350 Indian travel agents complete SW Germany’s Going Cuckoo Specialist Training Programme
ETW STAFF – Mumbai
In a first of its kind initiative in India, SouthWest Germany was the first German state to introduce the Going Cuckoo Specialist Training Program for tour operators and travel agents. The total number of agents who have successfully completed the course is now 350, all over India.
South West Germany also introduces its online Sales Guide 2013 with a unique identification code provided to all service bearers – tourism agencies, hotels, sightseeing, attractions, transporters and incentive companies. This identification number can be effectively used on the web portal: www.tourism-bw.com/salesguide and provides the agent with update information on rates, services and availability.
Indian travellers have the distinction of spending the highest number of nights in SouthWest Germany as compared to other nationalities – an impressive 6.8 nights per visit. Until November 2012, as many as 22,000 Indian travellers visited SouthWest Germany recording 150,000 overnights. Indians also spend high amounts on big ticket purchases, dining and entrance fees to amusement parks and monument sites.
In order to encourage affordable travel, six cities – Stuttgart, Mannheim, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Constance and Heidelberg offer travel card which offer free use of public transport, monument entrances at subsidised rates and there are discounts on shopping and restaurant outlets. Summer is the time for events, SouthWest Germany has the distinction of holding the largest wine festival in the world during the last week of August and the second largest beer festival. Open air music festivals, beer festival in beer gardens, village festivals on weekends hog the limelight from May to late September.
