India has succeeded in thwarting attempts by the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) at ranking tourist destinations worldwide, a move which assumes significance in view of the recent terror attacks in the country. Last month, various nations had considered issuing travel advisories against visiting India in the backdrop of terror attacks in Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, and Delhi. India took objection to any move at allowing certification, grading or ranking of tourist destinations on various parameters at the meeting of the Executive Council of UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) at Madrid last week. The UNWTO serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues and promotes the development of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism with special attention to the interests of developing countries. It had entered into an MoU with the World Centre of Excellence for Destinations (CED) and was planning to start ranking tourist destinations with its help. India represented by Union Culture Minister Ambika Soni, is learnt to have objected against the CED, set up to provide guidance to tourism destinations and currently operating out of Montreal, assuming the role of a certification agency under UNWTO. At the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) conference at Hyderabad last month, UPA chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi had said travel advisories in the backdrop of spate of terror attacks would have a lasting effect on prospective travellers and had urged the global community “to bear with us as we cope with the situation.” Aware of the potential repercussions of ranking tourist destinations on Indian tourism, especially since safety and security would be an important criteria, India claimed that any ranking would lead to standardising of cultures, heritage and biodiversity of nations and could seriously undermine the concept of diversity.
