COVERSTORY New Age Global Trends The global travel and tourism industry is resurgent in nature despite adversities. This is evident from a number of incidents both global and India-specific. International travel industry is booming due to globalisation, rise of low-cost carriers and rising affluence. Worldwide, international tourist arrivals have increased to 898 million - an overall 32 per cent increase with an average of four per cent growth a year. These factors have made governments worldwide, aware of the possibilities ...read more>>    HR & TRAINING Sustaining a Customer Service Initiative: The Need for Long-Term Commitment Most customer service improvement init iatives fail to produce sustained results. After investing significant amount of time, effort, and money in service improvement initiatives, most organisations do not attain the sustained results they were hoping for. Failure is usually not due to a lack of creativity or resources. ...read more>>    COMMENTS India – Unimpressive Global Rankings More flight connectivity, better airports, enhanced infrastructure, more destination offerings… all these factors sound very optimistic and definitely put India in the spotlight. Further, the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) continues to say that India is a favoured destination for travellers from across the world but ...read more>>    DESTINATION INSIGHT GOA: High on income, low on infrastructure Aggressive tourism promotion has resulted in Goa receiving high tourist traffic, especially during the festive season. However, it has neither been able to create the required infrastructure to handle this rush ...read more>>    MARKETING STRATEGY New Zealand: Strategically 'pure' Although Tourism New Zealand began its India operations with primary focus on the travel trade, five years down the line, the tourism board has adopted a dual strategy, covering the customers and the travel trade in India ...read more>> www.travelbizmonitor.com This Week's Top Headlines Air India to withdraw agency commission by five per cent   Air India plans to withdraw its five per cent agency commission from October 1, 2008 in a bid to cut costs in the wake of surging international crude oil prices and Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) costs. This move will ...read more>>   Jet, JetLite and Kingfisher follow Air India's footsteps to reduce agency commissions to zero per cent   Jet Airways, Jetlite and Kingfisher Airlines; have sent out circulars with regards to reduction of agency commissions to zero per cent, effective from October 1, 2008. This step has been taken following Air India’s lead to reduce agency commissions to zero per cent. As per the circular ...read more>>   LCC sector increases its share in Indian domestic market   According to a Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) news report, India’s Low Cost Carrier (LCC) sector now holds 49 per cent of the domestic market, one of the highest in the world. The sector has made significant gains in expanding its market share in recent years, and ...read more>>   Chennai’s Anna International Airport, to commence work on second domestic terminal within two months   Chennai’s Anna International Airport, will commence work on the construction of the second domestic terminal, within the next two months and is expected to be completed in 28 months. “It will have two-level terminals with departure area on first floor and arrival area on ground floor covering ...read more>>   TAFI to strengthen membership base in North East   In a bid to promote North East and highlight major destinations, Travel Agents Federation of India, Eastern Chapter (TAFI), is trying to bring more travel agents and tour operators under their banner. TAFI is planning to prepare convenient packages incorporating East India with  ...read more>>     Lama Desert Tours & Cruises planning to work with Indian trade associations   Dubai based Lama Desert Tours & Cruises (L.L.C) is considering working with major trade associations in India, in order to cater to about 3,000 tourists from the country by year end. They are also planning to increase their online base by improving the registered number of agents in India...read more>>     Tanzania looking at signing MoU for tourism with India   United Republic of Tanzania is looking at signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India for co-operation in infrastructure and Human Resource development in the tourism sector. The two governments are currently drafting the details of the MoU and will soon ...read more>>     Hong Kong Disneyland Resort to tap MICE segment in India   Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, in order to tap the MICE segment from India is introducing special packages and working closely with the MICE players in India. Through its new MICE concept, ‘It’s Time to Team,’ Hong Kong Disneyland showcases elements like ...read more>>     Incredible India website, wins PC World Web Award, 2008, for best design   The Incredible India website was adjudged the winner of the PC World Web Award, 2008, in the tourism category for best design, last week. The Award aims at establishing a benchmark for the dotcom domain, thereby bringing to the fore a wide range of websites ...read more>>     Emirates to launch A380 aircraft on Dubai-New York JFK route from August 1, 2008   Emirates Airline will be launching A380 aircraft on the Dubai-New York JFK route from August 1, 2008, flying additional flights to its existing twice-a-day non-stop service. This 14 hour non-stop flight will be the first commercial service to America. The interiors of the aircraft will be ...read more>>     West Bengal Tourism chalks out publicity and marketing strategies   West Bengal Tourism Department, in collaboration with the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC), has drawn out the publicity and promotional plan for tourism in the state. Along with traditional methods of marketing like advertising in print and electronic ...read more>>     Is India ready for BCBP?   As per a mandate issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), all airlines in India, as well as globally should be capable of implementing the Bar-Coded Boarding Pass (BCBP) technology by year end and issue all boarding passes through the ...read more>>     Airline website bookings on growth mode, account for 24% of total bookings: SITA survey   SITA, the IT business solutions and communication services provider to the air transport industry, recently released the Tenth SITA and Airline Business Airline IT Trend Survey which revealed that online sales through airlines’ own websites now account for 24 per cent of all bookings ...read more>>     British Airways’ OpenSkies takes off to EU- US countries   OpenSkies, new subsidiary airline of British Airways, recently launched its first commercial flight between Paris Orly Airport and New York JFK Airport. OpenSkies is the first airline created specifically to take advantage of the EU-US Open Skies Aviation Agreement that enables carriers to ...read more>> This e-newsletter has been sent since you are part of Travel Biz Monitor Magazine's subscriber list. If you wish to unsubscribe, please send UNSUBSCRIBE as a reply to this e-mail.