As tourism becomes a key driver of the Indian economy with its growing foreign exchange earnings and income generating potential, the government has to streamline infrastructure and visa procedures to tap the segment's full potential, experts across the industry say.
"Travel and tourism is the second largest employer in India and the second largest revenue earner. It needs no introduction. The country is a continent in itself. But the government has to sort out the visa road blocks and infrastructure loopholes," Iqbal Mulla, president of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), told IANS on the sidelines of a South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE) business forum.
Mulla said: "India gets the second highest tourist traffic from the UK but the new Indian visa regulations stipulate that a visitor from UK cannot return to India within two months of visiting the country".
"You need easier visa policy so that foreign tourists can stay longer or return on repeat trips. India cannot be seen in a week's time," Mulla said. He said TAAI has taken it up with the tourism and civil aviation ministries.
Like other countries in the west, India too must introduce visa on arrival,Harkripal Singh, chief representative of the TAAI said.
"Security threats are all make-belief. People can stand in queues in airports at metros for their visa," Singh said.
Pointing to a mismatch between inbound and outbound tourism arising from visa controls and poor infrastructure, Mulla said "outbound tourism was growing by 25 per cent and all tourism boards were buying from India".
The outbound tourism figure from India is expected to touch 50 million by 2020, estimates by leading South Asian tourism monitors say.
"We are losing foreign exchange because of this huge mismatch between footfalls and growth rate in inbound (nearly 6.28 million foreign arrivals last year) and outbound tourism. Issues like multiple taxes and entertainmentlicenses are slowing down growth of inbound tourism...if you want to host a dinner at a five star property for a group of foreign tourists, the tour operator has to acquire at least 54 licenses," Mulla explained.
India should do much more to attract foreign tourists to the country, Timmy S. Kandhari, executive director of leader, hospitality and leisure of PricewaterhouseCoopers, said.
"India gets only 6 million tourists while Istanbul alone gets 13 to 15 million tourists. India lacks infrastructure and rooms. We currently have 120,000 rooms and are short of 150,000 rooms. Land acquisition for new properties is a major problem as well as connectivity to smaller cities," Kandhari told IANS.
The marketing strategy for India as a destination should also shift from a heritage-culture oriented packages to more experiential itineraries. "Today's traveller likes to eat, experience and shop," Rajeev Kohli, joint managing director of Creative Travel Pvt Ltd, said.
» Read Complete News.....(You need to login first to read complete news). New User? Register for FREE!
» Back to Travel News