By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS
New Delhi : Never mind the chill or a proposed crackdown on non-European Union tourists by the British government, Europe is still the hottest outbound destination for Indians this yearend.
According to tour operators, the last two months have seen a sharp rise in the number of Indian group travellers to destinations across Europe and the count is steadily rising in the run-up to Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Tour operators are wooing Indian travellers with special cost-saving packages and the National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) of Europe, which promote tourism of individual nations abroad, have unveiled new yearend packages specially tailored for South Asian markets.
“Group tours are popular because they are affordable. Indians enjoy the snow. In terms of percentage, you can say there has been more than 10 percent increase in group travel compared to last year,” Arup Sen, executive director of Cox and Kings, told IANS.
One of the reasons why the flow of tourists to Europe has increased this winter is that airlines have dramatically hiked their capacities between India and Europe in the last two years.
“They are offering special winter tariffs,” said Sen.
This has encouraged several outbound travellers to plan European holidays. According to Cox and Kings officials, most travellers are from the ‘double income, no kids’ (DINKS) groups who do not travel during summer. They usually take breaks from work in winter.
The most popular circuits this season are icy trails around Britain, Switzerland, Germany and Italy. SOTC, a part of the Switzerland-based Kuoni Group, has introduced special cost-saving European winter packages. The group is offering a discount of Rs.15,000 per adult, valid till Christmas eve.
“The cost savers to Europe are available at the price of a Far East holiday,” said Sunil Gupta, chief operating officer of SOTC.
A five-day Switzerland sojourn has been priced at Rs.28,990 instead of the regular Rs.43,990, while an 11-day trip to Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Switzerland, Schaffhausen, Heidelberg, Rhineland, Cologne, Brussels, Paris and London will cost Rs.59,990, SOTC officials said.
“The high cost of holidaying in Europe has always been a hindrance. The low cost packages, coupled with the high disposable income of Indian travellers, who are now experimenting with their itineraries, will push outbound travel,” said Gupta.
This year, Britain is pulling out all stops with celebratory events that include Christmas markets, winter wonderlands and New Year’s Eve parties to woo large groups from India.
“Though there are nearly 600 holiday trails around the country, the most popular packages which we are recommending for Indians are Cardiff’s Winter Wonderland and Glasgow on Ice,” Paramjit Bawa, country manager of British NTO VisitBritain, told IANS.
However, the hottest destinations for Indians this winter are Bradford and Liverpool, which is being billed as the country’s cultural capital, British tourism officials said.
Bawa said the bulk of travellers to Britain from India comprises families, business groups, honeymooners and youngsters.
Outbound travel in India has already crossed the eight million mark and by 2010, it is expected to cross 15 million, second only to China.