India’s US$45bn outbound tourism market catches the attention of luxury travel suppliers and buyers set to attend the 6th annual MICE India and Luxury Travel (MILT) Congress later this year.
Organised by Dubai-based QnA International, the MILT Congress will take place in Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, 25-26 July, and in national capital Delhi, 31 July-1 August.
The MILT congress attracts attention from those interested in capitalising on India’s outbound MICE and luxury travel buyers’ needs. Hassan Madah, director, Israel Ministry of Tourism – India & Philippines, said: “We see a lot of growth in the outbound MICE segment from India in the coming years.”
Economic Times India reported in 2017 that “India is likely to clock the fastest growth in this segment in the next five years, and that business travel spending is expected to treble until 2030 from $30 billion in 2015.”
Dubai, which accounts for more than a quarter of the GCC’s US$1.27bn MICE market, is India’s top outbound MICE city, ranking ahead of Singapore and Bangkok. Abu Dhabi is making strides in attracting Indian MICE tourists, and the emirate is targeting three million Indian business visitors by 2021, by which year it also expects the MICE industry to account for 4% of its GDP.
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has forecasted that India will account for 50m outbound tourists by 2020. Business and luxury travel is expected to make up a significant share of the total volume of outbound travel, with one report indicating the country is on track to generating 6.5m outbound luxury and MICE tourists annually by 2020.
Ackash Jain, director, QnA International, said, “India has been maintaining an annual GDP growth rate of 6-8% since 2013, and this strong economic momentum is rubbing off on the country’s outbound MICE and luxury travel sector, enabling these segments to post a double digit year-on-year growth.
“The rise of incentive travel, which has emerged as one of the fastest growing segments within India’s outbound business travel market, is opening a new dimension of opportunities for travel and hospitality suppliers around the world,” added Jain.
Another MILT Congress attendee, Stephanie Tanpure, vice-president of sales, Sands China Ltd., commented: “With over 85% market share of overnight Indian guests coming to Macao, India is one of our most important markets.”
Liza Bajracharya, assistant director of South East Asia, India & Japan, Business Events Sydney (BESydney), added: “Overseas arrivals from India have tripled in a decade and our popularity with Indian incentive trips reflects this continued rise in interest in the Harbour City.”
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