Category Archives: NTO (National Tourist Offices)

Switzerland Tourism invites members of India’s travel trade to participate in its exclusive webinar series. The webinar series aims to educate the trade about one of the most popular travel destination for Indian travellers – Switzerland. The upcoming webinar on 5th Mar 2020 at 3:00 pm will highlight the summer attractions in Lucerne. Lucerne is a city in Central Switzerland situated on Lake Lucerne and surrounded by mountains. It is a popular destination for travellers and has numerous attractions and accommodation options in and around it. Viewers get a chance to learn about the various offerings in Lucerne in the summer months so that they can plan their clients’ itineraries accordingly. Travel partners who attend all the webinars also stand a chance of winning a trip to Switzerland. Those who are interested in participating can get in touch with  Jaspreet Kaur for further information either via email, jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com  or call  9650196532.

A welcoming and authentic land that combines nature, culture and traditions, the Hauts-de-France region offers its visitors a wide range of sightseeing opportunities and activities. The Hauts-de-France region was created on 1st January 2016 with the amalgamation of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy regions. Just over the English Channel, the Hauts-de-France region stretches from Calais to Paris and from Normandy to the Champagne region. This diverse destination stands out for its picturesque flowery villages, its WW1 remembrance sites, its gothic cathedrals and vibrant capital of the French Flanders: Lille. Art lovers, foodies and history buffs will find a truly unique taste of France here. The Hauts-de-France region includes some of France’s most beautiful sites.Whether you come for a weekend or a longer stay, the Hauts-de-France region will delight you with its distinctive character and rich cultural heritage! Chantilly Only 20 minutes from Charles de Gaulle airport and 45 minutes by car from Paris, check out the Chantilly castle and get a taste of the French royal lifestyle. The castle has the largest art collection in France outside the Louvres. Chantilly, the ‘Equestrian Capital’ showcases a LIVE Horse Museum with a magnificent horse show and world class horse racing. Lillie Stroll through the various museums like La Piscine, Le Palais des Beaux Arts etc. Or go for a day trip to Brugge or Ghent. View the city in a vintage car or go on a beer tour. Take in some retail therapy and visit McArthurGlen outlet centre, Shopping mall Euralillle and more. Try your luck at a casino or shake a leg at one of the many night clubs. Satiate your taste buds at the variety of restaurants offering all international cuisines. …

Tarja Koivisto, Account Manager, Global Sales Promotions, Visit Finland, has revealed that the country has recorded a 27% increase in 2019 over 2018. “I am extremely happy about the Indian market. We had this milestone of 100,000 overnights, and we crossed that last year. In 2019, we had a 27% increase from 2018 in overnights. We measure overnights at Visit Finland and do not consider arrivals. Hence, we would like people to stay longer when they come to Finland,” she said. Koivisto was speaking at the side lines of the Visit Finland India Workshop in Delhi. A total of 14 Finnish partners participated in the workshop in Delhi and Mumbai.

After experiencing a lull in Indian arrivals in 2019, the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board is now tightening its belt and looking at aggressively promoting the destination in this market. Mohamed Medhat Aziz, Vice Director of Australia & Asia Markets Unit, Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board, who was in Mumbai recently, said, “We have increased our focus on the India market. We believe it is one of the most important markets for us. We are working on this and are planning to increase our campaigns and our advertising in this market. We know that Indians like cultural tourism, but we also have on offer diving, golfing as well as MICE. We will start to focus on these special interest groups in India. Our aim is also to tell the travel agents and tour operators here that the political situation in Egypt is now completely stable and a good indication of this is the huge amounts of investments we see coming in. We will also open our Grand Egyptian Museum later this year.” The much-anticipated Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is reported to cost one billion dollars and has managed to create global excitement. The massive museum is set to accommodate nearly 100,000 objects, including a large repertoire of around 5,000 belongings of King Tutankhamen – 2,000 of which are being showcased for the first time ever. Hotels around the museum, located near the Giza Pyramids, are currently undergoing a comprehensive renovation process in preparation to accommodate waves of tourists coming to the museum. The GEM will also feature several entertainment hubs including restaurants and theaters, alongside the main hall, a reception area for VIP visitors, the conferences hall, and a playground.

