Europe tops Kesari list
Central and Eastern Europe have taken a lead, according to Kesari Tours, followed by South and Central America, indicating that India’s growing outbound is getting more adventurous.
While 2017 was comparatively slow for Kesari Tours – one of India’s leading tour operators – mostly because of the after-effects of demonetisation and GST, 2018 is looking brighter with things settling down a bit. Himanshu Patil, Director, Kesari Tours, says, “We have started getting a lot of inquiries. Our main aim is to promote Central Europe and Eastern Europe along with South and Central America this year. These are already showing growing popularity in India. We are already selling Antarctica tours as well as South America tours and we want to increase our numbers for these destinations.”
He explains that Indians today are looking for varied and extraordinary destinations. “More and more people are looking for experiential travel. They want to experience different things, want to stay in pods, explore the Northern Lights, stay in an ice hotel, go on a luxury cruise. Therefore, I think South and Central America as well as Eastern Europe will gain more popularity in 2018. People are going to Croatia, Montenegro, and Lake Bled in Slovenia. These are a few destinations people are exploring. Russia is also becoming very popular for us,” Patil adds.
Domestic and inbound
India’s domestic market is also growing rapidly. Patil says, “In spite of a lot of issues in Kashmir right now, Indians still want to enjoy Kashmir. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth as is Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Nainital. These are all very popular destinations during the summer.” Other popular Indian destinations according to Kesari Tours are Kerala, Kodai Kanal and a lot of new spots in the North East. Travellers – both domestic and foreigners - are visiting the region in big numbers, Patil says. The tour operator specialises in group tours, MiCE as well as FIT. “We are coming with a lot of new group tours. We have already started groups tours for niche and special-interest groups such as Only Women, Senior Citizens, and Children’s Special where we organise NASA camps, apart from family tours. We are already touching 100,000 tourists every year and are looking at almost 20 per cent growth in 2018,” Patil reveals. Apart from print, TV and digital marketing, Kesari Tours is also active on social media platforms. It also works closely with a lot of tourism boards and airlines.
are already selling Antarctica tours as well as South America tours to increase numbers