This a Guest Blog Post by Mr . Saurabh Dhawan. Shurabh is 22 years of age and is pursuing MBA from IIPM. He can be contacted at saurabh [dot] 3767 [at] gmail [dot] com.

Travel and tourism is the biggest industry in the world which makes up 11% of the total GDP of the world and 8% of total employed population in this world and has emerged as a powerful source of income and wealth creation and to some extent helps in fueling tolerance in the world among different communities. I was just going through a magazine which shocked me that India’s share in world tourism was less than 1%. The shocking thing was that 7th largest country in the world with more than 100 crore strong population just contributed less than 1% in world tourism share whereas Europe enjoyed 58% of the world tourists and America and Africa enjoyed 18% and 4% Respectively.

Lets understand why the European countries are hit among tourists :

1. Peaceful countries
2. Most developed nations of the world
3. Well planned infrastructure
4. Formation of EU facilitated movement of people and culture more easier
5. Porous Borders
6. Attractive scenic beauty
7. Rich historical & Heritage sites
8. Superior technology and Lifestyle
9. Peace loving people
10. Tourist friendly policies

In the January of 2008 when I went to Paris the only thing I had in mind about the city were the fashion shows and EIFFEL TOWER. I guess each and every tourist who comes to Paris pays a visit to Eiffel Tower. When I went there I was fascinated to see the Engineering wonder of Iron and Steel which is quoted as the monument of love in Hollywood Movies where lights illuminates each time the clock takes a 360 turn to 12. I had a great time there but after I came back to my hotel at night and thought about my day I thought, was it really a monument to be so fascinated about or is it pure marketing of Eiffel as a product. I think Eiffel is a great wonder which is marketed really well all over the world which is benefiting the tourism of Paris a lot.

So I thought what is it in India we can really attract the tourists which is in interest of both the tourists and tourism destination and I got the answer to my question very soon in Belgium (Antwerp). It was a Saturday evening and while roaming on the streets of Antwerp we happened to visit an Iskcon temple in Antwerp. It was a small temple made in a home which was run by a family who were Dutch and devotees of Krishna. They were happy to find unexpected visitors from land of Krishna and welcomed us and offered sweets. While interacting with the Dutch priest he told us how he found peace in serving Krishna and how attaching himself with Iskcon changed his life forever.

It is said that if you want to see the real India then visit Indian villages. Rural tourism can be a concept if adopted in India with seriousness can reap good results and help to increase India’s World Tourism market share. This can be done if states on its own start working on a plan to identify places for rural tourism in states which offer exposure to regional culture , historical importance and good infrastructure to support movement of tourists.

Rural Tourism will be helpful because:

1. Help in development of rural areas
2. Creating job opportunities in rural areas
3. Increase in standard of living of rural areas
4. Will rural population to main stream population
5. Stop movement of people to Metros for job opportunities

Places which can be developed :

Shimla the queen of Himalyas and its neighboring places are a big hit among domestic tourists but it has not yet taken off among international tourists. The initiative should be taken in identifying potential tourist destinations and branding them and taking the internet marketing route to market it. Modern adventure tourism spots should be developed. Trekking areas should be identified along with development of adequate infrastructure to support the inflow of tourists. Similarly there can be orchids of fruits which should be made more presentable like giving an experience to the tourists to have freshly hand plucked fruits.

Handicrafts is one industry which can be biggest benefactors from inflow of tourists. More money should be spent on developing and increasing efficiency of these handicraft units and trips should be arranged for international tourists for a visit to these units where these handicrafts are being prepared and people can also buy from these units and you never know when these units are able to get some big business from any of these international tourists. Handicrafts is a labor intensive industry and this industry has huge growth potential in areas like Himachal or Jammu & Kashmir.

To be continued