News Karnataka
Thursday, March 28 2024
Cricket
Features

World Tourism Day 2020: India Visit India!

Photo Credit :

World Tourism Day 2020World Tourism Day 2020Helen Keller once said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”  With our mobile forms are adventure is restricted to our 6-inch screen. Everything we do from the time we wake up till we sleep in within that gorilla glass. We miss even the chirp of the birds, getting soaked in the rain, and plucking and eating the fruit of a tree, forget climbing it!! And so we love a getaway – the getaway from the daily routine – but we have no time for it.

We plan and anticipate and the anticipation gives us the goosebumps. And on the morning of our appointed day, we tingle, we are up early and as we heave our packed bags, we are ready with our 6-inch screen taking photos of the family of friends and our getaway transport, pouting, preening et al.

Oh how we love that feeling and then we enter our dream destination; we are tourists; Wanted, feted, pursued, our smallest needs met, our every whim entertained as we take in the sights, enjoy the culture and try to communicate and integrate with the locals. Been there done that? Well if you have had the experience and enjoyed it – I have – good for you, and if you have not, well today’s the day to set out or at least plan to set out on that dream journey, to earn the tag, “Tourist” for today is World Tourism Day.

World Tourism Day is commemorated each year on 27 September, with celebrations led by UNWTO(World Tourism Organisation) with the thrme “Tourism and Rural Development” The theme is apt because tourism has a social, cultural, and economic implication for everyone! and that is also why it is celebrated with gusto – To foster awareness among the global community with a contribution to sustainable development goals. It has assumed greater significance with the incidence of the Pandemic – the tourism sector has been the worst hit; leisure travel whether its a weekend getaway or an extended holiday, or just a meet on the beach or a get together in a hotel, everything is at a standstill because of pandemic related restrictions and / or human fear of the virus!

Baggage and Bucket-lists: a much-memed memory!
With the advance in technology and jet travel, tourism has been continuously growing and providing economic and social growth to countries that have little else to offer the world but their sights and sounds. It has also become an expanding source of income and employment in developing countries that need its income to develop its other natural resources. The Indian travel and tourism sector contributed nearly $194 billion, around 6.8% of GDP, during the calendar year 2019. Out of 185 economies, India stood 10th in terms of the size of travel and tourism spend in 2019.  But 2020 is a different ball game. 2020, has got all of us stuck in our homes, without us traveling even visit our neighbors! Bucket lists are damned.

It is estimated that by 2050, 68% of the world population will live in urban areas, while 80% of those currently living in ‘extreme poverty’ will live outside of towns and cities. Employing one in every ten people on Earth, 100-120 million direct tourism jobs are now at risk due to the pandemic. Skilled laborers and artisans who are dependent on the tourism sector in a rich cultural heritage like India, have faced serious economic issues.  

“We are finished. It’s over; since March 2020, our industry has been just devastated. We are down to zero from handling 25 to 30 thousand foreign tourists, a year.  There are no flights, the embassies are closed, hotels are partially open, people are skeptical and travel with fear. They are apprehensive about everything, food even. You keep your office open because you have to keep paying the rent. It’s very difficult to accept this.” says Eulalia D’Souza, Lia Travels, Mangalore.  

It is not only the travel industry that has been infected and affected! The hospitality industry that provides for 10% of the GDP, has collapsed and yet the owners have to keep them open, maintain them, pay for the overheads and the staff to sustain them. The patronage has still to pick up says James Anto, GM, River Roost Resorts. “The major industry that has been affected is hospitality. The hotels and resorts have had to endure a drastic loss and we are still not able to come out of the tragedy. Employees have no salary  – it is very difficult to take care of many staff without business. Yet we can’t blame the company or them; staff members too, are scared about contracting COVID-19 and we cant blame them as they have to take care of their families. Recently though, people are less fearful,” says James Anto, GM, Riverroost Resorts.

With the 2020 edition of World Tourism Day, the global community has decided to celebrate with the theme of “Tourism and Rural Development”, highlighting the unique role tourism plays in our global economy.  Mainly, it focuses on providing opportunities outside of big cities and preserving cultural and natural heritage all around the world. As scary as the word ‘travel’ sounds now, the tourism sector aims at being the leading employer and economic pillar providing jobs and opportunities, most notably for women and youth. The organization believes that development through tourism can sustain rural communities.  

Manohar Shetty, MD, Sai Radha Group which owns hotels, pharmacies, and automobile dealerships among other businesses had this to say, “The tourism and hospitality industry has been hit a lot. People have already been sitting at home not being able to come out. We need things to change. Our focus should be on opening up the tourism sector in rural areas too. Our heritage can then be explored along with rural development.  We need to focus on ground-level initiatives which will create jobs and revenue simultaneously. Also, it will support infrastructure development. Health and Education in already thriving in the DK belt and should be strengthened – this will create an inflow of people into the system generating economic prosperity in the region.”

The bright side
Given the tough times that the tourism sector is undergoing, it is imperative we look at the bright side too says Vathika Pai, Proprietor, Nirmala Travels. “With all the hotels and resorts taking necessary measures such as sanitization being in place, we could look at a quieter location, so that social distancing and sanitization is in place, instead of putting ourselves at risk. We are now beginning to see the brighter side. There is a lot of local tourism within the state. People have restarted their operations; they are done sitting at home. We can see small getaway destinations picking up, places where you are not exposed to many people. I am really hopeful that we recover soon because the travel industry is, directly and indirectly, a source of income to so many, whether it is public transport, or shopping malls, food courts, or any other; My suggestion:  start traveling, but travel safely with all the precautions with masks, gloves, and travel to quieter places. Once this is over, travel is going to heal everybody; it will soothe the soul. 2021 is the year we will all travel again; hopefully.”  

When there is so much to see, we must show India to Indians first! This according to Girish, VP, Ocean Pearl Hotels one of the leading hotel chains in Karnataka. “First of all, for inbound tourism activity in India, it’s an opportunity. India can be one of the best tourism destinations in the world without a doubt. Right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, you can only witness the beauty only in our country.  Unfortunately, the infrastructure is insufficient to connect the places. Many Indians travel abroad to explore, and not exploring their own countries. One can develop spiritual or pilgrimage tourism with amazing temples and historical monuments across. This should be done to show India to Indians. There’s so much in this nation, and we should develop them and showcase it to the world, implementing vocal for local, generating revenues and develop the economy.”  

How right he is! There’s so much in our nation, that we have not seen, its time to go see it; help our country revive its tourism sector and create opportunities for others to sustain and grow. That could be our simple pledge on this World Tourism Day!

Share this:
Bhuvana Kamath

Read More Articles
MANY DROPS MAKE AN OCEAN
Support NewsKarnataka's quality independent journalism with a small contribution.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

To get the latest news on WhatsApp