Denmark, Sweden, Norway bullish on India, woo Indian tourists

New Delhi: Denmark, Sweden and Norway are expecting Indian tourists to consume more than 3.5 lakh hotel room nights in a year as the three Scandinavian nations are going all out to attract travellers from the country by promoting their tourism destinations.

The Scandinavian Tourist Board (STB) has been actively holding promotional events in India in its bid to reach out to Indian travellers so that they visit Denmark, Sweden and Norway the three northern European countries that were largely unexplored by Indian tourists in the past.

Following the recent increase in the number of Indians visiting Scandinavia, Air India in August this year launched direct flights from India to Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Earlier, these destinations, along with Oslo, were connected via Dubai.

Mohit Batra from the STB said India is one of the most important regions in the world and that is why the three Scandinavian countries are going all the way to woo Indian tourists.

"Indians are more loved and welcomed by the European countries and people are looking forward to cultural exchanges from both sides," Batra said while elaborating some of the reasons behind the recent surge in the number of Indian tourists to Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

"We are looking at Indians consuming 3,50,000 hotel room nights in Scandinavia in a year," he said, adding that on an average, these numbers are expected to grow at 10 per cent.

In Asia, India is ranked as Sweden's second source market after China.

Ruth Dolla, Project Manager India of Visit Sweden, said India has emerged as the world's fastest-growing outbound market and it is second only to China.

"The number of Indians travelling overseas is set to rise from around 15 million now to 50 million by 2050. That 50 million is a huge number. This will mean a big growth in spending overseas," she said.

Dolla said introduction of direct flights from India to Sweden and Denmark will definitely lead to a sharp rise in the numbers of Indian tourists visiting the three Scandinavian nations.

"We see India as a huge market for tourism source to Sweden. We have been working in the Indian market since 2015.

We have seen a very good increase in the number of tourists coming to Sweden. There are 150 Swedish companies operating in India.