'Incredible India' China roadshow underway
Tourism Minister of India K.J Alphons addresses a media conference attended by Chinese and Indian reporters in Beijing on Aug. 28, 2018. [Photo by Li Huiru / China.org.cn]
"We are going to have a big-time roadshow in China because it has the biggest tourist outflows. Last year, it had 144 million outbound tourists. India received only 250,000 of that so we are going to make moves so that the numbers go up dramatically," Tourism Minister of India K.J Alphons said during a tourism promotion conference themed “Incredible India” in Beijing on Aug. 28, 2018.
Alphons is currently visiting Beijing with 20 leading Indian travel agents for the first event of a series of road shows held by the India Tourism Ministry. The road show will also stop in Guangzhou, Wuhan and Shanghai, aiming to attract the high-spending Chinese tourists to India.
The Chinese outbound tourism market has developed at an unprecedented speed, becoming a central focus of the global tourism industry. According to "The UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2018 Edition" published by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on August 27 this month, Chinese tourists spent 258 billion U.S. dollars on international tourism in 2017, almost one fifth of the world's total tourism spending.
In recent years, the two governments have put in place many measures to accelerate the growth of China-India tourism relations. The year 2015 was celebrated as “Visit India Year” in China, and 2016 was celebrated as “Visit China Year” in India.
According to Satyajeet Rajan, the director general of India Tourism, online searches for Indian destinations by Chinese tourists rose by 134 percent in 2017, and the number of the Chinese people regularly practicing yoga reached 10 million.
Ever since India officially opened tourist e-visas to Chinese citizens on July 30, 2015, there’s been a big increase in the number of Chinese visiting India. However, there has been no subsequent growth after 2016.
One possible reason was attributed to air connectivity between China and India. Currently, 47 foreign and Chinese airlines and five Indian flights operate between the two countries.
The minister said he would address the issue by initiating a dialogue with the aviation minister back in his country to increase flight connectivity.
Addressing a media conference attended by Chinese and Indian reporters, the minister refuted concerns raised over the safety of female visitors in India. He said that, “We take great care to ensure that people who come to India are safe. We have a helpline number 1363 which is available in 12 languages including Mandarin.” Last year the helpline dealt with around 275,000 calls.
"We take all these issues seriously. We have an extremely efficient police service in India.” He added.
During the seminar, Guo Xiuyi, manager of India based travel agency Vini Global Trips Ltd shared with Chinese and Indian peers her experiences in operating a travel business in India. She also recalled the changes during her 12 years with Indian colleagues. She said that WeChat and QQ are now widely used among India travel agencies and there are more tourist guides who can speak Chinese.
According to Satyajeet Rajan, during the forthcoming ‘Incredible India’ roadshows in China from August 28-31, the agency has prepared a power point presentation on the themes - India’s rich heritage, history, culture and civilization as well as for touristic destinations, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, beaches, wildlife and nature, back waters, temples, shopping, luxury and hospitality sector, medical and wellness tourism, spiritual tourism including Buddhist circuits.
Editor: John Li