Category Archives: NTO (National Tourist Offices)

Ireland witnessed a growth of 20 per cent in the number of visas issued to Indians travelling to the destination. This was revealed by Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive, Tourism Ireland, at their sales mission in Mumbai and New Delhi. Gibbons informed that the destination witnessed 27,500 Indian tourist arrivals in 2015, corresponding to 14 per cent increase over 2014. Also, the total number of tourist arrivals from January to August, 2016, was up by 12.3 per cent with 6.55 million people visiting the destination during this period. “With Northern Island also a part of Ireland, we expect to have 10 million visitors by the end of 2016 with a double digit growth. Our traditional markets are Great Britain, North America, Germany and France, comprising 70 per cent of the tourism business but we feel the potential of India as a market is huge for Ireland. The number of visa applications for Indian nationals has seen a growth of over 20 per cent and the BIVS scheme has also facilitated many Indian visits. We have interacted with over 150 companies in New Delhi alone,” said Gibbons. He also added that Tourism Ireland is committed to grow visitor numbers to Ireland from India and the sales mission will play a significant role in helping to achieve this goal. “Our sales mission is a key element of our promotional programme in India. It will give our tourism partners a platform to inform, influence the Indian travel trade about what the island of Ireland has to offer and importantly encourage them to include the destination in their brochures and programmes,” he said.

Singapore Tourism Board recently organised a 10-day, six-city road show across key markets in India and Colombo in Sri Lanka. Themed “Extending Hands in Partnership”, the delegation was led by GB Srithar, Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) newly appointed Regional Director for South Asia, Middle East and Africa (SAMEA). The initiative is envisioned as an annual platform for the region’s trade partners to get updated on the latest leisure and MICE offerings in Singapore. The Singapore delegation comprised representatives from top hotels, cruise liners, attractions, airlines and Destination Management Companies (DMCs), which travelled to the cities of Colombo in Sri Lanka and then to the Indian cities of Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Jalandhar. The sessions saw an enthusiastic turnout from travel trade professionals with an average participation of 135 agents per city. Srithar said, “As we move into the next exciting phase of promoting Singapore to wider audiences in tier II cities, we look to fostering closer strategic and tactical partnerships with the travel trade to entrench the positioning of Singapore as one of the must-see destinations for the Indian audiences.”

With an aim to increase tourist footfalls from India, Embassy of Iceland organised and hosted a film tourism conference for the Tamil and Telugu film industries. The event was held in Chennai and Hyderabad on September 20th and 22nd and saw a presence of the top producers and cinematographers from the industry. H.E Thorir Ibsen, Ambassador of Iceland to India attended and addressed the gathering of select producers and cinematographers in both cities. He said, “Iceland has many advantages as a filming location. One among them is the spectacular variety of landscapes and locations found within short distances of one another. The local crews available are well experienced and well trained for producing quality films in tough conditions. Besides these, the incentives for filming in Iceland will be increased from the current 20 per cent to 25% in 2017. We are looking forward to work with many more Indian film-makers and are hoping to see Iceland more often on the big screen.” Kumar Sitaraman, Honorary Consul General of Iceland in Chennai added, “Iceland received 1000+ tourists from India last year. We are hoping that the numbers of tourists from India increases after audiences watch the many impressive landscapes and natural beauty the country has through the big screen.”

Turkish Ministry of Culture & Tourism in association with the Association of Turkish Travel Agents & Turkish Hoteliers Federation will conduct an eight-city roadshow titled ‘Destination Turkey Workshop B2B and Trainings’ for the travel trade in India. The roadshow will commence on September 26 in Mumbai; September 27 in Bangalore; September 28 in Kolkata; September 29 in Lucknow; September 30 in Delhi; October 1 in Ahmedabad; October 3 in Hyderabad; and concludes on October 4 in Chennai. The workshop will see an attendance of 35 participants comprising of suppliers, restaurateurs & hoteliers from Turkey and Turkish Airline.

Atout France India has announced that Indian arrival figures to France touched the 5,00,000 mark in 2015. Sheetal Munshaw, Director, Atout France India, said, “India’s largest incentive movement to France comprising of 2,200 passengers also took place in December 2015 enhancing France’s positioning as a preferred incentive destination. The growing influence of Bollywood has had a positive impact on tourism. With the much awaited Yash Raj’s ‘Befikre’ shot in its entirety in France to be released in December this year and last year’s ‘Tamasha’ shot partly on location in Corsica, France is steadily gaining favour with Indian film-makers as well.” Atout France’s recently-concluded annual showcase saw a record-breaking participation of 29 French-Indian delegates that was an interesting mix of established partners and new entrants. A large contingent of the delegation was from the Auvergne-Rhône Alpes region that showcased its alpine destinations and activities. Held between September 12-16, the showcase commenced in Mumbai, travelled to Kolkata for the first time with a finale in Delhi. Munshaw also announced the launch of a first ever MOOC (Massive Online Programme) for the French travel industry enabling them to better understand the Indian market specificities and in turn better serving the Indian traveller. Optimizing on France’s popularity as a wedding destination, a destination wedding guide was released this summer in France to better acquaint the French travel and hospitality industry with the nuances of planning the Indian Wedding.

