V. Mohan Rao**
With the Commonwealth Games three years away from now tourism industry is all set to seize the opportunity. Several schemes are on the anvil to attract both domestic and foreign tourists. The campaigns like “Incredible India” and “Atithi Devo Bhavah” (Guest is God) have already yielded significant results in promoting tourism in the country. The Finance Minister, Mr. P Chidambram, in his Budget speech, announced that the provision for building tourist infrastructure will be increased from Rs.423 crore in 2006-07 to Rs.520 crore in 2007-08. He also proposed to provide Rs.150 crore to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Rs.350 crore to the Delhi Government for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. India was the host of 1982 Asian Games which was a spectacular success. The Budget also provided Rs.50 crore for the Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in Pune in 2008. Keeping this in view, major investments are being made to create maximum facilities in the Capital.
Infrastructure Build-Up
The Centre has already identified 50 projects with an estimated expenditure of US $298 million. The projects include construction of new grade separators, flyovers, bridges besides improvement of some major linking roads. Although no estimate has been made regarding the number of tourists expected to arrive in the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT) during the Commonwealth Games, the Tourism Ministry assessed that the city will require 30,000 hotel rooms and a total of approximately 40,000 rooms in the NCR to meet the requirements of the Commonwealth Games. The ministry is in constant touch with the various Land Owning Agencies like Railways, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Delhi Development Authority, and Ministry of Urban Development to identify additional hotel sites. These agencies and the state governments of the NCR have also been advised to follow investor friendly land policies and a single window approach for promoting hotel projects and also for allotting sites on revenue sharing basis so that budget hotels are promoted.
India 4th Most Favoured Country For Holidays
India has been ranked as the 4th most favoured country for holidays, above South Africa and Switzerland, as per a survey undertaken by Conde Nast Traveller magazine for their 2006 Readers’ Travel Awards. A reputed Consultant has been assigned the job to examine the various aspects of tourism, including existing policies, infrastructure, marketing strategies and prepare a plan for increasing the flow of foreign tourists. The entry of low-cost airlines has provided a fillip to tourism industry. The other catalyst is medical tourism. The number of foreigners visiting India to avail quality, inexpensive medical treatment is growing day by day.
Demand & Supply
According to Tourism Ministry, the country has about 1.2 million hotel rooms of which only 7 per cent, or about 80,000 are star category. In a pre-Budget memorandum to the Finance Minister, the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has pointed out that approximately 60,000 more hotel rooms are needed within the next three to four years to cater to the growing number of foreign and domestic tourists. It is interesting to note that the average duration of stay of a tourist in Singapore is about 5 days as against 26 days in India, because of the vast tourist potentials that country offers. The Tourism Ministry has proposed to create a “Land Bank” by acquiring land for building hotels in public-private partnership on a built-operate and transfer basis. The Railways has also decided to utilize its land inventory for hotels. The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation is planning to set up 100 budget hotels across the country within the next two years.
Atithi Devo Bhavha
The traditional treatment of a visitor in India is based on the mythological concept of Atithi Devo Bhavah (Guest is God). This was the mantra of the Indian tourism sector. The Tourism Ministry has launched the “Atithi Devo Bhavah” campaign under an ambitious programme to attract more tourists. The concept is aimed at capacity building for service providers and stakeholders in the tourism sector to make the tourists aware of the benefits in India and the need to treat them with traditional care and utmost courtesy. This has been further boosted by the New National Tourism Policy, which revolves round a framework — Government-led, private sector-driven and community-welfare oriented. The Tenth Plan approach to the sector was also aimed at ensuring that the tourist to India gets “physically invigorated, mentally rejuvenated, culturally enriched, spiritually elevated and feels India within him.” In the current financial year, a countrywide awareness campaign for sensitizing the public against Garbage and Graffiti at monuments has been launched under the title “Atithi Devo Bhavah” for preservation and protection of heritage monuments and tourist sites in the country.
North East-Immense Potential
Government attaches great importance to the development of tourist infrastructure in the North Eastern Region in view of immense tourist potential of the region. The rich natural beauty, serenity and exotic flora and fauna of the area in the eight states of the North Eastern Region are invaluable resources for the development of eco-tourism.
The National Eco-Tourism Policy and Guidelines aim to preserve, retain and enrich natural resources and to ensure regulated growth of Eco-Tourism with its positive impacts on environmental protection and community development. Under these guidelines, the government has prioritized several projects in various parts of the country in 2005-06.
The Tourism Ministry has taken several steps including the setting up of a full-fledged Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology at Shillong and opening up of a Chapter of Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management at Guwahati.
Medical Tourism
With a growth rate of 8 per cent in the last financial year, the Tourism Ministry is set to tap the great potential of international medical tourists visiting India. Speaking at the India Health Conclave – 2007 at Mumbai last month, the Tourism and Culture Minister, Mrs. Ambika Soni, has underlined the need for promoting “Incredible India” campaign through its Medical Visas, (M-Visa), specially designed for medical tourists to India. She said the government is offering several packages to promote such visitors and the idea is to encourage medical tourists to return after their first visit. As many as 1,50,000 medical tourists had visited India last year. She said with the tourism industry set to boom in view of the 2010 Common Wealth Games and the 2014 Afro-Asian Games, it is the perfect time to promote medical tourism as well. Experts estimate that revenue from medical tourism is expected to rise from $333 million at present to $2 billion by 2012 with the inflow of people from other countries.
Buddhist Tourism
The Minister, Mrs. Ambika Soni has called upon all stakeholders in the tourism development – Centre, States, Corporate Sector and Travel Trade – to pool their collective resources to replicate the efforts made in Bihar to upgrade the infrastructure and restore all the Buddhist sites and monuments in the country. She said this while inaugurating the conference on “Positioning India as a Hub for Buddhist Tourism,” organized jointly by FICCI and Tourism Ministry. A holistic development of Buddhist tourism in India assumes special significance in the light of the decision by India and China to celebrate 2007 as the ‘India-China Year of Friendship Through Tourism’ and the designation of 2007 by India and Japan as the “India Japan Tourism Exchange Year’.
Incredible India
As a result of Incredible India campaigns, the foreign tourist arrivals increased to 44,29,915 in 2006 as against 39,18,610 in 2005 and 34,57,477 in 2004. The foreign exchange earnings have also gone up to Rs.29,603 crore in 2006 from Rs.25,172 crore in 2005 and Rs.21,603 crore in 2004. As many as 5,14,453 foreign tourists visited India in the month of January 2007.
*Journalist
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his own and not necessarily reflect the views of PIB.
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