After successfully establishing France as a solo destination in other parts of Asia, the French Tourist Office - Maison de la France has identified India as a potential market. Catherine Oden, director, South East Asia and India, French Tourist Office, divulges her plans for the Indian market, in conversation with Sheetal Wadhwa Munshaw. Excerpts

How would you position France as a destination? People tend to perceive France as an expensive destination, we need to generate awareness and get people to know that France can be an affordable yet wonderful destination. Moreover, we want people to know that there is more to France than just Paris. It may be a bit early for this market but we would eventually like to position France as a solo destination. The only European destination that is perceived as a solo destination in India today is Switzerland. What is your target audience and what would be your medium to reach out to this audience? In my opinion, it would be both the middle class as well as the upper crust. In terms of medium, we would naturally use daily papers. But since our audience is focussed, we would also need a select medium which means magazines and niche publications. What is your marketing strategy? Our main objectives are to increase the number of Indian visitors to France of course, but also to increase the length of stay in France by developing tourism in our different regions. We would like to introduce high-added value products and develop the Indian business tourism (particularly incentives). What is your promotional strategy? At this point, it may be a good idea to do joint promotions with other European tourism boards and work with them. In Singapore, we have conducted a joint campaign with the BTA (British Tourist Authority) wherein we promote city stays throughout France and UK, self drive tours and honeymoon hideaways. Even travel agents were associated with this campaign. We may follow a similar strategy in India at a later stage. Are you looking at tapping niche tourism segments? Certainly, but all in good time. To begin with, we will start with wine circuits as we have gathered from industry feed back that it is a segment with great potential. We have 22 wine regions in France. For now, we will introduce the more popular ones such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Alcase, Loire Valley etc. More specific destinations and regional tourism would be our next phase of promotions. What unusual experiences do you have to offer to the discerning Indian traveller? We want to study the motivations of the Indian traveller carefully.

During my first mission in India, I was able to meet with a large array of very sophisticated travellers who were ready to discover France in-depth. I met some great epicureans who would be ready to follow a wine tour in Champagne, Burgundy or the Bordeaux regions, participate in cooking classes in Province, go hiking at Mont-Blanc in the French Alps, glide aboard a barge on a Burgundy canal, balloon over the Chateaux of the Loire Valley and indulge in one of our numerous spas. They were very intrigued by one destination located near Bordeaux which offers Vinotherapy treatments in a spa just in the heart of very famous vineyards. The choices are unlimited! I am extremely motivated to help the trade in preparing new type of packages.