Tourism and Travel Trends from India:
News and views on India's Travel and Hospitality Sector

Weekly News Related to Travel Industry in India

Top Travel Destinations
Places in the news
Travel and transportation infrastructure
Medical Tourism
Religious Tourism
Holistic Healing Service Providers
Travel characteristics of Indians
Investment related
Travel and Tourism Support Industries …and much more

Top Travel Destinations

Places in the news

1. Konkan goes Tiatrical
How about a family outing to a fun packed play — full of song, dance and drama — as live music keeps you company? Welcome to the world of Tiatr, Goa’s famed theatre — unique as much for its dramatic stage performance as for its popularity among the Konkani speaking populace, especially in Goa.

Tiatr, meaning play in Portuguese, is a form of classic stage performance with live singing and acting. Something similar to the opera. Here the drummers, keyboard artists, guitarists are part of the act and can be seen giving the background score, be it a romantic melody or for a sudden brawl between brothers. This art, like many other festivities in Goa, is influenced by the Portuguese culture.

“Tiatr is a unique art form, which is solely social in content. Our artists perform across the Konkan belt — from Mumbai, Mangalore, Belgaum and Bangalore to UK, Paris, Africa and the Gulf countries,” says veteran artist Wilson Mazarello (Wilimix) who is now into training and bringing in more youth into this field.

While Indian theater is often about fiction or classic epics like the Mahabharata or Ramayana, Tiatr in contrast is humorous, even ironic, while representing social issues — problems that mar our daily lives. Here politics and local politicians are often the subjects of satires. Says former Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly and veteran artist Tomazinho Cardozo: “Tiatr was a major influence on the opinion polls that decided whether Goa must be a separate state or should join Maharashtra. It also played a role in making people choose Konkani as the state’s official language when the Official Language Act was passed.

We need to do more of such dramas which have a common link among people.” The issues taken up by Tiatr are varied, ranging from topics like Goa’s Regional Plan 2011 — which owing to public pressure has now been denotified — to female infanticide and dowry deaths.

But for veteran journalist Cyril D’Cunha Tiatr is much more than a platform to raise social issues. “Had it not been for Tiatr,” he says, “Konkani would have been written in the Roman script today. It has also made speaking Konkani fashionable. Though the dialect differs in different regions, Tiatr brings people in this region together.”

For many, Tiatr with its hilarious act forms a cultural bond between people. A person with a western background finds something to share with someone brought up in the traditional Indian culture.

The past few years have seen a sudden surge in Tiatr plays with many being sold in CDs and also as music cassettes. The demand mainly comes from Dubai and West Asia which now has exclusive video libraries selling Konkani music and Tiatr videos. An attempt is also being made to restore old classics of the ‘40’s, which are being patronised by audiences worldwide.

At present there are 20 Tiatr troupes in Goa alone and they produce at least two plays in a year. There are several smaller groups that perform at festivals like the village church feast.

Besides, the number of shows performed have increased to an average 100 shows per act; sometimes even up to 350 shows for a popular play. Interestingly, artists are now interacting across regions in a bid to create a larger mass appeal.

Take for example, Prince Jacob, one of Goa’s most famed and successful artist who recently translated a Marathi play into Konkani Tiatr, “I’ve got an overwhelming response, even people who don’t understand Konkani but have seen the play in Marathi are coming for it,” he says.
The coast is always changing, did someone say?

Saturday, April 14, 2007
Source: Economic Times

2. Kerala all set to earn rupees 100-billion revenue with farm tourism
After enticing tourists with its scenic backwaters and houseboats, Kerala, the most sought after tourist destination in India, is promoting its lush countryside to attract visitors through "Farm Tourism".

It looks as if the coastal Kerala has married its traditional hospitality to its tourist potential and created a heady concoction called 'Farm Tourism' that is attracting foreigners by the drove.

One of the most sought after tourist destinations in the world, replete with scenic backwaters and breathtaking beauty, the 'God's own country' has a lush green countryside that it is promoting as the latest attraction to entice visitors.
The State government as 'Responsible Tourism' in a measure to benefit the local community is adapting farm tourism.

Many travel agencies are organizing farm tours to provide tourists with new experiences. But these tours are more popular with foreign tourists, as there are few takers for it in the domestic tourist circles. One such tour was organised recently by New India Voyages, a local travel and tour agency in Mala, a hamlet near Thissur for a twenty-eight-member group comprising of French students.

"The domestic people (tourists) don't like to go on this type of tours (farm tours). I introduced it for outside people (foreign tourists). They are more interested in this type of trekking, farm tours and village tours and other different tours. I have a lot of these types of tours," said Francis Paul, tour operator, New India Voyages.

The two-day rural sojourn provided the students with a horde of activities including experiences like working in paddy fields alongside villagers during their stay at a local farm. The entire adventure left them happy and panting for more.

"The experience was really massive. It was really dirty but it was fun. We all got out, we got to experience. Everyone got to do a little bit of each kind of job. It was hot but I think we all had fun doing it," said Theodore Grove, tourist.

The experience of working in fields alongside foreigners left the farmers excited and the spectacle attracted a horde of villagers, especially children.
"We are happy to see foreigners working in our fields especially our children enjoyed it the most and it was entirely a different experience working with them in the fields," said Susamma, a farmer.Apart from generating profits for tourism industry, these tours provide a means of livelihood for the locals as well.

Tourism has emerged as Kerala's fastest growing industry, with the sector registering a growth rate almost double the national average in the past years.According to official estimates income from tourism sector in Kerala is expected to touch rupees 100-billion mark this year, from previous year's rupees 73 billion.

Famous for its backwaters, pristine beaches and hill stations, Kerala is ranked third among Indian states in terms of foreign tourist arrivals after the desert state of Rajasthan and coastal Goa. (ANI)

Sunday, April 8, 2007
Source: ANI via Yahoo news

Travel and Transportation Infrastructure

Sector: Aviation

1. Thai pilgrims stranded in northern India
Airline under fire for leaving passengers stranded after selling them return flights

About 100 Thai pilgrims, both lay people and monks, have been abandoned in the Buddhist city of Bodh Gaya in northern India because of poor service and negligence by Indian Airlines, the Thai consul in Calcutta alleged yesterday.

Consul Thatree Chauvachata said he was contacted two weeks ago by the Thai pilgrims. They claimed their return tickets on an Indian Airlines direct flight from the sacred city to Bangkok were cancelled without prior notice.

"I contacted the airline office in Calcutta and was only informed that the [seasonal] flight [service] had been ended on March 26, but, the Thai tourists had not been informed in advance," he said, in a telephone interview.

