Travel Industry Wooing Tourists from India.doc

1、Comment k1: 麦加，伊斯兰教的朝圣之地这里为：众人渴望去的地方Comment k2: 沉溺于Travel Industry Wooing Tourists from IndiaIn India, May is the cruelest month. The short spring is already a distant memory, and the heat- and dust-quelling monsoon rains are still weeks away. Theres no better time for Indians to take to the road.Al

2、l told, some 550 million Indians travel to other parts of the country each year. Once school lets out for the summer, many families set off on annual visits to grandparents in their native town or village. Another 12 million Indians choose to fly overseas. Wealthy families from Punjab and Gujarat, i

3、n the north and west of India, respectively, flock to cosmopolitan meccas like Switzerland or Dubai, where women can indulge in brand-name shopping and don the revealing, Western-style fashions they dont dare flaunt back home.But while more than half a billion Indians take a holiday each year, the a

4、ppeal of travel has traditionally been less about exploring someplace new than about simply getting out of town. Many Bengali families in the eastern corner of the country, for instance, escape north in the summer to the cooler Himalayas - an unfamiliar land and landscape. But they typically join la

5、rge tour groups, interacting almost exclusively with other Bengalis and eating only Bengali-style meals.There is, however, a quickly growing segment of Indian travelers - mostly young, rich and hailing from Indias larger cities - who are decidedly more adventure-seeking. Unlike their parents, they v

6、isit uncommon places and pursue unconventional activities - a safari in Tanzania, a ruins tour of Turkey, an F1 race in Singapore - with an interest and curiosity about other cultures that previous generations may not have had.It is still a small proportion of Indian travelers who are so venturesome

7、 - but, by the numbers, even a small proportion qualifies as a mass movement, globally speaking. So it is no surprise that the travel industry has taken note. From New Zealand to Namibia, government tourist boards have designed campaigns specifically to woo Indian travelers, and luxury-tour purveyor

8、s like Cox another popular article covered five weekend getaways from several major Indian cities. “The U.K. magazine was designed for experienced travelers who want to see the unexplored sides of places theyve already been. So it has a lot of stories that bypass traditional tourist sites and Commen

9、t k7: 人口统计学find hidden alleys and restaurants,” says Kondvikar. “We couldnt do too much of that - many Indians are only going to the major destinations for the first time, and we didnt want to ignore them.”The travel lust of this budding demographic has largely survived the global recession, which h

10、as otherwise diminished international travel overall. In fact, a stronger rupee has seen more Indians traveling abroad, especially to long-haul destinations. The U.N.s Madrid-based World Tourism Organization estimates that by 2020, some 50 million Indians will be taking foreign holidays each year.So

11、 while Lonely Planet and Cond Nast may be wading into a shaky market already cluttered with dozens of travel titles, they have high expectations for success. “In terms of advertising revenues, not only have we dominated market share in the categories we operate in but also we are growing at an exponential rate,” says Alex Kuruvilla, managing director of Cond Nast India. “So we are very bullish on the opportunity.” If the rupee continues to rise, this May might not end up being so cruel after all.