Travel companies in India are capitalizing on the phenomenon of festival of democracy by coining the term election tourism. Travel company foresee up to 25 ,000 individuals participating as tourists in over two month long elections said a news report by hindubusinessline .com.
In India, the elections are celebrated as a festival of democracy. India is the largest democracy of the world with elections spanning over several months. In this very same time, India’s inbound tourism sector has experienced a significant research with foreign tourist arrivals surging 64% in 2023 compared to 2022.
Several travel companies are taking this opportunity of elections being conducted in India as a means to not only increase the business but also making election tourism possible. As per several travel tour guides and also travel tour companies, during the last Lok Sabha election, thousands of tourists visited India for election tourism.
This year, the requests have poured in from countries like US, UK, Germany, France and Japan attracting political enthusiasts, students, journalists, G20 delegates and leisure travellers to join to watch the These requests are not only coming from all over the world but also are coming from professional’s expert in various jobs. The election tourism tour packages include participation in rallies, meetings and gatherings as well as opportunities to meet and dine with the local political figures.
In some cases travellers can visit gram panchayat, Jan-sabhas and engage in local sightseeing activities according to local sightseeing activities. The term election tourism was first coined during 2019 and then it featured top destinations such as Varanasi, Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
Even as election tourism would seem to be an interesting concept or an interesting way of watching India, several tour and travel companies also say that some areas in the countries are sensitive and it becomes extremely unsafe for foreigners to travel when there are rallies and meetings. They also say that the necessity for full-proof travel arrangement should be made in such circumstances.
