Economists are busy advising Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi about the policy decisions he should take for economic revival. But, surprisingly, nobody has talked about, let alone made recommendations, for tourism. The sector is simply not on the radar of either major politicians or public intellectuals; it has never been.
The tourism portfolio has always been considered infra-dig in political circles; after Karan Singh, no leader of stature has been tourism minister. Tourism does not figure in the scheme of things of conventional politicians. But Mr.Modi is not a conventional politician; this may give a fillip to the sector. It is for the first time that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised in its Manifesto to “strategically develop high impact domains like labour-intensive manufacturing (viz. textile, footwear, electronics assembly, etc.) and tourism.” This is in order to “accord high priority to job creation and....
