‘There Has Been Renewed Energy In The Area Of Tourism’

Shaktikanta Das, commissioner of tourism, government of Tamil Nadu and managing director, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation Ltd, explains to Reema Sisodia that the state hopes to make the entire operations systems driven, so that work is not dependent on one particular officer or unit

What does the award mean to you?

For Tamil Nadu Tourism, the Galileo Express Travel & Tourism Award, is indeed more than satisfying. It is the recognition to the efforts that the state tourism department has put together especially in the recent past. The state has gone through a definite transformation, wherein from its focus on agriculture in the 80's to that of IT in the 90's to that of tourism in 2000 onwards has been highly encouraging. The state's economy has evolved and has also lunched several new initiatives in the area of tourism such as,

• Technology programmes, wherein tourists both national and international can avail of the on-line reservation and payment gateway facility for all tourism packages and products.
• Medical tourism is yet another area of specialisation which the state is looking at with increased seriousness.
• Development and promotion of lesser known places. Chettinad near Madhurai, houses a number of mansions. The private sector has taken the initiative to develop and convert these mansions into heritage resorts and also into museums.
• Tranquebar in the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu is known for a 16 century old Danish fort, which is also under development and restoration, to be undertaken by the Nimrana group.
• Development of the Navagraha temple with regards to the promotion of religious tourism is also in process

What would you describe as the secret of your success?

There has definitely been a kind of a renewed energy in the area of tourism in the state. This has lead to a lot of positive effects in terms of performance and delivery. Adding new advertisement campaigns, where we have unlocked the hidden treasures of the state. There has been an 18 per cent increase in tourism inflow when compared from last year to the present year. The state has received 30 per cent inbound traffic from Singapore, Malaysia and Europe combined, 2.7 crore domestic traffic. I can confidently say that the state's effort towards tourism is definitely more focused and businesslike.

How do you plan to retain this success rate?

Building tourism awareness campaigns in on the cards. Monitoring the entire operations, training local systems on tourism such as taxi drivers etc, better infrastructure development is what we plan to achieve. We hope to make the entire operations systems driven, so that work is not dependent on one particular officer or unit.

What are your future plans?

We aim to promote rail-cum-road tourism. Improve and increase tourism information centres, improve the marketing campaigns, invite international travel writers to the state, work seriously on promoting medical tourism, and create packages focused towards senior citizens.

The Evaluation Criteria

The award for the 'Best Technology Programme' was evaluated on the following criteria's:

• A description in no more than 500 words on the nominee's best technology programme and its benefits which have been at least partly been implemented in the year 2003-2004, and contributed to the operations.
• The note included technology investment on that programme so far, benefits, innovation and related factors.