Crouching Tiger, Roaring Dragon: - Travel News Digest

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6 Tour operATors November 2011 · TRAVEL NEWS DIGEST In order to grow its outbound Free Individual Traveller (FIT) and MICE business, Bangalorebased Travel Tours Group has acquired Goa-based charter and inbound tour operator Splendour Holidays along with its MICE brand, Go Avenues. “We are keen to have a serious presence in the inbound and domestic tourism business in India. The acquisition is to Security for Sri Lankan pilgrims The High Commission of India has assured the Sri Lankan government that necessary action would be taken to ensure the safety and security of the Sri Lankan pilgrims visiting India. The assurances came following a request made by the Sri Lankan government to provide security for all pilgrims visiting Chennai in the wake of an attack on the Mahabodhi Society Temple there. However, Sri Lankan Tour operators to India said that there was no need to panic since relevant officials from Sri Lanka and India had taken adequate measures to strengthen the safety and welfare of all pilgrims. One in five Brits still travelling uninsured, says ABTA A fifth of UK travellers are still running the risk of racking up medical bills when holidaying abroad by not taking travel insurance, a new study claims. The ABTA consumer trends survey shows that one in five Brits mistakenly believe the UK Government will cover their bills if something goes wrong – a figure that rises to one in four under 25s. One in six also thinks Indian travel firm eyes expansion insurance is unnecessary for travelling in Europe if they have a European Health Insurance Card which provides access to basic state medical care, the poll indicates. And a further one in four is under the misapprehension that an EHIC card will cover their repatriation costs if they fall ill or have an accident and have to be flown back to the UK, the ABTA research shows. develop a strong domestic product portfolio and to continue to invest and develop the MICE and FIT business into India”, said Travel Tours managing director, Shravan Gupta. “Splendour has added 6% volume to our `350 crore (US $79.8 million) business, and our aim is to double (Splendour’s) turnover in two years. Our target is to grow between 25-28% per annum over the next For tourists from Russia looking to get away for the May holidays now have a reason to celebrate. The forthcoming tourist season will see chartered flights from Moscow to Thiruvananthapuram launched by Tour operators— Oriental Routes in collaboration with DR Tours of three years,” he added. The Bangalore-based company is open to more acquisitions. The company now has ten brands and 14 branches across seven cities with 285 personel. Travel Air Representations, the B2B division of the group, deals with more than 6,000 travel Moscow. In order to ease up the process for flight registration, as a joint collaboration of the two operators, an online inventory management system has been created. During the forthcoming tourist season, there will be eight to ten chartered flights from Russia agents across India. According to Gupta, “In a largely fragmented market, inorganic growth strategy will help companies to expand faster.” Overseas opportunities will be looked upon once they consolidate their presence in India. Russia-India charters take off The Philippine Tour Operators Association (PHILTOA) is promoting the country as a highend destination by incorporating luxury tourism. PHILTOA has selected 10 luxury resorts which will be promoted at the 22nd Philippine travel expo and will be included in the packages. The campaign is targeted at increasing visibility of the resorts, especially the ones which are not located in traditional markets. The 10 resorts include Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa; Shangri-La Boracay Resort and Spa; newcomer Crimson Beach Resort & Spa in Cebu; family-oriented Imperial Palace Waterpark to Kerala. A Boeing 757 will fly from Moscow to Thiruvananthapuram carrying 180 passengers on its first trip and there will be ‘once-in-a- fortnight’ trips for a period of five months starting from November. Philippine tour operators to promote luxury tourism Resort & Spa in Cebu; HSAI Raintree’s Discovery Shores Boracay and Discovery Suites Tagaytay; El Nido Resorts in Palawan; Eskaya boutique resort in Bohol; Genesis Properties’ Bellarocca in Marinduque; and Misibis Bay in Cagraray Island, Albay.
