1.4 million Indian tourists visited America in 2018:US tourism official

Unfazed by President Donald Trumps tough immigration policies and visa restrictions a record 14 million Indian tourists visited the United States in 2018 becoming one of the top groups of international visitors to America according to a top US tourism officialIndia was third in terms of growth rate 72 percent during the year followed by Brazil 155 percent and Mexico 94 percentiquestThats great news as it relates to our friends and visitors coming from Indiaiquest Christopher Thompson CEO of Brand USA told PTI in an interviewBrand USA is an organization dedicated to marketing the United States as a premier travel destination I always talk about India being one of our strongest markets for visiting friends and relatives I know theres been a long history of a lot of the young students coming over for education the families following them and then we have a growing community of Indians in the United Statesiquest he said explaining the reason behind high visitation from IndiaThe United States has always been an aspirational destination for the people of India The two countries have a natural affinity they have a democratic system and India US relationship is becoming stronger and deeper every passing year he saidThompson said that the spending capacity of tourists from India is much more than those from other countriesIndia USD158 billion is the fifth largest foreign exchange generator after China USD364 billion Canada USD221 billion Mexico USD211 billion and Japan USD16 billion in terms of spending by foreign tourists he saidAfter South Korea India is the secondbest performing market in terms of the growth rate of spending by foreign tourists Thompson saidReferring to the US Department of Commerce statistics that Indian visitation is projected to grow an impressive 46 percent between now and 2023 he said iquestWhen you look at that thats a year over year increase of probably somewhere around six percent on an average over the next five yearsThompson said he would encourage the Indian travelers to visit other places as well in the US other than traditional gatewaysiquestI would encourage them to exercise their spirit of adventure and curiosity and allow us to use the storytelling platforms that we now have in place that are available to our Indian friends and visitors and challenge them to look at new and different opportunities and experiences that are available he saidTourism helps in promoting people to people relationships The recent immigration policies and tough visa restrictions under the Trump Administration he said had no impact on foreign touristsiquestIts a matter of fact that all those forecasters who were saying that it could be a tremendous swamp or impact really never played out That has been our job and our concern since this administration has made immigration and border security a priority We do consumer sentiment in the market and its really the difference between sentiment and behavioriquest he saidiquestWe say that travel has the amazing power to transcend politicsiquest he saidCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get the latest updates