DRMumbai: Informa Markets inaugurated the 27th edition of SATTE, India’s leading B2B travel trade engagement show at India Expo Mart in New Delhi on January 8, 2020. The three-day expo brought over 1050 exhibitors, 200 foreign buyers from over 50+ countries and 500+ domestic hosted buyers from 104 Indian cities. More than 30,000 travel and tourism professionals attended the show – a 15 per cent growth over previous year. The marquee expo was inaugurated by Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of State for Tourism & Culture (I/C), Govt. of India along with key dignitaries like Mansukh L Mandaviya, Minister of State (I/C) for Shipping, Govt. of India; YB Tuan Muhammad Bakhtiar bin Wan Chik, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia; Nia Niscaya, Deputy Minister of Tourism Marketing, Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia; Michael Goh, President, Dream Cruises & Head of International Sales, Genting Cruise Lines; Michael Duck, Executive VP, Informa Markets – Asia; Yogesh Mudras, MD, Informa Markets in India and Pallavi Mehra, Group Director, Informa Markets in India, amidst an august gathering.
With a focus on building new business partnerships and product announcements, the three-day expo talked about the current trends in the industry
With a focus on building new business partnerships and product announcements, the expo talked about the current trends in the industry. Keeping up with their annual promise, SATTE 2020 delivered an exciting line-up of sessions and workshops, presented and led by high profile speakers and industry stalwarts, covering topics from all aspects of the industry. The first panel discussion on ‘Global Economic Scenario, Tourism Trends and India’ on Day 1 discussed the emerging scenario in global travel and tourism industry and India. The second panel discussion: ‘Adventure Tourism: Unlocking New Avenues’ focussed on major challenges in adventure tourism. Day 2 of SATTE 2020 Conference was Corporate Travel Day powered by the Corporate Travel Community (CTC), which saw two sessions on ‘Airline Programs + NDC Education Forum’ and ‘The Accommodation Outlook and Technology Innovations Education Forum’. Apart from these, the Network of India MICE Agents (NIMA) held a set of five sessions and two workshops on MICE tourism.
SATTE 2020 received support from international organisations/associations and Indian travel trade forums such as Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI), India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB), Universal Federation of Travel Agents Association (UFTAA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Skal and Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA).
I would like to congratulate SATTE for 27 glorious years and thank them for giving representation to states such as Leh-Ladakh. India is the only country that has a different cultural identity across destinations. Events like these showcase our rich culture in a great way. I hope foreign guests and visitors attending the event get a glimpse of our country.
Prahlad Singh Patel
Union Minister of State for Tourism & Culture (I/C), Government of India
Despite the current economic and political climate, tourism industry still remains one of the fastest-growing sectors. This year is the largest edition of SATTE till date due to outstanding participation. It has emerged as one of South Asia’s largest international travel shows that both the exhibitors and buyers from across the world participate to showcase as well as shop for the diverse global travel and tourism products and services. Not only tourism, SATTE also has the potential to harness rural development as well.
Yogesh Mudras
MD, Informa Markets in India
2019 was not the best year for India travel trade due to the grounding of Jet Airways, elections and Cox & Kings fiasco. But 2020 looks promising. We are sure to achieve 10-15 per cent growth. The Iran-US conflagration is a concern as rise in fuel prices will impact air fares. This year we launched ‘Cruise Plus’, a website for B2B cruise bookings with live inventory of Dream Cruises and Jalesh Cruises.
Pradeep Saboo
MD, Guideline Travels
2019 has been a difficult year for Mauritius Tourism due to challenges related to airlift in their traditional markets especially Europe. India market also under-performed in 2019 with a decrease of 10 per cent compared to 2018 resulting in annual arrivals falling by about 8000. In 2019, over 80,000 Indians travelled to Mauritius and this year, the target is to touch 85,000. We launched a campaign to incentivise agents – where an agent bringing more than 100 visitors for 3N stay in Mauritius is entitled to a cash incentive of Rs. 2,00,000 and if it’s a group of 250 visitors for 3N stay the cash incentive will be Rs. 4,00,000. If a group of 100 visitors and above stay for more than 3N, the agent will enjoy a tax rebate of 15 per cent which means zero VAT. Air Mauritius has 10 direct flights a week from Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai. On top of that, around 17 per cent of Indians travel via Dubai to Mauritius. Visa is not required to enter Mauritius.
