An Exchange Of Ideas

Rabindra Seth - New Delhi

The fifth global summit organised by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) in the capital from April 8-10 gave India's tourism fraternity a rare opportunity of an interface with the best names from nearly all the continents. Inaugurated by President A P J Abdul Kalam it had an appropriate theme: realising the sector's full social and economic potential. As the WTTC president, Jean-Claude Baumgarten pointed out at the beginning, "Our global society continues to face major challenges across the world, one of the most important being the imbalance between the 'haves' and 'have-nots'. As one of the largest industries in the world today, travel and tourism has the potential to be one of the conduits by which prosperity can flow between wealthier and poorer communities."

The global leaders who gathered in Delhi at the Ashok (the country's first hotel built to international standards) shared not only their experiences but some of them even brought fine 'goodies' for India in terms of investments, joint ventures, franchises in hotels and travel agencies. There was much of import in what was said in the tight packed deliberations of the two days. But constraints of space will permit only a mention of the long list of subjects on the agenda. Even the list of speakers is a long one.

The first keynote address after the inaugural was delivered by J W Marriott Jr, chairman and CEO of Marriott International who pointed out that deepening private sector commitment to people, their communities and environments can harness the power of travel and tourism as a driver of sustainable development. The address was aptly titled 'Creating Prosperity Together'.

Among the most absorbing sessions was on 'Citizens of Virtue' and the keynote speaker was Marlyn Carlson Nelson, the lady chairman and CEO, Carlson Companies whose hotel chain now has a sizeable presence in India. In a moving speech, she sought to address the dilemma when profitability depends on keeping the trust of the people who deliver the service and the community's respect for the brand. How does one connect employees to the real values of a corporation in a meaningful way, she questioned. She went on to explain how one can exhibit those values in the market place and community and make travel and tourism welcome additions to any economy.

'The Latest Innovations' attracted a full house. Here the keynote speaker was Michael Frenzel, chairman TUI, the Germany-based travel agency biggie with significant hotel cruise and aviation operations which has entered into a 50:50 joint venture with India's fastest growing agency, Le Passage to India. He outlined insightful customer trends, new market players and new distribution channels emerging across the industry.

Talking of innovations, one of the WTTC's own home-grown effort, first tried at the fourth summit in Doha (Qatar) last year was successfully repeated in Delhi. Moving away from the standard conference procedures of speeches by a number of speakers and four or five questions from the audience if at all, WTTC's experiment in Doha of starting with a keynote address and then handing over the debate to moderators like Nik Gowing of BBC World to question a panel of experts with constant participation from the audience did turn the Delhi deliberations into pro-active sessions. This was clearly reflected in the debate on 'The Latest Innovations'. Nik Gowing had obviously done his home work and his panelists included Akbar Ali Baker, CEO, Qatar Airways; Eric Anderson, president Space Adventures (the outfit that is offering space travel to richie rich); Wang Ping, president, Chamber of Tourism, All-China Federation of Industry & Commerce; Doughlas Golan, president and editor in chief, Elite Traveler Magazine, and Mary Gostelow, the famous columnist.

Peter Greenberg, travel editor NBC Today Show and chief correspondent Discovery Network's Travel Channel moderated the debate on 'Travel & Tourism Citizens', an offshoot of Carlson lady chief's theme. Here the panel consisted of David Baffsky, chairman, Accor Asia Pacific (the chain only a few weeks earlier had signed a joint venture with India's InterGlobe to build 25 Ibis hotels in this country); Samer Majali, president, Royal Jordanian Airlines; Jean-Gabriel Peres, and Arnie Weissmann, editor in chief, Travel Weekly, USA (in whose opinion most travel publications are industry cheer leaders). Yet another interesting interactive session was on 'Branding Success'. The keynote speaker was Barry Sternlicht, executive chairman Starwood Hotels (whose Sheraton flag flies prominently in Indian metros and tourist centres). Indian hotel industry stalwarts like Lalit Suri of Bharat Hotels who is also chairman of WTTC's Initiative, Biki Oberoi of the Oberoi group, and Raymond Bickson, MD, Taj group and IATO president, Subhash Goyal took a leading part in the various sessions.

Indian participants were showered with a surfeit of information and ideas. Hopefully, some of these will come handy in our march towards globalisation.