India is safe; inbound tourism must focus on leisure, business, medical & adventure
10 04 2013
India is safe; inbound tourism must focus on
leisure, business, medical & adventure segments; domestic tourism on
middle aged: FICCI Tourism Survey
NEW DELHI, April 9, 2013. India’s inbound tourism strategy
needs to be tailored to the leisure segment, business travel, medical
and adventure tourism and domestic tourism should be targeted at the
middle age segment (35-50 years) to cash in on the rising disposal
incomes and increased propensity to travel, a quick survey by FICCI
reveals.
The survey findings released to the media today by Dr. (Ms.) Jyotsna Suri, Vice President and Chairperson of FICCI’s Tourism Committee,
show that a bulk of the respondents (37%) saw the potential growth in
inbound tourism in the Leisure segment. Business travel and Medical
tourism came second with Adventure Tourism, the third.
The respondents are of the view that India’s tourism should target
the Middle Age Segment (35-50) to accelerate its growth. The strategy,
hence, should be to capitalize on the growing disposable incomes on
travel and entertainment.
The survey received 480 written and telephonic responses from
tourism industry professionals in hotels of all categories, tour
operators, travel agents, airlines, investors and tourism associations.
Dr Suri said fifty five (55%) per cent of the respondents felt that
there will be a moderate impact of the slowdown on tourism over the
next six months on tourism, forty five (45%) per cent opined that there
would be no impact.
She said to discuss some of the findings of the survey and for
targeting potential consumers of tourism products from across the globe
and India, FICCI along with the Department of Tourism, Government of
Rajasthan and Ministry of Tourism, Government of India is organizing the
sixth ‘Great Indian Travel Bazaar 2013′ (GITB) from 14th to 16th April
in Jaipur, Rajasthan. GITB is a landmark event and the largest
international tourism mart of the country which is widely attended by
the industry from India and abroad.
The FICCI survey reveals that the industry feels let down by the
Union Budget 2013-14 proposals as these have had no impact on tourism.
In fact, around 45 per cent said the Budget impacted the industry
negatively due to major unmet and long standing demands such as
declaration of tourism as an industry, export industry status and
inclusion of hotels as infrastructure.
The silver lining is that 46 per cent of the respondents were
confident of the foreign tourist arrivals to go up in the coming six
months. Their optimism stems from the fact that Foreign Tourist Arrivals
to India have grown by 2.1% in January and February 2013 and in during
these two months, the Foreign Exchange Earnings from tourism rose by
19.8% in rupee terms and by 11.4% in dollar terms.
It was remarkable and extremely encouraging to note that 83% of the
respondents were of the view that the current environment of safety and
security for the foreign travellers in India was totally safe. A small
minority was skeptical on this point.
As regards the air fare structure, a majority (75%) of the
respondents felt that the air fares for foreign tourist movement in the
country were expensive as compared to India’s competing destinations.
Said Dr Suri, this must be noted as cheap air connectivity is imperative
for augmenting foreign tourist arrival.
It was positive to note that majority of the respondents (66%) found the hotel tariff to be expensive but not burdensome.
A food for thought for the tourism industry as majority (56%) of
the respondents found the state of air connectivity to tourist
destinations as satisfactory but could be better.
As for hygiene and sanitation, both have been rated (by 91% of the
respondents) as very important for choosing India as a destination.
Asked which countries can India partner with for joint tourism
programmes, the respondents listed the following in order of priority:
1. China
2. Sri Lanka
3. Nepal
4. Germany
5. Australia
6. Japan and Thailand
7. The UK
The respondents listed out what is required for the growth of
Inbound Tourism in India that is not being provided today by the
stakeholders in tourism. These are:
· Neat and clean hotels in remote places
· Budget hotels
· Last mile road connectivity catering to smooth and seamless travel
· Security and safety for tourists
· Visa on arrival for at least all western countries
· Better infrastructure in Tier II cities
· Knowledgeable guides
· Greater awareness on accessibility
· To look at new markets
· More thrust on promotion of India in mainland China and Latin American countries
· Promoting destinations collectively
· Recognizing tourism as an Industry and grant it export industry status
No comments:
Post a Comment