Arvind Bundhan
Director, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA)
In December 2019, Manama, Bahrain’s capital, was named Capital of Arab Tourism for 2020 at the 22nd session of the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism, held in Saudi Arabia. On New Year’s Eve, BTEA unveiled a new identity and logo to complement the recognition. Bahrain International Exhibition Center, poised to be the biggest in the GCC region, will be ready by 2022. Multiple-entry e-visa for five years for BD60 has proved useful for corporate travellers. Visitor arrivals in 2019 touched 4620 from India. Bahrain has been a sought-after wedding destination for Indians for two years. November and December 2019 saw eight Indian weddings with six more scheduled for 2020. We are developing sea activities like the world’s largest underwater theme park Dive Bahrain, which has a sunken Boeing 747 aircraft, two ships and also a museum. Pearl diving is very unique to Bahrain but is not promoted for mass tourism as the fragile ecosystem has to be respected.
Dr. Ali Follad
Advisor, Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority (BTEA)
Taiwan is continuing its aggressive marketing push in India in 2020 as well. We are at SATTE and will be at OTM, BLTM and TTF and conduct a 6-city roadshow across India. We have planned advertisements at airports, metros, shopping malls and theatres as well as online campaigns and webinars. In Q1, 2019, we achieved 20 per cent growth in India market which met the target; Q2, 2019 saw challenges due to the grounding of Jet Airways and bankruptcy of Cox & Kings. These unforeseen developments impacted incentive group movements in a big way. 2019 saw 6 per cent growth over 2018 and in 2020 a 20 per cent growth is being projected. We are exploring a strategic partnership with Singapore Airlines to launch a Singapore-Taiwan package in Q1, 2020.
Dr. Trust Lin
Director, Taiwan Tourism Bureau
Ark Travels, the PSA for Genting, Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) and Club Med, added Rail Europe and Europamundo Vacations to its client roster in 2019. We grew only by about 5 percent in 2019 due to the slowdown of the economy. Now, the market is gradually picking up and corporate movements are 20 per cent higher than in 2019. Ark Travels will conduct 89 roadshows in tier II, III and IV cities from January to March 2020. We have already conducted many theme parties (DJ nights and ‘Indian Idol’ nights) on-board Dream Cruises with 700-800 passengers cruising. Now, we are looking at hosting a musical event on-board Dream Cruises with an intention to charter the whole vessel – 3500 passengers from India.
Kishan Biyani
MD, Ark Travels
Travstarz Global Group started Bali operations in 2019 and now has 21 DMCs under our belt. It was our first year with cruise product as a PSA for Genting’s Dream Cruises & Star Cruises, Celestyal Cruises Europe and India’s Jalesh Cruises. We are excited about the imminent re-launch of our online reservation system clickontravstarz.com. The portal has live inventory – worldwide flights, hotels, tours, cruise, insurance, visa, and transfers – and will be specific to our 21 DMC locations. In 2020 the main focus of Travstarz Global Group however will be on the cruise app.
Pankaj and Sucheta Nagpal
MD & CEO, Travstarz Global Group
In 2019, TBO grew at 52 per cent in India and 90 per cent in international markets. TBO is now one of the few companies in the world which will enable Hajj and Umrah travel online (ticket, visa and hotel). The TBO DMC business did about 9000 passengers in 2019 and the ambition is to serve 20,000 passengers in 2020. TBO Cruises sold about 1400 cabins in 2019, our first year in the cruise vertical and hopes to double sales in 2020.
Ankush Nijhawan
Co-founder, TBO
2019 has been an excellent year for the airline inspite of the unforeseen cancellation of the Boeing MAX aircraft in March. Oman Air has witnessed growth in all 11 cities that we fly to – in fact, each market has doubled numbers in terms of local contributions, and the biggest achievement is that point-to-point traffic to Oman has increased from India. Oman is now a preferred destination for weddings and events from India.
Sunil V A
Regional Vice President – ISC Oman Air
We completed a decade in the Representation business and added more accounts in 2019 like – Banyan Tree Resorts, Siam@Siam Design Hotel (Bangkok & Pattaya), Le Rou de Montreal (Montreal Eye), Village Coconut Island Resort Phuket, properties in Malaysia, and also delivered a few standalone projects with tourism boards. However, the biggest validator of performance is the number of accounts that have remained with Nijhawan Representations over the years – Address, Armani, Harbour Plaza. Soon the company is expanding into the weddings and corporate sector. Dubai Tourism is the flagship account of Nijhawan Representations and the five-year multiple entry visa announced by the UAE government recently will be a catalyst to further boost arrivals into Dubai. We are working to change the perception of Ramadan from fasting to feasting as the shopping malls stay open beyond midnight, and there is more time to shop and dine which is attractive to visitors. Expo 2020 starting in October is yet another reason to travel to Dubai.
