agents (OTA).However, it is not that everytourism business needs tobecome an OTA to success-fully utilise technology. It ismore important to understandeach business’s competitiveedge and adopt the relatedtechnology in order tostrengthen their competen-cies. We must continue towork on incorporating newtechnologies in our manage-ment of tourism businessesand destinations.”

TI Infotech, a premier Information Technology company has made inroadsin the field of customised solutions for the Travel and Tourism domain, ERP Implementation and Support, Custom Application Development, IT consulting and eCommerce solutions.

For a Total Solution approach

TT BU R E AU

Our products Travel Assistand Travel Cloud suite arethe best in the industry tomaintain the best price-quality relation in ourservices in the market.

Meenu SachdevaManaging Director

TI InfoTech

FTAs grow 4.5% year-on-year in March 2014: MOT n Foreign Tourist Arrivals(FTAs) in March, 2014 was6.69 lakh with a growth of4.5% over 6.40 lakhtourists in March, 2013.Also, Foreign ExchangeEarnings (FEEs) fromtourism in March, 2014were `10,257 crore, incomparison to ` 9,553crore in March, 2013.FTAs were 21.27 lakh dur-ing the period January-March 2014, as comparedto FTAs of 20.27 lakh(marking a growth of4.9%); according to areport from the Ministry ofTourism, India.

The growth rate in FEEsin rupee terms in March 2014over March 2013 was 7.4%as compared to 21.8% inMarch 2013 over March

2012. FEE from tourism inrupee terms during January-March 2014 were `32,809crore with a growth of 8.4%,as compared to FEEs of

`30,270 crore with a growthof 21.2% during January-March 2013 over the corre-sponding period of 2012.However, FEEs in US$ termsduring the month of March2014 were US$ 1.679 billionas compared to FEEs of US$1.757 billion during themonth of March 2013 andUS$ 1.559 billion in March2012. The growth rate inFEEs in US$ terms in March2014 over March 2013 wasnegative growth of 4.4% ascompared to the growth of12.7% in March 2013 overMarch 2012.

DID YOU KNOW?

India has finally extended the Tourist Visa-on-Arrival Scheme for the citi-zens of South Korea . The Tourist Visa-on-Arrival Scheme scheme will pro-vide single entry with 30 days validity after paying US$60 at the airports inDelhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Bengaluruand Hyderabad.

India extends VoA for South Korea


Rajasthali Resort & Spa,Kukas is strategically

located on the Jaipur-Delhi

highway. It is aptly placed at 22km north of Jaipur, yet at prox-imity for a complete getawayfeel. According to AnkushSharma, Head- Sales &Business Development,Rajasthali Resort & Spa,

Kukas, Jaipur, the resort is tar-getting both leisure and corpo-rate segments. He says, “Wehave themed the entire resorton the royalty that Rajasthan isknown for. Rajasthali means‘where kings dwell’. So, wewant people to feel as kingswhen they stay with us.”

It differentiates itselfarchitecturally from the rest ofthe hotels located in the Kukasregion of the city. Talking abouthow the property has posi-tioned itself in the Jaipur hos-pitality market, Sharmareveals, “The hotel is anupscale high-end luxury bou-

tique resort. We are aggres-sively tapping FITs, primarilydomestic travellers. We haveoccupancy of 68 per cent lastyear. This is remarkable as thiswas the second year of opera-tions for the hotel. We are noweyeing on a target of 85 percent occupancy for 2014-15.”

Giving more informationabout its MICE offerings,Sharma informs, “We areplaced in a way that will attract a lot of incentives andin-house conferences/meet-ings. Additionally, we alsoorganise cultural activities,bonfires in winters and

leisure activities like camel, elephant, horse rides,mountain biking, rock climbing, etc., to add theentertainment quotient.” Thecompany expects more interest coming from big corporate groups in the com-ing season.

Rajasthali Resort & Spa, Kukas has been built on a 25-acre plot of which around 14 acres has been left for landscaping,so the spread brings forth the royal element. A watchtower in the landscaped area adds an old world charm.

Hospitality with a Rajputana touchHOTELS M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4 TRAVTALK 4 5

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We have themedthe entire resort onroyalty. Rajasthalimeans ‘wherekings dwell’. So,we want people to feel like kingswhen they stay with us

Ankush SharmaHead- Sales & Business DevelopmentRajasthali Resort & Spa, Kukas, Jaipur

DGCA:Foreignerswon’t controlIndian carriersn In effect to amendmentsin a rule relating to grant offlying permits to new airlinesin the country, the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) has made it clear thatforeign airlines or investorswould not have the right tocontrol the management of anIndian carrier. According to aPTI report, DGCA has stipu-lated that a scheduled Indianairline cannot enter into anagreement with a foreigninvesting institution or a for-eign airline which could givethese foreign entities theright to control the manage-ment of the domestic opera-tor. It has also made it clearthat such foreign entitiescould have representation onthe Board of Directors of theIndian Airline Company, butnot more than one-third ofthe total number.



