With the Indian traveller getting ready to discover the world in a more intimate way, the travel industry expects to register a 20% growth in 2010. The pioneers feel that adventure, wine and gastronomical tours will make Indian families explore the off-shores and this will fuel the growth of the industry. In addition, sports will bring in more tourists to India.
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Related videos Goa government bans bikini-clad models from tourism ads Gun toting personnel inside Taj dampens tourist spirit Govt gets ready to spruce up the city of the Taj According to Ashish Kishore, head of hotel and retail business of Yatra.com, a travel portal, family travel will take a lead this year. “Travel will be in great demand in terms of family holidays,” he said.
The Indian outbound travel has registered a growth of 30-35% in the past six months. This fact is reiterated by Hong Kong tourism board which is busy promoting Hong Kong as a family destination.
“More and more Indians are travelling with their companions now. In 2008, 65% of Indian visitors to the territory came with companions — 31% (as against 22% in 2007) brought their spouse along, while 18% (as against 13% in 2007) travelled with their children,” said the spokesperson for the board.
Rather than taking a traditional holiday, Indians will be going abroad to taste cuisine and wines on theme-based tours. “We believe that special interest tours such as castle tours, culinary tours and religious tours will be the trend in the coming year,” said Karan Anand, head, relationships and supplier management, Cox & Kings (India) Ltd.
Even Kashmira Commissariat, COO, outbound division, Kuoni India, echoes similar sentiments.
The Industry is also expecting sports to fuel inbound tourism which declined by 6.3% from January to November 2009 as the number of tourists came down to 4.54 million as compared to 5.62 million earlier.
Kishore from Yatra says that there will be an upsurge in inbound tourism due to the Commonwealth Games to be held in India in October 2010. “If India gives a positive image to the world at that time, then it will be a golden period for Indian tourism,” he said.
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