Thatree said he was "dissatisfied" with the way the airline had treated the Thai pilgrims as the return date to Bangkok of many of the passengers was shown on their tickets as April.

"I learned from the sales department that they too had not been informed by the operations department [about the final flight]," he said. Teerawat Namdoung, a pilgrim who managed to get a direct flight back to Bangkok from Bodh Gaya, with help from the consulate, said news about the cancelled flights spread quickly among the Thai pilgrims after some tried to confirm their return tickets.

The airline had asked passengers to travel by road from Bodh Gaya to Calcutta - about 500 km - to take a flight back to Bangkok, he said. Some passengers, mostly members of group tours, decided to take the nine-hour bus ride while others went by train, which took 12 hours.

Teerawat and about 90 others, including monks and novices, insisted on the airline flying them direct from Bodh Gaya, as they had already paid for their tickets. "Actually, I could have detoured to Calcutta had the airline issued me with an official letter confirming that they would be responsible for all expenses. The letter would also have ensured that I would receive proper services had I taken the road trip," he said. After receiving the complaints, Consul Thatree flew twice to Bodh Gaya to try to sort out the problem.

"My stand was simple. They had paid for a direct flight and therefore they had to go back on a direct flight," he said. After eight days of negotiations, the airline eventually provided a special flight to take the Thais home on April 4. Many of them, including Teerawat, whose return flight was scheduled for after April 4, had to shorten their trips. Thatree said he had learned after returning to Calcutta on Sunday that many Thais were still stuck in Bodh Gaya.

Suthee Singh, a sales representative for Indian Airlines in Bangkok, said the airline had not meant to abandon the passengers. "We could not contact them since they did not give us their local contact," he said.

Suthee admitted the problem occurred every year as the airline normally closed the route from about the end of March until October, when it is the low season for Bodh Gaya. But he was unable to say why the airline had issued tickets for April. Kalpana Chaudhary, the general manager of Indian Airlines in Bangkok, was not available for comment on Wednesday.

Thatree said he would submit a report to the Foreign Ministry about the Thai pilgrims being abandoned by Indian Airlines

Friday, April 13, 2007.
Source: The Nation via Yahoo News

2. Etihad plans more flights to India
Making India a pivot of its growth, UAE's national airline Etihad Airways will launch new flights to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, as its two new destinations, and introduce three new flights to Delhi.

The airline will launch its four-times-a-week flight to Kochi and thrice-weekly flight to Thiruvananthapuram in May while flights to New Delhi will start in June, company officials said adding they will increase 15 more seats in the Mumbai-bound flights. "India is the cornerstone market for Etihad," Iain Burns, vice-president of communications of the airline, was quoted as saying in Gulf News.

The new Ethihad flights is the result of latest round of bilateral talks with India over new air rights for adding two new destinations in Kerala, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, increasing from three to seven flights a week to New Delhi and 15 more seats per day on flights to Mumbai, he said.

The airline is also looking at Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabdad as potential new destinations. The Etihad Airways plans to make the country the centrepiece of its growth plans.

"Both India and the UAE are growing into positions as world-class holiday and business destinations. India, as a the second-fastest growing economy in world, will demand frequent travel to the Middle East," Burns said.

The flights to Mumbai and New Delhi, Etihad's two most successful flights, are recording seat factors of 80 per cent as compared to the carrier's overall average of 67 per cent, he added.

Etihad is borrowing up to $1.2 billion to buy one aircraft every month this year, Burns said, two Airbus A340s will be devoted to the Indian market.

Tuesday,April 10, 2007 
Source: Rediff via Yahoo News India

3. Air Deccan offers 500,000 tickets free
Air Deccan, India's second largest airline will offer 500, 000 tickets priced at Rs0 (plus taxes and surcharge) on the occasion of the New Year. The tickets will be available for sale across all sectors and all its 350 flights for travel between July 1, and October 27, 2007.

Bookings for these tickets will open on the morning of April 14, at 8:00 am. The airline also announced opening of regular bookings across all flights and sectors for travel between July 1, 2007 and October 27, 2007 on the same day, the n o-frills airline said in a press release.

All new tickets booked on and after April 14, 2007 will not be refundable. The tickets can however be rescheduled to another date, flight or sector, Air Deccan said.

The new cancellation policy will available in the "terms & conditions" section on the Air Deccan website www.airdeccan.net from April 14 onwards.

"We have the widest destination network in India and our aim is to cater to every traveller within the country. We were the first to release Rs500 and Re1 tickets and this time we have taken a step forward by releasing "free" tickets for the first time in the history of the airline. We believe this will assist us in reaching closer to our vision of making flying common in India. The idea is to encourage and stimulate travel even during lean seasons. An average load factor of 80 per cent over the last 6 months is a witness to the fact that we have been able to maintain a healthy balance between peak and non-peak seasons," Samyukth Sridharan, chief revenue officer and head marketing, Air Deccan, said

Air Deccan, India's fastest growing low-cost airline and the second largest airline in the country, with a market share of 21.7 per cent (February 2007) Air Deccan has the largest network in India today covering 64 airports, plying over 350 flights a day. The airline currently operates a brand new fleet of 19 Airbus A-320 aircraft,with an average age of 1.5 years and 24 ATR Turboprop aircraft. Since its inception in August 2003, Air Deccan has carried over 9 million passengers and the numbers are growing everyday. The airline has recorded an on time performance of (within 1 hour) of 98.65 per cent for March 2007
Saturday, 14 April 2007
Source: domain-b.com

4. Jet needs Rs 400 cr to turn around Sahara

Jet Airways, which has acquired Air Sahara for Rs 1,450 crore, needs to shell out Rs 800 crore immediately to rejuvenate the loss-making airline and take charge of it.

Of this, Rs 400 crore will go into turning it around operationally — by investing in aircraft maintenance, engineering support, spare parts and re-branding. The rest will be part of the payment for the acquisition.

Jet executives said today that the Sahara fleet was poorly maintained and might not meet the safety standards.

“It will be an uphill task to revitalise the fleet of Air Sahara,” they said. Jet will also have to relaunch Air Sahara, which will be operated as subsidiary.

Earlier, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal said he would disclose the fund raising plan on April 16, the day it is slated to re-launch its international brand.

“The acquisition will further affect Jet’s strained balance sheet (its current debt-equity is more than 2). Moreover, Jet plans to acquire 20 aircraft with a total outlay of $2.1 billion. This outlay will result in further leverage. Timely and effective integration of Air Sahara remains a key risk factor referring to employee retention is key in this industry, with its acute shortage of pilots and technicians,” said Citigroup, which maintained a “buy” on the scrip.

