Not state’s business to decide what tourists eat and drink: NITI Aayog CEO

The proponents of prohibition maintain India has highest whiskey sales in the world leading to a plethora of social ills and needs to be checked. (Source: File photo/ PTI)

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Friday said it is not the business of any state to decide what a tourist should eat and drink, as the increasing prohibition on alcohol consumption is affecting the tourism industry of the country. “Indian states can’t get into what a tourist want to eat and drink. Just not possible…what he wants to eat and drink is his individual business and not the states’ business,” PTI quoted him as saying at India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the capital.

“I have been a long time believer in a couple of things. Tourism is essentially civilisational in character, you can’t have garbage and filth and say that we have great heritage sites. So, India must focus on cleanliness. It is number one. Number-2 its about seamless experience,” he said.

He was asked whether states banning beef and alcohol have failed to realise the steps taken by Dubai, as the country needs tourists who should be extended every facility they need.

At least four states — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Daman — have announced plans to bar liquor sales, adding to the list that includes Gujarat, Bihar, Nagaland and Manipur which are already dry. The proponents of prohibition maintain India has highest whiskey sales in the world leading to a plethora of social ills and needs to be checked.

Asked by the moderator if he has told the political leadership about his views on the impact of prohibition on tourists, he said, “I have said it all the time that for a tourist…it’s about creating experiences. “In the evening he wants to relax and he wants to chill out and therefore you need to create that evening experience for (him) in terms of Indian culture.”

With PTI inputs