Woes tarnish India's wonders
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Amy Yee from New Delhi
India is basking in the glow of recent accolades for its tourist attractions. Unesco has included the 17th century Red Fort in Delhi on its list of world heritage sites. And the Taj Mahal was named one of the "new" seven wonders in a recent global poll sponsored by a private Swiss group.
But proud as India may be of its attractions, their current state of disrepair is also causing plenty of angst. In a visit to the Red Fort last week, Manmohan Singh, prime minister, voiced concern at the "poor upkeep" of a military museum within the sprawling sandstone fort. Tourism ministry officials are also scrambling to assess whether the Taj Mahal can absorb an influx of tourists that new publicity might bring.
While steeped in history, India's heritage sites and their surroundings lack basic services and infrastructure to cater for tourists.
The Taj Mahal drew almost 600,000 foreign tourists in 2005 as well as millions of domestic visitors, according to government figures. But Agra, the downtrodden host city to the Taj Mahal, is notorious for its broken roads, ramshackle shops, and aggressive souvenir hawkers.
"After tourists see the Taj Mahal, they run away [from Agra] as fast as they can. Forget about international visitors, it's true of Indians," said Prem Subramaniam, principal at the Infrastructure Development Finance Company and a tourism specialist.
Even PRS Oberoi, the Indian luxury hotelier, is not immune to Agra's woes. Àt a press conference last week, he lamented: "Agra is a great shame. Here you have one of the most famous monuments in the world in the dirtiest city in India."
Well aware of this problem, India's tourism ministry this spring vowed to improve the tourist experience at the Taj Mahal. It promised "wayside public conveniences" (public toilets), better signs and maps, a special tourist police, and to begin certifying tour guides and agents to "avoid unscrupulous activities, fleecing, overcharging, etc". However, critics doubt the measures are enough. Agra's "deep malaise can't be addressed by putting up signage", said Mr Subramaniam.
The need to overhaul India's tourism industry is pressing because, in spite of these shortcomings, more visitors are arriving. About 4.3m visitors came to India last year, up from 2.4m in 2002, and the figures are expected to grow to 9.4m in 2011, according to Euromonitor International, the research firm.
But the number of outbound travellers continues to outpace inbound ones by a large margin. There were 7.0m outbound travellers from India last year, a number that Euromonitor expects to grow to 16.2m in 2011 on the back of rising incomes, the growth of low-cost airlines, and the growing afford ability of holiday packages abroad for many Indians.
"At times, it is even cheaper to travel to other countries in south-east Asia than to other regions within India." says Clement Wong, an analyst at Euromonitor.
India's problems are compounded by the fact that while recognition from Unesco helps highlight India's marvels, it doesn't come with any UN funding attached. Yet the label could also press India to show a better face to millions of tourists and to jump-start an industry that should attract even more visitors.
"We hope it makes a difference," says Mr Oberoi of the recent accolades. "India has tremendous potential if we can get our act together."
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— FT Syndication Service
India is basking in the glow of recent accolades for its tourist attractions. Unesco has included the 17th century Red Fort in Delhi on its list of world heritage sites. And the Taj Mahal was named one of the "new" seven wonders in a recent global poll sponsored by a private Swiss group.
But proud as India may be of its attractions, their current state of disrepair is also causing plenty of angst. In a visit to the Red Fort last week, Manmohan Singh, prime minister, voiced concern at the "poor upkeep" of a military museum within the sprawling sandstone fort. Tourism ministry officials are also scrambling to assess whether the Taj Mahal can absorb an influx of tourists that new publicity might bring.
While steeped in history, India's heritage sites and their surroundings lack basic services and infrastructure to cater for tourists.
The Taj Mahal drew almost 600,000 foreign tourists in 2005 as well as millions of domestic visitors, according to government figures. But Agra, the downtrodden host city to the Taj Mahal, is notorious for its broken roads, ramshackle shops, and aggressive souvenir hawkers.
"After tourists see the Taj Mahal, they run away [from Agra] as fast as they can. Forget about international visitors, it's true of Indians," said Prem Subramaniam, principal at the Infrastructure Development Finance Company and a tourism specialist.
Even PRS Oberoi, the Indian luxury hotelier, is not immune to Agra's woes. Àt a press conference last week, he lamented: "Agra is a great shame. Here you have one of the most famous monuments in the world in the dirtiest city in India."
Well aware of this problem, India's tourism ministry this spring vowed to improve the tourist experience at the Taj Mahal. It promised "wayside public conveniences" (public toilets), better signs and maps, a special tourist police, and to begin certifying tour guides and agents to "avoid unscrupulous activities, fleecing, overcharging, etc". However, critics doubt the measures are enough. Agra's "deep malaise can't be addressed by putting up signage", said Mr Subramaniam.
The need to overhaul India's tourism industry is pressing because, in spite of these shortcomings, more visitors are arriving. About 4.3m visitors came to India last year, up from 2.4m in 2002, and the figures are expected to grow to 9.4m in 2011, according to Euromonitor International, the research firm.
But the number of outbound travellers continues to outpace inbound ones by a large margin. There were 7.0m outbound travellers from India last year, a number that Euromonitor expects to grow to 16.2m in 2011 on the back of rising incomes, the growth of low-cost airlines, and the growing afford ability of holiday packages abroad for many Indians.
"At times, it is even cheaper to travel to other countries in south-east Asia than to other regions within India." says Clement Wong, an analyst at Euromonitor.
India's problems are compounded by the fact that while recognition from Unesco helps highlight India's marvels, it doesn't come with any UN funding attached. Yet the label could also press India to show a better face to millions of tourists and to jump-start an industry that should attract even more visitors.
"We hope it makes a difference," says Mr Oberoi of the recent accolades. "India has tremendous potential if we can get our act together."
.............................................
— FT Syndication Service