This year marks 75 years of independence for India (though the country’s history dates back some 5,000 years), and major celebrations will take place up until August 17, 2023
The Consulate General of India in Toronto posed a question at a media lunch recently: How to highlight India’s incredible diversity and spread the word among Canadians that it’s about much more than just yoga? Having a milestone anniversary certainly helps, said Apoorva Srivastava, Consul General of India in Toronto.
This year marks 75 years of independence for India (though the country’s history dates back some 5,000 years), and major celebrations will take place up until August 17, 2023.
And because of the strong ties between India and Canada (Canada is home to 1. 9 million Indian-Canadians, 700,000 Indian expats and 240,000 international students from India), several events are also being planned in various Canadian cities, including a yoga demonstration on June 21, the International Day of Yoga, at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square.
“We are natural partners with Canada in terms of democracy and diversity, so it’s very natural that India and Canada have great political connections,” Srivastava told Travel week.
“It’s extremely important we engage with agents so that they’re aware of everything that we have to offer, from royal and steam trains to river cruises and everything in between.”
— Apoorva Srivastava, Consul General of India in Toronto
“And with our expanded air agreement whiich was announced in November 2022, there’s now no limit on flights between the two countries.
So Canada is an extremely important market for us and we’re hoping to create greater awareness of our tourism products to a wider Canadian population.
” To do this, the Consulate plans to engage with the travel agent community, which Srivastava says is “very important” to India’s promotional efforts.
“They are the people who will eventually convince customers to visit India – we can’t reach every customer so it’s best we go through travel agents who can give customers guidance,” she says.
“It’s extremely important we engage with agents so that they’re aware of everything that we have to offer, from royal and steam trains to river cruises and everything in between.”
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