TTJ_January_2011

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Volume 1 Issue III January 2011 Pages 48 Rs 60

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A flashback on the aviation sector in 2010 v An insightful look at the fast expanding portfolio of the CDMS managed Carlson Hotels v Read on to know what the leading cruise providers have to say about the Indian market v An overview of the new millennium city – Gurgaon

v Details of the Gujarat Travel Mart 2011Picture courtesy: Kingdom of Dreams

Wish you all a very happy and

a prosperous 2011.

EDITOR’S note

New beginnings...

Let me first wish you all a very happy and a prosperous 2011. Here’s hoping that the coming

year takes the Indian tourism scenario to a larger canvas so that we can all get a fair share of our painting. Cheers to that!

Phew! What a year it was. The opening of the iconic T3 at the Indira Gandhi International Airport placed India in the league of top 8 terminals across the globe. After having been in the news for all the wrong reasons, the successful completion of the Com-monwealth Games once again show-cased the true and hidden potential of India to the world. Both moves will surely have a long term effect on the Indian tourism industry.

As for hospitality, the Westins, the Marriotts, the Leelas, continued their expansion drive, and the Indian metro cities witnessed the opening of many five-star plush properties. Interesting-ly, the mid-budget segment too flour-ished by leaps and bounds as many 3-stars and 4-stars paved their way in the tier II and tier III cities.

Meanwhile, the state tourism boards got more aggressive with their marketing strategies and we saw some unique campaigns coming to fore, such as, Caravan Tourism, Film Tourism Board, Conventions Bureau, Heli Tourism, and more. Giving tough competition to state tourism boards were international destinations who continued to throw the bait for the Indi-an tourists to grab. Many newer desti-nations decided to open shop in India. All in all, the various principles of tour-ism industry left no stone unturned in taking the tourism graph of our country upwards.

While much has been achieved with regards to tourism in our coun-try, a lot remains desired. So for our New Year special issue, we decided to move away from the mundane stats and figures and ask people about the one change they would like to see in the coming year and what is their con-tribution in bringing about that change. An interesting mix of replies have been assembled for you to go through along with a bunch of interesting and analyti-cal stories, interviews and parties.

Happy Reading!Priyanka Saxena

[email protected]

Editorial and Marketing Offices:Sampan Media Pvt. Ltd., 124, 3rd floor, Shahpur Jat, Opp. Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi – 110049, Ph: 9560264443, [email protected]: 201 Stanford Plaza, 2nd Floor, New Link Road, Andheri West, Mumbai-400053

All information in Travel Trade Journal (TTJ) is derived from sources we consider reliable. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. Opinions / views expressed by third parties in abstract or in interviews are not necessarily shared by us. Material appearing in the magazine cannot be repro-duced in whole or in part(s) without prior permission. The publisher assumes no responsibility for material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with all advertisements without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. The publisher will not be liable for any loss caused by any delay in publication, error or failure of advertisement to appear.

Owned and published byRavi Sharma, 18/3, Railway Colony, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110023 and printed at Rakesh Press, A-7, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase II, New Delhi 110028

Travel Trade Journal (TTJ) Volume 1 Issue III

Editor & Publisher: Ravi SharmaManaging Editor: Priyanka Saxena

Team SampanSenior Correspondent : Kartar Hemrajani

Associate Director : Pranav Khullar (Mob: 09560264442)Manager PR : Ankit Dixit (Mob: 09560264447)

Marketing Head : Praveen Mishra (Mob: 09811559203)Regional Manager (South) : Karthik K V (Mob: 09880209405)

Regional Manager (West) : Abhay Jamwal (Mob: 09004922747)Assistant Manager (Sales) : Kshitij Ahlawat (Mob: 09560264449)

Manager Administration : Babita Sharma (Mob: 09560264441)Branch Manager (Chandigarh) : Ashutosh Sharma (Mob: 09815842872)

Representative (Jaipur) : Kapil Gupta (Mob: 09672148787)Manager Subscription/Circulation : Yatin Gupta (Mob: 09911442932) Design & Print Production : Jitendra Rawat (Mob: 09899602256)

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Be it the Terminal 3 opening or the unfortunate incident of the Mangalore crash, the year 2010 was a happening year for the aviation indus-try as the sector once again picked up speed after the slump. We give you a flashback of the events.. ................................................ Pg 10

Hilton raised many eyebrows when it decided to open its upscale property in the commercial district of Janakpuri. But once inside, you rea-lise that location has no role to play in its ser-vice. Hilton, for a variety of reasons, is our hotel of the month.. ....................................... Pg 14

Though the international cruise companies experienced a wonderful 2010, they still feel that India has huge potential in store in terms of cruise tourism. Read on to know what the four leading cruise holiday providers have in store for the Indian market... ......................... Pg 24

The NCR that was regarded as a distant cousin of Delhi which has only commercial offices in store has today evolved into a millennium city that plays host to the finest five star properties and unique entertainment hubs........ .. Pg 30

contents

On the dawn of a new decade, I wish all my readers a very happy and a pros-perous New Year. We hope and pray that the coming year will turn most of your dreams into reality and may luck, success and good health be your loyal

companions all year through.Just three issues old, I would like to thank you for the support and warm response

that you have extended to our magazine. This venture wouldn’t have been possible without it. I take this opportunity to invite you to mail us your suggestions / feedback on our product. Your guidance and inputs will help us in bringing out a better and improved TTJ.

Ravi [email protected]

Publisher’s note

January 2011 4 LIGHTER SIDE

IndIa gets Its own tussaudsTired of selling the Taj and Qutub to your clientele? Here’s a new attraction that showcases the real essence of rural India in the most fascinating way. In the Kolhapur city on the Pune-Bengaluru highway, the Sidhhagiri Gramjivan is a unique project and a great tourist attraction.

New

s of t

he m

onth

Unlike Madam Tussau-ds, the statues here are not of well known

people but they seem almost alive! Amidst them you are transported to an era, where the self-contained villages reflect India’s culture. The various aspects of village life has been brought to life at the Sidhhagiri Gramjivan, near Kolhapur as a testimony of the prosperity of the Indian society during the pre-inde-pendence period.

Sidhhagiri Gramjivan is a unique project, situated at Shri Kshetra Siddhagiri Math, Kaneri, Taluka Karveer, Dis-trict Kolhapur. It is near Kol-hapur city on Pune-Bengluru highway. Shri Kshetra Sid-dhagiri Math has a history of more than 1000 years, and is a holy place of worship of Lord Ma-hadeva. The mu-

seum is surrounded by hills with an impressive collection of flora and fauna.

The museum is the brain-child of the present 27th Mathadhipati H H Adrushya Kadsiddheshwar Swamiji. The main aim of the proj-ect is to refresh the history of self sufficient village life before the invasion of the Mughal in Maharashtra. The first phase of the museum spans over seven acre with almost 80 main scenes and around 300 statues made of concrete cement and plas-ter of Paris. Each sculpture has a multi dimensional ef-fect and lifestyle theme and every scene reflects a visual story. The museum projects the entire village as a single family and the presence of a delightful atmosphere, fertile land, clean water, clean air, quality food, maximum use of natural resources, cattle field, livestock and job satisfaction. The Siddhagiri Museum is an attempt to emphasize upon the then self-sufficient and independent civilization and culture in India.

For more details you can log on to http://www.siddha-

girimuseum.org/

Unused airfields put to use

Stop PRESS

In order to promote in-tra-state aviation, the state government is

planning to develop un-used airfields set up by erstwhile princely states during the pre-indepen-dence era. The state civil aviation depart-ment has already identi-fied eight such airfields and is in the process of acquiring land to re-de-velop abandoned avia-tion infrastructure. Erst-while princely states, including Wankaner, Wadhvan, Radhanpur, Limdi and Dhangdhra, used to have opera-tional airfields till 1950. The British officials fre-quently used airfields in Chaadbet and Khavda in Kutch as well as Khambhalia airstrip in Jamnagar.

“These airfields have been out of use for the past five decades. Though they are no lon-ger in use, the state avi-ation department would not have to go through lengthy procedures to get licenses and other permissions includ-ing environment clear-ances. Besides, we will get a readymade base and can create infra-structure at much faster pace,” said an official in the state aviation department.

January 2011 5LIGHTER SIDE

Here’s the

Zing!

The chic & trendy L’Angoor

If you are tired of eating at the same old places and wish to try out something new, head to the ‘zing’ to savour the unique twist of global cuisine.

The Metropolitan, aka, The ‘Met’, in its first phase of renova-

tions, has re-launched its coffee shop as a world-cuisine restaurant called ‘Zing’. Done in interesting shades of copper and or-ange, the ambience and the food is completely in sync with the new “chic” look that the hotel sports. The Executive Chef, Tarun Kapoor, has introduced a plethora of signature dish-

es that just can’t go wrong. Start your meal with the chicken tikka caesar salad and you would know what I am talking about.

The original recipes have been tweaked to perfection with a touch of “zing” by The Met chefs. Sample this, Fish n Chips done three ways, Khau-Suey served in a live hot-pot style, Noodles n Bagel, a unique American-Orien-tal combo sandwich or the

English Asparagus soup where the soup is served on the side in a creamer and the garnish is present-ed in the soup plate - just pour the hot soup on top of the garnish is The Met way of enjoying it.

However, if you have a sweet tooth, you might be a tad bit disappointed, but the gourmet meal actually leaves little space for the desserts. So on you next outing, do try out the ‘Zing’!

A trendy and chic fine dining restaurant con-

veniently located at Global Business Park in Gurgaon, is certainly a decent destination for both fine spirits and food enthusiasts.

With 40 covers and a live kitchen, an uber trendy wine lounge with contemporary global cuisine, L’Angoor can be a perfect private hideaway. A meal at L’Angoor is a global culinary journey with interesting lunch and dinner menus. Dinner

is an exclusive affair with exciting options such as Blue summer crab cakes, Herb Yo-gurt marinated potato barrels stuffed with cottage cheese and Scallops served on a bed of corn-mush and pomegranates.

For your main course, L’Angoor has a wide range of sea-food such as Prawns Newburgh and Herb-crusted Atlantic salm-on accompanied with mushroom risotto. There is also the succu-lent Jamaican spiced

jerk chicken with cilan-tro flavoured rice and the delectable Rack of New Zealand lamb drizzled with rosemary scented au jus.

If you are looking for some of the fin-est single malts, and liqueurs, your search ends here. There is an enticing selection of over 130 labels of wines from around the globe, ranging from 1,600 rupees to 40,000 rupees a bottle stored in state of the art tem-perature and humidity controlled wine cellar.

Quickie• The largest and the oldest royal residence in the

world is the Windsor Castle. The castle is also under

continuous occupation and it is still being used as a

royal home.

• In 1876, Jaipur dressed itself pink to welcome Prince Albert and Queen Elizabeth II, and thus the name “Pink City” stuck to it. Even today, many people paint their homes pink to maintain the ‘pink’ look of the city.

• India has the largest number of post offices in the world.

• The capital of Seychelles is Victoria, which is one of the smallest capitals in the world, and can be easily covered by foot in less than a day.

• The Big Ben is not the name of the clock. The name actually refers to the 13-ton bell in the clock tower.

• Tawang Monastery located in Tawang district of

Arunachal Pradesh in India is the second largest

monastery in Asia.

vSHARMIlA CHAnD

January 2011 6 CLOSE UP

You know him from the good old Leela days. A mass of silver hair and flash of one of the warmest smiles you have ever seen, Peter Leitgeb, President, Claridges Hotels and Resorts is not only a wonderfully warm person but also a visionary, who in his not very long association with the Claridges has already taken the group to international borders. As for his flagship property in Delhi, well, 100 per cent occupancy doesn’t leave scope for complain, does it? Read on to know what inspires the veteran.

Your message to the younger generation in the hospitality industry?Be committed, be passionate about what you are doing and always be open to new ideas. Hospitality industry is a very rewarding industry, and not just economically. You are rewarded for being a good host.

Up and personal withvPRIyAnkA SAxenAPeter J. Leitgeb

How do you view life?KIS – Keep it Simple. Don’t complicate it and enjoy every moment of it.1

Even after so many years in the hospital-ity industry, what still drives you?The passion to be an exceptionally good host is the driving force in my life. Hospitality in-dustry is such an exciting industry, there are so many different characters, every day is different – a new challenge, the pas-sion to fight the challenge drives and motivates me.

2Any funny anecdote in your gen-eral day-to-day life or on a holiday that still tickles you?Indian people are hospitable by nature. In my previous job in Leela, my butler was a very warm and af-fectionate person, who whenever I would leave for my holiday, would humbly remind me “to keep my butler in Europe around”. He would never fail to tell me and I never had the heart to tell him that I actually didn’t have a butler in Europe!

8What’s your fitness mantra?I make it a point to go to the gym twice a week and golf-ing along with conscious eat-ing (though it is difficult to be disciplined with the delicious Indian food) helps me keep the weight in place. But most importantly, I never take lifts or escalators. I always prefer taking stairs and I think that more than anything else is what keeps me fit.

910

What according to you is the biggest challenge facing the hospitality industry today?Staff. Associates. It’s bad now, and it’s going to get worse with time. By man-power I not only mean finding the right kind of people for the right kind of job but retaining them. With the kind of money that is being paid around in the hospitality industry today, one really cannot blame people for job hopping. The average attrition rate in the industry is 30 per cent. At Clar-idges, we have tried to hold it at 23 per cent.

