It's incredible, India lags badly
Stunning contrast:Impeccable facilities and friendly staff enhance the tourist experience at a naturally endowed destination such as Alaska.
Deciding to indulge ourselves in a memorable holiday, my wife, Rati, and I embarked on an Alaskan cruise, which proved to be exotic beyond expectations. The exciting trip down the Canadian Rockies, which followed, is a less-known tourist attraction.
One could not help but compare these destinations and their tourist infrastructure with those back home. Just as in Alaska and Canada, India too has exotic glaciers, abundant blue-water lakes, game parks, waterfalls and canyons. Then why does the global tourist prefer to head to the former? Besides the obvious disparity in infrastructure, where we lag by decades in comparison, there are several other key differences too.
Yes, we don't have enough roads and airports to support tourism in the interiors, and these require huge investments. But how about some of the other basic requirements? Until recently, even popular tourist attractions in the Golden Triangle did not have functional, let alone clean and hygienic, toilet facilities. At Amber Fort, Jaipur, a few years ago I was pleasantly surprised to find new urinals, but I couldn't wash my hands as the taps were dry! In contrast, even in the middle of a forest during our foreign trip, we found holes in the ground topped by clean commodes. Hand sanitisers made up for the absence of water and, of course, toilet rolls were in abundance. The caretakers were constantly cleaning the place to ensure it was dry and odour-free.
Information
Information displays go a long way in enhancing the tourism experience of a place. At a waterfall in Alaska, for instance, there was a plaque highlighting the fact that the erosion caused by the falling water was likely to create a deep gorge over time, leading one to imagine how changed the place would appear after a millennium. Back home, barring a few exceptions, visits to historical monuments largely require the use of local guides to glean any information on the place. Forget about information plaques, many of our natural wonders are not even recognised for what they are. India's Niagara Falls, somewhere in Chhattisgarh, reportedly had only about 26 visitors during the year. Similarly, near Jalna is a gigantic crater with a lake at its bottom that was reportedly formed after a meteor crashed here nearly 50,000 years ago. Visiting the area some years ago, I found that some temples had come up at the rim and the surrounding area was filthy with no trace of maintenance. A natural wonder like this would have been converted into a major tourist attraction in any other country.
Passion
Right from the coach driver and train attendant to the guide, nearly every employee at the Alaskan tourist sites displayed a sense of pride in the environment and the responsibility to protect it. On spotting an animal they would insist on maintaining the mandatory distance to ensure it was undisturbed. In sharp contrast, during a trip to the Bandhavgarh Tiger Sanctuary there was a mad scramble among the vehicles to move dangerously close to the animal, egged on by tourists eager to photograph it. At one point, a tiger was dangerously sandwiched between two sets of vehicles on opposite ends of the road.
Driving on the expressway in the Canadian Rockies, we were struck by the number of overpasses/ underpasses created for the exclusive use of animals crossing over to the other side of the expressway.
Wire meshes were in place to protect the animals from the speeding traffic. The passes were camouflaged with trees and bushes so that they appeared as extensions of the forest on either side. As a Canadian guide explained their credo: keep the animals in and the people out.
Multitasking
The coach attendant in the Rocky Mountaineer train was the ticket checker, steward, guide and customer relations manager, all rolled into one. Even as he served meals, he would provide great commentary on the passing landscape. As a salesman he also tries selling memorabilia and at the end of the journey helps unload baggage. One attendant for around 60 guests! That's amazing productivity.
On the Columbia ice field, we were travelling in a monstrous ice-trekker driven by a girl barely in her twenties. She explained how the ice formation took place, the speed with which ice melted, the rock formations under ice and other geological details of the place. She clearly enjoyed her job, which provides a valuable lesson. Our tourism industry can really take off only if, among other things, we can make the job interesting for the stakeholders at the ground level
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/life/2010/12/31/stories/2010123150040100.htm
