The Hindu : Other States / Punjab News : Singapore comes wooing Punjabis

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 27, 2004

Other States

Other States - Punjab

Singapore comes wooing Punjabis

By Sarabjit Pandher

AMRITSAR, SEPT. 26. Sporting a special tag line "Sat Sri Akal Singapore'', they are here to woo the footloose segment of Punjabi travellers and open up a plethora of destinations in the South East Asian countries. A unique attempt is on to explore business by exploiting the potential of religious and leisure tourism in this sector.

Come October 1, `Sarong Kebaya' sporting air hostesses would usher in passengers into the Boeing 777 aircraft of the Singapore Airlines, at the upcoming Raja Sansi airport here. The Airlines has planned to run three flights a week, connecting this `Holy City' with the Changi Airport on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Singapore Airlines would be the first company to start operations directly linking Amritsar with the rest of the World through the Eastern circuit and it expects to make it big indeed. So far, airlines from former Soviet Republics, Afghanistan and Middle East have operated on the Western circuit only with marginal profits.

Through a Delhi-based corporate communications company, Singapore Airlines, Star Cruise, Tourism departments from Malaysia, Honk Kong, Macau and Singapore, have been organising "Melas'' in Punjab, to create awareness about different destinations and various packages they offer. Before the finale in this historic city, they organised similar events at Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

However, the most daunting challenge is that while foreigners have begun to understand the potential, would the Union as well as the State governments rise to the occasion and augment the basic infrastructure at Raja Sansi, in Amritsar city and en route. However, representatives of the foreign companies have expressed satisfaction over the present pace of developments.

Interestingly, the South East Asians have preferred services of those members of their staff, who have an Indian origin to induce confidence among possible customers and travel agents. Manjit Singh Grewal, who is manager of the north Indian operations of Singapore Airlines disclosed that they had made about 80 percent bookings for the inward and 60 percent for the outward traffic from Amritsar.

Mr. Grewal, who was shifted from Jeddah recently, said that Singapore had emerged as a converging point for Punjab-bound traffic from the Pacific Coast of the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and the ASEAN. Moreover, with flights connecting to 600 destinations across the world, Singapore would prove beneficial for the outward bound passengers as well.

Mr. Grewal was of the opinion that after proper awareness, the route could attract Buddhist pilgrims from Japan to Singapore, seeking to visit the present headquarters of their spiritual head, the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh. He was hopeful that religious tourist traffic due to the presence of places of pilgrims in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu, would contribute in the success of the route for his Airlines.

The Punjab Manager of the Airlines, Vimal Rai, argued that the service would make international travel for Punjabis and other North Indian States much convenient. As the operations begin, people from most parts of Punjab would be saved of the cumbersome journey to and from Delhi, which takes nearly eight hours in most cases. "Our flight would put the passenger at Changi within five-and-a-half hours,'' he pointed out, stressing that it was cheaper to go on a holiday to any South East Asian destination than to South India in the domestic circuit.

Mr. Rai also pointed out that apart from baggage of the passengers, the aircraft could ferry about two-and-a-half dozen containers of wide ranging goods, to open up a new frontier in international trade from the region, which faces the disadvantage of being landlocked. He expected vegetables from Punjab, fruit from Himachal and Kashmir and wide ranging flowers to be uploaded for quick delivery in the South East Asian countries, while his flight would bring in sophisticated electronic goods and consumer items.

Vani Singh, a representative of the Tourist Office of Macau, said her country, with its Visa free regime, offered the leisure facilities akin to Las Vegas, within six hours flying time. She said that last year there had been a 45 per cent increase in tourists from India to Macau and expected that with the present campaign, the traffic from Punjab would increase manifold.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News Update

Stories in this Section

Singapore comes wooing Punjabis