Travel and tourism industry veteran Inder Sharma, chairman, Select Group speaks about the evolution of the tourism industry, what ails and a possible way forward. By Sayoni Bhaduri
There are five ‘A’s in the travel and tourism industry – accessibility, acceptability, affordabilitty, accountability and audit, believes Inder Sharma, chairman of Select Group, also an industry veteran with over 50 years of experience. Discussing the first point of accessibility, Sharma says that in the last five decades, access to different parts of the country has dramatically improved. The number of people travelling is more than ever before, and with purchasing power improving affordability has also improved. “Affordability in real terms has taken a toll with inflation. We used to run a tour in 1955 based on The Grand Hotel in Kolkata, Taj in Benaras, Lauries in Agra, Imperial in Delhi and Taj in Bombay for US$ 15. At that point of time it was a lot of money. So the affordability has increased and the number of tourist coming in cheap package, the backpackers have increased,” he explains. He continues that fortunately or unfortunately the world has done better. “While I may have jumped to one to two, the world has jumped from one to four. The size of the cake has enlarged so much, and we are unable to take fair piece of it.,” he says. So who do you hold responsible when there is no accountability? “Tourism ministry is a not central subject, they cannot influence home ministry, the police, in the state,” he states.
Audit has never been conducted in the industry. “Only person who listened to me on the subject of audit was Amitabh Kant. He created something called the Tourism Satellite Account for India, many other nations have it. This account allows you to know, everything done right, what has it done for you and me and the community.” He gives Thailand’s example when tourism started suffering from severe moral crisis, Sri Lanka had the beginnings of it, but the government stopped it there. Sharma is afraid it will happen in Goa.
On how the travel and tourism industry is considered a luxury sector, even by those in power, Sharma blames it on the lack of knowledge and education, “Partially it is because majority of the politicians come from a background where a daily meal is something which is always at home, and going to a restaurant in a hotel is a luxury. But for a businessman coming to a hotel, it is a necessity. It is question of who you are catering to.”
Destination India
India can be unfriendly for many people, but at the same time no product is satisfying for all categories of people. India is expensive and India is cheap, what needs to be seen is whether its value for money. “The term I would use is unbalanced. Infrastructure is not poor, but it does not balance itself out. Nor is it prepared to suit all needs. Either it is high-end or the dharamshala, it is the in between which is a challenge and is still struggling, it cannot make up its mind whether to become a four-star or stay two-star and improve,” says Sharma. No one wants to be the best one- and two-star hotel. They should improve their standards according to the classification that they are given so that the customer knows what he/she is getting. The reason for the struggling is partly because of ego, everyone wants to be an owner or a manager of a five-star hotel. In order to have the proper rates, they have to keep harping that they are a better hotel. This is so because cost of acquiring the hotel land is also so high. “In Haryana, for our hotel we needed 50 odd permissions,” he mentions.
Tourism being a state subject, there cannot be a single window. He believes that there have to be jharokhas rather than one big window. It won’t be a reality unless tourism is fashioned like the railways. This is not a new recommendation, it was originally made in the Mohammed Younis committee report to none other than Rajiv Gandhi. “We had a long discussion, but no civil servant will give up such powers. Now they are reversing the process, all independence that was given to the public sector undertakings, the government wants it back in its control,” he rues.
Ethically sound?
Of the railways he has hopes. Indian Railways started the Palace on Wheels, now they are bringing in many more luxury trains. There is one in south India, now they want to do it in Punjab. On the state of Deccan Odyssey, Sharma says, “If you ask a foreign traveller, he may know India but will have no idea about Maharashtra. And just because the concept succeeded in Rajasthan does not mean it will in Maharashtra.”
There is a need for professionalism in the tourism business. “Today any Tom, Dick and Harry can put up a board and become a travel agent. There are no tests, or quality control to judge that I, Inder Sharma is a recognised and established travel agent. It may not be a factory with a chimney but it is still an industry,” he is vehement. Government started recognising agents, with certain staff level, etc, Sharma suggests a walk outside New Delhi railway station where there are hoards of agents selling tours to Agra and Jaipur. “They can only be stopped by police action and there is no law against setting up a travel agency. The government can only warn travellers asking them to go to only recognised travel agents,” he explains. There are so many foreign travellers, specially women who are raped and killed.
“As a nation we are not quality conscious but price conscious. I am not pessimistic about the industry but realistic. After 50 years we know what we can achieve, and this is not just true of tourism but also several industries,” says Sharma. People are getting tired of inaction especially when there is so much potential. There is no one reason, there are several and not necessarily directly related to tourism industry. He says when decision making is so slow on so many vital subjects how can it be fast on this subject. And when the decision is based on money and vote banks, how it can be based on the ‘good of the consumer’. Making a profit is the birthright of a businessman, profiteering is wrong. “A businessman who makes no profit should be taxed. He is using nation’s resources, and not generating any in return. Tourism cannot shine by itself, India has to shine first,” he concludes.
