DELHI
The Indian traveller is fast becoming a coveted one at global tourist destinations. One can see this from the number of tourism authorities- from places as far away as Australia and Fiji to closer Mauritius and Sri Lanka trying to ramp up their presence in India by holding road shows, appointing trade partners and doing promotional marketing events.
Industry insiders point that many of boards have increased their India marketing outlays by 15-20%. Some have even doubled their their budgets and like Malaysia, waiving visa fees for Indians. Take Tourism Victoria, for example.
The Australian state’s tourism board has aggressive marketing plans for India. “Tourism Victoria has been consistently exploring new opportunities and themes for the India market to attract the HNI (high net worth individual) as this has been a target and growing market for us,” Celia H.Ho, regional manager, South and Southeast Asia, Tourism Victoria told Economic Times. Ho says that India is one of the fastest growing tourism markets for the state About 81,000 Indians visited the state in 2014 compared with 60,000 in 2012.
Industry experts says that with the Indian out-bound travel industry growing 15-20% every year, the tourism boards are understandably attracted. Also, Indians tend to be big spenders abroad. A report by hotel bookings site hotels.com found Indians to be the fourth-biggest spenders on hotels globally in the first half 2014. Expect more action in the outbound market in future.
Musafir Namah Bureau
