Buoyant India driving growth: PATA

In the next three years, outbound travellers from India will increase by 10 per cent annually as a result of the country’s strong, consumption-driven economy, a growing and affluent middle class and the continuing liberalization of air transportation.

The findings were outlined in a new report that was called, “Total Tourism India,” recently released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Visa International.

“With India being one of the fastest growing markets in our region, the eyes of the travel industry are turning to this country of 1.1 billion residents and its rapidly expanding middle class,” says PATA president Peter de Jong.

International outbound trips by resident nationals peaked at around 8.3 million in 2006, and the report notes that al-most three million arrivals were to Asia Pacific destinations – and that makes India the region’s fourth largest source market trailing only China, Japan and Korea.

That figure is forecast to rise to more than 3.6 million in 2007 and will continue grow by more than 10 per cent each year to 2009.

For de Jong, this means that PATA destination members and inbound tour operators need to take a closer look at the opportunities presented by India’s outbound tourism market.

“As international travellers, Indians tend to take longer trips and often in large family groups, have a high repeat visitation to preferred destinations and an excellent yield,” the PATA president continues.

As well, de Jong points out, “Indians are among the highest spenders in key destinations around the region such as Singapore and Hong Kong. And every year, millions more Indians move into an income bracket where they can afford to travel overseas,” de Jong adds Outbound travel from India is dominated by business travel, which is expected to continue its strong growth as a result of the country’s buoyant economy. However, leisure travellers are still a significant portion of the outbound India travel market.

Surveys indicate that Mumbai is the top source of India’s outbound travellers with a market share of around 33 per cent, followed by Delhi at 26 per cent.