Kerala: Evergreen Industry

Cover Story Tamil Nadu: Discomforting Comparison The problem with Tamil Nadu is that it is too close to Kerala. With its showcase of temples, tradition and art, it is more of a culture destination as against neighbour Kerala which combines both culture and leisure. That two-in-one threat couldn’t have been more real for Tamil Nadu than now. Unlike Kerala tourism which relies more on individual tourists than group arrivals, Tamil Nadu’s tourism has a framed structure to it. While Kerala gets a lot of bagpackers---foreigners who come with a low budget, wandering around for 15-30 days without a rigid plan---visitors to Tamil Nadu are mostly groups who come for short, packaged tours. Such group activity has drastically come down after the September 11 attacks. The state has also been unable to match Kerala’s huge tourism spend. The re has been just as diverse. By Arun Ram

Talk of the possibility of a holiday and the chances of Kerala figuring high up in the list are not unlikely. While most other states may have woken up to the need for marketing their destinations only recently, Kerala has had a huge headstart. As a result, nothing, not even the sharp drop in the foreign tourist inflow, is affecting the industry's bottomline.
Golden beaches, backwater boatrides, lush greenery, ayurvedic massages, ancient temples—there are any number of attractions that draw tourists from varying segments round the year. As a result, it didn't take long for the state to recover from the drastic drop in the inflow of foreigners after the attacks on the World Trade Centre. "We had a cancellation of at least 17 per cent in the first two weeks after September 11 but today all our hotels in the state are fully booked," says T. Damu, vice-president, corporate affairs of the Taj Group. "The occupancy rate in our hotels which was 60 per cent actually went up to 68 per cent till November end." Guests apparently are even coming with recommendations from ministers for rooms. This has negated the need for an increase in tariffs this season. The compensation for the fall in foreign tourists has come from the increase in domestic tourists.

Damu's views are endorsed by George Dominic of the Casino Group. "The Diwali rush has been phenomenal. A large number of domestic travellers who used to go to countries like Singapore, Malaysia or Dubai have come to Kerala this year." The group, which has also hiked its tariffs, even met its November target by touching the 78 per cent mark in occupancy.

While discounts may not be deemed necessary, these groups have been constantly upgrading their services. Taj, for instance, has just included Calicut in the Best Of Kerala package as a destination, featuring it as a separate itinerary linked with Kochi and Kumarakom. In rooms are not available in Kumarakom, a new itinerary is followed which provides for the same backwater experience from the Taj Garden Retreat, Varkala. In some sections, the package has been reworked to cover five or even six nights. Clearly, it's not the money spend that matters to those visiting Kerala. It's the value that money can buy that does.

By M.G. Radhakrishnan

Maharashtra: Grand Tour Game

Cover Story BON VOYAGE * Malaysia Honeymoon Special: By Cox & Kings, this comes at US$440 per couple. Includes: two nights accommodation at Crown Princess, Kuala Lumpur, one night at Genting, daily breakfast, all transfers on seat in coach basis, Kuala Lumpur City tour on seat in coach basis, flowers in the room plus free two night accommodation for a couple at A'famosa Resort and return transfers. * Celebration Singapore: Three nights / four days from Cox & Kings at US $132 per person on a twin-sharing basis with three nights hotel accommodation, airport/ hotel/airport transfers, daily breakfast, half city tour, one Indian meal at a local restaurant, admission to Sentosa and S * *Bangkok, Pattaya: Ex-Mumbai at 16,700 per person; Ex-Delhi at Rs 18,499 per person. This deal by Thomas Cook includes seven nights accommodation in Thailand in twin share i.e four nights in Bangkok and three in Pattaya for passengers from Mumbai and five nights for those from Delhi, daily buffet breakfast, return airfare on economy class, half-day Bangkok city tour and airport transfers. * Sri Lanka Surprise: Five days/ four nights from Cox & Kings at Rs 21,000 per couple. Includes: return airfare for two passengers (Mumbai - Colombo -Mumbai). * Delhi-Kathmandu-Delhi: Three nights/four days from Cox & Kings at Rs 10,890 per person on a twin-sharing basis. Includes return airfare as well. * Better half at half the price: Schemes by Raj Travels & Tours, Mumbai, include taking your wife at a 50 per cent cost and child below 12 years free of cost on any of the 15 international tour packages on offer. Then, there's also the recently introduced Buy South Africa and Get Kenya Free package, in which you buy the six-night package of South Africa and you earn a five-night Kenya deal on the platter. *Australian Unbelievable Bargain: This trip to Austrailia by Raj Travels includes rates like Rs 3,999 per adult per night at Australian cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Cairns and Adelaide. Yogesh Selarka, manager-marketing, Raj Travel and Tours admits that one of the major factors spurring the offering of such attractively priced packages are discounted airline rates.

