Poor infrastructure hampering growth in tourism: PATA report
23 Feb 2007
New Delhi: India's tourism growth is being hampered by inadequate airport infrastructure and the lack of adequate hotel rooms, even as inbound international arrivals have peaked at 4.4 million in 2006, says a new report. The "Total Tourism Report," issued by credit card major Visa and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has also recommended a seven-point plan to boost the sector.
The report has said that the country's airline policy, taxation regime, the bureaucratic set-up, human resource development in the hospitality sector, and the visa regime needed reforms.
Minister for tourism, Ambika Soni, who released the report, agreed with much of its observations and recommendations, but said it also contained some "heartening" pointers to the manner in which the sector was growing.
The comprehensive 308-page report took a year to compile, and is the second report to be published this year after one on Russia. A similar report on China is due next year.
The report says that domestic travel "has been quietly booming over the past 15 years, as India's states increasingly awaken to home-grown tourism's potential to stimulate economic growth and boost employment." According to the report, domestic trips were up 13 per cent from 2005, while the average annual growth rate has been more than 10 per cent since 2000.
The boom in low cost carriers has made travel accessible to millions of households across the sub-continent. According to the report, international outbound trips by resident Indians have peaked at around 8.3 million in 2006. Of this number, close to three million were to Asia Pacific destinations, making India the region's fourth largest source market behind China, Japan and Korea.
The report expects the number to rise to over 3.6 million in 2007, increasing further by more than 10 per cent each year to 2009.
