Egypt Tourism, led by Ismail Amer, Egyptian Tourism Counsellor, Egyptian Tourism Office in Mumbai, is conducting a four-city roadshow which includes the cities of Mumbai (July 23), Ahmedabad (July 24), Bengaluru (July 26) and Cochin (July 27). The Mumbai leg witnessed a huge response from the travel trade who attended to meet their counterparts from Egypt to explore the opportunities of cooperation and extend their knowledge about the uniqueness and variety Egypt offers to visitors. The Mumbai roadshow included two separate segments on the sidelines of the main show – an Experts Meet, which was the corporate MiCE workshop followed by an Experts Meet on film workshop which invited key individuals from the film and entertainment industry. Speaking at the event, Amer said, “In 2017, we received 1,03,000 visitors from India and this was a 30 per cent increase in numbers as compared to the previous year. In 2016, we received about 79,000 tourists from India. It’s a very good growth and I believe it is the largest growth we have achieved since 2014, when we had received only about 60,000 tourists from India.” He added that according to the latest figures, Indians are the second-highest spenders in terms of the international market, preceded only by Japanese tourists.

The Ministry of Tourism has identified 17 sites in 12 clusters for development under Iconic Tourist Sites Development Project. The sites include Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri, Ajanta & Ellora, Humayun’s Tomb, Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Colva beach, Amer Fort, Somnath, Dholavira, Khajuraho, Hampi, Mahabalipuram, Kaziranga, Kumarakom and Mahabodhi. The Ministry shall be developing the sites with focus on issues concerning connectivity to the destination, better facilities for the tourists at the site, skill development, involvement of local community, promotion & branding and by bringing in private investment. The monuments taken up for development fall under the jurisdiction of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and State Archaeology Departments. The Ministry will carry out interventions at these monuments in collaboration with the ASI and State Government, and all development plans will have elements of universal accessibility, cleanliness at the monuments, use of green technology and enhanced security for the tourists.

As the term of the current Skål National Committee Board came to an end, a new Skål National Committee Board for the term 2018-20 was elected at the Skål India AGM held recently at Hotel Grand Hyatt Bolghatty – Kochi. Sk Ranjini Nambiar, CEO, Footloose Yatra Consultants, Bengaluru has been appointed as the President.

As GST applicable on room tariffs created much confusion for the hotel industry and its guests, trade associations had appealed for the rate categorisation for hotels to be done basis the transaction value or actual value rather than on the Declared tariff. The GST was mandated to be levied on the Published tariffs or the Declared tariffs on hotel rooms. However, hotels are known to offer discounts on room tariffs to patrons which alter the Declared rates and which could correspond to a different GST rate as per the prescribed rate slabs on room tariffs. Applying GST rate on Declared Tariff was incorrect and caused confusion for guests. For instance, if declared tariff on a room stay is Rs 8000 and the stay is charged at Rs 5000, hotels are required to levy a GST of 28 per cent instead of 18 per cent. This is unfair and it increases the tax burden drastically. 18 per cent GST is applicable for room tariffs ranging between Rs 2500 and Rs 7500 and tariffs of Rs 7500 and above attract 28 per cent GST.  

A total of 4,982 meetings were fixed in advance and more were conducted at the recently-concluded Rajasthan Domestic Travel Mart in Jaipur. The chief guest of the ceremony was Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Tourism, Government of India. Also present at the inauguration were Lalit Panwar, former Secretary Tourism; Bhim Singh, President, FHTR; Kuldeep Ranka, Principal Secretary, Department of Tourism, Forest & Environment, Art & Culture, Govt of Rajasthan as well as Gyan Prakash, Secretary General FHTR. Speaking at the ceremony, Billa said, “The mart is a very important step forward because the international end of the business has its way of organising itself. Domestic market and marts like this have the saluted effect of bringing buyers and sellers towards the domestic market. So I think it’s a very good move and that is where most of the meat is going to come from. We have supported this mart because we think that the initiative should come from the states.”  

