The Hindu : Tourists find India safe: survey

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 05, 2002

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Tourists find India safe: survey

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 4. A snap survey conducted by the Hotel Association of India (HAI) has shown that foreign tourists did not perceive any threat to their safety and security and would happily recommend a visit to India to their friends and associates.

This is significant against the backdrop of India having suffered a 17 per cent drop in foreign tourist arrivals since the escalated tension between India and Pakistan, according to the Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, Vinod Khanna, who took charge of his assignment on Wednesday.

The survey was conducted in leading hotels across the country at the behest of the Tourism Department. Tourists from over 20 countries participated in the survey. All of them indicated that contrary to the advisories issued by some countries, India was a safe and secure destination.

A similar exercise undertaken by the Indian Association of Tour Operators and other tourism related agencies at airports, hotels and places of tourist attraction confirmed the findings of the survey.

Expressing satisfaction at the results, Rathi Vinay Jha, Secretary, Tourism, hoped that media, particularly international media, would play a more positive role in projecting ground realities and spread the word that India was a safe and secure destination for tourists.

Despite the negative publicity about the safety environment in India in the recent past, about 9.7-lakh tourists visited the country between January and May.

Meanwhile, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry has welcomed the withdrawal of the travel advisory to its citizens by the British Government and expressed the hope that the United States would follow suit.

The British Government's step, which provides a much needed respite to the industry, comes in the wake of appeals made by the Chambers and other travel trade organisations to the Governments which had issued such advisories, the chairman of ASSOCHAM's Expert Committee on Tourism and Aviation, Subhash Goyal said.

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