Emirates Holidays has entered into an agreement with TUI India, the tour operating arm of Le Passage to India, making it the exclusive agent for promotion and sales of Emirates’ leisure holidays in the region.

The agreement will help Emirates Holidays get greater access to the growing number of Indians travelling abroad as well as share of the Indian inbound travel segment.

Emirates Holidays is the tour operating arm of Emirates Airlines. Le Passage to India is a joint venture between Arjun Sharma-promoted Select Group and TUI Travel Plc.

“India is still a largely unexplored market for Emirates Holidays and we believe it is an incredibly important source market for us,” said Marc Bennett, Divisional Senior Vice-President, Destination and Leisure Management, Emirates.

Bennett said the strategic partnership will help the company to combine strengths with Le Passage to India, to further promote India as a preferred destination for international travellers. At the same time, TUI India will get access to tickets on Emirates Airlines and Emirates contracted accommodation services in Dubai and other global cities.

Overall, Emirates Holiday plans to target key source markets including India and attract nearly one million travellers by 2016. Bennett declined to give the number of customers currently using Emirate holiday packages in India, but he said nearly 1,00,000 of the one million customers by 2016 are expected to come from India.

Estimates put the number of Indians travelling abroad annually at 15.2 million travellers. In comparison, the number of people visiting India annually is about 6.7 million.

Jeannette Linfoot, Director of Tour Operations-New Markets TUI Travel, said that the company is open to growing its presence in India through inorganic and organic growth opportunities adding that the company was open to acquisitions in the leisure travel segment but did not give specifics.

meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in

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