Lords Hotels & Resorts has broadened its portfolio of hotels to better accommodate the needs of the leisure tourist, the business traveller, the bag-packer as well as the pilgrimage tourist. It will now also target at becoming the fastest growing pilgrimage hotel chain in the country. “Our next big focus is to serve the pilgrimage tourist for whom today the stay options fall largely in the unorganised domain. Out of the 26 properties that we currently operate, 7 are in the heart of such pilgrimage destinations and we are aiming at maintaining at least 30 per cent of our portfolio for pilgrimage tourists. We have identified Katra, Mathura, Vrindavan and a couple others for our upcoming projects dedicated for pilgrimage tourists,” says Rishi Puri, Vice President, Lords Hotels & Resorts. “Our hotels across the country have registered room occupancies in the range of 70 – 75 per cent in the last Financial Year. While there was only a marginal rise in ARR, the RevPAR grew by almost 8-12 per cent. This is an indication of demand outpacing supply and the need for increasing room inventories,” says Mr P R Bansal, Chief Operating Officer, Lords Hotels & Resorts. In the current financial year, the hospitality chain has plans of establishing hotel properties in Kolkata and Bhubaneswar in the East, and in Hyderabad and Chennai in the South. “We have identified potential projects in the East where Lords Hotels & Resorts has not made a mark yet and also in the South where we see tremendous growth in the coming years,” adds Bansal.

Most of the people prefer destinations wedding near their hometown, according to a Travel Wedding Show Survey. 67 per cent of the people responded positively while 33 per cent preferred the destination wedding far from their home town. Destination wedding for the next five years will be the biggest thing. Weddings are big business, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. If as wedding planners we have to survive, we need to go out, to different cities and destinations and procure more business. Indian and international destination weddings will remain, the next business thing,” says Rajeev Jain, Founder and Director, Rashi Entertainment.

In June, a total of 677 passenger related complaints has been received by scheduled domestic airlines, according to a DGCA report. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of June has been around 0.60, the report further said.

The total contribution of Travel & Tourism to employment was 41,622,500 jobs in 2017 (8.0 per cent of total employment), according to a report by World Travel and Tourism Council. This will rise by 3.1 per cent in 2018 to 42,898,000 jobs (8.1 per cent of total employment). By 2028, travel and tourism is expected to support 52,279,000 jobs (8.4 per cent of total employment), an increase of 2.0 per cent per annum over the period, the report said. Meanwhile, Travel & Tourism generated 26,148,000 jobs directly in 2017 (5.0 per cent of total employment) and this is forecast to grow by 2.8% in 2018 to 26,883,000. This includes employment by hotels, travel agents, airlines and other passenger transportation services (excluding commuter services). It also includes, for example, the activities of the restaurant and leisure industries directly supported by tourists.

Singapore has received over six lakh visitors from India between January to May 2018, reporting a 17 per cent year-on-year increase from 2017. The year 2017 was a record year for STB as visitor arrivals from India had crossed the one million mark for the third time in a row, showcasing the highest growth rate at 16 per cent in comparison with all markets. India also continues to be the top source market for visitor arrivals in the cruise segment for Singapore. Last year, 127,000 cruise passengers from India sailed out of Singapore’s shores, showing a year-on-year increase of 25 per cent from 2016. While speaking about STB’s efforts to showcase Singapore as a destination of choice among Indian travellers, GB Srithar,  Regional Director – South Asia Middle East & Africa (SAMEA), STB, said, “STB has been steadfastly engaging travellers through partnerships and various marketing initiatives. Last year, India moved up a spot to become the third largest source market for Singapore in terms of Visitor Arrivals. We are looking forward to working closely with both Indian and Singaporean travel trade partners to continue the momentum and entice more Indian travellers.” This year, the STB has lined up a series of collaborative initiatives to welcome more Indian travellers to Singapore in 2018. They embarked on an 8-city roadshow from July 16-26 with close to 40 stakeholders to grow their partnership with in-market travel agents. This is part of STB’s ongoing efforts to take the ‘Passion Made Possible’ brand messaging forward and showcase Singapore’s diverse offerings to the target audience.