Eat beef in your country and then come to India, says tourism minister

BHUBANESWAR: Newly sworn-in Union tourism minister K J Alphons has an advice for foreigners visiting the country: Eat beef in your own countries and then come to India.Asked whether cow vigilantism and restrictions on beef consumption in several states had affected India’s hospitality sector, the minister said on Thursday: “They [foreigner tourists] can eat beef in their country and come to India.”He was speaking on the sidelines of the 33rd annual convention of the Indian Association of Tour Operators in Odisha ’s capital city.Alphons’s comment comes just days after he purportedly said people in Kerala would continue to eat beef. “As Goa chief minister, Manohar Parrikar , has said that beef will be consumed in the state. Similarly, it will be consumed in Kerala,” the former bureaucrat was quoted as saying after taking charge as tourism minister.When asked about his earlier comment, Alphons said: “It’s a cock-and-bull story. I am not the food minister to decide on it.”Talking about the tourism sector, Alphons said his ministry had sought innovative ideas to promote tourism across India. “We are getting people to come and give us ideas and within a month we will have a plan for action soon,” the minister said.