Dedicated push must for Telangana

From a dismal budget to the need for proper tourism promotion drive in Telangana at the highest level, K Ranga Reddy, Chairman IATO Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Chapter, highlights what needs to be done in the youngest state of India to attract tourists.

Nisha Verma

K Ranga Reddy, Chairman IATO Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Chapter, claimed that despite having three tourism ministers, the importance of tourism was not highlighted much at the time of budget. “Looking at the budget presentation, I feel that coordination among the three tourism ministers was not done well enough or not given a room for much discussion,” he said.

Need to review

Claiming that in foreign countries, the guides, transport and tour operators follow the rules for safety and comfort of tourists. “There needs to be an agreement between overseas tour operators with those in India, so that the facilities are maintained at par with international standards. Such understanding can be done through a contract, which can only be done by meeting them personally, showcasing our products and not through emails,” he added.

However, he claimed that the provision of getting overseas tour operators to India was there before the budget, but it is being changed. “The government has amended the rules and regulations to avail the MDA scheme, wherein when the tour operator goes for international promotions, could claim Rs. 2,50,000 per visit. Now, they have changed the condition saying that a tour operator needs to earn Rs. 2 crores of foreign exchange to avail the scheme. However, when we have zero foreign tourists visiting India, how do we get this foreign exchange?” questions Reddy.

He added, “They have also amended that the MDA scheme is only meant for the government approved tour operators. They are offering a loan of Rs. 10 lakh to those who have minimum Rs. 15 to Rs. 25 lakh yearly turnover. In the last two and a half years, there has not been any business. From where we can show this Rs. 25 lakh of business in our books? Hence, we are totally disappointed.”

The dichotomy

Reddy claimed that the government has permitted five lakh free tourist visas on a first come first serve basis to India, but that is peanuts for international tourists. “When a person is spending $6-7 on his visit, $30-40 does not make any difference to him. Hence, we have demanded to not only give free visa for five lakh people, but to also allow them to not pay entrance fee to visit any place of interest or a monument. However, it has not been considered yet,” he stressed.

Another thing that the government shall look into is the roaring international flight fares. “Nothing is being done in this regard. The government has abruptly stopped the tourism officials to go and showcase tourism products with the tour operators in Berlin, London, Geneva, Switzerland Tokyo and Madrid. This cannot be done by someone from the embassy overseas, because we are interacting with the tourism officials in India,” suggested Reddy.

What’s in a scheme?

Commenting on the PRASHAD scheme, he said, “If the government is developing a destination under PRASHAD scheme, it has to be highlighted to international media. In a remote corner of the country, if they are spending some crores in development and even the neighbour does not know about the facilities there, it is not going to help,” he added.

Multiple factors

He said the MOT should think that the generation gap is becoming wider for tourists coming to India. “Five years ago, elderly people who saved money in Germany, France and Switzerland, used to travel for culture tours. But their next generation have different concepts and preferences, and hence we should consider the requirement of youth.  Hence, the government can give a gap of one year for the PRASHAD scheme, and turn it into a marketing scheme,” he suggested.

Telangana for tourism

Saying that a few years back, Hyderabad was used as a transit destination where people would come in the morning, look around and then go in the evening. However, commenting on Telangana State Tourism Policy, he said, “Unfortunately, this is the fifth or sixth year when there is no policy formulated by the Telangana government for the sector.”

He suggested that Telangana should take a cue from states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Kerala.