It sought increase in activities that would attract more in-bound tourists

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has written to PM Narendra Modi, thanking him for extolling NRI’s residing in Denmark during his speech there to contribute and help promote in-bound tourism to India and thus, contribute to the economic development of the country. However, it also urged the government to raise the level of promotion for attracting in-bound tourists. 

Just as India has opened up, so have countries in the neighbourhood. There is stiff competition coming from countries like Thailand, the UAE and Nepal. One of the factors playing in their favour is the huge number of marketing and promotional activities they are carrying out in order to attract foreign tourists. 

According to Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO, “Our marketing is not commensurate with our size and stature and we need conduct more roadshows, organise Incredible India evenings, increase participation in international travel marts and organise FAM tour for foreign tour operators. This, we understand, is because of paucity of funds with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. We also understand that the funds to the Ministry of Tourism are withheld for reasons not known to us.” 

It will be pertinent to point out that every penny spent has a potential of giving 10x return. However, most unfortunately the allocation for promotion has been cut in this year's budget. IATO implores the government to revisit the allocation and raise the marketing level as after two years of pandemic, the world wishes to travel and India must try and reach out to maximum people, encouraging them to visit.