The 4th edition of the India Travel Trade Expo (ITTE) received a good support from the cross section of the industry. The Expo was inaugurated by Chhagan Bhujbal, Minister for Tourism, Government of Maharashtra. Anand Kulkarni, Principal Secretary Tourism, Government of Maharashtra; Vipul Mittra, Secretary, Tourism, Civil Aviation and Pilgrimage, Government of Gujarat; Iqbal Mulla, President, TAAI; N G Shankar, Treasurer, TAAI, N M Sharafudden, Vice President, TAAI; Subhash Goyal, President, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO); and Subhash Verma, President, Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), were also present at the event.
Taking centrestage, Bhujbal spoke of the importance of a meaningful interaction between trade and state, which will lead to rapid tourism development. “We are taking measures towards easing the taxes and permissions for the industry to work more smoothly, and we request the trade to, in turn, help us as well with designing packages to better sell our destinations, especially the wine route in Maharashtra,” he stated.
Bhujbal further added that events like ITTE are a great platform for the trade to display their products and services professionally. Kulkarni informed the attendees that states have to collaborate and jointly promote Maharashtra which is the gateway in the west. He further added that the government is open to any suggestions the industry may have to improve tourism, and urged open dialogues for the same. Mittra revealed the steps Gujarat has taken towards improving tourism, which has led to their tourist arrival number increasing by over 50 lakhs and their upcoming Kutch festival being 60 per cent sold out two months in advance.
Business sessions
Day one of the ITTE saw a panel discussion titled ‘Inside India’. Mittra, Goyal, Ashish Kumar Singh, Secretary to Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra; Arup Sen, Executive Director, Cox & Kings; and Sunil Kumar R, Secretary General, TAAI formed the panel for the same, with Sheldon Santwan, Editor, TravelBiz Monitor acting as moderator. Singh was the first speaker for the same, and spoke of India’s lack of faith in itself as a destination as the reason for its lack of tourists. “When I was working in Kerala, I realised that the reason it pulls tourists is that the locals do not believe there is any destination better than Kerala. India is not known to Indian. We need to sell the country to our own people, for them to be convinced to sell it to others,” he said.
Giving an agent’s perspective, Kumar said that what India needs is a specialist programme the way the other countries have designed to equip their industry to sell their destinations. The drivers of tourism in India, he added, need to be more passionate about their product. Goyal stated that India needs to capitalise on its strengths, like religion. He further opined that co-ordination is required at the centre and state levels, and between states, for furthering the cause of tourism. Mittra spoke of Gujarat’s efforts in marketing and promotion of destinations with major tourism potential, and advised that this measure be used by other states as well.
Sen spoke of India’s lack of preservation as its downfall. “We have allowed our national treasures to fall to disrepair. We have relegated all our monuments and salvaged only the Taj Mahal, and reduced even that from a two-day visit to a one-day guided show. We need to stop blaming the government, accept our shortcomings, and make the most of what we have to sell India,” he concluded.
Addressing the topic of ‘Maximising Revenue in Tourism’ on day two of ITTE were Rajeev Wagle, MD, Kuoni Travel Group, India; Raghwendra Kumar Singh, MD, Madhya Pradesh Tourism; Jasdev Singh, Director- Market Management Indian Subcontinent, Expedia; and Dev Karvat, MD, Trawelltag, who formed the panel for the discussion. Manoj Gursahani, Chairman, TravelMartIndia, was the moderator for the same. Jasdev Singh spoke of the advent of ‘Social, Local and Mobile’ and the importance of concept selling to increase revenue in the industry. Wagle stated that, despite the internet, there is a lot of interaction that is still not done online, like professional advice, and the agents need to capitalise on this.
Karwat opined that the focus of the industry should now be on non-air products, which is where the revenue is as the customers have less bargaining power with these offerings. Raghwendra Singh concluded that better marketing was the key to increased revenues, especially word of mouth marketing. “Innovation is the key word. Operators and associations are key factors in the industry’s growth. They can build and break a destination. These are the philosophies Madhya Pradesh is working on,” he stated.
The ‘President’s Round Table’ was the final business session at ITTE, and the most interactive. Moderated by Mulla, the panel featured Goyal; Verma; Sarabjit Singh, President, Indian Tourist Transporters Association (ITTA); Dhaval Jangla, Director, ETAA; and Bharat Thacker, President, The Air Cargo Agents Association of India. The aim of the session, Mulla stated, was to see how the associations can design a way to work together to increase tourism.
Verma opined that a common voice was needed to make lobbying for common demands stronger. Echoing his sentiments, Goyal added that together, the industry can force the government to listen to their requests. “As long as we are fragmented, successive governments will continue to give us only lip service. We are the largest employment generators, and we need to shake them up and make them realise that the industry deserves to be a priority. We are being treated badly because we are divided,” he stated.
Mulla spoke of taxation being the main issue to be dealt with by the industry. Singh informed that in the last 20 years, four attempts have been made to unite the associations, all of which have faded out. “Our own people, when they meet the government separately, confuse them about what is needed by the industry. We hope to fight together for common concerns and achieve positive steps in the next six months. We have approached the Ministry of Commerce for the first time recently, and discussions are on the right track for some of our issues,” he revealed.
Thacker stated that taxation is not a choice, it is mandatory. Instead of debating over it, he urged the industry stakeholders to visit the DGCA site every Monday to post their comments on the decisions being taken by the board because lack of comments is taken as acceptance of the decisions by the DGCA, and the decision is passed accordingly. Mulla concluded the session by stating that there are multiple issues that the associations need to address together, and also requested the media to portray the country more positively.