Air Sahara executives pointed out the integration of human resources would be another key challenge as Sahara’s salaries were higher than Jet’s. The culture too is different.

Surbhi Chawla, research analyst with Angel Broking, said: “This deal will result in a negative impact for Jet Airways in the short and medium term, since the overall competitive environment has not improved. Jet has started feeling the pressure.”

She added: “At the current valuations, we believe the merger will strain the profitability and the balance sheet of Jet Airways in the near to medium-term, before the merged entity can fully realise the benefits.”

Brokerage house SSKI India Research, which maintained negative status on Jet during its bid to buy Air Sahara last year, now feels that Jet has effectively got an incremental market share of 8 per cent at Rs 550 crore.

“For Jet Airways, the worst is over in the domestic operations and profitability in the business will be driven by rapidly surging international operations. Acquisition of Sahara strengthens the case for Jet Airways in the domestic market,” SSKI added.

Airfares to rise 5-10%
Domestic airfares are set to go up 5 to 10 per cent as a fallout of Jet Airways merging Air Sahara into it. Air Sahara will be forced to stop its huge promotional offers in metro routes as well as non-metro routes, that was even lower compared to budget carriers in some routes. Travel agents pointed out that all airlines will now start testing the market by increasing the fares in popular routes.

Travel Agents’ Federation of India (TAFI) General Secretary Ajay Prakash said it was bound to happen as the current fares offered by airlines are “unreal”.

Air Passenger Association of India (APAI) National President and founder D Sudhakara Reddy said the Jet-Air Sahara merger will eliminate one of the players offering low fares and this will lead airfares northwards.

Saturday, April 14, 2007
Source: Business Standard

5. Lufthansa Technik to set up MRO facility in Hyd
Lufthansa Technik, the leading provider of technical services for commercial aircraft, is setting up a Maintenance Repair and Overhauling (MRO) facility in the upcoming Hyderabad International Airport at an investment of $20 million.

This will be the second MRO facility in India after Boeing’s announcement on an MRO facility in Nagpur. The equity holding between Lufthansa Technik and GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) for the MRO project is 75:25.
“The Indian aviation sector is buzzing with activity with new entrants and orders for over 400 aircraft being placed.

This is the right time to set base for a maintenance centre in India,” said Lufthansa Technik AG chairman (executive board) August W Henningsen. The two-bay facility will provide operation and maintenance services for small and medium-sized aircraft made by manufacturers like Airbus and Boeing.

“On full operations, the MRO facility will employ about 400 people. Considering the shortage of trained professionals in the sector in India, we will look at extensive training in our centre,” he said. However, he declined to state the cost benefit that Indian carriers can incur by using the MRO facility in India as against flying aircraft to countries like Singapore for MRO services.

Lufthansa Technik is not immediately looking at expanding the facility to accommodate larger aircraft like Airbus A380, though the Hyderabad international airport will be one of the first in the country with a landing facility for the aircraft. “We will decide on that after two years,” Mr Henningsen said.

The first flight from the Hyderabad International Airport will take off in March 2008 and the MRO facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2008 and operations will begin by early 2009. Lufthansa already has tie-ups with Air Deccan, Kingfisher, Jet Airways, Air Sahara and GoAir for MRO services.

“The MRO business takes time to break-even and we are not looking at immediate returns,” said Mr Henningsen, when quizzed on the time required for break-even.

Saturday, April 14, 2007
Source: Economic Times

Sector: Railways

1. Rlys to invite fresh bids for modernisation of stations
The Indian Railways has invited fresh bids from technical consultants for modernisation of 16 of its stations, including the one at New Delhi. All these stations are proposed to be made world class stations with all the standard facilities.

The Railways has cancelled its first station modernisation bidding process wherein it had qualified about seven companies based on technical evaluation, Railway Ministry sources said.

Earlier, the Railways had invited expressions of interests from consultants to advise it on the detailed design parameters and technical and legal aspects of the process to be adopted for modernising the New Delhi Railway Station.

Railways has already technically qualified seven firms for providing advisory services that include the Italy-based Grandi Stazioni SpA vIA, Chinese firm East China Architecture and Design Institute and the UK headquartered Mott Mac Donald.

Asked what changes were being contemplated at New Delhi Railway Station, considered the pilot project among the 16 stations selected for upgradation at world class, V N Mathur, soon after taking the charge as Member (Traffic), Railway Board, said Railways have selected a single Consultant now to advise on architecture and layouts of the station. Mathur, who is also the General Manager of Northern Railways said the entire set up of the station, including its waiting rooms, foot-steps at platform were being transformed.

However, sources said that Planning Commission has recently asked the Railways to define broad parameters only and let developers design the stations, as was done in the airport modernisation plan

Thursday, April 12, 2007
Source:PTI via Economic Times

Sector: Hotels & Restaurants

1. Starwood eyes expansion in India
Treating India as the most important market after China in Asia Pacific, Starwood Hotels & Resorts is targeting at doubling its properties from the current 19 over the next five years. Starwood is known for its globally popular brands such as Sheraton, Le Meridien and Westin, all of which have presence in India.

Explaining the company’s emphasis on India, Miguel Ko, president, Starwood Hotels & Resorts-Asia Pacific said, “India is the fastest growing Asia Pacific market for international visitor spending. With domestic travel rapidly growing, it is now easier to work with the Indian government and the business environment in general has shown significant improvement in the last few years. Our importance to the Indian market might even overtake China in a few years.”

ITC Hotels, which has used the Sheraton brand for 10 of its properties since 1979, today renewed its 3-decade old contract with Starwood to use its most premium brand, Luxury Collection, at seven hotels. Luxury Collection will be making its entry into India with an exclusive arrangement with ITC.

The seven ITC Sheraton properties that will be re-branded to Luxury Collection are ITC Maurya in Delhi, ITC Maratha and ITC Grand Central in Mumbai, ITC Sonar in Kolkata, ITC Windsor in Bangalore, ITC Kakatiya in Hyderabad and ITC Mughal in Agra.

Though Starwood’s contracts with ITC Hotels and others such as Vatika for Westin are franchise-based, it is looking at “putting equity on the ground”. “That is how serious we are,” Ko said.

Meanwhile, the ITC management has not ruled out the possibility of setting up new Luxury Collection hotels. “ITC Hotels has been granted Rs 5,000 crore for new projects. If an opportunity comes up for starting a Luxury Collection from the start, I am sure both Starwood and ITC will look at it keenly,” said YC Deveshwar, chairman, ITC.

