Volume ii l issue 11 pages 32 India Outbound …€¦ · kids on India’s outbound tourism block...

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India sees increased foreign tourist flow in early 2013

India Outbound: New destinations get active

Arabian Travel Market sells out a month before opening

Matthew Hayden to promote Queensland among Indian tourists

Visit USA holds first-ever Kolkata media and trade presentation

Foreign tourist arrivals in India grew by 2.3% in the first three months of 2013, despite unfavorable incidents...

The 20th Arabian Travel Market is already completely sold out one month before...

In a bid to tap the growing Indian overseas traveller market, the Aus-tralian state of Queensland has hired legendary cricketer Matthew...

Lama Tours, Dubai’s pre-mier destination manage-ment company, led one of the biggest delegations ever to India from April 8-12. Dubai

hotels, resorts, airline part-ners and attractions from the UAE joined the company for a four-city roadshow, start-ing in New Delhi...

100+ travel trade mem-bers attended Kolkata’s maiden U.S. Travel Trade seminar to hear about Visit USA’s plans to tap the India

market, the simplified visa regulations and the cam-paign to showcase Ameri-ca’s lesser known tourism destinations...

Even with the effects of the global economic

slowdown now being felt in India, with the GDP growth bottoming out at around 5-6% from the dizzy heights of 9% a couple of years ago, the outbound travel market continues to hold steady.

India is now firmly entrenched as one of the top outbound tourism mar-kets in the world, with enor-mous potential for growth

in terms of visitors and spending.

The India outbound growth story began around a decade ago, with aggres-sive efforts by early entrants like Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Mauritius, Dubai and Britain, followed by China, Egypt, Turkey, Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and South Africa, to name a few.

Now it is estimated that

more than 60 countries have established tourism promo-tion offices or operations in India to tap a market which, according to World Tourism Organisation estimates, is expected to reach 50 million outbound travellers by 2020 from the current 15 million.

While many of the National Tourism Organisa-tions have established their own offices in the coun-try, others are making use

of representations or their embassies/cultural desks to test the waters, before taking the plunge.

Here we take a look at the activities of some of the new kids on India’s outbound tourism block who have set up shop in India recently, and have been actively promoting their destina-tions, to catch up with the early birds.

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` 50 / us $5 16-30 april 2013Volume ii l issue 11 pages 32 www.travelnewsdigest.in

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Dubai’s Lama Tours leads largest India roadshow to date

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Kenya Tourism Board aiming for one lakh Indian tourists

About 64,000 Indians visited Kenya last year, and Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) expects to achieve one lakh inbound from India by 2015...

With the eyes of the global travel industry now firmly focused on India, a fresh crop of countries are joining early entrants and traditional destinations in opening tourist offices in the country, and launching aggressive promotional campaigns in a bid to get a piece of India’s booming outbound market

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TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | april 2013 2

Contd. from page 1...

The German National Tourist Office (GNTO), India is the official representative office of the German

National Tourist Board (GNTB). Opened in 2006 in New Delhi, the GNTO facilitates and implements the goals and strategies outlined by the GNTB to enhance the positive image of Destination Germany.

“I encourage you all to visit my country,” said Ger-man Ambassador Michael Steiner at a press confer-ence organised by GNTO last month. “Germany is more than just cars and high tech. It is young, vibrant Berlin. It is beautiful Bavaria. It is the country of poets and philosophers. It is the land of ideas. It is interna-tional. It is simply worth a trip,” he said.

Meanwhile, Romit Theophilus, Director of Sales and Marketing, GNTO, India said, “As you are already aware, our 2013 theme is ‘Germany for Young People’ and a lot of promotions are revolving around this. However, the year will also see us getting more robust in promoting MICE, a segment where we are consid-ered market leaders. There is an enhancement of our cooperation with industry associations to reach out to their membership base.

The German Fairytale route, which transports you to the magical world of the Brothers Grimm, is another promotion being well received in India. The route offers culture and history, enchanting medieval towns, castles, palaces and museums in a 600-km trail from Hanau to Bremen.”

The German National Tourist Office, India

co-sponsored the visit to the country of the entire class of 30 Kendriya Vidyalaya students, winners of the ‘Germany on my Mind’ German-language compe-tition orgainised in February. “We are delighted to be part of this fantastic initiative that gives an opportunity to young children learning the language to experience the country first hand,” said Theophilus. “These chil-dren will on return now be our best brand ambassa-dors for the destination. We would be delighted to co-participate on such initiatives in the future,” he added.

According to Theophilus, the five cities that stood out as favourites with Indians were Munich, Frank-furt, Stuttgart, Berlin and Dusseldorf. This year, Ger-many is celebrating the 200th anniversary of com-poser and theatre director Richard Wagner, as well as the 150th birth anniversary of artist and architect Henry van de Velde. The GNTB is using the anniversa-ries of these world famous artists to promote Germany

around the world as a land of music, architecture and culture.

Philippines Tourism Marketing Office, India, has been representing the Philippines Department of

Tourism (DOT) in the Indian market since 2007. The Philippines is targeting a 43% growth in Indian tourist arrivals at over 66,000 this year, and to achieve this, the country has begun an aggressive marketing campaign. The Philippines Tourism Marketing Office India will roll out a series of roadshows in newer growth markets

in India as part of the DOT’s drive to attract more tour-ists to the Philippines under the ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ campaign. During these promotions, the Philippines will showcase its portfolio of tourism prod-ucts and a line-up of activities that travellers can indulge in while visiting the country.

Recently, the Philippines DOT and the Philippines Tourism Marketing Office, India, participated in the 11th edition of Routes Asia 2013 held in Mumbai on March 17-19. The annual networking event for senior execu-tives from the aviation and tourism industry enabled the NTO to meet and discuss business opportunities and extension plans with their industry counterparts.

Also, as part of plans to expand into fresher mar-kets in India, the DOT, Philippines held a roadshow in Kolkata, where it showcased the country’s 7,107 heav-enly islands as an extension of the ‘It’s More Fun in the

Philippines’ campaign.Led by Raymund Glen Agustin, Head, Team India,

DOT and Susan Del Mundo, DOT-Tourism Promo-tions Board, the delegation, including Arturo Boncato Jr., Director, DOT Region XI, gave an overview of the booming tourism industry in the Philippines. The event brought together leading travel and tour operators of the Philippines (Shroff Travel Care International, Blue Horizons Travel & Tours, Inc, etc), as well as Philippines Airlines, to interact with local travel partners and buy-ers in the B2B sessions.

“We are aggressively promoting Philippines as a choice destination for leisure as well as for business travellers from India in coordination with the Depart-ment of Tourism, Philippines this year,” said Komal Seth, General Manager, Philippines Tourism Market-ing Office, India.

COVER stORy

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Volume II - Issue 11

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Editorial Marketing Production Administration

Editor & Publisher Sanjiv Agarwal

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Editorial teamMayuri BhattacharjeeDebasree BanerjeeSuvodip Chatterjee

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GNTB promotes “Germany for Young People” theme

Philippines: More fun inthe Islands

“India has always been an important source

market for Germany and it’s expected we will register 1.5 million

Indian visitors by 2020. We have not just consolidated our position in the Tier I city business and

leisure traffic, but have also made vital inroads in the Tier II city markets.”

romit Theophilus Director of Sales and Marketing

German National Tourist Office, India

“As part of our campaign, we are expanding our reach in newer growth areas while keeping our focus on highlighting the fun elements in the Philippines. We

received encouraging growth in the number of visitor arrivals from India last year and we are optimistic about achieving our target of 43% growth above last year’s arrival figures.”

Komal seth General Manager

Philippines Tourism Marketing Office, India

Contd. on page 3...



Brand USA, the new tourism marketing entity respon-sible for promoting the United States to world visi-

tors, organised its first-ever travel mission to India last September .

The mission, consisting of 50 delegates representing 35 U.S. destinations and companies, visited New Delhi and Mumbai, with an aim of meeting travel agents, air-line representatives, tour operators and the travel trade media.

The delegation had representatives from Akquasun Incredible Vacations LLC, Best Western INTL, Blue & Gold Fleet, Caesars Entertainment, Choice Hotels Inter-national, Cirque Du Soleil, Fairmont Raffles Hotels Inter-national, Gray Line NY, Hornblower Cruises & Events, Las Vegas Group LLC, Las Vegas Convention and Visi-tors Authority, Macy’s, NYC & Company, NYC & Com-pany Partner (Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises), NYC & Company Partner (Le Parker Meridien New York), NYC & Company Partner (Madame Tussauds, New York), NYC & Company Partner (Marriott International), NYC & Company Partner (Empire State Building Observa-tory), NYC & Company Partner (New York Water Taxi), Papillon Group, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, Pier39, Premium Outlets, San Francisco Travel Association, Universal Studios Hollywood, Vision Hol-idays, Visit California , Visit Florida and Visit Orlando, among others.

Brand USA has appointed representation firms for the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, and South Korea and is in the process of identifying rep-resentation in India.

Brand USA was established by the Travel Promo-tion Act to spearhead the country’s first global marketing effort to promote the U.S. as a premier travel destination, communicate U.S. entry/exit policies and procedures, and identify and correct misconceptions about those

policies. The Corporation for Travel Promotion is the formal, legal name of Brand USA.

Brand USA is expected to put the U.S. on an equal footing with the tourism efforts of other countries and bring millions of new international visitors – and billions of dollars – to the U.S. and create thousands of American jobs each year.

“With President Obama recognising tourism as an important sector of the U.S. economy, we are hopeful of maximising our nation’s potential as a leading tourist destination for Indian travellers,” said Caroline Beteta, interim CEO and Chair-Elect of Brand USA. Promoting U.S. tourism is part of U.S. President Barack Obama’s National Export Initiative.

The U.S. Commercial Service, part of the U.S. Consul-ate General, is also promoting travel and tourism with a focus on attracting conventions as part of the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions) focus.

VUSACOM, the Visit USA Committee, was formed in 2011 with a focus on bringing together various players in the travel and tourism industry, hospitality players, air-liners etc with the sole objective of promoting tourism to the U.S. and facilitating visitors. VUSACOM, a non-profit initiative, is supported by the U.S. commerce department.

The initiatives VUSACOM is taking include facilitation of visa, encouragement of group travel through holding of MICE and events, acting as a business to business plat-form for travel agents and facilitation of meetings with different U.S. tour suppliers. India has emerged as the 12th biggest source market for inbound tourism to the U.S. In an endeavour to move India to the top 10, the U.S. Embassy has introduced a new visa processing system in India, with an aim to offer maximum visas in the min-imum time possible.

Monaco Government Tourist and Convention Authority plans to tie up with regional travel

agents in the four metro cities of India to enhance its footprint, create awareness and draw more Indian tourists to the country.

TRAC Representations Pvt Ltd is the Monaco Gov-ernment Tourist and Convention Authority’s market-ing and PR representative in India.

The Monaco tourist bureau, which has an office in Delhi, will work with regional travel agents in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata in the first phase and extend to two more cities by 2013. Since the incep-tion of the Indian office in 2009 there has been 57% increase in room nights from Indian tourists.

“Monaco is an upcoming destination on the map of Europe and is rapidly gaining a high aspiration point for the west-bound Indian tourist segment,” said Rajeev Nangia, India Director, Monaco Govern-ment Tourist and Convention Bureau.”

Along with engaging the travel trade through workshops, seminars and FAM trips, the Monaco Government Tourist and Convention Authority has

also introduced ‘The Passport to Monaco’ programme in India for travel agents catering to FITs. This pro-gramme consists of a folder of special offer coupons, offering free entry to the Principality’s main attrac-tions and museums, such as the Exotic Garden, the Oceanographic Museum and the Prince of Mona-co’s Collection of Antique Cars, as well as useful information on the best places to eat and shop. This

programme is available for travel agents to offer cli-ents on a minimum of two nights’ stay in Monaco.

This year Abu Dhabi, the largest of the seven emir-ates that make up the UAE, set up a representation

office to serve the growing Indian market. “This is a natural progression from the work we

have done over the past two years,” said Mubarak Al Nuaimi, International Promotions Manager, Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu

Dhabi). “We have been getting the pulse of the Indian market via road shows and participation in trade fairs.”

“Abu Dhabi’s rapidly expanding infrastructure, growing tourist attractions and breathtaking land-scapes across land and sea offer a great deal for all seg-ments of travellers visiting from India – a country that

definitely plays an important and pivotal role in the emirate’s booming tourism economy,” said Bejan Din-shaw, Country Manager – India, TCA Abu Dhabi.

In January, Lama Tours, the trade partner of TCA Abu Dhabi, led a four-city roadshow promoting Abu Dhabi’s attractions, hotels and airline sectors in the major Indian cities, starting from New Delhi, followed by Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

Meanwhile, with massive investments in airport facilities, airline connectivity and hotel rooms, Abu Dhabi is positioning itself as an attractive tourism des-tination. “Tourism is part of Abu Dhabi’s 2030 vision and plan. The mandate is to create and develop a sus-tainable tourism sector and position Abu Dhabi as an attractive destination,” said Sultan Al Mutawa Al Dha-heri, Director of Tourism Ecosystem, Abu Dhabi Tour-ism and Culture Authority.

“We have invested in enhancing accessibility by increasing Etihad’s international destinations and in airport expansion, as well as developing differ-ent attractions to cater to various market segments,” he added.

COVER stORy

U.S. targets 1 million Indian visitors by 2015, eases visa regulations

Monaco lures Indians with luxury

Abu Dhabi getting the pulse of the Indian market

“We are confident that with the efforts of

VUSACOM along with the U.S. Consulate and Commercial

Services to promote Tourism to the U.S. we would be in a position to achieve the one million

mark by 2015 from the current 650,000+.”

Manoj GursahniVice President

VUSACOM - Executive Committee, India

“We have seen a good upsurge in the number

of Indian hotel guests staying in Abu Dhabi over the past

couple of years and are hopeful of achieving greater numbers this year. With the

destination’s appeal, coupled with ongoing support from media and the travel trade fraternity, we’re

sure of achieving these numbers.”

Bejan DinshawCountry Manager – India

Tourism and Cultural Authority, Abu Dhabi

“Indians are increasingly looking for

niche luxury destinations and Monaco perfectly fits into the

category. The destination has been successful in drawing Indian tourists with high

spending capacities, as Indians have a tendency to spend lavish amounts when it comes to luxury

holidays. Ultra premium lifestyle brands, mega yatchs, the Grand Prix have caught the eye of the Indian high-end clients. We have witnessed good

growth in terms of guest nights and MICE movement from India and are hoping for even

better numbers in the near future.”rajeev Nangia

India DirectorMonaco Government Tourist and Convention Bureau

Contd. on page 4...

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | april 2013 4 COVER stORy

The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), Cana-da’s national tourism marketing organisation, is

promoting the country as a four-season destination to the travel trade in India through various marketing initiatives, workshops, aggressive sales activities and organised visits to experience Canada first-hand.

