Tag Archives: Ahmedabad

The Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT) has announced a four-city roadshow in July and August in India in alignment with its plan to increase Indian arrivals to the country. The Ministry will begin with its maiden roadshow in Nashik on July 19, followed by Ahmedabad on August 27, Kolkata on August 29 and concluding in New Delhi on August 30. The events will start off with a destination presentation leading to an interactive workshop followed by a press conference with the IMOT team. The Israeli delegation will be led by Hassan Madah, Director, Israel Ministry of Tourism, India & Philippines along with Judah Samuel, Director – Marketing, Israel Ministry of Tourism, India and will include representative partners from the tourism industry of Israel. Hassan Madah said, “Israel is an emerging destination for the Indian traveller and tourist arrivals have been growing progressively over the last couple of years. 2017 was a record breaking year for us with close to 60,000 Indian tourists visiting Israel, and we are constantly striving to increase destination awareness among consumers, Indian travel trade and MICE agents. Besides the source markets, we are looking to focus on cities like Nashik that has immense potential and recently conducted maiden roadshows in Guwahati and Lucknow as well. The plan is to organize 11 roadshows in different cities of India by end of 2018 and successfully introduce and reinforce the varied tourism offerings of Israel.”

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) conducted a member’s meet in Mumbai last week to introduce the new team to the members in the Western Region. Present at the event were the association’s Executive Committee (EC) led by its President, Mahendra Vakharia. He said, “We have decided to have the EC meeting once a month on every second Saturday so everyone can plan their month accordingly. It will be held in different cities but predominantly in Delhi and will rotate between Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.” Speaking about the association’s upcoming convention, he said, “It is shaping up very well. We will announce the name of the country in a week. We are doing it with the support of the destination’s tourism board and it will be held sometime in August or September 2018. The team will start working on the logistical details now like airlines, hotels, etc.” The next EC meeting will be held on May 14, 2018 in New Delhi. The EC members had met earlier in the day to discuss the plan of action for the association as well as its upcoming convention. Ajay Sengar, Chapter Chairman – Western India, OTOAI, who is from the tier city of Akola in Maharashtra, was also present at the networking event. Some other EC members had flown down from New Delhi including Shravan Bhalla and Rajeev Sabharwal, along with General Secretary Chitra Bhatia.

Cox & Kings Global Services (CKGS) and The Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco hosted a joint event in Delhi. The occasion was graced by His Excellency Mohamed Maliki, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco, along with the senior management of Cox & Kings Ltd. The event showcased Moroccan culture and various tourist attraction in Morocco from the imperial cities to stunning beaches. “I’m honoured to co-host the travel agents event together with CKGS, which gives us opportunity to promote the Kingdom of Morocco as an Authentic and Exotic destination and showcases the numerous Tourism potential it has. Foreseeing growth and significance of the Indian tourism market to Morocco, we are also planning to open of a full-fledged Moroccan National Tourism Office in Delhi very soon.” said His Excellency, Mohamed Maliki. CKGS has recently opened Morroco Visa application centres in different cities of India including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa and Indore. Centres in more cities will be opened shortly. “We provide visa application services to Indians travelling to Morocco through our various offices in India. we have taken one more step further to promote Indian outbound travel to Morocco by partnering with The Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco for this event.” said Venku Murthi, Chief Operating Officer, CKGS.

Seychelles Tourism Board is set to conduct roadshows at Kolkata, Pune and Bengaluru. The pre-fixed meetings format which was introduced last year will continue this year as well. Sherin Francis, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board, says, “Last year’s roadshow allowed top agents to meet all partners in a quick pre-fixed meeting of 15 minutes each in a round-robin flow. This no-frills format focused on serious business generation and ensured that every agent invited could spend quality time with every partner from Seychelles.” For 2018, the tourism board plans to conduct workshops with its key B2B partners in cities of Raipur, Indore, Kochi, Coimbatore, Baroda, Surat and Rajkot. “We will also continue to meet and educate agents in main cities that will include Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. We plan to support tour operators with incentive-based trainings to encourage bigger numbers to Seychelles,” Francis adds. Seychelles Tourism Boards recently hosted an appreciation evening in Mumbai to acknowledge high performers from the travel trade in association with Air Seychelles. India emerged as the seventh-largest source market for Seychelles with an arrival of 13,518 tourists from India in 2017 which indicated a 23 per cent growth compared to 2016. In 2018, the tourism board expects a similar percentage growth.  

After launching its new office in New Delhi in partnership with RL Group, Oman Air is now planning to open offices in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. Sunil V.A., Regional Vice President-ISC, Oman Air along with Chetan Gupta, Chairman, RL Group; Varun Mohindra, Head of Sales & Marketing, RL Group and Vijay Bhatia, President, Bird Group were present for the inauguration. “We have 162 flights operating from India, all connect well to the destinations. With our focus on Europe and Europe GCC, we are now planning to sell the east. We are not just dependent on the online network but also looking at the offline too.” said Sunil V.A. Oman is currently focusing to develop MICE segment in 2018 with a launch of its new airport on March 20, 2018.

