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New Delhi [India], August 4 (ANI): India's <keyword id="21307504" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="outbound-tourism" source="keywords">outbound tourism</keyword> market is expected to reach USD 18817.72 million (USD 18.81 billion) in 2024 and grow at a <keyword id="20256055" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="CAGR" source="keywords">CAGR</keyword> of 11.4 per cent in the decade between 2024 and 2034 to reach approximately USD 55388.41 million (USD 55.38 billion), highlighted a FICCI-Nangia knowledge paper. The paper titled '<keyword id="22661864" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Navigating-Horizons" source="Orion">Navigating Horizons</keyword>: <keyword id="22661865" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-Rise-and-Future-of-Indian-Outbound-Tourism" source="Orion">The Rise and Future of Indian Outbound Tourism</keyword>', released during the '3rd Outbound Tourism Summit' here in the FICCI office earlier this week, asserted that few emerging markets and opportunities for outbound <keyword id="19916662" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="travel" source="keywords">travel</keyword> include various Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, African and Eastern European countries. India's online travel market, which consists of sales of travel services through online channels, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.5 per cent between 2024-29, from USD 17.24 billion to USD 28.40 billion. International travel has thus been eased by the steady growth in affordable technology, states the paper. It further states that the government administration and the tourism industry stakeholders in India may undertake various strategic interventions to promote the outbound tourism market. These include bilateral engagement; improved connectivity; support to travel industry stakeholders; marketing of international destinations; curated packages; and hospitality partnerships, among others. Speaking at the launch of the report, Mary M Mutuku, Deputy High Commissioner of Kenya to India said that Kenya is not only committed to deepen the relations between India and Kenya but also promoting Kenya as a preferred tourist destination. "Currently, the India market is among the top 5 Kenya's key sources of tourists, and this has the potential to grow even further," she said in her brief address. To attract more <keyword id="110519" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-tourists" source="Orion">Indian tourists</keyword> to Kenya, Mutuku stated that Kenya has put in place the necessary infrastructure to ease travel in the country. "With an increase in the number of flights between the two countries along with the opening of the Nairobi Expressway, tourists will have more convenience traveling in Kenya. A new cruise terminal at Mombasa port is a major boost to cruise tourism. The berth targets to enhance passenger handling capacity as well as allow for an increased volume of cruise ships arrival at the port," she added. Seitenov Darkhan, Deputy Ambassador, Embassy of Kazakhstan to India had said, "We have huge potential for mutual and beneficial cooperation in the tourism sector. There has been significant growth in the number of tourists coming to Kazakhstan from India which is also due to offering 14 days visa-free regime for Indian tourists along with an increase in a number of direct flights." While highlighting the investment potential for Indian industry, Darkhan further said that in order to meet the needs of Indian tourists in Kazakhstan, it would be advisable to consider building a network of Indian hotels and restaurants in the major cities in Kazakhstan. "We invite major Indian investors to participate in implementing these initiatives in our country," he added. Geshan Dissanayake, Minister Commercial, High Commission of Sri Lanka in India said, "The strong shared heritage between India and Lanka forms the bedrock of our bilateral relationship. India alone stands out as a key source market for Sri Lanka. The integration of the Indian UPI payment system with 'LankaPay' has made simplified payment options for Indian tourists visiting Sri Lanka," he added. Dissanayake further stated that to fully realize the potential of outbound tourism there is a need to focus on marketing and promotion of various offerings by Sri Lanka; infrastructure development; promoting sustainable tourism and further streamlining the visa process. Working together, we can unlock the potential of outbound tourism between India and Sri Lanka," he added. Jyotsna Suri, Past President, of FICCI and CMD, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group stated that any country has to have healthy inbound and outbound tourism. "<keyword id="644076" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-tourism" source="Orion">Indian tourism</keyword> has witnessed a major growth in the last few years and while we are at the threshold of massive growth, we must be cognizant of sustainability as well," she added. Ankush Nijhawan, Chairman, of FICCI Outbound Tourism Committee and Co-Founder, TBO.com and MD, of Nijhawan Group said that the global travel and tourism industry is expected to reach USD 2.6 trillion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 8.2 per cent. "Traveler preferences are becoming increasingly diverse, and demand tailor-made travel services. Demographic boost, government support, increased connectivity, and niche segment growth are powering India's outbound travel boom," he added. Representatives from the Embassy of Madagascar to India, the Embassy of Georgia to India, the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, Singapore Tourism Board also shared their perspectives during the session.