The CTC’s strategy in India is about building rela-tionships with local travel wholesalers and retailers. Nearly 80% of its budget in 2013 is directed to trade, business events and helping retailers sell more Can-ada. As per the marketing strategy for 2013, it will be spreading the campaign to newer growth areas of the Tier II cities in India.

“Canada and India have long-standing bilateral rela-tions, built upon shared values of democracy and plu-ralism, and strong people-to-people links,” Maxime Bernier, Canada’s Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism said at this year’s Focus Canada India show, one of CTC’s biggest business events in India. “In 2012, a record number of Indian travellers came to visit Canada, and this milestone is a demonstration of the increasingly close relationship between the two countries.”

In February, the CTC organised a workshop and ori-entation experience for its key travel agents in Mum-bai’s Trident Hotel. Present at the session were CTC’s key provincial partners Travel Alberta, Tourism British

Columbia, Ontario Tourism along with India represen-tatives. The tourism board will also continue to focus on FITs along with visa awareness in 2013.

VIA Rail Canada, which operates the national pas-senger rail service on behalf of the Government of Can-ada, also announced its entry into the Indian market and introduced its exotic train journeys for Indian vis-itors at a press conference in Delhi last month.

At the conference Via Rail Canada said it plans to engage the Indian outbound market by networking with top travel agents and conducting regular educa-tional workshops across cities like Delhi and Mumbai. VIA’s marketing strategy will focus on partnering with the CTC to promote activities and engage the industry with familiarisation trips.

“We realise the importance of the outbound tourist

market from India. Canada recorded 162,000 tourist visits from India in 2012. We are looking at tapping a major chunk of our Indian visitors this year by encour-aging them to use VIA Rail as a preferred mode of travel while visiting Canada. We plan to work on a consulta-tive basis with the travel trade community in India to provide extensive product knowledge and destination information,” Pierre Santoni, Senior Director, Domes-tic and International Sales at Via Rail, said.

Tourism Fiji entered the Indian market in 2010, appointing Global Destinations, one of India’s

largest and most reputed companies in the travel and trade industry, as its representative.

This January, Tourism Fiji conducted a multi-city roadshow in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Kolkata. The delegation of 12 companies was head-ded by Elizabeth Powell, Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Public Enterprises. Fijian partners who attended the roadshow included Fiji’s National Carrier, Air Pacific; two inbound operators – Rosie Holidays and Tour Managers – and eight high-end properties: Ahura Resorts (Liku Liku and Malolo Resorts); Castaway Island Resort; Koro Sun Resort; Mana Island Resort and Spa; Namale Resort and Spa; Royal Davui Island Resort; Tokoriki Island Resort and Yasawa Island Resort and Spa.

Some 400 travel agents and tour operators attended the roadshows across all four cities, and had the opportunity to meet and interact with the Fijian suppliers during the one-on-one meetings, update their knowledge on Fiji, its resorts and the various activities and experiences the country has to offer.

In each city, two lucky draws, each prize costing $7,000, were held to give the Indian trade fraternity

the chance to travel to Fiji and have a first-hand expe-rience of the destination.

Powell spoke about Fiji Tourism’s commitment to growing the Indian market and its initiatives for 2013, the most important being the launch of the new brand ‘Fiji Where Happiness Finds You’. The promo-tion will be accompanied by fresh images, collateral and videos highlighting the aspects that truly make Fiji different from other competing beach destina-tions in the world.

“Currently, we’re running a contest for travel agents and tour operators, offering them free tickets and four nights stay in Fiji. In the latter half of 2013, we will be organising two trade familiarisations, out of which one will be exclusively for the Fiji Matai Spe-cialist agents from India.

“On the consumer front, we’re currently run-ning an extensive all-India promo jointly with Cox &

Kings. We have other joint promotions with travel agents lined up for April-May, as well as Q3 of 2014. Apart from ad campaigns, we’re also planning a radio promo later in the year. With a view to develop more markets, even tier II cities, we’ve recently concluded a Destination Fiji training in Rajkot.”

Canada, land of exotic train journeys and stunning nature

Fiji to focus on familiesand adventure

“Canada is predominantly promoting

four provincial destinations in India — British Columbia and Alberta

on the west, Ontario and Quebec on the east. This time at OTM we showcased two new places

– Churchill, Manitoba, where you can play with polar bears, and Yukon, offering the famous magical

Northern Lights with outstanding fresh nature. We mainly use OTM to showcase our destination to the travel fraternity and consumer. In 2013 ,other than

Mumbai and Delhi we wish to tap newer growth areas and go to cities like Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad,

Bangalore and expand our sales network.”

Tina singh Assistant Vice President

Canadian Tourism Commission Representative in India

“The number of Indian visitors to Fiji

increased by 37% from 2010 to 2012. Exit surveys show Indian travellers spend approximately $4,000

per person on ground in Fiji for an average stay of 5 to 6 nights and indulge in various activities, such as

snorkeling and scuba diving, sky diving, shark feeding, swimming with the dolphins, jet safaris and spas, to

name a few. While high-end honeymooners and couples make up 80% of travellers to Fiji, in 2013 our focus will be to grow the family and adventure segment

out of India as well. Our target markets are Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Surat,

Jaipur, Hyderabad.”

Kajal somaiya India Representative

Tourism Fiji

“We want to spread the excited energy this

place offers. One day, one celebration and one global superstar – the Argentinean Malbec! We welcome you to

explore and experience this fantastic country where your heart will beat much faster.”

Medha sampatDirector – Knack Marketing

India Representative for Argentina Tourism

Following the growing interest from Indian travel-lers, Argentina Tourism is aggressively promoting

the destination in India and has hired Mumbai-based Knack Marketing as its Indian representative to for-mulate and implement its marketing strategy in the country.

“Argentina is an exotic destination and a new entrant into the Indian market,” said Leonardo Boto,

Chairman of the National Institute of Tourism Pro-motion (INPROTUR) – Argentina. “We are delighted with the partnership with Knack Marketing to be able to showcase this amazing destination and build a solid presence in the Indian market. The outbound mar-ket in India has been growing very rapidly. It is a plea-sure to showcase our country and welcome the Indian traveller.”

Argentina offers numerous options to the Indian traveller like the majestic Iguazu Falls (recently named one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World), El

Calafate – the progressive glacier, Ushuaia – the end of the world, the beautiful wine regions in Mendoza, Bue-nos Aires and much more.

This month, a delegation from Mendoza arrived in New Delhi to celebrate Malbec World Day and intro-duce the province to India.

The delegation consisted of the Minister of Tour-ism (Mendoza) Javier Espina, representatives from tourism / wine industry and The Grape Harvest Queen from Mendoza.

“The outbound market in India has been growing very rapidly and so is wine tourism. Mendoza offers so much that will interest the Indian traveller. We lift a glass in a special toast to celebrate this great occasion and want you to be a part of it,” said Javier Espina.

As an emerging destination for India outbound, one of the key focus areas is educating the travel trade. Assistance is being provided to agents to help them package various products that can be offered to their clientele. Argentina is the most visited country in South America, with a population of 40 million. Air-lines including South African Airways, Qatar, Turkish Airlines and Emirates offer connectivity from India to Argentina and many European carriers offer services to Buenos Aires.

Argentina shifts gears in the Indian market


Contd. on page 5...

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | april 2013 5COVER stORy

“Our activities during recent months have

been to educate the retail trade of the destination’s product offerings and enhance the relationships between the

two countries’ private sectors. We have conducted a multi-city roadshow and have been

extremely successful in tapping the Indian film industry. Within just a few months of entering the

market, Portugal has gained the attention of this multibillion dollar industry, with several upcoming projects. Further, we do intend to activate a series of marketing initiatives in the coming months that will further enhance our presence and boost the number

of travellers.” sonalee Vaz

Managing Director, Charson AdvisoryIndia Representative for Turismo de Portugal

The India representative office of Visit Portugal con-ducted a market briefing for Portuguese hoteliers

and Destination Management Companies (DMCs) dur-ing the BTL 2013 Expo from February 27 to March 3 in Lisbon, Portugal, with a view to spreading awareness about the Indian travel market.

“The objective of the presentation was to help local stakeholders understand the Indian traveller taste pref-erences and requirements, and the importance of one of the world’s fastest growing economies and outbound markets,” the Visit Portugal India representative office said.

Turismo de Portugal, in association with AA Globe

Services Pvt Ltd, is also continuing to promote itself as a unique destination for film tourism.

“Portugal is the most shooting-friendly country and people are very happy to welcome us,” said Rengara-jan Jaiprakash, Director, AA Globe Services PVT LTD, which helps promote film tourism in Portugal. “We will have many projects in the near future, and we are looking at spending over 100,000 euros per movie in Portugal.”

Last November, Portugal held its first ever B2B work-shops, ‘Portugal Experience’, in India as part of its mandate to promote Portugal as an up-market leisure destination. A high-ranking delegation from the Gov-ernment of Portugal travelled to New Delhi and Mumbai led by Cecilia Meireles, Secretary of State for Tourism, and comprising Jorge Roza de Oliveira, Ambassador of Portugal to India; Frederico Costa, President of Tur-ismo de Portugal, senior government officials and the heads of some of Portugal’s finest hoteliers and local tour operators.

The workshops provided a platform for the Portu-guese delegation to interact and establish commercial relationships with Indian travel agents, tour operators, wedding planners, corporate travel agencies and India’s

film industry. “We have always felt close to India, especially on

account of our historic connection with the state of Goa. Our maiden marketing initiative will effectively posi-tion Portugal as a leisure, historic and cultural destina-tion among Indian travellers. This particular delegation aims to encourage the Indian travel fraternity to launch more qualitative and diversified packages for the 2013 leisure season,” Cecilia Meireles, Secretary of State for Tourism of Portugal, said.

“Portugal has recently entered India with a clear focus on tapping the up-market and leisure group trav-ellers, while addressing niche segments such as the film industry and honeymoon segments,” Sonalee Vaz, Man-aging Director, Charson Advisory - India Representa-tive for Turismo de Portugal said. “As a destination, Por-tugal is yet to be explored by Indian travellers. With a unique blend offering the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlan-tic Ocean and still within the European zone, Portugal is fast evolving as a favourite destination for those that seek the Mediterranean experience during the summer season. Historic links between Portugal and India come alive through the flavours of the cuisine.”

Portugal promotes as a leisure, historic, cultural and film shooting-friendly destination


Contd. on page 6...

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | april 2013 6 COVER stORy

After President Obama’s visit to Petra and the introduc-tion of new routes such as Istanbul-Aqaba, do you expect a sig-nificant rise in FTA in Jordan?

President Obama’s visit to Jordan and especially to the World Wonder site Petra was of great significance for showing Jordan remains an oasis of peace in the Mid-dle East. The new service provided by Turkish Airlines will enable a wider range of tourists to go to Aqaba, which will allow more investors to invest in Aqaba and increase employment in the south of Jordan.

What are Jordan’s destinations that you want to project to the world other than the already established ones like Petra, the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba?

For many visitors, Jordan is only Petra, but when they visit Jordan they are surprised to see that Petra, which is indeed a Wonder of the World, is only a gate-way to what Jordan has to offer.

What surprises visitors to Jordan is the diversity of the country within such a small space and the friend-liness and hospitality of its people. In addition is the uniqueness of the sites. When you are after a leisure experience, we offer you the Dead Sea, the largest natu-ral spa on earth; when you are seeking a spiritual experi-ence, we take you to the place where Jesus was baptised at Bethany Beyond the Jordan; and when it’s history you’re looking for, we take you back in time to the unique World Wonder of Petra and walk you through an open-air museum throughout Jordan.

Our main branding strategy focuses on promoting our six diversified experiences: history and culture; lei-sure and wellness; fun and adventure; religion and faith; eco and nature and MICE (Meetings, Incentive, Confer-ences and Events).

How many Indians visited Jordan last year and what numbers are you expecting in the current year?

We are very pleased with the figures from 2012 and are hoping that 2013 will generate even more positive numbers. Statistics showed a 5.1% increase in the num-ber of overnight visitors to Jordan from India in 2012.

What can be done to improve tourism exchange between India and Jordan?

In the past, the tourism focus was on the leisure and business sectors. The introduction of new segments will play a fundamental role in promoting the countries, states and provinces and what facilities they offer, and this will improve the tourism exchange between both countries.

How important is India as a market for Jordan Tourism? How has this changed over the last few years?

The Indian market is an extremely important source market to Jordan, especially during its summer vaca-tion, due to the moderate weather and the recreational family facilities available.

What initiatives has Jordan undertaken in the recent past for promoting in India, and what are the plans for the future?

Jordan has recently assigned a new full-time repre-sentation office in India which plans to:

- Analyse past and present tourist patterns to the country and conduct several visitor surveys at key locations.

- Develop profiles of the short-, medium- and long-term prospective source markets and segments within those markets that can be attracted.

- Evaluate and assess the current marketing and promotional programmes in the country, including promotional materials, their distribution channels and electronic marketing techniques.

Is there any particular segment/s on which you are focus-ing, i.e. leisure, business MICE, adventure, film, religion, history and culture, shopping, etc?

History and culture continues to be the number one experience in Jordan. Being an open-air museum and having a Wonder of the World like Petra continues to place Jordan as one of the main destinations offering cultural and historical experiences.

Health and wellness is also of major importance, especially since more travellers are seeking lei-sure experiences. The Dead Sea has it all – the larg-est natural spa on earth offering world-class facilities combined with the renowned properties of its cura-tive waters.

Travellers are increasingly interested in eco-tour-ism and environmentally friendly sites and Jordan has a number of natural reserves managed by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN). RSCN offers a wide range of activities, including camping, hiking, trekking, etc.

Travellers seeking spiritual experiences are also choosing Jordan, as it is part of the Holy Land, and then combine their trip with sites like Petra and the Dead Sea.

Jordan has a lot of room for expansion, especially for more 5-star hotels and tourism projects. In Aqaba, new hotels are currently under construction. At the Dead Sea, new hotels, timeshares and day resorts are coming up to cater to different types of travellers.

Family Jordan is another great potential segment

that we are working heavily to promote in our source markets.

Mumbai and its environs constitute the biggest outbound market from India. What promotions/activities are planned for the city/region in 2013 and 2014?

Below is a list of activities we have aligned for 2013 as part of the Mumbai marketing plan to lure Indian trav-ellers to Jordan:

• PVRcinemapromotion

• Yahooonlinecampaign

• Co-oppromotionwithtravelagentsinnewspapers,online etc

• Advertisementsindifferentsegmentofmagazines

• TradeandmediaFAMtrips

• JordanAcademyspecialistprogramme

• ParticipationinMICEtravelmart

• Roadshow

• Radiojingle

• Medianetworkingdinner

• Ongoingsalescalls

• Newsletterandpressrelease

• Socialmedia–Facebookfanpage

‘Jordan remains an oasis of peace in the Middle East’Dr Abed Al Razzaq Arabiyat, Managing Director of the Jordan Tourism Board, talks to Travel News Digest about Jordan’s muli-faceted appeal and its upcoming plans to tap the Indian market


TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2013 ⋅ 7

In a bid to ensure transpar-ency in the process of granting approvals to hotel projects and categorisation status to func-tioning hotels, the Ministry of Tourism in India has launched a new portal.

