Category Archives: NTO (National Tourist Offices)

Oman Tourism along with Cox & Kings hosted a networking evening in Delhi and Mumbai recently. Around 40-45 attendees representing the top management and decision makers of various corporate entities were present for this session to discuss Oman emerging as the next big hub for corporate events and MiCE groups. Lubaina Sheerazi, India Representative, Ministry of Tourism, Oman said, “Conducting networking session for corporate organisations gave us an opportunity to showcase to them various MiCE offerings. For this, we feel privileged to be associated with Cox & Kings who bring along their expertise. Being a short-haul destination from India, with excellent air connectivity from major Indian cities, world-class hotels and easy availability of Indian food, Oman makes an ideal MiCE destination.” Khalid Al Zadjali, Director, Oman Convention Bureau said, “With new international hotel chains that have recently opened in Oman and many more to launch soon, we are seeing a considerable increase in the number of rooms and venues in the country. The recent revision in visa regulations (granting of Visa on Arrival for non-sponsored tourist visa for certain categories), increasing number of flights from India to Oman, diversification of tourism products and the upcoming phase II of the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre (OCEC) will bring momentum to MiCE tourism.”

The Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC) has recorded 30 per cent growth from India in 2017 over 2016. Alphonsus Stoelinga, Ambassador, Kingdom of the Netherlands, spoke about this growth in New Delhi recently and said that the numbers of Indians visiting Holland is on a rise and vice versa. He revealed that they are expecting 2018 to record double digit growth as well. Attributing this growth to the increased air connectivity, he said, “With Jet Airways offering direct connections from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam; as well as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines starting flying from Mumbai to Amsterdam, the number of travellers between the two countries is increasing. Amsterdam is acting as a hub for Indians to not only land in Holland and explore the destination, but also go to other European countries from there, especially with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines offering connections to all of Europe and America. This added with Jet Airways offering connections all across India, is only going to boost the traffic between both the countries.” He also added that this year’s theme for marketing for NBTC would be luxury, and the country has many offerings and experiences for travellers in this segment.

In order to attract the growing conferences and incentives segment from India, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) is offering attractive financial incentive schemes so that MICE agents and corporates choose Cyprus as their preferred destination. There are broadly four schemes. Speaking about this Michalis Metaxas, Director, Cyprus Tourism Organisation and Cyprus Convention Bureau (CCB) says, “Cyprus is an attractive and competitive destination for the organisation of conferences, meetings and incentive trips. We have four different types of schemes for corporates depending on who they are and what their aim is.” One scheme is for MiCE directed at non-profit organisations, associations and academic institutions for conferences and meetings and licensed tourism and travel offices and companies for corporate conferences and incentive trips. The second incentive scheme is to support conference bidding and sales calls to attract conference and incentive tourism to Cyprus. The bidding for hosting of conferences should be done by non-profit organisations/associations, and educational/academic institutions that will travel abroad in order to bid for the hosting of conferences/meetings of non-profit regional, European or international organisations/associations, or educational/academic institutions on the island. Cyprus also offers incentives for inspection visits of the destination in general, and meeting Cypriot professionals within this field as well as for conducting familiarisation trips to Cyprus for MiCE.  

Israel Ministry of Tourism has joined hands with Ola cabs in India to collaborate on a two-week contest that will run on the Ola app which is valid for its Mumbai and Pune users only. The Ola users who undertake the maximum number of rides during the two weeks period and use code ISRAEL stand a chance to win a free trip to Israel for three nights or four days. Utilising Push notifications, in-App promotion, e-mailers , Ola Website and their Social Media pages, the ride-sharing company will promote the contest. Talking more about the association Hassan Madah, Director – Israel Ministry of Tourism, India & Philippines said, “Ola is one of the largest taxi services in India and have a large user base, especially in metro cities. Today, many urban dwellers use the services of taxi hiring in big cities as it is convenient. We are always thinking of distinct ways to promote Israel and felt this association with Ola cabs will help us reach Ola’s over 80 lakh users in Mumbai and Pune. We look forward to creating more awareness of the beautiful destination among Ola users so that they can plan a trip soon to Israel.” Israel has welcomed close to 10,000 Indian travellers between January and March, resulting in a 15% increase in Indian tourists arrivals compared to the same period in 2016. With the recent addition of Air India’s direct connection from Delhi to Tel Aviv, Israel hopes to witness one lakh Indian tourist arrivals in 2018.

The German National Tourist Office (GNTO) introduced the ‘Culinary Germany’ theme in India, to use it as their focus for marketing campaigns this year. The country witnessed 8,52,224 visitor overnights in 2017 making for a 13.8 per cent growth over 2016. Owing to this steady growth, GNTO, India forecasts a 5-8 per cent growth in visitor overnights for the year 2018. Romit Theophilus, Director, GNTO, India said, “Food forms an integral part of any traveller’s itinerary. Experiencing the local flavours helps enhance the flavour of any holiday and makes for everlasting impressions. With over 5,000 beers from 1,300 breweries, 300 types of bread, 1,500 types of sausage, 13 wine regions, 292 Michelin-starred restaurants and 3,000 to 5,000 Christmas markets, Germany is sure to satiate any traveller’s appetite.” According to the Quality Monitor survey of the German tourism industry, 4% of international holidaymakers come to Germany specifically for the variety and quality of its food and drink. The sector, therefore, contributes at least 3.2 million overnight stays to Germany’s inbound tourism. ‘Travelling food-lovers’ are generally quite young, well-educated family people with children; they are often city dwellers and are very active on social media. GNTO, India now boasts over 1 million followers on its Facebook platform.

