India among 8 'unsafe' countries for women travellers

US-based business and technology news website Business Insider has listed India as one of the eight countries dangerous for women to travel in. Though the New York-based website has India on top of its list, it does not specify if the list follows a ranking system. Vanita Srivastava reports.

Here's a point of view tourism minister K Chiranjeevi will not appreciate, even if he disagrees with it.

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US-based business and technology news website Business Insider has listed India as one of the eight countries dangerous for women to travel in.

Though the New York-based website has India on top of its list, it does not specify if the list follows a ranking system.

Brazil, Turkey, Egypt, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Kenya complete the list compiled on the basis of reports from Human Rights Watch and crime reports in the media.

The list has surfaced days after a survey by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India said overall foreign tourist arrival in India had dipped by 25%.

The industry body survey added that the number of female travellers to India had fallen by almost 35% in the last three months.

Chiranjeevi, however, said on Thursday recent incidents of violence against foreigners may have had short-term impact, but "recent data did not show any dip in the number of foreign tourist arrivals".

Business Insider has made it clear that it "focused this list on places where the cultural climate could be
misogynistic, but these are not the only dangerous places for women to travel".