India planning to boost Chinese tourist arrivals

Tourism Minister KJ Alphons has said that the tourism ministry is very keen to attract more Chinese travellers and is hopeful of boosting their arrivals to 14.4 million in five years. The ministry has introduced a slew of measures which includes promotional events and Mandarin-speaking guides.

The minister also informed that the ministry would be setting up its first office at Beijing soon. It also has plans to organize roadshows in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou from August 28 to September 1.

“We should aim for 10 per cent of the 144 million Chinese tourists. This can be achieved in five years if we make concerted efforts,” the minister told ET.

India received about 247,000 Chinese tourists last year, which showed a marginal decline from about 251,000 in 2016. The number of Chinese tourists visiting India in 2015 was 2,06,322. From 2015 to 2017, there was a 9.28-per cent increase in the number of Chinese tourists arriving in India.

According to researches, the most most number of searches are being performed in China are for cities like Sawai Madhopur, Havelock Island, Madurai, Kochi, and Trivandrum.