More time to spread out those wings

New Delhi, May 23: The department of tourism wants the civil aviation ministry to adopt a long-term open-sky policy to enable foreign airlines to prepare their flight schedules in advance for the busy tourist season from October to April.

Each year the civil aviation ministry announces this policy which allows airlines to increase flights to and from the country — but does so just a fortnight before the busy season begins.

“The foreign airlines must be informed well in advance so that they can chart out their flying schedules for the peak six months of October to March. We need to raise seat capacities as well. The tourism ministry has written a letter a month back but there has been no response till now,” tourism secretary Rathi Vinay Jha told The Telegraph.

She added, “Good air connectivity and an increase in seat capacities will benefit the entire industry, trade and commerce.”

India received a total of 2.8 million tourists in calendar year 2003. It expects to welcome more overseas tourists this year. The first three months of 2004 has already seen a jump of 23 per cent in inbound traffic compared with the corresponding period last year.

“The official target is to increase the tourist inflow by 10 per cent over last year. But we are confident of doing far better,” Jha said.

For the first three months of 2004, foreign exchange contributed by the tourism sector has increased almost 34 per cent over last year’s level. Tourism is the third-largest foreign exchange earner for the country. Last year, the country earned foreign exchange worth Rs 17,000 crore.

Of the Rs 500 crore sanctioned to the tourism ministry during 2004-05, nearly Rs 90 crore has been marked as advertising budget. This year's allocation is approximately Rs 32 crore more than the Rs 58 crore set aside as the ad budget in the last two financial years.

Jha said the domestic tourism industry was growing at the rate of 20 per cent annually. Last year, around 300 million people travelled across India and this is expected to go up this year.

A tour operator said a lack of time, attractive tour packages and various state government initiatives have opened the doors for an increase in domestic travel. “People like to go for short periods to their favourite nearby destinations. Affordable tour packages have made these options more exciting,” he said.