Indian Tourists
Countries across the world are increasingly organising road shows in India
Indian travellers have come up as one of the biggest spenders while travelling abroad and are being targetted aggressively by countries around the world.
Indians spend a huge amount of money while travelling to foreign nations and are in the top spender list of many countries.
“India is one of the largest outbound travel markets globally. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Travel and Tourism Economic Impact 2014, the total expenditure on outbound travel in India was INR 750 billion in 2013 and is projected to be INR 1,605 billion in 2024,” said Rajeev D Kale, Thomas Cook (India) president and COO, outbound tourism.
According to Cox & Kings, on an average, an India tourist spends INR 0.3-0.4 million on a trip to America for 15-33 days. Average amount of spending for America is INR 0.4-0.6 million for 10-20 days, INR 0.2-0.4 million for 3-4 days in France and Italy, INR 0.1-0.2 million for 4-5 days in Hong Kong or Singapore and INR 0.2-0.3 million for a trip of 10-12 days in Australia. This includes airfare, hotel charges, local transport and sightseeing.
“Indians spend around 1,500 US dollars on hotel, food, sightseeing and shopping as compared to Americans who spends 1,000 dollars and Europeans around 700 dollars on an average,” a Cox & Kings official said.
Fourth largest spenders in Germany
For Britain, Indians count as the 14th largest spenders in their nation, while according to the German National Tourism Office (GNTO), Indians are the fourth largest spenders for them in terms of expenditure per person and per trip.
According to Romit Theophilus, director, India GNTO, Indians were at number four with an average expenditure per person, per trip of EUR 2,741 in Germany.
In terms of total expenditure by travellers from a country, India was at seventh position as the biggest contributor in Germany in 2014 with a revenue generation of 0.8 billion euros, while Americans were at the top position at 4 billion euros. The Schengen states provide short-term visas to Indian travelers, which is a deterrent to repeat visits. America, on the other hand, generously doles out 10-year, multiple-entry visas to Indian travellers.
“Over 2.3 lakh Indian visitors went to the continent and contributed more than INR 55 billion in the Australian economy,” Tourism Australia’s Nishant Kashikar. “Indians are the 10th largest spenders in Australia,” he added.
According to travel portal Yatra president Sharat Dhall, Indians typically love to shop, which means that they are willing to spend that extra buck. Hence, they are benchmarked as some of the biggest spenders.
As Indian travellers are growing in terms of visits and expenditure abroad, tourism boards of various countries across the world are increasingly organising road shows in India apart from organising India fests in their own nations.
