Northern states jump in tourist figures

ETW Staff

The tourism sector in India is showing a continuous upward trend. North Indian states like Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal together will reportedly register more than 230 million tourists this year. Not only is domestic travel going to witness a big jump from 368 million travellers in 2004 to 400 million this year, even foreign tourist arrivals is expected to touch the 4.5 million mark in 2005.

New initiatives and aggressive marketing have been the main drivers for success. Bharat Sidheshwar Rai of Swift Travel says, "Marketing for the domestic traveller is a different ballgame altogether. The Indian tourist is more aware of the destination than the foreign traveller. Also, they seldom plan ahead. Our marketing answer is to have tie-ups at all destinations to make travel and stay easy for them."

Most of the budget hotels in the one-star category in these states report advance booking for the holiday season. Tarun Thakral, COO of Le Meridien, says, "A growth of 30 per cent over 2004 is expected this year among domestic travellers." The growth rate of domestic and foreign arrivals in Uttaranchal, HP and Rajasthan is expected to be 40 per cent, 35 per cent and 60 per cent respectively because of tourist friendly measures taken by the state governments and attractive weekend packages offered by resorts and hotels.