Category Archives: NTO (National Tourist Offices)

The Badung Regency of Bali in Indonesia is increasing its focus on India and putting extra efforts to develop it as a bigger source market. It was the highlight of the ongoing India Sales Mission 2017 that kick-started in Mumbai with sellers only from Badung participating in it. Sellers from the rest of Indonesia will join the sales mission for the rest of the five cities: Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Chandigarh. Apart from participating in the sales mission, the Badung Regency has also appointed an India representative – Delhi-based Air Guru Travel Solutions – to promote the destination. Dhiraj Kumar, Managing Director, Air Guru Travel Solutions, is an ‘Honorary Representative for Badung Regency Bali’ appointed by BPPD Badung Tourism Promotions Board, Indonesia. The agenda of this sales mission, as underlined by Vinsensius Jemadu, Director, Asia Pacific Tourism Promotions, Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Indonesia, who was leading the Indonesian delegation, was to develop 10 more Balis with the idea of moving away from Bali and promote newer destinations in Indonesia for Indian travellers.

Seychelles Tourist Office, India recently conducted a seminar for local hoteliers, DMCs, tourism board head office and other establishments in Seychelles. The seminar is aimed at defining the Indian market and presenting its nitty-gritties to the local travel trade fraternity of Seychelles. The event witnessed speeches on the cultural and behavioural differences between the two countries by three eminent speakers from India. These included Ashutosh Mehere, COO Alliances, Cox & Kings, India; Jai Bujhwala, Founder, Holidays Box; and Parthip Thyagarajan, Founder, WeddingSutra.com. Sherin Francis, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board, was also present at the event. She said, “The seminar was one of its kind and highly informative for all our private sector partners. It created awareness about the diversity of India and answered many questions about the trade and tourist behaviour. It certainly created a high inquisitiveness about the market among the locals which is a great sign for developing further relations with the Indian market.” Lubaina Sheerazi, COO, Blue Square Consultants, Seychelles Tourist office India, explained the cultural diversity and uniqueness of the Indian market setting stage for the speakers. She says, “We were happy with the reception of the seminar and glad that our agenda of bringing out the differences between any other market and India for Seychelles had been met. The speakers gave some highly thought provoking inputs which will certainly better equip the private sector to cater differently to the Indian audience and allow us to further expand our vision for the destination.”

Tourism Fiji is on a 6-city roadshow in India, which they brought to New Delhi as well. Matthew Stoeckel, Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Fiji, spoke regarding the growth from India, and said, “India is a very good market for us and has huge potential. The connectivity has increased via Fiji Airways’ twice weekly flight between Singapore and Fiji and their code share with Jet Airways to cities like Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. Owing to this, the growth has been great, and in the last 5 years, the numbers have risen to 20 per cent. In 2017, the numbers have increased to 28 percent. There is high growth, and we expect it to grow it further with a whole range of consumer activities that we are doing, including special promotion with Indian actress Ileana D’Cruz.”

Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Airlines Group organised a six-city road show over 10 days across India and Colombo with participation from 39 Singapore stakeholders and over 800 in-market travel agents. India continues to be the fourth-largest source market in terms of visitor arrivals and third-largest tourism receipts generating market for Singapore. The roadshow in India commenced on July 10 in Pune followed by Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata and Hyderabad and concluded in Colombo on July21. Themed ‘Growing Tourism into Singapore, Together’, the delegation was led by G.B Srithar, Regional Director, South Asia Middle East & Africa, STB; Adrian Kong (Area Director, South Asia, Mumbai; and Yuemin Li-Misra, Area Director, South Asia, Delhi. The roadshows featured stakeholders from Singapore representing hotels, airlines, integrated resorts, attractions, Destination Management Companies (DMC) and cruise operators interacting and networking with STB’s travel and trade partners in India. There was also an update session on Singapore’s upcoming tourism offerings as well as Singapore Airlines Group’s range of cabin products and experiences. Srithar spoke about fostering collaborations with the travel trade partners especially from secondary cities across India. He said, “India has always been an important market for us. For the second time in a row, Singapore received more than one million Indian visitors in 2016. As the region’s middle-class becomes more affluent, there will be immense opportunities for international outbound travel and tourism, especially among families, working millennials and incentive movements. Through the roadshows, we seek to renew our ties with the travel trade, entrenching existing partnerships and forging new ones. Through these partnerships, we seek to bring Singapore’s tourism offerings to our target audiences through creative promotions, and in the process, ensuring meaningful results for …

The Philippines has recorded a whopping growth of 37 per cent in Indian arrivals in the month of May, 2017, in comparison to the same period last year, as per a release shared by the Department of Tourism (DOT) Philippines. City of Manila, Pagsanjan, the heritage city of Cebu, Boracay, and Bohol are some of the most popular places among Indian travellers visiting the Philippines. India is currently the 11th source market for the island nation in terms of foreign tourist arrivals and DOT is aiming for double-digit growth this year through aggressive marketing initiatives. Speaking about this growth, SanJeet, Tourism Attaché, Philippines Tourism Marketing Office India, says, “We are pleased to announce such a ground breaking growth rate in Indian arrivals to the Philippines. DOT engages travel trade partners in various awareness programmes and travel shows in order to maintain and sustain tourist traffic from the Indian market. In 2017, we aim to achieve the mark of 100,000 visitors to the Philippines from India.”  

