epages News [Travel Agents]

Heritage Festival of India to be hosted in city

Mar 04, 2005: Come 11th March, 2005, People’s Plaza, Necklace Road will play host to the much awaited Heritage Festival of India, the same will to an end on 27thMarch, 2005. The meet is being organised by India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), office of the Development Corporation of Handicrafts & the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

Such festivals were earlier held in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkatta & Jammu & Kashmir. The festival is part of the ongoing ‘Incredible India’ promotion campaign by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, is showcased as a unique event and will be a celebration of art, culture and handicrafts of India. About 200 artisans from all over the country will be here to display their original works of art.

There will be nine different galleries with unique themes for journey, handlooms, interior design, jewellery, paper, painting, etc. It will be an event that aims to enlighten the people about the glorious heritage of our country and emphasise its richness and everlasting appeal to the youth, nation in particular and world in general.

International Travel Mart from March 4th

Mar 03, 2005: The 19th India International Mart will be organized at People’s Plaza, Necklace road, Tank bund from March 4, 2005.

The three day event is being organised by IITM, India in collaboration with Andhra Pradesh Tourism will focus on international travel & their growing importance in fostering a better understanding among peoples of various nations. It will also dwell on inculcating the travel habit among India masses and also understand what tourism is all about. The conference will include respected experts from Sri Lanka, Singapore, South Africa, Nepal, Mauritius, Dubai, Malaysia, Indonesia. Etc.

Also the mart will aim to popularize efficient packaged tourist packages on installment basis.

NRIs offered Dual Citizenship

Jan 09, 2005: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has informed that all those Indians who left the country after January 26, 1950 would be eligible for dual citizenship provided their home countries provides permission for them to do so.

He informed that the vast Indian Diaspora spread across the globe can avail of the same & also informed that the procedure for applying for the same would be simplified & was considering options including the possibility of issuing smart identity cards.In addition to this, he informed that a Ministry of Overseas Indians would be set up to look into their various problems and needed solutions as to alleviate their anxieties

He encouraged the vast Indian Diaspora to avail of the same and help the country to embark on the path to a full fledged developed nation. Their immense skills, influence & knowledge prowess can be better used & propel India to leap into the league of highly developed nation elite club of nations such as USA, UK, Japan, etc.

Air Sahara reduces City Apex fares by 30%

Jul 20, 2004: Air travel within the nation looks set to be a more enjoyable and cheaper option thanks to tighter competition with private players entering the segment and slack demand season. Some of the airlines have already caught the message and now Air Sahara has joined the bandwagon.

Air Sahara has slashed its apex fares by 30% bringing it on a par with AC II railway fares. It has included Hyderabad and Bangalore under the scheme in line with other biggies as Mumbai and Delhi. According to Mr Rono Datta, President Air Sahara, the strategy is two-fold, that is, to make air travel more affordable and widen the scope of Air Sahara reach. The interested air traveller should book in advance to avail of the new scheme and the said scheme would be operational from August 20th.

He also further elaborated that the scheme would help them to achieve the load factor of 70% and maintain the said momentum. The specific target in this regard are families venturing out on holidays and not the corporate sector since a Sunday stay at the destination has been made compulsory under the new scheme. The other pointer facilitating the scheme launch is to wean the traveller away from rail journey.

This looks a good scheme and a manna from the heaven for those who dream of travelling by air and floating in the clouds sand soak in the tune of a jolly good holiday/business.

Night Bazaars, the latest concept soon to hit city.

Jul 18, 2004: Night life is exciting and jerks up one’s spirits and turn one’s head upside down if played out properly. With the extra spice and zip it gets further heated up and turn out to be a thriller all the way.

The Tourism Ministry aims to do just that and raise the tempo of night life for both domestic and overseas tourist to a new level. The bazaars will become operational in Delhi and Hyderabad within the next two months and by April 2005, in all major metro cities.

