RIYADH, 28 November 2005 — The forthcoming visit of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to India is expected to give a big boost to the tourist traffic between the two countries, with Saudi visitor arrivals in that country already up by 16 percent last year.

Sanjeev Talwar, regional director of Air-India based in Dubai, told newsmen here yesterday that the tourist traffic from the Kingdom had already picked up by a further six percent in the first half of this month. The royal visit would lend an added momentum in that direction.

The news conference, at which Air-India’s regional manager for Saudi Arabia Sentil Kumar was also present, was held ahead of a function for the agents’ presentation award for honoring the top performers.

Sentil Kumar said Air-India generated 18 to 19 percent of its revenue from the Gulf, and Saudi Arabia accounts for 30 percent of this figure. An increasing number of Saudis were looking at India as a tourist destination.

In a previous presentation, Prakash Jajoria, regional director of India Tourism Dubai, said a total of 14,778 Saudis visited India during the period.

“Our figures show that a growing number of Saudi tourists are visiting India for medical treatment, education and sight-seeing. A popular destination is Kerala, which has attracted visitors interested in rejuvenation through ayurvedic treatment. Bangalore and Hyderabad are popular with western tourists, especially those interested in the IT industry.”

Talwar said the airline had ordered 68 more aircraft to cope with the growing demand especially from the United States, Mauritius, South Africa and the Gulf, which would be served both by Air-India and its subsidiary, Air-India Express, the newly established budget airline.

On pilgrim traffic for the Haj season starting in December, Talwar said some 100,000 pilgrims were expected to do Haj. In addition to the normal ports of embarkation, five other pick-up points have been designated. They are Nagpur, Aurangabad ( in Maharashtra), Srinagar (Kashmir), Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).

Asked about Air-India’s plan for introducing e-ticketing, Kumar said it was under process and would be completed in line with IATA’s 2007 deadline to its members. It would be a big boon to passengers who could receive tickets and make payments online.

In reply to a question on the impact of Saudization on the passenger traffic to or from India, Kumar said it was more or less the same.