NEW DELHI: Monica was in Goa, enjoying some beach time when she heard a knock on her door late one evening. She went to see who it was, making sure to keep the chain connected. Peering in at her was a man she had not seen before. He didn't work at the hotel. “I asked who he was and what he was doing,” she retold to Bikyanews.com. “But he didn't say anything, reached inside and grabbed my robe. It partially came off exposing my chest. He then tried to smash his way through the door.” Luckily for Monica, a German national, she was stronger than her potential assailant, able to close the door. She said she left Goa the next day and arrived in Delhi two days later. She now waits for a plane to take her home to Hamburg. “This is too much. It is disgusting and shocking. Most of Indians are welcoming and nice people, but the rise in sexual violence is taking its toll,” she added. She wants no more of India. And it appears other women tourists are following quickly behind. The number of foreign women tourists visiting India has dropped by 35 per cent in the past three months following a spate of sex attacks that have made global headlines, a new survey has found. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) says overall tourist arrivals are down 25 per cent year-on-year, with holidaymakers opting instead to visit other Asian countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. The fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old Indian student by six men on a bus in New Delhi in December sparked outrage at the country's treatment of women, and since then there have also been other widely reported attacks. A Swiss cyclist was gang-raped in Madhya Pradesh last month, while a South Korean tourist was allegedly drugged and raped in the same state in January by the son of the owner of a hotel where she was staying. Such incidents have “raised concerns about the safety of female travelers to the country," said DS Rawat, secretary general at ASSOCHAM, which surveyed 1,200 tour operators from different cities. Indian women themselves have expressed shock and outrage at the rising number of gang-rapes and assaults in the country, calling on the police and government to intervene. “I can't breath. This is shocking," mother of two young girls Amina told Bikyanews.com on Friday evening. “This country is going downhill for women and girls very fast. I am disgusted at this event and the lack of police response." She was referring to three girls, ages 5, 9 and 11, who were found raped and murdered on February 16. According to reports, police have yet to launch an investigation into their deaths, instead recording their murders as “accidental." It means less tourists for a country that largely depends on tourism for its local industry and workforce. The government told Bikyanews.com that they plan on developing new strategies to curtail the rising violence against women, but nothing concrete has been revealed. And women are not coming to India as a result. BN
