Travel News August 2007

Travel characteristics of Indians

Bollywood boost for tourism

ANTO to market incentives to Indian pharma majors

Call from the Land of Pharaohs

Desi tourists seek new thrills

Indian abroad tourists to double

Bollywood can take Indians to Russia

Germany beckons Indians

Bollywood boost for tourism
August 9, 2007

FIRST it was Test cricketer Brett Lee who bowled India over singing a duet with the legendary Queen of Bollywood, Asha Bhosle. Now Tourism NSW wants to woo tourists from the sub-continent with a campaign that focuses on the new Bollywood movie Heyy Babyy.

Based on the Hollywood hit Three Men and a Baby, it was shot in Sydney and features five of India's most popular stars. It will premiere in India later this month with a red carpet preview scheduled for Sydney's State Theatre on August 22.

Iconic sites such as the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and Bondi Beach feature, along with The Rocks, Darling Harbour and many of our city streets.

Working with Qantas, Tourism NSW has invited senior representatives of Indian travel companies for the Focus on India program from August 17 to 24. The promotion follows this week's unveiling of a campaign to win back Japanese tourists to our shores.

The renewed campaign - Immerse Yourself in Australia's World Heritage - is a softer "complement" to last year's controversial "So Where the Bloody Hell Are You?"

Source: Daily Telegraph

ANTO to market incentives to Indian pharma majors
August 10, 2007

Austria Tourism is now looking actively at marketing itself as an incentives destination to Indian pharma majors, like Ranbaxy, Cadila and Cipla. Beginning with incentive tours to Vienna, it is keen to gradually venture into other segments of MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibitions) as well.

"The incentives segment in India has a different profile as compared to the leisure segment as travellers in the former category have unique interests and tastes - for instance, fondness for classical music. We are looking to tap on the Meetings, Conventions and Exhibitions segments also," says Christine Mukharji, Market Manager (India), Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO). As per a research conducted by ANTO, 70 per cent of the Indian tourists to Austria fall in the age group of 45-60 years and are willing to spend on luxury hotels and other comforts.

Aiming for a significant increase in tourists' inflow next year, particularly, individual travellers, groups and honeymoon travellers, ANTO will kick-start a four-month online promotion from January 2008. It has already tied-up with MSN, the Internet portal, and SOTC, a brand of Kuoni Travel Group India, for six-day packages to Austria, including two days each in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck.

This year ANTO is expecting 57,000 tourists to Austria, which is approximately an increase of 15 per cent in the traffic from last year and targeting one lakh overnights.

Source: Travel Biz Monitor

Call from the Land of Pharaohs
August 4, 2007

The Land of Pharaohs, Egypt, has chalked out plans to double the inflow of Indian tourists with improvement in air connectivity and launch of an India-specific marketing campaign. Talks are currently on between the civil aviation authorities of the two countries to increase frequencies of direct flights from three to seven per week by the year-end.

EgyptAir, the national carrier, is looking at adding Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata on its network. It currently flies thrice a week from Mumbai. Industry sources said talks are also on between Egypt Air and Jet Airways for a code-share agreement.

“Egypt is positioning itself as a hub for Indian carriers to fly to Europe, Africa and West Asia,” said Egypt’s ambassador to India Mohamed Higazy. With improvement in air connectivity, he expects over 1.5 lakh Indians to visit the country by 2008 end. Last year, around 75,000 Indian tourists visited the Pyramid country.

Apart from encouraging shooting of Indian films in Egypt, the country plans to host Bollywood award ceremonies to woo more number of Indian tourists. A tourism promotion office is likely to come up in Delhi by the year end to complement the one in Mumbai. Egypt is also being keenly pursued by IT and ITES companies and oil exploration companies. “Egypt is the hub for 11 languages and can be used by Indian IT companies to service global clients,” Mr Higazy said. IT companies such as Wipro, Satyam, TCS and HCL already have presence in the country.

Source: Economic Times

Desi tourists seek new thrills
July 30, 2007

India is going places, literally. With the country’s outbound tourist traffic slated to touch 16.2 million by 2011, the well-heeled desi lot seeking amazing, exotic vacations can no longer be counted on your finger tips.

So, while Cappadocia may not be familiar to many of us, the growing tribe of well-travelled Indians will tell you that it’s the name of a Turkish region with a cave hotel where you can ape the Flintstones.

Members of the same clan will also tell you that an ostrich egg omelette (ostrich meat is passe) is unbelievably bland and that Stewart Island Airways of New Zealand will weigh you along with your baggage before you are bundled into their little aircraft.

