That the tourism and travel market is dynamic, and it taps new trends very quickly, has been cemented after the pandemic withdrew its aftershocks. Many countries are now developing measures to build a more resilient tourism economy post-COVID-19. These include preparing plans to support the sustainable recovery of tourism, promoting the digital transition and moving to a greener tourism system, and rethinking tourism for the future.

TravHQ, in association with OTM, curates a dialogue exchange on similar themes at the OTM Forum 2022. In conversation with Daksh Sharma, Managing Partner at TravHQ and Iffort, are renowned figures in the travel and marketing sector. On Day 2 of the Forum, two panels discuss two very intriguing topics – first, ‘How to win the Next Billion Indian Travellers’ and second, ‘Hello New World: Digital Marketing for Travel Brands in an era of Change’. On board are speakers from biggies like Twitter, SaffronStays, Thomas Cook, Adani Group, TBO.com, and EcoRentaCar.

OTM Forum Day 2, Panel 1: ‘How to win the Next Billion Indian Travellers’

Mr. Nitin Sethi, a product of the University of Pennsylvania, has 21 years of work experience in Digital Transformation, Product Design & User Experience. Currently, he is leading Digital Transformation for Adani Group. He specializes in leading multi-functional teams and establishing the best user experience practices and processes in organizations. He has built robust monetizable products for the biggest Internet companies in India. He has great experience in handling large global platforms. Mr. Nitin has expertise in fields like Digital Transformation, Design Thinking, D2C Platforms, User Experience & Design Strategy, Information Architecture & Interaction Design, Online Consumer Experiences for web and mobile platforms, New Media/ Mobile UX, Building/Leading teams in different verticals, Managing ROI, Competitive Analysis, Creative Duties/ Leadership, Project Conceptualization, Evaluation, Planning, and Execution. 

Mr. Ankush Nijhawan, Co-founder of TravelBoutiqueOnline TBO.com and Managing Director at Nijhawan Group is a graduate of Boston and he majored in Marketing and Psychology. Today Ankush is thriving with his strategic vision and direction to the Nijhawan Group to be a leader in the travel industry. He was chosen by CNBC as a Young Turk for revolutionizing the travel trade through his B2B travel portal. Ankush today by far is one of the most successful youngsters in the travel trade. In 2021, Mr. Ankush was appointed as Chairperson of the FICCI Outbound Tourism Sub Committee. 

Mr. Aditya Loomba is Director at ECO Rent A Car, Europcar India (Global Ground Transportation services – Chauffeur Driven & Self Drive). ECO is proud to be the winner of the prestigious national award, given by the President of India, as the best chauffeur-driven Ground Transportation company. 

OTM Forum Day 2, Panel 2: ‘Hello New World: Digital Marketing for Travel Brands in an era of Change’

Devendra Parulekar is the founder of SaffronStays, a hospitality collective that has an inventory of beautiful private homes and villas in various locations. An entrepreneur, a visionary, a dreamer, and driven by a larger purpose – Devendra wants to change the way Indians holiday and celebrate their special occasions with their loved ones in a private vacation home. 

Ms. Neha Sharma Katyal leads Twitter’s regional business in India. She is a seasoned commercial and digital marketing executive with a proven track record in leading high-growth businesses and cultivating top-performing teams. 14+ years of experience amassed at Twitter, Star Sports, Disney+ Hotstar, BBC Worldwide, and Network18 group, managing large teams across diverse cultural contexts. Held roles in growth strategy, customer marketing, revenue creation, and general management while working alongside global leadership councils & India leadership teams.

Mr. Neeraj Singh Dev is heading the e-Business channel, and product marketing for India, Asia, the Middle East, and CIS country outbound holidays for Thomas cook India Ltd & SOTC Travel Ltd. He has experience across travel functions of mid-size and large-size travel management companies in offline as well as online environments. He is currently a part of the leadership team at Thomas cook India.

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Tourism Australia has launched a new tourism promotion campaign ‘UnDiscover Australia’ in India and South East Asia specifically targeting high value travellers in India, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The campaign challenges perceptions and stereotypes of what Australia offers as a tourism destination by showcasing unusual, unfamiliar and unexpected attractions and experiences. It is being backed by Australia’s state and territory tourism organisations, airlines, and a range of other key distribution partners.

There is a website dedicated to this campaign that highlights all the different experiences travellers can have on their trip Down Under. From Places to Go, to Things to Do, and even Youth Travel, the website is a comprehensive platform for all content that anyone might require to plan their vacation. Additionally, it also has a Plan Your Trip section that lets travellers find agents who can help them book their trips.

Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager, India & Gulf, Tourism Australia said, “This campaign will shine a spotlight on some of our undiscovered and hidden holiday gems, showing there’s much more to an Australian holiday for Indians in addition to experiencing our well-known icons. Yes, you can watch a game of cricket at the magnificent Adelaide Oval, but are people aware that they can also do an amazing rooftop climb offering 360 views of the city? Or that there are plentiful immersive experiences amidst untouched natural landscapes in close proximity to our vibrant cities. It’s surprising experiences such as these that we will be seeking to highlight through this campaign,” he said.

The UnDiscover Australia campaign will be executed in two phases in India – September to November and January to April to coincide with the holiday planning periods for the peak travel season during the year-end and Indian summer respectively. The campaign will also be amplified during the India’s cricket tour of Australia.

India is currently Australia’s fastest growing market for arrivals and spend, achieving a fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth. Arrivals from India to Australia grew by 19.6% for the year ended June 2018 with an influx of 335,100 visitors, compared to same period last year, making India the 8th largest inbound market for Australia.

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The Ministry of Tourism of Republic of Indonesia (MoTRI) signed a strategic agreement with MakeMyTrip to promote Indonesian Tourism in India. Under this strategic partnership, MakeMyTrip and MoTRI will actively run campaigns across MakeMyTrip platforms to endorse tourism to Bali, Jakarta and other regions in Indonesia.

MakeMyTrip will launch a 360-degree online campaign on its platforms, external websites and social media to promote tourism to Indonesia. Through this association MakeMyTrip will aim to tap additional footfall of Indian tourists in Indonesia, this year.

Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and CEO-India, MakeMyTrip said, “We greatly look forward to working with the Ministry of Tourism of Republic of Indonesia to build the tourism momentum in the region. Indonesia, especially Bali is among the top favourite international destination among Indian travellers and this association will help us tap into the massive potential. We will be providing enhanced travel offerings to encourage travellers to explore the beautiful country of Indonesia.”

Speaking on the partnership, Nia Niscaya, Deputy Minister of Tourism Marketing, Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia, said, “We are delighted to further our partnership with MakeMyTrip, a leading player in the online travel segment and are confident that this association will help us expand our reach in the Indian market. Footfall of Indian travellers holidaying in Indonesia has skyrocketed in the last couple of years. The Ministry is taking additional steps in order to get the incremental growth from India”.

There has been a constant rise in the visits made by Indians year on year. Basis the bookings observed on MMT Platforms, there has been a significant rise of over 125 % in overall bookings to Indonesia during 2017.

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With international inbound to Turkey looking up once again, Turkey will be rigorously reactivating its trade engagements in emerging markets like China and India. Starting from September, Turkish Tourism will embark on a series of promotional campaigns and destination marketing activities in Indian market. This is in sync with the 100-day Action Plan unveiled by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier this month aimed at transforming Turkey economically. In the tourism sector, the Action Plan has set a target of 40 million international inbound by end of this year.

Foreign tourist arrivals in the first six months of 2018 increased by 30% compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching around 16 million, as per official statistics. Tourism revenue in the first six months of this year rose from USD 8.7 billion to USD 11.4 billion.

The 100-day Action Plan underscores the importance of emerging markets like India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc., said H Deniz Ersoz, Culture & Tourism Counsellor, Embassy of Republic of Turkey in India. The tourism department has been asked to undertake dedicated activities in these markets to increase the inbound from these emerging markets, he added. He said that these markets are important for Turkish Tourism for “diversification of products” as unlike European visitors who are more “sun and sand” oriented, visitors from these markets are keen on exploring the life and culture of the country.

Talking about plans for the India market, Ersoz said that Turkish Tourism hasn’t done much in the market since last couple of years other than attending few important trade exhibitions. However, starting from September, Turkish Tourism will start joint promotional campaigns with leading tour companies in the country. This will include some dedicated special campaigns to attract the weddings market, he said. Turkish Tourism is also in the process of finalising two roadshows series in October and November this year covering major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and few Tier-II cities. The tourism agency will also conduct three familiarisation tours in 2018, Ersoz said. While one will be dedicated to wedding planners, other two will be for corporates and media. MICE, he said, is a key segment and there has already been big group movements to Turkey from India.

