Foreign airlines roped in to promote Indian destinations on board their aircraft
06 May 2008
New Delhi: India's civil aviation ministry has apparently roped in foreign airlines, like British Airways, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Cathay Pacific to promote Indian destinations. It has apparently linked promotion of Indian tourist destinations, or the lack of it, to the increase of seat entitlements to carriers.
The not so subtle attempt to promote its tourism campaign, ''Incredible India,'' may see nearly 100 foreign airlines operating to various Indian destinations promoting Indian heritage and culture on board their aircraft.
''While increasing seat entitlements, we would give preference to countries whose designated carriers promote India as a tourist destination. We have also asked airlines to show short films on India's heritage cites to passengers on India-bound flights,'' a government official said.
According to reports, German flag carrier, Lufthansa, has agreed to air promotional pitches on board its India-bound flights and other airlines are expected to follow suit.
The ministry of civil aviation and the ministry for tourism will review the impact of this move over the next three months.
According to government data, over 1.66 million foreign tourists visited India between January and March this year. In 2007, five million foreign tourists had visited the country. The figure for 2006 and 2005 was 4.45 million and 3.92 million, respectively.
In an attempt to boost tourism in the country, the government is mulling plans to grant visa-on-arrival to foreign tourists from 18 countries. The government's current target is to take the number of foreign tourist visiting India to 10 million by 2010.
The tourism industry accounts for about 6% of GDP and employs nearly 50 million people.
