Rupee fall lures foreign tourists into India: incoming traffic expected to go up by 10-15%

According to The Iato, the weak rupee will provide comfort to the industry which has seen out going traffic hit by almost 25%

The falling rupee has been giving headache  to the most but it is turning out to be a blessing in disguise for the tourism industry as far as inflow of foreign traffic is concerned. After Uttarakhand  tragedy travel operators, portals, hotels have started witnessing a  acceleration into the incoming traffic from foreign countries.  Starting from now to till March is key period when about 60% of total foreign traffic visits India. Every year 6.5 million foreign tourists visit India. USA, Europe, Bangkok, Vietnam, Myanmar, Middle East are one of the top names from where visitors come to India.

According to The Indian Association of Tour Operators (Iato), which has over 1,600 members, the weak rupee will provide comfort to the industry which has seen out going traffic hit by almost 25%. Gour Kanjilal, ED at Iato, said foreign travelers have already started extending their stay in the country as the Indian currency continues to be weak. Rupee fell to al time low of 61.10 on Friday.  

'This is a key season for us and weak rupee will certainly provide the cushion to industry. We are seeing foreigners extending their stay in India as they get to buy a lot more at a cheaper rate now,' said Kanjilal.

According to him this will also put India in a more competitive level while attracting non Asian foreign travelers compared against China.

Though the rupee depreciation may have cast a faint shadow over the outbound travel sector, in a wonderful side effect, it has brought destination India into the limelight with tour packages becoming more affordable, indicates a senior official at Thomascook India.

'Our inbound team has seen an increase in growth during Oct 2012-Mar 2013. We have seen strong demand from destinations like China, France, UK, Japan and USA,' said : Surinder Singh Sodhi, senior vice president & head, leisure travel (Inbound), Thomas Cook (India)

Hoteliers too are echoing the same but it is the leisure sector which will see an upward movement on the inflow of foreign traffic as against business travel. Global hospitality major Best Western's India operations COO Sudhir Singh pointed out this will see a rise in disposable expense of the travelers. Business travel doesn't happen out of impulse so the rise in traffic would be coming from the leisure sector.

'This will have positive impact. A 10% growth can be achieved. We have seen clients extending their stay and are making more plans,' added Singh.