The duty free operator at Delhi airport recently hired six students learning Mandarin at Jawahar Nehru University as shopping managers. It plans to hire four more by February and train its sales staff to speak basic Mandarin. It has also put up signage and printed leaflets in that language to cater to the growing demand from Chinese travellers.
Chinese tourists already account for 13% of departure sales at Delhi airport and their spending is growing about 20% every year, the operator said. While India is not yet among the top 20 destinations popular among Chinese, tour operators say the number is rising rapidly. Last year, about nine lakh Chinese passport holders entered India through Delhi, up from about a lakh in 2008 and just 21,000 in 2003.
A New Delhi-based travel agency, Pettitts India Tours, now specialises in Chinese inbound tourism with offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Ghangzou, and its business is growing at a fast clip.
Pettitts, which has 40 Mandarinspeaking executives — again hired mostly from JNU — working as guides, conducted tours for about 9,000 Chinese tourists last year. It hopes to service about 12,000 visitors from there this year, Ranjeet Kumar, tour manager at the firm, said. He said the season for Chinese tourists has just started.
05/10/13 Rasul Bailay/Economic Times
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Chinese tourists already account for 13% of departure sales at Delhi airport and their spending is growing about 20% every year, the operator said. While India is not yet among the top 20 destinations popular among Chinese, tour operators say the number is rising rapidly. Last year, about nine lakh Chinese passport holders entered India through Delhi, up from about a lakh in 2008 and just 21,000 in 2003.
A New Delhi-based travel agency, Pettitts India Tours, now specialises in Chinese inbound tourism with offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Ghangzou, and its business is growing at a fast clip.
Pettitts, which has 40 Mandarinspeaking executives — again hired mostly from JNU — working as guides, conducted tours for about 9,000 Chinese tourists last year. It hopes to service about 12,000 visitors from there this year, Ranjeet Kumar, tour manager at the firm, said. He said the season for Chinese tourists has just started.
05/10/13 Rasul Bailay/Economic Times
