Why isn’t India the tourism capital of the world?

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There is no reason on the face of the earth (pun intended) for India not to be the tourism capital of the world. From the lofty Himalayas and the Thar Desert to one of the longest coastlines in the world and from historical monuments and a cultural heritage that goes back several millennia, India offers more in spades than any other nation in the world. It has ski resorts and beach resorts, jungle safaris and desert safaris, alpine forests and mangrove forests, mighty rivers and serene lagoons and everything else you can imagine, like exotic tropical islands and even an active volcano! Medieval palaces, forts, ancient temples, a millennia-old classical music tradition, a cuisine more varied than any other, and a unique way of life that has evolved over thousands of years.

There is nothing that any nation in the world has that can hold a candle to what India has to offer. It compares favorably with Rome and Egypt when it comes to ancient architecture, and its cuisines from across its various regions rival those of France and Italy. India's ski resorts are no less than what Switzerland offers, and its thriving wildlife offers more than what Africa does. From the frozen deserts and icy rivers of Ladakh, to the aquamarine waters of Andaman and Nicobar islands and from the rugged river-carved canyons of Gandikota and Bhedaghat, there isn't enough space to go into the details of what India offers the world. Yet, the international tourist arrival numbers for India are abysmally low.

France, a nation one-fifth the size of India, attracted 89.4 million visitors in 2024 (the highest in the world), when compared to an extremely modest 20.57 million international tourist arrivals in the same year. In fact, India did not even make it to the list of the top 10 nations attracting international tourists, being left behind by countries like Spain, Italy, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, China, Thailand and Mexico.

India earned as much as $35 billion from international tourist arrivals in 2024, a figure that would have been a whopping $151.4 billion if something like 89 million international tourists had arrived in India instead. That is not all that far from what India earns from its IT exports. Does one even begin to fathom what kind of difference that would have made to the Indian economy? With all that India offers, isn’t that a criminal waste of opportunity for a nation that has more to offer than any other in the world?

Why doesn’t India get the numbers?

If India doesn't get the international tourist arrival numbers it deserves, it has to be on account of the fact that very few of the international travellers who come here recommend it heartily to their compatriots back home or want to visit it again. This occurs because of the fact that India still has infrastructure issues. Rail, road and air connectivity have come a long way in recent years, but are still pretty inconsistent, with last-mile transportation often not being up to the mark.

India has many world-class hotels, some of which make it to several international lists of the world's greatest hotels, but it does not offer much by way of affordable accommodation comparable with other major tourism destinations. In particular, there are issues with regard to safety and hygiene, especially in areas that are not part of the well-known tourist circuits. International tourists expect things like clean public restrooms and the availability of safe drinking water, wherever they visit, no matter how remote the place may be.

Some international tourists might get put off by what they might perceive as restrictive visa rules. This is especially evident when you compare the tourism visa policies of other tourist destinations around the world. One would do well to make it possible for international visitors to come for even short-term visits, allowing them more flexibility when it comes to travel planning.

While India is a budget traveller's paradise, given the high number of expat backpackers you see in the country, the mid to high-end tourists often face quite high costs. Then, there is the question of the high taxes levied on hotels and travel services. To top it all, hotel rates and airline ticket prices are exorbitantly priced during the peak season, often making the visitors consider other destinations to visit.

Lastly, India has been rather lacklustre and inconsistent in showcasing its offerings in the world tourism market when compared to other countries like France and Italy, which have been able to develop a strong brand image in terms of what those countries offer to visitors.

How to turn the tide?

 

The critical building block with regard to putting India on the path to achieving the number one tourism destination in the world is to carry out a massive upgrade of its infrastructure.  Improvement in road connectivity, adequate accommodation of internationally acceptable standards and massive across-the-board improvement in hygiene and sanitation levels not just across the tourist destinations, but across the country. This entails a massive investment, which will pay back handsomely in the times ahead.

