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.

High uptake of online training of South African Tourism by Indian agents

SA Specialist, South African Tourism’s interactive online learning programme, has witnessed an increase in the number of Indian travel trade personnel undertaking the training as agents use the lockdown to upskill and reskill themselves on South Africa, one of the most sought after outbound destinations in India.

Commenting on the importance of trade trainings during this dull period, Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head – MEISEA, South African Tourism said, “We are proud that the travel fraternity as always has shown resilience, and is taking proactive steps to turn a global crisis into a learning opportunity by educating and upskilling themselves. It gives me great pleasure to share that in less than 4 months of 2020, the SA Specialist programme saw 1,161 new registrations from India, with 672 graduates thus far! Indian registrations account for nearly one-third of our global registrations for 2020. Since 2013, India has had the highest number of SA Specialists after South Africa."

Through the SA Specialist programme agents can become a South African Tourism-accredited travel specialist who has the knowledge to sell South Africa as a destination. They are also entered into the South African Tourism (SAT) database of SAT specialists, thus improving their marketability. Qualified agents will receive a certificate confirming that they have successfully completed the relevant course, and will be entitled to use the name 'SA Specialist' or 'South African travel expert' in their marketing materials.

From January to December 2019, the destination welcomed 95,621 Indian visitors to South Africa – a 2.3 pc YoY increase. The average length of stay saw an 8 pc YoY increase in the first half of 2019 from 25 nights to 27 nights. Total Indian traveller spends in the first half of 2019 were at a four-year high, with South African Tourism achieving 64 pc of its annual spends target within this period!

Destination DC conducting global travel agent training programme

South Africa is not the sole destination using the current shutdown to enhance training of the agents. Destination DC (DDC), the official destination marketing organisation for Washington, DC, has launched a global travel agent training programme titled Washington, DC Special Agent Academy.Washington, DC Special Agent Academy is an online-based programme, designed to train and engaging with the travel agents around the world who are interested in becoming Washington, DC experts. As a DC special agent, travel professionals will be better prepared to sell the US capital and its unique offerings to their customers, especially in a post COVID-19 scenario.

“Travel agents play a huge role in inspiring potential visitors to Washington, DC, which is why additional education will benefit the destination,” says Elliott L. Ferguson, II, president & CEO of DDC. “As travel agents around the world prepare for the return of flights and travel once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, now is the perfect time to learn more about why travellers should add Washington, DC to their itinerary when returning to the U.S.”

Through DDC’s international representation, the Washington, DC Special Agent Academy has launched in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, France, Germany and India reaching more than 30,000 agents.

Maldives hosts global webinar to discuss tourism marketing recovery strategies

Maldives Marketing & Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) hosted a webinar this week in association with PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) and one of the leading global travel platforms, TripAdvisor. The webinar titled “React, Rethink, Recover: Destination Management Solutions to the COVID-19 Crisis", had more than 300 tourism professionals from across the world selling Maldives tourism products

Thoyyib Mohamed, managing director of MMPRC said, “The disturbance it has caused to all of us in all aspects of life is incomparable. No industry has been hit as hard as the global travel industry which has come to an almost absolute stand still.”

Mario Hardy, the CEO of PATA, Sarah Mathews, the head of destination marketing at TripAdvisor also spoke at the webinar. Sarah Mathews highlighted the importance of marketing in digital platforms. MMPRC has changed and adapted to new strategies in order to increase the presence of Maldives globally in digital platforms and appreciates the efforts of the stakeholders in developing the webinar and marketing collaborations to make the Maldives visible more than ever.

Reed Travel Exhibitions reschedules global trade shows

Reed Travel Exhibitions has rescheduled the dates for the three spring global trade shows in its WTM Portfolio: WTM Latin America, Arabian Travel Market (ATM) and Africa Travel Week, which comprises of WTM Africa and International Luxury Travel Market Africa. The original dates of the events have had to be changed in response to the escalation of COVID-19.

ATM has been rescheduled from April 19-22, 2020 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, UAE, to the new date of May 16 - 19, 2021 at the same venue. Danielle Curtis, the exhibition director Middle East, Arabian Travel Market (ATM) said, “In the meantime, while the physical show will be rescheduled to 2021, we will keep the industry connected by hosting an ATM Virtual Event from June 1 - 3, 2020 featuring a series of webinars, live conference sessions, speed networking events, one-on-one meetings and much more.”

Also, WTM Latin America 2020, which was due to take place from March 31 - April 2, will now be held from October 20 - 22, 2020 at the same venue, Expo Center Norte, in São Paulo.

Luciane Leite, the director of WTM Latin America said, “We appreciate the hard work that goes into the planning and preparations that our partners and exhibitors prepare for the event and we have to unite in this challenging period."

Africa Travel Week, which comprises of WTM Africa and International Luxury Travel Market Africa, had been scheduled to take place from April 2 - 8, this year, will now be postponed until 2021 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

Carol Weaving, the managing director of Reed Exhibitions Africa said, “Due to the uncertainty in the region and around the world, with many of our clients facing company travel bans, we have decided to postpone the event to 2021."

Claude Blanc, WTM portfolio director said, “Our policies reflect those of the country governments in which our events take place. We will meet at WTM events in the future. Until that time comes, WTM Portfolio has launched a new online portal called WTM Global Hub, to connect and support the travel industry professionals around the world."

India Outbound is a publication of Media India Group