PM Modi on the country’s 73rd Independence Day batted for the development of domestic tourism infrastructure and urged every Indian citizen to visit at least 15 Indian destinations by 2022. The proposal is expected to put some air into domestic travel, which has taken a back seat as many Indians decided to restrain on travel spending. It could also create jobs that the country seems to be lacking late.

But it still remains to be seen how the country’s far from ‘pucca’ transport and tourism infrastructure can cope even if a meager percentage of its 1.25 billion people take the ‘Modi’ challenge seriously!

If everyone does manage to walk ‘Modi’s talk, there in effect would be 18.75 billion trips, or 6.25 billion a year. A report by Google and consultancy firm Bain has it that 1.8 billion trips were made by Indians in 2018. According to the same report, the local trips made by Indians have surged at a CAGR of about 8% in the last 4 years alone.

However, many travel agents feel that the issue is not just confined to that of infrastructure at airports and trains stations. The crux of the problem actually lies in poor connectivity or remote tourist places.

In spite of the many efforts undertaken by the Government in improving road and rail connectivity linking towns and villages, as well as expanding the existing airports and building newer ones, it is still a long road ahead. The increasing travel costs to access remote local areas with insufficient infrastructure can make even travelling to foreign destinations sound cheaper.

Modi though did not assure people that making trips would be easy and wanted them to tour to these destinations even if they lack good hotels, accommodations and other basic facilities. One spinoff for sure would be job opportunities for the local youth and improvement of the local economy.