Mere policies won’t bring foreign tourists

Hyderabad: The key members of the hospitality sector like tour operators and travel agents opined that mere announcing policies would not be enough to promote tourism in Telangana and involvement of all stakeholders was necessary to make the key sector prosper.

The travel agents lament that there is no focus on the tourism infrastructure and no knowledge about what the tourists would look for. They said that policy should not just focus on attracting investors to construct hotels.

K Ranga Reddy, Chairman, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Chapter, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) told The Hans India that it was not the hotels and resorts, which would bring in tourists. “It is the tourist footfalls, which bring hotels and other tourism infrastructure to the state. There is no promotion of tourism at all in the state leading to a drastic fall in the number of foreign visitors. The central government is also not taking measures to bring foreign tourists”.

As regards the organization of Miss World Pageant, the tour operators said that it was poorly organized. “We will see Miss World on our television sets even if it happens in Italy or Australia. There were no advertisements in newspapers across the country. There are almost 900 tour operators in the country, but the government did not tell anyone of them. Nobody will come for such events by spending their money. Unless there is an event of a world-renowned celebrity, people will not be keen to come to such events,” said Ranga Reddy.

The operators want proper marketing of the places in the state. The states like Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have nicely marketed their tourist spots like State of Unity and Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. 

“There is a huge statue in Hyderabad as well, the State of Equality. Who visits it? Is there any marketing for this? If you ask people, they will say... we should visit the Statue of Unity and Ram Mandir once in a lifetime,” remarked Ranga Reddy.

The experts alleged that while the government spends lakhs of rupees on the promotion of tourism in foreign countries, only irrelevant people take part in such promotions as a formality. Giving an example, one tour operator said that in a tourism desk set up by the Telangana government in London, when some foreigners wanted to know about Bathukamma, the people there could not tell where it would be played. “There is no toilet facility at tourist places like Charminar and no parking place at Chowmahalla Palace.

When a tourist vehicle comes to the Palace, the traffic police issue challan. Further, there is no official tourist guide course in Telangana. Even during the visit of Miss World contestants, the unauthorised guides were used. This is the state of affairs in Telangana,” said the tour operator. The government showcased ‘Pochampally saree maggam’ to Miss World contestants and now compare it with the promotion given to Mysore handicrafts and see the difference, the operator added.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chapter president Nagesh Pampati said that the government should involve all the stakeholders and hold a detailed discussion before announcing tourism-related policies. There should be a coordinated effort between the department, travel agents, tour operators and others for providing seamless services, he added.