Tourism is called the smoke free industry. It generates revenue without consuming natural resources. The prime reason of tourism is the natural curiosity of human being. We want to explore and we want to know. India provides the Ideal setting to quench the thirst of explorers of adventure, knowledge, history, heritage, geology, people and much more. Tourism is growing worldwide. Increase of disposable income with the individual is helping this Industry to grow at a faster pace in recent years. India has been a very important beneficiary of Tourism boom. The number of tourists visiting India has increased from 2.12 million in 1995 to 3.92 in 2005. The rate of growth during the decade 84 percent. The number of tourist has further rose to 4.42 million in 2006. The rate of growth of this sector has been sustained from many years now. It is heartening to note that Forex earning from this sector rose from USD 5731 million in 2005 USD 6570 million in 2006 recording a growth of 14.7%. This sector is among the top foreign earners for India. Tourism sector provides both direct and indirect employment which is highly required in India. As per the NCAER survey of 2002-03, this sector gave employment to 38.8 million people and accounted for 8.3 percentage of the total employment.
The “Incredible India” campaign of Ministry of Tourism has been the most focused media campaign of the Government of India. Its audio visual advertisement on prime television channels of the world and over Internet has generated a lot of interest in India. The quality of advertisement is fabulous. The fliers and booklets are also outstanding. The focus is on rich and diverse cultural heritage of India. Enchantment has been diversified from the Triangle of Agra, Delhi and Jaipur to Rural tourism, eco-tourism, adventurous sports, religious places, cultural monuments, Indian cuisine, herbal treatment and relaxation, medical tourism, visits to royal places, Yoga and spiritualism, Indian dances and martial arts, festivals etc. India can offer three sixty five days tourism because of its diverse weather.
Government of India has made concerted efforts to reap the benefits of inflow of tourists as a result of “Incredible India” campaign. Visa rules has been simplified. Medical visa has been added as a new type of visa. Bed and breakfast scheme has been put in place to compensate the shortage of hotels. Infrastructure around tourist places is being improved. Maintenance of monuments and other tourist attractions is being given due importance. As a result of “Open Sky” policy the connectivity of tourist places has increased. Initiative has also been taken to increase the number of qualified tourist guides.
India has the potential to enhance her world share from 0.49% of the world tourists. It is very small when looked from the point of view of sheer expanse of India and its profuse cultural and historical diversity. In the year 2006 as per the data of World Tourism Organization the receipt from international tourism reached the whopping USD 733 billion. There is huge opportunity for India. The Government of India needs to provided further positive impetus to garner higher number of international tourists.
2 comments:
I'm glad to hear that there is a concerted effort to simplify visa aquisition and add Bed & Breakfast establishments. The hotels are way, way too expensive for what you get. They are even more expensive than in the US, and the last time I checked, India is still a 3rd world and developing country. The only savings grace India has for my money was a concierge company named America's Medical Solutions which knows where you should spend your money. If you're going to India, you should look them up, because they are a free service. www.americasmedicalsolutions.com
Your blog is very much informative.I have a blog on Tourist places in India.Please do contact me at drsandy.pmch@gmail.com if you are interested in exchanging links.
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