Hawkers, touts repel tourists in Agra

AGRA - Treating your guests as gods may be an integral part of Indian culture but in the city of the Taj Mahal, it is the behaviour of hawkers and touts that confronts tourists more often than not.

“Hawkers are the biggest hurdle in the promotion of tourism in the Taj city with three glorious world heritage monuments,” a comprehensive study by Agra University’s Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management concluded.

The sample survey by more than 20 students covered tourists from 20 odd countries, including Britain, Malaysia, Brazil, Spain, France, Japan and Sweden, according to acting director U.N. Shukla.

Tourists were asked to comment on the state of cleanliness, general security ambience, attitude of service providers and guides.

Most tourists interviewed were not happy with any of the parameters outlined in the survey but the “irritating and at times the anti-social behaviour of the hawkers and touts” invited maximum number of negative remarks.

Tourists were generally satisfied with the food in the hotels and the tariff too was found to be all right, but security for night stay was wanting.

The survey will continue to cover a bigger sample of 4,000 tourists and the findings will be submitted to the departments concerned, institute officials said.