The Union Minister for Tourism Ms Renuka Chowdhary disclosed that India at present does not have any such concept. With the country turning into a hot tourist destination, this concept would further give it a fillip. The bazaars apart from having an elaborate food court will also have stores that will sell traditional ethnic goods from all over the country. She further said that once the concept takes off at the two cities, we will try to implement the same in all major cities/towns where international airports are present. Ms Chowdhary also revealed that plans are afoot to start shuttle services at these major metro city airports, the same can be availed of by tourists to get to the bazaars swiftly and without any hassles.

Ms Chowdhary said talks will be facilitated with management of hospitality industry to put up food courts and sites for the Delhi and Hyderabad centres will be finalised in a week’s time. The likely sites in case of Hyderabad will be in and around Charminar and Falaknuma Palace and when done up will be a haven for upmarket shopping in a colourful style.

It looks a good concept but the crunch point will be to run it professionally and in a well-charted manner so that the exhilaration tonic can be drunk with relish and memories of the same stay the long road.

High attrition hits travel companies

Apr 05, 2004: Bangalore: When India is shining, the Rs 17,000-crore travel industry cannot be far behind. But segments of the industry appear to be suffering from rapid growth pangs. Travel companies in metros are experiencing a manpower shortage triggered by the higher than usual attrition rate during the last year or two. Industry heads say many companies are losing almost 25% of their front line staff to BPOs. Mid-level managers are more steady and their attrition rate is limited to five-seven %. There are an estimated 40,000-45,000 people involved with the travel trade in India, spread over some 1,800-odd IATA accredited travel companies and between 4,500 to 5,000 non-IATA agencies. The bulk of the business is generated by the bigger metros.

This year, international traffic is expected to grow by 12-15 % while the domestic skies are likely to witness an 8-10% rise in numbers, all of which prepares the ground for increased demand for skilled human resource in the travel industry. Hence, bigger companies seek to address the career path of its employees so that they stay and grow with the organisation. Incidentally, in the west, travel business is mostly IT dependent and not manpower intensive like in India. Even within industry bodies like TAAI and TAFI (Travel Agents Federation of India), the issue of following basic rules serving the notice period, getting a relieving letter from their employers while employing personnel from the travel business, is being debated. A lot of energy is spent in training the employees, especially in the new environment where agencies are becoming total travel solution providers instead of just remaining ticketing agents.

Single visa likely to boost Saarc tourism industry

Apr 01, 2004: New Delhi: If Saarc tourism officials have their way at Colombo in May then tourists from all over the world can visit the region with a single visa or less stringent visas, which can act as a multiplier to the tourism industry of the region. Major emphasis among all of us here is to promote tourism among the entire South Asian region. Sri Lanka has a large variety of products to showcase as well as India. Even countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives and Nepal have a lot to offer though they are in the early stages of tourism development. For the first time Saarc tourism officials will be meeting in Colombo on May 27-28 to discuss this. The officials are trying to work out the details of the programme. There is tremendous cooperation and enthusiasm both in India and Sri Lanka in promoting tourism. In the present system frontier restrictions, visas and other technical issues come in the way of free flow of tourists in Saarc region.

With a single Schengen type visa in Europe one can travel to 13 European countries freely. Right now if any Saarc citizen has to travel in the region he has to apply for separate visas for individual countries. If one has a Saarc visa in the pattern of Europe he can travel to any country in the region. The first tourism meeting will take up this issue. There are right now 97 flights per week to various destinations from Colombo to India. About 92,000 tourists from India had visited Sri Lanka last year whereas 1,50,000 from Sri Lanka visited India during the same period. Sri Lankans are the fourth largest tourists to India. The government of India has recently allowed private Indian airliners Sahara and Jet Airways to fly to Sri Lanka. So with the flights being increased Sri Lanka expects 2 lakh tourists from India this year. Last year Sri Lanka got $ 320 million from tourists which is an increase of about nearly 30% than the previous year and tourist arrivals has increased by 25%. This year Sri Lanka hopes to increase another 25% increase in tourist arrivals. The earnings given above are direct expenses tourists incur and do not include the additional indirect expenses that tourists incur during their stay in the country.

