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During
a day-long seminar, Tourcon 2002, organised by the CII, speakers
from a cross section of the industry emphasised on ameliorating
the tourism infrastructure of the country particularly in
North India. The seminar focussed on the significance of the
golden triangle circuit in light of the fact that every second
tourist visiting India visits North India. “We need to
focus on building quality infrastructure along with a strong
brand image of India as a tourism product,” said SK Bijlani,
chairman, CII northern region.
Rajasthan made a strong presence with Arvind Mayaram, secretary
- Tourism, Government of Rajasthan, “The state has emerged
as a strong tool for the export promotion of handicrafts from
Rs 28.3 crore in 1991-92 to Rs 430 crore in 2000-2001, thereby
increasing the international tourist inflow to the state by
25 %” informed he. Rajasthan is also a partner state
of WTTC’s ‘India Initiative Programme’. Recent
development projects and initiatives taken by the state include,
Rajasthan Urban Infrastructure Development Project and Rajiv
Gandhi Development Mission.
Pointing out at the potential of tourism to be a ten to fifteen
billion industry by 2010, Gopal N Sharma, CEO, Feedback Strategic
Consultancy Services, said the need is to create a tourism
developmental council, which would look into the development
of tourism in northern region and have a common minimum programme.
He suggested that the thrust must be on quality of infrastructure
and not on quantity. Moreover, to leverage the sector, development
of circuits will have to be a concerted effort taken by all
states together.
Renu Sahani Dhar, Resident Commissioner, government of Himachal
Pradesh, highlighted the need to develop new tourism circuits
to offer value additions to a tourist. “A major tool
in tourism promotion is the effective marketing and the same
needs to be a combined effort of the industry taking into
consideration the economic compulsions. The emphasis must
be on the development of quality infrastructure” she
added.
“We
may be hospitable people by tradition but we have to be hospitable
by the instinct because the experience of foreign tourists
is negative. We need to develop our human resources. The entire
gamut of private sector and the government need to put their
acts together to offer a memorable experience to tourists
so that they become repeat visitors. We need to embark on
training programmes to motivate people to retain tourists,”
Dhar suggested.
Rajiv Talwar, CEO and managing director, Delhi Tourism and
Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC) highlighted the
fact that compared to 2.5 million inbound tourists, the outound
tourists from India stands at 5 million, which amounts to
revenue outflow of Rs 25,000 crore. Terming it as a cause
of concern, he said, “Have we been able to change the
perception of policy makers that tourism is an economic activity?
Organisations like CII must try to achieve this.” On
the other hand, S G Awasthi, Chairman Tourism Sub-Committee,
CII Northern Region, mentioned that for India to partake in
the tourism revolution, it is essential to quickly improve
its strategies and machinery of implementation.
Sandeep Gupta, Executive Director, Choice Hospitality (India)
Pvt. Ltd and Ravi Santhanam, President and CEO, Mahindra Holidays
& Resorts said that the hospitality industry is on the
threshold of growth, but to facilitate private sector investment
the tax structures must be rationalised and red tapism must
be relaxed. It was also pointed out that to develop a hotel
an investor has to seek over 40 licences from the government,
which is enough to put one off. Therefore, there needs to
be a single window system to encourage investments, was their
suggestion.
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