Creatively Yours

March 2012



		Creative News.........................click Creative Travel is awarded Two National Tourism Awards by the Government of India as India’s Best Inbound Tour Operator in our category & India’s Best Meetings & Incentives Operator....

		Destination News.....................click National budget released... India Targets 12% Arrivals Growth.... Nepal arrivals climb in February....

		Hotel News...............................click Kempinski to open new Delhi hotel..... Conrad Maldives opens Beach Suites.....

		Aviation News..........................click No plans to shut down: Kingfisher.... Air India boots Gulf network......

We at Creative Travel and our specialist brands - "Signature Tours", the luxury travel specialist and "Plan it!", the finest conference management team in India are proud to offer the best of India and her neighboring countries to the discerning traveller. With a 34 year award winning history behind us, we look forward to the opportunity to show you what true destination management is all about. To read more about us, you can download a copy of our company profile at - http://www.travel2india.com/who-we-are.htm We appreciate the support our partners all over the world have shown us. It is with your partnership that Creative is where it is today. For those of you with whom we have not had the pleasure of working with, all I can say is try us and see the Creative magic for yourself. Through "Creatively Yours" we hope to keep you informed on the latest news in Team Creative and the destination. We hope you find this to be useful.

Rajeev Kohli, Joint Managing Director

Welcome to another edition of "Creatively Yours"
the newsletter from Creative Travel India

Dear Industry Colleagues:

Here is another edition of the award winning "Creatively Yours". This is however a very special issue.......

On the 29th of February, another milestone was achieved in our 35 year history. Our team works hard and as they say hard work pays off !! At a glittering award ceremony of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Creative Travel was honoured with two National Tourism Awards as “India’s Best Inbound Tour Operator" in our category and as "India's Best MICE Operator" . The award was presented by the Hon. President of India, Mrs. Pratibha Patil and Hon. Minister of Tourism, Mr. Subodh Kant Sahai . We are naturally very very excited, honoured and thrilled about this. We want to thank all our partners in India and overseas for all the support they have shown us to make this possible. Read more about this below.

On the 16th of March, the Indian National Budget was released. It was quite a disappointment for us in the Indian tourism industry as we got no additional benefits or reductions in levies. Infact, taxes have gone up on accommodation and dining in restaurants. Fuel prices are also expected to go up any day and this time the hike would be substantial. This does not bode well for pricing of India as a destination. Read more below.

With April around the corner, its time for us to start planning programs and pricing for Summer. We have some exciting initiatives available for you. Some are meant for travel industry professionals to come and experience India and Creative's award winning services first hand at a very special offer. Other initiatives are special offerings for you to market on to your client base. We encourage you to send through your thoughts on what you think could work for your markets, so that we can have the team customize a product set for you. We at Creative intend to aggressively push the price competitiveness of India in its shoulder period as we feel the market is turning around for us all and let's use that to gain some interaction and make up for lost business.

You shall see some new and exciting initiatives in the next season from Team Creative. New experiential inclusions, new circuits, new concepts... We take pride in our ability to make a trip to the Indian sub-continent something very different.

Through "Creatively Yours" we hope to keep you informed on the latest news in Team Creative and the destination. We hope you find this to be useful. Enjoy this issue of our award winning newsletter.

Have a Creative Day - Rajeev

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In this Edition....

Creative News - Creative Travel is awarded Two National Tourism Awards by the Government of India as India’s Best Inbound Tour Operator in our category & India’s Best Meetings & Incentives Operator, National Budget Announced....
Special Feature - Chitra Vichitra Fair
Where you can find us next - GITB 2012
Destination News - India Targets 12% Annual Visitor Arrivals Growth in 2012-17 Five-Year Plan, India to develop 20 tourism parks, India’s VOA scheme grows, Nepal arrivals climb in February, India starts building Angkor Wat replica....and more.
Hotel News - Kempinski to open new Delhi hotel, Conrad Maldives opens Beach Suites....all this and more update on hotels.
Aviation News - Air India to launch Delhi-Melbourne flights, No plans to shut down: Kingfisher, Air India boots Gulf network....and more
Indian Recipe of the month - Prawns in a Dark Sauce

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Creative News.....