Indian outbound tourism to reach USD 18817.72 million, grow at over 11% CAGR through 2034: FICCI-Nangia report

In an uncharacteristic response from an industry body which tend to be mellow in their take on government policies, the Federation of Associations in the Indian Tourism &amp; Hospitality (<keyword id="6389686" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="faith">FAITH</keyword>), said on Sunday that the Indian tourism industry has "gone into a state of disbelief and shock". This is the policy federation of all the national associations representing the complete tourism, travel and hospitality industry of India. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="75790707" title="Lockdown 4.0 ⁠— India issues new guidelines allowing states to decide the red, green, and orange zones" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> "The industry has gone numb from a lack of any umbrella direction from the government or without any fiscal &amp; monetary support," it said. The industry body said, "Indian Tourism industry goes into a state of shock and disbelief as there were no announcements to support tourism, 10 weeks of constant discussions come to a naught and industry has gone directionless". With no visibility of cash inflows the Indian tourism industry is now looking at large scale bankruptcies, business closures which will lead to job losses across cities, towns and hinterlands of India. This has the potential to set back the Indian tourism, travel and hospitality industry by many years, it said. The body said that the Indian tourism industry was looking forward to deep set of survival measures for tourism from the Rs 20 lakhs crore package announced over 5 days, which however were not addressed. The Indian tourism, travel and hospitality sector impacts almost 10 per cent of GDP through its direct and indirect impact. It has already seen over one quarter of accumulated losses which began from February onwards. There is no cash inflow expected for many quarters over FY20-21 as the key segments of the Indian tourism economy will be down. The international inbound tourists, inbound and VFR - (visiting friends and relatives) and the outbound travel will remain mostly non-performing due to international flight restrictions and tragic impact in most key markets tourism markets of India, the association said. "Domestic travel and corporate travel within the country may slightly ease up post lockdown but will be highly restricted due to fear of travel among elders and children, the new social distancing norms, corporate travel freeze and the closure of the holiday season which will impacting all leisure, adventure, heritage, spiritual, cruise and niche tourism segments," it said. The meetings incentives exhibitions &amp; events segment will be severely impacted due to the meeting size restrictions. Consequently all tourism service providers, the hotels, travel agents, tour operators tourist transporters, restaurants, guides will be compromised and the tourism industry of India will be operating with extreme under capacities making most tourism businesses unviable on a cash operating basis. To prevent this and to ensure survival, FAITH had proposed a dedicated interest and collateral free long term fund for paying salaries and operating costs and for a minimum of 12 months of complete waiver of fixed central &amp; state statutory and banking liabilities without any penal or compounding interest which have not been addressed. The proposed MSME fund with its many underlying restrictions may have a very limited usage. FAITH &amp; its ten member associations (ADTOI, ATOAI, FHRAI, HAI, IATO, ICPB, IHHA, ITTA, TAAI, TAFI) had been constantly dialoguing with all factions of the government over the past 10 weeks the PMO, ministries of Finance, Commerce , Aviation, and Tourism, with RBI, with all 28 Chief Ministers, Niti Aayog and with the Empowered Group 6. Indian tourism travel and hospitality impacts 10-12 per cent of India's employment which covers almost 5 crore plus direct and indirect jobs. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/indian-firms-can-now-directly-list-in-foreign-markets-there-are-a-few-more-big-changes-to-companies-act/articleshow/75785648.cms">Indian firms can now directly list in foreign markets – there are a few more big changes to Companies Act</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/policy/news/india-will-merge-some-government-companies-and-privatise-some-cpse/articleshow/75785709.cms">India will reduce the number of central government companies⁠— some of them will get bigger and some will be sold to private players</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/india-puts-a-pause-on-new-bankruptcy-cases-for-a-year-and-other-changes-that-will-cap-the-rise-in-bad-loans/articleshow/75785508.cms">India puts a pause on new bankruptcy cases for a year ⁠— and other changes that will cap the rise in bad loans</a>

'Indian tourism industry is in a state of shock and disbelief'

