Recognising that Middle Eastern countries can be a major source market for India tourism, the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India which recently participated in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), Dubai, has renewed its marketing thrust to draw more tourists from the region.
“There has been a consistent and positive growth in tourist arrivals to India from the the Gulf and the Middle East region over the last three years. India witnessed over 4 per cent growth in arrivals from the region in 2012 as 290,000 tourists visited India. We are yet to compile data for 2013. We expect 10-12 per cent growth from the region in 2014,” Manas Pattnaik, Director, India Tourism Office – Johannesberg said, at a press briefing at ATM in Dubai. The press conference was also addressed by ; TP Seetharam, Ambassador of India to the UAE and Devender Singh, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
Highlighting India’s varied tourism offering, Pattanaik said that India offers a lot to tourists as it has history, culture, heritage sites, beaches, forts, backwater, mountains, beaches, wildlife, festivals, adventure, medial, wellness, MICE, religion and shopping.
The Ministry of Tourism participated under the ‘Incredible India’ pavilion that highlighted immense tourism potential of the country – both business and leisure travel, at ATM 2014. A total of 28 participants from India participated under the India pavilion. The theme of the pavilion was “Find what you seek”.
“India has evolved as a round the year destination and all efforts are being made to develop niche products like wellness and medical tourism; adventure and wildlife tourism; film tourism; monsoon tourism; golf, polo and sports tourism and MICE tourism, while at the same time adding value to the cultural and heritage products of the country,” Pattnaik said.
The Ambassador mentioned that the decision of offering ETA facility for nationals of 180 countries will further facilitate travel of international tourists. Moreover, the recent move of the Govt. of India to life the restriction of the two months gap on re-entry of foreign nationals between two visits on tourst visa has also been appreciated by the travel trade, they said.
The focus was also to promote North Eastern India to attract new target groups such as eco and adventure travelers as well as highlight the tourism potential of relatively less known products and areas.
