India Tourism

India Tourism- The Good The Bad And The Ugly

Browsing through desi pundit i came across this particular article. “the cursed country’ Proboscus in her article has told the truth, she had called the spade a spade. Her dream journey to India had turned out to be a nightmare and she has every right to express her anguish in this regard. From the very beginning of her arrival there had been troubles most of them, every one in India has to go through and accepted as fate accompli. She deserves every credit to observe the things going on in this part of the land and expressing them in plain language so that anybody could understand what situation more than one billion people have to live in.

I recommend the top brass of the department of tourism to read it and to address the problems, so that those who visit India in future will not be forced to return cutting short their tour. Not all the problems mentioned are related with the tourism department. But the troubles encountered by our guests can be taken up by it as department of tourism is meant to address such issues.

The department with its large army of staff and huge funds can raise this issue in every forum and act as liaison to get the matters fixed. Whether it is police, local bodies, flight ticket agencies, archaeological or whatever be the department.

The problems related to on line flight ticket bookings with a foreign credit card seems unbelievable as it is possible in every other countries. With technological advances India has made; this issue needs to be urgently settled, slight push can fix it.

What about the mockery conducted in the name of security, there should be responsible and polite officers with adequate staff posted in such high potential areas, With better use of technology India should prove its efficiency everywhere (India finds solution to whole world’s problems ( in IT!!!)).

The mob throwing stones at passing vehicles is no news here, years of inaction to mob violence has made it possible for hooligans to resort to any violence as a crowd and go scot-free. Why the culprits cannot be photographed by the police (when camera wielding journalists are dime a dozen) and action initiated to award them the due punishment, tourism department can liaison with police and journalists in this regard.

If garbage disposal is local bodys’ responsibility liaison with them to get the work done, blacklist those corporations which do not co-operate (their list shown in tourism ads).

India is a great nation letting it to stink and projecting it as “incredible” is not fair. How many efficient private companies are here, a simple auction procedure can do the trick in half of the cost. (The present sanitary workers being highly unionized are not to be expected to do the job but can be utilized for supervision!).

The stock reply like “India is third world nation, it has poverty”, are no excuses as the inefficiency of the airlines and nonsense committed in the name of security have nothing to do with poverty. Burning of garbage in the middle of the town, dumping it unattended for days to stench are not signs of poverty. Inefficiency is one thing that has to be corrected by those who pay for the job. Security problems and garbage are there in other countries also, when they can manage it style why India cannot?

India’s technological advancements can be harnessed in solving all of the above problems. Each and every culprit engaged in mob violence can be brought to book by the present advanced photographing technology, with the support of some changes in the legal system, no culprit can escape.

If advanced technologies are not put in to use in our own country what use in claiming itself as the I.T. superpower America faces more security threats than India but harassing the innocents is not routine there even though there are exceptions. Credit cards are considered as a rich man’s luxury and despised by our hard core revolutionaries and taxed heavily to punish the rich! They should instead promote it as a convenient mode of payment so that the business as well as tourism will get a tremendous boost.

The image projected by tourism should also be to a realistic, luring tourists who are not used to the circumstances by false statements will only damage the industry. They should be cautioned of the actual situations to avoid extreme embarrassments.

New Delhi is a mess during these winter season it is foggy (smoggy) also, remember the battle the Supreme Court has fought to eliminate the polluting vehicles and the industries. The politicians of all hues were raising cudgels against the court and still do every thing not to implement the court orders! It was none other than Smt Sheila Dikshit (Chief Minister), who led several rallies and spent considerable amount of her valuable time to keep the capital polluted.

India without refining its appearance if keep on inviting tourists with expensive ads, the gimmick will not work longer, a time will come when the tourism ministry will be sued to pay compensation to the tourists who were cheated!

The tourism department certainly cannot be expected to improve the face of India, as there are several agencies deputed for the job (but not doing it). But it can act as a catalyst by interaction with the so called agencies and get the work done. It is not impossible to frame the laws so that tourism dept can perform additional powers for the same.

Making India a better place to live in is good for all, and the time for the idea has come. The present inflow of tourists has boosted the industry considerably, well and good! it is time to think of tomorrow, clean it up and give way for a better tomorrow, let our guests extend their stay time instead of them to run away cutting it short.

Seems an incredible dream? No India will be incredible, after a short stay in a beauty parlor! After all this is the land of Aish, Sush and Shilpa!