NYC&Company, New York City’s official, destination marketing organisation, is leading a tourism delegation to Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi from September 16-23 to promote travel to New York City. The tourism delegation is part of NYC & Company’s trade and media efforts to promote the “new” NYC in the Indian market. “New York City welcomed an estimated 283,000 visitors from India in 2015, reflecting a growth of 9% since the previous year.” said Makiko Matsuda Healy, Senior Vice President Global Tourism Development. “The City maintains its position as one of the most desirable destinations for both business and leisure travellers from India.” In 2015, New York City welcomed a record 58.3 million visitors, an increase of 1.8 million visitors over a year ago. Visitation for 2015 comprised 46 million domestic and 12.3 million international visitors, both all-time highs. In 2015 a record 6.1 million meetings and conventions delegates visited the City’s five boroughs, contributing to the total 12.3 million business travelers that came to New York City. New York City is the nation’s number one big city destination, the number one port-of-entry for foreign visitors, and has the highest share of overseas visitation to the U.S. – approximately one-third. NYC & Company member businesses joining the delegation include Broadway Inbound, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises and One World Observatory, who will be conducting one-on-one meetings and workshops with various travel trade partners.

The latest IVS report released by Tourism Australia revealed that the expenditure made by Indians on their visits to South Australia has jumped up to a total of AUD 23 million as of June 2016 from AUD 21 million in June 2015. The State saw 13,000 Indian visitors during the year with an average spend of approximately AUD 1,799 per traveller. The healthy growth in expenditure by almost eight per cent indicates a growing interest among Indian travellers for South Australia as a holiday destination. Dana Urmonas, Regional Director-Southeast Asia & India, South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) says, “India as a market holds great potential for us. We had a record number of visitors last year, by hosting the ICC World Cup Match between India and Pakistan in Adelaide. We are happy to see that Indian travellers are starting to recognise Adelaide as a holiday destination and are keen to leverage the momentum built. With the on-going marketing initiatives planned for India we are extremely positive about a progressive growth in visitor and expenditure numbers over the next few years.”

Arief Yahya, Tourism Minister, Indonesia, has informed that the number of Indian tourists holidaying in Indonesia has kept increasing over the past six years. The number of Indian tourist arrivals to Indonesia from January to June 2016 was recorded at 185,911 with a growth rate of 28.25 per cent amid negative growth of foreign tourists from other countries due to global economic slowdown. Compared to the same period in 2015, the number of Indian-tourist arrivals in Indonesia was recorded at 145,734 people. Indonesia conducted a two-city roadshow in Kolkata and Ahmedabad to promote its brand ‘Wonderful Indonesia’ and attract more tourists from India. The Indonesian Tourism Ministry as part of the marketing plan organised Sales Mission India 2016 in Kolkata and Ahmedabad on August 22-24, 2016. Deputy Tourism Minister for Overseas Promotion I Gde Pitana said this Sales Mission India 2016 is the continuation of the previous sales missions held in Hyderabad, New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai during the first half of the year 2016. We hope this event will also add positive impact and further increase the Indian footfall in Indonesia,” he said. Sales Mission India 2016, will facilitate the Indonesian sellers and Indian buyers to meet and produce seller-buyer transactions of tour packages of various Indonesian tourist destinations. There were around 18 stakeholders from Indonesia.

The latest UK Visa and VisitBritain statistics show that more visitors than ever before are visiting the UK from India. Visa statistics for the year ending June 2016 show that over 380,000 visit visas were issued, an increase of six per cent or 20,000 visitors. Meanwhile the latest VisitBritain figures from the Office of National Statistics, International Passenger Survey show that over 422,000 visitors came to the UK from India last year, an eight per cent increase from 2014 and a 20 per cent increase from 2012. Sumathi Ramanathan, VisitBritain Director for Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa said, “India is a priority growth market for Britain and is one of the seven markets globally to receive additional funding for tourism promotion. Our partnership with the airlines, travel industry and Indian movie industry has enabled us to reach new customers in the major cities of India. Increasingly, we are seeing demand for British itineraries covering London, Manchester, Oxford, Birmingham and Edinburgh. As the market evolves, we will continue improving and enhancing the travel offer for the Indian visitor.”

Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has announced the appointment of GB Srithar as Regional Director for South Asia, Middle East & Africa (SAMEA) to be based in Mumbai. Srithar is well acquainted with the Indian markets having worked in India between April 2010 and December 2013 as Area Director, South Asia. Prior to his appointment as Regional Director, he headed the Brand Campaigns team at STB’s HQ’s Marketing Group. One of his key responsibilities will be to oversee the STB’s leisure and BT MICE travel promotions, marketing and developmental efforts in the SAMEA region; and his office will work closely with travel trade and non-trade partners to promote Singapore as the destination of choice among Indian travellers. Talking about his appointment and vision for the Indian market, Srithar said, “I am happy to assume a wider role and be back in Mumbai, a place that I have enjoyed working and living in. India is a key market for Singapore. In 2015, India registered a growth of over seven per cent in Visitor Arrivals at 1,013,777 arrivals, having crossed the 1-million mark for the first time. We have also observed a consistent growth in visitor arrivals in India over the last five years. I seek to extend STB’s hands in partnership to our friends in the travel fraternity across, not only in the key metros but also in the Tier II and III cities, which will contribute increasingly to the rise of the international visitorship for Singapore.”