TravTalk India Online Magazine
There were three times as many Indian nationals that left the country than foreign tourist arrivals from January to November in 2023. Is the lack of international connectivity into India from key tourism source markets the reason for lower inbound numbers? Gavin Eccles, Managing Partner, GE Consulting & Advisory, delves deeper into the issue.
According to the figures provided by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India (MoT), for the period up to end-November 2023, there were three times as many Indian nationals that left the country than foreign tourist arrivals. Why is there such low interest in discovering the country’s delights?
During January to November 2023, there were around 8 million international arrivals to the country. However, the numbers were down 16 per cent compared to the same period (Jan to Nov) in 2019. In essence, Indian tourism has not been able to recover to pre-COVID levels. Is it the connectivity issue or the challenges of not having the correct promotion what is affecting the numbers? Or is the tourism infrastructure not aligned with the needs of the travellers? For sure, the emergence of new winter sun destinations, particularly Mombasa and Zanzibar, has made the offer of Goa not as attractive for Northern Europeans. And the frustrations of always having to connect through the Middle East may be putting off the more independent traveller. What makes the situation worse was that of the 8 million international tourist arrivals, 25 per cent were actually Indian diaspora coming to India. So, in reality, India only had 6 million ‘true’ foreign tourist arrivals during 2023.
Meanwhile, the number of Indian nationals leaving the country (for holiday, work, who knows), was nearly 25 million – 1 per cent increase on the pre-COVID numbers. So, it is fair to say that outbound has been able to build back, but foreign tourists coming into the country has not seen such success.
Can an incentive programme that looks at drawing airlines into the country, and, with that, the ability to bring-in more international arrivals be a working proposition? It is clear that
Saudia Arabia, with its ‘Saudi Vision 2030’, has looked specifically at the importance of a connectivity scheme.
In conclusion, India does not have a connectivity problem, as 25 million Indians were able to take trips out. The reality is that the traffic is very much aligned with a vision for airlines to work with such travellers who are with work or friends and family commitments across the GCC countries of the Middle East. But, if only 6 million true international tourists visited the country in the first 11 months of 2023, it is clear that new air connections are needed, especially with the UK, the USA, Canada, and Australia as they are four of the five largest inbound to India tourism markets. From which cities, and, with which carriers? It is time to better align the vision of Incredible India with a strong air connectivity programme that works these markets well. It is time for India to reverse the ‘out versus in’ perspective.
