With the Diwali holidays looming, upper middle class tourists are increasingly opting for foreign vacations in South East Asia, lured by dream airfares, affordable hotel tariffs and fun activities. Mohini Bhatnagar examines what this may mean for Indian hill stations.

It is an accepted fact that India does not get many foreign tourists. In 2004, the country attracted a little more than three million foreigners, a new record. It''s a figure the ecstatic tourism ministry still can''t get over.

But, consider that Malaysia surpassed these numbers in the first three months of 2005. What the tourism ministry in its enthusiasm forgets to tell us is that at three million tourists each, India and Philippines figure in the bottom half of the list of global tourist destinations last year.

The tourism industry in India depends mainly on domestic tourists. Even the big foreign tourist destinations like Rajasthan, Goa, Agra and Delhi, get 10 times as many domestic tourists as foreigners.

Hoteliers in various hill stations like Manali and Darjeeling know they can expect tourists from Gujarat and Bengal during the navaratri season (Puja holidays in Bengal) just before Diwali, when schools and colleges go on a month-long vacation. Punjabis, on the other hand usually travel in June and July during school summer vacations, their favourite haunts being Mussoorie and Shimla. Down South Kodaikanal, Ooty and parts of Kerala are popular tourist spots. Other popular Indian tourist spots are Mount Abu in Rajasthan, Nainital in UP, Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh, etc.

In the coming Diwali vacation, it is likely that fewer high-spending domestic tourists will be visiting these places. The reason: highly affordable air-travel to destinations in South East Asia and even Europe. Airlines have announced drastic cuts in air fares to attractive destinations in South East Asia this year, and travel agents have begun advising Indian holidayers to go abroad rather than to domestic destinations, as the former offer better value for money.

During the last decade, Malaysia and Thailand have turned into global holiday hot spots offering the best possible deals for budget tourists. For Indians, ''value for money'' means the quality of hotels and their tariffs, sightseeing options, cuisine and other fun filled activities that should form part of a holiday package.

Arvind Ranganathan and his wife Sudha, both Hyderabad-based IT professionals, having returned from a thoroughly enjoyable holiday in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok earlier this year, have this to say: "Earlier, we never tried to go abroad as the airfares were prohibitive. With the recent schemes being offered by Air Sahara, we felt we could visit Bangkok and Malaysia. Our travel agent offered us great packages for these places."

Apart from cheaper airfares, they say these destinations have affordable tariffs for high-quality hotels, lots of shopping, fun activities like water skiing, parasailing, guided underwater scuba diving and snorkelling excursions and a choice of sightseeing options. For vegetarians, there are a large number of Indian restaurants and food is not a problem.

Sumit Tandan and wife Reema, back from a trip to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, say they no longer look at Indian destinations like Manali or Kerala. This is because the cost of most Indian destinations is only marginally lower than going to a South East Asian destination. Exorbitant room tariffs and high food costs, apart from higher airfares, add up to make them less attractive.

Such testimonials should sound a warning bell to the Indian tourism industry, which is vying with other destinations in the region to emerge as an attractive international tourism destination. Till now, airfares to and from India constituted the largest part — nearly 75 per cent — of the cost of travelling to South East Asian countries.

A holiday in Uttaranchal, a cool destination in the hot Indian summer, can cost quite a bit. Luxury starred hotels charge anything from Rs 3,000 to Rs 8,000 per night. Non-starred hotels have lower rates, between Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500. But often, these tend to be risky propositions, as many don''t confirm to the required standards of hygiene, comfort or other room facilities. Contrast this to hotels in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Fiji and Bali. Thailand is a country the size of West Bengal, but has some five hundred luxury hotels. Bangkok itself has at least 50 hotels of the three- to four-star category, with more than 500 rooms each.

Three star hotel tariffs range in the equivalent of between Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,500 per night, with a luxurious buffet breakfast thrown in. And, these are the ''rack rates'' or declared tariffs. With some deft negotiation, seasoned tourists can manage at arrive at some great bargains depending on the level of occupancy and the season.

Thailand offers tourists a number of fun activities like parasailing, surfing, waterskiing, scuba diving, snorkelling, among a host of others. Malaysia, which vies with Thailand, has hotels which say tourists, offer better bargains than anywhere else in South East Asia, with all luxuries thrown in plus a visit to the famed casino resort of Genting Heights. Kuala Lumpur is filled with shopping malls, food courts that offer cuisine from all corners of the world and amusement parks, all of which make a trip worthwhile.

Not surprisingly, more and more Indians are visiting Malaysia. This year, Malaysia is expecting three lakh Indian tourists, ahead of Australia, Taiwan and the US. Buoyed by the number of Indian tourist arrivals, Tourism Malaysia has been holding roadshows to attract more tourists from India.

Over one lakh Indians visited Sri Lanka in 2004. For Indians, the main attraction is that the value of the Sri Lankan rupee is just over half the value of the Indian rupee, making it a shopping paradise. In addition Sri Lankan Airlines'' offers rock bottom fares to and from the four Indian metros, to entice Indian travellers.

Statistics released by the Department of Tourism reveal that for the first time ever, more than six million (that''s a staggering 60 lakh) Indians went abroad in 2004 against 5.3 million in 2003 (17 per cent up) and 4.90 million in 2002 (8 per cent up).

Travel industry insiders say 2005 will become the year when international travel, which is traditionally known to be lean, will peak to a new high. The obvious reason for this increase in travel is a booming economy, which has left Indians with high disposable incomes to splurge on what experts call discretionary expenditure.

Undoubtedly, most Indians opting for a foreign holiday this year would, before affordable air travel came along, have opted to holiday in Indian tourist spots. It is very likely, therefore, that sooner rather than later, Indian hill stations will cater more to the less affluent class of Indians, whose expenditure on holidays is lower. This trend is likely to accentuate in days to come, and is bound to have grim repercussions for the economy of the innumerable tourist spots around the country, where tourism is a major revenue earner.

A government that can''t stop celebrating the fact that more than three million tourists came to India in 2004 should also keep a tab on how many tourists of which economic strata travel to Indian hill stations.