Toronto among India Tourism's office closures

India Tourism’s Toronto office has closed its doors, part of a restructuring by the organization which will see the closure of several of its offices around the world in a cost-savings measure.

The long-speculated closure, confirmed to PAX by the Consulate General of India in Toronto, will see the tourism board’s North American operations concentrated in New York; in addition to Toronto (where the tourism board has maintained a presence since 1960), India Tourism’s Los Angeles office was also closed. Also slated for closure are the offices in Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Sydney and Johannesburg. Calls to India Tourism were not returned before press time.

Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons was recently quoted in The Indian Express as stating the restructuring’s goal is to concentrate India Tourism’s operations in eight regional hubs, including New York, Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo, Dubai, Frankfurt and London, while plans are in place to open a new office in Moscow, in response to increased tourism from Eastern Europe, the report said.

According to the tourism ministry, each of India Tourism’s foreign offices cost between 40 million and 50 million rupees – an average of $864,225 CAD – to operate annually.

In 2016, India saw an increase to 300,000 Canadian arrivals.