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Viewpoint
The ground reality
Indian tourism, with a 0.4 per cent share of the world market, may have miles
to go to catch up with what other countries, especially our neighbours, have
achieved. But it has reasons to celebrate its limited success. It was good up
to 2004 with a coveted three million arrivals (the third million coming almost
after a decade). But in just 12 months, 2005 brought the country close to the
magic figure of four million. According to statistics available with the department
of tourism (DoT), 3.4 million visitors came to India between January and November.
If you add the projected 4,00,000 count for December, we would close the year
with 3.8 million, just 200,000 short of the target. This reflects a growth of
13.5 per cent.
There has been a sea change in the aviation scene during the last twelve months.
Virtual open skies and major international carriers vying with one another to
link our Indian cities, Jet and Sahara flying international routes, Air India
and Indian (the new name for Indian Airlines) finally getting approvals for
their fleet acquisition, and, the emergence of a score of low-cost carriers
(LCC) have pushed seat shortages into history, vastly improved domestic connectivity
and helped create a new segment. It is another matter that our airports are
not yet ready to cope with the additional traffic or for that matter, there
are not enough rooms to accommodate the larger number of travellers.
Success, as they say, has many fathers. The ‘Incredible India’ campaign
would be one of them. The initiatives launched by the NDA regime - higher priority
to tourism, a fivefold increase in allocations in the tenth Plan, and, the tax
reliefs could be another claimant. And, now of course, the UPA government is
doing its bit to carry forward from there. The pace of change, however, would
continue to cause concern. Another claimant contributing to the changed scenario
would easily be the World Travel and Tourism Council, the global think tank
comprising industry leaders, which through its India Initiative, launched at
the turn of the century, played the role of a catalyst in creating awareness
of the sector's potential for economic development to an awakening Indian political
leadership. It was not just a coincidence that within days of WTTC India submitting
its now famous treatise on the way forward for Indian tourism to the then prime
minister in 2001, Atul Behari Vajpayee, created a history of sorts by referring
to the importance of tourism in his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort.
The National Tourism Policy that followed or the Tenth Plan document quoted
profusely from the Council's data.
No discussion or a keynote on the sector misses a reference to WTTC's sayings.
The year just ended was also a year of review of WTTC's role in India guided
as the India Initiative from London. The Council wisely decided that while the
link with London should continue, the India Initiative should take on an Indian
leadership. There were changes at the India Initiative set-up that at the end
of Yogesh Chandra's commendable tenure as secretary general, his place was taken
by Rathi Vinay Jha who had just retired after a distinguished civil service
career as secretary, DoT. Jha has decided to move on and give her full time
to her other love - fashion - as director general, Fashion Design Council. And,
the new secretary general is another retired civil servant, Ashok Pahwa, who
made a mark early in his career by putting Haryana on the tourist map in the
70s and also was DG tourism at the centre.
Although some of the major issues by WTTC like priority for tourism in the national
agenda and changes in aviation policies have been addressed there are many more
like India's image, coordination with the states and infrastructure where it
can still make a difference. The industry ushers in 2006 on a note of hope and
expectations but with also some unease about the pace of infrastructure development.
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