While the travel industry laments a slow inbound season during the Indian summers, owing to the fact that it is largely an outbound tourism period, states have been witnessing a steady footfall of domestic tourists, keeping them upbeat about the time of year. Two of India’s most popular holiday destinations – Goa and Kerala, have notched a steady increase in domestic numbers during the holidays.
Domestic arrivals in Kerala have been showing a steady increase over the years. In 2013, the number stood at 10,857,811 compared to 10,076,854 – registering a growth of 7.75 per cent year-on-year. According to Suman Billa IAS, Secretary, Kerala Tourism, Kerala attracts a lot of domestic travellers especially from the north around this time because of the school summer holidays and the relatively cooler climate that the state enjoys post the arrival of the monsoons in early June.
Goa Tourism Development Corporation, which recorded a 12.47 per cent increase in domestic tourists in 2013, believes that numbers also indicated the tremendous potential for growth that Goa has as a tourist destination. Footfall figures for April and May 2013 stood at over 1,95,286 and 1,92,959 respectively. Dilip Parulekar, Minister for Tourism, Government of Goa, said, “These figures only prove that Goa continues to be the destination of choice for people from all across the world. At the same time, these numbers also serve as a reminder for us to constantly strive and keep the infrastructure and other developments in the state on par with international standards so that Goa can turn into the number one destination of choice for travellers. Goa Tourism has listed 34 infrastructural projects to be completed over the span of the next two to three years, and we are also exploring the possibility of tie-ups with private hotel chains to take GTDC properties to world class standards.”
Kerala Tourism is keen to promote the state as an all-seasons destination. In a bid to leverage the potential during what is traditionally dubbed ‘off-season’ during the peak-summer months of April-May, followed by the monsoons, the department has launched a campaign titled ‘Dream Deals’. Odisha Tourism has announced that it will organise roadshows in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Patna, Surat, Visakhapatnam and Ahmedabad to welcome more domestic tourists. Odisha has received 8.47 million domestic tourists in 2011-12 compared to 7.77 million previous year.
Madhya Pradesh, which has always been focussed on the domestic market, is reaping good benefits from its strategy. The state has witnessed a record 620 per cent increase in domestic tourist arrivals in the last seven years.
Also, to draw more domestic tourists, authorities in Leh area of Jammu and Kashmir have done away with the requirement of an Inner Line Permit. The Leh administration, in a circular, has notified that any identification proof shall be treated as an Inner Line Permit for citizens of the country who visit the place often dubbed as the dream destination. The region welcomed more than 1.37 lakh tourists in 2013.
Meanwhile, Karnataka which recently announced that it’s tourism policy is equally focused on the domestic market. R V Deshpande, Karnataka Tourism Minister, stressed on the need to cater to domestic tourists rather than concentrating only on foreign tourists, while unveiling the state’s tourism policy 2014-19 in Bengaluru recently.
