The Hindu Business Line : Tourist deals send Indians rushing to Lanka

THE Taj Samudra in Colombo is known for the sumptuous buffet breakfast it offers and its employees can be forgiven for boasting that it is the best breakfast deal in Colombo. But this festive season, if you thought you could leisurely go around with your plate, sizing up the mouth-watering dishes on offer, you were sadly mistaken. There was hardly adequate room to quickly make up your mind, fill up your plate and return to the table.

The chances of finding another Indian on the table in front or behind yours was one in two and you soon learnt that there are over 40 per cent Indians in the hotel, which is packed choc-a-bloc.

The aggressive strategy of the Taj group of hotels in Sri Lanka — their two other properties are the leisure hotel Taj Exotica and Taj Airport — to target the Indian tourist through special packages worked out with the Sri Lankan Airlines, is sending Indian holiday makers to Colombo in large numbers.

The `Buy one, Get one' package from some of the Indian metros such as Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, has sold like hot cakes and will be on offer again from Jan. 15 to March 31.

But only from Mumbai and Delhi, which appear to be the biggest markets from India as far as both the business and leisure travel is concerned.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr P.K. Mohankumar, General Manager of Taj Samudra said that the

Mumbai/Delhi-Colombo package for two, which comes at a tempting rate of Rs 24,900 and includes air fare, airport transfers and hotel accommodation for four nights and five days (which can be split between the Taj Samudra and Taj Exotica at Bentota), is being relaunched from January 15 to March 31, while the deal from Chennai to Colombo (at Rs 19,000 plus) will not be offered again.

"Perhaps Sri Lankan Airlines is already getting the required load of passengers from Chennai."

He said the India package had proved to be a huge success and over 5,000 "genuine holiday makers, including senior citizens and honeymoon couples have availed of it. "For travellers out of Mumbai and Delhi, if we quantify what they are getting for Rs 25,900 (travel and bed and breakfast) the normal rate would be Rs 75,000. This means that a couple availing this offer can bring in the remaining Rs 50,000 for shopping! So it is terrific value for money and you are seeing an overseas destination," says the GM.

Without divulging how much the Taj group gets out of the package, he said they managed to get their basic room rates with some discount. The package had come as a boon after tourism had simply crashed following the attack on the Colombo international airport last July. "That was a very bad time. We dropped from 80 per cent occupancy levels to 10-15 per cent soon after the attack, as there were large-scale cancellations. But now things have picked up," said Mr Mohankumar.

On the activities of the typical Indian tourists, he said they were big spenders, both inside and outside the hotel. "They are well-informed and have their itinerary well planned. Shopping is top on their agenda and they come prepared with information about Odel, and other shopping places for gems and jewellery as well as ceramics."

Of course the Indian restaurant at Samudra - the Navaratna — is immensely popular, both with the foreign and Indian tourists. "Oh, the second meal of Indians has to be Indian food."

These days, he finds, Indians are getting increasingly aware of their health and regularly use the health club facilities, with the women making a beeline for the beauty parlour."

Apart from shopping, the Indian tourist is also on a culture binge, and goes to famous temples and other buildings to explore the architecture of the country. "Compared to the sea, they head off for cooler climes such as hill stations. They like to discover new things, and head for theme parks, bowling alleys and discos too."

Mr Mohankumar said that in 1998, the group had spent about $3 million on a major refurbishment and upgradation programme of the Taj hotels in Sri Lanka. An exclusive executive floor was created at the Samudra and the hotel relaunched as a business hotel. Next, an analysis was done of market trends, the feeder markets, the profile of tourists and the capacity utilisation of the hotels.

"We found Sri Lanka was putting all its eggs in one basket, which was Europe, mostly UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. This was okay in good times but when there was a disturbance such countries clamped down on their people coming here through their travel advisory and when this happened, the entire industry vanished."

So a quest was made for additional markets and "we zeroed in on Asia, including China, India,

And Singapore". Awareness programmes were launched in these markets through a media blitz and this was followed by special packages.

Now that the Indian package has worked so well, the Taj group and Sri Lankan Airlines will look at the Chinese market and work out a package for that market, he added.

Mr Mohankumar added that the Taj also gets a great deal of its business from the `wedding industry' of Sri Lanka. The upper middle classes went in for a full-fledged sit-down dinner at five star hotels. "The entire event is meticulously planned and both the hosts and the guests know their responsibilities and duties so well, that it is a pleasure to play host for the guests during wedding celebrations."

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