Bodh Gaya gangrape case: Japan and China travel firms warn tourists against India travel
Mangalore Today News Network
Beijing, January 8, 2015: Government-backed travel agencies in Japan and China are issuing fresh warnings to travellers against visiting India after a Japanese researcher was abducted and raped by five men in Bodh Gaya last month.
Travel agencies in Japan and China – two of the biggest sources of tourists along what is known as the Buddhist pilgrimage route – have warned customers against undertaking all non-essential travel to India, after news of the horrific rape and several weeks-long abduction of a Japanese researcher triggered alarm and concern in both countries.
While the case has only received relatively limited attention in India, it has been widely covered by media in Japan and China.
Reporting on the arrests of five men over the case, the Japan Times said the 22-year-old woman was a researcher who was studying India and interested in undertaking a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya. She was kept captive for as long as three weeks in a village near the holy town, before escaping on December 26 and travelling to Kolkata, where she contacted the Japanese Consulate, the newspaper reported.
Kunikatsu Hayami, executive managing director of Overseas Tour Operators Association of Japan (OTOA), the country’s most influential travel body, told IndiaToday.in that the case had been “widely reported� in Japan and had generated “concern�.
In China, where there is also huge interest in travel to Buddhism-related sites in India, agents at the official China Travel Service (CTS) have in recent days cautioned female travellers against going to India.
“If you are female, even as a group, we advise you do not travel to India unless absolutely necessary,� an agent who gave his last name as Yang told IndiaToday.in.
“Few travel agencies in China now offer travel packages to India because not so many people are willing to go there. Safety is a big concern, especially for women,� the agent said.
Hayami, of Japan’s OTOA, said agents were following the lead of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on safety requirements. “The latest kidnap and rape has been widely reported in Japanese television and newspapers,� he said. “So many people have concern[s] about travel to India�.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists “sexual assault� targeting women, and foreign tourists, as among key warnings for travellers in its official overseas safety advisory for India.
China has also recently expressed concern about safety of women citizens in India. In February 2013, the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi asked India to “take all efficient measures to protect its citizens� after a 23-year-old Chinese woman was raped in New Delhi. That case too generated wide attention in China.
Several countries have in recent months warned female travellers on safety issues in India. The United States State Department on its website advises: “U.S. citizens, particularly women, are cautioned not to travel alone in India.�
An agent at China’s U-Tour World Travel, who gave her last name as Xu, said the group had cut down its travel packages to India to only “one or two a year�. “This is because there are few people who want to go to India,� she said, “and safety fears are the main reason�.
Courtesy: India today