Indian tourist arrival in US may double by 2016

The US Travel Association today said it expects the number of Indian tourist arrivals in the country to nearly double to around 1.2 million by 2016 compared to last year.

"As per official forecast, we expect 1.2 million Indians to visit the US in 2016, which is a tremendous growth in number compared to 6,50,000 who visited the US in 2010," US Travel Association (USTA) Vice-President Business Development Malcolm Smith said.

USTA promotes travel to and within the United States.

"By 2016, India is expected to be the ninth largest generator of international arrivals, up from 12th currently, to the US with nearly 1.2 million arrivals," he said.

In 2016, around 40.6 million tourists from across the world are expected to visit the US, Smith added.

A 28-member USTA delegation is visiting India to promote inbound tourism from the country.

"India is among the fastest growing emerging travel markets worldwide... International travel is vital to the United States as it provides important opportunities to improve economic competitiveness, strengthen national security and advance public diplomacy," he said.

As per estimates, the average age of an Indian tourist is 42 years and the average duration of a stay in the US is 42 days per year, according to Smith.

He, however, did not provide average spends of an Indian tourist in the US, but said an international tourist on an average spends about $4,000 per person for a 42 days long-haul trip.

"Indians visit the US for business, visiting friends and family and for leisure," he said.

Within Asia, India ranks fourth in terms of the total number of people visiting the US after Japan, Korea and China.

According to Smith, there has been a decline in US' market share in global long-haul international travel between 2000 and 2010.

"In 2000, US' market share in global long-haul travel was 17%, which has gone down to 12%, primarily due to strict policies adopted by the US after the terrorist attacks," he said.

"But now, we have been able to convince our leaders that travel sector has a lot of potential to contribute to the nation's economy and job creation," he added.

If America had kept pace with the growth in global overseas travel between 2000 and 2010, 78 million more travellers would have visited the US, adding a total of $606 billion to the economy that could have supported more than 467,000 additional US jobs annually over these years, Smith added.