Tourism and Travel Trends in India:

Weekly News Related to Travel Industry in India

                                                                      - Chillibreeze Business Research Team

Travel and Transportation Infrastructure
Niche
Travel and Tourism Support Industries …and much more
Travel Characteristics of Indians

Travel and Transportation Infrastructure

Sector: Aviation

1. Swiss International Airlines to introduce daily service between Delhi and Zurich

Switzerland's national carrier, Swiss International Air Lines or SWISS will introduce a new daily service between Zurich and Delhi with Airbus A330 aircraft on November 25, 2007.

Delhi becomes the second destination in India, along with Mumbai and passengers now have a choice of 14 weekly flights between India and Switzerland.

Speaking on the occasion, Jean-Philippe Benoit, General Manager SWISS said, "We are delighted to be announcing the daily service from Delhi. It feels good be back after a gap of almost four years. The increased demand for travel to Switzerland has enabled us to add Delhi to our existing network. Combined with our partner Lufthansa, customers will now have a choice of 59 weekly departures from India to our three European hubs at Zurich, Frankfurt and Munich."

According to Federico Sommaruga, Director - India, Russia/CIS, GCC and Emerging Markets, Switzerland Tourism, "India is an important market for Switzerland. Recent trends have revealed that not only is Switzerland viewed as a top leisure destination but also a value-for-money destination with the incentive segment."

"The decision to launch a daily service from Delhi will further enhance travel to Switzerland and we will now focus on developing products that will interest travelers from Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan," Sommaruga added.

As part of its on-going effort to increase tourism between India and Switzerland, the Switzerland Tourism Board is hosting Switzerland Travel Experience, a comprehensive program that focusses on travel trade in Mumbai and Delhi on October 22nd and October 24th.

The Switzerland Travel Experience will include representation by various tourism boards from Switzerland and will showcase latest tourism products in Switzerland, thus offering a glimpse of what tourists could expect.

Switzerland Travel Experience is one of the many events that are meant to educate the travel trade through presentations and interactive workshops. This event serves as a good platform to talk about the latest Swiss tourism products and also to renew old contacts with the travel trade and media. In India, Switzerland Tourism has been doing this every year for the past 11 years.

SWISS serves 43 European and 28 intercontinental destinations with a fleet of 73 aircraft. In addition to its own operations, codeshare flights between Switzerland and 15 other cities are also available with its partner airlines. As a member of Star Alliance, SWISS offers a global network that comprises 855 destinations in 155 countries.

In India, SWISS has its own office located in Mumbai with representations in major cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Pune and Vadodara.

Headquartered in Zurich, with two offices in India in New Delhi and Mumbai, Switzerland Tourism maintains business partnerships with various local Swiss regional tourism boards, Swiss mountain peaks and other attractions in Switzerland and with tour operators and travel agents in India. Main functions of the tourism board is promotion of Switzerland through tour operators and media.
October 16th, 2007
Source: Malaysia Sun

Niche

Medical Tourism

1. Cure and tour — Chennai emerging major hub
If it is true that India is fast emerging as a hub of medical tourism, then, indeed it is also true that Chennai is at the head of that revolution. Chennai has never been lacking in multi-speciality hospitals and they were smart to see the potential much before the rest of the nation did. This meant, Chennai aggressively promoted the concept of medical tourism, serving not only domestic tourists but also those from the rest of the world coming over to be healed.

Never before have medicine and tourism coalesced so smoothly to make such a good business. For medical tourism is not just about treating people for their ailments, but also giving them a slice of the city they have come to — in this case, Chennai. Some of the early players in Chennai include the Apollo Hospital group, MIOT Hospitals, Madras Medical Mission, Sankara Nethralaya, Sri Ramachandra University Hospital, Vijaya Hospital and this list is, by no means, exhaustive. Since the early years, a number of hospitals — speciality centres — offering unique options to patients at prices much below what is being charged in the large part of the Western world have sprung up.

With every hospital, however, there is a clear pattern — in terms of the countries from which “patient tourists” hail. The African countries, West Asia and Afghanistan keep blipping up on the radar. Indian expats have begun coming back home to get complex surgeries or procedures done.

“The potential of Chennai is very good as a health tourism hub. The number of patients we are getting has doubled in the last five years. ,” says PVA Mohan Das, managing director of MIOT Hospitals. Chennai’s advantage is its position on the global map and ease of accessibility, besides the presence of many specialists and care centres, offering service at affordable rates. “Our aim is to make Tamil Nadu a global healing destination,” says M. Rajaram, Director of Tourism and managing director of Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation.

