'Indians Love To Visit Spain On Traditional Itineraries'

Spain has always been an aspirational destination for Indian travellers. Ignacio Ducasse Gutierrez, Tourism Counselor, Embassy of Spain in India and Director, Tourism Office of Spain in India, speaks on what all Spain is doing to make it the most desirable destination for the Indian travellers.

Spain is a world leader in tourism and ranked 1st once again as the most competitive country in travel and tourism after leading the ranking in 2015. “We would like to maintain this ranking in the year 2017-2018 by incrementing the number of arrivals and more specifically the expenditure of tourists coming to Spain from all over the world,” says Gutierrez.

So are there any marketing strategies to promote Spain in India. “While the marketing strategy in European markets entails paying huge attention to the cosmopolitan segment which displays a huge potential for growth, the ‘sun and beach’ destinations of Spain have been widely explored by the European market and we are trying to complement this with other products such as culture, heritage, gastronomy, adventure, etc. In India, we are focusing on the traditional itineraries and products as well as placing huge emphasis on the diversification of the following tourist products: culture, gastronomy, luxury, sports, MICE etc,” he said.

Excerpts:

Where does India market rank? What are you doing to promote different tourism sectors?
The Indian market is relatively small in size with around 100,000 arrivals to Spain registered in 2016 and a growth of over 10% over the number of arrivals in 2015. We primarily focus on families and groups of friends, however, we are also running promotional campaigns to target other markets such as MICE, weddings & honeymooners, women travelers, luxury travelers, fly & drive, etc.

What is the average length of stay observed in Spain?
The average length of stay by an Indian tourist in Spain is between 8-10 days.

How are you planning to make Spain the most desirable destination for the Indian travellers?
Spain has always been an aspirational destination for Indian travellers and we continue to maximize our efforts by launching specific campaigns for different products and segments such as: Fly & Drive- a campaign centered around self-driving routes in Spain, Weddings & Honeymoons- promoting Spain as a romantic destination ideal for couples and Indian weddings and much more.

Any new destination that you would like to highlight in Spain?
Spain is very diverse and rich in cultural heritage offering a wide variety of landscapes across several regions. Some parts of Spain have not been explored extensively as yet and these are the destinations that we would like to highlight: World Heritage Cities (15 cities around Spain), North of Spain (Galicia, Cantabria, Basque Country and Asturias, the cities of Valencia and Bilbao and the Canary Islands.