India launches seven-point plan to boost tourism.
Jan 20, 2005, 16:23
Hot on the heals of news that officials in Rio de Janiero are to teach city workers central to tourism how to treat visitors with more civility, it now seems that India is to follow suit with its own charm offensive.
The country has launched a seven-point programme that it is hoped will make India a top tourist destination of the world.
The programme includes sensitising people on the benefits of tourism, the education and training of people in the industry and motivation awards for good workers.
Under the new scheme, the government will train 26,000 workers in industries that deal regularly with tourists - such as cab drivers, hotel staff, shopkeepers - on how they can help attract more foreign visitors to the country. Indian missions abroad will also be involved in the programme.
The cities to be covered in the programmes first phrase are Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Goa, Hyderabad, Agra and Aurangabad.
India saw a foreign tourist inflow of around 2.7 million in 2003 and is among the top 15 tourist destinations in the world. But it appears to have set its sights even higher.
Minister of state for tourism, Renuka Chowdhury, predicted the new initiative would have a dramatic effect on tourism in the country.
But she refused to give a timeframe as to when India could match the tourist numbers of its southeast Asian counterparts, Singapore and Malaysia, which have more well-established tourism sectors.
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