Rapes hit tourism

Tourism industry officials indicated that reports of rapes tarnished the city’s image last year and heightened the fears of women tourists, heading to the city. This is despite the fact that both Commissioners of Hyderabad and Cyberabad are putting in their best efforts to ensure safety. The recent cases of rape of a Mumbai dancer and a BPO employee under the Cyberabad limits are incidents which have spread insecurity among women travellers.

Raghavendra, an advisor to the Travel Agent Association, fears that the latest gang rape will aggravate a slowdown being experienced by the industry. “Like Kashmir is associated with terrorism, Hyderabad is unfortunately getting associated with rapes,” he added.

Last year, some foreign tourists even started hiring security guards as they travelled across the country. Denetim Services is one such company offering bodyguards to tourists. Anubhav Khiwani of Denetim said, “Business has been thriving since the reports of sexual assaults and heightened fears of safe travelling. Bulk of the business comes from tourists in western countries.” He cited a recent query that came from a group of four women who wanted to visit Hyderabad in March.

With rape cases unabated, including the recent one involving the Mumbai dancer, the manifest lack of improvement in women's safety is likely to further dissuade travellers coming to Hyderabad for studies or sightseeing. “Travel has already been impacted by at least 10% since the Delhi gang-rape on December 16, 2012,” claimed executives from travel companies.

The tourism ministry last year launched the "I Respect Women" campaign to replenish the country's image and encourage visitors. Operators feel that the government needs to take swift and strict action in such cases to send out the right message to the travel community. Nagesh Pampati of Aeroworld said that such incidents mostly affected the plans of women looking to travel on their own. Sources said people involved in the tourism sector, including hoteliers, tour operators, guides, taxi drivers, auto-rickshaw drivers and other stakeholders, were asked to wear the 'I Respect Women' badges.

“The tourism department should sensitise all stakeholders about the safety of women. It should make tourists understand that majority of the people here do not support crime against women and we respect them," a tour operator said.

Arvind Reddy of Aakash travels, said, “Nearly 10% of in-bound tourists are single women travellers. We notice that there is a change in pattern of how women travellers are now coming to Hyderabad. Some women have now decided to either come in pairs or join larger groups, since they don’t feel safe."

The cases threaten India’s lucrative tourism industry. According to the last statistics on tourism, which was published in 2012, the department accounted for 6.6 per cent of India’s GDP.