Tourism Kamloops started off 2020 with our inaugural trade mission to India in collaboration with Destination Canada.SATTE, South Asian Travel Trade Expo, is a leading B2B travel trade engagement show held at the India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, Delhi. The three-day expo witnessed tremendous response from the industry with participation from over 1,000 exhibitors and representation from over 50 + countries, 28 Indian States and 90 cities from across India.
Along with building international travel trade relations in the UK, Germany and Australia, India has been targeted as one of Kamloops’ emerging tourism markets. Kamloops has witnessed a steady increase of Indian visitors over the past several years. Attendance at SATTE provided insight into this market and the opportunity to connect with travel trade encouraging the expansion of existing Rocky Mountain itineraries to include 2-3 day stays in Kamloops. Kamloops is an ideal destination for this market, offering visitors a unique escape from the crowds, clean, wide-open spaces and an expansive list of safe and memorable experiences.
Similar to our selling proposition in Europe and Australia, we encourage visitation outside July and August as we know our shoulder season experiences remain epic. Soft adventure, outdoor experiences, safe spaces, and a welcoming community are all attributes that are critical for our trade partners to feel confident. When they recommend or include Kamloops in itineraries, they know their clients will not be disappointed.
We continue to highlight our golf, culinary (including wine and ale trails), hiking, mountain biking and winter activities as key experiences. Ice fishing, snowshoeing, x-country and downhill skiing are bucket list experiences and are extremely appealing to our international visitors.
During our three days in Delhi, we spoke to over 300 travel trade partners and are now engaged in “next step” conversations with several key operators who bring 1000’s of visitors to our province annually.
Our attention on the Indian market and its alignment to our “One More Night” objective has the potential to increase the economic benefit of our tourism economy to over $1 billion per year. Tourism Kamloops continues to forage opportunities that directly benefit our tourism industry partners and our entire community.
