Tag Archives: India

Union Minister of Railways and Coal, Piyush Goyal has launched ‘Rail Heritage Digitisation Project’ of Indian Railways in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture through video conferencing. The project is a landmark effort to showcase the country’s rail heritage to national and international audience in an online story-telling platform. Ashwani Lohani, Chairman, Railway Board; Rajan Anandan, Vice President—South East Asia and India, Google; Amit Sood, Director, Google Cultural Institute, among other dignitaries and UNESCO representatives were among those present on the occasion. Goyal said, “As a 165 year old organisation, the Railways has a lot of material which we need to preserve and leave behind for posterity. Mumbai has a special place in the Railways, being the first railway line to be set up in India. We will be setting up 22 digital screens across different locations in India for showcasing this historic project. This partnership between the Railways and Google also has the dimension of the Wi-Fi, which we have proliferated to over 400 stations in India.” Lohani said that collaboration with Google Art & Culture has enabled Indian Railways to digitise National Rail Museum, Rewari Steam Centre, three World Heritage Railways, CSMT Mumbai building and other prominent aspects of country’s rail heritage.

The Turkish Culture and Tourism board in India will be conducting a roadshow and destination workshop in six cities across India from October 8-13, 2018. To be held in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai, the aim of the roadshow is to interact with stakeholders, agents, policy makers and travellers in these cities on current tourism offerings of Turkey and create more awareness on destination. The roadshow will also help in positioning Turkey as a leisure, wedding and MiCE destination amongst Indian travellers. Deniz Ersöz, Culture & Tourism Counsellor, Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in India said, “India is a very important market and we are aware of the potential it holds in terms of inbound visitor traffic to Turkey. In 2017, Turkey hosted more than 32 million international tourists while from India the number was 87,000. This year, from January to July, we recorded 25 per cent increase in the number of overall tourists. That means we will be hosting 40 million international tourists by the end of 2018. When we look at figures from India, we see 95 per cent increase for the same period. If this trend continues we will be hosting almost 2 lakh Indian tourists by the year-end.” The roadshow will also witness participation from Turkish Airlines, luxury hotels and important delegates and officials from Turkey.

The Ministry of Tourism has clarified that the Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India from the USA during 2017 have registered a positive growth of 6.17 per cent over 2016. Since 2010, the number of FTAs from the USA in India has never declined. However, it is observed from the report of National Travel & Tourism Office (NTTO), USA, that the outbound tourists from the USA to India have declined by 7 per cent in 2017, as compared to 2016. The figures of outbound travellers in the report are 1,195,000 and 1,111,000 for the years 2016 and 2017, respectively. In the said report released by NTTO, it is also mentioned that traveller volume is based on the US Department of Homeland Security Advanced Passenger Information System wherein all airlines are required to electronically submit passenger data on flights arriving into and departing from the United States. Thus, it is obvious that the source of data for the report is only airlines reporting. In the cases where direct flight between the USA and India is not operating, it is not known whether the final destination is reported as India by the passengers. Moreover, departures at international check posts other than airports are not captured in the report.

Louvre Hotels Group has introduced its Kyriad brand in India and has announced a plan for expansion across the country. Together with the acquisition of the Sarovar Hotels & Resort chain in January 2017, it has further broadened the network of Golden Tulip, Tulip Inn and Royal Tulip brands, and now has 126 hotels. Under the terms of the agreement with the Indian operator, as of 2018, Orange Tiger will be operating eight hotels under brand Kyriad by mid-October and fifteen by the end of this financial year and then at least ten new hotels will open every year. The scope of the agreement is not just limited to India, but it also encompasses opportunities for development in Nepal, Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, The Maldives, Pakistan and Mauritius. Saurabh Chawla, Global Chief Development Officer, Louvre Hotels Group, said, “Our goal is to become one of the top hospitality group by 2023. This calls for a strategic approach to countries with high growth potential such as India, where we introduce new brands that complement our existing presence and are tailored to address the needs of domestic and international, business and leisure travellers.” Abhijeet Shrivastava, CEO, Orange Tiger Hospitality, “The demand for mid-scale full-service hotels is ever growing in India and over the past few years, the liking for an International brand is on an upswing. With our expertise of managing the hotel operations as well as revenues, we are sure to take brand Kyriad to newer heights in South Asia.”

Seychelles Tourist Office, India recently organised a three city roadshow from September 3-7, 2018 in Kolkata, Bangalore and Pune. Following the success of 2017’s format, the roadshow saw the same ‘pre-fixed meeting’ format in all three cities. This by-invite only format ensured quick 15 minute meetings between top agents from the cities and the private sector partners from Seychelles. Elsie Sinon from Seychelles Tourism Board shared information about the destination with all agents. Other partners included DMCs, hotels and airline partner Air Seychelles. Sherin Francis, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board said, “We are happy to note the immense success of the three-city roadshow in India. We believe that growth of any destination relies heavily on its perception and knowledge among the travel trade of the country. We look forward to strengthen our bonds with the Indian travel trade by many more interactions with them in the form of roadshows, workshops and destination trainings in multiple cities of India.” The roadshow did not just introduce a new way of interaction but also saw the highest turn out of participants from Seychelles. The contingent had partners from various establishments. Lubaina Sheerazi, COO, Blue Square Consultants, Seychelles Tourist office India, said, “The cities were chosen due to their current and potential capacities for outbound tourism to Seychelles. We are pleased to have received such positive and encouraging feedback about the format and quality of meetings.”