Hotel developers and own-ers in India regularly apply for the ministry’s approval of new hotels and classification of operational hotels and will now be able to view the status of their applications.

To view the status through the website, applicants need to have a login ID and pass-word given by the minis-try. All details of the proposal such as date of receipt of appli-cation, status of approval,

proposed date of the visit by the approval committee, and final recommendation of the

committee will be displayed on the portal (http://tourismpmis.nic.in).

Indian tourism starts new portal In an initiative to ensure tour-

ist safety in the state, a special security force is to be consti-tuted in Madhya Pradesh.

According to a press release from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, a special force will be set up in Madhya Pradesh for security and facil-ity of foreign tourists.

A proper mechanism

will be set up for collecting information about foreign tourists visiting the state, ensuring their safety, said Chouhan.

According to the official fig-ures the state attracted some 5.30 crore tourists in 2012. The number of foreign tour-ists visiting the state has gone up by 20%.

Madhya Pradesh to set up special security force for tourists

INDIA

Foreign tourist arrivals in India grew by 2.3% in the first three months of 2013, despite unfa-vorable incidents that damaged India’s image to some extent, a senior official of the Tourism

Ministry said.“Foreign tourist arrivals

grew by 2.3% from January to March and the foreign exchange earnings from tourism rose by 20.5% in rupee terms and 11.6%

in dollar terms,” said Tourism Secretary Parvez Dewan.

Speaking at a tourism-related function, Tourism Min-ister K Chiranjeevi reiterated that “the growth of foreign tour-ists has been positive” and dis-missed speculation that the for-eign tourists were shying away from the country following recent rape cases.

Chiranjeevi said the min-istry was in the process of consultation with chief minis-ters and police chiefs of all states in a bid to set up a tourist police force to assure the security of foreign tourists.

“At present some states have tourist police but we would want more and more states to have them,” he said.

India sees increased foreign tourist flow in early 2013

Rajasthan eyes social media platform to promote tourismThe Rajasthan govern-ment has taken steps to use social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube to attract tourists, an official in the state tourism minis-try said.

The state government has allocated some `50 lakh for developing and marketing pages on social networking websites to popularise the state’s tourism destinations,

the official said. This project is part of

Rajasthan government’s initiative to popularise the state’s tourism destinations.

Under the project titled ‘Social Media Optimisa-tion for the Development of Rajasthan Tourism’, the government will mar-ket its rich cultural heri-tage, palaces and forts, the official added.

Kerala launches seaplane services to boost tourismTo give a major thrust to the tourism in the state, the Ker-ala government will launch its seaplane services from April, Kerala Tourism Minister AP Anil Kumar said.

The amphibian aircraft will fly at a low height below the clouds, giving travellers a chance to get a panoramic view. Other states are also planning to start seaplane services to boost tourism.

“I am very optimistic that this will further increase the number of tourists to the state. The planes will only operate on backwaters,” State Tourism Secretary Suman Billa said.

Kerala gets close to 1 crore visitors every year.

“We plan to carry out the test flight by April 15 and regular services will start

anytime after that,” MD Ker-ala Tourism Infrastructure Ltd Anil Kumar S said.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | april 2013 8 INDIA

Himachal Pradesh Road Trans-port Corporation (HRTC) is to introduce a luxury Golden Temple Express bus service, connecting the Sikh shrines in Dehradun, Paonta Sahib with

the Golden Temple in Amritsar.Transport Minister GS Bali

revealed that this special Volvo bus service is to be launched soon. The route of the bus ser-vice is aimed to facilitate the

religious trips of Sikh pilgrims.The last Sikh Guru Gobind

Singh set up Ponta Sahib Guru Dwara in Himachal Pradesh, which attracts thousands of devotees from across the world.

Himachal road transportto introduce luxury bus tour

Goa-based kayaking club, Goa Kayaking, conducted two training programmes in April, in association with Goa Tourism Development Corpo-ration (GTDC) and Drishti, the largest professionally run lifeguard service in Goa.

Kayaking & Training Pro-gramme 2013 took place at Vasco (Hollant Beach) from April 1-4, while the Panaji programme was launched at Vainguinim beach from April 5-8. Both programmes were open to adults and chil-dren above eight years who can swim.

Nilesh Cabral, Chair-man of GTDC, said, “All the children should participate for Goa Kayaking’s training

programmes during their lei-sure time and experience this Olympic sport.”

Goa Tourism supports this programme in the interest of Goans to give them an oppor-tunity to learn a skill as well as help them experience dif-ferent environments and loca-tions first hand and up-close, at the same time as enjoying this wonderful sport.

Goa Kayaking has been conducting these training programmes since 2009 dur-ing the summer and Diwali holidays. So far it has under-taken eight such programmes. They are conducted by highly experienced water sports professionals and accredited water sports instructors.

Gujarat Tourism inks MoU with Indian Oil to promote tourism in stateThe Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited (TCGL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) have signed an MoU with the intention to promote tourism in the state by offering special facilities to tourists at IOC pet-rol pumps.

As a result of this joint pro-gramme, tourists will be able to receive information on various destinations and basic ameni-ties in the locality from the large network of IOC petrol pumps in the state. The petrol pumps will soon be equipped with proper infrastructure to cater to this service.

This is the first time in the country that such an agree-ment has been entered into to promote tourism, TGCL said in

a statement.As part of this agreement,

TCGL will acquire land in the areas of IOC and create basic amenities such as toilets, food

courts, kiosks etc. These spe-cial facilities will be created in select tourist places and on national highways where IOC has its presence.

Centre okays ₨78 crore fund for Maharashtra tourism developmentIn a major boost for Maharashtra tourism, the Centre has approved ₨78 crore in financial assistance for enhancing tour-ism infrastructure in the state. The move came after a series of meetings between Union Tour-ism Minister K Chiranjeevi and State Tourism Minister Chha-gan Bhujbal.

“We had submitted a com-prehensive tourism develop-ment proposal to the Centre for aid. Four key proposals have been approved and the state has received the first installment of the aid. We will complete all the projects in the stipulated period,” Bhujbal said.

A senior bureaucrat in the state revealed the Centre had asked the state government to set up a monitoring committee, led

by the tourism secretary and an implementing agency to monitor the physical and financial prog-ress of the project.

Goa Kayaking conducts training program in association with Goa tourism

Five-fold rise in foreign tourists in Jharkhand

Jharkhand has recently emerged as the preferred destination for foreign tour-ists in India. The state regis-tered more than 360% growth in terms of visitors coming from abroad between 2010 and 2011, according to the lat-est report of the Union Tour-ism Ministry.

The growth percentage of Jharkhand is the highest in comparison to other states in the country as tourism

officials believe other desti-nations have almost reached a saturation point for the for-eign tourists. The national average remains 8.85% dur-ing the same period.

State tourism officials cite the pristine forest and reli-gious tourism of Jharkhand as being behind the rise in foreign tourist numbers. “The state is being explored by many as a vast area of it still remains unexplored,” an official said.


Dr K Chiranjeevi, Union Min-ister of State with Indepen-dent Charge for Tourism has approved Central Finance Assistance (CFA) to the tune of `45.88 crore for the devel-opment of Visakhapatnam- Bheemunipatnam beach cor-ridor mega circuit in Andhra Pradesh.

The project will involve development of tourism facil-ities at Bheemunipatnam, Erra Matti Dibbalu, Kailash-giri, Mangamaripeta Beach, RK Beach, Thotlakonda, Pavuralakonda, Rushikonda, Bhavikonda and beautifica-tion of beach corridor cir-cuit. Some `3.2 crore has been released as first installment of the CFA as an advance for start-ing the work. The state govern-ment will provide land free of cost for the project and also render assistance for its timely completion.

The Andhra Pradesh gov-ernment will also set up

a Monitoring Committee headed by Chandana Khan, Special Chief Secretary, Tour-ism & Culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh to monitor physical and financial progress of the sanctioned project and submit the progress report to Union Ministry of Tourism on

a quarterly basis. The Andhra Pradesh government is to get the work done by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation Limited and aims to have the work started imme-diately to ensure timely utilisa-tion of funds and to avoid esca-lation of the cost.

Tourism minister approves funding for beach corridor development in AP

West Bengal launches tourism campaign in DelhiWith an aim to promote tour-ism and generate more rev-enue for the state, the West Bengal government recently launched a month-long cam-paign in the national capital.

The campaign with a tag-line “Chalo Chalen Bengal (Let’s Visit Bengal)” is an inte-gral part of efforts to woo more visitors by the state govern-ment, which has increased budgetary support for the tourism sector by 33% this fiscal.

“Allocation made by the state government for tourism

sector was `38 crore in 2011-2012. It has been increased to `90 crore in 2012-2013 and `120 crore in the current finan-cial year 2013-2014. It clearly shows that the budgetary sup-port has increased 33% by the new state government,” said Krishnendu Narayan Choud-hury, West Bengal Tourism Minister who launched the campaign.

Hoardings of the campaign will be displayed at the air-port, key railway stations and various bus shelters across the city.

KIOCL plans new venture into eco-tourism sectorKarnataka based state-run mining company Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd (KIOCL) plans to go into the eco-tour-ism sector and is to invest ₨805 crore on a new project to that end.

“In order to utilise the exist-ing infrastructure created at Kudremukh, Chikmagalur, we are planning to enter into new business opportunities like eco-tourism,” KIOCL Chairman and Managing Director, Malay Chatterjee said.

“We have already prepared the detailed project report and received an in-princi-ple nod from the Karnataka

government for the project. A total of ₨805 crore investments

will be made in the project in phases,” Chatterjee added.

Tourism to become backbone of Uttarakhand’s economy: BahugunaEfforts are being made to build up tourism as the backbone of Uttarakhand’s economy,

Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said, laying the foundation of infrastructure projects worth

`38 crore at Muni Ki Reti in Rishikesh.

Among these new projects are a three-lane pedestrian bridge on the Ganga, a commu-nity hall and a parking area.

Speaking on the occasion, Bahuguna said the government was making the best use of the limited resources at its disposal to set the state firmly on the path of development.

The bridge to be built on the river Ganga is to be completed within one and a half years and would add to the convenience of tourists, pilgrims and local people.

He said a separate author-ity had been constituted for the development of Char Dhams and other shrines in the state.

INDIA

Heli-tourism service launched in Bengal

Days after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Baner-jee signed an MoU with state-owned Pawan Hans Ltd to provide services of seaplanes, helicopters and fixed-wing planes to boost its tourism and industrial poten-tial, the private Prayag Avia-tion, a business unit of Prayag Group announced the launch of a heli-tourism service in the state.

The ‘Kolkata Darshan’ package offers aerial views of city landmarks such as, River Hooghly, the Howrah Bridge, Victoria Memorial and others

on a 10-minute ride with a ₨2,000 per head price tag.

Charter services to nearby holiday destinations like Digha, Chandrakona, Man-darmoni, Sunderbans along with easy access to significant pilgrimage destinations like Tarapith, Mayapur, Joyram-bati or Kamarpukur can be availed at a price of ₨90,000 an hour, the company said in a statement.

The state government has also proposed that major industrial and tour-ism hubs be connected through helicopter.


The ‘Pure Michigan’ tourism campaign has been launched with a highest ever budget of $13 million.

The $13 million campaign, partly funded by cities, such as Grand Rapids and destinations, such as The Henry Ford in Dearborn, will run until the end of June and will include running TV ads

on some 30 networks (for a combined showing of more than 5,000 times a day). The ads focus on the state’s scenic beaches and sunrises, along with activities such as fishing and swimming.

“We are excited to be back on airwaves telling people across the country that their perfect summer

vacation can be found right here in Michigan,” George Zimmermann, vice president of Travel Michigan, said. “With the support of our national partners, we are kicking off Michigan’s largest national advertising campaign to date and working to build on last year’s record-breaking year for tourism.”

Pure Michigan campaign kicks off with $13m budget

Marijuana tourism company launches in ColoradoTwo Denver entrepreneurs have kick started the nation’s first marijuana tourism com-pany named My 420. The com-pany is poised to be among the first to take advantage of Amendment 64, which legal-ised the recreational use of marijuana to people over the age of 21 in Colorado.

The company will offer tour packages in various price ranges that involve picking

visitors up at the airport, con-necting them to a pot-friendly hotel, setting up hash-mak-ing demonstrations and dis-pensary-grow tours, and pro-viding them with tickets to cannabis-themed events and concerts.

“If somebody flies out here,” said James Walker, one of the company’s owners, “we take care of the whole adven-ture for them.”

Tourism demand in New Jer-sey reached a record high last year despite Hurricane Sandy disrupting the region and declines in the casino indus-try, according to a new tour-ism study published by the state.

“New Jersey really is com-ing back,” Gov. Chris Chris-tie said while announcing the results of the study at the annual New Jersey Confer-ence on Tourism.

Overall the state generated

$40 billion through tourism, setting a record. The previ-ous record was $39.5 billion in 2007, according to the admin-istration, and last year’s total was a 2.6% increase over 2011.

“While these 2012 results are positive and encourag-ing, we are still facing the challenges of the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy,” Chris-tie said. “We must continue to look to the future and con-tinue the steady progress of rebuilding.”

New Jersey tourism hits record year in 2012

California hotel offers ‘birth tourism’ packagesA hotel in California is alleg-edly offering rooms to preg-nant woman from China and

other countries so that they can give birth in the U.S.

Any child born on U.S. soil

is granted citizenship. Now, a growing number of pregnant Chinese women are flying to the U.S. to secure their child that prized U.S. birth certifi-cate, and Southern California has become a hot bed of what’s called “birth tourism.”

After giving birth and receiving their newborn’s U.S. birth certificates and pass-ports, the women and their babies fly back to China. As U.S. citizens, the children can return when they will grow older to attend school and take advantage of other benefits that come with U.S. citizenship.

AMERICAs

Michigan.org, most visited state tourism web siteThe state of Michigan’s offi-cial travel and tourism web site, michigan.org, is once again the most visited state tourism web site in the country.

The site attracted more vis-its than any other state tour-ism website for the sixth year in a row, according to the indepen-dent online measurement com-pany Experian Hitwise.

With nearly 1 million more visits than the number two state tourism website, Florida, michi-gan.org received 7.1% of the over-all market share of visits to state tourism sites.

“The michigan.org website continues to be an incredibly pop-ular and effective site to showcase Michigan’s terrific destinations and highlight the award-winning Pure Michigan campaign nation-wide,” said George Zimmer-mann, vice president of Travel Michigan.


