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The Pandemic has hit the world, globally, especially the travel sector. Now, it is gradually picking up. What are the steps taken by the Ministry of Tourism to promote tourism in India?

In the present scenario, the Ministry is focusing in a big way on the promotion of Domestic Tourism in the country under the “Dekho Apna Desh” campaign. A Series of webinars have been carried out regularly on lesser known destinations as well as the culture and history of our country. Social Media has been used extensively to promote domestic tourism. Roadshows have also been held at a number of locations including Kevadra (Gujarat), Srinagar, Goa, Ladakh, etc. to promote domestic tourism. 

Aerial photography of key cities and culture assets (Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Udupi, Aurangabad, Iconic Tourist sites) was conducted across the country during the lock-down so that the same may be used as promotional videos for the international market.

Creating awareness on protocols of safety and security among the tourists as well as service providers in terms of India being a safe destination to travel in the post-COVID scenario has also been a major focus of this Ministry. In this connection, the Ministry of Tourism has launched the SAATHI Programme to assist the hospitality industry in their preparedness to continue operations safely and mitigate risks arising out of the COVID Pandemic.

The Ministry of Tourism has revised the MDA guidelines for domestic tour operators to increase its scope and reach to benefit larger number of stakeholders for promoting domestic tourism. Financial assistance has been increased under the revised guidelines and there is also a provision for providing financial assistance for online promotion.

The Ministry of Tourism has initiated the following measures to attract foreign tourists once international flights resume operations, and tourist visas start getting issued:

• Launched a Scheme for incentivizing tour operators under the Champion Services Sector Scheme. Through the Scheme, financial incentive would be provided to either Foreign Tour Operators or the inbound tour operators approved by the Ministry of Tourism for bringing a minimum of 100 tourists per quarter from short/medium/long haul countries. The Scheme has been launched on a pilot basis covering a total of 17 countries.
• Launched a Scheme to provide incentives to MICE Operators under the Champion Services Sector Scheme to give a boost to MICE tourism in the country. These incentives shall be provided for conferences which have a minimum of 250 participants, of which 20% are foreign participants. Invective shall be in the form of reimbursement of GST on hotel rooms for the first two days of stay.
• Liberalization of the Marketing Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme for promotion and marketing of India in overseas markets by the Ministry of Tourism / State Government approved Tourism Service Providers.  The scope of the scheme has been enhanced to benefit a large number of tourism service providers.
• The Ministry of Tourism will shortly initiate the process of appointment of India Tourism Marketing Representatives in key markets overseas to enhance India’s presence in overseas markets, increase foreign tourist arrivals to the country and target emerging markets with untapped potential.
• To realise the vision of creating a unified promotional strategy in the overseas markets, the Ministry of Tourism will strengthen partnership with Indian Missions and other relevant stakeholders for promotion of inbound tourism to India.

Cultural Heritage sites in India play a very important role globally for tourists. What are the steps taken to preserve and promote these sites? 

The Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned a total of 76 projects under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme. Under this scheme, themes based tourist circuits are being developed on a pan-India basis. These tourism circuits also cover cultural heritage sites to leverage them for the development of tourism in the country. In addition to the above, under the PRASHAD Scheme, the Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned a 37 projects for the holistic development of selected pilgrimage destinations in the country. The Ministry of Tourism has also launched Adopt a Heritage project for development of tourist amenities at heritage/tourist sites in partnership with private players, in a planned and phased manner.

As part of the Dekho Apna Desh campaign, the Ministry is organizing webinars on various tourism sites and cultural heritage to encourage citizens to travel within the country.

Cultural heritage sites are being promoted as part of the Incredible India 2.0 campaign of the Ministry of Tourism in both major and potential source markets across the world.  Besides the above, the Incredible India website of the Ministry of Tourism also has information on heritage destinations across the country to motivate travellers to visit these tourist sites.

Tell us about the Investment schemes to uplift the growth of tourism in India.

The Government of India’s vide notification dated 26th April, 2021, “Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre” has been included in the Harmonized Master List of Infrastructure Sub-sectors by insertion of a new item in the category of “Social and Commercial Infrastructure‟, with a footnote defining Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre. The inclusion of “Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre” in the Harmonized Master List will give a boost to the development of MICE infrastructure in the country which would help in more MICE tourism to India.

Are there any off-beat destinations in India you want to promote? Share your views on this.

The Ministry had launched the Dekho Apna Desh initiative in January 2020. The Dekho Apna Desh webinars promote lesser known destinations besides giving a glimpse of the culture, heritage, handicrafts, cuisine, etc. of the tourist spots. Dekho Apna Desh is promoted extensively on social media accounts and the website of the Ministry and by Domestic India Tourism offices. Under this initiative the Ministry has been organizing webinars, quiz, pledge, discussions to keep connected with the stake-holders and to encourage citizens to travel within the country. More than 99 webinars have been conducted. There is huge focus on the North Eastern region of India and also igniting traveller interest to the 100 national parks that are home to not just the tiger, but the Asiatic Lion, the leopard, etc.