Thaindian News

Jaipur, April 11 (IANS) Rajasthan’s tourism industry is booming, but amid the happy development is an ugly side showing up - of foreign tourists being harassed and looted by touts.

The state’s tourism industry is worried over increasing cases of tourist harassment, especially in state capital Jaipur, which is a popular tourist destination.

Industry experts claimed that tourists are being harassed by touts or unauthorised guides, many of whom even have criminal backgrounds.

They believe if the ‘tout menace’ is not curbed it can prove a fatal blow to the booming tourism industry. Foreign tourist arrivals in 2010 increased by 19.1 percent to over one million (1,278,523) in Rajasthan, according to statistics compiled by the state department of tourism.

On April 2, the case of a Japanese national being kidnapped for extortion came to light and the police arrested two touts including a handicraft showroom owner. Handicraft items are a major attraction among foreign tourists, but this usually becomes a tool of harassment and cheating of tourists by touts in the city.

Two touts identified as Zakir Hussain and Salim had allegedly kidnapped Yanagihara Siniya, 22, from Sapporo in Japan in January this year and released him only when the victim’s mother deposited $2,000 in his bank account from Japan.

The duo allegedly forced the tourist to leave the country immediately.

Similarly, touts duped one Kelly Niokar from America in December of Rs.850,000 by giving him fake jewellery. “He lodged an online FIR with us in March from America,” a police officer told IANS.

Expressing concern over the development, Navendu Goswami, a tour operator in Jaipur, told IANS: “The boom will disappear if the increasing trend of tourist harassment by touts is not stopped.” He claimed a number of incidents of cheating of foreign tourists has taken place in Jaipur over the past few months.

Acting on the repeated complaints, the tourism department has also launched a drive to identify the touts who are repeat offenders and book them under various sections of the law.

“With the upsurge of tourism in the country, instances have come to the notice of the tourism department where tourists have been extorted by shopkeepers, unauthorised guides, touts and hawkers and even harassed by auto-rickshaw drivers. A large number of these people can be seen at places visited by tourists such as airports, bus stands and monuments. They not only cheat the hapless tourists but also are a nuisance for them,” said an official.

He added that to rein in the cheating and extortion of tourists in the city, they have asked the Tourist Assistance Force (TAF) to be more vigilant.

The tourist assistant force in Jaipur has also started preparing a database of touts who are repeatedly arrested for harassing tourists.

(Anil Sharma can be contacted at anil.s@ians.in)