Indian Tourism: News & Discussion

[Neshant]

Guy from Singapore and his friends went to Andhra Pradesh and did a bunch of drawings/sketches on the fly.
He returned to Singapore and his sketches are exhibited in an art show.

Pretty good stuff, take a look.
All of his sketches were drawn on the spot as he traveled around.

Leave him some good comments on his work.
Check out his other works too.

Hell Singapore is doing a better job of promoting India than Indian babus ever will.




His sketches are here :

[Singha]

Kerala's Kochi airport extended its suspension of all flight operations till Saturday afternoon after its runway and parking area got flooded. Train services have also been affected, with many trains being delayed and cancelled

[Sachin]

Kerala's Kochi airport extended its suspension of all flight operations till Saturday afternoon after its runway and parking area got flooded. Train services have also been affected, with many trains being delayed and cancelled

CIAL should be operational from today (29th) afternoon hours.

[Paul]

Trip to Bali: My Balinese Hindu Taxi driver told me Hindus can be found as far east as Papua province...next to Papua New guinea.

[Rishirishi]

Indias huge domestic tourism potential. Indians spent 23 billion dollars on holidays abroad. I think a lot more people would choose to holiday in India, if we had better infrastructure in place. Better hotels (at fair price), area development, accessibility etc.

India is also very expensive. Someone spend Rs 300K on a 4 day visit (4 people) to Ladhak from Mumbai. A 12 days trip for 4 people to Italy, including, apartments, inland travel in Italy, Visa, car hire and fuel, cost 350K (Most Indians will pay more).

If GOI spent some 10-15 billion dollars to develop select 3-4 Singapore like destinations

Indian outbound tourists will account for 22.5 million worldwide tourists in 2018, with reports from the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) estimating this figure will increase by 122 per cent to reach over 50 million by 2022. The ATM is scheduled to take place here from April 28 -May 1, 2019.

Adding to this, Indian tourists are among the world’s highest spenders per visit made abroad, with visitor spend expected to increase from USD 23 billion in 2018 to USD 45 billion by 2022.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... BWwiJ.html

[jpremnath]

The outbound volume will only go up...There are Thailand tour packages which are going at 15k per head..its so enticing that even clerks in govt jobs are going for it..There is no destination in India which can compete with that kind of cost. The hotel and tour operators within India (especially Kerala) should get a reality check on the prices they quote for the kind of experience and services they offer.
Also, we need to clean up our cities and destinations big time...they are too filthy and poorly maintained to entice anyone. The rest of the world is moving forward by getting their act together... high time we do too.

[Kashi]

Also, we need to clean up our cities and destinations big time...they are too filthy and poorly maintained to entice anyone. The rest of the world is moving forward by getting their act together... high time we do too.

This is our biggest problem, many of our tourist spots are filthy, disorganised and chaotic with poorly maintained signage and not to mention crawling with touts and conmen (and women) of all kinds.

Appallingly, even the locals who depend on tourists for their livelihood (and would benefit the most from higher tourist inflows), are apathetic to the state of things around them and are even less interested than the government agencies in changing things for better.

Then there's the problem of poor public transport and accessibility for many of the promising tourist spots. Tourism in India is condemned to stagnate for the foreseeable future and as long as agencies like ITDC/ASI are in charge, it would be foolish to hope for substantive improvements.

Having said that, the sorry state of our tourist sector is a reflection of our society as whole.

[nandakumar]

Also, we need to clean up our cities and destinations big time...they are too filthy and poorly maintained to entice anyone. The rest of the world is moving forward by getting their act together... high time we do too.

This is our biggest problem, many of our tourist spots are filthy, disorganised and chaotic with poorly maintained signage and not to mention crawling with touts and conmen (and women) of all kinds.

Appallingly, even the locals who depend on tourists for their livelihood (and would benefit the most from higher tourist inflows), are apathetic to the state of things around them and are even less interested than the government agencies in changing things for better.

Then there's the problem of poor public transport and accessibility for many of the promising tourist spots. Tourism in India is condemned to stagnate for the foreseeable future and as long as agencies like ITDC/ASI are in charge, it would be foolish to hope for substantive improvements.