The Department of Tourism, Philippines (DOT) recently conducted a joint FAM tour to thePhilippines in association with the Singapore Airlines. The trip consisted of nine travel agentsfrom Kolkata, along with two representatives from the Singapore Airlines.

Kolkata gets taste of Filipino flavours



IITB-2014: A renewed push for inboundThe Ashok, New Delhi, played host to the first edition of the India International Travel Bazaar (IITB-2014). The event took off to a great start as it witnessedparticipation of a large number of buyers from all over the world.

Contd. on page 50 u



Setting the pace for B2B meetings

Contd. on page 52 u



Welcoming all international buyers

Contd. on page 54 u



For a burgeoning Indian tourism


Planning to permeate theAsian market with more

hotels for the luxury traveller,

France-based Relais &Chateaux is in the process ofidentifying regions in India.According to Angeline Tang,Director-Sales, Asia-Pacific,

Relais & Chateaux, the luxurygroup is looking at growing itsIndian portfolio in key citiessuch as Jaipur, Jodhpur and

Udaipur in Rajasthan. “We donot fix our target in quantity butin quality. Wherever a propertydeserves to join, we will con-sider it,” she revealed.

Regarding the growingimportance of the Indian mar-ket, Tang pointed out, “The

first Indian property thatjoined Relais & Chateaux wasin 2008 and now in 2014, wehave a total of five propertiesin the country. The biggestchallenge was to introduce anew brand in the market. The potential is huge and the growth in India will give us

good hope that our clientbase will also grow quite rapidly.” Indian travellers areinclined to luxury, tend toassociate it highly with service levels, and expect tobe pampered. The Indian luxury travellers take multipletrips throughout the year

and also look out for value-for-money deals, she feels.

Talking about the signifi-cance of crafting experiencesfor our guests and not for bottomlines, Jaisal Singh, the new Vice President,

Relais & Chateaux Asia andCOO, Sujan Luxury, said,“The Relais & Chateaux mem-bership helps exclusive standalone properties to ‘lever-age the brand value’ and instillconfidence in the minds of luxury clients to stay in their properties.”

After adding five properties in its Indian portfolio, the France-based Relais & Chateaux, which manages over 500hotels and restaurants across 60 countries, is now scouting for regions in Rajasthan for boutique hotels.

Chalking out roadmap for India opsHOTELS M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4 TRAVTALK 5 5

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We do not fixour target inquantity but inquality.Wherever apropertydeserves to be, we will consider it

Angeline Tang Director-Sales, Asia-Pacific, Relais & Chateaux

The Relais &Chateauxmembershiphelps exclusivestandaloneproperties to‘leverage theirbrand value’

Jaisal SinghVice President, Relais & Chateaux Asiaand COO, Sujan Luxury



The 21st Moscow International Travel & Tourism Exhibition (MITT) saw over 1,800 exhibitors with international companies representing two-thirds of thisnumber. This key meeting place enables participants to increase awareness of their destination, gain a real feel for the Russian travel market and gaugedemand for their services. India saw a growing presence at the show and the number of Russians visiting India has also grown tremendously.

MITT 2014 promises big business



The Address Hotels + Resorts, Armani Hotels & Resorts & Vida Hotels & Resorts came to India at New Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai to thankits India Representative – the Nijhawan Group and the Indian travel trade that helped them receive good business from India.

Travel trade gets a new address



Joining hands for a new inningsIn a recent event in New Delhi, the UAE DMC Lama Group and Carfare, a privately-owned comprehensive mobility solution group, came together toannounce the signing of an agreement to merge the two premier services in the hospitality industry.

TAAI & Visit Scotland meet in Glasgow

VisitScotland invited TAAI Managing Committee to explore the tourism potential of Scotland / destination knowledge, to take home a wealth of ideas and useful business contacts for Scotland travel products andmore prominently, get first hand knowledge of hotel properties around Scotland through detailed recces, for consideration of holding the TAAI Annual Convention 2015 /2016 in breathtaking Scotland.

Next-generation Park Inn by Radissonn Park Inn by RadissonGurgaon Bilaspur, thefirst next generation ParkInn by Radisson® hotelin India, has formallyopened now. The hotelhad a soft opening inJanuary earlier this year.The hotel offers 98rooms, including sixsuites. Positioned to cap-ture the mid-scale mar-ket, the hotel is to caterto the business trav-ellers, extended stay trav-ellers, FITs and fami lies.The hotel is a result of thejoint venture between

Carlson Rezidor HotelGroup and BestechHospitality, to build 49 ParkInn by Radisson hotels.Currently there are eight

such hotels in the pipeline.Carlson Rezidor Group willnow have 66 hotels in oper-ation and 45 hotels in the pipeline.



