Volume Vi l issue 19 Pages 32 www.travelnewsdigest.in `50 / us $5 16-31 august 2017

Posted at NDPSO, New Delhi - 110001 on 5/6 & 20/21 of every month | Date of Publication 01/02 &15/16 every month | Postal Registration No. DL(S) - 01/3404/2015-17 | RNI No. DELENG/2011/40217

ttF West series to boost domestic and outbound travel markets

The Western region of India, comprising the most potential travel markets in the country is

gearing up for hectic marketing activity, with the trade show Travel & Tourism Fair (TTF) coming up in Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai and Pune, in the month of September.

West India in general and Ahmedabad and Mumbai in particular are the biggest source markets for domestic as well as outbound tourists.

The Ahmedabad show has emerged as the biggest in the 9-city TTF series in India.

TTF Mumbai provides an excellent opportunity for buyers and sellers before the vital Diwali season.

The satellite editions TTF Surat and TTF Pune are also a big draw, due to the huge source market potential in these cities, including the B2B as wells as B2C markets that are covered by way of separate days for the two segments.

TTF Ahmedabad 2017 will be held from September 1-3 at Gujarat University Exhibition Hall. All halls at the venue have been booked and are filling out fast, as per the organisers. TTF Ahmedabad 2016 received an overwhelming response, with the number of exhibitors growing by 30% over 2015 and an equally strong growth in the number of visitors.

TTF Surat 2017 will be held from September 8-10 at Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium. TTF Surat is visited by thousands of Surtis who are

known for their wanderlust. There was a quantum jump in the visitor footfalls in 2016, which doubled over the previous year.

Vijaybhai Rupani, Chief Minister of Gujarat, conveyed in a message, “I am sure the TTF being held at two cities in Gujarat will be beneficial to both, the tour operators as well as the tourists.”

Jenu Devan (IAS), MD and Commissioner of Tourism, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd, said,

“TTF is India’s largest exhibition for the travel and tourism industry. Each year, it provides a superb marketing platform and the chance to network with travel and trade in all major cities. Participating in the fair will give TCGL the unique prospect to connect directly with the largest gathering of travellers, members of the travel industry and other stakeholders. By being a part of a superlative show like TTF, TCGL will get an opportunity to showcase the greatness of Gujarat by talking about its several spectacular attractions, its vibrant culture and rich heritage.”

After completing the Gujarat circuit, TTF will move to Mumbai and Pune, in the second half of September.

TTF Mumbai 2017 will be held from September 15-17 at Nehru Centre. TTF Mumbai 2016 grew by 30% over last year. The show is ideally timed for vacation planning for the upcoming peak Dussehra and Diwali season.

TTF Pune 2017 is scheduled from September 22-24 at Messe Global, at Seasons Mall. Visitors are assured of getting best deals in holiday packages, hotel accommodation and other travel options, with facility of booking on-the-stop. For the city’s travel trade, TTF is an opportunity to network and transact business with national and international exhibitors.

The shows are carefully timed back-to-back in close proximity cities, thus providing maximum exposure

Ideal opportunity for the buyers and sellers to meet, before the peak Dussehra and Diwali season

INDIA 04 AsIA 09 AfrIcA 20europe 16mIDDle eAst 14 AmerIcAs 19 cArIbbeAN 24 techNology 26 respoNsIble tourIsm 28 fIlm tourIsm 30eveNts 29oceANIA 22 globAl 25

Contd. on page 2

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 2 • COVER STORY

Editor & Publisher Sanjiv Agarwal

PresidentV Suresh

ContentChirajit NathPalak Sharma

DesignDilip MannaRitam MaityMaruti More

Managing Directors Gazanfar IbrahimRajiv Agarwal

Director Harsh Agarwal

associate DirectorsRajarshi DeRaj Kapoor SinghR MaheshTarique EbrahimNitin TelangRaminder SinghGunjan DuttVicky Menezes

advisors Abraham JohnSheila Leong

ManagersFatima D’CostaUma SurekaYC AnilPhilomena D’SouzaTania DasRamesh ChauhanSanjeev GuptaMedha Anand

assistant ManagersKanika SinghShreya BothraShiv Shankar DuttaPauline Dias

ExecutivesPauravi OakKomal SolankiKhushbu ThakkarPriya DasPriyanka MandalKiran M

Travel News Digest (TND) is printed and published by Sanjiv Kumar Agarwal on behalf of Fairfest Media Ltd.

Printed at International Print -o-pac Ltd, C-4 to C-11, Hosiery complex, Phase-II, Extension, Noida - 201 301, Distt. G. B. Nagar, UP.

Published at 216A/1Gautam Nagar, Gulmohar Park, New Delhi-110 049

Editor Sanjiv Kumar Agarwal

No responsibility will be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts and photos received. Despite careful selection of sources, no responsibility can be taken for accuracy.

The Publishers and the Editors do not necessarily individually or collectively identify themselves with the views expressed by respective writers and contributors in this journal. The views expressed are those of the authors only. The magazine assumes no liability or responsibility of any kind in connection with the information thereof.

All right reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

Head Office 216A/1, Gautam Nagar, Gulmohar Park, New Delhi - 110 049 Tel: (91)(11) 26866874

Registered Office25C/ 1, Belvedere Road, Alipur,Kolkata 700 027 Tel : (91)(33) 24790010-14

Branch OfficesMUMBAI (91) (22) 4555 8555

HYDERABAD (91) (40) 27896149

BANGALORE (91) (80) 26761598

AHMEDABAD (91) (79) 2646 1217

….…………………………………………

Volume VI • Issue 19

For feedback and information,

write in at info@travelnewsdigest.in

Web : www.travelnewsdigest.in

Fairfest Media Limited(CIN - U74140WB1988PLC045101)

to qualified travel trade personnel, MICE & corporate buyers and leisure travel, all within the best manageable out-of-office time and great value-for-money.

A total of 19 States & UTs and 3 Countries will be showcasing their tourism products and marketing presentations to the trade visitors and media during the TTF West Series. All the shows are expected to be houseful and bigger than last year.

State Tourism Boards who have in principally confirmed their participation for TTF West India series include Andaman and Nicobar Administration, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

The TTF West Series is supported by India Tourism, participating in all the four TTFs as always. The Countries include China, Nepal and Sri Lanka eyeing the booming western India outbound market.

Participation from international and domestic players at TTF West India series include Carrot Cruises, DS Namah Hospitality, Udaan, Carlson hotels (South Asia) Pvt Ltd, Yeti Airlines Domestic Pvt Ltd, We Thai Holiday Co Ltd, Ant Tours Pvt Ltd (Arabian Nights), Make Plans Holidays, Miles Tourism & Travels LLC, Orient Tours LLC, Walker Destinations, Ren Tours & Treks, Assured Hospitality Services Pvt Ltd, Atlas Tours & Travels, Synergy Hotels & Resorts Pvt Ltd, Trulyy India Hotels And Resorts Pvt Ltd, Shriji Tours, Ananta

Hotels & Resorts and Decent Hospitality.Commenting on the success of the TTF shows,

Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman & CEO, Fairfest Media Ltd (organiser of TTF), remarked, “TTF West Series is designed to cater to the tourism industry in the region, at a strategically important time before the high season of Diwali. TTF Ahmedabad has the distinction now of being the largest in the annual circuit of TTF spanning nine cities.”

TTF is visited by travel trade and avid travellers in equal proportions. The first one and half days of the show is reserved for the travel trade and remaining one and a half days for the general visitors.

For more information, please visit: www.ttfotm.com

ttF ahmedabad 2016 held from September 2-4 at Gujarat University Exhibition Hall witnessed 546 Exhibitors, 4496 Trade Visitors and 5010 General Visitors. 24 States and 13 Countries were represented at the show.

ttF Mumbai 2016 held from September 16-18 at Nehru Centre witnessed 247 Exhibitors, 2253 Trade Visitors and 1651 General Visitors. 22 States and 5 Countries were represented at the show.

ttF Pune 2016 held from September 23-25 at Messe Global Seasons Mall witnessed 130 Exhibitors, 772 Trade Visitors and 1975 General Visitors. 16 States and 5 Countries were represented at the show.

ttF surat 2016 held from September 9-11 at Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium, witnessed 194 Exhibitors, 1030 Trade Visitors and 6280 General Visitors. 20 States and 3 Countries were represented at the show.

Last EDitiONs’ sYNOPsis

Contd. from page 1

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 4INDIA

Air India begins direct flight service between New Delhi and Washington DC

SpiceJet seals 40 new Boeing aircrafts

Indian Medical Tourism witnessed a prominent rise in medical visasIndia issued more than 1.78 lakh medical visas in 2016, including for follow up treatment, as against 1.22 lakh in 2015, according to the data. The number of medical visas issued by India rose by 45% in 2016 from the year before, as per data presented by the Home Affairs Min-istry. It is an indication that India is rapidly becoming a hub of medical treatment for foreigners. In 2014, there were 184,298 Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA), in 2015 the number was 233,918 which jumped to 361,060 in 2016.

A Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) report titled ‘India Services Sector- A Multi-trillion Dollar Opportunity for Global Symbiotic Growth 2017’ stated that the presence of world-class hospitals and skilled medical professionals has strengthened India’s posi-tion as a preferred destination for medical tourism.

Treatment for major surgeries in India costs only a fraction—in some cases as low as 10% of that in devel-oped countries.

The report also asserts that majority of the patients coming to India for treatment are from the Middle East, Africa, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives, Pakistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. India’s cost advantage will significantly open doors to the U.S. and Europe over future, due to lower cost than the U.S. and almost half that of Europe.”

Dental tourism accounts for 10% of the medical tour-ism and the government is keen to promote it. India provides competitive cost advantage at one tenth of the cost of the U.S. and Europe. By 2020, medical tourism industry of India is expected to touch $8 billion.

The first direct Air India flight from Delhi to Wash-ington DC recently landed at the Dulles International Airport, connecting both the Capitals. Upon its land-ing at the airport, the flight, AI 103, was accorded a water cannon salute and traditional gate-side prayer ceremony.

Indian Ambassador to the U.S., Navtej Sarna; Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani; and Commercial Director of Air India Pankaj Shrivastava were among the passengers on the inau-gural flight to Washington.

The service to the U.S. capital will be offered three times a week. Air India has deployed its 238-seater Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft to cater to the new direct service to the U.S., with the plane offering eight seats in first class, 35 in business and 195 in economy class.

The non-stop flight service is expected to bring in additional 30,000 leisure and business travellers and $30 million in total economic impact annually to the National Capital Region, local officials stated.

“India currently represents a six percent market share of all international travellers to the Common-wealth and is Virginia’s fourth largest market,” said Todd Haymore, Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade.

“With projected growth, this new direct route to Dulles International will not only help boost visitation from this high growth market but also introduce the Commonwealth to new Indian audiences, including businesses, tourists and students,” Haymore added.

“The Washington DC metro is Air India’s fifth U.S. destination after New York, Newark, Chicago and San Francisco, and it reinforces our commitment to pro-viding the most convenient service between the U.S. and India,” said Lohani.

SpiceJet has placed for a major order of 40 new Boeing aircraft. The deal, which was confirmed during Paris Air Show and is valued at $4.7 billion, is for the new 737 MAX 10 aircraft.

20 of the aircraft are brand new orders while the other 20 are converted from a previous deal for the 737 MAX 8. The newly-launched 737 MAX 10 can seat a maximum of 230 passengers in a single-class layout, according to Boeing.

“As a Boeing 737 operator and current customer of the 737 MAX, we are proud to be a part of the launch of the 737 MAX 10 and to be the first airline in India to order the newest version of the 737, which will enable us to maximise revenue on our dense routes while having a lower unit seat cost. With the introduction of our 737 MAXs next year, we will be able to further expand our network, while keeping our costs low for our customers,” said Ajay Singh, Chairman & Man-aging Director of SpiceJet.

SpiceJet currently operates a fleet of 35 737s and 20 Bombardier Q400s. But the carrier plans to expand its fleet to 200 aircraft by the end of the decade, including the introduction of its first 737 MAX aircraft in 2018.

Kevin McAllister, President & CEO, Boeing Com-mercial Airplanes, said, “SpiceJet continues to be an aviation leader and strong Boeing partner, and we are honoured to have them join 737 MAX 10 launch group. The additional 20 737 MAX 8s and capacity provided by these 20 new 737 MAX 10s will allow SpiceJet to offer even more passengers their award-winning on-board experience, while the airplane’s efficiency will keep SpiceJet profitable.”

The state government of Uttarakhand is working towards unveiling a new policy to give a fillip to the tourism sector in the state.

Uttarakhand is promoting Spiritual Tourism by developing circuits such as Devi Circuit and Shiv Cir-cuit. This year the number of tourist arrivals in the state has already crossed the 17 lakh mark, which reflects the huge potential the state has as a tourist destination, said Satpal Maharaj, Minister of Tour-ism, Government of Uttarakhand, at the third edi-tion of FICCI ‘Tourism Investors Meet’.

In his inaugural address, Maharaj said that Adven-ture Tourism, Medical and Wellness Tourism and Culinary Tourism were being developed. In addition to making Uttarakhand a world-class winter destina-tion, the government was planning to set up skiing resorts and was undertaking other such initiatives. He added that homestays were also being promoted to allow tourists to spend time in the lap of nature.

The Minister also stated that funds have been sanctioned by the Central government for construc-tion of all-weather roads and laying down of railway tracks. He urged the industry to invest in the state as it offered immense opportunities and develop the var-ied tourism destinations.

Dr Jyotsna Suri, Past President FICCI & Chairper-son, FICCI Tourism Committee and Chairperson & MD, Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, said that the chal-lenge lies in creating world class infrastructure to sig-nificantly increase tourist arrivals and create a strong, unequivocal ‘Brand India.’ She urged the stakehold-ers to utilise the varied FICCI platforms which were promoting tourism to realise the true potential of this sector.

On the occasion, a FICCI-Yes Bank knowledge report, ‘Investment in Tourism Infrastructure: Igniting India’s Growth Engine’ was unveiled by the dignitaries.

uttarakhand to unveil new policy to boost tourism in the state

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 5 INDIA •

The Odisha government has set a target of 30% growth in foreign tourist arrivals at around one lakh travellers in the state this calendar year. In 2016, the state hosted 76,361 foreign tourists, most of them from Sri Lanka, Japan, some European and South Asian nations.

“We are witnessing a steady growth in foreign tourist arrivals over the years. In 2016, the state saw over 14% growth in overseas travellers from the previous year. This year, we hosted the Asian Athletics Championship that gave us very good opportunity to show-case the state at an international level. Looking at the current trends, we are expecting 30% growth in foreign tour-ist arrivals at around one lakh visitors,” said Nitin B Jawale, Managing Direc-tor, Odisha Tourism Development Corporation.”

The government is hopeful of

attracting a large number of interna-tional sightseers to Odisha, for which different promotional activities have been lined up in China, Europe and South East Asia, among others.

Jawale stated that following the direct air connectivity with Malaysia, the South Asian countries provided a huge potential for the state. He also said the state government wants to strengthen Europe and the U.S. as their source markets.

Talking about domestic tourism, Jawale said that the state is a leading pilgrimage destination for Hindus and gets a very high number of travel-lers from within the country. In 2016, Odisha hosted over 1.28 crore tourists from all over the country. “This year, we are expecting around five percent increase in domestic tourists’ arriv-als,” he added.

Italian luxury cruise liner Costa Cruises in collaboration with Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and Mumbai Port Trust announced the launch of India’s first domestic luxury cruise ‘Costa NeoClassic’ on the Mumbai-Kochi route commencing from Novem-ber 2017.

