Category Archives: NTO (National Tourist Offices)

Tourism Breaking News asked the travel industry about the effect of the Brussels terror attacks on tourism and received a mixed reaction. While some said that tourism trends will shift to other regions like South East Asia and short haul destinations, some believe that this is a short term effect and will be wiped off the traveller’s memory soon. On behalf of the international tourism community, Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General, UNWTO, condemned the terror attacks in Brussels and expressed heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims and to the Belgian people.

Reunion Island has recorded a growth of 110 per cent in Indian arrivals in 2015 as compared to 2014. Neha Johri, Head Destination Sales, Reunion Island, says, “People who have already been to Reunion Island have appreciated the destination. It’s a great destination for honeymooners and for people looking for adventure. We are looking at 200 per cent growth in 2016 as compared to 2015.” Johri also informs that they are working closely with the Indian travel agents and educating them about the destination. “Our motive is to share knowledge with our B2B trade partners then we will move to the consumers,” she adds.

Melbourne has witnessed 24 per cent increase in Indian visitor arrivals in 2015 over the previous year, according to its recent International Visitors Survey. “India has always been a key market for the state of Victoria and the surge in Indian visitors to Melbourne year-on-year is truly encouraging. Indian travellers are becoming more discerning and see the value in spending on quality travel experiences as the expenditure figures have reached an all-time high – this encourages us to continue to focus on this region,” Celia Ho, Regional Manager – South and South East Asia, Tourism Victoria said in a press statement. Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Victoria. The state of Victoria was rated the 2nd highest state visited by Indian tourists. In 2015, Australia registered 2,19,000 Indian visitor arrivals of which 1,03,600 (47.3%) visited Victoria. The Indian visitor expenditure also increased by 29.8% over the same period. Tourism Victoria has worked closely with Indian tour operators to help build significant interest within the market. Over the years, key campaigns have had a direct impact on the number of outbound visitors to Victoria, said the statement. Owing to the increase in outbound travel to the state from India, the tourism board will continue to invest in key campaigns for the Indian market Tourism authorities across the globe are vying to get the attention of Indians. India’s outbound travel is growing 15-20% every year. According to industry estimates, the number of Indians travelling overseas is set to rise to around 50 million by 2020. (Source: Economic Times)

Bali has recorded a growth of almost 87.69 per cent in Indian arrivals in January 2016 as compared to the same period last year. This was revealed by Vineet Gopal, who heads New Delhi-based Representation World LLP – the India representative of Bali Tourism Promotion Board, on the sidelines of the OTOAI Convention that concluded in Bali recently. “We expect the same growth rate to continue after this convention, which gave the Indian travel trade a chance to get familiar with the destination. We welcomed more than 150 active members at the convention of the total 240,” he said.

Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC), in association with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Jet Airways branded 200 cabs in Delhi. The inauguration of the taxi branding campaign was done by H.E. Alphonsus Stielinga, Ambassador of the Netherlands to India; Jos Vranken, Managing Director, NBTC; Wilco Sweijen, Director Aviation Marketing, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol; and Gaurang Shetty, Senior VP, Commercial Wholetime Director, Jet Airways, at the Amabassador’s residence in New Delhi on March 21, 2016. The taxis will be running on Delhi roads for one and a half month. The campaign is part of showcasing Holland’s tourism products, and will be followed by strategic activities, which will focus on trade, press and consumers.

Oman received 299,022 Indian arrivals last year recording 17 per cent growth in 2015 over 2014. Oman’s National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) released the figures from India which highlight an increase in inbound numbers. The statistics also reflect a growth of 60 per cent in Indian arrivals to Oman in the last five years. Lubaina Sheerazi, India Representative, Ministry of Tourism, Oman, said, “The increase is very encouraging and reflects all the hard work we have put in promoting and marketing the destination in India. Since 2014, we started promoting Oman as an ideal wedding destination for Indians as Muscat is close to India. Our efforts were rewarded as we witnessed several large-scale weddings take place in the last two years. Many Indians are now visiting Oman for destination weddings. MICE has also seen an increase and to attract more MICE activities this year, our efforts are aimed at increasing interactions with tour operators and corporates.”

