As a nation, for tourism, we set ourselves very ambitious targets, but lack the will to achieve them. The government decides that from an inbound footfall of 5.5 million we want to double the numbers to 12 million by 2016. However, the moot question is, how are we going to achieve this? We seem to be banking on some kind of mythical goodwill India is supposed to have without making any real effort towards increasing the numbers. We don’t have infrastructure in place, nor do we have the basic facilities required by tourists. And there seems to be no coherent policy in place to provide either of these services. We are all banking on said goodwill and the Incredible India campaign. While the latter has weaved its magic so far, we can’t sit back on our laurels and say the tourists will flow in because we are the land of history and culture and Mahatma Gandhi.
Look at every other country that develops and maintains itself. They look at even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant things!! So, while we have ambitious targets and optimistic dreams, the reality is a little different. The tourism that the country currently enjoys is a result of the marketing efforts of private players. Of course, the government does assist and conducts successful road shows abroad, but it has to be a sustained and consistent effort and the reality must match the representation or projection. That is where we lose out.
Unless we radically change our way of life, functioning, and infrastructure; India will remain a niche tourism destination, not a mass tourism destination. We have got to accept that. The question that arises is this – how do you strengthen the attractiveness of this niche destination? There are two or three things we need to look at. One is our attitude and approach towards tourists. We need to maintain cleanliness at our tourism spots. Then we look at what attracts people to this country. It’s the spirituality and heritage. Yes, we talk about a Buddhist circuit, but if you look at the statistics, there has been no major increase in tourist numbers despite the noise being made about it. So what is going wrong? Are we targeting the wrong markets? Are we taking the wrong approach? Or is it that the circuit is just not equipped to handle tourists?
The second part is how the government treats the industry. We have been crying ourselves hoarse asking for an industry status. The answer we always get is that it can’t be an industry because it lacks other factors that constitute an industry. The terminology isn’t important, what is important is that the industry is looking for the support of the government, whether it is by way of reduced taxation, access to funds, low rates of interest etc. Here it is treated as a light weight industry, as something for the idle rich, and something to be taxed at every possible opportunity. That approach needs to be changed. The government keeps talking about single window clearance. Where is it? If there is a concert or an event that needs to be organised, the number of permissions required are bizarre. You can’t treat the industry as light weight and tax it for all its worth, give it no support, and expect the arrival numbers to double in four years time!
So, we need a major overhaul of the way the tourism industry is run in this country. Tourism doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it happens when the entire country plugs in. Even the Home Ministry needs to work with us. The Visa on Arrival is an excellent initiative, and should be expanded. But we work in fits and starts. We need to change our attitude if we really want to get going.
