Having realised the potential of Indian outbound market, Taiwan Tourism Bureau (TTB) is all set to further its marketing and promotional activities in India. “India is a very important market for us. We welcomed 35,000 Indian visitors in 2017, reflecting growth of 16 per cent over 2016. India is coming up for Taiwan. We are so positive about market trend,” Trust H J Lin, Director, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, Singapore Office, told T3 on the sideline of the recently concluded Taiwan Expo in New Delhi. TTB was part of the Expo with two operators bringing the tourism component of Taiwan to India. “We participated to increase our brand visibility. Our national airline is also participating in the Expo,” he said.
Talking about importance of India market, he informed that Taiwan recently launched New Southbound policy and India is one of the most important partners. The policy is designed to strengthen Taiwan’s relationships with the 10 countries of ASEAN, six countries in South Asia “The aim is to have two per cent of India. In tourism also, we are aiming to have two per cent of share in the Indian outbound,” he added.
To achieve this target, TTB has chalked out an aggressive marketing strategy for India market. “We have been organising fam tours for agents, media and wedding planners for the India market. We will further enhance Taiwan’s image as a tourism destination in India market. We are also looking at TV, social media, digital marketing to strengthen our brand. We have already in joint promotion with players in travel trade such as Thomas Cook and Cox & Kings. We are now working with PR companies to develop a short film to be displayed in cinema halls in India,” he said and added that TTB is also opening a branch office in Mumbai in June this year. Apart from these, TTB is also organising five city raodshows in Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune and Kochi. TTB recently organised a roadshow in Bengaluru where it showcased the destination with the help of virtual reality. The Bureau earlier also conducted online agent training programme in India and it is currently creating awareness through various webinars.
Replying to a question over tapping the potential of Indian outbound cruise segment, he informed that the Bureau is working on this. “Taiwan is ranked at number two cruise destination in Asia after China. Last year, Taiwan received one million cruise passengers resulting into US$ one billion cruise revenue with 600 call of port. We also cooperate with other Asian countries like South Korea and Hong Kong. We will also be highlighting this aspect to India market,” Lin said. TTB has earlier promoted cruise tourism in India three to four years ago and the response from India was really good.
Lin informed that of the 35,000 Indians that visited Taiwan in 2017, 4500 were leisure travellers and remaining were business travellers. There are over 100 Taiwanese companies in India, with an investment of over US$1.5 billion. “We are looking at Indian wedding market in a big way. We hosted 20 Indian wedding planners in 2017 to give them ground experience. We regularly organise fams for media, trade and now for social influencers,” he added.
