Mumbai attacks to hit tourist arrivals in India

Tourist arrivals in India are set to take a knock following the deadly attacks in Mumbai last week, which have triggered travel

warnings from the United States to Australia on visiting the country. Vijay Thakur, president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, said on Monday he expected a 10-15 percent fall in arrivals in the tourist season that runs from October to April.

The attacks by Islamist militants on India's financial hub, which killed nearly 200 people last week, many of them in Mumbai's two luxury hotels

will scare visitors away at least for some time, he said. "This incident is very unfortunate," Thakur said. "Because of the global crisis, there is some decline already."

A global financial crisis had taken a toll on foreign tourist traffic, with arrivals in October up just 1.8 per cent from a year earlier compared with double-digit growth in the last five years. Much of the poor growth was due to rapidly slowing economies in the United States and Britain, whose citizens made up a large portion of the 5 million tourists in India in 2007.

"After the news about the terrorist attack there was a steep decline in bookings from Russian tourists with many cancellations to Goa," an official of the Association of Russian Tour Operators said. One Briton of Indian origin, who did not want to be identified, said she was waiting for further news on the safety of Mumbai and other parts of India before coming over to see family and friends.

"The English media is making you think war is not impossible," she said in an email. The United State, Britain and Canada have cautioned their nationals against visiting India, while Singapore and Australia have asked their nationals to review plans after the attacks, and Thakur said there would be cancellations.

"Looking at the future bookings and the trends, our members feel it is not very encouraging," he said. At least two conferences were rescheduled after the attacks. A private equity meet in Mumbai, scheduled for December 4 and 5, was moved to February, while global consultancy KPMG indefinitely deferred a Dec. 2 conference in New Delhi.

Between January and October, 4.3 million foreigners toured India, 9.4 per cent more than the same period last year, according to tourism ministry data. Tourism contributes more than 6 per cent to India's GDP of $1 trillion, and employs 53 million people directly or indirectly. In 2007, foreign tourists spent $10.7 billion in India.

 

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