Events & Issues
New Delhi, 7 July 2016
Develop Tourist
Infrastructure
INCREDIBLE INDIA NEEDS
HOMESTAYS
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Tourism is a
vital sector for economic development of the country as it provides employment
opportunities, both directly and indirectly. Alas, its growth has not been
encouraging given the plethora of places of interest – historical sites,
religious centres, mountains, oceans, backwaters etc India is renowned for.
Notably, from
misty Himalayan hamlets in various States and the sunny north Indian
countryside to Gujarat and Rajasthan’s arty heritage places alongside further
south to Kerala’s backwaters and Tamil Nadu’s famed temples and religious
centres, the country offers varied places of interest to a yearning
traveller.
Yet tourism
has not taken off, why? The obvious reason is the lack of infrastructural
facilities, notwithstanding there has been significant improvement in the last
few years.
Undeniably,
much remains to be accomplished, especially if more foreign tourists from the
West and neighbouring countries have to be attracted to come and see Incredible
India in a bigger way.
In fact, a
basic point which needs to be highlighted is that tourism is a source of
knowledge and all sections of the population have to be provided the
opportunity. Yet seeing the sights is a costly exercise as hotel and lodges rates
are beyond the common man’s reach.
Scandalously,
even Government hotels and lodges are too costly and beyond the reach of the
middle income sections. Add to this, there is no rule to charge subsidized
rates for low income groups or schools and colleges students who come to stay in
Government accommodation.
Consequently,
tourism has remained confined to middle income groups and the richer sections of
society apart from foreign tourists. Therefore, there is need to change our
tourism policy so that students and youth, in particular, can move round the
country and see its treasures to gain first-hand knowledge.
Especially
against the backdrop that tourism is an educational exercise whereby the opportunity
to avail this should be made available to all. As it stands, the country has over
2.2 million hotel rooms, most of these in shabby road side conditions, to cater
to 7.8 million foreign and domestic tourists.
Notably, according
to the Tourism Ministry, India
will need an additional 2.5 million hotel rooms, spanning small hotels to
five-star facilities to meet the demand of say even one per cent of global
travellers, estimated to touch 1.5 billion by the year 2020.
Meanwhile
only around 3000 new hotel rooms are being added every year due to land and
financial issues. Thus, while hotels have been increasing their rates at quite
a fast pace, especially in busy tourist centres, homestay, a relatively new
concept, has picked up appreciably recently.
Interestingly,
foreign tourists are not averse to homestay facilities, especially in remote
areas and in mountainous regions of the country. Facilities provided by these include
a clean room with toilet, sometimes attached, good food according to the tourist’s
choice. Also, the homestay owners look after the foreigners as if they are part
of their family.
Additionally, to increase tourist inflow the Government
has recently relaxed stringent licensing norms and recommended reduced levies
on homestay establishments registered under the bed-and-breakfast scheme to
give a boost to the industry.
Further, a set of guidelines has been notified
by the Union Tourism Ministry too encourage more households to offer
accommodation to tourists and help make up the estimated shortfall of over two
lakh hotel rooms.
Besides, as tourism is a concurrent subject,
the Ministry has asked States to provide land at cheap rates to promote the
construction of small hotels and bed-and-breakfast outlets. They have also been
asked to publicize homestay facilities in a big way, emphasizing how they may,
in some ways, be better than conventional stays in big hotels.
Shockingly, India now receives only 0.68 per cent of the
global tourist traffic while Singapore,
a dot in the world map, has a tourist share of around 0.9 per cent and China 6 per
cent. Hence, there is an imperative need to attract foreign tourists in a big
way.
In this
connection, hospitality in homestays would be attractive to the young
generation of global travellers, whose basic objective of travel is to get
first-hand knowledge of India’s
history and culture, come closer to nature and understand religious attitudes
and beliefs.
Pertinently,
a recent study by the Tourism Ministry revealed foreigners and domestic
tourists nowadays prefer homestays over standard hotel accommodation to
experience the local way of life and cuisine at affordable rates.
See how in countries
like Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia tourism has picked up in one year thanks to
homestays which have emerged as a major attraction for travellers who always
want something new and different.
Add to this,
there is a growing desire among city dwellers to reconnect to their roots and
enjoy the tranquility and cultural refreshment offered by traditional rural
environments.
Towards that
end, various agencies are promoting rural livelihoods through community tourism
in villages, specially in Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, which have known for
there scenic beauty and greenery.
These ‘far
from the madding crowd’ programmes give tourists what they want: Being close to
nature and enjoying walks and treks in unspoilt village environments.
Clearly, the
lack of aggressive marketing, poor infrastructure, communal disturbances and
terrorist activities, might be the reasons why foreign tourists do not prefer
coming to India.
We need to give urgent attention to these aspects so as to attract tourists in
a big way.
Likewise,
our embassies should play a more positive role in preparing the ground for the
global traveller to come to India
by highlighting the country’s glorious past and the scope to gain immense
knowledge from a visit.
In sum, it
is imperative we understand the importance of tourism, specially its potential
in grass-root development. Time the Central Government in consultation with States
formulates a policy to promote all aspects of tourism ---- general, religious,
historical, mountaineering tourism ---- in an organized manner. ----- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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