FICCI to promote tourism in Uttar Pradesh, India

Sachin Manawaria | @TheDollarBiz

Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon after attaining enlightenment at Sarnath, India

  The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has tied up with the Government of Uttar Pradesh to promote tourism in the state. Recently, O.P. Singh, Minister of Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh, formally launched the Uttar Pradesh Travel Mart (UPTM) 2015, which will be held in Lucknow from February 22-24, 2015. On this occasion, the minister launched the website www.ficci-uptm.com to help foreign and domestic travellers. The UPTM 2015 will see 75 top foreign tour operators from across the world who will have pre-schedule B2B meetings for two days with the sellers of tourism products of the state of Uttar Pradesh like tour operators, hoteliers, etc. The move is expected to help boost tourism inflows into India, as Uttar Pradesh is home to several world famous attractions including the Taj Mahal and Sarnath which is a major pilgrimage for Buddhists. According to the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), world tourism has increased significantly in the last two decades with the help of better transport facilities and economic growth. As per available data, international tourism represents around 6% of overall global exports and about 30% of services exports. However, the tourism potential in India and South Asia remains unexplored. UNWTO projects that by 2020, East Asia (driven by China) and the Pacific will increase its market share from around 14% in 1995 to around 25% in 2020. In comparison, South Asia’s share is expected to reach around 1.2% of global tourism market by 2020. In 2013, India saw FTA (foreign tourist arrivals) increase over 6% y/y to around 7 million, according to the data available with India’s Ministry of Tourism. FTAs during January – September 2014 stood at around 5.2 million (up 5% y/y), with most people from Bangladesh (14.79%), USA (11.88 %), UK (8.33%), Sri Lanka (4.77%), and Malaysia (4.18%). In 2013, India’s foreign exchange earnings from FTAs stood at around Rs. 1,07,671 crore, which is up around 14% y/y. Within India, Uttar Pradesh gets a high inflow of FTAs (of about 10% of total foreign visits to India) mainly due to the presence of Taj Mahal. Speaking at the launch of the UPTM 2015, O.P. Singh said that Uttar Pradesh requires funding support from the central government to develop its tourism to world standards.    

This article was published on November 27, 2014.