The 9th edition of the workshop, Rendezvous en France, 2014 held in Clermont-Ferrand, France welcomed 850 buyers and 660 global sellers.

Rendezvous en France 2014

Getting cosy with ChampagneAtout France in partnership with Air France and Regional Tourist Board of Champagne-Ardenneorganised a post-event Familiarisation Tour for Indian travel agents to Champagne Ardenne after Rendezvous en France 2014.


MAYINTERNATIONAL2-3 Cape Town World Travel Market

Africa

5-8 Dubai Arabian Travel Market (ATM)

9-11 Shanghai World Travel Fair10-12 Durban Indaba Expo11-13 Bremen Germany Travel Mart

18-21 New Zealand Trenz20-22 Frankfurt IMEX 201427-30 Vancouver Canadian Tourism

Commission’s Rendezvous Canada

29-Jun 1 Seoul Korea World Travel Fair

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

JUNENATIONAL9 Ahmedabad Munich's Roadshow10 Bengaluru Munich's Roadshow12 Chennai Munich's Roadshow13 Delhi Munich's Roadshow23 Bengaluru Visit Britain’s B2B Roadshow25 Hyderabad Visit Britain’s B2B Roadshow27 Chennai Visit Britain’s B2B Roadshow

24-26 Gandhinagar Gujarat Travel Mart27-29 Guwahati TTF Guwahati

INTERNATIONAL2-5 Shanghai Asia International Luxury Travel

Market (ILTM Asia 2014)

4-6 Bangkok Thailand Travel Mart Plus

10-12 Orlando America Incentives Business Travel& Meetings Expo (AIBTM 2014)

15-17 Sydney Outdoor Retailer Australia

19-21 Dhaka Bangladesh International TourismFair

19-22 Singapore Zak Salaam India Tourism Expo

22-24 Zimbabwe Routes Africa 2014

27-29 Beijing Beijing International Tourism Expo2014

29-July 2 Barcelona 4th International Conference onTourism between China-Spain

JULYNATIONAL4-6 Kolkata Visit Britain’s B2B Roadshow4-6 Kolkata Travel & Tourism Fair – Kolkata9 Delhi Visit Britain’s B2B Roadshow11 Chandigarh Visit Britain’s B2B Roadshow11-13 Hyderabad Travel & Tourism Fair – Hyderabad18-20 Bengaluru India International Travel Mart21 Bengaluru Thailand Convention & Exhibition

Bureau’s B2B workshop23 Mumbai Thailand Convention & Exhibition

Bureau’s B2B workshop25 New Delhi Thailand Convention & Exhibition

Bureau’s B2B workshop25-27 Chennai India International Travel Mart31 Chennai Tourism New Zealand’s Kiwi Link

India 2014INTERNATIONAL4-6 Beijing Luxury China

10-13 Germany European Outdoor Trade Fair

11-13 Abu Dhabi World Luxury Expo

23-26 China Asia Outdoor Trade Fair

24-26 Cebu Cebu International Travel Expo

AGENTS

After five years of successfuloperations, Global

Destinations has now paved itsway into Russia as well. Thecompany has been recentlyappointed as India’s represen-tative for UTS Travel RussianDMC with offices in Moscowand St. Petersburg. Accordingto Pranav Kapadia, Founder,Global Destinations, these areexciting times for Global

Destinations as the new addi-tion to the portfolio is one of thelargest DMCs in Russia.

Giving more details aboutUTS Travel, Kapadia reveals,“Since its inception in 1994,UTS Travel is looking after dif-ferent segments of travelindustry such as leisure & busi-ness travel, sports & events

travel, online hotel reservationetc. Their main focus is MICEIncoming and Leisure travel inRussia and the former USSR.Currently, UTS Travel is a bigcompany with more than 350employees working in Moscowand St-Petersburg offices. UTSTravel is a team of experi-enced, young and proactivepeople who take pleasure in

their job, making every journeyeasy and unforgettable.” UTSTravel’s strong selling pointsare its multilingual staff, flexibleprice policy, direct contractswith local suppliers, a hugebackground experience and anambition to supply a high levelof services at competitive rates– which is very important forIndian customers.

Regarding the potentialof Russia in the Indian out-bound market, he points out,“Russia is a niche destinationand hence it is important tocreate awareness about it inIndia. Russia has becomehugely popular with Indian trav-ellers and we see this as a fan-tastic opportunity to expandour business. There is increas-ing demand for Russia fromthe FIT segment and latelythere have been queries fromthe MICE segment as well.”

One of the largest DMCs in Russia, UTS Travel is looking after differentsegments of travel industry such as leisure & business travel, sports &events travel, online hotel reservations etc. Their main focus is MICEincoming and leisure travel in Russia and the former USSR.

