"San Francisco CVB and SFO open office in India"

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

San Francisco CVB and SFO open office in India
By Michael Verikios
Travel Daily News
  
 
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.

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