(This story originally appeared in on Apr 27, 2016)

NEW DELHI : The Indian globetrotter has emerged as one of the biggest spenders who is being wooed aggressively by the world for his big bucks.Rajeev D Kale, Thomas Cook (India)'s president and COO, outbound tourism, said, "India is one of the largest outbound travel markets globally. World Travel & Tourism Council's Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2014 (shows) that the total expenditure on outbound travel in India was Rs 75,000 crore in 2013 and (is) projected to be Rs 160,500 crore in 2024."According to Cox & Kings, an average India traveller spends Rs 3-4 lakh on a US trip, which usually lasts for 15-33 days. The travel giant says the corresponding figures for UK are Rs 4-6 lakh for 10-20 days; Rs 2-3.5 lakh for a 3-4 days visit to Fran ce and Italy which is part of an extended European trip; Rs 1-2 lakh for 4-5 days in Hong Kong or Singapore and Rs 2.5-3 lakh for a trip of 10-12 days in Australia.This includes airfare, hotel stay , local travel and sightseeing. "On an average, Indians spend around $1500 on hotel, food , sightseeing and shopping as compared to Americans who spends $1,000 and Europeans around $700 on an average," a senior Cox & Kings official said.With this kind of spend, it is no surprise that Indians are in the top spender list of many countries. Britain counts Indians as the 14th largest spenders in their beautiful island nation.And, the German National Tourism Office (GNTO) says Indians are the fourth largest spenders for them, in terms of expenditure per person, per trip.According to Visit Britain's Ritushri Dhankher, Indian tra vellers spent £443.6 million or Rs 4,259 crore (at current exchange rate of Rs 96 to a Pound) in 2014. Their average spend per person, per trip was £1,139 (Rs 1.1 lakh). Tourists from Gulf and China were bigger spenders at £3,461 (Rs 3.3 lakh) and £3,024, (Rs 2.9 lakh) respectively. Fellow Commonwealth Australians were only marginally ahead at £1,179 (Rs 113,000).Romit Theophilus, director for India at GNTO, said Indians were at number four with an average spend per person, per trip of 2,741 euros (Rs 205,575 at current exchange rate of Rs 75 to a Euro) in Germany . Only travellers from Gulf, Australia and Japan were ahead at 4,344 euros (Rs 3.2 lakh), 4,160 euros (Rs 3.1 lakh) and 2,905 euros (Rs 2.2 lakh), respectively .However, in terms of total spend by travellers from a country , India was the seventh biggest contributor in Germany in 2014 with a revenue generation of 0.8 billion euros or Rs 6,000 crore. The Americans were at the top position at 4 billion euros or Rs 30,000 crore. But the reason for Indians being at number seven is the Schengen states' insistence on giving short-term visas to Indian travelers, which is a deterrent to repeat visits. The US, on the other hand, generously doles out 10-year, multiple-entry visas to Indian travellers.Tourism Australia's Nishant Kashikar said in 2015, over 2.3 lakh Indian visitors went to the continent and "contributed over Rs 5,500 crore in the Australian economy ." Indians are the 10th largest spenders in Australia.Travel portal Yatra president Sharat Dhall said, "Indians typically love to shop which means that they are willing to spend that extra buck. Hence, they are benchmarked as some of the biggest spenders."With this kind of money power at their disposal, tourism boards of several foreign countries regularly hold road shows here apart from organising India fests in their own nations.