‘A lot of Kiwis have Indian friends who invite them to their destination wedding in India. So they attend the special occasion and then take the opportunity to explore the country. We have really noticed a big increase in that market.
‘The other trend is in corporate, with people heading over for business and then staying on for some leisure time. All the publicity around the Free Trade Agreement and the generally higher profile of India in the New Zealand market has been helping.’
Sharma says he has particularly noticed the surge in interest around India since October last year and this is continuing.
‘Agents are giving us the dates that their clients are having meetings or attending a wedding and we work around those to develop programmes before or after, or both. If a wedding is in Goa, for example it is easy to explore either north or south from Bombay.’
Sharma says Exotic Holidays is also promoting the Andaman Islands as an emerging destination in India.
Four-night packages based around the Andamans’ capital Port Blair (Sri Vijaya Puram) will be included in the company’s new brochure being released in a couple of weeks.
‘Not a lot of people are aware of the Andamans yet but we see huge potential. The Indian Government has been encouraging development there and a number of new resorts have opened in the last five or six years.’
Sharma says the islands are easily reached on flights through Chennai or from Calcutta (Kolkata) and can easily be an alternative to the Maldives if clients are seeking that. They are actually closer to Thailand than they are to mainland India.
‘The Andaman Islands are extremely scenic and have beautiful beaches, diving and other water sports. People are not confined to their resort – they can easily explore the surrounding culture, the food and the local communities. There is even a dark side of history to discover as it was once used as a penal colony for convicts from India.’
