The US, which received over one million Indian tourists in 2015 translating into a 17 per cent jump over the previous year, expects this trend to continue.
Christopher Thompson, President and CEO, Brand USA, who is in the Capital as part of the US delegation, told BusinessLine : “We are very bullish on this market.”
According to data from Brand USA, the public-private partnership set up to promote the US as a travel destination, India ranked 11th among the Top 20 tourist-generating countries in 2015 with 1,125,783 arrivals.
“Last year we saw a record number of Indian visitors that spent nearly $11 billion, so that’s our number 11 source market and number 8 spend market. The Indian arrivals increased by 17 per cent and there was eight per cent increase in spending by Indian travellers in the US in 2015. We are hoping that these increases will continue,” Thompson said.
The US expects India to overtake other countries and become the eighth largest travel source market for the country.
“The number 10 market is Australia with just under 1.5 million arrivals. The next two countries ahead of Australia are just under 2 million in visitors to the US. India could easily rise to number 8 with continued growth that we had witnessed last year,” he said.
A chunk of the Indian arrivals in the US is the Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) segment.
“The VFR market from India is very strong compared to any of our markets around the world. Many students come from India to universities in the US and their families come to visit them.
“The VFR segment in 2014 accounted for 29 per cent of total arrivals from India and it has risen to 31 per cent in 2015,” he said.
According to Brand USA, the average stay of a visitor across all of its long-haul markets is 18 days and the average stay of an Indian traveller is over 20 days.
On the competition with South-East Asia, which is a closer and relatively cheaper destination for Indians, Thompson said, “South-East Asia is a short-haul market. Australia is probably our biggest competition in the long-haul space. The one draw that we have is that the US is an aspirational destination. People have learnt about the US through our movies, music and pop culture and they want to experience that. I think that helps us overcome competition from a potential short-term (destination).”