Indian travellers had ended up splurging more than $13 million last year in the United States according to a US report in the travel and tourism sector. An official of the US embassy have declared this on Friday.
Patrick O Santillo, Counsellor for Commercial Affairs said that the 2016 figures are all draft figures and that the final statistics would be released in the month of June 2017. He went on to add that it appears that on 2016 the Indian globetrotters have spent over $13 billion in the U.S. generating about 62,500 jobs in the U.S.
He had been speaking at the Indo-US Promotion of Travel and Tourism conference.
The conference was organized by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the US Consulate General. He mentioned that tourism is an essential economic driver and they are lucky enough to enjoy this sort of a connection with India.
When Mr. Santillo was asked if the hate crimes on particular religious sections impacted the regional tourism sector adversely, he responded saying that the US is ready to welcome ‘qualified’ Indian travellers.
The question was asked in reference to the Kansas incident that had occurred in February.
In this unfortunate incident, an engineer named Srinivas Kuchibhotla was shot dead. He feels that the US would continue to embrace the qualified Indian tourists and businessmen, and this policy would remain changed.