Commenting over the develop-ment, Jaykumar Raval, Minister, Maharashtra Tourism, said, “Indians are increasingly embracing luxury and leisure lifestyles and the domestic cruise tourism industry is estimated to grow to 1.50 million by 2031.”

The Mumbai-Kochi cruise will take

four nights. “The Costa NeoClassic has a total of 654 cabins including sea-view and suites with private balconies, a casino, theatre, discotheque, ball-room grand bar, gym with treatment rooms, sauna, jacuzzi and steam, an outdoor jogging track and two swim-ming pools, besides a huge duty free shopping arcade,” said Buhdy Bok, President, Carnival Asia.

Enhancing the cruising experience for Indians will be a library, Italian regional gastronomical experiences with vegetarian, non-vegetarian cui-sine and even a Jain menu, besides the original famous Neapolitan Pizzas at Pizzeria ‘Pummid’Oro.’

Odisha targets 30% growth in foreign tourist arrivals

Costa Cruises and MtDC unveil maiden luxury cruise liner

India records 12.7% year on year growth in domestic touristsThe domestic tourist visits to all States and Union Territories (UTs) of India, including the visits for religious and medical purpose has increased to 161.4 crore in 2016 from 143.2 crore in 2015, registering a growth of 12.7% in 2016 over 2015.

The number of foreign tourist vis-its to all States/UTs, including the vis-its for religious and medical purpose, also increased to 2.5 crore in 2016 from 2.3 crore in 2015, registering a growth of 5.9%. This was stated by Dr Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge), Government of India.

In India, the number of foreign

tourist arrivals, as differentiated from foreign tourist visits, has increased to 88.0 lakh in 2016 from 80.3 lakh in 2015, registering a growth of 9.7% year on year. As per the information avail-able for the current year, the number of foreign tourist arrivals in India during January-June 2017 was 48.8 lakh regis-tering a growth of 17.2% over the same period of 2016.

As per the Second Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) of India- 2009-10 and subsequent estimation, the contribu-tion of tourism to total Gross Domes-tic Product (GDP) during 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 were 6.77%, 6.76%, 6.76% and 6.88% respectively.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 6 • india

Ravneet Kaur takes over as the Chairperson and Managing Director of ITDC

J&K government working to develop its biggest ever ecological park

India tops domestic air traffic growth in June

Ravneet Kaur, Additional Secretary has been appointed as the Chairperson and Managing Director (C&MD) of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC).

She is an IAS officer of 1988 batch, Punjab cadre and was the Joint Secretary in the Depart-ment of Industrial Policy and Promotion under Ministry of Commerce and Industry prior to this role. She has also worked as Principal Sec-retary in the Departments of Higher Education and Languages, Cabinet, Coordination and Par-liamentary Affairs with Government of Punjab. Earlier, in Government of India she has served in the Department of Financial Services, Depart-ment of Economic Affairs and Department of Disinvestment.

India, marking the highest growth for any country, registered a growth of 20.3% in domestic air traffic in June, as per global airlines’ body International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The IATA said India topped the growth chart in the first half of 2017, with India’s domestic air traffic growth rising by 20.3% in June, the highest among major markets. The demand is measured in terms of total revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs.

“Domestic India RPKs grew by 18.6% in year-on-year terms in H1 2017, with annual RPK posting its 34th consecutive month of double-digit growth in June,” IATA said.

“RPKs are still currently trending upwards, albeit at a slower annualised rate of around 7%. All told, domestic India’s impressive run of double-digit year-on-year growth looks likely to have ended in July,” the global airline body noted.

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) recently organised its interactive luncheon meeting at Eros Hotel, New Delhi. The special guest for the meeting was Ashok Chandra Panda, Minister of Tourism and Cul-ture (IC), Government of Odisha. The 33rd Annual Con-vention of IATO will be held from September 7-10 at the Mayfair Hotel in Bhubaneswar in the eastern State of Odisha. The theme of the convention is ‘Indian Tour-ism- Time to Reinvent Ourselves’.

Speaking at the interactive luncheon meeting, Panda said that the state Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik is keen on making the 33rd Annual Convention of IATO in Bhu-baneswar from September 7-10, 2017 a grand success.

Over 1,200 delegates are expected to attend the three day event and many will take post-convention tours to see the attractions and facilities of the state, which has 480 kms of coastline.

Present during the luncheon meeting were Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO; Rajiv Mehra, Vice President, IATO; Lally Mathews, Honorary Secretary, IATO; and Sandeep Jain, Honorary Joint Secretary, IATO among other members from the apex body.

The Minister had personally come to Delhi to extend the invitation for the upcoming Convention for IATO members in Delhi. Panda asserted that the footfalls to the state will eventually increase after the Convention.

The Jammu and Kashmir government is gearing to set up a first-of-its-kind ecological park along a riv-erbed in the foothills of Pir Panjal ranges in Rajouri district with an aim to boost tourism in the area. The park being developed on Koteranka area will be a one stop destination for eco-tourism, children excur-sions, study tours, home-stays, amusement and dif-ferent other activities. Special components are being designed for educational values particularly about local flora and fauna.

Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, District Development Commissioner, Rajouri informed that the park is to be set up at a cost of ̀ 5.88 crore. “It will be a great destina-tion for conservation education, recreation and nature trails. Park planned along Ans riverbed in the foothills of Pir Panjal ranges near Koteranka aimed at tapping

tourism potential of this region,” he added.As per the information received from Noor Alam,

Assistant Development Commissioner, the park will comprise of a herbal garden, a cactus garden, besides a children amusement park. The district administration has also co-ordinated with the WWF-India, the coun-try’s leading conservation organisation, for develop-ment of environment conservation study area, nature trail, wildlife exhibitions and a number of initiatives.

The district administration is planning to train a group of at least eight local youths to organise and host different activities. The department has also asked for mapping of hamlets around the park for the devel-opment to showcase local culture and to promote the homestay concept to reflect the culture and traditions of the region.

Odisha Tourism Minister interacts with the travel trade from North India

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 7 INDIA •

Marriott International Inc, an Amer-ican hospitality group is planning to have 100 operational hotels in India by 2018.

“Marriott International has 86 hotels in the country and we are the biggest hotel company in the world. We have so far opened four hotels in the country this year and will open six more during the year,” said Neeraj Govil, Area Vice President– South Asia, Marriott International, Inc dur-ing the opening of Le Méridien Goa at Calangute in the coastal state.

He said they are looking at tertiary cities like Indore, Amritsar, Coim-batore, Jaipur and others for more properties. The hotel chain nets 75% of its business from domestic consumers.

“We will hit our hundred in 2018. We also have another 100 hotels in the pipeline, so we are looking at opening somewhere between 15 and 20 hotels a year in the country every year over the next five years,” Govil stated.

The tourism growth, he further said, has been very strong due to the measures introduced by the govern-ment which has made the destinations more people-friendly. “One of the pil-lars of growth, as projected by the gov-ernment is tourism. The government is also very proactive in infrastructure development which helps bring in lot more people,” he added.

Presently, the hotel chain has 86 hotels and 15 brands spanning across 35 cities.

Budget hotel aggregator, OYO, backed by SoftBank is planning to double its inven-tory of 70,000 rooms to 1.5 lakh by the end of next year to cater to growing business and leisure travel in the country. It will add between 10,000 and 20,000 rooms this year.

“We have been doubling our revenues year-on-year and within this year we will continue to grow our revenues by two-and-a-half times year-on-year. We will see more properties coming up in areas where occupancy rates are high,” said Ritesh Agarwal, Founder, OYO.

The company’s gross bookings run rate grew to `2,563 crore annually. “Last year in March, we announced that we had

gotten into a net transaction profit, which means that for every ̀ 100 we sell, we were making more than `100. Our gross mar-gin has been 25% and net margin is at 16%. Our belief is that in the hospitality space, long-term repeats play the biggest role,” Agarwal said.

OYO is working on making book-ings easier for customers and will pro-vide more details of its properties. Each property will be given a unique number to distinguish it from neighbouring OYO properties and the signages are expected to display the address more clearly. More local residents will be allowed to use OYO as there was growing demand for this facility for various reasons.

Marriott to have 100 hotels operational in India by 2018

OYO plans to doubleits inventory

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 8 • india

Punjab Tourism unleashes Coffee Table book on tourism

AAI signs MoU with Uttarakhand for the development of aviation sector

Government keen to drive Cruise Tourism with an estimate of 40 lakh tourists by 2022

Kerala’s new tourism policy to accentuate on Adventure Tourism

In a recent development, the Union Minister, Nitin Gad-kari plans to level up the number of cruise travellers to 40 lakh in five years from last year’s 1.80 lakh. The Min-ister also stated that the revenue benefit will shoot up to 35,500 crore in 2022 from the over 700 crore last year.

Given the right motion, the number of tourist ships visiting India can go up from the present 158 to about 955 per year, the Ports and Shipping.

Calling for a withdrawal of the GST, the Ministry had not thought about GST, but assured that it will repre-sent the case to the Ministry of Finance along with the Tourism Ministry. The Shipping Ministry has already moved the GST Council, the highest decision making body under the recently introduced indirect tax regime, to exempt the cruise tourism sector from GST at par with other nations.

At present, Cruise Tourism is not taxed and the Ship-ping Ministry wants to keep it out of the GST regime in order to boost the industry.

While inaugurating a one day workshop organised by the department to give shape to its tourism policy, the Minister said that the need and time has come for the tourism department to evolve itself to cater to the needs of activity and adventure based tourism from now on.

“Sensing the immense and innumerable possibil-ities of promoting Kerala as a destination for ‘Adven-ture and Activity based Tourism’ the state tourism department is focusing on developing new projects to utilise the same,” said Kadakampally Surendran, Tourism Minister.

While the primary focus at the workshop had been to find new possibilities to take adventure tourism

forward in the state, the Minister has stressed on the need to work closely and in coordination with the Forest Department to realise the goals in the adven-ture tourism sector.

Speaking at the workshop, Dr Venu Vasudevan, Principal Secretary, Kerala Tourism opined that the cooperation and coordination with the Forest Depart-ment is of paramount importance for the growth of adventure tourism in the state and that this could be achieved without violating any of the existing envi-ronmental laws.

Kerala Tourism is currently planning to rebrand itself and find new avenues to take the sector forward in order to double the tourist arrivals by 2021. Keep-ing this in mind the department will now start a new ‘Tourist Circuit’ based out of North Kerala and will shift focus from areas it had been concentrating all this while to specifically give thrust to Adventure Tourism with the sole aim of attracting more young-sters to the state.

P Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala Tourism said that

for the first time in the history of Kerala Tourism the numbers of the inbound foreign tourists have rise beyond one million and that domestic tourists arriv-als have touched 1.38 crores.

Punjab Tourism has recently unveiled a coffee-table book illustratively defining various tourist places in the holy city. The book was released by IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap, titled; ‘Amritsar The Blessed City’.

The coffee table book features that tourism in Punjab is principally suited to tourists interested in culture, ancient civilisation, spirituality, recreation, tranquillity and history. The tourist footfall was 2.5 crore in 2015 and they aspire to break the four crore mark soon. The book gives brief history of Golden Temple and facts about other important places.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has entered into a MoU with Government of Uttarakhand and collabo-rated with Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) to develop the civil aviation sec-tor in the state.

The MoU is aimed at identifying relevant factors influencing the development of civil aviation infra-structure in Uttarakhand; assessing commercial potential of various airports of the state; identifying technical considerations for airport operations; eval-uating site related technical and engineering param-eters for development of projects, making estimate of the capital outlay for the future projects and develop-ment of master plan for existing and future civil avi-ation infrastructure in the state.

AAI will assist UCADA in obtaining required clearances for airport operations starting with the upgraded airport at Pithoragarh and later at Chiniyalisaur.

S Ramaswamy, Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand and Anil Gupta, General Manager (Business Development) signed the MoU. Ramas-wamy said that the state government is determined to fulfill the long pending requirement of operational airports within the state.

The new airports would be part of the Regional Connectivity Scheme and boost tourism and air con-nectivity for the local public.

Thomas Cook (India) Ltd has recently launched a unique group tours portfolio, ‘Romantic Getaways’, to tap into Middle India’s high growth honeymoon travel segment. The package will feature India’s favourite romantic destinations like Singapore with a Cruise, France & Switzerland, New Zealand, Bali and Mauri-tius with Dubai.

Commenting on the launch, Rajeev Kale, President and Country Head- Leisure Travel & MICE, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, said, “The honeymoon travel seg-ment is witnessing exponential growth emerging from Middle India, but managing a honeymoon, a once-in-a-lifetime occasion and negotiating potential challenges that emerge on tour is truly daunting/ stressful. And

for Middle India’s first time travellers this is even more so. Our new ‘Romantic Getaways’ are hence of great value: leaving the day-to-day execution to the expertise of Thomas Cook’s experienced tour manager; delight-ful inclusions, the comfort of Indian meals and co-trav-ellers ensuring a happy spouse and the start of a bliss-ful wedded life!”

Thomas Cook’s unique product line of Honeymoon Group Tours- ‘Romantic Getaways’- exclusively for cou-ples have been designed to delight honeymooners with a relaxed and easy paced itinerary ensuring couples time together-away from the group, must-see attractions, special value-adds like candle-light dinners, a couple spa, wine and chocolates, stretch-limousine transfers.

Thomas Cook India unveils Romantic Getaways

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 9ASIA

Vietnam visitor arrivals register a growth of 30% in 2017

Thailand plans to attract film industry as part of new tourism drive

As part of a new tourism drive, the Thai government is planning to attract more movie-makers to the country. Thailand’s Department of Tourism recently launched the fifth Thailand International Film Destination Festi-val 2017 (TIFDF 2017), aimed at pro-moting the country as an international film destination.

The theme of this year’s event is ‘Fascinating Destination,’ which focuses on promoting the eight tour-ism ‘clusters’ in Thailand among international filmmakers. This will be achieved through a series of activ-ities, including a short film competi-tion for international students and cin-ema screenings of famous films shot in Thailand.

“We (Thailand’s Ministry of Tour-ism & Sports) have tourism strategies which aim to generate income for the country, bring income to communities, improve the quality of life for Thai peo-ple and add value to Thailand’s tour-ism,” said Kobkarn Wattanavrang-kul, Minister of Tourism and Sports,

Government of Thailand.“We have many beautiful destina-

tions in Thailand and the international film industry is directly linked to Thai-land’s tourism. This not only brings in a large amount of money to our coun-try but also helps promote Thailand’s beautiful destinations internationally. TIFDF 2017 aims to attract those in the film industry to shoot films in Thai-land,” the Minister added.

In 2016, more than 700 foreign films were shot in Thailand that generated $67.5 million in revenues for the coun-try. This total has increased 14% in the first five months of 2017 in terms of movies filmed and 65% in terms of revenue generated.

Thailand has a long history of host-ing international film-makers, with some of the famous movies shot there include the ‘The Deer Hunter,’ ‘Air America,’ ‘The Beach’ and the James Bond film ‘The Man with the Golden Gun,’ which led to a limestone islet in Phang-Nga Bay being nicknamed ‘James Bond Island.’

In the first half of 2017, Vietnam’s tourism indus-try witnessed strong growth registering a 30% increase in terms of international visitor numbers.

As per data released by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the country welcomed a total of 6.21 million foreign tourists in the first six months 2017, 30.2% more than in the same period in 2016. This included a 33% surge in arrivals by air, which is a key indicator of interna-tional business and leisure travel.