3Where do you see Claridges 10 years down the lane?We are small, and small is beautiful (Smiles). We are a well managed all-encompassing chain. Things are not complicated and we are very efficient. We are expanding rapidly and opening a Clardges Palace in Rajasthan and a destination resort in Hi-malaya. Claridges is also looking at Dubai and Co-lombo and will hopefully be making announcements soon enough.

4When not working, you are?On the golf course with my wife! I love the game. Though I am a terrible golfer, I am very passionate about the sport. I love to play at the Delhi Golf Club.5

What’s your favourite holiday desti-nation?The Salzkammergut Lake District in Austria. It’s a beautiful picturesque destination that has five lakes next to each other. We also have a summer residence in Mallorca, Spain, which is an absolutely stunning island. Both the places are my favourite and I love spending time with my family there.6

Your proud moment in life, profes-sionally and personally?When I was a management trainee way back in 1972, my mentor at that time asked me to move into room sales and later sent me on a scholarship to Cornell. 20 years later, I became the youngest member to be inducted into the Kempinski Board and my mentor too was a member of that board. For me, it was personally as well as profession-ally very gratifying.

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Lufthansa is looking for-ward to strengthening

our deep partnership with India further in the next year by introducing new of-fers for customers. With the beginning of the summer schedule 2011, Lufthansa will increase the frequency of Mumbai - Munich flights to daily, from five per week currently. Before the end of 2011, Lufthansa’s in-flight broadband internet ser-vice will be introduced on all long haul intercontinen-tal routes, including to and from India. Lufthansa is also interested in bringing the A380 to India.

Axel Hilgers, South Asia Director, Lufthansa

Jagson Airlines heralds the era of “affordable flying” once again!

Kingfisher spreads wings on new domestic routes

New team takes over aviation controls

vTTJ Desk

vTTJ Desk

Probably the first airline that launched the concept of short-haul flying at affordable rates, Jagson Airlines, in 1991-92 became a favourite with people flying to J&K, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Shimla, Dehradun and many more such destinations. Been out of the market for last few years, the airline, is all set to launch operations, once again, with a bang!

The Indian five-star airline has become the only airline to launch five new flights on Mumbai – Jabalpur, Jabalpur – Indore, Indore – Mumbai, Mumbai – Belgaum and Belgaum – Mumbai route. It has become the only airline to offer connections to both Jabalpur and Belgaum.

JAGSON Airlines Ltd is the first Private Air-line Operator in India,

which opened its Initial fly-ing in 1991-1992 after Sec-ond Liberation of the Indian Domestic Skies and operat-ed with 3 Dornier 228 and a helicopter for more than 13 years on short haul tourist sector. The airline, over the years, became the lifeline for regular passengers, lo-cals and tourists for the pic-turesque mountain states of Himachal Pradesh, Jam-mu & Kahsmir, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal connect-ing Shimla, Kullu-Manali, Dharamshala, Dehradun, Pantnagar, Jodhpur, Jais-almer, Udaipur, Srinagar, Jammu to rest of India with affordable flying. Till date, Jagson Airlines is etched in the minds of Indian travellers as India’s first truly tourist

airline and is fondly remem-bered by travellers to these scenic destinations. Whilst our Dornier 228-200 aircraft operation has ceased, the

airline remains committed to the amazingly panoramic states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ut-taranchal and Rajasthan.

The airline has upgrad-ed itself with time and would be operating w.e.f February 2011 to all the above men-tioned destinations and more with newly acquired British Aerospace manufac-

tured – 4 Jet Engine Modern-AVRO Regional Jets (AVRO RJ-85). It promises to offer fastest connectivity from New Delhi and other con-

necting metro cities (with its interline partner airlines) in truly comfortable twin class – Economy and Premium cabin daily service. With gourmet meal served on all sectors, on board entertain-ment, in-flight shopping ex-periences, global standard services and a targeted more than 94 per cent on-time performance, Jagson

Airlines, with its affordable flying experience, is set to give other LCCs a run for their money.

In its first phase of flights, the airline would fly daily from New Delhi to Amritsar, Aurangabad, Dehradun, Dharamshala, Kullu, Shim-la, Srinagar, Jodhpur and Udaipur and conveniently connect to rest of India and most of international depar-tures ex-Delhi.

To enhance the experi-ence, the airline has also launched its Heli-taxi servic-es in the state of Himachal connecting the state capital Shimla to amazing destina-tions in an extremely safe and comfortable 26 seater world’s largest Mi-172 He-licopters. So what are you waiting for? Fly Jagson air-lines for a true “Incredible India” experience.

Commenting on the launch of these new routes, Manoj

Chacko, Executive Vice President – Commer-cial, Kingfisher Airlines, said, “I’m delighted to an-nounce the launch of the third wave of new flights in our winter schedule. Kingfisher Airlines is the first and only airline, to of-fer connectivity to both Ja-

balpur and Belgaum from Mumbai. These flights are open for sale from today. The flights to Belgaum will commence from January 10, 2011 while the flights from Mumbai to Jabalpur and Indore will commence from January 24, 2011. The new flights will offer excel-lent connections between important cities of India and key metropolitan cities

and will further expand the reach of our strong domes-tic network.”

With the launch of the flights to Belgaum, guests travelling from New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai will get convenient connec-tions to Belgaum via Mum-bai while guests flying from Belgaum to Mumbai will get easy onward connec-tions to New Delhi, Chen-

nai and Hyderabad. Be-sides this, guests travelling from Belgaum to Mumbai will now have good con-nectivity with the Kingfisher Airlines flight from Mumbai to Dubai while international guests coming in from Lon-don Heathrow and Bang-kok will now have a good connecting option to travel onwards from Mumbai to Belgaum.

The Ministry of Civil Avia-tion will now be managed by new hands, which in-cidentally are incumbents from the ministry itself, ensuring continuity in pol-icy and understanding of

tough issues.Syed Nasim Ahmad

Zaidi has taken over as the new Secretary, Civil Avia-tion. An IAS officer of the 1976 batch, Zaidi was pre-viously working as the Di-

rector General of Civil Avia-tion. The post of Secretary was earlier being handled by Madhavan Nambiar.

Meanwhile, E K Bharat Bhushan has taken over as the Director General, Civil

Aviation, the post that was previously being handled by Zaidi. Bhushan, an IAS officer from the 1979 batch has earlier served as finan-cial advisor in the ministry of tourism.

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India remains a very im-portant market for British Airways. The growing

Indian diaspora will also mean an increase in de-mand for international trav-el to the UK and beyond. This indicates that the air-lines industry has a good foundation for a strong performance in 2011. I am keen to maintain our focus on the consumer segments where we see the potential for significant in travel from India. To support our strat-egy, we have invested in new aircraft and are in the process of upgrading our current fleet.

Judy JarvisRegional Commercial Manager,

South Asia, British Airways

Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam to get more of Qatar Airways

Emirates to grow its fleet and network, further

vTTJ Desk

vMumbai Correspondent

Qatar Airways recently announced the expansion of its East African network with 12 additional flights across two capital cities Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam. Flights to Nairobi have been increased to 12 flights a week while Dar Es Salaam will now get an additional four flights a week.

Year 2010 was a roller coaster ride for the aviation industry with fluctuating air fares and swinging mood swings of the civil aviation ministry. With the stringent DGCA guidelines in place, one is hoping to see a “regularised” aviation sector in 2011. Orhan Abbas, Vice President, India and Nepal, Emirates Airline, speaks to TTJ on the year that was for the airlines, and what lies in offing in 2011.

The daily Doha – Nai-robi flights have in-creased to 12-flights-

a-week from January 3, an additional two flights will take capacity up to dou-ble daily. The expansion comes after five success-ful years of operations to Kenya’s capital cities. The new Tanzanian capital, Dar Es Salaam, currently served daily, will receive an additional four flights a week from January 2. An

additional flight from Feb-ruary 14 will take frequency up to 12 weekly services. The new route will be ser-viced by Airbus A320 air-craft including 12 seats-in Business Class and 132 in Economy. The African sub-continent is one of Qatar Airways’ largest markets by the number of destina-tions served – and the re-gion alone makes up over 10 per cent of the airline’s international network.

Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Air-ways said, “We are pleased to introduce additional ca-pacity to Africa and offer the travelling public greater options for air travel to and from the region. As part of our growth strategy, we continue to stop up fre-quency on existing routes, which is a strong lever to facilitate growth in the business and tourism sec-tors. We have been serving

Nairobi since November 2005 and this has proved one of our biggest success stories in Africa, so we are extremely pleased to be of-fering our passengers even more choice with additional frequency more choice with going up to double.”

Emirates reached many milestones in 2010 as it consoli-

dated its position as one of the world’s leading carriers. Notable highlights included bringing the Airbus A380 on its maiden commercial flight to India in July, while in October it posted record half-yearly profits. The air-line also added six locations to its global network of 109 destinations and a number of aircraft to its 152-strong fleet. Additionally, Emirates benefited from a marked in-crease in passenger traffic, carrying 15.5 million pas-sengers in the first half of the year, with average load factors of over 80er cent.

There are some very promising trends in the in-dustry as the year is com-ing to an end. “We expect

a substantial increase in the number of MICE travellers with many global events, such as the Dubai Shopping Festival, on the horizon. Also, sporting events like the ICC Cricket World Cup and the IPL are expected to attract tourists from across the globe. Leisure travel is expected to rise around the mid-year period as we approach the summer va-cation period. Adding to this will be a good amount of student traffic during the peak admission time of April-September. Emirates will launch new destina-tions to its global network of 109 locations in the coming year, while our fleet will also increase as we take deliv-ery of the new aircraft. The airline has 200 aircraft on order worth $68 billion and

is the leading customer of the Airbus A380 with 15 in its fleet and 75 on order. All in all, I would say the year 2011 looks exciting for the industry as well as Emirates. We will be launching servic-es to Basra in February and Geneva June in 2011 and are in process of finalising a few more new routes for 2011,” said Abbas.

But the issue that is eat-ing up the aviation progress today is the price of fuel that all airlines must pay close attention to. “The A380 is the most environmentally advanced commercial air-craft in the skies and its fuel efficiency was a major fac-tor in the decision to grow our fleet with the aircraft. We currently have 15 in service, with a further 75 on order. Emirates already op-

erates one of the youngest fleets in the skies but as we take delivery of the 200 we have order, this will improve further. We do not see LCC as a threat but rather wel-come competition. In fact, their operation in the market is more likely to grow the air travel pie and attract more people to travel. As a full service carrier, we are tar-geting a different travel seg-ment,” concluded Abbas.

Orhan Abbas

Aviation Flashback 2010The aviation industry in 2010 registered a much better year as compared to the previous one. Landmark achievements in form of many accolades and recognitions were granted to many and the inauguration of the iconic Terminal 3 will be a golden page in the year. However, the big Mangalore crash left a scar on many a hearts and doubts in many a minds on the capability of the aviation sector to handle the growing load. Here’s a quick recap on the year that was.

JANUARY• A total of 43.846

million passen-gers flew in India’s domestic airlines, as per a report by Civil Aviation Min-istry

• As per the reportreleased on the unfortunate ac-cident of Andhra Pradesh Chief Min-ister YSR Reddy’s helicopter crash, the accident was attributed to the pilot’s negligence, said the R K Tyagi Committee

• Afteranotsobril-liant 2009, the Q3 results of many a airlines recorded good growth. Spice Jet’s Q3 results were Rs 108.9 crore, Jet’s Q3 profits stood at 105.80 crore while Kingfisher reg-istered a loss of 419.9 crore in Q3

FEBRUARY• Delhi – London

got connected through the good times flier – King-fisher while Jet Airways decided to flew daily non-stop from Mumbai to Johannesburg from April 2010

• A whoppingamount of Rs 1,200 crore were allocated for the financial restruc-turing of NACIL

• CISFunitofMum-bai international airport gets ISO 9008: 2001 for quality certifica-tion

• Etihad Airwayswon the “Best Long – Haul Air-line of the Year” at Business Travels Awards in London and Emirates Sky Cargo Airline of the Year”

MARCH• Pawan Hans and

Eurocopter an-nounced two new joint ventures

• Kingfisher joinedOneworld league

• NIIT and SATSjoined hands

• DGCA decided tointroduce separate VSR corridors at Delhi and Mumbai airports

• AirIndiaapprovedappointment of five new directors – Amit Mitra, Anand Mahindra, Harsh Neotia, Yusuf Ali and Fali Major

APRIL• Mumbai Airport

witnessed the opening of Termi-nal IC

• Delhi Airportlaunched a new website

• IATA reports con-tinued growth in air cargo

• Mark Khambattatakes over as the Country Manager of India, UPS

• Jet Airways be-comes the “Best International Air-line” under the Conde Nast Trav-eller India awards

• Qatar airlinesstarts daily servic-es to Bengaluru

• Air Arabia com-pletes five years in India

• AirAsia CEO TonyFernandes re-ceives France’s highest honour: “Officer of the Legion’d honneur”

MAY• Inoneoftheworst

ever tragic air ac-cidents, an Air In-dia Express Flight IX 812 crashed at the Mangalore airport taking with it the lives of 158 passengers and leaving behind only eight survi-vors. Later inves-tigations revealed that the incident was pilot’s fault.

• NasAirannouncedplans to introduce flights to India from June

• Safi Airways an-nounces plans to enter India.

• Hyderabad andDelhi airports bagged top hon-ours from the Air-port Council Inter-national.

