All roads lead to the US

New Delhi: The rising rupee is helping a growing number of Indians travel to the US
With outbound travel showing strong growth over the past two years, the number of Indians who have booked themselves for organised tours to the US has also gone up by 40 per cent compared to last year. The trend will get stronger this year too.
The number of B1/B2 (business/tourism) visas has gone up by 79 per cent. According to information provided by the US Consulate, during October 2006 to September 07, the country issued 322,000 visas as compared with 180,000 visas in the same period in the past year.
The factors that have fuelled the growth and allowed tour operators to be bullish on the US sector are speedy issuance of the visas by the US, firming of the rupee vis-a-vis the dollar (firmed up by 15 per cent in the last two years) and an increase in passenger capacity on the sector by the national as well as international carriers.
Though some of the travellers to the US are first time holidaymakers, majority are evolved travellers who have visited Europe, South East Asia and Australia.
10/01/08 Manisha Singhal/Business Standard

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Categories: Foreign Jan 2008, Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2008