Portugal already gets MICE travellers from India, but now it wants the whole caboodle.
MICE travellers stand for people involved with Meetings, Incentives Conferences and Exhibitions, but according to Vítor Manuel de Almeida, general manager of Oasistravel.net, Portugal “has a lot more to offer”. For example, Portugal is an ideal wedding destination – thus this was one of the angles used by Turismo de Portugal in the second of its promotional roadshows in India last week.
The shows travelled to the cities of Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai, and the emphasis was on making Indian travel agents “familiar” with all of Portugal’s plus points.
Turismo de Portugal’s Cláudia Miguel said: “India is one of the key markets for Portugal. We have started to receive a lot of Asians recently, and we would like to see an increase in Indians visiting our nation.”
Vítor de Almeida added that the number of Indian visa applications to Portugal doubled from 2011 to 2012 but conversely Portugal did not receive that many Indian tourists. “It is a big challenge to understand the needs of the Indian market,” he said.
