Ashwani Lohani, Chairman of Indian Railways Board, said that technology was being put to good use by the Indian Railways to bring sweeping changes in the quality of passenger comfort and interface, but he, in the same measure, also stressed that tourism heavily depended on people-to-people exchange. He noted that technology could never replace the experience of a people-to-people interface, therefore it was merely an ‘enabler’. Lohani was speaking at the ICONIC Forum 2018.
Making a mention of the all-pervasiveness of technology, he shared that in his recent visit to the Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar Temple, a Madhya Pradesh Tourism’s counter meant for outreach among devotees had vanished which was a far cry from the days when he oversaw the state’s department of tourism and drove its outreach through such mechanisms. He was told that such measures had become obsolete as the outreach was now being spearheaded through social media and digital platforms.
He, however, believed that technology was only a tool and could never substitute human contact. “We still have the requirement of tourism counters at railway stations and airports. Tourism offices in the country and abroad have a major role to play because technology is very impersonal but cannot substitute the experience of visiting a tourist counter,” he argued.
He shared that, in a first, numerous measures, such as touch-screen kiosks to inform passengers at airports were installed by the ministry of tourism, way back in 1998. Reminiscing, he stressed that “those were different times when touts roamed even the Delhi airport.” “We used technology to hoodwink touts and beat them in their own game,” he said.
He further noted that MoT had come up with Virtual Reality Recreation Technology (VRRT) at the Qutub Minar where one could get a sweeping view of Delhi’s skyline from a telescope placed at the top of the monument, indicating that government had been keen in assimilating technology to improve overall visitor experience since a long time ago. He maintained that technology was needed to assist in doing things and not necessarily replace the physical aspect of an interface.