New Delhi, Mar 12 () The coronavirus pandemic could deal a crippling blow to the Indian travel and tourism industry, specially with the government suspending all visas, with the economic impact being assessed to run into thousands of crores of rupees. According to industry chamber CII, this is the one of the worst crises ever to hit the Indian tourism industry impacting all its geographical segments - inbound, outbound and domestic, almost all tourism verticals - leisure , adventure, heritage, MICE, cruise, corporate and niche segments. The whole tourism value chain across hotels, travel agents, tour operations, destinations, restaurants, family entertainment venues and air, land and sea transportation have been hit. In an impact assessment of the coronavirus pandemic, CII Tourism Committee said inbound foreign tourism of over USD 28 billion in value terms accounts for an average 60-65 per cent between October to March. "As the news of the virus started picking up from November, the percentage of cancellations started going up in this segment exponentially and is reaching a peak of almost 80 per cent now in March in many Indian locations. The value at risk from this segment will be in multiples of tens of thousands of crores," the CII assessment report said. With India cancelling all visas, the chamber said the impact "will be worse". It further said,"The forward bookings for the inbound season of October 2020-March 2021 which should have started picking are all muted. These are showing highly discouraging signs with cancellations of important global travel marts which are marketplaces for contracting for the next season." It further said there are reports of large scale forward cancellations from NRI segment from developed markets, which account for over 60 per cent during April to September inbound visits. "Unless the progression of the virus stops, almost the entire value for the remainder of 2020 season is at risk," the report added. ANAROCK Property Consultants Chairman Anuj Puri said India's hospitality sector will definitely be impacted by the announcement of a global pandemic, and the mounting numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country. "The cancellation of visas for foreigners as well as the strong advice issued to Indians to refrain from unnecessary travel will have a marked effect. This is the most unsettling healthcare crisis in recent times and hotel bookings will go south," he added. On Indians being advised to refrain from unnecessary travel, as per the CII report almost 28 million plus Indians are estimated to have travelled outside in 2019 and there were almost 1.8 billion domestic tourist footfalls. The holiday season of Indians -- those travelling within the country and outside -- is heavy in April-July, October and December. "The December holiday season of 2019 took an estimated hit of almost 40-50 per cent, the holiday season of April to July 2020 is likely to take a humongous hit which could be as high as 80-100 per cent, unless there is positive news of the progression of virus decreasing," the CII assessment report said. There are advanced cancellations and highly reduced forward booking pipelines for the holiday season. Only corporates are flying and that too only on highly essential same day travel. Most of the MNCs are advising work from home, stifling travel, it added. On suspension of visas, MakeMyTrip Group CEO Rajesh Magow told ,"The period between February till the end of March is typically a lean period because of exam season but we are seeing a demand slowdown for the upcoming summer holiday season especially for international travel. The situation remains dynamic making it hard to quantify the actual impact on our business and industry at large." He further said,"The decision by the government will have an impact on inbound and outbound international travel. So far there are no restrictions or advisories issued for domestic travel." VFS Global Regional Group COO - South Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Americas Vinay Malhotra said,"While it is too early to comment on the impact of coronavirus on visa application trends, so far, our visa application processes in India continue on schedule as per the mandates of our client governments." He also said the company is exploring steps to assuage concerns of people about visiting busy public areas due to the nature of the virus by considering discounted rates on courier return services for visa customers who want to avoid returning to the visa centres to pick up their passports. Besides, he said,"We are also contemplating lower fees for our Visa at your doorstep service, for those customers who are requesting an alternative to visiting the centres to submit visa applications." AKT RKL RKL ANUANU

Impact of coronavirus on Indian tourism could run into thousands of crores of rupees

