India’s tourism minister concedes the country has a perception problem over how safe it is for female travellers.
Tourism minister K J Alphons acknowledges high profile incidents, including the rape and murder of female tourists have hurt the country’s reputation.
Alphons was speaking during a multi-city tourism roadshow across China along with several leading Indian travel agents.
He said incidents of violence against women and mob lynchings are damaging, but have not had an adverse effect on inbound tourism yet.
"Anything happening like that is bad for the reputation of the country. We will not say it’s good for the reputation of the country," he said.
Alphons specifically directed his ire at a Thomas Reuters survey depicting India as ‘the most dangerous’ country for women.
"There is a massive unfairness in the whole reporting process. There is a huge bias in reporting."
The Indian tourism mission in China aims to lure more Chinese travellers.
The numbers actually fell last year from 251,000 in 2016 to 240,000.
"Given this backdrop, India has set an ambitious target of increasing this minuscule figure to an eye-popping 14 million by 2023," he said.
"We are opening an office in Beijing very soon and we should aim for at least 10 per cent of the 144 million Chinese tourists."
