What can India and Indians do to attract more international tourists

3 years ago by DeadNinja to c/india

phx 79 points 3 years ago

One major reason I'd not want to go to India is that there seems to be a significant crowd of Nationalists that would rather deny any issues than face and fix them, and can be quite hostile to anyone that points then out. I don't really care for the "apes" commentary as that seems racist AF, but if tourism is a goal then cleaning up regressive bullshit like caste and gender discrimination (and not conducting assassinations on foreign soil then getting hostile when called on it) would be a good start.

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Anticorp -48 points 3 years ago

Why would you go to another country and talk about their politics with the locals? Don't point out issues with a country you are a guest in to nationalists.

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bobbyfiend 27 points 3 years ago

Because human rights don't stop being important when you cross a border.

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Anticorp -12 points 3 years ago

Mhmm. Enjoy your vacation arguing with strangers...

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Duamerthrax 14 points 3 years ago

Why does it have to be an outside complaining? I've seen an Indian actress complain about sexism and was told to "shut up. You're making us look bad".

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LoveSausage 66 points 3 years ago

So, I have been both working, studying, and spent leisure time in India about a year in total. I lived for 6 months outside New Delhi in the slums. Made interview among tribes and people displaced by established nature tourism. Together with my wife. Been to tourist spots as well.

Yea you are kind of like a bunch of school kids sometimes. Just a bit scarier. I only encountered the grandiose self image besides India in the US.

My wife could not be alone a second.

The fascist Hindu nationalism is awful to see , for a western fascist probably laughable.

Just to be plain: You think India is best in all the ways , for an outsider it's like a bunch of people throwing everything in a pile and letting the strongest win.

Just the amount of people trying to prove forced marriage is so much better than the possibility for divorce or just marry who you want.

Of course different rules based on caste , one of my Indian friends who is kind of famous in the movie business still have a hard time based on his last name and actually trying to do some good in India.

The ads in your papers sounds like you selling cows rather than your sisters and daughters.

Don't get me wrong there are great people , great movements and great things in India.

But overall WTF...

Today I would not return for leisure unless to visit friends there.

*Edited due to poor wordings.

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velox_vulnus -14 points 3 years ago
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LoveSausage 17 points 3 years ago

Not really I did some work there. I also been around in both the north and the south. So you kind of just assumed stuff. Most my work I did in madhya pradesh.

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velox_vulnus -4 points 3 years ago
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LoveSausage 12 points 3 years ago

How's your reading capabilities? Try again , notice "most" "and". Read slowly. Kerala was sure better but still my wife never went anywhere alone.

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Spacebar 61 points 3 years ago

Ok folks, keep your comments focused on the money and ignore the sexual violence. Great job.

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yokonzo 38 points 3 years ago

There's like 4 threads here, If you want to talk about it, talk about it. don't whine that someone else didn't start the conversation

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angrymouse 7 points 3 years ago

I agree with you but he is kinda doing it.

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Voyajer 2 points 3 years ago

You're whining about him starting the conversation.

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RealFknNito 12 points 3 years ago

Passive aggressively bitching about other people not doing something is not the same as actually doing it. In fact, it's often detrimental to that cause because who the fuck wants to entertain the dickbag getting pissy with strangers for not doing what they themselves aren't even doing?

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yokonzo -1 points 3 years ago

Yeah if that's a conversation starter I'm an eagle

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Anticorp 1 point 3 years ago

I'm an eagle

Me'rica. Fuck yeah!

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tastysnacks -17 points 3 years ago

What is there to discuss about it?

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ArbiterXero 51 points 3 years ago

In fairness, “you ARE rich”

most tourists don’t realize how rich they are for being able to travel and don’t really understand poverty and the depths of poverty that exist in other countries.

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snooggums 34 points 3 years ago

the depths of poverty that exist in other countries.

They rarely understand the poverty that exists in their own countries.

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dmalteseknight 15 points 3 years ago

Sure, but back in the home countries the rich are not fleeced for their money for regular services and goods.

People are willing to pay more money but the "I am entitled to your money" makes it feel like they are being taken advantage of.

They might as well go to a relatively more expensive country(more expensive than the "tourist prices" in india) to avoid feeling othered.

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ArbiterXero 5 points 3 years ago

Yep, it feels unfair.

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De_Narm 2 points 3 years ago

So much this. It's sure to be a rough figure, but I quickly found someone calculating the percentage of people travelling internationally in 2018: it's 2 %. Let's say he's off by a lot (and assuming only a fraction of people with the money actually travel) and go with 10%, that's still a pretty elusive circle of rich people right there.

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neurogenesis 2 points 3 years ago

That's pretty fascinating..

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davel -12 points 3 years ago

Judging by the downvotes, some very aggressively do not want to understand. They’re offended that you should even suggest it.

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ArbiterXero 2 points 3 years ago

The problem is that they don’t feel rich because they compare themselves to people who are even more wealthy.

