WASHINGTON,Jan21,2012: Munnabhai hasn't made it to America yet, but president
Obama wants to make sure he'll have no problem visiting there. The US president, using the backdrop of Florida's famed Disneyland, identified India, China, and Brazil among countries that could bump up tourist traffic to America so that US can remain the world's top global travel destination.The travel and tourism industry generated 7.5 million jobs and 2.7% of US
GDP in 2010, but Washington is concerned about declining trends in a world where countries large and small, far and near, are duking it out for tourism revenue. Post 9/11, US share of international traveler spending has fallen from 17% to 11% due to security concerns and increased competition. Obama wants to arrest that slide."Let's realize that in the years ahead, more and more tourists are going to come from countries, with rapidly growing economies, huge populations and emerging middle classes; countries like China, India and Brazil," Obama said on Thursday as he unveiled a slew of measures, including accelerated visa procedures, to make it easier for tourists from these countries to visit US.Visitors from India, China and Brazil contributed approximately $15 billion to the US economy in 2010, with India providing a more modest flow, mainly due to the distance and legacy issues. Brazil and China are closer and are fewer water bodies away from the US, while India, further away, also has a colonial bequest that drives a lot of tourism traffic to UK and nearby Asian countries.Still, the US anticipates a 50% increase in the number of travelers from India by 2016. Even that modest figure constitutes a 140% increase from 2003, when the US received only 272,000 Indian visitors, according to the International Trade Administration (
ITA) section of the US department of commerce.
Indian tourists visiting America in 2010 spent an average of $4,390 each (about 2 lakhs at the prevalent rate), toting up $2.86 billion for 651,000 visitors. In contrast, visitors from China and Brazil, projected to grow much more than tourists from India (by 135% and 274% respectively ), splurged $ 5000 and $ 6000 respectively per visit. For nearly one-third of Indian tourists, whose average age is 43 and average stay in America six weeks, the US was their first foreign travel.