Switzerland Tourism invites members of India’s travel trade to participate in its exclusive webinar series. The webinar series aims to educate the trade about the most sought-after destinations, activities and attractions in Switzerland and share news and updates that are important for their clients. The webinar scheduled on 17th Feb 2020 at 2:30 pm will highlight the Swiss Travel System and its products. Viewers get a chance to learn about one of the most efficient transportation networks in the world, as well as the popular Swiss Travel Pass, an all-in-one ticket offering travellers unlimited travel by train, bus and boat including panoramic routes. Travel partners who attend all the webinars also stand a chance of winning a trip to Switzerland. Those who are interested in participating can get in touch with  Jaspreet Kaur for further information either via email, jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com  or call  9650196532.

Tricia Warwick, Director, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa for VisitBritain, said that India is a huge tourism opportunity for Britain. “It is a priority market for Britain and forecast to generate more than 22 million outbound visits globally by the end of 2020, with inbound tourism from India to the Britain looking set to continue to increase by +50 per cent visits and +64 per cent spend between 2018 and 2025. According to the International Passenger Survey results for the first nine months from January to September, 2019, visitors from India to Britain set new records for visits and spend. Overall, there were a record 452,000 visits from India to the UK in those months in 2019, up 13% year on year. Those visitors spent a record £499 million, up 44% on January –September 2018,” she confirmed.

The Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB) has launched the Penang specialist Programme designed for the Indian market. The Programme will equip select outbound travel, M!CE, wedding and filming agencies with first-hand knowledge of Penang through a full day workshop conducted in each city concurrently with the B2B engagement session. Among the incentives that the Penang Specialists can qualify for are special incentive for group sales of 100 pax and above, family opportunities to Penang, opportunities to attend PCEB’s training and networking programme in Penang and India and much more. The Certification of the Penang Specialist Programme is valid for three years upon which qualifying members will be invited for recertification. The workshop is conducted by Katharine Chua, Managing Director, Penang Tropical Spice Garden.

Thailand is looking at attracting Indian weddings to its smaller cities, revealed Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, Deputy Governor for International Marketing (Asia and South Pacific), Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Talking about Indian weddings in Thailand, he said, “Thailand is the number one outbound wedding destination for Indians. Now we have realised that Indian weddings are not restricted only to big cities, but weddings of about 200 people, are now going beyond popular destinations. Phuket and hua Hin are very popular now. There are other smaller provinces also that benefit because some of them have magnificent scenery and unspoilt nature, which the wedding planners look for. In 2019, Thailand received 1.9 million Indian arrivals, which set a new record, claiming that they have new offerings to attract tourists from secondary cities of India.

From the US, the highest number of bookings happen in September and October, accounting for 21% of all bookings. Even in January there is a peak of 10% from US. From United Kingdom there are 2 periods of peak bookings— January, which accounts for 12% of booking volume and the period September to November, which accounts for 29% of booking volume. Both USA, UK have two peak periods, reveals an analysis of time of actual 2019 inbound bookings data to India by Forwardkeys, from 3 important long-haul source markets – USA, UK and Australia. Australia, being in the Southern Hemisphere has one peak booking peak period – July August September which account 32% of all bookings.

According to the data released by South African Tourism office in India, Mumbai continued to be the leading source market for South Africa in India. Between January to June 2019, around 43% of total Indian visitors to the Rainbow Nation were from Mumbai. Delhi managed to be the second leading source market for the destination in India contributing 21% of the total Indian visitors during the same period. One thing remained common for both cities – the summer and winter holiday months of April, May and December emerged as preferred travel months among Mumbaikars as well as Delhiites for their South Africa trips. With 81,316 Indian arrivals as of October 2019, the destination board shared a positive outlook for the Indian market, noting that as of September 2019, total spends by Indian travellers in South Africa had reached a four-year high. The average length of stay witnessed a year on year increase of 8% in the first half of 2019.