The Hindu : Tourism rapidly growing: study

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 07, 2004

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Tourism rapidly growing: study

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 6. With a 14.6 per cent rise in international tourist arrivals in India and a 22.4 per cent growth in foreign exchange earnings between January and November 2003, Indian tourism is on its path of rejuvenation after a long spell of stagnation.

A PHDCCI study notes that focussed approach and aggressive marketing by some States have resulted in greater inflows of tourists in those States that have put in place a credible and effective tourism promotion policy.

Kerala registered a 30 per cent growth in tourism in 2003. There has been a quantum jump of 18.30 per cent in domestic tourist arrivals in Goa during 2002-03 with 13.25 lakh turning up.

But for Madhya Pradesh, tourist arrivals in other northern States improved in 2003 compared to the figures in 2002. During 2003, the State received 7.48 lakh foreign and 46.7 lakh domestic tourists in 2003, as against 8.25 lakh foreign and 51.38 lakh domestic tourists during 2002, thus registering a negative growth in 2003. In Jammu and Kashmir, due to the aggressive marketing by the State Government, two-lakh tourists visited the valley in 2003 compared to 18,000 in 2002 — the worst year for tourism in the State.

In Uttar Pradesh, during 2002, a total of 714.9 lakh domestic and 7.10 lakh foreign tourists visited the State. During 2003, as many as 750-lakh domestic and 7.45 lakh foreign tourists visited the State registering a marginal increase of 5 per cent in tourist arrivals. Rajasthan received 6.28 lakh international tourists during 2003 compared to 6.08 lakh during 2002, thus showing a marginal increase over the previous year.

But the study says, there is a marked drop in the share of the northern region in tourism. While the share of northern region was 70 per cent during 1980, the same has declined to 49 per cent in 2003, showing that 51 per cent of visitors prefer travelling to other regions than the north.

This trend is more due to the focussed tourism development in some States in the western and southern regions. Joint marketing efforts by the southern States has also played an important role in making the tourist spots in these States as prime destinations to attract greater number of tourists.

On a positive note, the study found that the new State of Chhattisgarh by reducing sales tax on ATF from 25 per cent to 4 per cent has provided better connectivity between the State and other parts of the country. Jet Airways has started services between Raipur and Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai following the reduction in sales tax on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) by the State Government. Air Sahara started Raipur-Kolkata and Raipur-Delhi flights. Indian Airlines increased its frequency to Delhi and Mumbai from the State capital after the sales tax reduction. Taking the lead, Rajasthan has also reduced sales tax on ATF to 4 per cent.

The study concluded that there is a greater awareness among the policy makers towards the revenue earning potential of the sector for their respective States. Thus Maharashtra has increased its budgetary allocations for promoting tourism in the State by 10 times from Rs.10 crores in 2002-03 to Rs.101 crores in 2003-04. Chhattisgarh and Kerala are the other States that have substantially increased their budgets in promoting tourism. The new State of Uttaranchal has also made concerted efforts to promote tourism.

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