Incredible Indeed!

By SHELDON SANTWAN

The current scenario in the Indian tourism industry is an incredible turnaround of sorts if one was to compare it with the situation not too long ago. The phenomenal business that this industry has witnessed this year and more specifically in the last couple of months, which is guaranteed to spill over into the next year, is nothing short of spectacular. This amazing swing in fortunes can well be attributed to the fact that the country is only living up to its tourism branding of ‘Incredible India’.

Yes, the upswing has been incredible but on a more serious note, if one has to analyse this transformation the reasons are quite obvious. And unlike the common perception, this is really only the tip of the iceberg. As an industry, we need to recognise this and change our ‘make hay while the sun shines attitude’ because we run the risk of killing the golden goose by trying to milk the opportunity dry.

Everyone is now out to make the quick buck while the good times are here, it is almost a case of throwing the tourists to a hungry pack of wolves. We need to be rational in our pricing and guard against out-pricing ourselves in a demand-driven marketplace. Instead, this is a real opportunity for the industry to capitalise on and build a brand that will result in a steady flow of tourists in the long term.

We are once again making the cardinal mistake of measuring this boom against our own past performances instead of viewing it against the performance of the other countries in the region who compete with us. A closer look at the tourism figures of these countries would be enough to convince us that this is just the beginning and a lot needs to be done to sustain this kind of growth. All we have done is made the right initial moves at last.

I earlier spoke of the obvious reasons for this sudden bonanza for the industry. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that India has only recently adopted a proactive stance on tourism. The visibility at international tourism forums and marketing campaigns have started to attract attention.

Business travel has received a major boost with the healthy economy and steady economic growth. FIIs have shown renewed interest and NRI investment is being encouraged. Add to this new-found enthusiasm for tourism promotion among most of the major states in the country and their willingness to innovate. A crucial factor has been the sudden realisation that domestic tourism is the real sleeping giant. This has also triggered off a shortage in air capacity and the resultant spurt in domestic airlines. A more liberal civil aviation policy and almost open skies has probably provided the icing on the cake, though it took a long time coming.

The only danger here is complacency...

THE AWARDS

Against this buoyant backdrop, the second edition of the Galileo-Express Travel & Tourism Awards in New Delhi was an even more gala affair than last year with the Tourism and Civil Aviation Ministers in attendance once again. The response and participation from the industry was quite outstanding and very encouraging to say the least. With almost 90 nominations across all categories, a keen contest was always in the offing. As
usual there were ecstatic winners and disappointed nominees but the overall elation within the fraternity was unmistakable. This special issue on the awards is celebration of all those who made it... and all those who didn’t. Win or lose, may the spirit within this industry always live on. Cheers!

Editor
editor@expresstravelandtourism.com