Security screening for visitors to Statue of Liberty will now be held on Ellis Island when the site reopens this summer after a clean up process in the after-math of Superstorm Sandy.

Beginning July 4, visitors will board ferries from either Battery Park in lower Manhat-tan or Liberty State Park, N.J., and stop at Ellis Island for secu-rity screening, the National Park Service said. National Park offi-cials said visitors will then con-tinue to Liberty Island, where they’ll go through a secondary screening.

The New York Police Department condemned the

plan, saying the decision to move screening out of lower

Manhattan was done against its recommendation.

security screening rules to modify for statue of Liberty

Missouri tourism division is adopting a new marketing strategy to draw more visitors to the state.

State Tourism Direc-tor Katie Steele Danner said Missouri is a top 15 state for tourism. She revealed that Missouri has marketed itself as being relaxed, homely, tra-ditional and charming, but now it is time to think in a dif-ferent way.

The new ad campaign that begins in April show-cases Missouri’s arts, culture, sports, theme parks, fishing, wineries etc.

The Division of Tourism, part of the Department of Eco-nomic Development, reports tourism in Missouri brought in $462 million for the state’s general revenue fund in fis-cal year 2012, which was more than the projected amount.

Hotel construction boom in North Dakota

Missouri unveils new tourism campaignwith a focus on arts and culture

North Dakota is experiencing a boom in hotel construction.

The state Tourism Divi-sion said 42 hotels had been built in the state since 2011,

adding 3,500 rooms. About an equal number are planned this year.

State Tourism Director Sara Otte Coleman said not

all of the new hotels have been built in the booming western Oil Patch. She said 11 hotels opened east of U.S. Highway 83 in 2012.

AMERICAs

2012 a record year for Florida tourism

It was a bumper year for Flori-da’s tourism in 2012, as an addi-tional 2 million people visited the state, setting the tourism indus-try up for its second consecutive record year.

Visit Florida, the state’s tour-ism marketing corporation, said a record 89.3 million visi-tors came to the state in 2012, up 2.3 % from the previous year. The number of jobs directly related

to travel also hit a record 1.03 million.

Leisure and tourism was the fastest-growing industry in Flor-ida in 2012, based on job creation figures released last month.

The New Mexico Tourism Department wants the legis-lature to increase its advertis-ing budget from $2.5 million to $5 million.

The enhanced ad bud-get would allow the depart-ment to carry its ‘New Mex-ico True’ marketing campaign to Chicago and California and launch a strong promotion of the state’s fall and winter

attractions. The predominant intention of the campaign was to create a brand that would help the state compete with tourism destinations like Col-orado and Arizona.

Gov. Susana Martinez is strongly recommending the full increase, while the Legis-lative Finance Committee bud-get wants to hold the increase to $1.5 million.

New Mexico Tourism department seeks budget increase

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | april 2013 12 AMERICAs

It is traditionally perceived that the U.S. visa pol-icy is very strict/unwelcoming. Have there been

any specific changes of late?

Many applicants have expressed their surprise at how easy it is to get a U.S. visa these days. They have heard of stories of years ago when we had long wait times for visa appointments or when people had to wait online to pay for their visa applications at a bank location. We have come a long way since those days and most applicants are pleasantly surprised to know that they can use the online system to fill out their applications, pay and schedule appointments promptly: www.ustraveldocs.com/in.

All across India, we have appointments available within a week. And applicants who would like to request expedited appointments are welcome to do so here: http://www.ustraveldocs.com/in/in-niv-expeditedappointment.asp

Also, before applicants had to plan to spend the day at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate while waiting for their interview. With the introduction of Offsite Facilitation Centres (OFC) to collect finger-prints and photos, the entire process is much shorter. While appli-cants are now booking two appointments on two days, they typically spend less than 20 minutes at an OFC and about 45 minutes at the Embassy or Consulate at the time of the visa interview.

We are always working on new and innovate ways to make our services even more customer friendly. A particular highlight is the interview waiver programme. In this programme, many applicants whose visas have only recently expired can skip the visa inter-view when processing their renewal application. Full details can be found here: http://www.ustraveldocs.com/in/in-niv-visarenew.asp

What are the current numbers of incoming tourists to the U.S. and what are your expec-

tations in the coming year/s? Which U.S. cities gen-erate the highest numbers of tourists from India?

About 700,000 visa applications were processed by Consular Team India (CTI) last fiscal year.

CTI issued over 500,000 visas for tourist and business travel last year. These visas are generally multiple-entry, 10-year validity visas, so people are able to travel many times using the same visa. We aim to reach 1 million Indian tourist trav-ellers to the U.S. by 2015.

In comparison with the same period last fiscal year, B1/B2 visa issuances have increased 12%.

How important is the India market? What specific profile of Indian tourist are you targeting, if any?

India is an important and fast growing market for travel to the United States. In 2011, we welcomed over 660,000 visitors from India – a record. Total spending by Indians travelling to the U.S. was $4.6 billion last year, up 15% from the year before. We continue to encour-age Indian citizens to visit the United States, for tourism as well as higher education and conducting business.

We saw the U.S. recently at a travel show in Delhi. Do you have plans for tourism promotion in

Mumbai, seeing as it is the largest market of outbound tourists from India?

In Mumbai, we have helped create the Indian chapter of the Visit USA Committee that will play a key role in promoting the U.S. as a top tourist destination. Key members of India’s leading travel and tourism companies are part of the Executive Committee of Visit USA.

With the assistance of the Visit USA Committee in Mumbai, we are hosting regular seminars and programmes for the travel and trade community to learn more about the U.S. as a tourist destination as well as the new visa procedures. We have received an overwhelm-ingly positive response to our outreach.

We have also been instrumental in a recent MOU signing between the Travel Agents Association of India, the Travel Agents Federa-tion of India, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India and the Visit USA Committee with the aim of promoting travel and tour-ism to the U.S.

The U.S. has only recently launched a formal tour-ism body along the lines of the National Tourism

Organisation (NTO). Could you offer some details on its structure, how it is funded and its footprint in India?

Brand USA was established by the Travel Promotion Act in 2010 to spearhead the nation’s first global marketing effort to promote the U.S. as a premier travel destination and to communicate U.S. entry/exit policies and procedures. This public-private entity began oper-ations in May 2011 with the mission of encouraging increased inter-national visitation to the United States and to grow America’s share

of the global travel market. While Brand USA has appointed rep-resentation firms for the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Swit-zerland, Japan, and South Korea, it is in the process of identify-ing representation in India. Visit http://www.thebrandusa.com/ for further detailed information.

Any comment on Americans visiting India? Do you think India is doing enough

to entice American tourists to visit India?

As of last year, more than 1 million U.S. citizens visited India. We expect that number to continue to grow. The familial,

educational and professional ties between the people of India and the U.S. are deep and strong. We hope to see the same number of Indians visiting the U.S. in the months and years ahead.

Josh Glazeroff, Consul General, U.s. Embassy, New Delhi, talks to travel News Digest about the easier visa process for travallers to America and the bid to woo the Indian tourist

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TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | april 2013 13 AMERICAs

Virgin America to launch daily flights from San Jose to Los AngelesVirgin America is expanding its service offering flights from San Jose to Los Angeles start-ing at $49. Tickets went on sale from February 5 for four daily roundtrip flights from Nor-man Y. Mineta San Jose Inter-national Airport to Los Angeles

International Airport. Service begins from May 1.

“San Jose International Air-port is important for Silicon Valley business travellers and it deserves more flight options,” said Virgin America President and CEO David Cush. “As an

airline known for amenities that keep travellers connected and productive in the skies, we hope our flights can offer some healthy competition and a better choice for the Bay’s entrepreneurs and business travellers.”

Argentina tourism gears up to tap Indian marketWith a growing interest from Indian travellers, Argen-tina Tourism is aggressively promoting the destination in India. To tap the Indian market and have a constant touch base with the Indian travel trade, Argentina Tour-ism recently appointed Knack Marketing as its India representative.

“The Indian outbound market has been developing and there is a lot of potential. We have witnessed a tremen-dous increase in Indian arriv-als to Argentina – from 3,500 in 2011 to 5,000 in 2012.

We shall participate in trade shows, work closely with media, conduct seminars and trainings, and organise FAM (Familiarisation) trips for the travel trade to promote the destinations,” Leonardo

Boto, Chairman, INPROTUR, The National Institute for the

Promotion of Tourism of Argentina, said.

United Airlines launches Windows 8 Phone appUnited Airlines in Amer-ica has designed an innova-tive application for Windows 8 phone users that offers rel-evant and important travel information at their fingertips.

With the help of this new app, United customers can now book reservations, check in for flights, access mobile boarding passes, monitor flight status details and view their MileagePlus frequent flyer accounts.

“United’s new app takes full advantage of the innovative features and unique design of the Windows Phone 8 plat-forms,” said Scott Wilson, United’s vice president of mer-chandising and e commerce.

“We continue to invest in technology that offers travel-lers more options and conve-nience. United’s robust web-site and mobile travel tools

enable our customers to get the information they need, buy the products they want and choose services they desire when and where they want,” he added.

Peru’s domestic tourism generated $244 million in revenue for the government during the Easter holidays, the National Chamber of Tourism said.

Carlos Canales, the pres-ident of the National Cham-ber of Tourism, said Peru-vian northern beaches were the most sought-after

attractions by tourists.Close to 2 million people

travelled inside Peru during the long weekend, according to the agency.

Some 75% of tourists trav-elled to the country’s coastal areas, while the rest trav-elled to areas where religious ceremonies were taking place, the agency reported.

Peru’s domestic tourism hits $244m over Easter holidays

Hawaii looking forward to New Zealand tourists

The restoration of the Hawai-ian Airlines service between Auckland and Honolulu is being welcomed by the Hawai-ian island.

David Uchiyama, Vice-President of Brand Manage-ment for the Hawaii Tourism Authority explained that the increasing number of New Zealand tourist will help to boost the local economy.

“The connectivity between New Zealand and Hawaii

runs really deep from a cul-tural standpoint and we really appreciate the additional con-nectivity that Hawaiian Air-lines is bringing to the market. We are the Hawaiian Islands and there are multiple experi-ences and attractions that can be seen on all of the islands, the culture runs through all of the islands and I think that it’s a nice extension of what you have in New Zealand,” he added.

Hawaii Tourism Authority lifts 2013 visitor forecast to 8.5 million arrivalsThe Hawaii Tourism Author-ity (HTA) recently announced that it is raising its 2013 projec-tion for arrivals to 8.5 million visitors and boosting the out-look for expenditures to $15.8 billion.

“Our original projection for 2013 was 8.1 [million visitors], but with the current trending

of all the markets, we’re now projecting 8.5 [million visi-tors],” said David Uchiyama, HTA’s vice president for brand management.

With the additional visitors comes additional spending, so the HTA also increased pro-jected visitor spending for the year to $15.8 billion.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2013 ⋅ 14AsIA

TAT to promote motorbike tours in India

Indian golfer to promote Thailand golf tourism

In a bid to tap the adven-ture sports segment in India, the Tourism Authority of

Thailand (TAT) is keen to pro-mote guided motorbike tours in the country. Bikes with a capacity of over 1,000 cc, like

Harley-Davidson, Ducati, and BMW, are appropriate for such tours.

TAT invited eight journal-ists from various sports mag-azines and bike tour operators for a Familiarisation (FAM) trip

to Thailand, covering Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Khao Sok, Cheow Lan Lake and Pattaya.

Sethaphan Buddhani, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Mumbai, said that motorbike tours are con-ducted for five to seven days, and a group of 12-15 people can easily be accommodated. Bud-dhani was speaking on the sidelines of an event organised by TAT on reaching one million tourist arrivals from the Indian market.

Apart from motorbike tours, TAT is focusing on attracting high-end travellers, bird watchers, photography and gastronomy enthusiasts. TAT is also looking at expand-ing its marketing operations to Tier-II and III cities like Coim-batore, Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Ooty.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has hired prominent Indian golfer Gaga-njeet Bhullar as brand ambas-sador to promote golf tourism across India.

“We are delighted to have Gaganjeet Bhullar on board,” Runjuan Tongrut, director of TAT, said. “He is one of India’s most promising golfers and we believe he will be a huge inspi-ration to golfers in India. We believe this corporation will bring a long-term relation-ship between Thai and Indian golfers.”

Commenting on his associ-ation with Thailand, Bhullar said, “I have quite often played

tournaments in Thailand and whenever I go there, I end up meeting people from Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC), Bombay Presidency Golf Club (BPGC) or Delhi Golf Club

(DGC). I believe it is a great ini-tiative to popularise the game among Indians. I look forward to being associated with Thai-land and feel very privileged by this gesture from TAT.”

Philippines aims to attract 66,000 Indian tourists

The Philippines, a tropical South Asian country, is aim-ing for a 43% growth in Indian tourist arrivals at over 66,000 this year, and to make it a real-ity, the country has initiated an aggressive marketing cam-paign, a top government offi-cial has said.

“In 2012, the Indian arriv-als stood at 46,000. This year we are hoping to increase it to 66,000 tourists. To achieve this goal we have already rolled out an aggressive cam-paign to promote our coun-try as an attractive holiday

destination,” the Philippines Department of Tourism (DOT) Assistant Secretary, International Tourism Pro-motion, Benito C Bengzon said.

India is one of the top 15 markets, he said, adding, there is an ample scope to improve this position.

“We want to place our-selves as a fun destination suitable for all age groups as well as for business, meet-ings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions (MICE) and Bolly-wood tourism,” Bengzon said.

Chinese travellers are top spenders: UN tourism bodyChinese travellers are the

world’s biggest tourism spend-ers, splurging a record $102 billion (78 billion euros) on trips abroad in 2012, the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) said recently.

The number of Chinese travellers to foreign countries jumped from 10 million in 2000 to 83 million in 2012, the Madrid-based body said in a statement, attributing the surge to China’s rising disposable incomes and an easing of travel restrictions.

“Expenditure by Chi-nese tourists abroad has also increased almost eightfold since 2000. Boosted by an appreciat-ing Chinese currency, Chinese travellers spent a record $102 billion in international tour-ism in 2012, a 40% jump from 2011 when it amounted to $73

billion,” the UNWTO said.China has now become “the

largest spender in international tourism”, it added, noting that since 2005 the country had overtaken Germany, the United States, Italy, Japan, France and

the United Kingdom in travel expenditure.

After China, travellers from Germany and the United States splurged the most on foreign trips, spending around $84 bil-lion each in 2012.

Myanmar to launch tourist police force as industry boomsAn independent tourist police force has been con-stituted in Myanmar and its officers will start patrolling in important tourist areas from May, according to the Myanmar Tourist Guide Association.

“Training courses on pro-tecting and supporting the tourist industry began two

months ago for this [tourist police] force,” said associa-tion spokesperson Tun Myat. Police officers with bachelor degrees have been selected for the force, he said.

