Indian Tourism - miles to go........

Another of my pet topics: Tourism promotion in India. although the myth that India is no longer a land of snake charmers or where wild Tigers roam on streets has been dispelled, the Indian Govt needs to go a very long way to promote its tourism industry. What does this land not have:
1. A heritage steeped with History despite being invaded a zillion times,
2. snow capped mountains
3. sun-kissed golden beaches
thereby catering to every cadre.
Why do we not exploit these features anywhere near its potential?
I had the opportunity of visiting a place called Alampur (AP) one of the Shakti
Peethas. Alampur is a town with a cluster of nine temples (nava brahma) most of them in ruins. Also on this site is another historic temple -the sangameshwara temple that has been replaced– stone by stone – a few years ago from it's original location, SriSailam , because of the construction of a new dam. The temple would have drowned otherwise. Such a transplant is second only to the monument in Abu Simbel of Egypt which has world wide publicity. I now hear that the second and third efforts of transplanting a historic monument in the country are the Mahadev Temple in Goa and Vishnu temple near Bhopal by the Archealogical Society of India with minimum fanfare.
The sculptures at the Sangameshwara were awesome. The one which endeared to me most was a an aligator with its empty mouth wide open from one side and one views the same sculpture from an angle of 180 degrees one sees a full human form being engulfed. Such an exquiste piece of work and with every minute detail being depicted that too in the 7th century , absolutely mind blowing!!! Had such a piece of work been in an a developed world one would have had to pay through one's nose.
Why dont we capitalise on such brilliant treasure troves instead of letting them gather dust or let them fall into pieces. In the UK one is fleeced to see over-rated pieces of wax works at Madam Tussauds!!!!
So my question is: Isn't it high time that the tourism industry be privatised and/or promoted on a much more aggressive scale.
We a one billion plus am sure can come up with ingenious ways of popularising all our natural reserves and historic treasures!!!!
Cheers
A well wisher
(Mera Bharat Mahan!!!)

there is no use since indians r going to other place inpsite of going to ooty, kulu manali, shimla and other place they visit london. dubai etc.....

If Indians are going abroad then they shoud attract outsiders to India 😭

Indian Tourism - miles to go........

I've been thinking too about it from my last few visits from India.
You see I have been an Indian Tourist and have my experience from two different perspectives. While I was in India, I didn't travel a lot but still had few getaways on hill stations. Main objective at that time was to get relaxed, drink and spend some fun time with friends. I remember, there were always some old temples, some caves where Pandavas supposedly stayed during their hide out from Kaurawas, a big statue if buffalo or snake or something like that and an ancient story attached to it etc etc. at those places. But we never visited those monuments, "chhodo yaar, why bother?" was our attitude, we never listen to locals trying to describe us proudly and even accused them for such nautanki.
Then I moved away from India and became an NRI and now I have developed this "Bharat Ek Khoj" type of penchant desire where I wanna visit Somnaath Temple in western Gujarat, those lovely fortresses in Rajasthan, I wanna visit some of those temples in South India which are modern archeological wonders including Konark Temple. Every time I visit India now I make a point to visit some of those local places and my experience is that there is always plenty of information available for anyone who wants to visit them even on web. I am satisfied the way tourism industry has stepped up to cater "my type of" crowd for offering world class services and facilities even at remote places. But I agree, some of those local marvels are not being marketed and promoted compare to here western part of world. May be because, barring Rajasthan, most of tourism revenue is still generated by Indians only and they might not appreciate the aggressive promotion of those places considering them merely symbolic average.

Lataji once again a very thought provoking post 👏

I totally agree with you. We have so much in our country that could attract so many tourists, and like you said if we work on it we can attract so many tourists. I had been to Taj Mahal and Red fort long time ago when I was in college and it was dissapointing to see the surrounding area near one of the 7 wonder of world. Wish we could work more to preserve these things and then work on our tourism.

India is a country blessed with relatively mild climatic conditions.( yes I know it gets hot 😳 & rains a lot)
We are spared of snow blizzards, hurricanes and twisters and other calamities)
We also have natural beauty and historic monuments in plenty.
Yet, what we lack is the infrastructure. Once that is in place, we can deal with tourism issues much better 😊

I think what's lacking is infrastruction and orderliness. I've heard so many stories of bad accomodation/transport/ peopel being duped in India. If that improves, so will tourism :)

Preeti

I dont think it is promoted correctly

When I was finishing my Highschool, we used to go trekking to these old forts which are from 1500-1600's. I used to feel very sad seeing the condition of the places.Even places like Mr Abu, When I saw the beauty of the work done on the ceilings is so breathtaking the Taj looks pale in front of it. But all everyone gets to hear is Taj this, Taj that

When in US, you routinely visit historic places, the general impression one gets is Civilization did not exist prior to those historic places, it is sold in such a format, they are done, touched up in such fashion

The stuff sold in the concession stands, the entrance fee's itself pays to the maintainence of these historic places

With this background you come to think, it is really pathetic how people destroy these places in India, the way garbage gets left out there, In fact if a person sets up a store atop one of these place, they get harassed. If someone does make it a issue with political/non-political motive they get shouted down just since their political ideologies do not match
ours

I think our attitude towards our culture/history is bad, only when we step out of the country and see what others have to offer and how they promote it, then you realize what a pathetic job, we all do to promote our Tourism trade.

Yes, infrastructure is indeed the key..In some places, we dont even have proper arrangements for the rest rooms and the other basic neccessities..When one has the money and is looking for a hassle free holiday,obviously the choice is clear...

I personally did a lot of travelling in India with my parents and siblings, during my student years...While the trips have always been enjoyable and memorable, I still remember how uncomfortable and inconvinient, they have been, at times..

We have been making our large population as an excuse for not being able to maintain a proper infrastructure..But how about making it a means..All we have to do is, just borrow the system from the west or even the south east...

Inspite of its drawbacks, India is a major tourist destination and with a proper infrastructure in place, we can actually make it one of our main industries..

Originally posted by: raksha.l

Inspite of its drawbacks, India is a major tourist destination and with a proper infrastructure in place, we can actually make it one of our main industries..

Bingo!
The world needs to know that India has much more than tajmahal, udaipur palace where octopussy was shot😉 and goa. India can make it happen when Indians learn to respect their own treasures instead of spitting on them, and create an environment around them that offers comfortable & peaceful living.😃