JUNE• Des Vertannes

takes over as Global Head of Cargo of IATA

• Qantas’ B777freighter starts operations while the carrier goes for Trivandrum – based IBS’ Cargo

• Air India signs alease agreement for the Nagpur base

• Dragoniar wasawarded as the world’s best re-gional airline

January 2011 fLYING HIGH10

The year that wasThe aviation industry in 2010 registered a much better year as compared to the previous one. Landmark achievements in form of many accolades and recognitions were granted to many and the inauguration of the iconic Terminal 3 will be a golden page in the year. However, the big Mangalore crash left a scar on many a hearts and doubts in many a minds on the capability of the aviation sector to handle the growing load. Here’s a quick recap on the year that was.

JULY• Themuch-awaited

and talked about T3 – Terminal 3 at the Indira Gan-dhi International Airport was inau-gurated by Prime Minister Dr Man-mohan Singh. In-dia’s biggest and the eighth larg-est terminal in the world, T3 covers 5.4 million sq ft area with a capac-ity of handling 34 million passengers per annum

• Lufthansa Cargomeets TSA re-quirements

• Jet Konnectlaunches flight to Ranchi

AUGUST• Airports Authority

of India announces its interest to build airports overseas

• Indigo bags theSkytrax World Air-line award for be-ing the low–cost airline of India.

• PrafulPatellaunch-es final operation phase of satellite navigation system GAGAN

SEPTEMBER• Cathay Pacific

launches flights to Moscow

• Jet Airways an-nounces the launch of daily flights from New Delhi to Milan from end 2010

• Indigo launchesinsurance pack-age in association with TATA AIG

• Singapore Air-lines announces the name of future CEO Goh Choon Phong

OCTOBER • Etihad announces

launch of services to Bengalaru from January 1, 2011

• KLMcelebrates55years of flying to India

• Sanjay Agarwal,former CEO of SpiceJet, appoints Neil Mills as CEO

• India – Iraq bilat-eral arrangements finalised

• DHL receives“Custom House Agent of the Year” Award at the Mari-time and Logistics Awards 2010

• JetAirwaysentersinto a reciprocal frequent flyer part-nership with BMI

NOVEMBER• Domesticairtraffic

perks up.• World’s first inte-

grated aviation uni-versity in Bengalu-ru was announced by Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation and Subramanya Construction and Development Company

• Civil aviation min-istry decides to roll out the new ground handling policy in January 2011

• Themuchdelayedproject of Navi Mumbai airport finally gets the green nod from the ministry.

• Emirates increas-es connectivity to Seychelles.

DECEMBER• Kingfisher and

American Airlines enter code-share and frequent flyer relationship

• AirAsiaXannounc-es flights connect-ing Kuala Lumpur to Paris, starting February 2011, and Kuala Lumpur to Christchurch, New Zealand, from April 1, 2011

• SriLankan Airlinesstates plans to acquire three new aircraft

January 2011 fLYING HIGH 11

January 2011 12 GROWING OUTBOUND

WelCOMe

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The tourism industry has come a long way in to-

day’s context. Travellers are slowly moving away from the “sit and see” and demand a more “touch, see and do” ap-proach. India has consistently been in the top five perform-ing markets for Singapore. The year 2011 will find our ef-forts focused on capitalizing on past success and taking this to new heights. Singapore Tourism Board in keeping with the new Brand Campaign “YourSingapore” will focus on reinforcing Singapore as a premium, enriching and per-sonalized experience for lei-sure, business and education profiles.

Randall TanRegional Director – South Asia,

Middle East and Africa, Singapore Tourism Board

Tourism Thailand and SOTC announce ‘Box Holidays’

Czech Republic opens office in India

vTTJ Desk

vTTJ Desk

Tourism Authority of Thailand has entered into a joint promotional activity with SOTC as part of an overall marketing strategy to promote Thailand as a shopper’s paradise for this festive season.

For the Czech Republic, India currently ranks among the top focus markets in Asia, therefore the Czech Republic Tourist Authority – CzechTourism decided to establish its office in India during autumn 2010.

The joint promotional campaign announc-es the launch of the

SOTC “Amazing Thailand Amazing Shopping Box Holiday” concept which will be retailed at the Globus store in Mumbai, India at a price of INR 48,000/- for a 4 nights / 5 day stay.

SOTC Box Holidays is the worlds’ first off-the shelf holiday that offers a buying experience of a holiday in a modern retail environ-

ment. SOTC has launched Bangkok as a shopping paradise that’s now avail-able in an innovative for-mat of Box Holidays – the most convenient, afford-able and hassle-free way to buy and set-off on a holiday. The holiday offers an amazing shopping ex-perience. SOTC Box Holi-days to Thailand also offers complimentary services that include Siam Niramit Show ticket with dinner and

return transfers on seat in coach basis, overseas travel insurance, with cov-erage worth $25,000 along with bag and caps.

Commenting on the joint promotional initiative, Sethaphan Buddhani, Di-rector, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai office said, “The Amazing Thai-land Amazing Shopping Box Holidays is an innova-tive concept launched by SOTC to directly reach out to shoppers at the Globus mall who can now pick an off-the shelf holiday either for themselves or to gift someone special for this festive season. Consider-ing that the months of De-cember and January are traditionally the wedding season in India, the Thai-land Box Holiday will also aim to be the ideal gift for the wedded couple!”

Kashmira Commissariat COO Outbound Division Kuoni India expressed her

pleasure at the launch, stating, “It is indeed a pleasure to launch SOTC Box Holidays to Thailand in association with Tourism Authority of Thailand. Indi-an consumer has evolved post liberalisation and is far more demanding than ever. Quality of service, value for money and convenience are the key factors influ-encing the buying deci-sion. Box Holidays exactly fulfils the same. Also, with the busy work schedules and high stress levels, par-ticularly in metros, holidays have become a necessity as compared to luxury in the past. Today, clients look for quick weekend breaks at reasonable price, wherein they can spend quality time with their loved ones. SOTC’s Box Holidays is an all inclusive product with various complimentary that the traveller could only dream of.”

CzechTourism in India will be executing an integrated program

of promotional activities to present the Czech Repub-lic as an ideal destination for visitors to Europe. The program includes the ac-tive participation in trade fairs, trade workshops and product presentations, trade and consumer road shows, familiarization trips, press trips in order to es-tablish a positive relation-ship both with media and tour operators. The main objective is to raise aware-ness about the destination, and to facilitate business relations between Czech and Indian travel trade.

Radka Neumannova has been appointed as the Director of Czech Tourist Authority – Czech-Tourism in India. She will be responsible for brand-ing and promoting the Czech Republic as well as developing new tour-ist products on the Indian Market. She will be also in charge for building and strengthening the relationships between the travel trade in India and the Czech Republic. Prior to her Indian assign-ment she was responsible for management and mar-keting of cultural institutes and projects in the Czech Republic.

Josephine Mark has joined Czech Tourism India as The Coordinator. Prior to this, Mark was working in various capacities for 15 years. In her new role she will be assisting the Direc-

tor of Czech Tourism in pro-moting the destination. She has an extensive experi-ence in trade promotions, media, travel trade fairs, roadshows and organising sales missions.

(Left to Right): Sonalee Vaz-Mumbai Representative Office, Tourism Authority of Thai-land, Mumbai Office; Kashmira Commissariat-COO, Outbound Division, Kuoni India; Sethaphan Buddhani-Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai Office; Suladda Sarutilavan-Assistant Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai Office.

Radka Neumannova Josephine Mark

January 2011 14 HOTEL CONNECT

‘Hilt’ing its way to west Delhi

vPriyanka Saxena

A five star in west Delhi. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Leaving the posh locales of south Delhi and the up market zing of central part of the capital, why would a brand as popular as Hilton open their upscale 228 room property in the commercial district of Janakpuri? Ask this to any of the members of the Hilton team and you will immediately hear “why not? Aren’t Delhiites tired of visiting the same locales?”And not to forget that “Hilton” is known for doing things “differently”, which is precisely why, Hilton, Janakpuri is our hotel of the month, this month.

Maybe it’s the brand name or just the mere fact that the

façade is wide and humbly posh, one expects the best to greet you as you enter the much talked about first five star property in the West Delhi – Hilton Janak-puri, and I might add here, you are not disappointed. Unlike its contemporaries, the reception at the Hilton is not tucked quietly some-where on the side but is standing tall and proud right in the centre. The round table reception that has seating along its lining can be a disappointment for people who have come with the idea to sit and “chat” in the lobby area. But walk a few steps further and you enter the coffee shop – By The Way, which is meant for brief meetings

and chit chats. The high rise ceiling and beautiful glass embellishments will surely make you look up in appreciation.

Hilton enjoys a won-drous locational advantage that makes the property accessible from almost all parts of Delhi. It is approxi-mately 30 minutes’ drive from central Delhi, and is strategically close to the international and domestic airports. At the hotel’s door-step is the Janakpuri West Metro station, providing easy access to the central business district including Connaught Place and Gur-gaon.

The ten storey Hilton New Delhi/ Janakpuri com-prises 228 rooms including 11 suites. The hotel’s 65 Executive and Plus rooms start from 33 sq m and

are among the city’s larg-est. For business travellers looking for an enhanced level of service and conve-nience, the Executive Floor Lounge enables a quick and private check–in/out service, breakfast, com-plimentary refreshments served throughout the day, as well as a range of meet-ing rooms and high speed Internet access to facilitate business needs.

Enjoying not only loca-tional advantage but also the privilege of being the first five star in west Delhi, Hilton Janakpuri, since its inception in February, has played the proud host to many social events, gather-ing and big fat Indian wed-dings. The hotel has 900 sq m of space in its Grand Ballroom, which when com-bined with the lawn area can host a gathering of up to 2000 people. And for the coming year, the property has a long list (crossing 150) of wedding bookings confirmed! Now that’s what we call popularity!

Hilton’s USP is its unique F&B branding. After all, how many five –stars you know that offer a good por-

tion (easily shared by 3 people) of butter chicken / dal makhani for just Rs 90? None, am sure. Well, Hilton does, in its mughlai restau-rant ‘Zune’. Nishan Silva, Director of Operations, Hilton Janakpuri, says, “Having a meal at Hilton is value for money,” and from experience, we can vouch for that!

Its other F&B outlets include Twenty-9 is the all day dining restaurant with an open, interactive kitch-en serving Mediterranean, Asian and local favourites. Chynna Gold is its Chinese and Sichuan restaurant that will soon play the proud host to some 17 rarest va-rieties of Chinese tea in the world. Pomodoro is its Ital-ian restaurant which will open in mid January.

“We are almost 90 per cent operational now. By mid January, our spa and the Italian restaurant will also be functional along with the remaining rooms. We have received very good feedback from the market. We have posi-tioned ourselves as the premium business hotel and in just first 8 months of operations registered 60 per cent occupancy, which I think is a brilliant start,” said Nishan.

Well, here’s hoping that the New Year brings a fur-ther ‘hilt’ to the Hilton.

WelCOMe

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A few changes that I would love to see in 2011 would

be: A lot more women should

step up! And the way peo-ple look at hoteliers should change. Also, Go Green! Be-ing green is a lot more on the lines of waste management. At Marriott, we work towards implementing sustainable environmental practices, including conservation of natural resources, protection of indigenous wildlife and re-ducing and recycling waste wherever possible. Our prac-tices reflect the environmen-tal interests and concerns of our guests, associates, busi-ness partners and communi-ties.

Ranju AlexGeneral Manager, Courtyard by

Marriott, Pune Hinjewadi

Nishan Silva

January 2011 15HOTEL CONNECT

Hoteliers on a common platform, courtesy HVS

Welcome aboard

vTTJ Desk

HVS India, the leading hospitality consultancy in the country, recently hosted the ‘Hotels Operations Summit – India 2010’ (HOSI) that saw the veterans from the hospitality industry converge and divulge on the trends and problems being faced by them. Healthy discussions and intellectual debates marked the two day event.

The annual one-and-half-day conference, conducted by HVS In-

dia, was aimed at empow-ering the hospitality profes-sional through sharing of international best practices and quality standards. HOSI brought together the industry leaders, manag-ers, corporate-heads, and professionals, on a com-mon platform to share inno-vative successful solutions

with a view to fostering the culture of excellence in ho-tel operations.

Attending the confer-ence and sharing their experiences were indus-try stalwarts like Raymond Bickson, Managing Direc-tor and CEO, Taj Hotels Re-sorts and Palaces; Dipak Haksar, COO, ITC Luxury Collection and WelcomHo-tels; KB Kachru, Executive Vice President, South Asia,

Carlson Hotels; and Raj Singh Gehlot, Chairman, Ambience Group among others.

The HOSI conference is a brainchild of Manav Thadani, Managing Direc-tor, HVS India and founder of the Hotel Investment Conference South-Asia (HICSA). Manav concep-tualised HOSI in response to the unmet need for a platform focused on hotel

operations. According to Manav Thadani, “The shar-ing of expertise will clearly pave the way for raising the bar for excellence in industry standards and faster growth and develop-ment of the industry as a whole.” This is the second consecutive year of the conference and the event received terrific response from the industry.

WelCOMe

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Chef Clinton has been ap-pointed as the Executive Chef at the Four Seasons Mumbai. With over 15 years of work experience, he has rendered his services at – Shangri – La, Banyan Tree, Rosewood Hotels and Hyatt in China, UAE, Maldives, Thailand, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia, Fiji and New Zea-land, before joining Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai.

Preet Inder Singh has joined Radisson Paschim Vihar as the General Manager. With an experience spanning over two decades, Singh has previously worked with reputed brands all over In-dia. In his new role, he will be overseeing the opening of the new property and im-plementing high operational standards at the hotel.

