Newstrack

Hiked entry fee to MP forests may hit arrival figures

Jyoti Koul - New Delhi

The irrational increase in entrance fee for the national parks of Madhya Pradesh has become a major concern for the tourism and hospitality industries. While in the short term they have suffered from last minute fee hikes, they fear plummeting tourist arrivals in the long term.

Hoteliers and the travel trade have complained that these hikes have occurred close to the park opening dates leaving no time for them to revise their brochures or tariff cards. As a result, they were forced to cancel tourist groups that were booked a year in advance. Many hotels also had to absorb this hike last year but have continued with the season because international agents refused to go ahead with their groups with the new tariff. The entry fee for a foreign tourist has jumped from Rs 100 to 500 in the last couple of years.

According to Madhya Pradesh operators, the park authorities are planning to change the tariff this year - instead of implementing entry fee per person, they will charge a vehicle entry of Rs 2,500 per trip, regardless of the number of visitors sitting inside. This means a total of Rs 5,000 per day. According to park authorities, this is an attempt to reduce the pressure on the park by limiting the number of vehicles.

According to Amit Sankhala, managing director of Tiger Resorts, tourists usually stay for three nights, which means an entry fee of Rs 15,000 to visit one national park. "If it's a week's stay at Kanha and Bandhavgarh, which is what a lot of clients do, then they pay Rs 35,000. This will definitely have serious repercussions for the inbound tourism market specialising in wildlife tours. This will also harm the image of Madhya Pradesh tourism as the foreign clientele will feel we are not a tourist-friendly state," he said. While only 19 per cent of visitors to Bandhavgarh are foreigners, they contribute almost 70 per cent of the revenue from entrance fees.

Subhash Goyal, president of IATO, who has written to the concerned ministry, said, "The concerned authorities must take steps to save tourism. Such hikes go against the promotional efforts of the industry." Madhya Pradesh is the only state where the lodge owners and park authorities are working closely, thereby showing concern towards saving the wildlife in Madhya Pradesh.

However, when Express TravelWorld took up the issue with the forest minister of the state - Himmat Kothari - he said that his ministry would not discourage the industry by taking any unhealthy step. "I assure everyone that we will take the tourism stakeholders into confidence in case we plan to implement any changes with respect to the entry fee, etc. We do not like to be deterrents in the promotion of tourism in the state," he said.