Tourist arrivals boost forex earnings to Rs23,000 crore

Indian tourism touched new heights in 2005 with the growth of about 13.5 per cent in arrivals and about 20 per cent in foreign exchange earnings. During the first 11 months of the year, 3.35 million tourists visited the country while the number during the corresponding period of last year was 2.59 million. Similarly, foreign exchange earnings through these arrivals during January-November, 2005 was Rs22,958 crore against Rs17,039 crore during the corresponding period of last year.

Going by the average of 5 per cent global tourism growth, India has emerged as one of the fastest growing tourism destinations. The launching of several innovative schemes like 'Atithi Devo Bhava', 'Priyadarshini' and 'Rural Tourism' has enabled India to emerge as one of the hottest destinations in the world.

India has been ranked fifth among the world's tourists' hot spots and also the fastest-growing tourism, judged by the World Travel and Tourism Counccil to have 8.8 per cent annual growth. WTTC also projected India as one of the, 'emerging tourism markets' having potential of $ 24 billion annual foreign exchange earnings through tourism by 2015.

Atithi Devo Bhava
The year started with the launching of Atithi Devo Bhava on January 19th, a social awareness campaign aimed at providing the inbound tourists the sense of being welcomed by, and to the country. The components of the campaign are orientation and training to taxi drivers, guides, immigration officers, tourist police and other personnel directly interacting with the tourists. Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Agra and Augrangabad were covered in first phase.

About 26,000 service providers were trained in these cities. After successful completion of first phase, second phase of the campaign launched in November, 2005 with the target of training and sensitising 75,000 personnel by the end of next year under the campaign.

BIMSTEC meet
In February, 2005, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan met under the chairmanship of India at Kolkatta to explore intra-region tourism opportunities. The meeting decided to adopt joint marketing of the region and more interaction among the countries. The deliberations provided fresh impetus for the development of tourism infrastructure in the region. Tour operators from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were taken on a familiarisation trip to the North Eastern states during the conference to promote intra-regional tourism.

In January, 2005 India was also asked to chair the meeting of executive council of World Tourism Council at Thailand to draw rehabilitation plan for the tsunami affected countries. It was a recognition of the emerging profile of Indian tourism.

Tourism ministers' meet
State tourism ministers met on 4 and 5 March in New Delhi to consider rationalisation of taxes levied by the states in the tourism sector and measures to promote budget accommodation. The meeting, chaired by the tourism ministry also decided on a time bound programme to make all tourist sites plastic free and areas around tourism spots free from vehicular traffic. Launching of employment generation scheme through tourism, development of quality men power, single window clearance system were some of the significant decisions taken during the meet.

WTTC meet
Against the bids by several developed countries, India has bagged the prestigious global meet of the World Travel and Tourism Council. More than 500 delegates including government's representatives, major hotel chains, airlines and tourism and travel industry attended the meet held during 8-10 April, 2005 in New Delhi. The meeting provided a good opportunity to project various aspects of Indian tourism before the captains of world tourism industry.

Cruise tourism
In order to promote India as the ideal destination for cruise tourism, initiatives were taken to formulate the policy to look into issues like immigration, customs, quarantine restrictions, identification of ports, infrastructure facilities, connectivity, and taxation issues in this regard. A high power steering group was constituted in April to give a shape to cruise shipping policy. Foreign cruise liners were briefed about opportunities available in India.
Tourism has received a further boost with the launch operation by one of the leading cruise liners of the world in Indian waters in October. The cruise liner started its operation on Mumbai-Goa-Lakshydweep route

Medical tourism
One of the remarkable initiatives of the year was medical tourism, which has a phenomenal potential to bring in foreign exchange. The ministry of tourism along with the ministry of family welfare set up a task force to chalk out a strategy in this regard. Sub-committees were constituted to sort out issues of accreditation of hospitals, standardisation of services and marketing. The work of price bending by hospitals to ensure uniform and reasonable prices for some treatments and accreditation for maintaining the required international standards have been completed. The ministry of tourism has also prepared promotional CDs, brochures and other material for launching campaign in overseas markets in January next year. A new category of visa, called M-visa, which provides a long stay to a medical tourist and his or her companion, was also started this year.

