Tag Archives: Mumbai

Jharkhand Tourism Department recently organised a roadshow in Delhi that saw attendance from North India’s prominent travel and trade representatives. During the occasion, Jharkhand Tourism announced its plan to celebrate the inaugural edition of upcoming Jharkhand Travel Mart (JTM) to be held in Ranchi from March 23 to 25, 2018. Sanjeev Kumar Birsa, IAS, Director – Tourism, Govt. of Jharkhand, said, “We have a clear vision for the state, with various activities planned to make Jharkhand a tourist friendly destination. The state has a great potential to offer through tourism products and attractions such as wildlife, pilgrimage, heritage and leisure. JTM will help us to promote the state and the tourism products it has to offer to the domestic as well as the international traveller.” Jharkhand Tourism is also organising mega roadshows in various cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Patna and Asansol. Dr. Manish Ranjan, IAS, Secretary – Tourism, Govt. of Jharkhand said, “Jharkhand will contribute immensely to the Indian Tourism portfolio with its diverse range of travel and tourism destinations. The event is an extension of our aggressive marketing approach to introduce more tourism destinations and attractions and reinforce the Jharkhand Tourism Brand among the media, buyers and stakeholders.” The event will seek support from all major national travel trade and hospitality associations in India.

The international airports of Mumbai and New Delhi have been rated as the number one airports in the Asia Pacific region serving over 40 million passengers a year. This is announced by the Airports Council International (ACI) – a trade association of 1,953 member airports across 176 countries – for its Airport Service Quality (ASQ) ratings it conducts every year. Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) operated and managed by GVK MIAL shared the spot with Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) for the World’s Best Airport for customer experience. They were selected by millions of passengers in a survey carried out by ACI. The Hyderabad airport became the number one in the 5-15 million passengers per annum category for the year 2017. As part of the ACI’s worldwide programme, passengers were surveyed across international airports for their feedback on 34 key performance indicators including airport access, check-in, security screening, restrooms, stores and restaurants. This year an unprecedented 16 airports were first-time winners, which reflects the increasingly competitive airport industry operating environment, where continuous service improvement is a key ingredient in business performance. These include Indore and Ahmedabad apart from Athens, Zagreb and Bandung.  

Seychelles Tourism Board is set to conduct roadshows at Kolkata, Pune and Bengaluru. The pre-fixed meetings format which was introduced last year will continue this year as well. Sherin Francis, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board, says, “Last year’s roadshow allowed top agents to meet all partners in a quick pre-fixed meeting of 15 minutes each in a round-robin flow. This no-frills format focused on serious business generation and ensured that every agent invited could spend quality time with every partner from Seychelles.” For 2018, the tourism board plans to conduct workshops with its key B2B partners in cities of Raipur, Indore, Kochi, Coimbatore, Baroda, Surat and Rajkot. “We will also continue to meet and educate agents in main cities that will include Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. We plan to support tour operators with incentive-based trainings to encourage bigger numbers to Seychelles,” Francis adds. Seychelles Tourism Boards recently hosted an appreciation evening in Mumbai to acknowledge high performers from the travel trade in association with Air Seychelles. India emerged as the seventh-largest source market for Seychelles with an arrival of 13,518 tourists from India in 2017 which indicated a 23 per cent growth compared to 2016. In 2018, the tourism board expects a similar percentage growth.  

The 2018 AccorHotels Showcase in Mumbai and New Delhi will be held on March 21 at Sofitel Mumbai BKC and March 23 at Pullman New Delhi Aerocity respectively. The event is expected to have representatives from 15 countries representing more than 35 hotels and resorts worldwide, offering travel agents, wholesalers, corporate clients, tourism partners and MICE organisers’ an insight into the group’s new developments, products and services. Entering its 15th year, the event will provide an opportunity to discover AccorHotels’ accommodation trends, news and stunning hotels and resorts from around the world. Exhibitors from destinations such as France, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Thailand, UAE,South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, China and Singapore, representing celebrated hotels like Raffles Dubai and Saudi Arabia, RIXOS Turkey, Fairmont Ajman, SO Sofitel Bangkok Singapore, Novotel Amsterdam City and Novotel Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, and more are set to attend the event in each city. “The signature event serves as a great platform for us to interact and share knowledge with our clients and industry partners. With increased international and domestic travel, we expect this year to be the bigger and more exciting than last year, with interesting insights given our enhanced network and leadership position in the Asia Pacific region,” said Arif Patel, Vice President—Sales, Marketing, Distribution & Loyalty, AccorHotels India. 

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts started its annual India mission at Hotel Sea Princess in Mumbai. Around 14 hotels are participating at the roadshow from destinations like Sri Lanka, Oman, Doha, Malaysia, Singapore, etc. After Mumbai, the delegation will then travel to Delhi and Kolkata, and eventually conclude in Bengaluru. Shangri-La is also promoting its recently opened Shangri-La Colombo and a new programme ‘Buds by Shangri-La’ focusing on children and families, which was launched at Shangri-La Singapore. Speaking at the roadshow, Vivek Braganza, Director of Business Development- India, Regional Liaison Office, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts said, “We plan to target MiCE, leisure and luxury travellers and would like to thank all our partners across the cities. We look to grow exponentially this year as we have in the past. India continues to be an important market for Shangri-La. We will be following this show with another activity targeted at the MiCE and wedding segment, set to take place in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore in September.”