That, and they feel that this FACT that they are wealthy invalidates the “hustle” they put into getting there. Some of them ACTUALLY put in that much work, most of them didn’t. ALL of them feel like they put in that much hustle, whether they did or didn’t.

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some_guy 44 points 3 years ago

Judging from the train videos, I don't think they can entice me. Too crowded. No hate intended. I don't like crowds.

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fossphi 2 points 3 years ago

Crowded in general? Yes. But I'm pretty sure those train videos are mostly a thing in Mumbai. I hear that the North East is a bit of a hidden gem

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fossphi 2 points 3 years ago
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pan_troglodytes -2 points 3 years ago

a lot of those trains date from when India was British property. India needs trillions of $$$ investments in infrastructure

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velox_vulnus 13 points 3 years ago
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HowManyNimons 6 points 3 years ago

Yeah we wish we had Indian trains.

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Tikiporch 26 points 3 years ago

Why does this website look like a newspaper? Does Quora print a newspaper somewhere.

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dutchkimble 28 points 3 years ago

I think this is an Indian newspaper which has printed this question from quora to show it's readers. I say indian newspaper because the design looks familiar.

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perishthethought 2 points 3 years ago

No, I think some general newspaper included the quora question in its paper edition.

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electric_nan 15 points 3 years ago

Some of these are legit, but the money ones are bullshit. Especially entrance fees to national monuments. I think of it not as an extra charge for tourists, but as a discount for locals.

I live in the US, but was able to travel to India 25 years ago. It was an unforgettable experience for me, and I would love to return someday. I must say however, that my wife is less excited by the prospect. I would like to think that India's reputation along these lines is both exaggerated and improving.

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phx 19 points 3 years ago

Indeed, I think that people in a country should be able to see their national monuments/treasures at a reduced cost. It's pretty likely that at some point their taxes paid for some of it, and making such things only for tourists is lame.

During Covid here (Canada), locals were given free access to national park, and the restricted tourist traffic meant that people were actually able to find camping spots (many of them get gobbled up and pre-booked by tourism agencies/bots). A lot of people realized there was a lot of the country that they had been missing simply because the industry prioritized tourists over locals. If you're going to a country as a tourist, budget and plan to pay as a tourist!

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donuts 18 points 3 years ago

The money one would be perfectly fine if it was an explicitly stated official policy where Indians get cheaper access to their own tourist attractions and cultural sites. I think it probably starts to get annoying if everything you pay for is marked up by some amount on the spot by chancers who are taking advantage of your naivety. I haven't been to India so I don't know if this is a big problem or a rare occurrence, but I have heard of it happening before, typically in poorer countries.

Lifting people out of poverty by giving them honest jobs with livable wages is probably the only way to fix this, because poverty creates desperation and desperation can lead some people to petty theft, or a host of other personal and social problems.

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electric_nan -7 points 3 years ago

I guess I just don't care that much. Nobody forced you to go visit the country, and buy trinkets or visit landmarks. If the price is too high, either negotiate or don't pay it. I've seen so many people getting upset about whether they are being 'screwed' out of what amounts to a dollar or two.

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donuts 14 points 3 years ago

Well yeah, nobody is forcing you to visit any country.

But if I voluntarily travel somewhere and feel like I'm constantly battling against the risk-reward schemes of dishonest merchants (who aren't just selling trinkets or tickets to toueist attractions, but also potentially inflating the price of basic things like food, drinks and transportation at every opportunity), I'm personally far less likely to have a good time or return for a second visit. The amount of money isn't even the problem, it's the feeling of being taken advantage of or needing to haggle over a bottle of water.

(Again, I haven't been to India so I have no clue to what degree this is or isn't a problem.)

If you don't care then that's fine, but I'd rather spend 10x the money traveling to a place where I have friendly and honest interactions than save money by visiting a place where everybody is looking at me like a potential mark or some kind of loot goblin. That's all I'm saying.

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electric_nan -7 points 3 years ago

This is more about how you feel. How would you know if you're being overcharged? If you can't overcome that feeling that people are constantly out to take advantage of you, then you're gonna have a bad time. Like I said, the best way to approach transactions in unfamiliar settings is to ask yourself "is this worth it to me", rather than asking yourself "would locals pay this much?". You can always walk away. If the vendor wants the sale, they'll let you know.

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EatYouWell 12 points 3 years ago

That's just semantics, like businesses being banned from giving a surcharge for using a credit card, but they can give a discount for cash. It amounts to the same thing.

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electric_nan 3 points 3 years ago

I guess. But either is fine with me. Credit cards have leverage over small businesses who often have tight margins. As for up-charging tourists who visit places in foreign countries, I think of it as a subsidy. If they normalized the entrance fees so that all paid the same, and the total maintenance costs were met-- this may well 'price out' poorer locals. A nicer solution might be income-based, but how would you verify such information at a park entrance?

