Philippine Ambassador to India Laura Q. Del Rosario noted the Embassy lent its assistance to bring the Indian tour operators from Mumbai and New Delhi to the three main destinations of Manila, Cebu and Bohol early last month.

The travel exchange was organized under the guidance of the Philippine Department of Tourism and with complimentary airfares from Cathay Pacific Airways.

The world’s second-largest nation with a population of 1.1 billion, India is one of the largest tourism markets with a huge middle-class population of between 250 and 350 million.

Del Rosario explained this introductory familiarization tour is the first phase of the marketing campaign that will try to tap into the huge Indian tourist market whose outbound travelers are expected to top seven million in 2006.

The ambassador likewise quoted Buzz Travel Marketing of India, one the participants in the travel exchange, that with the Indian economy growing at seven to nine per cent annually, the number of outbound Indian travelers is expected to also grow by nine per cent annually, reaching 50 million by 2020.

For this year, Indian tourists are expected to spend a total of US$2.5 billion with “per visit average spending” amounting to US$1,200 in shopping destinations like Singapore, while Americans and Europeans spend only an average of US$600 per visit.

Tourism Secretary Ace Durano cited the importance of selling the Philippines to India because the country accounted for about 14,000 visitors of the total 6.5 million Indian tourists who traveled abroad in 2005.