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Hope Floats For Tourism Sector After May Surprise
By ugeshji, Section News Posted on Sun Jun 07, 2009 at 11:53:10 PM EST
TOURIST arrivals in the country are picking up.
 And the fact that improving numbers were registered in the tumultuous election month of May has raised hope for the sector's revival. If the current figures of foreign tourist arrivals ( FTA) are any indication, the debilitating effects of the monthslong economic slowdown and the terror attack in Mumbai in November are wearing off.
The latest FTA figure for the month of May stood at 295,124 people, which is almost on par with the figure of 300,840 in May 2008, a marginal decline of only 1.9 per cent. The FTA in May 2007 stood at 277,000 lakh people.  Between January 1 and April 30 this year, 1.83 million international tourists came to India, marginally lesser than the 2 million- plus arrivals during the same period last year. As a tourism ministry official points out, " There has been a gradual improvement in the month- on- month growth rate of FTA in May 2009 (- 1.9 per cent) as compared to April 2009 (- 3.5 per cent), March 2009 (- 12.9 per cent) and January 2009 (- 17.5 per cent)." Further raising hope has been foreign exchange earnings ( FEE) from tourist arrivals in May -- Rs 3,249 crore as compared to Rs 2,988 crore in May last year, an increase of 8.7 per cent. Earnings in April had risen a modest 7.6 per cent over the corresponding figure last year. What's more, the industry had negative growth in previous months compared to 2008 figures. Interestingly, while forex earnings in terms of rupees have gone up, the figures in dollars continue to show a decrease. Source: Mail Today Hope Floats For Tourism Sector After May Surprise Click On "Full Story" For More..
During May 2009, the FEE stood at US $ 669 million, as compared to FEE of US $ 711 million during the month of May 2008.
Industry insiders explain the difference between increase in earnings in rupees juxtaposed with decrease in earnings in dollars on the depreciation of the rupee rate. Last year, the rate was around Rs 39 to the dollar, while it went up to nearly Rs 50 to the dollar during May 2009. Amidst this surfeit of " positive" figures, the travel industry is still keeping its fingers crossed. Vijay Thakur, president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, said: " We, along with the tourism ministry, have been holding road shows in the last few months across 10 countries. If the figures are showing increased arrivals, then it's a positive sign." The industry is keenly waiting incentives from the new government and hopes that the budget will bring them some respite. Officials at the Ministry of Tourism said that their Visit India Year 2009 scheme in overseas markets has started showing results and could also be one of the reasons for increased tourist arrivals. The ministry has now extended the scheme up to March 2010 to lure more tourists. Sources said the tourism sector is also likely to benefit from the new government's resolve to increase spending on infrastructure.
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