Priyanka Nijhawan
Director, Nijhawan Representations
Global Trails was launched at SATTE 2020 as a tourism representation firm handling DMCs, destinations and hotel brands. To start with, we have a presence in Egypt and Hungary through our partner Elegant Group, one of the biggest travel and hospitality players in Egypt and Europe, and one of the first to come to India. Elegant Group has its head office in Budapest and branch offices in Cairo, London and Paris. Global Trails will manage FITs, MICE, Groups, van tours and so on.
Anil Pulipalayam
Founder & CEO, Global Trails
TBO’s Corporate Travel Management Tool to be Launched Soon
Travel Boutique Online (TBO), India’s largest ‘B2A’ travel company, will soon launch PAXES, a corporate travel management tool for travel agents to better manage and service their corporate clients. Travel agents have been losing corporate business to large TMCs strong on tech as the big clients insist on technology and scale in handling requests. Now SMB travel agents can harness the power of PAXES powered by TBO.
“The tool has three stakeholders,” explained Saurabh Juneja, Product Head – TMC Tools, PAXES. “Corporate Travel Agent who will act as an OTA and manage revenue; Corporate Admin (Client) will manage travel policies and approval workflow; and Corporate Employees who will book their own itinerary on the app.”
Millennial business travelers today want everything on their mobile app. Corporate Employees using PAXES can engage with a chatbot representing the corporate travel agent to address their queries.
PAXES has been deployed in TBO as a pilot and all their employees across 57 countries where TBO is present are using the tool since the last four months. Once the product is fully developed it will have a complete inventory – tickets, hotels, transfers, visa, car rentals and forex. As of now, only airline tickets are available, however, the rest of the inventory categories will be live soon.
TBO will share its inventory and power content and technology for PAXES. Agents can publish their own inventory and itineraries as well.
“SMB travel agents losing business to large TMCs and OTAs who have entered the business travel space, now have a lifeline in PAXES,” said Ankush Nijhawan, Co-founder, TBO.
Travel is one of the biggest expense heads in corporate. Corporate is the largest travel segment in India and growing at a healthy 7 percent annually. It will be a $45 BN opportunity in the next five years. The tool built on the latest technologies incorporating AI, helps corporate customers save costs and manage travel budgets better. All travel documents including tickets and visas will be uploaded on the app and available 24×7 including details of past trips. PAXES app is available for Apple and Android users.
TBO Academy’s Courses Come in Handy for Travel Agents
India’s largest OTA platform Travel Boutique Online (TBO) is creating an L&D (Learning & Development) ecosystem for travel partners with TBO Academy. “Most employees of travel companies have never travelled outside India but they sell destinations, experiences, attractions and hotels from around the world to customers,” said Vidhu Lamba, Business Head, TBO Academy. “Our initiative is a virtual academy where one can undergo learning modules on what they sell. TBO Academy has over 60 courses on offer. There is no charge for travel agents and TBO Academy will certify those who have successfully completed the courses.”
9000+ agents have already received certification from TBO Academy since its launch at Arabian Travel Market (ATM 2019). The learning content is available in English and Arabic now and soon in Spanish and Portuguese.
Tourism boards, hotels and attractions also collaborate with TBO Academy creating L&D content. Content is available as videos, images, voice (webinars) and text. Some of the courses are sponsored by travel partners who want travel agents certified as experts. Fact sheets can be downloaded from the platform for future reference too. TBO Academy is the ‘expert program’ implementer for many tourism boards.
“Over 30,000 travel agents are currently undertaking courses on the TBO Academy every month,” informed Lamba.
“Especially in tier II, III and IV cities where customers rely more on brick and mortar travel agents, content on the TBO Academy is extremely useful to sell better. Travel agents who are not partners of TBO can also benefit from the courseware on TBO Academy,” confirmed Ankush Nijhawan, Co-founder, TBO.
The award-winning theme park of Warner Bros. World™ Abu Dhabi completed its first year of operation in 2019. Towards the end of the year, Abu Dhabi unveiled CLYMB™ Abu Dhabi, the latest addition to its portfolio of world-class experiences and attractions. Etihad Arena is slotted to open later this year. The association with UAE’s national airline, Etihad Airways, and its international reach, will help to position Etihad Arena globally as a must-visit destination for live entertainment. The Yas Bay Waterfront is on track to open later this year and will feature two world-class hotels, a beach club, 12 cafes and restaurants as well as 19 retail outlets, alongside the Etihad Arena. The stunning 18,000 capacity indoor multi-purpose arena will host concerts, sporting competitions, cultural performances, and more. Experience Hub, the trade and promotion arm of Yas Island Abu Dhabi, creates packages with value-added experiences and in 2019, we contributed to an increase in visitation from India to the award-winning theme parks of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Yas Waterworld and Warner Bros. World™ Abu Dhabi.