	Creative Travel is awarded Two National Tourism Awards by the Government of India as India’s Best Inbound Tour Operator & India’s Best Meetings & Incentives Operator


	# 1 Rohit Kohli & Sandeep Kapur receiving the Best Tour Operator Award, # 2 - Rohit Kohli & Priya Saighal receiving the MICE award # 3 - Ram Kohli with some of Team Creative, # 4 - The Team with the Honorable National Minister of Tourism

	On the 29th of February, another milestone was achieved in our 35 year history. Our team works hard and as they say hard work pays off !! At a glittering award ceremony of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Creative Travel was honoured with two National Tourism Awards as “India’s Best Inbound Tour Operator" in our category and as "India's Best MICE Operator" . The award was presented by the Hon. President of India, Mrs. Pratibha Patil and Hon. Minister of Tourism, Mr. Subodh Kant Sahai with the Hon. Minister of State for Tourism, Mr. Sultan Ahmed.. Also present on the stage were Mr. R.H. Khwaja, Secretary of Tourism, Government of India along with other senior officials of the eh Ministry of Tourism. The Ministry of Tourism presents the National Tourism Awards to various segments of the travel and tourism industry every year. These awards are presented to state Governments, hotels, heritage hotels, tour operators and individuals of other private organizations in recognition of their performances in their respective fields and also to encourage healthy competition with an aim to promote tourism. The selection of the awardees is made by a high powered Committee consisting of senior officials of the Ministry of Tourism and the travel trade representatives. The award was received by our Joint Managing Director, Rohit Kohli, and the team. This was a very high powered event. In the audience were many other senior members of the government and the industry, including the heads of all leading hotels and airlines. This annual event is highly awaited as it is the finest tribute to the best of the best in our industry. The awards are presented to state governments, hotels, travel companies and other individuals for their performance in the preceding year. We are truly humbled and delighted to have been recognized by our government for the work we do in keeping India's flag flying high. The award for our inbound division reaffirms our belief of being the best DMC in the destination. With an untiring effort to achieve excellence in service, the leisure team at Creative has been truly delighted at the recognition. Year after year our inbound team has worked tirelessly to showcase the very best the destination has to offer. From creating unique & engaging experiences to meeting the needs of the most discerning guest, we at Creative take pride in yet again being acknowledged as one of India; best of the best. Our other specialist teams or incentives & meetings (who operate separately from the larger leisure team) have also worked hard over the past few years to make their mark both within Creative and in the industry in General and is today the most awarded Incentives & Meetings team in South Asia. Over the years we have understood the importance of specializations and unlike a lot of other inbound companies in our destination, we made a conscious decision to bifurcate the skill set within the company. The Plan it ! Meetings team has its own set of dedicated professionals who do nothing but PCO related work. Our incentive team has skilled people who do nothing but incentives. This way, we have achieved a level of perfection that truly does justice to our claim of being the most awarded Meetings & Incentives team in South Asia. We want to thank all our partners in India and overseas for all the support they have shown us to make this possible. We are naturally very very excited, honoured and thrilled about this.

	National Budget Announced On the 16th of March, the annual budget of the Government of India was released. Unfortunately, we in the tourism industry did not get to hear what we wanted,. Taxes and levies have gone up across the board. Taxes on hotel accommodation have gone up by an additional 2% as have on eating at restaurants and all services across the board. Tourism in India is one of the most taxed anywhere in the world, with taxes making up a significant chunk of any tour package. The new taxes will of course have an undesired cascading effect on prices of tours to India across the board. The Railway Budget has also increased all passenger fares across the board in all classes of travel. The brunt of course is on the Air-Conditioned class on the trains, which are mostly used by international travellers. Fuel prices are also slated to rise any day. The government was waiting for a few state elections to finish and the hike is now imminent. This is going to hurt the industry even more as all transport costs will obviously go up. To see some links on the key features that will affect us in tourism - http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-03-16/news/31201285_1_service-tax-tax-burden-executive-director-arjun-seth http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Rise-in-service-tax-to-make-eating-out-a-costly-affair/articleshow/12300978.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Cut-multiple-taxes-to-lure-foreign-tourists-urge-hoteliers/articleshow/12285362.cms http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/cons-products/fmcg/budget-2012-televisions-cars-colas-eating-out-to-cost-more/articleshow/12321214.cms

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Special Feature......


			Chitra Vichitra Fair, Gujarat, India 21st March 2012 The festival begins on the eve of the new moon when the women gather at the river and mourn for their dead through the night. The next day the fair sets off with a generous Splashing of dazzling colors and drumming. The tribal men’s costume generally consists of a blue shirt, dhoti and a red or saffron fenta or turban. The woman don ghagharas which have a circumference of as much as 20 yards, and are covered from head to feet with ornate and heavy silver jewellery, and sometime also beautifully knitted rafia jewellery made from pale yellow or dyed crimson grass. They also use liquid kumkum or vermilion to color their cheeks and lips a brilliant red, while their eyes are Outlined Vibrantly With kajal. Click here to read more....

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Where you can find us next.....

To meet us at GITB, Jaipur, click here and email us your details

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Destination News.....


