By BW Hotelier TRAVEL CORPORATION (India) Ltd. (TCI), inbound division of Thomas Cook (India), in a pioneering initiative, managed over 100 delegates from China, Korea and Taiwan, at a unique food exchange program. This original concept was launched in partnership with Beijng Kangyuan Food Culture Exchange Center and Hotel Kempinski Ambience, Delhi. Key dignitaries present at the event were Zhang Wenyan and Liang Cheng from The International Nutritious Cuisine Research Association (of China and Korea respectively), and Xie from Taiwan Chinese Cuisine & Travel Development Institute; Ma of Beijing Youth Travel Ltd., Rohit Tokhi and Neelabh Chugh, Hotel Kempinski Ambience and Prashant Narayan, COO and Head of Leisure Travel (Inbound), TCI (seen addressing the gathering in photo). In a strategic initiative to leverage China’s ’Visit India Year 2015’, TCI positioned Incredible India via an original concept of Culinary/ Gourmet Tourism to tap the strong emerging Inbound Chinese market, as also that of Korea and Taiwan. India being the home of a diversity of vegetarian cuisines, an engaging platform of a Cuisine Competition (Bodhi Cup) was chosen with special focus on the nutritional value and health factor of vegetarian meals. Narayan said, ’TCI’s internal data has highlighted the growing influence of China as a powerful source market for inbound tourism. While Chinese tourists stand at 100 million (expected to touch 200 million by 2020), India enjoys unfortunately but an insignificant share. Food plays a critical role in every culture and hence in a focused attempt to leverage the China market potential, equally that of Korea and Taiwan, the 11th International Nutritious Cuisine Competition (Bodhi Cup) was organized, with special emphasis on vegetarian food. The Cuisine Contest created a delightful on-ground engagement for over 100 participating chefs from across China, Korea and Taiwan, with vibrant discussion around India, vegetarian cuisine, nutrition, health and fitness.’ As a special gesture, our team at TCI has invited the delegates to experience Indian hospitality and explore India’s heritage and culture ’ the iconic Taj Mahal, holy city of Varanasi and Bodh Gaya. Narayan concluded, ’Prime Minister Modi’s pro-tourism initiative of e-TV (covering 43 countries, extended to an additional 31 countries) now includes China, and this augurs well in giving a fillip to Inbound Tourism. With cuisine seeing increasing interest, our Inbound team has created a unique product portfolio that includes culinary experiences along with special yoga tours, Indian ayurveda and spa-wellness programmes, etc to engage the discerning Inbound markets and we hope this creates a buzz for the upcoming season.’
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By BW Hotelier ACCORHOTELS HAS-appointed Jayakrishnan Sudhakaran as the new Director of Sales and Marketing for Grand Mercure Goa Shrem Resort. In his role he will be responsible for leading and further improving all aspects of the sales and marketing communications, promoting brand strategies and providing the best of Grand Mercure hospitality experience to the guests. Sudhakaran has been in the hospitality industry for over 12 years. Prior to joining AccorHotels, Sudhakaran was the Director of Sales at Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa in Goa where he was employed for four years. After graduating with a degree in Hotel Management from the Institute of Professional Sciences and Management, followed by a Post Graduate Degree from School of Communication and Management Studies, Cochin, Sudhakaran started his career with the Taj Hotels & Resorts and Palaces and then went on to hold various positions in prominent chains across India. Commenting on his appointment, Rohan Sable, General Manager, Grand Mercure Goa Shrem Resort, said, "We are thrilled to have Jayakrishnan lead our sales efforts at Grand Mercure Goa Shrem Resort. His key expertise lies in developing and implementing sales strategies in sync with market conditions and we look forward to his collaboration in pursuit of providing the best of Grand Mercure hospitality to our guests.’