The safety and security of all tourists-domestic and international, have to be a matter of national pride and importance. Not only does it entail better policing, but also making the people realise that they have a stake in ensuring that the world sees India as a great place to visit, where the people are warm, friendly and well-disposed to people who visit their land. It would, in fact, be a great idea to train people throughout the length and breadth of this vast country to participate in the growth of the tourism sector. They could become a part of the very lucrative hospitality industry, helping them raise their standard of living.

India has a head start in digital connectivity thanks to its impressive mobile connectivity and the very successful rollout of its digital payments infrastructure. This can be leveraged by putting an integrated ticketing system in place. Besides, one can use apps and deploy AI to help tourists discover incredible India and make the best possible travel plans with ease and convenience.

India is a land that, at some level, beckons and fascinates the world, and this has been true since the dawn of history. In offering people everything that is good, profound and sublime in the world, it shows them the layered, intricate, diverse and nuanced aspects of its way of life. Visiting India in many ways is like finding the meaning of life itself.

We in India owe it to ourselves to show the world the very best of what India is. If we do that, there is no reason why India can't be the number one tourism destination in the world. In so doing, we will not only contribute massively to the enrichment of this vast and ancient land, going back millennia, but also bring the world closer to it. As the old Indian saying goes, "The World is One Family."

Lake Pichola (Udaipur) and nearabouts

Nainital trip 047

A Photo-Blog: Early Morning Road Trip To Sultanpur National Park (Bird Sanctuary), Just Outside Gurgaon.

Jaipur-A Fairy Tale That Lives On.

Ah Jaipur! The land of forts and citadels atop steep hills, palaces, kings and queens and ballads and legends galore. A city with a glorious past that lives on through its handsome people-the regal Rajputs who in their chivalry and valor, far outclass the European knights of yore. If you drive down the 280 odd kilometres that separate Delhi from Jaipur, you will feel that you have left a noisy metropolis for a medieval fairyland that you never thought could still exist.

The better way to enter Jaipur by road (there are two) is to drive past the magnificent Amer fort, which is situated on top of a hill. As you drive on the curvaceous hill road that winds between the tall walls of a canyon, you know that you have truly left Delhi behind. The very first glimpse of the sand colored Amer fort, situated high, above the Maota lake, reminds you that you are in a land where history makes its presence felt at every step.

 Amer was home to Raja Man Singh, its 16th century ruler, who is famous, as one of the nav ratnas or nine jewels in Mughal Emperor Akbar's court. The sprawling Amer Fort is a world heritage site and a must-visit on every tourist's top places to see in Jaipur. Its sprawling interiors with the many palaces, courtyards and gardens mark a welcome contrast to its imposing exteriors. Notable buildings are the Diwana Aam, Diwane Khas and the incredibly beautiful Sheesh Mahal whose ceiling studded with many small mirrors reflecting candle light at night, like the twinkling of stars, is a sight to behold.

But then the city of Jaipur known world-wide as The Pink City has so much else to offer to the visitor. For instance, the old parts of the city of Jaipur actually has its buildings, most of which are centuries old, painted a uniform pink, hence the name. This includes old havelis (mansions), palaces and indeed entire market places. The most famous of these has to be the incredibly beautiful, Hawa Mahal or Palace of Winds.

This slender palace which really was a viewing gallery for ladies of the royal household to view the proceedings of the bustling market-place below, through the pierced screen facade of the building. The sieve like facade not only gave the royal ladies privacy, but also let in a breeze through the many openings of the facade to make it comfortable for them to lounge, while enjoying the view below. Considering that it was built back in 1799, this is one remarkable palace. In fact it has come to symbolize the city of Jaipur, the way that the Taj Mahal has come to symbolize Agra.

The Hawa Mahal is actually at the edge of the resplendent City Palace and brings up the rear of the women's section of the palace. The grand City Palace itself of course is the seat of the erstwhile Jaipur kingdom and housed the royal family (part of it still does I believe). Built in 1729 by Sawai Jai Singh II,  the palace is a vast network of many buildings,  large courtyards, long passages and lovely gardens. You really have to visit it to get an idea of how large the place is and how truly grand. One can literally spend hours taking in the beauty of the Diwane Aam, Diwane Khas, the Mubarak Mahal and the Chandar Mahal. These and several other structures deserve separate write ups and indeed many articles must have been written on them.

