India's department of tourism, with the backing of the government, has asked local tour operators to contact stranded tourists in destinations ranging from Sri Lanka and Maldives to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to divert their stay to India. And to lure away these tourists, India's bait is not just an easy transit visa on arrival but also offer attractive special packages so that instead of cutting short their holidays at South East Asian beach resorts, tourists can spend the rest of their holidays in yet another exotic tropical locale unaffected by the crisis.

The visa-on-arrival proposal has been cleared by the country's home ministry, that is in charge of the tourism department, and tour operators have been asked to put packages in place with assistance from Indian Airlines and Air-India - the two state-owned airlines- that fly to South East Asian destinations.

"Tour operators have been asked to contact foreign tourists vacationing and stranded in Maldives, Srilanka and Thailand," said a spokesperson from the tourism department. "Quite a few are stranded due to slow and inadequate evacuation from some of the worst affected regions like Phuket (Thailand), Malaysia and Maldives. We expect the response to be good."

Thus, apart from salvaging their holiday, the plan might help European and American tourists to move to safety faster than waiting in South East Asia for connecting flights to their home countries.

The official added that the government has approached the same Indian tour operators that had initially organized trips to these destinations. "It will, therefore, not be very difficult for them to track down these tourists. They are working round the clock."

Although with an estimated 115,000 casualties -- until today and still rising -- India features third in the most affected casualty list, thanks to the vast country that India is and the fact that it has not attracted the same kind of "bad press" as Sri Lanka and Thailand. This has made the local tourism sector look forward to this windfall effect of the tsunami.

It is estimated that the casualty count in Indonesia has exceeded 45,000 while in Sri Lanka, it is about 25,000. The Red Cross says that the death toll in all the 11 nations is more gruesome at about 100,000.

Indian destinations that are to be promoted as an alternative are the Indian states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, which are attractive Indian tourism spots and are completely unaffected by the tsunami.

Tourism operators add that they also want to sell destinations in the Thar desert, the Himalayas as well as beaches along the west coast of India, which were already being promoted as part of the Incredible India drive for the past year.

"In fact, we have received queries from some very distraught European and American tourists who are keen to visit India to sooth their distraught nerves and are even keen to extend their holiday from a week to 10 days or even longer," said a Thomas Cook official.

Meanwhile, tourism industry sources say that that the tsunami devastation would also aid in increasing the inbound tourist traffic in the 2005. "There is a big possibility that during the early 2005 much of global tourist traffic meant for South East Asia could be diverted to India," said a spokesperson from global travel agency Cox and Kings.

"It would take a while for the stigma and the fear to die down; moreover, some of the tourism infrastructure that is now in shambles in Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives and Myanmar could act as a deterrent too for global tourists. That is why we expect a higher inflow in India," the spokesperson said.

Previous trend have already established that when there's trouble in South East Asia, India's tourism gains. For instance, the SARS and the Bird Flu fears were big contributors to the record foreign tourist inflows in 2004 that is expected to close with over 3.25 million visitors.

India is also gradually gathering popularity as a health tourist destination. It attracted approximately 150,000 patients in 2003. It has the potential to attract 1 million health tourists every year, and this will contribute up to $5 billion to the economy, says tourism sources.

According to the World Travel Market Report 2004-5, global arrivals recorded a double-digit growth of 12 percent in 2004, after dipping and then hovering around low single-digit rise in the recent past.

The report also said that the golden triangle, comprising Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, had become one of the most prominent tourist circuits in the world and almost 60 percent of foreign tourists arriving in India visited this area.