India is a beautiful and exotic country with colorful traditions and centuries of history. However, the country can be difficult to maneuver for a tourist visiting India. Much of India's infrastructure has not been updated since the British left in 1947, so transportation and facilities, while available, have yet to be modernized. If India wants to establish itself as a solid travel destination and increase tourism, government and business should take steps to make the country more hospitable to foreign travelers. Below are some suggestions as to how to accomplish that.
While India is very modern when it comes to engineering, medicine and technology, its infrastructure and public services are antiquated or nonexistent. In both big cities and small villages, open sewers and inadequate plumbing are widespread. Mounds of garbage along the sides of the road are common. Public restroom facilities, even if available, are poorly maintained. Often the only sanitary amenities available are at big luxury hotels. India needs to improve its public services and foster basic hygiene if it wants to appeal to the foreign tourist. This means modernizing its sewer systems to stop the spread of disease, creating more public housing to get rid of the shantytowns and implementing regular trash disposal measures. Once India cleans up, it will be a more inviting place to visit.
Another issue with an adverse effect on India's tourism is its widespread environmental pollution. Air quality throughout India is notoriously bad, since there are no curbs on emissions and lax enforcement to prevent gross polluters. Most days, the air in big cities such as Mumbai has a red tinge to it, causing watery eyes and coughing. Respiratory infections are common, especially among sensitive individuals or those with allergies. Additionally, air pollution is beginning to show its effects on prominent tourist landmarks, such as Agra's Taj Mahal. In recent years, toxic air has damaged the ancient marble of the monument, jeopardizing its beauty and requiring significant repair.
Water quality is also inconsistent. With improper sewage treatment and no curbs on water polluters, potable water for drinking and cooking is difficult to come by. Outbreaks of waterborne diseases, such as cholera and dysentery, are common, especially in rural villages with few clean water practices.
If India wants to encourage tourism, it needs to act to improve the quality of its air and water so Indians and tourists alike can breathe the air and drink the water freely.
India's transportation system is also in need of a serious overhaul. Although cars and trucks traverse India's roads, laws for operating vehicles are widely ignored. Often the result is pure chaos, as cars, trucks, bicycles and rickshaws drive into opposing traffic and ignore traffic lights to get where they need to go. Fatal car and truck accidents are not uncommon. For a tourist visiting India, the experience of traveling along India's lawless roadways can induce cardiac arrest.
While India also has an extensive railway system, due to overcrowding and poor maintenance, this mode of transportation is not much better. Trains are frequently so crowded that people sit on the roofs of moving trains or hang out the windows. While a rare breed of adventurous tourist may find traveling on India's trains exciting, the majority of tourists might find using India's railways highly inconvenient.
India needs to enforce its traffic laws and reduce railway overcrowding so that visiting tourists will have an easier time traveling from place to place.
As India's population grows, forests are cleared to make room for more housing and development. The destruction of these forests leads to a loss of habitat for many of India's famed fauna, such as Bengal tigers, Asian elephants and Indian ringneck parrots. If India does not make greater efforts to reduce this loss of habitat, tourists searching for safarilike encounters with the animals made famous in Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book" will be out of luck. India needs to preserve ecotourism by protecting its forests and the animals that inhabit them.
In addition to making India a more hospitable place to visit, the country needs to highlight the unique sights and offerings it has that are unavailable anywhere else. The Taj Mahal, one of the most easily recognizable monuments in the world, is an obvious tourist destination. However, India has many more places to visit that foreign tourists may not know about. Jaipur, also known as the Pink City, is a popular travel destination for Indians and those of Indian descent living abroad, but it is not widely known to foreigners. The beaches of Goa are a tropical paradise but are also relatively unknown to the rest of the world. India needs to market itself to the world as a unique country with much to offer the visiting tourist.
