Rail Europe has year after year cemented its success in the Indian outbound travel segment as reflected in their growth figures. According to Kunal Kothari, Executive Director, Rail Europe India, until August, sales have been up by 8 per cent while pax numbers are up by 6.3 per cent. This number was 9 per cent and 7.76 per cent at the end of July.
Although the Rupee depreciation has had an impact on outbound travel, particularly to western nations, Europe remains on Indians’ priority list. “Yes, the rapid depreciation in the rupee did hamper the numbers. Having said that, I think once the volatility of the rupee disappears the travellers will be back as usual. It is not the depreciation that hurt us as much as the rapid uncertainty of it. The depreciation was as big as 25 per cent in a span of six to eight weeks. That hurts the immediate travellers, especially the late minute ones,” opined Kothari.
As part of their marketing campaign for the year, Rail Europe India recently organised a familiarisation tour for travel agents and the media in a bid to showcase some of its rail routes. Traversing between Florence, Milan, Nice, Marseille, Interlaken and Zurich, Rail Europe, with the support of the Tourism Boards of Nice, Marseille and Switzerland, arranged a week long soiree that gave the group a chance to experience the Eurail, France Rail and Swiss Rail products.
The product
The journey commenced at Florence, Italy, with regional train journey to Pisa, giving the group a starter dose of scenery, history and culture that lay in wait through the journey. A bus tour to and from the iconic Leaning Tower added to the itinerary’s charm.
The following day saw the travel agents embark on the first train journey from Florence S.M.N railway station to Milan Centrale aboard the Frecciarossa 9528, a scenic commute of one hour and 40 minutes. The Frecciarossa travels across Italy’s prime cities, namely Northern Torino up to Salerno on the Amalfi Coast at a speed of 360km per hour.
Day two of the FAM saw a journey from Milan Centrale station to Nice Ville covered under the Eurail Select pass, France Rail Pass & sector reservations. This pass provides unlimited travel on the French National Railways (SNCF) either in first Class or second Class. You can travel on all 31,000 kilometres and 4,000 stations of the SNCF network on either their scenic trains of the TGV.
The following day’s Nice Ville to Marseille St Charles station journey was covered aboard the TGV Lyria 9750 in a duration of 2 hours and 32 minutes under the France Rail Pass & sector reservations. TGV stands for “Train à Grande Vitesse”, High Speed train in French. TGV offers high-speed train services connecting the major cities of France. TGV train travels smoothly and silently at speeds over 300 km/h in complete safety.
The Marseille St Charles station to Geneva route was once again covered by the TGV Lyria 9750, which operates on the South of France – Geneva routes. Following a short stop over at Geneva was the journey from Geneva to Interlaken (Via Bern) aboard Train Eurocities 739 and Train Eurocities 1085 covered by the Swiss Pass. The Swiss Pass enables visitors to travel free of charge on the Swiss Travel System’s entire network for periods ranging from four days to one month.
Commencing the journey to Mount Schilthorn, Rail Europe arranged for the group’s baggage to be transferred to Zurich through the Fast Baggage service which offers a same-day baggage delivery between 45 cities and holiday destinations throughout Switzerland, leaving the agents hands free to enjoy the panoramic view from atop one of the highest Swiss peaks.
The Interlaken to Zurich journey via Lucerne was covered by Swiss Pass and Golden Pass Line reservation. Golden Pass Line is the world’s first panoramic train put into service between Montreux and Zweisimmen. It remains the only line in Switzerland offering VIP seating at the front of the train giving a driver’s eye view.
The destinations
Extending their support to Rail Europe India on this FAM, the Nice, Marseille and Switzerland Tourism Boards designed their itineraries to showcase what can be enjoyed by tourists in their respective cities.
Nice Tourism arranged for a sightseeing tour along the Promenade des Anglais all the way up to the Catle Hill via the Old Town, all aboard the city’s Small Tourist Train. Speaking with T3, Ria Kolembusova, Leisure Development Manager, Nice Convention and Visitors Bureau stated that these were the areas that Nice was trying to promote in the Indian market. When asked about the response from the country, she revealed that Nice was yet to pick up as much as the rest of Europe as a tourist destination for Indians.
Marseille Tourism had a much larger task at hand showcasing the city that is this year’s Culture Capital of the World. Commencing the tour with the basilika Notre Dame de la Garde, the Board went on to give the group a hotel inspection of one of their newer properties, the Sofitel Marseille Vieux Port, which provides its guests the panoramic view of the Marseille seaside. The city’s recent addition, the MuCEM, an extension of their old fort which provides a blend of new and heritage architecture and houses a museum, was also toured. According to the tour guide, Claudine Ramon, the museum has already received over one million visitors since it opened in January.
Cyrille Saboya, Leisure Sales Representative, Marseille Tourist Office and Convention Bureau revealed that, seeing the growing popularity of Marseille among the Indian travellers, the destination is mooting the possibility of joining Atout France at the next India roadshow.
The city’s port was toured on foot while Ludivine Pillot, Marseille Tourist Office and Convention Bureau highlighted the attractions built along the old harbour to showcase the city as Culture Capital. The Board further arranged a boat trip to the National Monument If Castle.
Last but not least, upon arrival in Switzerland, Switzerland Tourism arranged for Hanne Tontsch, Director Marketing & Sales, Schilthorn Cableways to take the group to the peak for a panoramic view of the Swiss Alps. Unsurprisingly, Tontsch commented that the peak, echoing the scenario in the rest of Switzerland, was extremely popular with Indian tourists. The addition of the Bond World, commemorating the 1961 film that was shot at the peak, has been an added advantage in attracting footfall.
The road ahead
Rail Europe continues to have new passes and promotions in the pipeline to fuel Indian bookings. “Switzerland continues to dominate the Indian market. We have launched a new product called Swiss Peaks Pass for travel starting 1 January 2014. In addition, we will have our third edition of the Rail Europe Connexion magazine early 2014 inserted with various magazines. And there will be many more initiatives for the trade as well,” revealed Kothari.