Radisson Paschim Vihar has appointed Kanchan Rizvi as Director Sales and Marketing, who comes with 10 years of experience in the hospitality industry. In her new role she will be responsible for plan-ning and strategising the marketing plans for the ho-tel and to manage the sales resources and funds. She is very fond of travelling and is a book lover.

FOUR SEASONS Mumbai

RADISSON PASCHIM VIHAR

RADISSON PASCHIM VIHAR

As far as India is con-cerned, we would like to

see it achieve the next level where international MICE market is concerned. The market is growing in double digits. However there is a need for further develop-ing professional MICE pro-grammes for the delegates which are more than gala dinners, and city tours etc. There are opportunities in providing programs which in-clude management concepts typical to the country being visited, training and develop-ment through a combination of fun and learning as well as using sports as a team build-ing tool etc.

Charles LimDeputy Director – Korea Tourism

Organization

January 2011 17HOTEL CONNECT

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, HARIDWARLocated on the main Harid-war - Rishikesh highway, Country Inn & Suites by Carl-son Haridwar is just 6 km from the famous Har-ki-Pauri - the main Ghat where pil-grims take the holy dip. The property provides an ideal conferencing location for corporate houses planning to include trekking and jun-gle safari, river rafting, yoga, etc in their programme. The hotel has 56 well appointed rooms and suites including a Presidential suite.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, JALANDHARLocated only 5 minutes away from the city centre on GT

Road to Ludhiana, Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Ja-landhar is a boutique prop-erty that offers large banquet areas, state-of-the-art con-ference facilities, business centre, health club and spa, outdoor swimming pool and other complimentary facili-ties. The property boasts of 45 elegantly appointed spa-cious rooms and suites and 12 club rooms and suites.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, AMRITSARCountry Inn & Suites by Carl-son Amritsar is a perfect blend of luxury and comfort well suited to the needs of business as well as leisure traveller. Each of the 50 beau-tifully appointed rooms and suites provide plush interiors

and comfortable accom-modation. The other facili-ties include a fully equipped gym, rooftop swimming pool, banquet / meeting areas and conferencing aids.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, SECTOR 29, GURGAONCountry Inn & Suites by Carl-son Gurgaon is a perfect blend of luxury and comfort. Keeping in mind its corpo-rate and up market clientele, the facilities include a fully equipped gym, swimming pool, banquet / conference areas and conference aids that are consonant to exclu-sive taste. Around 50 beau-tifully appointed rooms and suites provide plush interiors and a comfortable accom-modation.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, KATRA Set amidst 8 acres of lush green landscape in the lap of the Himalayan range, Coun-try Inn & Suites by Carlson Katra is located on the out-skirts of Katra. Open badmin-ton court, outdoor swimming pool and children’s activity room beckon family group in droves. The newly built large banquet hall is a perfect conference / meeting space. The 67 beautifully appointed rooms and suites are amply stocked with amenities.

COUNTRY INN, INDORE Country Inn by Carlson In-dore presents the perfect op-tion for an exclusive person-alised service hotel catering to the needs of both leisure and business traveller. Coun-

try Inn by Carlson Indore has 50 guest rooms and suites masterfully designed to pro-vide a comfortable stay. All guest rooms are stylish and spacious with contemporary amenities and services.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, JAIPURCountry Inn & Suites by Carl-son Jaipur compliments the traditional Rajasthani culture of hospitality. The facilities include a swimming pool, a fully equipped state of the art gymnasium, health spa, innumerable food and bev-erage choices at the Cof-fee Shop, interactive show kitchen restaurant, specialty restaurant and lounge bar. The special attraction is the weekend nightclub “B to B” to unwind after a hectic work week. The hotel has 100 ele-gantly appointed rooms and suites.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, AHMEDA-BADCountry Inn & Suites by Carl-son Ahmedabad is situated in the prime location of the town and is just 40 minutes drive from the International Airport. The innovative res-taurants, extensive banquet-ing facilities, state-of-the-art

business centre and health club offer a truly enriching experience. The property features 68 stylish spacious and luxurious guest rooms and suites.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, SAHIBABADCountry Inn & Suites by Carl-son Sahibabad is a first of its kind - “all vegetarian cuisine hotel.” The 216 guest rooms and suites present a unique blend of utility and comfort, spaciously designed with ut-most care to cater to the re-quirements of business and leisure travelers with each room comprising a large work desk and comfortable living space.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, SECTOR 12 GURGAON Country Inn & Suites Sec-tor 12 - Gurgaon is located in the central business dis-trict of Gurgaon. The hotel offers a perfect balance of sheer comfort and state-of-the-art facilities, including a fully equipped gym, spa, swimming pool, banquet and conferencing areas. 73 beautifully appointed rooms and suites are thoughtfully furnished and equipped with modern amenities.

The caring hospitality of CISIn the prevailing hospitality scenario, where earning revenue is the only driving force for many, the Carlson Group is an exception. Firmly believing in delivering quality product with unmatched hospitality and surprisingly affordable rates, the group, through its four popular international hotel brands, has today carved a niche for itself. With its unbeatable service, excellent f&b options, comfortable rates and a complete “home-like” feel, Country Inn and Suites (CIS) has today become the preferred brand for many investors. From the existing 12, the CIS portfolio is set for a massive expansion in 2011 - 2012, and all this is being made possible by CDMS, which is responsible for managing and operating the CIS brand in India. We welcome you, to the CIS world.

Existing properties of Country Inn and Suites

CIS Ahmedabad

CIS Jaipur

CIS Jalandhar


UpComIng CDmS manCOUNTRY INN & SUITES, SATBARI Country Inn & Suites by Carl-son Delhi Satbari, set to be operational in 2011-12 will boast of 38 elegantly ap-pointed spacious rooms and suites. Complete with all the modern facilities and ame-nities, the rooms and suites cater to all the requirements of the business as well as leisure traveller. It will have large banquet areas, state of the art conference facilities, business centre, health club, swimming pool and other complimentary facilities at Country Inn & Suites.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, GURGAON (NH 8)Country Inn & Suites by Carl-son Gurgaon NH8, when op-erational by 2011-2012 will be a perfect blend of luxury and comfort that will be in tune with the needs of busi-ness as well as leisure trav-eller. The property will boast of 200 beautifully appointed rooms and suites that will provide plush interiors and a comfortable accommoda-tion. Tastefully decorated, the f&b outlets as well a plethora of other amenities will meet all the requirements of a dis-cerning traveller.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, MUSSORIEA beautiful hill station with an ideal view, Mussorie in the year 2011-2012 will play the proud host to the iconic Country Inn and Suites. The property consists of 50 rooms and suites that are amply stocked with ameni-ties. The place offers a pan-oramic view of the nature and unmatched service from the hospitality group. The hotel, when completed, will offer all the elegant and modern fa-cilities. Country Inn & Suites Mussorie will offer a perfect blend of luxury and comfort.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, MEERUT Country Inn & suites by Carl-son Merrut, scheduled for completion in 2011-2012 will feature 90 stylish, spacious and luxurious guest rooms and suites. Each room will be masterfully designed to accommodate the business as well as the luxury needs of the guests. Promising a fascinating stay, this lavish development is all set to be-come a landmark property in Meerut.

COUNTRY INN, SAKETCountry Inn Saket by Carlson will offer a perfect balance of

unmatched comfort and fa-cilities. The property, when completed in 2011-2012 will play proud host to 60 beautifully appointed rooms that have been thought-fully furnished and are well-equipped with all the modern amenities and facilities. The property will make a visitor feel completely at home.

COUNTRY INN & SUITES, AJMERCountry Inn and Suites Ajmer by Carlson, sched-uled for operations in 2011-2012, once completed will present the perfect option to experience an exclusive personalised service that is unmatched and unheard of in the region. Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Ajmer will have 76 elegantly designed and beautifully furnished rooms and suites with com-plimentary facilities and ser-vices. The property will pro-vide unmatched comfort and luxury for business as well as leisure traveller.

PARK PLAZA, HARI NAGAR, DELHI A unique location and a beau-tiful property, Park Plaza, Hari Nagar, Delhi, is just that. Well connected with all the major hubs of Delhi, the new property, when operational in 2011-2012 will offer a pletho-

ra of innovative facilities. The 60 elegantly designed and wonderfully spacious guest rooms will offer all the basic civic and luxury amenities for the business as well as leisure clientele. With a wide range of additional facilities, like swimming pool, health club and speciality restau-rants, the property is set to

win the hearts of many.

RADISSON, AGRAThe eternal land of the iconic Taj Mahal, Agra will soon see the opening of another land-mark property - the Radis-son. Set to open in 2011-2012, the property will boast of exquisitely designed 140

CIS Gurgaon NH8

CIS Gurgaon NH8

CIS Gurgaon Sec 12

January 2011 HOTEL CONNECT 19

ageD CarlSon hoTelS

rooms and suites that are plush with all the basic and state-of-the-art amenities. Located in close proximity to the railway station, the main market and the monolithic Taj Mahal, the hotel is ideal for hosting numerous confer-ences as well weddings or small parties.

RADISSON BLU, GREATER NOIDAThe city of millennium has become the business hub of the capital. Yes, Greater Noi-da is no longer looked upon as a distant cousin of Delhi but rather an upcoming com-

mercial district that can cut short your travelling time to Agra by half! Capturing this locational advantage, the Radisson Blu Greater Noida, when functional in 2011-2012, will offer world-class facilities in its 189 rooms and suites. For a tourist who wants to experience Agra, the Noida - Agra Express-way, once operational will serve as a boon, cutting the travelling time by almost half and giving the tourist more time to enjoy the city.

RADISSON BLU, MYSOREAll set to redefine luxury and hospitality standards in the region, Radisson Blu Mysore, slated for opening in 2011, will be a landmark property in the wondrous destination. Its 130 rooms and suites have been masterfully designed to provide all the comforts to the discerning traveller. Spacious, luxurious with top of the line services in place, the property will fulfil all the needs of a business as well as a leisure traveller.

Radisson Agra

Park Plaza Hari Nagar

Radisson Blu Greater Noida

Radisson Blu Mysore


The visionaries

Country Inns & Suites by Carl-son is a leading

upper mid-market brand known for providing a caring, consistent and comfortable hospitality experience. The brand currently operates over 500 hotels throughout the world. This Carlson brand will expand by an addi-tional 250 hotels globally by 2015 primarily in the U.S., Canada, India and Mexico. The CIS by Carl-son brand is managed and operated by CDMS – Country Development and Management Services, a joint venture between Ciun-

try Inn and Suites by Carlson and Chanakya Hotels.

Been associated with the

brand since inception, Pahwa today is a proud man, happy to see the tremendous growth the brand has witnessed in last few years. “At Country Inns & Suites, our approach to providing the best ser-vice in our

segment is a little different, and has been so for the past 20-plus years. It began in Burnsville, Min-nesota with a batch of gooey, chocolate chip cookies that welcomed the first guests to country. Today when guests stay at one of our over 500 locations around the world, they find the comforts of more than a standard hotel. Guests are welcomed with an iconic front porch – the perfect place to enjoy a new neighborhood and a good conversation. Inside, a lobby with a warm fireplace and open staircase invites them to find a comfortable seat and get immersed in a good book from our library. And our friendly team members go the extra mile, deliver-ing unmatched amenities to make every guest feel right at home,” said Pahwa while talking about the key areas of operational excellence in Country Inn and Suites.

Been with the group for close to four years now, Manoj Nandkeolyar is a strong pillar in the Carlson Fort. “Carlson has set forth a strategy – Ambition 2015 wherein it targets to double its hotel portfolio across all brands,” said Manoj.

Talking about the lead-ing brand under the Carlson portfolio, Manoj further said, “Almost all the properties un-der the Carlson brand namely Radisson, Park Plaza, Coun-

try Inn & Suites by Carlson and Park Inn are doing exceed-ingly well, but leading the race in terms of ARRs and rev-pars, are its hotels in metros. Carlson portfolio in NCR will witness a major growth. CIS will have over five hotels in the NCR region by 2011.”

Overall, the CIS Brand is destined to grow as a first class preferred brand in key metros, tier 2 and 3 cities and in all the major leisure and resort destinations in In-dia. “There is dearth of first class hotels in India, a gap that CIS aims to fill by posi-tioning itself as the preferred brand in the times to come,” said Manoj.

The travel and tourism in-dustry in India is estimated to be $41.8 billion with a 5.3% per cent share of GDP [2009 estimates]. Tourism 2020 vi-sion [WTO Document] out-lines that by 2020 South Asia shall receive 20 million tour-ists. With such burgeoning figures predicted for future, other elements of travel, such as hospitality and avia-tion, will too have to match pace with it. The Department of Civil Aviation is already busy in developing airports in the tier 2 and tier 3 cities, a move that will surely bolster tourism figures.

“Under the Carlson ex-pansion plan, as we move ahead, all brands will have distinctive feature and de-signs, which will be rolled out as and when we open our new hotels,” said Manoj.

Elaborating on the key design elements of CIS,

Pahwa said, “Distinctive de-sign, amenities and welcom-ing hospitality make Country Inns & Suites by Carlson one of the most successful up-per mid-scale brands in the world, and one of the most attractive business oppor-tunities in the hotel industry. Pairing our outstanding ser-vice delivery with arguably the most distinctive design package in our segment results in a unique, proven combination – which is why Country Inns & Suites has captured the attention of strategic investors in India and overseas. Some of the strategic key design ele-ments at CIS include, slop-ping roof, lobby fireplace, hardwood floors, open stair-case, iconic front porch, and more”.

