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About India Outbound Magazine

India Outbound is India’s only B2B travel media platform, that encompasses a print magazine, a website, an online TV channel and dynamic social media platforms, entirely dedicated to the promotion of foreign destinations and products in India. India Outbound is a niche platform not just for tourism destinations and products to promote themselves to the Indian travel industry, but also for decision makers to build/change their strategy in a context where the Indian outbound market is not only growing but changing with new dynamics. These trends, India Outbound analyse and predict them.

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Iceland Tourism to conduct road shows in three cities

In an effort to encourage the growth momentum of Indian arrivals to Iceland, Promote Iceland & Embassy of Iceland in association with Representation World, the Indian sales and marketing representation company, will hold a travel workshop in New Delhi, Ahmedabad & Mumbai. Preferred travel agents, tour operators, MICE providers and high-end leisure operators are expected to attend the event in the respective cities. The road shows will include an interactive workshop to aid the trade members in planning itineraries and responding to customer queries. With an aim to educate the trade partners from different regions and discuss the business model for 2020-2021, Promote Iceland and its stakeholders aim to drive more business and numbers towards the destination.

Gudmundur Arni Stefansson, the Ambassador of Iceland in India said, “The Embassy is actively promoting tourism in India through various activities including shooting of Indian films in Iceland. To cater to the needs of the growing tourists from India, the Embassy initially started issuing visas in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. Apart from these cities, we have recently added Chandigarh, Goa, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai and Kochi through VFS Global directly. I see a tremendous potential in the growth of tourism figures from India to Iceland, we had a 50 pc increase in the number of tourists traveling to Iceland and it is increasing rapidly.”

Thorleifur Thor Jonsson, the senior manager at Promote Iceland said, “Iceland has become a well-known and established destination in recent years. Iceland is continuously expanding the number of interesting nature-based attractions for our visitors to complement the natural attractions. Several spa facilities have opened in the last year giving the visitors a chance to relax and explore one of Iceland’s best resource; the geothermal energy.”

Vineet Gopal, the director of Representation World commented, “Iceland offers a plethora of things to do and see for the discerning traveller. With thrill-seeking adventures, it offers the best discoveries of nature. Visitors can experience the active volcanoes, geysers, hot springs, glaciers, ice fields, fjords and the northern lights.”

Arabian Travel Market appoints Nijhawan Group as representative for its hosted buyer programme

Arabian Travel Market 2020 (ATM) has appointed Nijhawan Group to assist with the process of identifying premium quality hosted buyers from India and the Middle East region.

With over 40 years of experience in India as a leading travel conglomerate, Nijhawan Group has been sourcing hosted buyers since 2017.

Commenting on the partnership, Danielle Curtis, the exhibition director (ME) at Arabian Travel Market, said, “With extensive experience of the Indian and Middle Eastern travel markets, Nijhawan Group is the perfect representative to assist with this year’s hosted buyer programme and to help ensure the recruitment of key, quality players from top source markets such as India.”

Ankush Nijhawan, the managing director of Nijhawan Group added, “We are delighted to partner with ATM for the upcoming travel showcase in Dubai. Over the coming months we are committed to ensuring a high standard of quality buyers who will benefit from meeting with sellers in a focused and organised environment.”

ATM 2020 will also work with Nijhawan Group to create content on the outbound travel trends emerging from the Indian market ahead of the launch of a new series of buyer forums and networking events at this year’s showcase which will focus on India, as well as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and UAE.

Slovak Republic looking at the Indian market to boost tourism

The central European nation of Slovakia is looking at the Indian market as part of its attempt to taking its tourism related marketing and promotions to the next level. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Slovak Association of Tour Operators and Travel Agents (SACKA) and Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) in Delhi early this week. The MoU was signed between Roman Berkes, the president of SACKA and Riyaz Munshi, the president of OTOAI in the presence of Ivan Lancaric the Ambassador of Slovak Republic in New Delhi.

Slovakia started its tourism promotions in India in 2019 when it established Slovak visa centres in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru in partnership with VFS Global. There has been a 65 pc growth in the Indian visitations to Slovakia between March and August 2019. Although Slovakia is not directly connected with India, capital city Bratislava is at a driving distance from other capitals of the region like Vienna (Austria), Budapest (Hungary) and Prague (Czech Republic).

“We have witnessed visible results of our efforts. We want to continue with our engagement in the market,” said Ambassador Lancaric, addressing the media.

Slovakia is part of the Schengen region. Talking about Slovak tourism offerings, the Ambassador said that the country has several heritage sites, lush green forests, and beautiful mountains to fulfill the expectations of most demanding of travellers.

OTOAI president Riaz Munshi said while all the neighbouring countries of the region are benefiting out of Indian outbound travel, there is no reason with its untapped natural beauty and rich heritage Slovakia cannot appeal to the Indian tourists. He said OTOAI will do its best to educate the travel trade and tourists at large and build awareness about Slovakia in India.

