Tag Archives: FICCI

Highlighting the foremost areas of developing a robust tourism infrastructure and the current scenario of tourism in India, FICCI in association with Yes Bank has released a knowledge report titled ‘Tourism Infrastructure Investments: Leveraging Partnerships for Exponential Growth’, during the Tourism Investors Meet 2018 held in New Delhi. The It also features facts and figures pertaining to the tourism sector and suggests recommendations to establish India as a global tourism hotspot. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, unveiled the report during the meet along with Bhupesh Rathore, President & Head – Strategic Government Advisory, Yes Bank; Dr Jyotsana Suri, Past President, FICCI & Chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee; Dipak Deva, Co-chairman, FICCI Tourism Committee and Rahul Chakravarty, Consultant – Tourism, FICCI. Rathore also gave a presentation focusing on the potential and development of tourism across various sectors of the industry.

Travel and tourism investment is expected to rise by 6.7 per cent per annum over the next 10 years to Rs 5,546.3 billion in 2028, according to FICCI-Yes Bank Knowledge Paper titled ‘Tourism Infrastructure Investments- Leveraging Partnerships for Exponential Growth’. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said that the tourism and civil aviation ministries are engaging continuously to identify solutions and implement them for the growth of both the sectors. “The way forward is a focused approach for evolving tourist places under the aviation connectivity scheme and expanding existing routes under UDAN scheme including helicopter routes in hilly and north-eastern regions. This will provide good infrastructural support to the tourism sector,” said Padhee. She also added that the Ministry of Civil Aviation is working to remove bottlenecks in remote and regional areas by providing proper navigation means, technology, better security and safety. Dr Jyotsna Suri, Past President, FICCI & Chair, FICCI Tourism Committee and CMD, Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, in her address said that increasing connectivity will boost tourism, adding that ‘one flight per day to Khajuraho will build the demand eventually’. Dipak Deva, Co-Chair, FICCI Tourism Committee and MD, SITA, TCI & Distant Frontiers also presented his views on the growth of tourism in the country at the 4th Tourism Investors Meet held in Delhi.

Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) during 2017 were USD 27,742 mn with a growth of 17.0 per cent over 2016, according to a recent report on inbound tourism by FICCI and Yes Bank. This growth trend is dependent on many external factors including exchange rate and socio–political scenario. However, despite global undulations, FEEs have consistently contributed a significant share to the tourism GDP of India. The rising flow of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) is clearly a function of the stellar growth performance of emerging tourism trends like MiCE along with spiritual travel and medical tourism. Furthermore, it goes without saying that FTAs have been able to garner considerable resources for the country and started contributing significantly to the economy.

Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) during 2017 were USD 27,742 mn with a growth of 17.0 per cent over 2016, according to a latest FICCI-Yes Bank Report. This growth trend is dependent on many external factors including exchange rate and socio–political scenario, however, despite global undulations, FEEs have consistently contributed a significant share to the Tourism GDP of India. The rising flow of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) is clearly a function of the stellar growth performance of emerging tourism trends like MiCE along with spiritual travel and medical tourism. Furthermore, it goes without saying that FTAs have been able to garner considerable resources for the country and started contributing significantly to the economy. Foreign tourists tend to spend more in India than almost any other country worldwide due to its size as well as diversity of culture and geography. These are positive signs for the industry, and indicate significant potential going forward.

The 10th edition of Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) opened with 280 foreign buyers from 55 countries and 270 exhibitors at The Lalit Jaipur on April 22. Committed to boost tourism in India, the inbound show was inaugurated by Vasundhara Raje, Chief Minister, Rajasthan; Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism; Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee; Dipak Deva, Co-Chairman, FICCI Tourism Committee; Nihal Chand Goel, Additional Chief Secretary (Tourism, Art & Culture), among other officials from the Government of Rajasthan. The show, celebrating a decade of successfully promoting inbound tourism in Rajasthan, hopes to cross the 11,000 mark in terms of pre-scheduled B2B meetings between the exhibitors and buyers. Raje said, “It is heartening to see such an enthusiastic participation at GITB. The tourism sector has seen a new vigour and dynamism after the launch of the campaign ‘Jane Kya dikh Jaye’. Our vision was to get 50 million tourists in Rajasthan by 2020 but by the end of 2017 itself, the state received 47.5 million tourists and we would compete our target by the end of 2018.” Raje also thanked the central government for the financial support provided for the state’s various tourism projects. An MoU was also singed on behalf of the Government of Rajasthan and FICCI under which the GITB will continue to be hosted till 2024. The dates for the next edition of the show in Jaipur are April 28-30, 2019.  

