After US, Australia issues travel advisory for India over threat of IS attack

The tourism industry does not feel that such advisories will impact the number of foreign arrivals into India

After the US, it is Australia now which has issued a travel advisory to its citizens intending on visiting India and has advised tourists to observe "a high degree of caution in India overall". The advisory was issued over concerns of an increased threat of terrorist attacks in the country.   

Advising caution to its citizens travelling in or visiting India, the Australian government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade posted on its smartraveller.gov.au portal: "On 1 November, the US Government warned of an increased threat of terrorist attack to places in India frequented by Westerners, such as religious sites, markets and festivals. Travellers should maintain heightened vigilance in public places at this time (see Safety and security). The level of our advice has not changed. We continue to advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in India overall. Higher levels apply in some parts of India."

While the Australian government's general advisory for India overall includes paying "close attention to your personal security at all times", there are certain regions and states in the country which the government has specific advisories on. 

It has asked Australian citizens "reconsider" their need to travel to Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Manipur, Chhattisgarh, and the border areas of neighbouring states. The same advice has been given for cities in Jammu and the city of Srinagar. For the state of Jammu and Kashmir, excluding Jammu, Ladakh and Srinagar, the advisory asks citizens to not travel to such locations at all. 

Following Washington's lead

On November 1, the US Embassy in New Delhi had issued an advisory warning of an "increased threat to places in India frequented by Westerners, such as religious sites, markets", citing "recent Indian media reports" indicating the Islamic State's "desire" to attack targets in India.

It also included festival venues besides markets in the travel advisory.

It asked all US citizens to maintain a "high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness" as per the State Department's Worldwide Caution of September 9, 2016. 

Impact on tourism

While the Australian advisory was issued on Wednesday and it was too early for Business Standard to determine its impact on the inflow of Australian tourists into India, people involved in the tourism sector indicated,  as reported by Business Standard, that the US travel advisory would not likely have an impact. 

According to the report, the US is the number one source market for Indian tourism. In 2015, over 1.2 million US citizens visited India, accounting for 15 per cent of India's foreign tourist arrivals.

Further, Subhash Goyal, chairperson of Stic Travel, told Business Standard: "We do not see much impact due to the advisory. Those who have booked months in advance will not cancel their trips, though there could be some deferrals. Overall, the impact of advisory will not be more than one-two per cent."

According to Karan Anand, head, relationships, Cox & Kings, "Tourism to India has been on an upswing and such advisories do not change the perception of India being a safe destination. In the past 12 months, there have been terrorist attacks in Europe but it has not deterred travellers from visiting the continent. Compared to them, India has been incident-free and we expect the same momentum in tourist arrivals."

According to the tourism ministry, India is expected to receive a record nine million foreign tourists in 2016, up over 12 per cent from the eight million visitors last year.