Foreign hotels wooing Indians with Hindi TV channels, films

Apr 01, 2004: Washington: Asian tourism boards and hotel chains are wooing Indians with Hindi television channels and Bollywood movies in an attempt to get a greater number of tourists to visit their countries. Hotels across Asia and Australia are adding Hindi television channels and films to their offerings in the expectation that the number of Indian tourists heading abroad will jump to six million this year, 30% up from 2003. The Hilton Hotel in Singapore, at which Indian guests increased by 25% in 2003 from 2002, has added a 24-hour Hindi cable TV channel to its in-room programming to cater to that growing clientele.

As part of its efforts to woo more Indians, the Singapore Tourism Board linked up with Visa International to offer a package that includes a free application for multiple-entry tourist visas for the whole family to gold and platinum Visa cardholders in India. China dispatched 20 million tourists to the world last year, dwarfing India on the global travel charts. But Indians shop more and stay longer at their overseas destinations, the paper said. Indian visitors to Singapore stayed an average of 5.5 days in 2002, while visitors from China stayed 2.5 days, according to the Singapore Tourism Board.

Tour operators pack up bags for a summer treat

Mar 31, 2004: New Delhi: Capitalising on the Indian penchant for travelling abroad and spending good money there, exciting deals are being offered by the travel and tourism fraternity this summer. Packages to South-East Asia are the most favoured, with almost 50% of Indian travellers opting for the region. Europe, US, Middle East and Australia follow next, in terms of popularity. Besides air fare and accommodation, most packages include breakfast and sightseeing as well. If you fly Sri Lankan Airlines to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for Rs 16,999, a two night-three day stay is thrown in for free. There is a six night-seven day Mauritius Package, starting at Rs 30,000. Or travellers can choose a six night-seven day package to Seychelles for Rs 46,000. This includes three nights at Mahe and Praslin each.

If you want to travel closer to home, there are packages to Sri Lanka, which is fast becoming an alternative to Goa. The Sri Lanka Package is available for Rs 20,000-25,000, for three to five nights, including airfare, accommodation with breakfast and all transfers. Air Sahara is offering the trip at Rs 35,000 per couple, for a three night-four day package. If you look beyond the continent, seven-day Australia and New Zealand trips are available for Rs 52,995 and Rs 69,300 respectively. A five-day package to Switzerland can be had for under Rs 50,000, while you may have to pay Rs 5,000 more for a similar trip to Greece. There are several other detailed trips to Europe and the US for up to 20 days, but they obviously cost more. If you look at the cost of airline tickets for your summer holidays abroad, they have climbed up a wee bit. The launch of Sahara’s services to Colombo has also ensured downward pressure on prices. Packages are selling well and there is a large variety to choose from. Luckily, there is little variation in the offer prices from summer ’03. According to a recent study, India has witnessed the second largest growth in passenger traffic after China.

India tourism is shining

Mar 26, 2004: New Delhi: India earned foreign exchange worth over Rs 17,049 crore from tourism during the year 2003, a 20% increase over the previous year. The earnings registered in 2002 were Rs 14,195 crore compared with Rs 14,344 crore in 2001, a decline of one %, according to official figures released on Wednesday. During the first two months of this year, the amount received was about Rs 3,912 crore, an increase of 20% over corresponding period of previous year.

