AMBIKA SONI LAUNCHES E-COMMERCE PLATFORM ON INCREDIBLE INDIA

AMBIKA SONI LAUNCHES E-COMMERCE PLATFORM ON INCREDIBLE INDIA

The Ministry of Tourism of India has launched a new e-Commerce platform on its website www.incredibleindia.org. Launching the platform here today the Tourism and Culture Minister Smt. Ambika Soni said there is no doubt the web based enabled services tourism will strengthen the industry and empower the customers. She said it will facilitate customers to communicate directly with agencies, tour operators, hotels and Bed & Breakfast establishment 24 hours a day. She said it is indeed a matter of pleasure that many service providers, hotels, tour operators and Bed & Breakfast establishment have become registered members of the On line E Commerce Platform. She said amongst the niche tourism products, medical tourism should be brought on the E-Commerce Platform. The Minister said in India about one lakh fifty thousand patients arrived in 2004 from across the globe for medical treatment. The medical tourism market in India estimated at US$ 333 million in 2004 grew by about 25% and is predicted to become a US $ 2 billion-a-year business opportunity by 2012. Smt. Soni said while it is important for us to woo more tourists to this country through powerful global campaigns, it is equally important to continue focus on upgrading and improving the quality of infrastructure on ground. The Minister also gave certificates of merit to 22 renowned chefs on the occasion.

The e-commerce platform has been developed jointly by Ministry of Tourism, and EVIIVO. The main objective of this platform to facilitate SME (Small and Medium Entrepreneur) to be on Global Network to promote/sale there produce online without any committed investment.

www.incredibleindia.org and technology partner EVIIVO will now be offering online booking services for a range of accommodation businesses across India, enabling international visitors, currently representing 70% of the site traffic, and domestic visitors to use the new hotel and Bed & Breakfast establishment live availability search on the homepage and complete their transaction in USD or Indian Rupees.

Ministry of Tourism through eviivo’s technology will integrate third party consolidators and multiple partners so that it can offer a truly open platform for all service provider in the tourism industry. Current partners include: www.desiya.com, www.travelguru.com, www.yatra.com, www.ezeego1.com, www.makemytrip.com, www.etoursonline.com, www.indiatimes.com and www.cleartrip.com

This ties in with the Ministry’s initiative to promote and involved PPP viz. the Indian Bed & Breakfast sector. Small and medium-sized hotels, bed & breakfast and guesthouses that are currently approved under the new Government Scheme are being offered access to the eviivo frontdesk™ property management system to help them sell their rooms online through www.incredibleindia.org, their own website and a number of other commercial distribution channels. These businesses will have the opportunity to reach a worldwide and domestic audience and satisfy the demand for travellers interested in booking their trips online.

Ministry of Tourism offering this opportunity to independent accommodation providers and tourism businesses in India, a powerful platform to sell their products online to a worldwide audience. This PPP will have a major impact in boosting the country’s tourism industry and consumers will also benefit by having a wider choice of quality Indian accommodation, Tours on the internet.”

So far about 4000 accommodation units viz. hotels, guests houses, bed & breakfast unit have been partnered in the platform and expecting more in phased manner. Various State Governments like Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh have shown interest to use thing platform to promote and sale there various tourism products.

In order to encourage Public Private Partnership, the Ministry of Tourism join hands with various agencies, in its efforts to position India as most desirable tourist destination among the high end overseas travellers. BBC CNN, Experience India Society etc. partnering with Ministry of Tourism to promote Incredible India. During the current year BBC and CNN have produced a number of TV Commercials for Incredible India Campaign both in international and domestic markets. BBC World has produced 7 TV commercials of 10 second duration highlighting various themes viz (1) Camel Band (2) Raghurajpur Rural Village, Orissa (3) Floating Market on Dal Lake, Srinagar (4) Mask Dance, Hemis Monastery Ladakh ( 5) Orchid of North East (6) Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya (7) Toy Train in Nilgiris.

The philosophy behind these films are to portray unique facets of India and as such all these films ends with the line “ Only In India”.

CNN has also produced 2 theme based commercial of 30 seconds highlighting Tea Tourism and Gourmet Tourism in India.

Experience India Society has been actively involving itself in various promotional efforts of the Ministry of Tourism in India and overseas. During March 2007 in ITB -Berlin where India was Partner Country, the Experience India Society hosted a Gala Opening Dinner for a huge of gathering of over 4000 guests. The society also ran an authentic India Restaurant in Masse Berlin from 7-11 March, 2007 to promote Indian cuisine to global audience.