Bollywood could emerge as a colourful catalyst for promoting Russia as a tourism destination for travelling Indians, especially with the Indian outbound tourism market expected to grow to $40 billion by 2020, according to tourism industry experts.
With nearly a million Chinese tourists flocking annually to the country, Russia, which is grappling with an economic downturn, appears to be keen on bolstering tourism ties with India as a failsafe measure.
Senior officials like Valery Korovkin, head of the International Development division of the Federal Agency for Tourism, believe that thanks to the legacy of cooperation across sectors between the two countries, a tourism-hungry Moscow is already “keeping India on a special shelf”.
Korovkin hinted that there had been talks about Bollywood film shoots in Russia, but added that Russia was still in the process of creating an infrastructure to facilitate hassle-free film shoots in the country.
In more recent times, films like Agent Vinod, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke and Players were shot in Russia. Even as late as in 2010, then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev met Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan on the sets of Ra.One, during his visit to India.
In the past, Indians have flocked to destinations featured in popular Bollywood films, such as Switzerland, New Zealand, Ireland and Austria, among many others.
Bollywood apart, it is the sheer quantum of projected Indian outbound tourists over the next few years which promises an attractive opportunity for Russia to earn foreign currency as well as create entrepreneurial and job opportunities in its travel and tourism industry.
Another study conducted by US-based market research and consultancy firm Renub Research said Singapore tops the list of tourism destinations for Indians, followed by Thailand, the US and China.
The number of outbound tourists are expected to swell to 30 million by 2018 and 50 million two years later – clearly, numbers which Russia hopes to tap into.
Paresh Navani of the Russian Information Centre said that a variety of factors from Raj Kapoor to nuclear co-operation to shared value systems could help the Indo-Russian tourism ecosystem prosper.
Nearly 200,000 Russian tourists visit India, most of them lured by Goa’s sun and beaches.
(The writer’s visit was at the invitation of the Russian Information Centre, India. Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhushan.n@ians.in)
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