Given the strong historic and cultural ties between India and the UK, there has always been an immense amount of traffic between the two countries. Now, more than ever, VisitBritain, which is the country’s official tourism board, has been working round the clock to promote the country among Indian travellers and also to increase volumes. To set a bit of context, here are a few facts and figures to illustrate the traffic from India towards the UK. There was a huge jump in annual visits from Indian travellers from 415,000 in 2016 to 562,000 in 2017, placing India at number 17 in the global ranking for inbound visits to the UK in 2017. In terms of purpose for travel, the VFR (visiting friends and relatives) segment is at the top with 38 per cent of Indian travellers, followed by 36 per cent for holidaymakers and then 20 per cent for business travellers. The most popular activities among Indian travellers, recorded recently, include dining, followed by shopping and then visits to parks. In terms of source regions from India, Mumbai and Delhi constitute the main chunk of visitors. VisitBritain is now stepping up its marketing campaign to encourage more travellers from India’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. This would include different marketing initiatives, digital campaigns, partnering with regional media and producing content in regional languages.
In terms of connectivity, UK is very well connected to India — seven cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Amritsar) to three British airports (London Heathrow, Birmingham and Manchester). In 2018, there was a weekly average of 31,411 seats between the two countries on non-stop flights.
In a recent trip to India, Steve Ridgway, Charmain of VisitBritain lends some perspective to us on the current state of affairs, “In 2019, there are more than 120 direct weekly flights from India to Britain and this is not counting the Middle East airline options as well. Hence, we are seeing an increasing number of Indian tourists coming to our country. The most immediate focus right now is the ICC Cricket World Cup. We are expecting a lot of people to come and enjoy the cricket, but what we would really like is if they could extend their stay and explore some of the offerings in the region. There is going to be cricket fever everywhere, in public spaces, in pubs, in parks. It’s such a great showcase of our destination.”
Ridgway also talks about connectivity and how the aviation sector is shaking things up in terms of traffic, “At present there are just over 120 direct flights a week between India and the UK. This, coupled with increased domestic connectivity is just making travel easier. Direct connectivity always grows the market, but, at the moment, with the ease of domestic travel, plus the choice of direct and transit flights to the UK, we are quite comfortable.”
The focus right now is also to get Indian travellers to leave London behind and explore different parts of the country, “London is a magnet. It is the main cosmopolitain city, which is great. But it isn’t all about London, there are so many amazing places to go to. Tiny villages or even cities like Manchester. Perhaps even get people to explore more rail travel.
Travel industry experts have been hotly debating the fact that UK visas are often a painstaking process for Indian travellers, as compared to, say, Schengen visas. To that, Ridgway responds,
“ We at VisitBritain have been working closely with the British High Commission in India to make it easier to travel to the UK. They issued 500,000 visas last year, they are expecting to do 550,000 visas this year. We have spoken to the High Commission in India. They are very well planned and geared up. They have a whole programme to make sure they have got the resources to make the process as easy as possible. We want to look at more electronic submissions and more biometric machines. They are being very cooperative with us.” As for the ongoing discussion about the high cost of UK visas being a possible deterrent to potential travellers — given that the Schengen visa is far more affordable — he adds, “I think there is always a controversy and discussion about visas. I think, at this time, in the context of Brexit, the UK is more and more aware about needing to be open and be welcoming. As technology changes, I think we are going to see the visa service change, and get better. People will be able to manage and upload their documents themselves, making it easier. I can’t say how that will go, but we as a body are pushing for it.” Are Indian citizens likely to see a reciprocity for e-visas between India and the UK? Ridgway concludes, “All I can say is that there’s a white paper in parliament, in very early stages, but that is a long-term plan to have an e-visa scheme for Indian citizens. It is important not only for tourism but also for business and business tourism. It is an inevitability, but I can’t tell you when.”
- India is a huge tourism opportunity for VisitBritain. It is one of the priority GREAT markets and hence the official tourism body recognises its long-term potential as an inbound tourism market.
- India is forecast to generate 23 million outbound overnight trips globally by 2020 and, with the Indian economy growing at a rapid pace, inbound tourism to the UK from this market looks set to continue to grow.
- VisitBritain wants the UK to be the destination of choice for travellers from India. VisitBritain is expecting that the number of visits from India to the UK will grow by 21 per cent from 2017 to 2027.
- On average per visit, visitors from India spend more in the UK and stay longer than the average inbound visitor, spending more than half their time outside London.
- Visitors from India rate the UK for its historic buildings and monuments, its interesting and exciting contemporary culture, with the vibrancy of cities like Manchester and Liverpool holding huge appeal.
- Latest forward flight booking data shows that bookings from South Asia to the UK are tracking up 3 per cent compared to the same month in 2018.
Team Business Traveller India recently caught up with Mark Field, Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, “There is so much diversity in what we have to offer. In addition to sports tourism, which is a big draw, we also have a lot of cultural things in our cities. In addition, we have lots of variety in the countryside as well, which needs to be discovered.”
“Also, With the upcoming cricket season in the UK, we expect a surge in the number of Indian tourists attending the match. In terms to connectivity, we have direct flights from Hyderabad and Chennai, in additon to other key metro cities in India. We plan to expand the runway capacity at London Heathrow to accommodate the increasing passenger arrvials.”