Last week, the <keyword id="6356662" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="singapore" source="Orion">Singapore</keyword> Tourism Board (STB) announced visitor numbers to the city-state which topped expectations with over 2.9 million arrivals in the first three months of this year. This is 62 per cent of 2019's first quarter figure of the 4.7 million people who visited Singapore in the first quarter of 2019. A total of 193,230 of these came from India which is about 3.5 times more than the 54,530 who arrived in 2022. Indian residents are the fourth largest source of tourist arrivals in the first quarter after Indonesians (523,300), Malaysian (278,910) and Australians (265,730). Americans made up the fifth largest group of visitors by country of origin at 168,960. China which was the largest source of tourists for Singapore with over 3.75 million visitors in 2019 have yet to fully return to Singapore and made up the ninth largest group of tourists in Q1 with only 124,560 coming to Singapore. In 2019, based on figures from China's National Bureau of Statistics, Chinese tourists made nearly 170 million trips abroad. Although China has lifted travel restrictions, cumbersome travel processes targeted at Chinese residents by countries like South Korea and Japan earlier this year dampened the enthusiasm for outboard travel. This has been exacerbated by delays in passport renewals and visa applications as well as the inability of Chinese airlines to mount the same number of flights as before COVID. Based on data from Alibaba-owned travel booking site Fliggy, during February, international flights out of China are at less than 10 per cent of 2019 levels. Furthermore, the travel habits of Chinese citizens have been changed by three years of COVID-19 restrictions with many now contented to explore the vast and varied attractions in their own country. "The Chinese tourists we will welcome this year and in the coming years are very different from those who came before," Wolfgang Georg Arlt, founder and chief executive of COTRI (Chinese Outbound Tourism Research Institute), was quoted by CBNC as saying at ITB Berlin, the world's largest tourism trade fair. COTRI is an independent consulting company based in Germany. In China as elsewhere, years of pandemic-induced lockdowns sparked a shift away from major tourist attractions toward "more nature-orientated, more outdoor-orientated tourism," Arlt said. He highlighted the emergence of trends like camping and glamping, as well as family-focused trips. COTRI predicts that Chinese outbound travel will recover to around two-thirds of 2019's figures, with around 110 million overseas trips this year. In the meantime, the Singapore Tourism Board is not waiting for Chinese tourists' return to launch new activities and attractions to boost tourism on the island. To inspire travel to Singapore through TV series and films, STB together with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) announced the launch of an SGD 10 million (USD 7.5 million) Singapore On-screen Fund. The fund aims to support international media and entertainment (M&amp;E) partners in marketing Singapore through television and film shows aimed at an international audience. The Singapore On-screen Fund will support selected projects by key M&amp;E companies, which must be set in Singapore and launched before the first quarter of 2027. Successful projects will receive funding support of up to 30 per cent of qualifying costs related to featuring Singapore, including production and marketing costs. This is in part inspired by past collaborations which resulted in movies such as "Crazy Rich Asians", the popular K-drama "Little Women (2022) and the HBO sci-fi hit series "Westworld Season 3" (2020). These shows created an international impact and left a positive impression on audiences around the world. Also just announced in April is the return of the Free Singapore Tour which is very popular with Indian tourists as well as those from Australia and Indonesia. The tour was suspended during COVID. This tour is organised by STB together with Changi Airport and is meant for transit passengers at Changi who have a layover period of at least five and a half hours but less than 24 hours. They must also have valid entry visas for Singapore to take part in the tours. The objective of organising these free tours is to entice transit passengers to make Singapore a destination for their next holiday. The original three tours available before COVID - the City Sights Tour, Heritage Tour and Jewel Tour - have been refreshed to include new points of interest. A brand-new Changi Precinct tour will introduce travellers to the interesting sights and sounds of the eastern region surrounding Singapore Changi Airport. Each tour lasts two and a half hours and will be available daily, with plans to progressively increase to nine tours a day. In 2019, over 80,000 passengers went on the Free Singapore Tour. Another exciting development is the stationing of a brand-new Disney Cruise Line ship in Singapore from 2025 for five years. A memorandum of understanding between STB and Disney Cruise Line was announced on March 29. The 208,000 gross-ton ship which will have a passenger capacity of about 6,000 plus a crew strength of 2,300 will be taking passengers for cruises around Southeast Asian countries, home to more than 40 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Disney Cruise Line ship has the potential to add millions of local and foreign cruise passengers during the five-year period, including fly-cruise passengers who arrive in Singapore by air. It is also expected to bring about significant spillover benefits for the wider economy. "We look forward to welcoming the magic of Disney Cruise Line to Singapore in 2025," said Keith Tan, Chief Executive of STB. "This is an important milestone for STB and reflects Disney Cruise Line's strong confidence in Singapore and Southeast Asia. The new Disney cruise ship will be an attraction itself and is expected to boost the tourism sector in Singapore for many years to come."

As Indian visitors surge, Singapore tourist arrivals now at two-thirds pre-Covid levels