Providing new avenues to Russia

TT BU R E AURussia is a niche destination and hence it is

important to createawareness about it in India.There is increasing demandfor Russia from the FIT andthe MICE segment as well

Pranav KapadiaFounder

Global Destinations

� UTS Travel’s strong sellingpoints are its multilingualstaff, flexible price policy,direct contracts with local suppliers, a hugebackground experience andan ambition to supply a highlevel of services atcompetitive rates

USP

Operating with the aim ofbecoming the very best

Destination ManagementCompany in Dubai, YokoTourism offers a comprehen-sive list of services for inboundand outbound travellers, be it

arranging desert safaris orsports & medical travel.

With the Arabian TravelMarket (ATM) 2014 just aroundthe corner, the first point of dis-cussion was the group’s partic-

ipation in previous editions andin the current one. AmitGhosh, General Manager,Yoko Tourism clarifies, “Thegroup had not participated inthe previous editions of thesymposium, but the travelgroup had been budgeted thisyear to participate in every

major travel convention, including the ATM.”

“In last quarter of 2013,we have decided to enter theinbound business and strate-gically started developing our

product to place ourselvesamongst the leading DMC forUAE to start with. We bought afleet of 100 vehicles of variouscategories to offer competitivepricing to our clients for theirtransport requirements. We arein the final stage for developingour own online portal andinvest in other land arrange-ments, excursions, and hireexperienced and qualifiedstaff,” Ghosh further informed.

As the World Expo 2020sends Dubai tourism into over-drive, Yoko Tourism is leverag-ing its presence in Qatar,Vienna, Thailand to promoteDubai and its brand of tourism.Furthermore, in 2014, it hasexpanded its horizons to newmarkets in the countries wherethe group doesn’t have offices.

Ghosh elucidated, “WithDubai winning the 2020 bid,we are witnessing a greatjump in inbound traffic. Hence,we have invested in havingour own products to offermore competitive price in themarket with more person-

alised services. We have avery strategic marketing planto cash in and are already wit-nessing a huge numbers ofconversions.”

The group has faced itsown challenges in its setup, thelack of trained staff to go inconjunction with the infrastruc-ture and product.

Yoko Tourism is expand-ing its online brand presence,making their product pricingmore competitive. They arealso doubling their vehicle fleet, head hunting staff as well to allow break into new foreign markets.

Headquartered in Dubai, Yoko Tourism was established three years ago with an initial target market of Russia, Latin America, Brazil andEurope. In recent years, the company has expanded its market focus toinclude India and China.

Expanding focus to rope in India

TT BU R E AU

� As the World Expo 2020 sends Dubaitourism into overdrive,Yoko Tourism isleveraging its presence in Qatar, Vienna, Thailandto promote Dubai and its brand of tourism.

Eyeing New Sources

With Dubai winning theWorld Expo 2020 bid,we are witnessing a great jump in inbound traffic

Amit GhoshGeneral ManagerYoko Tourism


OPPORTUNITY/CLIPBOARD


CLIPBOARD M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4 TRAVTALK 6 7


MOVEMENTS6 8 TRAVTALK M A Y 1 S T F O R T N I G H T I S S U E 2 0 1 4

InterContinental Hotels GroupNational Capital RegionDonald A.Wingell has been appointed as the Director of Food &Beverage Performance and Support for South West Asia. Wingell’skey responsibility will be to drive F&B per-formance in the region, while workingclosely with hotel general managersand F&B teams to maximise revenuesand service delivery. His careerincludes working with brands such asFairmont, Shangri-La, Raffles andAnantara hotels across North Americaand Asia. His last role was with theFairmont Chateau Laurier inOttawa, as their Food &Beverage Director.

WelcomHeritage New DelhiD Kavarana has taken over as the CEO of WelcomHeritage Hotels.He joined ITC Hotels as a management trainee in 1977. Since then,he has worked in most of the ITC Hotelsmainly in the F&B discipline, until 1999.Subsequently, he has been the GeneralManager within the Luxury Hotels of ITC,viz at Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi andlastly at Mumbai, as the Area ManagerWest and General Manager at ITCMaratha. With Kavarana’s experience atITC Hotels for nearly 35 years, his tenureat WelcomHeritage Hotels will focuson expanding the brand to 50heritage properties by 2015.

The Lalit Ashok BengaluruBhaskaran T is now the General Manager for The Lalit Ashok inBengaluru. He has over 16 years of experience in the hospitality

industry. Prior to this, Bhaskaran wasthe General Manager of The LalitLaxmi Vilas Palace Udaipur for twoyears. He has also worked with var-ious prominent hotels which includeHyatt Regency, Novotel Hyderabad,Viceroy Hotels, The Leela PalaceKempinski, InterContinental and TheLalit Mumbai.

