Spain eyes MiCE from India

Spain tourism recorded 40 per cent growth in Indian arrivals in 2017. The destination has come up with a slew of new products for Indians.

TT Bureau

The year 2017 was an extremely successful one for Spanish tourism as the destination recorded a growth of nearly 40 percent in Indian arrivals to Spain, informs Ignacio Ducasse Gutiérrez, Director—Tourism Office of Spain, Mumbai. He says, “Though we have figures only from January to November 2017, but given the trend, the total increase would amount to the above. This is the highest growth we have recorded as compared to the last few years. As we are noticing an increasing demand for the destination in the Indian market, we hope to have a spectacular growth in 2018 as well.”

“We have had some Indian weddings in Spain and are encouraging more wedding planners to come to the destination.”

According to Gutiérrez, MiCE is a very important segment for Spain tourism and the market from India is a very dynamic one. He also believes that the Indian travellers have become more sophisticated and are seeking specialised products like gastronomy, wine tours, cultural tours, active sports, all of which Spain has in plenty. “We have group travel demand almost every week. We calculate that almost 30 percent of the total visits to Spain from India are from the MiCE segment. We have also had some Indian weddings in Spain and are encouraging more wedding planners to come to the destination. We also offer luxury products, cater to solo women travellers, active holidays and gastronomy as an essential part of travel to Spain,” he adds.

This year’s promotional plan for the destination is to visit around 10 cities in the Tier-II and Tier-III market in India like Nagpur, Jaipur, Lucknow among many others. Gutiérrez further points out, “We intend to take travel agents on a Fam trip to Spain while conducting workshops in cities like Madrid, Málaga and Valencia. We are introducing newer destinations in Spain like Bilbao, Santiago de Compostela, San Sebastián, Balearic Islands, Ibiza for MiCE.”