13% dip in number of Indians visiting US

washington — The number of Indians travelling to the US dropped by nearly 13 per cent in the first six months of 2017 due to economic policies like the demonetisation and America’s inability to process visas faster, a tourism expert has said.

According to latest figures released by US National Travel and Tourism Office, in the first six months (January to June), there was a drop of 12.9 per cent in the number of people travelling from India to the US.

The drop was a significant 18.3 per cent during the second quarter — months of April, May, and June.

“We’ve seen some softness in visitation (from India to US) in 2017, in first part of the year. We expect that to be just a shortterm phenomenon,” Brand USA’s president and CEO Chris Thompson said.

“Obviously, there’s lots going on in India that affects people’s ability to travel or even their perception of travel,” he added.

Thompson said the significant policy changes made by India in the last one year might have impacted the numbers.

“There are so many things that influence the intent or ability for people to travel. The demonetisation. The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was also something that affects people’s ability or intent to travel,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he couldn’t pinpoint the reason behind the dwindling numbers, but hoped that the “softness” be a shortterm phenomenon. — PTI