The growth was driven by two important mar-kets which included mainland China and South Korea. Vietnam welcomed 1.89 million Chinese and 1.07 million Korean visitors in the six-month period, up 56.7% and 43.9% year-on-year respec-tively. The figures indicate that these two Asian countries accounted for 47.5% of total arrivals to Vietnam. Further demonstrating the strength of the intra-regional travel market, Asian countries contributed almost three quarters of all visitors to the country.

Other major Asian source markets to Vietnam included Japan (+6.5% to 378,844), Taiwan (+22.9% to 297,852) and Malaysia (+15.9% to 231,585). USA (+9.3% to 320,204) was Vietnam’s largest long-haul feeder market, followed by Russia (+53.4% to 313,502) and Australia (+10.0% to 181,526).

Vietnam’s tourism industry is on track to achieving another record year. Last year the coun-try welcomed a total of 10.01m international tour-ists, making it the first time in history to exceed the 10m mark.

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) organised a roadshow in Kolkata during the first week of July this year. The event was aimed at high-lighting Sri Lanka as a leading leisure and MICE destination. Top of the line travel professionals attended the event in addition to interacting with the SLTPB team, to understand the unique offer-ings for Indian travellers in Sri Lanka.

In 2017, SLTPB expects more than 26% growth in the footfall and plans to welcome 4,50,000 Indian tourists to the destination this year. The year 2016 saw approximately 356,729 Indian tourists visiting Sri Lanka compared to around 3,16,247 in 2015.

In 2016, the country saw a growth of 12.8% in Indian arrivals over last year. The country is a popular tourist destination and is known as the Wonder of Asia for its long preserved culture and heritage. SLTPB, witnessing the growth and potential from India, has taken a step forward in

consolidating their presence in the Indian market.Viranga Bandara, Assistant Director- Market-

ing (India) on his visit to India interacted with the travel fraternity to promote the country as an exotic destination among niche travellers and holidaymakers.

He said, “Sri Lanka has gained immense pop-ularity in India and has experienced a consis-tent growth over the period. We have come first to Kolkata to explore this beautiful landmark of joy-ful people and tap the travel agents to increase the flow of business. We will also be participating at the travel fairs in Kolkata & other cities of India to enhance destination visibility among travel trade & consumers, to further consolidate Sri Lanka’s posi-tion as preferred destination for Indian travellers. We are confident that in 2017 a lot of more Indi-ans will choose Sri Lanka as their preferred holi-day destination.”

sri Lanka tourism conducts a roadshow in Kolkata

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 10 • asIa

The Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines, recorded a whopping growth of 37% in Indian arriv-als to the Philippines in the month of May, 2017, in comparison to the same period last year. City of Manila, Pagsanjan, the heritage city of Cebu, Bora-cay and Bohol are some of the most popular places among Indian travellers visiting the Philippines.

Speaking about this growth, SanJeet, Tourism Attaché, Philippines Tourism Marketing Office India, said, “We are pleased to announce such a groundbreaking growth rate in Indian arrivals to the Philippines. DOT engages travel trade partners in various awareness programmes and travel shows in order to maintain and sustain tourist traffic from the

Indian market. In 2017, we aim to achieve the mark of 100,000 visitors to the Philippines from India.”

India has now jumped to the 11th position among the list of top source markets for the Philippines.

DOT is hopeful that by targeting Indian holiday planners through aggressive marketing initiatives, a double-digit growth for the year will be an achiev-able target.

indian arrivals to the Philippines witnesses 37% rise

Think Strawberries to represent MATATO JNTO to drive 40 million inbound tourists by 2020

The MATATO (Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators) has appointed Think Strawberries Luxury Travel Marketing as its International Representation Firm for all its PR & Media and Marketing initiatives. Headquar-tered in India- Think Strawberries is a thought leader in promoting global travel products in the Indian market, the MENA (Middle-East & North Africa) region with its areas of expertise growing to Australia, Europe and US as well in the near future.

Asra Naseem, Deputy Secretary General, MATATO, commented, “We are pleased to be

associated with Think Strawberries, a market and thought leader in the industry and we are looking at a global partnership with them in the long term.”

“We are excited about the new partnership and as a premium Representation Company; we look beyond the narrow limiting horizons to anticipat-ing and making the change. We’re passionate about shaping the next generation of travel representation and to MATATO we will be offering PR & Media and marketing; operational and strategic solutions on a global scale to take the association to the next level worldwide,” said Amit Kishore, Co-founder, Think Strawberries.

Korea Tourism appoints new Director for India OfficeKorea Tourism has appointed Michael Kwon as the new Director of Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO), India Office. The new Director will be head-ing the India office for next three years.

Formerly working as the Director of Interna-tional Tourism Strategy team at Korea Tourism Organisation head office, he has all-round expo-sure across different verticals of KTO like HR, Planning & Coordination, Inbound Marketing & Performance Evaluation. He was the Deputy Direc-tor of KTO Chicago office between 2005 & 2007 and had successfully established KTO office in Jakarta in 2011.

Kwon, holding a major in tourism, has been associated with KTO for 25 years and is also a cer-tified Public Labor Attorney in Korea.

Recently, The Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) along with Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) organised a seminar on INVEST JAPAN- Opportunities in travel and tour-ism sector. The seminar accentuated on tourism and allied initiatives and introduced several initiatives and packages in tourism to attract foreign companies to set up base in Japan.

The visa regime has been simplified for Indian nationals applying to go to Japan. The validity of busi-ness visas has been extended from five to 10 years and the requirement to furnish bank statement by Indian students has been waived off. The Consulate of Japan has a window in VFS. In 2014, the multiple visa schemes for short term visitors from India were open for maximum 15 days, with a validity of three years. In January 2015, this duration was extended to 30 days with five years validity.

During the seminar, Kenichi Takano, Direc-tor General, Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO), said, “This is the Year of India-Japan friendly exchanges. India is a very important market for us. The number of tourists visiting Japan has dramatically grown in 2012 and 20 million and 24 million tourists visited Japan in 2015 and 2016 respectively. The main source markets are China, Korea and Taiwan, Thai-land, Singapore and Malaysia. 83% of the total tourists coming to Japan are from Asia. Unfortunately, Japan is receiving only 123,000 tourists from India. We need to increase tourists from India, USA and Europe.”

JNTO has set a goal of driving 40 million inbound tourists by 2020 and 60 million by 2030, besides 80 billion USD in spending by overseas visitors by 2020. Its tourism policy emphasises the efficient use of tourism resources and developing the industry’s infrastructure.

Kazuya Nakajo, Chief Director General, JETRO-New Delhi, said, “Japan comes in Tier 3 level of pre-ferred outbound destinations as compared to USA and Europe. Also, the number of Indian tourists is propor-tional to the number of NRIs. America receives about 10 lakh tourists and NRIs are over 40 lakhs. Japan has lesser number of NRIs but they receive more tourists. NRIs are just 280,000 in Japan. In order to increase the number of tourists to Japan, I think we have to increase the number of NRIs in Japan. NRIs can greatly influ-ence tourism. “

Kazuya also mentioned that three factors that can increase NRIs to Japan include attracting foreign stu-dents, Indian companies to set up in Japan and open many Indian restaurants in Japan.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 12 • asIa

Thai AirAsia plans to boost its Indian network

Indian arrivals to Indonesia witness 17.55% growth in 2017

Vietnam gears up for its largest International Travel Expo Ho Chi Minh CityThe 13th edition of International Travel Expo Ho Chi Minh City (ITE HCMC) will provide an ideal marketing opportunity and excellent backdrop to enhance partic-ipant’s brand equity in the eyes of the travel trade pro-fessionals and discerning end consumers. Thousands of tourism businesses will convene during the exhibition.

Hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of regional and local tourism stakeholders are benefitted from this largest global tourism platform in the Mekong region through the extensive networking opportunities, exclu-sive access to major stakeholders and gain key business insights in this growing industry.

This exclusive event is only open for travel trade

professionals from September 7-8, 2017. New markets, different partnerships and fresh business opportunities will be opened in this bustling city of Vietnam.

Pre-register at itehcmc.com to get instant updates and avoid the long queues.

Exhibition Details:Dates: September 7 and 8, 2017(For trade visitors only – business cards required upon registration)September 9, 2017(For both trade and public visitors)Venue: Saigon Exhibition & Convention Center (SECC)

Thai AirAsia is all set to considerably boost its Indian network with the launch of two new routes.

The Bangkok-based low-cost carrier will begin its expansion on September 28, 2017, with the start of direct flights to Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. Sub-sequently, a day later on September 29, Thai AirAsia will start flying to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan.

These two new flights will increase the airline’s Indian network by 50% to six destinations, joining its existing services connecting Bangkok with Chen-nai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Kochi.

“AirAsia plans to continually penetrate the Indian market in the latter half of 2017 as it is a major market with great growth potential. Indian travellers rank sixth among the most frequent visitors to Thailand and the airline is confident that the two new routes will stimulate tourism for both countries,” said Tas-sapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia.

The Bangkok-Tiruchirappalli route will be ser-viced four times a week, departing Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport at 2355 every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and returning the next morning. The Bangkok-Jaipur sector will also run four times a week, leaving Don Mueang at 2250 every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and returning the following morning.

The Visit Indonesia Tourism Officer (VITO) India has revealed that from January to April 2017, the visitor numbers from India witnessed an increase across all key indicators. VITO India, following the surge, will organise roadshows in Ahmedabad, Pune, Coimbatore, Bengaluru and Chandigarh in August 2017.

Speaking about the Indian market, Sanjay Son-dhi, Country Manager, VITO India, said, “India continues to be the second top source market for inbound visitors into Indonesia with a total num-ber of 1,37,291 Indian arrivals, recording a growth of 17.55% over the corresponding period January-April 2016.”

Elaborating on VITO’s plan for the Indian mar-ket, Sondhi added, “Moving forward for the year, one of our key focus areas is to tap the Indian wedding, family and luxury segments. VITO India will also focus on various segments such as student groups, senior citizens, sports enthusiasts, heritage and cul-ture enthusiasts, leisure travellers and the lucrative wedding segment. Our target segment from India mainly consists of families, couples, business and weddings and we are mostly looking at the age group between 25-65 years.”

Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in partnership with Singapore Airlines recently conducted a 10-day, six cities roadshow across India and Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Themed ‘Growing Tourism into Singapore, Together,’ the delegation was led by G B Srithar, Regional Director, South Asia Middle East & Africa; Adrian Kong, Area Director, South Asia, Mumbai; and Yuemin Li-Misra, Area Director, South Asia, Delhi.

The roadshow in India began from Pune followed by Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata and Hyderabad, concluding in Colombo.

The roadshows featured stakeholders from Singa-pore representing hotels, airlines, integrated resorts, attractions, Destination Management Companies

(DMCs) and cruise operators interacting and net-working with STB’s travel and trade partners in India. There was also a session on Singapore’s upcom-ing tourism offerings as well as Singapore Airlines Group’s range of cabin products and experiences.

“India has always been an important market for us. For the second time in a row, Singapore received more than one million Indian visitors in 2016. As the region’s middle-class becomes more affluent, there will be immense opportunities for international out-bound travel and tourism, especially among fami-lies, working millennials and incentive movements. Through the roadshows, we seek to renew our ties with the travel trade, entrenching existing partner-ships and forging new ones,” said G B Srithar.

singapore tourism conducts roadshow in india and sri Lanka

Badung Tourism focuses on strengthening its presence in India

The Badung Regency of Bali in Indonesia has its focus on India and is putting extra efforts in order to develop it as a big-ger source market.

This was the highlight of the

India Sales Mission 2017 which kick-started in Mumbai with sellers only from Badung participating in it. Sellers

from the rest of Indonesia would join the sales mis-sion for the rest of the five cities: Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Chandigarh.

The Badung Regency, apart from participating in the sales mission, has also appointed Delhi-based Air Guru Travel Solutions as its India representative to promote the destination. Dhiraj Kumar, Managing Director, Air Guru Travel Solutions, is an ‘Honorary Representative for Badung Regency Bali’ appointed by BPPD Badung Tourism Promotions Board, Indonesia.

The agenda of this sales mission, as underlined by Vinsensius Jemadu, Director, Asia Pacific Tourism Promotions, Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Indone-sia, was to develop 10 more Balis with the idea of mov-ing away from Bali and promote newer destinations in Indonesia for Indian travellers.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 13 asia •

Hilton Worldwide opens doors to its 200th hotel in Asia PacificHilton Worldwide has opened Waldorf Astoria Chengdu in China, making it the company’s 200th hotel in Asia Pacific.

The new 289-room luxury hotel, which is located in the capital of western China’s Sichuan province, is housed within a high-end mixed-use development comprising a retail mall, offices and apartments.The 52-storey hotel is located in the Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone and features six F&B out-lets including European and Chinese restaurants, a spa, 24-hour fitness centre and a 25-metre heated indoor pool on the 48th floor. For the MICE market there is grand ballroom and five meeting rooms with a combined area of more than 2,000m².

“Our ambition is to be everywhere our custom-ers want to be, as the most hospitable company in the world. With more destinations than ever before in Asia Pacific, including nearly 400 hotels in the pipeline, we are on our way to achieving that,” said Martin Rinck, President- Asia Pacific, Hilton.

In addition to being Hilton’s 200th hotel in Asia Pacific, Waldorf Astoria Chengdu has also become the third Waldorf Astoria hotel in China, following existing luxury properties in Beijing and Shanghai.

Pullman, a hotel brand of AccorHotels has announced the opening of its latest hotel in China’s heritage water town of Zhouzhuang, Jiangsu province. Zhouzhuang is situated in Kunshan City, Suzhou’s southeast. With picturesque lake views, the hotel is nestled within a 50 acre wetland park and gateway to the century-old water system that joins the Yangtze River.

Boasting 174 guestrooms and suites with private bal-conies and panoramic lake and park views, the spa-cious rooms feature the signature. For weddings, events and meetings, the hotel has an 820 square metre grand ballroom and seven function rooms that can accommo-date up to 1,350 guests.

Michel Molliet, Chief Operating Officer, AccorHo-tels- Greater China, said, “The Pullman brand was launched in Greater China 10 years ago and over the years, the brand has established more than 30

properties within the region. As AccorHotels’ new generation of upscale hotels, Pullman Hotels & Resorts offers hyper-connected travellers the best-in-class business and fitness facilities, functional contempo-rary design and balanced dining concepts.”

Lucy Lu, General Manager, Pullman Zhouzhuang, said, “The opening of Pullman Zhouzhuang is the first international upscale branded hotel in town. The hotel’s design is inspired by the architectural elements surrounding the canals, making it ideal for business and leisure travellers from nearby cities like Shanghai.”

Dining options include La Lune Chinese Restau-rant, featuring 18 private dining rooms serving Can-tonese cuisine, an all-day dining restaurant Café 88, a Western-style bar V Pub and a Lobby Lounge featur-ing a selection of freshly ground coffee and artisanal pastries.

Pullman marks its entry in Zhouzhuang

Cruise Tourism in Taiwan soaring with a positive outlook

MMPRC appoints TRAC Representations as its Marketing Representative in India

According to transport officials, the number of cruise ships and cruise ship passengers visiting Taiwan in the first seven months of 2017 has shown strong year-on-year growth. “A total of 404 cruise ships sailed in and out of Taiwan between January and July, up 34.2% from the same period of last year,” said Yeh Hsieh-lung, Deputy Director, Transport Minis-try’s Department of Navigation and Aviation.

The number of passengers dur-ing that period grew by 26.5% to reach 582,000. Among these passengers, 30,328 were from foreign countries, breaking the ministry’s goal of 25,000. Southeast Asian passengers topped the ‘fly-cruise’ market at 34.2%, fol-lowed by 28.3 % from Hong Kong and Macau and 10.3% from Japan.

