Inbound optimism

The stakeholders in the inbound segment are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that the pace of growth in the inbound space will accelerate as they near the peak business season. Most of these players need to realise that the need of the hour is to take courageous business decisions and to be ready to take advantage of business opportunities when the tide turns in favour of inbound travel.

Fortunately, there are plenty of business leaders and travel houses, who have expressed the desire to win and reap as many opportunities as possible to register a steady growth target instead of just sitting on the side and praying for a flat year without seeing red.

It looks manageable to achieve a decent growth, keeping in mind today's consumer across various source markets, who makes travel decisions closer to the actual date of travel, unlike earlier when people booked 6-12 months in advance.

There are more reasons to be prepared for opportunities as there is no longer any restriction on re-entry of a tourist within 60 days as per the amended visa norms, the visa-on-arrival facility has been extended to five more ports of entry. Further, the group landing permit scheme has been amended to empower the accredited DOT tour operators to stimulate inbound growth.

To top it all, the Ministry of Tourism has also launched a new promotional campaign called “Find What You Seek’ for the international market , which focuses on the needs of the consumer and marks a shift from the earlier product based approach.

Optimistic players will always focus on the positives, while a pessimist gets bogged down by the negatives. The time has come that even the most conventional player becomes positively oriented and starts promoting India with a sense of courage and pride.