Tourist outflow from India to Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, USA, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Australia has doubled in the last three years.

There would be 6.9 million outbound tourists from India by 2006 with the growth set to expand at 5.7 per cent annually, Managing Director of escorted tour company 'Globus and Cosmos' Gouri Jayaram told the regional conference of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) on May 20.

Tourist in India which had declined in the recent past due to terrorism, increase in fuel prices, health hazards including bird flu and unpredictable natural disasters, Jayaram said had bounced back because of the 300 million affluent middle class people living in the country and the growing number of low cost airlines.

The growth rate could be accelerated with modernisation of airports and improved services by travel agencies, she said.

She also said that over 11 million tourists arrived in the Asia Pacific region last year and the figure was bound to rise. By 2020 there would be about 17 million outbound tourists from South Asia.

Tourist growth in the Asia Pacific region, she said, was envisaged at nine per cent against world tourism at the rate of four to five per cent in 2006.

She said that only 16 per cent of the total growth was focussed in business tourism against a spectacular growth in leisure tourism.

PATA, she said, had predicted a major growth in the Asia Pacific region during 2005-2007.

(www.financialexpress-bd.com)