India has long been known as an exotic location, with one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, aka, the Taj Mahal being located in Agra, Utter Pradesh. However, the region’s appeal is much wider than just the Taj Mahal, as there are magnificent tea plantations, absolutely gorgeous hill stations and mysterious deserts spread across various parts of the country for travelers to explore and enjoy as well. From a business perspective, this makes Indian travel and tourism a great industry to invest in, but do the actual growth statistics and socio-economic factors favor such an investment?
How Good is the Growth in Indian Tourism?
It is estimated that by next year (2020), the Indian travel industry will have grown to a whopping $56 billion. Back in 2015, the value of the market was estimated to be roughly $33 billion, so this boost of $23 billion would be nothing short of astounding, especially given the developing nature of the subcontinent in general.
Suffice to say, rapidly growing tourism in the country makes it a great place for foreign investors, and the ITB travel fair India presents itself as the perfect gateway to the Indian tourism industry. Check out the official ITB India website for more information on the fair and how you can utilize the event to become a part of the rapid growth.
The Role of the Online Tourism Industry
To facilitate this huge growth, a number of factors had to play their respective roles and among them, the role of the online tourism industry is a huge one.
Armed with analytical tools that enable them to identify potential customers via data from social media sites and search engines, they have managed to target the massive Indian millennial population and their disposable income with great accuracy and success.
Deeper Understanding of the Local Needs
In addition to the millennial leads utilized primarily by online businesses, the multiple offline businesses originating in the country have a deep understanding of the kinds of packages which attract the less affluent sections of the population to tourism. This understanding has led to development of more affordable packages specifically for that market, which has also produced great results, due to India’s huge population in general and the travel-loving nature found across various income groups in the nation.
The Impact of the Smartphone
We have already discussed the role played by online businesses, but the impact of internet access via smartphones in boosting the travel industry in India is much more expansive. Going through the following points in brief, give us an idea of what happened here:
- Smartphones became cheaper and easier to buy and use than computers
- India became the 2nd largest smartphone market in 2017, overtaking the US
- The increased availability of smartphones boosted social media presence
- The boosted social media presence and smartphone access made it easy to market the travel industry to a much wider audience
- More Indians were exposed to exotic locations in and outside India via their smartphones
There is no denying the opportunity to conduct business in the country for investors, especially in the face of growth statistics, which clearly puts numbers on the country’s booming market estimations for the tour & travel business.
