Focus more on Chinese tourists: Minister urges tour operators

Tour operators in the country should tap the full tourism potential of the country and also special focus was needed to bring in more Chinese tourists, said Union Tourism Minister for State (I/C), K J Alphons. The minister was addressing the gathering at the inauguration of 34th IATO annual convention held at Novotel Hotel in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

The minister also suggested that IATO be renamed Indian Association of Tour Ambassadors. “Though we have taken special measures to attract Chinese tourists to the country, only 2.47 lakh Chinese tourists visited India in 2017. I request IATO to play a major role in exploring the full potential and drawing more visitors,” said Alphons.

“The country’s full potential of tourism and hospitality sector has not yet been explored. Tour operators should explore and promote new destinations across the country to attract more foreign tourists,” said Union Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma.

“It is time to explore and promote new tourist destinations to attract more number of foreign visitors who have been looking for new destinations, particularly adventure and rural tourism,” she added.

“Foreign tourist arrivals in the country crossed the 10 million mark in 2017, and, there’s a lot of potential in the tourism sector to achieve IATO’s mission of 20 million tourists by 2020, though it is not an easy task,” said Rashmi Verma.

IATO President Pronab Sarkar has requested the union government to consider lower visa fee for attracting foreign tourists. He has also urged the union government to have a rethink on GST on hotel and hospitality services.