INDIAN travel firms have fallen out of love with Western Europe, with unfavourable currency exchange rates, new taxes and airfare hikes making this once sought-after destination increasingly untenable.

Kunal Sawhny, vice president – business development, Blue Moon Travels has seen the volume of Indian clients headed to Western Europe plunge by 30 per cent in the past 12 months.

He said: “More and more companies are watching the pennies since the softening of the rupee in the last year. Some are looking to alternative, less expensive destinations in Eastern Europe, such as the Czech Republic, which offers corporate clients something different, while others choose not to hold MICE programmes in Europe altogether. They decide to host an event domestically or in regional destinations such as Thailand and Singapore, which are relatively less expensive.”

New service taxes introduced on July 1, which impose an additional 4.994 per cent administration fee whenever an airline reservation or change to an airline booking is made, have also served to curb demand among Indian firms for Western Europe, particularly for incentive programmes.

Classis Travel & Tour’s director, Rajendra Dhumma, said: “With airfares to Western Europe costing around US$1,000 to US$1,200 at one go, these extra taxes can really pile up, making companies think twice about holding an event in Western Europe.”

Meanwhile, airfares in India have been creeping upwards, driven by escalating fuel costs. Based on national news reports, airfares in India have risen by 30 to 40 per cent in the last six months. “These airfare hikes have hurt our India to Western Europe business, which dropped by 10 per cent in the last year,” said Dhumma.

As these debilitating factors continue to take their toll, India to Western Europe MICE traffic is anticipated to fall further in the coming months.

“Looking at the faltering Indian and global economy, we can assume that traffic from India to Western Europe will see little chance of an uplift in 2013. However, the situation might change if airfares dropped and currency exchange rates improved,” said Mitesh Dani, director, Parul Tours & Travel.

AIR Astana has bumped up the frequency of its Almaty-New Delhi flights, in response to growing demand fuelled by greater trade and financial co-operation between Kazakhstan and India.

Now available once a day except on Thursdays and Saturdays, the three-hour, 45-minute flights will continue to be serviced by Airbus A320 aircraft in a 148-seat, two-class configuration.

“Business and leisure traffic between Kazakhstan and India has continued to grow strongly in recent years, and Air Astana is delighted to respond by providing extra services to Delhi,” said Ibrahim Canliel, vice president of sales & marketing at Air Astana.

Air Astana is offering return economy airfares from Almaty to Delhi starting from US$337 per pax, including taxes, while a business-class return ticket costs at least US$1,308, taxes in.

The Kazakh flag carrier has been running Almaty-Delhi flights since September 4, 2004, and has carried close to 200,00 passengers on the route since.

JAPAN Airlines (JAL) is planning to kick-off two new routes using the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, including the world’s first and only nonstop flights between San Diego and Asia, and services to Helsinki in March next year.

The Japan flag carrier is scheduled to commence Tokyo (Narita)-San Diego flights on December 2, 2012. Operated four times a week initially, the service will be boosted to a daily in March 2013.

The second new route, four weekly flights between Tokyo (Narita) and Helsinki, will take off in March 2013. The service will increase to a daily in the middle of financial year 2013.

Meanwhile, JAL is also planning to ramp up frequencies on flights within the region.

The carrier’s Tokyo-Singapore service, operated using the 787-8, will take on another daily frequency from October 28, raising the number of weekly flights on the route from 14 to 21.

Furthermore, frequency on its Narita-New Delhi route will be raised from five to seven flights per week starting October 29, while aircraft servicing the route will be upsized to Boeing 777-200ERs (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 25, 2012).

THE CURRENT 60-day re-entry gap imposed on multiple entry India visa holders may soon be a thing of the past, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on August 13.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is presently considering several options to rationalise the current visa regime, which is inhibitive for travellers to India. The Indian government is also planning to offer visa-on-arrival to 10 more countries.

The current re-entry restriction has been a bane for business travellers who have existing business interests or future investment plans in India, as frequent visits are impossible.

