This anecdote is from twelve years ago!
Qatar Airways had launched it’s #Barcelona flights in June of 2010 , this was their second destination in Spain after #Madrid. For the first year of operations there was nothing out of the ordinary about sales from India….and suddenly around July – August 2011….there was an exponential spike in bookings! This spike continued to sustain….what was the reason? The answer lay with #ZindagiNaMilegiDobara ….#ZNMD for short….
The #bollywood blockbuster released in July 2011 and the positive effect on outbound tourism from India was almost instantaneous. So why did this happen?
The movie produced by #Excelentertainment managed to bring together the holy trinity of tourism…the tourism boards – the airlines – hotels together. The Spanish Tourism Board gave a subsidy of approx Euros 500,000 to be spent in the region and the production house did just that…the resulting showcase had a posit effect on the Indian outbound Tourism to Spain …
Movies have long been the staple of the Indian populace. Some early movies shot abroad were #LoveinTokyo and #AnEveninginParis . These movies were shot in the 1960s when the Middle Class Indian was not as mobile as today.
Of course needless to say the shooting abroad fad was taken to a whole another level by #YashChopra and his penchant for #Switzerland and #KaranJohar and his penchant for the #UnitedStates
Some of the places that have become popular with the Indian Tourist also have their origins from the Indian Film Industry. To name a few #Turkey #Azerbaijan #Armenia
Finally, the secret of successful leisure destination engineering is alliances. While there exists the Holy Trinity ( Tourism Board – Airlines – Hotels ), in some cases where the tourism boards are weaker we have Destination Management Companies stepping into the gap and doing an admirable job…goes to say nothing is possible without the Travel Agent and of course the Consumer…all working together together in harmony…
Memories
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