Notable investor and market commentator Shankar Sharma said on Wednesday that India has been neglecting its top tourism spots.
Sharma pointed towards moral-policing culture, unsatisfactory infrastructure and safety, unhygienic surroundings with open garbage, and poor driving ethics among other factors.
"Goa could have been our Bali, Phuket. But for that we need a swinging liberal culture not moral policing. And yes we need garbage free roads," Sharma stated.
Sharma replied to an X post from another prominent investor Vijay Kedia who stated that India could have "the next trillion dollar industry" in tourism, with the added caveat that it needs to "get the basics right". "I am willing to lay the opposite bet," Sharma said.
Sharma, a UAE resident, relayed an anecdote about how he visited India with three foreign tourists for some days and said that the country did not offer enough viable options for sightseeing.
"When you look at it from the lens of F2 tourists, barring Taj Mahal & Rajasthan Palace Hotels, there is nothing else that they want to see here with they cannot get anywhere else. ( And of course the approach to the Taj, less said the better)," Sharma wrote in his reply.
F2 tourists refer to those that have a preference for premium destinations for their travel plans.
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He also pointed to a lack of facilities to take payments via international cards, with Sharma saying that carrying cash around was unviable due to safety concerns.
He further pointed towards "non-existent" roads and "terrible driving ethics" as bottlenecks that need addressal.
Sharma also speculated that within the number of tourists that visit the country, F2 tourists make up a small portion of them.
"Out of the 90 lakh tourists every year that come, I am counted a minimum of 20 times because I visit India that many times per year. NRIs are probably 40- 50% of that number. Genuine F2s, F2- esses are probably half," he said.
He called the opportunity to transform the tourism industry to be premiumised and profitable as "a permanent past , present and future opportunity."
"Other countries have not stood still and they have executed. People want amazing places to spend money on. Bali has 80 lakh tourists. Happening at night life. Super cheap. Phuket too. Vietnam. Here we only talk and that's where it ends," Sharma said.
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