His crinkling eyes and warm smile is forever there to greet you. One of the few youngsters in the industry who is not just well-versed about his subject but also extremely eloquent and proper in his conduct (one would think that’s the German effect) Romit Theophilus, Director for India, The German National Tourist Office, who learned to be independent from a very young age – thanks to plenty of travelling and working parents, is a thorough gentleman by nature. I thought he might fit in the ‘Fab 40s’ section but he still has a few years left to join that group. Nevertheless, doing exceedingly well in his 30s, it was an absolute pleasure interviewing him on what keeps him grounded and his aspirations for the future.
Priyanka Saxena Ray
Being the younger of the two brothers completely justifies the mischievous glint in his eyes that can be spotted at most times. Born to working parents (father used to work with Lufthansa and mother was working with World Bank), he laughs at remembering some of his pranks in his young days and shyly confesses that he was a naughty kid indeed!
Romit started a web-designing company straight after passing 12th from St. Columbus New Delhi where surprisingly they had clients but no experience of dealing with them! The company had to shut down in a couple of years and he started his job with a representation company, learning the tricks of selling a foreign destination in India at the young age of 22. “I learned a lot and worked with the representation company for a year and half. Soon after leaving them I joined a PR firm and was attached to them for a period of 8 months until I was appointed by German National Tourism Board to work for them. I was hired to assist a senior executive who quite one week before I was scheduled to join. So by default I was asked to take over and had a larger responsibility entrusted upon me, which I would like to believe I fulfilled with complete honesty and dedication. The fact that I had prior training in handling a destination came handy and I also had a lot of support and guidance from the German National Tourist Office,” he recalls.
Going back in time he remembers that in those times the perception of Germany wasn’t that of a very tourist friendly destination and they had to work quite a lot to break that mind set. Going forward, they started an ‘India Pool’ wherein 15 members from the German Travel Trade invested 10,000 euros each, which was matched by German National Tourist Office, and activities and promotions started floating for popularising Germany in India market. The India Pool lasted 6 years and had an extremely positive effect on the inbound to Germany from India. From 350,000 overnights to when it all started to over 922,000 overnights today, GNTO has indeed come a long way in the India market.
Another initiative that has helped boost tourist numbers to the destination has been the annual German Travel Mart (GTM). “India has been part of the GTM since 2006. Every year some 21 people are selected from the Indian travel trade based on the importance of Germany for their business, their past performance and those who need to meet the suppliers in the market. GTM is held at a new place within Germany every year and the response we get each year has been very encouraging,” shares Romit.
After Lufthansa and GNTO parted ways, Romit re-started his father’s agency – Airplus Travels and started working with GNTO independently. There has been no looking back for him since then. What started initially as B2B promotions took a B2C turn in 2015 when the awareness of Germany as a tourist destination had reached a certain level and it was time to get in touch with people directly. “Consumers in India today ask to visit Germany as a solo destination, which is a big achievement for us. Germany has also been made popular through Bollywood and the burgeoning weddings market. It is the second most popular market in India after Great Britain. Connectivity to the region is a big plus, it is a popular incentive destination for many insurance, pharma, banks and even tyre companies who host conferences and incentive meets in Germany. There are plenty of Indian food options available across the country and one can drive through Germany on an Indian license, which are all major attractions of visiting the place,” Romit elaborates, pride clearly written all over his face for having witnessed and been a part of this journey of Germany in India.
The outbound market is growing in India even though the need for education on newer destinations remain important. There is a lot that people still don’t know, which will only be altered with time and with more people dispensing this knowledge to the public through various mediums. Meanwhile, GNTO is hoping to reach the 1 million overnights mark by 2020 and 2 million overnights from India by 2030. Well, keeping their growth trajectory in mind, we are sure they will achieve both the targets well within the set time frame.
