Travel advisories irk India

The government will take up the issue of describing India as a 'unsafe destination' with the World Trade Organization, to prevent a decline in the number of tourists visiting the country after tsunami.

"We are taking up the matter with the WTO in Spain and also take up with those countries which had posted an 'advisory' in websites cautioning its citizens against traveling to India, particularly the northeastern region in view of insurgency," Union Tourism Minister Renuka Chaudhury said in Shillong.

Chaudhary said her ministry had written to the Union home ministry to review its Restricted Area Permit policy, prevalent in some parts of the northeast, to enable more tourists to visit those areas.

Chaudhury, who reviewed the tourism projects in Meghalaya, said with peace returning to the northeast, there had been a 'quantum leap' in tourist inflow into the region.

Asking the media to help the government present a 'positive picture' of tourist destinations, the Tourism Minister cited the US case, when not a single 'negative picture' of the 9/11 was printed in the media which could have caused negative impact on the minds of tourists.

But, the media in India tends to highlight the loopholes of a tourist place, she said. The Minister suggested the media to look for some innovative ideas to woo more tourists into the country.