Date:07/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/03/07/stories/2006030702770300.htm

Back Taj Hotels ties up with Korea's Shilla

Our Bureau

Marketing pact to include trade shows, sales events

TIE-UP TIME: Mr Raymond Bickson (left), Managing Director & CEO, The Indian Hotels Company Ltd, and Mr Mansoo Lee, President & CEO, Hotel Shilla Company Ltd, at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday. - Shashi Ashiwal

Mumbai , March 6

Taking forward the initiative to extend its reach to markets across the world, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, the flagship brand of Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), has entered into a marketing alliance with The Shilla Hotels & Resorts of Korea.

Under the marketing alliance, the two hotels will develop cross-promotional opportunities for both companies to harness each other's strengths in their respective markets of dominance.

Shilla Hotels is affiliated to the Samsung group and comprises two hotels, namely, The Shilla Seoul and The Shilla Jeju.

Under the alliance, both hotel companies will develop marketing activities that include participation in trade shows, sales events, culinary promotions, and niche marketing programmes. The companies will also assist each other in exchanging sales leads and conducting roadshows across India and Korea.

Mr Raymond Bickson, Managing Director & CEO, IHCL, said global alliances were the way forward and such alliances would help it respond with agility and nimbleness to global changes.

Mr Mansoo Lee, President & CEO, Hotel Shilla Company Ltd, said the alliance was signed at an opportune moment when intra-Asia travel was growing at a fast clip. The alliance would not only target customers from India and Korea, but all nationalities travelling in the region.

In the past year, the Taj has forged several international alliances, with the acquisition of a property at Sydney, and the conclusion of management contracts for The Pierre in New York and the Rebak Marina Resort at Langkawi in Malaysia. It also entered into a marketing alliance with Raffles Hotel in Singapore in 2004.

Mr Ajoy K. Misra, Senior Vice-President, Sales & Marketing, IHCL, said it was important for the group to enhance its brand presence in Korea. The growing outbound travel market from the country was expected to touch 15-20 million in the next 10 years. The inbound market from Korea into the country was also beginning to grow as was the business and leisure travel between the two countries.

He added that IHCL was in talks with other companies for further alliances. "The big picture is that the world is becoming flat. Therefore, companies and countries cannot remain insular. Those that globalise are likely to survive the intense competition in the market. A global presence has become a necessity to respond to the arrival of global brands in the country," he said.