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As diverse as they are plentiful, the countries of Europe have a great deal
to offer in terms of both beauty international education and all other
aspects of life. Europe is certainly a continent which must be considered
carefully when one is planning vacations.
Europe has 33 countries and all them have are interesting tourism or even
potential business destinations.
The interesting thing about Europe is that one can cross many borders
within the EU without being checked and the common currency euro makes it
easier to shop around for bargains.
What is more interesting is that if you drive, your driving license and
motor insurance policy issued in one EU country is valid in all others.
All this makes life easier for tourists. A look at Indian stats makes the
picture clearer. There has been an increase of over 25% in Indian tourist
arrivals to nearly all European countries in the last three years.
According to leading travel agents, within
Europe,
Switzerland tops as
a priority destination for a vacation for the first time traveller.
Hotels Kandersteg  |
 Bernerhof
Swiss Q Hotel ***
Bernerhof Swiss Q is a picturesque hotel, located in the heart of scenic
Kandersteg with a fabulous view of the alpine world. It is centrally
situated with convenient access to the shops and the railway station. You
can enjoy the crystal-clear mountain lakBernerhof Swiss Q is a picturesque
hotel, located in the heart of scenic Kandersteg with a fabulous view of the
alpine world. It is centrally situated with convenient access to the shops
and the railway station. You can enjoy the crystal-clear mountain
lakBernerhof Swiss Q is a picturesque hotel, located in the heart of scenic
Kandersteg with a fabulous view of the alpine world. |
It is perceived as a dream destination by Indian leisure travellers. This
demand is fuelled by Bollywood to a large extent. Additionally UK,
France,
Germany and
Italy within Europe continue
to be crowd pullers for the Indian traveller.
According to travel agents, the free individual (FIT) traveller forms 70%
of the leisure travel market making it one of the largest categories in the
leisure travel segment.
“The FIT seeks new destinations each year and is a mature traveller who
likes to cover one or two destinations in a leisurely manner instead of
zipping across a continent, in two weeks,” said Bharat Sidheshwar Rai, ED,
Swift Travels.
After the British carriers, it is Lufthansa’s turn to consider near
doubling of the capacity to the country to 40-42 flights a week in the next
two-three years, virtually preparing the India-Europe air-map for a travel
explosion.
Says Alok Sawhney, country commercial manager, British Airways: ”With
competitive packages and several tourism boards investing in the Indian
market, the overseas travel market, also known as outbound market, is
booming and paying rich dividend for all carriers that are flying.”
Many tourism boards are also betting big on
India travel market. Spanish
tourism for the first time has earmarked a marketing budget of euro 100,000
for this year, and is even contemplating setting up a tourism office in the
mid-term.
While only 17,000 visas were issued by the Spanish authorities in 2004 to
Indian nationals, at least two to three times this number -- estimated at
35,000 to 50,000 -- Indian visitors entered the country from the Schengen
region (European union states).
The interest was reflected in increasing number of package holidays which
included Spain as a
destination, Ducasse said. Besides, travel companies were even developing
packages -- individual traveller, meetings and incentives, cruise holidays
-- on Spain as a mono-destination which covered key circuits like
Madrid,
Barcelona and
Andalucia.
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