Archana Sharma – New Delhi
In an effort to promote and showcase Croatia as a major tourist destination for Indian travellers, Udaan India, a visa facilitation company, has partnered with Uniline, a South East Europe DMC, to launch ‘Namaste Croatia’ initiative. Rajan Dua, managing director, Udaan India said, “We plan to market Croatia by designing packages specific to Croatia, combining Bosnia and Austria and with the help of our clientele of over 8,000 travel agents. Promotions for ‘Namaste Croatia’ will be done aggressively in the India market. We will also be organising roadshows in India in the coming year to support Croatia.” Udaan India will also soon get the official mandate as accredited visa agent for Croatian visas. They have processed over 1,000 visas daily on an average across India in 2014.
Emphasising on the long standing Indian– Croatian relationship, Amir Muharemi, ambassador of The Republic of Croatia said, “With the help of ‘Namaste Croatia’ initiative, we will not only strengthen the already existing relations but will also start a new chapter. In order to facilitate this better, I will also be travelling throughout India in the coming year to encourage tourism and trade ties between both the countries.”
While talking about Indian tourists visiting Croatia, Marijana Kin, first secretary, Embassy of The Republic of Croatia said, “India is becoming one of the major source markets, but Croatia has observed almost negligible Indian tourists. In 2014, we had less than a thousand visitors and they included business travellers and family reunions, etc. But now, with the recent appointment of our ambassador we are looking at better facilitation for Indian travellers.” Croatia is also in the process of issuing Schengen visas in the next six months.
Shailesh Tewary, president, Croatia, South Asia Business Forum said, “Croatia is an ideal destination for MICE, FITs, destination weddings as well as Indian film shootings. It has unparalleled tourism as well as hospitality culture with different topology and peaceful getaways”. He added that July and August are the high seasons while anytime from April to September can be considered for visiting the country.
Udaan also has major expansion plans and wants to enter Tier II and III cities. They also have plans to launch their mobile app by mid January, 2015.