Mumbai isn't much of a holiday destination. It's more of a business city. Yet, the travel industry has its tourist lures in place. Especially at a slump time like this. While bigger tour operators like Thomas Cook and Cox & Kings are ruling the discount and packaged game, the smaller travel agencies and hotels are playing a more balanced, long-term role.
Take the relatively small, five-year-old BG Tours and Travels. It is passing on incentives to its passengers which it didn't do last year. For instance, if Jet Airways gives them a discount of up to 6 per cent on tickets, they are offering their customers up to 5 per cent discount while last year they wouldn't have offered anything more than 2-3 per cent. But while they may be providing more discounts on actuals like flight rates, they are reluctant to dole out packages. Nidhi Kejriwal, the proprietor, admits that they aren't making as many packages this year simply because there are so many lucrative packages on offer from airlines that customers wean away easily.

It's true. Airlines like Jet and Sahara have tie-ups with a host of hotels for special packages this holiday season. For instance, Air Sahara's Holiday Plans includes a Delhi-Goa-Delhi package which includes to-and-fro airfare with the choice of putting up at any one of the 17 Goan hotels that they have a tie- up with. This offer is valid till March 31, 2002, excluding the period between December 23, 2001 and January 5, 2002.

Similarly, Jet Airways' "Jet Escapes" includes more offerings and packages as compared to last year. Its three day - four night stay at the Renaissance, Goa comes at Rs 13,000 per person on a twin-sharing basis and includes to- and-fro air tickets between Goa and Mumbai.
Cox & Kings might insist that it doesn't believe in offering discounts on its existing line of products because its packages are already competitive in the market" but then its special holiday packages this season dangle carrots as good as discounts. Points out director Arup Sen: "This year, both airlines and hotels have come up with very encouraging offers that have provided the traveller a larger choice for planning his holiday within India and abroad.
However for Christmas and New Year, it has been a busy period and rooms and airline seats are still going full. In Cox & Kings' case, apart from offers that are continuing from earlier this year like the "Duniya Dekho Free Holiday Pao Ya Paisa Bachao" and the "Gift a Holiday" scheme, there are the ones that were recently introduced and will be available till March 30. Like the Goa New Year Bonanza (valid from December 28, 2001 - January 5, 2002) for three nights and four days at Rs 11,690 per person on a twin-sharing basis, including return airfare to Mumbai, accommodation, all buffet meals, transfers, sightseeing and add-ons like a boat cruise, a bottle of Goan wine and welcome drink on arrival.

Similarly, the Jaipur Bonanza of three nights and four days at Rs 4, 449 per person on a twin-sharing basis included accommodation, daily buffet breakfast, a full day of sightseeing in Jaipur , plus some touristy garnishes like services of English-speaking guide and entrance fees to Amer, City Palace and Observatory and jeep rides to the Amer fort.

For those hooked by the God's Own Country promos of Kerala, there is the Kumarakom New Year Bonanza of two nights and three days at Rs 14, 355 per person on a twin-sharing basis, including accommodation, all meals with specials, sunset cruise and visit to a bird sanctuary by boat. There are also desi delights like free ayurvedic massage during the stay, meetings with a palmist, astrologer, potter and cane weaver (service free of cost), getting henna done as well as gift hampers on check out.

Kuoni Travels is not involved in domestic tourism currently but they are working on plans to enter this segment. As far as outbound travel is concerned, SOTC,
special discounts for its customers on certain packages especially for winter. Take for instance, the 11day tour to South Africa, that is usually for US$ 2249. It now comes at US$ 1,599 and includes two nights in Dubai free, inclusive of visa. On the night cruises with Singapore-centred Star Cruises, it is offering a discount of upto Rs 15,000 on the third person. Says Zubin Karkaria, chief operating officer of SOTC's Outbound Division: "We have tie-ups with Emirates to enable us to give a stopover in Dubai free on the South Africa tour and a deal with Qantas Airlines to give a stopover in Singapore on the Australia tour."
Sunil Gupta, head of Leisure Travel, Thomas Cook, says that the discounted rates these days has more to do with the nature of the ever negotiable, low-margin travel business than the soft demand post September 11. "While there was a downturn in October, there is no permanent drop in people's desire to travel, honeymoon abroad." At Thomas Cook, in the domestic section, the number of packages offered are about 80-85 and the average discounts are at 15 per cent while in the outbound division, they are over 300-400 packages and the discounts extend to 25-35 per cent. Like other operators, it believes that with such attractive deals, the Indian tourist cannot help but take a break.

By Natasha Israni