According to Yeh, the number of cruise liners and passengers travel-ling to and from Taiwan throughout 2017 are expected to hit 600 and one million, making the future of Taiwan’s cruise tourism as a promising one.

“There have been more interna-tional cruise liners showing interest in Taiwan. To make Keelung even more attractive, Taiwan International Ports Corporation is also renovating two of the warehouses in the port to accom-modate more passengers and their luggage,” he said.

The project, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2018, will increase the port’s transport capacity from 400 passengers per hour to 1,500.

By the white sand, near the sea, what a dreamy place to be; Maldives is truly the castaway island of your imagina-tion. From skimming the Indian Ocean waters on a jet-ski to parasailing, kaya-king and surfing. Maldives is the ideal destination for an active beach holiday. It is one of the top tourist destinations in the Indian Ocean region. Famous for its pristine beaches, extreme water sports, relaxed environment and exotic lagoons.

India performed incredibly well for destination Maldives in the year 2016. Visitor arrivals from India to Maldives registered an overall growth of 27.9% over 2015 with total arrivals of 66,955 travellers. India is an important source market for Maldives as it shares a close relation with India and has distinct offerings for the Indian travellers.

Maldives Marketing & Public Rela-tions Corporation Limited (MMPRC)

have appointed TRAC Representa-tions as the PR representative of Mal-dives in India, to strengthen trade rela-tions and execute marketing initiatives by promoting Maldives as a destination for diverse segments of travellers. The key objective is to enhance Maldives as a favoured travel destination for lei-sure and business amongst the niche travellers, focus on trade push, media presence through digital and new age media.

Commenting on being appointed as the official Marketing Representa-tive for MMPRC, Rajeev Nangia, COO, TRAC Representations, said, “We are absolutely thrilled and overwhelmed with this appointment and privileged to be representing Maldives in India. Maldives has a lot to offer and is one of the top destinations for Indian travel-lers seeking experiential travel.”

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 14middle east

SIIMA’s sixth edition wraps up on a high note in Abu Dhabi

Israel Ministry of Tourism conducts FAM trip for Indian MICE agents

Oman introduces eVisa facility

Oman’s tourism department has introduced a new eVisa service to attract outbound travellers to the country. The first stage comprises non-sponsored tourist visas for people from 67 countries as well as GCC residents employed in 116 professions.

“The Sultanate’s announcement of the eVisa sys-tem will ensure the continuous growth of Oman’s tourism sector in the coming years as this provides not only tourists but also investors, businessmen, researchers and students easier access to visa pro-cessing. Last year, the number of tourist arrivals reached three million and it is expected to increase to more than four million by 2020,” said Salim Adi Al Mamari, Director General- Tourism Promotion,

Ministry of Tourism Oman.Through the eVisa system, visitors can get their

visa applications processed in accordance with the laws and regulations of Oman. Tourists will only need to fill up the form online and attach the nec-essary documents as well as pay the application by credit card through a Global Payment Gateway that is officially certified by Oman. All applicants will receive notifications through the emails provided.

The eVisa system will also allow Oman to receive more tourists from key markets such as China, Rus-sia and the U.S. and drive the demand for experien-tial travel to the Sultanate, he added. Tourists can apply for online visa at evisa.rop.gov.om.

In association with Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), the final night of the prestigious annual South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) drew to a close celebrating South Indian cinema across the Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam film industries under the theme of ‘Celebrating the Unity and Oneness of the South Indian Film Industries’. The star studded event was held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

Now in its sixth year, SIIMA is the leading and most-viewed award show in the industry, recognis-ing talent and excellence while taking South Indian Cinema across global horizons to create an engag-ing platform for South Indian actors to reach inter-national fans. Previous editions have been held in Dubai, Sharjah, Malaysia and Singapore.

Hosted by renowned actors Sathish and Dhanya Balakrishna, the final evening of SIIMA 2017 fea-tured special performances by Anu Sitara, Man-jima Mohan, Nikki Galrani, Hansika Motwani, Mano, and Shriya Saran. In attendance were South Indian movie stars Rana Daggubati, R Madhavan, Rakul Preet, Nivin Pauly, Trisha, Nayanthara, Siv-akarthikeyan, Lakshmi Manchu, Mohan Babu, Anirudh Ravichander and many more.

The final night of SIIMA was preceded by a spe-cial session with Bollywood superstars Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif for their movie Jagga Jasoos, hosted at the Dusit Thani, Abu Dhabi.

Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT) recently organised a familiarisation (FAM) trip for MICE agents from across India to witness Israel’s offerings as a MICE destination.

The group consisted of agents from leading travel companies like Footloose Yatra Consultants, Enchante Holidays, Skyline travels, Travels mantra, Holiday Tri-angle Travel, Orion Inbound, Tamarind Global, Quan-tum travels, Byond, Bonton Holidays and WOV travel.

The group got to explore various attractions in the cities of Jerusalem, Dead Sea, Eilat and Tel Aviv. The FAM trip provided them the opportunity to experi-ence places like Yad Veshem- the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Israel Museum, Western Wall, Ein Gedi, Masada, Timna Park and also the sound and light show at the Tower of David.

Hassan Madah, Director, Israel Ministry of Tour-ism, said, “Israel is becoming a preferred MICE des-tination for Indian corporate because of its history, diverse culture, natural beauty, vibrant nightlife and friendly people. Recently, UTI Mutual Funds trav-elled to Israel with 380 people and explored the cit-ies of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Dead Sea. In the last two years, we have seen many such movements and through our FAM trips we hope MICE agents will pro-mote Israel further.”

In line with Dubai Tourism’s vision of attracting 20 mil-lion visitors per year by 2020, Atlantis has announced an extensive refurbishment programme across Atlan-tis, The Palm, as well as an expansion with the brands second property, The Royal Atlantis Resort and Resi-dences also located on The Palm.

Atlantis, The Palm during the first five months of 2017 saw occupancy levels of 93% on average, with an 11% increase year on year. Boosted by competitive room rates and an increase in guests from Russia, China, India and European countries such as France and Germany, the integrated entertainment destination has become the fastest growing resort in the region, surpassing its competitors in total rate of occupancy growth.

“We had very strong five months that significantly exceeded our expectations. Such a positive start to 2017 is encouraging and with our continued efforts to enhance the guest experience we are confident that the rest of the year will be successful,” said Serge Zaalof, Chief Operating Officer, Atlantis Resorts & Residences.

The iconic five-star destination resort has embarked on a three-year refurbishment programme which

commenced from July 2017 includes the resorts 1539 rooms and suites. The project will see 50 rooms and suites refurbished every six weeks, to ensure that guest experience will not be impacted, with comple-tion benchmarked for 2019 just in time for the World Expo 2020.

The room renovation project comes ahead of the launch of Atlantis’ second Dubai property the $1.4 bil-lion Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, which is set to change the landscape of Dubai upon launch in late 2019. Located on the crescent of The Palm and next to the iconic Atlantis resort, this new generation of distinc-tive luxury will offer 231 Residences and 795 new lav-ish guest rooms and suites on over 10 hectares of land.

In addition, the latest announcement for the Atlantis brand comes in the form of Atlantis Koolina Hawaii, a $2 billion project that will see the fourth property in the Atlantis portfolio. “Hawaii is the perfect location for our next Atlantis destination resort. All our resorts and res-idences will encompass the fun, interactive entertain-ment experiences which are at the heart of the Atlantis philosophy,” said Zaalof.

Atlantis, The Palm observes strong arrivals, announces its forthcoming properties

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 15 middle east •

During the first six months of 2017, Dubai welcomed a record total of 8.06 million international overnight tourists, a 10.6% increase over the same period last year. The figures, released by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, showed the foundational strength and sustained acceleration of the emirate’s tourism sector.

The year-on-year performances revealed Dubai’s top 20 inbound visitor market during the half of 2017 was stable where around five of them delivered stand-out double-digit growth.

India, for the first time was ranked number one in the list of traffic generated crossing one million mark

over a period of six months. Around more than one lakh Indians visited the city between January and June with 21% more footfall over the same period last year.

Saudi Arabia and the UK took second and third spot in the largest feeder markets.

The growth peak of UAE was due to the free visa-on-arrival from China and Russia with 55% and 97% increase respectively last year over the first six months. China brought in 413,000 visitors to end first half of 2017 in fifth place and Russia cemented its return to the top ten with 233,000 visitors.

Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General, Dubai

Tourism, mentioned that Dubai has sustained the momentum of growth in the first quarter and deliv-ered a strong double-digit performance through the first half of 2017. It has set the stage for continued acceleration in tourism volumes and GDP contribu-tion for the rest of the year.

Dubai receives over 8 million overnight visitors in the first half of 2017

Saudi Arabia to develop the Red Sea coastline as a major tourism hub

Jordan Tourism Board conducts three Educational Seminars

India among the list of 80 countries to benefit from the Qatar visa scheme

Mohammed Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s Under Crown Prince has introduced a new global tour-ism project that focuses on boosting tourism cir-cuit near the Kingdom’s Red Sea coasts.

The Red Sea project will include the develop-ment of an airport, a port, hotels and luxury res-idences, other facilities and infrastructure and transportation services. The project is planned to cover 34,000 square kilometers of Saudi coasts and islands. As per the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the new project will be funded by the Saudi Pub-lic Investment Fund (PIF) and will be developed in accordance with international standards.

The project comes in accordance with the Saudi Vision 2030 national transformation project, which targets the diversification of the economy to

include sources of income other than oil revenues. The foundation will be laid in the third quarter of 2019 and the first phase will be completed in the last quarter of 2022.

“The PIF will inject initial investments into this project and open partnerships with leading inter-national companies, which will bring new and direct investments to the Kingdom while seeking to attract and redirect Saudi tourism expenses into the kingdom. The project will attract the world’s leading names in the tourism and hospitality sec-tors to harness its expertise, competencies and financial investments to enrich the experiences of this destination, provide more value to its visitors and maximise the economic gains of the Kingdom,” the statement added.

Qatar has recently announced a programme to allow visa-free entry for citizens of 80 countries to encour-age air transport and tourism. Travellers from coun-tries like India, Lebanon, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States only need to present a valid pass-port to enter the country. Nationals of 33 countries will be allowed to stay for 180 days and the other 47 for up to 30 days.

“The visa exemption scheme will make Qatar the most open country in the region,” said Hassan al-Ibra-him, Chief Tourism Development Officer, Qatar Tour-ism Authority.

Foreign workers from countries including India and Nepal account for around 90% of Qatar’s popula-tion of 2.7 million.

Think Strawberries- Jordan Tourism Board’s Repre-sentative Office in India held multi-city Educational Seminars in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The aim of these seminars was to educate the travel agents and tour operators of the fabulous offerings that Jor-dan has and to announce the success of its activities and plans through 2016-2017.

A detailed presentation was conducted to the visi-tors to educate them on the various offerings and USPs of Jordan, highlighting the important factors like the Jordan Visa on Arrival policy, the Jordan Pass and the Jordan Specialist program in addition to the multiple infrastructure developments which are taking place.

“We have established Jordan as a year round des-tination with top of the mind recall for Indian trav-ellers and is a destination that caters to all segments of Indian traveller. There is a growing interest in Jor-dan as a wedding and honeymoon destination as well thanks to its close proximity to India; value for money offerings and visa on arrival for Indian traveller,” con-cluded Ashit Taneja, Country Manager, Jordan Tour-ism Board’s Representative Office in India.

During the roadshow, a film showing the Virtual Reality project shot in Jordan was also shown. Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer technology that uses Vir-tual Reality headsets, sometimes in combination with physical spaces or multi-projected environments, to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user’s physical presence in a virtual or imaginary environment.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 16europe

Czech Republic opens a Visa Application Centre in Gurugram

ireland tourism observes 3% rise in tourists

Spain Tourism witnesses record-breaking first half of 2017

In the first half of 2017, Spain witnessed a massive rise in tourism with the country welcoming almost 36.3 mil-lion tourists, an 11.6% increase from 2016, according to the survey of the Tourist Movement on Borders (Fron-tur) released by the National Statistics Institute.

The numbers are in line with the ‘Trips and Tour-ism Competitiveness Index 2017’ from the World Eco-nomic Forum. Spain is at the top spot in world tourism as per competitiveness, running successively in the sec-ond year. The report, which comes out every two years, emphasises Spain’s joint initiation in terms of its cul-tural and natural resources along with powerful tour-ism services infrastructure. There are in total 136 coun-tries included in the report.

The UK continued being one of Spain’s leading sources in terms of tourists, registering a 9.1% year-on-year rise with over 8.6 million visitors. Germany

occupied the second position, sending 5.5 million over-seas visitors, up 9.6% from 2016, while France posted a 4.9% increase with 4.7 million.

Analysts explain that the figures of the first half of 2017 are positive, reflecting the power of the Span-ish tourism sector in comparison to other European markets.

Spain has registered a growth of 17.08% in Indian arrivals over the previous year. The latest official data indicates that 105,646 Indian tourists travelled to Spain. In this way, for the first time it has surpassed the num-ber of 100,000 tourists coming from India.

The average stay was between seven to eight nights which makes it a total of approximately 780,000 nights. The main destinations that Indian tourists visited con-tinue to be Barcelona, Madrid, Andalusia, Valencia and Ibiza.

In a move to ease the visa application process for potential travellers from the surrounding regions of Delhi and NCR region, the Embassy of the Czech Republic and VFS Global have opened a Visa Application Centre in Gurugram. Recently, Czech Republic also opened visa appli-cations centres in Chandigarh and Jalandhar.

H.E. Milan Hovorka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to India, said, “The Gurugram centre marks the launch of another important location within Delhi and NCR where people can submit their Schengen visa applications for travel to the Czech Republic via VFS Global. We thus continue to deliver on our promises. This is not the end of our endeavours, as we will soon announce the opening of additional Czech Visa Applications Centres in the market.”

Commenting on the new visa applications cen-tre in Gurugram, Vinay Malhotra, Chief Operat-ing Officer– Middle East and South Asia, VFS Global, said, “It is our privilege to be the trusted partner of the Embassy of the Czech Repub-lic in India. In view of the increase in travel to the Czech Republic, we are confident our efforts will make the travel experience seamless and smooth.”

According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Ireland, about 943,300 people visited the coun-try during the month of May with a jump of about 107,800 visitors in the five months period from Jan-uary to May, observing a three percent rise.

The CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons stated that the travellers from North America, Austra-lia, Europe and Britain often visit Ireland. He also affirmed that the places of attraction in Ireland allure the cultural minded people and they do not bother to travel for the money fluctuation.

Gibbons also pointed on the further development of infrastructure on the tourism sector, as this nation is primarily dependent on the tourism and hospital-ity sector. Around 281,000 people are directly and indirectly reliant on the tourism sector in Ireland.

Greece’s Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura has said that luxury tourism in Greece has increased by 10% while investment in the sector is also seeing growth.

The Tourism Minister said that a total of 142 appli-cations for the licensing of new and existing four and five-star hotels of over 300 beds, special tourism infra-structure projects and three luxury tourism resorts had been submitted to the ministry’s one-stop-shop service EFPATE in 2016. She added that 251 proposals for hotel investments were submitted in Greece’s development bill by March.

Kountoura pointed out that Greece’s shift in attract-ing tourists from new markets such as China, the Middle East and India was accompanied by the strengthening

of traditional markets such as Germany, England, Poland, Russia and America.