The TTDC had identified a voluntary non-profit medical organisation Meditour India as nodal agency for promoting medical tourism in the State, involving medical practitioners, tourism department staff and medical department nominees. A special medical tourism desk has been set up at the TTDC office on Wallajah Road. Tourist guide K. N. Anandhi, who often accompanies foreigners seeking medicare in India, says that with the right kind of impetus from the State Government medical tourism could scale to even greater heights.

Airlines often make special arrangements for medical patients, from assistance in disembarking from aircrafts to arranging for ambulance services at the airport. International airlines such as Emirates have even made arrangements to provide seriously ill patients with oxygen supply during travel. For travel within India, airlines such as Air India offer concessions in fares. For passengers requiring stretcher service, nine seats on the aircraft will be removed to accommodate the patient.

Madras Medical Mission (MMM) gets its overseas patients mainly from Afro-Asian countries through private-public partnership programmes. MMM’s chief executive officer A. John Punnoose said it received patients from Iraq, Nepal, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Africa and Afghanistan. The hospital has a tie-up with either the health ministries of respective countries or social organisations that route the patients to Chennai.

While patients come in shopping for all kinds of treatments, renal failure, and cardiac, orthopaedic, fertility, and paediatric problems are some of the more sought-after interventions. However, no such list can be exhaustive, considering the wide range of complaints people come to Chennai seeking treatment for and the rapid advancements in technology. Madras ENT Research Foundation managing director Mohan Kameswaran said patients from Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Kenya, East Africa and Europe came for specialised surgeries such as cochlear implants and tracheal stenosis, apart from routine surgeries and treatment for voice disorders.

Chennai’s Apollo Hospitals receives about 20,000 international patients every year, of which over 2,000 come as medical tourists. International patients are referred by doctors in countries such as Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Mauritius. In Guyana Indian referral doctors refer patients to India. The hospital has tied up with over 10 international insurance companies, has third party administrators in some countries and in some others it has set up office too.

It has also tied up with SOS International and Emergency Assistance, Japan, to airlift sick patients and bring them to India for treatment. In countries such as Oman and Mauritius, Apollo has tied up with the Health Ministries. Medical tourists come for elective surgeries. Birmingham hip resurfacing surgery is the preferred treatment in countries such as the U.K., the U.S. and Canada. Patients who have been suggested hip replacement surgery seek Chennai for resurfacing surgery, said Jithu Jose, Manager, International Patient Services at Apollo Hospitals. Chennai Medical Tourism, a fledgling division of Chennai Marketing Services, networks with doctors more than hospitals.

R. Sathish, the division’s manager, said, “Some Sri Lankan patients cannot afford the high-end hospitals. A doctor, who may also consult at a smaller hospital, will treat them there.” After treatment, the families of patients usually take a break. City tours and Puducherry or Mahabalipuram trips are popular. Some patients have even started combining business trips with treatment. Recently, a Japanese patient, who was on a work-related trip to Chennai, opted for kidney dialysis, said a medical tourism agent.
October 16th, 2007
Source: The Hindu

Others

1. Agri-tourism gets CII, Yes Bank backing

Agriculture and tourism will soon walk hand-in-hand in Uttar Pradesh. If the first indications of the joint ongoing study by the Confederation of Indian Industries(CII) and Yes Bank are taken into consideration, the scope of agri-tourism in the state is very promising. The study, which aims at tapping both the inland as well as the over 4 million overseas tourists who visit India every year, is in its final phases and will be submitted to the state government in December.

The concept is to tap the vast market of inland urban tourists who want to take a break from a mechanical life and enjoy the peace and tranquility of rural life in its natural abundance. Also, there are NRIs, who harbour a strong nostalgia for returning to their roots on their visits home and their curiosity to know how the rural landscape has changed after they had left over the years.

"The tourists who come to India will like to partake the culture that makes India such a hot tourist destination, said Sanjeev Chaturvedi, CII head in Uttar Ptadesh, "In the first phase, we will like to add on those foreign tourists who have come to visit India. Say for example, if a tourist has come to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, we will first try to add him on to this agri-tourism concept by suggesting that instead of seeing the Taj and returning back to Delhi, he can stay overnight at a nearby village and enjoy the environment. Real India, as we know, resides in the villages. We can also offer to show him around in the vicinity, arrange for a cultural activity and showcase our local handicrafts too. We can take him around to nearby places of interest, like for example, Firozabad, which is famous for its glass industry. Once these regular tourists are pegged on to this concept, we can start the second phase in which we can plan and market scheduled packaged itineraries for them."