			India

			India Targets 12% Annual Visitor Arrivals Growth in 2012-17 Five-Year Plan Recognising tourism as a major job-creator for the national economy, Indian President Mrs Pratibha Devisingh Patil has told Parliament that the government will target an annual visitor arrivals growth of 12% over the 12th Five-Year Plan period 2012-17. In her address to the Parliament on March 12, 2012, marking the halfway point of her Government, she pointedly mentioned India’s interest in ensuring the livelihoods of the six million Indians who work in the Gulf and North Africa. Her address provided a comprehensive roundup of the external and internal challenges facing India across all sectors, and the policies in place to deal with them. Click here to read more....



			Elephanta Festival moves to Gateway of India The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has decided to shift the venue of the Elephanta Festival of music and dance to the Gateway of India. This year, the festival will be held from 23-25 March. MTDC’s Managing Director, Jagdish Patil cited several reasons for the shift in the venue. “We wish that more people enjoy the festival in a convenient manner. The venue at Elephanta can only seat 700-800 whereas we can host about 2,000 to 2,500 people at the Gateway of India. Moreover, we must arrange ferry services for guests and often there aren’t enough boats," he said.

			India to develop 20 tourism parks India will develop 20 tourism parks in close proximity to important tourist destinations across the country. The government is also considering building some of these parks in under-developing tourist destinations with high potential. The project estimated to be worth INR1,000 crore and will be implemented in the 12th Five Year Plan. The proposed tourism parks will offer budget hotels, resorts, convention centers, golf courses, retail spaces, food plazas and entertainment facilities.

			India aims to create 77 million jobs by 2016 India aims to create 77 million jobs in the tourism and hospitality sector by 2016. “Initiatives to be taken towards the development of the tourism and hospitality sector in 12th Plan will aim at increasing net benefits to the poor from tourism and ensure that tourism growth contributes to poverty," said a Ministry of Tourism official. The total employment in hospitality sector is estimated to be at 47 lakh in the year 2012-13 and 63 lakh in the year 2016-17. “To meet this requirement, there are plans to initiate a number of skill development programmes," the official added. The ministry also plans to enhance the institutional infrastructure of hospitality education by opening new Institutes of Hotel Management (IHM) and Food Crafts Institutes (FCI).

			Two rhinos relocated to Manas Two rescued rhinos have been relocated from Kaziranga to Manas National Park. The move comes under the first phase of the ‘wild-to-wild’ rhino translocation from Kaziranga to Manas. Earlier in February, four rhinos were relocated from Kaziranga, while two female rhino were moved from Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary to Manas in January.

			India’s VOA scheme grows India’s Visa-on-Arrival (VOA) scheme registered 22.7% growth for the month of February 2012. India issued a total of 1,259 visa’s under the scheme as compared to 1,026 in February 2011. A total of 2,618 visa’s were issued in the first two months of 2012 with Delhi airport issuing the highest number of VOAs followed by Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata airports.

			India starts building Angkor Wat replica Construction has started in India on a full-size replica of the main Angkor Wat temple. The Bihar Mahavir Mandir Trust (BMMT) said the new temple, in Bihars Vaishali district, would be bigger than the original in Cambodia. To be built at a cost of INR100 crore, the five-storied and 222-foot (68-metre) tall temple will come up at a sprawling campus spread over 15 acres (six hectares) at a place near Ismailpur Village on Hajipur-Bijdupur road, which will be rechristened as Angkor Nagar, BMMT's Secretary and ex-IPS officer Kunal Kishore Acharya told the Press Trust of India (PTI). The proposed temple will be named Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir and will be completed in 10 years time.

			Nepal

			Nepal arrivals climb in February International visitor arrivals to Nepal climbed 13.7% to 42,700 in February 2012. According to the latest data from the Immigration Office at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), visitation from India, Nepal's largest source market surged 28.8% year-on-year last month, while those from Japan and South Korea jumped 33.2% and 31.5% respectively. Arrivals from China however, sank 23.1% yearon-year due to Chinese New Year falling in January this year, rather than February in 2011. European arrivals increased 17.5%.

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Hotel News.....


			India

			Kempinski to open new Delhi hotel Kempinski Hotels has signed a management agreement for a new hotel in New Delhi. The Kempinski Ambience Hotel Delhi is expected to open in the second quarter of 2012, within a new mixed-use complex in the Shahdara district of East Delhi. The hotel will feature 480 rooms and suites, four restaurants, and expansive conference facilities including a 5,000-pax capacity Grand Ballroom. The property will also offer a spa, fitness centre and two swimming pools. Kempinski said it would now phase out its relationship with Leela Hotels over the next new years, although all existing joint agreements will continue until they expire in 2015 and 2016.