Trinity Air Travel & Tours Mumbai Pramod Dalvi has joined Trinity Air Travel & Tours as Vice Presidentand based at their corporate office in Mumbai. Dalvi has almost spent41 years in the travel, tourism and aviationindustry and has been associated withorganisations like Thomas Cook India,Carlson Wagonlit Travel, P&O TravelIndia, International Travel House, ForvolInternational Travels, Korean Airlines,Autoriders International and retired fromFCH Centrum as Sr. Vice President.

Mauritius TourismNew DelhiVivek Anand has joined Mauritius Tourism as its Country Manager.He has over 30 years of experience in marketing, advertising, pub-lishing and printing industry and hasworked with companies such asPublicis, Ajanta and Express. Hehas managed brands such asJack Daniels, Musim Mas,Finlandia, Monte Carlo,International Olive Council and theMexican Ministry of Agricultureamong many others. Anand will beheading the team promotingMauritius in India in addition to mar-keting and PR activities forMTPA.

Shangri-La Hotel, BengaluruBengaluruJens Peter Corder has been appointed as the General Manager ofShangri-La Hotel, Bengaluru. Corder, an Australian national, brings

with him more than 25 years of experi-ence in the hospitality industry, spe-cialising all aspects of hotel opera-tions, with an avid interest for foodand beverage. During his career ofover two decades, he has won manyawards, few of which are the ‘YoungAchiever Award’ on Brisbane’s

Channel 9, and the gold medalin Australia’s

National SalonCulinaire.

Courtyard by Marriott, BilaspurBilaspurAmit Midha has been appointed as the General Manager ofCourtyard by Marriott Bilaspur. He has worked with Jaypee Hotels& Six Senses Spa in Greater Noida,Oberoi Hotels in Gurgaon, ChennaiKolkata, Jaipur & Udaipur; MadinatJumeirah in Dubai; Grand Hyatt inMumbai & Delhi and JW Marriott inMumbai in various capacities.

The Lalit MumbaiMumbaiVijay Sethi is now the General Manager of The Lalit Mumbai. His31 years of experience spans across industries like hotels, airlines,travel & tourism and healthcare. Prior tojoining The Lalit Mumbai, he wasassociated with the Keys Hotels -Berggruen Hotel as the ChiefOperating Officer. He started hiscareer with Clarks Group of Hotelsand has worked with brands such asCentaur Hotel, Sofitel Surya and HolidayInn Crowne Plaza, Leela Kempinski inhospitality, Jet Airways in aviation, ThomasCook India in travel & tourism, and AsianHeart Institute in healthcare.

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: Peden Doma Bhutia, Megha Paul and Kanchan Nath

Neelu Singh, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Ezeego1.com, says thatgardening is one of her favourite hobbies and on a holiday, you will findher pottering around the in-house garden. She isalso interested in interior designing and has aneye for unique home decor styles. She lovesgoing out on long drives whenever timepermits. "My morning starts with an hourand a half of yoga, which I never miss. Ibelieve firmly in the Buddhist philosophyand have been following it for the past20 years," she says. She loves oldsongs, be it Hindi or English classics.She is quite the movie buff andloves watching Hindi films,especially Qayamat Se QayamatTak, which she claims to havewatched almost 20 times.

Pankaj Mathur, General Manager, The Suryaa, I like to teach and train,it's a passion. I like talking about leadership skills, soft skills andnegotiating skills. In my free time, I like to doa lot of reading. Robin Sharma is myfavourite author. And, I also like to spendtime with my family. Travelling is onething that we, as a family, do together andGoa is our favourite destination. I havelived in Goa, and have had two stints ofthree years each while I was there. Formy kids, Goa is home.However, the last trip wetook was to Hong Kongwhere we visitedDisneyland and had alot of fun during thetrip.

Catherine Oden, Director, Atout France, India, Catherine gets herpassion for travel from her parents, who were also great travellers.Work for her is like a hobby. She feels thatshe has never had the impression of goingto work. She says, “I really enjoy what Ido. I used to entertain guests a lot andI really hope I will have time for thatagain because I love sharing the foodof France. I love cooking, if I have timeI try to take cooking classes, be it inFrance, Bali, Japan, or in India itself.Whenever I am in anycountry, I try to explore theircuisine. I love reading, spasand aroma therapy.”

Grand Hyatt GoaGoa Jaco le Roux is now the General Manager of Grand Hyatt Goa. Withover 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, he has worked

with the Hyatt group the world over. Apartfrom working in his home country, SouthAfrica, he has also worked and managed5-star chains in various locations likeMuscat, Istanbul, Amsterdam,Moscow, Belgrade and London. Priorto joining Grand Hyatt Goa, Roux has

been General Manager of Hyatt RegencyOubaai Resort & Spa for three years.


