The Fall of Air India

Air India one of the earliest airline and a national airline of India, is now in a very bad shape and the people responsible for the downfall is corrupt governments of India, every other national carriers got permission to land india in peak hours and operate flights but air india gets odd times to operate so they can incur losses and also get odd landing and parking terminals in other countries.

Living in Bangalore, earlier days there used to be direct flight operating from Bangalore to Bangkok was terminated and space was created to bring monopoly from Thai Airways. It operated flights to Singapore again in odd times so it did not do well but Singapore Airlines is operating two flights with Silk Air alliance in the same sector and is flying full flight most of the time.

There used to weekly thrice flight to Dubai which was withdrawn again to give room for Emirates to come in and operate three flights in a day and withdraw the national airline from the scene. Same happened with domestic sectors they kept operating odd hours flight, sensual sectors Bangalore to Male not sure why they operate this flight as this is not a business destination nor much of traffic.

We hope the civil aviation ministry rectifies and take measure to improve the conditions of our national airline.

AKP

AxisRooms.com

Here we are with my another dream venture, AxisRooms.com

We are glad to introduce Beta Launch of our new venture AxisRooms.com. This project brings the hotel an immediate and easy to use inventory distribution platform. Our marketing and distribution platform will increase room sales by 10 - 15% on total average sales.

We bring you an access of 10 Global Online Portals, power your website with online reservation, 10000 Travel agents & Tour Operators, 1000 Global Corporates. And distribution through Single Online Distribution and Marketing Platform AxisRooms.com

B2B Model with great difference and reflect your hotel room inventory worldwide in less then 20 minutes.

Founder & CEO
Anil Kumar Prasanna

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (Central Asia)

On Sunday 19th April I decided that I should visit Tashkent and nearby places, my friend from Tashkent Mr.Ajit was quick enough to get me visa in couple of days. I went to Delhi on 23rd April.

Started off early in the morning and entered the airport with couple of my friends at Delhi Airport, surprising we stood near the Uzbekistan Airways counter for almost 25 minutes did not see anyone, then I just checked on the counters otherside they had changed the check in counters in last minute without any announcement. Finally we got the boarding pass. The aircraft was big and looked very old, not customer friendly cabin crew.

As it was morning flight, we could view a range of himalayan mountains passing through pakistan and may be afghanistan also. Once we reached, I was met by Tarique and Team.

We just went to hotel checked into the room. We stayed at Markazyiy Hotel earlier Sheraton, Good hotel with 5 star amenities and view of snow covered mountains from the room window. I was surprised to see Indian Restaurant where Tarique had organised our lunch, the restaurant name was "Raj Kapoor" after I spoke to the manager, I heard there was huge fan following of Raj Kapoor in former USSR and Tashkent was part of USSR. People were very friendly, looks like it was very easy to know we were Indians and most people would greet Namaste seeing us.
Next day Anastisiya was our guide and she took us to the mountains 90 kms away from Tashkent, Chimyon Oromgohi is a ski resort, best season to travel is Dec - March but you can see the snow till June here, ideal getaway for indian tourists in Summer. It was very chill on the mountains and I had to drink neat vodka offered by Ajit and Anastisiya kept me warm on the mountains.

Evening Ajit had organised cultural show and belle performance at Raghu Restaurant in Tashkent, it was indeed a great performance I have seen better then Dubai, Egypt and looks like they are born with natural talent of belle dance as I could see most women in Uzbek can perform this.

City is very small, next day morning we went to Amir Temur Meuseum it was an great experience to see the huge chandelier, and was also surprised to know our mughal rulers originated from here and belong to Amir Temur dynasty and at one point of time there kingdom spread to almost three continents (Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe). After this we visited the Tashkent market with colourful fruits, fresh honey (yummy). And there is an treasure of antiques you can buy and it hardly cost anything. Evening we went to Sky Club the most happening club in tashkent, the music was thumping, good decor very much happening and the night clubs are open till 5 in the morning it is an heaven for bengaluru party animals as everything shuts down at 2330 hrs.

Next day I was busy visiting the prospect hotels for business in Tashkent, but there is a immense tourism potential, the other places to visit is Samarkand, Bukhara and never miss the kebab platters before you head back to India.

AKP

Airlines Consolidation & New Routes

Indigo is doing well in the current trends of domestic traffic and with the new investor Spicejet is also looking good on todays scenario on a long run I look at Indigo to consolidate with Go Air and also increase the share of their market. Jetlite is succesful only because of its monopoly and cash cow sectors, they operate more into North East, Kashmir and Tier 2 / 3 cities. And Jetlite today is doing well today compared to the number of flights they operate and the sectors.

