Incredible India’s greatest strength has always been its heritage. Ruled by some of the richest dynasties, with architecture propelled forward during the British Raj, India has buildings that could relate countless stories if the walls could speak. The second best way to understand a history that goes as far back as India’s, is to live in its remnants.
While there is no doubt that our coastal regions, religious sites, wildlife parks and scenic tourist destinations are high on tourists’ bucket lists, heritage hotels seem to hold a charm above all. The ambience created reflecting India’s renowned royalty within the walls that housed them has always trapped the fancy of international visitors vying to experience the heritage of India. However, heritage hotels, which were once considered the luxury of the rich European visitors, has taken a turn for the better as the tourism industry grew more rapidly, both globally and within the country. And of late, heritage hotels have also witnessed a surge of Indian customers at their doorsteps, furthering its year on year growth.
“Neemrana made Indians proud to enjoy their heritage and thus Indians account for 80 per cent of our clientele. The top 10 inbound nationalities are dominated by the English, the French, Americans, Germans, the Dutch, Australians, Swedish, Canadians, Belgians, Russians, and the Japanese,” revealed Aman Nath and Francis Wacziarg, Co-Chairmen, Neemrana Hotels.
According to Ranjit Sinh Parmar, Founder & CEO, Palaces of India and Camps of India, the domestic-to-inbound customer ratio differs from heritage property to property and from destinations to destinations. “In Rajasthan, for example, the heritage properties around Jodhpur tend to receive more inbound guests, going up to 75 per cent of their total customers compared to the heritage properties around Jaipur and Udaipur which would have about a 50:50 share of both the market segments. Palaces of India, across all its properties in Gujarat and Rajasthan would have an equal share of the domestic and inbound markets,” he stated.
Parmar further added that Palaces of India’s largest feeder markets internationally are UK, France and Germany and domestically are NCR, Maharashtra and Gujarat. “We see a huge amount of interest and demand for all our heritage properties from the domestic travellers. The hotel destinations which are within five to six hours’ driving distance from these major domestic feeder markets tend to have a greater demand than the others. Air, rail and road connectivity play a major role in the domestic demand for each of our heritage properties,” he added.
Diversity in heritage
The heritage tourism segment has no doubt been dominated by the leisure market for years. However, the rise in MICE tourism has led to a hunger to explore new places and enjoy new experiences. Currently, India ranks 27th in the global MICE market. Furthermore, for India, the domestic MICE market is quite strong and inbound MICE market is gradually picking up with the active support from the Ministry of Tourism. Heritage hotels have, once again, caught these travellers’ eyes.
As Delhi’s favourite venue for conferences, off-sites and retreats, the Neemrana Fort Palace is popular among corporates. “With three conference halls, owing to the demand for conferences having gone up three folds, the property has witnessed great success with the MICE segment because of its unique branding, location, and mystique. There are various companies that continue to hold their conferences and off-sites here annually,” Nath and Wacziarg opined.
Parmar also stated that the Palaces of India properties are very popular for MICE, especially conferences and incentives. He further added that the properties have begun to see a surge in weddings, lifestyle events and film shoots as well.
Marketing our heritage
Be it leisure or business travel, hotels never undermine the power of a strong relationship with the Indian travel trade. For the Indian market, travel agents are still the more relied on source for information and advice on travel. Similarly, for inbound tourists, a planned holiday designed by professionals is the largely preferred choice owing to the size and diversity of the country and its offerings. Heritage hotels also stand by the importance of the fraternity in attracting guests from all travel segments to their properties. Nath and Wacziarg believe that the travel trade has always been an important contributor to the success of heritage hotels.
“The travel trade is the mainstay for generating business for our heritage properties and it will continue to be so too,” opined Parmar. He further added that Palaces of India and Camps of India’s promotional activities to improve visibility for their heritage properties includes participating and exhibiting in travel trade fairs in India and abroad, familiarisation trips for the travel professionals, advertising and promotions in travel trade publications, internet marketing campaigns, direct meetings and presentations through sales calling, among others.
Taking a similar approach, Neemrana Hotels participates in travel exhibitions and fairs as they believe that it is a great way to reach out to people who have not been Neemranified yet. “However, we do not indulge in road-block marketing. We have merely created a forum for our audience to reach out to us. We always try to interact with trade partners and clients as human beings – not just as a company,” Nath and Wacziarg added.
