The Holland Sales Mission kicked off on August 28 in New Delhi amidst a packed gathering at Shangri-La Hotel. The Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC), in collaboration with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Jet Airways, is organising the three-day, three-city roadshow from August 28-30 in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai. “For 2018, this is our key activity in the market. This year, we expect a growth of over 25 per cent from the Indian market. We are mainly focusing on leisure tourists, and MiCE is more on a reactive basis. In terms of marketing, we have a 360-degree approach, so we focus on the travel trade, consumers, as well as press and PR. These are the three key elements for promotions,” said Carola Muller, Global Travel Trade Manager, NBTC, when speaking about the agenda this year. The Indian market continues to be one of the most important contributors of international visitors into the Netherlands. The country recorded a growth of 31 per cent in visitor arrivals from India in 2017, attaining a remarkable surge over the previous year. NBTC has confirmed recording 67,000 visitors from India until May 2018, and this year’s Sales Mission aims to achieve good numbers.

Travel Money, the flagship foreign exchange brand of FCM Travel Solutions, Indian subsidiary of Flight Centre Travel Group Australia, strengthened its presence in South India with an inauguration of its first owned retail store at one of the key locations in Vijayawada. The outlet was inaugurated by Gagan Malhotra, Vice President, Foreign Exchange, FCM Travel Solutions India. This expansion augments total number of outlets to the 34 stores across India, out of which 14 are in South India. Spread over 1,000 sq ft at M G Road, the store offers a range of foreign exchange services such as forex, travel cards and outward remittances for education or close relative maintenance. Malhotra said, “According to the BCG report titled ‘Demystifying The Indian Online Traveller 2017’, the Indian travel market is projected to grow at 11 to 11.5 per cent to the tune of $48 billion by 2020. Indian travel given the significant outbound tourism growth in South India market, we aim to deliver quality and convenience in all aspects of foreign exchange including remittance for students, Leisure & Business travel, Prepaid Travel Cards, and much more to our travellers.” Travel Money’s current footprint extends to a total of 34 stores across India in all major cities including Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Cochin via a combination of owned branches and franchise outlets.

The number of UK visas granted to Indian nationals has continued to experience strong growth, according to the latest update from the UK Office for National Statistics. The latest figures show that there has been a 32 per cent increase in student visas and a 10 per cent increase in visit visas from India. This means that 550,925 Indians were granted UK visas in the year ending June 2018 while visit visas increased by 10 per cent to 454,658, which demonstrates that Indians are continuing to choose the UK as a holiday destination. T4 visas granted to Indian students touched 15,390, an increase of 32 per cent on the previous 12 months. Over 6,500 Indians came for short-term study in the UK during the same period. This is the third successive year that student visa numbers have increased. India continues to receive more UK work visas than the rest of the world combined with over 60,000 work visas issued last year. Dominic Asquith, British High Commissioner to India, said, “The latest figures reinforce a trend we have noticed for some time – that across the board more and more Indians are choosing the UK as a destination to visit, work in and study. I’m particularly pleased to note that numbers of Indian students have increased by 32%. I welcome this evidence that international students wish to study at our world class institutions and are succeeding in securing places there.”

IndiGo has launched Kuwait and Abu Dhabi as its new destinations, effective October 2018. To provide enhanced connectivity across India, IndiGo has added 24 new flights to its network. IndiGo will become the first domestic airline to introduce services connecting Port Blair with Hyderabad and Vadodara. These flights will commence from September 2018. In addition, 6E will operate its first daily return flight between Surat and Chennai, daily non-stop return service between Delhi and Imphal, direct flights to Vijayawada from Delhi.  The airline will also add two international new routes connecting Doha with Ahmedabad and Trivandrum. These new services will be effective October 2018. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “We will operate the first flight between Kuwait and Chennai and Calicut and Abu Dhabi starting October this year. It also gives us immense pleasure to add 24 additional flights to 6E network. IndiGo has completed 12 years of successful operations in the India market as a low cost carrier, and adding new flights to its network will further augment the connectivity that we aspire to provide to our customers.”

The nationwide occupancy for all branded hotels was 65.6 per cent in 2016-17 and the hotels that have existed since 2012/13 achieved 68.4% occupancy last year, according to a report by HVS Global Hospitality Services. Similarly, hotels that have been operating since 2013/14 clocked 67.9% occupancy in 2016/17. On the average rate front, while India’s ARR was `5,658 in 2016/17, for hotels in existence since 2012/13, the ARR last year was more than `6,000.

