India, UAE aim to double tourist by 2015

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and the UAE will be signed in the coming months and a joint meeting of stakeholders from both the countries will take place before announcing a complete road map to double the two-way flow of tourists, India’s Minister of Tourism Subodh Kant Sahai said in Dubai, as reported by Emirates 24|7.

Sahai said the Indian Ambassador to the UAE N K Lokesh is working out details and modalities of the proposed MoU and will create an India-UAE Tourism Promotion Forum with representation from hotels and tour operators to double the inbound and outbound tourist flow from both the countries.

“India receives around six million tourists per year and our target is to double the figure by 2015. We are trying to co-operate with the tourism departments of Gulf countries to increase the flow of tourists both ways,” he said.

There has been reasonable growth in the number of tourists reaching India from the Gulf and Middle East, especially from countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen and Turkey. Roadshows will be held in two other Middle East countries including Jordan. Nearly 6.29 million tourists visited India in 2011, an 8.9% growth over 5.78 million in 2010. Till May 2012, the country received about 2.8 million tourists, generating US$7.297 billion in foreign exchange. The Indian tourism ministry’s target is to increase the country’s share in international tourist arrivals from 0.6 % to 1% by 2016.

By Charmaine Fernz, 4 July 2012, Wednesday 11:32 AM