With the number of Indian travelling to Central and Eastern Europe is expected to grow by 60 per cent by 2021, CzechTourism has geared up to have a major share of the pie. Czech Tourist Authority recently organized a 3 city roadshow : New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai in India to showcase their diverse tourism products and create awareness among Indian travel trade. “Indian market offers huge potential for us. The growth in Indian arrivals has been in double digit figure in last few years. We expect similar growth in the next 2-3 years if overall scenario remains good,” Monika Palatková, Managing Director of Czech Tourist Authority – CzechTourism, said.
Czech received 16-17,000 Indians in 2010 and the number continued to grow to 50,000 in 2015 and 66,500 in 2016. The first half of 2017 has already seen around 79, 400 Indians travelling to Czech, according to data shared by Turkish Airlines India office. The growth in arrivals is also attributed to ease of visa process. “This visa facilitation process has been started already and we have 16 Visa Application Centre. We are also exploring possibility of direct flight connectivity between India and Czech,” she added.
Replying to a question over Czech tourism industry preparedness for the India market, she said that CzechTourism is facilitating the private players with all information. “We are fine tuning our portfolio according to Indian market’s demand and need. This is why we opened our office this year with VFS Global. We have been working closely with VFS Global in India since the end of 2016 and it has proven to be successful in establishing the Czech Republic as a tourist destination in India. On this occasion, I am pleased to announce the expansion of our cooperation into another strategic region, the Middle East,” she said and added that Czech Tourist Authority is going to continue its presence in India. “It is right time to restart again our efforts aggressively.” CzechTourism had left Indian market in 2011 after having a presence for 4-5 years.
Talking about the target segment, she said that Czech is looking at those segments of travelers who are interested in history, culture, gastronomy and experiences. “We are also looking to tap the strength of the Bollywood.
Speaking on the occasion, Milan Hovorka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic in India said: “I congratulate CzechTourism on opening an office in India. Permanent presence in one of the world’s fastest growing outbound market has been for a long time supported by me. VFS Global is a reliable partner in the visa area and I am convinced that the partnership of CzechTourism with this company will lead to a further increase of interest about the Czech Republic,” he said.
Talking about the diverse offerings to India market, Azan Khambatta, Head, Czech Tourism India, said : ‘We are now focused on focused on creating awareness about new regions, products and experiences to the Indian market. The central promotional theme of Czech Tourism in 2017 has been Baroque. In 2018, Czech Republic is celebrating 100 years of the establishment of the independent country and our focus will be monuments, places and traditions,” he said and added that Czech Tourism India Office will continue to have strong relationship with Indian travel trade. “In future, we will also come out with a training module for the travel trade,” he added.
