Tag Archives: India

Rapid urbanisation in India is increasingly making Tier-III markets more relevant in the eyes of the hotel brands, according to a ‘India Hospitality Industry Review’ report by HVS Anarock. Nearly a third of new hotel signings emerge from these markets despite hotels being much smaller than those located in Tier-I markets. This is also happening on account of newer hotel management companies setting shop as also the smaller ones looking to grow rapidly through franchise or management agreement of smaller stand-alone hotels in Tier II, III cities.  

An HVS report titled ‘Hotels in India: Trends and Opportunities’ forecasts over 30,000 branded hotel rooms to be developed in the country over the next three years, taking the total anticipated branded supply to 1,49,276 rooms by 2021-22. The highest percentages of supply actively under development are in Chennai (94 per cent), followed by Hyderabad (89 per cent) and Bengaluru (72 per cent). The mid market segment continues to dominate the new supply pipeline accounting for 44.1 per cent of the proposed rooms.

Finland witnessed a 15 per cent growth in Indian arrivals in 2018 and over 80,000 overnights, informed Jukka Holappa, Commercial Counsellor, Country Head—India and Sri Lanka, Business Finland, at VisitFinland and India Workshop 2019 held in Delhi on February 25. Speaking at the event, he said, “The numbers from India have been growing. At our roadshows in Delhi and Mumbai, we have 10 partners from Finland and are looking at a participation of about 70-80 agents in each city. Indians usually like to explore more countries in one single visit, often going to Russia and Estonia; we are hoping to get them to stay longer in Finland.” Holappa claims that the they are committed to support, educate and grow the business for their travel partners. “It’s our role to educate the travel agents on Finland but the Indian travel trade needs to educate us to manage Indian travellers as well,” he concluded. He also informed that Lapland is very popular with Indians as they love to see the Northern Lights.

India is only the ninth largest country market outside Europe for international airline seats from Europe in 2018, reports a study by CAPA – Centre for Aviation. However, if North Africa and the Middle East are excluded, India is Europe’s number four long haul market, behind only the US, China and Canada. Among these leading long haul markets, Europe-India seat numbers grew fastest in 2018 versus 2017, with an increase of 12.9 per cent compared with 6.7% for the US, 10.9% for China and 7.3% for Canada. The annual seat capacity from Europe to India has enjoyed strong growth in each of the past two years, increasing by 9.4% in 2017 and 12.9% in 2018. The total number of seats (one way) in this market reached 5.0 million in 2018 (compared with 45 million for Europe-US) – a 30% increase from the low point of 3.8 million in 2013.

India and Maldives exchanged diplomatic notes for the implementation of the visa facilitation agreement with an aim to boost people-to-people ties between the two countries. The agreement provides a very liberal visa regime for Maldivian nationals to visit India for tourism, business, education and medical purposes. It will be effective from March 11 after all formalities including information being provided to all immigration offices, border points and customs authorities have been completed. The agreement was signed during Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih’s visit to India on December 17 last year. The exchange of diplomatic notes follows the signature of the agreement by President Ram Nath Kovind after the Union Cabinet had given its approval, read a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Relations between New Delhi and Male came under strain during former President Abdulla Yameen’s five-year rule, which saw him cosying up with China for various development projects, cracking down on dissent and imposing a state of emergency by jailing opposition leaders. Moreover, there were several diplomatic issues under the Yameen government with many Indian nationals being reportedly denied visas. Solih’s surprise victory in the Maldives presidential elections in last September came as a major diplomatic victory for India, after New Delhi repeatedly warned the Yameen government to respect democratic institutions and free the jailed opposition leaders.    

The domestic aviation market in India has registered the fastest growth for the fourth year in a row in 2018, according to a recent report by International Air Transport Association (IATA). The year-end aviation data analysis by IATA revealed, “The India domestic market recorded the fastest full-year domestic growth rate for the fourth year in a row (18.6 per cent), followed by China (11.7 per cent).” In fact, India recorded its 50th consecutive month of double-digit annual growth in October. Other than India and China, Russia (9 per cent), USA (5.1 per cent) and Brazil (4.8 per cent) were among the top five fastest growing domestic air travel markets. According to the IATA report, globally, revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rose by 6.5 per cent in 2018, slower than the 8 per cent growth registered in 2017.  

FCM Travel Solutions and KPMG’s recent whitepaper titled ‘Redefining Corporate Travel Management’ forecasts that the total market for business travel in India is projected to grow at an annual rate of 11.5 per cent and a spend of up to USD 46 billion in 2019. In the past year, rise in annual growth of business travel spend for India has been the highest among the top 15 business travel markets globally. Consequently, India surpassed South Korea to reach seventh position in the top 15 business travel markets (by spend) globally and is projected to be in the top five by 2022. It is forecasted to be one of the fastest growing markets over the next five years, growing at the rate of 12.5 per cent over the forecasted period.

The India domestic market posted the fastest full year domestic growth rate for the fourth year in a row (18.6 per cent), according to an International Air Transport Association (IATA) report. Domestic demand in India was underpinned by a robust economic expansion as well as by increasing number of domestic pairs. The country recorded its 50th consecutive month of double-digit annual growth in October. .“While globally, domestic air travel climbed 7 per cent last year, which remained unchanged from the rate in 2017. All markets showed annual growth, led by India and China, which both posted double-digit annual increases,” the report added.

Vision of Scandinavia (VOS), a 20-year old inbound tour operator and DMC for the Baltics and the Nordic Countries, based in Copenhagen, has recently opened an office in Mumbai through the appointment of Mahip Agarwal, Sales Representative & Operations Manager (India), VOS. This makes India its first Asian country to have an office. It also recently opened an office in Russia. Speaking about the company’s plans for the market, Agarwal says, “We are targeting 3,000 passengers from India this year. Our focus will be on series departures apart from FITs, specially the honeymooners. At present, Scandinavia doesn’t get much of series departures from India and we want to tap this niche. Apart from conducting one-on-one sales calls with the trade, this year will be devoted to research and gathering data. We are also listed with the Scandinavian Tourism Board – India and will be part of their annual roadshow this year.” He added that VOS is keen to take part in exhibitions and trade fairs next year in Mumbai and New Delhi. “We welcome travellers from all segments. It is a myth that Scandinavia is an expensive destination and meant only for the premium segment and we want to dispel this myth by showcasing the products in the right way,” Agarwal adds.  

Taiwan considers India as one of its focus markets, and from January to November 2018, it recorded 10.8 per cent growth in Indian arrivals to Taiwan, against 4.2 per cent growth in the previous year. Speaking at its recent roadshow in New Delhi, Trust HJ Lin, Director, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, said, “We feel great that we have double-digit growth from India and for the 2019-2020, we have a new strategy which is called ‘2 20:20’. In this campaign, the ‘2’ means that we focus on the top 2 per cent of higher income travellers who have the purchasing power to travel overseas. Then the first ‘20’ represents our aim to cooperate with top 20 tour operators in India, while the second ‘20’ in the campaign means that we want to reach 20 per cent growth by the year 2020.”