Topline Consulting, a China based strategic communications firm which recently inaugurated their first international operations in Gurgaon, India was invited to speak at the first ever India Tourism Mart 2018 during Sept 16-18.

The ITM is organized by the Tourism Ministry in partnership with the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality, a federation where all the national associations representing tourism, travel, transport, restaurants, hotels and convention sectors in India are members.

The main agenda of hosting this two-day conference is to present India as a preferred tourist destination to countries abroad specially to emerging tourism markets like China, Japan and Latin America.

Representing Topline as one of the invited speakers was Yan Han, chairperson, International Business who has witnessed the development of the China tourism industry and has been actively involved in the same in her career. Han is adept in understanding both the conformity as well as nuances of the travel and tourism industry.

Han has been experiencing the development of the Indian tourism industry which has immense untapped potential and believes that Indian tourism meets a great marketing potential in China.

Han said that based on the research done by Topline they found that while the number of outbound Chinese tourists had increased from 117 million to 131 million for the period 2015-2017, the total number of Chinese tourists to India was less than 1 percent of the overall tourists in the past three years and this presents a very strong opportunity for the Indian tourism sector.

Having been a stakeholder in the Chinese tourism industry in her earlier experience as a senior manager with Air China, Han has been instrumental in bringing about a positive change in the tourism industry in China.

Based on market surveys done by Topline, there are multiple reasons why India tourism is still not popular in China. Some of these are related to security for women, since 60 percent of Chinese outbound tourists are females. The language barrier also has an impact as very few tourist guides can speak in Mandarin, and finally the travel costs incurred to come to India are some of the factors affecting tourist traffic to India.

Han further added, "The challenges actually present an opportunity for the Indian tourism sector and with a strategic objective to attract 14 million Chinese tourists in the next five years, Topline would devise strategies that would not only attract China outbound tourists, but also give them a sense of belonging in terms of a cultural exchange which would celebrate what we can only describe best with the line- Incredible India."

With the India operations established in Gurgaon, and offices coming up in other locations like Mumbai and Bangalore, Topline is uniquely positioned to help the Indian tourism industry market itself in the Chinese domestic market.

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