Luring Indians to Southeast Asia
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Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are exploring plans to hold joint promotions to lure tourists from India. A Bernama report quoting Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Director for India, Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, said the three countries could stretch each party’s budget and create appealing packages.
“I have already spoken to my Malaysian and Singaporean counterparts in India. We are in the second stage of discussing details. This will be a win-win situation as it will be too expensive to promote on our own,” he was quoted saying at a seminar in Thailand.
Chattan was quoted saying that Thailand was hoping to attract 600,000 Indian tourists this year compared to the 510,000 who came last year. For Thailand, India is the third largest market after Singapore and the United States. For Singapore, Indian is the fourth largest market, with almost 750,000 arriving last year. The report said Malaysia is expected to overtake Thailand with its 30% growth rate, adding that the visitors now generate US$7.4 billion annually in travel-related expenditure worldwide and are also the biggest spenders in Malaysia and Singapore.
Sunil Gupta, Chief Operations Officer of Kuoni India Pvt (Outbound Division) – one of the biggest travel agencies in India - was quoted saying that of the 28 million Indians who have passports, only seven million are doing so now.
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