“Luxury tourism grew by 10%,” she said adding that Greece is attracting more tourists that are spend-ing more and choosing four and five-star hotels. Min-ister Kountoura also focused on Northern Greece and Thessaloniki and said that they are now connected with more destinations and constantly attracting tourists.

“We made agreements for flights from England to Samos and connected Thessaloniki with direct flights, not only to capital cities but also to other towns. The new international flights to Greece this year add up to some 2,000. I think these new flights will bring great growth on all levels,” she added.

Luxury Tourism in Greece increases by 10%

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 18 • EUROPE

Experience Canary Islands with Pullman Cruises

Germany sees growth in inbound tourism in the first half of 2017

Croatia foresees India as a promising market

Croatia’s growing popularity and current standing as the fourth most popular destination in Europe. The strong figures regarding inbound tourism are a result of the various promotional activities launched by the Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB), demonstrat-ing Croatia’s tourist offerings.

According to CNTB, Croatia achieved a total of 5.7 million tourist arrivals and 22.9 million in overnight stays, representing an increase of 22% in arrivals and increase of 23% in overnight stays compared to the same period of the previous year.

The most visited cities in this year are Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Pore, Medulin, Umag, Split, Zagreb, Mali Lošinj, Crikvenica and Zadar.

Most Croatian tourists are residents of European countries, although visitors from distant markets,

such as the United States, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Australia and India. During the first six months of this year they have recorded 27.514 arriv-als (growth of 85%) and 61.135 overnight stays (growth of 75%) from India. India is definitely a high-poten-tial long-distance market for Croatian tourism in the future.

The Croatian tourism sector also expects to see a growth of tourist visits above the European and Med-iterranean average in the coming years, which will be accompanied by numerous new investments in infra-structure, as well as the quality and content of the offer.

During the past few years, tourism results in Zagreb have been amazing. During the first six months this year, Zagreb has recorded an increase in arrivals of 23% and in overnight stays of 19%.

The Canary Islands are the seven islands (from larg-est to smallest) of Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. Located to the south of the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands are home to many beaches where one can sunbathe, practice water sports and discover surprising nature.

With Pullmantur, passengers can discover this win-ter all five main islands and live Spain not only outside but also inside the ship. From end of November 2017 till mid-March 2018, Pullmantur will deploy its ship Horizon on this route. This ship Horizon will offer a seven nights itinerary and will be calling the beauti-ful islands of the Canaries such as Tenerife, Fuerteven-tura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and La Palma.

Pullman´s Horizon will show you the Carnival celebrations held on the islands of La Palma and Lan-zarote before returning to Las Palmas where you can enjoy the end of a spectacular closing party of the Car-nival. As much as you would be able to enjoy the deli-cious Canarian cuisine on the islands, you will be able to delight yourself with some gourmet gastronomy aboard Pullman´s Horizon Cruise Ship.

In the first half of 2017, incoming tourism in Germany grew strongly. The Federal Statistical Office, to the end of June, registered 36.7 million international overnight stays, 1.2 million more than in the same period of the previous year, a growth of 3%.

Global tourism is forecast to develop positively this year, with the world tourism organisation UNWTO predicting a potential growth of 3-4% for international arrivals worldwide and 2-3% for Europe.

Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer, German National Tourist Board (GNTB), said, “With a 3% growth in the first half of the year and over one mil-lion additional overnight stays, travel destination Germany is showing a very good half-year balance amongst the international competition. From this, it would appear that Germany as a destination is more popular than ever.”

As per latest analysis by Forward Keys, interna-tional flight bookings to Germany for the third quar-ter, up to the beginning of August, are 5.6% more than the previous year.In 2016, the value of China’s growing outbound travel

market stood at 120 million, with Chinese tourist stay-ing longer and spending more than the average visitor in the UK.

The Q4 report of 2016 has revealed that Chinese tour-ism to the UK grew by 10% after a record breaking 2015. An increase of 31% of bookings by Chinese tour opera-tors to London was observed in 2017. The capital luxury quarter noticed 39% increase in tax-free shopping for designer clothes, handbags and jewellery in the same period.

On an average, Chinese visitors spend £2,174 during their stay, more than 70% of the average tourist. Chi-nese spend on an average 15 nights compared to others. The Chinese payment option Union Pay has accelerated

more spends in the UK.Brexit had a positive effect for inbound tourism with

more overseas tourists visiting the UK in April as the fall in sterling made a good value. Chinese visitors to Lon-don spent twice as much time and money as they do it in Europe which in turn benefited the capital’s luxury good sellers.

VisitBritain has a very strong base of traveller’s inter-est. It recently partnered with Alitrip, Alibaba Group’s tourism arm and had set a British market place to show-case UK, providing great offerings and experiences to the Chinese consumers.

Britain is increasingly welcoming Chinese to visit UK and encouraging hotels, visitors’ attraction and shops to adopt Chinese-friendly products and services.

UK witnesses surge in Chinese travellers

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 19americas

Visit Florida aims to lure more tourists from Canada

Hawaii visitor spending rose by 8.7% in the first half of 2017

Indian visitors to U.S. spent $13.6 billion in 2016

A record $13.6 billion was spent by Indian visitors in the U.S. last year, placing India on the sixth spot among the top 10 international markets for the U.S. in terms of visitor spending.

In 2016, as many as 1.17 million Indians visited the U.S., with India ranking 11th in terms of number of inter-national visitors to the United States. A total of 75.6 mil-lion international visitors came to the U.S. in 2016 for business, medical, education and leisure purposes, col-lectively spending $244.7 billion across the country.

Travel and tourism was the largest services export for the U.S. last year, comprising 33% of services exports and 11% of exports overall. China ($33 billion), Mexico

($20.2 billion), India ($13.6 billion) and South Korea ($8.6 billion) all experienced an increase in both spending and visitations.

China was up 15% in number arrivals and 9% in spending; South Korea was up 12% in visitations and four percent in spending; Mexico was up two percent in visitations and three percent in spending. In contrast, India increased 4% in arrivals and 14% in spending.

“The U.S. has enjoyed increased visitor spending from travellers originating out of India in every single year ever reported, save one (spending was absolutely flat in 2009),” the U.S. Department of Commerce said in its latest annual report.

Visit Florida is refocusing its efforts on bringing Cana-dian tourists to the Sunshine State.

“We have the snowbirds with their Florida vacation homes. They’re kind of like, we’ve been there, done that. We have new Canadians and the Millennials saying, we don’t want to do what our grandparents did,” said CEO and President, Ken Lawson.

“Sure we have Disney, we have the beaches but are we marketing the rest of Florida? We have craft brew-eries, bike trails, people can swim with a manatee, we have culture. These things matter and they connect with Canadians,” Lawson continued.

Tourism officials have noted that Florida has increased its marketing efforts in Canada. Canadians accounted for 3.2 million of Florida’s visitors in 2016, down from more than four million in 2011.

While drawing 31.1 million domestic and interna-tional visitors during the first three months of this year, the highest number during any quarter in state history, the number of Canadian tourists dropped 2.2%, com-pared to the same period in 2016.

“Visit Florida’s goal is to make sure we’re diverse in our marketing and that we’re connecting,” Lawson added.

As per preliminary statistics released by the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA), in the first half of 2017, visitor spent a total of $8.4 billion in the Hawai-ian Islands, an increase of 8.7% compared to the first half of 2016. Total visitor arrivals also rose by 4.3% to 4,604,976 compared to a year ago, boosted by growth in arrivals by air (+4% to 4,534,893) and cruise ships (+23.9% to 70,083).

During that same time, Hawaii’s four largest vis-itor markets were U.S. West (+11.5% to $3.1 billion), U.S. East (+11.3% to $2.2 billion), Japan (+13.6% to $1.1 billion) and Canada (+10.4% to $608.7 million), all of which reported a double-digit increase in visitor spending. Additionally, daily spending by these vis-itors was higher than the first half of 2016.

In June 2017, total visitor spending increased 3.7% to $1.4 billion versus last year. Visitor spend-ing increased from U.S. East (+10.9% to $427 mil-lion), Japan (+9.3% to $183.5 million) and Canada (+18.4% to $37.2 million).

Total arrivals rose 4.5% in June 2017 with more visitors coming from U.S. East (+10.3%), U.S. West (+2.7%), Japan (+7%) and Canada (+7.2%).

Statewide average daily spending of $193 per person (+0.1%) in June 2017 was similar to last year. While, visitors from Canada (+8.9%), U.S. East (+3%) and Japan (+0.8%) spent more compared to June 2016.

The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) released an economic impact report, summarising the contribu-tion that the Airport makes to local economies. SFO is now in 7th year of sustained passenger traffic growth, with resulting gains in employment, income, business activity, and visitor spending.

The report, which summarises economic impact

for the 2016-2017 Fiscal Year, included the following highlights:

- SFO directly accounted for more than $8.4 billion in business activity in the 2016-2017 Fiscal Year and over 42,800 jobs.

- Off-site business activities that depend directly on local air service for staff movements, cargo deliveries,

or visitor spending collectively raise the direct airport economic contribution to the Bay Area to $35.7 billion in business sales with approximately 165,000 jobs, up from previous figures of $34.6 billion and 158,400 jobs respectively in the last study.

- The indirect and direct spin-off activities associated with suppliers of goods and services to directly affected businesses, and the re-spending of additional worker income on consumer goods and services, raises the total regional economic impact to over $62.5 billion in busi-ness sales, including $20.9 billion in total payroll and over 300,300 jobs.

“The continued passenger growth at SFO benefits our entire region by fueling job creation and generat-ing business revenue. This is the latest validation that our great airport helps power local economies,” said Mayor Lee

Airport Director, Ivar C Satero, said, “We are proud to see SFO’s economic contribution on the rise. New air-lines and new destinations are good for travelers, but they also benefit local communities, providing more employment and business income.”

sFO traffic growth fuels local economies

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 20AfricA

Ethiopia Tourism earns $3.3 billion in 2016-2017

South African Tourism (SAT) in association with Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) recently conducted its annual travel trade training program across India.

Learn South Africa (Learn SA) in its 7th edition held training programs all over 17 cities in India where TAAI members are situated from July 6-29, 2017. The sched-ule covered Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of India starting from Mumbai, Rajkot, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Indore, Nagpur, Pune and Goa. Mumbai and Delhi hosted two sessions each.

DMCs, Hoteliers and other stakeholders of tourism from South Africa were part of the B2B interactions and presentations made by SAT. The sessions were struc-tured to ensure that travelers enjoy many new, exciting, trailer-made itinerary options as a direct result.

“Learn SA helps ensure that Indian travel agents know how to choose the best quality hotels for their customer’s budget and needs. It also teaches them how to choose the best in-destination partners to escort the

travelers while on holiday. It also gives them updates about new things to see and do in South Africa and basics like visa and logical know-how to ensure that travelers are catered to efficiently,” said Hanneli Slab-ber, Country Manager India, South African Tourism.

“TAAI endeavour through training programs is to educate travel agents so that it is easy for the staff of travel companies to effectively sell the product. With South African Tourism this is the second time that we have undertaken this training. We are happy that the trade is getting exclusive marketing tips from SAT team and stakeholders from SA who have come to India,” said Bettaiah Lokesh, Secretary General, TAAI.

Leisure visitor numbers from India to South Africa surged 21.7% during 2016 to close at an arrivals fig-ure of 95,377 as against 78,385 arrivals in 2015, making India the eighth highest international source market for South Africa. 2016 also saw the overall spends from India (only in-country on-tour spends excluding flights and attractions, hotels booked in advance) cross 1.2 bil-lion ZAR by the year end.

7th edition of Learn South Africa programme educates agent across 17 Indian cities

Ethiopian Airlines begins services to Bahrain

Avani to debut in Mauritius in 2021

Air transport, key to the growth of tourism in KenyaTourism is one of the main sources of income for many of the world’s developing countries and for Kenya, one of Africa’s leading tourism destinations; it is the coun-try’s second-largest source of foreign exchange.

In 2016, tourism contributed over Sh100 billion in foreign exchange income, a 17.8% growth over 2015. The sector contributed over 13.5% to the Gross Domes-tic Product (GDP), directly supporting an estimated 250,000 jobs and an additional 350,000 indirectly.

International visitor arrivals grew from 752,000 in 2015 to 877,600 in 2016, a 16.7% growth and in the first four months of 2017 they grew to 292,100 from 264,700 in 2016, a 10.3% growth.

Presently, Kenya is serviced from the key long-haul source markets by five international full-service airlines

flying directly from their hub to Nairobi. The country’s national carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ) services directly seven long-haul international source markets, along with a handful of European charter carriers that fly directly into Mombasa.

In comparison, South Africa (SA), which is also a long-haul tourism destination, is serviced by 16 inter-national full-service airlines that fly directly to the coun-try from their respective hubs. Their national carrier, South African Airways (SAA), services directly nine long-haul international tourism source markets. In 2016, SA reported having received 2.5 million interna-tional visitors.

Therefore, air transport is a key component in the tourism industry and in particular for a long-haul des-tination like Kenya.

In 2016, the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) appointed an international consultancy firm to work on the devel-opment of air transport growth strategy for Kenya that resulted in visitor arrivals growing significantly between 2015 and 2016, although there is an opportu-nity for more growth from all markets, including Africa.

Long-haul flights are important for visitor arrival numbers, as witnessed in South Africa, which is why the country is looking forward to the introduction of direct flights between Kenya and USA.

Ethiopian Airlines has begun its services to Bah-rain effective August 2017 with the latest B737-800 New Generation with Sky Interior. A nation comprising of more than 30 islands in the Persian Gulf, Bahrain has been the center of major trade routes since olden days with growing economy over the past decade.

In line with the commencement of Ethiopian services to Bahrain, Group CEO Ethiopian Air-lines, Tewolde GebreMariam, said, “With the flourishing trade relations between Ethiopia and the Gulf countries, availability of efficient air transport services will surely play great roles in ensuring easy movement of people and import/export items. Currently, Ethiopian flies to major cities in the Middle East including Beirut, Dam-mam, Doha, Jeddah, Kuwait, Dubai, Madinah, Muscat, Riyadh and Sharjah.”

In 2017, new destinations like Victoria Falls, Antananarivo, Oslo, Chengdu, Singapore, Guinea, Windhoek, Moroni, as well as freighter destina-tion like Ahmedabad, a fifth cargo gateway to India, Milan and Zaragoza have joined Ethiopian vast global network.

Ethiopia earned over $3.3 billion from tourism in the last Ethiopian fiscal year, as revealed by the Ministry of Cul-ture and Tourism. Public and International Relations Director at the Ministry, Gezahegn Abate stated the rev-enue was obtained from more than 886,000 tourists who visited the country.

The plan was to earn about $3.7 billion from one million visitors. During the specific period, the sector has created over 297,000 job opportunities.

Expansion of infrastructure at tourist sites is currently

underway as part of activities to increase the income gen-erated from the sector, Abate noted.

The East African nation has planned to earn $7 billion from the sector by attracting two million tourists at the end of the second Growth and Transformation Plan Period.

AVANI Hotels & Resorts has announced the devel-opment of its first hotel in Mauritius located along a stretch of the island’s unspoilt south coast. When it opens in 2021, the 150-key beachfront AVANI Bel-Ombre Mauritius Resort & Spa will offer the best of stylish accommodation coupled with an untouched beach paradise.

Alejandro Bernabe, Group Director, AVANI Hotels & Resorts, commented, “Mauritius is one of the most vibrant beach destinations in the world and AVANI is the ideal brand to offer honeymoon-ers, adventurers and incentive houses an alterna-tive dynamic hospitality offering. AVANI is rapidly expanding, not only in urban destinations such as Dubai, Busan and Auckland, but also our current resort portfolio in Vietnam, the Seychelles, Sri Lanka and now Mauritius.”

