Bushroda
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2007
- Messages
- 1,880
- Reaction score
- 0
Jet-pace growth for Indian tourism
By Raja M
MUMBAI - India's recent federal budget offered little to the country's US$12 billion tourism industry, but its practitioners could take comfort from the immediately preceding annual Economic Survey for 2007-08, which predicted continued bright prospects after more than 25% growth over the previous year.
Last year's record earnings could be merely scratching the surface of a gold mine if India backs up its "Incredible India!" promotional campaign - which won the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award last year - with better tourist infrastructure and if the government capitalizes on the country earning the coveted world number one top travel destination ranking in the latest Conde Nast Traveller UK awards.
India jumped ahead of Italy, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand in the world's top five most-preferred tourist destinations from
fourth a year earlier and 10th in 2004. A Lonely Planet survey of 167 countries also ranks India among the world's top five most popular destinations.
Last financial year, when more than 5 million tourists arrived, was the fourth running that India's growth in arrivals picked up pace, with an increase of 13% from 2005-06, according to governmental data. India expects to host 6 million tourists in 2007 and 10 million by 2010.
"Tourism has high potential for generating both income and employment across the country," President Pratibha Devsingh Patil told Parliament on February 25. "The 'Incredible India' campaign has given a thrust to tourism in India, with foreign tourist arrivals touching 5 million for the first time. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism touched US$12 billion in 2007."
Businesses at the tourism frontline are seeing more than just an increase in numbers.
"Compared with five years ago, we are seeing more arrivals of higher-spending tourists," says Suresh Pundir, a hotelier in the north Indian tourist hot-spot state of Uttarakhand, at present host to an international yoga conference in the Himalayan town of Rishikesh. His guests are also coming from an increasingly diverse range of countries.
"Earlier we primarily had tourists from the USA, UK and Israel, but now there is a sudden huge increase in visitors from Russia, Brazil, South Korea and France," he said. At the same time, they are seeing a greater variety of experience, looking for adventure such as white-water rafting, trekking and mountaineering.
India is also this month (March 21-24) hosting the second international conference on "responsible tourism", in Cochin, in the southern state of Kerala, with 400 delegates and speakers from 20 countries expected to attend. The first conference was held in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2002. The conference aims to create greater involvement in making the industry sustainable in terms of local economies.
India is sharing in a broader travel boom, with the region expected to lead world tourism growth this year, according to the World Travel Trends Report last month from the ITB Berlin travel fair and researcher IPK International. China, with the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, and India are touted to lead the way.
The World Travel Trends Report says Asia-Pacific continues to lead expansion of the world's tourism trade, with international arrivals in the region increasing by over 10% in 2007, following an 8% growth in 2006.
Outbound tourism is also buoyant, according to Asian Travel Monitor, with China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Thailand scoring over 70 million outbound trips combined, with a total annual spending of over $147 billion.
The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Travel confirms that Asian-Pacific outbound traffic will continue soaring, with an estimated 79.5 million outbound tourists in the next six months. More than 25% of the region's outbound tourists will be from the Chinese mainland, according to MasterCard, which estimates a 12.4% year-on-year increase to 21.6 million outbound Chinese tourists from January to June 2008.
A stronger rupee, which has appreciated more than 10% against the US dollar in the past year, is having an impact, making travel abroad cheaper for Indians while inbound tourist operators are reporting a drop in business as the country becomes a more expensive destination for overseas visitors.
India led growth in visitor numbers to the US in 2006-7, with a 45% increase on a year earlier, ahead of China (26%), Mexico (18%) and the Middle East (18%).
India's growing economy and increased affluence are also encouraging domestic tourism, which is growing 25% annually. Combined with the growing number of overseas visitors, that is adding to the strain on the country's infrastructure. Industry sources, for example, estimate that India has a shortage of 100,000 hotel rooms.
Neither did the federal budget grant the demand for the hospitality industry to be given infrastructure status that would enable easier flow of investments.
Even so, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram disappointed tourism-related businesses when his February 29 budget largely ignored the industry while offering exporters government sops to offset the impact on them of the strengthening rupee.