			Maldives

			Conrad Maldives opens Beach Suites Conrad Maldives has launched two new Beach Suites. Located on the beachfront of the resort’s main island, the new two-bedroom suites offer 668m² of living space with floor-to-ceiling windows, private veranda, two outdoor bathrooms, a courtyard, fountain, bathing pavilion, open-air shower and two private plunge pools. Guests are also offered the services of a personal host. One villa faces west offering sunset views, while the other suite is located close to resort’s coral reef.

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Aviation News......


			Domestic

			Air India to launch Delhi-Melbourne flights Air India is likely to launch its Delhi-Melbourne flight later this year when its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners finally arrive. “Air India has proposed to launch direct services to Australia from Delhi Commencing from the third quarter of 2012-13, using the Boeing 787 which are expected to be inducted in May this year," a Civil Aviation Ministry official told the Economic Times.

			IndiGo launches six new flights in South India IndiGo launched six new flights to South India. The airline will fly daily direct services to Vizag from Chennai and Bhubaneswar, while it will offer a daily flight from Kolkata to Vizag via Bhubaneswar. Additionally, to further strengthen connectivity from Kolkata, IndiGo will operate a second daily direct flight toBhubaneswar. These new services take IndiGo's total network to 319 flights connecting 32 destinations in India. Aditya Ghosh, President of IndiGo said; It has been our endeavour to cater the needs of business and leisure travelers from Chennai, Kolkata, Vizag and Bhubaneswar.

			Air India boots Gulf network Air India will boost its Gulf network by adding three more routes this summer. Deepak Barara, Executive Director of Air India told the PTI recently that the new Gulf routes would connect New Delhi with Bahrain and the Saudi Arabian city of Dammam, while a new link would also be added connecting Dubai to Visakhapatnam. The recently cancelled Salalah- Thiruvananthapuram flight will also resume shortly.

			No plans to shut down: Kingfisher Airline faces trouble as banks freeze 40 accounts due to non-payment of tax dues…Cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines denied speculation that it planned to shut down its operations as a section of pilots threatened to boycott work over non-payment of salaries. In an official statement, the airline's CEO, Sanjay Aggarwal met with a group of pilots to appeal to them not to stay away from flying duties which would potentially affect the operating schedule. “At no time was there any suggestion that Kingfisher Airlines would shut down. Our flights are operating as per the schedule," the airline’s spokesperson said in the statement. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told the IANS that the airline's licence could be temporarily suspended as its inability to pay its staff could affect safety. The minister added that the airline can restart operations once these issues are resolved. Meanwhile, the airline's problems further increased as service tax department, for the fourth time in last four months, froze bank accounts belonging to the airline. Kingfisher Airlines owes INR40 crore to the department and 40 accounts were frozen as the airline failed to meet the 29 February deadline for clearing the dues. “We are trying our very best to co-operate with the tax authorities and get our accounts un-frozen at the earliest so that normalcy could be restored, employee salaries paid and further aircraft recoveries started," the official statement said.

			International

			Kingfisher cuts international operations Kingfisher Airlines has cut its overseas operations as cash-flow problems continue to affect the carrier's operations. The airline released an official statement yesterday morning confirming the international cuts. “We would like to confirm that we are curtailing our wide-body overseas operations that are bleeding heavily," the statement said, adding that it had already returned one Airbus A330-200 to a leasing company in UK.

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Indian Recipe of the month......


			Prawns in a Dark Sauce This is a great tomato-based Indian dish from one of Madhur Jaffrey's books. Serve with rice and steamed vegetables or fried potatoes. Click here to read the recipe....

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Newsletters Archive.....


	Click here to visit the 'Creatively Yours' Newsletter Archive.....

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Spain & Portugal for all travel products Diana Alvarez Lourdes Porredon Bitacora's Tourism Services Mov.: +34 676365062 Email: Diana - madrid@creative.travel Lourdes - barcelona@creative.travel	UK Incentive & Meetings specialist Susan Scales Ms. Mercedes Conde-Nieto GMC Marketing Global House 152 Motspur Park London KT3 6PF, Surrey UK Telephone: +44-208-949-1234 Fax: +44-208-949-3456 Email: susanscales@creative.travel susan@gmc.uk.com sales@gmc.uk.com	UK for all travel products Sandra Leach Ashley Hale Creative Travel The Old Church 89B Quicks Road Wimbledon, London SW19 1EX Tel: +44 (0) 20 8545 2617 Fax: +44 (0) 20 8545 2604 Email: london@creative.travel sandra@sandraleach.co.uk joanne@sandraleach.co.uk

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