India inbound to Turkey grew 100% between January and June this year compared to the corresponding period last year. “We hope this year will be best year as far as visitor numbers are concerned from India. We are hoping to receive two lakh Indian visitors this year,” Ersoz said. The highest Indian numbers to Turkey was in 2015 with 1.32 lakh visitors. “Around 15 big Indian weddings are confirmed in 2018,” he informed.

“Our focus is to showcase Turkey beyond Istanbul. The messaging would be to look beyond Istanbul.” Ersoz said that 90% of the hotels on the Mediterranean coast work on all-inclusive packages. This is yet not known in India market. Therefore, efforts would be to make this messaging spread across the trade in India.

Commenting on the Turkey-India bilateral on tourism, he said that effort is on to revive the Joint Working Group mechanism on tourism between the two countries. He said that the last meeting of the group was held in 2006. “I had meetings with Ministry of Tourism officials in India on reviving the mechanism to explore scope of mutual cooperation in tourism. We are exploring a (Joint Working Group) JWG meeting in Istanbul sometime in October- November this year,” he added.

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Flying drones in India is finally going to be legal starting December 1, 2018. Until now, flying drones in the country, until and unless specifically sanctioned by the government, was illegal.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s new Drone Regulations 1.0 layout the framework for how unmanned aircraft will be allowed to operate within the country. The drone policy has been made keeping in mind several parameters such as the height at which a drone can travel, the area in which it can be used, registration of the drone and more.

Owners and pilots of the drone need to be registered with the ministry and permission for flying a drone needs to be applied via an app. Digital permits will be given as soon as the automated process is completed.

As per the ministry, during daytime, a drone can be flown up to a height of 400 meters. There will be special ‘No Drone Areas’ such as airports, near international borders and especially in some areas of vital military installations and such. The ministry said that the strict rules are necessary to prevent the use of drones for more nefarious purposes.

The regulations list various categories of drones and all of these except the “nano” type weighing less than 250 gm and those owned by the government and intelligence agencies are to be registered and issued with a Unique Identification Number (UIN). The FAQs released by the Ministry specify that delivery of items using drones is “not allowed as of now.

The ministry believes that drones are a technology platform that has wide-ranging applications and benefits.”Drones range in size from very small and those that can carry multiple kilograms of payload. It was necessary to develop global standard drone regulations that would permit, with appropriate safeguards, the commercial application of various drone technologies.” said a senior ministry official in a statement.

The ministry has stressed on an all-digital process for registering and operating drones. It is called as the Digital Sky Platform and is reportedly “first-of-its-kind national unmanned traffic management (UTM) platform that implements ‘no permission, no takeoff’ (NPNT).” This UTM will be in close contact with the defense and civilian air traffic controllers (ATCs) so that the drones remain on the correct course.

The rules announced are the first in a series of several rules and regulations and such are titled Regulations 1.0. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha has said that a Drone Task Force, chaired by him, is working on policy regulations for the future which will allow for flying automated drones that operate beyond the line of sight.

Drones have always been considered a great marketing tool for the tourism industry, which is usually one of the quickest to adopt new technologies. With this new draft policy, the ability of travel and tourism companies to produce innovative and affordable aerial videos and photographs will become much more enhanced and hassle-free. Thanks to drones, hospitality and travel marketers will now be able to legally provide their target audience with innovative video content, showing a unique view of a resort, a tourist attraction or a destination.

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The long-running Incredible India now has a rebooted avatar. A new campaign ‘Find the Incredible You’ is showcasing how one can indulge in the diverse products offered by India and in turn, find and rediscover oneself.

The different ad films of the campaign aim to charm foreign visitors to exotic locales amidst the backdrop of spirituality, wildlife, rejuvenation and adventure that the country has on offer. With film titles such as ‘The reincarnation of Mr and Mrs Jones’, ‘The Yogi of the Racetrack’, ‘The Sanctuary in Paris’, and the ‘Maharani of Manhattan’, the campaign highlights the different facets of India as a country: the nuanced culture, the layers of historical depth and the width of experiences on offer.

Moving away from the usual approach, this campaign steers clear of pretty, picture-perfect destinations and general stereotypes, and instead focuses on experiences and how travellers feel when they visit the country. With the choice of casting for the minute-long films (elderly people, people of African origin, etc), the target also seems to have shifted to attarcting more premium travellers to the country.

