Category Archives: NTO (National Tourist Offices)

India continues to remain the second-fastest growing market for Southwest Germany after China in percentage terms. India recorded a growth of 23.3 per cent for the period January to October 2015 with 27,615 visitors. Hector Dsouza, Director – India, Southwest German Tourism, says, “India is miles ahead. It is still has the highest number of overnights per visit, currently its 5.9 days per visit. The international average for Southwest Germany is 2.3 days. For the period ended October 2015, we recorded 162,843 overnights from India. By the end of 2015 we will have 2,00,000 overnights, which we targeted at the beginning of 2015. We are now expecting 40,000 Indian visitors in 2016 doing 2,50,000 overnights, an increase of 25 per cent from 2015.”

India is the eighth best source market for Tourism Australia, said Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager, India & Gulf, Tourism Australia. He added, “We crossed the 200,000 arrivals landmark in 2015, A$ 1 billion spend, and improved our ranking to be the eighth-largest inbound market for Australia from 11th rank in 2014. The Tourism Forecasting Committee (TFC) is predicting 245,000 visitors from India for 2015-16 and a 12 per cent increase over 2014-15.” There were 187,000 visitors from India in the first 10 months of 2015, bringing the total for the year-ended October 2015 to 2,27,000; an increase of 18 per cent relative to the same period last year. For the year ended September 2015, Indian visitors contributed A$ 1.1 billion to the Australian economy; an increase of solid 34% over the previous year. Tourism Australia has unveiled its latest advertising campaign in collaboration with its key distribution partners – Cox & Kings, Mercury Travels, Kesari, MakeMyTrip, Yatra, TUI, Vacations Exotica, Kulin Kumar Holidays and SOTC. The integrated advertising campaign will retain the brand theme ‘There’s Nothing like Australia’ and put the spotlight on the country’s attractions.

Registering a huge surge over last year, the Philippines has recorded a growth of 40.54 percent in visitor arrivals from India in October 2015. According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines, there were 6590 visitor arrivals in October 2015 against 4689 in October 2014. Between January-October 2015, 61,155 Indian tourists travelled to the Philippines, recording an increase of 24.13 per cent. The India has jumped up to the 12th position for tourist arrivals in the Philippines in September 2015 and is consistently maintaining the position in the top 12 markets. SanJeet, Tourism Attaché, Philippines Tourism Marketing Office India, has attributed the showing to be in line with DOT’s plan of achieving 100,000 Indian tourist arrivals by 2017. He said that the double-digit growth in arrivals can also be attributed to major metros as well as feeder markets. “One of the main reasons is the increase in disposable income for leisure and travel related pursuits amongst middle and affluent class travellers. There has also been a steady increase in MICE movements as well as FITs and small groups travel from India,’’ he said. Travel agents credited continuous efforts made by the Philippines Tourism Marketing Office for increase in visitor arrivals. Samina Munshi, Director, N Chirag Travels, said, “We have seen an increase in demand and more people are willing to visit the Philippines as a holiday destination. Due to the increase in awareness, we get many queries on a daily basis. We are quite hopeful that 2016 would definitely double the visitor arrival numbers for the Philippines.” Agents also mentioned that there is a definite requirement of new destination matching features such as sightseeing, shopping, entertainment, friendly, economical and safety. …

The Department of Tourism, Philippines, is showcasing its products at the Global Panorama Showcase (GPS), a premier networking event and business-to-business trade show that is held annually in Nagpur. Travel trade partners can take information from the Philippines’ booth no. 34 at Hotel Centre Point, Ramdaspeth, from January 8-10, 2016. Navritu Kaushal Rai, Account Director, Philippines Tourism Marketing Office, India, said, “We are happy to be a part of this premier travel trade show in central India, offering a remarkable platform to showcase travel products and services that the Philippines has to offer. Our focus will be to promote leisure and small groups travel and MICE movements. We are looking forward to the interactive business sessions with the travel trade partners, especially from the region of Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.”

After successfully conducting multi-city roadshows pan India in 2015 along with the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), South Africa Tourism is back with its second round of shows in Kolkata (January 18, Monday), Delhi (January 19, Tuesday), Hyderabad (January 21, Thursday) and finally reaching Mumbai again (January 22, Friday). These shows will strive to give greater insight into the wide selection of experiences that South Africa has to offer – from adventure to shopping, nature and culture.