New Delhi, 3rd March, 2010: Three of India’s leading tourism organisations; the Indian tourism board, Incredible India, India’s premier airline, Jet Airways, and luxury Indian hotel operator, Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts came together yesterday (1 March 2010) to share their different sector insights into the Indian tourism market at a media event hosted at London’s Bombay Brasserie since the spotlight will be firmly on India in 2010 as the country is set to welcome an estimated 100,000 visitors for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games (3-14 October).
It’s an exciting time for India, and the three key tourism players provided positive insights into how they were set to capitalise on the Commonwealth Games and provide a seamless India visitor experience. Major developments for 2010 include a new Delhi Metro, a new 250-room Leela Palace Kempinski New Delhi hotel and Jet Airways’ focus and investment in First Class suites and Première Class beds.
With 5.5 million foreign tourists predicted to arrive in India this year, Raj Kumar Sunani, Incredible India’s Assistant Director, explained how India’s infrastructure is currently being developed in advance of the Games from the new Delhi Metro to the modernisation of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, which will play a major role in improving India’s links with the rest of the world.
“The economy is improving and the Government is upgrading and developing the infrastructure” stated Raj.
Supporting this view, Richard Pavia - The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts’ Sales & Marketing Manager UK & Ireland - reported “In the next five years, over 90,000 rooms are being added across India with capital investment in the tourism sector expected to grow at an estimated 8.8% between 2010 and 2019.”
Key priorities for 2010 for Jet include growing its front-end traffic and increasing expanding connectivity in the Middle East to match demand. A new daily flight to Doha, Qatar, from Delhi started in January 2010. Jet’s first daily direct service from Mumbai to Johannesburg launches on 14 April 2010, in time for the World Cup.
The Commonwealth Games is part of a wider strategy for India which will ensure the continued development of the industry. Other aims include investing in rural tourism; growing the wellness tourism offering; medical tourism; community based responsible tourism; encouraging cruise liners to call at major Indian ports; and increasing awareness of India as a truly special tourist destination at any time of the year.