<ul><li>Only 250,000 Chinese tourists came to <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> in 2016, making India’s immediate neighbour the ninth-largest source of tourists. </li><li>To stimulate interest among Chinese tourists, India’s <keyword id="20048" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="tourism">tourism</keyword> ministry is setting up an office in Beijing and launching roadshows in a number of Chinese cities. </li><li>Ultimately, the tourism ministry’s end goal is to attract at least 1% of <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>’s outbound tourists this year and 10% within the next five years. </li></ul>India’s tourism sector has a problem. It is failing to attract tourists from China which, as per 2016 estimates from the UN’s World Tourism Organization, is the country that contributes the most to global tourism with 135 million outbound visitors. As per calculations from the Indian Express, only <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-snippets-chinese-are-biggest-contributors-to-world-tourism-only-1-in-500-of-them-travels-to-india-5328055/">1 out of 540 Chinese tourists</a> made it to India in 2016, culminating in a paltry total of 250,000 tourists. This makes China, our immediate neighbour, only the ninth-largest source of tourists in India, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Naturally, the Indian government wants to change this. The low level of interest from Chinese tourists represents a huge opportunity to take advantage of, or gap that must be addressed, depending on how you look at it. India’s Minister for Tourism, KJ Alphons, is leaving for China today to oversee the establishment of an Indian tourism outpost in Beijing. The office, which is expected to be operational by the end of the month, will facilitate the launch of tourism roadshows across China in cities like Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou. The Tourism Ministry has also planned to invite members of the Chinese media and lifestyle industries to India and train more Indian guides to speak Mandarin. Currently, there are reported to be only <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/plan-to-increase-chinese-tourists-hits-roadblock-with-only-few-mandarin-speaking-guides/story-6t8QT3m8JkmOmn50a8jo3N.html">37 accredited Indian guides</a> who are trained in Mandarin. Alphons’ last visit to China was in May, when he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization conference on tourism at the behest of Prime Minister Modi. A key focus area of the tourism ministry's efforts in attracting Chinese tourists will be the promotion of the Buddhist Circuit in India. In fact, the ministry has initiated talks with the highways ministry to connect the entire Buddhist travel circuit in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar with four-lane highways. Ultimately, the tourism ministry’s end goal is to attract at least 1% of China’s outbound visitors this year and 10% within the next five years. Given that tourism is considered an export, the envisioned surge in Chinese tourists will contribute towards the reduction of India’s glaring <keyword id="44844" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Trade">trade</keyword> deficit with China, which is estimated to be around $63 billion.

The Indian government wants to attract more Chinese tourists and here’s what it has planned

2016 was much of euphoria for tourism industry. The<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-budget-2017-will-be-a-game-changer-intourism-industry/articleshow/56628238.cms"> tourism ministry</a> got 70 % hike in the budget with an allocation of Rs 1,590 crore, to focus on infrastructure development and promotion and publicity initiatives. But in a knee jerk reaction to <keyword id="6354642" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="modi">Modi</keyword>'s demonetization move in November last year, the industry has been left with no choice but to make losses. In the last few years, the tourism in India has witnessed a major boom. In comparison to inbound travel, India has seen a major growth in the outbound sector, thanks to the disposable income of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-budget-2017-will-be-a-game-changer-intourism-industry/articleshow/56628238.cms">millenials</a>. Here are a few reasons, why India’s tourism hasn’t achieved much in comparison to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-budget-2017-will-be-a-game-changer-intourism-industry/articleshow/56628238.cms">China</a>. Infrastructure While domestic<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-budget-2017-will-be-a-game-changer-intourism-industry/articleshow/56628238.cms"> travellers</a> have quadrupled, Indian tourism didn’t see much development in its infrastructure. While roads may have become better, and a lot of online travel portals have born, what went missing is a massive blue print of infrastructure to take India’s tourism to a new high. In India there has hardly been any addition to new hotels. Compare this to China and you would be surprised to find <keyword id="1333" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="beijing">Beijing</keyword> has as many star-category hotel rooms as all of India. India till 2015 has just a little over 100,000 star rated hotel rooms, compared to Beijing’s 130,000 alone. Also lack of supply of hotel rooms has aggravated the demand thereby making the travel in India far expensive in India. The rooms that cost $400 a night in Delhi or Mumbai would cost hardly $100 dollars in most part of China. 
	<div type="image" msid="56719279" hostid="261"></div>


 Market size Another primary reason for China’s growth in tourism market is its size. China is far larger than our country, packed with tonnes of tourist attractions. Also many foreign visitors coming to India prefer cultural and natural destinations and tend to stay away from the cities. However in China, cities are also major draws. Expenses Tax disparity in independent travel purchase is a major flaw in Indian travel ecosystem. There are just too many taxes, which makes travel expensive. Communication The quality of transportation infrastructure in China is light-years ahead of India, there's simply no comparison, according to a <keyword id="274437" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Quora">Quora</keyword> post. It is far easier and more comfortable for tourists to get around China than it is for them to get around India. China's air, rail, and road networks are all faster, safer, and more modern than India's. 
	<div type="image" msid="56719273" hostid="261"></div>


