By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS
New Delhi : Business travellers and other tourists from abroad will soon have a ready reckoner on the entertainment hotspots in Indian metros. Time Out, a leading lifestyle guide, will soon be available in radio taxis and luxury cabs.
“We are in talks with all major radio taxi and dial-a-cab luxury services in Delhi and Mumbai to use Time Out as an elementary tourist guide so that the first timer to the metros and the country knows the entertainment hotspots and the kind of money they have to shell out at any point of time, even while on the move,” Pallab Moitra, chief operating officer of Paprika Media Private Limited, the publisher of the magazine, told IANS.
This will be in the footsteps of Time Out’s parent publication in London and its New York edition.
The cab deal will be sealed in a month’s time. “The taxis will have to buy copies of Time Out. All cabs in London and New York carry copies of Time Out,” Moitra said.
Time Out completed one year in Delhi Thursday. The magazine has a circulation of 45,000 in Delhi and 65,000 in Mumbai, besides a fixed circulation in the star hotels and the airlines. The magazine is launching its Bangalore in July.
“We are trying to link up to every touch point. We are already on the newsstands and have fixed individual subscription sales. But the extra focus is on tourists, both inbound and outbound,” the Paprika CEO said.
The magazine has no plans to deviate from its “tested content of entertainment listings, complete with the price tags, lifestyle features and the special annual issue for children,” Moitra said.
“Our objective is to list wholesome entertainment for the family,” he said.
Paprika, the media arm of the Essar Group, forayed into publishing after tying up with the Britain-based publishing company, Time Out, for its Indian edition. The magazine was launched in Britain in 1968.
It was started by Tony Elliot with 75 pounds given to him as a birthday present and the first issue appeared on the streets as a single poster-size sheet and cost a shilling. Today there are 22 editions across the globe.
As part of its anniversary gift hamper, Time Out unveiled its smart card, the Time Out card, which will give customers discounts at major entertainment hotspots across the country. It will hit the market April 18.