TravTalk India Online Magazine
Following setbacks caused by GST and demonetisation, the tourism and hospitality industry is moving forward with a positive attitude to reverse the negative impact of these roadblocks. The aim is clear, to ensure India tourism thrives. TRAVTALK speaks with industry leaders to gauge the mood for the New Year.
Ian Banerjee, Director, Global Anchor Cruises
We look at 2018 with great expectations and excitement. With cruises gaining popularity, we believe that passengers now understand that cruising is the next best way to see the world. We are amazed to see bookings for 2018 already. Guests have locked in their deposit and selected offers for their 2018 travel. Also, the myth that only elderly guests travel on cruises is now broken and Gen-X has been booking premium cruise liners for their travel.
Sunil V A, Regional Vice President-ISC (Indian Sub-Continent), Oman Air
We shall soon announce new routes into Europe and Africa that is most likely to start by summer. These new routes will complement our services connecting to more destinations from India. The coming year shall also witness our new 787 Dreamliners on long-haul routes and Boeing 737 Max aircraft on short-haul destinations. We also look forward to big-ticket weddings in Oman. In 2017, there were eight big weddings in Oman from India and in 2018 we expect this segment to increase. We will channelise our energies to continue our focus on corporates, premium, MICE and Europe traffic.
Peter Foster, President & CEO, Air Astana
We have carried around 60,000 passengers in 2017 till October and that represents a growth of 34 per cent. Majority of these passengers are from Russia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The number of Indian passengers remain relatively small at just about 10 per cent of the total. We are hoping to increase that number. We hope to get the Astana flights to daily. Thereafter, we will certainly be looking at Mumbai, which would most likely happen in 2019. This could be connected to Astana, as we have a new airport there— Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport.
Mark Sutch, Regional General Manager – South Asia, Middle East and Africa, Cathay Pacific Airways
We hope that the operating environment in 2018 will improve to reflect better yields and higher load factors. However, we do expect that the passenger business will continue to be affected by overcapacity and strong competition from other airlines. We are addressing the industry challenges through our corporate transformation and by expanding our route network, increasing frequencies on our most popular routes and buying more fuel-efficient aircraft. We expect to see the benefits of our transformation in 2018, as it will help us to increase productivity and reduce costs while improving the quality of our services to customers.
Amar Abrol, MD & CEO, AirAsia India, India Travel Award winner
2018 is going to be an exciting year for Indian aviation. Improved infrastructure and digitisation will be key drivers for us. With Regional Connectivity Scheme – UDAN taking off to a good start in 2017, passengers can look forward to flying to unserved and underserved routes and sectors at affordable fares. Continued and increased support from the Central & State Govt. and the tourism ministry in certain areas will help in creating reform. Standardisation in terms of including ATF under GST, uniformity in airport charges, revival of ghost airports, automation of processes at existing airports, will be key factors for airlines to serve travellers efficiently and help everyone fly!
Komal Seth, Director, Outbound Konnections
In 2018, we will continue our Fam trips for the influencers of travel like travel bloggers and B2B media, which has proven to be very successful in increasing awareness and generating interest for our products. While in 2017 we worked on sustainable growth of the clients we represent, in 2018, we will also look at expanding our representation portfolio. SriLankan Airlines will focus on its Business Class fares and services to the India market and the new Melbourne route connecting India via Sri Lanka. Sharjah Tourism will come in a big way through round the year marketing campaigns for B2B and consumer markets.