Jaipur is a city that gives the impression of being a sort of a valley as the Arravili hills seem to kind of surround it. The Rajput rulers of the past took full advantage of the topography and built several imposing forts atop the nearby hills. At night when the lights come on, these structures create a very ethereal aura around the medieval town. Among the hilltop forts that a visitor should definitely visit are the Nahargarh and Jaigarh forts. There are legends and some interesting facts associated with both the forts that will surely intrigue the visitor to these grand structures from the past centuries.

 For those who like lakes and water bodies, nothing beats the tranquil beauty of Jal Mahal located in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake. This amazing structure is five stories tall, of which four are submerged in the waters of the lake. It looks especially spectacular at night when it is all lit up.

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No visit to Jaipur is complete without one's buying a little something at the quaint and very famous Johri Bazar or the Jewelers' Market. In this maze of shops selling traditionally designed jewelry, gems, semi precious stones, handicraft items, and clothes you can pick up the most amazing souvenirs of your visit to Jaipur. You do have to contend with a lot of jostling on the street and some over enthusiastic shopkeepers who will insist that you buy from them, though. It would do well to remember that bargaining hard with them is always a good idea.

Road Trip To Kasauli

I drove to Kasauli last June towards the end of the month.  I get the urge to head to the hills every other year, if not every year. I think this is what happens if you have grown up in the Himalayan region, like I did in the lovely valley of Dehradun. The mountains never leave you, even though you have long left them.

So I left my home,  in an eastern suburb of the city of Delhi in the early hours of a June morning in the North-West Direction. As we were only in the third week of June, the monsoon was a little way off, one could hope for a peaceful and uneventful journey. Driving in the hills during the monsoon can be a pretty harrowing experience what with landslides being quite common.

Accompanying me were my wife and teenage son.  Like me my wife grew up in the hills, albeit in a different part of the country and shares my love for the mountains. My son who was born in the plains and has always lived there, doesn't go dotty about the mountains like his silly parents. However we live in hope and pray that one day in a sudden burst of inspiration he will be inspired to fall in love with hills too. After all he owes that to his genes. Therefore we insist that he always accompany us on our hill travels.

 Our beginning wasn't an auspicious one as I lost my way while heading out of Delhi. In spite of my wife suggesting that I use Google maps to navigate, I insisted on using my own brain, as I was sure that I knew the way out of Delhi into Haryana and Punjab quite well. Well, it seemed I hadn't reckoned with a slew of new roads and flyovers which had sprung up on the way that led out of the city, since I had last driven in that direction

The upshot was that I somehow ended up getting stuck in a massive jam just outside the Azadpur Vegetable Market, a place which I wasn't even supposed to approach. After a frustrating one hour wait, by which time it was dawn, the traffic began moving and I started making good progress on the excellent NH 44 highway. By the time we reached the iconic Murthal dhaba, where we made the customary stop for breakfast, it had started to rain quite heavily.

The breakfast at Murthal was quite refreshing and he early morning air felt invigorating. Though Murthal is not that far from Delhi, the air felt so much cleaner. It rained consistently all the way till the hills and made driving a rather slow affair on the otherwise excellent highway.  Just when I began to get a little concerned about driving up the hills in rain, the sky cleared up and the sun shone.

As I started going up-hill towards the town of Kalka, passing by the famous Pinjore Gardens along the excellent new roads that have been constructed in the area, my spirits began to lift. Returning to the hills always does that to me-I feel like the prodigal son returning home to the roots. The new roads are excellent, though you do have to fork out toll charges every now and then.

