Look east for easy money

As foreign tourists give CWG a miss, tour operators bank on domestic travellers

With most foreign tourists, expected during the Commonwealth Games, canceling booking at the eleventh hour, the tours and travel operators are now focusing on domestic tourists for meeting revenue targets.

Interestingly, till a few months ago the tourism ministry was confident that over one lakh tourists would visit the national capital during the Oct 3-14 Games. The city's tour operators are now slamming the tall claims of the tourism ministry. Big players from the industry have gone to the extent of saying that only 10,000 to 15,000 tourists would turn up during the mega event.

Rajesh Khanna from Sky Tour & Travels, located in Karol Bagh, said, "The Games was one of the most awaited events and the travel industry was expecting big gains. Though we did good business initially but in the last one week, there were almost 50u00a0 per cent cancellations. Most of the tourists either cited security concerns or the outbreak of dengue and swine flu. In the days to come, we fear more cancellations."

"In view of the negative trend, we have shifted our focus to domestic customers. During the Games, most of the offices will be closed and Delhiites are looking to make good use of this time. We are offering some special packages," said, Rohit Jain, from Interlink Tours located at New Delhi railway station.

Until June this year, 2.63 million foreigners have visited the country. In 2008, 5.28 million tourists came to India, as compared to 5.11 million in 2009. In fact, the travel industry is not at all enthused about the Games drawing tourists.Officials from the Commonwealth Games also believe majority tourists would be domestic.

"Negative media coverage of the Games will keep the foreign visitors away.However, we are still expecting around 100,000 visitors in the capital," said an Organising Committee official, requesting anonymity.

Rajji Rai, president of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), said: "The delays by the CWG authorities have really affected our industry. We, as travel agents, have lost a lot of potential business and are very disappointed. We are not expecting over 15,000 foreign tourists. So it is wise to shift focus to the domestic tourists who will be coming to Delhi and moving out during the Games."

Earlier, security experts had warned Australian fans not to wear national colours of green and gold or fly their flag at the CWG, as doing that could attract terrorists.

Similarly, US Mission in India also alerted Americans tavelling or residing in India to not only be careful of terror threat during the Delhi Games but also to be alert on crime.

As Delhi witnessed a major dengue outbreak, Malaysia also issued travel advisory against Delhi for the CWG.

2.63 millionu00a0Foreigners visited India until June this year.
5.11 million Tourists travelled to India in 2009
5.28 million Tourists visited the country in 2008