Category Archives: Exhibitions

Bharat Bhushan Atree, CMD, CTC Holding, received the TravTalk-WTM World Travel Leaders Award for Hi-Life Tours at the recently held World Travel Market in London. The World Travel Leaders Awards honours companies and individuals for their outstanding contribution to the industry over the last 24 months voted for by the WTM Media Partners. Speaking on the occasion, Atree said, “Awards like these keep us motivated and eggs us to work harder and harder. It puts us on the global recognition platform because this company is catering to online tourism and it makes a lot of difference when such organisations recognise us for our good work. We hope to get a lot of positive response from our partners, who have been wanting to work with us but have been thinking about it, a recognition from a platform like this will instill more confidence among them.”

The India pavilion at World Travel Market 2018 in London was packed with activities for the trade and consumers alike. Addressing a press conference, Rashmi Verma, Secretary-Tourism, Government of India, enlisted the achievements of the Ministry. Accompanying Verma were Pramod Kumar Singh, Tourism Minister, Bihar; Vellamandi N Natarajan, Tourism Minister, Tamil Nadu; Aashima Mehrotra, Director, Ministry of Tourism and Charanjeet Singh, Deputy High Commissioner of India to the UK. Verma highlighted, “Last year has been a very good year for India tourism with a growth of about 14 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals and about 19 per cent in terms of foreign receipts, much more than the global growth of 6.8 per cent. We also crossed the 10 million mark for the first time. This was possible because of our adoption of the multi-pronged strategy. We focus hugely on creating world-class infrastructure in and around our tourist sites.” She pointed out, “Incredible India 2.0 campaign is more thematic in nature. Looking at the needs and demands of major markets like the US and the UK, we have made some thematic films on niche products like adventure, yoga, Ayurveda, etc. This campaign focuses heavily on social media besides print and electronic media. We are hopeful that through this new Incredible India campaign we will be able to encourage people to revisit india, stay longer and experience the various products we have on offer.” The MOT also recently concluded two new events — India Tourism Mart (ITM) and Paryatan Parv —to create awareness about India both internationally and domestically. “More than 250 foreign buyers participated at the first-ever ITM. Buddhist Conclave was also held to showcase various Buddhist destinations in India.” The key initiative of introduction …

The first International Investment Tourism Forum is set to be held in Tashkent from November 19-21, 2018. Representatives of international financial institutions, potential foreign investors, international tourism organisations, leading tourism companies, experts and specialists of the sphere will attend the forum along with domestic entrepreneurs. The forum is aimed at expanding international cooperation in tourism industry, attracting direct investments and promoting the country’s tourism potential among investors. Participants of the event will visit the regions of the country to become acquainted with ready projects offered to investors. They will also get acquainted with opportunities provided in Charvak free tourism zone, Samarkand city and Ancient Bukhara tourism zones, as well as small tourism zones in Surkhandarya region. The number of foreign tourists who visited Uzbekistan in the first half of 2018, almost doubled compared to the same period in 2017. In the first six months of this year, Uzbekistan attracted 2.6 million foreign tourists.

Edwin UK concludes with the B2B networking event which included the northern England suppliers and the Indian Travel Trade from tier II and III cities. The event was successful with over 900 meetings. As they all were the owners/decision makers of the company, it was an eye opener session for the suppliers who met the Indian trade and understood more about the Indian market travel needs and food habits. Throughout the event, all the partners made sure the itinerary was designed as per the needs of the Indian clientele. Commenting on the occasion, Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, Global Panorama Showcase and Edwin, said, “We are happy with the outcome. Our target was met and it was achieved in a very short span of time. It was an elite programme and the partners VisitBritain, Marketing Manchester, Oman Air – Airline Partner and Trawelltag were all in full support of the event. We concluded with over 900 meetings today during B2B session.”

Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts recently conducted roadshows in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi to strengthen the brand’s ties with the Indian travel-trade fraternity. The roadshow was held to further strengthen their relations with the trade and also to introduce the newly-opened properties by the brand – Zabeel House by Jumeirah. Around 18 Jumeirah properties participated in the roadshow, which was attended by over 140 agents in each city. The India market has witnessed a considerable rise in outbound luxury travel in recent years. The group is focusing on expanding and consolidating their ties with the luxury travel segment to reach out to a larger audience and gain a higher market share. The road show serves as a platform to increase brand awareness and gain new consumers. The event was a huge success as the guests were entertained with an hour of stand-up comedy by popular comedian Atul Khatri.