Having said that, the sorry state of our tourist sector is a reflection of our society as whole.

There is no doubt some mispricing (on the higher side, no doubt) but against that must be set another fact. In India land cost is very high. We simply have too many people for a unit of land and that pushes up price. On top of it new supply of accommodation in hilly/mountainous regions or coastal regions suffer from onerous and some say, impossible environmental regulations. Skirting it involves greasing of palms adding further to the costs. Add to that the taxation provincial and State level,s a vicious cycle. takes the operating costs even further. It i

[Kashi]

There is no doubt some mispricing (on the higher side, no doubt) but against that must be set another fact. In India land cost is very high. We simply have too many people for a unit of land and that pushes up price. On top of it new supply of accommodation in hilly/mountainous regions or coastal regions suffer from onerous and some say, impossible environmental regulations. Skirting it involves greasing of palms adding further to the costs. Add to that the taxation provincial and State level,s a vicious cycle. takes the operating costs even further. It i

It's not just mispricing, it's the (often abysmal) services that one gets in return for those exorbitant prices that is a bigger problem. A lot of tourists are put off by the practices (price gouging, fleecing, hounding, heckling etc.) that are far too common in our tourist zones. Fundamentally, much of India is NOT a tourist friendly country, so a lot of tourists (domestic and foreign) speak with their wallet and give it miss.

Governments themselves are limited in what they can do, because most of the careerists in tourism department lack ambition and/or ideas on how to improve the tourist landscape, many of them know or care little for the history of the tourist spots they are supposed to be developing.

Also, a huge problem for the tourists are the locals themselves. Short-term greed often outweighs long term pragmatism when it comes to them. There's little sense of community ownership of the tourist spots and it's all about passing the buck to someone else, typically the government agencies, blaming them for the mismanagement, while failing to evaluate their own regressive roles in this matter.

[CalvinH]

I disagree...I have seen far superior service in India if you are willing to spend decently. However the tourist places are a mess..Just visit Tajmahal and you will know. I have a Indian colleague (30+ years in US) in US who came back from Agra after seeing the mess...he was all praise for the Delhi-Agra expressway though..

I am noticing lately that coming to massa for a family vacation is now a norm for the global middle class Indians. Most of my friends from college has visited US east coast taking 7-10 days between different tourist locations in east or west US.

[Deans]

I'm a late entrant to this topic, but am passionate about Indian tourism, which I think can be a game changer in terms of generating employment and boosting economic growth. I had written a paper on boosting sustainable tourism in UP.
I've taken a break from the corporate world to travel - both across India and parts of the world. Travel in India was partly for my recent book `2022, India's two front war', which took me to some of our border areas. What I noticed:

I fell in love with Sikkim. More beautiful than Switzerland. Also the cleanest State in India, whose people have great civic sense. However, the Pakyong airport, opened only last year, stopped operations after a few months. Sikkim is the only state with no airport. Getting to Gangtok means a 5 hour drive from Bagdogra - instead of 1 hour from Pakyong. Going from Gangtok to anywhere is a drive of 5-6 hours, because of the state of the roads (it was worse before the Doklam crisis).

The Kashmir valley is as beautiful anything in Europe. We need to finish the railway to Srinagar (and beyond - upto Baramula and connecting Anantnag with Pahalgam) which can boost tourism 10X.

The Andaman islands are way better than Goa, with negligible tourism. It is more expensive than going to Phuket (because of limited room supply and flights) but way cheaper than the Maldives - which is in no way better than the Andamans. There's actually a tourist police in the Andamans,

Mehgalaya and Nagaland are real gems. However the centre of Shillong suffers from the same problem as the centre of many Indian tourist destinations - overcrowding, filth, bad urban planning (like Shimla or Darjeeling).