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) is set to organise its annual convention this year in Kunming, Yunnan, China by November end. The association held its convention in Srinagar in March this year. The step comes in the wake of TAAI’s focus to bond with China, whose outbound has been the largest in recent years. Further, India’s outbound to China is also extremely significant and continues to grow. The final dates of the convention will be announced soon. TAAI and Yunnan Provincial Tourism Development Commission (YPTDC) are joining hands to deliver a great partnership that would benefit tourism between the two large and formidable nations of the world. On the invitation of Yunnan, TAAI team visited the beautiful city of Kunming and found it a great venue to organise this Convention, TAAI said.

Travel Money, the flagship foreign exchange brand of FCM Travel Solutions, Indian subsidiary of Flight Centre Travel Group Australia, strengthened its presence in South India with an inauguration of its first owned retail store at one of the key locations in Vijayawada. The outlet was inaugurated by Gagan Malhotra, Vice President, Foreign Exchange, FCM Travel Solutions India. This expansion augments total number of outlets to the 34 stores across India, out of which 14 are in South India. Spread over 1,000 sq ft at M G Road, the store offers a range of foreign exchange services such as forex, travel cards and outward remittances for education or close relative maintenance. Malhotra said, “According to the BCG report titled ‘Demystifying The Indian Online Traveller 2017’, the Indian travel market is projected to grow at 11 to 11.5 per cent to the tune of $48 billion by 2020. Indian travel given the significant outbound tourism growth in South India market, we aim to deliver quality and convenience in all aspects of foreign exchange including remittance for students, Leisure & Business travel, Prepaid Travel Cards, and much more to our travellers.” Travel Money’s current footprint extends to a total of 34 stores across India in all major cities including Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Cochin via a combination of owned branches and franchise outlets.

The number of UK visas granted to Indian nationals has continued to experience strong growth, according to the latest update from the UK Office for National Statistics. The latest figures show that there has been a 32 per cent increase in student visas and a 10 per cent increase in visit visas from India. This means that 550,925 Indians were granted UK visas in the year ending June 2018 while visit visas increased by 10 per cent to 454,658, which demonstrates that Indians are continuing to choose the UK as a holiday destination. T4 visas granted to Indian students touched 15,390, an increase of 32 per cent on the previous 12 months. Over 6,500 Indians came for short-term study in the UK during the same period. This is the third successive year that student visa numbers have increased. India continues to receive more UK work visas than the rest of the world combined with over 60,000 work visas issued last year. Dominic Asquith, British High Commissioner to India, said, “The latest figures reinforce a trend we have noticed for some time – that across the board more and more Indians are choosing the UK as a destination to visit, work in and study. I’m particularly pleased to note that numbers of Indian students have increased by 32%. I welcome this evidence that international students wish to study at our world class institutions and are succeeding in securing places there.”

The 16th edition of Tourism Australia’s India Travel Mission 2018 (ITM 2018) in Jaipur brought together 75 Australian tourism businesses to meet with 87 travel retailers from India in over 6,500 business appointments over three days. The event witnessed participation from 14 first-time sellers and 20 buyers. The spotlight during ITM 2018 was on Signature Experiences –a collection which offers a diverse range of travel options including Australian Wildlife Collection, Great Golf Courses of Australia, Great Walks of Australia, Luxury Lodges of Australia and the Ultimate Winery Experiences of Australia. “India is a significant market for Australia and has been seeing a very encouraging growth trend. The introduction of Signature Experiences, the participation of new products showcasing at ITM this year and commitment of tourism suppliers who have been investing in India over the past decade is a cohesive effort to bring top selection of Australian tourism experiences to Indian High Value Travellers (HVTs),” stated Brent Anderson, Regional General Manager – South & South East Asia, Tourism Australia. Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager – India & Gulf, Tourism Australia, said, “ITM 2018 has the largest ever delegation of Australian tourism suppliers. Our focus for the year is to sustain the growth in arrivals and drive yield through our strategic trade and consumer initiatives. After achieving the 2020 goal of 300,000 visitors, three years ahead of the target date, our ambitions are fuelled to go bigger and achieve higher milestones”. In addition to ITM, the distribution strategy of Tourism Australia includes an enriched trade engagement programme.  

After successful shows in seven cities across the country, the concluding Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) of 2018 opened at JW Marriot Hotel Pune with over 600 attendees. The first day of the event was inaugrated by GB Srithar, Regional Director – South Asia & Middle East, Singapore Tourism Board; Sunil VA, Regional Vice President – ISC, Oman Air; Sanjay Rao, Aviation Consultant; Vishal Bhatia, Country Manager – India, VisitBritain and Dev Karvat, Founder – TrawellTag & CEO, Emerging Markets, Covermore Group.