HIGHLIGHT

Postal Reg. No.: DL(ND)-11/6044/2012-13-14; WPP No.: U(C)-178/2012-14 for posting on 1st-2nd and 16th-17th

of the same month at New Delhi P.S.O., RNI No.: 53492/91Date of Publication:30-04-2014

What does the `140crore funding entail forYatra?

The funding will primarilybe used to strengthen ourposition in the domestic holi-days and hotels segment. Weare the leaders in the domestichotel space; and what we wantto do is further increase oursupply of hotels. We currentlyhave 15,000 hotels and wewant the number to increasethis number significantly by theend of this calendar year.Funding will be used toenhance mobile technology.Apart from this, we also wantto focus on increasing ourbrand presence. As the mar-ket expands, you will see a lot of the competition using theInternet for the first time.Because of this, we want to ensure that we have top-of-the-mind recall, and are thebrand leaders in this category.So, a part of the funding will be invested on the brand sideas well.

How will the new invest-ment help Yatra enhanceits mobile technology?

Mobile is growing veryrapidly – more than 20 per centof traffic and 15 per cent offlight bookings come frommobiles. This surge in mobilebusiness has come in the lastone year, and we are verykeen to grow our presence. Wewant to enhance our featuresand our product offerings onthis front. We will be addingnew lines of business throughapps and will be expandingtheir penetration.

Are you planning anynew laterals, and plansto diversify?

We are actively lookingfor opportunities on the tech-nological side, especially inmobile technology. There arealso ancillary services that wehave been considering, butmobile technology is really upthere as something that we are looking at exponentiallygrowing.

With mobile phoneaccess growing, thebusiness dynamics ofonline travel ischanging. Howdo you plan toaddress this?

The mobile segment hasgrown significantly over the past12-18 months. It is clearly theway forward for the e-com-merce industry and in particu-

lar, the travel busi-ness, where

last-minutebookingsare driv-ing thetrend.

Growing this category is one ofour prime objectives this year,and we have adopted anaggressive marketing approachto drive traffic and bookings viamobile. We do mobile searchesand display advertising as wellas run promotions from time totime to drive the shift.

What is your strategyfor 2014?

We will focus this year onbuilding up the domestic holi-days and hotel segments. Wehave seen an improvement inthe market environment andhave more capacity coming in

on the airline side. Weexpect our hotels

and holiday pack-age numbers togrow significantly.Again, we wouldlike to increaseour brand pres-

ence and enhancemobile technologyfor 2014.

Mobile is the way to go for YatraHaving raised a funding of ̀ 140 crore, Dhruv Shringi, CEO, Yatra.com, talksabout increasing their presence in the mobile domain, adding new lines ofbusiness through apps and expanding their penetration.


The mobile segment has grownsignificantly over the past 12-18months. It is the way forward for the e-commerce industry and in particular, thetravel business. Growing this category is oneof our prime objectives this year. Wehave adopted an aggressivemarketing approach to drivetraffic and bookings via mobile.

Dhruv ShringiCEO, Yatra.com

Online travel agencyYatra.com Tuesdayannounced its collabo-ration with IndianPremier League (IPL)team Rajasthan Royalsas their official travelpartner. Through itsassociation with IPL,Yatra.com aims atreaching out to millionsof fans by leveraging the cricket fever in the country.

Commenting on the association, Dhruv Shringi, CEO,Yatra.com said, “We are delighted to partner with RajasthanRoyals and ride the IPL wave this season. This partnership isa great fit as the Rajasthan Royals brand ethos resonatesclosely with our own.”

Yatra.com becomes Rajasthan Royals’ official travel partner


C Zangpo, Secretary, Tourism & Civil Aviation Department, Government of Sikkim, talks on how the greenfield airportcoming up in Pakyong will help make Sikkim more accessible to all. He also said that awareness is a major roadblockin promoting Sikkim, and they are working on making more people aware about the state.

SIKKIM: A trekking paradise

Promoting Sikkim amongtourists

Sikkim has everything to offer to tourists - mountains, lakes, religious spots, you name it and we have it. The state is also a trekkers’ paradise and we have got great places for adventuretourism. We have started with rock climbingand mountain climbing. We are streamliningthe adventure tourism sector; trek routes havebeen opened up and we have made every basic amenity available to tourists.Besides these, we also have trained person-nel for guiding tourists in various adventure-related activities.

We want to market Sikkim globally and make everyone aware what the state has to offer to tourists. Also, we are now trying to work with the Ministry of Tourism to promote the Buddhist Circuit in Sikkim. Sikkim as a place caters to all types of tourists, be it those looking for luxury or tourists who are on a budget holiday. We are also trying to promote the folktales ofSikkim, through which we are trying to familiarisepeople with the history of our state.

Better air connectivity We are coming up with a greenfield airport.

