About India Outbound Magazine

India Outbound, a bi-monthly print magazine with dynamic web and social media presence focused on outbound travel from India, is published by Media India Group. Distributed all over India, and in all the top tourism events across the world, India Outbound caters mainly to the tourism professionals and is looking to develop new and innovative circuits and promote new destinations to the high-end travellers.

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Legoland Malaysia moving to Indian and Mideast markets for growth

Legoland Malaysia Resort is eyeing India and the Middle East as potential markets that could improve the number of visitors, while ramping up its offerings with the opening of a new interactive aquarium.

Its director of sales and marketing, Thila Munusamy said while domestic tourists remain the biggest segment of its visitors, the group hopes to tap into more foreign markets.

“We see great potential growth in India as there are many Indian tourists arriving in Malaysia. They are familiar with areas like the Klang Valley, Penang and Langkawi, but not so much of Johor. So, we are creating programmes to tap into new markets like India and the Middle East which we see as potential growth markets for us,” she said at a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur.

Thila said the resort’s second-largest visitor market after Malaysia is Singapore due to its close proximity to Legoland Malaysia’s location. In third place is China, which she said has seen “very good growth”. Other top markets for the resort are Indonesia, Australia, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and South Korea.

“The new annual pass programme allows guests to enjoy our resort all year round, which in turn drives repeat visitation to Johor, supporting the state’s vision to become a high-value regional tourism destination by 2023,” Legoland Malaysia GM Kurt Stocks said.

Sydney presents a vivid show at its Royal Botanic Garden

Vivid Sydney, the biggest winter festival of lights, art, music, and ideas, is back again with its 11th edition. Experience illuminated artworks that reflect light and nature at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney from May 24-June 15, 2019. Entering through the Queen Elizabeth II Gates, you can explore 15 mesmerising, playful and informative installations.

You can make your way through giant blades of Dancing Grass, cruise along a River of Light, and marvel at an aerial ballet of 500 tiny light points in the shimmering Firefly Field. You can either collaborate with friends, family and complete strangers to create beautiful tunes and light under the Harmony tree or ponder the circadian cycle of light levels on the earth's surface across a day, month and year with Circa, a light sculpture that stretches over 33 metres.

Vivid Sydney creative director, Ignatius Jones said, “The artists have left no stone unturned in creating exotic, beautiful, intriguing and unexpected works of lights that turn this natural playground into an adventure-filled fantasy world. The colour, creations and creatures - from a majestic midnight sun to a busily building bowerbird – are not only visually appealing, they entice us to think about the natural world and our place in preserving it.”

Orlando solidifies ranking as number one US travel destination

Tourism officials announced recently a historic milestone for the US travel industry as Orlando released news of a record-setting 75 million annual visitors in 2018. The increase of 4.2 pc over the prior year once again solidifies Orlando’s lead position as America’s most-visited destination.

Visit Orlando, the region’s official destination tourism and marketing organisation, shared the news as part of National Travel & Tourism Week to a gathering of more than 1,000 tourism and community leaders.

“It was another record-breaking year for Orlando with both domestic and international visitation,” said Visit Orlando president and CEO George Aguel. “We saw strong gains from all of our core countries, particularly from Latin America. This success is a testament to the special appeal of our destination that continues to grow and evolve, as well as our strong commitment to strategic marketing initiatives.”

Orlando reached a host of new milestones in 2018 with record number of 68.55 million US visitors and 6.48 million international visitors. The Orlando International Airport (OIA) had recorded an arrival of 47.7 million passengers and its international arrivals reached 6.6 million passengers.

First regional screening of Aladdin in Amman

In a regional advance screening organized by the Royal Film Commission-Jordan (RFC) in Amman, over 1000 people watched the remake of Disney’s 1992 animated film, Aladdin.

The event was introduced by Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott and the movie’s director Guy Ritchie who visited the Jordanian capital on the fourth leg of their Magic Carpet World Tour, following stops in Paris, London and Berlin.

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, chairman of the RFC, said, “It’s a great pleasure to have welcomed everyone to this event and we are immensely proud as the Royal Film Commission and Jordan to have been part of this wonderful Disney production. After all, the story Aladdin comes from this region and therefore we are very grateful that the cast and crew have come back to present the film in Amman.”

The advance Gala Screening took place at Abdali’s state-of-the-art Prime Cinemas in the center of Amman after Iftar, with celebrities greeted by fans on a purple carpet, inspired by the movie. While the proceeds of the ticket sales for the event are being given to King Hussein Cancer Center, a private screening of the movie took place for children from the center. The young outpatients had a surprise visit from HRH Crown Prince Hussin Bin Abdullah, the director and cast at the end of the screening.

