Can Indian diapsora in NZ pitch in to make the Government of India initiative Paryatan Parva a success?
The Ministry of Tourism of the Government of India in collaboration with other central ministries, state governments and stakeholders is organising a 'Paryatan Parv' (tourism festival) across the country from the October 5 to 25, 2017.
The Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Tourism, Alphons Kannanthanam, had said that the programme is being organised with the objective of drawing focus on the benefits of tourism, showcasing the cultural diversity of the country and reinforcing the principle of 'Tourism for All'.
The Tourism Ministry has identified 60 tourist destinations across the country to showcase cultural diversity of India and various niche tourism products during the festival.
Different activities are planned across different popular tourist destination around the country to mark the occasion.
A heritage walk from the 80-ft Buddha statue to the world heritage Mahabodhi Mahavihara in Bodhgaya (central-eastern state of Bihar) will mark Paryatan Parva on October 14.
Similarly, various activities including folk dance, quiz, debates and essay competition will be organised at Hampi (south Indian state of Karnataka) on October 20 and October 21.
The key message of this mega exercise involving multiple levels of governments across the length and breadth of the country is to promote tourism in India especially the domestic tourism.
The minister, earlier last week while sharing details on the 'Paryatan Parva,' with the local media had urged people of India to visit various tourist destinations within the country.
“I think India is being neglected by our own people,” the minister had said.
The minister had also noted that the number of tourists travelling to the northeastern states was “very less.”
“It (north-east) is incredibly beautiful. So much of music and culture is there. Go see it in Mizoram and Shillong. First of all, India must discover that,” the minister had passionately appealed to the Indian people.
Domestic tourism in India still has to take off in a manner similar to many other parts of the world such as America, Europe, North-East and South-East Asia, thus prompting Government of India to encourage people to travel domestically for pleasure as well.
It is important to note that although historically Indians have been great travellers, traversing across great lengths and destination around the world in pursuit of trade, religion, education, spirituality, conquests or purely adventure.
However, more than 300 years of British colonial rule, which subjected India to a systematic de-industrialisation and acute poverty had over a period of time annihilated the flourishing tourism industry of India.
The Indian economy was the second-largest in the world – until the British arrived.
In fact, British economist Angus Maddison has argued that India’s share of the global income went from 27 per cent in 1700 to 3.8 per cent in 1950.
India was left as an economically underdeveloped nation marked by hunger, poverty, and a low national income.
Nevertheless, this script has changed and is changing at a very rapid rate where India’s economy has taken off at a considerable speed in the last two decades.
The current Government in India is taking that speed of economic growth to the next level with a range of structural reforms to support and sustain the economic growth.
Promoting brand India as a preferred tourist destination is another strategy of projecting the attractiveness of India around the world.
Although the Paryatan Parva is seeking to emphasise on promoting domestic tourism within India, still the global Indian diaspora around the world could play an instrumental role in making this drive a success by choosing numerous Indian tourist destinations over other places around the world.
Anyway, the Indian government’s key emphasis is on showcasing the cultural diversity, and there would be nothing better for the diasporic community to use this opportunity to reconnect with the culture of India by redirecting their travel plans, if any, to India during this Paryatan Parva.
The Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand, Sanjiv Kohli, speaking with The Indian Weekender also acknowledged the role that Indian diaspora in NZ could play in making this initiative a success.
"India has so much to offer to tourists and this is borne out by a very high ratio of repeat tourists.
"Our diaspora is a bridge between our two countries and best spokespersons of the India narrative.
"We at the High Commission, of course, do our best to promote tourism and Paryatan Parva is an effort in that direction.
"The Parva is also focussed at encouraging our diaspora to visit the country of origin," Mr Kohli told The Indian Weekender.
Indian diaspora in NZ surely can play an important role in making this initiative successful.
The Ministry of Tourism of the Government of India in collaboration with other central ministries, state governments and stakeholders is organising a 'Paryatan Parv' (tourism festival) across the country from the October 5 to 25, 2017.
The Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Tourism,...
The Ministry of Tourism of the Government of India in collaboration with other central ministries, state governments and stakeholders is organising a 'Paryatan Parv' (tourism festival) across the country from the October 5 to 25, 2017.
The Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Tourism, Alphons Kannanthanam, had said that the programme is being organised with the objective of drawing focus on the benefits of tourism, showcasing the cultural diversity of the country and reinforcing the principle of 'Tourism for All'.
The Tourism Ministry has identified 60 tourist destinations across the country to showcase cultural diversity of India and various niche tourism products during the festival.
Different activities are planned across different popular tourist destination around the country to mark the occasion.
A heritage walk from the 80-ft Buddha statue to the world heritage Mahabodhi Mahavihara in Bodhgaya (central-eastern state of Bihar) will mark Paryatan Parva on October 14.
Similarly, various activities including folk dance, quiz, debates and essay competition will be organised at Hampi (south Indian state of Karnataka) on October 20 and October 21.
The key message of this mega exercise involving multiple levels of governments across the length and breadth of the country is to promote tourism in India especially the domestic tourism.
The minister, earlier last week while sharing details on the 'Paryatan Parva,' with the local media had urged people of India to visit various tourist destinations within the country.
“I think India is being neglected by our own people,” the minister had said.
The minister had also noted that the number of tourists travelling to the northeastern states was “very less.”
“It (north-east) is incredibly beautiful. So much of music and culture is there. Go see it in Mizoram and Shillong. First of all, India must discover that,” the minister had passionately appealed to the Indian people.
Domestic tourism in India still has to take off in a manner similar to many other parts of the world such as America, Europe, North-East and South-East Asia, thus prompting Government of India to encourage people to travel domestically for pleasure as well.
It is important to note that although historically Indians have been great travellers, traversing across great lengths and destination around the world in pursuit of trade, religion, education, spirituality, conquests or purely adventure.
However, more than 300 years of British colonial rule, which subjected India to a systematic de-industrialisation and acute poverty had over a period of time annihilated the flourishing tourism industry of India.
The Indian economy was the second-largest in the world – until the British arrived.
In fact, British economist Angus Maddison has argued that India’s share of the global income went from 27 per cent in 1700 to 3.8 per cent in 1950.
India was left as an economically underdeveloped nation marked by hunger, poverty, and a low national income.
Nevertheless, this script has changed and is changing at a very rapid rate where India’s economy has taken off at a considerable speed in the last two decades.
The current Government in India is taking that speed of economic growth to the next level with a range of structural reforms to support and sustain the economic growth.
Promoting brand India as a preferred tourist destination is another strategy of projecting the attractiveness of India around the world.
Although the Paryatan Parva is seeking to emphasise on promoting domestic tourism within India, still the global Indian diaspora around the world could play an instrumental role in making this drive a success by choosing numerous Indian tourist destinations over other places around the world.
Anyway, the Indian government’s key emphasis is on showcasing the cultural diversity, and there would be nothing better for the diasporic community to use this opportunity to reconnect with the culture of India by redirecting their travel plans, if any, to India during this Paryatan Parva.
The Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand, Sanjiv Kohli, speaking with The Indian Weekender also acknowledged the role that Indian diaspora in NZ could play in making this initiative a success.
"India has so much to offer to tourists and this is borne out by a very high ratio of repeat tourists.
"Our diaspora is a bridge between our two countries and best spokespersons of the India narrative.
"We at the High Commission, of course, do our best to promote tourism and Paryatan Parva is an effort in that direction.
"The Parva is also focussed at encouraging our diaspora to visit the country of origin," Mr Kohli told The Indian Weekender.
Indian diaspora in NZ surely can play an important role in making this initiative successful.
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