I also want to add that where I live in California, there are some local attractions that offer discounts to local residents. I really can't understand the fuss.

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DeepFriedDresden 2 points 3 years ago

A lot of places even in the US give discounts to locals. And locals often pay taxes that help support these places. So really it makes sense that locals get a discount, or tourist get a surcharge. However you wanna call it.

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ElleChaise 5 points 3 years ago

Ok, but if they were being even kind of accurate, the numbers aren't akin to a discount. One is equivalent to about one quarter dollar, vs the other being the equivalent of nine dollars. That's gouging, not a locals discount.

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pingveno 3 points 3 years ago

It's an apples to oranges comparison, though, since in India there is a much lower local median income than tourist median income. In the US, tourists and locals are likely to have near parity in income. And it's worth putting some perspective on it, that it's US$9 to visit a stunning world famous jewel of India. If someone pays to travel all that way and is complaining about coughing up US$9 then I don't know what to say.

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DessertStorms -19 points 3 years ago

I think of it not as an extra charge for tourists, but as a discount for locals.

Of course the tourist who can obviously afford to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on a vacation doesn't want to be asked to spend 5 more fucking dollars on something and would rather shift the responsibility on to the locals. But why? When locals probably hardly ever go, and tourists are the one they not only depend on for income, but who are the ones putting the added strain on the local infrastructure?

Because you're a cheap selfish privileged yet oblivious individual who is there because you can get a lot more for a lot less money, and some just don't care why or how or who is really paying the price, that's why.

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riskable 12 points 3 years ago

FYI: RS 750 is $9. Doesn't seem that unreasonable to me 🤷

In fact, India should charge every foreign tourist RS 830 ($10) except the British who should have to pay RS 1660 (£15) but it comes with biscuits and have little shops that sell overpriced tea 👍

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Phanatik 31 points 3 years ago

I'm from Pakistan so it's not like I can ever get a visa to India in the first place but why do this? Why make an entire nationality pay more money because of events they were never involved in? If this is supposed to act as "reparations" then again, why are you charging people who are already paying a lot of money to get to the country?

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velox_vulnus 9 points 3 years ago
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pingveno 2 points 3 years ago

With the exception of a select few historical places, no other place should charge you more.

Do you know why this is? My first thought would be to make crowded historical places more accessible to Indians by increasing the cost of admission for tourists.

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velox_vulnus 4 points 3 years ago
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toastal 7 points 3 years ago

They do this in Thailand. When you live here & don’t pull in the same income as before but can speak the language & whatnot, it feels awful to be treated as such an other when your local community accepts you. You also need to understand how they check which is normally just a skin color check—I’ve spoken to Filipinos that never get the foreigner rate. The worst one for me was in Laos where I was joking in Lao with the staff & had to pay the price, but some ethnic Lao folks from France got the local price despite not speaking a lick & asking me local culture questions in English. I didn’t hold it against them personally, but it really sucks.

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velox_vulnus 5 points 3 years ago
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silencioso 12 points 3 years ago
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Nacktmull 11 points 3 years ago
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Cuttlefish1111 10 points 3 years ago
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S_204 6 points 3 years ago

India is murdering people in Canada and the US. I'll hold off visiting until they stop with that.

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i_have_no_enemies 4 points 3 years ago

reach U$D20K in nominal GDP per capita

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Welt 2 points 3 years ago

ITT: South Asians

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davel 1 point 3 years ago

Making special accommodations for Global North tourists only really enriches the wealthy in the Global South. It may provide a few hospitality industry jobs, but I suspect that, all told, it’s a wash or a detriment to regular people just trying to live their lives.

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ExfilBravo 18 points 3 years ago

It's a detriment to treat women like humans and not sexual objects to grope?

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davel 2 points 3 years ago

No, obviously not. Don’t essentialize all accommodations down to the singular issue of groping women tourists.

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Kusimulkku 2 points 3 years ago

Global North

What does it matter where they come from?

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davel -1 points 3 years ago

It’s not so much a matter of geography as the thickness of their wallets and the chauvanism of people from colonialist/neocolonialist states.

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Kusimulkku 2 points 3 years ago

I would've been more concerned about the attitude and manners of the people and not so much about what their country has done in the past, regardless of where the country lies on the globe.

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davel -1 points 3 years ago path: 0 6265673 6335608 6335857 6338120 6338439, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 0
adityashandilya20 -2 points a year ago
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mholiv 2 points a year ago

This bot is pathetic.

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pingveno -3 points 3 years ago

Paying higher prices than the locals pay is just part of being a tourist, especially for a lower income country. Tourists are bringing cash into the tourist sector of the local economy. If you can't afford to pay what is a pittance to an outside tourist, maybe travel isn't for you.

The sexual harassment I can sympathize with more. That's not just cool. Unfortunately, though, it's far from unique to India.

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Thcdenton -5 points 3 years ago
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ImmaculateTaste -6 points 3 years ago

This can definitely be applied to other countries too

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