 Safety and security India has witnessed countless instances of pickpockets, burglary, sexual assaults and scams against foreign tourists. There are tourist traps as well that make the country unsafe for travellers. Visits to India by female tourists dropped 35 percent in 2015 compared with the same period a year ago, according to the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-budget-2017-will-be-a-game-changer-intourism-industry/articleshow/56628238.cms">Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India</a>. There is very little for travellers to worry about in China. Violent crime and rape are almost unheard of. You can walk down dark city streets at night in China and have nothing to worry about. Here are the suggestions of industry experts to make tourism in India at par with China: Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com, an online travel agency and a travel search engine: “The Indian tourism industry is growing at a rapid pace, fuelled by a growing domestic middle class with increasing disposable incomes. In addition, the inbound market is growing at a steady pace as well. However, in comparison to other comparable countries, India still has a long way to go in terms of fulfilling its potential as a tourism destination. The Government has rightly identified Tourism as a pillar of growth in the economy and with improved road infrastructure, regional air connectivity and better budget accommodation, we expect that we will unlock this sector and improve our share of the global tourism market. The Chinese tourism industry &amp; OTAs have benefited from country’s economic development and we believe that India’s tourism sector and online travel market is poised for continued growth and value creation as the economy grows, following the well-established path seen in the US and China.” <keyword id="2049459" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="amitabh-misra">Amitabh Misra</keyword>, Founder of GoFro.com, an online travel marketplace for leisure travel: If we compare the global travel scenario, almost 30-40% population in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-budget-2017-will-be-a-game-changer-intourism-industry/articleshow/56628238.cms">US and Europe</a> go for leisure travel every year, where as in China the number is around 8% and in India it’s still less than 1% of the total population, making it a market with huge growth potential. Having said that one of the major concern is increase in tax disparity in independent travel purchase viz-a-viz holiday packages; for example, the consumer has to pay the tax on flight tickets, now if its combined with a holiday package, they will also have to pay tax on the overall package as well, thus travel is getting costlier for the consumer. We are expecting the 2017 budget to adopt a lenient tax structure which further promote the tourism industry. With government working towards improving country’s infrastructure and enabling tech support at various section will also lead to faster growth of inbound tourism. Ritesh Agarwal, Founder &amp; CEO, OYO Rooms : Infrastructure development is a pre-requisite to provide the much-needed impetus for the industry’s growth. Additional incentives should be provided for infrastructure investments in the travel and tourism sector to accelerate growth. A lower tax rate for hospitality business and the lower rate of interest for real-estate development will ensure opening up of more supply for the nascent branded budget hospitality sector. This will be in line with supporting small owner-friendly policies, such as the exemption of service tax in the sub-Rs. 1000 hotel room category.”

China’s tourism is much ahead of India. Here’s why

Indian travelers have smartly extended the Diwali break into a 5 to 6 day long festive weekend. The travel hungry Indian has been quick to leverage festivals and the upcoming long weekend on account of Diwali offers an apt opportunity to escape from the hectic pace of daily work life and indulge in a short well-deserved getaway, to rejuvenate and recharge.. 
 
With the rapidly evolving Indian traveler of today, fresh new experiences are now de rigueur from outdoor and sports like kick boxing, abseiling, kite surfing in Thailand or alpine adventure in Switzerland; self-drive vacations in New Zealand to decadent spa-wellness in Korea/ Jeju Island and authentic local village stays and culinary-cuisine tours with chefs in France and Italy. 
 
“We have witnessed a significant growth of over 27% not just from metros but equally from mini metros and Tier-II cities”, Mr. Jatinder Paul Singh, Senior Vice President &amp; Head - Sales &amp; Distribution Leisure Travel (Outbound), Thomas Cook India said. 
 
Indians are also maximizing this opportunity to plan short-haul vacations to explore domestic destinations. 
 “Our sales teams have reported a significant increase of 35% in Diwali and festive season bookings compared to 2014, to a diverse range of domestic favorites Coorg, Kabini and Bhutan. An interesting trend that has emerged this Diwali is Indian travelers looking forward to try newer destinations like the Konkan belt”, Mr. Rajeev D. Kale, President &amp; Chief Operating Officer - MICE, Domestic &amp; Sports <keyword id="20048" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="tourism">Tourism</keyword>, Thomas Cook India said. 
 
BI India lists the top trending holiday destinations this season. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

Top travel trends for upcoming Diwali
weekend

It goes without saying that 2015 has been a pretty good year for the<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=tourism"> tourism</a> industry. Infact, since the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=BJP">BJP </a>government has come to power in 2015, the tourism sector has risen to prominence with Prime Minister <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=NARENDRA+MODI">Narendra Modi</a> himself praising the employment and the revenues generated as a result of this industry. 
 
Tourism on the other hand has been a key contributor to the Indian economy as well, and boasts of immense possibilities of growth. Though the government’s initiatives to ensure that domestic and international connectivity and accessibility through the e-visa scheme has borne positive results, there still exists a huge gap as far as travel facilities, infrastructure, high taxes, tourist safety among others. 
 
