Category Archives: NTO (National Tourist Offices)

In a bid to stimulate the India market and achieve its new milestone of doubling numbers by 2030, South Africa has announced an e-visa regime for the India market on a pilot basis. Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, Hon. Minister of Tourism, South Africa, who was in Mumbai to interact with key travel trade partners said, “We want to remove the barriers for the India market to visit South Africa and for this we will introduce an online visa application system from the third week of January this year. This will be on a pilot basis for now and we will look at introducing it formally by April this year.” About 32 key agents attending the morning session where they discussed ideas on how they can push numbers from India.

VisitBritain successfully concluded its roadshow in New Delhi with over 250 travel trade partners in attendance. Agents from Delhi, Punjab, West Bengal and Gujarat attended the event, which had a total of 42 exhibitors representing destinations, attractions, DMCs and products from across Britain. New destinations which were in focus were Birmingham, Manchester and Lake District. Leading the delegation was Vishal Bhatia- country manager India, Visit Britain. Shuja Bin Mehdi, B2B manager, Visit Britain revealed that they have got an overwhelming response in both Mumbai and Delhi, which shows the interest the agents have in the destination. With such a response they will hopefully organise the roadshow once again next year.

VisitBritain successfully concluded the Mumbai edition of its two-city sales mission yesterday with more than 250 key travel agents and tour operators attending the event. The New Delhi edition will be held on January 15, 2020. Sharing more information on it is Vishal Bhatia, Country Manager, India, VisitBritain, who says, “We received a phenomenal response in Mumbai with more than 250 trade partners attending the event to engage with the delegates from the UK. We had 35 suppliers at the roadshow with a total of 42 delegates. A lot of the suppliers from the UK are here for the first time like the Grasmere Gingerbread, The Spires Service Apartments and Sterling Travel. This will be the biggest contingent ever from the UK participating in this India Sales Mission, which speaks volumes about the demand they see from India and the kind of confidence we have in the market. The UK Visas & Immigration is also part of this.” The last such sales mission was conducted in 2017 in Pune with 22 suppliers from the UK who met 90-odd hosted buyers from India. He added that some agents had also travelled from outside Mumbai from cities like Pune and even Rajkot in Gujarat to meet the suppliers. Bhatia adds, “There is a big contingent from north of England as well. Marketing Manchester has been working extremely closely with us over the years and we have 20-odd suppliers coming from the north who are capable of holding big MICE groups as well – like the Lancashire Cricket Club where the India-Pakistan match took place in June last year.”

Nepal will develop night tourism in Kathmandu and will be focusing on M!CE tourism from India, revealed Lila Bahadur Baniya, Officiating Director, Nepal Tourism Board, while addressing the delegates at the Nepal Sales Mission, organised by Nepal Tourism Board, the National Tourism Organization (NTO) of Government of Nepal, in Amritsar. Nepal Sales Mission, is travelling to 9 Indian Cities from 6th January to 1st February 2020. The event has successfully concluded in Amritsar and will now go to other Indian cities of Chandigarh, Jaipur, Indore, Surat, Pune, Trichy, Trivandrum and Kochi. The mission is aimed at bringing all the travel trade partners together to update about various destination of Nepal and educate regarding the recent developments in Nepalese tourism. The sales mission is important for Nepal as Nepal is celebrating Visit Nepal Year 2020 with an objective to bring 2 million tourists in Nepal. The Nepalese delegation is led by Lila Bahadur Baniya, along with  Robin Regmi, Officer-India & South Asia Unit. The delegation has 9 private companies/DMCs representatives and is looking forward to interacting with 80 agents and 20 Media Person from each of the 9 cities.

Tourists from India and China can visit Malaysia for 15 days without a tourist visa effective January 1. Throughout 2020, they will be able to enter the country for up to 15 days by using the electronic travel registration and information system – either individually or through travel agencies in their respective countries. However, the tourists must enter and exit Malaysia only through authorised airports or entry points. According to a statement from the government, these tourists will be able to travel to Malaysia three months after registration. Upon arrival, visitors must produce proof of sufficient cash for expenses, credit card or bank card, and produce their travel itinerary in Malaysia. They should also have a valid return ticket. In addition, the 15-day period cannot be extended, and these tourists cannot apply for any other passes under the Immigration Regulations 1963.