We expect the airport to be operative by March2015, and the deadline for completion isDecember 2014. This airport will be at Pakyong,which is around 30 km from the capital city ofGangtok and since Pakyong is centrally located,

it is easily accessible from all parts of Sikkim.However, this airport is only meant for ATRs andnot Boeings. We are trying to get flights fromKolkata and Patna to Gangtok. We are alsorequesting the government to operate interna-tional flights from Pakyong to nearby places likeBhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

The state government’s focuson tourism

Tourism is the topmost priority of the state government, as it not only promotesthe state, but also creates job opportunities forthe youth. We have also come up with a differentlogistic approach by introducing the concept ofhomestays. Here, we market our own indigenouslocal cuisine, so people can get a taste of a dif-ferent kind of food.

C Zangpo, SecretaryTourism & Civil Aviation DepartmentGovernment of Sikkim

A DDP PUBLICATION

NORTHEAST

The Ministry of Tourism has recognised the potential of the Himalayas as a very important region inthe country to attract international as well as young domestic tourists especially for adventure tourism.

� Every year, more than 30million tourists come forpilgrimage, trekking andsight-seeing

� The Himalayas cover 16 per cent of India’stotal area

Key Facts

Northeast offers round-the-year fun

Himalayas provide an opportunity for round-the-year tourism because of their attractions.

Mutual responsibilities of the government,industry and common people are necessary to

preserve and develop heritage

Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, GoI,

Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, GoI, on different occasions emphasised on mutual responsibilities

of the government, industry and common people to preserve anddevelop heritage. He always maintained that ‘manufacturing heritage’is welcome, however, there should also be serious efforts to involvelocal community to display their culture to create a niche in this seg-ment. He is of the view that Himalayas provide an opportunity forround-the-year tourism because of their attractions. The ministrylaunched a new campaign, ‘777 days of The Indian Himalayas’ topromote this tourist product internationally.

Arunachal Tourismhas alreadystreamlined

the procedure forforeign tourists totravel to the state.

The permits can beobtained from ourDelhi office, apart

from our office in Arunachal

Sonam ChombaySecretary, Tourism, Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh It is a home to picturesque mounta

ins, unexplored passes, tranquil lakes and

famous monasteries. Every district of the state has its own exclusive

and rare

variety of orchids.

AssamWith five national parks and severa

l wildlife and bird sanctuaries, Assam is

a blessed land for wildlife enthusiasts. At the heart of the state are

the lush

green hills and valleys dissected by the Brahmaputra and its tributar

ies.

TripuraTripura has beautiful rock cut c

arvings and stone images at Unakoti,

Devtamura and Pilak. During November, every year, the unique ‘Oran

ge and

Tourism Festival’ is celebrated in the Jampui Hills.

NagalandNagaland is full of attractive steep

hills, flourishing green valleys and unusual

tribes. Its serene environment with an unscathed ambience makes

one feel

in the lap of Mother Nature.

MizoramThe land promises unbroken solit

ude as one travels here. Mist-clad peaks,

lush green valleys, gushing streams and quaint tribal villages offer a

perfect

holiday retreat.

ManipurManipur is known as the 'Switzerla

nd of India'. From serene landscapes,

exotic wildlife, floating islands to the warmhearted locals, there is no

way one

will not fall in love with this place.

Sikkim Straddling the Sikkim–Nepal bord

er is Kanchenjunga (8,598m), the world’s

third-highest mountain. Its snow-capped white peaks can be spied fro

m many

points around the state.

Northeast in a nutshell

LUXURY TRAINS

An experience unsurpassedThe Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) has now added shorter itineraries and new destinations for the Maharajas’ Express.

The Maharajas’ Express issure living up to its

name and providing a royal treat to its passengers.Besides dishing out the regular itinerary, the IRCTChas now added shorter itineraries and new destinations for thesuper luxury train.IRCTC has nowannounced new itin-eraries, routes andpricing for theMaharajas’ Express.

These shorteritineraries which include popular routes are expected to be in great demandespeciallyamongst theIndian tourists.

While the Maharajas’Express so far had only been

operating on eight-day itiner-aries. For the coming season,the Maharajas’ Express will beoperating on five new itiner-aries on four routes, whichwould include two itineraries offour days each with a view tomeeting the long-felt demandfor a shorter itinerary.

Besides cities like Agra,Delhi, Ranthambore, Jaipur,Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur,Mumbai, Fatehpur Sikri,Gwalior, Orchha/Khajurao,

Varanasi and Lucknow, theMaharajas’ Express would now be touching new destinations like UNESCO world heritage sitesof Ajanta Caves, Balasinor(which is the third largestJurassic Park in the world), and have a number of new and improved experi-ences to make the packages more attractive.

