Rajasthan sets eyes on more tourists from Gujarat, Organises tourism festival across cities in Gujarat

Mumbai/ Rajkot: In a bid to woo more tourists from Gujarat, the Rajasthan Tourism Department is organising three day tourism festival in Rajkot, with more such events planned in other cities like Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara."Gujaratis are very fond of to travel and very large numbers of Gujarati tourists come to Rajasthan. However, we still see huge untapped potential in the state and hence, to attract more people from here, Rajasthan tourism department has planned to organise 'Rajasthan Calling' festival in Gujarat," said Anand Tripathi, deputy director, Rajasthan Tourism.

Organised under Rajasthan Tourism domestic tourism promotion campaign 'Rajasthan Calling', the festival will also cover other parts of the country and will travel to 22 major cities including Kochi, Ludhiana, Dehradun, Surat, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Mumbai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

The festival aims to give a feel of Rajasthan and facilitate a better understanding about the state and provide complete information and showcase Rajasthan's traditional culture and exquisite range of Rajasthani handicraft products and Rajasthani delicacies in the city, Amongst the major highlight of the festival are live dances and a food court.

"There are stalls put up during the festival where one can choose from handicrafts, woolen shawls from Bikaner, embroidery from Barmer, brass work and blue pottery from Jaipur, terracota from Udaipur and tie and dye from Jaipur, Pali and Jodhpur," said Tripathi.

According to Narayan Sharma, tourist officer, Rajasthan Tourism Department, more than 20.5 million domestic tourists had visited Rajasthan during 2010 and till August 2011 the state saw an influx of over 10.6 million tourists."Among the tourists that frequent Rajasthan, Gujarat tops the list followed by West Bengal and Maharashtra," said Sharma.

When asked about a potential brand ambassador for Rajasthan Tourism, Tripathi said, "Rajasthan is itself a brand and it does not need any brand ambassador for promotions. The tourism department is also marketing the state through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs."

(sourced Business Standard)

Travel portals enhance offline services to grow customer base

Monday, Mar07, 2011, 6:06 PM

New Delhi, Mar 7 (PTI) Online travel service providers, such as Yatra, Makemytrip and Travelmasti, are strengthening offline offerings to make people who do not have access to credit cards avail of their services, as they look to expand consumer base.

Yatra today announced launch of a new ''Cash on Delivery'' (COD) service that enables the consumers to make bookings online or through a call centre and make payment in cash.

Similarly, while Travelmasti is looking to double the number of retail outlets in the next two years, Makemytrip has recently launched a new mobile application to give consumers an additional platform.

"We are positive that this initiative (COD) will help us gain popularity with customers who have limited access to credit or debit cards or are reluctant to use them," Yatra.com Chief Customer Experience Officer Sonia Mehta told PTI.

Yatra.com has launched the service in Delhi, NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune and Chennai.

"Three months from now, it will be rolled out in 14 new markets. With the new COD service, we are looking at a 5-7 per cent increase in out total offline business," Mehta added.

She said the offline business (that includes bookings made at the exclusive 34 Yatra retail outlets and through the call centres) currently contributes 20 per cent of the total sales but did not share absolute revenue figures.

The firm is offering COD payment option on international air travel and any holiday booking free of cost to customers.

Similarly, rival Makemytrip has also started COD service in Delhi and Mumbai.

"We have started offering cash on delivery for air ticket. As of today, this service is available in Delhi and Mumbai but will be soon expanded to rest of the country," Makemytrip Co-Founder and COO Keyur Joshi said.

Besides, the company is also using mobile telephony as another touch point. "We recently launched our exclusive application for BlackBerry mobile devices. Users can make instant booking by using this application," Joshi added.

On the other hand, another player Travelmasti that began operations in 2003 is also expanding its retail reach.

"We intend to double the number of lounges in the next two years. We are also considering introduction of COD services for consumers," Travelmasti CEO Saghan Aggarwal said.

The firm currently operates 24 lounges to book tickets offline.

He said the company has also struck partnership with leading private sector banks in the country for customers to make direct payments.

"Offline services account for almost 60 per cent of the total business," Aggarwal said without disclosing revenues. PTI VJR RKL