While the co-branding franchise arrangement still needs to be vetted by the Foreign Investors Promotion Board, ITC said it would continue to own and manage all the seven hotel properties. Starwood would be responsible for marketing and distributing the Luxury Collection hotels overseas. Both companies are optimistic that re-branding would occur by the beginning of next month.

Nakul Anand, chief executive officer, ITC Hotels said that the impact of the re-branding on the hotels’ average room rates has to be still worked out. “Today, the rates are determined by market forces and the fact that demand is far greater than supply. We are still working on the economics of the upgrade,” he said.

The new contract also includes the re-branding of WelcomHotel New Delhi as a Sheraton, while the Chola and the Park in Chennai and the Rajputana in Jaipur will continue to retain their Sheraton connections.

Friday, April 13, 2007
Source: Business Standard  

2. Choice Hotels in deal for India hotels
Choice Hotels has entered into a deal with Royal Indian Raj International Corp to build at least 12,000 budget hotel rooms in India, Royal Indian Raj said on Thursday.

Royal Indian Raj said it entered into a contract with Choice Hotels India to build hotel rooms under the Comfort Inn, Quality, Sleep Inn and Clarion brands.

Thursday, April 12, 2007
Source: Reuters via Economic Times

3. Indian Hotels
Indian Hotels, owners of the Taj chain of resorts and hotels, is re-wiring its business strategy to ensure that one-third of its revenues comes from global acquisitions. Currently, overseas acquisitions account for around 20% of its revenues. After its three large acquisitions since 2005 — W Sydney hotel in Woolloomooloo, Sydney, Ritz Carlton in Boston and Campton Place in San Francisco — the company is eyeing the US, especially the west coast and other gateway cities like London, Paris, Frankfurt, Chicago, South East Asia, South Africa, China.

Domestically, its strategy is to re-develop and expand existing properties or set up greenfield hotels. Around 9,000 rooms is expected to be added to its current portfolio in the next one year. “We are doubling our inventory to 9,000 rooms across all our four categories — luxury, boutique, budget and service apartments,” said Indian Hotels MD Raymond Bickson. “The Taj property in Goa is expanding its current base and we are planning another hotel in Kumarakom in Kerala adjacent to our existing property,” Mr Bickson said. Growth in inbound tourism and a demand-supply mismatch across the country have driven room rates up by 20-25%, industry sources said.

The Rs 1,127-crore Taj Group established nearly 100 years ago, with R Krishnakumar at its helm, runs 59 hotels at 40 locations across India with an additional 16 international hotels. The hospitality major’s international focus has been in shoring up its luxury segment which now contributes as much as 75-80% of its revenue.

With travel on the rise and the addition of new rooms lagging, the global hotel industry is witnessing hectic M&A activity with investor interest ruling high, sources said. “We are focusing and expanding our domestic and international portfolio and selling properties that are identified as not the right fit in our portfolio,” added Mr Bickson. Its recent West Coast acquisition of Campton Place, funded primarily by debt is likely to be completed on May 1. Over the past few years, Indian Hotels has diversified into a number of new areas such as budget hotels (Ginger brand), service apartments (with Portman Holdings)and even safari lodges (with an African company).

With more and more Indians travelling abroad both for business and leisure and looking for a comfort zone, the presence of a familiar brand makes it to the top choice for the traveller. This works on the reverse too, when the international traveller visits India, industry sources said

Monday, April 09, 2007
Source: Economic Times

4. Marriott, Wyndham Add Asia Hotels as Travel Grows (Update2)
During a visit to Shanghai last month, toy salesman Wang Zhiyong and his wife stayed at a Courtyard by Marriott, one of dozens of new hotels in the city. "Three- and four-star hotels are affordable and quite accessible,'' the 36-year-old Wang, who's from the northern Shanxi province, said in an interview at the hotel. He paid 900 yuan ($116) a night for his room in the financial district. Since 2000, more than 35 hotels have opened in Shanghai alone, including the Courtyard where Wang stayed. The expansion into China, which has about 12,000 hotels, is part of a push by companies such as Marriott International Inc. and Wyndham Worldwide Corp. to double their rooms in Asia and take advantage of rising affluence and increased travel.

"You have a rapidly growing economy, an expanding middle class and investment in infrastructure that makes those markets a great opportunity,'' Wyndham Chief Executive Officer Stephen Holmes, who made a five-day trip to India last month to discuss hotel deals, said in an interview.

China and India are the most attractive Asian markets, hotel executives say. China's gross domestic product expanded 10.4 percent in the fourth quarter, making the country the world's fastest-growing major economy. India's economy grew 8.6 percent, the second-fastest. China already ranks among the top five countries in spending for business travel, according to the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council. India, now 18th in business travel, probably will rank among the top five in 10 years, while China may vault to No. 2 in tourism travel from No. 6 at present, the Council estimates.

`Geared to Penetrate'

"Every major international brand is geared to penetrate these markets,'' said Patrick Ford, president of Lodging Econometrics, a consulting company in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Industrywide, 481 hotels are under construction or planned for China, and 198 in India, up from 316 and 161 last September, Lodging Econometrics estimates. Another 283 hotels are under development in the rest of Asia, with Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam drawing the most interest, Ford said.

Wyndham franchises 11 hotels in India and has an agreement to open 10 more Ramada Inns in the country. In China, the Parsippany, New Jersey-based company operates or franchises 84 hotels under brands such as Days Inn, Super 8 and Howard Johnson. It expects to double the number of Super 8s to almost 90 in the next year.

Doubling Up
Bethesda, Maryland-based Marriott's chains, including Ritz- Carlton and Renaissance, have 39 hotels in China and India, with another 27 planned. Hilton Hotels Inc. has 13 full-service hotels in China and India and plans to double that number. The Beverly Hills, California-based company also plans to open another 75 in India through a joint venture, plus 25 Hilton Garden Inns, a lower-priced brand, in China.

London-based InterContinental Hotels Group Plc expects to double its Holiday Inns in China, to 125, in the next 22 months. The hotels' interest boils down to demographics, said Vasant Prabhu, chief financial officer of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., based in White Plains, New York.

China, with 1.3 billion people, is the world's most populous country, while India's population of 1.09 billion makes it the second largest. Income levels are rising in both countries, with per capita annual income up 87 percent, to $1,750, in China and 62 percent, to $730, in India from 2000 to 2005, according to the World Bank. China's urban incomes rose 12.1 percent in 2006.

