Rupee Devaluation

Rupee Devaluation – Heralding good times for the tourism sector

What? What did you just say? Pros of fall in rupee? Are you in your senses? … Some of you might be wondering this. And actually am I in my senses? Yes. Yes. Dont worry!  I am in my proper senses. ? This article will tell you how.

A sharpfall in the rupee to an all time low against the US dollar may have sent the markets reeling, the domestic tourism industry which expects to welcome more foreigner tourists will augur well this upcoming peak season starting from October. India now seems to be a more attractive tourist destination as tourists tend to save 5-10 per cent on travel in the country.

Yatra.com’s president Sharat Dhall view this dip as a boon for the tourism industry as he is expecting a lot of travellers from Western Europe and the United States, especially the long time travellers since the overall cost of travel to india has reduced now.

The tourism industry has already seen a 10 % growth in the past few years. But this year due to a stronger dollar coupled with the e-tourist cvisa facility extended ny the government to 77 countries, could result in a 15-20 % uptick in the number of tourists from US, UK, and Europe during the upcoming season.

The rupee fell down by about 4.3% since China announced the devaluation of its currency yuan. While the inbound tourism industry rejoices this fall in the rupee, the outbound tour operators face concerns among prospective travellers as now they will have to cough up more on foreign trips at the current exchange rates. The trips have become as expensive as 10 % for the Indian travellers due to fall in rupee and which has seen a drop in foreign queries to 18% of total queries in August from 25% in June and even the big group movements are seeing a slowdown in decision making as these groups work mainly on budgets.

Tour operators said the falling rupee will make expenses such as  local transfers and accomodation which have now become expensive in outbound tours since overseas hotels and destinations quote their prices in US dollars.

Travel to destinations like Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok if booked now is a little more expensive than if they were booked a week or two earlier.  The outbound season usually starts in October and continues upto January.  The foreign travel packages have turned costlier by Rs 5000 to Rs 8000, according to the industry estimates. However the devaluation of currencies of certain countries like Malaysia,  Thailand, Hong Kong, Far East, Turkey and South Africa vis-a-vis the dollar has fueled more travell to these destinations. The on ground expenses in these destinations may get cheaper as food and accomodation will become cheaper due to fall in rupee and so people are shifting their preferences now to these countries or to the domestic destinations rather than travelling abroad.

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