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Monday, 29 October, 2018, 15 : 00 PM [IST]
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Keep the Momentum Going
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According to a recent report released
by the World Travel & Tourism
Council, in 2017 the tourism
industry contributed to 10.4% of
the total GDP of the world. It is also one of the
largest employment generating sectors and
created 313 million jobs, worldwide. It has
been identified that travelling has become a
popular activity among people from countries
where economic development has happened
at a considerably faster pace during the
last decade. In recent years, this has been
especially true for most Asian countries and
India is not far behind.
With opportunities come obstacles. People
travel for positive experiences, but it only
takes one negative experience to deter a
tourist’s confidence to travel. One of the most
fundamental requirements of a trip is the
travellers’ safety and security. This is not only
true for global tourism, but also for domestic
locations as well. When there is a perceived
lack of security, due to potential violence or
unrest due to the socio-political environment
of a country or region, travel & tourism takes
a major hit.
The lack of proper medical care and
facilities in the unlikely event of the outbreak
of epidemics or proper disaster management
controls during the occurrences of natural
disasters are some other factors that could
hamper tourism. Rising fuel prices also have
an indirect impact on the growth of tourism as
air travel becomes costlier. Finally, high rate
of inflation and poor exchange rates create a
negative impact especially for international
travel.
When it comes to India’s tourism market,
since this is a sector with higher taxes compared
to peers in the region, we will be unable to
attract the same volume of tourists as in other
Asian countries like Thailand, Sri Lanka or
Vietnam. The government should work on
finding a sustainable solution to this along
with the support of the travel trade fraternity,
considering that the tourism sector is one of
the significant contributors to the economy.
Not to say that the Government of India
is neglecting the sector. The focused efforts
to improve the visibility of India as a tourist
destination, such as the ‘Incredible India’
campaign, ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’, have helped in
providing an impetus to the industry. Unique
initiatives such as offering tax holidays to
hotels around some UNESCO World Heritage
sites have also helped in providing comfortable
stay at affordable prices for visiting travellers.
We just need to do more to keep building this
sector.
Being a passionate and an enthusiastic
traveller, it was always my wish to bring forth
my views on the impact of geopolitical factors
on travel and thanks to TravelBiz Monitor for
the opportunity to share them through this
article. TravelBiz Monitor has been one of the
forerunners of the trade journals and I wish
them the very best on their 11th Anniversary
celebrations.
It is always a pleasure to write for TravelBiz
Monitor, and we look forward to continue our
long standing association for many more years
to come.
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