TravTalk India Online Magazine
Spanish people love travelling within Spain, claims Margreet van Egmond, Director Spain, Travel Marketing Concept (TMC). “The Spanish economy is heavily dependent on tourism, and unemployment can affect the spending capacity of people on holidays. Before COVID-19, around 980 Euros were being spent on a weekly basis by Spanish people if they travelled abroad. This has now been reduced to 780 Euros. This has to be kept in mind,”
she said.
Craving for outbound
Another point she highlighted was that while people were travelling domestically, they were craving to travel abroad. “One of the travel agents who loves travelling to India shared that people are craving to discover again. When people can travel, borders open, and if the vaccine is there, they really want to make that first trip extremely special and that’s the information we can project to our clients,” she added.
Egmond also said that staycations, rural holidays and holiday homes are thriving as people want to stay outdoors. “Outdoor activities like biking and other sports are on the rise. Also, people want to travel with their families, and would like to meet somewhere in the open. Before COVID-19, people were looking at honeymoons, gastronomy, culture, heritage, tradition, modern life, nature and wildlife, history, hotspots, island-life and beaches, landscapes, quality of life as well as safety,” she added.
What can India offer?
In a research made by OTA Atrápalo, the long-haul destinations listed by respondents were Japan, Mexico, Cape Cañaveral (Florida, United States), Israel, Uganda, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Vancouver (Canada), and Bhutan, revealed Egmond. “Tour operators said that India used to be in the top 10 but they have seen a decline recently. They think it’s because of the competition entering the market with Indonesia and Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. However, they mentioned that the average age of most of the travellers from Spain to India was 50 years. The millennials and Gen-Y were not travelling to India yet, which is a market India can focus on.”
She also added that around 9,000 travel agencies in Spain were asking for only one focal point. “India needs to make one focal point so that people can just go to one destination and have all the inputs, and everybody must convey the same rules. Also, I have got some special requests from tour operators in Spain. One of them is to promote direct flights. While they were happy with India starting direct flights, they would like to have better flexibility on domestic flights. This should be considered for promoting traffic to India. Also, regarding promotional material, the tour operators have asked for differentiation in programmes and revising projects that are running right now, to cater to Gen-X, which is travelling with the elderly and children. There can be discounted programmes made for them. One can take them to natural parks and different areas of India to show them the beauty and diversity of the country. Another request is that the elderly Spanish people who go to India face difficulties in e-Visa application, and that should be simplified. Also, hygiene and safety should be maintained at all places,” she pointed out. Concluding, she said that luxury travel is a possibility. “Spain is in the top 10 for millionaires and we have over 8,205,000 registered millionaires living in the country. This should be looked into,” she said.
