- Ministry of tourism has been drawing out a campaign, which will be promulgated across electronic media & digital platforms
- It is being assumed that inbound business will start being operational again, from October 2021
THoD Newsdesk, India: In a bid to bolster the confidence amidst foreign tourists, who have been planning to visit India, the ministry of tourism has been drawing out a campaign, which will be promulgated across electronic media and digital platforms.
The campaign will focus on the safety measures, better airports and road links that connect various tourist spots as international borders open up and inbound tourism commences.
Tourism ministry’s additional director general, Rupinder Brar was quoted saying, “With better weather conditions and covid vaccine on the horizon, we are expecting a strong bounceback in international tourism to India in 2021”, at a webinar organized by the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH).
Brar also mentioned that the ministry is planning on offering economical covid-19 insurance policies to foreign tourists. To be sure, 10.93 million foreign tourists visited India in 2019 registering a 3.5% growth over the previous year. The tally of international tourist arrival grew at the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.31% in the last 5 years.
Further, Brar stressed on the importance of building tourist confidence as international travel looks up once again. She added that, in all the content that is being developed at this time, apprehensions pertaining to how India would be embracing tourists while adapting to the new normal, will be addressed.
“We need to send out a visual message to tourists abroad about what happens when they land on an Indian airport. This message will be put out across television and digital as travel opens up for the international travellers in the next few weeks,” she added.
Brar said that there’s a substantial scope in meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE tourism), heritage, wellness and medical tourism, attracting the global tourists to the country. Dipak Deva, managing director at destination management firm Travel Corporation India (TCI), added that it is being assumed that inbound business will start being operational again, from October 2021 but normalcy levels will be restored only by 2022.
Deva said, “There will also be intense competition among international tourism boards to lure tourists to their respective countries. Therefore, we must have the right message targeted at key countries that bring large tourists to India. My estimation is 33% of the business that happened in 2019 will come back in 2021.”
Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) stated that the industry needs proactive steps right now from the government, to function in full strength. Pronab Sarkar, president of IATO mentioned, “Government needs to come up with a road map which includes announcing dates for the opening of visa, measures for assuring tourists about India being safe to travel and announcing standard operating procedure (SOP) for tourists planning to visit India in 2021. Steps like lifting the restriction on visitors to famous monuments such as Taj Mahal is also crucial.”
