Allson International appoints General Sales Agent in India

The Malaysian-based Hospitality group, Allson International, has appointed Outbound Marketing as its general sales agent (GSA) in India to represent the group’s two hotel brands; namely Sunway Hotels & Resorts and Allson Hotels & Resorts.

In an effort to enhance the group’s aggressive move into the Indian market, Mr. Jean-Jacques Kiefer, Managing Director of Allson International, the management arm of the nine Sunway Hotels & Resorts and four Allson Hotels & Resorts in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, said, “Outbound Marketing’s appointment as general sales agent for India is an important step in the right direction in increasing our market share in the region”.

Leading Outbound Marketing is Vasudha Sondhi, an Indian national, she brings with her 18 years of travel and hospitality experience garnered via senior positions held at Hyatt International, Le Meridien Hotels and TRAC Representations where she had overall sales and marketing responsibility. Sondhi also has been instrumental in setting up and establishing strategies of several national tourism boards in India. 

Today, Sondhi heads a team at Outbound Marketing, a sales, marketing and operational solutions representation company based in New Delhi, India. The company provides outsourced sales, marketing and reservations solutions to hotels, airlines, car rental companies, cruise companies and other travel industry partners including agents and tour operators in key Indian markets including the state capital of New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Rajasthan.

Tourism Malaysia reports that over 170,000 Indian tourists visited Malaysia in 2004, placing India as the 10th largest contributor to tourist arrivals in Malaysia for the year. Indians are also among the top five spenders in Malaysia, with each Indian said to spend an average of US$400 per visit, of which shopping constitutes 25%.

Tourism Malaysia also estimates that the number of Indian tourist arrivals will be between 230,000 to 240,000 in 2005. Malaysia hopes to virtually triple the number of tourists from India in the next three years, attracting 400,000 Indian arrivals with an anticipated 25% growth in tourist receipts, and an increase in the average length of stay to 11 or 12 days by 2007.

See other recent news regarding: Allson, Sunway, India, Malaysia