A soaring economy with a sustained 8 per cent plus growth, emergence
as an IT super power, globalisation and faster growth of infrastructure,
all in the last decade and a half, have given Indian tourism
the push it needed to move out of low national priority to a
reasonably high priority. The sea change in the aviation sector,
open skies and modernization of airports, and hence vastly improved
connectivity, revolutions in the automobile industry and telecommunications,
and massive highway building programmes have not only removed
most of the hurdles in the way of travel and tourism, but also
brought hope that this country might catch up with the neighbours
in Asia, who had left us far far behind. Accommodation, particularly
in the metros and other big cities, is still a cause for concern,
but both the government and the industry are striving to find
solutions.
After decades of slow growth, Indian tourism has finally
picked up speed. Overseas arrivals have in 2006, crossed the
4 million mark. And, with a steady 13 per cent growth in the
last couple of years, the year 2007 is poised to give India
its coveted 5 million visitors from abroad, a dream that has
been in the making since 1980, when we first crossed 1 million.
The second million came 15 years later in 1995, the third
ten years later in 2004 and the fourth in just two years.
And now, hopefully, only one year for the fifth million.
Interestingly, the one entity to which the dream of five
million foreign tourists coming true will be no surprise is
our Planning Commission. In its Tenth Plan projections it
had set a target of raising India's share of the world market
from 0.39 per cent to 0.62 per cent by 2007, the last year
of the Plan, which many had thought was ambitious. Translated
into numbers, the target (based on the growth of the then
world movements) would come to 5.6 million. The Commission
deserves the industry's applause. The 'Incredible India' campaign
has hugely helped strengthen India's growing stature and in
shedding its third world image. It is also true that a bulk
of the increase in investment flow into this country is thanks
to the economic reforms and the burgeoning corporate traffic
from abroad.
The good showing however should not make us forget that in
the global context we still have miles to go, to come anywhere
near China for instance, which handles 37 million foreign
visitors, and even small nations like Malaysia and Thailand,
which receive more than 10 million tourists. Of course we
are not competing with the world's numero uno destination,
France, which gets 70 million visitors, or Spain and USA,
which enjoy second and third positions.
The domestic scene shows that even greater strides have been
taken. Described as Indian tourism's hidden dimension by the
World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), domestic movements
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have grown exponentially. In the decade of the 90s, domestic visits
rose from under 64 million to 176 million. And in the first
five years of the new millennium, the figure stood at 386 million.
Data for 2006 is not available, but estimates based on rate
of growth point to a count, well above 400 million. The upswing
in 'See India' trend is due largely to economic prosperity,
double incomes, more cars, coaches, somewhat better roads and
an incredible growth in air services, especially the emergence
of low cost carriers, which are substantially adding to air
travellers, who never dreamed of flying before. Both print and
electronic media, untouched by domestic packages are now overflowing
with them. Among the latest jokes doing the rounds of the travel
fraternity is that there are more cars than roads and more aircraft
than parking lots at airports!
Traffic congestion on city roads will need constant attention.
The scene on the national highways is changing fast. The Golden
Quadrilateral linking the four main metros is almost complete
and the north-south and east-west corridors that we are promised
will be completed by the end of 2007 or early 2008.
The railways are the nation's largest movers; they carry
13 million passengers a day. But it is only in the last few
years that they are waking up to their full potential in fostering
tourism. The common man's Palace on Wheels and Bharat Darshan
or freedom trail from Gandhiji, are excellent ideas, which
would widen choices of travel for millions. Especially to
be welcomed is the recent announcement that the railways have
worked out packages, which will cover rail travel, bus connections
and accommodation at holiday destinations. A beginning is
being made with a package to Vaishnodevi. There is unlimited
scope for railways to get into the commercial activities of
tourism.
Perhaps the most striking step forward in crucial infrastructure
is airports. Kochi international airport (third in the tiny
state of Kerala, with a fourth one in Kannur on the anvil)
opened the gates to public-private sector partnership in this
sector, which has since resulted in two major green-field
projects in Bangalore and Hyderabad, well on the way to commissioning
by March 2008, which will give India its first swanky international
class airport, similar to what travellers are awed by, in
Hong Kong and Singapore. Delhi and Mumbai airports, built
in the 80s for yesterday and not tomorrow, are also getting
an upgrade, again in public-private partnership. What is even
more heartening is that Kolkata and Chennai are gearing up
for an upgrade, as are twelve other airports in the rest of
the country. Amritsar has, in a short time, emerged as an
international airport with flights from Europe, spurring the
Punjab government to demand a second international airport. |
INDIA 2007
