The tourism industry in India is flourishing regardless of an apparent slowdown in sectors like auto, realty, and manufacturing. And, surprisingly the credit goes to Indian travelers belonging to tier 2 or tier 3 cities.
Currently, the tier-1 cities include Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, New Delhi, Kolkata, and Pune. The tier-2 cities include Lucknow, Agra, Jaipur, Chandigarh, and Nagpur. The rest of the cities fall under the tier-3 category.
According to a report by Times of India, request for doorstep visa services came from cities like Allahabad, Ahmedabad, Haryana, Amravati, Thiruvananthapuram, Erode, Surat, Nagercoil, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Tirupur, Muzaffarpur, Palakkad, Indore, Guwahati, Jodhpur, and Chattarpur in Madhya Pradesh.
Read: Narendra Modi Urges Indian Diaspora to Help Boost Tourism
Also, travel loans are playing a major role in the rise in the tourism industry. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, in the year 2019, about 50 million Indians traveled abroad. Domestic tourism, which involves residents of one country traveling only within that country, has increased to 1.65 billion in 2017. Trip organizers are also collaborating with the bank to ease the credit offer.
India is ranked at the 34th position in the World Economic Forum Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019. With this, India became the only lower-middle-income category country which is privileged to be in the top 35.
Indian millennials, consisting of individuals born between 1984 to 2000, are steadily more looking for offbeat destinations and unique experiences.
According to a report by Thomas Cook, a tour operator company, there was around 28 percent increase for experiences like scuba diving (Andamans/Malaysia), fissure snorkeling (Iceland) and alpine treks/glacier climbs (Switzerland/Canada/Scandinavia). In addition, there was an increase in adrenalin highs of sky diving/bungee jumping/zorbing/abseiling (Australia-New Zealand and South Africa) are in demand for their brag worthiness.
According to the firm, there was also a 50-60 percent increase in travel loans.
By Sowmya Sangam