With an objective to bring in at least two million foreign tourists to Nepal, the ‘Visit Nepal 2020’ campaign was inaugurated in Kathmandu on January 1.  The launch of the campaign took place in a glittering ceremony alongside Ministerial Conclave 2020 – a high-level gathering of international tourism ministers in Nepal. Based on the theme, Sustainable Tourism through Preservation of Natural and Cultural Heritages, the objective of the conclave was to share initiatives taken by respective countries for sustainable tourism and make joint initiatives to fight against climate change and preservation of Natural/Cultural heritages/products. The conclave was chaired by Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of Nepal, Yogesh Bhattarai amidst the presence of Chief Guest, Bidya Devi Bhandari, President of Nepal and KP Sharma Oli, the Prime Minister of Nepal. At the closing of the Conclave, the Kathmandu Declaration was also issued. A post-event tour was organised to showcase different destinations of Nepal. Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Tourism, Government of India represented India at the Ministerial Conclave 2020 and shared his views on sustainable tourism. Apart from India, tourism ministers and representatives from Nepal, China, Jamaica, Myanmar, Bhutan, Cambodia and Qatar attended the conclave. The Nepal government has committed the year 2020 to the tourism industry of the nation with a vision of making a reasonable brand picture of Nepal as travel and vacationer destination, backing up the tourism foundations of Nepal, enhance the growth of tourism industry and enhance local tourism as a supportable industry.

Welcoming 164,200 Indian visitors between January-November 2019, Japan has witnessed a 14.2 per cent year-on-year growth in terms of arrivals from India. The East Asian nation also registered a 12.3 per cent hike in the number of arrivals in November 2019 with 14,900 visitors recorded from India. The Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) had set a target to receive 2 lakh visitors from India in 2019.

GB Srithar, Regional Director – India, Middle East & South Asia (IMESA), shares that they want to position Singapore as an international wedding destination. “Another segment we seek to re-establish our attractiveness in is the Overseas School Trips (OST). We have been a popular OST destination for several years and we would like to re-introduce the refreshed OST options in Singapore for the Indian students,” he says.

South African Tourism is all set to start the 17th edition of its roadshow, which will travel to three Indian cities of Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai on 13th, 14th and 15th January 2020 respectively. There will be a 48-member South African trade delegation for the latest edition of roadshows, which will educate and enable Indian trade partners to sell the destination better. In addition to experiences, representatives from accommodation establishments, destination management companies, airlines, tourism associations will display their products and engage Indian travel and trade associates. Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head – MEISEA, South African Tourism says, “Our 17th Annual Roadshow is yet another testament of our firm commitment to the India market, which offers tremendous potential when it comes to outbound long-haul travel. The Roadshow offers us and our in-destination partners a chance to showcase the best of South Africa, and bring it alive for the Indian travel trade – our biggest endorsers in the market. This year’s edition is slated to be even more special and exciting with the attendance of numerous South African SMMEs. We are confident that the 17th edition will be outstanding and more impactful than ever before in terms of business conversions.”

As a sign of further commitment to the India market, Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board has become the first US destination to open a tourism office in India in Mumbai. The newly opened office will focus on driving travel aspiration and motivate Indian visitors to increase length of stay and spend in Los Angeles. Seema Kadam serves as Los Angeles Tourism’s first Regional Director for India. Los Angeles Tourism President and CEO Ernest Wooden Jr. officially opened the new office alongside international delegates while in the presence of India’s tourism industry. The office will work with the travel trade to develop customised and tailored product itineraries in line with consumer and travel trade interests.   As the fourth-highest international growth market for Los Angeles, the office will develop a cohesive strategy with the travel trade to sustain growth in 2020 and beyond. The office will also develop and support existing and any new air service to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Encouraged by growth indicators in India – especially the market’s vast, growing outbound travel segment – Los Angeles Tourism’s latest visitation forecast projects a year-over-year growth of 4.4 per cent in 2019 with 135,000 Indian visitors. Indian visitation to Los Angeles is expected to grow by a year-over-year average of five per cent over the next five years with nearly 165,000 Indian travelers estimated to visit by 2023.   Commenting on plans for the India market, Ernest Wooden Jr. said, “Los Angeles Tourism’s journey towards this milestone that we celebrate today began nearly three years ago when we set off on a high-octane, strategic and long-term marketing programme. Targeted trade and consumer efforts have helped establish a distinct …