Atout France – France Tourism Development Agency hosted its biannual B2B offsite showcase, ‘Explore France’, in Delhi from September 21 to 23, bringing together key stakeholders from the French tourism industry and members of the Indian travel trade. Held at The Leela Palace, the three-day showcase provided a platform for business networking, knowledge exchange and discussions around opportunities to strengthen tourism ties between France and India. The event brought together a delegation of 16 key French tourism stakeholders, representing the diversity of France’s travel offering. Over two days of pre-scheduled business meetings, the delegation interacted with more than 35 members of the Indian travel trade fraternity, resulting in over 500 meetings between buyers and exhibitors. The interactions enabled participants to explore potential partnerships, exchange market insights and discuss new business opportunities.
The showcase commenced with a dedicated presentation for the French delegation on the Indian travel landscape, with a focus on the evolving profile of Indian travellers and emerging trends shaping outbound tourism. Sudeep Kumar Sinha of Deloitte shared insights and statistics on global outbound tourism trends from India, including France’s positioning within the international travel landscape. Complementing the session, Sheetal Munshaw, Director, Atout France India, delivered a presentation offering insights into the diverse facets of the Indian market. She also highlighted best practices for working with Indian travel professionals and understanding the country’s travel and business dynamics.
The programme also incorporated opportunities for informal networking and cultural exchange. Following the presentations, Atout France hosted an exclusive Indian dinner for its partners at Jamavar, The Leela Palace, showcasing the rich flavours of North Indian cuisine. A cocktail networking evening was subsequently hosted at the Embassy of France in India in the presence of Lisa Amon, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of France in India. For the first time, the 2026 edition also featured a dedicated Media Hour on September 23, providing participating stakeholders with an opportunity to engage directly with B2B media from across India. The initiative recorded the highest media participation at an Explore France offsite to date, with 13 B2B publications attending over the two-day programme.
Sharing her thoughts, Sheetal Munshaw, Director, Atout France India, said, “India is evolving, as is our strategy for the market over the last few years. Our B2B showcase Explore France has now become a bi-annual affair with leisure travel as its focus, whereas our other IP, France Excellence, aims to develop deeper connections between the network of luxury stakeholders in India and France every alternate year. This is the first time that we’ve organised an offsite in Delhi and we are very pleased with the response.”
