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“You should go there for a vacation. We all enjoyed our time out there. If you decide to go I will give you all
the information like trains, places to visit and restaurants. I have all the data.” My friend was very excited about
the place he had recently visited with his family for their annual summer vacation. “Why don’t you also put up all the
information on your web site? It will be very helpful for everyone who is planning to go there.” I suggested. “Hey, that
is a very good suggestion. I will certainly compile all the information and put it up at the site this weekend.” My
friend had found another reason to be excited about!!
We all travel. Sometimes it’s the annual summer vacation, sometimes a trip to our native place and sometimes it’s just
the weekend trip to enjoy some time off our busy schedules. During the course of our stay we all come to know a lot about
the place. Why not put it to good use so that others get benefited?
However, you don’t have to travel to far away places to do something useful to improve sightseeing in India. You can do
it right from your home, right in your city. How? Read on.
Steps:
We all read in the newspapers how government is not doing anything to improve the tourist experience in India.
Do you realize that we all can do plenty to change this without waiting for government’s assistance? There are
things you can do alone and there are others that need co-operation of your locality’s Citizen Group so that the
government can be pressurized into taking necessary steps. Don’t have your own
citizen group?
Form one right away and do all that you can.
1) Identify the places that could be potential tourist attractions e.g. temples, forts,
old buildings, seashores, waterfalls, woods and so on. Include current tourist attractions in this list too so that
they can be improved.
2) Put up informative boards - Collect as much data as possible about the place like
history, date of construction and historical or religious significance.
3) In cases of structures like forts where people can roam about in a vast area,
put up boards with directions everywhere so that no one will get lost and they will be able to move about
without any assistance. Paper maps can also be provided at a small charge.
4) Put up street signs leading the way to the tourist place in the surrounding locality
so people can find their way easily to the spot. The same signs can be used to attract tourists to the spot.
5) Your Citizen Group can make the tourism department provide for better facilities at
the site – pay-and-use toilets, water fountains, clean and healthy eating places (serving local cuisine) and
security. These facilities will also add to the local employment.
6) Arrange for reasonably priced modes of transport like buses and cabs. Also make
sure that the information about bus timings (clearly specifying precise time of the last bus) and bus and
cab fares is clearly mentioned at the entrance gates in at least 3 languages – local language, Hindi and English.
7) Gift shops can be opened selling:
Postcards with photos of this and other tourist spots of the city.
Information booklet about tourist spots in the city.
Handicrafts and other locally made items.
Miniature replica of the fort or temple i.e. the tourist spot.
Cassettes of local music.
8) If the mementoes are tagged with small white price tags, it will be easier for tourists.
9) Put up a web site for this and other tourist spots in the city for promoting tourism.
It is not difficult to put up a web site and someone or other in your Citizen Group will be always enthusiastic
about building one. Encourage your group members to contribute to this site after their every trip. The site can
include information like:
The place the member has visited.
Mode of transport, fares, timings and service quality during the journey.
Tourist spots visited by the member and other spots that can be visited.
Local cuisine and restaurants.
Weather information, clothing instructions and local transport arrangement.
Shopping information.
Precautions to be taken.
If you need any help in setting up the web site, contact us.
Model Sites:
Gorp
TimesCity
Feedback:
If you have any suggestions about improving the tourist experience in India or have implemented any
such plans in the past, please write to us so that others can make use of your efforts.
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