The 140 officers will be assigned to tourist sites in Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan, Shan State and the adminis-trative capital Nay Pyi Taw.

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | april 2013 16 AsIA

Sake – an alcoholic drink syn-onymous with Japanese cul-ture – has been slowly gaining global popularity, and the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) is keen on taking advantage of that popularity by promoting sake breweries to tourists who visit the country.

The agency said the initia-tive to promote ‘sake brewery tourism’ will reinvigorate the industry and bolster regional economies.

JTA explained that it will encourage sake mak-ers to work in cooperation with tourism bodies and

transportation companies to network and share informa-tion on possible marketing strategies.

This is all part of JTA’s plans to attract 10 million travellers this year, bringing the number of tourists back to pre-Fukushima levels.

Japan hopes sake tourism will reinvigorate travel industry

To celebrate the long ties between the Middle East-ern and Asian contempo-rary art, the Singapore Tour-ism Board will be organising the ‘Art Route,’ an exclu-sive art lunch event at Art Dubai Beach Brasserie, Mina A’Salam Beach.

Hosted by the key persons of Singapore’s arts scene and UAE-based art patron Sul-tan Sooud Al Qassemi, the ‘Art Route’ will highlight the Gulf Cooperation Council

(GCC) region’s increasing links with Southeast Asia in the field of trade, tourism and culture.

‘The ‘Art Route’ marks the collaboration between major art institutions in Singa-pore and the UAE as a result of a desire to strengthen the understanding between the people of both countries,” Mohamed Hafez, Area Direc-tor of the Singapore Tour-ism Board in the Middle East, said.

Singapore Tourism Board to organise Art Route

Air Astana commemorates 10th anniversary of Kazakhstan to China services

Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s award-winning carrier, marked the 10th anniversary of direct services between Kazakhstan and China with a major industry reception in Beijing last month.

Air Astana operated its first flight from Almaty to Beijing on December 3, 2002, with Boeing 737 aircraft initially operating two frequencies

per week. The route currently served by Boeing 757/767 oper-ates five times a week.

Since the launch of ser-vices, Air Astana has car-ried 500,000 passengers and 7.5 million tons of cargo on the route.

Air Astana currently oper-ates a total of 18 services a week between Kazakhstan and mainland China.

Hosting the F1 Petronas Malay-sia Grand Prix has proved to be a good investment, said Malay-sian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“It is a good event for us because it puts Malaysia on the world map,” he said after the race at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC).

“It shows that Malaysia can host an international event of this stature. We are pleased with the support from the local and international community. It is a positive event for Malaysia,” he added.

When asked about the exten-sion of contract to host the race beyond 2015, he said, “We will

seriously look into it because we have to look into the terms. We will make a decision when the time comes.”

A total of 123,400 spectators came for the three-day event, with 88,450 turning up on the final day.

Hosting F1 race a good investment: PM Najib

Osaka opens tourism bureau in bid to quadruple tourist arrivalsThe Osaka prefectural and municipal governments along with local business organisa-tions have jointly launched a tourism bureau with the intention of quadrupling the prefecture’s annual number of foreign travellers by 2020.

The tourism office, which opened recently, is financed by a ¥750 million investment. It is headed by Kunio Kano, former regional director, North Asia, Hong Kong Tour-ism Board.

Declaring an initial-year target of 2.6 million visitors for 2013, Kano said he will

resign if he fails to meet the goal. In 2011, the prefecture

had approximately 1.58 mil-lion foreign visitors.

Tourism Malaysia promoting Malaysian GP at a Mumbai event.


The Bahraini government has kick started the Dilmu-nia Island project at its al-Muharraq province.

Mohamed Khalil al-Sayed, chairman of the company implementing the project, said the project is slated to be

constructed on 125 hectares of land at an estimated cost of $1.6 billion. Ithmaar Development Company (IDC) is responsi-ble for developing the entire project.

The project features resi-dential areas including 4,500

housing units, hotels, shop-ping malls and recreational facilities, as well as health care and fitness services in a resort environment.

“The goal of the project is to boost the country’s chances in world tourism,” al-Sayed said.

tourist island under construction in Bahrain

Qatar and Oman issue joint tourist visa to strengthen travel growthQatar and Oman have signed an agreement to issue com-mon tourist visas for vis-itors from 33 countries on arrival at Doha International Airport.

Under this new agree-ment, visa holders can travel from Qatar to Oman without taking a separate visa, pro-vided they do not go to a third country during the visit. The visa is valid for one month and can be extended for one more.

A statement on the Minis-try of Interior (MoI) website reads, “The State of Qatar has signed an agreement with the

Sultanate of Oman to pro-vide a joint tourist visa. The beneficiary is permitted to travel freely between Qatar and Oman during the valid-ity period of the visa pro-vided that he shall not leave for a third country during the period. In that case he has to apply for a new visa again.”

Dubai clocks more than 10m visitors in 2012

Dubai promotes cruise tourism at Cruise Shipping Miami 2013

Dubai welcomed more than 10 million tourists for the first time in 2012 as the country experienced a surge in visitors.

Visitor arrivals were enhanced by increasing num-bers of tourists from its largest

source markets— a 30% rise in tourists from Saudi Arabia and a 54% increase in Russian visitors.

Overall, the emirate recorded a 9.3% rise in hotel guests and cruise passengers

in 2012 to 10.16 million people.“For the first time in our

city’s history we have crossed the 10 million threshold in visitor numbers,” said Helal Almarri, the director general of Dubai’s Department of Tour-ism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM).

“This growth is due to a number of factors, includ-ing the city-wide destination management strategy, our world-class infrastructure, our location at the crossroads of East and West, and our unre-lenting efforts to enhance our diverse and compelling tour-ism offer,” he added.

For more than a decade, Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has been promoting the cruise business, and recently show-cased its offerings at Cruise Shipping Miami (CSM), the world’s most important and largest annual meeting for the cruise industry, at the Miami Beach Convention Centre, in the U.S.

Dubai, along with 10 co-par-ticipants, was taking part in the event for the 13th time with a view to meeting industry part-ners, networking and starting new business for the city.

Dubai is the home port for five international cruise liner operators, namely TUI Cruises, MSC, RCCL, Costa Cruises and AIDA, which operate regular routes from Dubai.

“DTCM has made excellent

use of the opportunities afforded by this premier event to increase its exposure in the interna-tional cruise arena,” said Helal Saeed Al Marri, director gen-eral of DTCM. “Cruise Ship-ping Miami is well known for attracting the broadest range of industry players within the calendar of the world’s major

cruise conferences.“The department has also

strived to fully utilise the oppor-tunity to meet with influential cruise line executives, expert conference speakers and exec-utives from CLIA and FCCA cruise associations to promote Dubai’s burgeoning cruise industry,” he added.

MIDDLE EAst

Oman Air has appointed two international consultants — Seabury and Oxford Eco-nomics — to conduct a feasi-bility study to start a low-cost airline. The firms will also pre-pare a blueprint to improve the company’s revenues, profit-ability and fleet expansion.

“We have in-principle approval from the govern-ment to start the low-cost car-rier (LCC). The government has also approved setting up a company for the LCC and has asked us to submit a feasibil-ity study for final approval. The budget airline will most

likely operate on domestic and regional routes,” said HE Darwish Bin Ismail Al Bal-ushi, Minister Responsible for Financial Affairs and Chair-man of Oman Air’s board.

“We are keen to reduce our losses. In this context, we have hired Seabury consultants, who will prepare a 10-year network and fleet expansion plan,” he said.

The study will show us whether the airline will be profitable in three years or five years and whether we should focus on transit or point-to-point strategy, he added.

Oman Air considers launching budget airline

Oman has been ranked 57th globally in the World Eco-nomic Forum’s (WEF) travel and tourism competitiveness

report, climbing four notches from 2011 when it ranked 61st. In 2009 the sultanate was ranked 68th.

The WEF report said Oman has steadily climbed

the global tourism rankings in the past few years, thanks to the increasing numbers of international tourist arrivals.

According to WEF, Oman’s travel and tourism industry was valued at an estimated $2.11bn in 2012. The report has projected a 5.2% average growth for the industry over a period from 2013-22.

The industry currently employs around 36,700 peo-ple and employment in the sector is expected to rise by 3.4% annually over 2013-22. The industry’s contribution to Oman’s GDP stood at 6.6% in 2012, the report said.

Oman climbs four places in global tourism rankings


Massive development of holy sites to facilitate Hajj pilgrims

New Lebanon PM offers hope to reinvigorate the tourism sector

In a bid to improve the facilities for Hajj pilgrims, Saudi Arabia has taken steps to set up 60,000 fireproof tents in Arafat at a cost of SR 2 billion, and expand Mina to house seven million pilgrims.

Interior Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Muhammad bin Naif has instructed the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs to conduct studies on setting up permanent fireproof tents in Arafat, prepare its designs and estimate its cost.

Habib Zain Al-Abideen, Deputy Minister of the Saudi Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and supervisor of the centre for development

projects, said that “a high-level committee including officials from the Haj Ministry, Public

Security and Civil Defense will meet on April 27 to discuss the project”.

With the newly appointed Prime Minister Tamam Salam, Lebanon’s economy, which has been struggling with a series of external and internal problems, is expected to see a positive change. If the new prime min-ister brings about a balanced cabinet and tackles the secu-rity issues well, many things can alter for the better. Tour-ism is also expected to receive a positive makeover with this new beginning.

“This is a very positive change for the Lebanese econ-omy and in particular to tour-ism,” Pierre Achkar, the head of the Hotels Association, said. “The way he was elected is a very positive sign given the wide consensus among differ-ent factions to name Salam.”

Achkar had repeatedly expressed his fear about the sharp decline in tourism, par-ticularly following a series of kidnappings that led most Gulf

Cooperation Council (GCC) states to issue travel warnings strictly barring their citizens from visiting Lebanon.

Over the first three months of 2013, the decline in the hotel business stood at a massive 30% in occupancy and reve-nues, Achkar noted, adding that drawing comparisons with 2011 and 2010 would delineate

a more than 50% decline in the sector.

“The past year and a half were disastrous to Lebanese tourism,” he said. “We badly need a Cabinet that talks to everyone, clamps down on kid-nappings and reduces political squabbling. Lebanon can truly save the [tourism] summer sea-son if the right steps are taken.”

Saudi Arabia aims to create more than 4,62,000 jobs for the citizens of the country in the tourism sector in line with its Saudisation strat-egy, said Muhammad Al Jasser, Minister of Economy and Planning in Saudi Ara-bia. ‘Saudisation’ refers to the national policy of Saudi Arabia to encourage employ-ment of Saudi nationals in the private sector.

Muhammad Al-Jasser said domestic tourism can provide ample employment opportunities for citizens in various regions of the country.

“In addition, training opportunities will be avail-able for an additional 245,000

jobseekers,” said Al-Jasser at the opening of the sixth Saudi Travel and Tourism Investment Market (STTIM) in Riyadh.

The government will make huge investments to boost the domestic tourism sector and work towards cutting down international tourism expenses, he said.

“Saudi Arabia has nat-ural resources, a variety of heritage sites, multiple facilities and a good infra-structure that can contrib-ute to the tourism sector. This would support our GDP and provide employ-ment opportunities, as well as raise Saudisation rates,” Al-Jasser added.

The 20th Arabian Travel Mar-ket is already completely sold out one month before its doors open, organiser Reed Exhibi-tions said.

The show is scheduled to take place on May 6-9, at the Dubai World Trade Centre, with floor space at a record high of more than 22,000 sqm, an increase of 6% from last year, with 98 new companies exhibiting.

According to Reed, the ongoing effects of the eurozone crisis have prompted popular Mediterranean destinations to target growth opportuni-ties in the Cooperation Coun-cil for the Arab states of the

Gulf (GCC) markets.“With traditional Western

European markets facing tough economic challenges, which could cause tourism receipts

to decline, the relevance of the GCC markets becomes even more pronounced,” Reed’s portfolio director Mark Walsh said.

The UAE has been investing a great deal in recent years to strengthen its tourism sector.

As an integral part of its economic vision for 2030, the country is committed to building a world-class tour-ism infrastructure – from exclusive museums to theme parks –as well as enhancing cultural experiences to attract more tourists to the country.

Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority has been

hosting various events and activities to promote Abu Dhabi as a major cultural and tourism destination.

For the United Arab Emir-ates, the focus on tourism-related business is part of an inclusive strategy to build a more diversified economy. Currently, tourism-related sectors contribute as much as 14% to the UAE’s economy (an estimated Dh194 billion in 2012).

Saudi to create 4,62,000 jobs in tourism sector

Arabian travel Market sells out a month before opening

Tourism helps fuel growth in UAE

MIDDLE EAst


New Zealand and Taiwan must resume direct flights to further boost their tourism sectors after the recent proliferation in the number of Taiwanese tourists to New Zealand, an envoy from the South Pacific nation said.

Stephen Payton, director of the New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei, said New Zealand registered an unprecedented 8% year-on-year increase in the number vis-itors from Taiwan during the

Lunar New Year holiday last month.

“We’re pleased with the return to growth in the num-bers of Taiwanese going to New Zealand and we are very keen to see more,” he said.

New Zealand, taiwan urged to resume direct flights

Fiji’s national carrier unveils first new Airbus A330-200

The arrival of Air Pacific airline’s new A330-200 Airbus will help Fiji expand and sustain its con-nections to countries with a high number of outbound tourists, said Fiji President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau.

Speaking during the arrival of the Airbus at the Nadi Inter-national Airport, the main inter-national gateway for the Repub-lic of Fiji, Nailatikau said the new planes will also open Fiji’s economy to new and emerging

markets like China, India and the greater Asian region, and perhaps even in Europe.

“The new planes and the expanded routes they will soon fly will contribute greatly to growing Fiji’s economy and its proud tradition of hospitality and tourism,” he said.

“On the whole, Fiji’s tourist arrivals, including those from our traditional sources in Aus-tralia, New Zealand and the Americas, continue to reach unprecedented levels. I have no doubt the new aircraft will translate into even more arriv-als, in the same way that they will help create more jobs and contribute significantly to sus-taining our tourism industry as Fiji’s top foreign exchange and revenue earner,” he added.

In a bid to tap the growing Indian overseas traveller mar-ket, the Australian state of Queensland has hired legend-ary cricketer Matthew Hayden for a new tourism campaign.

Minister for Tourism in Queensland Jann Stuckey said the ‘Go Beyond’ campaign will showcase Queensland’s rainfor-ests, beaches and the Great Bar-rier Reef, which are extremely popular with Indian tourists.

Hayden, 41, one of Australia’s best opening batsmen, will lead the new campaign.

“India is a growing mar-ket for Queensland, with the number of Indian visitors to Queensland rising by 3% to 31,000 in 2012,” Stuckey said.

