India is one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in the world. Thanks to the Union government’s aggressive campaign projecting “Incredible India” that has yielded concrete results. About four million tourists visited India in 2006, contributing 25 per cent of foreign exchange earnings. The tourism turnover in 2004-05 was around Rs 65,000 crore.

With economic liberalisation and a booming service sector, the nature and character of tourism in India has diversified itself to cater to the demands of international tourists. Pilgrimage tourism, heritage tourism, wildlife tourism, and backwater tourism is making inroads. The fastest growing sub-sector is medical tourism, which has carved out its own niche in professional medical expertise to treat patients from Europe and the USA. Eco-tourism is fading away as it is being replaced by the culturally-responsible green tourism. The first world travellers wanting to see and experience the impact of disasters like tsunami has led to disaster tourism also.

Tourism is the largest global industry in the 21st century, which accounts for 12 per cent of the world GDP with an annual turnover of $3.5 trillion. The tourism industry in India contributes about three per cent of the GDP. It is also the major source for employment in India with a share of nine per cent of the total number of jobs in the country. Union Tourism Minister Renuka Chowdhry  has said, “We earned $4 billion in foreign exchange from tourism in 2004. We expect to cross $10 billion in coming years”.

These figures give a rosy picture of the galloping tourism industry in India. Nevertheless the tourist arrivals in India has increased marginally. But compare foreign tourist arrival to the tiny Singapore, which attracts about 10 billion tourists annually. India’s share in global tourism stands at 0.03 per cent, while it is 10 per cent for the USA.
The lack of basic infrastructure, transport, travel-friendly atmosphere and lack of hotel rooms indicate the crumbling nature of the hospitality industry. The government’s plan is to attract 10 million foreign tourists in the next five years. This, translated into practical terms, means the demand for 1,50,000 hotel rooms. In reality, the country has only 97,000 rooms at its disposal. Just in comparison, the Mecca of World tourism industry, Las Vegas in USA has more rooms available in one city than the total rooms available in India!

The government’s annual allocation of Rs 800 crore for tourism is minuscule compared to what countries like Spain and France spend. Despite such halfhearted attempts, India is favoured as one of the top five tourists destination in the world.

The increased tourist influx also has adverse affects on local culture and natural resources. For example, Goa, the most favoured destination of foreign tourists, is over-burdened with changes in the social, economic and political system. The services sector has taken a toll on agriculture and horticulture. The economy is dependent on tourists’ arrival and any changes in the international tourism scene — like the tsunami — may lead to fall in tourist earnings.

Natural resources, especially land and water are appropriated to serve the interest of foreign tourists. Water from villages is transported in tankers to meet the demand of five star hotels. The ever-increasing garbage from five star hotels is creating health hazards.

Incredible India is tottering with the co-modification of our culture, heritage and nature. Imagine the effect when the tourist inflow will double with limited supply and withering infrastructure. The pressure would eventually result in failure to provide even basic necessities to tourists, who would otherwise prefer smaller but cleaner avenues like Singapore.

The trauma of foreign tourists starts from the moment one lands in our international airport. The chaos, the harassment of taxiwallas and the way everything is disorganised gives a culture shock at the first sight for a foreigner. Thereafter, one has to find decent accommodation. Compare this to the hassle-free atmosphere in Singapore or Europe. This basic difference in approach to tourism explains the averseness of foreign tourists to venture in India. This also explains why as many as 5.5 million Indians travel to tourist destinations abroad in search of “incredible experiences”.

The present model of tourism in India is capital intensive, in which the benefits accrue to only the elite. This model reinforces the inequities rather than to bring economic benefits to all segments of the host community.
We are following the IT (Information Technology) model to develop the tourism sector. But we ignore the basic difference — the IT industry can cater to the needs of foreign demand through virtual offices like call centres and developing software programmes. In the tourist industry we have to deal with numerous realities, including culture and socio-economic factors, in addition to physical infrastructure. This will necessitate a paradigm shift in our attitude to tourism industry. Are we willing to make this shift?