The proportion of FTAs in India has not changed much in the last few years. In 2016, the highest numbers of FTAs in India were from 35-44 years age group (21.1 per cent) followed by the age groups of 45-54 years, according to a report by Ministry of Tourism. The proportion of FTAs for the age group of 25-34 years has been the highest from East Asia, West Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Central and South America in 2016,  according to a report by Minsitry of Tourism. The report also says that for Australasia, South Asia and South East Asia was the age group of 35-44 years. The percentage share of the age-group of 45-54 has been the highest for North America and Western Europe.

FTA’s in India from different regions of the world has been increasing from all areas. The growth was maximum from Eastern Europe (22.64 per cent) followed by South Asia (12.76 per cent) , Australasia(11.79 per cent), Central and South America (11.25 per cent), East Asia (11.12 per cent), West Asia (8.20 per cent), North America &7.98 per cent), Western Europe (7.94 per cent), South East Asia (6.54 per cent) and Africa (2.9 per cent), according to a report by Minsitry of Tourism. The percentage share in FTAs in India during 2016 was the highest for South Asia (24.93 per cent) followed by Western Europe (23.05 per cent), North America (18.33 per cent), South East Asia (8.74 per cent), East Asia (7.01 per cent), West Asia (5.13 per cent), Eastern Europe (4.61 per cent), Australasia (3.96 per cent, Africa (3.42 per cent) and Central and South America (0.89 per cent).

In a focused effort to cater to its growing south region travellers, SOTC has organised special regional Tamil tours. For SOTC, Tamil Nadu has recorded a growth of over 25-30 per cent annually as compared to the previous year. Cities like Salem, Coimbatore, Chennai, Erode and Pondicherry continue to show impressive growth. With the emerging potential witnessed from Port Blair as well, SOTC will be venturing into opening a branch shortly to meet its demand. SOTC’s entry into the Tamil Nadu market segment has drawn focus to not only the business travellers but also the leisure business segment and the highly viable b-leisure segment (business plus leisure). The company’s highest enquiries come from the State include leisure, bleisure and MiCE. Daniel D’souza, Head of Sales – India & NRI Markets & E-Commerce, SOTC Travel said, “The Tamil Nadu market is an advanced market and they look to travel and indulge in new experiences and culture. Tamil Nadu currently contributes significantly to our overall SOTC business and given the strong YoY growth and high potential, we have identified the state as a key strategic focus for our company.” He added, “To offer value to our loyal and growing Tamil customer segment, we had created unique regional tours that offer a regional touch while on an international holiday and this has been inspiring impressive uptake with a growth of 25-30% YoY.”

The 16th edition of Tourism Australia’s India Travel Mission 2018 (ITM 2018) in Jaipur brought together 75 Australian tourism businesses to meet with 87 travel retailers from India in over 6,500 business appointments over three days. The event witnessed participation from 14 first-time sellers and 20 buyers. The spotlight during ITM 2018 was on Signature Experiences –a collection which offers a diverse range of travel options including Australian Wildlife Collection, Great Golf Courses of Australia, Great Walks of Australia, Luxury Lodges of Australia and the Ultimate Winery Experiences of Australia. “India is a significant market for Australia and has been seeing a very encouraging growth trend. The introduction of Signature Experiences, the participation of new products showcasing at ITM this year and commitment of tourism suppliers who have been investing in India over the past decade is a cohesive effort to bring top selection of Australian tourism experiences to Indian High Value Travellers (HVTs),” stated Brent Anderson, Regional General Manager – South & South East Asia, Tourism Australia. Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager – India & Gulf, Tourism Australia, said, “ITM 2018 has the largest ever delegation of Australian tourism suppliers. Our focus for the year is to sustain the growth in arrivals and drive yield through our strategic trade and consumer initiatives. After achieving the 2020 goal of 300,000 visitors, three years ahead of the target date, our ambitions are fuelled to go bigger and achieve higher milestones”. In addition to ITM, the distribution strategy of Tourism Australia includes an enriched trade engagement programme.  

In a recent communication to Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Air India has agreed to TAAI’s request to give travel agents a backend incentive of 3 per cent on international sector and 8 per cent on domestic sector on Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) value exclusive of taxes for issuance of EMD for preferred seat selection. This incentive will be apart from normal commission applicable on sale of Preferred Seat Selection (PSS). The communication states that the backend incentive will be payable on a quarterly basis to BSP India agents on flown revenue basis. This means that other than the normal commission, agents will also be eligible for this incentive.