Hola! Spain finally out of recession
Over 50 Indian companies exhibited at FITUR 2014 reinforcing the importance of Spain for the Indian market. The Ministry of Tourism showed its commitment with a soon-to-be-launched Spanish website.
International Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR 2014, saw a total number of participants increased by 5.1 per cent to 2,17,780 and the number of visitors and buyers increased by nearly 4 per cent. FITUR 2014 ended at a high note with participants feeling satisfied and hoping for a progressive year.
During FITUR 2014, Ministry of Tourism laid special emphasis on the new Incredible India website which will soon be available in 10 different languages, including Spanish
“The general sentiment is much more positive this year and travel to India is expected to increase. This positive sentiment is the key factor and will be the game changer compared to the last year,” felt
Luv Malhotra, Joint Managing Director, The Suryaa. Tejinder Grewal, Director, Caper Travel Company, feels the same sentiment highlighting that, Caper Travel has been present in this market for a long time and now finally they are coming out of recession. “The past couple of years were slow but now that they are out of the crises, we hope to see numbers grow.” While Bharat Bhushan
Atree, Managing Director, Caper Travel Company, agrees to the views he suggests that the real game changer will be visa-on-arrival for more countries. “The biggest advantage will be with the opening of visa-on-arrival for the Spanish market and with that it will definitely increase the numbers from this market.”
Supporting a similar view, Chander Kant Abbott, Chairman, Vasco Travel, says, “Our biggest drawback is the visa process and it’s a tedious task. While the government is working on this, India tourism needs to be very aggressive to reach the masses in these markets and focus on India being a safe destination. The vibe abroad is still very sceptical about India being safe for women and single travellers and promoting this is the need of the hour.”
India tourism guaranteed its commitment to the tourism market with a huge presence at FITUR. While different itineraries and travel options were discussed with the Ministry of Tourism, a special emphasis was laid on the new Incredible India website. Indeed remarkable, the website will soon be available in 10 different languages, including Spanish.
“The interest for India is definitely increasing in the Mexican market. Though they are big spenders and love to travel in luxury, a problem we face is that we don’t find too many Spanish speaking guides in South India,” says a renowned Mexican tour operator, Georgina
De Leon, Ventas, Orleviasa.
Both the India and Spanish speaking nations left FITUR feeling the relief of the economy being out of recession, business hopes to soon show better results from this market.