How eventful was 2013 for the tourism industry?
 |
|
Arjun Sharma
|
The summer season was flat, however winter 2013-14 is looking up. I think the benefits of the rupee devaluation against the dollar has been priced into the product. India is competitive, but we are still suffering from negative publicity created earlier in the year. Hopefully, 2014 should put that behind us. The focus now is more on domestic tourism destinations.
What is the feedback received for CII Tourism Fest? Will the fest be more B2B in the future?
It’s the first event in Chandigarh and has been a good start. We hope to continue this next year with double partnerships. We think it’s a combination of B2B and B2C and I don’t see any reason why the two can’t co-exist.
By hosting the fest in Chandigarh, are you trying to attract more tourists to this part of the country?
Normally tourism events are always organised in metro cities. So we were keen that tourism infrastructure, socio-economic impact and other benefits also filter down to smaller places. We felt that Chandigarh is right in the offering as it continues to promote regional shows like this.
As January, February witness a lot of tourist footfall, do you think the government needs to do something to encourage tourism in these months?
The problem we are fighting at the moment is that the national campaign on ‘Incredible India’ is off air. We have to revive the campaign if we want to counter the negative publicity. And I believe the government is looking at bringing it back in the month of January.
