The workshop, led by Cecilia Meireles, Secretary of State for Tourism and comprising Jorge Roza de Oliveira, Ambassador of Portugal to India; and Frederico Costa, President of Turismo de Portugal; was attended by 23 top level tour operators, Destination Management Companies (DMCs) and hotels. The delegation from Portugal had an extensive and fruitful interaction with prominent members of the Indian travel trade. The workshop highlighted the varied tourism products of Portugal that can attract segments such as honeymoon, wedding, golf, heritage, architecture, cuisine, Bollywood, and family among others from India.
“This is the first time that we brought a commercial delegation to India. There are a lot of business opportunities for our tourism players here,” Cecila Meireles, Secretary of State for Tourism, Government of Portugal, said. According to her, this maiden marketing initiative will effectively position Portugal as leisure, historic and cultural destination amongst the Indian travellers. ‘The delegation aims to encourage the Indian travel trade fraternity to launch more qualitative and diversified packages for Portugal,” she added. Meireles further informed that Portugal received 14 million global tourists in 2011. However, only 13,000 Indian tourists visited Portugal in 2011, which is quite low. She informed that around 80,000 Indians are living in Portugal. “We will also look at the Indian MICE and Bollywood industries to draw more tourists from India,” she added. Portugal Tourism is focused on Delhi and Mumbai and will expand their reach to other Tier II cities in future.
Replying to a question over their late entry into the Indian market, Meireles said that Portugal Tourism was very focused on Europe. “Now, developing India is our top priority. Some of the tour operators from Goa have already been to Portugal and we are now focusing on India as a whole,” she said, and added that Portugal shares a deep historical relationship with India, especially with Goa.
Speaking on the occasion, Jorge Roza de Oliveira, said that this workshop was the beginning of a tourism relationship between India and Portugal. “India is a very lucrative market and we are aware of the potential it holds in terms of outbound leisure and corporate travellers. Through this initiative, we are confident that the historic relationship existing between our two countries will give an added impetus to growth,” the Ambassador added.
Costa highlighted the significance of the tourism industry for Portugal. “Tourism contributes 9.2 per cent to the GDP of Portugal and generates 8.2 per cent employment in the country,” he said and informed that Portugal and India are unknown to each other in many ways. “The workshop will provide a new dimension to the tourism sector of both countries,” he added. Talking about the air connectivity between the two nations, Costa said that Emirates Airlines, which has an extensive network in India, flies to Lisbon from Dubai. Currently, there is no direct flight between India and Portugal. “We have direct flights to Russia and our national carrier is very strong in Brazil,” he informed. He further stated that Portugal is a vibrant destination due to its strategic position and climatic conditions that provide the best of Europe with the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
