Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jan 28, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Jan 28, 2003 |
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International Travel Industry & Economy - Tourism Travel to Europe... shop for $200 free Ashwini Phadnis
NEW DELHI, Jan. 27 WOULD you like to travel to Europe and get $200 free as shopping money to purchase Swiss Maestrani chocolates, Swiss Gubelin watches, French perfumes or even the German Drubba wine glasses and cuckoo clocks? No, there's no bagful of tricks here. It's probably only recognition of one of the best-kept secrets in the world - that Indians are one of the highest spenders when they leave domestic shores. Wooing the Indian traveller with free shopping money is the Association of Tourist Shops of Europe (ATSE), a body of four of the best European shops - Benlux of France, Drubba of Germany, Gubelin and Maestrani of Switzerland. ATSE has appointed SOTC, which carries around 50,000 travellers annually to Europe, as its official partner for the free shopping offer. In practical terms, what this offer means is that each adult in the family booking under the scheme will get $200 while a child under 12 years is entitled to $100. However, the offer is open to the first 500 families that register with SOTC for several of its schemes. These include the escorted tours for Maharashtrian and the Hindi speaking community, apart from those travelling under the `World Famous tours'. The lucky ones will be given shopping cheques, which can be redeemed for free goods from each of the shops participating in the promotion - prior to their departure to Europe. While it is difficult to put a finger on how much an Indian family spends when abroad, industry watchers felt that an average Indian family would spend about $ 2,000 per person, apart from the cost of the package on their sojourns abroad. ATSE was formed this year with the express purpose of adding value to the shopping needs of Indian leisure travellers. SOTC has already launched packages with daily departures to Europe for the next several months.
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