ETW STAFF – Mumbai
Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) recently organised a workshop and orientation experience for its key travel agents in Mumbai. Present at the session were CTC’s key provincial partners – Travel Alberta, Tourism British Columbia and Ontario Tourism along with India representatives.
As per their marketing strategy for 2013, these provinces will be spreading their campaign to newer growth areas of the Tier II cities in India.
In the first phase, they will be targeting Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh. Further, in the second phase, the focus will shift to potential markets of Lucknow, Jaipur, Indore, Nagpur, Pune, Kochi, Thiruvanathapuram and Guwahati.
The tourism board will continue to focus on FITs along with visa awareness in 2013. “We would be launching Signature Experiences Collection (SEC) this year. SECs are once in a lifetime travel experiences found in Canada and the trade partners can market Canada better with this,” said Tina Singh, assistant vice president, CTC, India. India is a relatively new tourism market for the CTC, but just after four years, it’s already one of the strongest in terms of future growth and investment potential.
The CTC’s strategy in India is focused on building relationships with local travel wholesalers and retailers. Nearly 80 per cent of its budget in 2013 is directed to trade, business events, and helping retailers sell more Canada. One of the CTC’s biggest business events in India is the Focus Canada India show, which was held in Jaipur this year.
