Despite the problems that plague tourists in India, the country has notched a place above France in terms of average earnings from foreign tourists.

On an average India earned Rs 65,085 from every foreign tourist, which is thrice of the tourist expenditure in France and nearly double of global average earning, which stands at Rs 37,570.

However, the earning is more from the fact that an average tourist tended to stay longer because of the size of the country and the variety of attractions, says a recent FICCI study on investment opportunities in hotel infrastructure in India.

But the study cautioned that the hike in earnings may disappear like a flash in the pan if India did not match up to low-cost destination alternatives offered by China and Singapore in the neighbourhood.

Citing the example of Bangalore, the study pointed out that the hotel owners wanting to cash on the tourist rush to this IT hub steeply increased the tariffs, forcing professionals and business travellers to scout for no-frills accommodation alternatives.

As a result, the occupancy level in the starred hotels slipped down despite an unabated rush.

Emphasising the need of building budget hotels to make for the swell in demand, the study warned that it will just a matter of time that China and Singapore will gobble up the advantage India if it did not wake up to their aggressively low-priced infrastructure development policies.

Noting that as many as 40 brands are expected to enter into setting-up budget hotels in next five to seven years, the study warned that in absence of single window clearance for these projects, uncontrolled land prices and inconsistent taxation norms, India could lose out to its competing neighbours very soon.

Comparing hotel tariffs of India with the two countries, the study said India has highest tariff at about Rs 8500 against Rs 6250 in China and Rs 5500 in Singapore. The city of Shanghai alone boasts of 1,35,000 rooms against a mere 1,05,000 rooms in the entire India.

Singapore -- a country, smaller than the size of Delhi, has nearly half of India's total room capacity with figures standing at 48,000. China also leads India in infrastructure development with 316 hotel projects in pipeline, almost double of India which has 161 ongoing projects.

Similarly, the room capacity target of China stands at 107,725, which is more than six times of India's 16,734. Comparing India with rival tourist destinations China and Singapore in terms of tourist arrivals, the study noted that Singapore, despite its tiny size, gets twice the number of tourists and China gets more than ten times.

Against India's tourist arrivals figure of 4.3 million last year, China received as many as 46.80 million tourists and Singapore got 3.92 million, close to what whole India got in 2005.

Noting that as many as 40 brands are expected to enter into setting-up budget hotels in next five to seven years, the study warned that in absence of single window clearance for these projects, uncontrolled land prices and inconsistent taxation norms, India could lose out to its competing neighbours very soon.

Comparing hotel tariffs of India with the two countries, the study said India has highest tariff at about Rs 8500 against Rs 6250 in China and Rs 5500 in Singapore.

The city of Shanghai alone boasts of 1,35,000 rooms against a mere 1,05,000 rooms in the entire India. A country smaller than the size of Delhi, Singapore, has nearly half of India's total room capacity with figures standing at 48,000.

China also leads India in infrastructure development with 316 hotel projects in pipeline, almost double of India which has 161 ongoing projects.

Similarly the room capacity target of China stands at 107,725 which is more than six times of India's 16,734.

Comparing India with rival tourist destinations China and Singapore in terms of tourist arrivals, the study noted that Singapore, despite its tiny size, gets twice the number of tourists and China gets more than ten times.

Against India's tourist arrivals figure of 4.3 million last year, China received as many as 46.80 million tourists and Singapore got 3.92 million, close to what whole India got in 2005.