China is one of the worlds most closely watched and coveted tourism markets for outbound travel, with the opening of the India Tourism Office in Beijing in early 2008, India is poised to welcome its share of China’s newly affluent world travelers. 46 million travelers made their way around the world from China in 2008, spending close to USD 49 billion, making it the world’s fifth largest outbound tourist market. Analysts predict that by 2020, the number of overseas travelers will grow to 100 million; making it the world’s 4th largest outbound tourist market and largest tourism market.
Planting the seeds amidst such a vital future market, India and China have forged cooperation in tourism that resulted in the “India-China Year of Friendship through Tourism” campaign in 2007 that promoted tourism between the two countries. The campaign has been an important launching pad for India’s tourism push in China with an action plan that included a number of familiarization (FAM) trips for select Chinese media and tour operators, including a delegation sponsored by the Chinese National Tourism Administration (CNTA). CNTA in turn, participated in Delhi’s South Asia Travel & Tourism Exchange Exhibition and opened an office in Delhi in 2007.
Rolling Out the Welcome Mat
A large number of visas for India are now being issued and there are many people who combine their business travel with leisure. “All promotional brochures and advertisements have been translated into Mandarin and Cantonese. The Ministry of Tourism’s website www.incredibleindia.org is now accessible in Mandarin apart from the five languages that include Hindi, English, Japanese, Korean and French.
Growing Arrivals
Given these enticements among others, Chinese travelers are increasingly opting, to see India for themselves. The number of Chinese tourists arriving in India has gone from 21,152 in 2003 to 99,352 in 2008 and growing. With the opening of the Beijing office, people-to-people exchanges on the government and private levels have increased and thus heightened awareness on both sides.
The ease with which Chinese nationals can apply and receive visas for travel to India along with increased airline flight services between India and China have also helped boost tourism numbers. “It’s easier to get a visa for India now, for a while it was more difficult but that’s in the past. You apply and get a visa in four days. Chinese nationals have the option of applying for business, tourist, student or employment visa.
Both India and China are fascinating destinations and both have ancient heritages and centuries old civilizations upon which they continue to evolve. Both countries have a cultural diversity that is of great importance and interest for domestic and international travelers alike, making them ideally suited travel partners. Additionally, their proximity makes travel relatively easy and economical, especially for tour groups, which Chinese travelers continue to prefer.
There’s increased awareness of India amongst the Chinese potential traveler. The number of travel agents in Beijing that are dedicating part of their workforce to specializing in India travel has boosted both consumer interest and the number of travel groups, “And that’s all because of our presence here as well as the promotional events that have been held over the past year.
Tourism is emerging as a vital link between China and India, fuelled by an increasing level of bilateral trade, business and governmental cooperation between the two sides. The future of tourist travel between the two countries together which represent 40 percent of the world’s population continues to be promising based on the current trajectory of growth. Tourism from China to India has essentially doubled in the last four years. With the addition of the CNTA office in Delhi in 2007 and the India Tourism Office in Beijing in 2008, expectations are high that the number of tours and travelers will only continue to grow faster with greater interest and more exchange programmes, thereby increasing the strength in relations and greater understanding between the two countries. |