Where we lack:
- I visited Italy in May and stayed in Homestays. They do not cost very much more than good Indian homestays (though an overall basket of goods is 3-4 times more than India) which do not have the same facilities. In India, by and large, home stay owners have a landlord mentality and not a service provider orientation (often, a servant rather than the house owner deals with tourists and there is a tendency to cut corners). In Italy, bed and breakfast standards are laid down by law. They are high and enforced and competition is fierce.
- Public toilets are terrible.
- We are way too unfriendly for women tourists. (how difficult is it to have lady tourist police / help-desk staff in popular attractions)
- Public transport is of very poor quality. Why not have high quality minibuses to ferry tourists, offering the same quality, but lower price than
private taxis.
- No of Touts, cheats, beggars etc are significantly lower than years ago, but high compared to other destinations in the third world. That said, I've
not seen anyone beg in Punjab, Sikkim, Goa or the North East. Worst experience of touts was Kashmir (in winter when there were few tourists).
The most unhelpful govt tourist dept was in Kolkata.

[suryag]

Modi ji on Man vs Wild will help Indian tourism further

[Kashi]

A wonderful article with lots of information on Kedarnath re-development.

Kedarnath Redevelopment: How Modi’s Pet Project Is Getting It Right On Tradition, Ecology and Development

The 2013 Uttarakhand floods devastated the region around Kedarnath, nearly destroying the whole of Kedarpuri village. Modi has embarked on a pet project to redevelop the region. If things go according to plan, this would be a great example of heritage site redevelopment. The project gets nearly everything right: ecology, tradition, basic infrastructure and sanitation.

Some images





The full version appears at https://medium.com/@maisooru/kedaranath ... df8ba0f7f9

[tandav]

All these chardham should be made vehicle free. (Army vehicles except). People going to see Mahadeva must endure the hardships that the mountains offer as penance. If the old and disabled cannot go then their nearest kin must grid their loins and haul them on their own shoulders to see the lord. No easy cantering up to the lord on A/C cars, buses and helicopters. Better go when the body is able and if the body is unable then this journey can be the last one before you meet your maker.

[Kashi]

Highway to heaven

A unique project in Varanasi is pushing for modern development in the heartland of Indian antiquity. It may well become a model for historic precincts in the country as India develops economically.




An aerial view of the path being built from the riverfront to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. The three domes on the left are of the Gyanvapi mosque, which is next to the temple.


This view shows the congested area before the project was taken up.


A 3D model of Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor


Several old temples in Varanasi were rediscovered within the demolished houses.

[krisna]

India jumps 6 places in tourism

India has emerged as the best improver among top performers in global tourism, jumping from 40th to 34th position in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) Report 2019 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF). In doing so, it became the only lower-middle-income country in the top 35 countries on the list.
The report had placed India at 52nd and 40th in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

According to the report, India remains South Asia’s most competitive travel and tourism economy. It found that the country had improved in aspects like air (33rd), ground and port infrastructure (28th), international openness (51st), natural resources (14th) and cultural resources (8th).
Further, the report found India to have also greatly improved in areas like business environment (39th), overall travel and tourism policy (69th), infrastructure (55th) and ICT Development Index readiness (105th).

Continual improvement in the last 3-4 years. Recall Nitin Gadkari saying tourism has great potential for generating employment and economics of every region of India. it is also a relatively low skilled inexpensive way to improve the local economy. India has vast untapped tourism potential. It needs to improve its transport and infrastructure to gear up to its unmet needs in employment generation.

[Jarita]

I am deeply concerned about the relentless and short sighted infrastructure development in fragile areas of the country. It should not be that in the quest for tourism we destroy all our green legacy. There are ancient forests and paths that need not be touched. Below is an excerpt on Char Dham. Ugly, wide roads are being built at the expense of local pathways and shops all of which spoke to an "off beaten path" and ancient tradition. Similar such approach around the Jagannath temple has destroyed ancient Mathas. The question to ask is where does this end. India is a densely populated country and cannot accomocate vehicles the way the US or Europe can. The Indian so called development team is enamoured of the US approach while losing sight if the per capita resources in India. This is enormously destructive. When you talk to stakeholders, they make vacuuous and insane statements like "Trees can be grown elsehwere". Actually you cannot displace the wealth of ancient forests. By that logic the Amazon can be displaced elsewhere. I worry that our planners are very short sighted and destructive.

