America’s national tourism marketing agency Brand USA, which has aggressive targets set to attract tourists to the US, expects nearly one million Indians to visit the country.

“India’s outbound tourism is growing very fast and given that estimates suggest it will triple by 2020, the country is an important market for us,” said Jan Gray Vice-President Global Partnership Development Brand USA. Last year, India ranked 12{+t}{+h} among the top 20 tourist generating countries for the US, with 7.24 lakh arrivals, an increase of 9 per cent. Brand USA is betting big on the BRIC countries.

Rupee fall

Asked if the rupee depreciation has impacted tourist arrivals from India this year, Gray said, “So far our tourism partners have said that there have been not any cancellations. But as the numbers come in we will have a better sense.” He said that consumers may opt for shorter trips, and between January and March tourist arrivals from India grew by 15 per cent in same period last year. Indian tourists are also the tenth largest spender in the US.

Brand USA recently appointed Sartha Global as its Indian marketing representative. For starters, it is banking on local tour operators to market US and will be launching an extensive campaign early next year.

New York, the most popular destination for Indians in US, alone expects over 2.25 lakh Indians to visit the destination this year. Fred Dixon, Executive Vice-President, Market Development, NYC & Company, said, “Indian outbound market is still in its nascent stage. We expect arrivals of leisure travellers to outpace corporate travellers in the coming years.”

He added that Indians tend to stay longer in New York and spend a lot on shopping, among other categories.

>meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in

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