Imperial Mark for Leela Goa

Mar 26, 2004: Kolkata: The Imperial Mark Commission, an independent organisation funded by the International Charter Organisation (ICharter), has awarded an Imperial Mark to the Leela Goa. The ICharter is one of the best practice organisations in the world and companies it has certified include Sony, Nestle and the Bank of England. The origins of the Imperial Mark are unknown but it was originally conceived as a Royal Warrant more than a century ago. The Leela Goa is the only hotel in India to receive this honour. Since its inception, three other companies headquartered in India have also been awarded the Mark. In 2003, nine Imperial Marks were conferred worldwide and previous recipients include Omega Watches, Cartier, Tiffany and London ’s Harrods.

India second fastest growing tourism economy in the world

Mar 11, 2004: New Delhi: India Shining seems to be rubbing off on travel and tourism industry. India has been ranked the second fastest growing travel and tourism economy in the world, one spot ahead of China, and right behind chart-topper Montenegro, as per the latest 2004 Travel and Tourism forecasts released by World Travel & Tourism Council in London. Global travel and tourism industry is poised for a recovery in 2004 battling the fall out of 9/11, the war in Iraq, SARS and the down-turn in economy over the last two years. Over the next ten years the annualised real growth in demand for travel and tourism is expected to grow by 10.3 % for Montenegro. The figure is pegged at 8.8 % for India and 8.7 % for China. WTTC ascribes the growth in India and China to the impact of the emerging middle-classes on the economy.As per the forecast, global travel and tourism industry is expected to add nearly 10 million new jobs – through direct and indirect employment - in 2004. Of these, 3.3 million new jobs will be through direct employment in 2004 over the 2003-level to total 73.7 million jobs or 2.8 % of total world employment.WTTC expects global travel and tourism economy to be worth around $5.5 trillion in 2004, growing at a rate of 5.9 per in real terms.

Hotel Claridges to have national footprint

Mar 08, 2004: New Delhi: The feel-good factor in the domestic tourism industry is prompting Hotel Claridges to extend its presence in major cities and leisure destinations in the country by acquiring hotels and then upgrading them. The NRI promoters plan to buy hotels in Mumbai, Bangalore, Kerala and Goa in the next five years. Currently, it has four properties in New Delhi, Mussourie, Jim Corbett and Nainital. Ten months after its acquisition, Hotel Claridges in the Capital has managed to achieve 90% occupancy rates, thanks to booming business travel.

The hotel has spent Rs 22 crore in upgrading the property, implementing voluntary retirement scheme and re-launching its restaurants. While the 162-room hotel was revamped by investing Rs 15 crore, the hotel spent an additional Rs 6.5 crore in implementation of VRS. The hotel has turned around in terms of occupancy %age and average room rate. The room’s revenue for fiscal 2003-04 has witnessed an increase of almost 65% over the previous fiscal. The hotel has witnessed an increase of more than 90% in occupancy rate over the previous year. The F&B outlets have also witnessed a growth of 26% in revenue this year over 2002-03.

Travel firms, hotels rake it in as tourists line up

Mar 04, 2004: New Delhi: The Indian travel industry is glowing. Consider this airline bookings for both domestic and international flights have jumped by 35% in February over the same period last year and hotels across metros are choc-a-bloc. Flights to the South-East Asian and European sector are going full and no seats are available for the next two weeks on these routes. A look at the computer reservation system reveals that no confirmed seats are available on the Delhi-London route for the next two weeks. Considering heavy tourist traffic into India, European carriers like Lufthansa are adding three flights in March from Delhi to Munich and Air France is also expected to add flights from Mumbai and Bangalore. Meanwhile, with the government taking a keen interest in developing India as a MICE destination and foreigners also considering India as a serious convention destination, there has been a dramatic rise in inbound tourist traffic.

This has resulted in most hotels in metros witnessing high occupancy rates. For instance, Park Royal Intercontinental hotel is completely booked with 100% occupancy in February and March is also expected to post high occupancy levels on account of an increase in corporate travel. Also, the hotel has seen an increase of 15-20% in the average room rates over the same period last year. Travel companies have become profitable. For instance, Thomas Cook has registered a 31% growth in revenue for the first quarter ended January 31, 2004. Travel-related incentives announced in the recent Budget will further help boost our business. The traffic from the UK and German charters into India have increased by a significant 40%. In the outbound market, the response to winter packages rose by 25%.

