Tour operators woo foreigners as they gear up for poll tourism

Bolstered by an encouraging trend in the last general elections and subsequent state assembly polls, many tour operators and travel companies are gearing up for poll tourism, mainly targeting foreign tourists as political parties gear up for the April-May Lok Sabha contest.

Poll tourism, which is emerging fast as a new segment, isnot considered to be leisure travel and many operators are betting on overseasstudents studying in colleges and universities, media persons, youngsters andresearchers keen to witness Indian elections to join their tours.

   

“This new segment is fast emerging in India as overseasstudents, researchers and youngsters are increasingly taking interest in theworld’s largest democracy. They are keen to see how the Election Commission ofIndia (ECI) conducts the poll process, which is a humongous exercise,”Gujarat-based Akshar Travels chief Manish Sharma told IANS.

According to tour and travel operators, poll tourism as aconcept was tested in the Gujarat Assembly polls in 2012 and had received”good response” in the 2014 general elections and subsequent stateassembly polls, though the scale of operations was on the “lowerside”.

“This time, operators are gearing up and have startedgetting enquiries. About 5,000 tourists, taking the accumulated data fromvarious operators, had come for the elections in 2014 from the US, the UK, UAE,Japan, Germany, France and many other European countries. Our expectation isthat over 10,000 tourists will come this time for the polls,” Sharma said.

Like last time, the operators are planning to take touriststo public rallies of different political parties and trying to arrangeinteractions with candidates or ministers of the Central or state governmentswho are either in the fray or involved in the campaign for their respectiveparties, Travel Agents Federation of India National Committee Member HitankShah said.

Asked why foreigners are keen to experience the pollprocess, he said: “Elections in India are like a festival. The ElectionCommission, too, calls the parliamentary battle the largest festival ofdemocracy. Even the filing of nominations by the candidates has becomecolourful. Tourists coming from the UK, the US, Japan and some Europeancountries want to see the political jamboree in India because they do not havethe same kind of scenario in their respective countries.

Along with witnessing the election process and procedure in India, the poll tourism packages covering 7-8 days tag known tourists destinations of various states so that the heritage, tradition and culture of India can be experienced, operators said. “We are expecting around 8,000-10,000 tourists to come and witness the election carnival in India. About 1,000-1,200 tourists have already made their bookings with various operators,” Shah told IANS.

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