Saloni Bhatia – New Delhi
Scandinavian travel trade partners – 25 of them – including national tourist boards, regional tourist boards along with delegates from attractions, cruise and voyage companies and DMCs recently hosted an event for the Indian travel trade in New Delhi. The Scandinavian countries comprising of Sweden, Denmark and Norway currently see India as a major source of travellers from the Asia market.
Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Mohit Batra, India representative, Scandinavian Tourist Board, informed, “Last year with the addition of an Emirates flight to Oslo, Norway witnessed 35 per cent growth in Indian tourist arrivals. While some part of Scandinavia has seen about 30 per cent growth already, we are looking at an overall growth of about 10 per cent by the end of the year. While the average length of stay of an Indian travellers is 10 nights, it is divided between Denmark, Copenhagen and Stockholm.”
Commenting on the MICE market, Batra added, “All the three capitals are very popular with their MICE facilities. Copenhagen and Stockholm offer some unique destinations with easy accessibility. They have already been rated as some of the best MICE destinations across the world.”
Sweden witnessed 158,000 Indian tourist arrivals in 2015. This represents the number of commercial room nights which puts India as its second biggest market in Asia. There also has been an increase of around 15 per cent over the previous year, but Sweden had a weak month in July. Lotta Thiringer, regional director, growth and development markets, Visit Sweden, stated, “We are hoping the numbers would pick up soon. While 40 per cent of visitors are business travellers, others look for soft adventure or explorations.”
Lotta Anderson, marketing manager, Visit Stockholm, said, “There was over 15 per cent growth of overnight stays from India in Stockholm in 2015, which includes a strong growth of Indian and Swedish business travel, but also Indian leisure travel. India is showing great potential from the Asia market and we are looking at a decent growth in the near future.”