Amaresh Tiwari, A T Seasons & Vacations Travel managing director, said “a zero gap multiple entry visa would augment business travel immensely as an open visa regime would reflect the country’s openness to global investment and partnerships”.

Meanwhile, Chander Mansharamani, vice-chairman of the India Convention Promotion Bureau, told the Daily that the local MICE trade had successfully appealed to the government to institute a single-window clearance for conference attendees, and that the government would “announce the modalities shortly”.

Plan It! Meetings and Conferences associate vice president, Rajiv Pande, said having a single window for clearance would “change the scenario completely”.

“Foreign attendance will increase and business could double,” he added, noting that the number of international delegates per conference currently ranged from 10 to 200.

Once implemented, last-minute registrations by foreign participants can also be processed. Pande noted that visas were often hard to get for markets such as China, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Sarab Jit Singh, managing director, Travelite (India), said: “Serious and drastic steps must be taken to remove the bottlenecks that are holding back the growth of India’s conventions industry. Permissions and approvals required for conference organisers must be simplified.”

Read more in TTG Show Daily – IT&CM India 2012

Additional reporting by: Grace Chiang

MICE specialists in Malaysia are looking forward to the launch of the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau’s (MyCEB) Twin Deal programme today, with many saying the incentives offered will help to alleviate the pressure on costs due to the depreciating Indian rupee.

Nantha Travel & Tours managing director, M Nantha Gopal, projected a 40 per cent drop in meeting and incentive business from India between September and December, and said that two groups had postponed their trips to Malaysia indefinitely as the overall package cost had exceeded their budgets.

Arokia Das Anthony, senior manager of Luxury Tours Malaysia, which had so far registered a 20 per cent dip in volume of MICE business from India this year, told the Daily that the incentives would go a long way towards improving the inbound MICE business from India to Malaysia.

He said: “For business that (has) materialised, companies have scaled back their packages to the bare minimum as budgets have also been reduced. Many companies used to have at least two gala dinners per event, but now it is just one and the rest of the meals are normal Indian dinners.”

First launched in China last September and subsequently rolled out in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, MyCEB general manager of sales & marketing, Ho Yoke Ping, said more than 11,260 delegates had benefited from the programme to date.

Targeting India-based corporate meeting and incentive planners who wish to bring their events to Malaysia, the two-pronged programme rewards both the client and the MICE planner.

To qualify, all bookings must be made between August 27 this year and June 30, 2013 for arrivals between October 1 this year and December 31 next year. MyCEB is looking to draw 10,000 Indian delegates through this programme.

Read more in TTG Show Daily – IT&CM India 2012

INDIAN MICE stakeholders, including state governments, the Ministry of Tourism, CVBs, PCOs/PEOs, convention venues, hotels, airports and other suppliers, are coming together to crystallise a guide that aims to raise the standards and success rates of convention bids.

The guide, which is expected to be finalised in two to three months’ time, will address areas such as professional accreditation of vendors as a means of quality assurance, funding for client inspections, and the establishment of local ambassadors who will lobby for hosting rights ahead of time.

The guide is also expected to help organisers cope with the changes in venue and accommodation costs that can set in between the time of the bid submission and the date of the convention, as many association events begin tendering for bids five to eight years in advance.

Monimita Sarkar, managing director of KW Conferences, pointed out that a convention bid was not merely a tender document, but “a business plan with projections into the future that are frozen in time as commercial commitments”.

“As 60 per cent of the cost of an event stems from the venue (and accommodation), factoring cost escalations other than increments in taxes will require participation by hotels and venue suppliers,” she said.

Shyam Nagpal, managing director of International Conferences & Exhibition Services, concurred, saying: “Hotel expenditure comprises the largest share of the total event cost. A minor escalation not factored in earlier can render a bid untenable. All stakeholders need to address the common areas of concern and draw up a blueprint for successful bidding.”

Read more in TTG Show Daily – IT&CM India 2012