Representatives of over 50 countries participated in the 25th edition of India’s most awaited travel and tourism exhibition, SATTE (South Asia’s travel and tourism exhibition) in the Capital. Most of the foreign participant countries at the exhibition agreed that India is a high potential market when it comes to tourism and the number of Indians tourists travelling abroad is growing every year very swiftly.

“India is a very important market for us, with over 20 million outbound tourists a year and the numbers are growing,” said Hassan Madah, director, Israel Ministry of Tourism, India and the  Philippines. “We have seen constant growth in the arrival figures from the Indian market in the last four years, where we have set new records in Indian tourist arrivals to Israel for the second consecutive year. With airlines expressing interest to increase connectivity between India and Israel, I am confident the growth will continue.”

Speaking on the issue,  I Gde Pitana  Deputy . Tourism Minister, Indonesia, said, “India is very important to Indonesia. Last year, half a million Indians visited Indonesia. It is a huge jump of seven per cent.  Of all the travellers visiting Indonesia, 98 per cent were satisfied and over 90 per cent have found Indonesia above expectation.”

Held at Pragati Maidan, the three-day exhibition of SATTE was organised by UBM in order to provide a comprehensive platform to domestic and international buyers and professionals from across the travel, tourism and hospitality industry, along with National and State Tourism Boards (NTOs and STOs) to promote inbound, outbound and domestic tourism in India.

Oman also had a good time with Indian  tourists. In the last five years the country recorded 82 per cent growth in Indian arrivals. In 2016, Oman received 297,628 Indian arrivals as compared to 256,210 arrivals in 2014 ~ over 16 per cent  growth in the past two years.

The same scenario is seen with Sri Lanka, which also had a historic growth, with 384,628 arrivals from India in 2017. Enthused by the growth, destination Sri Lanka has targetted 4.4 lakh Indian arrivals this year.

“India continues to be our top source. We believe that the potential of the Indian travel market is yet to realise in terms of attracting longer stay and higher spending travellers. It is our fervent hope to make Sri Lanka the most preferred destination in Asia for Indian travellers,” said Sutheash Balasubramaniam, Managing Director, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau.

This year, tourism boards of Spain, Peru, Czech Republic, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Turkey, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Fiji, New Zealand, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Israel, Sharjah, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Mauritius, Indonesia, Abu Dhabi, Visit Russia, Visit Florida and Las Vegas and Oman participated in the exhibition and showcased their destinations  and launches.

“The tourism industry has been a major engine in the economic growth of India,” said Yogesh Mudra, Managing Director, UBM India. “While it contributes almost seven per cent to the nation’s GDP, it also provides over 12 per cent of the total employment in terms of jobs. The industry itself has been growing at an unparalleled rate. This is evident from the fact that the country is now ranked 40th in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index in 2017, a huge leap of 25 places from 2013. As the disposable income rises and more Indians travel, the industry is only poised to flourish further.”