Tag Archives: President

The ninth edition of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) will be held at Samudrika and Sagara Convention Centre, Willingdon Island from September 28 to 30 and will focus on themes ‘Responsible tourism’ and ‘Muziris and Spice Route’. It is expected to attract around 1,500 buyers from around the country and abroad. Around 265 stalls of different sizes for the exhibitors within Kerala will be featured at the venue as part of the event. Abraham George, President, Kerala Travel Mart Society, says, “KTM 2016, which will coincide with ‘World Tourism Day’, will reach out to buyers from new international markets, emphasizing focus on the new arenas of tourism, including responsible tourism, and popularize the concept among the common man. To facilitate better interaction between buyers and sellers, we have initiated the process for sellers’ registration much in advance. The buyers’ registration is open till July 29. The mart will be a platform for B2B networking.”  

The Delhi Government is going to rationalise taxes in the tourism sector and major announcement regarding this can be expected in the upcoming Delhi Budget 2016-17, said Kapil Mishra, Delhi Tourism Minister. He also revealed that the Government is working on a major Delhi Festival, a 15 day long cultural event in Delhi to be held in the month of November on the lines of Dubai Festival. The Delhi Government will start major destination branding activity this year as well. “We have completely changed our event organising policy and are also planning 10 smart streets which will be made into tourist hubs in the city. We are revamping all monuments. This year a massive and aggressive Delhi branding will be launched. We are working on rationalising the taxes and this budget will bring good news for the industry,”  he said while addressing the HRANI Conclave on February 27, 2016 at Le Meridien, New Delhi. The HRANI Conclave addressed issues of hoteliers and restaurateurs of Delhi and put across suggestions to the Delhi Tourism Minister. Luv Malhotra, President, HRANI, said, “There are three primary issues which we are addressing with the Tourism Minister at an open forum. The Luxury tax levied is a major issue. The exorbitant charges on environment tax which we have to pay as restaurateurs and hoteliers for which discussions are on in the court and ease of doing business are other issues.” Malhotra mentioned that as of present the industry requires 40 odd  licences, certifications and clearances to function which are only 5 when compared to countries like China and Malaysia. The Minister further added that the Government is keen to work closely with the Tourism and Hospitality industry to …

Highly dissatisfied with the Union Budget,  Sunil Kumar, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), says tourism has been again been put on the back burner. “It is a big tragedy for an industry that has so much to offer many countries of the world. Wonder when India will consider this industry as an important economic success strategy.” Kumar reiterates that the budget does not meet up to the expectations of the industry, which has been projecting innovation with wide reforms and a more dynamic India. “There were expectations on Service Tax reliefs; boost to tourism sector; incentives for foreign exchange earnings, and these appear to have missed out. The income tax relief should have been on most classes, but is only done for lower slabs. The focus on Voluntary Disclosure is not too strategic and may not yield good results. Whatever must happen in the areas of travel, tourism and aviation, will not be dependent on this budget at all. In fact, the new 0.5% cess is going to add liability to all. The new budget has hardly any positive impact on our industry, which is sad,” he says. “For Travel industry to grow, especially during a time when the challenges are too many and the industry does require a boost, government must address the issues concerned, including sustainability. For this industry being a very large employer of people and generator of huge revenues for government in the form of taxes, government’s attention is rather disappointing,” Kumar added. Unless the government firmly reviews the challenges of all stakeholders in this industry, it will not be able to support the growth that is available in plenty. The TAAI President says …

Guldeep Singh Sahni, President, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), says the only positive point in the Budget is making non-functional airports operational. “It is a very neutral budget, and there is nothing in it for the tourism industry. The only positive point is that the government is considering making non-functional airports operational, which would give a boost to inbound tourism. However, nothing substantial is there for the travel industry,” he says.

