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Tourism to India from Europe nosedives

Ranvir Nayar in Paris

Tourism to India from continental Europe has nosedived following the September 11 terror attacks in the US.

With more than half-a-million tourists, Europe is the largest market for tourists to India each year, accounting for more than 25 per cent of the total market. A sudden plunge in tourism from Europe has serious repercussions for the entire Indian industry.

As the situation in India's vicinity continues to be uncertain, many European travellers are opting to put off or outright cancel their planned visits.

But it is not just India that has been hit hard by the drop off in tourists.

"People are afraid to fly right now. They want to avoid long haul flights that would take them very far away from home, especially since they fear they may get stuck away from home in case a war breaks out," explains Manmhoan Sadana, director of tourism (Europe).

"It is this fear that is making people rethink about their holiday plans."

While tourists are cancelling holiday plans even in countries like Greece and Tunisia, the timing is especially bad for India as October marks the beginning of the tourist season there.

With the situation in Afghanistan likely to persist for some time, many operators do not expect the situation in the South Asian region to settle before the yearend, meaning the loss of at least half a season.

The reaction of tourists from various countries in Europe has been quite diverse.

The German market has been the hardest hit, with anywhere between 35-40 per cent cancellations. Germany is the second largest European market for tourism to India, accounting for nearly 85,000 tourists last year.

France is the largest market with nearly 90,000 visitors last year.

Most French tour operators catering to the Indian market say so far the reaction of group travellers has been rather muted. They are anxious about the future of the business, as the timing and nature of the US reaction to the attacks remains uncertain.

"There is a fear psychosis in the market now. The biggest fear is that if it blows up, they will be stuck there," says Michael Tims of SITA World Travels, the biggest Indian tourism company. So far he has lost about 15 per cent business only but is keeping his fingers crossed about the future.

Sadana says fear psychosis is the biggest problem. "Tourism within Europe has also collapsed. People are not going even to Greece. The Louvre Museum here in Paris has reported a drop of 25 per cent in visitors since the attack. This is a good indication of how people just don't want to venture out of their homes till the situation cools down," he says.

Most tour operators hope the American action takes place sooner rather than later and the situation returns to normal. "If the problem is over by November, we still have three months of the current season and we can hope to send many tourists to India," says Patrice Dedeyn of Incent Tours, who largely handles corporate incentive travellers.

In the meantime, Sadana says he has launched a damage limitation programme by focusing on the tourism industry professionals and the media.

The Indian Tourism Office has been holding meetings with the leading tour operators in order to reassure them about the security and safety of travel to India. One meeting was organised in Paris Thursday, which was attended by over 30 tour operators from France, a large chunk of the industry catering to India.

"We also plan to step up our hospitality plan to send more travel writers and tour operators. This will help since if there were articles about India as an attractive tourist destination, it would be more convincing since it comes from their own community members," he says.

Indo-Asian News Service
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