By Kavita Bajeli-Datt, IANS,
New Delhi:Tourism Minister Kumari Selja believes state governments should “wake up” and compete among themselves “aggressively” abroad to promote tourism in India. And the middle class tourist is high on her list.
“States must wake up and promote themselves aggressively in the foreign market. They should be more aggressive in their approach to promote their states,” Selja told IANS in an interview.
“They should compete among themselves. There are some states like Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir that are marketing their products in the world trade and tourism fairs,” she said.
She said she was impressed with the way the Kerala government had recently pitched the southern state as a destination at a recent international travel fair.
They had their own separate desk and their catchline ‘God’s Own Country’ drew many people. Other states should have their own selling points. Some are doing it,” Selja said.
“The tourism figure is going up in India. We particularly want to attract tourists from the middle class. We get the rich and the backpackers. But it is the mid-section that we are targeting,” she added.
Till October this year, about 4.02 million foreign tourists visited India. The figure was seven percent lower compared to the corresponding period last year.
In 2008, a total of 5.37 million tourists had visited India. “Due to the economic meltdown, swine flu and the terror attack, we saw a dip. But it is again going up,” said Selja.
On preparations for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Selja said they are exploring the idea of providing tented accommodation to tourists in Faridabad and Surajkund in nearby Haryana.
“This offers a lot of opportunity and the authorities are in touch with private parties,” she said.
What also concerns her is the security and housing of tourists during the games.
“We are expecting 100,000 tourists. An additional 40,000 rooms are needed, while 10,000 are ready. The rest are being completed. Rooms are coming up in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. We are holding regular meetings on this issue with all the stakeholders,” she added.
(Kavita Bajeli-Datt can be contacted at [email protected])