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By BW Hotelier ACCORHOTELS HAS won the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award 2015 for best corporate environment program for Planet 21: Reinventing Hotels Sustainably. This is the third year in a row that AccorHotels has won gold at the PATA Awards, which is great recognition for the group’s firm commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and protection of the environment. ’We are honoured to be recognised for our Planet 21 program which includes 21 commitments to act together across a range of environmental and social issues,’ said Michael Issenberg, Chairman and CEO AccorHotels Asia Pacific (see photo). ’Our hotels in Asia Pacific ’ and globally - have set strong targets for reducing water consumption, energy use and carbon emissions, but, just as importantly, Planet 21 includes actions on child protection, disease prevention, employee development and other social commitments not only to the planet but also to people.’ The group has also undertaken two separate surveys with Accenture and EY, which found overall that AccorHotels decision to invest in sustainability programs not only has a positive impact on its carbon footprint, but also makes good business sense. The studies found there is a strong link between sustainability and increased guest satisfaction, improved business performance and increased loyalty of key B2B customers.
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By BW Hotelier INDIA TOURISM Development Corporation (ITDC) Ltd, a MINIRATNA public sector company, which operates its hospitality and tourism related services under Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, announced transition in its leadership with Mr. Piyush Tiwari taking over charge of Director (Commercial & Marketing) from Commodore (Retd) Ratan Kumar Okhandiar. Holding a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering & Master's Degree in Sociology, former Regional Manager (North) & Dy. General Manager, RINL- a NVRATNA public sector undertaking under ministry of steel, Govt of India; Mr.Tiwari has had an outstanding career and is credited for administrating major consumption centers of Iron & steel in India in all four regions (North, East, West, South) in various capacities. Having worked in various key positions at Rashtriya Ispat Nigam limited, the corporate entity of Vishakhapatnam steel plant, in a career spanning 28 years, Mr Piyush Tiwari has extensive experience in steel industry in managing Profit Centre Operations, Marketing and Business Development (B2B and B2C) and formulating strategies for growth with an overall business perspective. A keen strategist with expertise in managing operations, Mr Tiwari has demonstrated his excellence in launching new products, customer segmentation, capturing market share, increasing customer base and setting up new outlets. He has passion for Singing, Photography, Sports and travelling. Leading the ITDC team as Director (Commercial and Marketing), the key focus area for Mr.Tiwari will be to take the Company to the next level by way of strengthening brand ITDC and by leveraging upon inherent strengths of Corporation, offering various tourism related services as well as one stop solution to corporates for their business needs. His new role includes responsibility of further strengthening the brand’s connection with its stakeholders including customers, employees, investors etc.
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By BW Hotelier HOTEL FORMULE1 has won National Award for Excellence in digital marketing and social media. The brand has been bestowed with the awards for excellence under three categories - best use of social media marketing, best website and best digital marketing manager. The website for the brand is www.hotelformule1.in and the best digital marketing manager award was awarded to Madhu Joshi, Director Marketing & Communication, Hotel Formule1, AccorHotels, India. The best use of social media was awarded for brand’s targeted approach on engagement through Facebook. Owing to the innovative social media campaigns, interactive website and strategic direction provided by Madhu Joshi, Director-Marketing and Communications, Hotel Formule1, the brand has received recognition under different categories at the coveted platform. Commenting on the occasion, Madhu Joshi, Director-Marketing and Communications, Hotel Formule1, AccorHotels, said ’It is indeed pleasure receiving recognition for the hard work executed by the team in making the brand standout amongst audiences. Digital is a growing medium in today’s marketing environment and it is very crucial to include it as a key part of customer journey’. Hotel Formule1 is present in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Greater Noida, Pune Hinjewadi and Pimpri and opening soon in Hyderabad, Chennai and Nasik.
