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OPEN FORUM
New Delhi, 10 January 2008
Tourism Sector
MAKE INDIA
365-DAY HOTSPOT
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Though India has become one of the
significant emerging economies, the growth scenario is not supplemented by
sufficient employment generation. It is now recognized that unless the country’s growth is employment-driven and
blends with social equity, the desired effects of such high growth may not have
the desired effects on the people.
Tourism has the capacity to
capitalize on the country’s success
in the services sector and provide sustainable economic growth over the long
term. It can stimulate the economic sectors through backward and forward
linkages and cross-sectoral
synergies.
The development of tourism as an
industry is being emphasised by most countries around the world. According to
the World Trade Organization (WTO), more than 700 million tourists travel
internationally every year spending more than US $ 300 billion, accounting for
8 per cent of the world exports, 30 per cent of international trade in services
and more than one billion jobs.
Tourism has been playing its due
role in India
and has recorded a growth of 15 per cent per annum over the last three years. A
recent study by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has
revealed that tourism’s contribution towards the Gross Domestic Produce (GDP)
is 5.9 per cent and towards employment (both direct and indirect) 8.78 per
cent.
Thus, there is an imperative need
to promote tourism in a big way. India’s success
could attract more and more tourists in various fields. For instance, eco (or
nature) tourism, religious tourism, historical tourism, health or medical
tourism etc. It may be mentioned here that India
is bigger than 23 countries of Europe and
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. 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 Union Tourism Ministry, a whopping 420 million domestic
tourists were recorded in 2006. This figure is up from 236 million just four
years ago.
While the ‘Incredible India’
campaign could serve as the mother brand, the States should also be encouraged
to establish their own brands. The brands should be aimed at capturing the
underlying spirit of the country, its culture, tradition and spirituality.
Apart from the brand campaign,
the opening up of air transport and emergence of low-cost carriers has greatly
helped boost up tourist arrivals from our Asian neighbours. Restrictive civil
aviation policies had hitherto led to a loss
in terms of business, employment and
tourism. Moreover, the initiation of direct international flights to smaller
cities such as Varnasi, Gaya
is expected to increase tourist traffic in the coming years.
A study conducted by FICCI on the
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 a high revenue-capital ratio and indirect employment is 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. Provided the country makes a success
of its medical tourism which would help build bigger capacities and draw more
investment for the health sector.
Attracting foreign tourists has
become a priority of the Government and there are expectations of tourists 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.
The need for creating adequate
infrastructure to attract more tourists, especially those from foreign
countries, has been a long felt need. The Tourism Ministry has earmarked Rs 650
crore budget 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 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. Among the places identified are
Ajanta, Ellora, Ajmer,
Jaisalmer, Varnasi Ghats, Badrinath, Kedarnath etc. While the Centre will fund
the projects, the States will make available land and implement the work.
As religious tourism has been gaining
ground for some time, the Buddhist area of Raghir, Nalanda and Bodh Gaya have
also been chosen for development. A holistic development of Buddhist tourism in
the country assumes special
significance in the light of 2008 being designated as the ‘India Japan Tourism
Exchange Year’. There is a genuine effort by the Government to improve the
infrastructure of the religious and historical places to attract tourists in
large numbers, especially from the neighbouring Asian countries and Europe.
However critical challenges still
remain. The existing infrastructure in most places is either woefully
inadequate or not up to desired expectations, especially of foreign tourists.
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, especially in rural areas
and ensuring cleanliness needs to be
given due attention.
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.
Promotion of business-related travel by building convention centres of
international standards in major cities and new tourist centres has also been
envisaged. Moreover, the country needs to prepare strategies to increase the 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. India is indeed a big country with
unique destinations and natural locales. It is also a region of the world’s
greatest bio-diversity and a place where history is found embedded in palaces,
monuments and conservation sites. Thus, while a tourist average stay in Singapore is about 5 days it is 26 days in India.
Thanks to the latter’s vast tourist potential.
Clearly, it would not be
difficult to transform India
into a 365 days-a-year destination country, where tourists would find
themselves comfortable at every place. Be it a historical, religious,
ecological or health visit. ---- INFA
(Copyright India News
& Feature Alliance)
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