In the last 2-3 years, there has been a sharp rise in the number of those who have done the run-of-the-mill destinations and are seeking new travel thrills.

There were 6.2 million outbound tourists in 2005. “The indicators are only getting stronger by the day: the mushrooming of ‘special experience travel agents’, the new tourism offices opened by hitherto conservative countries like Poland, Ireland or the Netherlands in India in the last 2 years, and the travel road shows organised by Finland and New Zealand being just a few of them,’’ says Subhash Motwani of Compaq Travels, which organises tailor-made tours to exotic destinations.

These seekers of exotic destinations have little in common with the sun-tanned backpackers with matted hair clutching their worn-out Lonely Planet Guides.

If anything, these trendsetters represent a hybrid variety—one which does not comprise intrepid, hard core travellers, but tourists who are game enough to rough it out, all in the name of adventure travel.

Source: Times of India

Indian abroad tourists to double
August 4, 2007

By 2010 the number of tourists travelling from India is expected to more than double, therefore tour operators are preparing to take advantage of this boom in the Indian travel market.

The total number of outbound travellers is set to reach 16.3 million in 2011 alone.

This dramatic rise in the number of Indians travelling abroad, 132% over 2006 to 2011 according to Euromonitor International's latest research, is being driven by rising disposable incomes, more affordable holiday options and the growth of low cost carriers, enabling more Indians to travel abroad.

With departures by air accounting for more than 98% of all departures from India, the air travel market is clearly on a high. In 2006, sales for low cost airlines grew by 115% in India, storming ahead of the industry average growth of 19.5%.

Singapore is currently benefiting from the bulk of Indian outbound tourism; however, as foreign travel becomes more affordable many Indian holidaymakers will set their sights further afield.

The US is predicted to be the most preferred destination for Indian travellers by 2011, according to Euromonitor International, receiving 10.2% of outbound tourists from India. The strengthening of business ties and a large number of Indians residing in the US will be the main drivers behind this trend.

The growing number of Indian tourists is now being more widely recognised and countries across the globe are increasingly trying to attract Indian tourists. A number of countries, including Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland and South Korea, have already opened tourist offices in India to directly target Indians who want to holiday abroad.

Brand new forecasts from Euromonitor International show that outgoing tourism expenditure from India will grow by over 25.7% between 2006 and 2011 to reach a value of US$21 billion by 2011.

Source: Euromonitor International via www.4hoteliers.com

Bollywood can take Indians to Russia
July 12, 2007

Shooting of a couple of Bollywood movies in Russian locations could open the former communist nation to Indian tourists and boost bilateral people-to-people exchanges, a senior government official said at a recent Indo-Russian business meet.

"Shooting of a couple of Bollywood movies with mega stars in Russian locations could open the country for the Indian tourists willing to lavishly spend on foreign travels," India's Commerce Secretary G K Pillai said here earlier this week addressing a joint Indo-Russian business seminar organised by Moscow-based Indian Business Alliance and the Centre of Strategic Research, a Kremlin-linked think-tank.

Last year over 45,000 Indians had visited Russia, of which only 4,000 were tourists, while among the 59 thousand Russian visitors to India there were 35 thousand tourists, mostly to Goa, although it is much bellow the potential of tourism in both countries, industry representatives said.

India and Russia view tourism as one of the promising areas of cooperation as part of the drive to boost their economic interaction and trade to the level of 10 billion dollars by 2020.

Source: PTI via Economic Times

Germany beckons Indians
July 10, 2007

Germany is more affordable than people think — be it in terms of shopping, accommodation or tourist packages. It is cheaper to shop here than in Dubai or Singapore, says the German National Tourist Board.

Going beyond the legend of “German efficiency and German engineering” and moving away from this image of a highly industrialised nation, the country is seeking to lure tourists to the “leisure and holiday destination.” Germany is sought to be projected as a lot more than Lufthansa, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, or Nivea – brands that have endeared themselves to the world with trust and reputation built over the years.

Germany offers convenient air connections and hotel accommodation ranging from €40 a night to €250 in cities. With 32 UNESCO world heritage sites, travel marts, trade fairs, 680 international golf courses, 6,000 museums, palaces and castles, Germany is touting itself as the “heart of Europe.”

GNTB set up an office in Delhi last year. In September, it will host promotional events in Delhi and Mumbai. The official said the FIFA World Cup had helped create excitement among travellers. “While Europe accounts for 74 per cent of tourists to our country, Asia accounts for about 10 per cent. We want to ... shift our focus to Asia, India in particular.”

Source: The Hindu