Speaking at the first-ever ‘Tourism Powerhouse 2018’ conference organised by PATA India in Delhi, Dr Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA urged the travel and tourism industry stakeholders to work together to understand the future challenges well in advance and prepare with a long-term vision of a decade or two in mind. The speed of change in the travel and tourism industry has been incredible over the decades and the pace of that change will be much faster in coming decade compared to the changes that have come over the last three decades, Hardy said.
Hardy said that PATA works closely with the governments in about 98 countries so that public and private organizations work in tandem to prepare for future challenges. While tourism industry across the globe is witnessing phenomenal growth with 1.3 billion people crossing their borders to explore new destinations, it also faces challenge of sustainability in terms of infrastructure, water, electricity, environment, etc. He said that destination promoters have the responsibility to invest in developing newer destinations so that the impact of tourism remains positive. While there are 100 of temples in Cambodia, it is Angkor Wat which draws tourists. Similarly, when there are over 17,000 islands in Indonesia, it is only Bali that is known to the travel world, he gave examples.
He informed it is significant for the destinations to be proactive and well planned about the kind of tourists they want, carrying capacity of the destination, the experience they offer, and the kind of memories visitors take back. Hardy said that destinations have to create interesting stories around nature, landscape, history, people, etc. to generate interest in the minds of the people to visit the destination. The prime objective behind the Human Capital Development educational programme that PATA is running across destinations is to educate the trade about the importance of “art of storytelling,” he added.
In his keynote on ‘Tourism Trends and Opportunities’, Prof John Koldowski, Foreign Expert at Leshan Normal University, China said that South Asia has been the highest growth region for inbound tourism in the world with 9.1% AAGR growth in terms of international inbound and 12.7% AAGR growth in terms of tourism receipts between 2005 and 2017. He said that while the interest from the traditional European and other source markets to South Asia is expected to mellow down a bit in the next five years, there will be much stronger trends in travel from rest of Asia to the South Asian region. “The shift is definitely going to be from Asian markets,” he said. Talking about India and Incredible India brand, Koldowski said that Incredible India tag is quite strong even today and it is helping India to hold on to its ground despite below average growth of 3 to 4% in global tourism.
CAPA in its presentation presented by Amit Thakran said that India’s growth would have been much lower at around 8% if visitors from Bangladesh are omitted. The report also revealed that there has been a gradual decline in market share India held in its key source markets in Europe over the years. India is highly dependent on long-haul source markets for inbound visitor, which the report said poses a “strategic disadvantage” in terms of cost, access and potential competitors. The CAPA report wanted India tourism to take “creative strategies” to stimulate short-haul markets. The report also questioned India’s China strategy which remains untapped. Indian economy could have received an additional US$8.7billion to its GDP over the last decade if Chinese tourism potential had been better leveraged, the report said.
PATA announced the calendar of Marts scheduled. The PATA Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart 2019 will be held in Rishikesh, in the state of Uttarakhand, India, from February 13 to 15.
This was announced in Delhi on August 5 by PATA CEO Mario Hardy at the opening of the Tourism PowerHouse 2018 where he spoke on the subject of the Impact of the Visitor Economy, raising several interesting and topical issues before delegates from India and abroad.Mario also listed some of the other 20 events in which PATA is involved in during the year.
John Koldowski, long-time PATA associate, spoke on the trends and opportunities, giving figures and facts and pointing out that Asia will be in greater focus in years to come than Europe and the US.
One of the major topics discussed at PATA India Chapter’s Tourism Powerhouse 2018 was ‘Enabling growth through disruptive tourism’. The session saw in attendance some of the stalwarts from Indian and international travel and technology sector. Moderating the session was Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA while the panelists included Jen Oreel, Founding CEO, Octotrip; Matthew Powell, Managing Director—MESA, Travelport; Sanjay Kumar, Former CCO, IndiGo and Paras Loomba, Founder, Global Himalayan Expedition. The panel discussed how the industry needs to cope up with different disrupting forces including start-ups, technology, etc by sharing real -time examples.
Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, listed some of the achievements saying that marketing is being focused at the niche and regional levels so that the needs of the generating markets are met. She said the air capacity expansion through UDAN was a big help in tourism. More arrivals had meant more budget and hence spending and more on marketing and infrastructure. She urged the States to undertake studies on carrying capacities and focus on core areas for marketing, rather than promoting everything.
PATA India Secretary Jatinder Taneja and Executive Director Runeep Sangha lauded the initiatives of the Ministry of Tourism.