US travel firms look to India for service work

Feb 27, 2004: Washington: A growing number of US airlines and online travel companies are outsourcing customer service jobs overseas to reduce costs, latching on to a broader economic trend as the industry strives for profitability. Travelocity is all set outsource about 300 jobs to India over the next year in a deal with WNS North America, according to a Feb. 11th filing that Sabre Inc., its parent company, made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Travelocity said it expects to save $10 million in 2004 as a result of the change. It is the first time United has outsourced such work, an arrangement worked out through the company's bankruptcy proceedings.

United Airlines has signed a contract with Electronic Data Systems to open a customer call center in Nova Scotia next month that will eventually employ 200. The online travel company said it was at a competitive disadvantage to rivals, such as Orbitz and Expedia that already outsource customer service functions. American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Continental Airlines and US Airways said they do not redirect any calls from U.S. customers to call centres outside the United States. Delta Air Lines, which outsourced nearly 1,000 jobs last year to call centres in India, says it is aware of the potential pitfalls. A company official said Atlanta-based Delta saved $25 million in 2003 after opening three call centres in Bangalore, Bombay and New Delhi.

Lanka has plans for Indian tourists

Feb 26, 2004: Sri Lanka has set a target of wooing one-and-a-half lakh Indian tourists during the current calendar year. It attracted 98,000 tourists from India last year. According to Sri Lankan high commissioner to India Mangala Moonesinghe, over the last few years, the island nation has become a favoured destination for many Indian tourists from IT and other corporate sector. “And with growing disposable incomes in many Indian middle-class families, we hope a large chunk of them will choose to visit our beautiful drop-shaped island that offers many attractions within their budget,” he said.

The high commissioner, who was here on the occasion of Sri Lankan Airlines (SLA) launching its Colombo-Hyderabad-Colombo flight on Sunday, said now that Colombo is directly connected with Andhra Pradesh, travelling to Sri Lanka would be cheaper. The Sri Lankan Airlines officials, who came here in the inaugural flight, said Hyderabad is the sixth destination they operate to in India. Other destinations they fly to are Chennai, Trivendrum and New Delhi. Enthused by highly encouraging response from the Indian air-travellers, Sri Lankan Airlines plans to expand its operations in India to two more destinations — Ahmedabad and Calicut this year.

Tourism sector is going places

Feb 23, 2004: Kolkata: India shining is being reflected in various quarters. And tourism is one of them. A record 2.8 million tourists made their way from various parts of the world to India in calendar 2003, registering a rise of 15.3% over 2002. Though this increase is computed over a low base of 2002, which witnessed the lowest inbound traffic in the last five years at 2.4 million (down 6%), government officials are upbeat that the figure will cross the 3-million mark in 2004. India’s slice in the global tourism pie in the same year amounted to 0.4%. The performance is noteworthy when considered against the backdrop of the Iraq war and Sars. It was a year when, globally, holidayers reigned in their travel plans.

Post-September 11, the US has lost its sheen as a holiday destination to a substantial extent. But, it seems, Uncle’s Sam’s loss turned out to be India’s gain. A predominant section of leisure travellers from Europe added to the volumes. Travellers from the UK and US alone comprised about 20% of the entire corpus, whose average spend was about $1,500. Consequently, the foreign exchange bottomline increased 23.3% in 2003 against a drop of 4% in the previous year. Trade circles attributed the rising footfalls to the Incredible India marketing campaign launched by the government about one-and-a-half year back. India lures a large number of leisure travellers and so we need more budget hotels. At present, India does not have enough capacity in this category to cope with the rising inflow.

