By Shreya Shimpi
How important is India to you as a market?
India is a very important and a huge market. Indian culture is full of contrast and we have very diversified travellers coming to experience these niche sectors like wine tourism. We want more Indian tourists to come to Portugal since we have such a diverse collection of wines. Along with wine tourism, many activities have developed around it such as sports activities. There are also activities reflective of the culture and traditions of the country. We are very targeted towards sustainable tourism and eco-tourism. That is what wine tourism is about and is quite appealing to people nowadays.
What is the objective of the participation at ProWine?
The objective is to create a larger awareness about Portugal as a tourism destination and in this case as a wine tourism destination. We would also like to promote our wines which are not so well known in India. The wines we offer have a very rich and diversified taste. We have 14 wine regions. We wish to create awareness in the Indian market regarding these wines.
Wine tourism is still in a developing stage in India so what are your marketing strategies to promote it here?
We have several strategies online and offline. We have a very important site Portuguese ‘wine tourism.com’ which contains all the relevant information about wine tourism in Portugal. It is a very comprehensive site explaining what are the regions, what you can find in each region etc. so that is a very important tool. We have also recently developed a campaign ‘Wine pairs with Portugal’ and have been using it in India. Recently, we have also created an e-learning platform on Portugal wine tourism. We are developing several activities with tour operators and travel agents, presentations. We are also planning some FAM trips to Portugal which are very important and participating in events such as these exhibitions. We have twelve top producers in Portugal and some of them quite important because they cover several regions so they have vineyards in different regions of Portugal. So that’s our strategy to create a bigger awareness about what Portugal has to offer.
What is the current level of exports of Portuguese wines to India and how have they grown over the years?
Unfortunately, it is still very low because we still face a lot of barriers and the taxes are also very high.We hope that with the FDA agreements and negotiations with India, which will hopefully be concluded by next year will help us get more and easier access to the Indian market which is going to be very important for us.
How was tourism affected by the pandemic and what strategies did you implement to bounce back?
Covid-19 did have a negative impact on our tourism and economy. But we are very happy because we are now recovering and have achieved a full recovery. Regarding wine, our exports increased by nineteen per cent last year which is very impressive. Despite France being an important wine producer, they are our main importers. Our exports to France last year were more than fourteen per cent. With the United States which is also an important producer and with Brazil, the UK, Germany we are very happy with the results.
In terms of wine tourism, France and Italy have always been on the top. What would be Portugal’s competitive edge when it comes to competing with these countries?
Last year Portugal ranked second as a major wine tourism destination in spite of being the fifth producer in Europe. The first being Italy as you know. Still, tourists coming more for wine tourism to Portugal are coming from France, Spain and Germany. This is because of the richness and closeness of a small country like Portugal. In a small country which is thirty-six times smaller than India, there is so much diversity. In a very short amount of time and area, there are plenty of possibilities to pick up which offers a huge advantage. Portuguese are very open and friendly people. We love to receive foreigners. There is also a special relationship between India and Portugal that we all know
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