Americans help fuel the increase in executive tourism to India

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NEW DELHI - Keith Lotman went to New Delhi on a two-week businesstrip. But a quick day of sightseeing in India’s capital cityleft him enthralled and ready to see more of the country.

"I have about a hundred different places that I’d like tovisit," said Lotman, 31, a business executive from Philadelphia, ashe checked out the world’s largest Bahai temple in New Delhi."A hundred different kinds of experiences."

He added: "It’s very different from any place I’vetravelled to before. Culturally very different. I’ddefinitely like to go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal next."

Ever since the Beatles arrived on the banks of the Ganges river inthe 1960s to study Transcendental Meditation, India has been on thelife list of a certain type of traveller.

And while there are still are plenty of Westerners seekinglow-budget Eastern spirituality, India has recently startedattracting a different class of visitor - men and women likeLotman, who certainly wasn’t spending his nights bunking in adingy room with a bunch of backpackers.

New tourists like Lotman have helped feed a boom in travel toIndia, and the country is now nearly as popular a destination forAmericans as Spain. Travel to India from the United Statesincreased 10 per cent between 2006 and 2007, on top of an eight percent rise the year before. More Americans visited India last yearthan went to Ireland or Thailand, according to the most recent datafrom U.S. Department of Commerce.

The upsurge in Americans visiting India is part of broader boom inIndia’s tourism industry. In 2007, some five milliontravellers headed to India, nearly double from 2000, according tothe Tourism Ministry. Visitors from the U.S. accounted for 15.7 percent of the total.

These include a large number of business travellers, wealthyretirees out to explore India from the comfortable confines of anair-conditioned luxury bus or train and people of Indian origineager to see their parents’ - or grandparents’ -homeland.

What has made India as attractive as Europe or South America forAmerican travellers is a combination of a booming economy, anaggressive marketing campaign and what the Tourism Ministrydescribes as "the diversity of our product."

Most international airlines fly into New Delhi, making it a naturalfirst destination for visitors.

The city is more than a sleepy administrative centre, and touristscan spend days gawking at the sprawling British colonial-erabungalows and exploring the crowded bylanes of Old Delhi, thecapital of India’s medieval Mogul rulers.

About 200 kilometres south - close enough for a day trip - is Agra,home to the Taj Mahal, the white-marble monument to love built bythe Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan between 1632 and 1654 for hisfavourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The monument, a must-see for mosttourists, hosts some three million visitors a year.

A bit farther afield is Rajasthan, a region in western India famousfor its fabulous splash of colours, medieval forts, ancient templesand camel safaris. There, visitors can spend a night in one of themyriad palaces that have been converted to hotels, getting waitedon hand and foot, much like the maharajas of bygone days.

But The New-Delhi-Agra-Rajasthan circuit known as the "GoldenTriangle" is just one corner of the country.

What might make India daunting - a vast, complicated country of 1.1billion people where dozens of languages are spoken across an areaof almost 2.6 million square kilometres - is also its biggest draw.

"There’s the history and the spirituality that everyone knowsabout and then there’s more," says Leena Nandan, a jointsecretary in the Tourism Ministry. "We now have businesstravellers, medical travellers, luxury travellers, adventuretourism."

There are the hippie haunts of Varanasi and Rishikesh on the banksof the Ganges, sacred to millions of devout Hindus; the all-nightraves on the beaches of Goa, a slice of India once ruled byPortugal; the luxury resorts on the sparkling backwaters of thesouthern Kerala; the spartan yoga retreats and the bare-bonesexperience of Ayurvedic holistic healing in the Himalayas.

And then there are the myriad domestic airlines that haveproliferated since India liberalized its economy. Even on thebudget flights, meals are standard - and on the full-fare carriers,they are often accompanied by luxuriously embroidered clothnapkins, metal cutlery and friendly service.

Travellers may have to contend with the same kinds of flight delaysseen in the United States, but, says Gary Goodlin, who travelsfrequently on business between Chicago and Mumbai, "youcouldn’t get that kind of service on a low cost airline inthe U.S."

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If You Go . . .

Getting there: Most international carriers fly in to the capitalNew Delhi. There are direct flights between New York and New Delhiand plenty of options between Los Angeles and New Delhi. Dependingon when you fly (the peak season is November to early January) theprice for an economy class roundtrip ticket should run betweenUS$1,200-2,000.

Where to go and what to do:

-The Golden Triangle: For history buffs, New Delhi, Agra, andRajasthan are a good start. There are several low-cost airlinesconnecting the Indian capital to Agra, as well Jaipur, Jodhpur,Jaisalmer and Udaipur in Rajasthan. The cities are alsowell-connected by train and bus services.

-Bodh Gaya: Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world flock to thistown where the prince Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenmentafter intense meditation and became the Buddha.

-Dharamsala: The Himalayan town is home to the Dalai Lama, thespiritual leader of millions of Tibetans Buddhists, and hisgovernment in exile. It’s now also a major centre for thestudy of Buddhist and Tibetan culture.

-Goa: This former Portuguese colony is now a beach-lined touristhotspot that attracts everyone from the hippie backpackers who comefor the all-night beach parties to well-heeled travellers who comefor the luxury hotels.

-Kerala: Sandwiched between the Arabian Sea and the tropical rainforests of the Western Ghats mountain range, Kerala is amongIndia’s most popular tourist spots. Millions of travellershead here each year for its Ayurvedic holistic resorts, beaches,tropical wildlife and a dance form called Kathakkali.

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