Only 30-minutes from the international airport, AVANI Mauritius Bel-Ombre Resort & Spa will com-prise 150 guest rooms, including 134 Standard Rooms and 16 AVANI Suites. In addition 12 offer for pur-chase residential four-bedroom Pool Villas will also be included in the development.

The new upscale resort will offer a specialty res-taurant, an all-day dining restaurant, large multi-functional meeting space catering for MICE and weddings, an AVANI Spa and AVANIFIT gym, AVANI Pantry, AVANI Kids Club, a beach activities centre and two swimming pools.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 21 africa •

info@travelnewsdigest.in

India’s Only Global Travel Trade Newspaper

Akwesi Agyeman, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Author-ity has called for the formation of a min-isterial tourism committee in order to enhance visa acquisition for tourists entering the country.

Agyemang believes that the forma-tion of such a committee would enhance service delivery at inbound countries and also ease visa acquisition for tour-ists coming to Ghana.

“One of the things that we have pro-posed, which through our Ministry would be sent to the Cabinet, is the for-mation of a broad-based inter-min-isterial tourism committee because tourism is one sector that has so many dependencies on other sectors,” he stated.

He went on to add, “People come into Ghana wanting visas and sometimes if you go to the embassy in Germany,

Poland and other places, it might take you more than a month to get a visa to come to Ghana and so we need to find ways to enhance service delivery at the inbound countries.”

In May 2017, some hoteliers impressed on West African authori-ties to work to extend the visa on arrival policy to foreign tourists in a bid to boost the sector’s growth. They also argued that the move should ease the barriers restraining some tourists into the continent.

“As it stands right now, most Euro-pean and American tourists need visas before visiting Ghana for instance but they wouldn’t need visas to visit East or Southern Africa. As a result, these regions are still attracting huge chunks of visitors from the Americas and Europe,” said Yaw Mamphey, Sales and Marketing Manager, Accra City Hotel.

As per a new report by ForwardKeys, Nairobi is the only city in Africa whose airports are recording higher growth for domestic capacity than that of interna-tional capacity, with a growth of 22%.

The firm compares Nairobi’s trend to most of the other top 10 African Airports ranked by total scheduled capacity for August to December 2017, which are see-ing more growth in international than in domestic capacity.

With a focus on the East African Com-munity (EAC), the report further indi-cates that Nairobi airports have a total scheduled capacity (August to December 2017) of 18% in domestic seats, 31% in long-haul international seats and a 51% capac-ity in intra-Africa international seats. Of these, Jomo Kenyatta International Air-port’s scheduled capacity is 13% and 5% long-haul and intra-Africa international seats respectively within the same period under review.

“The trend is encouraging for aviation players. As a travel agent, we anticipate a surge in flight bookings in the last half of 2017. Most inspiring is the contribution of Kenyans and other members of the East African Community to domestic travel. It reflects our confidence in our own tourism products with Kenya’s tourism domestic spending recording 59% against 41% for-eign visitor spending,” says Cyrus Onyiego, Jumia Travel Kenya Country Manager.

Collectively, the African continent con-tinues to record positive performance, wel-coming an increase in international arriv-als of 14% in 2017 to date. In a parallel report by the International Air Transport Asso-ciation (IATA), global passenger traffic data for June showed that demand (mea-sured in total revenue passenger kilome-ters) increased by 7.8% compared to 2016 and from May’s record of 7.7% growth. All regions, according to IATA, reported growth.

Ghana Tourism Authority calls for setting up of a tourism committee

Nairobi records 22% growth in domestic air travel capacity

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 22OCEANIA

Fiji Airways enters a codeshare agreement with Hong Kong Airlines

Qantas launches direct flight from Sydney to Osaka

Fiji Airways is entering a codeshare agreement with Hong Kong Airlines to attract more travellers from Asia in the future.

The agreement with Hong Kong Airlines would see the Fijian national carrier place its ‘FJ’ code on Hong Kong Airlines’ services between Hong Kong and Bangkok, Tokyo and Osaka. This will enable travellers from these cities to travel to Fiji on a sin-gle ticket, transiting at Hong Kong International Airport.

In return, Hong Kong Airlines will place its ‘HX’ code on Fiji Airways’ direct Nadi-Hong Kong and Nadi-Auckland flights.

Andre Viljoen, Managing Director & CEO, Fiji Airways, said that they are delighted to have an excellent partner for airlines. The collaboration with Hong Kong Airlines will help expand their footprint in Northeast Asia and is a key part of the growth and presence in the region, he said.

The codeshare agreement will allow through check-in of customers and their luggage all the way to their final destinations, offering convenient tran-sit options in Hong Kong and Nadi.

Qantas has launched the first direct flight from Sydney to Osaka to capitalise on the booming tourism mar-ket between Australia and Japan. The move is aimed at attracting Japanese tourists seeking southern sun and Australians seeking the winter slopes. The flights would operate between December 14 and March 24 and would use its upgraded two-class Airbus A330 aircraft.

“This December we celebrate 70 years of flying to Japan and we’re delighted to add another destination to the growing list of services Qantas operates between the two countries at a time when travel to Japan is booming. Our commitment to the Japanese market is reflective of the strength of this growth, which we are very well placed to support with the largest Aus-tralia-Japan network, the largest domestic network in Australia and the largest low-cost domestic network across Japan through Jetstar Japan,” said Qantas Inter-national CEO Gareth Evans.

Presently, Qantas flies from Sydney and Melbourne to Tokyo (Narita) and Jetstar flies Cairns-Osaka and operates flights from both Cairns and the Gold Coast to Tokyo (Narita).

“With the new free trade agreement in place, the new route opens up more opportunities for companies to explore and build business in new regions, further strengthening the trade relationship.” Evans added.

Tourism New Zealand has introduced the new and improved version of its 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist Programme. The new programme introduced has a Gold, Silver and Bronze tier structure and provides specialists the opportunity to list their offerings on Tourism New Zealand’s main marketing channel– newzealand.com.

Speaking about the programme, Steven Dixon, Tour-ism New Zealand’s Regional Manager- South and South East Asia, said, “As India is a priority market for us, it is important for us to constantly educate our Indian trade partners with product knowledge and new developments taking place in New Zealand. The 100% Pure New Zea-land Specialist Programme has evolved significantly over time. We are confident the improved programme will meet the needs of industry.”

By successfully completing 10 training modules, the seller is entitled to become a 100% Pure New Zealand Bronze Specialist and the status can be maintained by completing two additional training modules every two years.

The Silver Specialist can be earned by attending one TNZ led in-country or webinar training session or the Kiwi Link event, in addition to the 10 training modules. The status of the Silver programme can be maintained like the Bronze programme with the addition of the seller attending one in market or webinar training every two years. The Gold Specialist can be gained by successfully completing all the above-mentioned training modules along with visiting New Zealand for at least three nights in the last five years.

100% Pure New Zealand specialist Programme to inspire travel sellers

China set to become number one source market in tourist arrivals for Australia

According to the latest forecasts released by Tourism Research Australia (TRA), Chinese overseas visitor arrivals will overtake New Zealanders as the number one source of inbound arrivals, spending the most tour-ism dollars by 2017-18.

The tourism body says Australia tourism has become much more important as the country ‘transi-tions to a more diversified service-based economy’ and it even believes it ‘has the potential to be Australia’s fast-est growing industry’.

Tourism Research Australia stated, “The most recent satellite accounts show that tourism Gross Domestic Product grew 7.4% in 2015-16, well ahead of the rest of the economy. By the end of 2020, it is forecast that total tour-ism spend, excluding day trips, will reach A$131 billion.”

The tourism body also predicts that international tourism will increase its share of visitor dollars, with the inbound visitor spend expected to grow strongly and this share to rise from 33% in 2016-17 to 44% in 2026-27 at the same time that domestic tourism is expected to

register ‘moderate growth.’By 2017-18, China is expected to overtake New Zea-

land as the largest source of both inbound arrivals and inbound spend at the same time that total international visitor numbers are forecast to rise by 13.1% from 8.6 mil-lion in 2016-17 to 9.2 million in 2017-18, and once again to 9.7 million in 2018-19.

The main forecast rises are expected to be led by China, with a 26.4% increase from 1.3 million visitors in 2016-17 to 1.6 million in 2018-19. India will be second, up 21.1% from 278,000 visitors in 2016-17 to 337,000 in 2018-19, followed by Japan with a forecast rise of 15.1%, from 427,000 visitors in 2016-17 to 492,000 in 2018-19.

Tourism Research Australia said the bottom line is that Asia will account for over half of all visitors to Australia during 2018-19, compared with 48% in 2016-17. TRA said, “Asia will also account for 64% of all visi-tor growth between these two time points, with China alone making a 29% contribution, followed by Japan (5.7%) and India (5.2%).”

MUMBAI, 18-20 Jan’18

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 24CAribbeAn

Cuba welcomes three million tourists in less than seven months

Jamaica generates $1.46 billion in tourism earnings in the first six months of 2017

Antigua-Barbuda and Airbnb collaborate to drive more tourists to the island

In order to drive diversified and sustainable tourism to the islands Antigua and Barbuda, Ministry of Tour-ism, the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority and Airbnb have signed an agreement.

In Antigua and Barbuda, there are over 500 active listings listed on the Airbnb platform and a typical host has annual earnings of about $5,700. The platform has been consistently collaborating with several govern-ments in the Caribbean, as well as the Caribbean Tour-ism Organisation, as the region acknowledges the grow-ing importance of home sharing.

“Today is an important step in further strengthening the tourism industry in Antigua and Barbuda by sign-ing this partnership with Airbnb. The tourism and ser-vices industry is continually evolving, and Airbnb is the largest game changer in the accommodation sector. By

working with them, we will ensure that Antigua and Barbuda is interacting with the full spectrum of visi-tors,” said Asot Michael, Tourism Minister.

Shawn Sullivan, Public Policy Lead- Central Amer-ica and Caribbean, Airbnb, said, “We are proud to work with Antigua and Barbuda to assist in the creation of new economic opportunities for the local economy and offer genuine experiences for travellers. Our joint efforts will highlight the culture, heritage and hospitality of local residents.”

The trio will begin a dialogue about a framework for taxation on accommodation. This is intended to assist hosts to be able to pay accommodation taxes through the platform and contribute with their local community and government, as has been the case in over 275 juris-dictions around the world.

The Cuban Ministry of Tourism has reported that Cuba reached the three million mark in tourist arriv-als, 75 days faster than last year. The figures repre-sent a 24% growth in tourist numbers, continuing the country’s upward trend experienced in the last few years.

In the first six months of 2017, tourism revenues reached $1.5 billion, a nine percent growth compared to last year, while per-day tourists increased by 11.8%.

According to the Minister Manuel Marrero, the main source markets are Canada, United States, Spain, France, Italy and Germany.

The increase in arrivals made the Ministry of Tour-ism change its estimates for 2017, from 4.2 to 4.7 mil-lion tourists. The Tourism Minister said that by 2018 Cuba intends to receive five million visitors and con-firmed the plan to expand the country’s accommoda-tion capacity.

At present, Cuba has 67,769 hotel rooms, a figure that the minister hopes to raise to more than 100,000 by 2030 in order to meet the high demand in the main tourist centers such as Havana, the resort of Varadero, the eastern province of Holguin and the Cayería Norte and the city of Trinidad, in the central area.

During the first six months of the 2017 calendar year, Jamaica generated $1.46 billion in tourism earnings, recording a 7.5% growth over the corresponding period in 2016.

In addition, the country welcomed 2,165,330 vis-itors up to the end of June this year, which was 3.9% higher than the corresponding period in 2016. The figures included 1,186,646 stopover visitors and 978,684 cruise passengers.

Tourism Minister of Jamaica, Edmund Bartlett, while announcing these figures, said a record 104,098 stopover visitors arrived during the first two weeks of July, representing 14.9% increase over the corre-sponding period last year.

The Minister said these out-turns indicated that the industry was, at the end of June, ahead of the government’s projected growth targets, aimed at increasing visitor arrivals to five million and gener-ating $5 billion in five years.

Bartlett said the cumulative out-turns for 2016 and the year-to-date indicated that “we really would be looking at a 5.5% increase and $1.6 billion (in) earn-ings, which would be a little over an eight percent increase in earnings over the previous year.”

Of note, he said the industry’s growth averaged between eight and 11% for the first three months of the 2017/18 fiscal year, from April to June.

Luxury hotel operator Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, now part of AccorHotels and GP GROUP JSC has announced the development of Fairmont Saint Lucia at Sunset Bay. The property is expected to open in late 2019.

The 120-room luxury hotel with 40 private residen-tial villas will be situated on 25 acres and 1,870 feet of exquisite beach front on the southwest coast of Saint Lucia, a leading upscale destination in the Lesser Antilles.

“We are thrilled to be announcing this exciting new resort development on Saint Lucia, a premium desti-nation of choice in the Caribbean. Fairmont’s unique blend of exceptional design, location, luxury and hos-pitality will ensure that Fairmont Saint Lucia at Sun-set Bay is a private and exclusive oasis for this stunning island, whose natural landscapes, breathtaking views,

friendly locals and authentic culture will impress the most travelled individuals,” said Kevin Frid, Chief Operating Officer- North & Central America, AccorHotels.

“Together with Fairmont and our renowned design and construction teams, we will work diligently to ensure the highest quality product and guest expe-rience. We are confident that we have assembled an extremely professional and motivated team that will create a remarkable luxury resort that is unique for the island. We are also focused on creating additional value for the local community, not only by providing employment opportunities, but also by investing in the development of infrastructure in the region,” said Georgi Vassilev, Chairman of the Board of Directors, GP GROUP JSC.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts announces new property in saint Lucia

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 25global

ITB Asia join hands with Korea Tourism Organisation

onefinestay becomes global leader in luxury private rentals

WTTC appoints Gloria Guevara Manzo as their new President & CEO

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) recently announced the appointment of Gloria Guevara Manzo as their new President and CEO.

Previously, she had served as Secretary Tourism for Mexico and CEO of the Mexican Tourism Board from 2010 to 2012, Minister in the cabinet of President Calderón. Prior to that, she worked for global distribu-tion system Sabre where most recently she was CEO of Sabre Mexico, reporting to the board of directors of a joint venture between Aeroméxico, Mexicana and Sabre Holdings.

Currently, she is Special Advisor on Government Affairs for the Centre on Health and the Global Envi-ronment at the School of Public Health, Harvard.

Announcing Guevara’s appointment, Gerald Law-less, WTTC Chairman, said, “Gloria is a proven leader who is well known and well respected within the global Travel & Tourism sector. I am delighted that she will lead WTTC into the next phase of its development. With a career encompassing senior roles across the private sector, government and academia, she brings a unique combination of experience and expertise.”

As a major development, ITB Asia has partnered with Korea Tourism Organisation’s (KTO) Singapore office.

Katrina Leung, Executive Director, Messe Berlin (Singapore), said, “We are pleased to work in part-nership with the Korea Tourism Organisation in Sin-gapore this year. ITB Asia will be a key platform for KTO in bridging more visitor and buyer connections, and boosting awareness of Korea’s thriving tourism industry.”

According to Leung, the partnership with ITB Asia will expand their presence and strengthen their proposition to the Asian and Southeast Asian mar-ket. ITB Asia will help them reach to a large number

of participants who understand the importance of net-working and Singapore is a hub.

