Schools should take students to see the heritage sites they learn about in their studies: Vikas Rustagi

Vikas Rustagi, who has played a key role in promoting Indian tourism in West Asia and Africa, has recently taken over as Regional Director (Western and Central region). dna caught up with him over a freewheeling conversation talking about his plans to promote tourism in Maharashtra as a tourist destination. Below are the excerpts.

Dna: What ails tourism in Maharashtra and what is the way forward?
VR: Maharashtra is the number one gateway for inbound tourists in the country due to the financial capital, Mumbai. This is apart from the abundance of natural and heritage assets this state possesses, including 350 forts, a long coastline and religious places. However, there is a need to concentrate on promoting it in a more organised manner by catering to tourists of all tastes and budgets. Cleanliness, like other parts of India, is also an issue which we need to take care of.

dna: What are the immediate plans of your ministry?
VR: Since I have just taken over and because of a new government at the Centre, The Ministry of Tourism (MoT), recently held a meeting with the Maharashtra State Tourism (MST) to begin with, asking them to identify a set of key tourism projects they want to develop. The MoT has assured the MST that they will be offered the maximum allocated budget to implement these projects under the Central Finance Assistance Scheme (CFA) of the MoT.

dna: The luxury train, Deccan Odessey – run by the MST – is not attracting enough foreign tourists. What do you think is needed to make it more popular? Is there any problem with its business plan and pricing?
VR: First of all, we need to understand that its not overpriced and the services it offers are world class. However, there is an urgent need to have a relook at its functioning, publicity and marketing efforts in overseas markets. For domestic tourists, we can have a luxury train on Mumbai-Goa route. By luxury train, I mean one that can have better cuisine, entertainment at a reasonable price and less travel time. If this happens, tourists would naturally first arrive in Mumbai, spend a few days here and then proceed to Goa.

dna: What is the single most important thing which you believe can turn tourism into the leading employment generator in the state?
VR: I want to encourage schools to take their students out and let them see all the ancient forts, heritage sites and other places which they learn about, in their text books. This will help in developing a strong domestic youth tourism sector for the future. An estimated 800 million domestic tourists travelled during 2013 and a better visitor experience, protection of local cultures with an improved tourism infrastructure and facilities, keeping in mind the environmental responsibilities, would lead to sustained growth not only for the domestic, but also international travelers. With this kind of young population and a growing economy, our domestic tourism sector can have a robust growth for several decades to come.

dna: MTDC has been planning several spiritual, cultural and religious tourism circuits, without much success. How will MoT chip in to make the idea successful?
VR: Religious and cultural tourism is big in our country, as people have been going on pilgrimages since thousands of years. Maharashtra has a great diversity in terms of religion and culture. Many well known places worship and history of religions like Hinduism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Christianity are spread across the state, which the MoT believes can be turned into great centres of tourism. The only thing we need to do, is to identify such circuits and promote it in a well planned manner. We will be supporting MTDC to promote it in all possible manners.

a_shahakar@dnaindia.net