Tourism turns to the dead

New Delhi, July 18: When life gets tough, fall back on the dead.

The recession-roiled tourism industry is turning to colonial graveyards to lure foreign visitors keen to visit the tombs of their ancestors or the famous.

Leading the effort are states, led by Bengal. They are coming up with novel plans to promote what has come to be known in the industry as “graveyard tourism” — never mind the odd connotation.

“British and French tourists have got hooked to the concept. Some are interested in retracing routes (of their ancestors), others just to visit the tombs of the famous,” said an official of Bengal’s tourism department. The six cemeteries in and around Calcutta are alone said to be home to around 1 lakh such tombs. These include those of famous Britons like William Jones, the founder of Asiatic Society.

At least 50 foreigners visit the cemeteries in Calcutta every day, the official said. “Some do it out of curiosity but genealogy is the key driver.”

The state’s Left government has sought the assistance of the Christian Burial Board, which runs four major cemeteries in the city. The board will computerise its records so foreigners can find the graves of their forefathers easily.

Kerala, another Left-ruled state, isn’t far behind, focusing on regions with Jewish connections. “We are preparing details of Jewish cemeteries as a large number of tourists from Israel have shown interest,” said K. Radhakrishna of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation.

Neighbouring Tamil Nadu is concentrating on its French past. “Mahe has a number of colonial-era cemeteries of the French. We plan to market it the way Pondicherry has been doing with its French links,” said a Tamil Nadu tourism department official.

Goa, already a hotspot, has taken a big leap in playing up its Portuguese symbols to draw visitors who can look beyond sun and sand. Here, like in Bengal, the government has sought the assistance of the Church, which is in the process of computerising burial records.

“We are now engaged in digitalising the records so visitors can locate them at the click of a mouse,” said Dominic Padre of the Goa Catholic Congregation. Once the drive is over, tourists will be able to locate the graves from abroad and plan their visits accordingly, he added.

In the north, Uttar Pradesh recently concluded a survey of cemeteries in Lucknow, Jhansi, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Bithoor, Kanpur and Meerut, all of them erstwhile Raj bastions.

Himachal Pradesh has sought assistance from the British Association of Cemeteries of South Asia to compile a list of its large number of British cemeteries.

Sensing the enthusiasm among states, the Centre has pitched in to help. “We didn’t take much interest initially as the graveyards were scattered across the country, with no clear pattern. But since the states themselves are coming up with plans, we’ve decided to help promote graveyard tourism abroad,” said a Union tourism ministry official.

The official said the ministry planned to get in touch with British Association of cemeteries of South Asia for revamp advice. “It is only a matter of time before the colonial graveyards in India become as fetching as the Highgate Cemetery in London or Pere-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.”