India’s ambitious tourism overhaul leaves security question unanswered | BLOUIN BEAT: World
India’s ambitious tourism overhaul leaves security question unanswered
Indian tourist officers distributing “I Respect Women” badges. (AFP PHOTO / Noah SEELAM)
In its most ambitious attempt yet to boost historically low tourism numbers, India’s government announced on Thursday that it would be extending the country’s limited visa-on-arrival scheme to tourists from 180 countries. The new scheme, which the government plans to implement by October, would allow foreigners traveling to India from approved countries to apply for a visa online and pick it up upon arrival at 26 of the country’s airport.
(World Travel and Tourism Council)
The current system, which has tourists in all but 11 countries wait several weeks after submitting visa applications to learn whether they’ve been approved, has long been seen as a major deterrent for potential visitors to the country. Internal resistance by various governmental ministries, most notably the Home Ministry (which has had objections to the issuing of visas to Chinese citizens in particular, due to a border dispute between India and China) has made progress on the initiative slow in coming. However, the currently dismal state of India’s tourism industry, which accounted for 6.6% of the country’s GDP in 2012, has proven to be a powerful motivator.
Travelers’ concerns over security, especially in the wake of several high-profile attacks against women, are widely credited for the hit the industry has taken. Following the gang rape of a New Delhi medical student in late 2012, the problem of rampant violence against women has managed to sustain international attention. And brutal attacks against foreign women travelers, including the gang rape of a Danish woman traveler in Delhi last month (which caused the U.K. to revise its advisory for travelers to India, warning them of the risk to foreign women “even if they are traveling in a group”) have hardly quelled anxieties. They also undermine the government’s much-publicized attempts to combat the problem, efforts which have so far left much to be desired.
From misguided attempts to advise women not to go out at night to issuing badges to taxis and guides proclaiming “I respect women,” many of these efforts are not only superficial but demonstrably ineffective. The one major reform that was hailed as a key to addressing the issue, the fast-track court system, has not only encountered issues in its implementation but has also generated controversy around the broader issues of India’s judicial system. So even if there weren’t already obvious challenges in combatting the deeply-entrenched problems that contribute to the sexual violence scourge, the government’s hasty, often tone-deaf, solutions haven’t inspire optimism so far.
The idea that the new visa scheme will solve the problem is similarly misguided. While it is sure to provide a short-term boost, the government’s goal of drawing 12.6 million international tourists by 2016 looks highly far-fetched as the underlying problem deterring travelers remains in place.
India’s ambitious tourism overhaul leaves security question unanswered
Indian tourist officers distributing “I Respect Women” badges. (AFP PHOTO / Noah SEELAM)
In its most ambitious attempt yet to boost historically low tourism numbers, India’s government announced on Thursday that it would be extending the country’s limited visa-on-arrival scheme to tourists from 180 countries. The new scheme, which the government plans to implement by October, would allow foreigners traveling to India from approved countries to apply for a visa online and pick it up upon arrival at 26 of the country’s airport.
(World Travel and Tourism Council)
The current system, which has tourists in all but 11 countries wait several weeks after submitting visa applications to learn whether they’ve been approved, has long been seen as a major deterrent for potential visitors to the country. Internal resistance by various governmental ministries, most notably the Home Ministry (which has had objections to the issuing of visas to Chinese citizens in particular, due to a border dispute between India and China) has made progress on the initiative slow in coming. However, the currently dismal state of India’s tourism industry, which accounted for 6.6% of the country’s GDP in 2012, has proven to be a powerful motivator.
Travelers’ concerns over security, especially in the wake of several high-profile attacks against women, are widely credited for the hit the industry has taken. Following the gang rape of a New Delhi medical student in late 2012, the problem of rampant violence against women has managed to sustain international attention. And brutal attacks against foreign women travelers, including the gang rape of a Danish woman traveler in Delhi last month (which caused the U.K. to revise its advisory for travelers to India, warning them of the risk to foreign women “even if they are traveling in a group”) have hardly quelled anxieties. They also undermine the government’s much-publicized attempts to combat the problem, efforts which have so far left much to be desired.
From misguided attempts to advise women not to go out at night to issuing badges to taxis and guides proclaiming “I respect women,” many of these efforts are not only superficial but demonstrably ineffective. The one major reform that was hailed as a key to addressing the issue, the fast-track court system, has not only encountered issues in its implementation but has also generated controversy around the broader issues of India’s judicial system. So even if there weren’t already obvious challenges in combatting the deeply-entrenched problems that contribute to the sexual violence scourge, the government’s hasty, often tone-deaf, solutions haven’t inspire optimism so far.
The idea that the new visa scheme will solve the problem is similarly misguided. While it is sure to provide a short-term boost, the government’s goal of drawing 12.6 million international tourists by 2016 looks highly far-fetched as the underlying problem deterring travelers remains in place.