In an article in Brand Equity, Prasoon Joshi, CEO and CCO of McCann Worldgroup India, the company behind this strategic change in approach to advertising, said, “Our approach has been to not just make a generic pretty pictures campaign but have a very clear strategic direction. The idea being to present the TG with an opportunity to do a deep dive into all that is India: the spiritual, medical, wellness etc. are aspects that were hitherto not keenly focused on, either from a strategic or tourism communication level. We wanted to draw attention to these factors. Not just pictorially or by surface skimming but to immerse in their full essence.”

The government has been making massive plans to promote tourism in India and to project the country as a tourist destination for all 365 days of the year. As part of the tourism push, the Ministry of Tourism has also recognized ‘Adventure Tourism’ as a ‘Niche Tourism’ to attract people who have specific interests.

KJ Alphons, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism, Govt. of India also recently stated in a release that India is among one of the highest growing tourist economies in the world in 2017. The Minister said that there was more than 14.0% growth in number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India in 2017 over 2016 along with a 19.2% increase (in US dollar terms) in the Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) through tourism for the same period. In 2017, Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) through tourism was INR 1,77,874 crores. Alphons also added that India ranks 26th in the world in arrivals of global tourists.

The Minister expressed his hope that people will see these theme based videos on Yoga, Wildlife and more tourists shall travel to India.

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A small group of online travel agents, including Booking.com, OnTheBeach.com and Trivago, dominated paid search in the first quarter of 2018, each spending over £7 million on search through Google, with Booking.com splashing out almost £20 million, according to new research released by Kantar Media.

The study – which uses data from Kantar Media’s Digital Advertising Intelligence Solution, combining insights on both pay-per-click (PPC) and organic search/display ad spend – also identified TripAdvisor as the clear leader when it came to organic search in the first three months of the year.

TripAdvisor saw over twice as many impressions and almost twice as many clicks as Lastminute.com, its nearest rival in the travel sector, with an estimated PPC value of over £120 million. Of the three biggest PPC spenders, only Booking.com features among the top six sites for organic search impressions.

Accommodation tops the keyword charts, but the battleground is for cheap holidays. ‘Hotels’ was the keyword with the highest spend during the three-month period, with businesses spending an estimated total of £8,504,262, over seven times more than on the next most invested-in keyword, ‘air bnb’.

Booking.com in particular made huge investments in hotel related search terms. The site’s top ten keywords for both spend and estimated PPC value in organic impressions all contained the word ‘hotel’ or ‘booking’, accounting for a total spend of around £4.8 million.

Outside of accommodation, the key battleground for PPC in the travel sector is around low-cost breaks. ‘Cheapest holidays’, ‘cheap holidays’ and ‘cheapest flights’ all feature among the 20 most sought-after travel related keywords, accounting for almost £2 million in spend between January and March this year. 21 separate advertisers were spending on the keyword ‘cheapest holidays’ and 19 on ‘cheap holidays’, making them some of the most competitive keywords in the industry. In comparison, for all the spend on ‘hotels’, the keyword was only contested by 14 advertisers.

Richard Poustie, CEO, Kantar Media UK, commented: “Both search and display advertising are incredibly competitive in the travel sector, especially in the first quarter of the year, and this is reflected in the huge investments brands make in this space. It’s important, therefore, to remember that spend in itself is only one part of the campaign – if brands want to get a good return on their advertising investment, it is vital that there is consistency across their online search and display, and that their chosen search terms complement their display advertising.

“In such a competitive space, being able to see what competitors are investing in – across both search and display – and to understand why, will help businesses tailor their own advertising strategy in order to stand out from the crowd and to continue to attract consumer spend.”

Also read: Booking.com launches ‘Women in Tech’ program.

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Kerala Tourism’s Facebook page has trumped other state tourism boards by climbing on to the top slot. The Kerala Tourism Facebook page attained first place in a ranking done by Facebook based on total engagement with tourists that included reactions, shares and comments on the page between the January 1 and December 31, 2017 time frame.

The Kerala Tourism page pushed the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department’s Facebook page to the second place. The page had garnered 1.5 million likes to emerge as the top page. The Gujarat Tourism Facebook page was ranked third.

Facebook recently released the data on the top-ranked Facebook pages of government bodies, ministries and political parties in India.

Speaking on the achievement, Rani George, Secretary, Department of Tourism, Kerala, said, “Kerala Tourism has been able to successfully convey the reasons as to why Kerala is a destination that should be on every traveller’s itinerary. The department’s presence on social media has taken this message across to millions across the world, and the new laurel from Facebook is indeed heartening.”

