Sudipta Dev – Mumbai
A global leader in premium guided vacations, Trafalgar, recently introduced new itineraries for Asia, including India. Targeted at the HNI segment, the company has witnessed an increasing demand from the India market for destinations like East Europe, Iberian region, Croatia, Iceland, Scandinavia, Russia, Japan and New Zealand. “We have seen very good growth for Trafalgar from the India market in last couple of years, our consumer base has more than doubled which has helped us grow our team size and also increase investments. Given the superior quality of our product and the huge range that we offer around the world, we are certain that this trend will continue as we move forward,” said Sanjay Temkar, director of sales – India, Trafalgar.
Trafalgar’s exclusive insider experiences resonate well with the new age Indian traveller. “They want to see the real destination with the experts to get a sense of wonder and discovery. The fact that our guided holidays offer unrivalled service with all details meticulously planned for a perfect, stress-free trip is loved by them,” he stated, pointing out that their Indian guests enjoy travelling and making friends with co-passengers from all around the globe.
The tours are suitable for HNI travellers, offering all comforts and a mix of four star and five star hotels. “India continues to give us substantially much higher volumes on our premium product than the CostSaver option that we offer,” he informed.
An interesting new trend as far as Indian travellers are concerned is that there is a segment of guests who are planning their holiday almost six-eight months in advance. “This is such a good trend given the deals available for early birds and also the long-time taken to process certain visas,” said Temkar, informing that the guests are increasingly preferring more regional specific or one country detailed itineraries over the rushed multi country trips. According to Temkar the forward bookings for 2017 are looking good. “We feel the pent up demand from latter half of 2016 will make 2017 a good year for our industry,” he mentioned.