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Tourism Guru gets his game on
By Mata Press Service
Canada is not the only nation with an excited interest in the year 2010.
As Canada gears up for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver/Whistler, India has its sights set on doubling its tourist target to 10 million foreign visitors annually by the time the 2010 Commonwealth Games open in New Delhi.
To that end, India’s Ministry of Tourism is ramping
up its overseas outreach efforts on several fronts,
Director, Ronjon Lahiri
enticing new and returning visitors with a raft of fresh travel initiatives including adventure tours, expanded pleasure cruises, honeymoon packages, homestays, B&B options and environmentally-friendly holiday packages tailored to the green-minded globe trotter.
Promoting his country’s ‘Incredible India’ initiative, Ronjon Lahiri, the brand new director of Indian Tourism in Canada, hit the ground running at a press luncheon at Surrey’s upscale Bombay Se restaurant last week.
“The passion comes because I’m passionate about my country,” remarked Lahiri, as he eloquently sang the praises of a nation that boasts some of the richest cultural heritage and diverse natural wonders on the planet.
Last year, 192,000 Canadians visited India. In total, a whopping 5.1 million people vacationed in India in 2007 — a figure that does not include an estimated three million Indian passport carrying Non-resident Indians (NRI’s) who return home to holiday each year.
“Canada is ranked third behind U.K. and the U.S.,” said Lahiri, who has worked for India Tourism for the past 24 years. “I want to overtake those markets.”
To that end, Lahiri, based in Toronto, is tossing out the traditional tourism game book wherein India’s myriad wonders are resold to overseas Indians, and is instead actively courting new markets in Canada. Among his targets, Canada’s ethnic communities, with Chinese Canadians his first order of business.
The Tourism Guru has already bombarded the Chinese community in Canada with a Mandarin-language advertising campaign.
“We have breached the Chinese community and they are interested in visiting India,” he says, with unwavering confidence.
Next on the agenda, says the U.K.-born, Sweden-educated travel ambassador, Canada’s Italian, Greek, Portuguese and Eastern European communities, as well as young adventure seekers looking for a life-experience holiday beyond the deck rails of a sun-baked booze cruise.
“I’m going to play at their feelings,” he says, of his plans to tap the burgeoning youth market.
Of course, with the flying public currently forced to absorb skyrocketing fuel prices at the airline ticket counter, long-haul destinations like India need all the Ronjon Lahiris they can muster.
India’s distance-cost factor has traditionally worked to India’s advantage when it comes to foreign-sourced tourism, particularly from North America.
“We have found that foreign tourists spend a minimum of 14 days in India, 28 days on average . . . compared to three days in places like Singapore,” Lahiri explained, adding India’s heritage draw cannot be completely dismissed as a factor in the country’s $11-billion annual tourism industry.
“You see a person bathing in the Ganges 5,000 years ago, you see the same thing even today,” he explained.
Reminded that several sexual assaults involving female Canadian tourists at Indian beach resorts last year were met with shock and disgust in Canada, and that Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs currently has a nine-page travel advisory related to the dangers — including warnings about armed robbery, kidnapping, and terrorism — in various regions of the country, the Tourism Guru didn’t skip a beat.
“It is human nature to blow up the negative aspect,” he told the South Asian Post. “There is the good and there is the bad, any place.
“A tourist going to any destination always faces the reality that they are a target to undesirables,” he added. “When tourists do come to India, for example the women tourists, they have to avoid going out alone or meeting up with unsavoury characters. Sometimes we bring calamity upon ourselves.”
Lahiri said that India’s 2010 Commonwealth Games infrastructure is is “coming up fantastically” and he plans on continuing his push for Tourism India in British Columbia.
“This is my first visit and hopefully it will be the first of many visits here,” he said. “I’m looking at the long-term perspective.”
Promoting his country’s ‘Incredible India’ initiative, Ronjon Lahiri, the brand new director of Indian Tourism in Canada, hit the ground running at a press luncheon at Surrey’s upscale Bombay Se restaurant last week.
“The passion comes because I’m passionate about my country,” remarked Lahiri, as he eloquently sang the praises of a nation that boasts some of the richest cultural heritage and diverse natural wonders on the planet.
Last year, 192,000 Canadians visited India. In total, a whopping 5.1 million people vacationed in India in 2007 — a figure that does not include an estimated three million Indian passport carrying Non-resident Indians (NRI’s) who return home to holiday each year.
