The focus of the Council on India does not come as a surprise, as a survey conducted by the Council indicates that an Indian traveller spends $332 per day - thus, emerging as the top spender in Singapore beating the American, European, Australian and the Japanese counterparts.

As per the statistics released last week, Singapore reached a new high of 3,46,355 Indians (ranked 9th) visiting during the year 2000, registering a 20.1 per cent increase over last year. The growth rate is second among the top 12 countries, with Indonesia accounting for the No 1 position with 8.5 per cent growth, and South Korea with the highest growth rate of 46.3 per cent at No 8.

In Singapore, the perception about the Indian tourists is that of a man with deep pockets and generally a high spender. As per the survey, average Indian vistors spend $1,000 per trip and with an average stay of 5.3 days, he is way ahead of other tourists, who spend $500 per trip, officials said.Malaysia in turn welcomed around 1,40,000 Indians, recording a 190 per cent increase over last year. The revival of the south-east Asian economy too contributed positively to the tourist inflow, officials said.

The code-sharing arrangement with Air-India effective March this year, will see increased flights from Bangalore and Hyderabad besides additional flights from Delhi and Mumbai, resulting in a further inflow of Indians into Malaysia.

Last year, Malaysia accounted for $15.4 million as spending made by Indian tourists, while Singapore in 1999 bagged $350 million of the Indian spendings.

Officials said that the jointly promoted Council would provide a common platform to the tour operators, to promote two nations with one seamless vacation for its customers. The Council would conduct seminars at major cities in India, and keep the travel agents fraternity informed about the various tourist options from time to time.