Profil turysty odwiedzającego Indie

Abstract

A systematic growth of tourists visiting India results from a considerable interest in this country. In 2007 in the ranking of Asian countries and the Pacific Rim countries India was placed on the 11th position (WTO 2009). The analysis of the Indian tourist market enabled to observe some tendencies related to the choice of this country as a destination of international visitors, and due to this it was possible to outline a tourist profile. According to the Ministry of Tourism in India (2007) as many as 30% of all arrivals were tourists from Western Europe amounting to 1.6 million. About 1 million visitors are citizens of North America and Asia. In 2007 among countries which generated the largest number of arrivals were: Great Britain – 796 thousand, the USA – 799 thousand, Bangladesh – 480 thousand and Japan – 145 thousand. The number of tourists visiting India is still increasing. According to World Tourism Organisation (2003) about 75% of travelling all over the world is performed within the regions and therefore arrivals from Asiatic countries to India can be explained by geographic proximity. A significant share of visitors to India from such remote countries as Western Europe and North America is likely to be caused by an interest of rich North in poor South which has been observed for several years. Tourist visits depend also on weather conditions in time of the rest. The first and the last quarter of the year are the periods of the highest activity of foreign tourists (approx. 30%), the fewest visitors (18%) come to India in the second quarter of the year. Nowadays the world tourism market is observing a trend of decreasing popularity of '3S' model (sand, sun, sea) in favour of '3E' model (education, entertainment, excitement) which can be explained by a growing interest in Indian culture and exoticism. K. Podemski (2004) states that generally understood human travelling emerged from the phenomenon of pilgrimages to sacred places. As many as 34% of foreign visits are motivated by religion. India – the country where many religions had their beginnings attracts their believers which results in the development of pilgrimage tourism. A new form of culture tourism is a film tourism, Bollywood one to be precise. An image of India presented in the world famous film 'Slum-dog' attracts international tourists, which is confirmed by the increased number (100%) of searched air connections to this country. Moreover, an increased interest in visiting slums has been observed, although it may arouse many controversies. India is a country for a conscious tourist who is prepared for dissimilarity of reality in which the citizens of this country live and in which he will have to function too. In 2003 a survey was conducted in order to identify associations which would-be and really travelling to India tourists had with the country (Podemski 2004). Respondents (229 persons) answered the following question:” What are your associations with India?” The most frequent responses were stereotypical – they were: tea and elephants. However, it should be noted that in surveys various elements of the culture were mentioned. They were among others: spot on a forehead, a headscarf, Asia, Buddhism, overpopulation, religion, discrimination against women, a turban or Hinduism. It is likely that the reason of relatively high level of Indian culture consciousness among tourists is the fact that majority of visitors to India are mature people who while choosing their destinations made a more well-though out decisions. A dominating group of tourists, comprising 21%, were people aged 35–44. The remaining two age groups are 45–54 and 25–34, 19.6% and 18% respectively. Ageing of societies, first of all in Western Europe, but also the improvement of health conditions of senior citizens in rich countries leads to the increase in purchasing power of pensioners in a tourism sector. Visitors at the age of 55–64 and more than 65 amount up to over 20% of all tourists travelling to India. According to the data published by the Immigration Bureau of India (2007) it can be assumed that around 59% of foreign visitors to India are men. A significant majority of tourist coming to India are singles. The constitute over 3/4 of all visitors (Chaudhary 2000). Presumably potential tourists who are not married can more easily make decisions about remote travels. UNWTO prognoses (2009) assume that observable in the modern world loosening of family bonds will have a beneficial influence on tourism development. The main purpose of a trip to India was, first of all tourism (67%), 32% of visitors were motivated by religion, and merely 2% came to India on business (Chaudhary 2000). No wonder it is said that India can be only loved or hated.