Char Dham Project - Development or Destruction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF52r4DfINE

The Char Dham All Weather Road Project has been approved by National Green Tribunal (NGT) on September 26, 2018. The controversial project has evoked several environmental concerns right from the inception stage.

Almost more than one and half year into the unmindful implementation of the project, the risks and fears associated with the project are clearly visible throughout the construction route. In last few months, several independent reports have also raised serious concerns over the haphazard manner in which the project is being executed through sensitive hilly terrain

https://sandrp.in/2018/10/06/char-dham- ... -overview/

Char Dham Pariyojana: HPC report says socio-cultural concern, innovative thought 'largely missing'
The report which was submitted to various union ministries and the apex court last week pointed out lack of efforts to minimize the loss of forests, trees and green cover.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation ... 72741.html

[darshan]

Making it touristy and easy loses the whole idea of returning back healthier and healed after yatra.

All the efforts should be made towards safe and sound yatras. Monies should be spent on new age mathas, ayurveda centers, healing centers, etc. One would do good and get extra income easily from all this.

More people means more trash and sewage. Lot of this should be declared environment sensitive zones and no one should be able to commercialize anything without the plan to handle trash and sewage in environment friendly manners.

[uddu]

Have a look at the comment section.
There is a problem here. Its not that they are showcasing India and especially the dirty parts of India. Its that the world that don't know English never get to see anything about India in English. Most of our videos are in English. So the parts of the world that speak Spanish and Portuguese have a very negative view of India because the exposure is though their own channels. Solution is to create content for the world that don't speak English. There is opportunity here as well for for content creators. Another is to consider other foreign languages also for curriculum learning other than English in a major way.

[S_Madhukar]

I wish someone builds a family friendly theme park on the lines of Panchatantra or heck Mowgliland! Could be a massive roller coasters and water parks … not Bollywood style though… hurts to see INR wasted in Dubai, SEA etc… when we have way more land and resources available. If ME can attract such investment I wonder why we can’t become the centre of wholesome family vacations… Let SEA take care of clubbing and other activities, let’s compete on areas that match with our culture.. same for zoos, aquarium etc

[Hriday]

FWIW.
Journalist and social activist with 291K followers on Twitter comments about Goa. In recent months, I remember seeing several comments on Twitter about how Goa is becoming an unattractive tourist destination due to lack of transport services. Saw complaints about taxi and auto charging too much. I don't know the full picture. Just sharing because Goa is a well-known destination for Israel and (Russian ?) tourists.
https://x.com/DeepikaBhardwaj/status/18 ... PGy8Q&s=19

Goa is almost empty. Hardly any tourists. It should be a wake up call for the government. Hope they do something especially about the transport.

See the attached video in the below link.
https://x.com/DeepikaBhardwaj/status/18 ... Ut7RQ&s=19

For those calling me a liar

This was last night on roads that used to be totally jampacked earlier around new year

[shravanp]

Was in Goa in November end. In North-Goa region. And it was jam-packed. Nowheres did it reflect that "Goa is losing tourism" or "Beaches were empty" type of thing. Arambol, Baga, Tito's lane, everywhere was crazy busy.

[sanjayc]

I lived in Goa for five years from 2001 to 2006. Wrote a travel book on Goa. Things have worsened in recent years with taxi and bike mafia, high airfare to Goa, narrow roads full of traffic, extortionate hotel rates, police randomly stopping tourists driving bike taxis for challan, and general rudeness of Goans with tourists. Was there in Goa last year in November for a week, and didn't enjoy it at all. Was regretting not going to Bali or Vietnam - the cost would have been the same.

[Hriday]

^^
sanjayc ji, exactly what is commented by many high profile Twitter people in recent months. Alphonse Kannanthanam IPS from Kerala once said that Kerala had the tourism potential that is enough to give employment for the entire state. One thought that if BJP rule comes efficient governance will follow. Sad state of affairs.

Also many are comparing about the money made by other nations and India on tourism. India's share is pathetic considering our potential.