KTO along with Seoul Tourism Organisation, Jeju Convention and Visitors Bureau and HanaTour Ser-vices will attend with their respective booths at ITB Asia 2017. Korea is known for its first-class transport infrastructure, world-class readiness, pop culture and fashion. It has boosted the country’s appeal as one of the leading destinations for today’s business and lei-sure travellers.

The delegates will be provided with the latest infor-mation on Korea’s attractions, convention, activities and many more.

AccorHotels has announced the grouping of Travel Keys, Squarebreak and onefinestay with the inten-tion to integrate the three companies under the one-finestay brand before the end of 2017. The portfo-lio will be placed under the responsibility of Javier Cedillo-Espin, who has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of onefinestay to head up the grouping of the three brands collaboratively with a team of executives from onefinestay, Travel Keys and Squarebreak.

The newly appointed CEO commented, “With this new step in consolidating our leadership posi-tion, onefinestay now has a sound platform com-bining brand excellence, a vast and complemen-tary offer and distribution efficiency. We are hugely excited about the global development potential for our network. Our guests are always asking for more places where they can enjoy our professional hospi-tality and concierge experience and the integration of these 3 innovative brands is the answer.”

Through the integration of the three hospitality innovators, onefinestay guests will be able to expe-rience over 10,000 of the world’s finest homes com-bined with worldwide professional hospitality and concierge services.

Prince Hotels Inc, a consolidated subsidiary of Seibu Holdings Inc has acquired StayWell Hospitality Group (SWHG) along with the business operations of StayWell Group which operates and develops 30 hotels globally. Prince Hotels will establish the 100% fully owned Australian subsidiary StayWell Holdings

Pty Ltd and this new company will acquire all shares of SWHG’s 22 operating subsidiary companies from SWHG. Proceedings are expected to be completed within the next three months.

Shigeyoshi Akasaka, President and Representa-tive Director, Prince Hotels, said, “Prince Hotels is

enjoying good performance with the recent growth of tourism within Japan. To expand overseas, we believe that it is important to not only expand strategic bases but also to cultivate internationally minded person-nel. As a family of Prince Hotels, the business with SWHG will bring us significant beneficial opportu-nities and international elements.”

“StayWell is delighted to be part of the Prince Hotel family, a well-respected Hotel Group locally in Japan and internationally and to spearhead Prince’s global expansion plan. I am confident that StayWell will meet its growth and financial performance targets with the support and resources of the Prince group,” stated Simon Wan, CEO, Staywell Hospitality Group.

This business acquisition will further strengthen the globalisation of the Seibu Group’s hotel and lei-sure businesses which serve as a driving force for continued and stronger growth for the Seibu Group. This acquisition will add the 30 hotels operated and developed by SWHG in seven countries and 21 cities to the existing Prince Hotels network which serves as the core of the Seibu Group’s hotel and leisure businesses.

Prince Hotels acquires stayWell Hospitality

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 26technology

TUI group introduces Employer Branding Campaign

Internet Moguls eyes growth with the enhancement of its CRO

Yatra acquires corporate booking firm Air Travel BureauOnline travel operator, Yatra Online Inc has acquired cor-porate travel service provider Air Travel Bureau (ATB) in an estimated cash-and debt deal of $ 22.5-27.5 million.

The acquisition has been made through Yatra’s online subsidiary Yatra Online Pvt Ltd and the company will pay about $8 million at the first closing, expected to take place in mid-August, acquiring the majority of ATB shares in the process.

“With this acquisition, we believe that we are now

the largest corporate travel services in India by gross bookings,” said Dhruv Shringi, Chief Executive at Yatra Online Inc.

“This acquisition will allow us to deliver best-in-class experiences to an even wider set of travellers, through our web and mobile platforms, and enhance our reach to cross-sell our product suite, including hotels, to this new customer base,” he added.

The balance of the payment will be made during the second closing that is expected to occur in the sec-ond quarter of 2018. The transaction has been financed through a mix of debt and cash in the bank.

Yatra expects a net revenue contribution of between 8% and 10% from ATB for 2017-18.

“We are excited for ATB to join the Yatra family and for our teams to work together to further enhance the offerings we provide to our customers and partners by leveraging Yatra’s technology platform and large hotel network,” said Sunil Narain, Chairman and Chief Exec-utive at ATB.

Under the motto, ‘It’s our people that make us number one’, the redesigned campaign by TUI Group aims to portray the brand as an ideal employer for those who wish to reinvent travel. Starting in Germany, the cam-paign will be rolled out in 14 European markets by the end of the current financial year.

“Highly motivated and qualified employees have made us who we are: Number one within the travel industry. The new campaign reflects the performance but also intends to motivate future challenges, espe-cially in the field of digitisation,” said Sybille Reiß, Director- Human Resources, TUI Deutschland and TUI Group.

“TUI offers great scope for action for digital experts. Uniform employer branding in all markets is a clear signal to potential applicants and existing employees that they are pursuing their professional career at the world’s number one tourism group,” said Erik Friemuth, Chief Marketing Officer, TUI Group.

Internet Moguls, a digital marketing agency with a focus on tourism and hospitality has announced that it would set up a new wing to its Central Reservation Office (CRO).

Since 2009, the agency has been running a CRO and supporting more than 100 clients across the globe. In order to cater to the constantly growing need for industry players in this service, the company has decided to accelerate its scope further and include many new names on its client list.

Until now, the vertical has efficiently handled all inbound calls and increased the call service level standards by 93%, evaluated up-selling opportu-nities from the existing database to boost revenue, decreased the AHT (Average Handling Time) and call abandonment. It offers 24x7 supports for a fraction of the price while elevating customer satisfaction. It has also successfully tracked the traveling schedule of guests from OTA’s, which has led to the greater con-version of queries into cumulative revenue.

Chief Mogul and Founder of Internet Moguls, Avi-jit Arya, said, “Voice is the new frontier for digital and hotels need to adapt this next offline assisted online growth that has at least 10% hidden revenues of lever-aged with proper systems and integrated with social and voice channels.”

Travelport has launched a new travel app called XLGO in South Africa, which would benefit both the national and international visitors. This app will promote tour-ism opportunities in South Africa by providing the information on the tourist’s attractions of the country.

XLGO has the divisions like Travelport Engage and Trip Assist that offer the best essential services to the outbound and inbound tourists who are subscribed. The app will assist customers of XL Travel’s agencies across South Africa by providing advanced mobile travel capabilities such as flexible route management, GPS connectivity and the travel assistance.

XLGO is a one stop mobile solution in South Africa

featuring road map, hotel information and the best places to visit. It also delivers a flexible and customised travel updates, blogs, chat operations and the visiting information on the offbeat and the new destinations in South Africa and abroad.

A key constituent of the XLGO app is Travelport Engage. This is a flexible mobile messaging tool which delivers relevant information during and after every trip. Travelport Engage also offers automatic itiner-ary updates, organised trip segments to easily navigate itineraries and real-time assistance is always at hand, where travellers are connected directly to a support agent.

travelport launches its travel app XLgO in south africa

BuyForexOnline unveils online remittance services for studentsBuyForexOnline.com recently announced the launch of convenient and affordable online remittance services for Indian students who are planning to study abroad.

The wire transfer services of BuyForexOnline allow students to make university payments online at attrac-tive rates. Wire transfer services are available in 26 cur-rencies to 200+ countries worldwide and are imple-mented within 48 hours.

“Wire transfers or remittances are a popular method of transferring funds abroad using the SWIFT plat-form. To remit money, one needs to have a sending bank account and a receiving Bank account. The prevailing Forex rate viewed online will be frozen at the time of placing the order and the sending fee levied by the send-ing bank and a Beneficiary fee or BEN charges levied by the receiving Bank are also transparently displayed,” said Ananth Reddy, Founder and Managing Director, BuyForexOnline.

“So for instance if you are sending $10,000 abroad through a bank or offline vendors, you might be charged a sending fee of ̀ 2,500 and BEN charges of up to $50 and be offered rates at a margins of up to four percent, which all could add up to a cost of around ̀ 30,000! We are try-ing to make the process affordable by offering the low-est wire transfer rates and zero sending fee, so a similar remittance transaction online with us would cost the student just about ̀ 5,000 or less,” added Reddy.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 27 technology •

Wandertrails has recently signed a key partnership is with Uber. Through this partnership riders can book Uber-HIRE rides to visit the destinations. The partnership with Uber is designed to offer a plethora of travel experiences for Uber riders that include bespoke destinations, experiential stays and immersive activities.

The collaboration will provide con-venient and affordable half-day and full day tours around destinations like Mumbai, Pune, Lonavala, Nasik, Kam-shet, etc. Apart from being extremely useful for residents of Maharashtra, it will be a boon for domestic and foreign tourists.

Commenting on the collabora-tion, Bansi Kotecha, GM, Uber-Pune, said, “At Uber, we are committed to

celebrating cities. We are excited to partner with Wandertrails to pro-vide the convenience of booking an UberHIRE ride to offbeat locations in Maharashtra.”

Vishnu Menon, Co-Founder & CEO, Wandertrails, said, “We are a pioneer in the arena of experiential travel in the country and we have always desired to provide a 360° experience to the trav-eller. Hence we are not only exten-sively adding to our list of destinations and experiences but are also looking to actively collaborate with allied ser-vice providers to facilitate the customer comprehensively. Associating with a global brand as Uber is a significant step for Wandertrails and will give us further impetus to develop and impro-vise on our services and offers.”

Travelport has secured a new partnership with Ugo Transfers to expand the num-ber of ground transport services offered to travel agents.

Ugo Transfers, which aggregates ground transfer content will provide more than 68,000 travel agents globally with access to a wide range of ground transport services in over 100 countries. Bookings will be available on the Ugo app via the Travelport Smartpoint agency desktop solution.

Tony Hopwood, Travelport’s Senior Director for Products & Solutions in Asia Pacific, said, “Ugo Transfers will provide our agents with more content and book-ing choices for ground transportation. We hope that making this app accessi-ble to travel agencies using Travelport’s

Smartpoint will allow agents to create a faster and more efficient workflow, improving the response time for their customers.”

In addition to individual bookings, Ugo Transfers recently launched a spe-cialised ‘service centre’ that allows for requests to cater to larger groups and other customised options.

“This will add another layer of reassur-ance and personalised service delivery for our customers. We are looking forward to providing more travel agents with a seamless solution to search and book for ground transportation. Travelport has been a very supportive partner and we look forward to continuing our great rela-tionship with the team,” said Brad Wicks, Managing Director of Ugo Transfers.

Collaboration between Wandertrails and Uber to offer a range of travel experiences

Travelport secures partnership to expand ground transport bookings

3rd DATA event in Japan underlines the travel technology trendsThird edition of Destination Acad-emy with TripAdvisor (DATA) event recently held in Asia Pacific brought together a diverse group of market-ing managers, destination market-ers and social community managers for a highly educational, informative and dynamic three-day seminar that combined practical training in digital marketing, crisis management train-ing and best practice with case studies from successful destinations around the world.

“In today’s ever-changing travel environment, destinations need to understand the value and importance of local, real time content and how to connect and leverage user-generated content to effectively transform their organisations. Mie Prefecture was cho-sen as the venue of the event not only for its rich cultural history but also for the fact that it is a lesser known desti-nation with a wealth of tourism assets. These assets were integrated into the

off site training activities. This allowed us the perfect opportunity to educate the participants’ first hand with real world examples,” said Sarah Mathews, Head- Destination Marketing, APAC, TripAdvisor and Chairperson, PATA.

Over 50 tourism marketing repre-sentatives from across the Asia Pacific region came together for three days in Mie, Japan. During the three day pro-gramme, TripAdvisor held separate sessions to share new data on travel trends for travel research, planning and booking and provided guidance on how the wealth of user generated con-tent and reviews may be better used to market destinations.

TripAdvisor, in partnership with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and E-Tourism Frontiers, launched the initiative in 2014 in Sin-gapore to improve the way that desti-nations use content created by travel-lers, and to help Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) succeed online.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 28REsPONsiBLE tOuRisM

Peru hosts Geotourism Festival to promote Sustainable Tourism

Myanmar to open new ecotourism sites for travellers

Tanzania leads eco-tourism initiativesTanzania is encouraging eco-tourism in order to pro-vide an ‘incentive’ for conserving natural forests as well as boosting government revenues. Ramo Makani, Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism informed that the new initiative is meant to diversify Tanzania’s tourism from wildlife to natural forests, which are plenty in the east African nation.

According to Makani, within Tanzania’s natural for-ests there is a wide range of flora and fauna, some of which are not found anywhere in the globe. The place also boasts a wide range of birds, frogs, toads, and but-terflies, which are important in luring more tourists.

“As a nation, we have a number of well-conserved natural forests, which can be used for tourism purposes. Through those forests, we are able to generate signifi-cant financial flux that can benefit rural areas and can be reinjected into the management of forests and nat-ural spaces for their long-term conservation, restora-tion, and valorisation. There are tourists who inter-ested on flora and fauna, that’s why it is important for

Tanzania to open up natural forests for tourism pur-poses,” he said.

So far, Tanzania has 12 nature reserves, namely, Amani (8,380ha); Uluguru (24,115ha); Kilombero

(134,511ha); Nilo (6,225ha); Rungwe (13,652ha); Magamba (9,283ha); Chome (14,283ha) and Mkingu (23,388ha); Uzungwa Scarp (32,763ha), Rondo Plateau (14,000ha); Minziro (25,000ha) and Mount Hanang (5,871ha).

Central highland Pasco in Peru recently hosted a Geotourism Festival aimed at promoting Sustainable Tourism as well as the Inca country’s geological heri-tage, geo and biodiversity.

The Geotourism Festival featured a rock-climbing competition, a magnetic-center energy-recovery rit-ual, boat rides in Japurin Lake, Andean cuisine tast-ings, among other activities.

The High-Andean region is home to the Sanctuary of Huayllay, a rock forest recognised as one of Peru’s natural wonders. At over 4,000 meters above sea level, Huayllay Stone Forest stretches over some 6,815

hectares that harbor not only interestingly-shaped rock formations but also diverse natural wealth and cultural heritage. The site now pursues the title of central Peru’s Touristic Geopark.

“Geopark designation would make it an iconic geotourism destination in central Peru and in South America. This way, local and foreign tour-ists would be able to cover the five geo-routes while taking in whimsically-shaped mammoth outcrops, cave paintings, thermal baths, glacial morphology and other attractions,” said Huayllay Mayor, Hector Morales.

In an attempt to increase visitors to the country, Myanmar’s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism will focus on ecotourism. Myanmar will open a new ecotourism site, near Oaktwin and Pauk Khaung townships, in the Bago Yoma forest later this year.

Myanmar currently has 21 ecotourism sites, which include 16 existing sites and a handful of underdeveloped ones, as well as 13 community-based tourism projects in Sagaing, Mandalay, Magwe and Yangon regions and Shan, Karenni and Kachin states.

Marine Tourism is also opening up on the Myeik archipelago. The country is now promoting the archipelago, which lies in the far south of the coun-try. The area is emerging as an attractive destina-tion for travellers who have already visited Man-dalay, Bagan and Yangon.

Ecotourism and community-based tourism are now strong marketing trends used to attract tour-ists and Myanmar has already considerable experi-ence in homestay and community-linked tourism.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) head office team worked with guidance from EarthCheck in the collection and collation of relevant operational data on daily practices in order to be benchmarked against EarthCheck’s global sustainability stan-dard. The EarthCheck benchmarking data embraces water and energy consumption, waste management, community contributions/activities and risk man-agement as well as the use of paper and cleaning products.