Agra and the Taj are just an example. The study is seeing whether the same pattern can be replicated elsewhere. For example, tourists who come to visit Lucknow can be offered to stay in the midst of thick orchards of Malihabad, which can be a dream holiday. Other important places of tourist interest in the state like Meerut, Allahabad, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Kanpur, Mathura, Jhansi etc, all can be worked out on the same lines, feels Chaturvedi. Along with its knowledge partner, Yes Bank, the CII is working on making the concept popular by roping in the state tourism department, the foreign embassies, travel agents and tour operators.
October 19th, 2007
Source: Indian Express

2. Coming soon to India: ticket to a space ride

Mountaineering, skydiving and rafting are passe. It's time for all Indian adventure tourism enthusiasts to don a spacesuit and whoosh off to a weightless state at thrice the speed of sound. Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, a global commercial space tourism group, Tuesday entered the Indian market with an eye to woo Indians out to space - albeit at a fee of $200,000 for a two-hour ride.

Virgin Galactic, in collaboration with Deluxe Travel and G.D. Goenka World Travel, has opened its India office in New Delhi and will act as a facilitator for Indians to book tickets to space.

The spaceship will be launched at a height 50,000 feet above earth and on release from the mother craft will take a vertical trajectory at three times the speed of sound.

Carolyn Wincer, head of astronaut sales of Virgin Galactic, told reporters that nearly 300 people including four Indians have bought tickets to travel on the spaceship.

'India is a growing market and we are hopeful that people who are not astronauts will venture into space via our commercial spaceships,' Wincer said.

She said four Indians have already booked their tickets and one of them is in the top 100 list of voyagers-to-be. The Spaceship 2, as the commercial flight has been named, will be ready for a test run in January 2008.

Santhosh George Kulangara, an Indian based in the US, has booked a ticket to experience space in the first year of the commercial operation of this adventurous venture.

'It will take at least 18 months to start commercial operations. Initially the spaceship will fly once a week, taking six tourists on board. In the second year of operation we may go for two flights a day,' Wincer told IANS.

The mother ship carrying the spaceship will fly to 50,000 feet and then the rocket will be switched on. In 90 seconds the flight will reach a height of 110 km from 50,000 feet (16 km).

The flight will last around two hours including a period of weightlessness.

'The tourists will have the opportunity to leave their seats and enjoy the pleasure of weightlessness (micro gravity) for a period of four to five minutes,' said Bernhard Stingl, a joint managing director of Deluxe Travel Europe.

People with a healthy heart and lungs will be able to go on this voyage. Authorities explained that since these are short duration flights, tourists would not face space sickness. 'Each flight will carry two pilots and tourists will undergo a three-day training under micro gravity situation to get accustomed to the space situation,' said Wincer. Every passenger will have access to large windows to enjoy the amazing views of up to approximately 1,000 miles in any direction and the curvature of the earth, authorities explained. They said the spaceship would adopt unique wing feathering technology to slow and control re-entry and thus help in smooth landing on earth.

Extending good wishes to Virgin Galactic, Aviation Minister Praful Patel said: 'I am sure with disposable income increasing among Indians, many will go to space. The adventure spirit of Indians will get a further fillip by venturing into space via commercial spaceships.'
October 16th, 2007
Source: IANS

Travel and Tourism Support Industries …and much more

Service Providers

1. Expedia, Travelocity ready India operations

The world’s largest online travel provider, Expedia Inc., which makes online bookings worth $20 billion (Rs79,400 crore) a year on its Expedia.com travel portal, will start its Indian operations early next year.

Bellevue, Washington-based Expedia, which was originally promoted by software major Microsoft in 1996, is starting an exclusive website for India to facilitate online purchases of tickets for domestic and international travel. The company offers a choice of more than 80,000 hotels across the globe.

Expedia’s plans for the Indian online travel space, already crowded by struggling domestic start-ups, coincides with the consolidation by another international player, Travelocity.com LP, here. Travelocity.com, which had started hotel bookings in India in March, will start selling airline tickets on the Internet by December, a month before Expedia.com.

Online travel agents, better known as OTAs, are Internet-based travel agents that help customers in booking airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruises, vacation packages and other services online.

