Poll tourism: Wll EC allow travel agents to turn election drama into tourist attraction?

If elections are the biggest festival of democracy, it can also be turned into a tourist attraction, for festivals are manna for a globetrotter. And that is what a few travel and tour operators have done in India.

International tourists visiting India last December got a peep into the conduct of Assembly polls with tourism specialists mooting the concept of ’election tourism’.As part of ‘poll tourism’, foreign tourists, who visited Gujarat at the time of elections, met prominent BJP and opposition Congress leaders in the state, interacted with them and developed a better understanding of how public representatives get elected in India.

And the concept was so successful that it is now being used to cash in on the general election fever. In December,Akshar Travels, the same tourism company that organised the Gujarat poll packages, tested t he concept in Delhi.

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According to a report in the Business Standard, Manish Sharma, the owner of Akshar Travels and chairman of the Gujarat Tourism Development Society, has now signed an agreement with about 60 tour operators across India to promote poll tourism and expectsbout 2,000 visitors opting for these packages, especially from regions like Egypt and the Gulf.

Atypical poll tourism package for six nights and seven days is priced between $1,200 and $1,800 and includes food, stay, transportation and combines visits to major tourist attractions in India with attending political rallies, interacting with political leaders and soaking in the election fever.

For instance, under a Delhi-Agra-Jaipur package, a tourist could visit various sites in the capital, attend political rallies and spend evenings interacting with representatives of political parties, attend the election campaign etc.

Another heritage tour to Ajmer, Pushkar, Jodhpur, Mount Abu and Udaipur includes en-route visits to rural villages to explore the actual vote bank and election campaigning in rural area of Rajasthan along with meetings with political leaders and election candidates to understand the Political system of Rajasthan. ( You can see the various packages here.)

Tourists will also be shown the functioning of a panchayati raj system, how votes are cast and how caste and community equations play a role in Indian elections.

The concept of ’election tourism’ was first introduced at World Tourism Mart held in London in December.

While political parties are all gung-ho about the initiative, it remains to be seen if the Election Commission would want to turn the elections drama into a tourist attraction.