One year ago, Outlook Money set about trying to answer a question that had been on the staffers’ minds for long: Can we Indians, earning in rupees, afford to see other countries and not feel much of a pinch? We were not talking about the 50-odd people on the Forbes billionaires list. They could even get and out-of-the-world experience on Richard Branson’s spacecraft. We were talking about the guy next door, who, too, wants to see what lies beyond India’s borders. The result of that search was a cover story, Rupee-friendly Holidays, published in our 15 April 2007 edition. In that, we were able to come up with a list of 30 countries that would not cost an Indian tourist more than twice what he would pay in India. Our underpinning was purchasing power parity data published by the World Bank and the then foreign exchange rates.
A lot has changed in the world economy since then. To begin with, the Indian rupee has gained almost 9 per cent against the US dollar, which has currency in almost every corner of the globe. Of the other currencies, most gained, some as much as 20 per cent or so. However, others, such as the South African rand, have lost. What that has meant is that not only does the rupee command more dollars now, the dollar actually gets you more of the currencies that have either weakened or not gained as much as the rupee against the dollar. And, of course, countries whose currencies have gained more than the rupee against the dollar have become more expensive. The ability of currencies to command similar baskets of goods in their own countries, too, changed, depending, among other things, on varying inflation rates. An unfortunate development has been that the global oil price rise has led to higher airfares across the board and made reaching the destinations more expensive.
Travelling in Asia: A Ready Reckoner (
Graphic)
In any case, we decided to repeat the exercise this year and see whether all these changes will alter the list of countries that are affordable this year to rupee-earning Indians. Like last time, this year too, we have used the most recent World Bank data available to run the numbers. We have also looked at consular travel advisories to ensure that you are unlikely to be ducking bullets or be kidnapped for ransom in the countries on our list. In fact, this exercise has taken out countries like Sri Lanka and Cameroon, which have seen increased insurgent activity and/or other political unrest. A decrease in such activity has allowed Nepal to enter the list. Besides, we also checked that there was enough to see and do for the average tourist. Alternative holidays have not been considered since there is no way we can cover all or even most of the options. Overall, we have been quite enthused by the results.