India Will Account for 50 Million Outbound Tourists by 2020: UNWTO

According to the predictions of the UNWTO India will supply about 50 Million Outbound Tourists by 2020. About 20 per cent of these departures will account for Europe. As per the statistics India is one of the fastest-growing outbound travel markets in the world with a record growth of 3.7 million in 1997 to 9.8 million in 2007 and international tourism expenditures have increased from USD 1.3 billion in 1997 to USD 8.2 billion in 2008. In the research conducted by the European Travel Commission and the UNWTO on the Indian Outbound market; The Indian outbound travel market with special insight into the image of europe as a destination, covers issues such as travellers' behaviour and patterns - destination choice, purpose of travel, spending, holiday activities, market segmentation, like air transport, the profile and structure of the travel trade, as well as the media or internet use trends. The report also sets out comprehensive recommendations on how to best promote a destination in the Indian market. The pace of growth has accelerated since 2004 at an average annual growth rate of over 16%. International tourism expenditure by Indians has grown from USD 1.3 billion in 1997 to USD 8.2 billion in 2007. The UNWTO predicts that India will account for 50 million outbound tourists by 2020; the 'Kuoni Travel Report India 2007' predicts that total outbound spending will cross the USD 28 billion mark in 2020. According to Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), 40 per cent of all outbound trips by Indians are for business purposes, while leisure, visiting friends and relatives (VFR) and other reasons each account for 20 per cent of outbound trips from India.