Nancy Jo Powell, US Ambassador to India, complimented SATTE for putting up such a spectacular show that promotes tourism to and from India. “I am very pleased to be a part of SATTE 2013 along with both the Indian and international travel and trade industries. SATTE has become one of the premiere tourism exhibitions in the South Asia region and I want to congratulate the organisers for putting forth such a splendid show,” Powell said at the SATTE Welcome Dinner in Hotel Ashok, New Delhi. She also expressed her pleasure on the growth in Indian visitors to US. “In 2011, the United States welcomed over 6,60,000 visitors from India which is a new record in its self. India is now poised to become one of our top 10 visitor markets and is expected to cross the one million visitor mark by 2015,” she said adding that she is pleased to see the Commercial Service and Consulate collaborate together as a team on this important initiative to expand travel to the United States.
To make travel easier to the US, the US Department of State has recently implemented a programme that will allow certain applicants to apply for visas without going through a personal round of interview with a US counsellor officer. “This move will definitely make it easier for Indians to visit our country and enjoy the tourist attractions, destinations and cultural activities. The Embassy is looking forward to work with the Indian travel agent communities to support travel to the US and build stronger ties,” she added.
Powell further expressed that she wants the Indian travel trade to draw their attention towards the United States as a MICE destination. “The United States provides excellent convention locations, state of the art facilities, restaurants, shopping, travel options, tours, unique offsite vendors and a variety of golf and spa activities for the MICE groups. While the number of Indian MICE travellers to the United States has not been very large, we know that it is growing steadily. We would like to increase these numbers robustly and keeping up with this effort the United States Government is taking positive steps to make the visa process easier for both business travellers and travel organisers,” she revealed.
Speaking on the vast tourism product offerings, Powell said, “Cities including New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Las Vegas are all time favourites among the Indian visitors. But we have witnessed a lot of families visiting our National parks such as the Yellow Stone and Yosemite. Tourist attractions such as Disney World have increasingly become popular among Indian families.”
Powell believes that the increase of travellers to the United States indicates not just America’s welcoming atmosphere, but also the strong relations between the two countries. “With the help of travel and tour operators, we expect this positive trend to continue. Travel and tourism to the United States is an important way for us to expand our cultural and commercial ties and increase trade growth between our two countries,” she concluded.
