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Features/Articles
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High
growth potential in Tourism
The development of tourism as an industry is being given
emphasis by most countries of the world. Tourism has been
playing its due role in India and has made a record
growth. A recent study by the National Council for Applied
Economic Research (NCAER) has revealed that tourism’s
contribution towards GDP is 5.9 per cent and towards
employment (both direct and indirect) 8.78 per cent.
There is an imperative need to promote tourism in a big
way. India’s success could attract more and more tourists
for eco-tourism, religious tourism, historical tourism,
medical tourism etc. Every single State has some unique
characteristics, which could interest tourists in one way
or the other.
The ‘Incredible India’ campaign has been quite successful
and driven the growth of tourism in the country. It
captures the underlying spirit of the country, its
culture, tradition and spirituality.
As a result tourist arrivals have increased dramatically.
During the Tenth Plan period, tourist arrivals grew by a
phenomenal 78 per cent while foreign exchange earnings
increased by around 120 per cent. According to the Tourism
Ministry, a whopping 420 million domestic tourists were
recorded in 2006.
The opening up of air transport and emergence of low-cost
carriers has greatly helped boost up tourist arrivals to
this country.
A study conducted by FICCI on development perspective of
eco and rural tourism revealed that it had the highest
employment and investment ratio. Every additional
investment of Rs 10 crore has the potential to generate
47.5 jobs. Further, every direct job created in tourism
leads to a creation of 77 jobs in other related sectors of
the industry, the study stated. Besides the multiplier
effect of tourism generates high revenue-capital ratio in
the Indian context.
Indirect employment generated in the form of revival of
traditional arts and crafts, development of communication,
hotels etc.
Another study by McKinsey has revealed that medical
tourism could generate as much as Rs 100 billion of
revenue for India by 2012. The success of medical tourism
will build bigger capacities and draw more investment for
the health sector.
Attracting foreign tourists has become a priority and
there are expectations of reaching the 10 million mark by
the end of the 11th Plan period. There is presently one
lakh approved quality accommodation which should be
increased to two lakh by 2011, according to report by a
working group on tourism for
the Eleventh Plan. According to Subhash Goyal, President
of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, “if we
implement the suggestions by the Ministry of Tourism, it
will not be difficult to attract 10 million (foreign)
tourists”. Infrastructure Development
The need for creating adequate infrastructure to attract
more tourists, specially those from foreign countries, has
been a long felt need. The Tourism Ministry has earmarked
Rs 650 crore budget allocation for this fiscal to develop
sites within the country. The Ministry has decided to give
a maximum of Rs 50 crore
(and Rs 25 crore) to State Governments to develop each
circuit and destination.
Accordingly it has been planned to set up 100 heritage
circuits by the end of the 11th Plan of which 25 are
expected to be of International standard. The government
also plans to build world-class infrastructure at Hampi,
Agra, Konark, Khajuraho, Orccha and Datia along with
Buddhist and Jain centres. To develop cultural tourism,
the government has identified six museums at Delhi,
Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Cochin which would
be upgraded to
compete with global standards.
As religious tourism has been gaining ground for quite
some time, the Buddhist area of Raghir, Nalanda and Bodh
Gaya have also been chosen for development. A special
train has been introduced for the Buddhist pilgrimage from
India and abroad particularly from the South Asian
countries to promote tourism.
However challenges still remain. The challenge is to
create around 100,000 additional star category hotel rooms
or good quality resorts in the next three years. The
Tourism Ministry has decided to create ‘land banks’ by
acquiring land for building hotels through public-private
partnerships on a built-operate basis.
There is also need to improve roadways, transportation,
ensure clean and hygienic environment and ensure safety
and security conditions in the areas and give these places
a modern look. Improvement of surroundings of tourist
spots, specially in rural areas and ensuring cleanliness
needs to be given due attention. It needs to mentioned
here that tourists should not feel any inadequacy of
anything and enjoy their travel in India.
The working group suggestions, if implemented, can
definitely boost tourism in the country. However, there is
need to concentrate on countries such as South Africa,
Israel, Spain, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia,
Brazil and Argentina which would help in attracting
tourists to India. Fewer tourists come to India from these
countries, so they offer high growth potential, the report
said. Promotion of business-related travel by building
convention centres of international standards in major
cities and new tourist centres has also been envisaged in
the report. Moreover, the country needs to prepare
strategies to increase per capita expenditure on shopping.
India has emerged as the 4th favoured destination for
holidays above South Africa and Switzerland, as per a
survey undertaken by Conde Nast Traveller magazine for
their 2006 Readers Travel Awards. It is indeed a big
country with various types of unique destinations and
natural locales. It is also a region of the world’s
greatest biodiversity while, on the other hand, a place
where history is found embedded in palaces, monuments and
conservation sites. As such, the average duration of stay
of a tourist in Singapore is about 5 days as against 26
days in India because of the latter’s vast tourist
potential.
It would thus not be difficult to transform the country
into a 365 days-a-year destination where tourists would
find themselves comfortable at each and every place,
whether the visit is intended for historical, religious,
ecological or health reasons.
Dhurjati Mukherjee*
*Freelance Journalist, Kolkata
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