Time to go Dutch

Holland looks for the Indian traveller's favour

The Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions (NBTC), in association with Buzz Travel Marketing, has some fresh ideas on how to get the Indian holidayer to visit.

The broad plan, according to Shilpa Sethi, general manager, Buzz Travel Marketing, involves spreading word around. "In the first year," says Sethi, "we would be promoting Holland tourism through various media, and then in the next year we would start working with travel agents." Workshops and trade activities with hotels are part of the agenda too.

The company is not willing to divulge the money to be spent on these activities, but Sethi says that it would be a considerable amount, with budgets to go up over time.

At the moment, Holland's main tourist influx is from the rest of Europe, with the Indian tourist count at 20,000 in 2005. This figure is not low at all, though it was aided by the cinema events held there last year.

Now NBTC and Buzz are convinced that the numbers could hit an upward trend, as more and more Indian travellers discover it.

This is reasonably plausible. What will draw them, perhaps, is what distinguishes Holland from other European destinations that look pretty much alike, with neat architecture, nice canals, free bicycles and casual cafes.