Thus, it’s no surprise that the travel industry has a lot of expectations from this Union <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=BUDGET">Budget</a> 2016. 
 According to Anil Khandelwal, CFO, Cox and Kings, it’s time that the <keyword id="53865" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="tourism-industry">tourism industry</keyword> be treated at par with exporters based on its foreign exchange earnings. 
 “The industry earns foreign exchange and the retention of foreign exchange is much higher than any other export oriented industry. Like exporters, based on foreign exchange earnings, tour operators should also get exemption of service tax on package tours as the payment is received in foreign exchange. With the service tax added at present, <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> packages lose on account of price competitiveness and cannot match the prices on holiday packages, which are on offer by our competitive countries like China, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore Hong Kong etc,” he adds. 
 Manmeet Ahluwalia, Marketing Head for Expedia India further adds that he expects tourism industry to be a key agenda for the government in this <keyword id="6360189" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Union-Budget">Union Budget</keyword>, similar to its share of importance displayed by the government in the past two years. 
 
On the other hand, Sharat Dhall, President of Yatra feels that leniency in tax structure is the need of the hour which will inturn help boost inbound tourism. 
 
It is because of travel and tourism being a very highly taxed industry in the country that India becomes an expensive destination, which is not good news for anyone. 
 
Echoing his demands, Khandelwal adds that tax is an important issue that needs to be dealt with in this year’s budget. 
 
“Indian tour operators have to pay double taxes for the arrangement for outbound tours, firstly in India and secondly outside India. To avoid the double taxation on the outbound tours, it is recommended that the service portion, which is rendered in India, should be taxed and rest should be out of the service tax,” he said. 
 
He is also of the belief that cruise tourism is one of the budding travel segments in the country that need to be strengthened. 
 
“In order to strengthen it further, robust cruise tourism policy framework is essential as India is entering into a market already dominated by strong cruise tourism players and markets,” he concluded. 
 
Image credits: Indiatimes

This
is what the travel sector expects from Budget 2016

The tour and travel industry has sought for exemption on service tax on foreign exchange earned on inbound tours in the upcoming <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=budget+2017&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Budget 2017</a>. 
 
The industry wants <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=arun+jaitley&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Arun Jaitley</a> to announce lower tax rate and fix the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=GST&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">GST </a>rates for the sector. 
 
"Travel and tourism is one of the highest foreign exchange earners for the country. The industry is expecting that there will be exemption of service tax on foreign exchange earned by tour operators for inbound tours," Cox &amp; Kings Ltd CFO Anil Khandelwal told PTI. 
 
He further said paying of double tax on outbound tours must be also ended. 
 
Currently, an Indian customer pays double tax on outbound holidays for the overseas part of the trip due to service tax in India and also local GST/VAT of the visiting country, he said. 
 
"The service tax/GST should be levied only on the Indian component of the tour," Khandelwal said. 
 
Thomas Cook India Group Chairman and Managing Director Madhavan Menon said: "Strengthening 'Incredible India' brand through the creation of tourist circuits, key infrastructure and rail-roadways, is mission critical." 
 
Effective marketing to position India as a top leisure and MICE destination is also of prime importance, he added. 
 
"The tourism industry is one of the largest and most dynamic sectors globally, accounting for more than a third of the total services trade.... Keeping this in mind, we are hopeful that the upcoming Union Budget will provide a vital and much needed boost to the sector," Menon said. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=oyo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">OYO</a> Founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal said considering the government's focus on speedy implementation of digitalisation for long-term economic growth, "all eyes are now on the Union Budget for clarity on <keyword id="6383566" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Taxation">taxation</keyword> policy and regulatory issues, and fixing norms for the credit guarantee scheme. We hope to see supportive policies for the travel and tourism sector." 
 
He said additional incentives should be provided for infrastructure investments in the travel and tourism sector to accelerate growth. 
 
"A lower tax rate for hospitality business and lower rate of interest for real-estate development will ensure opening up of more supply for the nascent branded budget hospitality sector," Agarwal added.

