The Hindu Business Line : We're going out... they aren't coming in

FOR the first time, tourism has become a net negative foreign exchange earner, with the country increasingly emerging as a source rather than destination for international travel.

During April-December 2002, the total forex earnings from tourism were estimated at $ 2,161 million.

On the other hand, travel payments made by Indians abroad over this period - for business and personal purposes, inclusive of settlement of international credit cards - amounted to $ 2,391 million.

The net forex inflows from tourism during the first three quarters of the fiscal just ended, thus, worked out to minus $ 230 million.

This is a far cry from the situation prevailing six years ago, when the tourism industry was a net forex earner to the tune of $ 2 billion. While gross tourism receipts have stagnated at $ 2.8-2.9 billion since 1996-97, spending by outbound Indian tourists has more than tripled during this period.

According to Mr Rajiv Nangia, Deputy General Manager, Travel Representations (India) Ltd, the phenomenon of Indians becoming prolific international travellers had mainly to do with the growing realisation that there were many nearby overseas destinations offering real `value-for-money'.

"A person travelling from Delhi to Chennai has to shell out more than Rs 8,000 per person for just a one-way air ticket. But a four-night, five-day package to Sri Lanka, which includes airfare (from Delhi to Colombo) and hotel accommodation, will cost him only Rs 15,000", he points out.

Last year alone saw more than 70,000 Indians visiting Sri Lanka - a figure that is expected to rise by 30-50 per cent in 2003.

Besides Sri Lanka, the other popular value-for-money destinations include Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Dubai and China. An air ticket to Bangkok costs about Rs 12,000, with staying options available for as low as $ 10 (Rs 500) per night.

However, the story of the overseas Indian traveller is not only about the aspiring budget tourist, who is discovering the beaches in Pattaya or Bentota to be more cost-effective propositions relative to Kovalam back home.

It also extends to the seasoned, well-heeled traveller, who has now diversified his travel portfolio to include exotic locales such as Istanbul, Greece and Casablanca and, of course, luxury cruises in the Carribeans and the Scandinavian countries.

"A family of four travelling to Europe on a 10-day trip typically spends $ 2500-3000, if not more, just on shopping", says Mr Zubin Karkaria, Chief Operating Officer, SOTC.

He felt that even in the present turbulent international scenario, there were countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Mauritius and South Africa (particularly after the Cricket World Cup), which would continue to attract traffic from India.

Outbound tourism has also been facilitated by the relaxation in forex drawal limits for overseas travel announced by the Reserve Bank of India in recent times.

The Basic Travel Quota (BTQ) or foreign exchange that an individual going abroad on private visits can freely purchase from authorised dealers during any calendar year has been raised from $ 3000 to $ 5000 from June 1, 2000 and further to $ 10,000 with effect from November 18, 2002. For business travellers, the annual ceiling is $ 25000.

While there has been a surge in overseas travel by Indians — both in value as well as volume terms — no such buoyancy has been observed with regard to inbound tourist traffic.

While the total number of foreign tourists to the country rose gradually from 21.90 lakh in 1995-96 to 23.71 lakh in 1997-98 and 25.05 lakh in 1999-2000, before peaking at 26.99 lakh in 2000-01, the arrivals fell to 24.23 lakh in 2001-02.

During 2002-03, the figure is estimated to have recovered marginally to 24.50 lakh. But clearly, it will take some time before the scars left behind by 9/11, followed by the Indo-Pak border tensions, riots in Gujarat and now the war in Iraq fade away.

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