JULY 29, 2018 • THE WEEK 75■ GUEST COLUMN
Kannanthanam is Union minister of state for tourism.
As told to Anjuly Mathai.BY ALPHONS KANNANTHANAM
W
herever I go, I am completely amazed
by my country. Last week, I had gone to
Raigad Fort in Maharashtra. You cross
these mountain ranges, take an old rickety ropeway
up, and come to this place where you see a huge and
magnifi cent fort. Th e other day, I was in Govardhan
in Mathura, and saw these incredible structures. I
am putting in a lot of money there. Wherever I go, I
try to see how I can improve that place. I am discov-
ering new things every day.
We have everything in India—the backwaters of
Kerala; the magnifi cent capital of the Vijayanagara
empire in Hampi; the forts and palaces of Rajast-
han, the most luxurious railway in the world, Palace
on Wheels. We have 8,000 kilometres of sea coast.
Seventy-three per cent of the Himalayas is in India.
You can go rafting, paragliding, mountaineering,
backpacking. If you want a laid-back holiday, you
can go to Kerala. If you want to see wildlife, we have
many sanctuaries with everything from the Asiatic
lion to the one-horned rhino. And here is so much
vibrant music, dance and various festivals.
Four of our airports—Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai
and Hyderabad—are listed in the world's top ten air-
ports. Our fi ve-star hotels are many times better than
any of the fi ve-star hotels in the US or elsewhere.
Last month, I was staying in the presidential suite of
the best hotel in Chicago. Th ere was no water in my
room, and when I called the reception to replen-
ish it, they told me to come and pick it up from the
counter. Can you imagine? Even a non-star hotel in
India would be supplying water in the room. If you
go to an Indian fi ve-star hotel, you’ll have dozens
of items for breakfast. In America, you will get toast
and omelette.
My objective is simple: Last year, we had 16.2 mil-
lion tourists coming to India. Th e income from tour-
ism was $27 billion. I want to double these fi gures
in three years, and in fi ve, I want the income to be
$100 billion. We are promoting cruise tourism in a
big way, and building cruise jetties in Mumbai, Goa,
Kochi and Chennai. Last year, we had only 1,74,000Indians going on a cruise. We want to increase this
number dramatically. I also want to promote night
tourism. One of our big problems is that there is no
night entertainment here. So people see whatever
they want to see during the day and at night, they
are in their rooms either drinking or sleeping.
Worldwide, big money is made at night, with shop-
ping, dining and other forms of entertainment.
My favourite place in India currently is Khajuraho
and its the temples, which were built between the
9th and 11th centuries. Th ey are the most magnif-
icent I have seen, a few hundred metres tall and
completely carved in sandstone. No cement or steel
was used, with the structure holding itself. Nowhere
in the world have I seen such complicated architec-
ture that is still intact. If you go to other countries
and ask them to show you a heritage [building],
they will take you to some broken pillars and tell
you this was where it was.
My new slogan is not ‘come and see India’. It is
not even ‘come and experience India’. It is ‘come
and be transformed by India’. I am selling Indian
civilisation, the crux of which is that you and I are
one. Even going beyond, the whole universe is one.
So, happiness is indivisible. You can’t be alone.
You have to make the world happier for yourself to
be happy. It makes you work harder, makes you a
better politician, a better human being. Th is is why
I say that when you come to India, you will never be
the same again.My sparkling
country
RIJO JOSEPH