The VisitBritain shone spotlight on heightened Bengal-Britain travel connect in their GREAT Tourism Roadshow in Kolkata today.
The roadshows are formed of one-day interactive trade workshops that familiarise trade with VisitBritain’s new product tools and resources. More than 50 travel trade industry agents and tour operators attended the GREAT Tourism Roadshow in the city. The VisitBritain team held an interactive itinerary building workshop for the tourism industry.
British Deputy High Commissioner to East and Northeast India, Dr. Andrew Fleming along VisitBritain’s Country Manager to India Mr. Vishal Bhatia addressed the tour industry experts.
Visitors from India spent a record £764 million in the UK in 2022, exceeding 2019 levels. This growth continued in to 2023. India is forecast to be a billion-pound visitor market from 2025 with visits predicted recover to 2019 levels by 2024, making it one of the UK’s fastest growing Asian visitor markets.
Airline seat capacity from India to the UK is also showing strong recovery and growth.
Scheduled seat capacity on non-stop flights from India to the UK, when looking at the first eight months of 2024, is already 33% higher than in 2019 with capacity particularly ramping up from May.
VisitBritain Country Manager – India, Vishal Bhatia said: “It is wonderful to be bringing together tourism businesses from the region, to reconnect and do business. We are delighted to be back in ‘the city of joy’, Kolkata. It is a valuable opportunity for VisitBritain in India to showcase their products in front of the top agents in the region and promote tourism to Britain.
“India is one of our most important inbound visitor markets, forecast to be a billion-pound visitor market for the UK from 2025. It boasts strong airline connectivity including to regional destinations, and we know there is pent up demand for travel. Working with the travel trade in Eastern India is crucial to ensuring they are ready to sell Britain, as well as broadening travel itineraries to encourage Indian visitors to explore further and stay longer.”
British Deputy High Commissioner to East and Northeast India, Dr. Andrew Fleming said*: “I am delighted that VisitBritain is hosting their tourism roadshow in the City of Joy. Bengal and Britain are strongly connected through a shared passion for travel. The people to people flow between these two regions continues to grow. Tourism is an economic powerhouse and a major part of British trade, and it is great to see the build back in value post pandemic with spend already exceeding 2019. Our work with the travel trade in India is incredibly important in East and Northeast India. We had organised the Bengal-Britain Travel Friendship cricket tournament in January to harness connections with the travel industry in Kolkata. I believe this Great Tourism Roadshow supports us to boost visits across the seasons and across the Bengal-Britain corridor.”