“When I started this com-pany nine years ago, we had nothing in our portfolio, and today we have approximate-ly 50 Country Inn & Suites by Carlson deals signed, of which 12 are operating very successfully. We will be opening 10 CIS by Carl-son in 2011 and thereafter, we will have at least 4 CIS by Carlson opening every year. We are growing at a good pace, and I feel very satisfied because today CIS by Carlson is a force to reckon with and a preferred brand both for investors and guests,” concludes a proud Pahwa.

Hubert Jolly, President and CEO, Carlson, has set great ambitions for the expansion and branding of the group. Under its ‘Ambition 2015’ policy, Carlson is aiming for all its brands to be the leading brands in their segment, number one in hospitality and travel company to work for. Carlson Hotels aims to grow its hotel portfolio by atleast 60 per cent to reach 1500 operational hotel mark in 2015. Spearheading the ambitious growth plan of their CIS by Carlson brand are its visionaries, Sanjeev Pahwa, Vice President, CDMS and Manoj Nandkeolyar, General Manager, CDMS. The CDMS portfolio of the Carlson Hotels is expected to reach 28 by 2012.

Manoj NandkeolyarSanjeev Pahwa

The Carlson Group• As one of the world’s leading brands,

Radisson is being positioned to de-liver vibrant, contemporary and engaging hospitality characterised by the Yes I Can! Service philosophy.

• Radisson Blu is Carlson’s upper scale brand, pre-dominantly new build and architecturally strong. They are usually contemporary properties in prime locations with high class finishes.

• Country Inns & Suites by Carlson is a leading mid-market brand known for providing a caring, consistent and comfortable hospitality experience. The brand cur-rently operates 500 hotels throughout the world and has 58 properties currently contracted and under development.

• A full-service, upper midscale hotel brand for business and leisure travellers, Park Plaza offers award-winning meeting facilities and staff who live the brand’s value propo-sition by going out of their way to show their appre-ciation to their guests. Park Plaza hotels are located in city centers worldwide. Park Plaza has 40 hotels operating throughout the world and 17 under de-velopment.

• Park Inn is Carlson’s bright, bold and fresh midscale brand. Its scalability and moderate costs make Park Inn an ideal brand for conversions and new builds. It has more than 100 hotels in op-eration throughout the world and 47 hotels in the contracted pipeline.

Meet the wilder side of keralaKerala boasts of 12 wildlife sanctuaries and two national parks. While the sanctuaries are fairly well-maintained and ideal game and biosphere reserves, the two parks have their own claim to fame: the Eravikulam National Park is home to the largest surviving herd of the endangered mountain goat Nilgiri Tahr and the Silent Valley National Park is one of the last surviving pieces of virgin forests in the entire Western Ghats. Here’s a look at four of the most popular sanctuaries..

Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary Declared a sanctuary in 1958, it remained lacklustre until 1985, when it saw a me-thodical revival under a wild-life wing that turned it into a haven for some exotic flora and flourishing fauna. Nes-tled in the south-east corner of the Western Ghats, the 12,000 hectares of natural vegetation spreads across an undulating terrain and forms the drainage basin of the Neyyar River – stretching from the Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu in the east to the Neyyattinkara Taluk in the south. The Ney-yar River, which originates from the Agastya Peak, is impounded here by the ir-

rigation dam. The region supports a wide variety of plant species. The amaz-ingly diverse variety of forest types, from evergreens to deciduous to tropical savan-nahs, makes it an ideal gene pool reserve too. Elephants, barking deer, sambhar, gaur and the endangered Nilgiri Tahr are found here apart from varieties of reptiles like the cobra, viper, python, rat snake and the flying snake. The sanctuary also supports diverse varieties of avian fau-na. King fisher, wood pecker, koel, Indian cuckoo, hoopoe, darter, little cormorants and egrets abound in the ripar-ian areas and the wooded hillsides.

Peechi - Vazhani Wildlife SanctuaryEstablished in 1958, this 125 sq km sanctuary is counted among the oldest wildlife re-serves in Kerala. Contiguous with the forest areas of Nel-liyampathy and Palappilly reserves, it is located 20 km east of Thrissur and shares a common boundary with the Chimmini Sanctuary. The sanctuary is home to several endangered herbs, shrubs, rare medicinal plants and innumerable varieties of orchids. There is a thriv-ing bird population. A recent ornithology survey showed up nearly 60 different spe-cies. Wildlife includes Nilgiri langur, bonnet macaque, barking deer, mouse deer,

GETTING THERE: BY ROADLocated 30 km east of Thiruvananthapuram, the sanctuary is well-connected by a network of roads to different parts of the district.

BY RAILNearest station: Thiruvananthapuram – 30 km and Neyyatinkara – 21 km.

BY AIRNearest airport: Thiruvananthapuram – 38 km.

INfORMATION CENTRES:Conservator of forests, Thiruvananthapuram. Ph: 0471-2322217

Wildlife warden, Vattiyoor kavu P.O. Thiruvanan-thapuram - 695 013

Assistant wildlife warden, Neyyar wildlife sanctuary, Neyyar dam P.O., Pin - 695 576

Visiting Hours: 9 am to 5 pm

vAkber Ayub

January 2011 INDIA CALLING 23

sambhar, sloth bear and gaur. Herds of spotted deer are a common sight. Pachy-derms roam freely across the sanctuary. While big cats like tiger and leopard are sighted infrequently, smaller animals abound. Malabar giant squir-rel, porcupine, small Indian civet, common palm civet, wild boar and wild dog vie for territory with the bigger denizens of the forest. The Peechi Dam adjoining the sanctuary provides water to Thrissur town. A walk atop the dam offers sweeping views of the surroundings. Boating in the reservoir is a big draw. The Kerala forest research centre situated in Peechi - a treasure trove of books and research mate-rial - adds importance to the sanctuary.

Idukki Wildlife SanctuaryEstablished in 1976, this sanctuary is located at an al-titude between 450 and 748 metres above sea level and covers a total area of 105 sq km. Spread across Thodu-puzha and Udumpanchola taluks, it boasts a 33 sq km scenic lake formed by three dams – Cheruthoni, Idukki and Kulamavu. The lake sur-rounds this protected area on three sides and a thick canopy of tropical evergreen forests, tropical semi- ev-ergreen forests and moist deciduous forests fringe the lake. Tropical meadows oc-cupy large tracts.The majestic, parabolic Iduk-ki dam and the vast reservoir occupy pride of place here. Wildlife found here includes herds of elephants, barking deer, bear, wild boars and sambhar. Wild dogs, jungle cats and tiger form the car-nivores. Various species of snakes including cobra, viper, python, kraits and nu-merous non-poisonous ones abound. The sanctuary is also home to diverse bird species. The extensive res-ervoir attracts a lot of aquatic birds too like ducks and cor-morants. Visitors are taken around in boats. Adivasi tribals dwell in the higher re-gions. November to March is

the peak season. Thekkady tiger reserve is only 25 km away. A cruise on the ex-tensive Periyar Lake atop a double decker boat is a must do here.

Wayanad Wildlife SanctuaryWayanad Wildlife Sanctu-ary, encompassing an area of 344.44 sq km, is made up of two discontinuous pock-ets – Muthunga in the south and Tholpetty in the north. Located 18 km west of Sul-than Bathery, Muthanga is part of the Nilgiri biosphere region – made up of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka and the Mudum-alai Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. The sanctuary was estab-lished in 1973 with the spe-cific objective of conserving the rich biological heritage of the region. Scattered hill-ocks and an undulating ter-rain describe the topogra-phy. At 1158 metres above mean sea level, Karottimala is the highest peak while al-titudes of the smaller peaks range between 640 metres and 792 metres. As a part of contiguous stretch of for-ests, this sanctuary has rep-resentatives of all peninsular Indian mammals. Specifi-cally, according to the 2004 census, elephants number 216 in the Muthunga sanc-tuary alone, tigers four and leopards six. Spotted deer, sambhar and bison form the herbivores. The avifauna is rich with 123 species includ-ing great black woodpecker, golden backed three-toed

wood pecker, Malabar whis-tling thrush , Malabar trogon shama, painted bush quail, golden oriole, peacock, para-dise flycatcher, Malabar grey hornbill, pariah kite, crested honey buzzard, crested ser-pent eagle etc.

GETTING THERE: BY ROAD5 km from Pattikkad junction on NH-47 en route to Palakkad from Thrissur.

BY RAILNearest railhead: Thrissur – 20 km.

BY AIRNearest airport: Kochi – 65 km.

INfORMATION CENTRES:The Wildlife warden, Peechi wildlife divisionPh: 0487-2699017 Mobile: 94479 79103Email: [email protected]

Chief conservator of

forests (wildlife)Thiruvananthapuram – 695 014Ph: 0471-232 2217


GETTING THERE: BY ROADErnakulam – 115 km, Aluva – 110 km, Mun-nar – 65 km.

BY RAILNearest railhead – Kochi 120 km.

BY AIRNearest airport – Kochi 119 km.

INfORMATION CENTRES:The Wildlife Warden, Idukki Wildlife Division, Vellapara, Painavu P.O., Idukki. Tel: 04862-232 271 Fax: 04862-223 271 Email: [email protected]

Chief Conservator of

Forest, Thiruvanan-

thapuram- 695 014.

Ph: 0471-322 217.


GETTING THERE: BY ROAD(to Muthanga) Mysore and Kozhikode – 100 km. Sulthan Bathery– 18 km

BY RAILMysore and Kozhikode – 100 km

BY AIRKozhikode – 100 kmTholpetty sanctuary is rather isolated and the nearest habitation is the temple town of Thirunelly.

INfORMATION CENTRES:Kozhikode – 100 kmTholpetty sanctuary is rather isolated and the nearest habitation is the temple town of Thirunelly.

Chief Conservator of

Forest, Thiruvanan-

thapuram.

Ph: 0471-232 2217


January 2011 COVER STORY24

Exploring the true potential of cruise tourism in India

vPriyanka Saxena

India has 7500 km long coastline, over 200 ports, and a burgeoning tourism industry, yet cruise tourism hasn’t been able to reach its pinnacle in our country. The global cruise leaders are vary of starting operations in India for either lack of understanding of the true cruise tourism potential in India or the infrastructure available, or the lack of it in our country. At the dawn of the new year, here’s a look at what the four leading cruise tourism providers have to say about the potential of this branch of tourism in India.

While Indian cruise liners may have had a tough 2010,

the international cruise op-erators operating out of India are happy with their perfor-mance in the year gone by. Registering a substantial in-crease in terms of both rev-enue and passenger count, the Star Cruises is happy with the business they gen-erated in 2010. Joining the line, Nishith Saxena, Director, Cruise Professionals, says, “We have had an excellent 2010 with almost double the passenger numbers as over 2009. For us, sale of a richer mix of itineraries is more im-portant than such a fantastic growth rate as such trends reflect the maturity in pas-senger’s buying behaviour

which is great for our busi-ness in the long run. We are generating substantial num-ber of outbound cruise pas-sengers and growing at a healthy rate. I would say that we’re happy with the current growth as we did what we did in the recessionary en-vironment, but we cannot af-ford to become complacent,

as we have a long way to go in establishing Cunard and Princess Cruises in the India market.”

As far as Royal Caribbean Cruises and TIRUN Travel Marketing are concerned, the year 2010 registered their ‘best ever performance’. TIRUN Travel Marketing has been awarded the ‘Interna-tional Representative of the Year 2010’ by Royal Carib-bean Cruises Ltd. for their record breaking passenger sales and revenue growth in the calendar year 2010. The company registered a 30 per cent up increase over the previous year in terms of revenue, guest count and yields.

MSC Cruises, a true Euro-pean luxury cruise line, has

slowly and steadily gained its foothold in the Indian market. The company reg-istered almost double busi-ness in 2010, be it from the film shooting of Tamil movie Man Madan Ambu, starring Kamal Hasan and Madhavan or Katha on Cruise by Pujya Shree Bhupendra Bhai Pan-dya ji or MICE movement of

any big corporate house. India is a growing but a

“different” market is a state-ment that many a stake-holders selling their tourism products to Indians can be heard saying. The needs, the requirements and even the budgets are fluctuating and vary from region to region. In such a scenario, it is impera-tive for companies to offer tailor-made packages to the Indian clientele or introduce special offers for this massive market. Following this, almost all cruise operators are intro-ducing fresh itineraries and destinations in the present year for the Indian public.

“We have various packag-es available to suit different segment of society, like we have special packages for

Gautam Chadha Naresh Rawal

January 2011 COVER STORY 25

conference, students group, honeymooner and families. From February 2011, we will also be offering 3 Nights itin-erary from Penang to Phuket and Krabi on ‘SuperStar Li-bra’ and itinerary/prices for this segment makes it ‘must do’ for everyone who is plan-ning a holiday in Malaysia or nearby countries,” says Naresh. Rahul Rawal, AVP - sales and marketing India and South Asia Star Cruises.

“We are pleased to an-nounce the United Arab Emir-ates as a new destination for its 2011-12 winter collection. The elegant MSC Lirica will be based in Abu Dhabi as her homeport for her busy 2011-2012 winter season.

The itinerary includes a full schedule of nineteen 8 day/7 night cruises from Abu Dhabi, with departures every Sunday from October 30th through to March 4, 2012 and alternatively from Dubai, with departures every Friday, from October 28 to March 9, 2012. MSC Lirica will call at the port of Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman, Al Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, the is-land Kingdom of Bahrain and include two unforgettable and unprecedented nights in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates,” says

Amanpreet Bhatia, coun-try manager - India, MSC Cruises adding, “Our latest promotion ‘MSC Triple Bo-nanza’ along with ‘Children below 18 years of age cruise free all round the year’ has already created ripples in the travel industry and with this, we hope to see the faith our clientele reposing more and more in brand MSC.”

