Category Archives: NTO (National Tourist Offices)

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has launched its new campaign ‘Amazing Thailand Tourism Year 2018’. Speaking about this is Soraya Homchuen, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai, who says, “For 2018, TAT has launched a new campaign ‘Amazing Thailand Tourism Year 2018’ to support the government’s national tourism development plan featuring an action-packed schedule of unique Thai local experiences and international events. In the coming year, the emphasis will be on inclusive tourism, that maintains a balance between the economy, environment and benefits for Thai society. This campaign will see the Thai travel and tourism industry move into a new era of development and further underscore its new status as a nationwide movement that yields significant benefits for national security, the economy, society, well-being and foreign relations. The campaign’s overarching objective is to ensure that Thailand remains a Preferred Destination and delivers a Quality Product, thus boosting the average length of stay, expenditure and repeat visit. In 2018, the marketing strategy will continue to position Thailand as a ‘Preferred Destination’.” Homchuen observed that Thailand is naturally blessed with a busy schedule of annual cultural events that appeal to both domestic and international audiences and said that they were delighted to see increasing number of tourist arriving in Thailand. The video campaign will highlight activities based on 13 core niche products that include sports, gastronomy, maritime tourism, wedding and honeymoon, medical and wellness, community-based tourism, leisure, green tourism, night tourism, MICE, trade fairs, B2B marketing activity and logistics. Some of the local Thai events that will take place in 2018 are Thailand Tourism Festival (January 2018); Thailand International Kite Festival/Thailand Marathon (Songkhla/Bangkok, February 2018); International Balloon Festival (Korat, May 2018); …

The Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, Mumbai successfully concluded its annual mission titled ‘Expo Indonesia 2017’ in Mumbai. The three-day exhibition is being organised with the aim to promote Indonesian trade, tourism and investment and promotes opportunities in Indonesian in these sectors. The event saw participation of 47 Indonesian companies who displayed a wide range of Indonesian products. The delegation also included Indonesian travel and tour operators as well as Indonesian airlines who met with the Indian trade to promote Indonesian tourism product. It was attended by Saut Siringoringo, Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia, Mumbai, Jaykumar Rawal, Hon’ble Minister for Tourism, Government of Maharashtra, Officials from the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, New Delhi, official from the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Indian Trade & Tourism associations, leading Indian business entrepreneurs, travel and tourism industry from India and Indonesian companies investing in India along with the exhibitors.    

Having already established itself firmly in the Indian market, the South African Tourism (SAT) has now further expanded its product offering to include newer regions that offer newer activities. This includes the Garden Route and the Eastern Cape which it started promoting during its Learn SA multi-city roadshow to the Indian travel trade. The new regions include the towns of Knysna, George, Oudtshoorn, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth and East London that are poised to become strong selling points on the new itineraries. To this end, SAT’s India office organised an educational tour to these new regions for a few travel agents from Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Nagpur and Bengaluru in September. The 11-day itinerary saw them visit a range of tourist attractions and holiday experiences in the Garden Route towns of Knysna, George, Plettenberg Bay and Oudtshoorn, and in the nearby cities of Port Elizabeth and East London in the Eastern Cape. Hanneli Slabber, South African Tourism’s country manager for India, explained that the aim of the trip was to showcase South Africa’s diverse tourism offering beyond the usual ‘big three’ destinations of Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. “A large section of the Indian market includes second- and third-time visitors to South Africa, and to maintain their interest, we need travel agents to be equipped with expertise on different locations within the country. The six ‘new’ South African destinations offer a cross-section of the wildlife, adventure, lifestyle, entertainment and shopping experiences that are most in demand by the outbound Indian travel market. What is particularly appealing about the Southern Cape-Eastern Cape region, Slabber pointed out, is that it offers everything from casinos to beaches, safaris to nightlife, all within close proximity …

DOT Philippines, along with prominent travel partners from Philippines, is all set to host Philindex 2017 in four cities in India. Representatives from Philippines and DOT Philippines will educate over 600 travel trade partners from Hyderabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Lucknow, about the tourism offerings of the Philippines. Participating delegates will get an overview of the booming tourism industry during the interactive sessions. Other partners from Philippines, would include Cathay Pacific, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts, Thai Airways, Philippine Airlines, Shroff International Travel Care Inc., and VFC Travel and Tours. The B2B meetings at Philindex 2017 will offer an insight to the travel trade partners on Philippines being an ideal destination for scenic wonders, adventures and business pursuits.

The Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) launched its first ever South Korea specialist programme in India with an aim to educate Indian travel trade partners about the travel assets of South Korea. The content is specifically designed as per the needs, requirements and expectations of the Indian travellers. The course is structured into four modules, each focusing on different aspect of tourism offerings of the destination. Upon completion, the participants will be duly acknowledged with Korea Specialist certificates. The course is created and hosted on TravelGyaan website. After completing the module, the participants can further take up the itinerary challenge and stand a chance of winning an I Phone 8. Approximately 450 travel agents have registered for the programme so far while 170 have finished their training programme. Jong Sool Kwon, Director, KTO, said, “Indian outbound market has tremendous potential and diverse requirements based on which we would like to educate the travel trade partners about South Korea’s tourism assets. We urge all the travel agents to come forward and make the most of the knowledge we intend to impart.”

