Three days National Conference of State Tourism Ministers held at Dharamshala

  The three days National Conference of State Tourism Ministers at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh concluded yesterday in the presence of Union Tourism Minister, Shri G. Kishan Reddy. Tourism Ministers of various  States attended the conference.

       During concluding remarks, Shri G Kishan Reddy thanked all the State delegates and sector representatives for their valuable suggestions. Shri Reddy urged that all States share and adopt best practices to boost the tourism sector. States must organise such conferences at State level with district officers of different Departments and stakeholders to improve and promote tourism destinations. Shri Reddy emphasised on the importance of Yuva Tourism Clubs and said these clubs can become game changer for the sector.  Shri Reddy also informed that National Flag will be installed at tourist places. He also appealed to the States and stakeholders to install flag at all hotels and tourist places. The Union Minister said that such conferences will be organised from time to time to provide an opportunity to learn from one another and hoped that this will yield desired results very soon.

     Talking about the outcome of the conference, Secretary, Tourism, Shri Arvind Singh  said India will play a pivotal role in contributing towards global tourism recovery driven mainly through domestic tourism. All the major tourism indices have started showing signs of recovery towards the pre pandemic levels such as domestic air passenger traffic, hotel occupancy and tourist footfalls. The National Tourism Policy has been drafted with a holistic vision and strategy to revive India's Tourism and targets to achieve USD 1 Trillion by the sector in 2047. Against this backdrop, the Ministry is also paving the way for developing responsible and sustainable tourism destinations. The Government of India will continue to support MSMEs in tourism and capitalise on the employment generation potential in the sector. Various initiatives under the ongoing schemes of the Ministry of Tourism are planned to be strengthened to ensure complete recovery from the disruption caused to the tourism economy due to the pandemic.   Informing about the goals for the India Tourism Sector for 2024, he said that we will strive to recover to pre-pandemic level by mid 2024. The country is estimated to achieve 50 Bn USD GDP contribution from Tourism, 30 Bn USD in Foreign Exchange Earnings and 15 Mn foreign arrivals by 2024.    He further said that India is estimated to grow at 7-9% CAGR in the coming decade and 250 Bn USD GDP contribution from Tourism, 137 Mn jobs in the Tourism sector, 56 Bn USD in Foreign Exchange Earnings and 25 Million foreign arrivals are expected to be achieved by 2030. We commit to deliver plans aligned with these goals and commitments to ensure positioning of India as one of the leaders in the tourism sector by 2047.

      The Secretary (Tourism), A&N Administration, Shri Hari Kallikkat, IAS  attended the conference and represented A&N Islands. During the conference, he interacted with tourism stakeholders and representatives from various States and briefed about the holistic development of A&N Islands from tourism perspective. 

      On the last day of conference, sessions on Role of digital technology for the marketing and promotion of tourism destinations, Emerging importance of homestays in the Indian hospitality sector, Ayurveda, Wellness, and Medical Value travel, and lastly on Forest and wildlife tourism were organized.