The PATA head office received Bronze Bench-marked Sustainability Certification in 2015 and the Silver Certification was first awarded during the Association’s Annual Summit in Guam in May 2016.

Dr. Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA, said, “Our head office in Bangkok has demonstrated impressive

teamwork and applied a number of thoughtful ini-tiatives in order to maintain Silver-level status. Year by year we are becoming more sustainable and envi-ronmentally friendly when we carry out our daily duties. I hope that our actions and achievements may continue to inspire our members to pursue sustain-able and responsible business practices.”

Stewart Moore, CEO and Founder, EarthCheck, stated that PATA continues to provide important leadership. “PATA was the first administration office in Thailand to achieve this hard-earned and coveted recognition and is also the first to maintain this sta-tus. In doing so, PATA is encouraging its neighbours and peers to consider their social and environmental impacts that may, inevitably, provide economic and social benefits,” he added.

Pata maintains leadership in sustainability practices

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 29EVENTS

4th edition of MPTM to take place from October 27-29, 2017

Kashmir World Film Festival underlines the beauty of Srinagar

ATOAI Convention to take place in Kumarakom from September 18-21, 2017

ATEED in collaboration with PATA to host Tourism Leaders Forum

Tourism industry leaders in New Zealand seek to maxi-mise the sector’s economic benefits and will be address-ing the Tourism Leaders Forum- titled ‘Being Future Ready’. The forum is presented jointly by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) on Sep-tember 28, 2017 at the Lysaght Building in Auckland.

Chris Flynn, Regional Director- Pacific, PATA, said, “This Tourism Leaders Forum brings together

an important and influential group to address issues, threats, challenges and opportunities for New Zea-land’s tourism sector in line with the Tourism 2025 Plan and beyond. Our role, at PATA is to encourage responsible and sustainable development that deliv-ers tangible economic benefits, particularly for local communities. I’m sure that the views expressed at this Forum will influence the direction of our Global Insights Conference taking place during the course of the following day.”

Speakers during the panel session will include Nick Hill, CEO, ATEED; Chris Roberts, CEO, Tour-ism Industry Aotearoa (TIA); Stephen England-Hall, CEO, Tourism New Zealand and Cam Wallace - Chief Revenue Officer, Air New Zealand.

The programme is designed as an important fore-runner to the annual PATA Global Insights Confer-ence (PGIC) taking place for the third consecutive year on September 29, 2017 at the SKYCITY Grand Hotel in Auckland.

The main aim of Kashmir World Film Festival is to pro-mote the film industry and provide a platform to the youth of valley in film-making and acting. The festival is organised by Actors Creative Theatre (ACT) with an aim to promote the film industry and provide a platform to the youth of valley in film-making and acting. ACT is an organisation working in the field of Art Films and lit-erature in collaboration with Media Education Research Centre, Kashmir University and Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).

The five-day festival began at Tagore Hall in Srinagar for the first time and was inaugurated by Dr. Asghar

Samoon, Secretary, Higher Education.According to Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, Chairman,

ACT, Bollywood shares a very old relationship with Kashmir. Kashmir is known as a photographer’s para-dise and in the past, both Bollywood and international filmmakers have shot their movies in Kashmir. “This festival is being seen as artistic relief in the otherwise tense environment of Kashmir. International fashion model and film actress, Alina Mughal, who was also present at the festival, feels that by such initiatives, the youth of Kashmir will get a platform to go out and work in this field,” he said.

The fourth edition of Madhya Pradesh Travel Mart (MPTM) will be held from October 27-29, 2017 in Bhopal. Over 200 national and interna-tional buyers along with 100 exhibitors of dis-tinct Indian markets are expected to participate in the mart.

With the theme, Seek-Discover-Explore, the mart will offer a B2B platform to bring together tourism stakeholders and representatives from heritage hotels, conference venues, tour opera-tors and wildlife parks etc.

The event is supported by organisations like Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI), Indian Associ-ation of Tour Operators (IATO), Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH), Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).

International participants attending the show include representatives from Singapore, Spain, the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Thailand, Poland, Austria, Australia, France etc.

Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) will host its 13th Annual Convention at Backwater Ripples Resort in Kumarakom, Kerala, from September 18-21, 2017. The theme of the con-vention is ‘Emerging Pathways’ and it will accentu-ate on turning India as the adventure capital of the world. The convention will have key stakeholders of the industry including representatives of the govern-ment, tourism boards and other players.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently hosted Thailand Golf Travel Mart (TGTM) 2017 from July 25-28 in the stunning environs of Khao Yai in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. The event helped to create new opportunities for Thai golf business operators allow-ing them to promote their services to vital foreign markets.

Soraya Homchuen, Director, TAT- Mumbai, com-mented, “Golf is big business in Thailand as the coun-try has some of the best class golf courses. TGTM 2017 was a great opportunity for Thailand’s golf industry to show the world why Thailand is such an amazing golf

destination while attracting new golfers to play and enjoy the legendary Thai hospitality and unique local experiences. We hope that evolved Indian travellers will come to Thailand to enjoy the Amazing Golfing experience.”

More than 150 buyers from 32 countries signed up to attend the TGTM 2017 with the majority being from Asia (65 buyers) and the ASEAN region (48 buyers). In addition, 31 buyers attended from Europe and three from the USA. There were around 95 local sellers represent-ing Thai golf courses, tour operators, hotels and travel agents attending to sell their services. To ensure the best exposure for sellers and give them the chance to meet a wide array of buyers, the TGTM 2017 hosted pre-sched-uled appointment matching program and speed-dating.

TAT and the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) conducted ‘The Thailand Golf Paradise’ seminar that was attended by Thai and foreign experts to share their valuable experiences in the golf industry. In addition, the focus group meeting between TAT and golf courses in Khao Yai highlighted seeking joint promotions for the golf segment. Another highlight of the TGTM 2017 was the networking golf tournament for all participants that gave everyone the chance to discover some of the up-and-coming golf courses and facilities in the region of Khao Yai.

TAT organises Thailand Golf Travel Mart 2017

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | AuguSt 2017 • 30FiLM tOuRisM

Department of Tourism, Thailand conducts 5th edition of TIFDF

GoT Season 7 encourages tourism to Croatia, Spain and Ireland

Project Indywood to highlight the Film Tourism potential of Kerala

Project Indywood, worth $10 billion that also involves a tour package has been recently introduced by Indy-wood Film Tourism, titled ‘Travan-core Treasures (Ananthavismayam)’ is set to turn Kerala into a Film Tour-ism hub. The main objective of Indy-wood consortium promoted by 2,000 Indian billionaires and corporates is to elevate Indian Film Industry to global platform in the next five years.

The `70,000 crore project aims at initiating 10,000 new 4K projection multiplex screens, 1,00,000 2K pro-jection home cinemas, 8K/4K film stu-dios, animation/ VFX studios and film schools on par with international standards.

“Film and Tourism are an integral part of our life, culture and emotions. It integrates the nation irrespective of socio, economic, cultural and religious differences. We cannot imagine a day without film and tourism. Indywood intends to create a new market which is beneficial to the State by blending the

immense potential of film and tourism sectors,” said Sohan Roy, Hollywood Director and Chairman cum CEO, UAE headquartered Aries Group.

“Novel projects to augment Malay-alam film industry and tourism are inevitable. Apart from identifying new markets, Malayalam film industry also should focus in framing innovative marketing strategies. Such projects will definitely accelerate the growth of the State. For instance, the Interna-tional Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) is beneficial one. The Kerala Government will encourage projects, which blends the power of film and tourism,” said M Vijayakumar, Chairman, Kerala Tour-ism Development Corporation (KTDC).

The package offers a visit to prom-inent film tourism destinations in the city– dual 4K cinemas Aries Plex, Aries Vismayas Max Studio, Guinness Book of Records holder Aries Guinness Chundan, world’s longest steel-made snake boat, Magic Planet and shooting locations.

Recently, the Department of Tourism, Thailand launched the fifth edition of Thailand International Film Destination Festival 2017 (TIFDF 2017) themed ‘Fasci-nating Destination’, with an aim to push Thailand as world’s best film location.

The theme also focused on promot-ing the eight tourism clusters in Thailand among international filmmakers through a series of activities, such as a short film competition to be joined by film students from around the world. Another special activity for this year is a short film com-petition for Thai students under the topic ‘Tourism Linked to Royal Projects’ to pay homage to His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, Tour-ism and Sports Minister of Thailand, said, “We have tourism strategies which aim to generate income for the country, bring income to communities, improve the quality of life for Thai people and add value to Thailand’s tourism. We have many beautiful destinations in Thailand and the international film industry is

directly linked to Thailand’s tourism. This not only brings in a large amount of money to our country, but also helps promote Thailand’s beautiful destina-tions internationally. TIFDF has been held annually since 2013 with an aim to attract those in the film industry to shoot films in Thailand.”

Wannasiri Morakul, Director Gen-eral, Tourism Department, said, “This year, we follow the government’s pol-icy to support tourism in Thailand. We promote the eight tourism clusters of tourism development strategy for 2015-2017 to make Thai locations well-known internationally.”

In 2016, more than 700 foreign films were shot in Thailand, generating 2.3 bil-lion baht. In the first five months of 2017 (Jan-May), a total of 369 films and vid-eos were shot in Thailand, generating 1.4 billion baht. Compared to the same period last year (Jan-May 2016), we see an increase in number and revenue and a rise from last year’s 323 films and videos, and 846 million baht revenue.

Game of Thrones (GoT) Season 7 is one of the leading shows for the current generation, running on chan-nel HBO since it first release in 2011. While there is a lot happening in all the amazing kingdoms and regions in the fantasy world of show, the drama in the real life of these locations is equally interesting.

The huge popularity of Game of Thrones has been leading to growth in tourism at places where the popular series has been shot. The tourism boost in Croatia, Spain and Ireland is proof that TV tour-ism is now on the rise.

According to a report, the Game of Thrones Walking Tour of Dubrovnik has emerged as the most booked tour. Other popular tourist spots that benefited from their association with the Ameri-can TV show are Spain and Iceland. The increase in traffic to these locations was calculated based on the number of unique sessions on TripAdvisor sites from September 2012 to June 2017. Most of the desti-nations that were featured on show series registered a growth in visits.

The Mauritius government has a scheme under which 30-40% rebate is available for shooting in the country. This is by way of the form of reimbursement on audited Qualified Production Expenditure in Mauritius. The scope of the rebate scheme covers pre-production, production and post-production stages of film making. The qualified production expenditure includes remu-neration for cast and crew, accommodation, catering, travel, hiring equipment, location fees, ground trans-port & logistics, besides others.

In a recent meeting organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the significance for Telugu film industry to explore filming opportunities and rebate schemes that the Mauritius government has offered for

Indian film industry was highlighted. The meeting was attended by around 60 stakeholders from the Telugu film Industry.

Nanda Narrainen, Head- Film Industry, Board of Investment of Mauritius, said, “Mauritius also pro-vided incentives to create an export-oriented film indus-try. Among other things, it offered 15% VAT refund on production of films for export, corporate tax incentive, besides encouraging copyright registration and pro-tection of IPR. It allowed 100% foreign ownership with no minimum capital in company incorporated in Mau-ritius, he told the session on ‘Filming opportunities in Mauritius’ that CII Telangana organised here recently in partnership with the BOI of Mauritius.”

tollywood to explore filming opportunities offered by Mauritius government

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | august 2017 31 film tourism •

Portugal makes entry into the film incentives sector

Delhi on a high rise with increased number of Bollywood movie shootings

Karnataka government likely to introduce Film tourism policy

Munna Michael features the beauty of Jordan

Portugal, a picturesque country with stunning Ibe-rian architecture and a long Atlantic coastline, now boasts a new refundable tax credit of up to 25% on qualified spend.

The incentives main goal is to attract interna-tional film production offering added value to pro-ducers via the tax credit, to make Portugal compet-itive with other European countries when it comes to attracting major film projects. The concept covers all kinds of feature films, including documentaries and animation.

The requirement for minimum production expenditure in Portugal includes approximately $1.1 million. The project cap is set at four million euros. The eligibility for the rebate and its rate are deter-mined by a cultural test measuring how the produc-tion benefits Portugal.

Recent projects that have been successfully shot in Portugal include The Man Who Killed Don Quix-ote (2018), That Good Night (2017), The Promise (2016), Mata Hari (a TV series that started shooting in 2016), Zoom (2015) and Night Train to Lisbon (2013).

The state government of Karnataka is working towards rolling out a film tourism policy. The development comes with an intention to attract producers from out-side across the country to tourist destinations across Karnataka for shooting.

In regard to the policy, a meeting was also chaired by Tourism Minister Priyank M Kharge. The meeting was attended by eminent producers from the fraternity along with key stakeholders on the matter. As many as

317 tourist destinations have been identified across the state for shooting purpose.

When it comes to exotic sites to shoot a film or a song, there are few places around the world that surpass the sites of Jordan. The recent Bollywood Box Office film, Munna Michael has exciting dance videos and a catchy twist but what made the audi-ence’s heart throb faster were the enchanting back-ground settings on most of their songs. One in par-ticular, ‘Pyar Ho’ has visuals that have people transfixed on their screens!

The song at the onset opens displaying the much-marvelled stone carved dwelling of Petra, the Rose City. The delightful reddish hue of sand-stone amidst the maze of huge stone caverns is the magnificence of Petra. The song flaunts of another captivating site from Jordan; the desert wilderness of Wadi Rum. It features dramatic sandstone moun-tains with valleys that cut into the sandstone and granite rock faces offering vivid views and a land-scape resembling that of Mars. It is because of its unique topography that many shots depicting Mars in the recent Hollywood film ‘The Martian’ as well was shot in Jordan

Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India and International Chamber for Service Industry (ICSI) recently organised an International Conference on Cin-ematic Tourism for the promotion of Northeast India and ASEAN amongst themedia and entertainment industry in Mumbai.

The conference highlighted on how to bring in activ-ities of the media entertainment industry to the North-east. The outcome was to have one Media-Entertain-ment Zone for entire NER(I) and ASEAN, one single window for the entire region, one integrated web portal

and tourism promotion for the entire NER(I), to organ-ise yearly awards, to list out and display infrastructure facilities and cinematic tourism policy, skills develop-ment and more.

The conference created a platform for entire Media Entertainment Industry including film production houses, filmmakers, radio, TV-ad film animation indus-try and event companies to interact and explore busi-ness opportunities with heads of NER(I) States, their PR and Tourism Departments, NER(I) production houses and ASEAN representations.

The capital will see a massive range of shootings for Bol-lywood films this year. The tourism department’s data has revealed that they have received 40 requests for film shootings and the figure is expected to touch 75 by the end of this year. This despite the fact that various depart-ments, including the tourism department have recently increased the rates for shooting by almost 40%.

Earlier, the government used to get only 6-7 shoot-ing requests a year. Locations like Agrasen ki Baoli and Tughlaqabad Fort are the new choices of Directors, while Delhi’s heart Connaught Place is no more in the list of options.

To shoot in Delhi, the makers require permissions from a total of 18 agencies, including police and Delhi gov-ernment. The tourism department’s senior official had mentioned in 2013 that around six-seven movies were shot in Delhi that year and almost two dozen movies were shot in Delhi in 2016, following which Delhi government

had decided to open a single-window counter.Earlier, many agencies had no guidelines to give per-

mission for shootings. “We had asked these agencies to prepare guidelines, and finally we have the guidelines,” a senior Tourism Ministry Official informed. A meeting was held with the 18 stakeholders in April where it was decided that permissions will be given for a maximum of 10 days.

Ministry of Commerce & Industry organises a conference on Cinematic Tourism