Chinese Travelers
"If you thought Japanese travel in the '80s and '90s was big, can you imagine 300 million middle class people in China?'' Prabhu told investors at a conference in Naples, Florida, last month. "That's bigger than the population of the U.S., bigger than the population of the EU.''

Increasingly, Prabhu said, the travel is within countries and regions. "Ten years ago, two-thirds of hotel stays in China were from outside Asia,'' he said. "Today, two-thirds come from within Asia.''

Starwood has 31 hotels in China and 18 in India. The company plans to double its properties in China in the next two to three years, spokeswoman Nadeen Ayala said.

In China, much of the development is large luxury hotels in urban centers, with 68 percent of all new projects four- or five-star hotels, Ford said. An exception is Wyndham's economy Super 8 chain, which is benefiting from the Chinese belief that eight is a lucky number. "It's sort of a windfall for Wyndham,'' said Ford.
Evenly Distributed In India, the development is more evenly distributed. About half the projects are for mid-range and economy hotels that will cater to the growing number of software companies in the suburbs, Ford said.

"In terms of total hotel rooms, in the five-star category it would be about 35,000 to 40,000 but if you consider across all star categories it would be more than 100,000 rooms. On average 10,000 to 15,000 rooms are being added across the country every year,'' said R.K. Gupta, who oversees $68 million of assets at Credit Capital Asset Management in New Delhi.

One of the hurdles facing foreign hotel operators is finding real estate developers who can build hotels on time and within budget, said Amit Kapoor, an analyst at White Plains, New York-based Gabelli & Co., which owns shares of Starwood.
"Asia has a different regulatory environment, and they need partners who won't get caught in the bureaucracy,'' he said.
To surmount those obstacles, companies are opening Asian development offices, such as Hilton's in Shanghai, New Delhi and Mumbai, and staffing them with knowledgeable locals.

If they bear fruit, tourists like Wang and his wife will have even more hotel choices in the coming years.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Source: Bloomberg

5. As safe as a house(boat)
It's a dream holiday for anyone willing to spend as much as $500 (about R3 560) a day to float through the palm-fringed backwaters of India's southern Kerala state.

Traditional wooden dhows decorated like hotel rooms carry tourists on an idyll through what advertisers are dubbing "God's own country".

Since the Indian government made Kerala a highlight of its worldwide "Incredible India" campaign, tourist arrivals to the state have crossed 300 000 -- while the total for the country rose to a record 4,4-million in 2006, up 14% on the year before.

Overseas tourists spent $1,7-billion in the state alone last year visiting beaches and colonial-era coffee and tea plantations, viewing elephants and other wildlife, and floating on the houseboats, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

But tourism appears to be taking off faster than local authorities can ensure the industry is up to the task. Following a recent tragedy that left 18 dead, state regulators found many of the boats that are central to Kerala's tourism boom lacked fire equipment, licences and food permits.

Several vessels have been impounded and the owners of dozens of others plying the estuaries of the Arabian Sea town of Alappuzha fined.

"Our inspections of the houseboats in Alappuzha revealed that the majority of them do not have safety measures or valid licences to operate in the backwaters," said Govindan Sali, Kerala's inspector of boats. "We have impounded nine houseboats for operating in the backwaters without a valid licence and fined another 63 houseboats for not keeping safety measures in the boats."

Sali estimated that about 350 houseboats ply the backwaters. Since the end of February, he said, he had inspected about 200 and described most as makeshift.

Elaborate trips
Many of the vessels offer elaborate services including fresh seafood, cocktails and an enclosure where couples can watch elephants being transported on barges, and enjoy moonlit nights and soft breezes.

The trips last up to a week and offer travellers an opportunity to witness daily life in the region, famed for its spices, fruit, and seafood curries.

But Sali said the tourist image of the state is at stake, particularly after 15 children aged under 11 were killed in a boating accident in Kerala's most popular state-run park in mid-February. More than 50 children were packed into a boat intended for six people. They had no life jackets and none of the staff were trained in water safety.

"We have conducted raids after the boat tragedy in Thattekad reservoir that killed 15 schoolchildren and three teachers. We want to ensure the safety of tourists holidaying in Kerala," said Sali.

The focus of the inspections, Alappuzha, is 150km north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram, a hub for backwater cruises.

"Our inspection of the houseboats found that majority of the boat drivers do not have a valid licence," Sali added.

Passenger safety
The state's minister for water resources, NK Permachandran, said he had ordered the inspections to ensure that both houseboats and ferries were safe. "I don't want another tragedy to happen and we are taking precautions to ensure passenger safety," he said.

Tour operators, however, fear the inspections will scare away tourists and hurt the industry.

"It takes more than a year to get a licence. Hundreds of applications are pending for the last one year. Now they are punishing us for no fault of ours," complained Analan Sukumaran, an Alappuzha boat owner.

Sukumaran (35) said he converted his fishing boat into a houseboat last year to take advantage of the boom.

"I became a tour operator when I lost my job as a fisherman," he said. "We carry only one or two guests in our boats. Being a fisherman, I can swim and save my guests if any incident happens."

But Sali said that accidents do happen and many of the boat owners are unprepared.

Saturday, April14, 2007
Source: AFP via Mail& Guardian Online

Medical Tourism

1. Washington View: Medical tourism creates global competition
We often think of India as a magnet for customer call centers and high-tech development, but we don't think of India in terms of cutting edge health care.

Yet India, Thailand and even Cuba are luring visitors from around the world seeking reduced-cost medical treatment. In fact, many travel agents are marketing vacation packages featuring stays at foreign hospitals for major medical procedures. It's called medical tourism, and thousands are flying to India for everything from cosmetic surgery to hip-resurfacing, a procedure not allowed in the U.S. It is particularly attractive to Canadians who want to avoid long waiting lines caused by government-run health care. For Americans, as well, it has become a cheaper alternative.

Here's how it works.

Someone in need of open-heart surgery can schedule that procedure in one of India's best hospitals. In our country, that procedure would cost up to $150,000, but in India it may ring up at $10,000. As an added bonus, medical tourism companies will book the flights, in-country transportation, and postoperative vacations in a four- or five-star hotel. Patients can even take their spouse or close friend and still save a bundle.

India is the leading promoter of medical outsourcing, but it is not alone. It is rapidly becoming a multi-billion dollar industry. Apollo Hospital Enterprises, India's largest medical corporation, treated an estimated 60,000 patients from 2001 to 2004. Apollo is aggressively moving into medical outsourcing, providing overnight information to American insurance companies, hospitals and pharmaceutical corporations.

