Sachin Tendulkar is just 171 runs short of overtaking Brian Lara as the top Test run-getter and Sri Lanka tourism is hoping to encash the impending moment to woo Indian tourists for next month’s Test series against Mahela Jayawardane’s men.

“Sachin is a mere 171 runs behind (Brian) Lara’s aggregate of 11,953 runs and is expected to set the new mark during India’s third Test series in Sri Lanka in July/August 2008,” Sri Lanka Tourism Managing Director Dileep Mudadeniya said in Mumbai.

Sri Lankan Tourism has tied up with national carrier SriLankan Airlines and a couple of hotels to promote the cricket series.

“We expect about 5,000 to 6,000 Indian fans to come to Sri Lanka for the series. Visas are given for 30 days on arrival,” he said.

The Tourism Board announced a few tour packages for Indians. It includes return economy airfare ticket and two nights accommodation, he said.

The package from Mumbai for a person is Rs 18,099, Chennai Rs 11,199, Delhi Rs 20,999 and Trichy Rs 11,599.

SriLankan Airlines has 100 flights a week to India and flies to 11 destinations here.

The Sri Lankan national carrier is 58 per cent owned by the government and 42 per cent by UAE’s Emirates.

It does not appear to be the best of times for tourists in India protests and violence in three states, and untimely rains lashing many areas. But the tourism ministry maintains the travel industry has not been affected badly.

The prolonged Gujjar protests in Rajasthan, a favourite state on the tourists’ itinerary, strike by transporters in Jammu and Kashmir, a violent call for a separate state of Gorkhaland in Darjeeling in West Bengal have badly hampered tourism in the the states.

Though it is off-season in Rajasthan because of the intense heat, foreigners still like to visit the exotic state. But it has suffered a double whammy - first the serial blasts on May 13 in which 61 people were killed and over 200 injured, and now the Gujjar agitation that began May 23 and left road and rail links badly affected.

The impact of the Gujjar agitation has been felt in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh too.

Tourists planning to revel in the cool climes of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Darjeeling have been left sorely disappointed as well with agitations and heavy rain throwing life out of gear.

Tourists, especially foreigners, who were caught in the agitations, have been leaving for safer destinations. Many have left the country, resulting in massive cancellations.

Concerned by the Gujjar agitation and the indefinite strike called in the Darjeeling hills by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) that has led to an exodus of tourists, the US and the British authorities issued advisories to its citizens to keep a low profile.

The US last week also issued an advisory to its citizens travelling to Mumbai to take “extreme caution” while driving or walking on Mumbai’s roads during the heavy rains and consequent flooding.

However, joint secretary in the ministry Leena Nandan said the alerts by US and Britain were “not alarming”.

“Agitations, strikes and flood-like situations might disturb public and definitely hamper tourist movement. But authorities are taking steps,” Nandan told the media.

She said she was in constant touch with authorities in the affected states. Joint exercises are being carried out with the help of the army to facilitate smooth passage for stranded tourists and the situation is being brought under control.

She said many tourists are being airlifted and brought to safer areas by buses.

According to Nandan, the last two months might have seen bomb blasts and agitations but there has been no decline in the number of tourists visiting the country.

By the end of this May, there was an increase of 12 percent in tourist inflow, compared to the first five months of last year.

About 2.3 million tourists visited India in the first five months this year, compared to 2.1 million in the same period last year, Nandan said.

Even the foreign exchange earnings have gone up. Last year, the earning was Rs.189 billion as compared to Rs 219 billion this year in the first five months.

Nandan said India’s tourist offices abroad were being updated to pass on latest information to those planning to visit the country. “We are sending them updated information about the situation in India,” she said.

The first Korean-Hindi Dictionary has been released by the Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni in Seoul, Republic of Korea during her recent trip to attend the UNWTO Executive Council Meeting.

The work on this dictionary started in 1994 and contains more than 50,000 main entries including 20,000 sub-entries with over 700 pages.

The Government of Republic of Korea and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India have provided financial grant for this project.

The work has been undertaken by the faculty and the students of the Department of Hindi of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies(HUFS) and was coordinated by Prof. Kim Woo Jo.

On the occasion of the release of the dictionary, Lee Dong-won, a student of HUFS was awarded a return ticket for Seoul-Delhi, by the national air carrier of India for her valuable contribution in compilation of the dictionary.

Traditional Indian cultural performances were also showcased to commemorate the occasion.

The Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has welcomed the efforts to raise awareness on the relation between tourism and poverty alleviation.

UNWTO agreed to contribute USD 500,000 from its budget as a contribution towards STEP (Sustainable Tourism for Eliminating Poverty) Programme dedicated to promote poverty elimination through sustainable tourism development programmes and projects.

In its 83rd session UNWTO’S Executive Council noted that tourist arrivals grew by 6% during 2007 to reach a record number of nearly 900 million international tourist arrivals.

The meeting held in Jeju Island, Republic of Korea recently was chaired by the Minster of Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni in her capacity as the Chairperson of the Executive Council.

The Meeting was attended by member countries including Spain, Russia, Germany, France, Brazil, Iran etc. Chairmen of the Regional Commissions, Representatives of Affiliate Members, Chairman of the Committee on Budget and Finance and others.

In a survey undertaken by UNWTO to determine the priority areas for drawing the Programme of Work for 2010-2011, 57% of the member states marked Education and Human Resource Development as the top most priority area which was communicated as the highest priority by India.

Tourism and Culture Minister Soni pointed out the need to address severe manpower shortage in the hospitality sector.

She urged UNWTO to take a lead in organizing adequate training programmes for capacity building in member states wherever possible.

The recognition of the importance of tourism sector world over has led to more countries becoming members of the UNWTO.

At present 153 countries are the members of the Organisation and the membership is set to increase further with the admission of two more countries – New Zealand and Norway in its fold.

The Union Secretary of Tourism Shilabhadra Bannerjee has launched an updated Korean website of Incredible India in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

The website is tourist friendly and will serve the purpose of dissemination of tourist information in the Korean language.

Addressing representatives of Tourism and Travel Industry from Korea on the occasion, Banerjee presented the latest initiatives undertaken by the Government of India in the tourism sector.

During his 45 minutes interaction with more than 50 tour operators, discussions revolved around need of more Korean speaking guides, more hotel rooms, ayurveda and medical tourism, security for single travelers and visa facilities.

The Secretary called upon the tour operators to increase tourist traffic from South Korea to India.

The foreign tourist arrivals from Korea to India have increased by more than 56% during the last three years.

Last year the number of visas issued from Korea were 70,000 and this year the target set is 1,00,000 tourists from the South Korean market.

At the end of the Meeting the Korean travel industry gave its assurance to fulfill this target and to continue with double digit growth.