Tourism the new IT hub for India


by: Satyasiddha Mishra

“Change is the only stagnant thing on this planet”. This is very true in the current year 2020, where we are experiencing extreme changes in every aspect of life. There has been a huge change of perspective as to how we see the world. The once powerful have turned out to be weak and the so called weak are proving their mettle! 

Coming to the topic of Tourism in India, few adventurous people have shown the world what a huge potential India possesses in the field of Tourism. Well, statistically speaking, Tourism is still a bigger industry than Information Technology (IT) with Tourism standing at 275.5 billion dollars, while IT is at 180 billion dollars! But IT has more foreign exchange than Tourism, as 79% of its revenue comes from export of its services. 

Both are essential for a healthy economy of India but I believe that more importance should be given to Tourism. The reason is that it can generate more employment than the IT sector. The sector of IT needs highly skilled people, which can be handled by a few people only. But in case of Tourism, all one needs is good communication and hospitality skills. This can be catered to by a larger number of people. Even indirect economic impact of Tourism is much larger than IT, which also needs highly skilled workers.

The best example of how large an impact Tourism can have on a country can be seen in Thailand, where it is said that it contributes to 25% or one fourth of the country’s GDP! The bitter fact remains that it is going through the worst nightmare of the Century thanks to the Corona Crisis!

Tourism, especially International Tourism, can help India to become a super power economically as Tourism helps in increasing ‘soft power.’ Let’s take the example of Goa. This being the smallest state of India is known to people far and wide, just because it is a popular tourist destination. 

Well, speaking of potential, India is a world in itself! The diversity it possesses is incredible! Be it the snowy mountains of the Himalayas, sandy desert of Rajasthan, salt desert of Gujarat, stunning beaches of Goa and tropical paradise like the exotic islands of Lakshwadeep , Andaman and Nicobar. Then there are underrated destinations of India like East and North East India, consisting of states like Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, the Seven Sisters (Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura) and Sikkim. The list is too long to mention here. It will take a life time to explore India!

In the end, I want to say that what the use of all these breathtaking beauty is, if there is no one to appreciate it! What I believe needs to be by the government is to improve the infrastructure of all the tourist destinations.

But there is a catch to it. Increase in Tourism is a good thing, yet it should be done responsibly. What will be the use of foreign exchange, if there is nothing to exchange! Let me be very frank that the domestic tourists are more responsible for destroying our tourists’ sites than the foreign tourists! At last, I want to say is that, “Our world is what we make of it”.

Sanjay Kumar Mishra
WhatsApp# +919981411674
snjymshr64@gmail.com
Department of English
Rajkumar College, Raipur
Chhattisgarh, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VIDWAN SARVATRA PUJYATE

Image
Being an Ex-RKCian, I feel very nostalgic about my alma matter Rajkumar College, Raipur and its guiding principle. “ Swadeshe Pujyate Raja, Vidwan Sarvatra Pujyate ,”(the motto of Rajkumar College, Raipur ) is a noble saying taken from a book called “ SUBHASITANI ,” a collection of many Sanskrit Shlokas, consisting of many ancient Indian scriptures, written by our great sages thousands of years ago. The full maxim or Subhasit in Sanskrit reads, “ Swa Gruhe Pujyate Pita, Swa Grame Pujyate Prabhu, Swa Deshe Pujyate Raja, Vidwan  Sarvatra Pujyate. ” In simple English, it reads as “ A king is honoured in his own country; a learned man, throughout the world. ” Honouring the learned has been the hallmark of RKC and RKCians, be it in art, music or academics.  Well! This is the motto of Rajkumar College, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, one of the premier institutions of India. It was founded by Sir Andrew Fraser , the then Chief Commissioner of Central Province and Berar in the year 1
Read more

East or West, Grandparents are the Best

Image
Grandmother and grandfather are words that are becoming scarce. It is not that they don’t exist but today’s children are denied an access to the store of wisdom that can come to them through these wise, old people. We can blame the breaking up of joint families for this but the fact remains that unitary families are losing wealth of knowledge. I consider myself fortunate to have the blood of the Aryans and the Dravidians. So I have got the best of both the races. If the Aryans have the Vedic tradition, the Dravidians have their ethnic identity, culture and tradition. Hence I would venture to narrate all that my grandmothers shared with me. Both my grannies from the paternal and maternal sides were staunch Hindus Brahmins, with orthodox religious base. My paternal grandma was an Oriya Brahmin and my maternal grandma was a Telugu Brahmin. My Dadi i.e. paternal Grand mom had great practical wisdom. It was said that once she rescued my Dad from sure death, from a deadly cobra bite by tying
Read more