Micro Travel Sites to Woo Indian Tourists
Last week, there was an article in Hindu noting that Foreign Travel Portals are using microsites to woo Indian Tourists. Thanks to the growing disposable income, Indian tourists can now take a vacation in Singapore or in Australia. According to an ET article, Indians are top spenders in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. That may be a good news for those who are involved with travel business.
I spent better half of Sunday afternoon to check the strategies the Foreign Travel Portals have taken to woo Indian tourists. I visited around 15 different tourism portals. But only 5 of them have microsites catering Indian tourists. The countries which have microsites for Indians are Singapore, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Malaysia and South Africa. (Let me know if I have left out any portal). Interestingly, Australia, Maldives and Srilanka did not have microsites for India. Out of the five microsites Singapore and New Zealand have well developed content for Indians.
The Indian microsite of Singapore Tourism has some additonal links like - Top 10 Family Experiences and Indian Restaurants in Singapore. The stories/events on the main page remain more or less the same. There is a customizable itinerary. Users have to select areas of interst, nationality and dates. Below is the results for a 1 day (April 2nd, 2008) trip in Singapore for tourists of different nationalities.
The Indian microsite of New Zealand is more attractive and well developed. For Indian tourists they have special features like Self Drive in New Zealand, Autumn in New Zealand etc. They also give a list of travel agents in India called as Kiwi Specialists. They have advertisements for travel deals in Indian Rupees from various airlines/travel agents. There is an interactive travel planner. Here is the list of to do things for Indians in New Zealand (according to the site)- Hot Air Ballooning, Kawarau Bridge Bungy, Jet Boat Blast, White Water Rafting, Rotorua and Hole in the Rock Cruise. (Compare this to the list given in US edition- Catlins Coastal Heritage Trail, Tongariro Crossing, The Mystical Beauty of Milford Sound, Walking on Fox Glacier, Carvings at Mine Bay, Lake Taupo, Pack Horse Crayfish, White Island, Halfmoon Bay and Stewart Island).
The microsite for United Kingdom highlighted show articles/events that would appeal Indian Tourists. They have contact details in India for information on UK tourism. In Malaysian microsite, there is a list of operators (which is currently empty for India) and a list of Indian addresses where one could find Malaysian cusines. South African tourism also has a microsite for India, but it is not that different from a US microsite. The only difference I could find is that the stories/events are in a different order!
As outbound tourism from India continues to rise, the trend of customizing content for Indians will continue. So now a question for you. Does the Official Indian Tourism website have microsites for nationals of different countries? Well the answer is yes. Apart from English, Incredible India is available in Hindi, French and Japanese.
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