With a relatively small number of arrivals from India market, Turismo de Portugal is now looking to increase awareness in this market. The destination recently organised a two city roadshow in Mumbai and Delhi. Portugal welcomed 34,600 travellers from India in 2017.
Speaking about the development Filipe Silva, Member of Board of Directors, Turismo de Portugal said, “The Indian market has been producing vey low figures for Portugal. But we are aiming to essentially increase awareness and numbers. We also want to increase commercial relations between Indian and Portugal companies. Last year, we welcomed 34,600 Indian travellers in Portugal which represents about 92,000 room nights. We witnessed 19 per cent growth in terms of overnight stays and a growth of 25 per cent in terms of revenues. The length of stay is just under three days. Currently, we have combined packages with Spain and Morocco, which decreases the average stay.”
The destination is also looking to target MICE travellers from India, especially incentive segment. Without a direct connectivity, the tourism board is increasing its relation with partner airlines to further strengthen connectivity.
Silva said, “We currently don’t have a direct flight from India to Portugal. We have scope to work with different airlines and we are aiming to reinforce our commercial relations with these partner airlines. MICE segment is relatively low but has a huge potential and we have world-class facilities for this segment. Our main highlight for MICE will be Lisbon and Porto, but we are aiming to develop more regions for incentives.”
The destination recently organised roadshow to educate and motivate the focused invitee list of preferred travel agents, tour operators and trade partners and update their knowledge about Portugal. Initially the destination will focus on targeting families, couples, senior travellers, women only groups, golf, weddings segment, honeymooners apart from FIT business.
“We have seven regions in Portugal, majority of Indian travellers start from Lisbon. We have good road and train infrastructure so travellers can go to any regions or the two archipelago. We are now developing a more consistent strategy to attract Indian travellers now. There is a lot of potential here, Indians are looking for more destinations, experiences to explore and we do have. We want to improve connections with more specialised tailor-made tour operators. We will improve our connectivity with further negotiations with our partners. Apart from that we will promote the destination through social media and digital marketing,” Silva added.
Recently, the Government of Portugal has also introduced a rebate for film productions. “Our government has just approved a rebate system for film shootings. We provide 25 per cent of the production cost. We will be targeting this segment from India,” Silva added.
Currently the major source markets for Portugal are UK, France, Germany and Spain. The destination is now eyeing long haul markets like US, Canada, Brazil, India, China, Japan Australia, and South Korea.