Indian films take over Portugal!

Movies have long been a huge influencer for India – from the way we dress, to the holiday destination we pick – Indians look up-to movies for inspiration in all aspects of their lives. Portugal has joined the ranks of popular European destinations that the Indian film industry is flocking to.

A popular Telugu film Balam starring Hrithik Roshan, Yami Gautam and Telugu actress Nayanthara was shot in Portugal last year. Shahrukh Khan and Anushka Sharma lent their star power to Jab Harry Met Sejal which was also shot in Portugal.

After director Siddharth Anand’s announcement on his Instagram handle, social media is abuzz with the big-budget action film starring Tiger Shroff and Hrithik Roshan to be produced under YRF that will be shot in Portugal later this year!

The south-Indian movie industry is also going to Portugal. Popular Telugu actor, Dhruv Verma has completed the shoot of his entire film in Portugal this April. Actress Samantha Akkineni joined South India’s actor and politician Nagarjuna and Rakul Preet’s Manmadhudu in Portugal. The film’s team was seen enjoying the great weather in Portugal out together at a barbeque while shooting there. Also actor Dhruv Vikram is heading to Portugal for Aditya Varma’s song shoot.

Turkey hosts successful MICE group FAM from India

The Turkish Tourism Board in India announced that the number of MICE groups travelling to Turkey from India has increased in recent months. In the last week of April, Turkey hosted a MICE group of 1000 employees from Indian company, Titan and another group was arriving from Max Insurance in the first week of May. The tourism board in India has been receiving many enquiries from DMC’s and corporates alike for large MICE group travel to Turkey

Alongside, they also hosted a MICE FAM to Turkey for representatives of leading groups like Fountainhead, Thomas Cook, Cox & Kings, FCM, Ease my Trip, 7 Wonders World, One Above- A truly Global DMC and Enrich India.

The MICE group visited Izmir followed by a trip to the ancient city of Ephesus. They went to Antalya and Istanbul where they inspected a few luxury hotels and held B2B meetings.

“Istanbul and Antalya have been listed among the “Top 5 cities in Europe” in terms of the international tourist arrivals in 2018. Istanbul and Antalya hosted 13.5 million and 12.5 million tourists respectively in 2018. Mice travel from India is our big focus and we expect the numbers to increase this year,” says H. Deniz ERSÖZ, culture & tourism counsellor, Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in India.

Asia Pacific receives 700 million International arrivals in 2018

Asia Pacific destinations collectively received almost 700 million international visitor arrivals (IVAs) in 2018, an increase of 7.7 pc over the 2017 figure, according to PATA’s Annual Tourism Monitor 2019 Early Edition.

Rising from an arrivals volume of just almost 562 million in 2014, the annual growth of visitors into and across the Asia Pacific region has increased consistently each year, peaking in 2018 at 699.6 million international arrivals.

PATA CEO Dr Mario Hardy pointed out that, “across Asia Pacific, calendar year 2018 continued to demonstrate volatility in markets and destinations, some caused by external factors, including politics, but others by changes in consumer wants, needs and basic preferences.”

“While growth out of many traditional markets begins to waver or stagnate, at least into some destinations, newly emerging markets appear and offer opportunities for those agile enough to not only recognise them but also to be able to change their marketing and promotional efforts at a moment’s notice and capture those fleeting”, he added.

Dr Hardy concluded that, “everything continues to change, morph and evolve, but now it is happening at speeds unthought-of just a decade ago. As an important global industry sector, we need to change even faster and get ahead of that curve, if we are to remain viable and significant into the future.”

Seychelles Tourism Board strengthens trade relations in India through workshops

Seychelles Tourism Board successfully conducted workshops in Pune (February 21, 2019), Bangalore (March 19, 2019) and Chandigarh (May 9, 2019) to train potential travel trade partners and equip them with detailed information about various offerings in Seychelles. This enabled Seychelles Tourism Board to meet many potential travel agents in the three cities and lay the groundwork for future sales visits with potential operators. These workshops included a destination presentation, question and answer round followed by networking session that was attended by around 45 – 50 tour operators in each of the three cities.

Commenting on the success of the workshops Lubaina Sheerazi, COO, Blue Square Consultants, Seychelles Tourist office India said, “Seychelles has so much to offer beyond its beautiful beaches and has gained immense popularity among Indians in the past couple of years. Taking a step further, our focus has been to widen our outreach beyond the metro cities as we see a lot of potential travellers in tier two cities. Conducting workshops and trainings have helped us to create awareness about Seychelles, build relationships with travel agents in new regions, understand real challenges of travellers from different cities and offer customized solutions. Looking at the great response we received from these cities, we plan to conduct similar trainings in tier two cities like Raipur and Nagpur as well.”

