Maldives has always been a popular tourist destination with Indians. However, ever since Bollywood diva Bipasha Basu posted her first honeymoon pictures from the sun-kissed beaches of the beautiful island nation, couples planning their honeymoons in India have gone into a frenzy!
Travel advisers and experts say the past few days have seen inquiries about tour packages for Maldives go up exceptionally, with a lot of honeymooners enquiring about special destinations in the islands. Many who were hitherto undecided about their destination and were confused between a few seem to have suddenly made up their mind for the Indian Ocean islands.
Notably, Bipasha and her beau actor Karan Singh Grover tied the knot in a widely attended wedding on April 30, and flew on to the Maldives for their honeymoon this week. From the pristine beaches of the destination, both have been posting wonderfully romantic and exotic pictures, obviously having a gala time.
“Given its proximity to India, Maldives has in recent years caught up as a popular destination among Indian tourists. But, Bipasha seems to have driven its popularity to the next level, especially among young couples who are planning their honeymoon. Interestingly, the inquiries and requests for honeymoon packages to Maldives have suddenly gone up this week. Maldives tourism will certainly see an increased footfall from Indians this year,” says Mr Kapil Goswamy, Founder and MD Bigbreaks.com.
- By what number the travellers to Maldives have increased? —
It would be relevant to mention , that post the stories and images appearing in the press , there has been a big increase of 20% in the number of queries we are getting for Maldives, particularly from young couples planning their honeymoons for later in the year. The exact numbers will be revealed only after a few months when the trips take place, for now the interest for that destination is clearly up.
2.. What was the current size of tourist industry of Maldives and how much it has been boosted after the honeymoon pictures of Bipasha Basu? —
According to figures available , during 2014, the Maldives got about 46000 tourists from India , and this number stood at close to 50000 for 2015. With all the press reports and images of Bipasha Basu’s honeymoon in the Maldives , this number is set to rise dramatically (by upto 20%) during 2016 and is expected to grow more.
(Kapil Goswamy, Managing Director, BigBreaks
With an experience of over 30 years in travel and tourism business and a constant urge to redefine customer experience, Mr. Kapil Goswamy is an industry veteran who has seen and presided over many revolutionary phases in the organized travel industry in India.
Managing Director of BigBreaks, a new online venture of the Trans India Holidays Group, that has been conceived with the idea of offering greater flexibility and customization to personalize travel trips and tours, Kapil now wishes to revolutionize the way Indian travelers plan their trips.
An Economics graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Kapil’s entry into the Travel and Tourism Industry was purely accidental and was influenced by his selection in the Oberoi School of Hotel Management as a Management Trainee while he was pursuing Law. Gaining experience from the opportunity, Kapil then moved to Mercury Travels (formerly owned by the Oberoi Group of Hotels) where he worked for several years understanding the basics of the Travel and Tourism business. Following short stints in two other Travel companies, Kapil then came up with the idea of starting his own venture Trans World Travels (a Corporate Ticketing business) in the year 1990. Trans World Travels has grown over the years to become an IATA Travel Company handling all aspects of Corporate Travel.
He followed this up by also establishing Trans India Holidays which is one of India’s leading Inbound Tour Companies handling thousands of travelers every year. Trans World Holidays, an Outbound and Domestic leisure business was also established which completes his business with multiple verticals of the travel and tourism space. He continues to be the Managing Director of all these businesses which he founded and has successfully nurtured over a 25 year time period since 1990, raising the revenues of the group from next to nothing 25 years ago to over Rs. 100 crores last year.
Determined to offer a one-stop solution for all traveling needs and planning of customers, Kapil has modeled BigBreaks after deriving experiences from the years he has spent in the industry. With air travel becoming cheaper and easier, purchasing power increasing with a booming Indian economy, more and more people today are joining the travel bandwagon. With this rise in numbers, customers also bring more personalized desires and demands. BigBreaks aims to cater to this changing nature of the travel enthusiasts who do not want to compromise any more with standard travel packages offered by travel agencies. BigBreaks aims to take care of every intrinsic detail of its consumer’s travel plan to the last detail.
Kapil has been a proud recipient of the National Tourism Award twice, from the President of India, in March 2013 and again in March 2014. Other achievements , have been a nomination for the “Leaders of Tomorrow” Award by ET Now, a National Television Channel during 2012, the “Taj Travel Trade Award” for 2014, the World Travel Brands Award during 2015, the “Gem of India” Award from the All India Achievers Conference in 2015 and the “2015 Leaders Award” for most admired Brand Tourism and Hospitality during 2015.
A travel enthusiast himself, Kapil has travelled to over 70 countries and almost all across India.)