India is now one of the fastest growing outbound tourism markets in the world, second only to China. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates that India will account for 50 million outbound tourists by 2020. Despite the slowdown due to rupee fluctuations, the Indian outbound numbers have been growing at an average annual growth rate of 10-12 percent over the last seven years.
A growing, consumption-driven economy, a large and increasingly affluent middle class, and the ongoing liberalization of air transportation have contributed significantly to this growth in international outbound travel. Additional interest in niche tourism sectors such as medical, wellness and adventure tourism has also contributed to this growth. There is a very strong reason to focus on India for its outbound tourism is another fact that the average Indian traveler spends $1,200 per visit as compared with Americans who spend about $700, and Brits who spend $500.
As travellers are getting increasingly enabled, with online booking sites and an abundance of destination information available online, it is imperative now, to think more actively on how to stay relevant to our travellers.
We at CoConnect believe that a great travel partner makes a perceptible enhancement to a memorable travel journey and travel partners are our greatest ally, particularly as online algorithms can never provide the personal connect the way they do, and that no matter how good an online site might appear for a traveller — objective, non-biased, solid information can only be provided by an agent with the requisite knowledge.