The Taj chain will be holding its first roadshows abroad in fall this year to get more foreign tourists to its properties in the October-March season. 

Traditionally, the six months were the peak season for hotels and the travel trade in India but the initiative has been launched this year to get in as many visitors as possible in an effort to maximise revenues. 

“In October, a large marketing and sales team will be meeting the trade and running a PR campaign in London, Pairs, Munich, New York and Washington DC to get more visitors,” said Raymond Bickson, managing director of Indian Hotels, which owns the chain. 

Another market which will get special attention was Russia, which has developed an appetite for holidays in Goa. The roadshows were part of the company’s plan to beef up its marketing division. 

It has opened new offices in Sydney and Beijing and increased headcount at marketing offices in Singapore, New York, London, Dubai, said Bickson. Paris, Milan and Frankfurt were three other locations where additional marketing effort would be put in. 

Besides getting more visitors, the hotel chain would finetune its investments in its hotel-based businesses like stores and auto rentals. Bickson said the hotel had already shut down 11 of its ‘Khazana’ range of stores because they were not viable. Eight stores had survived and two more would be added at Mumbai. 

“Through these 10, unique products will be put on sale like more Taj branded items, a complete range of spa products from the chain’s spa range, besides teas and other items, so that the stores are repositioned and different from streetside stores,” said Bickson. 

The auto rentals division would also be offering special products tailormade for its properties. For the resorts and wildlife properties, Indian Hotels had asked Tata Motors to build special edition Tata Safaris with limousine-type features like mini-fridges, audio headsets and other audio-visual luxuries. 

For the city properties, it had ordered specially equipped Tata Indigo sedans with special seats and related luxuries. The idea was to give hotel guests a unique experience, said Bickson.