Singapore Airlines has announced a fifth weekly flight from Ahmedabad to Singapore in a bid to cater to the increased travel demand during the summer holiday season. The additional flight will operate every Friday from April 27 – May 25 2018. The airline has also introduced Economy Class return fares starting from Rs. 27,800 to Singapore for travel until 31 March 2019, for which the booking needs to be done by March 31, 2018. David Lim, General Manager India – Singapore Airlines, said, “Ahmedabad continues to be a key market for Singapore Airlines and we are pleased to offer an additional, seasonal frequency to meet the growing demand. The new flight will provide travellers an additional departure window to travel to Singapore and to onward destinations.”

South African Tourism brought down a 60-member delegation for a 5-city roadshow to India, which successfully completed its Delhi-leg with back-to-back business meetings and networking with the travel trade in the city. The 15th edition of the roadshow has been held in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Delhi and will be travelling to Ahmedabad after that. Hanneli Slabber, Regional General Manager, Asia/Australasia/Middle East, South African Tourism, said, “The Indian market has not just grown considerably since our entry in 2005, demands of Indian travellers are in a constant and rapid state of evolution even today. This makes cross sharing of insights, trends and observations between our Indian and South African partners extremely crucial. We have had South African products being tailored to suit these specific needs as a testament of the value proposition we see in the market.” Alpa Jani, Acting Hub-Head, Middle Easst/India/South East Asia, South African Tourism, said, “We have always recorded an outstanding response from the Indian travel trade and are eagerly looking forward to seeing the positive impact this Roadshow will have towards driving Indian traveller traffic to South Africa in 2018.”

South African Tourism (SAT) began its five-city roadshow from February 12-19 with Mumbai, followed by Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi and Ahmedabad. The 60-member strong participation from South Africa’s travel trade industry and scale is a reflection of the strong consumer demand witnessed from India. One of the key focus areas is to go create awareness about new destinations such as Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth and the Drakensberg region. Hanneli Slabber, Regional General Manager, Asia/Australasia/Middle East, SAT, said, “The demands of Indian travellers are in a constant and rapid state of evolution. This makes cross sharing of insights, trends and observations between our Indian and South African partners extremely crucial. We have had South African products being tailored to suit these specific needs as a testament of the value proposition we see in the market.” Alpa Jani, Acting Hub-Head, Middle East/India/South East Asia, SAT, said, “We have always recorded an outstanding response from the Indian travel trade and are eagerly looking forward to seeing the positive impact this roadshow will have towards driving Indian traveller traffic to South Africa in 2018. We are also focusing on customising our engagements and product offerings to suit the unique requirements from each of our target regions within India.”  

The National Tourism Programme (Ministry of Economy) concluded its three-city roadshow titled ‘Visit UAE’ in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and finally Mumbai – the city that sees the maximum number of tourists visiting the UAE every year. This is the third roadshow in India in the recent few years. UAE welcomed 2.6 million Indian tourists in 2017. Abdulla Saleh Al Hammadi, Director, National Tourism Programme, said, “It gives us immense pleasure to revisit the city of Mumbai, which my country is familiar with and visits often. India is one of the most promising markets, and the UAE delegation is looking forward to build relationships and further strengthen ties with the people, especially the tourism industry, under the banner of the ‘Visit UAE’ campaign.” The ‘Visit UAE’ roadshow included a huge delegation of tourism officials, airlines, and senior members from the UAE’s tourism and hospitality industry. Local tourism departments included Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing–Dubai, Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, Ajman Tourism Development Department, Fujairah Tourism & Antiquities Authority, Dubai Police and Dubai Health Authority.

Renaissance Hotels, part of Marriott International, announces the opening of the Renaissance Ahmedabad Hotel in Ahmedabad. This becomes the brand’s third property in India, with two others in Mumbai and Lucknow. Neeraj Govil, Area Vice President, South Asia, Marriott International, said, “The debut of the Renaissance brand in Ahmedabad will further strengthen our presence in India. With Ahmedabad being hailed as an emerging global business destination, we expect a huge influx of business and leisure travellers to the city.” Located at S G Highway, Renaissance Ahmedabad Hotel features a contemporary design and has 155 rooms with six suites, 62 twin rooms, 87 king rooms and 24 inter-connecting rooms. The hotel offers extensive facilities for social events and meetings spread over 29,220 sq ft, of versatile indoor and outdoor spaces. “Apart from being a fast-growing business city, Ahmedabad is also the country’s first UNESCO World Heritage City, making it not only economically but also culturally significant. With our vibrant, new F&B options, extensive leisure facilities and insights into the city, we are confident the hotel will be a favourite for travellers and Ahmedabad residents alike,” said Vishvapreet Singh Cheema, General Manager, Renaissance Ahmedabad Hotel.