Apollo's business grew rapidly after India deregulated its economy and drastically cut bureaucratic barriers, allowing importation of modern medical equipment. Major investors poured money into Apollo and other certified medical providers, and the company now has 37 hospitals with more than 7,000 beds.
Another reason for the surge in medical tourism is India's top-notch education system. Long known for graduating computer programmers and engineers, it is now churning out an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 doctors and nurses each year. Those medical professionals are choosing to stay in India to practice, rather than emigrate to countries such as the United States.

Another plus for these countries is a big cost savings on malpractice insurance, according to the Pacific Research Institute, a San Francisco think tank. PRI analysis shows that doctors practicing beyond our borders pay as little as $4,000 a year for malpractice insurance while American doctors can pay 25 times that amount.

Drawbacks exist

PRI research shows the U.S. dollar is more valuable in underdeveloped countries where pay is low and patient numbers are high. If people are concerned about quality of care or patient safety, many of these hospitals have U.S. hospital accreditation and U.S. certified surgeons. With those stamps of approval, Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand and India experienced a 30 percent rise in American patients.

Cost savings have not escaped lawmakers' attention, either. In West Virginia, a bill is pending in the Legislature that would allow private insurance companies to provide incentives for consumers to have cheaper surgeries in accredited hospitals abroad.

Outsourcing medical services is no panacea. It has its problems:
 If a government or private medical health plan won't cover the costs, patients pony up the cash for the procedures.

Patients are usually in the hospitals for only a few days in a strange land far from their physician, family and friends. There is little follow-up care, and if there are complications or side effects, or if additional postoperative care is required, then the patient has to find that care back home.

Medical malpractice laws in many nations are weak. While our laws are costly, too aggressive and restrictive, foreign laws may be too lax.

Finally, despite all its problems, medical outsourcing and medical tourism are realities that we must deal with. We have to find ways to ensure that America's medical providers remain competitive. One way is to find the balance in the courts and regulatory system and fully realize that medicine, too, is a globally competitive industry.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Source: The Columbian via Yahoo news

Religious Tourism

Holistic Healing Service Providers

Travel characteristics of Indians

1. Indians put ghosts of 9/11 to rest

Six years after the World Trade Center towers were brought down, the Indian traveller finally seems to have got over the fear of Osama bin Laden. For the first time in as many summers, travel companies are flooded with enquiries from Indian tourists who want to see the Statue of Liberty and visit Hollywood.

The US has joined European countries such as the UK and France in the list of favourite summer destinations this year. According to travel industry sources, the US embassy has increased staff to clear the backlog of visa applications from Indian tourists in the last six to nine months. Travel companies, like Thomas Cook, too are giving more space to the US in their print campaigns.

"Travel to the US declined after 9/11 as people opted for destinations such as Europe or Australia for a holiday. In fact, none of the tour operators operated fixed departures for at least two years," said Karan Anand, director, contracting, Cox & Kings. "In the last one year the situation has improved considerably. We have a total of five different itineraries this summer. This year it would be a remarkably good year for tour operators promoting USA," he added.

"The incident was unfortunate and the impact was felt by the travel industry. Fortunately, the Indian traveller has now learnt to live with these kind of incidents," said Rajeev Nangia of Trac Representations, a representative body for overseas tourism boards.

Moreover, till a year back, there was a six-month wait-in period for interview for those applying for a US visa. "So if anyone had to plan a holiday it had to be done at least six months in advance. This proved to be a deterrent for tour operators to get aggressive,” said an industry official. "Things have changed now and the wait-in for interview as of now is only three to four weeks. This is a remarkable turnaround. This is another major factor why leisure travel to the USA is booming," the official added.

However, it might be some time before the US is able to compete with Europe as the number one destination. According to operators, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Scandinavian countries are the emerging travel joints. "In fact, of the 1.5 lakh flight seats to Europe every week, only about 20,000 have the UK tag on them. These new destinations are getting more numbers," said Mr Nangia

Friday, April 13, 2007
Source: Economic Times

Investment related

Travel and Tourism Support Industries …and much more

Policy Related

1. Filing time for O & P visas to US extended
In a welcome development for Indians seeking to work in the US, the Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced the extension of filing time for "O" and the "P" non-immigrant visas from six months to a year ahead of an event.

The "O" category provides admission to persons with extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, education, business or athletics, or those persons with extraordinary achievement in motion picture or television production.

The "P" category is for those entertainers and athletes who cannot qualify under the extraordinary ability standard for the "O" category.

Petitioners can now file "O" and "P" petitions under normal processing procedures up to one year before a scheduled event, competition or performance. USCIS is making the change through a final rule that was transmitted to the Federal Register today for publication on April 16, 2007.

Before the change, employers and agents were only allowed to file petitions six months in advance of their events. The short filing period often meant that case processing wasn't completed until or after the date the individual was needed.

"The decision to extend the timeline results from comments received after USCIS first proposed the rule in April 2005. Those comments, from performing arts organisations, educational institutions, the sports industry, members of Congress and the general public, overwhelmingly supported the proposal to extend the petition filing time from six months to a year," the agency has said

Thursday, April 12, 2007
Source: PTI via Economic Times

2. ENIT declares India as ‘focus country’ for 2007
India has been declared as the `focus country’ by ENIT (the Italian State Tourist Board in India) for the year and has planned a series of initiatives to promote and market the destination in India.

Italy-India: Two Countries, One Unique Opportunity, was the theme of the seminar organised by ENIT in New Delhi recently. The seminar was the first in the series of initiatives and was attended by over 250 tour operators and travel agents from across the country. An exclusive DVD was released at the seminar, which highlighted the cultural and tourist spots of Italy and discussed visa, flights and other related issues. Francesco Rutelli, deputy prime minister and minister for tourism and culture of Italy was the chief guest at the seminar. On his first visit to India Rutelli promised that henceforth, tourism would be the prime focus of the Italian government and that they would take necessary steps to meet the increasing needs of a young and growing market like India. Amitabh Kant, joint secretary, ministry of tourism; C V Prasad, president, TAAI; Praveen Chugh, president, TAFI; N K Nayar, president, Indo Italian Chamber of Commerce; Eugenio Magnani, director general, ENIT and H E Antonio Armellini, Italian Ambassador to India were the guests of honour. Special invitees included Zubin Karkaria, coo and managing director, Kuoni Group, India, Ashwini Kakkar, chairman, Mercury Travels, Sudhir Patil, director, Kesari Tours and Yogesh Selarka, COO and director, Raj Travels. Fabio Bigotti, general manager, Alitalia and representatives from Eurofly and the Italian Embassy also participated in the seminar.