In a network restructuring of its overseas offices, VisitBritain has decided to make Mumbai its head office in India. At present the main office is in New Delhi and while they will continue to maintain this office, they plan to increase their focus and trade relations from Mumbai. “We are looking at a refocus in India and moving our major office to Mumbai so that we are much more aligned to the travel trade and work more closely with the trade to build product knowledge,” says Patricia Yates, Strategy & Communications director, VisitBritain. In the first nine months of 2015, UK saw a 13 per cent growth in Indian visitors but the total spend was down by three per cent.

There were 26,100 visitors from India during December 2015, an increase of 15.5 percent over December 2014. This was the highest ever visitation in any single month from India to Australia. The total arrivals for the calendar year 2015 were 233,100, an increase of 18.6 per cent over 2014. This makes India the 8th largest inbound market for arrivals for the year 2015. In the year ending December 2015, 68 per cent of Indian visitors visited Australia for leisure (158,500). Other visitors travelled for business (26,400), short-term education (14,800) and other purposes (33,500). Leisure visitors are on holiday (60,500) or visiting friends and relatives (98,000). The Tourism Forecasting Committee (TFC) is forecasting 245,000 visitors from India for Jun 2015 – Jul 16, a 12 per cent increase over 2014-15. Arrivals from India are expected to perform well with an average annual financial year growth rate of 7.2 per cent through to the financial year 2021-22. For the year 2015, Indian visitors contributed over A$ 1.1 billion to the Australian economy, an increase of 38 per cent over the previous year. India is the 10th largest source market in terms of expenditure. Average spend for Indian visitors was A$ 5,185. For the year 2015, Indian visitors spent a total of 14 million nights in Australia, an increase of 38 per cent over 2014. Australia is targetting Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore among India’s primary markets and Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad under secondary market. Participants in the Aussie Specialist Program are all identified as strongly promoting and developing Australia as a holiday destination. As of December 2015, ASP figures were as below: Total qualified ASP agents: 2,500 As of December 2015, agents …

Dropping Kochi in favour of Mumbai, Tourism Selangor tweaked the schedule of its four-city sales mission with Tourism Malaysia and decided to tap it along – making its debut into Mumbai. Tourism Malaysia led its sales mission to India and Sri Lanka between February 25 and March 3, 2016 which covered Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Kochi, and Colombo in Sri Lanka. The dates were decided keeping in mind the peak travelling season from May to July. Noorul Ashikin Binti Mohd Din, General Manager, Tourism Selangor, who was leading the mission in Mumbai, confirmed that it was the first time they were visiting this market individually. She said, “Mumbai is important for us and we didn’t want to miss it. Kuala Lumpur and Genting are regular destinations for Indians but there’s more to see and agents should know about them. We feel it’s better to come alone as it gives more exposure.”

India continues to be the number one source market for Bhutan. With the latest regional arrivals touching 1,09,052 demonstrating a growth of 57 per cent over last year, India remains as the biggest market for both regional and overall arrivals. As part of its India agenda, Tourism Council of Bhutan has focused on Gujarat as one of the key source markets to enhance its Indian footprint in the year 2016, through a road show targeted at key travel agents in Ahmedabad. This would be the first of many initiatives to tap the Gujarat market. Damcho Rinzin, Head, Marketing and Promotion Division, Tourism Council of Bhutan, says, “As a leading international tourism destination, Bhutan is seeking to diversify its source markets and attract new visitors. Countries like India are emerging more and more in the world outbound tourism sector, and Bhutan believes it could offer a special proposition to visitors from India. Further, international travelers to Bhutan are lured by the myriad of offerings that include heritage, culture, natural beauty and a range of quality world class hospitality and tourism industry which make a strong proposition for Bhutan as a destination.”