Setting aside renewed mutual suspicion and shadow-boxing that has dominated the diplomatic discourse between India and China in recent months, New Delhi launched a cultural and culinary campaign in Beijing today as part of an attempt to woo Chinese tourists across the Himalayas.As Chinese invitees tucked into their murgh malai tikkas, machher jhol and chicken chettinad over Dragon Seal wines and Yanjing beer after an hour-long extravaganza of Indian classical dance and music, officials hoped the charm offensive would dilute traditional prejudices and strengthen the fragile bond between the neighbours.Part of the ‘Incredible India’ campaign of the Tourism Ministry, the event was the first such in China and among the few major campaigns in global capitals in recent times. The aim: tap the soaring number of Chinese tourists, who the World Tourism Organisation projects will touch 100 million by 2020, the world’s largest, from 40 million in 2007.The event also marked the opening of an India Tourism office in Beijing, the first in China and the 14th around the globe, a launch that has been repeatedly delayed for a variety of political and protocol reasons but one which Tourism Minister Ambika Soni called “Der aaye, lekin durust aaye”.“Last year alone, more than half a million visitors were exchanged between our two countries,” Soni told the overflowing Grand Ball Room at the Beijing Hotel, where traditional Indian brass lamps, garlands and sequined tablecloth merged with Chinese paper lamps and golden coloured wall paintings.“These numbers in a relative sense are statistically insignificant when our combined populations are well over 40 percent of the world population,” she said. “But new beginnings have been made, there will be increasing participation of our entrepreneurs from the travel trade industry in travel marts and road shows.We are aiming to put in place high standard tourism infrastructure across the country. Here too, we feel there is ample scope for participation of Chinese entrepreneurs,” she said.Coming on the back of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Beijing in January, and the testy exchanges over Arunachal Pradesh, Tibet and the Dalai Lama in recent weeks, Indian diplomats were at pains to stress the gains of showcasing the real India.Tourism, the other big T after trade, is fast becoming another bridge between India and China, said Indian ambassador Nirupama Rao to an audience that included Chinese girls in silk cholis and skirts, salwar suits and sarees.As part of the campaign to strengthen this “bridge”, New Delhi is also hosting a similar cultural evening in Shanghai, China’s commercial hub, this week, organising week-long food festivals in the two cities and flooding local media with advertisements.Spurred by double-digit GDP growth, rising urban incomes and a desire to see the world, more and more Chinese are visiting foreign lands and for now, Europe and South-East Asian countries are clear favourites, Chinese travel industry officials said.Although the number of Chinese tourists visiting India jumped 48 percent last year, in real terms it was a paltry 68,000. While about 4.62 lakh Indian tourists visited China in 2007, officials said all of them may not purely have been for leisure. Short business trips, visa renewal visits and Hong Kong-based Indians crossing over are also included in this, they said.Nevertheless, India needs to ease visa procedures, develop special tourism circuits for the Chinese and most importantly, augment the availability of affordable hotels to compete with the likes of Singapore, Thailand and South Korea, they said.Earlier on Monday, after the inauguration of the India Tourism office, Arun Anand, vice-president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, said “even if one per cent of the Chinese population come to India, it will be a huge opportunity for all of us”.It was left to Soni to inject some realism into those expectations. “Hoping for one per cent of the Chinese population is like aiming for the sky,” she said, referring to the country of 1.3 billion people. “But that way we will reach the tree-tops at least.”The writer is in China as a guest of the Tourism Ministry.
