Canada paints Delhi red with 350 taxis

In a bid to create buzz about Canada in the city of Delhi, Destination Canada in partnership with Air Canada has branded 350 radio taxis and two Hop-on and Hop-off buses in the Capital.

Speaking at the launch of this initiative at the High Commission of Canada in New Delhi, Rupert Peters, Regional Managing Director, Destination Canada, said, “This taxi promotion gives us the opportunity to create visibility at a really important time in India, especially Delhi, to paint the city red with Canada, particularly with Air Canada launching their direct flights between New Delhi and Vancouver. I believe that it will create a good impact in New Delhi as people take taxis and on average spend 20-30 minutes inside the taxi. We have put leaflets in these cabs, explaining the new direct service with Air Canada to Vancouver as well as their Toronto service from New Delhi. It also mentions about packages with tour operators on what people can do when they come to Canada. So it’s a really good opportunity for them to think and read about experiences that Canada has to offer.”

Margaret Skinner, Director Sales, Europe, Middle East, Africa and India, Air Canada, said, “I think it’s a fantastic example of Air Canada working in conjunction with Destination Canada to promote Canada and our new services. We are doing a lot of promotion throughout the year, and I think it’s going to work very well.”

Also present on the occasion was Jess Dutton, Acting High Commissioner of Canada to India, who said, “This promotion is an opportunity to showcase the beauty of Canada and to attract tourists to Canada, British Columbia, Ontario, and the entire country. It is also the opportunity to highlight Air Canada and its two nonstop flights to both Toronto and Vancouver. These connections are enablers of tours, students, business, and to enable people to visit their families. Thus, these flights are fabulous for the overall relationship between the two countries.”

Peters added that they forecast over 211,000 Indian visitors to Canada this year, which is about a 13 per cent increase over last year. "I think we can double that next year with this new daily service.” In order to achieve that, they are doing a lot of things, particularly in partnership with Air Canada as well as the tour operators in India. “We’ve got radio campaigns going on in New Delhi, and there will be shopping mall promotions starting in December. We are also startingng som some online campaigns. We ar are re using all the channels like travelave vel trade, online consumers as w well as the offline env i ron - ment, such as the taxi branding to really get the message that Canada is there to be discovered and en enjoyed.” joyed.joyed”