Indian minister urges Russian tourists to discover other destinations than Goa

NEW DELHI, December 6. /TASS/. India’s Tourism Minister Joseph Alphons Kannanthanam believes that Russian tourists should visit not only the resort state of Goa and the Taj Mahal India, but also many other interesting destinations. In an interview with TASS the minister marked a bigger growth of India’s tourism in comparison with the growth the global tourism. "The global tourism grew by 7% last year, while arrivals of tourists to India increased by 14%. While the global tourism income grew only by 5%, the Indian tourism (from international arrivals to the country) grew by 19.2%. So we have done dramatically well last year. Are we happy? - No! There is so much to see in India," he said. According to the Minister, 15.5 mln tourists visited India last year and 279,000 of them were Russians. However, according to data for the period from January to October, the number of tourists from Russia did not grow as usual in comparison with the same period last year, and even a slight decline was registered (less than 1%). The minister noted that the authorities are not experiencing any serious difficulties because of the growing number of tourists arriving in India. Problems occur only in locations of some historical monuments, such as the Taj Mahal. It is visited by such a large number of people that the authorities sometimes have to limit the number of visitors. The second place which is often overcrowded with tourists is Goa, he said. "(The resort state) of Goa is one of the most popular places among Russians. Some places are overcrowded there which of course brings problems. Local people have a feeling that there are too many people out there. So I think the solution will be to choose new destinations. India has 8,000 km of the seacoast. We have beautiful beaches and we need to develop those beaches into new destinations and shift part of the crowd there," he said. When asked what he would advise tourists to visit instead of Goa, the minister said: "The state of Keralla, the Kovalam Beach. The number of tourists coming there are not too many. We have very good hotels there, beautiful beaches." For those who love wildlife, India can offer visiting many nature reserves where one can see different animals. Perhaps India is the only country today, where tourists can spot tigers in the wild, the minister said. He also mentioned a national park in the Gujarat state where tourist can watch lions in the wild and the Kaziranga national park in the state of Assam where very rare Asian one-horned rhinos live. The Indian Tourism Minister recalled that there are more than 3,500 historical monuments in the country and some of them are thousands of years old. India owns 73% of the Himalayas, which offers opportunities for mountain climbing. "For those who is interested in mountaineering India is the place," he said adding that such activities as kayaking, rafting, mountain biking are available in the country’s northern states. "All these northern states are incredibly beautiful. You don’t really have overcrowding problems, so you can have a peaceful time there," the minister said. Read more