In his opening address Magnani informed the gathering that this year ENIT will focus more on marketing and promotional activities in India, which is considered as a potentially emerging market. Armellini stated that the embassy would look at simplifying visa procedures in accordance with the directives of the Schengen rules. In their presentation both Chugh and Prasad presented the potential and growth of the Indian outbound market, highlighting the growth of the market in the last few years. They also suggested that Italy should focus on marketing and promotional activities, including tie–ups with TAAI and TAFI for travel related events, increase air connectivity between the two countries and to simplify visa procedures.

Friday, April 13, 2007
Source: Indian Express

Service Providers

1. Travel whizzes on online highways
Travel wizards don’t come in long, flowing capes anymore. They come at the click of travel sites like Makemytrip, Yatra, Cleartrip, TravelGuru, HiBye, and Travelocity. We’ve seen their ads flying across our TV screen.

However, we don’t realise the juicy lucre these journeys promise:  The online travel market is a cool $460mn and is slated to grow to a $2bn market by 2008, says Sachin Bhatia, marketing chief at Makemytrip.com.

Little wonder that VC funds from Norwest Ventures to Kleiner Perkins are eagerly backing travel sites. A goldmine called e-commerce will help these sites fly high. Says Ashwin Damera, founder and owner of TravelGuru: Online travel is rapidly gaining popularity in India and by 2010 will be a force to reckon with.

E-ticketing and e-travel in India took off as a result of the efforts by Indian Railways in late 2004, and good deals offered by new-generation budget airlines which sell most of their stock through the Internet.

An estimated 7,000 tickets with an average price of Rs 1,500 each are sold each day on the Indian Railways website.

Brand strategies to travel fast
On such crowded freeways, everyone’s promising the best online deals at the best rates. Value-added convenience is the big motif though. At least two of the travel portals had high-decibel multi-media campaigns running.

Cleartrip’s ad is set in an airplane where the airhostess is shooting off safety instructions. Superman appears out of nowhere and hands his cape to the hostess. Krrish is around the same airplane and he’s reading a book titled ‘The Fear of Heights.’ The hostess puts on the light for him. Spiderman asks for a drink; he gets one. Batman needs a cushion…

The brand’s USP? Sandeep Murthy, CEO, Cleartrip says: While prices remain static and the same across all travel portals, the only differentiator remains value-added deals and the experience of the portal. Cleartrip’s talks about making travel simple and very cost-effective. Says Murthy: ``Our deals and airfares are so exciting, even superheroes can’t resist them. Our strength lies in value-added deals (such as hassle free combination flights). We are the only site to give you an all-inclusive price for your search immediately on the results page.’’ They consider  total number of people traveling, taxes and fees, and give customers a single all inclusive price, unlike other sites where prices keep jumping higher as customers proceed down the booking path. Searches on their site reveal results in around 10 seconds, adds Murthy.

Makemytrip’s branding initiatives are more around its low-fare guarantee and they will continue this in the next fiscal. Says Bhatia: We are focusing heavily on enhancing our customer service and nothing builds a brand better than providing superior service and hence making your customers your brand proponents.

Yatra vaunts convenience. It has had actor Boman Irani in its ad:  Irani’s family friends are all globe-trotting since they are hooked on to Yatra. Lo! Boman logs on too. Dhruv Shringi, founder and executive director of Yatra says, “Our campaign is centred on the convenience of online travel. I think that our kind of advertising doesn’t just talk about Yatra in isolation, but also about the growing online travel space.’’

Marketing gimmicks wouldn’t do much for this category; the focus needs to be on value-added services, over and above the cheapest fare, they say. Value-aded services could include a review of hotels, or of a particular destination. You also need to have an intuitive consumer interface, adds Shringi. While competitors are spending crores on mass media, TravelGuru prefers to forge huge deals with airlines and hotels to offer a complete package. Damera from TravelGuru says, “Our baseline communicates our core mantra-Great Deals Always. We focus on helping customers find the best options for their travel.’’

One-stop services click well with online buyers
Besides, smart airfare options and deals, TravelGuru’s biggest differentiator is its strong leadership position in Hotel & Vacation Packages offerings. They say they offer instantly bookable stay options with over 3000 hotels across 180 cities in India and 72,000 hotels across seven continents, the largest any online travel company can do currently.

TravelGuru recently announced a strategic tie up with carrier Air Deccan.
The tie-up will enable Air Deccan passengers to make reservations in 2,500 hotels including 1500 economy ones through the website. 
Capt. G.R. Gopinath, managing director, Air Deccan says, “Partnership with a leading travel portal like TravelGuru will bolster Air Deccan’s ancillary revenue creation, which has always been a focus area of our operations.’’
Their passengers will have the advantage of high value for money deals from quality hotels across India. This will be a special edge for those booking in  the metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, and Kolkata, where the escalating cost of hotel rates is among the highest in the world, adds Gopinath.
Have computer, will travel. Click on.

Friday, April 13, 2007  
Source: Daily News and Analysis

2. Travel portal Arzoo.com opens B'lore office
Online travel portal Arzoo.com, promoted by Sabeer Bhatia, is expanding its business by starting its Bangalore operations.

Headquartered in Mumbai, this is the fourth branch office of Arzoo.com, a "one stop shop for travel, where customers get all their needs taken care of when planning a trip", it said in a statement.

Thursday, April 12, 2007
Source: PTI via Economic Times

3. Dragoman Overland Offer Unique Family Adventure Tour in India
Families searching for varied adventure travel in India should certainly consider Dragoman Overland's brand new family adventure travel package to India this October half term. Dragoman are the first company to offer true overland truck adventure travel suitable for children aged 7 and upwards, and following the success of their African family packages, India is the next country to be opened up for family adventure travel. With a tour featuring camel and elephant riding, tiger safaris, rickshaw tours, a unique farmstay, cultural exploration and enough comfortable mini palace accommodation to take the rough edges off India adventure travel, this will be ideal for travelers of all ages.

"It's a package we've been working on for some time, and we're very excited about it" said Charlie Hopkinson, marketing director at Dragoman Overland, "We know from the popularity of our African family adventure travel packages that there is real demand for family overland truck based travel that is not as physically demanding but still as memorable as our traditional packages. Having brought true overland truck travel to families visiting Africa (check out our family holidays at http://www.dragoman.com/destinations/familyoverland.php ) it's great that we can now offer the culture and wildlife of India to younger people, whilst still using our popular Dragoman Overland trucks."

