Newstrack

‘We plan to hire an independent manager to run our operations in India’

Dario Rustico, director of sales, Costa Cruises, Pacific Asia operations speaks to Andrea Lopez about plans to build further inroads into the Indian market, while concurrently improving the cruise's visibility to the Indian travel trade

Dario Rustico Director of Sales, Costa Cruises, Pacific Asia operations

Do you think the concept of cruising is finally catching up in India?

Cruising is still very nascent in the Indian market, so much so that it can be called underdeveloped. 75 per cent of the world's cruising agents do not have their offices in India. Compared to the position Costa has attained in the rest of the world, we are only beginning to make our presence felt here. But the important thing is that we have been assessing the Asian markets, and China and India are two markets we are very keen on penetrating. As far as tapping other emerging markets go, we are focussing on Dubai as a new destination.

Where do you think India falls short in popularising cruising? How do you plan to bridge this divide?

What is lacking in India is knowledge on the part of the trade, our primary focus therefore is to educate our clients about our product. We will soon launch our first official website, customised for the Indian travel trade. We want to make it interactive and therefore the program will track the progress of the trade and reward winners accordingly. We are also planning a B2B and B2C roadshow in January. To give our operations a further fillip, we plan to hire an independent manager to run our operations in India. Our aim is to get together at least 70 agents and hire cruise counsellors who will help in imparting knowledge to agents.

Is competition a factor when operating in a market like India?

Competition is something you have to deal with. As far as the Indian market goes, there is space for others to grow as well. Our focus does not lie in staving off competition, we only wish to increase our visibility in the market through the trade. Currently, we have 17 ships on operation, and are hoping to further strengthen our leadership by 2012.