Kahini Chakraborty – Mumbai
With an aim to create awareness about the destination in the India market, The Embassy of Peru in collaboration with Peru-based DMC Condor Travels organised a presentation for travel agents in Mumbai. Speaking on the sidelines of the event to Express TravelWorld, Luis M Cabello, economic and commercial counsellor, Embassy of Peru, said, “We opened our commercial office in India in March 2014 and have come to realise that there are many similarities between India and Peru. Just as Taj Mahal in Agra is famous, we have the Machu Picchu in Peru. With India being a potential market for Peru in terms of business and tourism sector, we are looking at targeting high-end luxury travellers from the India market. Our focus is on promoting history and culture, heritage, leisure, gastronomy and adventure tourism products. And for the same, we are tapping segments like leisure, business, honeymooners.” In 2013, Peru received about 4,500 travellers from the India market, which was a 20 per cent increase compared to 2012. And in 2014 they expect the numbers to have risen to about more than 5,000. “The average length of stay of Indian travellers in Peru has been approximately about 15 days. The destination offers tourism activities in places such as Machu Picchu, Lima, Cusco, Inca Trails, Arequipa, and many more,” he added.
With regards to marketing strategies to promote Peru in the India market, Cabello informed, “We have just begun our promotional activities and we will look at first targeting metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and maybe Gujarat. By next year we are going to have lot of programmes for travel agents in India. We will continue to organise seminars, workshops, FAM trips to create awareness about Peru in India. We could also look at launching an online destination specialist programme for travel agents by next year.”