Jyoti Kapur, President, ADTOI, says, “With the Finance Minister talking about old airstrips to be developed, we believe that it would result in boosting domestic and inbound tourism. With the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat scheme, now in full swing the connectivity to remote areas will increase, and it looks like a positive approach for attracting tourists to destinations in India beyond just pilgrimage sites. Also, in the budget, the government has sanctioned a huge amount for developing infrastructure and Swacch Bharat, and we believe that this too will boost tourism within the country. Cleanliness is a huge issue in India and if that is tackled, it will do wonders for tourism. It is still to be seen how the government is going to initiate these programs. However, since nothing has been done about the taxes plaguing the industry, we are a bit disappointed. Domestic tourism in India is suffering despite the rupee being weak, owing to poor infrastructure, higher taxes and connectivity. While two of these things have been addressed, we would’ve been happier had the taxes been rationalised.

Reacting on the General Budget 2016-17, Bharat Malkani, President, FHRAI, said, “The hospitality industry has not been acknowledged in the budget. We reserve our further comments till we have evaluated the notifications of the Budget, which we understand will be out shortly.”  

Reacting to the Budget, Jayant Nadkarni, President, Business Aircraft Operators Association, said, Developing new airports is always good. But we already have many airports without much connectivity. For operations to commence, we need clarity on funding, taxation, duties, and incentives. These are yet to come together for the small aircraft sector in business aviation and in scheduled commuter flights to remote areas. The potential for growth clearly exists.

Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI), a consortium of tour operators in Kerala, have launched a 9-day experiential package ‘Navaratana Experiessential Holidays’, for inbound tourists which would include 500 new packages for visitors in the first phase.  The highlight of the packages will be an insight into village life, community interactions and promotion of sustainable tourism practices. Local interactions, tradition of Ayurveda, full body massages, jungle boat safari, backwater cruises on houseboats, tea factory visits, tour of Kerala’s trade and cultural ties with the rest of the world. The first phase of the packages by the consortium, targets foreign tourists and is uploaded on ATTOI website. Packages for domestic tourists will be launched in the next phase. “The Navaratana ‘Experiessential’ Holidays is going to redefine the way we see Kerala with 99 unique experiences in nine days,” said Anish Kumar P K, President, ATTOI. The finer elements of the industry consortium by ATTOI involves collaboration of hotels, tour operators and vendors at each destination. A P Anil Kumar, Tourism Minister, Kerala, said, “The state government’s plan allocation to the tourism fund has been increased from Rs 100 Crores to Rs 225 Crores in the course of five years. This will be further increased in the coming budget session.”

Dream Cruises’ first ship, Genting Dream that was launched in India this January, will dock in Mumbai on October 29, 2016. Thatcher Brown, President, Dream Cruises, who was in Mumbai to make this announcement, said, “We will announce the price of the packages agents can start selling by February end. We will offer a really good value proposition to our trade partners and the commission structure will be similar to the one of Star Cruises. Itineraries will include two-, five- and seven-night cruises. As of now, we don’t have plans to make Mumbai a permanent stop for it.” The ship will be stationed out of China for regular sailings and will be priced higher than Star Cruises’ existing cruises. The new ships will have of 1,700 staterooms, 35 restaurants and bars, various entertainment areas, outdoor adventures, rejuvenation facilities and more. Her sister ship World Dream will sail in November 2017.

Air India has agreed to accept travel agents’ corporate credit card for booking, revealed Sunil Kumar, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). Speaking in New Delhi, at the UFTAA presentation for TAAI Northern Region members, he revealed that the team of TAAI had a meeting with Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India; Pankaj Srivastava, Director-Commercial, Air India, and other representative of the national carrier. “I am very impressed with the response from Ashwani Lohani, Pankaj Srivastava, and the entire team of Air India on allowing travel agents to use their corporate credit cards to do ticketing. We have been consistently talking to them on the airline having no objection if a customer uses his credit card, or the agent uses the customer’s credit card. However, the agent could not use his corporate credit card to make the booking. However, they listened to us, and we are highly obliged that may be within a week, the agent corporate credit card will be used by Air India as a form of payment.”