[RCase]

All these chardham should be made vehicle free. (Army vehicles except). People going to see Mahadeva must endure the hardships that the mountains offer as penance. If the old and disabled cannot go then their nearest kin must grid their loins and haul them on their own shoulders to see the lord. No easy cantering up to the lord on A/C cars, buses and helicopters. Better go when the body is able and if the body is unable then this journey can be the last one before you meet your maker.

Tandavji - have to disagree with you on this. I have performed the chardham yatra (2006) and hiked up the Gangotri glacier to Tapovan. The road infrastructure was pretty shabby to even the nearest motorable points. The carriageway is very narrow and at certain points it felt that one of the tires was on the edge of the precipice. Most places required the buses to perform an intricate dance of reversing and passing each other within a couple of inches.

The walking trails were also not that great, littered with dung from mules. People who couldn't walk had to ride mules or be carried by four porters on a chair placed atop two poles. In this day an age, this should not be so to have humans transporting people on their shoulders.

During the course of this trip, I came across people from all walks of life and levels of faith. I do not subscribe to your thought that everyone must endure hardships. For those inclined to do so, I have no problems of them walking all the way from wherever they choose (why should they reach Gaurikund by bus and trek to Kedarnath, why not start walking from Haridwar or Rishikesh as part of the 'penance'?). Sanatan Dharam is about each individual's choice of pathway to attain their spiritual goals. Let the individual make the choice of the level of penance!

I am glad that the redevelopment of Kedarnath has broader approach to the temple and the place near the temple is also being beautified. The lanes were narrow and shabby to say the least.

I would liken this to Tirupathi. In my childhood, there was just one road that was built during the British era that was used for both up and down directions. The rickety bus would slowly wind its way up and down the hairpin bends, with people puking all over the place. With the introduction of the 'new' road (the current up direction), it eased the traffic and reduced accidents. Now you can reach Tirumala in about a half an hour. Those that want to do a higher level of 'penance' can walk from the base of the mountains.

Avoiding infrastructure development, especially in the Himalayas is taking a leaf out of the flawed Neverwho's thought process.

[Suraj]

I'm in Japan now. There are various pilgrimage and spiritual journeys here. What's notable is that it offers people options. Those who want to do it in luxury have AC options including bullet trains, cars, buses, whatever. Those who want to do a multiple day trek have a well maintained, demarcated and supported trail available to them.

Everyone experiences their heritage or does tourism their own way. It's not anyone's business to assert that some imaginary agnipariksha must be done by all. Far better if Indians are able to do tourism and pilgrimage by using flights, expressways and high speed rail that makes them proud that their country has the wealth and power to make their travel so enjoyable.

There unfortunately remains a sizeable number of people in India who retain the notion that imposing hardship on people is a means of preserving their virtue. All that does is desensitize people to the ugliness around them and prevent any improvement. For those who nitpick 'I don't mean everything, just some things', well you can stretch that further and just give people the choice to do things the easy way or the challenging way and make both options easily accessible.

Japan preserves its heritage and promotes tourism extremely well. Far better than India in fact. The past year saw an all time peak in tourist arrivals to Japan and the processes to do things remain well maintained. They have various pilgrimage trekking routes that are well managed, and many people - into their 70s - train for months and do these hikes.

Investment in good infrastructure and services is a non-negotiable part of a good tourist experience. There's plenty of evidence that if you offer a range of options, those who want to do things a particular way will take that option.

[drnayar]

The largest event in human history is about to happen




400 million ;

[Hriday]

There is a lot of potential for spiritual tourism in India.
It is said that one significant thing about the Kumbha Mela is that many Hindu sages who possess divine powers attend this Mela. Of course, many of them come in disguise and will not make their powers public. But most likely, they will radiate their blessings to the surrounding area, and people benefit from it.

