Kargil — A blessing in disguise for tourism

NEW DELHI, NOV 6: The Kargil conflict proved to be a blessing in disguise for Indian tourism. According to Ashok Pradhan, director genera...

NEW DELHI, NOV 6: The Kargil conflict proved to be a blessing in disguise for Indian tourism. According to Ashok Pradhan, director general of tourism and ex-officio additional secretary, Government of India, the conflict has strengthened the country’s image abroad.

“Earlier, India was perceived as a weak, conflict-ridden, unassertive country. But today, it is seen as the strongest and largest democracy in the world,” says Pradhan. According to him, even USA stopped equating Pakistan with India and all the G-8 countries and China were behind India during the period.

“The developing countries realised that India doesn’t enter any country’s territory unnecessarily,” he said adding that with the BJP-led Government at the Centre, India’s image had been reinforced. With a stable Government in the Centre and the economy picking up, tourism in the country is poised to make up for the loss incurred during the Kargil conflict.

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The Ministry of Tourism is expecting six to seven per cent more tourists to visitthe country this calendar year (October to December 1999) as compared to last year. Till September, there was a 4.5-per cent growth in tourism over last year (in terms of the number of foreign tourist that visited the country). So far, tourism has resulted in 10.4-per cent growth in foreign exchange (due to tourism) during the year in rupee terms and 3.4 per cent in dollar terms.

Due to the Kargil conflict, tourism suffered only during the month of July, Pradhan said, adding that a six to seven-per cent growth in tourism for the year would mean Rs 13,000 to Rs 14,000 crore in terms of foreign exchange earnings. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Tourism is organising the third `India International Tourism Expo & Mart 2000′ at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, during January 22 and 24, 2000. The exposition will position India as the prime destination for travel and tourism, Pradhan said.