Seriously? Even the survey writer appears politely incredulous. He or she has termed the finding "remarkable and extremely encouraging" and added, "a very few number of respondents were still sceptical". Perhaps this minority would have agreed with the Business Standard reporter's wry observation that "Countries such as Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia might have declared India 'unsafe' for tourists, but a majority of respondents in an Indian industry body survey think otherwise".
Or maybe these 398 people have never done any of the following things in India: (a) used any form of public transport; (b) walked down a crowded road in an Indian city; (c) checked into a low-budget hotel; and/or (d) visited a monument/beach without an escort. Any tourist who has done any of the above could have corrected their notions of India being "Totally Safe", especially foreign women tourists (note that the list excludes the random risk of terrorism that has become a grim reality of urban life). For that matter, many Indians (especially women) could have corrected them fairly forcefully on this point.
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The mystery of this happy notion can partly be cleared up when you read Ficci's explanation of the stakeholders who were surveyed: "hotels of all categories, tour operators, travel agents, airlines, investors and tourism associations". No tourists, surely the biggest "stakeholder" in the tourism business and scarcely represented by "tourism associations".
The fact is that many of the "stakeholders" in the survey are among the indirect gainers from India's lack of safety. They stand to profit by earning premiums for providing facilities that tourists in countries like France, United States and China (the world's top three destinations) can access cheaply and easily. To provide just one example: it is perfectly safe for a foreign tourist to use a public bus in any of these countries (I can attest to doing so in the US and China); only the most intrepid of foreign tourists would venture to do so in India.
Paradoxically, these same respondents have listed "Security and Safety for Tourists" as a point in response to the question: "What is required for the growth of Inbound Tourism in India that is not being provided today by the stakeholders in tourism?" This tells you something about how this unique view of India's safety plays into the feedback loop. As critically, it does not encourage the said "stakeholders" to collectively push local administrations to make India safer for tourists; instead, the focus is on obtaining "industry status" for tourism to access cheaper funds and visa regulations and so on.
Yet, with a growing reputation for lack of personal safety, India is losing out in ways the tourism industry may not have grasped. With just 6.6 million tourists a year, many of them non-resident Indians (NRIs), India doesn't figure among the world's top 10 destinations, not even the top 20. This in spite of living up to its "incredible India" tag and hosting within its 3.3 million square kilometres almost every feature - and more! - that the world's top 10 tourist destinations can offer. India is outstripped by countries like Ukraine, spectacularly beautiful but limited, which received 21.4 million visitors in 2011 and boring old Singapore (10.4 million visitors). As for China, at 57.6 million, India doesn't even come close (the Middle Kingdom will outperform India even if we subtract NRC visits).
To be sure, lack of safety is only one aspect of the problem: after all, Ukraine and Mexico are also notoriously unsafe but still manage to attract larger numbers of tourists than India. Robust transport networks also count, as do a host of other factors - visa regulations, reasonable hotels, and so on. But India is beginning to catch up on several of these heads, though as with all things the progress is patchy. Road networks in many states are far better than they were a decade ago. Air connectivity has improved too and private low-cost airlines have set standards of service that would outstrip some global full-service counterparts in grace and efficiency. Ditto with middle-budget hotel chains. Public transport networks like the Delhi (and before that Kolkata) metros have proven a safe, usable option for visitors. Indeed, in terms of base infrastructure, India is more tourist-friendly than it was two decades ago. But equally, the reputation for safety of some of our tourist hot spots - Goa, Kerala, the Golden Triangle - has deteriorated sharply. And with the global advisories piling up mainly on this account, perhaps it is time for "stakeholders" to wake up and recognise the reality that India is, actually, "Totally Unsafe".