Tourist inflow shows mild recovery signs

Foreign tourist inflow has begun to show signs of improvement in June and July after the slump from November to May. The Union tourism ministry hopes to cross six million foreign tourist arrival target, said Sujit Banerjee, tourism secretary, government of India.

However, the ministry does not feel the need to issue any travel advisory within the country on account of swine flu.

“We don't see any reason to issue any travel advisory within the country. There is screening activity at all aiports for tourists who are coming from abroad,” said Banerjee on the sidelines of the inauguration of East and North East roadshow in Kolkata.

The foreign tourist inflow started declining in November 2008 after the Mumbai attack.

Devesh Chaturvedi, additional director general of the ministry, said that till 2007, the tourism industry had a growth rate of 14.3 per cent.

In 2008, the annual growth rate of tourism industry was 5.6 per cent.

“From November 2008, decline in foreign tourist arrival started. There was a decline of 17 per cent in December and till May 2009, there was a cumulative decline of 10 per cent over the same period last year,” said Chaturvedi.

“June saw some positive growth. There was 0.2 per cent growth in foreign tourist arrival in June and 0.6 per cent in July compared to the same period last year," said Chaturvedi.

This increase in foreign tourist arrival in July has had a positive impact on foreign exchange earnings. There was a 24 per cent increase in rupee terms over the corresponding period last year, he informed.

The ministry has taken some initiatives to boost domestic tourism like skill upgrade and skill development apart from organising domestic roadshows and regional conferences.

The ministry is planning to develop three niche products- wellness tourism, caravan tourism and helipad tourism this year.

The ministry has recieved three proposals for developing helipad tourism, two from Jammu & Kashmir and one from Uttarakhand.