Leading Indian OTAs are MakeMyTrip (India) Pvt. Ltd, Yatra Online Pvt. Ltd and ezeego1 Travels &Tours Pvt. Ltd , all three of which run eponymous travel portals, and Travelguru.com. Besides Expedia.com and Travelocity.com, other leading global OTAs include Priceline.com and Hotwire.com.

“The total travel spend in India (including hotels) is estimated at $46 billion. Out of this, 3% is done through OTAs. With this kind of growth, the travel spend is expected to grow sevenfold and the share for OTAs will shoot up to $5 billion by 2010,” said Vish A. Viswanathan, vice-president, business development, at Sabre Holdings, the parent company of Travelocity. Worldwide, the total spending on travel is estimated at $1 trillion and 25% of this done through the Internet.

Executives at Indian OTAs— mostly financed by venture capital funds—while attending a seminar organized here by Eyefortravel, a global online publisher focusing on distribution, marketing and technology developments in the travel and tourism industries, admitted they are losing money and hoped that the sector would turn profitable in the next two to three years. “We will be starting our own website in India shortly. We have the strength of our international experience and exposure. Based on that, we will build our Indian operations with a long-term view,” said Sharat Dhall, managing director for India at Expedia.

“We are very much aware about the challenges, including existing players, less Internet penetration and broadband connectivity. But timing and pricing are going to be the critical factors,” he added. The response of Himanshu Singh, managing director (India) of Travelocity, “More competition, more fun.” was succinct:

Reflecting the views of domestic players, Neelu Singh, chief operating officer with ezeego1, noted that a new set of travellers are emerging with the boom in the travel market, who have started opting for online purchases of air tickets and hotel reservations.

According to Naresh Prabhu R., business analyst with Blue Star Infotech Ltd, a provider of travel technology solutions, and part of the Blue Star Group, domestic online firms need to heavily invest in their IT infrastructure to compete with global players and should explore international travel prospects, which are not currently tapped at all.

Cape Town-based online travel provider Travelstart.co.za was planning to start operations in India by the end of this year. “But we have decided to stay back for the time being after seeing the mad rush in the Indian online travel scene. We may test the market with some online marketing tools initially,” said Stephan Ekbergh, chief executive officer of Travelstart.

“I don’t know when we can enter the Indian market,” he added. Agreed Gurjit Singh Ahuja, executive director of JourneyMart, an OTA that is a division of New Delhi-based Interzign Solutions Pvt. Ltd: “There is insanity in the market. We are managing to break even now, though we were among the first to start an online travel agency concept in 2000.”
But there is no stopping new OTAs from entering the market. Hyderabad-based Travelspice.in, funded by a Chicago-based venture capital fund, will start operations shortly. And, a Belgium company, Gateway NV, and New Delhi-based Belair Travel & Cargo (P) Ltd are joining hands to start another travel portal in India.

“All travel agents in India are getting into online space every second day. We will be strictly focusing only on premium airlines in India, with international travel facilitation in mind,” said Michael Jain, director of business development at Belair
October 17th, 2007
Source: Livemint.com

2. Finnish tourism partners with Raj
The Finnish Tourist Board has tied up with the tour operator Raj Travel World to offer specially designed winter tour packages to the much-talked about, but yet unexplored areas in Finland. Sven Hansen, the board's regional manager, said, "India is the fastest growing market to Finland and in view of this we are very hopeful of things to come with our affiliation with Raj." With this association, the board hopes to sell Finland as a standalone destination.

According to Lalit Sheth, chairman and managing director of Raj Travel World, the packages have been tailored for Indian travellers who are looking for a different holiday experience. Although travel to Northern Europe has gained popularity in the past couple of years, tourism to Finland, Denmark and Norway is still picking up. The number of registered overnights from India to Finland however has been on the rise, from 17,708,66 in 2005 to 22,860,43 in 2007. Keeping this in mind, Raj has decided to offer five and seven night tour packages at a cost of Rs 1,36,000 and Rs 1,55,999, respectively. The tours are slated to begin this December.

The quickest route into the country is through Finnair's Mumbai-Helsinki or Delhi-Helsinki connection. To enhance a visitor's experience, Raj even plans to depute Indian chefs in all associated hotels and set up an Indian restaurant in Rovaniemi, the heart of Lapland.
October 2007
Source: Express travel world

3. DOTW to drive Asian regional growth through India HQ
International holidays' wholesaler, Destinations of the World (DOTW), will drive its Asian regional growth strategy and targets through its Indian office, which will now serve as its headquarters for the South and South East Asia. The development, according to the company CEO and MD, Rajeev Duggal, is particularly significant given that DOTW has had an Indian presence for little over two years. Recently, the company introduced its proprietary reservation platform in India as part of its worldwide launch.

