Chennai (The Business Daily/NewsVoir): On the occasion of the World Tourism Day (27th September) India tourism, Chennai and the Big Biking Commune organised the flag-off of the ‘Ride in India’ campaign, an initiative to promote Motorcycles as a safe and responsible way to promote and boost domestic tourism.
The flag-off event was held during the morning hours at the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Taramani, Chennai.
The tourism sector, one of the biggest employment and forex generator has been largely affected due to the ongoing pandemic situation. With the markets opening up in a phased manner, there is a ray of hope for the tourism industry, and in a bid to boost domestic tourism and support local businesses, India tourism, Chennai along with the Big Biking Commune, one of the largest aggregator platform for the motorcycle community, jointly launched the ‘Ride in India’ Campaign to promote Motorcycle tourism, a new and growing trend in the country.
The event was flagged off by Shreevats Sanjay, Deputy Director General (DDG) & Regional Director (South), Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, who while addressing the bikers and media said, “India ranked 3rd among 183 countries according to the World Tourism Council in 2018 and tourism is a big sector that contributes significantly to the GDP. Currently, we are very concerned in reviving the tourism sector, keeping in mind the need for safe and responsible travel. Motorcycle tourism is a fast growing sector now where many bikers and organised clubs are using motorcycles as a means of travel and to experience new destinations. On the occasion of the World Tourism Day, we are happy to start this Ride in India initiative that encourages bikers to not only travel safely but also promote, support and boost domestic tourism within the country.”.
Around 24 million Indian tourists travel abroad every year and spend atleast USD 25 billion. “We can encourage these travellers to explore destinations in India, considering the difficulty in international travels at the current situation,” he added.
Given the travel restriction and the importance to maintain social distancing, motorcycles offer one of the safest and responsible ways to travel within the country. Taking an active role in supporting and encouraging this form of tourism, the Ride in India campaign calls out to the motorcycle community to travel within the country and experience Incredible India on motorcycles. This will in turn boost domestic tourism and the local businesses such as resorts, highway hotels, two-wheeler workshops, bike rentals, and other allied businesses.
“Over the past 3 years we have seen an big increase in motorcycling culture with large groups and organised clubs riding out to explore new destinations in India and across the borders. Motorcycles offer the flexibility to ride on your own and explore hard to access exotic locales and with bikers active on social media helps promote pictures and videos of tourist destinations in a very active manner. We feel it is time to mainstream Motorcycle Tourism and ride out to popularise different destinations. The Ride in India campaign is one such initiative and we hope to get large groups of bikers take active part in promoting and supporting domestic tourism in these difficult times,” says Arun Kumar, Chief Convener Big Biking Commune Pvt. Ltd.
The campaign will begin on Oct 1st 2020 and will be a two month long initiative with bikers registering their pledge to ‘Ride in India’ for the next 60 days across 90 tourism destinations in the South India.
The Tourism Industry has faced the biggest setback ever due to the pandamic.
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