Connect with East for better inbound

The eastern part of India needs better air connectivity and aggressive marketing and promotions, say winners of East India Travel Awards 2017. The stalwarts of the industry from the region talk about the challenges in tourism and hospitality as they sugge

DDP Trailblazer – Tsering Wange Connect North East beyond Guwahati

The North East has witnessed growth in terms of foreign tourist arrivals and has also gained in development of tourism infrastructure, believes Tsering Wange, Managing Director, Himalayan Holidays. According to Wange, “In the last three years, tourism industry has grown in the North East as compared to previous times. With development of tourism infrastructure at various destinations, there is a positive sentiment towards the industry. Even though air connectivityy has been improved, the focus has been on Guwahati. There is a need to connect all state cap capitals of the North East to grow the industry further.” He says that as a company they are fo focusing on adventure tourism in the region. “North East too has many adventure tour tourism opportunities and we hope that we can attract more tourists for this

segment of t travel,” he adds.

Best Debu Debut City Hotel – Ramada Darjeeling Gandhi Road

Seasonality tr trends are observed in foreign tourist arrivalsar to the NorthN East with OctoberMar March being the peak pe per iod, say says Vivek Sh Shukla, GM, Ra Ramada Da Darjeeling ing, Gandhi Roa Road. Pointing ing out impediments ped in growth, he says, “With the minimal availability of fine goods and services in North East India, it is very difficult to maintain the high service ice st standards at nominal pricing. There is a concern that operating expenses will esca escalate at a greater rate than income, potentially eroding the bottom line.” Shukla f further adds that a regulatory framework is a must for generating and dissemi dissemination of information. “Private sector investments may be encouraged for boosting infrastructure development,” adds Shukla.

Best Luxury Resort – Polo Orchid Resort, Cherrapunji

The hos hospitality industry dustry in the North East, especially in states like Assam sam and MeghalayaM has gainedgaine traction due to the gradually transformingtransformin economy my of the statess and the extraordinaryext support fromf the Ministry of Tourism, believes GunjanG Kumar, General Manager, Polo Orchid Resort, Cherrapunji. “We have witnessedwitn rapid growth in all travel segments and hope to see the industry grow eveneve further. However, there is an urgent need for more direct flights into capital citiesc such as Shillong,” he says. Kumar further informs that the property caters to the leisure, corporate and MICE segment of travellers. Out of the total guests,guest international guests contribute 2-3 per cent, which Kumar believes is an improvement.i “We are expecting approximately 8-10 per cent growth in occupancyocc compared to H1, 2017,” adds Kumar. The company is planning to come up with more projects in the North East including Agartala.

Best MICE operator – ICON Planners MICE infrastructure needs upgrade

Tourism has been good and increasing steadily. Inbound has tremendous scope but the detriment to successful inbound foot fall in our region is the lack of desired infrastructure, says Sunaina Chatterjee, CEO, Incentives and Conference Planners LLP. “We need to have proper infrastructure which is in sorry state currently. We do not have enough good four- star or three- star hotels. Many a times when there is an average size conference in city the demand is higher than the supply both in terms of hotel rooms as well as good cars. We have lost bigger conferences to other states due to lack of these facilities,” she says. Chatterjee feels that the biggest challenge for the industry is shortage of trained and experienced staff. “NTOs, states and associations should organise more roadshows, seminars, from the East,” adds Chatterjee.

Best Tour Operator - Inbound – Clubside Tours and Travels Lack of trained manpower plagues the East

The government has made sustained efforts and launched initiatives which have helped boost tourism in the East, explains Suresh Periwal, MD, Clubside Tours and Travels. “Prominent cities like Kolkata and Guwahati have witnessed an increase in the inventory of hotel rooms. The last three months, however, paint a different picture because of the political unrest. Trained manpower is a challenge as most people venture out to larger cities for better opportunities. The trend was changing with new opportunities that this region was beginning to offer but the strike in the Darjeeling will have a deep and far reaching impact which will take a while for the region to recover from,” says Periwal. Obtaining permits for inbound tourists travelling to the North East needs to be made more tourist friendly, adds Periwal.

Excellence in Customer Service – New Orchid Hotel, Sikkim Professionalism needed in hospitality

The tourism and hospitality industry in East India had witnessed the most successful season in 2017 and it was expected that there would be no lean season this year, according to Rahul Khandelwal, Director, Voyage Hospitality. However, Khandelwal points out that the industry faced a setback in recent months due to the political unrest in the region. He says, “The East faces a three-fold challenge. First is its geographical position, where many restrictions have been imposed for tourists. There is a lack of aggressive marketing of the region from the Centre and state governments at both national and international level. To add to all this, with GST the prices of the products have escalated further.” Khandelwal further adds that there is a need to promote the region as one collective destination rather individually by states to increase footfall and the region also needs better air connectivity. “There is a lack of professionalism in the hospitality industry of the East and this needs to be addressed at the earliest to improve business,” says Khandelwal.