Safe shot: Tourists in Delhi

When Carol Sivanich read about the gang rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi in December, she feared she was in for a bad time. The Toronto schoolteacher was just three months away from her long-awaited India trip. Her family and friends advised her against travelling alone. But Sivanich, 59, did not change her plans.

“Such unfortunate incidents do happen. My tour operator apprised me of the situation and also assured me about the additional security in my hotel,” says Sivanich, who recently spent 10 days in Rajasthan. “I stayed in a heritage property where I was provided with a driver who ensured I was never alone on the streets at night. And my hotel knew where I was headed.”

The hospitality industry is doing all that it can to tighten security for its women guests, with incidents of sexual violence in India hitting the headlines worldwide. The exclusive services for women include dedicated floors, stricter screening of visitors and special chauffeur services.

It’s not just the Delhi rape and murder case that’s got the industry worked up. Last month, a Swiss national was gang raped in Madhya Pradesh. A British tourist jumped from her hotel window in Agra fearing a sexual assault by an employee. Earlier this month, a British woman was stabbed to death in a Srinagar houseboat.

Not surprisingly, advisories have been issued by countries such as the US and the UK asking their citizens to exercise caution while visiting India. A recent survey conducted by industry body Assocham says that the number of foreign tourists coming to India in the last three months dropped by 25 per cent and female tourists by 35 per cent.

To instill confidence in women travellers, many hotels are now ensuring that rooms are allotted to them near the elevator so that they don’t have to cross long and deserted corridors.

“We have started the Women’s Experience — an initiative that caters to the customised needs of our female guests. The rooms offer optimum safety and security,” says Shaji Thomas, director, sales and marketing, Grand Hyatt, Mumbai. The Lalit in Delhi has a dedicated floor for single women travellers. “We have in-room door cameras to help guests view someone standing outside the door. Our guests are escorted in GPS installed limousines,” says Vivek Shukla, general manager, The Lalit.

Exclusive female housekeeping staff and security guards in the corridor are some other measures. A Mumbai-based tour operator says that some hotels have a few rooms fitted with cameras. “A female guest is told about the camera. She can switch it on or off as she wishes. Even many hotel employees are not aware of it.”

The Claridges Hotels & Resorts, with its flagship hotel in New Delhi, has allocated rooms for single women travelling alone, closer to the lobby and the elevator. “Guards take more frequent rounds of these areas,” says Oliver C. Martin, regional general manager. “Incoming phone calls are also screened.”

The Sarovar Hotels group also provides single female guests rooms on lower floors and next to lifts to ensure their safety, says Anil Madhok, managing director. The Leela Palace in Delhi is expected to open its Kamal Wing — an exclusive floor for women guests — by May. Women travellers will soon be given a safety kit consisting of, among other things, a Swiss knife at the Hotel Marine Plaza in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has asked five-star and budget hotels to click photographs of their guests to curtail crime. In Goa, where the rape and murder of a British teenager in 2008 kicked up an international furore, the government plans to set up a Tourist Police Force with 50 women constables. Beaches will soon have night patrolling and the names of authorised private hotels, tour operators and agents will be uploaded on Goa’s tourism website.

“We have to tell our tourists that India is safe. Such incidents happen in other countries as well,” says Gour Kanjilal, executive director, Indian Association of Tour Operators, a national body with 4,000 tourism industry members.

Tour operators, however, are not greatly worried. “We haven’t faced any cancellation in the last three months. In fact, 19 women from Germany recently visited Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Pushkar and Jodhpur on a 15-day trip,” says Shivram (he uses only one name), managing director, PTMC Pvt. Ltd, a Delhi-based inbound tour operator.

Tourists are exercising caution too. Japanese fitness instructor Yoko Otsugi says she stays alert and avoids deserted streets. The mantra, clearly, is: always be prepared.