The Hindu Business Line : India - a honeymoon destination

The travel sector in India is looking up, with the travel bug biting the Indian traveller who is now willing to spend more on both domestic and international travel. Also, India as a tourism destination is finally attracting takers overseas.

After about two years of nothing but bad news, there is finally some good news for the tourism sector. After grappling with falling number of travellers, first because of the 9/11 attacks in the US, followed by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) syndrome and the Gulf War, the tourism industry is finally hearing the cash registers ringing. And this good news is coming from all fronts — more Indians travelling within India and abroad and more foreign travellers coming to almost all parts of India.

Sample this: In the last one year, the number of people travelling to India has gone up to 2.7 million, up 16 per cent. At the same time, industry estimates put the increase in domestic travel to about 10 to 20 per cent this year with the number of Indians flying abroad also registering a substantial growth.

When it comes to foreigners visiting India, while the charm of the golden triangle of Delhi-Jaipur-Agra and the beaches of Kerala still exists, there are now companies like Greaves Travel Ltd, London, which are trying to market more of India. The company is also actively promoting destinations such as Gujarat, Orissa and Himachal Pradesh. Besides this, says Mehera Dalton, Managing Director of Greaves Travel Ltd, "Wildlife is very popular so we send many clients to Ranthambore, Corbet and game reserves in Madhya Pradesh."

The company is also a member of the Tour Operators For Tigers (TOFT), where money for each client sent is donated to wildlife parks for tiger conservation. At the same time, the company is also promoting India, particularly Mumbai, Delhi and Jaipur, as wonderful shopping destinations.

Adds Dalton, "Our forward bookings are up by nearly 60 per cent and we are on target to send about 650 tourists to India this year. These are all individual travellers with an average spend in India of $1,500 per person."

Seeing increased business potential, companies like Greaves Travel Ltd are adopting a multi-pronged strategy to promote India more as a tourist destination. "Last year I took a group of leading journalists to Hyderabad, which we hope to promote as a city that offers much to see in terms of sightseeing, shopping and amazing cuisine," says Dalton.

The company has also come up with various tie-ups with hotels and works very closely with the Oberoi and the Taj groups. "The Oberoi's `Vilas' properties have certainly raised the standard of luxury accommodation in India. They have become destination hotels and we can persuade clients to stay longer in these properties because of their spa facilities and incredible luxury," she adds.

The company also has strategic advertising campaigns in publications such as Conde Nast Traveller, Harpers & Queens, which has dedicated its March issue to India, and House & Garden, Food & Travel, Times and Tatler.

The company sends journalists from The Sunday Times, Telegraph, Mail on Sunday and Tatler who write interesting articles about the destinations that they have been to. The company is also focussing on the `Brides' magazine because Dalton maintains that India is a great honeymoon destination.

Such efforts have spelt good news for the Indian economy, which registered a 20 per cent increase in foreign exchange earnings in 2003 over the previous year.

Indians too are not lagging behind when it comes to travel — especially travel overseas.

Ranjit Malkani, CEO, Kuoni India, says that the outbound tourism market has seen a growth of 12 per cent and it is projected that about 10 million Indians will travel overseas this year.

And Indians want to travel just about everywhere. South-East Asia was popular last winter for `short holidays' in keeping with the shorter winter break in schools. But for those with more time, the options range from warmer countries like regions in South of France, Spain, Italy and Greece. At the same time, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Kenya, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand too are beeping on the radars of Indian travellers.

Also in demand are cruises and newer destinations like South Africa and Morocco. There has also been an interest in Korea and the number of inquires for Spain, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean too are going up, point out Kuoni officials. Seeing this interest in India, the Switzerland Tourism authority is planning to launch a special India-centric page on its Web site. Catering exclusively to Indian travellers, this page will provide details like the best deals available, information about tour operators offering packages to Switzerland and also details about Indian restaurants, along with news of interesting events and visa details.

Analysts attribute various reasons for new trends on the travel front. When it comes to Indians travelling more, besides the often talked about reasons like greater awareness and more exposure, the most obvious is the growth in GDP putting more disposable income in a larger number of hands, resulting in an increasing number of Indians travelling at home and overseas.

Kuoni estimates that over 25 million Indians will now be able to afford overseas travel. The easy availability of foreign exchange is also enabling more Indians to look at foreign destinations. Also contributing to this trend is an increase in the Basic Travel Quota that now stands at a whopping $10,000 per person per annum for leisure travel. Obviously, we've come a long way from the measly $500 dollar per year per person mark, which ruled firm for long years.

The figures substantiate the perception that more Indians are now travelling abroad. Not that, they are also emerging as fairly big spenders. In 1999 Indians travelling abroad spent Rs 70 billion — a figure expected to grow to Rs 192 billion by this year. Trends show that a family of four travelling to Europe on a 10-day trip will spend at least $2,500 to $3,000. And families on shopping trips to the South-East Asian countries will spend between $800 and $1,000 per family.

Indian shoppers not only spend on buying things that are not available in India, but beginning a new trend, are also spending money on buying local handicrafts, curios and artefacts.

Analysts feel that the latest Budget proposal of Finance Minister Jaswant Singh hiking the free baggage allowance to Rs 25,000 from Rs 12,000 and cutting the customs duty on goods brought in by 10 per cent to 40 per cent, will also fuel more demand among Indians for travel abroad.

It is understandable then that travel companies are leaving no stones unturned for outbound Indian travellers. So while on the one hand there are schemes like `Holiday now, pay later', tour operators are also aggressively going in for promotional packages during both lean and peak seasons for various destinations. Promotion of specific destinations is also on the rise, giving the Iindian traveller more options than he/she ever had before.

Besides, to cater to the growing urge of Indians to travel overseas, several new international airlines have started, or are planning to start, operating to India. While Air Canada has launched a new non-stop service between India and Canada, the British airlines Virgin Atlantic Airways has increased the number of flights on the Delhi-London sector, with its arch rival British Airways, adding one more flight on the Kolkata-London sector. Similarly, Austrian Airline and Air India are also among other airlines that have increased the frequency of flights between India and Europe and Thai Airways International has added Chennai to its network.

All this is not to say that Indians are not travelling within the country. One of the important reasons fuelling the domestic travel sector is the re-introduction of LTC. The government and the airlines too have added their bit to encourage travel by Indians. The airlines first came up with Apex fares which were lower than regular air fares, and now with the government removing the 15 per cent Inland Air Travel Tax (IATT) and reducing by 50 per cent the excise duty on ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel), domestic air fares have come down further. In fact, after the latest round of concessions, the difference between the Apex fares offered by the domestic airlines and the first class AC rail fares, has further narrowed.

According to Subhash Goyal, President, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), travellers within India can be categorised into four segments, with the largest being the pilgrim segment.

This is followed by the VFR (visiting friends and relatives) section. Goyal adds that though there are no figures of people travelling within the country, and whatever figures are projected are guesstimates. Actually a bulk of the 10 to 15 million domestic tourists stay in hotels.

Further, most of these travellers come from the States of Bengal and Gujarat.

But when it comes to travelling abroad it is those from Gujarat and Punjab who top the list. Balbir S Mayal, President of the Travel Agents Association of India, expects an increase of 10 to 15 per cent in domestic travel this year.

But whatever the home states of these travellers, and whatever their preferred destinations, taken collectively what this means is that for the first time in decades the Indian traveller is actually becoming a part of the great global village. This spells only more good news for the travel and tourism industry.

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