ITB Asia 2018 has begun with over 1,000 exhibitors and buyers each, under the theme “Travel Reimagined” at the the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Compared to 2017, the show has seen a 20 per cent increase in new exhibitors following the growth in demand from Asian and European participants. ITB Asia 2018 has also experienced more than 125 per cent growth in the number of hotel groups signing up as part of the Buyers Programme Partners. At the three-day conference concluding on October 19, top industry leaders will deliver insights on the key trends provoking disruption across the travel industry and how brands are innovating to stay competitive. Commenting on the event, Katrina Leung, Managing Director, Messe Berlin (Singapore) -Organiser, ITB Asia, said, “ITB Asia continues to maintain its position as the leading travel trade show in Asia. It remains one of the top business platforms for connecting exhibitors and partners with key decision makers in the MiCE, corporate and leisure travel industry. Working in close collaboration with our partners and exhibitors, we are delighted to unveil one of our most engaging and exciting programmes yet. We look forward to welcoming visitors to this year’s show.”

CzechTourism has witnessed a significant rise in Indian arrivals over the years having seen a growth of 128 per cent from 2015-2017. In 2017, Czech Republic welcomed 85,680 Indians, a growth of 27 per cent in Indian arrivals over 2016, according to the Czech Republic Authority. The Czech Tourist Authority – CzechTourism – along with the Embassy of the Czech Republic, successfully conducted three-city roadshow in New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai on October 8, 9 and 11, respectively, to promote the Czech Republic’s unique attractions. On the occasion, HE Milan Hovorka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to India, stated, “With the Indian economy growing at a pace no one has seen before, the number of people visiting other countries is skyrocketing. And, it’s no surprise that the Czech Republic is very high on the list of countries to visit. We’re happy to see this kind of growth and we believe that with events like this roadshow, we’ll be able to connect the right people to ensure that every holiday in the Czech Republic will be as smooth and well-organised as possible.” Veronika Janečková, Head of International Markets Management, Czech Tourist Authority – CzechTourism added, “We see India as a promising market; Czech Republic has a lot to offer to the Indian travellers in terms of unexplored destinations and unique experiences. The country hosts a diverse array of natural landscapes that appeal to visitors of every kind – be it architectural lovers or adventure seekers. Through this roadshow, we are able to reach out to new markets and further strengthen our relationship with Indian travel trade partners.”

The Educational Destination Workshop-International initiative (EDWIN), a vertical of Global Panorama Showcase (GPS), is underway in Manchester, UK. The UK has always had a great appeal among Indian travellers and with the upcoming World Cup in 2019, Manchester garners maximum interest from the Indian audience because of the big matches played here. EDWIN will conclude with B2B networking sessions between travel agents and suppliers. EDWIN aims to introduce destinations or products to the growing Tier-II, III markets of India. As GPS reaches out to almost 10,000 travel agents across Tier-II, III agents in India, EDWIN comes as an added advantage for agents not only to meet suppliers at GPS but to also have a first-hand experience, information and understanding of the destination.

At the first HollandCity Global Travel Trade Show in the Hanseatic City of Zwolle, Carola Muller–van Rijn, Global Travel Trade Manager, NBTC Holland Marketing, informed, “The next edition of the travel trade show will be held in The Haugue and Delft on October 8, 2019.” NBTC Holland Marketing and MarketingOost welcomed over 100 international travel organisations with a goal to put the Netherlands on the map with international travel organisations as an attractive travel destination. In addition to 105 international tour operators from India, Russia, Brazil, Japan, China, Indonesia, Italy, Germany and other countries, there were 75 organisations from the tourism sector as well, including museums, hotels, attractions, events venues and restaurants. Expressing happiness with the growth from the Indian market, Muller says, “In terms of growth, India is our second fastest growing market, after Russia. The Netherlands welcomed 165,000 visitors from India last year registering a growth of 31 per cent and we are expecting 24 per cent growth from India this year.”

The success of the fifth India New Zealand Business Council (INZBC) annual summit in Auckland has highlighted the strong will among both nations to take their trade and investment relationship up several notches, riding on India’s fast growing economy. Themed on Aviation, Tourism and Technology, the one-day summit heard substantively from some of the most successful business people and policy influencers in these sectors both from India and New Zealand and from New Zealand’s Members of Parliament across the main political parties. In a video message from New Delhi, Suresh Prabhu, India’s Minister for Commerce, Industry and Civil Aviation, welcomed the summit and invited New Zealand businesses to join India’s unfolding growth story tipped to go from $5 trillion to $10 trillion in the next 15 years.​While trade agreements were touched upon, presenters were emphatic and unanimous in their opinion that strengthening better air links – especially direct flights – between the two countries was key to not only boosting tourism numbers but also growing the education sector, trade and investment exponentially. “Growth in Indian tourist numbers into New Zealand has been encouraging over the past few years but the potential was great,” said Suresh Nair, General Manager, Air Asia—India. “Air Asia had developed expertise in creating and marketing new tourist destinations with robust and frequent air links in Asia and India, working with the hospitality industry. New Zealand could similarly tailor its own destinations to suit preferences of the growing and increasingly mobile Indian tourist industry,” he said.