Category Archives: NTO (National Tourist Offices)

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.”

The Cyprus Convention Bureau facilitated the meeting of its local partners with tour operators and event planners from India at Limassol during an educational trip to Cyprus. About 14 suppliers from Cyprus were led by Michalis Metaxes, Director, Tourism, Cyprus Tourism Organisation. Indian agents from Mumbai and New Delhi toured around the key cities of Cyprus to inspect hotels and venues for clients. The five-day tour also included an exposure to the Cypriot culture.

More than 50 travel agents from India and South East Asia visited New Zealand recently to wrap up almost a year of upskilling themselves on New Zealand. The agents landed in Auckland where a one-day workshop was held with 25 regional tourism organisations (RTOs) before they headed out around the country. Steven Dixon, Regional Manager – South and South East Asia, Tourism New Zealand, says it was fantastic to be able to bring these agents to New Zealand to show them first-hand what they’ve been learning about. “The agents ticked off the final requirement to become Gold 100% Pure New Zealand Specialists through their visit to New Zealand. We are confident that the knowledge agents acquired by experiencing New Zealand will help them to better sell the country as a holiday destination to their clients,” Dixon said. Consumer insights and product updates were shared between the agents and RTOs through one-on-one meetings. Tourism New Zealand also provided a market update before the workshop concluded with an award ceremony to recognise the agents becoming Gold specialists. Tourism New Zealand worked with the RTOs to develop three different itineraries for agents. The itineraries were designed in a way that agents could experience as many regions as possible withing their time in New Zealand. They got to experience tourist attractions, accommodation and restaurants that would appeal to their clients.  

Sydney and regional New South Wales (NSW) are set for an influx of Indian visitors, thanks to the NSW Government’s 2018 ‘Focus on India’ workshop which aims to encourage Indian travellers to book a trip to Australia’s premier tourism and events state. Adam Marshall, Minister for Tourism and Major Events said while Chinese visitor numbers continue to dominate headlines, the NSW Government is working hard behind the scenes to grow visitation from other overseas markets, which have enormous untapped potential, like India. “India has been our state’s fastest growing inbound tourism market for the past five years and it shows no sign of slowing. With the size of India’s middle class rapidly expanding and Indian millennials seeking to travel more than previous generations, the market presents a lucrative opportunity for our tourism industry,” Marshall said. Marshall continues to share, “The 2018 Focus on India workshop, is all about tapping into this market and putting NSW in the global spotlight by inviting 30 key India-based travel agents to NSW to meet one-on-one with some of our best export-ready tourism businesses. We will continue to focus on the dispersal of international tourists beyond the fringes of Sydney and into rural and regional NSW so that local communities reap the benefits of tourist dollars being spent all over town.”    

Tourism Fiji has announced the appointment of Seema Kadam as its Country Manager for India. She will be based in Mumbai and will be responsible for Tourism Fiji’s activities across India. Kadam brings with her an abundance of knowledge of the travel industry and products as well as great interpersonal and business development skills. Having worked and excelled at other international tourism companies such as Switzerland Tourism, where she was the Area Manager, she is well qualified to lead the team in India for Tourism Fiji. Matthew Stoeckel, CEO, Tourism Fiji, said, “India is a strategically important market for us and one that has significant potential for sustainable long-term growth. This new appointment is the first of many steps we have taken to increase visitor arrivals from India and further promote Fiji within the India market. Visitor arrivals from India have grown by 24 per cent over the last three years and we hope to drive these numbers up further.”

Cox & Kings Global Services (CKGS) and The Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco hosted a joint event in Delhi. The occasion was graced by His Excellency Mohamed Maliki, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco, along with the senior management of Cox & Kings Ltd. The event showcased Moroccan culture and various tourist attraction in Morocco from the imperial cities to stunning beaches. “I’m honoured to co-host the travel agents event together with CKGS, which gives us opportunity to promote the Kingdom of Morocco as an Authentic and Exotic destination and showcases the numerous Tourism potential it has. Foreseeing growth and significance of the Indian tourism market to Morocco, we are also planning to open of a full-fledged Moroccan National Tourism Office in Delhi very soon.” said His Excellency, Mohamed Maliki. CKGS has recently opened Morroco Visa application centres in different cities of India including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa and Indore. Centres in more cities will be opened shortly. “We provide visa application services to Indians travelling to Morocco through our various offices in India. we have taken one more step further to promote Indian outbound travel to Morocco by partnering with The Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco for this event.” said Venku Murthi, Chief Operating Officer, CKGS.