Alejandro de la Osa

How important is India as a source market for Europamundo?

As far as the English-speaking markets are concerned, we have today approximately 20 countries, and last year our top market was India for the global products.

Which are your top-selling products for Indian travellers and others?

The destinations are very different, yet there are traditionally popular tours in Europe which start, let us say, in Italy and then go to Switzerland and France. But today, we also have tourists who want to go to different regions or are keen on mono-country tours that involve only one country, this is more true of our clients from Japan, South Korea and China. Many tourists also find that our company is so big and reliable and is present in many countries, so they prefer to choose us wherever they go to.

How has the profile of the Indian travellers changed in a decade?

I feel that all over the world it happens the same way. People want and need to travel. Those travelling for the first time, as I said before, may choose to start in Italy and then go to Switzerland and France from there. But those Indian visitors who have already visited these mainstream countries are now starting to explore more countries. It is a mistake to think that India has only one profile of travellers. Indian travellers are very diverse in their profiles and their choices in terms of tourism.

Are the experienced Indian travellers looking for something new?

Yes, of course. There are a lot of people who are looking for something new. First, people who are travelling for the first time are looking for a kind of tour that is very similar to the tours people were looking for 20 years ago. But you know, there are also some first-time travellers who are using our services to visit new destinations just like some of the experienced tourists.

What are Europamundo’s USPs that make it different from the other brands?

Europamundo’s absolute USP is that we guarantee all our departures even if there are only two people, and our coach tours never cancel. The second is we allow people to take any section of the tour, so if we have a long circuit and somebody wants to take three days out of the seven days, we allow you to do that. And we have a huge variety as we have mono-country and multicountry tours that operate year-round, as we are not confined to the peak seasons. Europamundo is a way of touring Europe and these are flexible tours that operate round the year.

Have you been impacted by diminishing share of group travels in outbound travel from India?

No. You must remember that there is always an ever-growing budget for travel and there are people who still need handholding, still who want somebody to take care of everything. That section of people that want to do it independently may be growing, but this portion is there to stay.

What about sustainability in Europamundo’s services?

Yes, we are very conscious of our carbon emissions and we work very closely on that. After that, I think that our brand is fighting overtourism. And it is easy if you want to make a contribution to solve the problem of overtourism. Suppose if you make a tour plan yourself, you would probably stay one week in Paris only, which will eventually lead to overtourism in Paris. But our tour plans will enable you to stay only a few days in Paris and then go to other parts of France where there is no overtourism.

And our tours cover a lot of visits to the countryside where there are few tourists. This is something really important, and this is the direct action to solve the problem of overtourism in a particular area or city. And this is something that other companies can follow, as we always complain about overtourism in a particular city and then continue to make plans for the same cities, like Barcelona, which can’t have more tourists.

What is the agenda behind your visit to India?

You know that we have many distributors here in India. We had made a global convention a couple of weeks ago, but unfortunately, some of these tour operators could not come to our convention because of Diwali. So, it is our responsibility to come and visit India urgently after this convention to see what is happening in the market.