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March 31st, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Other reports include stories of men being beaten for objecting to gangs of
young men sexually harassing young women in public. The crime is known as
‘Eve-teasing’ in India reflecting how it has not, until now, been taken
seriously.
“[As] India attempts to enhance its image in the eyes of foreign tourists, a
brutal rape case in Delhi and recent incident of Swiss woman in Madhya
Pradesh, or to the young British woman who had jump out of the window in
Agra to avoid a sexual attack has raised concerns about the safety of female
travelers to the country. The crime and the woman’s subsequent death
generated international attention”, said Mr. D.S Rawat, Assocham’s
secretary-general.
Of 1200 tourist businesses surveyed more than 70 per cent reported significant
numbers of cancellations from British, American, Australian and Canadian
women tourists, and a 25 per cent decline over all. Many of them were
choosing Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia instead. “During last
winter season, Goa, Jaipur, Agra, Kerala happened to be highly congested
tourist spots but due to recent incidents in India, there has been
substantial fall in the tourist traffic”, Mr Rawat said.
The decline and the plummeting reputation of India as a safe tourist
destination is a blow to the government which had expected tourist numbers
to increase by 12 per cent this year as part of its plan to double foreign
exchange earnings by 2016. More than six million foreign tourists visited
India last year and helped generate more than £10 billion for the country’s
economy.
The country’s reputation was damaged further when a number of foreign
governments, including Britain, changed their travel advice to citizens
following the gang rape on the Swiss woman last month. While they had
previously urged women traveling alone to be cautious, following the attack
they warned even those traveling in groups may not be safe.
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