Shreya Shimpi
ITB India 2024 proved to be a treasure trove of knowledge. It had a stellar lineup of keynote speakers discussing a diverse array of relevant and innovative topics related to travel and tourism helped the attendees gain insights and knowledge about the current happenings and the future of the travel trade sector. The panel discussions and the question-answer sessions paved the way for stimulating intellectual conversations. Attendees got an opportunity to interact with the panellists helping them seek solutions to their travel-related queries.
Some of the topics covered during the conference sessions were ‘Keynote: Reimagining Corporate Travel & MICE in South Asia’, ‘C-Suite Talk: Exploring the Next Chapter in Cruise Travel’, ‘Tech-Driven Trends: Analysing the Digital Footprints of Indian Travellers’, ‘Leveraging Voice AI Agents and Automation Flow for the Travel Industry’, ‘Anticipating and Meeting Changing Traveller Expectations Towards Sustainable Tourism’, ‘OTA Leaders’ Panel: Redefining Travel in the Digital Age’.
Isha Goyal, Chief Executive Officer, STIC Travel Group spoke about how the cruise selling landscape is being impacted by this evolution and demand from consumers. “We sell seven different cruise brands in the Indian market and the one big shift that we have seen is that in 2019, our landscape was limited to Cruise specialists, aggregators and high concierge-style travel operators. Nobody else was willing to talk to us about cruises or was willing to learn anything about them. Today, in 2024, when we do cruise webinars, we have hundreds of travel agents who join in and have an engaged discussion with us on how to sell cruises, differences in various shore excursions etc. All these are people who are completely new to cruise tourism. This is a true reflection of the opportunity of cruise tourism that lies in our market”.
Tejbir Singh Anand, Founder & Managing Director, Holiday Moods Adventures Pvt Ltd said, “I am excited to see more infrastructure and cruise ships coming in. I want to see an Indian company build ships for India. Our coastline is 7500 km.We can offer a Marine National Park in Saurashtra which nobody has. One can explore the blue waters of Lakshwadeep, the mangroves in Andaman and the Sunderbans up north. The only male river in the world is Bramhaputra is in India. It starts in Tibet, flows through the North east into India and is 4000 km long. That is one product which showcases the mighty 7000 m Himalayan-clad peak to the wildlife of Kaziranga in one frame. That is the potential of India which is yet to be scratched or talked about”.
ITB India 2024 had an impressive panel of speakers such as Jyoti Mayal, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Vikram Lalvani, Managing Director & CEO, Sterling Holiday Resorts, Vineet Mahendru, President and Country Head, Travel Corporation India Limited and many more who spoke eloquently about travel, technology, latest trends, sustainability, MICE and a lot more.
Gaurav Jain appointed Chief Financial Officer at Cygnet Hotels & Resorts