Strengthening trade and promoting cultural ties with the world’s fastest growing economy will be the priority of Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s trade mission to India next week. Berejiklian said her four-day mission will focus on opening doors for New South Wales (NSW) industries and businesses with India, and will include high-level meetings with Indian business and government officials. “Over the last five years India has been the fastest growing inbound tourism market for NSW, but we need to work to ensure we continue to attract Indian tourists,” Berejiklian said. “India has enormous projected GDP growth of 7.4 per cent for 2018 and I want the people of NSW to benefit from this significant and sustained progress. There are more than 200,000 people of Indian ancestry in NSW. The Indian community is an important part of our multicultural society and I look forward to building on our already strong cultural links. I also look forward to building on our collaboration in sectors such as technology, film and education to benefit NSW industries and businesses,” she adds. The Premier will visit Mumbai and New Delhi from April 16 to 19, 2018.

Cox & Kings has collaborated with VisitBritain to promote Great Britain in India. The joint marketing collaboration will publicise Great Britain through advertisements and contests in the Indian market. The campaign focuses on the varied offerings of Great Britain including its signature Rail Journeys, delectable cuisine and experiential tours. To popularise the campaign further and garner participation across digital platforms, a unique contest with hashtags #LoveToTravel and #ExploreFourCorners were launched. Cox & Kings along with VisitBritain rolled out the #LoveToTravel contest to encourage travellers to share their travel experience on social media. Special prizes including a free trip to Great Britain were announced for those with the most innovative travel video and pitch. Karan Anand, Head, Relationships, Cox & Kings said, “Indians love Great Britain for its picturesque countryside and most alluring experiences. We bring to our clientele a wide range of travel experiences that largely remain undiscovered. The campaign has successfully attracted the attention of the discerning travellers in India. We are glad to promote Great Britain not only as a summer destination but a year-round one.” VisitBritain’s Interim Director APMEA Tricia Warwick, said “VisitBritain is excited to continue our global partnership with Cox & Kings and further raise Britain’s profile as a great place to visit for Indian tourists.”  

Having witnessed close to 60,000 Indian tourists visiting Israel last year, marking a record growth of 31 per cent, Israel Ministry of Tourism office in India is confident of achieving its target of 1 lakh Indian tourist visitors this year. To support the forecasted growth, the Ministry has launched its summer campaign in India to attract the April-June peak holiday season. The advertising campaign incorporates varied media platforms including television, print and digital spaces. The integrated advertising campaign ‘Begin your journey to Israel’ which includes the television commercial (TVC) showcases Israel’s famous cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Talking about the advertising campaign and investments made in the Indian market, Hassan Madah, Director, Israel Ministry of Tourism – India & Philippines said, “Over the past three years, Israel has recorded a strong double-digit growth in tourist arrivals from India. In 2018 January to March, we have recorded a growth of 15 per cent in Indian arrivals compared to the same period last year. In order to keep this momentum going and to tap into the upcoming summer holiday season, we have launched our advertising campaign. Our campaign highlights the reasons why Indian travellers should choose Israel as their next holiday destination.”  

Bahrain Tourism has partnered with six travel agents each in seven Indian cities along with including the Grand Prix package on their website for The Formula 1 2018 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix to be held from April 6 to 8, 2018 at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC). Bahrain Tourism is doing a 360-degree promotional campaign for the same as it is one of the biggest sporting events in Bahrain. Sunil Mathapati, India representative, Bahrain Tourism, says, “We have not specifically conducted a familiarisation trip to showcase BIC but have organised an educational trip for the event to promote it to consumers. We have been constantly promoting the event on social media platforms and doing print, radio and digital campaigns as well.” He says that it is important for destinations to promote exclusive events, specially sporting events such as this to showcase the destination and rake in the numbers. “Each sport has its enthusiasts. India also has its fair share of F1 fans. It becomes extremely important for a destination to promote the same. It also gives a boost in numbers as nowdays people are looking for multiple things to do when they travel,” Mathapati adds.  

Tourism Fiji has appointed actor Ileana D’Cruz as its brand ambassador for the India market. Following a successful collaboration with the Bollywood celebrity in 2017, Tourism Fiji now aims to showcase more of its offerings to travellers from India through more engagements with her. As part of this engagement, D’Cruz will be travelling to Fiji in April this year to experience more activities. For year ending December 2017, Fiji saw 30 per cent increase in arrivals from India as compared to 2016. Faiyaz Siddiq Koya, Fijian Minister for Industry, Trade, Tourism, Lands and Mineral Resources, said, “India is a key emerging market for Fiji and we have been receiving steady positive growth in visitor arrival numbers from India over the past five years. Fiji and India share an age old connection with over 40 per cent of Fiji’s population being of Indian origin. With D’Cruz as our brand ambassador, we hope to get more Indians to come and experience the diverse culture of our island country.”