Do you know it is very embarrassing when you visit different countries and instead of hearing how beautiful and nice India is, you hear stories how people got scammed in India
It happened with me when I was in a bar at Chicago, an American man approached me and asked if I am an Indian, I shook my head in sheer suspense.
He simply asked me, is taxis really expensive in India ? how much does it cost if I have to take taxi from Delhi Airport to Gurgaon (Westin hotel)
I thought he may be planning to visit India, so I answered ! it would max cost you around $ 6-8 (500-600 INR).. the moment I said this, I could see expressions, full of frustration and he said somebody charged him $ 55 for that ride (almost 10 times more)
Then his next question was, why would people scam foreigners? I have purchased lot of stuff from India, I don’t know how much extra money I got cheated.
Trust me guys, I had no answer to his questions and I was representing India to him.
Just because of one bad incident, he has made many more perceptions and I don’t know how many people he is going to influence in his circle & reduce many possibilities of tourism.
Also I don’t know how many more Indians would face such humiliation like I did
I really do not understand the reason behind the acts of few of the Indians who readily look out for short term benefits by cheating tourists,
Why can't they understand that India has huge potential to become world's number one tourist destination,
It can certainly boost our economy, help in feeding thousands of empty stomachs, will help generating job opportunities & much much more.
India is at 34th rank in the world tourism index,
Here is the list of top 5 tourist scams done by some Indians but list is never ending :
• Charging 10 times more than the standard cost of taxi rides
• Taxi drivers taking them to known shops to earn commission, while shopkeepers charge them fortune for every little thing
• Taxi drivers taking them to wrong tourist places to save on fuel or taking them to their known hotels as their booked hotels are far off & drivers lying to them from head to toe
• Unofficial tour guides asking ridiculous amount of money to guide, to for fast-track admission from queues or temple donation
• Fake Police in small cities charging tourist for breaking laws that doesn’t even exist
I am planning to help foreign tourist in every possible way going forward so that they take back positive memories to encourage others to visit India as well.
Also no Indian in future faces any such situation where they feel humiliated because of some incidents.
Would request you all to come forward & help me achieve it
I have created a Facebook group/community by the name “Travel Help – Foreigners Visiting India “ and agenda is to help tourist real-time with their questions pertaining to anything. (it will be nonprofit)
I will start advertising the group in different countries, so that we attract lot of foreign tourist
For ex- if they are buying anything specific and they feel it is expensive, they could click picture and post it on a group & some of us would help them with a rough idea on pricing
Therefore I would request you to kindly join this group from all the states/cities/towns as possible, share with your friends & family and spread this group in other groups
If you have any specific question kindly DM me on Mayank_SinghalOfficial