Around 56 new airports will become functional in the next few years, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu said at the two-day Global Logistics Summit recently held in New Delhi. The minister further said that by bringing all the stakeholders together, it will create the right platform to improve logistics and connectivity which are vital for increasing intra-state and international trade flows. Indian logistics industry is estimated at around US $ 215 billion in 2019-20, growing at over 10% annually. In the last decade or so, significant improvements in railways, roads, highways, inland waterways, aviation, ports and coastal shipping have taken place. To support awareness building and develop better understanding on these issues, the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, in partnership with FICCI and the World Bank Group, organised the Summit to discuss relevant issues among global experts, academics, government officials, private sector and industry representatives.

The second day of FICCI Digital Travel, Hospitality & Innovation Summit 2018 focused on start-ups and what investors look for before they fund new businesses. Two sessions were held on investments, acquisitions and start-ups, followed by another start-up pitching session. The first panel discussion titled ‘The Future of consolidation, Merger & Acquisition & Foreign Investments in the Travel Industry’, was moderated by Alok Mittal, Founder & CEO , Indifi Technologies. The panel included Matt James,  Senior Manager, Corporate Strategy & Business Development, Amadeus Asia Pacific; Ankush Nijhawan, Co-Founder, TBO Group; Vikram Gupta, Founder & Managing Partner, IvyCap Venture; Tej Kapoor, Managing Director & Head, Fosun RZ Capital India; and Bhavik Vasa, Chief Growth Officer, EbixCash. The panelists discussed what it takes to attract investments and how they judge ideas to put money into them. The second panel, ‘Learning Through Peers : Case studies of  successful travel start-ups’, was moderated by Ashish Kumar, Co Chairman, FICCI Travel Technology Committee & Managing Partner, Agnitio Consulting. The panelists included Sakshi Vij, Founder & CEO, Myles; Anirudh Gupta, Co-Founder, Tripoto; Stephanie Strunk, Community Manager, Corporate Startegy, Amadeus Asia Pacific; Aishwarya Kachhal , Co-Chair, Harvard Business Alumni Angels India and Rajiv Malhotra, Founder, Hotel Launcher.

FICCI and KPMG India have jointly unveiled the knowledge paper ‘Expedition 3.0- Travel & Hospitality Gone Digital’ at the inaugural session of Digital Travel, Hospitality & Innovation Summit. The Knowledge Paper looks at unravelling the technology trends in travel and hospitality segment that will help better define the future of the industry, how digitalisation has impacted the evolution of this industry and what can be achieved by overall technology inclusion across stakeholders in the industry ecosystem. Some of the key highlights of the paper reveal that most travellers go online, and 67 per cent even use voice search for research; 71 per cent use smartphones for research and booking, and 82 per cent prefer digital boarding passes and e-tickets for convenience; 87 per cent use videos and photos posted by friends as part of their travel research while 83 per cent want to be connected while travelling; 85 per cent use price comparison websites to look for deals, and 58 per cent agree spending considerable time to find best price; 91 per cent use review sites; and 75 per cent choose hotels that do not charge for Wi-Fi.  

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) inaugurated the third edition of Digital Travel, Hospitality & Innovation Summit on March 21, 2018 at Federation House, New Delhi. The two-day summit is part of FICCI’s mandate to further enhance India’s digital drive in the travel and tourism industry. The summit saw in attendance the high flyers of travel and hospitality industry alongside the giants of travel technology from both India and abroad. The summit kick-started with an inaugural session where Ashish Kumar, Co-Chairman, FICCI Travel Technology Committee & Partner Agnitio Consulting, welcomed the delegates and attendees, followed by a special address by Dhruv Shringi, Chairman, FICCI Travel Technology Committee & CEO and Co-Founder, Yatra Online, where he stressed on the new innovations changing the face of the travel industry around the world. This was followed by keynote addresses by Jason Nash, Chief Storyteller, Travelport; Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder & CEO, MakeMyTrip and Pulkit Trivedi, Director Global Sales Organisation, Facebook India.

As part of its mandate to further enhance India’s digital drive in the travel and tourism industry, FICCI is set to organise the third edition of Digital Travel, Hospitality & Innovation Summit from March 21-22, 2018 at Federation House, New Delhi. The Summit will witness the presence of who’s who from the travel and hospitality industry, and will cover various topics related to the future of travel and innovation. FICCI and KPMG India will also jointly unveil the knowledge paper ‘Expedition 3.0- Travel & Hospitality Gone Digital’ at the inaugural session of the event. The paper looks at unravelling the technology trends in travel and hospitality segment that will help better define the future of the industry, how digitalisation has impacted the evolution of this industry and what can be achieved by overall technology inclusion across the stakeholders in the industry ecosystem. The Summit will also offer an opportunity for travel startups through Travel Tech Launch Pad, a platform for travel start-ups to learn from experts in the field of travel, exhibit their business ideas, and display their products and services in addition to providing a unique opportunity to connect with the right set of ecosystem partners.