June - 2009 issue > Business

By Saheer Karimbayil

The tourist ecosystem of the country was always plagued by several concerns like inadequate infrastructure and therefore lagged behind other tourism destinations in the world. Among the serious challenges cited were shortage of hotel rooms, stringent visa requirements, and congested airports. The recent terror strike in Mumbai in which culprits targeted star hotels of the country’s business nerve center and foreign tourists in them has precipitated the situation. As a result, the number of foreign tourists visiting India this year dipped to 3.71 lakh from last year's 3.84 lakh.

To do away with the distorted perception of Indian tourism among the world community, the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, organized road shows across major cities in the U.S. including New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. IATO President Vijay Thakur led a delegation of about 30 stakeholders, including tour operators and hoteliers, to these cities.

Thakur expressed hopes that these road shows will help Indian tourism industry cover the recent losses it suffered due to recession and other factors. "We want to take the fear away from the minds of tourists from America and other countries and tell them that India is safe,” Thakur said at the road show held in Chicago.

The road shows began in February as part of the Tourism Ministry's 'Visit India 2009' program under its flagship ‘Incredible India’ campaign and will cover tourist traffic generating markets of Australia, Argentina, Europe, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand, and the U.K. by October this year.

The IATO, which foresees a revival of business and leisure tourism once the recession completely bottomed out, also promotes new offerings like rural, cruise, and medical tourism through the networking events among other offerings like complimentary air tickets, free stay at hotels, and new rural sites for tourists to explore.

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