Union Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi has urged the State Governments and Union Territories to create a cadre of tourist police in one form or other to provide security to the tourists and instill a sense of confidence in them.
Referring to the recent incidents of assault on women tourists which has seriously damaged India's image, Chiranjeevi said: "If inspite of our best efforts, such incidents occur, we must take immediate action to bring the culprits to the book and ensure speedy court trials. While doing so, we must show our sensitivity towards the feelings of the victim and respect their dignity and privacy".
"It is not only important that we provide security to the tourists but it is also important that we must instill a sense of confidence in them," he added.
Asserting that the tourist police can be deployed visibly in places where such incidents can happen, Chiranjeevi said this can be done either by borrowing some companies from the Police Department or hiring ex-servicemen or home guards.
Inaugurating a day-long National Conference of State Tourism Ministers here, Chiranjeevi further said the second important issue which has become a serious cause of concern and due to which we are losing business to other markets is cleanliness and hygiene.
Expressing concern over high tax structure on tourism products, Chiranjeevi said that collective taxes like VAT, Service Tax and Luxury Tax on tourism related services range between 20 to 30 per cent in India as compared 5 to 10 percent in the neighbouring countries.
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"I have opened a dialogue with the Finance Ministry to rationalise the central taxes. I would request you also to take up the issue of rationalisation of State taxes with your counterpart in Finance Department of your State," he added.
Referring to the recent tragedy in Uttarakhand as very unfortunate, Chiranjeevi said while developing tourism destinations, we must keep in mind the principles of sustainability and carrying capacity.
"This must be done especially for the religious places where large number of pilgrims congregates at a given time," he said.
"It is our responsibility that we must immediately assess the carrying capacity of various tourism destinations and address the sustainability issues. In case, some remedial measures are required, they must be taken before any disaster happens. Uttarakhand has been a warning to all of us," he added.