PDF: 2962 pages, 5.2 MB - Bay Area Council Economic Institute

Global Reach
for Chennai, which is the company’s sourcing center. Other
megastores have opened in Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad,
Hyderabad, Jaipur, Pune and Mumbai.
Contract manufacturers in India produce the Levi’s, Dockers and
Slates lines for the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Asian markets.
A Tourist Market in the Making
A profile of Indian visitors shows that California is a popular travel destination in the U.S., but
primarily for work and family visits, with a small amount of actual tourism thrown in for good
measure. A February 2007 report prepared by San Diego-based CIC Research, Inc. for the California
Travel and Tourism Commission presents a revealing snapshot:
• Some 98,000 Indian nationals visited California in 2005, about 35,000 of them coming
to the Bay Area.
• Of the total coming to California, 62% were on business trips, 44% were visiting family,
26% were on holiday, and 17% were attending a convention. (Percentages add up to
more than 100% because many trips had dual purposes.)
• 31% booked their trips through a corporate travel department, up from 20% a year
earlier; 17% used a travel agent; and only 56% pre-booked any lodging at all.
• 53% of total visitors stayed in a hotel or motel; 84% of leisure travelers stayed in a
family home.
• Average length of stay in California was 36 nights, up from 23 a year earlier.
• 91% of visitors from India were men with an average income of $48,400; the average
income of worldwide tourist visitors to the U.S. in 2005 was $78,800.
At present there are no direct flights to and from India to any of the Bay Area’s international
airports. Indirect service runs through Asia (Singapore, Bangkok, Taiwan), Europe (London,
Frankfurt, Munich), and the Middle East (Dubai). The shortest flights—on Lufthansa via
Frankfurt—are more than 21 hours long. Lufthansa’s “Bangalore Express” service from
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) was introduced in 2001 with three flights a week,
increasing to five flights in 2005, and daily flights since 2006. Flights run 90% full or better, and
the route has become famous for its tech networking opportunities, at the gate and on the plane.
Other Lufthansa flights from San Francisco connect daily through Frankfurt to Chennai,
Mumbai, and New Delhi, six times weekly to Pune, five times weekly to Hyderabad, and three
times weekly to Kolkata. Other flights fly daily to New Delhi via Munich, and five times weekly
through Munich to Mumbai.
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