If the Taj makes it to the venerable list of Seven Wonders of the World, the number of tourists visiting the monument is expected to go up dramatically. At present, the Taj gets a mere 2.4 million visitors a year. The Taj’s main competitor is the 4,163-mile Great Wall of China, which gets more than 10 million visitors a year, while Paris’ Eiffel tower gets around 6.7 million, says a study by Forbes Traveler magazine.
Deep Kalra, CEO, makemytrip.com, was initially apprehensive about the legitimacy of the New Seven Wonders global poll, which closed on Friday. Organised by the privately-run New Seven Wonders Foundation, it has no affiliation or accreditation from the United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organisation, which validated the older Seven Wonders of the World list. But the sheer popularity of the campaign has led him to believe that even if the elected seven are not official, they stand to gain enormous mileage from the publicity, especially among the younger generation.
This popularity will translate into a hugely positive impact as the younger generation will get a list of travel destinations. Human nature is such that if they go to two or three others in the list then their next destination will be the Taj,” says Kalra. “There will be a subliminal impact,” he adds.
Arjun Sharma, MD, Le Passage to India, agrees with Kalra. “I have been personally getting people to vote for the Taj,” Sharma said. He believes that the number of tourists will go up by at least 10%. “The fact that the Taj is in the list will always be positive,” he added.
Rajji Rai, secretary, Tourist Operators’ Association, however has a counter view: “The Taj already has pre-eminence among travellers of the world and formal recognition may send the numbers up by only a few percentage points.”
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=169359
Deep Kalra, CEO, makemytrip.com, was initially apprehensive about the legitimacy of the New Seven Wonders global poll, which closed on Friday. Organised by the privately-run New Seven Wonders Foundation, it has no affiliation or accreditation from the United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organisation, which validated the older Seven Wonders of the World list. But the sheer popularity of the campaign has led him to believe that even if the elected seven are not official, they stand to gain enormous mileage from the publicity, especially among the younger generation.
This popularity will translate into a hugely positive impact as the younger generation will get a list of travel destinations. Human nature is such that if they go to two or three others in the list then their next destination will be the Taj,” says Kalra. “There will be a subliminal impact,” he adds.
Arjun Sharma, MD, Le Passage to India, agrees with Kalra. “I have been personally getting people to vote for the Taj,” Sharma said. He believes that the number of tourists will go up by at least 10%. “The fact that the Taj is in the list will always be positive,” he added.
Rajji Rai, secretary, Tourist Operators’ Association, however has a counter view: “The Taj already has pre-eminence among travellers of the world and formal recognition may send the numbers up by only a few percentage points.”
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=169359