Seychelles Tourist Office, India recently organised roadshows in Delhi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. These three Indian cities churn out some of the highest numbers of visitors each year to Seychelles and comprise of travel trade that facilitates most number of travellers from north and western parts of India. The highlight and differentiator of this roadshow was its format. For the first time since commencing operations in the India market, Seychelles Tourism Board adopted a new format for its roadshow – the Round Robin format, which ensured pre-scheduled meetings between the partners and trade and was strictly by invitation. Each city had partners meeting 60 top agents of Seychelles. Commenting on the roadshow Sherin Francis, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board said, “The cities were chosen due to their current and potential capacities for outbound tourism to Seychelles. We have received only positive feedback about the format and execution by both our Seychelles partners and agents back in India. We look forward to strengthen our bonds with the Indian travel trade with more of such interactions with them.” The delegation had partners from various segments like DMCs, hotels, Cruise Company, airlines, Seychelles government associations and tourism associations Lubaina Sheerazi, COO, Blue Square Consultants, Seychelles Tourist office India, said, ”We introduced this new format of roadshow in the fourth year of Seychelles’ presence in the country keeping in mind the awareness and interest built over the years. The cities chosen contribute as the top performers for Seychelles and have shown great potential to rise further.”

In 2017, up until August, Spain recorded as many as 86,000 Indian tourists, registering an approximate growth of about 50 per cent in 2017 over the same period in 2016, informed Ignacio Ducasse Gutierrez, Director, Tourism Office of Spain – Mumbai, during the Spanish Travel Show in New Delhi. This year, Spain Tourism is organising its annual roadshow in three cities – Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai. “We have seen a huge increase in the number of Indian tourists travelling to Spain in 2017 and we hope to increase this number further. Since our roadshows are an annual affair, we try to cover different cities every year. Next year we will reach out to other cities which we have never visited before like Nagpur and Jaipur apart from the ones we have covered this year. We are expecting around 100-150 travel agents and tour operators in each city for the roadshows,” said Gutierrez. Various tourism boards and regions of Spain participated in the show which included Madrid Region, Barcelona Premium, Andalucia Tourist Board, Costa del Sol Tourist Board, Galicia, Castilla y Leon Tourist Board and AVE Cities Network. Various travel agencies and hotels like Europamundo Vacaciones, Warq Events and Holidays, Century Incoming, Melia Hotels International and Palladium Hotel Group etc. also showcased their products to the travel agents in the various cities.

Tourism Ireland conducted its India Sales Mission 2017 in Mumbai and Delhi where 12 representatives from the destination interacted with over 100 leading travel agents and tour operators in each city to update them about the new offerings in Ireland. Ireland is promoting the locations where the famous movie- Star Wars and Game of Thrones television series has been shot. “Almost 70 per cent of Game of Thrones has been shot in Northern Ireland and Star Wars been shot in West Ireland. We feel these on-screen products have a good resonance in India and will drive growth to Ireland,” says Huzan Frazer Motivala, Representative-India, Tourism Ireland. David Boyce, Head-Developing Markets, Tourism Ireland, informed that Ireland recorded over 40,000 Indian arrivals up till August 2017, registering a 34 per cent growth over last year during the same period. The destination hopes to see this number touch 50,000 over the next 2-3 years. Boyce said, “These figures are not our official numbers as we get them only by the year end. However, these have been received from the destinations that Indians visit in Ireland and thus are proof to believe that the growth is robust.”

Maharashtra contributes most tourists to Australia followed by Delhi. Speaking in New Delhi, Nishant Kashikar, Country Head-India and Gulf, Tourism Australia, said, “Tourism Australia first started its representation agency in Delhi before setting up their office in India. We have developed a great relationship with the travel trade in the city of Delhi and have seen great growth from this market. We have had almost over 32,000 tourists only from the state of Delhi, who travelled to Australia last year. These tourists contributed almost close to 165 million Asutralian dollars, which is an increase of 26 per cent as compared to the previous year.”

Fiji Airways will soon be appointing a full time Country Sales Manager for the India market, says Marc S. Cavaliere, Chief Marketing Officer, Fiji Airways. “As a sign of our commitment to the Indian market we will be appointing a full time Country Sales Manager for India. The announcement will be made in 2-3 weeks time and the newly appointed person will be based out of Mumbai. We see opportunity in the India market and this is the reason we would invest in having a full time Fiji Airways Country Sales Manager here. The newly appointed person will be working on a dedicated basis not only with the travel trade, tour operators, OTA’s but also working jointly with Fiji Tourism as well. We would also participate in different trade shows as well and continue to show our commitment to the India market,” he said. Fiji Airways will also continue to expand its GSA presence in the country once the country sales manager is appointed. It will be working closely with Tourism Fiji for different marketing activities to drive growth. From the year 2015-2016 Fiji Airways recorded a 19 per cent increase in air traffic between India to Fiji. Fiji Airways looks the maintain the same trajectory of growth this year as well.