NEW DELHI, JANUARY 5 Tourism Minister Renuka Chowdhury is prodding her officials to a new reality in post-tsunami Asia, with many of its holiday destinations ravaged by the killer waves on December 26. Stunned by the aggressive recovery plans by many governments, including Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, Chowdhury has asked Ministry officials to chalk out a new strategy to boost tourism in the country.
Says Chowdhury: ‘‘We had 3.2 million tourists this year as compared to 2.5 million last year, despite an expenditure of Rs 350 crore by the then government. The ‘Incredible India’ campaign was part of the first phase of marketing India, but the time has come to go beyond pretty visuals and smart advertising. I have told officials they have to put money where their mouth is. I need results and accountability.”
Chowdhury’s plans are simple: Refocus the campaign to widen scope of attracting tourism which include medical, rural, tribal and cruise tourism; study countries like Thailand, Singapore and Sri Lanka which offer lucrative packages to lure tourists like cheap airfare and hotel accommodations; build budget hotels all over the country and aggressively market destinations on domestic air routes; promote new destinations like the 12 already identified: these include the North-East, Konkan coast and Mysore; and keep the 4.9 million outbound Indian tourists within the country.
Says Chowdhury, ‘‘The first priority is to assess what is our net gain so far and what is our scope to increase tourism in the country. I am going to hire a reputed market research agency to assess our performance and scope for improvement. I am going to take the tourism industry into confidence. We have to work collectively and I have scheduled a meeting next week. We will focus our efforts to make India a destination for its own people, who are spending vast sums of money abroad. However, we need better synergy with other ministries to expand tourism.’’
Epaper
Newsletter
Stocks
Weather
Horoscope
