According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, demand for international tourism remained strong throughout the first eight months of 2013. Between January and August, the number of international tourists worldwide grew by 5 per cent, driven by strong results in Europe, Asia and the Pacific and the Middle East. International tourist arrival in India grew by 13 per cent during the first nine months of 2013, recent UNWTO data revealed. India is also among the top 25 largest international tourism earners.
Marcio Favilla, Executive Director for Competitiveness, External Relations and Partnerships, UNWTO believes that 2013 has been an exceptional year for the world of travel. “A large number of destinations have realised the importance of tourism and invested in tourism, turning tourism into a key driver of socio-economic progress through export revenues, the creation of jobs and enterprises, and infrastructure development. Today I see India in a whole new light, looking at the tremendous effort put in by the Tourism Ministry and private players into the ‘Incredible India’ campaign. It is evident that the Government is finally taking a huge interest in this sector.”
Indian outbound numbers have always been one of the key drivers of the travel industry for the past three to four years, but this trend is slowly shifting with more and more travellers wanting to fit India into their itineraries. Favilla opined, “Every travel junky wants to add the Indian spice to their travel portfolio. Over the past few years, tourism in India is experiencing significant development and diversification, making it one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the world.” Between 2010 and 2030, arrivals into emerging destinations such as India (+4.4 per cent a year) are expected to increase at double the pace of that in advanced economies (+2.2 per cent a year).
With world tourist arrivals expected to rise by 43 million every year on an average from 2010 to 2030 and FTAs in emerging countries expected to grow faster than in advanced economies, India currently has a share of 0.64 per cent in world tourist arrivals. Favilla further highlighted that India needs to capitalise on the tourism scenario through the PPP model. “India’s tourism sector needs overhaul and higher investment in infrastructure through the PPP mode in order to capitalise on opportunities provided by overall growth in world tourist arrivals,” he opined.
According to reports, the market share of emerging economies increased from 30 per cent in 1980 to 47 per cent in 2012, and is expected to reach 57 per cent by 2030, equivalent to over one billion international tourist arrivals. “With the government of India taking various initiatives by showcasing the Indian culture and history to the world I am positive that India will have a huge chunk in the number. India has the second-largest construction pipeline of hotels in Asia after China which proves the place India holds in the global travel industry.”
Favilla believes that the notion of travel has undergone a huge shift from middle age travellers to young urban consumers. Travelling is no longer limited to a holiday with the family. “Nowadays the Millennial Travellers, travel for adventure sports, photography, wildlife, heritage, architecture and much more. The number of backpackers in India is increasing every year, a concept which continued to be niche and limited to very few consumers,” he stated.
