The Tourism industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in India, making a good contribution to the GDP & not very much affected by the economic slowdown as other industries.
In the year 2015, India had been ranked at 52nd and at 40th in 2017. India has shown the greatest percentage improvement in tourism to its overall TTCI score, which has helped a lot to become the only country in the segment of lower-middle income in the top 35 globally.
Recognizing also a massive potential in outbound travel from India, around 70 National Tourist Organizations (NTOs) from around the world recently have set up their local offices in Indian cities and are aggressively investing in marketing for their destinations.
For the volume growth, the top five destinations are Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Kuwait, United States and Singapore. Australia and France are good examples of destinations which are succeeding in their promotional efforts recently.
SATTE (South Asia Travel and Tourism Expo) is the India’s largest travel trade event, has been scheduled for January 8 – 10, 2020, in Greater Noida, Delhi (NCR). This show gathers hundreds of travel agents/agencies and is a good venue for U.S. participants to reach out for a quality target audience. Additional information can be found at: www.satte.in
Economics Times says – “The foreign tourist arrivals in India during 2018 stood at 10.55 million as compared to 10.03 in 2017 registering a growth of 5.2 per cent.
Factors behind Indian Tourism Industry Growth
India’s rise as a tourist destination India may still be a minnow in the global tourism market, the success of the Incredible India campaign notwithstanding. Foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India in 2018 accounted for 1.2% of international tourist arrivals, according to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), with at least two-dozen countries having a higher share than India. But the tripling of FTAs in the past 10 years, from 5.3 million to 17.4 million, indicates India is a great destination globally.
E-Visa Facility
One of the important reasons contributing to the growth of the Indian tourism industry with various government initiatives, such as e-visa, which has helped in attracting more tourists globally.
In the six-month period from January- July 2019, a total of 15,34,293 tourists arrived on e-tourist visa as compared to 12,68,077 during January-July 2018.”
“The biggest liberalization to make feel tourist welcome had started with simplification of Visa system. With a view to stimulating economic growth, increasing earnings from the export of services like tourism, medical value travel, travel on account of business thereby making India an attractive destination for foreign direct and portfolio investment, the Union Government has approved various measures for liberalization, simplification and rationalization of the visa regime in India,” said Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism.
Ministry plans on GST rates for hotels
On September 20, the GST Council made some changes in taxes on several products and services, including hospitality. The GST rate for room tariffs of Rs 7,500 and above was reduced to 18% earlier which was 28%, while those between Rs 1,000 and Rs 7,500 now need to pay 12%. Hotels which have room tariffs of less than Rs 1,000 do not attract tax as per slabs. Earlier, for hotels the slab of Rs 2,500-7,500 attracted 18% tax.
A spokesperson from MakeMyTrip said that with the changes in tax rates coming around the peak festive season in India, the company hopes to see a boost in tourist arrivals in cities like Goa, Darjeeling, Jaipur and Gangtok—destinations that continue to remain favorites among domestic travelers.
Environmental factors:
Two main environmental factors which have led to the growth of Indian tourism:
1. Good climate: Good climate is of-course one of the most important & big features of the attraction for any tourist place. Pleasant climate with warmth and ample of sunshine attracts tourists who come from the temperate and colder regions. For example, most of the sea-side resorts in U.S.A and U.K are located on a warmer southeast.
On other hands, people from high temperature areas migrate to cooler regions to seek pleasure of cold fresh environment. For instance, in India we have places like Lonavala, Mahabaleshwar near Mumbai, Kullu and Manali, Shillong, Kashmir, so on are well-known for their cool and pleasant climate. Other countries & locations with cooler climate that attract tropical tourists are Switzerland, Sweden, etc.
2. Beautiful scenery: Tourism booms at picnic spots with beautiful sceneries. For example, sunrise and sunset points, long sea beaches/sites, fresh water lakes, waterfalls, hills, snow etc., always attract large numbers of tourists.
New Destinations of India
The top-of-the-mind destinations for an Indian holiday generally include Delhi, Agra, Rajasthan, Goa and Kerala. But a surprise is that Tamilnadu is the top state in domestic and foreign tourist visits.
It accounted for a fifth of each category in 2018, according to the ministry of tourism. Tamilnadu has garnered the largest number in both categories year after year, except in 2017, when it lost out to Maharashtra in foreign tourist visits.
Spiritual and Religious:
Travel & vacations for spiritual reasons has been taking place since a very long time. Visiting religious places has been one of the earliest motivators of travel in India. A large number of people on their auspicious occasions have been making pilgrimages to religious or holy places.
This practice is widespread, not only in India but many other parts of the world as well. In the Christian community, for instance, a visit to Jerusalem or the Vatican is considered to a great act of faith from last many years.
In India there are many pilgrimage centers and holy places of all the major religions of the world like Varanasi, Bodh Gaya etc. where every year a large number of pilgrims visit India from all over the world congregate.
Online Travel Agencies
Now a days, the adoption of the Internet by the the travel agencies for distributing services to their customers has led to research on customer online buying behavior. Increased the use of smart phone and internet penetration from tier 1 to tier 3 cities have also contributed to an increased number of online bookings.
If the services offered by these websites are increased with display of relevant & right information about the destinations, the Indian customers would be encouraged to visit these kinds of websites frequently and use them for vacation planning.
Globalization of services on internet and increasing travel needs have very much changed the characteristics of the travel sector as the technology is used to increase the reach in the market. Online travel agents (OTAs) provide a center of contact for customers through the World Wide Web to facilitate customers in searching for appropriate & right travel planning, which is then booked and ticketed by the online travel agent.
Marketing Campaigns
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- Landing Pages for FB or Google Campaign: With the help of travel CRM any one can create landing pages for their marketing campaign without any knowledge of coding, direct from the CRM using existing packages/itineraries available.