Growing atrocities against women including rape incidents have discouraged foreign tourists from visiting tourist destinations in Madhya Pradesh, said ASSOCHAM national secretary general DS Rawat on Wednesday.
He was in the city for releasing a report on tourism sector in Madhya Pradesh. Clocking Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of a staggering 381 per cent, Madhya Pradesh has recorded maximum surge in domestic tourist arrival in India which reached to 5.3 crore in 2012 from a level of 1.1 crore in 2006.
“MP is emerging as a preferred tourist destination for domestic tourists as the state accounts for over five per cent share in the total domestic tourist visits of over 103 crore across India as of 2012," according to a study titled 'Indian Tourism Industry: The way forward,' conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
However, MP does not figure amid top ten states with high share in foreign tourist arrival in India as the state attracted about 2.7 lakh foreign tourists in 2012 which had increased by 2.36 per cent from 2.6 lakh tourist footfall in 2011.
“Due to growing rape cases in Madhya Pradesh, ten countries including UK, Denmark, Canada and others have issued advisory for their citizens for avoiding visits to MP,” Rawat claimed.
"Poor infrastructure in and around tourist destinations and improper air connectivity are other reasons why foreign nationals avoid MP for leisure visit," he added.
Underlining the major hindrances in tourism sector in the country, Rawat said that the taxation policies are not encouraging for foreign nationals and professionals engaged in hospitality sector are not trained properly to provide proper hospitality to the foreign nationals.
Asked to comment on efforts from MP State Tourism Development Corporation for promoting state as the tourist destination, Rawat claimed that all the efforts are in vain if the law and order is not improved.
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