Interesting thing is to watch is at international routes there are four airlines operating direct to Bangkok from Delhi and loads are still good. But when we look at Bangalore there is only one flight to Bangkok directly and still the load factors are about 75%, Thailand being an economical destination for international holiday and now with an advantage of no visa cost it will stand good for this year. Airlines should concentrate on this sector from tier 2 cities this year. There has been huge lot of competition for US sector flight almost all airlines are just carrying an load of 40% to this sectors, if they can change the routing little bit like connecting to Sao Paulo via Dubai would be a cash cow sectors as there is only India and Brazil which is actually doing well in current economic crisis. And moreover we are connecting our flight to entire South America continent (untapped market), there is still an monopoly in South Africa sector also thanks to IPL being pushed to SA, we expect great amount of traffic this year to SA.

Next wishlist international sector I look forward is Bangalore - Port Blair - Bangkok, this will create an immense tourism opportunity for Port Blair in World Tourism Map as I expect traffic from both sides. On Domestic front I would see Chennai - Bangalore - Surat (new airport) as an opportunity for higher revenues.

Anil Kumar Prasanna
dreamdez@gmail.com

Price Revision in Hotel Industry

The price revisions on hotel rates are welcome for inbound business but it is not enough. Indian hotels are one of the most expensive in the world, we are more expensive compared to US, Europe and very very expensive compared to South East Asia. There are no proper tourism associations or councils taking upon this hotels seriously.

Our hotels in good times love corporate business and at recession or bad times there focus changes to travel agents, this applies to most of the destinations except Kerala and Goa to a large extent. I have lost lot of business when hotel quoted to my corporate directly cutting the new age travel entrepreneurs commission. We need to regulate this market as agents. Once I was quoting for a group conference to Thailand after I got my contracts with tour operator, the corporate client started negotiating with the hotel directly and they gave little bit higher rates but had put an condition booking has to be routed through an supplier who is member of Association of Thailand Travel Agents. This was a great set back to my client and he did complete event and conference through me. This kind of loyalty is missing in India. On a long run and difficult times hotel loses lot of business.

An average three star hotel in Bangalore still charges atleast USD 50 per room and which is not a great quality, the same in Ibis Pattaya costs less then 30USD with great chic interiors, international quality, LCD TV, swimming pool etc. It is an absolute value deal to drive traffic. Hotels needs to invest lot of their money into PR with tour operators, travel agency and come out with innovative deals to do business. Being loyal to tour operators is also an important factor to

sustain business in difficult times. Hotel Sales Managers in India have very limited decision making authority and they work on run of mill trade practice.

Rgds, Anil Kumar Prasanna email : dreamdez@gmail.com

My Introduction

Anil Kumar Prasanna, age 29 years a travel consultant, love to be an travel entrepreuner, working too long with too many ideas running across. Being 9 years in the industry, have worked in very challenging roles.

My previous role what I enjoyed the most is Executive Consultant - Tours in a Bangalore based leisure company called Hammock Holidays. This was the company which took me close to my hobby the way I wanted it. My hobby and my career is the same...., and I get indemnified for it. Consultant is a defined role, which means more than a sale / business or how to scale the business?

There are lot of people in industry who claims to be the best tour consultant, but the issue with this is, they do not provide consultation but just 'Reservation', which is just a clerical grab....

Just an example, a colleague of mine supposed to be the best person in International Flight department. She is so acclimated to the system that she cannot DENKEN anything beyond that and mostly works on perceptions. Since she does not interact with airlines, she has not been acknowledged in her field. She may not give you the lowest deal possible, yet she is dedicated in her work, good but not smart. Lot of travel executives do monotonous jobs and remain stagnant.

Best thing in this industry is read up as much as possible about new destinations, connections, prices, trends if you keep yourself updated you are meritorious forever. I have earned a decent coin, but at the same time I have spent a lot on traveling aswell.  Networking is also an important way to do business, interact with lot of people in industry even though you don't do business.

My previous work experiences : Ebookers.com (Pilot project in India), Destinations of The World  - Dubai Consultant Inbound Business, Europe Market, Pearl Travels UK Pvt Ltd, Dream Destinationz ( my trial to become an entrepreneur), Via - Flightraja.com and inbetween small

stint with cleartrip.com

Have traveled extensively in India, also South Africa, Zimbabwe, UK, Thailand, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, UAE.

Future destinos that I love to travel are Peru, Vietnam, Philiphines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Fregate Island, Bora Bora, Tahiti, Morocco, Lebanon and Spain.

Will keep you all updated about my posts on this site keep watching, I am just trying to put my thoughts into the record on this blogs.

Dont worry about online travel companies taking over the jobs, for any multi destination tours the consultants are required, for an luxury holiday consultant is required, online travel agencies

are a marketing tool, if you are the best you will survive.

The current scenario which they call recession is also an opportunity for new entrepreneurs and skilled people.

Any newcomers who are keen on starting a holiday business, home based travel consultants please free to contact me on dreamdez@gmail.com for any kind of assistance.

AKP