Vikramaditya
Port Blair, June 09: The number of high value foreign tourists visiting Andaman and Nicobar Islands is never encouraging. Andaman Tourism often puts some attempts to attract large number of high value foreign tourists to these Islands but the results are known to everyone.
It is believed that if a high number of foreign tourists visit Andamans then it will give a much needed “High Value” boost to the tourism industry. Andaman Sheekha tried to contact prominent stake holders of Andaman Tourism to know that where have we failed in this regard.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha Mr. Tanvir Singh, the president of YCCI said that it is very crucial that foreign tourists visit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Insisting that the process of immigration has been eased so that the influx of the foreign tourists increase, he said that the growth since the last two years has not been steady. However, he expects the new policy that has been introduced to change that.
“We need to put forward the fact that Brand Andaman and the islands of Andaman and Nicobar are safe and comfortable for everyone. For that, we need to reach out to various parts of the world like European countries and project Brand Andaman in a positive image. We need to showcase what Andaman has to offer in terms of beauty and leisure. That is because the foreign clientele like to know beforehand about the facilities that will be available at their destination. Delivering on concrete and correct promises will ensure that they spread a positive word about tourism in the state which would further lead to an increase in the number of foreign tourists,” he said.
President of Federation of Responsible Tour Operator (FORTO), Mr. R. Ratnam, told Andaman Sheekha pointed out that if we go back by 15 years, where there were hardly any facilities available in terms of accommodation and tourists had to go by the government ferries, we were getting a high number of mid-budget foreign tourists. However, the problem of low tourist turnout is that firstly, Andamans are a very hard destination to reach.
“In order to reach these islands, people have to go to mainland India first, maybe stay overnight there and then they come to the Andaman Islands. Secondly, lack of exclusive activities, which is not attracting them,” he said.
He added that foreign tourists might get a good experience at the resort, however, when it comes to places that might just not be the case.
“Next thing is that we don’t have proper infrastructure, even if client is paying Rs. 50,000 for rooms in Taj, has to go through the same process, right from Airport until reaching the resort. And the other types of tourists are, people who come by yachts. But we don’t have a proper regulation and suddenly anyone comes and say you can’t do this you can’t do that. It is must that government should concentrate in making some regulation,” he added.
When contacted Mr. Abdul Majeed, Vice President of FORTO told Andaman Sheekha that Administration in past had attended some International Trade Fairs but they results were not good just because the space we get out of India Tourism Stall is very small and the appointments were not pre-booked.
“It is not like attending domestic trade fair. For WTM or for any other place, you need to go proper pre-booked appointment then only they will give you time and come to your stall. When they believe you, they trust you then only they will be sending you the guests. They want somebody very trustable person, trustable agencies,” Mr. Abdul Majeed added.
