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The San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau (SFCVB), in partnership with San Francisco International Airport (SFO), has opened a representation office in India, making San Francisco the first…
The San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau (SFCVB), in partnership with San Francisco International Airport (SFO), has opened a representation office in India, making San Francisco the first, and only, U.S. convention & visitors bureau (CVB) and airport to have representation services in India.
It is estimated that outbound travel in 2005 from India was 6.2 million (65 percent business and 35 percent leisure) representing a 15 percent growth from the previous year. California is the top US destination at 32 percent, with San Francisco as the second most visited city at 13 percent, after New York at 28 percent. India has a population of over 1 billion, fifty percent under the age of 35. In the recent report issued by Office of Tourism Industries, 407,000 Indians visited the US in 2006, an increase of 13% over 2005.
The San Francisco representative, based in New Delhi, will work to promote San Francisco to the professional travel trade, consumers and media and airlines. Importantly, they will work with airlines to encourage new service to SFO, generate press coverage of the region and assist the travel trade with information to help generate increased bookings to San Francisco. This includes business travel, technical visits and convention attendance as well as the rapidly growing leisure travel market.
Having representation in India will heighten the awareness of San Francisco’s many attractions and the state-of-the-art facilities at SFO to further develop business and leisure travel and develop new airline service, said Deborah Reinow, vice president tourism for the SFCVB. We look forward to working closely with airlines and the Indian travel industry to expand this clearly growing market.
Many conventions in San Francisco have a very high percentage of international attendees, particularly in the medical, high-tech, and finance sectors. This segment presents a great opportunity to expand the delegations that come from India for meetings, incentives and conference travel. The recently introduced ‘Open Sky Policy’ has made it easier for citizens to travel abroad and all major International airlines have added flights and new airlines have commenced operation. The six major gateways in India include Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
We look forward to welcoming new non-stop service to SFO from major points in India, said Airport Director John L. Martin. And, we are confident that our on-the-ground team in India will assist in this important endeavor. Our new international terminal, opened in 2000, features 24 international gates with easy domestic connections and expedited immigration processing, making International travel easier.
In 2006 visitor spending in San Francisco reached an all-time high of $7.76 billion. The number of visitors to San Francisco in 2006 was 15.8 million, up 0.40 percent over 2005. In 2006, visitors spent $7.76 billion, an increase of 5.3% over the previous year and an all-time high.
