Holidaying abroad — the new passion
Shveta Pathak

IN recent times, Indians have started venturing to foreign lands to spend their vacations. The growth rate of tourists going abroad is the highest in the world. Statistics show that 2,03,221 Indian tourists visited Thailand in 2000. This figure was nearly 3 lakh for Singapore. There was a growth of nearly 24 per cent for Thailand as compared to 1999 and Indian tourists formed more than 2 per cent of the total visitors to that country. The number of tourists to Dubai from India was 2,30,000 in 2000 as against 1,49,000 in 1998. The growth percentage of tourists to Malaysia has, reportedly, been 200 while there has been a 20 per cent increase in to tourist traffic to Singapore. Switzerland continues to be the favourite holiday destination for Indians.

Representatives of the Tourism Departments of these countries attribute the increasing inclination of Indians towards holidaying abroad to attractive tourist packages as also the attention these countries are paying to tourism as an industry.

"Travelling from Delhi to Bangkok is cheaper than from Delhi to the southern states. No wonder people prefer spending their vacations abroad", says Pinki Arora, representative of Tourism Authority of Thailand. " These countries", she says, "are very seriously promoting their tourist sports and moreover attractive packages make foreign destinations the more preferred ones".

Nearly 55 per cent of the tourists are from Delhi whereas the share of the southern states is 40 per cent. Tourism authorities from these countries say the majority of the tourists go in for weekly packages. The growth rate of tourists going abroad is also more in the northern region. "That probably is due to the increasing number of NRIs in this region as also the growth in industrial development", said another representative of a tourism company.

Increased efforts at promoting tourism as an attractive industry is very evident in these countries. The number of travel agents in India has also increased. "For instance", says Carl Vaz, Country Manager, Dubai Office in India, "the number of travel agents was a meagre 22 when we started here in 1997. This number has grown to 380.

From forest reserves, hunting sanctuaries and other adventure destinations to religious spots and clubs, they lay equal emphasis on all.

"Think anything — from shopping and night life to food fests and cultural events — they have it all", says Aishvarya Guhagarkar from Singapore Tourism Board. Thanks to economy packages by agents, spending vacation abroad has become very affordable, she adds. By spending around Rs 50,000 you can have almost a week’s enjoyment at Singapore. The tourism departments of these countries are also seriously promoting the not-so-common tourist sites.

Travel agencies are offering readymade packages at economical rates. For instance an economy package for two (five nights and six days) to London is available for 283 sterling pounds. This includes accommodation, breakfast, unlimited travel pass for four days, visit to tourist spots and other facilities varying from agency to agency. Another package — Romantic Paris — for five nights and six days (3 star hotel) for two will cost 782 Euro Dollars (April 1 to June 30 and from September 1 to November 31) whereas it will cost $737 Euro if you visit between July 1 and August 31. Similarly a package for two to Switzerland for four nights and five days is available for 555 Swiss Francs.