India Tourism is a long way to go - Manish K. Jaiswal
News and Reviews: So, the results are out. India trails behind 41 countries in tourist arrivals. The Incredible India campaign to woo foreign tourists, fail to insert excitement with foreigners to visit the land of diversity. India may like to think that it draws a lot of foreign tourists, but the fact is that the many-splendoured land of the Taj Mahal gets far fewer visitors than much smaller nations like Ukraine, Tunisia, Croatia and Saudi Arabia, says a report.
While India received 4.44 million tourists in 2006, it lagged far behind Ukraine, which got 15.62 million tourists, Tunisia (6.55 million), Croatia (8.65 million) and Saudi Arabia (8.03 million). The findings were from the World Tourism Organisation, a UN agency that compiles global tourism rankings, and put out in the ministry of tourism’s annual publication India Tourism Statistics. In 1998, India stood 47th in the world ranking, which went up to 54 in 2002, 44 in 2004, 41 in 2005 and 42 in 2006. “India’s share in international tourist arrivals, though increasing in recent years, is still quite low at 0.52 percent in 2006,” the report states.
On top of the list is France (79.08 million), followed by Spain (58.45 million), the US (51.06 million), China (49.6 million), Italy (41.05 million), Britain (30.65 million), Germany (23.56 million) and Mexico (21.35 million). Germany is a surprise to me as Dubai, Australia and Thailand should be getting more tourists for sure.
According to the report, international tourist arrivals worldwide registered a growth of 5.4 percent during the year 2006 compared to 5.5 percent during 2005 and 10 percent during 2004 over previous years. The total international tourist arrivals in 2006 was 846 million. The top 10 international tourist attracting countries in 2006 accounted for around 47 percent share. Region-wise, the highest tourist arrivals were in Europe, which attracted 461.0 million tourists in 2006, a 5.1 percent growth over 2005.
In terms of foreign exchange earnings, however, India has fared better. In 2006, India earned $8.93 billion against $7.49 billion in 2005 - surging ahead of countries like Tunisia and Croatia.
“In recent years, there has been significant growth in Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) and Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) from tourism. In 2007, the number of FTAs and FEE from tourism was about five million and $12 billion respectively,” said Tourism Secretary S. Banerjee. France tops the list in terms of foreign exchange earnings too, with Spain, the US, Italy, China, Britain, Germany, Australia and Turkey following behind.
News and Reviews : It is indeed a pleasure to see rise in percentage (100%) over last 5 years in terms of In-Bound Tourist, but it is far low compared to India’s Potential and Brand. May be the Tourism in India is very much placed on the both end of spectrum. One end reflects the most expensive part (Taj Hotels and S. Indian SPAs) and the second end would be (least expensive) Bag-Packers (tourists) who come in hoard (Chartered Plane load) from UK / France and Spain to GOA. Perhaps, we need to get mid budget tourists who should ideally look at India as a land of Plenty, Modernity and Class rather than current perception of Exotic Land of Extremes. May be we need to change our mind-set towards Indian Tourism besides just talking about poor infrastructure being the culpril.
Manish K. Jaiswal