While international cruise companies are a success sto-ry, why is it that many national level cruise start operations with a bang, only to close down a few months down the lane. Where is it that they go wrong? “There is a lot to be understood when it comes to cruise industry whether it is domestic or international waters. Such efforts are ap-preciated, but these com-panies need to have a long term view of their project, a good distribution and an ac-ceptable hardware. Interna-tional cruise companies fol-low thorough due-diligence before any such initiative is undertaken and they are not surprised by sudden costs as they take into account long term view of the market and costs involved,” answers Nishith for us.

But considering the inhibi-tions of the Indian public to go on long cruises abroad, will these small Indian cruise ships not pose competition for the bigger sharks? “Not at all, in fact it’s good for our business. Cruising in India is still in its nascent stages and there is enough business for all of us. Until Now, Star Cruises has spent a lot of time promoting the concept of cruising and with more and more operators promoting their cruises from India, it will only help the market to devel-

op further,” says Naresh.Towing the line is Gautam

Chadha, CEO, Tirun Travel Marketing who too does not consider Indian cruise liners as a threat. “No, we do not see this as a threat. In fact this is an opportunity which will help grow the market and increase awareness about cruise holidays. Cruise lines have demarcated their market segments and clien-tele. Hence, in order to tap the market what needs to be done is to identify the right segment and systematically target marketing communica-

tion to this segment. There is enough for everyone. Having said this, as far as domestic cruise tourism is concerned, in the current scenario, there is limited destination oppor-tunities inspite of an exten-sive coast line. India requires to develop more cruise destinations and market it among the domestic and in-ternational visitors. As with other segments of the tour-ism industry there are issues that need to be addressed. For example, an unfriendly

tax regime based on juris-diction claim of international waters is an issue. Too many government agencies to co-ordinate with, is a real chal-lenge for cruise lines. The port authorities need to be more welcoming, facilitating and need to work to enhance things like embarking and disembarking facilities for cruise guests as modern day cruise ships could have ca-pacities of over 2000 guests on a ship! Another natural challenge is that India offers

Too many government agencies to co-ordinate with, is a real chal-lenge for cruise lines. The port authorities need to be more welcoming, facilitating and need to work to enhance things like embarking and disembark-ing facilities for cruise guests.

Amanpreet Bhatia Nishith Saxena

January 2011 26 COVER STORY

only seven months sailing op-portunity due to severe mon-soon weather conditions in 5 months of the year – cruise ships have to be redeployed away from India in those 5

months,” he says.Concluding the discus-

sion on a positive note, with high plans and a great fu-turistic vision, Nishith says, “It is difficult to predict all

segments of the cruise tour-ism but one segment which is surely going to grow at a steady pace of 25-30 per cent is the outbound flow of cruise passengers.” While

Naresh is expecting a multi fold growth in next 10 years, special from India market, Special Interest Tours, FIT and MICE Segments are go-ing to be key drivers.

“The Indian cruise mar-ket is showing phenomenal growth – growing by over double digit percentage numbers annually. As per WTTC, India is now ranked as the third-fastest growing

tourism economy in the next decade. The growth of out-bound tourism in the last five years has been averaging between 15 per cent and 20 per cent per annum. Cruising as a popular holiday option is also growing in tandem at an annual rate of over 15 per-cent with promising opportu-nities and volumes from the Indian market,” concludes Gautam.

Come, revive your spirits at C1S 12 Gurgaon!Located in the business

hub of Gurgaon, the CIS 12 Gurgaon is a

world-class property with 73 well-appointed rooms and suites. Its two suites are fit-ted with jacuzzi, king size bed, 42 inch plasma TV and have been inter-connected

to suffice the need of a fam-ily of four. All the rooms have wooden Italian Pergo floor-ing, safety vaults and unlim-ited wi-fi connectivity abso-lutely free.

After a hectic day’s work, one can just unwind himself in “Revive”, the gym and spa

with steam, sauna, jacuzzi and massage offered in the cosiest ambi-ence. Inter-national re-pute brands of beds mat-tresses, quilts make you feel cuddly.

Pool and party space at the terrace provides the perfect sky-line of Gur-gaon, which is one of the

most sought after locations on the international map as on date. In house laundry ensures clean linen supply along with one hour uninter-rupted guaranteed service for guest laundry that gives the added advantage to the business traveller. Malls and bird sanctuary in close vicin-ity gives the hotel a very fas-cinating location for adven-

turous people.Travel services helps in

smooth pick up and drop from airports and to and fro to the work place.

Long staying guests en-joy the weekly cocktails and complimentary visit to shop-ping locations.

Convenient approach to Delhi and Jaipur makes the hotel most preferred for lei-

sure and business segment. Wonderful location and ex-cellent pricing makes the property an unbeatable op-tion.

Promoter of the hotel, Vi-jay Bhandari, is a legend in the automobile industry and the brain child behind M.K. Auto clutch industries, VNG Automotives, Bhandari Forge and alloy cast, VNG brakes.

ADVT.

January 2011 28 INDIA CALLING

Gujarat all set to host a travel mart in February 2011

vTTJ DeSk

In its endeavour to tap upon the burgeoning tourism segment, Gujarat Tourism is all set to organise the Gujarat Travel Mart from February 8 – 10, 2011. The mart will be hosted in the Gujarat University Exhibition Hall in Ahmedabad. The event offers three exhibitor segments: ‘Gujarat Incoming’, the ‘India Section’ and ‘Outbound India’.

The state of Gujarat over the years has contrib-uted towards being

a large part of India’s ever growing tourism arrival fig-ures, both to within India des-tinations and overseas. The inaugural edition of ‘Gujarat Travel Mart’, is set on a B2B platform with over 1000 reg-istered buyers from over 20 countries exploring business opportunities for discerning travel and tourism products, will make the event one of the most sought after travel events in the country.

The hosted buyers are from the following countries: Netherlands, Kingdom of Bahrain, Australia, Canada, France, Greece, Israel, Ja-pan, Lithuania, Norway, Po-

land, South Africa, Sri Lanka, UAE, UK, USA, South Africa, etc

The event has already re-ceived the support of asso-ciations such as ADTOI (As-sociations of Domestic Tour Operators India) and ATOAI (Adventure Tour Operators of India).

The event offers three exhibitor segments, namely, ‘Gujarat Incoming’, the ‘In-dia Section’ and ‘Outbound India’. The exclusive pavilion of Gujarat shall showcase the different facets of Guja-rat such as festivals of Gu-jarat, its beaches, the land of the Mahatma: Mahatma Gandhi oriented tours, heri-tage hotels, Buddhist trails in Gujarat, wildlife resorts

and national parks, medical tourism, destination man-agement companies, travel agents and tour operators, etc.

The Indian State Tourism Departments, who form part of the country’s marketing plan, shall be invited to dis-play the country’s rich culture and heritage. Leading travel agents, tour operators, online travel agents, travel technol-ogy products, hotels and re-sorts from across the country will provide an opportunity to showcase their products and will give Gujarat an opportu-nity to host some of the big-gest tourism and destination brands in the country.

Having a section for inter-national products in the Gu-

jarat Trav-el Mart will give an interna-tional image to the event and will pro-vide opportunity to Gujarat Tourism to also get into bilateral tie-ups to co-promote each other’s destinations. The presence of International products and destinations will also provide an opportu-nity to travel agents and tour operators in Gujarat to widen the scope of their business.

The Buyer Program shall have, for the first time in the country, a refundable cau-tion deposit system for all

buyers to enhance the se-riousness of the event. The amount will be refundable on the successful completion of the mandatory seller ap-pointments. Buyer Registra-tion forms are available on www.gujarattravelmart.com or mail at buyer gujarattrav-elmart.com

The event will be man-aged by Sphere Travelmedia and Exhibitions.

Shervani hoSpitaliteS limitedAffordable Luxury

Shervani Nehru Place, New DelhiShervani Sunder Nagar, New Delhi

Shervani Hilltop, Nainital

For reservations all units: 0091-11-43508686 [email protected]: www.shervanihotels.com

RePReseNTaTIoN oFFICes:KOlKATA SAlES OFFICE:55 B, Mirza Ghalib Street, Ground Floor, Kolkata-700016 West Bengal, INDIaPhone No : +91 33 4022 9591 (15lines) Fax No : +91 33 4022 9592eMaIL : [email protected]

GujARAT SAlES OFFICE: 301, Kirtiman Complex, opp. Kadva Patidar Boys Hostle, B/H Ramrand Complex, Gulbai Tekra, Ahmedabad - 380006Tel: + 91 79 30008242 / +91 97129 55101 eMaIL : [email protected]

SOuTH SAlES OFFICE:House No. 809, 1st Floor, 1st Cross, 7th Main,H a L 2nd stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore - 560 008.Tel: +91 80 40844000 – 99 Fax: +91 80 40844044 eMaIL : [email protected]

MuMBAI SAlES OFFICE:102,Sahyog building, S.V.Road Kandivali(w), Mumbai-400067, Ph. No: 91 22 6514 9777 | 91 9594561616, E-mail- [email protected]

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11, sunder Nagar, New Delhi - 110003. Tel : 011-41507090 / 91 Email: [email protected], Website : www.shervanihotels.com

ouR uNITsSHERVANI SuNDER NAGAR, NEW DElHI

11, sunder Nagar, New Delhi - 110003 Ph: 011 42501000, Fax 011 41507405

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Ph : 011 46801000, Fax : 011 46801006 email: [email protected]

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RODEO3rd Floor, MGF Metropolitan,

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email: [email protected]

January 2011 INDIA CALLING30

Gurgaon blinking bright on the global tourism radar

vPriyanka Saxena

From a stand-alone tilted building that reminded everyone of the Titanic, the skyline of multi-facetted Gurgaon has come a long way today. So exhilarating has been the pace of development in this NCR that it has surpassed every prediction made by forecasters in the last decade. From huge shopping malls to plush five stars and world-class entertainment hubs, Gurgaon today has it all. The once NCR has now become a destination in itself.

Having travelled a long way, Gurgaon today stands tall

and proud as the favoured investment hub for inves-tors and realty players in the national capital region. And with developments like NH8 Expressway—the eight lane toll Expressway between Delhi and Gurgaon, Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway, Metro Rail project running strong and still expanding, Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Kundli on the Delhi-Harya-na border, specialised malls, such as, Auto Mall and Wed-ding Mall and Special Eco-nomic Zone which will house around 2400 units, Gurgaon has become one of the best investment cities in the coun-try. Yes, by the looks of it, Gurgaon has arrived. And wait, we haven’t even started on the entertainment and hospitality front.

A region that was mainly ruled by motels and small scale hotels today plays the proud host to many interna-tional hotel brands. A busi-ness traveller coming to Del-hi, who has official work to do in Gurgaon, need no longer stay in a Maurya or a Taj. The new business address today

is a Westin or a Leela or Marriott. With the

metro rail having

carved its way in the region, and many entertainment op-tions on the horizon (King-dom of Dreams, commercial and specialised malls, re-sorts, water parks) even the leisure traveller is not keen on seeing the India Gate or a Connaught Place. Gurgaon is where he wants to be and Gurgaon is where the fun is!

“The infrastructure in Gur-gaon is getting better with time. We have many com-petition hotels in the vicinity, yet there is enough business and demand for Marriott to sail through smoothly. In fact, the supply in Gurgaon will make things tough for Delhi,” says Mathew Cooper, General Manager, Courtyard Marriott Gurgaon.

Talking about the grow-ing hospitality competition, Sandeep Joshi, GM, Fortune Select Excalibur says, “The hospitality scenario in Gurg-aon is very encouraging and allowing a very healthy com-petition in the industry. The bouquet of brands across all segments is allowing cus-tomers to shop for their level of stay within one city.”

But in this growing com-petition, how does a brand ensure continuous and re-peat clientele? “Even though we are a business hotel, our service stands apart from the rest. Our chef person-ally meets the guests who are here for longer than a

week and tailor makes the menu for them. We change the room settings as per the needs of our clients and try our best to convert the room into a home,” says Cooper, and if the tastes of good old Delhi is what you think you will miss in Gurgaon, not anymore, as the chef at Mar-riott has been handpicked from our very own Chandni Chowk and makes the aloo parathas to die for!

“Gurgaon has seen a tran-sition from a village hub to a millennium city in a span of last one decade. In terms of offices, residential complex and infrastructure develop-ment, the region has grown by leaps and bounds. With the pace at which Gurgaon is growing, I think in another 10 years, it will have to dou-ble up its capacity to accom-modate the demand. With the kinds of facilities and infra-struc-

ture that Gurgaon currently has and also proposes to have in the near future, will surely put India is the same league as many south east Asian countries in terms of business cum leisure tour-ism,” said Sanjay Sharma, General Manager, The Wes-tin Gurgaon.

However, not everyone is satisfied with the pace of de-velopment in Gurgaon. “With all the basic civic amenities in Gurgaon still coming in place at snails speed we are far from being a self sustain-ing city of international level. The city struggles on basic public transport facilities and commuting locally in city is a nightmare. The only re-lief we have seen is through metro ser-

vices aided by the central government. Gurgaon has to move away from the cosmet-ic changes to real functional changes to make it a com-plete city,” says Joshi.