Korea Tourism Organisation has announced the appointment of Michael Kwon as the new Director of Korea Tourism Organization, India Office. He will be heading the India office for next three years. Previously working as the Director of International Tourism Strategy team at Korea Tourism Organisation head office, he has all-round exposure across different verticals of KTO like HR, Planning & Coordination, Inbound Marketing & Performance Evaluation. He was the Deputy Director of KTO Chicago office between 2005 & 2007 and has successfully established KTO office in Jakarta in 2011. Holding a major in tourism, Kwon has been associated with KTO for 25 years. He is also a certified Public Labor Attorney in Korea.

Austria witnessed a growth of 28 per cent in Indian arrivals from January-June 2017,  informed Christine Mukharji, Market Manager-India, Austrian National Tourism Office (ANTO). She added that they are hopeful to welcome over 150,000 Indian arrivals by the end of the year. “Like last year, this year as well India has been a great market for Austria. We witnessed 25 per cent year on year growth from India in 2016 and till June 2017, we have already seen a growth of 28 per cent in Indian arrivals. This also shows that our market share in comparison to our competitors is increasing as Indians realise that we can offer everything from culture, snow and soft sports activities at the destination.” Austria saw the maximum increase from the FIT segment but Mukharji also pointed out that the destination witnessed an Indian wedding in the month of May with 700 people which was a huge revenue booster for Austria. “Not only has the percentage of Indian overnights has gone up for Austria, we have also seen an increase in revenue as these FIT travellers tend to stay mostly in 5-star properties. There has also been an increase in the length of stay amongst the Indian travellers which varies from city to city. Innsbruck has been traditionally a one night destination and the average duration of stay in Vienna is 2.4 days. However Salzburg has developed as a popular tourist destination amongst Indians and the average duration of stay increased from one night to 1.9 nights amongst Indian travellers,” says Mukharji.

Steven Dixon, Regional Manager-South and South East Asia, Tourism New Zealand, said that they recorded 54,928 tourist arrivals from India for the year ending May 2017, an increase 15.2 per cent while holiday arrivals were up 10.3 per cent (26,320). He also informed that the total length of stay of Indian travellers in New Zealand for the year ending May 2017 is 48.3 days with holiday being 12.4 days. Tourism New Zealand conducted its annual travel trade event, Kiwi Link India in New Delhi, which allows one-on-one meetings for Indian travel agents, product managers and planners to interact with New Zealand operators. Tourism New Zealand introduced the new, improved version of the 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist Programme at the event. A total of 35 tourism operators from New Zealand, four airlines, Immigration New Zealand and Indian delegates from 42 companies participated in the event. Tourism New Zealand also hosted key buyers from around India in New Delhi for the two days of the event.

Tourism New Zealand introduced a new and improved version of its 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist Programme at Kiwi Link India 2017 in New Delhi and to celebrate is giving travel sellers the chance to win one of four holidays to New Zealand, flying Air New Zealand. The new programme aims at enhancing travel sellers’ knowledge of New Zealand while presenting an opportunity to potentially increase their sales and referrals. Speaking about the programme, Steven Dixon, Tourism New Zealand’s Regional Manager-South and South East Asia, said, “As India is a priority market for us, it is important for us to constantly educate our Indian trade partners with product knowledge and new developments taking place in New Zealand. The 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist Programme, has evolved significantly over time. We are confident the improved programme will meet the needs of industry and are excited to be launching it today.” The new programme introduced has a Gold, Silver and Bronze tier structure, and provides specialists the opportunity to list their offerings on Tourism New Zealand’s main marketing channel – newzealand.com. Additionally, it increases credibility with clients through a certification and use of the 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist logo. By successfully completing 10 training modules, the seller is entitled to become a 100% Pure New Zealand Bronze Specialist and the status can be maintained by completing 2 additional training modules every two years. The 100% Pure New Zealand Silver Specialist can be earned by attending one TNZ led in-country or webinar training session or the Kiwi Link event, in addition to the 10 training modules. The status of the Silver programme can be maintained like the Bronze programme with the addition …

Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC) announced an increase in Indian arrivals to the Netherlands in the first quarter of 2017. In comparison with the last year’s Q1 Indian arrival figures, the country recorded a growth of over 19 per cent in Indian arrivals to Holland from January to March this year, proving that India is one of the top growing markets for the destination. SanJeet, India Representative – NBTC, said, “It gives us immense pleasure to let everyone know that the Indian market continues to be one of the important contributors of international visitors to Holland. Last year, Holland came much closer to the millions of Indian travellers with Jet Airways launching daily non-stop flights from India to Holland. Business missions in 2016 have also increased the graph of Indian arrivals to Holland. With our consolidated efforts in shaping Holland as a perfect getaway destination for Indian travellers, we are hopeful of achieving a double-digit growth.” To encourage more and more Indian tourists to visit Holland, NBTC has multiple activities planned including familiarisation trips and a three-city business mission in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. To engage with travel trade on a consistent and sustained basis, NBTC is also looking to participate in various multi-city travel trade shows.