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By BW Hotelier OYO Rooms has announced that it has raised USD 100 million, led by the SoftBank Group, with participation from existing investors - Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed India. OYO will use the latest round of funding to implement new customer experience initiatives, build innovative technology products, and extend its domination in this space which it has pioneered. Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO, OYO Rooms, said, ’We are at the forefront of solving a problem of lack of predictability of experience across hotels in the country. Our vision is to provide a standardized experience - the OYO experience, to anyone, anywhere looking for a place to stay when not at home. We are excited to have global investors like SoftBank partner with us in this vision. Their experience in building innovative companies globally will bolster our efforts to grow into one of the world’s most trusted hotel businesses.’ Launched in 2013, OYO has presence in more than 70 cities with 12,000 plus available rooms. For customers looking for a place to stay, OYO offers a three-tap booking app, convenient payment channels, high quality reliable experience and services, and 24X7 customer support. In India’s highly fragmented hotel industry, OYO empowers unbranded hotels to increase revenues by providing access to technology, operational best practices and a national ecosystem of vendors and sales channels.
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By BW Hotelier GREESH BINDRA, General Manager, Crowne Plaza Greater Noida has been promoted to Area General Manager (Northern Region) by IHG. With 35 years of experience in the industry, 11 years as General Manager of different hotels, Bindra has worked in different departments including Food & Beverage, sales, marketing, rooms division, Resident Manager in hotels. Crowne Plaza Greater Noida was his first pre-opening hotel. Bindra started his career as Industrial Trainee at Taj Mahal Hotel in 1980. He has won many awards including Young Achievers Award for contribution to Hospitality at ITB Berlin, PATWA in 2007 and in the same year he won the award as Hotelier of the year 2006 by Safari India.
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By BW Hotelier IN A RARE demonstration of inter-ministerial coordination to raise the profile of India’s tourism sector, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister for Civil Aviation and Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Tourism and Culture, shared the same platform at the ’Tourism Investors Meet’ in New Delhi, both emphasizing the need for all stakeholders to work as a team to position the Indian tourism products on a higher pedestal. The two-day ’Tourism Investors Meet’ organized by FICCI in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and Tourism Finance Corporation of India (TFCI) concluded on a positive note with 12 Indian states showcasing their tourism products and more than 300 B2G meetings. Speaking in a Special Ministerial Session on ’Tourism Infrastructure and Opportunities for Investment’, Raju urged the industry to employ the underutilized bilaterals in civil aviation sector to give a boost to tourism sector. Responding to the issue of opening the Indian sky, Raju said that the country’s sky had been opened up for SAARC nations. He informed that India was amongst the few countries that had satellite navigation and it could help in making our skies safer, travel economical and environment less polluting and added that the onus was now on industry to utilize this to its advantage. Underlining the need to speedily build the country’s infrastructure to cope up with the demand and need of the country, Raju said that tourism sector needed the Central and State governments to work in harmony with the private sector. He urged the industry to share an actionable paper with his Ministry to take forward the agenda of promoting the sector. Dr. Sharma said that the highest priority should be accorded to improving India’s perception abroad. As a country, India must be looked at as a congenial and conducive environment by foreign tourists. He added that it was imperative for citizens to cherish the country’s heritage and communicate its richness to visitors. Dr. Sharma said, ’For tourism to thrive it was essential that infrastructure development and regional connectivity went hand-in-hand. Ministries and States need to come on-board for this and issues related to the sector must be resolved within a stipulated timeframe in a single window approach, he added.’ Speaking on medical tourism, Dr. Sharma said that India has lagged behind in medical tourism despite its competitive pricing of health care delivery. To promote tourist destinations, Dr. Sharma proposed that visual presentations and interactive audio-visual media should be employed to make the experience of visitors to heritage sites and monuments lively and engrossing. He added that social interaction needs to be revived to showcase India’s heritage on the global platform. Dr. Jyotsna Suri, President, FICCI, said that foreign tourist arrivals in India in 2014 was 7.7 million with a foreign exchange earning of Rs. 120,083 crore. Indian tourism grew at 10.6% while the world tourism at 4.4%. With this projected growth, the country witnesses a void as the infrastructure struggles to cope with the demand in tourism. Photo: Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Tourism and Culture addressing Special Ministerial Session during Tourism Investors Meet in New Delhi.
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