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'Indian tourism might pick up from October'

Just when the Indian tourism industry was preparing to receive tourists with open arms and expectations of a boom in the sector, terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC put paid to their hopes.

The attacks brought international tourism to a virtual standstill, adversely impacting the Indian tourism industry too, which saw a drop in tourist traffic.

Hotels witnessed large-scale cancellations. Business meetings were postponed or cancelled.

However, despite this, the number of tourists arriving in India fell only by 4 per cent, according to V K Duggal, Director General of Department of Tourism.

In an exclusive interview with Onkar Singh Duggal says that the hosting of the Pacific-Asia Travel Association meet in New Delhi from April 14 to April 18 would help India showcase its destinations to the world media/travel writers and travel agents.

He hopes that, in the current year, the net collection from international tourists would touch $4 billion.

At a time when the international tourism industry is reeling under the impact of September 11 attacks on the US, India is hosting Pacific Asia Travel Association meet. Why?

Pacific Asia Travel Association is the largest tourism body in the world with nearly 2,000 members from national tourism organisations, and the airlines and hospitality industries.

PATA has 80 international chapters. It is the largest international event which helps the host country in showcasing its tourism destinations to global media and to the international travel sellers.

Our intention is to showcase India and showcase New Delhi. We want to send a message to the world that everything is fine as far as the security environment is concerned. We are moving fast and forward and so is our infrastructure. We did not bid for it. It moves from country to country and this year it has come to India after a gap of 24 years.

Do you think hosting of PATA would help in boosting Indian tourism on an international level?

I believe that this would provide huge mileage to India. Indian tourism could soon be on the upswing. Hosting of PATA would give India an opportunity to come on to the international scene.

After that it everything depends upon how you sell your destinations to the delegates/media/travel sellers and travel agents. India would be heard widely in the travel scene during the next one week.

Do you expect people to come to India in light of the Gujarat riots and US issuing an advisory to its citizens not to go to Gujarat?

My dear friend, Gujarat is only one part of India. India is such a vast country that the tourists can go and see other places instead. There is Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, North East, in South we have Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala. Khajurao in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan. Then we have the Taj Mahal. I am convinced that more and more tourists would come to India despite what has happened in Gujarat.

We have received one-and-a-half million tourists since September last year and not a single person complained of any trouble anywhere. Or any other problem relating to his/her stay, security, et cetera.

We have had our share of negative inputs going out like the attack on Parliament on December 13, then the attack on the American Center in Kolkata and now Gujarat. But this has not affected the inflow of the tourist traffic to India.

Have you planned out a strategy to sell the Indian destinations?

On an average two-and-a-half million international tourists visit India every year. This does not include the non-resident Indians who visit their homes every year to meet their relatives, etc. If we include them in this list then the figure would be much higher. We still have to tap the true potential of the Indian tourist circuits.

How do you do that?

Our effort should be to make travel for tourists within the country as hassle-free as possible. Sometimes difficulties do arise, but we have to ensure that, by and large, tourists are comfortable. New roads are being built, new airports are being opened for international tourists for arriving direct to their destination.

We are increasing the air connectivity between various tourists' circuits. Private sector airlines are also chipping in with a helping hand. We have set up a mechanism to monitor complaints received from the tourists on regular basis.

We want to ensure that the number of cases of cheating or defrauding international tourists goes down substantially.

What happened to your much-publicised scheme of giving tourists visa on arrival at Indian airports?

The Union home ministry has given a green signal to the scheme. Please understand that it takes time to implement such schemes.

We are in the process of implementing this scheme. Sixteen countries have already been identified for this purpose. We have to set up visa counters at the international airports. This is a pilot project and if it succeeds then it might be extended further. To begin with we would open counters in Delhi and Mumbai and gauge the response. Then other airports could be added to the list.

How much has the Indian tourism industry suffered after September 11 terrorists attacks?

The impact of this attack was felt not only by India but also by the entire world. Lot of airlines faced serious financial difficulties. International tourist traffic fell sharply. Unfortunately the September 11 attacks came just before our peak season that begins in October and ends in February.

In spite of all that the drop in the number of tourists arriving in India was just 4 per cent in 2001 as compared to the previous year. From October to December 2001, the drop was 20 per cent. We had large number of cancellations. Huge number of business meetings were either cancelled or postponed. I hope by the time winter sets in October this year the tourist scene would start looking up once again.

What is your target in terms of money?

Last year we got $3.3 billion. This time we intend to get over $4 billion. Whatever is excess would be a bonus. We want to double the tourist traffic in India. That is the target that the department of tourism would love to achieve.

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