With a focus on the Indian market, SriLankan Airlines intends to increase its frequencies to 13 flights per week to Delhi and 14 flights a week to Mumbai. According to Chinthaka Weerasinghe, Country Manager, SriLankan Airlines, “We are keen on increasing the destinations and flight frequencies in India as the demand is constantly on the rise. With the new development ventures, we anticipate significant passenger numbers from our key contributors to inbound tourism traffic that includes India, China, Europe, Australia and the Maldives.” India has been a vital partner in SriLankan Airlines’ route network from the early days since it is Sri Lanka’s number one source of inbound tourist traffic. Today, the airline directly operates to 14 Indian destinations with a total of 135 flights a week. Weerasinghe adds, “The Indian government authorities and related state institutions have always been a firm supporter to all SriLankan Airlines and Sri Lanka Tourism projects.”

As a result of a sharp rise in inbound numbers from India into Russia, Ural Airlines is planning to appoint a GSA in India. Valeriya Sorokina, Head (Touristic Division), Route Network Development Department, Koltosovo (Yekaterinburg) Airport, reveals, “The Indian market is one of the largest in the world and the most rapidly growing market. So we are going to grab all kinds of passenger traffic originating from India. We are looking to appoint a GSA representative here instead of having our own airline office.” The airline plans to start flights from New Delhi and Mumbai. Sorokina adds, “However, these are only in plans as there are no traffic rights yet and no slots available. The plan is to start flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Yekaterinburg and further to all over Russia as well as other popular European points. We hope the flight starts from October 2018.” The airline is also seriously developing itself as a hub where it captures not only point-to-point traffic, but also more transit traffic.

South African Tourism (SAT) began its five-city roadshow from February 12-19 with Mumbai, followed by Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi and Ahmedabad. The 60-member strong participation from South Africa’s travel trade industry and scale is a reflection of the strong consumer demand witnessed from India. One of the key focus areas is to go create awareness about new destinations such as Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth and the Drakensberg region. Hanneli Slabber, Regional General Manager, Asia/Australasia/Middle East, SAT, said, “The demands of Indian travellers are in a constant and rapid state of evolution. This makes cross sharing of insights, trends and observations between our Indian and South African partners extremely crucial. We have had South African products being tailored to suit these specific needs as a testament of the value proposition we see in the market.” Alpa Jani, Acting Hub-Head, Middle East/India/South East Asia, SAT, said, “We have always recorded an outstanding response from the Indian travel trade and are eagerly looking forward to seeing the positive impact this roadshow will have towards driving Indian traveller traffic to South Africa in 2018. We are also focusing on customising our engagements and product offerings to suit the unique requirements from each of our target regions within India.”  

The National Tourism Programme (Ministry of Economy) concluded its three-city roadshow titled ‘Visit UAE’ in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and finally Mumbai – the city that sees the maximum number of tourists visiting the UAE every year. This is the third roadshow in India in the recent few years. UAE welcomed 2.6 million Indian tourists in 2017. Abdulla Saleh Al Hammadi, Director, National Tourism Programme, said, “It gives us immense pleasure to revisit the city of Mumbai, which my country is familiar with and visits often. India is one of the most promising markets, and the UAE delegation is looking forward to build relationships and further strengthen ties with the people, especially the tourism industry, under the banner of the ‘Visit UAE’ campaign.” The ‘Visit UAE’ roadshow included a huge delegation of tourism officials, airlines, and senior members from the UAE’s tourism and hospitality industry. Local tourism departments included Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing–Dubai, Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, Ajman Tourism Development Department, Fujairah Tourism & Antiquities Authority, Dubai Police and Dubai Health Authority.

Dusit International recently organised ‘India Roadshow 2018’ as part of its newly-acquired focus on India as a source market for its hotels and resorts. Designed to present Dusit’s ever-growing global portfolio of distinctive properties to the Indian travel trade fraternity, the roadshow featured one-day workshops held in both Mumbai and Bengaluru. B2B sessions along with sessions for wedding planners were also conducted. On both occasions, Dusit executives presented the company’s properties in Thailand, Maldives and Dubai, as well as key openings in 2018 across Bahrain, Bhutan, China, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. Dusit International is represented in India by its Global Sales Office in Mumbai, headed by Keshwar Bhagat, Director of Sales. Prachoom Tantiprasertsuk, Vice President Sales, Dusit International, said, “As evidenced by the recent opening of our new Global Sales Office in Mumbai, India is a key market for our international properties, and this roadshow is just one of the ways we are actively promoting our brands and hospitality to Indian travellers. Taking into account our own expansion, which will see our current tally of 27 properties top 80 worldwide within the next four-to-five years, we will be well positioned to leverage the rapid growth of India’s outbound market with a plethora of options for MICE and leisure travellers.”