Liam Findlay
General Manager, Yas Island Abu Dhabi
In 2019, Sochi Tourism appointed Linkin Reps as their market representative in India. Sochi, Russia’s largest resort city shot into global prominence when it hosted the 2018 FIFA World Cup. We have so far been promoting Sochi as a summer destination but there is potential to showcase it as a winter destination for skiing, snowboarding and snowmobile, in the India market. Sochi has many European style mountain resorts that were built for the 2014 Winter Olympics. With 73,000 rooms and large meeting venues, Sochi is perfect for MICE too. We are working on launching a direct flight from Mumbai this year. Indians have been visiting Russia but confine their travel to Moscow and St. Petersburg. We welcomed less than 3000 visitors from India in 2019 and hope to receive 10,000 in 2020. We have Indian chefs in the hotels and vegetarian food is available but we are working towards opening an Indian restaurant in the city soon.
Timur Rasulev
Cultural and Tourism Counselor, Sochi Tourism
We started Calculus Holidays to focus on Africa and Indian Ocean destinations. We are building Calculus Online, our bookings engine that will be launched at OTM in February 2020. Offline communication around enquiry, rates, proposals, bookings will all then move online.
Saroj Jena
VP, Calculus Holidays
SATTE is a great platform to meet vendors and industry partners. Interest towards southern and eastern Africa has grown tremendously in the last two years with around 20,000 visitors from India. We will be the first DMC in India to organise tours to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Prateek Sharma
Assistant Vice President, Calculus Holidays
Visa Lounge has lined up 15 new enhancements to the technology platform – most important being WhatsApp integration – allowing updates on visa application and visa forwarding as well as delivering visa documents to passengers. We have tied up with Blue Dart Express to pick up documents and deliver offline visa to customers. We have rolled out our platform to 37 countries which have online visa and in February 2020 we will launch offline countries also making Visa Lounge the most comprehensive visa processing solution available in the market.
Clevio Monteiro
CEO, Visa Lounge
Visa is one of the greatest concern areas when it comes to overseas travel and is something that requires expertise. We are focussing on ensuring that we have the technology that can assist trade partners to process their visas hassle-free using our platform. This year we are opening a new office in New Delhi. We are also launching the mobile app for Visa Lounge soon.
Kunal Sampat
Country Head – Sales, Visa Lounge
Informa Markets also hosted the 4th Edition of the SATTE Awards, that recognises and celebrates the excellence, triumphs and innovations of key stakeholders in the Travel and Tourism industry.
- Best Blogger – My Travel Diary
- Best Cruise Liner – Genting Cruise Lines
- Best Domestic Tour Operator – Operations Less Than 5 Years – The Samsara Holidays
- Best Domestic Tour Operator – Operations More Than 5 Years – MakeMyTrip Ltd.
- Best Foreign Destination – Short Haul –Dubai Tourism
- Best Foreign Destination – Long Haul – Destination Canada
- Best Hotel in India – Resort Luxury Hotel The Tamara Coorg; Boutique Hotels –Aloha on the Ganges, Rishikesh; Budget Hotels – Summit Denzong Hotel and Spa, Gangtok; Business Luxury Hotel – Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel, New Delhi; Heritage Hotel – Alila Fort Bishangarh
- Best Inbound Tour Operator – Operations Less Than 5 Years – Destinos India Gurus Pvt Ltd.; Operations More Than 5 Years – Creative Travel Pvt. Ltd.
- Best Niche Tour Operator – Adventures Overland
- Best Online Travel Booking Site – EaseMyTrip.com
- Best Outbound Tour Operator – Operations Less Than 5 Years – Europa D Tours; Operations More Than 5 Years – Thomas Cook (India) Ltd.
- Best Start Up – NotOnMap – Unknown Destinations Pvt. Ltd.
- Best Travel Education and Skill Development Provider – Bird Academy
- Best Travel Publication – National Geographic Traveller India
- Best Travel Website – National Geographic Expeditions India
- Most Outstanding Woman Leader of the Year – Priya Paul
- Tourism Brand – Gujarat Tourism
- Best Exhibition Venue in India – India Expo Mart, Greater Noida
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Sundar Advani
