Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions embarks on a three-day Holland Sales Mission 2018 in India. Organised from Aug 28-30, the B2B sales mission takes place in Delhi followed by Bengaluru and Mumbai on August 29 and 30 respectively.
The mission aims to educate and update the Indian trade buyers about the destination and its diverse tourism offerings in order to corner an increasing share of one of the fastest growing outbound tourism source markets in the world. The Indian market gave remarkable performance for the Netherlands in 2017 with a robust 27 per cent growth last year.
Several leading Dutch suppliers including Lovers Canal Cruise, Efteling Theme Park, Henri Willig Cheese Farm, Madurodam Theme Park, and ITO Tours, as well as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Jet Airways, are attending the event in order to showcase their products and offerings to trade buyers from the three cities. The Sales Mission is expected to attract close to 100 trade buyers in each of the three cities.
According to SanJeet, India Representative of Netherlands Tourism, “Indian outbound to the Netherlands has been growing rapidly, owing to the fact that the destination caters to the demands of all age groups. This growth will surge in the coming years.” The escalation in arrivals, in his opinion, can be attributed to major metros as well as feeder markets. “There has also been a steady increase in MiCE movement, as well as FITs and small groups travelling from India,” he adds.
Seema Datt, Account Director, Netherlands Tourism Office India, says, “All marketing activities that we undertook last year are bearing fruit and are resulting in substantial interest for the Netherlands. Over the last couple of years, we have actively promoted the region not only as a holiday destination but also for luxury, MiCE, weddings, and small group travel. Destinations such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Leiden, and Volendam have been intensely promoted in recent years.”