By Rashmi Pradhan

THE BUSINESS session, ’Mumbai: Are we utilizing the optimum potential of the Indian outbound’? at SATTE Mumbai West 2015 witnessed panelist including Sudhir Patil, Founder & Director, Veena World; Karan Anand, Head Relationships, Cox & Kings; Sheetal Munshaw, Director, Atout France India and Carl Vaz, Director-India, Dubai DTCM. The session was moderated by Ajay Prakash, President, IIPT India.
From the tourism point of view, Mumbai has always been perceived as the financial capital, aviation hub and major department port for Indian outbound travelers. National Tourist Offices (NTOs) prefer Mumbai when setting up their offices. Outbound departures from Mumbai stand at 3.7 million that’s 22.46 per cent of the Indian outbound market. Together with Ahmedabad, the total share of India’s western region in the outbound market is 24.6 per cent, which could easily increase to 30 per cent, according to the panelists. The session focused on whether NTOs and airlines need to change their approach to tap the potential of catchment areas like Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur or has the saturation point been reached. The session discussed in detail, the increasing share of outbound tourism from Western India.
Karan Anand, Head Relationships, Cox & Kings said in order to boost Indian outbound 3Cs are important: Connection, Consular Service and Communication. The main travel segments are FIT, GIT, business and luxury. Short-haul destinations were key to growth and numbers whereas long-haul were key to traveler spend. Apart from volumes, travelers also needed to stay longer, according to Anand.
Sudhir Patil, Founder & Director, Veena World said, ’India is a 365 day source market,’ while Sheetal Munshaw, Director, Atout France India claimed 60 per cent of Indian visitors to France were from Maharashtra and Gujarat. ’We set out visa facilities right and now travelers can avail of a French visa in 48 hours. Last year, France received 400,000 Indian visitors and we are focusing on MICE and enhancement of room nights. The awareness about the vineyards in Nashik have paved way for vineyards in France,’ he added.

The author is Assistant Editor of BW Hotelier.-

Photo:-(Left to Right)-Ajay Prakash, President, IIPT India; Karan Anand, Head Relationships, Cox & Kings; Sheetal Munshaw, Director, Atout France India; Sudhir Patil, Founder & Director, Veena World; Carl Vaz, Director-India, Dubai DTCM, during their session.