Rural tourism
Recognising the important role tourism can play as a catalyst for development in rural areas, a 'rural tourism' scheme was launched this year. The objective is not only to showcase art, craft and heritage but also to ensure that benefits of the tourism reach to rural areas. In consultation with the state governments, 63 rural sites were identified and Rs50 lakh was sanctioned for each during the year. Improvement of surroundings of the village, landscaping of the destination, upgradation of roads within the panchayat limits, cleaning of ponds and water bodies and upkeep of local monuments and museums are being taken up under the scheme. To ensure speedy implementation of projects, funds are released directly to the implementing agency. One of the specialities of the scheme is that at each step of implementation, participation of NGO and local youth is ensured.

Gurukuls have been set up at five destinations - Pochampalli (Andhra Pradesh), Raghurajpur (Orissa), Hodka(Hujarat), Pranpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Aranmula (Kerala) to provide a unique experience to visitors. During their short stay at the villages tourists can also learn art, music and other forms of our heritage from the master artists. An exclusive website on rural destinations - www.exploreruralindia.org was launched in October 2005

Project 'Priyadarshini'
'Priyadarshini' is an endeavour to bring in women in greater numbers in the core area of tourism at all levels. Through the project, launched on 9 December 2005, women will be trained to drive tourist taxis. They will also be provided training for self-defence, vehicle repairing and knowledge of other related domains. The trained women will be able to work as cab drivers, tourist guides as well as be the face of 'Incredible India'. The objective is to make tourists, especially women tourists more comfortable.

Under the scheme the ministry would also enable women entrepreneurs to set up art-cum-souvenir shops, small cafeteria and facilitation kiosks at tourist places. The scheme will be launched in Mumbai and Hyderabad next year.

Tourism road shows
In order to project various aspects of Indian tourism, the ministry organised tourism road shows in Seoul, Tokyo and Osaka from 11 to 16 October, 2005. Similar shows were organised in Milan, Paris, Serbia and other key source markets of Europe. These road shows were attended by a large number of tour operators and travel writers. The second phase of the Incredible India campaign continued till March 2005 and was supported by innovative schemes like 'Let us go to India', a TV campaign in Japan, and 'Walk with Buddha' in Thailand and China, etc. A taxi in London and a tram in Berlin with 'Incredible India' colours became very popular. IT base marketing and dissemination of information created keen awareness among the prospective tourists about India as a hot destination.

Night bazaars
This year the ministry of tourism evolved a concept of night bazaars to provide a unique shopping experience and healthy cultural entertainment to the tourists which generally land up in odd hours or have short stay during transit or are busy with their business appointments during the day. These bazaars will showcase Indian theatre, poetry and handicrafts and preserve the traditional art and cultural forms of the country. The first such night bazaar was held at Chankaya Puri, New Delhi in April-May, 05. Another night bazaar is expected to be launched soon at Hyderababad.

Revival of Jammu & Kashmir
The year 2005 saw the revival of J & K tourism in a big way. Domestic tourists' flow to the Kashmir valley during the first six months of this year recorded a growth of about 83 per cent. Foreign tourist arrivals also increased significantly. The ministry of tourism sanctioned Rs3.0 crore for the development of six villages as tourist destinations, which include Drung, Surinsar, Gagangir, Sonamarg, Pahalgam and Jheri. Three tourism development authorities in the valley area to Jammu were provided funding worth Rs2 crore each for the current financial year for the development of tourism infrastructure. A new tourist circuit, Jammu-Rajouri-Poonch was sanctioned Rs688 lakh. Familiarisation tours for leading tour operators/travel agents from Britain, USA and Italy were organised to the publicised destinations of J & K.