With domestic travel catching on in India, leading hotel chains are looking at the government to promote domestic tourism to attract the creamy segment of high-spending Indian travellers who are hitting international destinations at present.
“The government should think of a campaign along the lines of ‘Incredible India’ for attracting domestic tourists. Destinations have to be marketed in a manner that makes them aspirational. Hotels don’t drive destinations,” said Michael Issenberg, Chairman Asia Pacific, Accor. In India so far, the bulk of the domestic leisure travel is primarily centred around moments places such as the Taj Mahal or religious tourism. “The pure leisure market is really quite small,” said Issenberg. Other international chains entering India such as Swiss International too are concentrating on domestic travellers for the bulk of their business, said a Financial Chronicle report by Yassir A Pitalwalla. Nakul Anand, Executive Director, ITC said, “With travel agents marketing a wider range of holiday packages to different parts of India, domestic tourist traffic has picked up.” Anand estimates that pure leisure traffic accounts for barely one per cent of demand for domestic travel in India, primarily made up by destinations such as Goa. However, tariffs for hotels may not come down in the near future as land cost as a proportion of the total development cost in India stands at 40 per cent versus 20-25 per cent on an average in global markets.
Source
Commis II Indian - Jobs in India
“The government should think of a campaign along the lines of ‘Incredible India’ for attracting domestic tourists. Destinations have to be marketed in a manner that makes them aspirational. Hotels don’t drive destinations,” said Michael Issenberg, Chairman Asia Pacific, Accor. In India so far, the bulk of the domestic leisure travel is primarily centred around moments places such as the Taj Mahal or religious tourism. “The pure leisure market is really quite small,” said Issenberg. Other international chains entering India such as Swiss International too are concentrating on domestic travellers for the bulk of their business, said a Financial Chronicle report by Yassir A Pitalwalla. Nakul Anand, Executive Director, ITC said, “With travel agents marketing a wider range of holiday packages to different parts of India, domestic tourist traffic has picked up.” Anand estimates that pure leisure traffic accounts for barely one per cent of demand for domestic travel in India, primarily made up by destinations such as Goa. However, tariffs for hotels may not come down in the near future as land cost as a proportion of the total development cost in India stands at 40 per cent versus 20-25 per cent on an average in global markets.
Source
Commis II Indian - Jobs in India