“It is also designed to showcase how easy it is to go beyond Australian

international gateways to reach Queensland destina-tions such as the Gold Coast,

Whitsundays, Outback and Tropical North Queensland,” Stuckey added.

Matthew Hayden to promote Queensland among Indian tourists

New app showcases NZ attractions to tourists

Tourists looking to explore the exotic destinations of New Zealand are now able to convert their smartphones and tablets into interactive audio tour guides thanks to a new free app.

The app takes help of the GPS function in the device to inform travellers about more than 1,200 points of histori-cal and cultural interest as they travel in New Zealand.

Most of the tour operators throughout the country who distribute the app have set up free Wi-Fi zones at their cen-tres to help tourists down-load the app.

Designer Hayden Brad-dock said the app has been a hit so far, with 4500 tourists already downloading it.

“We have really tried to make sure we’ve done all we can to show off our beauti-ful country so nothing gets missed. The app includes the history of each area, details of geography and native flora and fauna, Maori cul-ture and even the best things to see and do, places to stay, restaurants and cafes,” Brad-dock said.

One of the exclusive fea-tures of the app is that those driving can simply listen to local information with-out having to read any text, he said.

It can also work offline so even in areas without inter-net coverage, tourists will be able hear relevant details of their current location.

OCEANIA

Tourism campaign aims to woo Chinese residents to Queensland

A new tourism campaign tar-geting Australia’s Chinese community will start this week in an attempt to increase Queensland’s share of the international market.

Minister for Tourism in Queensland Jann Stuckey said the campaign would attract Chinese residents either working or study-ing in Australia to holiday in Queensland.

“Australia’s Chinese com-munity represents an influ-ential group for our tourism industry,” Stuckey said.

“Chinese residents in

Australia are in a position to advocate Queensland’s tour-ism experiences to friends and family, both here and in China, following visits to the state,” she added.

China is currently Queensland’s second largest and fastest growing interna-tional market, according to Tourism Research Australia.

“The campaign was intro-duced to VIP inbound tour operators, who are active in the local Chinese community at a series of events in Sydney and Melbourne this week,” Stuckey said.


French Tourism Minister Syl-via Pinel pledged to ensure the security of travellers after a recent case of robbery.

“Everything will be done to find the perpetrators,” Pinel said and stressed the determi-nation of the French govern-ment to ensure the security of

tourists in France.China’s National Tour-

ism Administration, which reports directly to the govern-ment, expressed concern after 23 tourists travelling in a group were robbed as soon as they arrived at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport outside Paris.

France strengthens tourist security

Rural tourism in Romania expected to grow by 15% this yearThe number of Romanians seeking to explore rural tour-ism in 2013 should grow by 15% year-on-year, while that of foreigners coming to Roma-nia for this type of tourism is expected to increase by 5% to 7%, according to the National Association for Rural, Eco-logical and Cultural Tourism (ANTREC) in Romania.

This will happen in the context of an overall growth of Romania’s domestic tourism

this year, according to the same source.

Most of the foreign tour-ists who opt for accommoda-tion in local rural guesthouses come from neighbouring countries such as Hungary, Germany, France, Israel and also Japan.

The most popular Roma-nian regions for rural tour-ism are Brasov, Buco-vina, Maramures and Marginimea Sibiului.

Switzerland, Germany, and Austria lead the world in terms of their travel and tour-ism industry competitive-ness along with Spain and the United Kingdom, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) report.

The United States and Singapore maintained their positions, in sixth and 10th

places, respectively.“Industry resilience has

been driven by the growth of the middle class in emerging markets, although advanced economies too are display-ing positive momentum. Bet-ter policies, harnessing tech-nology and facilitating the movement of people over bor-ders will allow the industry

to capitalise on this tailwind and support rising prosper-ity into the future,” said Jen-nifer Blanke, Chief Economist and Head of the Global Com-petitiveness and Benchmark-ing Network at the World Eco-nomic Forum.

The report rates Pakistan as one of the most unfriendly nations in the world.

UK government vows to put end to benefit tourismBritain has received support from Germany, the Nether-lands and Austria to put pres-sure on Brussels to allow EU member states to limit access to basic social benefits for for-eign nationals.

The four countries agreed recently to send a joint letter to the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, demand-ing it address their shared con-cerns over potential abuse of their social security systems by citizens of other EU mem-ber states.

The decision by Germany to stand by the UK, which has been leading the campaign for several months, shows that London’s efforts to curb the free movement of the bloc’s citizens – a core EU right – are gaining popular support.

UK officials in Brussels said London was determined to put an end to a phenomenon known as ‘benefits tourism’, where citizens from poorer EU states move to richer ones to take advantage of their more generous social welfare, includ-ing housing and healthcare services.

“Abuse of free movement isn’t just a UK problem and it will take the joint efforts of all our EU partners to tackle it,” said Theresa May, Britain’s home secretary, in Brussels.

Portugal minister visits London to promote residential tourismPortugal’s Economy Minister Álvaro Santos Pereira recently visited London to introduce the government’s new strategy to promote holiday homes in this country, the ‘Residential Tourism’ campaign.

“Residential Tourism is a strategic tourist prod-uct for Portugal, with an across-the-board impact on national economy and employment – especially at a regional and local level – which will also contribute towards abating seasonal-ity in tourism,” the minister said in a statement.

The Portuguese gov-ernment is trying to boost

the sale of property in Portugal to foreigners

looking for a holiday home in the country.

switzerland and Austria best country for tourists: WEF

EUROPE


Croatia reports 3.2% increase in tourism revenues

Croatia’s revenues from tour-ism in 2012 amounted to ¤6.83 billion, 3.2% more than in 2011, the Ministry of Tourism in Croatia said in a statement, citing figures from the Croa-tian National Bank.

After a rise in tourism reve-nues in the first nine months of 2012, the positive trend contin-ued in the final quarter of the year when tourism generated ¤557 million in revenues, an increase of 2.3% over the cor-responding period of 2011.

Tourism revenues accounted for 15.4% of GDP last year, a slight increase in

comparison to the previous year.

The fact that tourism rev-enues continued the positive trend despite the unfavourable economic situation in Europe shows that Croatia has become a recognised tourist destina-tion worldwide.

“The year 2013 will be very challenging, particularly because of the excellent results last year, but I expect we will repeat the success of 2012 and that tourism revenues will continue to rise,” Croa-tian Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin said.

Tourism Ireland has unveiled an exclusive fleet of branded taxis organised by London Taxi Advertising. The heavy-weight campaign with cus-tomised cars will make its mark in the four key cit-ies of Manchester, London, Birmingham and Glasgow, encouraging the urban com-munities to holiday in Ireland.

The taxis showcase a pic-turesque view of Ireland, com-prising endless green fields framed by a marbled pink and

light purple sky. The taxis also are painted in Ireland’s patri-otic green and carry the Tour-ism Ireland web address, accompanied by the name ‘The Gathering’, which refers to the year-long cultural cele-bration of all things Irish.

The entire taxi is designed to reach the relevant audi-ence in targeted cities cover-ing significant points across Scotland and England, rais-ing Ireland’s profile as a travel destination.

Russian tourists boost tax free sales in Finland

Russia kicks off the Chinese Year of Tourism

Tax-free sales are growing in leaps and bounds in eastern Fin-land, which is a popular shop-ping destination for Russian tourists.

The growth in tax-free retail

sales is continuing in the cities of Imatra and Lappeenranta in eastern Finland, which are extremely popular with Rus-sian tourists. According to Global Blue, a shopping tourism

company well-known for tax-free shopping, the value of tax-free sales in Imatra was almost ¤1.8 million in February, up by 38% from the correspond-ing month last year.

In Lappeenranta, tax-free sales in February were about ¤7.2 million, an increase of 11% from the year before. Tax-free retail sales in the whole of Fin-land went up by 12% in Feb-ruary. The leading cities for tax-free shopping in Finland are Lappeenranta, Helsinki and Imatra.

Russian tourists come to Fin-land on shopping trips because of the high quality and attractive prices of branded goods in Finn-ish retail stores, and because they can receive service in their own language.

Russia recently held the open-ing ceremony for the ‘Tour-ism Year of China’ attended by China President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

The ‘China-Russia Tour-ism Year’ programme, which started last year with the ‘Tourism Year of Russia’ in China, intends to boost tourism cooperation and exchanges between the two countries.

Earlier the two countries held a ‘China-Russia National Year’ and the ‘China-Russia Year of Language’. Both coun-tries aim to capitalise on their rich and diverse culture and heritage.

“Chinese visitors to Rus-sia increased by 46% last year.

The number of two-way visi-tors across the border reached 3.3 million. China has become the second largest touring des-tination of Russians, while Russia has become the third largest destination for Chi-nese tourists,” Xi Jinping, Chinese President, said.

“There’s no doubt the ‘Tourism Year of China’ will be excellent and interest-ing. It will expand the tourist areas and help us to know each other. It can also enhance the relationship between the two countries,” Vladimir Putin, Russian President, said.

Tourism Ireland launches branded taxis in four UK cities to boost tourism

Belarus needs to promote its military heritage for those tour-ists who are interested in his-tory, Minister of Sport and Tourism in Belarus Alexander Shamko said.

Military history tours are trips to the city and around the country where the famous heroic battles of different ages and nations took place.

Arriving in this country, located in the heart of Europe, one can see the Glory Mound and Khatyn, Brest Fortress, and

Stalin’s Line, the battlefields of World War I, the memorials in honour of the victories over French and the Swedes and the memorials of the distant medi-eval battles.

“Why are we not paying suf-ficient attention to war sites that are interesting for tourists and especially for overseas tour-ists? More than 400,000 tour-ists visited war sites in Belarus last year alone. We are expecting more visitors during the upcom-ing season. We have visitors

from Europe, the United States and China. But the majority of tourists are from the Common-wealth of Independent States,” said the minister.

“It is necessary to create sites for those Belarusian and foreign tourists who are interested in history. Such tourism will help promote and popularise his-tory as well as develop patri-otic feelings among the citizens, preserve national traditions and finally attract tourists,” said the minister.

Belarus needs to develop military history tourism: Minister

EUROPE


Greece, Serbia to develop joint tourism packagesGreek Tourism Minister Olga Kefaloyianni was in the Ser-bian capital Belgrade recently to meet her Serb counterpart Goran Petkovic in order to develop tourism cooperation between the two countries.

Kefaloyianni was on a two-day visit to the Serbian capital, in the framework of which she also attended the inauguration of the 35th International Belgrade Tour-ist Exhibition and visited the Greek pavilion.

An extensive discussion took place during Kefaloyi-anni’s meeting with Petkovic on issues concerning cooper-ation between the two coun-tries in the sector of tourism.

“My meeting with Petkovic took place in an extremely good climate,” Kefaloyianni said. “We are interested in the sector of tourism in attracting even more Serbian visitors, as well as examining the possi-bilities of joint investments in the tourist sector,” she added.

In a bid to boost Spain’s ail-ing economy, authorities in the country’s health industry are encouraging foreigners to come to Spain for cheaper medical treatment.

Medical tourism is now worth around €75 billion worldwide, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Develop-ment (OECD), and Spain’s tour operators, business leaders, private hospital, and state health authorities are hoping the country could maximise its share in this tourism market.

“Our objective is to attract foreign patients to Malaga’s many good private health

centres and put Malaga on the global healthcare map,” Dr Miguel Such, head of car-diovascular surgery at Mala-ga’s Clínico Universitario hos-pital said.

“Spain’s tourism sector has been ignoring this mar-ket and we have been selling sun and sea without realis-ing we could do much more. Our healthcare system is well regarded internationally, and there is significant demand from foreigners to use it,” he added.

Prices for medical treat-ment in Spain are around 30% to 70% cheaper than in the UK and for patients from the U.S. the savings are even greater.

Tourism bodies are hoping the new pope might become a catalyst for tourism activities. Tour operators are anticipat-ing an increase in demand for travel to the Vatican so people can catch a glimpse of the new pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He may even boost tourism activities for his home country Argentina.

Recently elected Pope Fran-cis I was born to Italian immi-grant parents, but he was raised in Buenos Aires. There’s no doubt Catholics will want to travel to Rome to see the Vat-ican and other holy sites, but

beyond that, there could also be interest in retracing the

steps of Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio to Argentina.

Czech tourism brings $4.55 bn annually into state budgetRevenues from tourism in Czech Republic brought over $4. 55 billion annually to the state budget in the years 2010 and 2011, according to an anal-ysis of consulting company KPMG, world’s leading audit-ing service provider. It is a clear sign of improvement in the tourism sector.

Tourism helps regional development, in particular in regions that are not econom-ically strong. Tax revenues from tourism contribute 6.5% to state budget revenues.

If all costs of support to tourism are compared with

revenues from it for pub-lic budgets, it can be said that tourism pays off nearly 25 times.

Tourism creates more than 330,000 jobs in the Czech Republic and contributes some 7% to its employment.

Spain aims to boost medical tourism

New pope could boost tourism to Italy and Argentina

EUROPE

Scottish Tourism will soon get a major boost following Vis-itScotland’s plan to seal a deal with National Geographic to promote the country’s natural beauty.

The deal between the Scot-tish national tourism organisa-tion and National Geographic is part of the Year of Natural Scot-land 2013 celebrations and will expose Scotland to National

Geographic’s readership and viewership in North America and in Europe.

The £4,00,000-campaign will see a VisitScotland TV advert being screened via National Geographic’s chan-nels in America, UK and France, while English and French-lan-guage magazines, along with the UK, U.S., France and Can-ada websites will carry articles,

pictures and other information on natural Scotland.

“It’s a delight to partner with VisitScotland to help share this singular country with the world. Scotland is a treasure and I’ve long been shocked that its enchant-ments aren’t more widely cele-brated,” Keith Bellows, editor-in-chief at National Geographic travel media, said.

National Geographic deal set to boost Scottish tourism


France’s tourism projects in Puducherry to be expedited

A French parliamen-tary group led by Sena-tor Francois Marc, Rappor-teur General of the Finance Commission and presi-dent of Friendship Group, France, recently said that tourism projects commit-ted by France in Puducherry would certainly be expedited.

The group, which also

includes Pierre Fournier, Consul-General, told the Min-ister of State in the Prime Min-ister’s Office V Narayanasamy that the projects would be cer-tainly implemented.

Francois Marc and the Consul General assured Nara-yanasamy that the sand beach project would soon become a reality.

Record number of tourists visit Istanbul

Britain’s rail system named Europe’s most improved

Tourists to Azerbaijancan now receive visa online

Britain’s railways are the most improved and well-equipped in Europe, according to a com-prehensive comparison study published of the rail networks in all 27 EU (European Union) countries.

The report looks into how the railways in Europe have progressed and improved since the 1990s according to a range of 14 different factors.

Some of these factors include number of users, rider sat-isfaction, punctuality, train frequency.

Britain came top in four of the factors, second and third in another two and fourth in three, coming top overall.