Travellers shed e-block, take to net booking

Feb 20, 2004: Chicago: For many business travellers, planning a trip still means reaching for a telephone instead of keyboarding on to the Internet. But that is changing, according to a new report, which suggests that online travel booking is capturing an increasing share of the corporate travel dollar. The study estimates that such online corporate bookings will grow to 38.5% of total sales in ‘06, when they are expected to reach $36.5bn. For comparison purposes, the entire estimated gross bookings for corporate travel now amount to $80.9bn in the US, a figure that will rise to $94.8 bn in ‘06, the report calculates. Much of the expected growth, the report speculates, will come from mid-sized companies, each of which currently spends from $5m to $10m a year on travel. The leisure travel market has helped pave the way for corporate business, with about 1,100 companies signed on in the year since the firm began going after business travellers.

Hotel industry has done good business in January

Feb 13, 2004: The hospitality industry has got off to a brisk start in January riding a wave of buoyancy in the corporate travel industry. The star hotels in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore are all going choc-a-bloc with occupancies ranging from 80-90%, and average room revenues (ARR) getting meatier by the day. Bangalore continues to dominate the landscape, with two of its star hotels — the Leela Palace and Taj Westend — taking the lead. In fact, Oberoi Mumbai, otherwise viewed as the leader on the ARR ladder, has barely managed to retain its second place with Taj Westend in this round. The Oberoi in Bangalore takes the third place ahead of the Imperial in Delhi , which tops the capital’s star hotel chart. For Bangalore star hotels, the prime driver of revenue growth is the overseas techie, who is ready to shell out much more than last year.

Most city hotels have registered an impressive 40-45% growth in ARRs over last January. Interestingly, unlike the past, even mid-level executives are being put up in five stars, a reflection of the lopsided demand-supply situation as well their willingness to loosen their purse-strings that much more in order to be in Bangalore to meet their business commitments. The ARR for Bangalore is pegged at over Rs 6,500, which gives it an impressive lead over the average rates of Mumbai at Rs 5,200 and Delhi at Rs 4,800. Incidentally, the number of long-stay guests is also rising in Bangalore because of the increasing need for expert presence in various businesses. But to give a perspective on the advantage Bangalore enjoys, it must be mentioned that its five-star room inventory is placed at a modest 1,700 compared with nearly 5,000 rooms in Delhi and over 4,000 in Mumbai. In Delhi , the Imperial, Oberoi and Taj Mahal are the only hotels to net an ARR of over Rs 6,200. The three have a significant lead over the rest of the properties in the city.

West-bound leisure travel to grow 30%

Feb 09, 2004: Bangalore: Individual travellers looking to holiday in Europe this year may have to fork out at least 15-25% more than last year, in view of the stronger Euro and possible rise in air fares as well as hotel tariffs. Adding to the pressure on rates is the expected rise by 30-35% in West bound leisure travel, according to travel companies. Considering that leisure travel to the West, split between individual and group or package tours, is currently estimated at Rs 550-600 crore a year, the rise in price as well as numbers may grow the value of this business significantly. In fact, holidaymakers booking seats for Europe this summer are not even able to get the rates since the airlines are yet to announce the same. Meanwhile, the bird flu problem in the far-East may hit travel from India this summer going by the initial booking trends for holiday packages.

Market sources say, going by the price of some packages in the market, the rise will be a more modest 6-10%. For instance, summer packages are available from Rs 99,900 for 10 days to Rs 4,10,000 for a 17-day package to Europe for two adults and one child. Lead players in this business are SOTC, Thomas Cook, and Raj Travels. The package tour travelers to Europe are pegged at 40,000-50,000 while the individual travelers are estimated at 60,000 to 75,000. The package travel segment is expected to grow by upto 50% this year. The US as a holiday destination is stagnating since 9/11, while business traffic has grown. On the other hand Europe gained last year because of SARS and Iraq conflict. This year, the bird flu and bigger holiday budgets of people is expected to drive the leisure movement into Europe.

 
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