The one-day National Conference of Tourism Ministers concluded successfully in New Delhi yesterday. Organized by the Union Ministry of Tourism, it was inaugurated by Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of State for Tourism & Culture (I/C). The conference was attended by State Tourism Ministers of 19 states, Secretaries of Tourism and senior officials from the states and Union Territories (UTs) who deliberated on various issues related to the development and promotion of Tourism.
Speaking on the occasion, the Tourism Minister urged for better coordination between Centre and States to increase number of tourists in India. Highlighting the importance of perception, Shri PrahladSingh Patel said that we need to change the perception of India in the mind of foreign tourists which will yield us good results for promotion of tourism. He asked the States to organize surveys in their respective States to understand how the foreign tourists perceive India and should work towards removing negative impressions, if any. The Minister stated that all of us together have to make concerted efforts to realise the Prime Minister’s dream of doubling the tourists, both foreign and domestic over the next five years.
The Tourism Minister launched the Hindi version of the new Incredible India portal at the conference today. He announced that the Arabic, Chinese and Spanish versions of the new Incredible India website will be launched next month. The new Incredible India website was launched on 14th June last year. Since its launch, the website has attracted 85,84,928 total visitors including 65,31,722 Unique Visitors as on 31st July, 2019.
Addressing the participants, Patel also urged all the sates and UTs to follow the norms of UNESCO while making proposals for Heritage site of their sites with the help of ASI. The Minister said that we have great potential in our natural sites and we should focus on adventure tourism to attract more tourists in this sector. He also said that recently, in order to promote night tourism, the Culture Ministry has decided to open 10 historical monuments till 9 PM for common visitors across the country. He also urged all the States and UTs to open their important monuments till late night for visitors.
The Tourism Minister launched the Incredible India Tourist Facilitator Certification (IITFC) portal during the conference. The Incredible India Tourist Facilitator Certification (IITFC) Programme is a digital initiative of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India for the citizens of India to become a part of the booming Tourism Industry. It is an online programme where one can learn about tourism at their own time, space, path and pace. The successful completion of this programme would enable the learner to become a Certified Tourist Facilitator of Ministry of Tourism, 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.
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.