The tour begins in the colourful heart of India with a city tour amongst the labyrinthine streets of Old Delhi and the leafy boulevards of Delhi. Leaving the hustle and bustle of city life behind, Dragoman's India adventure travel tour then heads for the Rajasthan Desert where families spend two nights at the Mandawa Desert Resort, a village of mud brick cottages. Here, travelers can enjoy camel rides through the spectacular desert scenery and village walks in local Rajasthani communities, while back at the resort there's an inviting pool in which to cool off in. Travelers are then allowed to see the 'real India' during a unique farmstay in the countryside surrounding Jaipur, with Dragoman's local Rajasthani guide and his family. A city tour of Jaipur is next, followed by a traditional evening with music and an overnight stay in a small Maharajah's palace in the centre. A guided visit to the mighty Amber Palace, a classic fusion of Mughal and Hindu architecture situated outside of the city, is also included.

For the next three nights, the India adventure travel trip focuses on Agra and its surrounding areas, and feature a guided rickshaw ride through sleepy Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary with an overnight stay near the sanctuary, a two-night hotel stay in Agra with a rickshaw city tour, a guided tour of the Taj Mahal and Red Fort, plus a visit to the royal city of Fatehpur Sikri. No adventure travel in India is complete without taking in the Himalayas and Dragoman heads there next through Uttar Pradesh to the Himalayan foothills and Corbett National Park. During a two-night stay in one of the park's charming cottages, exciting tiger and wildlife safaris by jeep and elephant back top the itinerary. The adventure travel in India concludes by returning to Delhi for a celebratory Indian feast for the entire group - with enough chapatis to feed a Maharajah's elephant!
This family adventure tour in India costs just £450 p/p for adults, and £382 p/p for children aged 7-15 years, plus kitty USD$440 (~£228) which includes transport aboard Dragoman Overland's rugged but comfortable customised Mercedes Benz truck, family accommodation in fun small hotels, small palaces, cottages and farm camp, some meals and the expertise of Dragoman Overland's two person crew. International flights are not included but are available through Dragoman Overland.

About Dragoman Overland:
Dragoman Overland (http://www.dragoman.com) has over forty years experience running adventure travel and overland trips across the continents of Africa, Asia, North America, Central America and South America. They run overland adventure travel and overland tourism with absolute expertise and professionalism. Five years ago, Dragoman and Encounter Overland merged into today's Dragoman Overland.

Dragoman Overland has a combined fleet of over 35 Dragoman Overland and Encounter overland trucks around the world. They have pioneered more routes then any other adventure travel operator with an administration, training and maintenance base in Suffolk, England. Their family adventure travel packages are unique because of their overland truck based transport. The adventure travel and overland tourism company is renowned for their trips and commitment to responsible tourism, benefiting the local people of the countries they visit.

Thursday,April 12, 2007
Source: prweb.com

4. Thomas Cook inducts four senior execs
After two high-profile acquisitions last year, travel and forex major Thomas Cook (TCIL) is now consolidating its business by bringing four senior-level executives into its fold. At least two of the positions are believed to have been newly-formed.

The top-level appointments include Vinayak Purohit, who will take over as executive director, finance. Coming from a prominent media house, Mr Vinayak will take over from Robin Banerjee who had quit the company late last year. The company is also set to consolidate its travel business, which includes outbound, inbound and corporate segments, under new head Nalini Udai Gupta.

She will head the travel business and will be a director at Travel Corporation of India, which was acquired by TCIL in an all-cash deal worth Rs 180 crore earlier this year. Ms Gupta comes from South African Airways and was earlier with Air-India as the regional head for the Indian subcontinent and South Asia.

Industry sources added that Rajeev Kale will join TCIL and handle the company’s emerging incentive business in India. “The segment is coming up in a big way and the company has created this new opening to focus on incentive business,” said industry sources. Mr Kale comes from TCIL’s industry peer, Cox & Kings.

Vijay Sethi will take over as the head of the service quality & customer care department. “As the number of customers increase, their expectations also increase. This designation has been newly created,” said sources close to the company. Mr Sethi moves in from Jet Airways.

The latest executive appointments are expected to come into effect from the end of this month or the beginning of May, said sources. TCIL officials were unavailable for comment. The company’s stock was up 0.06% at Rs 496 on the BSE on April 5. The latest appointments come after TCIL saw several of its top people, including Mr Banerjee, leave the organisation late last year.

Monday, April 09, 2007
Source: Economic Times

5. EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2007 will take place at the Business Design Centre in London 23–24 May..
EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2007 will take place at the Business Design Centre in London 23–24 May. Hundreds of key decision makers from Europe’s most successful travel companies have already been registered. The event, established 10 years ago is the world’s biggest event for online travel professionals. Spread over 2 days with a bonus 3rd day on 22nd May the summit is designed to get you up to speed on the latest trends and innovations to optimise your travel distribution strategy. A combination of keynote sessions, interactive tracks, organised networking as well as a large exhibition of technology and marketing solutions providers will all be there to give you the in depth knowledge, ideas and market intelligence you need to save money and ensure your company’s success in the turbulent year ahead.

Thursday, April 12, 2007
Source: Eye for Travel

6. Abacus launches Abacus SmartPrice in Indian market
Abacus International has announced the launch of its new product for the Indian market called Abacus SmartPrice, which is regarded to be a new airfare pricing system that claims to boost agents competency.

The solution claims to provide travel agents the mode to source the best possible fare by delivering more options, while improving efficiency of pricing by over 50 per cent. Commenting on the new product, Albert Hong, its international director (Fares and Pricing), said, “It has been designed after extensive research into the needs of corporate and retail travel agents across Asia Pacific. Abacus SmartPrice will allow our network of more than 15,000 travel agency locations to search for the best fares with far greater reach and accuracy than existing solutions, accessing up to 650 qualifying fares from up to 32 airline carriers from a single enquiry.”

Powered by a new pricing logic developed by Abacus and its technology partner Sabre at a cost of over US $100 million, Abacus SmartPrice delivers the lowest applicable fare as it searches in both private and public tariffs, to deliver a choice that includes net and published fares. A new targeted low fare search feature allows travel agents to focus solely on the cheapest possible price with alternate itinerary options.

According to Viveck Verma, managing director, Abacus Distribution Systems (India), “Previously agents had to rely heavily on their own knowledge to search for possible alternative routes and carriers. By contrast, Abacus SmartPrice sources all the relevant alternatives and displays them in a single integrated screen; taking out the guesswork and speeding up the fare pricing process. We are also looking to spread our reach to remote regions of the country and this product will go a long way in helping us build our team and increase our user network.”

Friday, April 13, 2007
Source: Indian Express