There is no denying the fact that in order to achieve all round development; the infrastructure has to match pace with the private de-velopment taking place in the region. With the metro functional and plans afoot to take the development to new heights, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Gurgaon has tru-ly arrived and is here to stay!

Sandeep Joshi Mathew Cooper Sanjay Sharma


Andhra Pradesh banks on Bollywood & conventions to hike up tourism

vPriyanka Saxena

Already leading the race in domestic tourism and one of the 10 preferred markets for international tourists, Andhra Pradesh is focused on cashing in on its strengths – convention, medical and film tourism. Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Secretary to Government, Tourism Youth Advancement, Tourism and Culture Department, Andhra Pradesh shares the recent initiatives taken by his department with TTJ.

Hyderabad today is the MICE capital of India and the city

gets an unbelievable num-ber of business visitors. It has played host to many historic conferences and conventions. PATA hosted its first ever conference in India in Hyderabad and with a plethora of conven-tion facilities and a world-class international airport, there’s no stopping Hydera-bad. “The trick is to make the business visitors stay back and enjoy the plea-sures of the city. As part of our initiative to popularise Hyderabad as a conven-tions destination, we have set up our own Convention

Bureau that looks into all the needs of a busi-ness traveller. Delegates are often awestruck with the professionalism with which meetings and con-ventions are conducted in Hyderabad. The bureau offers a package of ser-vices to the customers. If someone wants to hold a convention in Hydera-bad, he just needs to tell the requirements to our bureau and everything thereon will be arranged for him,” said Jayesh.

Linking conventions with tourism, Jayesh fur-ther elaborated that the bureau often involves local tour operators in arranging relaxation trips for

the delegates and fulfilling their other travel require-ments. The bureau will be a single point contact for all their travel needs.

As for other initia-tives, the department is judiciously develop-ing Vishakhapatnam as a tourist destination and Varangal as a heritage city. “We are constructing a new hotel at Varangal and increasing the tourism products in the region. We are constructing cottages around the water body and introducing facilities like boating and water sports. Also, many ancient temples in the region are being given a facelift and light and sound shows are being organised in the region. Varangal is only 2 hours from Hyderabad and we are developing it into an ideal day-trip des-tination,” said Jayesh.

Additionally, Andhra Pradesh has become the first state tourism board to come up with a unique ini-tiative of launching a film tourism cell. Considering

that the shooting for a ma-jority of movies takes place at Ramoji Film City, the ini-tiative does makes a lot of sense. Outlining the details he said, “The cell will pro-mote the facilities available in Andhra Pradesh for film making and also introduce new outdoor locations in the region. The cell will also take care of all the neces-sary permits and make sure that the shooting is carried out without any hiccups.”

Medical Tourism is an-other area that the state is looking at. “In Hyderabad there are a large number of doctors who have come back from abroad and there are a wide range of hospi-tals where they are working. We have thus constituted a Hyderabad Medical Tour-ism Promotion Society that offers all the services re-lated to medical treatment and tourism to the client. What is interesting here is that the services are at cost and there is no overcharg-ing. There is a service fee on the entire package and not on individual services,” he concluded.

Initiatives• APTourismhassetupaConventionsBureau

that looks into all the needs of a business trav-eller. If someone wants to host a convention in Hyderabad, all one has to do is get in touch with the Conventions Bureau and the organisa-tion will arrange everything as per the require-ment, liking and budget of the client.

• APTourismassetupaFilmTourismCellthatlooks into and takes care of all the require-ments of shooting a movie in Andhra Pradesh. From getting permissions to arranging accom-modation and sites, the cell does it all at a very reasonable price.

• A P Tourism has constituted a HyderabadMedical Tourism Promotion Society that offers all the services related to medical treatment and tourism to the client. Services offered are at cost and there is no overcharging.

• A P Tourism has introduced HeritageWalksfrom Charminar to Chowmahalla Place

• APTourismisjudiciouslydevelopingVishakha-patnam as a tourist destination and Varangal as a heritage city.

WelCOMe

2011Be THe

CHAnGe yOU

WAnT TO See

In the year 2011, we are targeting to achieve

700,000 tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka. To Achieve the above we have come up with a campaign “Visit Sri Lanka 2011” promoting Sri Lanka as a year round destination. Under this, we have planned to promote Sri Lanka with a specific theme for each month for the year of 2011. So to cre-ate awareness amongst the stake holders, we are developing communication material and marketing ac-tivities in accordance with the specific month’s theme.

Malraj KiriellaManaging Director,

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau

Jayesh Ranjan


Water sports and golf to boost tourism in Karnataka

vPriyanka Saxena

Tourism in Karnataka is looking upwards, both in international as well as national tourist arrivals. The state had registered a growth of 20 – 30 per cent in domestic nationals in the first six months of last year. K. Jothiramalingam, IAS, Principal Secretary to Government, Tourism, Karnataka, talks to TTJ about his marketing strategies to take tourism to new heights in the coming years.

The first six months of the last financial year saw tourism in the

state of Karnataka grow by leaps and bounds. The state registered 1.62 crore domestic arrivals, 1.10 lakh foreign tourists and hoped to end the year at a growth rate of 20 – 30 per cent. “Our aim is to devel-op some exclusive attrac-tions. We offer wonderful river water angling options to our tourists at just about 100 km from Bengaluru. The place has 3 Jungle Lodges and 3 camps on river Cauveri. With the peak season being from Novem-ber to March, the cottages enjoy almost 70 per cent occupancy,” said Jothira-malingam.

Been doing this for last 10 years now, the tourism department has plans to in-troduce scuba diving in the mainland. “From January 2011, we plan to seriously take up scuba diving in the Netrani Island. We will con-struct new jungle lodges, between 20 – 25, on an el-evated place that will offer wonderful scenic views. Is-land Netrani is 170 km from Panaji and is a popular tourist attraction for enjoy-ing water sports activities. After Andaman, Netrani Is-land will become a popular

hub to enjoy scuba diving in India,” he said.

Elaborating on the tour-ist attractions in Karnataka,

Jothiramalingam talked about developing Golf tourism in Karnataka. KGA – Karnataka Golf Course in Bengaluru is the championship golf course of international standards and is a major USP of the region. “We provide golf itineraries in the Golden Chariot for people who love golf,” said Vinay Luthra, Man-aging Director, Karna-taka State Tourism Devel-opment Corporation.

Meanwhile, Hampi has become the first destina-tion to have a Sloth Bear Heritage Resort. This is the only Sloth Bear sanc-tuary in the entire Asian continent. One can see a

minimum of 10 sloth bears at any given time here. Additionally, Royal Orchid is opening a 108 rooms 5-star property in Hampi soon and in its endeav-our to increase the tourist flow to the place, the min-istry is trying to introduce a day train to Hampi. And if you thought this was all, wait for another couple of months and Karnataka will be seen taking the lead in Heli Tourism as well. A lux-ury train with a plethora of affordable variations, heri-tage sites that are simply breathtaking and a tour-ism ministry that is leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to bolster tourism figures, the going seems pretty good for the state of Karnataka.

The first six months of the last financial year saw tour-ism in the state of Karnataka grow by leaps and bounds. The state registered 1.62 crore do-mestic arrivals, 1.10 lakh foreign tourists and hoped to end the year at a growth rate of 20 – 30 per cent.

WelCOMe

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We all need to be pro-active in promoting

environment protection and find measures to tackle cli-mate change. This is par-ticularly so for the tourism industry which is an impor-tant stakeholder in protect-ing nature and sustainable development of infrastruc-ture. Finland has always been a leader in putting to use clean technologies which have a cutting edge in areas of transportation, telecom, waste manage-ment and sustainable infra-structure.

Papori BharatiIndia Representative -

VisitFinland

Vinay Luthra K. Jothiramalingam

January 2011 36 TECH TURN

Amadeus: Providing perfect hospitality solutions

vPriyanka Saxena

Amadeus has served the global hospitality industry for over 20 years, supporting hotels’ distribution and technology needs. Its hospitality and revenue management system is used by more than 89,000 hotels and helps increase a property’s revenue by 4-8 per cent. In conversation with TTJ, Ankur Bhatia, Managing Director, Amadeus India, talks about the existing and new products in the pipeline by Amadeus while detailing its plans for the new year.

Amadeus Hospital-ity caters to each and every segment

of the hospitality and lei-sure industry. Amadeus Revenue Management System can increase a ho-tel property’s revenue by 4-8 per cent and currently has 1500 customers in 35 countries. More than 7000 hotel properties in 75 coun-tries use Amadeus Property Management System and more than 89,000 hotels distribute their rooms to a global travel buying market through Amadeus’ distribu-tion solutions.

“Amadeus has a dedi-cated team of hotel special-ists covering every aspect of development, delivery and support of hospitality technology solutions. For hotel customers in India, Amadeus in collaboration with partner companies also provides best of breed solutions like Point of Sale, Material Management, Back Office Accounting and others. It also provides complete IT facility man-agement for hotels who wish to outsource the rel-evant aspects in order that they can be handled more efficiently and profession-ally with high uptime, by a team of specialists and

thus attain complete peace of mind so that they can fo-cus on the core hospitality aspects,” said Ankur.

In India, Amadeus is already being used by ma-jor hotel companies like Taj Group of Hotels, Berg-gruen Hotels (Keys brand), Rajasthan Forts & Palaces, Thunder-bird Re-sorts and many oth-ers.

Well, 2010 might have been an average year for the tour-ism industry, but for Ama-deus, it was the year of many accolades and good growth figures. The com-pany was accredited as the ‘Best GDS of the year’ at TAAI Awards, which is a remarkable achievement. “We also signed the long-term content agreement with the Cathay Pacific Group, which offers Ama-deus agents, access to a comprehensive range of Cathay Pacific and Drago-nair fares, schedules and

availability. We also extend-ed our global distribution agreement with Thomas Cook for another five years. Amadeus also partnered with AirAsia, the world’s best low cost carrier to offer exclusive promotional fares to Indian travellers. The

Amadeus Partner-ship Pro-gramme helped Taj Hotels to generate a 30 per cent increase in hotel bookings by travel agents within In-dia, and a 12 per

cent increase by travel agents from five markets across Asia Pacific. Our association with Austrian Airlines guaranteed travel agencies to have access to the full range of Austrian Airlines fares and inventory through Amadeus, with no surcharge.”

In the New Year, inno-vation and customer sat-isfaction remain the core building blocks of its travel solutions for the travel in-dustry. Over the years,

Amadeus has been devel-oping both air and non-air products and solutions as per the needs and require-ments of the travel agency partners. In the recent past they have developed prod-ucts such as, Amadeus Ticket Changers, India Rail integration, Amadeus Ho-tel Store, Custom Desktop, Amadeus Quality Control, and Call Centre. Birdres is the latest tool from Bird group’s kitty which focuses upon railway bookings and has an excellent future.

Keeping up with the speed of change, Amadeus has launched its next gen-eration hotel solution Ama-deus Hotel Platform. Addi-tionally, Amadeus India is going to launch Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) standards for travel agencies, which enables the airline to process EMDs through its direct sales channels. Amadeus is the first to deliver this solution.

“For the coming year we will also introduce dif-ferentiating factors with unique functionalities. We are aiming to provide im-proved search capabilities and broaden the key words as per region, cities and countries,” said the vision-ary Bhatia.

WelCOMe

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Ankur Bhatia

The business has defi-nitely taken an upward

trend but it is still a strug-gle. The volumes are pick-ing up but the rates are still depressed. The challenge in 2011 will be to hold on to the existing business while improving on the rates. The key is in segmentation and differentiation. Balancing the pay roll and at the same time retaining good talent is the biggest challenge. In-novative welfare ideas and creating and maintaining a happy and healthy work environment is the only an-swer.

Anuj PrakashGeneral Manager, The Resort

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January 2011 AROUND THE WORLD38

The mesmerisingMauritius

vPreeti Verma lal

“You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then heaven, and that heaven was copied after Mauritius” - Mark Twain’s repartee about Mauritius being heaven’s prototype has been oft quoted. But before I stepped into the island nation, the banter seemed a tad exaggerated. However, little did I know that at 10,000 ft up in the sky, my Twain-esque smirk would fall by the aisle.

As I stepped into Mauritius, the ocean looked as beryl as a

blue can get, the palms were swaying in the pristine wind, the waves were thrashing into a frothy white, adven-ture enthusiasts were cut-ting through the water on jet skis and the still more daring were jumping off planes for a sky dive… The blue was

tempting, I wish I could sky dive.

But that had to wait. The lions were calling at break-fast time. If you think break-fast is always as mundane as poached eggs, strips of bacon, crunchy toast and that piping hot cappuccino, in Mauritius, think again. You might want to have a breakfast walk with the lions.

Sounds Tarzan-esque? Well, in the Casela Bird Park, two cubs sauntered out of the pen and walked with me by the shrubs and the gurgling stream. They growled at mis-chievous birds and scram-bled up trees, I forgot all about breakfast and walked with them in glee. It was a long walk and I was ready to walk forever with the cubs,

but the Captains were wait-ing under water.

Well, these Captains wear their stripes but have fins and get lured only when you crumble bread for them. That day in Mauritius, I bumped into the Captains several times. Topped with a heavy mask and having stepped down a ladder for the undersea walk, I saw

hundreds of Captains swirl-ing around, their purple and yellow stripes looking stun-ning against a turquoise backdrop. But that was not the last of the fish that I saw – cooped in a submarine that whooshed down under wa-ter, I saw them again through the submarine window. How-ever, nothing could beat the joy of riding a SubScooter,

January 2011 AROUND THE WORLD 39

the only one of its kind in the world. Having slipped into a wet suit, I steered the Scooter (it actually looks like an ordinary scooter!) amidst corals and fish. Imagine a scooter ride 35 metres down under!

