Facebook page promotes Spanish tourism in India

 

The Spanish office of Tourism has launched a Facebook page to specifically target visitors from India.

Miguel Nieto-Sandoval, who is the Director at the Tourist Office concerned with India, hopes that having a Facebook India page will help promote the country to an interested following : "It will also help build brand awareness and educate the trade about our country. The Spain page on Facebook has been active since May 2010 and has over 3.9 lakh followers worldwide including 4,000 Indian followers."

The ‘Spain in India' page will have two to three news feeds every week and have updated information on events, festivals, trade fairs, music, pictures, food and interesting destinations in Spain. "The page is an informal way of communicating with people interested in Spain and we will try to make it as interactive as possible. To engage the customer, we will have contests, poll and discussion on a regular basis. Our motto of social media marketing is to increase brand awareness, educate, tap potential consumers and create visibility for the destination," he explained.

According to Nieto-Sandoval, the Indians are a growing market for Spain, and the destination is also getting popular with travellers seeking different vacations. "We feel the need to be on Facebook as more and more people are using social networking sites to communicate, rather than emails. The target is to share Spain with consumers and trade. This is a strategic tool to promote Spain among Indians."

Spain receives few tourists from India, however, it a place that many Indians have expressed an interest in visiting. In the first quarter of 2011 the Tourist office reported a 49% increase in visitors coming to Spain from India compared to the same period of time the previous year.