Kerala Tourism’s activity on Facebook and other social media space has been focussed and proactive, said P Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala Tourism. “The page has been able to keep travellers from India and abroad engaged with interesting and innovative posts on the various projects and activities undertaken by the department. The ranking comes at a time when Kerala Tourism has upped the Digital marketing budget to 15% and been communicating to the people across the globe in exciting ways.”

P Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala Tourism, with the award. Image source: Kerala Tourism Board Facebook page

The state has been at the forefront of actively promoting tourism through different campaigns. From launching the ‘GoKerala’ campaign to woo family travellers, to leveraging Instagram to transform the art of storytelling, Kerala Tourism has been an active destination marketer for a while now.

Tourism policies in Kerala have also evolved, with the introduction of more technology-oriented initiatives focused on the exclusivity of each destination. The tourism board has also consistently swept awards that recognize its innovative use of information technology, including social media and interactive mobile apps.

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With an aim to promote Sri Lanka as a preferred destination for Indians, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, the national tourism board of the island country, will embark on a major digital marketing campaign spending $700,000 exclusively for India this year. According to Sutheash Balasubramaniam, Managing Director of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, they have already floated bids for the campaign and are in the process of finalising the proposals to start the digital campaign latest by April or May this year. He said that the campaign will last for at least six months and the budget will be spent on content development, media buying, social media, YouTube, among others.

India is the top source market for Sri Lanka with 3.85 lakh Indians having visited the country last year. Mr. Balasubramaniam said they want to nourish the growth that has been happening from India year-on-year through focused campaigns and marketing activities. He said that the target is to double the Indian visitations by 2020.

Talking about the favourable factors, the MD said that the geographical closeness and accessibility, with direct connectivity with 14 stations in India are some key advantages. SriLankan Airlines alone flies 135 weekly flights between different Indian cities and Colombo.

While the ‘Ramayana’ circuit is quite popular with the Indian market, comprising about 20% of the total Indian inbound, there has been increased traction for destination weddings, honeymooners as well as high-end private luxury getaways. Sri Lanka Tourism is also planning to tap the film production units from India, as well as corporate MICE through targeted promotions in coming years.

Speaking on the occasion, Chitranganee Wagiswara, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in India, proposed the idea of promoting India and Sri Lanka as dual destinations as part of a travel package. She said she had taken up the proposal during her recent meeting with India’s Tourism Minister, KJ Alphons, and added that while governments can lend support, it is the responsibility of private industry to design travel packages joining both India and Sri Lanka.

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The Travel Tech Track 2018, an initiative by OTM Mumbai and TravHQ to celebrate the growth of travel-tech industry in India, witnessed a panel discussion between some of the top travel bloggers in India on how influencers are helping companies operating in the travel industry use different digital marketing tactics.

The panel featured Roxanne Bamboat, food and travel features writer and blogger at The Tiny Taster; Kaushal Karkhanis, digital expert and travel blogger at Exotic Gringo; Divyakshi Gupta, freelance travel writer and blogger at The Quirky Wanderer; and Ajay Awtaney, founder of Live From A Lounge that is an international network of frequent flyer writers.

From L to R: Roxanne Bamboat, Kaushal Karkhanis, Divyakshi Gupta, Ajay Awtaney and Daksh Sharma.

The future of influencer marketing in India looks bright, given the country’s growing digital infrastructure. According to Divyakshi Gupta, barriers to technology have become non-existent as Indian influencers are beginning to connect with more and more foreign bloggers. “However, the point of differentiation is diversification, which has not really set in for Indian influencers. For a long time, they thought partnerships only meant sponsored trips and freebies. Right now, brands and influencers are realising that diversification is key. Brands are partnering with influencers to create content not just for the latter’s page, but for themselves as well.”

At the event, the panel also discussed some of the issues and trends involved in both affiliate and influencer marketing. One of the biggest requirements is disclosure, where influencers are now letting consumers know they’re receiving compensation for posting about a particular brand or product, irrespective of the format of the content or the kind of compensation. Commenting on another major trend for the year, Kaushal Karkhanis stressed on the rising importance of ‘short-form content’ with videos. “These are really interesting, captivating bite-sized videos that tell a story in the most authentic way, because you can’t really fudge something you’re doing in a video format. Video is going to be a key-player going forward, in the content space.”

The panel also presented their opinions on a plethora of ways of operating in the travel domain – from talking about the rise of the micro-influencer, to zeroing down on the significance of having a certain number of followers, from discussing the changing landscape of the travel industry, to creating a niche and negotiating with brands to create the best value for both parties.

Watch the full video here:

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