A delegation of tourism professionals from the French region of Champagne visited the cities of New Delhi and Mumbai in the first week of June as part of a prospection mission. The delegation comprised of representatives from the Regional Tourist Board of Champagne Ardenne, the Tourist Office of Reims, Best Western Hotel de la Paix in Reims and the Tourist Office of Epernay.
The region has shown a keen interest in welcoming Indians to their region since the last four years and their strategies towards the Indian market have been oriented both towards the trade and B2C actions carried out in collaboration with Atout France – France Tourism Development Agency. On the trade front, the region has participated in the annual Rendez-vous en France which has provided an ideal platform for a maximum interaction with members of the trade in Delhi and Mumbai. In addition, the region has also engaged in sales calls and presentations by visiting individual travel companies in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. To intensify and broaden their network of contacts here in India, a delegation of four tourism professionals had also planned a separate prospection mission independently for a week in June 2014 and visited Delhi and Mumbai to find synergies with new trade contacts.
Catherine Oden, director, Atout France stated, “The region of Champagne has made a conscious effort to enhance their visibility in the Indian market with the eventual objective of welcoming more Indians to their destination. They have been very supportive of our marketing and communication initiatives, be it through prospection missions, workshop participations or welcoming our agents and journalists in their region. We have two B2C campaigns scheduled with them for this year and we are very hopeful that these joint collaborations will garner good results for the region.” Further, the hillsides, houses and wine cellars of Champagne have been nominated for UNESCO world heritage classification. The regions of Reims and Epernay were highlighted during the promotional visit.