NEW DELHI: Taking note of thriving tourism in geographically smaller Thailand, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has suggested to the Tourism Ministry to study promotion strategy of the Southeast Asian country which known for its tropical beaches, opulent royal palaces and Buddhist temples and execute them to attract international visitors.
The parliamentary panel also opined that the ministry should adopt a proactive policy to promote tourist places in India which are at par with those abroad. “The committee recommends that the promotional tactics of Thailand to utilise diplomacy and tourism promotion to attract foreign tourists despite its small population and geographical area as compared to India may be assessed. Their tactics may be applied in the Indian tourism sector, if found beneficial for the growth of Inbound Tourism in India,” reads the 326th report of the committee headed by BJP MP T G Venkatesh.
The panel further suggested to the Ministry of Civil Aviation exploring possibility of direct flights to Southeast Asian, Eastern European and South American countries, which have huge potential for increasing foreign tourist arrivals to India.
The panel is also of the opinion films featuring Indian locales noticeably facilitating tourism promotion hence it recommends lucrative incentives and sops to attract international filmmakers.
“The incentives offered by the Indian government appear to be meager compared to the international norms and the considerable payoffs. The Committee recommends that the Ministry of Tourism may review the incentives provided to foreign film producers as per internationally competitive rates,” says the report, which was submitted last month.