Days after the attack on Swiss tourist couple at Fatehpur Sikri near Agra, India swung into action to save its "tourist-friendly" image. 

A group of five, including three minors, chased and beat Swiss nationals Quentin Jeremy Clerc and Marie Droz, both 24, with sticks and stones on October 22. Fatehpur Sikri is some 35 km from Agra, the international tourist destination that features the Taj Mahal. Clerc's Facebook account mentions that he had worked for Swiss Air Force.

Local police claim that youths wanted to take a selfie with the Swiss couple, but they declined their request. The couple's denial apparently angered them resulting in the attack. 

India launched e-visa facilities in 2014 for 150 countries in a bid to boost tourism. According to Press Information Bureau data, the country registered 13.6 percent growth in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in December 2016 over the same period in 2015. 

Union Minister of State for Tourism, K J Alphons, hit back at critics calling India a dangerous place for foreign tourists by asking, "Shooting incidents happen regularly in USA and terror attacks in Europe, do we call those countries unsafe to travel?"

Allaying the fears, Alphons maintained that "We are 1.3 billion people. How many incidents take place in India? Very few," he said. "But of course these are unfortunate incidents and should not happen."   

The minister has also written a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to take strong action against the culprits. "You would kindly appreciate that such incidents negatively impact our image and are detrimental to our efforts in promoting India as a tourism destination. A fast and speedy response in identifying and ensuring speedy action including the conviction of the guilty would be reassuring, as also a good message of our efforts to prevent recurrence of such incidents," he wrote.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also shot off a letter to the Uttar Pradesh government seeking a detailed report on the incident. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj swung into action in a bid to contain the damage. She tweeted "our Joint Secretary S Bhattacharjee and Indian Ambassador designate to Switzerland C B George met Swiss nationals Clerc and Marie Droz in hospital this morning."

Ironically, the Swiss tourists were attacked on the day when Chief Minister of the state, Yogi Adityanath, was at an official visit to the Taj Mahal as part of a cleanliness drive and promote tourism. The entire district of Agra was under strict surveillance. 

Embarrassed over the attack, Agra police on Thursday arrested two men and rounded up the three boys involved in attacking the Swiss couple.  

Concerned over the incident, an FM radio channel Radio Mirchi (98.3 FM) launched a satirical campaign #MatAaoIndia (Don’t come to India) targeting India’s official "incredible India" tourist campaign to attract foreign tourists. 

The hard-hitting campaign that includes incidents of crime against international tourists drew a huge debate on the social media. The campaign mentions:-

See the seashore of Goa, and witness tourist harassment, See our Russian guest, and witness her molestation,      

See the splendor of Fatehpur, and witness couples being thrashed,                                                                                    Coming to India is injurious to health                            

Guests are not gods. Don’t come to India.

After a series of complaints to the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) over the hard-hitting radio campaign, a show cause notice was issued to the radio channel and campaign was pulled down.

Clerc and Droz had arrived in Delhi on September 30. They reached Agra from Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan. 

UP Additional Director General (ADG) of Crime, Chandra Prakash told Indian Express that a police team took them to a health center where doctors referred them to the district hospital. The ADG added that the couple left Agra on Sunday and gave in writing that they didn’t want to file first information report (FIR). A FIR is a written complaint submitted to police for taking action against the accused. Police taking cognizance of the incident initiated action into the incident. 

Injured tourists were rushed to Apollo Hospital in Delhi for treatment. Doctors treating them maintained that Clerc suffered the skull fracture and nerve damage and was admitted to the intensive care unit for two days. Droz was discharged after getting treatment for multiple fractures. 

In the last few years, India had been witnessing a decline in the number of crimes against foreign tourists. National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) data claims that such crimes had reduced by 29.4 percent in 2015. Around 384 cases of crimes against international tourists were reported in 2014, and it came down to nearly 271 in 2015.  

The Embassy of Switzerland in New Delhi in a statement confirmed that two Swiss citizens were attacked in India.