NOIDA proves big failure in wooing tourists – lack of vision and sincere attempt hampers hospitality sector growth

UP’s show window Noida has overtime gained prominence in the entire world and is one of the most well-known cities of the country.

Yet, when it comes to attracting tourists, the district proves to be a big failure compared to any of its counterparts.

Concrete jungles, express highways, hundreds of IT companies, sky-kissing buildings, flyways, and neatly landscaped parks best define Noida’s cityscape. From amazing shopping malls to places of natural delights to art galleries, sanctuaries and amusement park – the city has everything that can woo tourists but it primarily caters to local population only, thanks to a lack of adequate promotion.

The city enjoys very close proximity with national capital Delhi and two of its major attractions – India Gate and Akshardham are within few kilometers of distance from Noida, yet no attempt has ever been made to attract any of these tourists to Noida.

Places such as Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal, Sector 37 Botanical Garden, Okhla Bird Sanctury could be marketed well to get tourist footfall, yet never a sincere effort has been made to bring these places on the national tourist map.

The city has recently got two more attractive touristy options in form of musical fountain in the medicinal park in Sector 91, Noida. It is at a 15-minute drive from Sector 37 and Sector 18. While thousands throng to witness sound and light show at Akshardham, every evening, what’s exactly stopping Noida to bring some of these tourists to its fold?

Moreover, the various places to visit in Noida can strike a chord with almost all kinds of visitors as the different Noida tourist places are as interesting as they are diverse. Yet, the city that also has the privilege of being the home constituency of Dr Mahesh Sharma, who happened to be Union Minister of State (Independet Charge) in Ministry of
Tourism during 2014 to 2017, Noida couldn’t carve its identity on the tourism map of the country.

According to a statistic, Noida’s unique location on the golden triangle tourist circuit (Jaipur-Delhi-Agra) can be very advantageous to easily gaining high tourist traction. Agra, which has highest foreign tourist footfall in the country and attracts 17% of total foreign tourists (nearly 11.5 lakh) visiting India is also about two hours distance from here.

And most individuals visiting Agra either cover it after Delhi or come to national capital after visiting Agra – both ways passing through Noida.

So can’t this IT city or the show window of UP do just enough to make tourists plan a stopover here?
From Buddha International Circuit to the Nigh Safari Project – that remains limited to paper only – a lot could be polished and sold in the national, international tourism expos to attract investment, tourist footfall in the region. Yet, the potential remains completely untapped as of now.

Does any of UP Govt department has data about the bus loads of tourists travelling to Agra using DND , Noida Expressway and Yamuna E-way . Similarly tourists travelling by road data ?

Now the NOIDA INTL Airport will be the reality thanks to Ex Union Minister Dr Mahesh Sharma and Yogi Govt , is there any plan to attract national and international tourists ?

A well-planned strategy can work wonders in this domain and can give a big boost to the hospitality sector of the region. Will the who’s who of Noida wake up to this reality now? Only time may tell!

 

(Note : Quotes for adding in this special news story are invited from elected representatives , UP Govt Officers , NGOs , Associations or Any person .. It may be e mailed at news@tennews.in)