DNA In-Depth: Unlocking Mumbai's tourism potential

Ask a tourist on the street her itinerary for Mumbai and she is going to name the usual suspects. From the Gateway of India to Marine Drive; from Victoria Terminus (which is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus today) to the Prince of Wales Museum (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya). The experiential traveller might go so far as the forts at Bandra, Sewri and Sion that dot the landward edge of island city. In short, you'll get a list of colonial-era icons, reclaimed by name or not.

Even the landmarks the current administration loves to extract praise for, like the Hanging Gardens and the Byculla Zoo with its Humboldt penguins imported from South Korea existed in some form while the mega city of Mumbai was still the State of Bombay.

There are no modern marvels the establishment can claim as its own. Worse, despite its posturing as an international megapolis, the urbs prima in Indis falls short of being a prime tourist destination by a wide margin. Even the basics are missing.

Its recreational open spaces are sparse and visitors' hangouts ill-maintained, and the state and the civic regimes seem loath to develop fresh ones. Even when they do, they either fail to promote them adequately (Shilpgram at Jogeshwari), neglect to maintain them (city's beaches), or do a halfhearted job, (Taraporevala Aquarium).

A senior state official admitted that while Maharashtra's potential as a tourist stop and thereby its ability to make itself prosperous is massive, governments over the years haven't shown the acuity or the interest in maintaining and marketing it as such. To be fair, nor has the public.

Operators point out the inelegance in tourism ecosystem, riddled with holes because authorities don't take a holistic view of promoting the industry. They work in silos, and leave the infrastructure gap-toothed.

Even for popular spots, operators say, connectivity is hobbled, conveyance atrocious, information kiosks and signage missing, water dispensers absent, pavements filthy, help desks invisible, and infrastructure wanting. Besides, there's no 'hop-on hop-off' circuit.

"We need world-class convention centres, state-of-the-art exhibition galleries, family-focussed cultural tourism, experimental venues. Ideally, Fort area should be pedestrianised, allowing only electric golf carts and bicycles," said Bharat Gothoskar, founder, Khaki Tours, while deploring the lacunae. "Heritage precincts have to be conserved so that they can pay for their maintenance."

Attend To The Rudiments

Currently, tourists tend to treat Mumbai as a way stop. They stay overnight before moving to an outbound destination. They have to be enticed to stay awhile and visit nearby sites, like Aurangabad. "Avenues must be created for business tourists. A sense of care and concern has to be inculcated among local residents. Youth can be skilled to be guides, and allotted a stake in the process," Gothoskar said, stressing that the state has to engage the private sector and facilitate tourist-friendly infrastructure.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has undertaken initiatives to attract tourists, but it fails to meet tourist expectations of basic upkeep. The incumbent BMC boss once said out loud that he wouldn't take his parents outside because of unfriendly footpaths.

But woes stretch way beyond walkways. Street lighting is an issue. Tourists don't feel safe traversing unlit stretches. Seating at public spaces is scarce. Many old fountains are defunct.

Transport activist Jitendra Gupta, a Kurla resident, said, "Encroachments along footpaths, especially near railway stations, makes commuting a pain, especially for visitors who are not used to the disorder."

For its part, the city claims to be regulating hawking zones and working together with the state tourism department to enhance foreigners' experience.

"We made a special viewing gallery for foreign tourists at Girgaum Chowpatty. A pavilion with a capacity of over 300 was set up," an official said, which only goes to illustrate the blinkered vision the authorities have. Only the destination is in focus, the means to get there aren't.

It is beyond obvious the city is in desperate need of a 'comprehensive mobility plan'. For this, the civic body is working on building 41 'missing links' to improve road mobility in Wadala, Chembur, Malad, Bandra, Dadar, Byculla and Parel among other areas. But a lot more has to be done to decongest traffic.

The chock-a-block roads and public spaces also need greening. The city body has consistently failed in tree transplantation. At Worli Sea Face, palm stubs serve as eyesores more than any sort of floral embellishment.

On the plus side, the civic body has upgraded gardens and some of them are beautiful. A Shilpgram (model village) has been developed in Jogeshwari to give tourists a flavour of the state's rural culture.

Fortifying Tourism

The sprawling fortresses left by colonial rulers have been waylaid by encroachments, and left to crumble. Rishikesh Yadav, a member of the government's forts conservation committee, said Sewri, Worli, Sion, Bandra and Mahim forts cannot be developed without rehabilitating slum dwellers around them elsewhere.

Sites like Sewri Fort could be developed further for birdwatchers as flamingos flock to the mudflats here in winters. "These places are inaccessible to tourists because of want of infrastructure," he said. Facilities for people to stay overnight should be developed in the vicinity of monuments and forts, he suggested.

A site like Vasai Fort, close to Mumbai, has huge tourism potential, said Gothoskar of Khaki Tours said. "It can have mock battles like at Warwick Castle in the UK. There people dressed up in Victorian costumes so people can click photographs with them. The Vasai Fort can similarly have these costume-clad people, to portray, say, Chimaji Appa, the Maratha general and brother of Peshwa Bajirao-I who liberated Vasai from the Portuguese," said Gothoskar.

The forts can host venues of sound-and-light shows, such as those in Udaipur's gorgeous City Palace and Pune's mesmerising Shanirwada, and entry can be ticketed.

But before undertaking new projects, what is on ground has to be made palatable. There are hardly any public lavatories at tourist spots that won't make you feel like hurling. "We lack basic infrastructure," Gothoskar said. He suggested handing over the upkeep and promotion of historic and heritage sites outside South Mumbai to one authority, so they are adequately taken care of and talked about.

There's a circuit of caves is western suburbs waiting to be sold as a package. It includes Magathane, Mahakali and Jogeshwari caves, and the hero stones in their vicinity. The gaothans in Khotachiwadi, Matharpakhadi and Worli can be fulfilling cultural experiences if one only walks through them.

Something on these lines is happening in Asalpha in suburban Ghatkopar, where a hilltop shantytown has remodelled itself flamboyantly, inviting tourists in for a true taste of the state, through authentic Maharashtrian meals and guided tours.

Look Within

All agree that the exuberantly diverse past of Mumbai, mostly forgotten, has to be recalled and exploited to its fullest. Viren D'Sa, founder, Zamorin of Bombay, said giving foreign tourists an immersive socio-cultural experience is also the responsibility of citizens, who themselves need to rediscover the palette of subcultures the city is home to. Apart from what the British left, contributions made by the Portuguese, Germans and Jews need to be talked up by the authorities, beginning right from the schools.

"Citizens have little interest themselves in getting to know the heritage and history," said D'Sa. They haven't bothered. Which is why tourists to the metropolitan find that the locals hardly know anything about the city — whether in its current avatar or as it was. Most go around proudly saying there's nothing here to see but malls and pubs. But that's hardly true. Mumbai is rich in heritage and archaeological sites, even if it maintains them poorly. All vacationers need is to be reminded of the number of reasons to stay, and they will.

Inputs by Dhaval Kulkarni, Aseem Gujar and Amit Srivastava