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Tourism Ireland Eyes The Indian Outbound With Increased Intent
Charmaine Fernz - Mumbai
With just a year's presence in the Indian outbound tourism
circuit, Tourism Ireland is setting itself a sizable target of this thriving
segment. In a recent visit to India, Leo Ganter, market development manager,
Tourism Ireland revealed what he had in store for the coming year. "Our
primary target market in India would be the Bollywood industry as it is a very
good medium of tourism promotion. We would be working closely with the travel
trade be it airlines, travel agents, tour operators or even the media to promote
Ireland as a premium tourist destination. On a beginner's note, we celebrated
St Patrick's Day with the Indian travel fraternity to promote the festivals
of the country. Though the numbers are not too high, we are looking at increasing
awareness and more information dissemination on the tourism product," added
Ganter.
Elaborating further on specific initiatives, Ganter mentioned, "By having
a representation office in India, we are able to cater more specifically to
the Indian travel trade's requirements. We are also looking at improving our
visa system thereby making it user-friendlier for the discerning Indian traveller.
On a futuristic note, we are in talks with Britain on launching a joint visa
for both England and Ireland, which would facilitate and ease travel. However,
administrative and financial talks in this regard are still in process."
Ganter revealed that creating niche markets would be Tourism Ireland's next
step in India especially in the areas of golf and incentive travel. "These
are both new and growing markets with a lot of potential. The other niche segments
we offer are walking, cycling and even fishing tours. The MICE market is an
emerging market but is yet to develop from the Indian perspective. For incentive
groups, the various castles are hired out and a theme could be created based
on the group's requirements. With a lot of commonalities in place between the
two destinations, Ireland has much to offer Indian tourists and based on our
performance in India, we would in future look at having an office here.
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