Category Archives: NTO (National Tourist Offices)

Dropping Kochi in favour of Mumbai, Tourism Selangor tweaked the schedule of its four-city sales mission with Tourism Malaysia and decided to tap it along – making its debut into Mumbai. Tourism Malaysia led its sales mission to India and Sri Lanka between February 25 and March 3, 2016 which covered Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Kochi, and Colombo in Sri Lanka. The dates were decided keeping in mind the peak travelling season from May to July. Noorul Ashikin Binti Mohd Din, General Manager, Tourism Selangor, who was leading the mission in Mumbai, confirmed that it was the first time they were visiting this market individually. She said, “Mumbai is important for us and we didn’t want to miss it. Kuala Lumpur and Genting are regular destinations for Indians but there’s more to see and agents should know about them. We feel it’s better to come alone as it gives more exposure.”

India continues to be the number one source market for Bhutan. With the latest regional arrivals touching 1,09,052 demonstrating a growth of 57 per cent over last year, India remains as the biggest market for both regional and overall arrivals. As part of its India agenda, Tourism Council of Bhutan has focused on Gujarat as one of the key source markets to enhance its Indian footprint in the year 2016, through a road show targeted at key travel agents in Ahmedabad. This would be the first of many initiatives to tap the Gujarat market. Damcho Rinzin, Head, Marketing and Promotion Division, Tourism Council of Bhutan, says, “As a leading international tourism destination, Bhutan is seeking to diversify its source markets and attract new visitors. Countries like India are emerging more and more in the world outbound tourism sector, and Bhutan believes it could offer a special proposition to visitors from India. Further, international travelers to Bhutan are lured by the myriad of offerings that include heritage, culture, natural beauty and a range of quality world class hospitality and tourism industry which make a strong proposition for Bhutan as a destination.”

Malaysia is planning to extend e-tourist visa facility to Indian travellers in order to attract more tourists from the country. According to Dato Daljit Singh, Indian Community Relations Advisor to the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia, they are looking at drawing in 10 lakh Indian tourists this year. Last year, Malaysia recorded 7,22,141 tourists from India. He said that tourism sector contributes 12% to Malaysia’s GDP and India has always been an important market. Singh is also a member of the Tourism Malaysia Board of Directors, and said that the country is working on e-tourist visa for China and the facility may be offered to the India as well. “After we complete working with the Chinese government, as we are in the middle of the process, then we are also going to work with the Indian government on e-visa,” he said.   Source: PTI

As a part of its marketing development strategy, the Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines has recently branded 100 radio cabs in Pune and Ahmedabad. The DOT, Philippines successfully conducted the ‘Visit the Philippines Year (VPA) 2016’ roadshow for its travel trade partners based in the cities of Pune and Ahmedabad on February 22 and 24, respectively. Speaking at the event, Raymond Glen A. Agustin, Chief Tourism Operation Officer, Market Development Group- Russia, India & the Middle East, DOT Philippines, affirmed that India is an important source market for the Philippines with 74, 824 Indians visiting the destination last year, which was a 22.36 per cent year-on-year increase. Overall, the Philippines expect to welcome 100,000 Indian tourists by 2017. VPA 2016 campaign’s aim is to drive excitement among travellers so that they revisit the country in 2016 for more fun and adventure and to garner fabulous memories to cherish.

Visit Scotland gathered its top tour operators and travel trade associations for a roundtable discussion in Mumbai on the sidelines of its three-city roadshow to help push numbers and get feedback from them. Explaining the reason behind this initiative, Vineet Lal, Senior Market Manager (Long Haul & Emerging Markets), Visit Scotland, said, “We along with Etihad Airways met a lot of our top trade partners and travel trade associations in Mumbai to look at how we can increase the volume and value of the Indian market to Scotland. A lot of the conclusions were around the ability to communicate what Scotland has to offer, communicating Scotland’s top experiences and also working on a program of education both in Scotland and in India so that people on both sides understand how to do business with each other.” The Visit Scotland delegation, that includes seven Scottish suppliers, is in India on its India Business Development Mission to encourage the development of Scotland products among the travel trade in India. It was in Mumbai on February 22 and will travel to Chandigarh on February 23-24, followed by New Delhi on February 25-26. Mumbai saw around 100 attendees at Scotland workshop and around 50 at the networking dinner.

The Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines is conducting the ‘Visit the Philippines Year (VPA) 2016’ roadshow for its travel trade partners based in Ahmedabad on February 24, 2016. The 25-member delegation is led by Raymond Glen A. Agustin, Chief Tourism Operation Officer, Market Development Group- Russia, India & the Middle East, DOT Philippines. The delegation comprises of hoteliers, resorts, spas, and representatives of tour attractions, interacted with over 100 key travel and tour operators, MICE providers, up-market leisure operators and media personnel. The roadshow, also held in Pune on Feb 22, included interactive B2B sessions, educaion programmes and workshops to aid trade members in planning itineraries and responding to customer queries in these cities. Speaking at the event, Raymond Glen A. Agustin affirmed that India is an important source market for the Philippines with 74,824 Indians visiting the destination last year, which was a 22.36 per cent year-on-year increase. Overall, the Philippines expect to welcome 100,000 Indian tourists by 2017. VPA 2016 campaign’s aim is to drive excitement among travellers so that they revisit the country in 2016 for more fun and adventure and to garner fabulous memories to cherish. “In order to strengthen co-operation between DOT and our important business partners in the Indian travel industry, several promotional activities such as roadshows, taxi branding, participation in fairs and exhibitions and Fam trips have been carried out and further activities will be organized during this year,” added Glen. As a part of its marketing development strategy, Department of Tourism, Philippines has recently branded 100 radio cabs in Pune and Ahmedabad.  

The Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines is conducting its ‘Visit the Philippines Year (VPA) 2016’ roadshow today in Pune for its travel trade partners in the city. A 25-member delegation, comprising hoteliers, resorts, spas, and representatives of tour attractions, will interact with key travel and tour operators, MICE providers, up-market leisure operators and media personnel. Raymond Glen A. Agustin, Chief Tourism Operation Officer, Market Development Group- Russia, India & the Middle East, DOT Philippines, will lead the delegation. The roadshow will include interactive B2B sessions, education programmes and workshops to aid trade members in planning itineraries and responding to customer queries in these cities. The Indian market continues to be one of the important contributors of international visitors to the Philippines. In the upcoming year, targeting over 25% rise in outbound travel from India.

Indonesia is keen on increasing flight frequency to India and is in talks with AirAsia and Garuda Indoensia for the same. Saut Siringoringo, Consul General, Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, revealed that Indonesia expects to have good connectivity to India and will soon be operating direct flights from India. It has been in discussions with various airlines for increasing flights to India. He said, “The Ministry of Tourism will probably appoint AirAsia for direct flights to India, but there is a possibility of other airlines as well, like Garuda Indonesia.” He added that the Indonesian Minister of Transportation attended the ‘Make In India Week’ in Mumbai and analysed the prospects of direct connectivity. Indonesia recently held its own two-city roadshow in Chennai and Mumbai in mid-February. He says, “We have a lot of travel agents from Indonesia participating in the roadshow besides the Indian travel agents. The Ministry of Tourism came from Jakarta to showcase Indonesia in India for this. We chose Chennai because Medan, which is the capital of North Sumatra, has a town named Madras where people of Indian origin reside so there is a deep link between these cities. Many people from Tamil Nadu or Karnataka fly to Medan for this reason. This is why Chennai is important as a market. We also have our Indonesian Travel Provision Centre (ITPC) there along with our Honorary Consulate in Chennai.”

A total of 79 buyers from India have registered till date for the 15th Thailand Travel Mart Plus Amazing Gateway to the Greater Mekong Subregion to be held for the first time in the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai between June 8-10, 2016. This is currently the highest number and is projected to grow further before the registration deadline ends on March 15, 2016. Opened for the first time to ASEAN national tourism organisations, the event had registered 321 buyers of whom 142 were first timers, and 305 exhibitors of whom 72 were first timers, as of February 11 surpassing the last edition’s count of 258 sellers and 49 first-timers recorded in March 2015. Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Governor Dr. Yuthasak Supasorn commented, “Such a large turnout of both buyers and sellers will help us meet one of the most important criteria cited by both sides in their feedback forms, which is to meet new people.” TAT is expecting 400 buyers from 50 countries.

Sri Lanka received 28,895 Indian tourists in January 2016, an increase of 25.9 per cent this year as compared to the same period in 2015. The total number of tourists in Sri Lanka rose by 24.3 per cent in January 2016, with 194,280 tourist arrivals as compared to the 156,246 in January 2015. The data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed that India contributed 14.8 per cent of the total tourist arrivals, retaining the spot as the largest source market for the country. The region wise data of tourist arrivals for January 2016 showed 122.3 per cent increase from China; 48.1 per cent increase from the East Asia; 23.8 per cent increase from Western Europe; 20.7 per cent increase from South Asia; 17.9 per cent from Australasia; 17.3 per cent increase from North America; 17.2 per cent increase from the US; 14.7 per cent increase from the Middle East; 11.6 per cent from Africa and 11.1 per cent increase from Eastern Europe. However, Sri Lanka witnessed a decline of 9.5 per cent from Russia and 28.5 per cent decline from Pakistan for the month of January 2016 as compared to the same period in 2015. SLTDA has set a target of 2.5 million tourist arrivals by the end of 2016.