India set to optimise tourism potential

For all its myriad splendours and attractions, India only gets 0.64 percent of the global tourist traffic. Finally, the ruling dispensation in India has woken up to the potential, with the new government taking a slew of steps to entice more tourists to this emerging Asian power underpinned by millennia-old civilization.

Indi’s Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Mahesh Sharma has voiced disappointment at the pitiable figure of tourists coming into the country, but at the same time has sought to push the envelope by setting the target at 1 per cent of global tourists flow over the next three years.

The minister unveiled a multi-pronged strategy to boost tourism. He said that India has extended visa on arrival facility to as many as 76 countries so far, and it has planned to extend this facility to more countries in the upcoming months.

In 2013, India earned $18.3 billion from global tourist flows. The Modi government has firmed up a national tourism policy 2015 draft, which envisages increasing the share of tourism to 6.7 per cent to the country’s GDP.

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