Europe’s other major rail systems, such as those in Germany, France and Italy, ended up in 7th, 10th and 23rd

place, respectively. “This report shows both the

progress that we have made in driving forward our perfor-mance, and the very real chal-lenges and opportunities that the growth in demand poses for us all,” said David Higgins, the chief executive of Network Rail, the owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain.

Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefaloyianni signed a cooper-ation memorandum with the secretary general of the UN’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Taleb Rifai for the establishment of a National Tourism Observatory for the sustainable development of tourism.

The observatory is the first of its kind in Europe under the patronage of UNWTO. It will strictly monitor the conse-quences that tourism products have on the financial, social and

natural environment and will contribute towards the devel-opment of sustainable tourism.

“We believe the appropri-ate utilisation of the National Observatory will have a positive impact on the competitiveness of the country’s tourism products,”

Kefaloyianni said.“Tourism and the environ-

ment are interrelated concepts; the development of tourism depends directly on the environ-ment. The relationship between tourism and the environment is our first priority,” she added.

First European National Tourism Observatory to open in Greece

Almost a million people pre-ferred Turkey’s financial and cultural capital Istanbul as their holiday destination this quarter, a record num-ber in the past 10 years.

According to the Istan-bul Cultural and Tourism Directorate, at least 838,201 tourists visited Istanbul in the first three months of this year, a 23.8% increase

compared to the same period last year.

The directorate wel-comed the progress made by Istanbul in the sector of tour-ism at a time of economic recession across Europe.

The data also showed that every two out of three tour-ists who came to Turkey between October 2012 and March 2013 visited Istanbul.

Azerbaijan has launched an online visa issuing system fol-lowing a decree of the president of Azerbaijan, the head of the-Tourism Association of Azer-baijan Nahid Bagirov said.

According to Bagirov, tour-ists wishing to visit Azerbaijan can obtain a visa online. Pre-viously tourists encountered difficulties while obtaining visas and they had to apply to the embassies of Azerbaijan in

their countries.“If a tourist living in any

German town wanted to obtain a visa for visiting Azerbaijan, he had to go to the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Germany. That created difficulties,” Bagirov said.

Such policies were leading to the decline of tourists visit-ing Azerbaijan, he said.

“The online visa issuing sys-tem has already been started. This means tourists will be able to obtain a visa online by sending a copy of their pass-port to travel companies with-out visiting any embassy,” Bagirov added.

EUROPE

Prague and other regions of the Czech Republic have launched a new mode of pub-lic transport in the form of a brand new metro train. The train will provide tourists the scope to travel to all the important destinations within the country and will also help boost tourism.

The trains, named City-Elefant, will provide a

super-speed commuting system of local transport in Prague. The city will have 84 new units of CityElefant met-ros that are powered by Skoda Vagonka engines. The trains will be very comfortable, with air-conditioned units that have comfortable seats and toilets in the compartments.

Czech Railways spokesper-son, Subova Catherine, said

that CityElefant will run on various tracks. Out of a total of 84 units, 71 will carry pas-sengers to the central region and around Prague, and will also pass through the Usti and Pardubice regions. The other 13 will operate on regional routes in the region. CityEle-fant trains will cover 33,400 kilometres every day on the Czech Republic tracks.

Czech Republic launches new public transportation system to boost tourism

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2013 ⋅ 24AFRICA

A steady rise in the num-ber of Indian travellers hol-idaying in South Africa has prompted the coun-try’s tourism board to fur-ther enhance engagement with key stakeholders to gain a larger share of tourists from India.

“Over the years we have witnessed a continuous increase in Indian tourist

arrivals, making India one of the key markets for us,” said Hanneli Slabber, coun-try manager, South African Tourism (SAT).

According to SAT, from January to September 2012, around 80,000 Indian tour-ists went to South Africa — an increase of 18.3% when compared to the same period in 2011.

South Africa eyes more Indian tourists

About 64,000 Indians visited Kenya last year, and Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) expects to achieve one lakh inbound from India by 2015. As part of this bid, a few months ago KTB launched Magical Kenya online training programme for travel agents in India.

KTB has made plans to tar-get up-market segments like weddings and honeymooners. According to John Chirchir, Regional Marketing Manager, Emerging Markets, KTB, by

targeting these segments the Tourism Board also wants to

highlight products and desti-nations beyond wildlife safaris.

The Seychelles Tourism Board is targeting the Rus-sian market. Tourism is important to the Seychelles economy, and markets such as Russia play an important role.

The Seychelles Tourism

Board is making efforts to create a foothold in the region to ensure positive growth of the industry, and is determined to showcase the islands’ competitive edge in the face of ever-growing challenges. Consequently,

the Seychelles Tourism Board has appointed Access Russia as its representation company in Russia. Access Russia will help ensure that Seychelles remains visible in Russia and its surrounding regions.

Kenya tourism Board aiming for one lakh Indian tourists

Ethiopia aims to tap India marketEthiopia is turning its focus to tourism from India, aiming to tap a substantial chunk of the 13 million Indians who annu-ally travel abroad.

“India is a good source

market for tourism,” Genet Teshome, Consulate General of Ethiopia in Mumbai, said. “More than 13 million people travel out of India every year. We expect to have a good share of this market, even one or two percent of this is significant for us.”

Asked how the government plans to popularise Ethiopia as a tourist destination in India, Teshome said, “We are adver-tising Ethiopian destinations in India, and we have participated in a number of tour and travel exhibitions. This year we par-ticipated in Pune.”

Ethiopia, the second most populous nation in Africa, is also planning to open tour-ism boards in India to enhance promotion.

“Our Federal Government

is very clear in its aim that Ethiopia should be among the five top tourist destinations in Africa,” Tourism Facilitation Senior Expert at the Cultural and Tourism Ministry Getenet

Yigzaw said. “India will play a very crucial role in this process.

“By next year we plan to establish our tourism boards in New Delhi and Mumbai. India is going to be a crucial factor in development of Ethiopia as a world-class tourism destina-tion,” he added.

Ethiopia and India are among the most ancient civil-isations in the world and we are ready to establish this con-nection again through tourism promotion, Yigzaw added.

Ethiopia is also introduc-ing the Ethiopian Rift Valley as a major tourist attraction to Indian travellers. The Ethio-pian Rift Valley, which is part of the famous East African Rift Valley, comprises numer-ous hot springs, beautiful lakes and a variety of wildlife.

Zambia’s tourism resilient

Seychelles targets Russian tourism market

Tourism in Zambia has showed its resilience as an economic driver of the coun-try, despite various challenges the sector is facing.

Tourism contributes sig-nificantly to job creation not only in Zambia but also in the region at large.

The Zambian tourism economy is boosted with world-leading natural sites, including Kafue National Park, the second largest in Africa and South Luangwa National Park, which has a high density and diversity of wildlife.

Others attractions include the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site and one of the seven Natural Wonders of the World; Lake Kariba, the

largest man-made lake in the world; Lake Tanganyika and

the Zambezi River, which runs across south-central Africa.


More than 50 Iranian tourists arrived at the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor recently as part of a rare visit that reflects how much ties between the two countries have warmed since Islamist President Moham-med Morsi came to power last year.

Diplomatic relations were frozen for decades after Egypt signed the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, and Iran went through the Islamic Revolu-tion, but Morsi has been reach-ing out to Tehran since he came to power in June 2012.

Morsi broke barriers by vis-iting Tehran after his June elec-tion, marking the first visit by an Egyptian leader in more than three decades. Months later, Iranian President Mah-moud Ahmadinejad visited Cairo to attend a conference of Islamic nations.

There is a new bilateral deal to promote tourism and improve relations between the regional heavyweights, and the Iranian tourists arrived on

some of the first commercial flights between the two coun-tries in 30 years, according to a security official.

Their movements will be restricted, including a ban on visiting Egypt’s capital, fol-lowing objections from some ultraconservative Sunni Mus-lims to receiving visitors from Shiite Iran.

The Iranian tourists will only be allowed to visit certain areas, such as ancient cities

and Red Sea resorts like Sharm el-Sheikh.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Min-ister for Arab and African Affairs said in a news con-ference in Cairo that tourists from his country don’t have a religious agenda and that they are coming to Egypt to support its economy.

“Iran has no agenda to man-age Egyptian mosques,” he said. “Iranian and Egyptian relations are at the best.”

Iranian tourists in Egypt reflect warming ties

Morocco looking to strengthen its tourism sectorMorocco is stepping up efforts to lure more tour-ists to its beaches, cities and mountains to boost its tour-ism revenue.

Morocco hasn’t had any-where near the catastrophic drop in tourism experi-enced by once-popular des-tinations such as Egypt and Tunisia, both of which are going through chaotic and at times violent post-revolu-

tionary phases. Still, Moroc-co’s numbers are declining, Moroccan Tourism Minister Lahcen Haddad said.

The challenge for Morocco will be to distin-guish itself from its more

unstable neighbours.“A lot of people put

Morocco in the same bas-ket as the other countries even though Morocco has known a different road in terms of political reform,” the tourism minister said. “It has required a lot of com-munication to put Morocco in a different light than what has been reported in some media.”

The slow growth is a major concern for a coun-try where tourism is consid-ered a key industry. Moroc-co’s tourism sector employs some 470,000 people in this country of 32 million.

Nigeria stepped up efforts to assure tourists and investors of their safety and favour-able business climate at the World’s largest tourism expo, ITB Berlin.

Speaking at the conference Director General of the Nige-rian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Oluse-gun Runsewe assured the vis-itors of the safety and security of lives and property across the country and insisted that the Federal Government was responsible for the present security challenges facing the country.

According Runsewe, ‘‘There is no other country in the world as safe as Nigeria, as the security issue is only lim-ited to few states in the north-ern part of the country and the Federal Government is very serious and proactive in han-dling the situation.”

He added, ‘‘Please come to Nigeria, your investment is safe and your life too is safe. No one will harm any of you visitors and investors as this government is very seri-ous about welcoming genu-ine investors and visitors to the country.”

Egypt seeks more Indian touristsEgypt is looking to lure tourists from India with a number of pro-motional steps including visas on arrival, more direct flights and cultural exhibitions across India.

“India has a huge middle class and upper middle class willing to spend disposable income on travel. We have to focus on this audience,” Egyptian Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou said in India.

Zaazou is part of the delega-tion of Egyptian ministers and business leaders led by Presi-dent Mohammed Morsi.

“We are looking at granting visa on arrival to Indian tour-ists as well as (have) more direct

flights from Delhi,” said Zaazou.In addition, festivals that will

offer potential Indian travellers a taste of Egypt’s culture with

food, dance, handicrafts, clothes and leather products will begin in major cities in the next three to four months, Zaazou said.

Morocco ranks third friendliest country for touristsMorocco is the world’s third friendlies country

for tourists, according to the 2013 World Economic

Forum report.Morocco ranks 71st world-

wide and 9th in the North Afri-can and Middle East category in terms of travel and tourism competitiveness.

Iceland and New Zealand topped the list of the friendli-est countries.

Apart from New Zealand and Morocco, the top 10 list included the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Aus-tria, Senegal, Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ireland and Burkina Faso.

Despite the large number of visitors, South Korea and China, were ranked among the least welcoming areas.

Nigeria woos investors, tourists at Berlin expo

AFRICA

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2013 ⋅ 26CARIBBEAN

In the wake of recent downturn in international tourist arriv-als, Jamaica tourism authori-ties have turned their focus to the domestic market by offer-ing special discounts for local people to visit some of the island’s most popular resorts

and attractions.The recently launched cam-

paign ‘Experience Jamaica’ hopes to encourage local res-idents to book into hotels and visit attractions at discounted rates ranging from 20%- 50%.

The discounts are applicable

to Jamaican residents only.The domestic market thrust

comes as fresh statistics from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) showed a 4.7% decline in inter-national visitor arrivals in Jan-uary compared with the same period last year.

Jamaica to tap domestic market as overseas arrivals dip

Bahamas all set for new tourism pushThe tourism authority in Bahamas is launching a range of initiatives, including a new digital platform and a visit to Latin America to boost tourism to the country.

According to Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe the digital platform will offer visitors the option to search for airlift, car rentals and

hotels in the Bahamas.“It is a way to get peo-

ple to discover the islands and get them here in the quickest possible way,” said Wilchcombe.

At the end of April, Baha-mian tourism officials will travel to Brazil for the first-ever World Tourism Council meeting.

Tourism and International Transport Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis Hon. Richard Skerritt told the stakeholders of the industry it was time for St. Kitts to revise its tourism strategy.

The minister emphasised

a number of achievements St. Kitts and Nevis has made in the development of tourism but also reminded that more could be attained if all part-ners worked together.

“Tourism development and growth in St. Kitts has

been unprecedented in importance, scale and eco-nomic impact,” he said. “Much has happened in the world since 2006, includ-ing dramatic technological changes that have ushered in the rise of social media. It has forced the travel and tourism industry to wake up to the global competitiveness of the industry and the need for added value for the con-sumer,” he added.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism Patricia Martin described the consultation between var-ious stakeholders as a vital part of the process of devel-oping a national tourism sec-tor strategy.

“It was felt this is an oppor-tune time to formulate a new strategy that would provide direction for tourism develop-ment over the next five years,” she said.

The Lighthouse Bay Resort in Antigua and Barbuda is the most expensive hotel in the Caribbean. This finding is based on results of a new survey con-ducted by CaribbeanResorts.

net, a web portal on resorts in the Caribbean. Rankings were made according to each hotel’s average rate for the most afford-able double room.

To stay in the Lighthouse

Bay, travellers had to shell out an average of $2,490 per night. That’s significantly more than the second most expensive hotel, the Amanyara resort. Located in the Turks & Cai-cos Islands in Caribbean, this number two finisher generally charges an average of $2,059 per night.

Three more luxury resorts in the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda landed in the top 10. In Antigua, the Jumby Bay and Hermitage Bay resorts secured their position with average rates of $1,898 and $1,423, respectively, per night for the most affordable dou-ble room. In Barbuda, the Coco Point Lodge also came in top 10 at an average rate of $1,515.

The stunning and unique underwater sculpture park in the Caribbean ocean off the west coast of Grenada models the best practice of sustainable tourism. The first of its kind in the world, Grenada’s Under-water Sculpture Park was especially designed to act as an artificial reef, offering an ideal environment to explore the intricate relationship between art and the environment.

Recognised as one of the ‘Wonders of the World – Earth’s Most Awesome Places’ in a special edition of National Geographic, the park is located just outside St. George’s in the Molinere Bay Marine Pro-tected Area. Created by Brit-ish sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, the park has become

one of the main tourist attrac-tions for Grenada. The statues are accessible to both divers and snorkelers.

“As artificial reefs, the 105 sculptures are proving to be highly successful in attract-ing a stunning array of var-ied marine life and are easing the environmental pressure of other reefs in the area,” said Howard Clarke, Chair-man of Grenada Underwa-ter Sculpture Management, Inc (GUSMI). “Creating arti-ficial reefs is not uncommon, but using Taylor’s pieces of artwork is a unique way of helping out nature. It has opened up a new world of possibility for the diving and snorkeling industry,” added Clarke.

