Tourism Ministers’ conference concludes successfully yesterday in New Delhi. One-day National Tourism Ministers’ Conference was organized by the Union Ministry of Tourism, it was inaugurated by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture (Independent Charge), Shri Prahlad Singh Patel. The conference was attended by 19 State Tourism Ministers, Tourism Secretaries and senior State and Union Territories (UTs) representatives who discussed numerous problems linked to tourism growth and promotion.
The Tourism Minister, speaking on the occasion, encouraged better coordination between Center and States to boost the number of visitors in India. Highlighting the significance of awareness, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel said that in the minds of overseas visitors we need to enhance the perception of India, which will give us positive outcomes for tourism promotion. He told States to organize surveys in their respective states to recognize how India is experienced by foreign visitors and, if any, should work to remove unpleasant impressions. The Minister responded by saying that we must all work together to realize the dream of the Prime Minister to double the tourists, both foreign and domestic, over the next five years.
The Tourism Minister at today’s meeting introduced the Hindi version of the new Incredible India portal. He announced that next month we will launch the Arabic, Chinese and Spanish versions of the new Incredible India website. Last year, 14 June, the fresh Incredible India website was introduced. The website has drawn a total of 85,84,928 tourists since its launch, including 65,31,722 Unique Visitors as of July 31, 2019.
Better coordination to promote tourism in the country.
Shri Prahlad Singh Patel urges for
Addressing the attendees, Shri Patel also encouraged all States and UTs to follow UNESCO standards while making proposals with the assistance of ASI for the Heritage Site of their locations. The Minister said that we have excellent potential in our natural locations and that we should concentrate on adventure tourism to attract more visitors in this industry. He also said the Ministry of Culture lately decided to open 10 historic monuments to popular tourists across the nation until 9 p.m. to encourage night tourism. He also encouraged all states and UTs to open their major monuments to tourists until late at night.
During the conference, the Minister of Tourism introduced the Incredible India Tourist Facilitator Certification (IITFC) portal. The Incredible India Tourist Facilitator Certification (IITFC) Program is a digital initiative for Indian people to become part of the booming tourism industry by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. It is an online program where at your own time, pace, path, and pace you can learn about tourism. Successful completion of this program would allow the learner to become a Certified Tourist Facilitator of Tourism Ministry, Government of India.
The Tourism Minister also handed over three new Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) and five new Letters of Intent (LoIs) to the prospective Monument Mitras at the conference today.
The Conference provided a platform for the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India to apprise the States / UTs about new initiatives taken and those in the pipeline, to get valuable feedback from the States / UTs on the same, to highlight areas where active cooperation of the States / UTs is required and at the same time to learn about the initiatives being taken by the States / UTs for the development of Tourism.
Discussions were held with the States / UTs to get their inputs and feedback on the following subjects:-
- Developing an all-encompassing One Stop Solution including information on tourism-related services through a web-based application and a Grievance Redressal Mechanism through Twitter and Tourist-Helpline
- Adoption of Adventure Tourism and Bed & Breakfast / Homestay Scheme Guidelines by States/UTs
- Status of projects sanctioned under the Swadesh Darshan & PRASHAD Schemes and implementation of Public Financial Management System (PFMS).
