Some time ago, I believe AI had decided to showcase the airline’s art collection on a floor designated for this purpose in its iconic building at Nariman Point in Mumbai. It appears that Air-India’s management has now agreed to send this entire collection to the Ministry of Culture in New Delhi.

Even before I joined the airline in 1957, we had started to encourage budding artists and buying their works.  These were initially displayed in our offices but later it was decided to use them to decorate the homes of our overseas representatives and senior executives in Mumbai.  I remember the fair number of antique mantelpiece clocks that we had acquired - one of which was in my office on the 17th floor at Nariman Point.

Most of these articles were acquired during Jai Cowasji’s tenure and subsequently by Dhabaolkar and his successors.  

I hope the Ministry of Culture will honor this tremendous collection and display it for the public to view.  If not, it would be a tremendous waste of the great efforts that AI made to develop Indian art and artists.

Getting back to my tenure at Air Mauritius, in previous Posts, I have spoken about the difficulty in promoting Mauritius as a tourist destination to Americans.  I would like expand on this issue.

First, our studies showed that more than 95% of Americans had no idea where this country was.  Second, the Caribbean islands offered almost every attraction that Mauritius had to offer, with the exception of a culture which truly welcomed tourists. 

Third, it took 3 to 4 hours to fly from the east Coast to the Caribbean while travel to MRU required a two night flying time.  Fourth, we had practically no assistance from the MRU Tourist Department.

After trying various avenues and considering our limited financial resources, we decided that the most effective way to promote the country was to sell MRU as part of a two destination holiday and also special interest tours, such as honeymoons and deep sea fishing.  

MRU held an annual fishing tournament - the Marlin World Cup.  Our first attempt to send a few teams from the USA did meet with some success, but nature did not help.  MRU experienced a cyclone at that particular time and we had a few cancellations.

Nonetheless, we persevered and found that there was definitely genuine interest for this sport in the USA.  Manju and I were invited to attend a similar tournament in St. Thomas and we found considerable enthusiasm.  Unfortunately, this enthusiasm was not matched at the other end.  The powers that be in MRU flatly told me that they had enough teams from Europe and other countries and did not need more that 1 or 2 from the USA.

We then ran into an major problem - difficulty in getting seats on MK flights.  The European stations had allocations on all flights which they held on to for dear life and last minute releases were no help for us.  During a Sales Conference in MRU, I spent some time trying to cultivate better relations with the Reservations Manager and his staff.

Little did I realize the competition that we faced.  Each afternoon, one or another European station held a “get together” for the Res. staff.  They had brought in Champagne, wine and other “goodies” such as Belgian chocolates and gifts.  The Sales Manager from Zurich told me in confidence that I could not hope to match the generosity of Mr. Dastur.

Nonetheless, I was able to establish a personal relationship with the Reservations Manager and we did manage to get some seats by contacting him directly on each occasion.

The CMD mentioned to me that perhaps, I should emulate the efforts of Tord  Magnusson, the Sales Manager in Sweden who was sending a large number of Hi-yield clients.  He told me to meet with Tord and “get some tips”.  Tord introduced me to his Tour Operator who had a branch office in Florida.  This gentleman stated that Florida had a substantial affluent population which, he felt, would certainly be interested in traveling to an exclusive destination such as MRU.

Despite my personal misgivings, I gave this project a good try.  First, we hosted a team of journalists who published a four page article in Town & Country, an upscale travel magazine.  We then sent reprints of this article to a mailing list that this Tour Operator maintained.

Second, we held a Reception for about 75-80 well heeled residents of Palm Beach County.  

Guess what - we did not get a single client from this effort!!!

So, I went back to well tried efforts and renewed our efforts by participating in selective Trade Shows and pursuing personal ties with Tour Operators promoting South Africa.  I attended two INDABA Trade shows in Durban and developed contacts with both U.S. Tour Operators and local Ground operators.  

MK became a member of the USTOA and we did attained a few annual meetings, but soon realized that with our limited financial resources, we would be better off in one-to-one meetings with the few Tour Operators who promoted African Safaris. We did meet with some success and were fortunate in meeting our annual targets.