The Hindu Business Line : Tourist arrivals to India to grow

Thiruvananthapuram, April 25 In these tough times, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has some encouragement for India’s travel and tourism industry.

The ‘PATA Tourism Forecasts 2009-2011’, published this month, say that international tourist arrivals to India this year will exceed 5.5 million. And international arrivals to India will grow to over 5.9 million in 2010 and cross 6.3 million by 2011, the report adds. It also predicts that the average annual growth rate in international arrivals to India will be 5.85 per cent in the 2007-2011 period and 7.46 per cent for 2009-10.

Cautious optimism

Overall, there is “some cause for cautious optimism” in the travel and tourism industry in the Asia-Pacific region, says Mr John Koldowski, Director of PATA’s Strategic Intelligence Centre. The organisation’s forecast suggests that international arrivals for many destinations in the region will grow, despite the global economic downturn. While growth rates may slow down, international arrival numbers are expected to remain largely positive, he adds.

According to the report, Sri Lanka is the only destination in South Asia likely to show a negative trend in international arrivals over the next couple of years. International arrivals to Sri Lanka are forecast to drop by 2.33 per cent in 2009-10 and grow marginally, by 0.67 per, cent in 2010-11, says the report.

Top destinations

India, China and Thailand are among the largest emerging outbound travel markets in the region, the report states. Singapore, the US and Malaysia are the top Asia-Pacific destinations for outbound tourists from India. Over 8,00,000 Indians are expected to visit Singapore this year; over 6,69,000 Indians are expected to visit the US and over 6,25,000 are expected to visit Malaysia this year. The growth in Indian visitors to Singapore, Malaysia and the US is set to continue till 2011, though by next year Malaysia seems set to overtake the US and become the second most popular Asia-Pacific destination for Indian tourists, the report adds.

PATA’s forecasts cover 41 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and are prepared using a proprietary forecasting model with the guidance of academics from Australia and Hong Kong.