Archana Sharma – New Delhi
With a view to educate and enhance the knowledge of the Indian travel trade about Argentina’s tourism offerings, the National Institute of Tourism Promotion (INPROTUR) in association with Knack Marketing, India representative for INPROTUR, will be conducting a series of training programmes in March 2015 in India. “We will be launching an e-learning platform for tour operators in the next two months and will conduct training programmes for them in Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad, Ahmedabad,” stated Medha Sampat, director, Knack Marketing while commencing their roadshow for the year in New Delhi. Two more roadshows were conducted in Kolkata on January 28 and in Bengaluru on February 2.
Witnessing over 100 tour operators for the roadshow, this was the first time that INPROTUR targeted the Delhi market. It saw participation from the Argentina Embassy as well as two DMCs – Eurotur and Helling’s Travel. INPROTUR is also planning to reach out to other markets in the coming year like Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, etc.
Looking at increasing the Indian visitor arrivals by 10 per cent in 2015, Pablo Cagnoni, market coordinator for Asia, Oceania and Africa, INPROTUR, stated, “Apart from our popular areas, Buenos Aires, Iguazu, and El Calafate, we are also promoting the northern region, as Argentina is a luxury destination with mostly high-end travellers.” He also informed that they have recorded about 5600 visitors from the India market in 2014. “India is a major source market, not just for leisure travellers but also for the MICE segment. And since Argentina is already well established as a football favourite, we are also targeting the sports and adventure tourism segment,” stated Sampat.
According to Maria Nazareth Vilardo, business development account manager, sales and marketing incoming department, Eurotur, “The peak season to visit Argentina is from September to March, though it is a year round destination.”