Outlook – July 06, 2019

“When options fit their budgets, an increasing
number of tourists are inclined to retrace the
step of ancient adventurers who traversed the
Silk Route that once connected the two coun­
tries, over the romance of a trip to Europe,”
Punjabi tells Outlook. As a result, there has been
a tremendous increase in travellers to China,
both in the numbers of tourists and business
travellers, Punjabi says. In fact, China has bec­
ome one of the most popular destinations for
Indian tourists, with over seven lakh people
visiting popular tourist destinations in China in
the last couple of years, says an official at the
Chinese Consulate in Calcutta. As many as
2,00,000 tourists visas were issued in the last
financial year. “Though we haven’t counted
numbers of tourist visas issued region­wise, the
highest count has been issued from Calcutta,”
the official tells Outlook.
This sudden surge from Bengal and the
Northeast is due to the easing of tourist visa
norms, says Punjabi. Besides, the start of a

direct flight between Calcutta and Kunming,

in Yunnan, Southeast China, has helped too.

“Kunming is only a two­hour hop from Calcutta—

less time than it takes to reach Delhi by air—and

the competitive air fare offered by China Eastern

Airlines for a Calcutta­Kunming direct flight has

attracted more tourists and business travellers

from this part,” he says. Indeed, the four flights

every week from Calcutta to Kunming are fully

packed and people have to book tickets well

in advance. Consequently, the most popular

Chinese itinerary for Calcuttans is the four­city

tour of Kunming­Xi’an–Beijing­Shanghai.

“People from east India, a majority of them

Bengalis, love to travel and look for a good bar­

gain. Chinese tourism authorities have monet­

ised Indians’ love for travel,” says senior

journalist Subir Bhaumik, a frequent traveller

to Kunming. “Besides being pocket­friendly,

people from Calcutta and the Northeast prefer

to take the Kunming route as it is China’s mod­

ern communication hub. Xi’an is a little more

than an hour­and­a­half by air from Kunming.

This apart, Yunnan is home to 27 of the 55

min orities groups of China and the Chinese

have done well to showcase its ancient cultural

history, besides the ‘Stone Forest’, a submerged

forest of stones that has been reclaimed from

the sea,” says Bhaumik, a part of the Kunming to

Kolkata Forum or the K2K forum—a bilateral

More than

2,00,000^ tourist

visas to China issued

last year

It’s estimated that the

number of tourists

from India to China

will reach 50

million overall by

2020, up from 21.87

million in 2016

China Eastern Airlines

wants a direct Calcutta ­

Kunming flight

A new rush of tourism connects Calcutta’s

Howrah bridge with the Kunming Lake bridge

KUNMING

CHINA

8 July 2019 OUTLOOK 57

Photographs: GETTY IMAGES