Tourism New Zealand’s annual travel trade event, Kiwi Link India, is scheduled to take place from July 11 to13, 2016 in Mumbai. The event will include full day workshops on July 11 and 12, and a frontline training for travel agents in Mumbai on July 13. The event will provide opportunity for Indian travel agents, product managers and planners to interact with New Zealand operators and understand the new developments in the sector.
Kiwi Link India 2016 will be seeing participation from 35 operators from New Zealand, four airlines, Immigration New Zealand and 80 Indian delegates. Tourism New Zealand will also be hosting key buyers from around India in Mumbai for the first two days of the event.
Throughout the three-day event, Tourism New Zealand aims to connect New Zealand operators with Indian travel agents to strengthen trade relations between the two countries.
Speaking about the event, Kevin Bowler, chief executive, Tourism New Zealand, said, “Kiwi Link India is one of Tourism New Zealand’s biggest trade shows and is very important to us, as India is one of our priority emerging markets. Having a well-informed travel trade is critical to converting interest into bookings. This event provides an ideal platform for us to strengthen relations with our stakeholders in the Indian travel trade, supporting their ability to sell travel to New Zealand, particularly during the shoulder seasons”.
Steven Dixon, Tourism New Zealand’s regional manager – South and South East Asia, commented, “Tourism from India to New Zealand is on a rise and we are confident to keep this momentum going for our new financial year as well. The experiential nature of Indian travellers has also put the country at a high rank for New Zealand operators. In a pre-budget announcement during TRENZ 2016, Prime Minister John Key confirmed an additional US$ 8 million over four years for Tourism New Zealand to target visitor growth opportunities in the USA and India. The additional funding will help us up-weight the training of travel agents to support their ability to sell travel to New Zealand during the shoulder seasons. This includes increasing our focus on the New Zealand Specialist Programme, in-market trade training and hosting Tourism New Zealand led events, such as Kiwi Link India that will help connect the New Zealand industry with the Indian travel trade. To add to that, the association with our Indian brand ambassador, Sidharth Malhotra has helped drive awareness and preference for the destination.”
