India on the agenda for Adventure World
India remains a focus for Adventure World, although negative perceptions of the destination in the wake of 2008’s terror attacks continue to impact sales.
Executive general manager Andrew Mulholland told Travel Today the destination was “certainly not growing” but he was optimistic the situation would soon change.
Mulholland insisted there was “significant demand” for the product, but identified travel agents’ apprehension towards India as a major obstacle. But he stressed the firm’s commitment to educating and supporting agents so they get behind the program.
“Our job is to support the travel agents by having our specialised guys there, ready to take the phone calls,” he said.
Famil programs will also play a key role.
“Famils are old-fashioned but they really work,” Mulholland said. “We can send a business development manager into the store, bring them to a roadshow, but nothing beats seven to 10 days on the ground, experiencing and tasting the destination.”
Meanwhile, Mulholland described rumours of an imminent direct service between Australia and India as “lovely” but not essential.
“Certainly the major airlines all have significant capacity over significant hubs offering great access to different parts of India, so I don’t necessarily see the lack of direct access as a total negative,” he said.
The wholesaler has been in talks with the Indian tourist board, which NRMA tourism and leisure chief executive Brian Evans described as “very supportive”.
“They see the need to maybe promote it in a different way to the way they’ve done it in the past,” he said.
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