Government Sets Target of 1% Share in Global Tourism Arrivals

Mahesh Sharma, Union Minister of State of Tourism has said that government has set a target of achieving 1% of global tourist traffic by next year. He was addressing the audience at a national workshop organized on the theme of Make in India in New Delhi today. Dr. Sharma is of the view that India is a very large country with great diversity and beautiful topography and the present influx of tourists every year is pretty dismal. He said that the target of 1% set by government of India is realistic and can be easily achieved but it requires a multipronged strategy with proper coordination among government departments and agencies.

Work needs to be done on many aspects of tourism

The minister said that government is focusing upon aspects of cleanliness, safety, and hospitality to attract more tourists to India. These three make up the core concepts of any policy on tourism as tourists are always concerned with their safety and hygiene.   He added that there has to be better coordination among the ministries of civil aviation, culture, and tourism to give all possible help and assistance to the tourists arriving from foreign countries.

Theme based tourist circuits will be developed

MoS of Tourism harped upon the importance of accessibility. He said that to make tourists interested in staying for a longer duration in the country, it was necessary to make tourist destinations better connected with each other. Easy connectivity can be ensured with better synchronization of timings of trains, buses and air planes inside the country. He informed the audience that Ministry of Tourism has recently allocated a fund for Rs. 500 crore to develop theme based circuits connecting various places of tourist attraction.  Tourism Ministry has chalked out plans to develop 5 important circuits inside the country. These are as follows.

1. Buddha circuit
2. Krishna circuit
3. North East Circuit
4. Ganga circuit
5. Kerala circuit

In addition to these circuits, the Tourism Ministry is also working on a cruise plan making use of the inland waterways. There is also a plan to promote wildlife tourism in India in collaboration with Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Dhaba owners to get training in cleanliness and hospitality

Talking about the importance of eating joints on highways in the country, the Minister said that government is thinking of providing Dhaba owners basic training on hygiene to attract foreign tourists. To make tourists buy and carry souvenirs when leaving India, Dr. Sharma said that impetus needs to be given to develop the skills of craftsmen and other artists.

Informing about the initiatives taken by his ministry in the last few months, Dr. Sharma said 25 monuments of historical importance have been identified and they will be developed as model monuments to attract more and more tourists. He said that E-ticketing scheme has already been introduced at the Taj Mahal and Humayun’s Tomb in New Delhi. Dr. Sharma appealed to the leaders in tourism industry to take bold initiatives to give a fillip to tourism in India.