Visit India 2009

Oberoi Amar Vilas Agra

With the launch of Visit India 2009 scheme replete with complimentary offers, the Indian Tourism Ministry is hoping to lure international tourists who are otherwise leery of traveling to the subcontinent following the Mumbai terror attacks.

The incentives offered for the period April - December 2009 are based on providing one service free for every service availed by the tourists in collaboration with Airlines, Hotels and Tour Coordinators.

Oberoi Cecil Shimla

Airlines like Jet airways, Air India and Kingfisher have partnered with the Tourism ministry for the Visit India scheme by providing the additional air passage for traveling companions.

The Hotel Association of India and tour operators affiliated to the IATO (Indian Association of Tour Operators) have also aligned themselves with the ministry.

Oberoi Rajvilas Jaipur

All member hotels of the Hotel Association of India will offer benefits in one of the following three categories - Stay one night and get the second consecutive night free; Stay two nights and get the third consecutive night free; and Stay three nights and get the fourth consecutive night free. All taxes would be extra and payable by the guest.

Some other hotels like the Select group of Hotels have individually offered incentives under the scheme. The tourists can avail any one of the incentives independently and are not compelled to go for the complete package.

Oberoi Udaivilas Jaipur

Participating hotels include Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur; Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur

Oberoi Vanyavilas, Ranthambhore; Oberoi, New Delhi; Oberoi Grand, Kolkata; Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra; and Oberoi Cecil, Shimla.

The Tourism ministry expected tourist growth to be around 10 million in 2008 but had to settle for a mere growth rate of 5.36% as compared to an increase of 14.5% in 2007. The number of tourists coming to India (3.3 million a year) paled in comparison to other countries-Singapore: 7 million a year, Thailand: 9.6 million per year, Malaysia: 11.5 million a year.

Oberoi Grand Kolkata

India's foreign exchange earnings suffered a 22% dip in 2008 following Mumbai Terror attacks. Hotels reported that 50 per cent of the reservations were cancelled which lead to the government intervention to stabilize this situation. They experienced a negative growth of 2.1 per cent in November 2008.

Oberoi Vanyavil Ranthambore

In the first quarter of this year, overall foreign visitors to India dropped 10 per cent after recession in key developed markets reduced travel demand, said Devesh Chaturvedi, an additional director-general at the Ministry of Tourism.

"There will be a recovery by the end of 2009. The economic situation will improve and correction in hotel and airline ticket prices will encourage more people to travel," he added.

Few other bailout measures were suggested, for instance grant of deemed export status to the tourism sector, cut in luxury tax and extension of tax holidays for hotels, cut in service tax for tour operators and de-linking of hotel projects from real estate projects but none could be incorporated into the scheme as all these measures required clearance certificates from various ministries.

The Department of Tourism also has plans to organize road shows in countries like Singapore, Canada, UK, Japan and Australia, in joint venture with the IATO. The ongoing year will see a rise in the advertisements and marketing through trade fairs and exhibitions to draw the attention of foreign tourists from across the world. Moreover, there are possibilities of constructing helipads in various places to introduce the helicopter services for the tourists.

The Union Ministry has also launched a preliminary appeal `Atithi Devo Bhavah' (guest is god) to boost the influx of tourism, which in turn would act as a catalyst for economic development. The essence of ‘Atithi Devo Bhavah' is all about developing a sense of responsibility towards our visitors and to preserve our rich culture and heritage.

India is hoping more Arab tourists will visit the country and make up for a dip in visitor numbers from other parts of the world and sees the potential of making the Middle East its number one source market.

Meanwhile, the Ministry also hopes to make "West Asia our number one tourist market. We have increased our activities and expenditure in the Gulf by 50 per cent," Manmohan Sadana, regional director of India Tourism said recently. India Tourism is investing outdoor campaigns by advertising on buses and building in the UAE, Bahrain and Oman.

Based on the number of visas issued by the Indian missions, about 215,000 people from the Middle East visited India last year compared with 172,600 in 2007. The number of visitors from the UAE grew to 78,400 from 60,800 in 2007. Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran and Turkey were the other key markets last year.

Indian tourism officials attending the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) fair said foreign visitors traveling to the country between April and December can also benefit the "Visit India 2009" scheme, which has been launched to minimize the impact of the global recession.

Considering India's large size and a population of over one billion, the country is considered as achieving much below its potential in the tourism business. Over the last few years, it has tried to create more hotel room supply, greater air connections seat capacity, more train services and it is trying to modernize airports to handle traffic growth.

[ BY GAURI KUMAR ]