Incredible India honoured by ATM
Dubai : Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2014, the region’s leading travel industry showcase, has named India as the recipient of the New Frontiers Award 2014 at a special roundtable seminar session in Dubai.
Devender Singh, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, accepted the award from Mark Walsh, Portfolio Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions.
The award was made in recognition of India’s ongoing efforts to rebuild physical infrastructure and its rural tourism economy in the wake of the June 2013 floods and landslides in the northern state of Uttarakhand, and the devastation wreaked by tropical Cyclone Phailin, which touched down in the northeast of the country in October.
Significant fatalities and the displacement of more than 1.1 million people were further exacerbated by the destruction of entire communities and wholesale destruction of crops and farmland.
According to the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Annual Economic Impact Data report, 2014 is expected to be a year of above-average growth for the country’s travel and tourism sector with a forecasted 7.3% growth in economic contribution.
Domestic tourism revenues rose by 5.1% in 2013 and are expected to increase by 8.2% in 2014, with domestic travel pegged as a key growth market. International visitor spend also increased by 6.2% in 2013 and further sector growth this year will be boosted by the proposed extension to the government’s visa on arrival and Electronic Travel Authorisation programme, which is set to cover tourists from 180 countries.
Travel and tourism also continues to be an economic mainstay, contributing INR 6,631.6 billion in 2013 and generating 35 million jobs.
A major CSR initiative under the ATM brand, and now in its ninth year, the New Frontiers Award 2014 once again reinforced the overall focus of the programme, communicated under the theme ‘Recover, Repair, Rebuild’.
In addition to the prestigious crystal trophy, the New Frontiers Award comprises ATM exhibition space valued at US$10,000 along with additional marketing support in promoting the outstanding tourism opportunities offered by the recipient nation.
India was honoured with the New Frontiers Award 2014 by a panel of judges consisting of industry professionals from across the globe.- smc-pr.com / ATM
May 8 , 2014
