Mohit Rathod – Mumbai
Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, which recently partnered with India’s Sartha Global Marketing, is establishing its presence in the India market. Sartha will facilitate relationships between LATCB and Indian travel trade and MICE partners, along with focused promotions with airline partners in India.
Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Ernest Wooden Jr, president and CEO, LATCB, informed, “India is the second largest fastest growing market for tourism in Los Angeles, just behind China. There’s a possibility that India may overtake China, which is one of the main reasons why we are representing in India. Last year, LA welcomed more than 46.5 million people, which makes it one of the principal destinations in the world for leisure travel. Because of that robust growth, we are expanding our footprint internationally, and India is a major part of it.”
LA witnessed 99,000 Indian travellers in 2015, marking 7.6 per cent growth over 92,000 Indian travellers in 2014. LATCB’s research department is projecting that Indian arrivals will grow by 4.8 per cent this year.
Although India is presently the second largest fastest growing inbound market or LA, it is still not among the top 10 markets. Wooden Jr, commented, “Ten years ago, China was not in the top 10, but it’s now the number one inbound market for LA; the world is changing rapidly, so despite the fact that India is currently not among the top 10 inbound markets, it will soon be, there’s no doubt.”
Of the seven million international travellers to LA, about 19 per cent were business travellers. “Los Angeles is a diverse commercial hub that features entertainment, but we also have great manufacturing industries. So the business travel segment is taking off because of the diverse economy of Los Angeles,” said Wooden Jr.
Informing about marketing strategy, Sheema Vohra, managing director, Sartha Global Marketing, added, “Initially, Mumbai and Delhi will be our focus regions for marketing. Currently, our promotional efforts will be on educating the Indian travel fraternity and consumers.”
