As in my previous article, I wrote about a beautiful destination ideal for camping, sightseeing, photography, and videography. This article was on Devil’s garden in Utah. The whole idea of this post came from a video filmed by a Bollywood movie.
A few days back I was having conversation cum debate with a so-called “Indian Nationalist” on Youtube. According to him India or Bollywood should not promote International destinations and should promote only the national destinations. Well, this friend of mine has kind of forgot that we are living in the world of globalization where one’s thinking process should be global, not local. The Internet has removed all the boundaries and barriers between countries. What if Hollywood starts producing movies within the boundary of LA or America? Then half of the world would miss the opportunity of watching great destinations. What if Bollywood’s greatest hit DDLJ was shot within the boundary of India? then, no one among the population of 1.2 billion would ever come to know about the beauty of Switzerland nor movie would have been such a hit. Its just B2B business.
Well, allow me to share some facts based on Bollywood’s Impact on Tourism Destinations (a report based on my primary and secondary research).
Countries around the globe offer various type of incentives to encourage film producers to use beautiful locations to shoot films. They generally provide benefits such as easy processing of visas, discounts in accommodation and travel, location tariffs to facilitate road or shooting permits, assistance in identifying locations, etc. In turn, such benefits generate revenue for the local communities in the form of employment opportunities and boost to tourism.
The Ministries of Information & Broadcasting and Tourism have now signed an MoU to provide incentives to the film industry. According to the MoU, the Ministry of Tourism will provide budgetary support for identified film festivals and offer single window clearance for permission for shooting film. Promoting India as a great films destination will garner it much positive attention from producers worldwide.
Globally, travel and tourism have emerged as one of the fastest-growing industry that demonstrates continued expansion and diversification. The industry is perceived as a key driver of socio-economic progress, providing large-scale employment, promoting infrastructure development and serving as a key source of foreign exchange earnings.
In 2011, India’s travel and tourism industry contributed US$1.7 trillion (or 2.8% of the global GDP), which is expected to rise to 4.2% (US$2.9 trillion) by 2021. Furthermore, investments in the global travel and tourism industry are expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.4% to reach US$1.5 trillion by 2021 from US$0.6 trillion in 2010.
Emerging economies have left a great Impact on Tourism Destinations, including China, India, and Brazil are expected to outpace the travel and tourism growth in developed markets, driven by rising disposable incomes and improving infrastructure.
The share of emerging markets in foreign tourist arrivals has increased from 31% in 1990 to 47% in 2010. India has not been an exception in this strong growth story, with foreign tourist arrivals growing at a CAGR of 7.7% between 2000 and 2010 to reach 5.5 million in 2010. In 2010, the domestic travel and tourism industry contributed US$42 billion (3.1%) to the country’s GDP and was positioned as one of the largest employers in India, employing 18.6 million people in 2010. The sector has evolved over the years and has witnessed the convergence of traditional stakeholders such as hotels and travel agencies and new stakeholders including online tour operators.
Read more: Tourist Places Near Bangalore Within 50 Kilometres
Traditionally, India’s travel and tourism industry have been largely unorganized and fragmented. However, in the last few years, it has witnessed a rise in M&A activity, which has resulted in some consolidation. Not only has this attracted more visitors to India, but has also increased the output of its own globe trotters. This is also evident from the fact that MakeMyTrip had one of the most successful IPOs on NASDAQ in recent history and global majors such as Expedia have set up a shop in India. M&A activities have picked up pace in the country in the last few years, although the ease of doing business continues to be a challenge. The complexity of indirect taxation is one of the factors adversely affecting industry growth. Currently, there are multiple indirect taxes levied on the travel and tourism industry in India. This has resulted in cumbersome compliance procedures and increased the cost of operations in the industry as a whole.
In the last decade, new technologies have improved the way in people from around the world communicate. The travel and tourism industry has also benefitted from this and there have been some major changes in the way it currently functions.
Read more: Famous Temples in Bangalore to Visit
Over a period of time, there has been a sharp increase in the number of avid travelers. Most middle-class families, including the young and the old, are increasingly opting for unexplored and diverse travel destinations. With the heightened impact of urbanization and a rise in disposable incomes, traveling families have become more decisive, well-informed and open to experimenting with innovative holiday packages, which has led to a rise in leisure travel in the country. The number of outbound visits by Indian nationals increased by 13% to 12.5 million in 2010 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12% by 2015. Tour operators have begun offering special packages for different age groups since this growth in outbound visits is witnessed across all ages.