INTerNATIoNAL Germans take to medical tourism Germans are becoming more aware of the importance of staying healthy and energetic. They are taking health vacations to reduce stress and stay fit. Over the past five years, holidays at wellness and spa resorts have risen by 30%. At 3.3 million vacations, equivalent to 4.6% of all trips abroad, Germans are more interested in health and medical tourism abroad than their European neighbours. Among German citizens, the most popular foreign destination for health trips is Spain, Chinese tourism to US Chinese tourism to the United States is witnessing a boom, growing by over 50% last year. According to the US Department of Commerce’s office of travel and tourism industries, 802,000 mainland Chinese residents visited the country in 2010, a 53% increase over levels in 2009. The visitors collectively Useful travel microsite Lonely Planet and Visa have joined forces to create a travel microsite packed with expert information on destinations and for access of money abroad on www.visa.com/lonelyplanet. Tourism boost to Oman’s GDP The World Travel and Tourism Council forecasts that travel and tourism will contribute US $1.93 billion to Oman’s total GDP this year, driven by strong spent over US $5 billion (an average of US $6,241 per person), a 39% increase over the previous year. Chinese tourism to the US in 2012 and 2013 is forecast to rise by 21% and 19% respectively. New York City, Washington DC and Las Vegas are emerging as the top three US destinations for Chinese tourists. California is also hugely popular with the number of Chinese visitors to the city rising by 49% to 399,000 in 2010. US hotel chains, including Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Hilton, and Marriott, are now introducing special features for Chinese tourists to woo them. Information includes ways to access cash in 12 destinations: Australia, China, Croatia, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, the UAE and Ukraine. tourist arrivals. The nation’s flagship carrier, Oman Air, reports a surge in tourism arrivals via its 2011 firstquarter flights. Oman’s Ministry of Tourism followed by Italy and Austria. The countries in Europe chosen for health trips include Spain, Italy and Austria, while Hungary, Germany and the Czech Republic are the leading destinations for medical tourism. Trends • According to 2009 and 2010 market profile studies by the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, shopping is the leisure activity that tops the list for tourists from China. • Most individual Chinese tourists and families book their hotel rooms by themselves. The Internet therefore becomes the primary source of information when selecting a hotel. • Personal recommendations and word of mouth are central to Chinese culture. recently joined the International Council of Tourism Partners as an alliance member. It is thus in a better position to globally promote upcoming tourism developments, such as the US $2.5 billion “Omagine” project. Crouching Tiger, Roaring Dragon Continued from cover page. Egypt, one of the tourism boards to start marketing activities in India recently, received 1.14 lakh (0.11 million) Indian tourists in 2010, an increase of about 36.5% from the previous year, according to Adel El Masry, director, Egyptian Tourism Office, who added India had now become one of the top markets for Egypt. Andrew McEvoy, managing director, Tourism Australia, said he was keen on getting a share of the exploding outbound market from India. He said around 150,000 Indians visited Australia last year, 11% more than the previous year. However, with escalating growth of Indian outbound market, Australia expects to receive over 320,00 Indian visitors by 2020. India has risen from 15th to 8th place as Australia’s top source markets. It is expected to rise to six or seven within the next few years. Jamaica, a new kid on the block, witnessed a significant 15.7% growth in Stop-over Arrivals by permanent residence from India in January – April 2011 as compared to the same period last year. Jamaica Tourist Board is looking at emerging markets like India, Russia, China and Brazil which comprise over half the world’s population. It is eyeing the high-end Indian traveller from India, home to 55 billionaires, the 4th highest in the world, and more than 190,000 millionaire households. Meanwhile, as Indian travellers to the US increased by 17% in 2010 over 2009 to 650,000, with San Francisco among the top three destinations, San Francisco International Airport is aggressively wooing Jet Airways with incentives to start a direct service from India. Mexico aims to lead medical tourism market Mexico has all the conditions to be the market leader in medical tourism, said Gloria Guevara, head of the Tourism Ministry, and José Ángel Córdova, chief of the Health Ministry. Manzo says worldwide more than 40 million people leave their country for medical services and in 2012 it is expected that 1.6 million Americans will go to another nation for treatment. The governor of Nuevo León, Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz, noted Nuevo Leon has an advantage of having first class medical staff and nearly 9,000 internationally recognised experts among other facilities.
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Page 11 and 12: INDIA Foreign tourist arrivals up i
Page 19 and 20: TechNoLoGy More tech involvement fr
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Page 25 and 26: TrANsporT The growth of car sales i
Page 27 and 28: AvIATIoN SpiceJet’s Q400 - optimi
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