The industry, according to the India's Tourism Ministry, employs over 42 million people and contributes 6.11% of India's gross domestic product.
By Raja M
MUMBAI - India's recent federal budget offered little to the country's US$12 billion tourism industry, but its practitioners could take comfort from the immediately preceding annual Economic Survey for 2007-08, which predicted continued bright prospects after more than 25% growth over the previous year.
Last year's record earnings could be merely scratching the surface of a gold mine if India backs up its "Incredible India!" promotional campaign - which won the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award last year - with better tourist infrastructure and if the government capitalizes on the country earning the coveted world number one top travel destination ranking in the latest Conde Nast Traveller UK awards.
India jumped ahead of Italy, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand in the world's top five most-preferred tourist destinations from
fourth a year earlier and 10th in 2004. A Lonely Planet survey of 167 countries also ranks India among the world's top five most popular destinations.
Last financial year, when more than 5 million tourists arrived, was the fourth running that India's growth in arrivals picked up pace, with an increase of 13% from 2005-06, according to governmental data. India expects to host 6 million tourists in 2007 and 10 million by 2010.
"Tourism has high potential for generating both income and employment across the country," President Pratibha Devsingh Patil told Parliament on February 25. "The 'Incredible India' campaign has given a thrust to tourism in India, with foreign tourist arrivals touching 5 million for the first time. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism touched US$12 billion in 2007."
Businesses at the tourism frontline are seeing more than just an increase in numbers.
"Compared with five years ago, we are seeing more arrivals of higher-spending tourists," says Suresh Pundir, a hotelier in the north Indian tourist hot-spot state of Uttarakhand, at present host to an international yoga conference in the Himalayan town of Rishikesh. His guests are also coming from an increasingly diverse range of countries.
"Earlier we primarily had tourists from the USA, UK and Israel, but now there is a sudden huge increase in visitors from Russia, Brazil, South Korea and France," he said. At the same time, they are seeing a greater variety of experience, looking for adventure such as white-water rafting, trekking and mountaineering.
India is also this month (March 21-24) hosting the second international conference on "responsible tourism", in Cochin, in the southern state of Kerala, with 400 delegates and speakers from 20 countries expected to attend. The first conference was held in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2002. The conference aims to create greater involvement in making the industry sustainable in terms of local economies.
India is sharing in a broader travel boom, with the region expected to lead world tourism growth this year, according to the World Travel Trends Report last month from the ITB Berlin travel fair and researcher IPK International. China, with the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, and India are touted to lead the way.
The World Travel Trends Report says Asia-Pacific continues to lead expansion of the world's tourism trade, with international arrivals in the region increasing by over 10% in 2007, following an 8% growth in 2006.
Outbound tourism is also buoyant, according to Asian Travel Monitor, with China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Thailand scoring over 70 million outbound trips combined, with a total annual spending of over $147 billion.
The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Travel confirms that Asian-Pacific outbound traffic will continue soaring, with an estimated 79.5 million outbound tourists in the next six months. More than 25% of the region's outbound tourists will be from the Chinese mainland, according to MasterCard, which estimates a 12.4% year-on-year increase to 21.6 million outbound Chinese tourists from January to June 2008.
A stronger rupee, which has appreciated more than 10% against the US dollar in the past year, is having an impact, making travel abroad cheaper for Indians while inbound tourist operators are reporting a drop in business as the country becomes a more expensive destination for overseas visitors.
India led growth in visitor numbers to the US in 2006-7, with a 45% increase on a year earlier, ahead of China (26%), Mexico (18%) and the Middle East (18%).
India's growing economy and increased affluence are also encouraging domestic tourism, which is growing 25% annually. Combined with the growing number of overseas visitors, that is adding to the strain on the country's infrastructure. Industry sources, for example, estimate that India has a shortage of 100,000 hotel rooms.
Neither did the federal budget grant the demand for the hospitality industry to be given infrastructure status that would enable easier flow of investments.
Even so, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram disappointed tourism-related businesses when his February 29 budget largely ignored the industry while offering exporters government sops to offset the impact on them of the strengthening rupee.
The industry, according to the India's Tourism Ministry, employs over 42 million people and contributes 6.11% of India's gross domestic product.