Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Plea to revive tourism industry

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, JAN. 24. The Travel Club, an association of hoteliers, travel agencies and tour operators in Madurai, has urged the Government to initiate measures on a war footing to revive the States's tourism industry, which was shattered by the tsunami tragedy, and take steps to allay fears among domestic and foreign tourists about travelling in Tamil Nadu.

In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister, G. Vasudevan, president of the club, said that the industry started picking this year. But, unfortunately, the tidal waves took a heavy toll on the industry as well and triggered huge cancellations of tourist traffic.

Dr. Vasudevan said the Centre's statement that the percentage of foreign tourists visiting Tamil Nadu was insignificant added to the grievance as it suggested that the impact on foreign exchange revenue owing to cancellation by tourists who had planned to visit the State would be of no consequence. Similarly, the Government in its statement said that the tourist traffic to the South could be diverted to North India instead of Tamil Nadu.

Further, the situation worsened following the warning of several foreign consulates to their citizens to avoid travelling in South India.

Hence, the Central and State Governments must take steps to reassure travel agents and foreign tourists that travelling in the State was safe and that there was no need to cancel their planned trips. It would help if both the Governments issued statements in this regard to allay the fear among tourists, particularly about the possibility of an outbreak of epidemics as alleged by the United Nations.

Dr. Vasudevan told The Hindu that countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia, which were also affected by the seismic waves, had started initiating revival measures in an effort to tide over the crisis. Since the revenue generated by tourism was huge, the Governments of these countries had immediately swung into action, as they did not want to lose this income. If similar steps were taken in the State, it would help to revive the industry upon which lakhs of people depended for their livelihood directly or indirectly, he said.

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