Trade needs better coordination
Buoyed by growth and innovation in travel and tourism, the Indian travel trade stakeholders feel that to keep up the pace, India as a destination needs focused marketing, quality infrastructure and co-ordination amongst the industry players.
Earlier there used be to only travel agents, hoteliers and airlines attending conferences, but now the younger generation is coming up with such innovative products that it signifies the innovative bend that the industry is witnessing. Our competency lies in visa facilitation services to the B2B market and now we are venturing into DMC representations, offering packages, FIT, destinations, consulting etc.
The biggest achievement has been the growth especially from the key markets, predominantly destinations which are within four hours of flight distance including the Indian subcontinent and the GCC countries. Dubai Parks and Resorts will change the leisure and entertainment landscape of the Middle East. Indians have an affinity towards theme parks and we hope the Bollywood Park will be a key attraction for the Indian travellers.
I think the traffic for business class has increased substantially amongst the Indian travellers this year which means that people are willing to spend more unlike other economies in the world. Personally for me, entering the charter business is the biggest achievement for us in 2016. The biggest challenge at this point in the industry is to understand the law properly specially with regard to GST so that nobody is penalised unnecessarily when moving forward. Also, global terrorism, which is beyond anyone’s control, is one of the biggest threats to our industry.
The Indian travel industry is going through a rough phase where the travel agents do not have a permanent source of income. There is no clear tourism policy in place and heavy taxes just make matters worse. Countries like Austria and France have different taxes for various products and tourism services which makes them more competent. Coordination amongst various stakeholders is missing which makes for a haphazard growth model. As a company we are venturing into new areas. We will be hosting a vintage car rally from February 17-19, 2017.
The biggest achievement in the hospitality industry has been the acquisition of Starwood Hotels by Marriot International. The factor that India has missed out on is destination marketing as we are still concentrated on few destinations like the Golden Triangle, Goa and Kerala and not many newer destinations have opened up for leisure tourism or convention venues. State tourism boards need to look at more investments and opportunities in their states to attract more leisure and business travellers.
We have recently started our Dubai operations as a destination management company (DMC). We would be helping our clients from South India with best rates and vice versa. The conventions and meetings like this which are being held regularly are an achievement for the industry as such conventions help us meet the travel agents, visit various places to know the demand of the market and accordingly plan our strategies.
There is a sea change in the industry since I first began my business and I feel it is only those who will be able to adapt with the rapidly changing technology will be successful and sustain in business. I feel there is a need for more support from the government’s end. These conferences are excellent platforms to discuss and dwell on way forward for the industry and also allow fostering relationships over networking. We are focused on our level of services that we provide to the corporate clients and that has kept us buoyant despite the competition from OTAs.
The government has been announcing many initiatives to boost tourism but we have not seen much happening on the practical side. The schemes are in place but execution of the same is not satisfactory which is why we have not seen a substantial increase in the number of foreign tourist arrivals to India and especially to our region.
We have seen a lot of repeat travellers to the UAE, upmarket, niche market and lot of people who come for shopping, relaxing and weekend travel. We are supporting travel agents by providing them dedicated user IDs; the website offers them customer records with a strong backup system so that they do not need to go back for repeat clients. We are planning to add countries like Turkey and Sri Lanka in the upcoming months.
We witnessed a 20 per cent year-on-year growth from the Indian market. What we offer to the Indian travellers is a destination full of luxury, plethora of unique experiences, cultural authenticity, family friendly travel, etc. In addition to that Abu Dhabi is also an important destination for Indian weddings market. The TAAI Convention taking place in Abu Dhabi is a demonstration of our capabilities in being a good MICE destination.
We are looking to capture MICE and leisure travel market. Along with the corporate facilities, our hotel offers leisure activities. The average spend for large groups is expected to be around AED 500 while that for the leisure market depends on the seasonality. TAAI has played a significant role in putting out our name in the Indian market, which is a key market for us. We have opened just a few days ago and TAAI was the first group we signed and the first event we hosted was for them.
TAAI is already working towards tackling issues with the airlines and creating a smooth functioning environment for the travel partners. In the last few years we have seen the number of Indian travellers going aboard has nearly doubled. Indian travellers are in high demand amongst various tourism boards globally given their curiosity to explore newer destinations, capacity to spend heavy amount of money and also because premium quality products are gaining popularity amongst the Indian travellers rapidly.
I feel that the biggest achievement of the tourism and hospitality industry is the move towards technology and its increasing acceptance in the industry. However it is important to point out that while a large part of the travel industry is fast adopting technology solutions to give easy access and real time information about these solutions, they have not left out the ‘ human touch’ of hospitality to their travellers. This upholds our cultural ethos which is highly regarded globally.