Slovakia offers attractive incentives for the film producers. The government reimburses 33 pc of the production cost. Embassy of Slovakia has plans to invite the Film Commission of Slovakia for more engagement with the Indian production houses later this year.

Visit Finland conducts workshop in New Delhi along with Finnish operators

Finland, with its thousands of lakes and forests, is a country that boasts of being among those with the world's cleanest air, and of landscapes second to none. From admiring the Northern Lights, to experiencing peace in the countryside and its cottage life, or even wishing to pay a visit to Santa, Finland has a lot to offer. With all these things in store, and an eye for the high-end leisure travellers from India, Visit Finland, the national tourism organisation of the country, organised a workshop in Delhi this week that showcased various tourism products from the country to the present travel fraternity.

The workshop was also attended by a set of Finnish operators who educated the audience with their offerings of new products, experiences and offers from the destination. Sara Sodhi Juneja, the country manager for Visit Finland made a detailed presentation followed by other private operators.

Visit Rovaniemi, the local tourist board of the Rovaniemi region in the Lapland region of Finland attracted a lot of attention at the workshop. Rovaniemi is the official hometown of Santa Claus, and Visit Rovaniemi is the city’s Christmas brand guardian. Visit Rovaniemi keeps central command throughout its operations regarding the Christmas brand values: authenticity, giving and caring, surprise and innovation as well as constant presence. Understanding the big Indian market, they will plan to throw out some special packages for the next winter season.

"With the midnight sun in the summer, and the ephemeral allure of the Northern Lights in the winter, Finland possesses a wealth of rare beauty, and a truly distinctive ambience. It takes six hours from Delhi to fly to Helsinki. In summer, there are flights four times a week and in the winter there are daily flights. There is a variety of Indian restaurants in Finland. The Indian restaurants are in the city centre at a walking distance and can be easily found," commented Shravan Bhalla, the owner of Highflyer, a Delhi-based outbound tour operator.

Jazeera Airways records best operational earnings in the airline’s history

Jazeera Airways, Kuwait-based airline that operates quite a few off beat routes in India announced a net profit of INR 3.5 billion, up 124.1 pc from last year, supported by a 20.6 pc increase in number of passengers, reaching 2.4 million, and a 25.9 pc increase in operating revenue to INR 24.24 billion.

Operationally, the airline registered an increase in operating profit by 108.7 pc to KD14.2 million, a 2.3 pc increase in load factor to 77.5 pc, an aircraft utilisation of 13.3 hours and a yield of INR 9,704.

In the last quarter of the year (Q4 2019), the company reported a net loss of INR 280 million (including profit from sale of engine), down from a net loss of INR 421 million in Q4 2018. The number of passengers increased by 28.5 pc, while operating revenue increased by 11.8 pc to INR 4.9 billion, aircraft utilisation stood at 13.8 hours and yield at INR 7,481 during Q4 2019.

Commenting on the results, the chairman of Jazeera Airways, Marwan Boodai said, “We are proud to be announcing our best set of operating results in the airline’s history. The significant leap in profitability is the result of profitable growth coupled with an aggressive cost focus. Our airline continues to grow and expand its footprint in the Middle East, Europe and Asia, while our Jazeera Terminal T5, which is the only example of an airline-owned terminal in the region, significantly contributed to the strong results.”

Currently, Jazeera Airways flies to 37 popular destinations across the Middle East, India and Europe comprising high-demand business, leisure, family and weekend destinations including London, Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Beirut, Amman, Alexandria, Cairo, Sharm El Sheikh, Assiut, Luxor, Sohag, Jeddah, Riyadh, Taif, Najaf, Mashhad, Kochi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Lahore, Istanbul, Bodrum, Baku, Tbilisi, Kathmandu, Karachi, Al Ain and Dammam.

Following its milestone launches in 2019, Jazeera Airways is planning new direct services from Kuwait to Sharjah in UAE, Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Qassim and Hail in KSA. The airline is also looking into opportunities to continue its expansion in the European market within the 6.5-hour flight radius.

GoAir launches direct flight between Doha & Mumbai from March 19

GoAir is set to start a direct flight between Doha and Mumbai. Doha is GoAir’s first destination in Qatar and the sixth in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. The Mumbai–Doha –Mumbai flights will commence from March 19, 2020. The sales window is already open and passengers can book their tickets on the website, the mobile app and at the airport counters.

Speaking on the new launch, managing director of GoAir, Jeh Wadia said, “With the introduction of flights to and from Doha, GoAir further consolidates its leadership position in the Gulf. I must share that our operations in the Gulf region have received an exceptional response, and the launch of the Doha sector is in line with our aggressive growth plans. Qatar and India have always shared a special bond that is built on friendship, business and diplomacy. GoAir’s new flights to Doha will fulfill the aspirations of job seekers as well as business travellers to leverage Qatar’s burgeoning economy.”


India Outbound is a publication of Media India Group