“A new entry level priceof US$3,580 has been offered

for the four-day itinerary(Deluxe Cabin - for a 4-dayitinerary). On a like-to-likebasis, the prices have beenreduced from US$ 7,160 toUS$ 6,360 for an eight-dayjourney in Deluxe Cabin. Thehighest price will be US$ 22,000 per person forthe Presidential Suite for an8-day itinerary,” says Pradip Kundu, Joint GeneralManager, PR, Indian Railway Catering and TourismCorporation. Pradip Kundu

Joint General Manager, PR, IRCTC

LUXURY TRAINS

IRCTC on inbound tourism trackAK Brar, Director (Tourism & Marketing), IRCTC, says that while they are very keen to promote hill tourism, they are also starting special AC trains for the temple circuit of South India and the coastal circuit of West India.

What are the othertourism initiativesthat IRCTC is working on?

IRCTC is an importantarm of the Indian Railways fortourism. For all e-ticketingneeds, we have the largest e-commerce website in the AsiaPacific. We also have a bou-quet of offerings for all cate-gories of tourists, be it budgetor luxury. For budget tourists,we have Bharat Darshantrains, we have rail tour pack-ages for those interested inreligious tourism, we alsohave trains to cater to theBuddhist circuits in UP andGaya, where tourists aretaken up to Lumbini. In addi-tion, we are also promoting hill

tourism: we have toy trainsrunning in hill stations likeKalka, Shimla, Pathankot,Dharamshala, Ooty, Coorg,Darjeeling and the NeralMatheran Express. Rail enthu-siasts come from all over theworld to explore these placesand travel on these sections.Through this, we are trying torevive the tourist potential ofthese places and we hope tosee a difference in the next 6-8 months.

How would VoA forinternational travellers benefitIRCTC?

The MOT has been verysupportive of IRCTC, be it withBuddhist trains, Maharajas’Express or our other initiatives.The VoA facility is going to giveus a wonderful opportunitybecause IRCTC is now movingtowards inbound tourism, andwe are looking at it as a greatsource of revenue. We havelots of tourists who are interest-ed to travel by rail, and the facil-ity of VoA is going to make abig difference to the responseof foreign tourists.

Are you planningany new trains orroutes?

We are organising spe-cial AC trains for the templecircuit of South India and thecoastal circuit of West India.

This is something we are plan-ning for the coming season.We are also looking at out-bound tourism. IRCTC hasalready taken a step in this direction; we have runmore than 20 outbound tours,we are also making our pres-ence felt in countries otherthan India.

How has the IITBplatform helped youto highlight yourproducts?

IITB has been a wonder-ful experience, and a greatmeeting ground for those whowant to do serious business.It gave us a great platform tointeract with potential clientsand has given us a lot of timeto have detailed one-to-onemeetings. At IITB, we promot-ed Maharajas’ Express, thesuper-luxury train that hasbeen rated as one of the bestluxury trains in the world. Ourpotential clients are partici-pants who are into luxury trav-el, those in the upper seg-ment of tourists and they allwere present at IITB. We alsoarranged some tours for ourbusiness interests to go and see the train. A little eventhad also been arranged on the train for the partici-pants. More than 88 peoplevisited the train on the firstday and an equal number onthe second day.

PEDEN DOMA BHUTIA

AK BrarDirector (Tourism & Marketing)IRCTC

Departure Dates for 2015-16Maharajas’ Express

e-mail: [email protected]

Rooming Deluxe Cabin Junior Suite Suite PresidentialSuite

Treasures of India Adult $3,850 $4,950 $7,600 $12,9004 Days/3 Nights Single Supplement $2,910 $4,460 $7,600 $12,900

Gems of India Adult $3,850 $4,950 $7,600 $12,9004 Days / 3 Nights Single Supplement $2,910 $4,460 $7,600 $12,900

The Indian Panorama Adult $5,980 $9,460 $13,800 $23,7008 Days / 7 Nights Single Supplement $4,510 $8,520 $13,800 $23,700

The Indian Splendour Adult $5,980 $9,460 $13,800 $23,7008 Days / 7 Nights Single Supplement $4,510 $8,520 $13,800 $23,700

The Heritage of India Adult $6,840 $9,890 $13,800 $23,7008 Days / 7 Nights Single Supplement $5,160 $8,910 $13,800 $23,700

Tariff for 2015-16

• Prices are subject to change in case of any change or amendment in the routing• Service tax will be charged extra as applicable • For child policy and other details,please refer to the website www.the-maharajas.com • Itineraries, destinations, venuesand scheduled departures are subject to change without prior notice • All the aboveprices are on per person per journey on twin sharing basis • Supplement will apply for Signature Journeys, Special occasions such as New Year, Christmas, etc.

Month Treasures Gems The Indian The Indian The Heritageof India of India Panorama Splendour of India

Oct’15 4 7 10 17 24Nov’15 1, 29 4 7 14 21Dec’15 27 2, 30 5 12 19Jan’16 24 27 2, 30 9 16Feb’16 21 24 27 6 13Mar’16 20 23 26 5 12Apr’16 — — — 2 9

travtalk may 1st 2014

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