Easy visa draw agents to Peru
Apart from workshops and familiarisation trips for travel agents, the Commercial Office of Peru is also compiling a report on the Indian traveller to their destination to share it with the Peruvian suppliers.
The travel trade is our prime audience and we want to impart destination knowledge to them The trade needs to know that the visa process for Peru is very easy and prompt
Active in India since March 2014, the Commercial Office of Peru is making steady progress. Its plan is clear – to reach out to potential travel agents and tour operators and educate them about the destination. Luis M. Cabello, Economic & Commercial Counsellor, Embassy of Peru, says, “We don’t want to go directly to the consumers. The Indian travel trade is our prime audience and we want to impart destination knowledge and increase destination visibility among them.”
Over the last few months, Cabello has visited cities including Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru to interact with the agents. But he hasn’t dismissed the Tier II cities. “We have conducted workshops in Bhubaneshwar, Pune and Indore in the past and have discovered that they offer good opportunities. We will definitely re- visit these and other secondary markets in future. We are also planning to do some workshops in Gujarat,” he adds.
His office is also planning a Fam trip for about 10 agents in May-June 2016. Last year, it had taken seven agents to Peru. It will also participate in trade shows in India including OTM, SATTE and IITT. There are no plans to bring any of their suppliers to India but the Commercial Office does facilitate communication between them and the Indian travel trade whenever required.
Cabello says, “We have just compiled a report on the profile of Indian travellers that visit Peru – whether they are FITs or groups or business travellers, their travel habits and whether they also go to other Latin American countries. We want to understand the Indian passenger and share our findings with our suppliers.”
Peru is mainly targeting the FIT and MICE segments for now. “That’s enough for us for now as India is a very large market. The number of Indians to Peru is growing by 20 per cent year-on-year. We get a total of 6,000 plus visitors from India at the moment and about 50 per cent of them are business travellers. We are not just looking at numbers but also quality. Indian travellers have time as well as resources; they can spend money when they travel outside India and that’s our target market,” Cabello adds. However, Peru does not have any incentive programmes for big MICE groups as of now.
Anne Maeda, Counsellor, Embassy of Peru, who looks after visas, was also part of the workshop to educate the trade about the visa process. She says, “Until September 2015, we received more than 1,000 applications for tourist visas and 800 for business visas. The trade needs to know that the visa process for Peru is very easy and prompt provided all the documents are in place. We take a maximum of five working days. I am trying to clear any misunderstanding they might have.” She however informed that the embassy does not have any special group visas yet.