Rebecca Bundhun, Foreign Correspondent, writes from Mumbai
Often considered to be a neglected area of India’s economy, tourism figures prominently in the manifesto of the main opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), widely tipped to come to power next month after the conclusion of the general election.
The Hindu nationalist outfit has pledged to revive “Brand India” through what it describes as the five Ts – tradition, talent, trade, technology and tourism.
Regardless of their political persuasions, industry leaders and analysts agree that India’s tourism industry has enormous scope for development to become a major driver of its economy.
A boost to growth is needed after the economy slowed to a decade low, and jobs are required for a burgeoning young population in a country of more than 1.2 billion.
India attracted just 6.8 million foreign tourists last year, according to statistics from its ministry of tourism. The nation’s share of international tourist arrivals is 0.64 per cent and it ranks 41 globally in terms of the number of foreign holidaymakers it receives, with the consensus being that this is well below what India could achieve given its wealth of cultural and natural attractions.
“BJP recognises the role tourism and hospitality can play as a foreign exchange earner and its ability to create millions of jobs every year,” the party says in its manifesto. “Tourism plays a key role in socio-economic progress through creation of jobs, enterprise, infrastructure development and foreign-exchange earnings.”
It says that the sector needs a clear path for growth and it plans to “initiate a mission mode project to create 50 tourist circuits that are affordable and built around themes”.
These themes include heritage and archaeology, spiritual tourism, the Himalayas, desert, coastal and medicine. They will unleash the sector’s “untapped potential” in India, the party says, adding that safety and security of tourists would also become a priority.
“I’ve not heard a politician or someone who is going to become a prime minister potentially talk so highly about looking at tourism as the next big thing for the driver of business for the economy,” says Manav Thadani, the chairman of the hotel consultancy HVS, referring to Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, who is the chief minister of the state of Gujarat.
Mr Thadani points out that Mr Modi managed to put Gujarat on the tourism map with an huge advertising campaign featuring the Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan.
“That state didn’t have much to offer and yet [Mr Modi] kind of changed things around in the last ten years,” says Mr Thadani.
Promoting new tourism destinations in the country could be key to growing the industry, he says.
“I think that’s a huge opportunity. We keep talking about the same old destinations – the Kerala circuit, the Rajasthan circuit. What about creating some new circuits out there? And of course the railways. I don’t think there’s enough focus on railways. We have the largest rail network in the world and it’s so underutilised when it comes to tourism.”
Other aspects that need to be focused upon include improving infrastructure and boosting domestic tourism. Offering visas on arrival to travellers from 180 countries – a move that the current government has already announced but has not implemented yet – could allow tourist arrivals to double very rapidly, Mr Thadani says.
“The transformation benefits of tourism in any country are unquestionable and in India’s case they are absolutely undeniable,” says Nakul Anand, the executive chairman of ITC, an Indian luxury hotel company, and the chairman of the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality.
Tourism can play an important role in “poverty alleviation, something that is so very important to the economic agenda of this country”, he says.
“We can create a pull for tourism in the powers that be changing legislations, in making people realise the potential for tourism if you alter the perception of tourism from an elitist to an economic activity, with employment generation as a major benefactor.”
With more than half of India’s population under the age of 25, creating jobs is becoming an increasingly pressing issue.
“India’s demographic dividend can be translated into an economic dividend and tourism is one of the vehicles that can make that happen,” says Mr Anand. He adds that there is enormous potential to develop diverse areas of tourism in India, including adventure, culinary, religious and wellness tourism, which could help to attract more visitors.
A recent paper by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Roots Research highlighted several areas that required policy intervention to boost tourist arrivals in India. These included promoting India as a destination, improving safety and increasing investment in infrastructure.
“As far as tourism is concerned, India is well below potential because of lack of infrastructure – good and safe all-weather roads, small airports and small aircraft connections, hotels in tourist spots that meet international standard,” says Kamal Sen, the chief executive of Cogitaas, a consultancy. “Huge stretches of coastline can be developed as tourist attractions, as well as mountains and forests – most of these are undeveloped.”
International hotel chains have also highlighted the need for India to make improvements from a government level to help facilitate their expansion in the country, which could in turn help bring more tourists into India.
“As an industry, if the infrastructure is there we can build the hotels,” said Richard Solomons, the chief executive of Intercontinental Hotels Group, at the Hotel Investment Conference South Asia, held in Mumbai earlier this month. “I think if we can get some help from those in power to drive infrastructure, then the opportunity is all there. Even today it is an important market … but it’s not an easy place to do business. If we could make it a bit easier, then it would really accelerate the growth of our industry, which is in and of itself a huge driver of GDP.”
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