I will cite a few examples; Swami Kriyananda (Donald Walters), a direct disciple of Yogananda and a pioneer in starting spiritual societies in the USA, gives a glowing tribute to the spiritual aura radiated by India. When he first landed in India at Delhi airport and took a taxi, he felt the continuous wave of spiritual power passing through his body from the land. He felt almost intoxicated that he didn't feel to look out at the surrounding area. He described the Bombay region as lacking that much power. Neil Rostner, a USA citizen who spent decades in hard spiritual austerity in India, went there after hearing a fellow tourist describe that the power around the Ramana Maharshi ashram was so thick that one could cut it with a knife. He was amongst the few people who realised the spiritual power of Mata Amritanandamayi Amma when she was a young girl. It was he who instructed the local people what is Samadhi state and not to disturb Amma when she was in a trance state !!
When I first visited the Amritanandamayi ashram in Kollam, Kerala I was surprised to feel a particular kind of joy when crossing the water in a small boat. When I was passing through the ashram, there was a feeling of the powerful energy field. I felt all this only on my first visit. Later, I came to know that this exact experience is common to many people, and it is mentioned at the start of the biography of Amritanandamayi Amma in Malayalam. As a native of Kerala, I invite others to visit this ashram.

For those who doubt if sages with divine powers exist, I am sharing some books on the subject.
1) Autobiography of a Yogi. One of the most influential books on Hinduism in the world. Lot and lots of references to miracles performed by sages which Swami Yogananda directly experienced is given in the book. Apple founder Steve Jobs arranged to gift this book to those who attended his funeral.

2) The book, Search in Secret India by Paul Brunton. It was through this book that Ramana Maharshi became popular in the West.

3) The book Journey Home by Richard Slavin from the USA. There are plenty of descriptions of miracles performed by sages in India directly experienced by him.

I may write a summary of last two books mentioned above here at a later time.

[S_Madhukar]

Suraj ji have you been to Koyasan ? I wish we had maintained greenery around our temples and maintained them such that anyone on a spiritual quest could live there and enjoy the experience. I think Maharashtra and Wakayama prefecture have an agreement on promoting each others Buddhist sites for tourism… hopefully in the future we learn from them how to offer spiritual tours in the 21st Century.

Apart from Japanese trains, I think their temples have a calling for me… can’t explain! I guess it’s Gods way of nudging us to get back to our humble roots and relearn the spiritual quest that we lost from our ancestors

[Aditya_V]

I think Situation in Europe is pretty bad, the number of European Tourists to the rest of World seems to have dropped in Dec 24- jan 25 a period where they will be flooding the warmer tropics

[Cyrano]

Foreign tourists who have have a lot more PPP look for:
- reasonable/cheap flight tickets to fly into India
- hassle free local connections by air/rail/road to their destination
- many plan a circuit oof places to visit - therefore reliable and reassuring local travel is a must
- clean, safe and walkable tourist areas and cities - many come to India in winter months, our mild temperatures entice people to take a stroll - if only they could. I cant stress this point enough.
- no agressive hawkers, they expect some level of price gouging but its being swarmed by street sellers that scares people who aren't used too the human density of our cities and places
- easy to find information, like flyers/brochures from a govt tourist office, like visit times, a few historical data etc
- local transport with friendly non-rip off drivers who make them feel safe and welcome
- they expect Indian prices in Indian hotels - this is no longer the case in most 4* and 5* hotels. Even 3* dont deliver value for money but charge equivalent first world prices.

The back packing, daryagunj type Neo hippies will always come to India and stay for weeks and months and are of course welcome. But they aren't the ones who can sustain our tourism industry. But their bad experiences if they happen get us lot of -ve publicity.


For a middle class western tourist looking to spend 1 to 2 weeks in India with a per head budget of 1000-2000 USD for their vacation, India ranks pretty low as a tourist option. I'd recommend they go elsewhere unless they are into indic stuff or have a local family to go with them for at least part of their stay.

The budget for a 4 person family for 2 weeks (ie 4000-8000USD) excl flight tickets can get you very enjoyable vacations anywhere in Europe for ex. Thats why its becoming affordable even to lots of upper middle class Indians to go abroad for vacations, despite visa hassles.

[Cyrano]

Yes, if PP(P) drops, then people will prefer tourism options closer and closer to home until they just stay at home. EU folks are going to suffer a lot more in the coming years.

