Statistics Book 2007.pdf - Kerala Tourism

in getting incentives and conference business and for this business the hotels work very closely with the
Kerala Travel Trade.
Business tourism is also promoted through:
• Direct mail, e-mail based promotions and relationship marketing directly with the companies
and travellers who have stayed in the hotels before;
• Participation in trade shows and specialized road shows;
• Advertising in the print and electronic media in the source countries and their listing in the
Kerala Tourism’s official website also appeared to be contributing actively to the promotion of
the hotel;
• Advertising in the International Trade Directories and International Trade websites; as well as
advertising in the shopping marts;
• Running online campaign and through their own websites;
• Usual sale strategies viz. personal relations, attractive discounts; and
• Working through overseas agents and travel agents for the MICE segment.
Expectations of the MICE guests:
On the expectations of the MICE guests, the hotels said that they were similar to other business guests;
however, most business guests tend to concentrate on their work, finish and leave; MICE guests are more
interested in the leisure activities. They need information and assistance on shopping, sightseeing and
other entertainment. They use hotel facilities like swimming pool and health club more than normal
business guests and are very demanding.
Expectations of the MICE Organizers:
The Organizers of the MICE require hotel rates to be all-inclusive with meals and negotiate harder for
discounts. MICE organizers also ask for separate desks for check-in and greater flexibility in the check-in
and check-out timings. MICE Organizers also need value added services such as IT related services,
discounts on business center services such as photocopying etc.
Travel agents across the country were contacted for assessing their feedback about business travel to
Kerala.
A large number of travel agents were contacted across the country from Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai,
Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Goa to assess their views about business travel to Kerala. The
interviews with the Travel Trade about the corporate business travel revealed the following:
Most corporates directly book rooms with the hotels as they have sufficient volumes to negotiate deals
and rates with the Hotels in Kerala. According to the Travel Trade, both hotels and corporate prefer
dealing directly with each other since the Hotels in Kerala want to save out on the commission to be paid
to the travel agents; apart from this, the hotels are apprehensive of delayed payments from the Travel
Trade.
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