Village Coconut Island appoints Nijhawan Group as India market representative

Estimating to reach a wider target audience in the India market, The Village Coconut Island has appointed Nijhawan Group as their representative to enhance their trade and media initiatives in India.

Jintana Ngorsurachet (Yok), assistant director of Sales, The Village Coconut Island said, “India market is one of the biggest source markets for Thailand and the numbers of visitor arrivals to Phuket are continually increasing, with the year on year sale of the resort witnessing a growth of 30-60 pc. We are excited at the opportunity of presenting innovative offers to our key Indian visitors.”

Priyanka Nijhawan, director- Representations, Nijhawan Group said, “We feel honoured to be appointed as the India representative of The Village Coconut Island.”

She further added that, “The Increasing direct flights from India to Phuket have made it even more feasible for Indians to travel for special occasions and long weekends. Through this partnership, Nijhawan Group would support the tour operators and travel agents in their sales and marketing efforts to maximize the number of Indians staying at The Village Coconut Island. We look forward to bringing out the best of the resort through our marketing initiatives and increasing visitor arrivals from India.”

Located just five minutes from the Phuket mainland, The Village Coconut Island is a unique getaway to rejoice.

Israel Tourism hosts women’s special group of Indian travel agents to Israel

Israel Ministry of Tourism recently conducted a familiarization trip to Israel for a special women’s only group of travel agents from India. The week-long hosting from April 3-11, 2019 witnessed participation by 12 leading travel companies. Senior management from Stratos Lifestyles, Signature Breaks, FCM Travel Solutions, Europamundo Vacations, Panache World, Evershine Holidays, Luxury Roots, Vay2Go Travel Pvt. Ltd, Redchilli Holidays Pvt. Ltd, Aspen Vacations, Yatra Online Pvt. Ltd and Skyroutes India Private Ltd explored various sites in Israel.

The group visited Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Akko, Caesarea, Haifa, Dead Sea, Masada and Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee region. Some of the attractions included floating on the Dead Sea, Tel Aviv nightlife tour with a visit to Neve Tzedek neighbourhood and wine tasting experience at Tishbi winery.

Commenting on the FAM, Hassan Madah, director - Israel Ministry of Tourism, India & Philippines said, “Israel is a dynamic destination with a lot to offer to leisure seekers. We have witnessed an increase in leisure tourism to the country, but what’s interesting is a steady rise in women groups and female solo travellers. The idea was to showcase and promote this aspect to some of the prominent women trade partners in the travel industry with an aim to bolster interest among female traveller segment of the country”.

Wrangler brings out the eight edition of True Wanderer

After seven successful seasons of True Wanderer, Wrangler is calling on all adventure and travel enthusiasts for its eighth edition. Contestants who have signed up for the True Wanderer contest are in the running for the grand prize of an all-expenses paid trip to Switzerland.

The registrations are done. Now it’s time to vote which is quite simple. All you must do is, visit the True Wanderer page on the Wrangler website, read through the entries of the contestants’ past travel experiences and vote for the one you like.

The best entries will get an opportunity to be one of 12 True Wanderer finalists. The shortlisted finalists will then have to take a friend along for a fully sponsored trip in India. They can choose to travel by car, bike, foot or any mode of transportation of their choice. While on their journey, they will need to capture their travel experiences and share these on the Wrangler website.

Based on votes and the scores of an elite judging panel, the winners of True Wanderer 2019 will win the grand prize of an all-expenses paid trip to Switzerland. The first and second runner ups will get to win a trip to Andaman and Leh respectively, which also can be accompanied by a friend.

New itineraries from India in Abu Dhabi’s summer cruise season

The Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has announced that the upcoming Abu Dhabi cruise season will be bolstered by new itineraries from India's Jalesh Cruises, who are operating the region for the very first time.

Jalesh Cruises' ship Karnika will make a total of 16 calls to Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal over the course of the summer, part of several new three-to-six-night itineraries from Mumbai to the UAE. Other ports of call on the itineraries include Sir Bani Yas Island, Dubai and Muscat in Oman.

The influx of tourists from these new cruises are projected to increase visitor numbers by an impressive five percent, greatly helping towards DCT Abu Dhabi hitting its yearly target of 420,000 cruise visitors.

Saeed Al Dhahri, director of Tourism, Special Interest, DCT Abu Dhabi said, "We are very pleased with this new addition to our already vibrant Abu Dhabi cruise season. India is one of our key target markets for tourism, and these new itineraries are set to bring a significant number of travellers from the country to our shores throughout the summer. We look forward to welcoming Jalesh Cruises to our emirate for the first time, and hope that this will be just the start of a long and fruitful partnership."

India Outbound is a publication of Media India Group