DRMumbai: In a bid to attract more travellers from China, India has taken up a slew of measures which include more promotional events and Mandarin-speaking guides. India is eyeing a total of 14.4 million Chinese travellers in five years.
To strengthen the tourism ties, the ministry will be setting up its office in Beijing, China, and will also conduct roadshows in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou, confirmed K J Alphons, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism.
He said, “We are opening our office in Beijing very soon. We will conduct our roadshows in China from August 28 till September 1. We will have to have continuous events in China to attract people. We should aim for 10 per cent of the 14.4 million Chinese tourists. This can be achieved in five years if we make concerted efforts.”
In 2016, India received about 2,51,000 Chinese travellers but in 2017 the number slid down to 2,47,000. In April 2018, China was the third largest source market to avail the facility of e-tourist visa at 5.8 per cent, after the UK 16.3 per cent, and the US at 11.0 per cent.
Pointing out the strategies used by other tourism departments to lure the Chinese travellers, he said, “In three years, Chinese visitor numbers to Dubai went up by 150 per cent. Dubai did about 40 promotional activities in China. They have four offices in China and they have appointed about 300 Mandarin-speaking guides.”
