Why is India a powerhouse?

John Koldowski, Special Advisor to CEO, PATA, presented the keynote address at the recently-concluded Tourism PowerHouse — a PATA India Chapter initiative. He talked about what makes India a powerhouse of tourism and what needs to be done to leverage its potential in every way.

Nisha Verma

Incredible India

According to John Koldowski, the tag ‘Incredible India’ holds immense power. “The imagery used in the campaign as well as the videos with elephants, heritage and culture, is very powerful and resonates strongly across the globe. However, tourism force across the globe is strong and India needs to see what’s working out there,” he said.

The Pacific Asia analogy

Koldowski said that in terms of UNWTO data, International Tourist Arrivals (ITA) between 2000-17 have climbed dramatically. “The annual average growth rate over this period is highest within Asia—9.1 per cent against the Asian average of 6.6 per cent and the world average of 4 per cent. This means that the dynamics of the Indian marketing programmes are working and resulting in more tourists. In terms of the share of those international tourist arrivals between 2000-17, South Asia increased by 2.4 percentage points in terms of relative share. In terms of actual dollar value, we need to see how South Asia fares in terms of receipts. From 2005-17, the receipts varied from 9.4 billion to 39.5 billion at an annual average rate of growth of 12.7 per cent against the Asian average of 9.4 per cent and a world average of 5.8 per cent. The share of receipts has also increased by 3 percentage points.” According to PATA, Asia will continue to grow strongly over the next five years.

India has seen a very dynamic growth in the first three months, touching about a million arrivals in the first quarter itself. The actual growth from January to June in 2018 is 6.7 per cent

India’s growth story

Quoting the statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism, Koldowski said that international arrivals into India from 1951-17 were slow but in recent years, they have gathered an exponential curve. “The speed of arrival growth to India is increasing in absolute numbers. Even the annual percentage growth has set the mark higher for many other destinations. In fact, if you consider the global average, which is between 3-4 per cent, India is generating tremendous global activity from its arrivals as well as its departures,” he mentioned.

Even the forecast of arrivals in to India is very strong, he said. “Normally, India has outperformed the forecasts. India has seen a very dynamic growth in the first three months, touching about a million arrivals in the first quarter itself. The actual growth from January to June in 2018 is 6.7 per cent.”

Importance of India outbound

Koldowski said that India outbound has also witnessed the same kind of growth trajectory. “By filling the seats of flights departing from India, the country will also get more capacity coming into it. One needs to remember that it’s not possible to go full one way and come one way empty. One needs to balance this, and India is doing a fine job there. That’s why India is a powerhouse. Structurally, the country’s visitors, population for outbound, air capacity and the infrastructure make it an absolute powerhouse.

He added that LCCs are an important part of the overall air capacity, and volume has been increasing YOY for India.

Purposeful Tourist

• According to Koldowski, having a purposeful tourist who want to experience the country by being a part of it is the one who wants to have a deep experience. This experience is a large decision driver for generating tourists to a country