With so many water activ-ities, I thought I would meta-morphose into a mermaid. Before I grew that fishy tail and lived in the water hap-pily ever after, my adven-tures turned macho with a Quad Bike, those bikes with monster tyres that glide through puddles, hillocks and hairpin bends. When the incline got dangerous, I almost tumbled down the hill, but thank heaven for

those sturdy bikes, I lived on to parasail, gamble, learn those first steps of the diffi-cult Sega, and head to Port Louis race course, the old-est in southern hemisphere. When evening came and the sun dipped into the sea, I decided to tee off in the beautifully landscaped golf courses that can beat the best in the world.

The next day, I sat aside the irons and peeped into history in Folk Museum of Indian Immigration in the Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI), Port Louis, a history that began on November 3, 1834, when the first batch of 36 Indian labourers (then called Hill Coolies) board-

ed a ship for Port Louis to work in the British-owned sugar plantations. Between 1834 and 1910, 346,145 men and 105,896 women arrived in Mauri- tius from India as in- dentured labourers and the Apravasi Ghat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, now stands as a mute wit-ness to the mi- gration that changed not just the face but also the culture and cuisine of Mauritius. In- dian-ness finds more space in the Sugar Mu- se-um; in Ganga Ta- lab, by which stands the

world’s second largest statue of Lord Shiva; and in Phool- yar village where the bar- rack ruins tell the tale of Indians who sailed thousands of miles in search of kinder destiny.

When evening came, I sat by the glorious lo- tus pond in the Pamp- lemousse Garden and conceded defeat to Mark Twain. He was right. I am not sure what heaven looks like, but even if it is a close approxima- tion to Mauritius, I am ready to book a luxury room there. Forever.

GETTING THERE: Every Sunday, Air Mauritius flies between Delhi and Mauritius; an economy return ticket would cost approxi-mately Rs 40,000. In-dians can get visa on arrival; there is no visa fee but you need to furnish a return ticket.

WHERE TO STAYLe Telfair (5-star), Heri-tage Awali (4-star), Le Pearle Beach (3-star)

WHAT TO SEEApravasi Ghat, Sugar Museum, Casela Bird Park, Seven-coloured earth, Chamarel Rhumerie, volcano crater, Pamplemousse Garden.

WHAT TO DOSky dive, deep sea walk, submarine ride to see fish, Sub scooter (the only one of its kind in the world), parasail-ing, banana boat, jet skiing. Shop at Port Louis bazaar, or Le Caudon Waterfront.

For more details, you can get in touch with:Mauritius Tourism Promotion AuthorityC/o TRAC Representa-tions (I) Pvt. Ltd.A-61, Himalaya HouseKG Marg,New Delhi - 110001Email: [email protected]. Delhi: +91 11 2331 9804Ph. Mumbai: +91 22 2498 1999

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January 2011 40 RAzzMATAzz

VisitFinland ushers in the festive spiritVisitFinland, the nodal agency for promoting the destination internationally and the Embassy of Finland joined hands to usher in the festive season in style at the Embassy lawns with an evening of music, cuisine and delightful surprises making the evening a memorable experience for all. The guests were a cross section of the travel trade, corporate house representatives and prominent individuals of Delhi.

It’s cricket time for Carlson HotelsCarlson Hotels (South Asia) recently organised a Cricket Tournament titled-Carlson Connect Super 7 Challenge Radisson Delhi Cup-2010. The tournament witnessed participation from 27 teams across its various brands including Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites by Carlson, Carlson Wagonlit Travels and TGI Friday’s. The tournament was organised at The Energy Research Institute stadium (TERI) in Gurgaon from December 16 – 18, 2010. The tournament culminated with a Grand Award Ceremony and Gala Dinner on December 18, 2010 evening. The runners up of the tournament were Radisson Hotel Delhi and the winners were Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Amritsar.

Gul Panag, model, actress and social activist was announced as the Hon’ Brand Ambassador of the destination at the event.

RAzzMATAzzJanuary 2011 42

TAFI 2010: A pleasurable business conclave

It’s time to ‘Achieve More’ for Uniglobe & Qatar Airways

Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) held its annual convention in Dubai in November 2010. With the convention theme as ‘Coopetition – Key to Success’, the convention emphasised the need for cooperation among competitors of travel industry. The three-day convention registered more than 1000 delegates. With a series of business sessions and some fun evenings, the convention turned out to be a huge success.

Uniglobe recently organised an annual event to facilitate the meeting of its suppliers with agency owners under one roof. The theme for this event ‘Achieve More’ was focused on giving suppliers and industry partners like Qatar Airways access to decision makers, key influencers and frontline sales agents who are responsible for educating their clients of various product preferences best suited for them. The highlight of the event was the motivational speech given by the world famous and widely acclaimed sportsman Kapil Dev, who was the special guest at the event.

January 2011 Short takes44

Air India increases baggage allowance

Air India has recently announced a 10 kg additional baggage allowance on all Air India flights (IC AND AI coded

flights only) between South India to Gulf and Middle East till September 30, 2011. The fa-cility of 10 kg additional baggage allowance is over and above the normal baggage allow-ance in respective class. The move comes as a ‘Marketing Practice‘and the tickets will continue to reflect only the normal baggage allowance for the class of travel.

Gambling now made legal in Sri lanka

To give a new dimension to the tourism industry, Sri Lanka’s parliament recent-ly passed a law to completely legalise

gambling. The move is part of the govern-ment’s plan to revive its tourism industry. Sri Lanka is targeting US$ 2 bn annual revenue from tourism by 2016. Experts believe that the target can be easily achieved by legalis-ing gambling. Sri Lanka will now start attract-ing global investors to create world – class casinos by legalising gambling.

Tony Tyler takes over from Bisignani

Tony Tyler, CEO, Cathy Pacific Airways, has been selected as Director General and CEO of the International Air Trans-

port Association (IATA) by IATA’S board of governors. He will replace Giovanni Bisig-nani. Tyler was earlier working as the CEO of Cathay Pacific since 2007.

nas Air adds Delhi to its network

Saudi Arabia – based low cost carrier Nas Air, which flies to Mumbai, Kochi and Calicut, recently launched a Del-

hi-Riyad service. The carrier now operates thrice weekly flights on the Riyad –Delhi route. Since its launch in February 2007, the airline has grown rapidly and flies to 13 destinations within Saudi Arabia and 11 international desti-nations, with over 300 flights per week.

Wyndham Dwarka readies to receive guests

The first month of the new year will see the opening of Wyndham Hotel Group’s property in Dwarka. The Wyndham

Hotel Group, which has a staggering 7,200 hotels and approximately 607,000 room in-ventory in its kitty across 65 countries, is only the franchisor in the project while the unit will be owned and managed by noted realty firm Tirupati Group. The 12 – storey Wyndham Dwarka unit has been created on a land par-cel of 3.5 acres. A total investment of Rs 600 crore has been made in the project.

Sweden-based hotel to open 25 hotels in India

Sweden-based Svenska Hotels opened its first five star luxury hotel at Lokhand-wala Complex in North Mumbai re-

cently. The member of the WORLDHOTELS deluxe collection plans to open its second hotel in Bengaluru, next month. Svenska also has plans to launch 25 hotels that will be operational by 2020 involving an invest-ment of around 1,000 crore. Its focus is on creating small format luxury hotels that will offer personalised and exclusive services for the upscale business clients. n

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lufthansa increases connectivity to Munich

From 1 April 2011, Lufthansa custom-ers can enjoy the flexibility of travel-ling from Mumbai to Munich on any

day of the week. With the start of the next summer schedule, the airline will be offering daily flights on its Mumbai – Munich route, up from five weekly flights now. Lufthansa’s Mumbai-Munich route is currently served by an Airbus 330-300 with eight first class, 48 business class and 159 economy class seats. The flight departs at 0150 hours and arrives in Munich at 0550 hours.

AI express to shift headquarters to kochi

Air India has decided to shift the head-quarters of its wholly-owned subsid-iary, Air India Charters Limited (AICL)

from Mumbai to Kochi in Kerala. The head-quarters of AICL will be shifted to Kerala in pursuance of a decision taken on October 8, 2010 at the 178th meeting of the Board of AICL. The airlines will also start operat-ing flights between Mumbai and Doha from January 13, 2011. Services will start initially with two flights a week (on Thursday and Sat-urday) and will be increased to three flights by February 2011.

Seaplane services to bolster tourism in Andaman

The seaplane service will connect Port Blair with Havelock and subsequently other islands in North Andaman to pro-

mote tourism. In Port Blair the seaplane is proposed to operate from the airport and in Havelock and Diglipur in the identified wa-terdrome. The seaplane operations are be-ing introduced as a major tourist attraction. Seaplanes will also be introduced in other ar-eas of India such as Lakshadweep, Goa,etc. Government of India has allowed 100 per cent FDI in this sector.

PATA Mart 2012 to be staged in Manila

The PATA Travel Mart 2012 (PTM2012) is going to take place in Manila, Philip-pines. The dates for the mart, to be or-

ganised by the Philippine Department of Tour-ism and the Tourism Promotions Board, will be announced shortly. Back in 1978, Manila had hosted the very first PATA Travel Mart. With a record attendance of around 300 delegates in 1978, it is still considered as Asia Pacific’s leading travel shows, drawing 1000 of dele-gates constantly.

Best Business Class service aboard Jet Airways

Jet Airways has recently won the award for ‘Best Business Class Service in the World’ at the Business Traveller Awards

2010. These awards were presented in Los Angeles at a glittering ceremony which was graced by the presence of several travel and trade industry luminaries. The airways was acknowledged for its acclaimed in-flight ser-vice, the credit for which goes to its rigorous in-flight training procedures.

GoAir to come up with an IPO soon

GoAir is planning to go for an Initial Public Offer (IPO) to raise Rs 400 to 500 crore. The money will be used to

fund their expansion plans, along with pay-ing off their debts. The airline is in discussion with various investment banks to manage the IPO. Apparently, JM Financial will be the advisor to the airline for the same. The IPO is crucial for GoAir to clear its accumulated debts from its books.

January 2011 45

January 2011 46 COffEE WITH TTJ

Make your dreams come true at the Kingdom!

vPriyanka Saxena

Taking inspiration from the world famous operas and broadways and clubbing it with the Indian USP of a diverse gamut of culture and traditions and throwing in a dash of age-old “nautanki”, Kingdom of Dreams is a destination in itself. A unique initiative by Great India Nautanki Company, a joint venture between Wizcraft International Entertainment and Apra Group of Companies, the concept has redefined “entertainment” in India. Over a cup of coffee, Anumod Gagan Sharma, Chairman, Apra Group of Companies, shares more with TTJ.

As you enter through the monolithic gates and are greeted by

giant lions in gold on your either side, you truly feel you have entered “Kingdom” and in today’s day and age, living in or entering a “kingdom” is truly a “dream” come true. “Theatre was not hard core entertainment in India, some-thing that we thought was acutely lack-ing. Our show Zangoora captures that market and offers bound-less en-tertain-ment. We are very happy with the response we have re-

ceived so far,” said Anumod.Culture Gully, one of the

core attractions of Kingdom of Dreams, is an elaborate boulevard of culture, arts and crafts and cuisine under India’s first ever skydRome. Six restaurants, six show kitchens, three street bars and seven retail

stores, rep-resenting

14

states of India will engage and entertain visitors at Cul-ture Gully. Interesting archi-tectural and cultural facets of Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Delhi, Punjab, Mad-hya Pradesh, Chennai, Goa, Mumbai, Lucknow, Kashmir and Rajasthan, are present-ed at Culture Gully. Visitors

have a surfeit of op-tions from enjoy-

ing a leisurely cup of South Indian filter

coffee at the unusual Ma-dras Café, to

a massage on the

beaches of Goa; from trendy shop-

ping on Mumbai’s fashion street to enlighten-ing spiritualism at the Mystic Centre. As-sam Tea House welcomes all visitors with India’s famed variety of teas, while enjoying

performances and wares of local artisans, street per-formers and folk dancers from across the country.

Built over nine acres, Kingdom of Dreams has three other distinct enter-tainment zones – Nautanki Mahal (where they showcase Zangoora), Showshaa The-atre (where they soon plan to start a magic show) and IIFA Buzz café, where, sur-rounded by celebrities, you feel nothing less than one yourself!

With its plush interiors, the Nautanki Mahal seats 846 people in theatre style. The technical wizardry of the auditorium renders it an ideal venue for confer-ences, conventions, meet-ings, incentive programmes, product launches, large cor-porate events, award func-tions and Bollywood theme evenings. The state-of-the-future auditorium is outfit-ted with advanced sound, light and video systems. The LED and projection screens along with in-built circular revolving stages within the stage; motorised lifts; aerial flying systems and special effects complete a futuristic experience for an enthralled

audience. Nautanki Mahal is the venue of GINC’s first cinematic theatrical produc-tion, “Zangoora”, India’s biggest Bollywood musical ever! Starring a smattering of known Bollywood stars “Zan-goora” has been scripted by none other than Javed Akhtar and choreographed by Shiamak Dawar.

On the expansion front, Anumod said, “Talks are on for starting a Kingdom of Dreams in Mumbai and then Bengaluru. We also have plans to take this concept international and China will be the first international mar-ket that will see the opening of Kingdom of Dreams. Sin-gapore and Las Vegas will closely follow behind.”

Anumod Gagan Sharma

TTJ_January_2011

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