Tour operators want Arun Jaitley to exempt service tax on foreign exchange during inbound trips

<ul><li>Silicon Valley startup Airbnb has picked up stake in <keyword id="2550719" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO-Rooms">OYO Rooms</keyword>, India's largest hotel rooms aggregator.</li><li>Business Insider had interviewed Airbnb's co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk earlier in March.</li><li>Here are excerpts from his thoughts on the potential for Airbnb in India.</li></ul>One of Silicon Valley's hottest startups, Airbnb, is betting big on India. The startup, which is a marketplace for people offering and looking for homestays and was reportedly valued at $31 billion at last count, has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/home-renting-giant-airbnb-invests-in-indian-unicorn-oyo-rooms/articleshow/68670636.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">picked up a stake</a> in a rival hotel rooms aggregator, OYO Rooms, today. Both companies are looking at opportunities to collaborate on a range of projects, including making OYO accommodations available on the Airbnb platform, a source told Business Insider. While Airbnb has not offered an official comment yet, here is an interview with the co-founder of Airbnb, Nathan Blecharzyk, that was conducted before the deal was announced. The following are the edited excerpts of the answers on the India-specific questions, including one about its competition with OYO, received via email on March 13. Q. Airbnb had aimed to sign up 50,000 homestays in India by 2020. How far have you come? And what is your projection for, say, 2025? How big a part of the global business will India be by 2025? Since the last time I was in India (which was early 2016) our community of hosts has gone from strength to strength and the number of Airbnb listings in India has increased by more than 150%. Our loyal community of hosts have welcomed more than 1.25 million travelers during that period, over 60% of which occurred in just the past 12 months. That growth isn’t just limited to foreign travelers; domestic travel on Airbnb in India has increased by 78% in the past year. Travel to emerging economies is expected to increase at twice the rate of travel to advanced economies from now until 2030 and emerging markets like India are leading the way. With over 45,000 listings, India is a key market for Airbnb. More than one million Indians have chosen Airbnb for their travel globally just last year alone, indicating a tremendous demand for Airbnb among the travellers. Needless to say, India continues to be a promising market for us. We are now working towards achieving 1 billion Airbnb users in the next ten years and India will play an important role in helping us achieve that goal. Q. Are you disillusioned by the recent policy developments in India? Has that affected how bullish you are on India? To the contrary, we’re committed to working closely with policymakers in India and we’ve worked diligently with them to promote home sharing. Q. How big a role do discounts play in Airbnb’s business model? Our platform is fuelled by hosts and guests who are loyal to Airbnb because we treat them like members of a community, not commodities. As a result, Airbnb isn’t governed by discounts and cash backs. Q. Other companies like OYO rooms have scaled their business much faster in India. Was it a conscious decision on part of Airbnb to go slow in India? If yes, why? We don’t typically comment on competitors. Travel and tourism is a large and growing industry in India, and there are going to be a lot of winners here. We are deeply committed to our community in India, we have a thriving business and we’re deeply optimistic about our future. Q. Is Airbnb going to remain a product for English-speaking urban elites? Does it not cap the scalability of the business? India is on its way to becoming one of the new ‘centres of influence’ in global tourism, and it’s going to be an engine of our growth, for us as we aim to welcome one billion users onto our platform in the next ten years. We really think Airbnb can be for everyone, and we have started to focus on specific segments and customize the products for those segments. We have our Plus offering, we have a high end luxury offering as well, and we also have Airbnb for Work, which is actually doing very well in India and it grew about four-fold year over year in India with about 6,500 companies that have signed up to do business travel directly with Airbnb. Q. How feasible it is to sell airline tickets in India? It is a heavily competitive market and deep discounts are imperative? We’re not interested in building our own airline or creating just another place on the Internet where you can buy a plane ticket, but there is a tremendous opportunity to improve the transportation experience for everyone. We’re going to explore a broad range of ideas and partnerships that can make transportation better. We haven’t settled on exactly what those will look like. Q. Will it be easier for you to focus on Indian travellers who are headed abroad than to convince Indians to share their homes with strangers? Would that be your approach to evade some of the policy and infrastructure challenges? Global tourism is growing rapidly and as citizens, businesses and policy-makers open up to the sharing economy phenomenon, and we are seeing increased interest in emerging economies like India. Our loyal community of hosts have welcomed more than 1.25 million travelers since 2016, over 60% of which occured in just the past 12 months. Our growth isn’t just limited to foreign travelers. Domestic travel on Airbnb in India has increased by 78% in the past year. India has approx 410 million millennials, that’s more than the entire population of the US. This group increasingly makes up the dominant segment of consumers, and are looking for new and authentic travel experiences. So while India sees close to 1.2 million outbound travellers, the number of domestic guest arrivals on Airbnb in India increased by almost 78%, last year. We are also planning to focus to more on mainstream domestic travel over the course of the next 2 years i.e. by 2020-21 in line with the origin total addressable market of $17.5 billion which is dominated by domestic business, which is 74% of total total addressable market. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/home-renting-giant-airbnb-invests-in-indian-unicorn-oyo-rooms/articleshow/68670636.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Airbnb picks up a stake in its Indian rival Oyo Rooms</a>

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