Setting aside renewed mutual suspicion and shadow-boxing that has dominated the diplomatic discourse between India and China in recent months, New Delhi launched a cultural and culinary campaign in Beijing today as part of an attempt to woo Chinese tourists across the Himalayas.

As Chinese invitees tucked into their murgh malai tikkas, machher jhol and chicken chettinad over Dragon Seal wines and Yanjing beer after an hour-long extravaganza of Indian classical dance and music, officials hoped the charm offensive would dilute traditional prejudices and strengthen the fragile bond between the neighbours.

Part of the ‘Incredible India’ campaign of the Tourism Ministry, the event was the first such in China and among the few major campaigns in global capitals in recent times. The aim: tap the soaring number of Chinese tourists, who the World Tourism Organisation projects will touch 100 million by 2020, the world’s largest, from 40 million in 2007.

The event also marked the opening of an India Tourism office in Beijing, the first in China and the 14th around the globe, a launch that has been repeatedly delayed for a variety of political and protocol reasons but one which Tourism Minister Ambika Soni called “Der aaye, lekin durust aaye”.

“Last year alone, more than half a million visitors were exchanged between our two countries,” Soni told the overflowing Grand Ball Room at the Beijing Hotel, where traditional Indian brass lamps, garlands and sequined tablecloth merged with Chinese paper lamps and golden coloured wall paintings.

“These numbers in a relative sense are statistically insignificant when our combined populations are well over 40 percent of the world population,” she said. “But new beginnings have been made, there will be increasing participation of our entrepreneurs from the travel trade industry in travel marts and road shows...We are aiming to put in place high standard tourism infrastructure across the country. Here too, we feel there is ample scope for participation of Chinese entrepreneurs,” she said.

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