More women are visiting India as business opportunities grow in Asia’s third-largest economy and the government takes steps to make it a safer destination. The number of women tourists who visited India rose 12.5 per cent to 2.3 million in 2010 from a year earlier, faster than the 11.8 per cent growth in overall tourist arrivals.
As many as 5.7 million tourists visited India in 2010, as per a report by Mint. “The female tourist segment is definitely growing at a very strong pace. We are directing our focus on India’s culture, heritage and presenting India as a shopping destination, all of which appeal to women’s aesthetics,” said a tourism official, who declined to be named. According to the tourism ministry, the growing number of women travellers to India presents an opportunity for the Indian hospitality industry. The share of women travellers to India grew to 40.7 per cent of total tourist arrivals in 2010 from 24.5 per cent in 2001, government data show. “The ratio will certainly become 50:50 in the next three-four years, provided there are concerted efforts by the government and tour operators to alleviate perceived security fears,” said P.R. Srinivas, former India head for hospitality and travel at Deloitte Haskins & Sells, a part of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. “The potential of this segment could be much higher,” he added. Travel agents and hoteliers say women tourists as a category present a huge opportunity but little has been done to exploit it. “There are no stand-alone female plans as such in India yet,” said Suraj Nair, Vice-President - Strategy and Planning, Thomas Cook India. “While for outbound travellers, there are a number of female-only tours to European countries, for inbound, it has not been focused on.”
Click here to see the original article>As many as 5.7 million tourists visited India in 2010, as per a report by Mint. “The female tourist segment is definitely growing at a very strong pace. We are directing our focus on India’s culture, heritage and presenting India as a shopping destination, all of which appeal to women’s aesthetics,” said a tourism official, who declined to be named. According to the tourism ministry, the growing number of women travellers to India presents an opportunity for the Indian hospitality industry. The share of women travellers to India grew to 40.7 per cent of total tourist arrivals in 2010 from 24.5 per cent in 2001, government data show. “The ratio will certainly become 50:50 in the next three-four years, provided there are concerted efforts by the government and tour operators to alleviate perceived security fears,” said P.R. Srinivas, former India head for hospitality and travel at Deloitte Haskins & Sells, a part of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. “The potential of this segment could be much higher,” he added. Travel agents and hoteliers say women tourists as a category present a huge opportunity but little has been done to exploit it. “There are no stand-alone female plans as such in India yet,” said Suraj Nair, Vice-President - Strategy and Planning, Thomas Cook India. “While for outbound travellers, there are a number of female-only tours to European countries, for inbound, it has not been focused on.”