Of late, tourism is seen to have great potential to add to our GDP. Learning a lesson from advanced economies of the world like Britain, Spain, and Hungary; Indian government too has decided to reap gains from its inherent potential in the cultural heritage of India, to attract tourists.Citing some of the examples; in Britain tourism is one of the ways to preserve and maintain culture. The stately houses in Britain are managed from the money received from tourists who come to see these houses. The British Blue Plaques are placed at locations of heritage value. In Budapest, the government gives nominal incentives to people who keep their old facades intact as part of the preservation of architectural heritage; this preserves the original design which later generations can appreciate. Cultural legacies and the related history of a place form an important component while marketing a place as a destination of tourist attraction. Indians have a very rich historical as well as cultural legacy, and we rightly market our cultural legacy as the most attractive tourism products to the world outside. We talk a great deal about ours being one of the oldest civilizations in the world; but, do we really believe in our very own great Indian philosophy. Recently, i came to know that in Jammu & Kashmir the locals were urged to wear their ethnic dress; a simple kurta, pyajama for a festival. It made me feel, why can`t we Indians feel proud in wearing our traditional Indian dresses in a normal daily course. We feel proud in wearing western outfits like pants and trousers, so much so, that traditional Indian dresses are considered a part of living style of trite.
The western outfits must have become part of male dressing during the colonial era; must be because men formed part of the working population. But, western dresses have very fast replaced the dressing of our womenfolk: little do people think before being a copycat that our traditional dresses like salwar-kameez, saris, dhotis and kurta pyajama are more suitable for the climatic condition in our country. These dresses even look more graceful on body structures, which is typically Indian.
Same goes with the communication. Our culture boasts of the politeness and courtesy in our language. But, politeness is considered weakness by many these days; rudeness and aggression is considered to be an attribute of power. We can see the trend catching on in corporate, which are mini entities of our development world. What used to be restricted as a way of communication between same level employees or friends; is becoming a normal way of communication in the vertical levels. This can have a negative impact on morale of sub-ordinate employees. Inter personal communication can go a long way in developing harmonious working environment. The politeness in language should become part of our everyday communication.
A culture is a sum total of its philosophy, language, religion, music, traditions, cuisines and all that has taken centuries to evolve. When we market our incredible India campaign, we are promoting the brand that is India; representing our values, ethos and a culture with a rich heritage. Today`s youth is hardly aware of our rich cultural heritage.
When a tourist visits our country he does not alone carry a physical memento or the pictures of monuments and sites; he carries with him a complete imprint of emotions, memories and the interaction he had made with people on our land. If we want to market our land to foreign tourists to harness the vast potential of our cultural heritage to add to our national capital and the GDP; we must make our product that is our beautiful India an attractive product to market.
We have to believe and make our children believe in the greatness and superiority of our cultural heritage. It cannot alone be the effort of government, or an organization; it has to be an effort on the part of each one individual to make our country beautiful, clean and culturally supreme.
Like we have Corporate Social Responsibility, we should have Citizen Social Responsibility: where each individual should be one’s own judge, as to know about the duties we have for our neighbors, our country and our guests who visit our land as tourists; before we can claim our rights on our land.
It can be due to the effort on the part of each one of us that we can restore India to its past glory, of high values and morality. It is this effort that can put our country on the global map as most cherished destination ‘the golden bird’ i.e our old ‘sone ki chhidiya’.
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