Tourism Potential of India – The goods and the bads

India has always been considered as one of the most diversified countries in the world and has been blessed with rich heritage and has a history of ancient civilization. A country which survived the rule of the Mughals and the British Empire somehow has managed to retain to its charm and unique cultural heritage as well; having said that, it is by no means lesser in terms of scenic beauty, be it the humongous mountain ranges of the Himalayas or the greenery of Kerala. The country is bestowed with natural beauty and wildlife along with the royal palaces of Rajasthan and the historical buildings built by the Mughals, the Taj Mahal for example. Yet, our government has never been able to completely capitalize and utilize to draw as many tourists as it should have. We are going to discuss how and why we need to boost the tourism in the country and the barriers that could just ruin its enormous potential.

To begin with, the true potential to expand and attract more tourists to the country lies in its natural and beautiful beaches and greenery in the southern part to that of striking beauty of the mountain in the northern region and from wild forests to the cultural and religious heritage of the country. Since, these attributes are more than enough to draw the attention of the tourists across the globe, but it would only be possible if the central and the state government of the respective states promote tourism and see it as a highly lucrative industry which to a certain extent has gradually been happening. The highest growth was witnessed in the year of 2014 when 7.68 million foreign tourists explored the country which is much more in comparison to its previous year, in fact, the number of visitors in the year was around 6.97 million. If we look at the last 5 years stats of foreign tourists’ arrivals in India, we will realize that the industry has much more potential. Below is the chart that will give you a fair idea about how the number of tourists have continued to increased:

Year	Number of Tourists (in million)	% Change
2010	5.78	11.8
2011	6.31	9.2
2012	6.58	4.3
2013	6.97	5.9
2014	7.68	10.0

The above chart shows a gradual, yet significant rise in the tourism industry and this credit should be given to the government which has taken certain initiatives like running advertisements on print and electronic media and hiring country’s leading superstars like Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan to campaign for the sector and it did pay dividends as well. For example, the tourism in Gujarat reached its zenith after Amitabh Bachchan’s campaign for Gujarat tourism was extensively seen in all the leading channels. Aamir Khan, the Bollywood Superstar played a major role in the success of government’s Atithi Devo Bhava tourism campaign. ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ which means ‘guest is equivalent to God’ paved a new way to reach out to the Indians and gave the message to welcome the tourists from all over the world. In addition, the recently ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign launched by the central government is just the right step towards helping the tourism industry. We no longer can shy away from the fact that India has always been a country where cleanliness and hygiene has always been one of the major issues for foreign travellers. One cannot picture a foreign tourist without a bottle of mineral water, simply because clean drinking water has always been a constant issue across the country. So, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign is also being seen as one of the major boosts that the tourism sector needed.

There is always another side to the coin, albeit one can’t deny the great potential of tourism, there are many challenges that are proving to be major obstacles and ruining its chances. In the last few years, the safety of not only the tourists, but the fellow Indians has been grabbing a lot of headlines. For some foreigners, India is considered to be no longer as safe, particularly after the 26/11 terrorist attack that rocked the entire nation and the world. The terrorists managed to exploit the loopholes of the Indian security and attacked the financial capital of the country, including the hotel The Taj where a lot of foreign tourists lost their lives. Since then, their fear of the safety of the tourists can’t be denied. In addition to the terrorist attack, women’s safety has also been a growing issue which the government has not managed to curb. There have been several instances in the past where foreign female tourists have been preyed upon.

One has to accept the fact that India as a nation is not completely equipped with the infrastructure that can promote tourism in the country. The infrastructure and the hospitality is miserable to say the least, lack of restaurants and clean public toilets just add to the miseries. Our country is vast and transport system functions without any system, the matter is made worse by bad roads which are full of potholes and are prone to accidents. This not only bothers the tourists but hits India’s image globally as well. The trouble for the tourists starts from the Airport where there is no Single Window function, rather it has extreme rules and regulations that turn out to be more than harassment for the travelers. The lack of basic amenities along with the above mentioned issues have been there since ages and till now lie unresolved.

To conclude, tourism can start flourishing if the government starts a lot more public and private tie-ups and the state government needs to work with the state government to make sure the laws and rules and regulations are implemented accordingly. If we can fix the above issues and concerns then travel and tourism could be one of the leading revenue generators for the government and at the same time it can create more jobs.