Port Blair (Caritas News) -- More than six months after the tsunami disaster devastated the Andaman Islands, the Indian government has launched a campaign to promote the archipelago as an unspoilt, high-end eco-tourism destination.
The novelty of the project is to involve the tsunami-affected local communities in the new tourism campaign that the government has embarked on. The Andaman Islands, covered in rainforest and palm trees and fringed by coral reefs, have always been one of India's least known tourist destinations. But after the Dec. 26 tsunami, tourists stopped coming to the islands. Just 3,300 people made it in the first quarter of this year, a drop of more than 90 percent.
"The Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion) tourism industry which is the backbone of Andaman economy has been in danger because of the tsunami disaster,” says Deepak Govind, president of Andaman and Nicobar Tourism Guild. Govind, a tour operator, says he had to refund money to many tourists who had made their bookings before tsunami. “Now we are trying to convince the tourists to forget tsunami and come to enjoy our islands,” Govind said. Decline in tourists’ arrival to the Andamans has prompted the federal Ministry of Tourism to chalk out a plan of action to attract more tourists to the islands.
“We have launched a campaign to ensure that people start going back to Andamans because it is one of the most beautiful places to travel in India," says Amitabh Kant, Joint Secretary in Tourism Ministry. The effort, the top official said, is to the convince tourists worldwide that the Andaman Islands are normal and safe. "The tsunami waves did not destroy the islands. The beautiful islands remain as evergreen they were before," he said. The Ministry, Kant said, has already produced brochures and CD-ROMs to market the Andaman Islands. Last month, the Ministry took a group of leading tour operators from mainland India to the islands. In the long term, the Ministry has more ambitious plans – attracting "high-value, low-volume tourists" while preserving the islands' unique ecology. As part of the tourism promotion, the Ministry is encouraging tour operators to set up eco-lodges made out of wood and other local materials rather than bricks and mortar, and to involve the local community in the projects. In order to prevent the islands being over-run, the Ministry wants to limit numbers to 5,000 to 6,000 foreign tourists a month. "So that there will be quality tourism in Andamans. We do not want the beauty of our precious islands to go away," he pointed out. "The government does not want to promote the islands as a snorkelling or diving destination until a full environmental study has been carried out," Kant added.