Minister: Time for St. Kitts to modify its tourism strategy

Underwater Sculpture Park reflects Grenada’s dedication to sustainable tourism

Antigua and Barbuda boasts most expensive resort in the Caribbean

2013Kolkata

5, 6, 7 July

Ahmedabad16, 17, 18 August

Mumbai30, 31, August, 1 September

Hyderabad12, 13, 14 July

surat23, 24, 25 August

Pune6, 7, 8 September

2014

India's Biggest Travel Trade Show

MUMBAIIndia’s Biggest travel Market7, 8, 9 FebruaryBombay Convention & Exhibition Centre

NOW B2B FOCUsED

NEW DELHIIndia’s second Biggest travel Market13, 14, 15 FebruaryAshok Hotel Convention Centre

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | APRIL 2013 ⋅ 28EVENts

100+ travel trade members attend Kolkata’s maiden U.S. Travel Trade seminar to hear about Visit USA’s plans to tap the India market, the simplified visa regu-lations and the campaign to showcase America’s lesser known tourism destinations .

With a mission to achieve one million outbound Indian tourists by 2015, Visit USA Commit-tee (VUSACOM) continued its promotional

drive in India on Friday, with a first-of-its-kind event in Kolkata, sponsored and organised by Fairfest Media, who run India’s leading and largest network of B2B focused travel trade shows OTM and TTF, and supported by the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI).

Held at the city’s Kenilworth Hotel, the interactive event had officials from the U.S. Consulate and the VUSA-COM executive committee, and some travel trade mem-bers operating in the U.S., presenting their plans, initia-tives and objectives for promoting tourism to the U.S., and detailing the new visa regulations that significantly ease the application process for tourists from India.

Speakers at the event included Richard Craig, Princi-pal Commercial Officer at the Consulate General of the U.S. in Kolkata; Gregory Simkiss, Vice Consul at the Con-sulate General of the U.S. in Kolkata; Bharat Patil, mem-ber of VUSACOM Executive Committee and G Ibrahim, Joint Managing Director of Fairfest Media.

The event was part of an ongoing campaign by VUSA-COM to spread awareness about the various destinations and attractions in the U.S., and the simplified visa regu-lations for travel to the United States, following earlier presentations at trade events, including the recent OTM in Delhi.

Gregory Simkiss presented a detailed slideshow of the simplified visa regulations that clearly instructed tour organisers and travel agents the new requirements and streamlined process for visa applications to the U.S. “It has become much easier to apply for a visa to the U.S.,” he said.

Tourists are now given a 10-year multiple-entry visa, for which they can have a same-day interview. Simkiss’ presentation detailed the documents required when mak-ing the application, timings of the process, and places where the applications can be made, as well as what is looked for while deciding on the credibility and genuine-ness of the traveller. In an in-depth Q&A session with the floor, Consular Section Chief Wendy Kennedy answered individual questions regarding visa applications, their approval and rejection, in an extensive interactive dis-cussion with the participants.

The difference between an approval and a rejection of an application does not depend on a piece of paper, or a written invitation from a relative in the U.S. , Kennedy stressed. What is important is to show a type of lifestyle and convincing economic and personal stability through an authentic interaction with Consular officials. “Having a ton of documents does not make your case more con-vincing,” she said.

This session was noted to be particularly enlighten-ing for the travel trade fraternity, who expressed satisfac-tion at the attention to their concerns regarding the visa process, and pleasure at the clarification of the applica-tion stages.

As well as highlighting the simplified visa applica-tion process, VUSACOM is keen to target the growing Indian market through a series of promotional drives and roadshows throughout the country that show the lesser known attractions of the United States.

Some 66 million tourists visited the U.S. in 2011, said Principal Commercial Officer at the U.S. Consulate Gen-eral in Kolkata Richard Craig up 6% over 2001, with an expected increase of a further 4.3% over the next four years. India is hoped to be a major part of that boost.

Appealing to the Indian traveller’s taste for travel and discovery of varied destinations is top of the U.S.’s cam-paign to target the lucrative Indian outbound market.

While there are known tourism icons in the United States, he said, there are also the lesser known places that are just as incredible, and it is the mission of VUSACOM to spread awareness of these places in the Indian market.

Bharat Patil, member of VUSACOM Executive

Committee, echoed Craig’s words about the need to spread information about the other parts of the U.S. between the ‘obvious’ places like New York, and Washington DC on the East Coast, or Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Fran-cisco on the West Coast.

He also highlighted the campaigns to change the thinking that a vacation to the States is an expensive option and highlighted the various options of alternative holidays available in the country, from a golfing break and mountain biking holiday to a discounted shopping spree on Madison Avenue or the various bed-and-break-fast options.

Patil also spoke about the recently formed Brand USA, part of a White House directive to promote tourism to the country, and its upcoming drive to tap the Indian market.

“Indians are big travellers,” said Patil. “There is a big push for the Indian market with initiatives of Brand USA showcasing all over the country.

“Brand USA will be hitting this country big time,” he said.

Participants, delegates, travel trade fraternity mem-bers and the media expressed great satisfaction at the suc-cess of the event, commenting on the impressive turnout and the attention of the speakers.

“We are now working in close collaboration with VUSACOM for promoting the U.S. in India,” said G Ibra-him of Fairfest Media. “We are giving them a platform, starting with the visa presentation at OTM at Delhi in February, followed by this Kolkata initiative, and with plans for more such collaborative efforts, dovetailing with our tradeshows.”

Visit UsA holds first-ever Kolkata media and trade presentation

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | april 2013 29EVENts

“We had a very good interaction with everyone and we hope more people will consider visiting the U.S. in the future. Visitors can come for leisure, for business

and for many other things. We would also like to collaborate with the U.S. commercial services and VUSACOM to

attract tourists to the United States.” Gregory D. simkiss

Vice Consul, Consulate General of the United States, Kolkata

“The Indian market is a big market for the U.S. and the per-person spend by Indian visitors is also very

high. Our partnership with OTM for this event is really great. OTM and TTF have a national network

with a wide reach. Tying up with OTM has given us the opportunity to go to all those cities that OTM covers. VUSACOM’s association

with OTM will be beneficial for both.” Bharat patil

Member, VUSACOM-Executive Committee

“The United States has so many great places to offer. We want to make sure the travel industry

has a chance to know about those places. This is the first time we have

had the pleasure of working with Fairfest and we would certainly like to

explore opportunities for further collaboration with Fairfest and Visit USA.”

richard CraigPrincipal Commercial Officer

Consulate General of the United States, Kolkata

“We had a good

platform to showcase our

various products in front of the U.S. travel

body. One of our objectives is also to

look to new markets. Although we are based in Bombay, other

markets like Kolkata and Delhi are extremely important for us in terms of

their growth potential. It was fabulous to interact and network with many members

from the travel trade.” saugat Nandy

Director, Western India, Starwood Hotels and Resorts

“It has been extremely helpful for

us. We had many queries and after

the visa presentation we got to know about lot of

things. It opens up America as a destination for us. We

gathered much relevant information about travelling to the U.S. Nowadays many

young people are keen on visiting the U.S. and that is a big change.”

sshashank arora CEO, South Wind

“This is the first event of

its kind and it generated a lot of

interest. The seminar witnessed a fantastic

turnout. Experience of the visa session was quite exciting and

travel agents gained much information from it. It provokes them to think and helps them to make new itineraries.”

Kiran aroraBusiness Development Manager, (East)

Globus & Cosmos

What they said

“It is very nice that Calcutta had an opportunity to directly interact with the U.S. travel body. It is really

encouraging for us. The best thing about today’s seminar was definitely the enlightenment on visas. I am happy

about the fact that the U.S. has come to see us.” aparna Chaturvedi Basumallik

Chairperson, Eastern Region, Travel Agents Association of India

“We have seen an unprecedented growth in

recent times, with both business and leisure

segments growing steadily. Today’s event was very interesting. The

question and answer session was quite enlightening. The personal interaction

with the people of travel trade was also useful.” J.T. ramnani

Managing DirectorVensimal World Travel Agents Private Limited

“Today’s seminar was very informative for us. I

would definitely look forward to more such sessions. Visa

procedure changes very frequently. The application process, the kind of

documentation required, the interview – the entire process is not very simple.

More such informative seminars about visa procedures would be helpful.”

sanjay KumarDirector, Travelaid

TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST | april 2013 30 EVENts

Chiranjeevi inaugurates UNWTO conference in Hyderabad

Malaysia aims to draw 9,000 tourists for Borneo Jazz Fest

Malbec World Day celebrated in New Delhi

Sabah Fest 2013 to be held in May

Dubai’s Lama tours leads largest India roadshow to date

Experts: India’s hospitality industry heading for 40% online revenue increase

Union Tourism Minister K Chi-ranjeevi inaugurated the United Nations World Tourism Organ-isation (UNWTO) Conference on sustainable tourism develop-ment in Hyderabad on April 12.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that in the coming years, the Asia and Pacific regions, with their vast range of destinations and prod-ucts, can certainly achieve higher growth in tourism by developing synergy in promot-ing tourism products and desti-nations jointly.

“Intra-regional and inter-regional cooperation hold the key to the growth of this sec-tor,” he said. “Further, the tour-ism industry, with its estab-lished contributions towards economic growth, employment generation and social inte-gration, will have to be made

sustainable for drawing the benefits over a longer period of time,” he added.

In his opening address, Taleb Rifai, Secretary Gen-eral, UNWTO, referred to Hyderabad as “the city of smiles”. The year 2012 was a historical one that saw 1,035 million people crossing inter-national borders, he said. While the tourism sector in the world saw a growth of 4%, the Asian region witnessed a growth of 7% and accounted for 25% of world traffic.

The inaugural function was attended by some 100 interna-tional delegates from 24 mem-ber countries, stakeholders from the travel and hospitality industry, senior officials from the central and state govern-ments and representatives from the media.

The Borneo Jazz Festival, previ-ously known as the Miri Interna-tional Jazz Festival, is making a comeback in 2013. The jazz extrav-aganza will be offering fans a diverse range of jazz styles, as well as other musical genres, from May 10-11 at the city of Miri in northern Sarawak, Malaysia and this year hopes to attract at least 9,000 local and foreign festival-goers.

Borneo Jazz 2013, organised by Sarawak Tourism Board, aims to be the leading tourism-driven music festival in the region. By assembling regionally and inter-nationally recognised jazz musi-cians, the musical event aims to draw visitors to Miri and the northern region of Sarawak for a fun-filled and entertaining experi-ence, while at the same time show-casing Miri as a cosmopolitan city with a relaxing lifestyle.

India’s Tourism Ministry has said it intends to widen the scope of the Visa-on-Arrival scheme to include more inter-national airports and coun-tries. Following the increase of foreign interest in travel to India, the government said it aims to increase the scheme from the current four inter-national airports and 11 countries.

The issue was discussed at the recent Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) in Jaipur, which was opened by Rajasthan Tourism Minister Bina Kak on April 14.

“The phenomenal growth of the tourism sector has resulted

in making a significant contri-bution to the growth of GDP in different countries. It has, in other words, become a key driver of national economies,” Kak said.

This year’s event also saw a higher number of B2B meetings

between exhibitors and foreign tour operators from across 56 countries, which translated into negotiations and business arrangements across the tour-ism industry.

The Indian Heritage Hotel Association (IHHA), the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Rajasthan (HRAR) and the Rajasthan Association of Tour Operators also offered major support to GITB.

The Indian hospitality indus-try is set to increase its online revenue by 40%, according to experts at a recent confer-ence by Ideas and Travel-Click at The Hyatt Regency in Mumbai.

Topics covered by the con-ference included mobile distri-bution, social media and pric-ing strategies in sessions that comprised panel discussions and keynote speakers from leading firms, such as Google, Tnooz and TripAdvisor.

“The Indian market is get-ting more mature with more foreign brands coming in. At the same time Indian brands are also becoming more global,” Sivaprasad Gangad-haran, Regional Director, Sub-continent Sales for Ideas, said.

“We have a large number of hotels in India and the sub-continent that consult us. The

only gap we foresee is one of knowledge in this fast increas-ing world of e-commerce. As a responsible partner, we will do our bit to bridge the knowledge gap,” Joy Ghosh, Regional Director India & Subcontinent at TravelClick, said.

Some 100 attendees, pre-dominantly sales and reve-nue professionals, along with managers from large chain hotels including Taj Hotels, Oberoi, Leela, ITC, Marriott, Starwood, Sun N Sand, Lalit, Concept Hospitality and many more, took part in the event.

A delegation from the Argen-tine province of Mendoza, including the Minister of Tour-ism (Mendoza) Javier Espina, visited New Delhi on April 15 to celebrate Malbec World Day.

Guests at the event, held at the Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi, were treated to fabulous wine and a sizzling tango show.

Malbec World Day is an

international celebration ded-icated entirely to the famous Malbec grape, which is used in making red wine.

Mendoza is Argentina’s wine capital and the birth-place of Malbec. Every year Mendoza receives a huge num-ber of tourists who come to enjoy the wines among other attractions.

Sabah Fest, the much awaited cultural extravaganza, returns in 2013 with another spectacu-lar show highlighting Sabah’s diverse people, cultures and traditions.

Manoharan Periasamy, Director, Tourism Malay-sia said, “Sabah Fest pres-ents a wonderful blend of cul-tural and natural heritage that is richly embedded in folk-lore. It precedes the statewide Harvest Festival celebration and is a superbly entertain-ing cultural extravaganza that

incorporates dance, music, fashion, food and more.”

Lama Tours, Dubai’s premier destination management com-pany, led one of the biggest dele-gations ever to India from April 8-12. Dubai hotels, resorts, air-line partners and attractions from the UAE joined the com-pany for a four-city roadshow, starting in New Delhi, followed by Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, where they interacted with more than 1,800 travel professionals at the high net-working events.

This was the largest delega-tion to India in terms of seller participation since the com-pany ran its first India road-show almost 11 years ago. The event was attended by prom-inent media members, travel agents, holiday planners, wed-ding planners and event organ-isers at all four cities.

“Indians’ passion to travel

continues to grow year after year,” Kulwant Singh, man-aging director of Lama Tours said. “Even India’s economic slowdown and the rupee fur-ther depreciating against the U.S. dollar did not stop Indian tourists travelling to Dubai last year. The Indian market has always been very important and continues to be a potential

for Lama in both leisure and MICE businesses,” he added.

“The Indian wedding busi-ness is a rapidly growing market and Dubai is a pre-mier wedding destination for the Indian diaspora. We con-cluded a few wedding events last year and we have several more confirmed for this year,” Singh added.

Indian Tourism Ministry proposes wider Visa-on Arrival scheme

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