At $35 per person and more than five million tourists a year, this would have meant a loss of about 175-180 million dollars to the national exchequer. But the Tourism Ministry was convinced that this was a small price when the receipts from foreign tourists had been in excess of $10 billion.

There has been little movement on these suggestions. The bailout packages so far have concentrated on fiscal and monetary measures to instill confidence in the economy.

Industry stakeholders point out that governments in other countries have been far more responsive to the concerns of the toursector. Thailand has abolished visa fees while Switzerland has introduced reduced tour packages.

Last week, the Tourism Ministry announced a few steps that it can implement by itself. Roping in stakeholders like airline companies, hotel associations and tour operators, the ministry announced incentives like buy-one-get-one-free offers on international air tickets and one night complimentary stays at select destinations.

But the industry believes the real thrust has been missing. For a sector that is highly labour-intensive and earns a huge amount of foreign exchange — per capita spending by a tourist in India is among the highest in the world — the government needs to be more responsive. The 10-million tourists target for next year might be beyond reach, but officials feel putting India’s growth rate back in the region of 12-14 per cent in 2009 is not impossible if some comprehensive measures are taken on an urgent basis.