India becomes more attractive
As inbound gets promising, experts say it’s an opportunity to earn the foreign exchange to help further stimulate growth sentiment in our country.
India is climbing back with steady improvement in Index of Industrial Production, capital market and consumer confidence. In fact, many captains of the industry believe that the little dent in the form of fear of the Indian growth story losing steam has paid off very well.
“India will remain as the most dynamic growth story among the emerging economies. The recent apprehension that Indian growth story will fizzle out, has yielded many positive announcements and agility in the policy making process,” said
Arjun Sharma, Co– Chairman, CII National Committee on Tourism & MD, Le Passage to India.
46% of close to 500 respondents from the industry feel confident of foreign tourist arrivals going up in the coming six months
“Today, when you look at India, everything is back and looks as promising as before; be it the IIP, capital markets, or our tourism sector,” he added. Echoing similar views, Subhash
Goyal, President, Indian Association of Inbound Tour Operators and Chairman, STIC Travel Group said, “We have to spread the message that India has become over
The year will be very fruitful and we will end the year with over 20 per cent growth Today, when you look at India, everything is back and looks as promising as before India has become over 20 per cent more attractive on account of depreciation in the Indian Rupee The growth opportunities emerging in the CIS countries and Latin America are commendable
20 per cent more attractive on account of depreciation in Indian Rupee, if we have to stimulate growth in the inbound section. It’s like a silver lining that can be used to earn the coveted foreign exchange to help further stimulate growth sentiment in our country.”
The FICCI’s recent survey also points out that the present times are challenging, but growing number of stakeholders in the tourism industry now feel that there is a surge in inbound tourist arrivals in 2013. “It is indeed heartening to note that 46 per cent of close to 500 respondents from our industry felt confident of the foreign tourist arrivals to go up in the coming 6 months. An equal number of respondents also feel there would be no impact of the slowdown over the next 6 months on tourism, which is a marked improvement and shows growing improvement,” said Jyotsna Suri, Vice President FICCI and Chairperson & Managing Director, Bharat Hotels.
Vikram Madhok, Vice Chairman, PATA-India Chapter and MD, Abercrombie & Kent India has set up aggressive targets in the luxury inbound space that they operate with considerable ease. “In the first three months of the present year, we are about 10 per cent below target. But, the booking trend for September onwards is very positive. In fact, we strongly believe that the year will be very fruitful and we will end the year with over 20 per cent growth,” Madhok said.
Arup Sen, Director, Special Projects, Cox & Kings also believe that the forthcoming season will offer good returns. “The winter of 2013 is expected to be much better than 2012. We expect growth in our inbound segment,” said Sen. Thomas Cook India is also committed to its bullish plans on the season ahead in 2013. “We are strongly committed to the plans and targets we’ve set ourselves for India Inbound season 2013-14. Our current initiatives include aggressive promotion and engagements across stakeholders to not just neutralise, but give a strong reassurance,” said Surinder Singh Sodhi – Senior Vice President & Head, Leisure Travel (Inbound), Thomas Cook India.
Further suggesting a fresh ray of hope, Sen said, “Most hotels and service providers are quoting in INR, and thus mitigating any exchange fluctuation risk. Nevertheless, with the rupee devaluating to the US Dollar, the American market will get a natural impetus owing to increased purchasing power of the dollar.”
Here, Sodhi is quick to add that the FTOs should pass on reasonable benefit to their Indian counterparts keeping in mind that the inputs costs are going to rise.
“Unarguably, the fall in rupee has made tour packages a lot more affordable. However, in some cases, foreign agents may increase their profit margins and hence only pass on the limited benefits to the customer. The depreciation in rupee hikes fuel prices which will result in commodity prices shooting up. The currency movement creates uncertainty in the market with trade margins taking a hit, in case of an appreciation,” said Sodhi.
But, the rupee depreciation can also create a ‘mirage effect’ and distract the inbound industry, which is fighting global and domestic odds to grow its FTAs. Because, the fall in value of rupee will in one way enhance revenue earnings, when computed in rupee terms.
“The inbound space is still a long way off the highs it had scaled in 2007-08 before the crisis. The core source markets that used to give us
business are still suffering. Leading economies in Europe, except the likes of Germany, France and UK are still recovering. Here, many countries including Spain and Italy are yet to show strong signs of recovery. Although the conventional source markets are taking time to recover. However, the growth opportunities emerging in the CIS countries and Latin America are commendable. The same bullish sentiment is the case with Asia,” said Dipak Deva, Vice Chairman, WTTC-India and CEO, Destination Management, India & South Asia, Kuoni Destination Management.
“In my opinion, it will be a commendable task if the industry could end up with double- digit growth. Here, one also needs to clearly define growth in terms of visitor arrivals and revenues. If, the dollar stays beyond 60 levels, there will be automatically incremental growth in terms of revenues, while same pace is not likely to be seen in terms of visitor arrivals. We can talk about
The winter of 2013 is expected to be much better than 2012. We expect growth in our inbound segment We are strongly committed to the plans and targets that we’ve set ourselves for India Inbound season 2013-14
any number of world heritage sites, the UNESCO heritage sites, world- class hotels, state- of-the-art air- ports. But mere infrastructure is not enough to bring tourists to a country,” added Deva.
According to Deva, Visa Liquidity in addition to airliquidity is one of the most important aspects that ensures increase in visitors arrivals to a country. India had grown air-inventory in the recent past, which is now growing at desirable pace. To leverage, India now needs to enhance visa liquidity. “Presume, if next week I need to go to Turkey. My office will get me an online visa in literally speaking no time. These are the initiatives that differentiate between the countries that want to generate tourist arrivals from the rest. In the Indian context, we have, to some extent, address several issues related to visa. However, if we are not going to take facilitative steps like illustrated, we will never reach our true potential in terms of inbound tourism,” said Deva.
“Today, people do not want any hassle on a holiday. More importantly, they are not prepared for any hassle, or inconvenience before a holiday. As of today, our visa processes need to further gear up to meet the tourist’s expectations for a hassle-free visa experience, without any undue delays,” he said.
“The recent extension of VoA facility to five new ports including Goa and Kerala are the right steps. Earlier, we used to face a peculiar situation with our Finnish clients. Over 50 per cent of them come on charter flights to Goa. But, they so far couldn’t avail VoA in Goa, although Finland was included in the VoA scheme in 2011,” he added.