Saturday 16 / November / 2024
Muscat: The Indian embassy hosted a programme on Tuesday to boost tourism to India from Oman.
The idea was to make people aware of the tourist attractions in Indian states, besides making them aware of the rules and procedures concerning tourist visas.
The programme, dubbed India tourism roadshow 2018, was attended by chief of west Asia department, ministry of foreign affairs of Oman, Sheikh Hilal Marhoun Salem Al Mamri, and ambassador from India to Oman Indra Mani Pandey.
IRV Rao, Assistant Director of India tourism, Dubai, a body that is under the purview of the Indian tourism ministry, said there were numerous places that one could see in India.
“India is a diverse nation and it reflects in the different tourist spots that one can enjoy. There is the old city of Delhi, Taj Mahal in Agra, Gulmarg in Kashmir with its ski resorts, and Munnar in Kerala, just to name a few. If you travel to these places, you’ll realise what we mean by unity in diversity,” he said.
“Also, India has 32 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) heritage sites. These are beautiful historical places. India is also home to some rare wildlife, especially in our bio-reserves,” Rao added.
Rao said that the states and central Indian governments had been trying to promote tourism in a very active manner, adding that it had yielded results.
Competitiveness index
“India’s tourism competitiveness index has improved to 42. A tourist helpline has been set up in India. One can speak to the helpline in 12 languages. If the tourist is in a hotel room, he/she need only dial 1363 to avail of the helpline’s services,” he added.
Rao remarked that India was the second largest healthcare hub in Asia, adding that the number of medical tourists had been on the rise. “India is one of the top wellness destinations in the world. Government data recorded that there had been 32.7 million medical trips to India last year. It is not just conventional medicine. We also have yoga retreats, and our ancient branch of medicine, Ayurveda, which is being promoted by the Ayush ministry,” Rao said.
Medical tourism
S M Harish, an official representing Karnataka tourism, also spoke about medical tourism. “Bangalore is one of the main medical tourism hubs in India. But we have alternative therapy centres in other parts of the state, such as Gokarna, Mangalore and Mysore,” he said.
On being asked about medical tourism from Oman to India and how citizens from neighbouring countries such as Yemen could make use of the same facilities, Pandey said these concerns were being addressed.
“As far as citizens of Yemen are concerned, we need to acknowledge that we don’t have an embassy in the country. However, our embassy in Djibouti is currently issuing medical visas for Yemeni nationals,” Pandey added.
