‘Punjab never presented itself as a tourist destination’

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Chandigarh, Jun 11: The Punjab government has joined hands with United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) to promote tourism in the state. The 10 member team, having know-how in human resources, environment, marketing, infrastructure planning, business consultant is being led by UNWTO leader, Richard Batchelor. Batchelor is busy preparing a master plan to build the brand image of Punjab as tourist destination since last February. He has worked in West Bengal and Orissa to tourism the states’ tourism. Batchelor, who has 27 years of experience in the tourism sector, told FE how Punjab could become an attraction for the international tourists .

To begin with, it was important for Richard to identify the weaknesses of the state so that it could catch up with the best tourist destinations of the country or other parts of the world.

Explaining some of the challenges, he said, “There are no reliable statistics available on the inflow of tourists visiting the state every year. It is every important to keep record of tourists and to profile few of them to know their requirements. However, after studying the state, we have projected that around 4 million tourists will pour in this year. On the basis of this data, we will assess the demand for accommodations too. The tourism ministry has not been able to provide facilities to tourists as the private sector can provide. Furthermore, the signages are missing, which could guide the tourists to reach a particular destination”.

“The tourism ministry has never presented Punjab as a tourist destination. No wonder, there are hardly tourist information centres. Moreover, there is a dire need of having tour guides. Public-private partnership (PPP) can play a big role in improving the infrastructure. Besides pumping in the money, there is need for proper marketing the state”, he added.

Richard said Punjab should be presented as a religio-heritage and farm tourism destination. According to him, heritage towns like Patiala, Kapurthala, Bathinda, Sultanpur Lodhi, Anandpur Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib, Kiratpur Sahib with magnificent architectural value, rich heritage and fascinating history had ‘amazing’ but unexploited tourism potential. He averred that Punjab is an agricultural state and farm tourism can catch up here. He felt that there were many tourists who would want to explore rural life. But the goverppnment also needed to pay attention towards the problem of environment and water pollution.