9% hike in Indian tourists to UK
Despite the depreciating `, Indian travellers holidaying in the UK increased by nine per cent during the first three quarters of 2013 led by a surge in leisure and corporate segments, reveals Sandie Dawe, CEO, VisitBritain.
India ranks No. 1 among BRICS market
It is the biggest of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) source market for Britain. It recorded 339,000 Indian visitors and GB£ 333 million in spending. Britain aims to attract 425,000 visits from India by 2016, which will translate into GB£ 380 million in annual visitor spend from the Indian market. “The funding by British government for UK Trade & Investment, British High Commission and VisitBritain in India has increased over the years, which shows our commitment in India,” she revealed.
Leisure and MICE surpass VFR
Traditionally, the visiting friends and family (VFR) market from India has been good. However, the VFR traffic went down four per cent in 2013. The growth from India was driven by leisure that grew by 11 per cent and business travel that rose by 14 per cent. Going forward, VisitBritain is looking at family, groups, youth and HNIs. She further elaborated, “Britain is India’s second-largest business partner, receiving about 50 per cent of Indian direct investment into Europe. Thus, business is an important and higher spending segment for us. The average holiday visitor in Britain from India spends GB£ 504 while the average business visitor spends GB£ 1,419. We are working with Indian MICE operators to position Britain as a MICE destination for India.”
The ‘youth’ tinge
By 2020, India is set to become the world’s youngest country with 64 per cent of its population in the working age group. This is a growing segment for the Board and will drive numbers from India. It has been observed that growth is driven by young Indian travellers who
We are looking at segments such the honeymooners, single women, SINKs, DINKs, other youth subsegments and engaging them with digital programmes
are technology-savvy, with purchasing power and are looking for experiential tours. “We are looking at tapping these segments and engaging them with digital programmes. It includes the honeymooners, single women, SINKs (Single Income No Kids), DINKS (Double Income No Kids) and other youth sub-segments,” she shared.
Partnering with the travel trade
While talking about future trade plans, Dawe informed that VisitBritain has strategically scheduled B2B events to engage with the Indian travel trade. “Currently, we have 900 BritAgents in India. The tourism board will host 15-20 Indian travel trade partners at Hosted Buyers Marketplace in London in March 2014. We are also encouraging the trade to introduce new itineraries that promote not only London, but a broader range of regions to consumers. To target the fast-growing FIT segment, we will continue to engage with OTAs such as Yatra.com, MakeMyTrip, Ibibo.com and Expedia.com. We are looking at introducing co-op campaigns and tie-ups with the Indian travel trade to incentivise sales of Britain packages. Recently, VisitBritain along with Mercury Travels kickstarted a year-long campaign. As part of the campaign, Mercury Travels has designed nine itineraries focussing on destinations beyond London including Manchester, Liverpool, York, Peak District, Birmingham, Belfast, Wales and Scotland,” she said.