[vish_mulay]

Visiting India after long time and had few observations about the travel experience in India. Arrival was hassle free and airport experience was really good. However as soon as you step out of the airport, the last mile issues start impacting overall travel experiences for the expat like me, forget someone who has no prior experience in India.
1) overall cleanliness and hygiene has improved a lot in comparison to 20 years back but still many miles to go. The garbage collection system is completely broken down and access to dustbins is very limited even in big cities like Mumbai and Pune. The overflowing garbage dump sites with dogs pigs and cattle rampaging through was not a pleasant sight.
2) plastic litter everywhere and no visible sign of it getting better. I thought there was plastic ban but no visible difference.
3) drove from Pune to Belgaon then to Goa and back. Roads in MH and Goa are 10 times better than KA. Belgaon city has developed beautifully with nice infrastructure upgrade and good 80 feet roads. People drove with discipline as compared to Pune. However as soon as you leave city, KA state highways are reminder of driving in India in 90s. Drove from Belgaon to north Goa was really disastrous until Goa border started.
4) Goa was surprisingly clean nice cold and relaxing. We avoided city centres and mainly stayed in the north Goa. Food was great and way cheaper ~50% less than Pune Mumbai prices. Chitchat with the resort owner indicated that it’s been a very lean year for tourism and tourism industry is realising that they need to sober up to survive in the global competition. Let’s see what changes. We never experienced rude or extortion for services as reported. Overall very pleasant stay.
5) Goa Mumbai highway is a gem of drive! Drove past Chiplun and then took ghats to join mumbai Bangalore highway. MH state highways were real surprise. They were top class, full of greenery and majestic views. Really enjoyed it. Only if drivers knew how to drive in ghats rather than mockery of driving I witnessed. I now know no one in India understands driving uphill in a slow steady motion.
6) driving in India is challenging if you follow rules and regulations. Wrong side driving, wrong side overtaking, heavy vehicles occupying median fast lane and over all disregards for lane discipline made is felt like formula one driving for me. We completed 480kms in 6:30 hrs with one hr break.
7) cities are super congested. Last 22 kms drive to home took us 3 hrs in Pune. Overall driving in MH is super challenging because of the quality and attitude of the drivers. I felt KA and Goa drivers were more courteous and followed rules more vigilantly than MH.
the last mile issues I faced. If you are without adhar like me, debit card is the only way you can survive but it’s not accepted at many places. ATM if not your bank, it was tricky to withdraw money since it couldn’t verify your card. Toilets were more plentiful but not very well maintained and stank to the glory. No visible signage for tourist sites and I assume it’s because of guide business. Google aunty helped us a lot to navigate the sites without getting lost.
9) Overall behaviour of people is less courteous than it used to be. Metros like Pune Mumbai were worst as far as human interaction are concerned. KA and Goa has still retained courtesy and communication.
Just my few observations. Ta!

[Supratik]

Cleanliness is a huge problem in India even in BJP ruled states and a big turn off for tourists. The shitting on railway tracks has more or less ended but slums and ghettos around railway lines are everywhere. Introduction of trains like VB has led to return of foreign tourists to trains. Most foreign tourists fly which is now very convenient as airports have improved. But what after thar if the experience is so bad.

Goa tourism shows that domestic arrivals remain same but foreign arrivals have dropped. This may be due to the drugs-sex circuit being no longer welcome. Besides I hear getting beef has now become difficult in Goa.

[Suraj]

I have not yet been to Koyasan but have heard plenty of good things about it. The Japanese do take very good care of their shrines and temples everywhere. You don't even have to go to famous sites. Most people do not know about hatsumoude. If you go around Japan during new years eve close to and past midnight, you'll see long queues of people standing quietly in queues rather than celebrating wildly. They are making the first trip to their local shrine to offer new years prayers. I was standing in a 200-long one myself a few days ago with extended family, in western Tokyo. It was a nice Shinto shrine, immaculately kept, with local residents acting as volunteers to run stalls and crowd control - the latter being essentially unnecessary because everyone was well behaved. The Japanese may not be religious but they're very connected to their cultural roots.