I was making good time and soon we were in the roadside hill settlement of Dharampur, just 9 kilometers short of Kasauli famous for its many eateries. I was quite looking forward to some tea and parnathas at one of the popular joints, but to my dismay realized that the quaint Dharampur of old was already history. A new state of the art highway was being built  all the way to Shimla that would substantially cut down driving time and that meant that most of the shops and eateries lining the road had to be demolished.

Seeing a major road being constructed in the mountains is a very depressing sight and it pained me no end to see the large numbers of felled pine trees and the bared hill slopes shining a strange shade of pink. There were loose stones, slate and grey slushy mud coming down to one side of the road which had been cordoned off with tape. Not a very pretty sight, especially that of one of the iconic tunnels of the heritage Kalka-Shimla railway line being right next to some frenetic road building going on.

I wish that the new road gets built sooner than later, so that peace can return to that stretch of the hills. I also wish that they replace the trees they cut by planting a number larger than they cut. Thankfully we soon got off the road to Shimla and took the detour to Kasauli and found peace. The drive was fantastic with a slight mountain mist rolling in and the narrow mountain road cutting through forested slopes was a sight for sore eyes. On the way we came across a sign indicating that the well know Lawrence School-Sanawar, the alma-mater of many of the country's elite was close by.

As we got closer to Kasauli the road seemed to get really small, but with practically no traffic, that wasn't a problem. It did get a little lonely and deserted on stretches, but I knew that we were safe in these parts. Along the way we would pass some lovely houses, some of which were hotels and guesthouses and a few private residences

How I envied the people who lived there. We had nearly reached Kasauli when I decided to stop and ask somebody for directions to the hotel I had booked. I was told that I needed to turn back and drive a couple of kilometers to reach Kimughat where my hotel was.  We checked in, refreshed ourselves had lunch and then left for Kasauli in our car and reached there in about ten minutes.

After parking the car on the Mall Road, we proceeded to walk the entire stretch. The Kasauli Mall Road is among the smallest, if not the smallest Mall Road of the ones that adorn our hill stations. Being a cantonment town Kasauli, has mercifully escaped some of the garish real estate development that has so marred the other hill stations.

Kasauli is a quiet place where you can relax, unwind and forget the pressures of the world. You can walk past its many quaint pathways and little roads that pass in front of lovely homes where many of our gallant soldiers spend their retirement years. We made it a point to eat bun samosa and jalebi to die for at one of the several little eateries that are frequented by tourists and locals alike.

Our son insisted that we visit the iconic Daily Needs,  which has served as a tuck shop for generations of Sanavar school students. There was ample nostalgia in the place courtesy the old world look of the store, its unique ham centric menus and the black and white pictures of children of celebrities that have studied there- Sanjay Dutt, Omar Abdullah and Pooja Bedi among others. They looked so young and innocent in those pictures, very different from what they look like now.

We returned to our hotel where we had a light dinner and crashed for the night-dead tired. The next morning we headed for Kasauli again after a hearty breakfast. We had decided before we had proceeded on our Kasauli trip that we would not visit any of the places frequented by tourists, but would generally walk around, take in the views and the fresh and cool mountain air.

That is what we did and had a wonderful time just walking around, shopping , stopping for something  to eat, sitting on a bench looking at the mountain ranges that extend in front of your eyes and providing massive relief to your body from the stresses of big city living.  We returned to our hotel satiated and happy. In the evening we went to the roof-top restaurant for dinner and found it to be a young and lively place complete with strobe lights and pulsating music. Imagine that in Kasauli! But it felt good.

We had come on a short trip and left back for Delhi, but not before we stocked up on some mountain fresh veggies, cherries and some hybrid stone fruit that was oh so delicious. On the way back we got caught in pelting rain, this time in the mountains, and had to stop the car for an hour or so waiting for the rain to stop. I drove with extreme care and caution for the time we were up in the hills, as we could see small landslides forming on the slopes and on one occasion a few small stones rolled down on to the road, perilously close to the car.

One felt relieved to finally make it back to plain road and get to drive down the straight as an arrow NH 44. We reached home late in the evening, extremely tired but with great memories to cherish.

