Indian aviation market has vast growth potential: Indigo prez

Indian aviation market has vast growth potential and can achieve the target of flying 500 million passengers annually within the next decade, Indigo airlines president Aditya Ghosh said here today.

Ghosh was speaking at the 64th convention and exhibition of travel agents association of India (TAAI) here.

"The goal of national civil aviation policy of the Government of India has set a target of ensuring that there is a half a billion domestic air travelers in India in next nine years.

"It would seem like an impossible task but if we grow at 25 to 30 per cent every year, we may well get to that half a billion mark before the next decade is out," Ghosh said.

He said tourism and travel has a very symbiotic relation with the GDP of the country.

"Today, 9.4 per cent of the country's GDP is contributed by travel and tourism alone. What that means is that today travel and tourism business in India supports 41 million jobs in this country. That is the third highest in the world in terms of absolute numbers," he said.

Ghosh said in the next 10 years, the travel and tourism industry in India is expected to contribute about US 500 billion dollars in revenue every year.

Citing the example of Andhra Pradesh, Ghosh said one of the measures the Jammu and Kashmir government should take for increasing the footfall of tourists in the state is to reduce the sales tax on aviation fuel.

"Andhra Pradesh reduced the sales tax on aviation fuel from 26 per cent to 1 per cent. In two years, the state saw an increase of 250 per cent in air travellers. I suggest the state government should reduce the sales tax from 26.25 per cent to one per cent. If it does not work as it is expected to, you can always go back to previous rates but give it a try," he said.