Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC) Holland Marketing is planning to adopt three pronged marketing strategy for the India market. “We, along with our partners Jet Airways and Schiphol Airport, will look at travel trade marketing, fam trips for travel agents and media for press and PR work to drive the traffic and consumer activities such as branding of radio cabs,” Jos Vranken, MD, NBTC Holland Marketing, told T3. The first batch of Holland branded radio taxi has already been rolled out in India.
He was speaking at an event to celebrate the Jet Airways’ announcement of replacing its European hub from Brussels to Amsterdam as well as launch of Jet Airways’ daily operations from both Delhi and Mumbai to Amsterdam from March 27. Jet Airways also announced code-sharing partnerships with KLM and Delta to offer seamless connectivity for travellers to both European and North American cities.
Replying to a question on delaying entry into the India market, he said that this was due to the lack of connectivity. “Marketing Holland without connectivity could have been the waste of Euro. The arrival of Jet Airways to Schiphol Amsterdam Airport is going to improve connectivity. The initial response from visa department of the embassy and airline already is very promising. Visa applications and bookings are up,” he said.
Talking more on marketing, he opined that if the partnership among Holland Tourism, Jet Airways and Schiphol Airport evolves, then we will be looking to raise the interest among more Dutch travel trade partners and by doing so in our business these Dutch travel partners then financially commit themselves to partnerships in India. That is our intention. We are thinking of formalising this partnership very soon,” he added.
He informed that Holland received about 95,000 registered overnight guests from India in 2015. “We are looking at 120,000 people this year which is a growth of 26 per cent. If we achieve this, India will emerge as top growing market for Holland,” he added.