Rishikesh- Destination Underplayed

I drove to Rishikesh last autumn and I am glad I did. A mere five hour drive from Delhi, this quaint little town by the river Ganges is quite a jewel. Known primarily in the past as a pilgrimage destination for Hindus, who consider the town holy, Rishikesh has in the last few decades also acquired a formidable reputation as a major adventure-sports center.

Of course there is no denying the fact that Rishikesh has a very devout, holy and mystical air about it with all its iconic ashrams, lining the banks of the holy Ganges. Seekers come from every part of India and the far corners of the world. People from different regions of India come here to offer special prayers on the ghats abutting the river to propitiate their ancestors. Apparently doing so in Rishikesh, carries a great deal of spiritual merit.

 A very large number of foreign tourists descend on the town every winter. Mainly of the pale skinned variety, they come from all parts of Europe, America and Israel and you can see them loitering by the dozen in the lanes, by lanes and old markets of the town. They are mostly found in the many cafes that have sprung up along the river front, strumming a guitar, having a coffee and conversing earnestly among themselves. There is a very bohemian kind of a vibe at these cafes, and one is reminded of the fact that the Beatles had once come to Rishikesh, back in the 1960s. They had stayed at the ashram of the late spiritual guru Mahesh Yogi for several months, writing and composing some of their greatest music there

Many of the expats who visit Rishikesh do so to learn yoga. Indeed Rishikesh is the yoga capital of the world, with hundreds and hundreds of yoga and meditation centers that get thousands of Indians and foreigners acquainted with the finer nuances of the ancient practice. Indeed, many of those who get trained over here carry their skills to countries around the world where they often set up highly popular yoga centres. Many have gone on to become millionaires.

Among the highlights of one's visit has to be one of the many artis that occur on the various famous ghats on both sides of the river at dusk. The most famous one has to be the one held at the famous Parmarth Ashram. Many world figures in the past have attended the spectacular arti. This includes Princes Charles and Camilla, among others!

I found the atmosphere at the arti I attended at the Parmarth Ashram to be an absolutely incredible experience. There were an equal number of foreigners and Indians present and as the bhajans being sung reached a crescendo, the crowd began to clap rhythmically and sway to the beat- like they were at a rock concert! Many of the devotees waved  big brass lamps, each one of them holding several lit wicks, in a circular motion, using both their hands to manoeuvre casting dancing shadows everywhere.  As the wicks burned with the help of oil it did require some skill to ensure that none of it spilled while the lamps were swirled around!

It was almost hypnotic to watch the golden glow of the whirring lamps get reflected in the dark waters of the river, even as the lights went up in the buildings that dotted the nearby hill side, signalling that night was about to fall. The suspension bridge, a little up-stream too glowed from the light of the headlights of the  two-wheelers that drove  across the slightly quivering length of the structure every few minutes ( very brave of them to do that I thought!).

I spent a lot of time just walking up and down the river front taking in the sites. It was interesting to note how many young  Indians have taken to river rafting. Every few minutes I would notice a raft laden with youngsters paddle gently towards the banks of the river after coming down some exciting rapids down the 16 kilometer Shivpuri to Rishikesh river rafting stretch.  I believe that adventure tourism companies organize a lot of activities these days, including bungee jumping in and around that area.

In Rishikesh one can get a reasonably priced accommodation near the river or if you prefer a quieter location you could check into a hotel in Tapowan which is located higher than the main town, on a spur of a nearby mountain. The prices may be a little higher, but not much.

That was where I stayed and I found it quite invigorating to take the short-cut down hill  to the main town by the river. It went along some quaint old world bazars and for a little while, a little channel of gurgling water rushing furiously downhill towards the river.

I drove back on the second day with lots of happy memories of the wonderful river side town of Rishikesh. If you happen to live in the Delhi-NCR region a weekend driving trip to will rejuvenate you like nothing else. Of course you could come from any part of the world and stay much longer- Rishikesh is the gateway to the great Garhwal Himalayas.