"The turnover from India needs to be among the largest in the world - that is the objective and this management decision was taken in view of that. We have a call centre in Gurgaon that will service Asian, as well as the other international markets. Also, we will drive our domestic growth strategy out of India. And, by domestic, I mean regional tourism, given the proximity of the Asian destination, there could be a European style tourism economy, wherein tourists travel from one country to another, but it is as simple and affordable as a domestic trip," said Duggal.

The roadmap to set up DOTW's regional Asian headquarters will also involve opening more metro offices in areas such as Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chennai. Duggal also expects foreign exchange remittance by way of revenue for the Indian office to increase substantially. "At present, we are also talking to Low Cost Carriers (LCCs), especially SpiceJet, in order to couple our domestic product in the mid-market with their seat inventory. We have already been working with some of the Full Service Carriers (FSCs). The airline, LCC or FSC, is a principal, through whom we can drive an effective distribution strategy as part of our domestic thrust," he maintained.
October 17, 2007
Source: Travel Biz Monitor

Events
1. Eyefortravel plans to target niche segments in 2008
The second edition of Travel Distribution India, conducted by the eyefortravel Group, was held in Mumbai from October 16-17, 2007. The event attracted 280 delegates as against 250 industry players that attended the event last year. After hosting two successful editions of the event, the company is now looking to host the event at a bigger level. "We are planning to host the Travel Distribution India, 2008, in Mumbai again but it will be somewhere in late November. We are targeting atleast 300-350 delegates for the event and though travel distribution will definitely remain as our focus, we will look at other important channels of the online travel industry," informed Simon Carkeek, Director, eyefortravel.

Elaborating on the new areas that the company plans to focus on during the next year, Carkeek said, "We are currently researching on new areas in the Indian online travel market that would be of use to our customers, including online marketing and revenue management among other things. Once we identify these, we would look at organising events for each of the niche areas across the country."

Also, looking at the increasing response that the exhibition has been witnessing, the company is planning to have a more structured exhibition format for the next year. It will be held as a full-fledged event alongside the conference and will be open to the trade while the conference will be restricted to the delegates. The plans are currently being worked upon and the new format will be similar to that of the events organised by eyefortravel in Singapore and London. That apart, the company is looking at enhancing its presence in new markets - Eastern Europe and Russia by this year-end and Latin America and Dubai in 2008.
October 18, 2007
Source: Travel Biz Monitor

Travel Characteristics of Indians

1. South new hot spot for domestic tourists

If you're planning a holiday over the weekend, you're not the only one. Indians have been bitten by wanderlust and how. The number of people traveling within India has increased three-fold in just one year. According to latest estimates provided by the tourism ministry, the percentage growth of domestic tourists has increased from 6.6% in 2005 to a whopping 18.1% in 2006.

In real terms, the number of people traveling in India has increased from 390.47 million in 2005 to 461.16 million in 2006.

So where are the Sharmas and Patels heading to? The most visited place within the domestic circuit is not the balmy beaches of Goa or the palatial environs of Rajasthan but down south.

The humble Andhra Pradesh grabbed 26.2% of the travellers proving that spirituality continues to be a much higher draw than any leisure activity. Officials confirm that Tirupati and the millions of faithfuls it draws every year contribute to Andhra's numero uno status.

Bereft of its hill stations, Uttar Pradesh still stands tall at second place with 22.9% of the visitors, who are drawn to the monument of love — Taj Mahal in Agra — while Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan bring up the rear of the top five states.

While UP has always ranked among the top five as a leisure and holiday destination, Karnataka draws a high number of business and trade-related travel. Other states in the top 10 include Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

While the number of Indians travelling abroad has increased by 16.2% (from 7.18 million people in 2005 to 8.34 million in 2006), the increase in foreign tourists has also been a substantial 14.7%.

Among the firangs, nostalgia for the Raj continues to attract the maximum number of tourists from UK with 16.5% of the travellers from the Isles. USA, Canada, France and Germany were the other source countries for foreign tourist arrivals in India in 2006.

Not surprisingly, the top five destinations for foreign tourists are Delhi (17.3%), Maharashtra (14.5%), Uttar Pradesh (11.6%), Rajasthan (10.7%) and Tamil Nadu (9.1%). Goa comes in the 10th place with 3.3% tourists
October 18th, 2007
Source: Times of India