“Canada is ranked third behind U.K. and the U.S.,” said Lahiri, who has worked for India Tourism for the past 24 years. “I want to overtake those markets.”
To that end, Lahiri, based in Toronto, is tossing out the traditional tourism game book wherein India’s myriad wonders are resold to overseas Indians, and is instead actively courting new markets in Canada. Among his targets, Canada’s ethnic communities, with Chinese Canadians his first order of business.
The Tourism Guru has already bombarded the Chinese community in Canada with a Mandarin-language advertising campaign.
“We have breached the Chinese community and they are interested in visiting India,” he says, with unwavering confidence.
Next on the agenda, says the U.K.-born, Sweden-educated travel ambassador, Canada’s Italian, Greek, Portuguese and Eastern European communities, as well as young adventure seekers looking for a life-experience holiday beyond the deck rails of a sun-baked booze cruise.
“I’m going to play at their feelings,” he says, of his plans to tap the burgeoning youth market.
Of course, with the flying public currently forced to absorb skyrocketing fuel prices at the airline ticket counter, long-haul destinations like India need all the Ronjon Lahiris they can muster.
India’s distance-cost factor has traditionally worked to India’s advantage when it comes to foreign-sourced tourism, particularly from North America.
“We have found that foreign tourists spend a minimum of 14 days in India, 28 days on average . . . compared to three days in places like Singapore,” Lahiri explained, adding India’s heritage draw cannot be completely dismissed as a factor in the country’s $11-billion annual tourism industry.
“You see a person bathing in the Ganges 5,000 years ago, you see the same thing even today,” he explained.
Reminded that several sexual assaults involving female Canadian tourists at Indian beach resorts last year were met with shock and disgust in Canada, and that Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs currently has a nine-page travel advisory related to the dangers — including warnings about armed robbery, kidnapping, and terrorism — in various regions of the country, the Tourism Guru didn’t skip a beat.
“It is human nature to blow up the negative aspect,” he told the South Asian Post. “There is the good and there is the bad, any place.
“A tourist going to any destination always faces the reality that they are a target to undesirables,” he added. “When tourists do come to India, for example the women tourists, they have to avoid going out alone or meeting up with unsavoury characters. Sometimes we bring calamity upon ourselves.”
Lahiri said that India’s 2010 Commonwealth Games infrastructure is is “coming up fantastically” and he plans on continuing his push for Tourism India in British Columbia.
“This is my first visit and hopefully it will be the first of many visits here,” he said. “I’m looking at the long-term perspective.”
India : The Bucket List
Planning a holiday to exotic India? Check out “The Bucket List” compiled by seasoned traveller Mahmood Poonja, Chief Explorer with Burnaby-based boutique travel agency Bestway Tours & Safaris.
According to Poonja, these picks of places in India to most definitely see before you kick the bucket are “personal opinions based on my individual interests which are more on culture, history and scenery, in that order.”
1. VARANASI - Ganges
2. AMRITSAR - Golden Temple
3. AGRA - Taj Mahal, Agra Fort
4. AURANGABAD - Ellora & Ajanta Caves
2. AMRITSAR - Golden Temple
3. AGRA - Taj Mahal, Agra Fort
4. AURANGABAD - Ellora & Ajanta Caves
5. DARJEELING - Toy Train, Tea Estates, scenery
6. RAJASTHAN - Desert life of the rich and not so rich, architecture
7. KERALA - House Boats, scenery, people
8. DELHI - Humayun’s Tomb, Jama Masjid, Qutub Minar, Lotus Temple
9. WESTERN & SOUTHERN INDIA COASTLINE - Fishing Villages, temples, people (Gujrat, Goa, Malabar, Kerala and Tamil Nadu)
10. TRAIN TRAVEL - Heritage On Wheels, Palace On Wheels, Deccan Odyssey, Shatabdi’s
6. RAJASTHAN - Desert life of the rich and not so rich, architecture
7. KERALA - House Boats, scenery, people
8. DELHI - Humayun’s Tomb, Jama Masjid, Qutub Minar, Lotus Temple
9. WESTERN & SOUTHERN INDIA COASTLINE - Fishing Villages, temples, people (Gujrat, Goa, Malabar, Kerala and Tamil Nadu)
10. TRAIN TRAVEL - Heritage On Wheels, Palace On Wheels, Deccan Odyssey, Shatabdi’s
visit www.bestway.com
for more information.
for more information.
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