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Tour operators woo foreigners as they gear up for poll tourism
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SME Times News Bureau | 23 Mar, 2019
Bolstered by an encouraging trend in the last general elections and
subsequent state assembly polls, many tour operators and travel
companies are gearing up for poll tourism, mainly targeting foreign
tourists as political parties gear up for the April-May Lok Sabha
contest.
Poll tourism, which is emerging fast as a new segment,
is not considered to be leisure travel and many operators are betting on
overseas students studying in colleges and universities, media persons,
youngsters and researchers keen to witness Indian elections to join
their tours.
"This new segment is fast emerging in India as
overseas students, researchers and youngsters are increasingly taking
interest in the world's largest democracy. They are keen to see how the
Election Commission of India (ECI) conducts the poll process, which is a
humongous exercise," Gujarat-based Akshar Travels chief Manish Sharma
told IANS.
According to tour and travel operators, poll tourism
as a concept was tested in the Gujarat Assembly polls in 2012 and had
received "good response" in the 2014 general elections and subsequent
state assembly polls, though the scale of operations was on the "lower
side".
"This time, operators are gearing up and have started
getting enquiries. About 5,000 tourists, taking the accumulated data
from various operators, had come for the elections in 2014 from the US,
the UK, UAE, Japan, Germany, France and many other European countries.
Our expectation is that over 10,000 tourists will come this time for the
polls," Sharma said.
Like last time, the operators are planning
to take tourists to public rallies of different political parties and
trying to arrange interactions with candidates or ministers of the
Central or state governments who are either in the fray or involved in
the campaign for their respective parties, Travel Agents Federation of
India National Committee Member Hitank Shah said.
Asked why
foreigners are keen to experience the poll process, he said: "Elections
in India are like a festival. The Election Commission, too, calls the
parliamentary battle the largest festival of democracy. Even the filing
of nominations by the candidates has become colourful. Tourists coming
from the UK, the US, Japan and some European countries want to see the
political jamboree in India because they do not have the same kind of
scenario in their respective countries.
Along with witnessing the
election process and procedure in India, the poll tourism packages
covering 7-8 days tag known tourists destinations of various states so
that the heritage, tradition and culture of India can be experienced,
operators said.
"We are expecting around 8,000-10,000 tourists to
come and witness the election carnival in India. About 1,000-1,200
tourists have already made their bookings with various operators," Shah
told IANS.
Bookings and enquiries are "expected to go up" as
political parties come out with full lists of candidates and start
campaigning, Sharma said.
Foreign tourists are keen to know how
the electors choose their representatives in Parliament and how common
people and political personalities interact with each other.
The
elections will be held in seven phases for 543 Lok Sabha constituencies
from April 11 to May 19. The votes will be counted on May 23.
Tour
operators also said states with multiple-phase polls provide them a
greater opportunity and flexibility to design the packages, while the 22
states and union territories going to the hustings in a single phase
provides less flexibility.
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