India beckons: Land of contrasts gears up to become a year-round destination

India is a land of contrasts, with pristine beaches, mountains, fertile valleys, rainforest and desert. It caters to almost every conceivable type of vacation, including nature and eco-tourism, adventure tourism, beach tourism and cultural tourism. India’s rich history and its cultural and geographical diversity make its international tourism appeal unique and attractive for every one — men, women and children of any country, any religion, any creed. It presents heritage and cultural tourism along with medical, business, marine and sports tourism besides a huge entertainment industry.
India captures the heart of its global visitors and mesmerizes them with its natural beauty, colorful festivals, exotic beaches and architectural splendor. India also has one of the largest and fastest growing medical tourism sectors. On the other hand, India is a colorful tourist destination offering the best tourism experience to the visitors in terms of countless cultural, spiritual and travel experiences. The travel and tourism industry in India is almost three times bigger than the size of automotive manufacturing industry, and generates more jobs than several other sectors.
In fact, improvements on accessibility and infrastructure, air and road connectively, professionally trained human resources, range of tourism product options and a focused marketing campaign under the banner “Incredible India” has helped the country achieve a tourism growth of 8.1 percent in terms of both volume and value in 2012. This is according to new research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) sponsored by American Express, released recently. The research, undertaken by Oxford Economics, shows that the sector’s direct contribution to India’s GDP is very substantial.
Travel and tourism’s total contribution — including direct, indirect and induced impacts — to GDP in India was around 6.4 percent of the total GDP. This compares to 3.3 percent for automotive manufacturing, 4.5 percent for education and 3.7 percent for the mining industry. Supporting 39 million direct, indirect and induced jobs in India, travel & tourism sector generates more jobs than the mining industry and communications services.
The travel and tourism sector is a significant source of export revenue for India. In 2011, the total foreign tourist arrivals in India were 6.29 million and foreign exchange earnings stood at $ 17 billion (Global rank 17) — up 17.6 percent from previous year figure of $ 14 billion (5.58 million FTAs in 2010). India’s foreign exchange earnings grew by an astonishing 14.1 percent (CAGR) during 2001-10 outpacing global average of 7.7 percent.
Owing to a steady decade-long growth, India’s share in world foreign exchange earnings have gone up from 0.64 percent in 2002 to about 1.72 percent in 2011. The Gulf and the Middle East is an important market for India with over 250,000 tourists visiting India, with Saudi Arabia contributing more than 26,000 Saudi tourists in 2011. This is mainly because India has to offer everything for everyone. India has been promoting and projecting itself as a destination for history, culture and architecture. It has something for every age group, every sort of interest varying from wildlife, cuisine, shopping, leisure, adventure tourism, beaches holiday or luxury stays, wellness or Spa experience, river cruising, backwater experience, living in rural areas or experiencing India’s rural life. There are several ways to explore India. One can travel by road or train and get to see the life of majority of the people who live in villages or one has the choice to travel in private jets or domestic airlines. India is not a country one can see in a week, two weeks or two months.
Some people say that it can take a couple of years to a lifetime to see and experience India. There are very many ways to experience India, which also has many niche tourism areas which attract people who are interested in a particular activity. One of the important and popular travel circuits of North India is called the “Golden Triangle Circuit” which involves the cities of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Delhi is the capital city full of energy and color with the old and the new, thronging bazaars and Mughal architecture with a combination of wide boulevards and narrow lanes.
It is an old historic yet a modern city with a number of tourist attractions viz. the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid (the largest mosque in India), the Qutub Minar complex with its soaring tower, India Gate, Lodhi Gardens, the Lotus Temples, Humayun’s Tomb etc. Jaipur is a city in the desert State of Rajasthan. The city has beautiful and majestic hill forts and palaces and is known as the Pink City because of the color of the stone used extensively in the walled city, Jaipur’s bazaars sell embroidered leather shoes, blue pottery, tie and dye scarves and other exotic wares.
Western Rajasthan itself forms a convenient circuit, in the heart of the Thar desert that has shaped its history, lifestyle and architecture. On the other side, Agra, the city of the inimitable Taj Mahal is now an educational and business centre known for its craftsmen and handicrafts, Marble and soft stone inlay work, carpet and leather goods are some important traditional crafts of the city. Besides the Taj Mahal, Agra has the Agra Fort, Sikandra, Ram Bagh and Itmad-ud-Daulah, and 35 km away is Fatehpur Sikri, the imperial ruins of the Mughal city. Agra and Fatehpur Sikri are not merely rich legacies of Mughal History — they are the finest examples of architecture which combined Hindu and Muslim elements. To this end, it is important to note that traveling by road from New Delhi to Agra is a luxury. A brand new world class multi-lane road has been constructed for the luxury of motorists. Now with this new Delhi-Agra Expressway, the distance between the two cities is reduced to 165 km that can be easily covered in around two hours.
Another important highlight is the polo tourism. The game of polo originated in Rajasthan, a desert state of India. People from the Middle East love horses and take pride in their steeds and stables. In India, there is a rare breed of horses called the “Marwari Horses” from the Jodhpur region of Rajasthan which are a great attraction for the horse lovers. Polo in India is of two types: The Horse Polo and the Elephant Polo. For fun, there is also the Camel Polo, which might be of interest to the tourists from the Gulf region.
Normally tournaments are held from October to February/March. This time of the year it is not too hot for an outdoor game of polo. Apart from this, there are lots of demonstration matches, which people like to see. Incidentally, the oldest world polo club is in India. The Maharaja of Jaipur Polo Championship attracts people to the area and promotes the game. People from Saudi Arabia can experience the monsoon rains or visit the hill stations located all over India. Most of the high peaks of the world are in the Himalayan mountain ranges which traverse from north to eastern part of the country. These mountains are snow-capped during winter, while in summer they are beautiful, lush green and good for soft adventure like river rafting, white water rafting, mountain climbing or just trekking and walking.