The Hindu : Woes of a visitor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 11, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Woes of a visitor

INDIA'S TOURISM FACES a crisis. It has been facing one for years. While the recent attention to this sector, reflecting in the 50 per cent hike in funds allotted to it, is welcome, it will address just one aspect of the problem. The tourism industry will get Rs. 225 crores in 2002-2003 against last year's Rs. 150 crores. Also, hotel expenditure tax will now apply only to room rents and to those that cost over Rs. 3,000 a night. The service tax exemption will continue for another year. These may be the much-needed incentives to get tourism back on its feet, but as anyone will tell you, one needs more than just those to survive and shine. There are innumerable obstacles in the path which a visitor to India takes; there are an equal number of hurdles which an Indian tourist himself meets. This nation — which takes pride in its ancient civilisation and rich culture — is yet to become a pleasant destination for people on a holiday. Even for those out here on business, troubles and travails at every step make their stay uncomfortable.

One of the most reprehensible things in India is the tendency to fleece a tourist, especially a foreigner on the premise that he is loaded with cash. If the taxi driver takes a newcomer to a city on a merry ride, the hotel where he checks into is not beyond blame. Most hotels are not transparent in their financial dealings: some still have different rates for foreigners and for Indians. Restaurants are guilty as well. In India, they hardly ever display their menu cards and price charts outside their doors, which is a practice widely followed all over the world. There are some eateries which collect a service charge and, on top of it, a tip! In Japan, for instance, there is neither a service charge nor a custom of tipping, and hundreds of thousands of small and big restaurants there serve and live happily. In contrast, one is never sure of the quality of food in India even in star hotels, leave alone the smaller ones. What is even more regrettable is that one pays a few thousand rupees more for just a clean toilet or fresh linen in a hotel room. And considerations such as these, as anyone will readily agree, make or mar a vacation.

What India lacks — and where others score — is a service culture. Most waiters or house-keepers are unwilling employees in a social system which still looks down upon this profession. Adding to this is the woeful lack of hygiene. Take a walk around the much-publicised Taj Mahal, and what greets you behind this jewel of a monument is an eyesore. The ruins of Hampi — which are yet to be developed as an international location — the temples of Tanjore, the forts of Rajasthan, the beaches, the mountains, the forests, among many others, are all crying for care, battered and bruised as they have been for decades by an indifferent public and a callous administration, which has never been firm about enforcement of rules. Tourism is not just money: it is a certain way of life, it is almost a culture, and no man or woman will be inclined to step on our soil unless he or she is welcomed not just with a "tilak" and a flower garland, but also with an assurance of fair prices and decent standards. If the annual number of foreign tourists has remained well under three million, the finger needs to be pointed at the unpardonable greed and carelessness which drive attitudes, especially of those who run this industry. Terrorism and communal riots, which India has been witnessing lately, are further blots on the nation's image.

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