Expanding tourism for leisure and jobs

Given India’s under-tapped tourism potential, the Centre’s ₹3,295-crore assistance to 23 states to develop 40 less-known tourism sites is a welcome initiative. States will be required to develop the sites within two years under Union tourism ministry oversight, and then operate and manage the same. The Centre is urging the states to explore possibilities of partnering with the private sector for their chosen projects; the impetus from the initiative could help crowd in private investment. It opens doors to strengthening local economies and reducing the pressure on the clutch of over-exploited popular destinations.

Tourism revenue could invigorate the local economy and create the jobs the country badly needs, given travel, hospitality, and infrastructure are all labour-heavy sectors. The projects are also likely to address travel demand-supply mismatch. India now has a substantial section that has disposable income to travel — and this is not just the high-end segment being wooed by foreign destinations but also a middle class eager for experiences beyond the local. In that sense, this initiative’s goals can be substantially served if it facilitates travel within the country­­ — say, from the South to the North East — while foreign tourists remain a part of the targeted clientele. As a corollary to this, for a population of India’s size there have to be more tourist sites with better infrastructure and enforcement. To illustrate, while the mountains and the coast have always attracted people, tourism here needs to be reimagined and guest etiquette (ban on loud music to random disposal of plastic and food waste) enforced firmly. The initiative could provide the necessary momentum.

Cleanliness, public safety, and sustainability are more important than promoting concrete structures as luxury properties to attract tourism. Vision and regulation will be key to ensuring that the trade-off between ecology and tourism revenue is minimised — Kerala in the 1990s and Sikkim in the 2000s should serve as templates.

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