Tourism
has been recognized as one of the major engines for inclusive growth and
employment. It has been universally acknowledged that the Travel and Tourism
Sector contributes substantially to reducing poverty and empowering women,
youth and migrant workers with new employment opportunities.
The Ministry of Tourism, is the
nodal agency for the formulation of national policies and programmes and for
the co-ordination of activities of various Central Government Agencies, State
Governments/UTs and the Private Sector for the development and promotion of
tourism in the country. The
Ministry has focused on holistic development of Tourism in the country with the
objective of promoting employment and inclusive growth along with active
participation and support of the private sector.
The importance of
Tourism as a growth engine has been underlined in the recent declaration of the
G-20 Leaders of Nations Summit held in Mexico in June 2012 which reads:
“We
recognize the role of travel and tourism as a vehicle for job creation,
economic growth and development, and, while recognizing the sovereign rights of
States to control the entry of foreign nationals, we will work towards
developing travel facilitation initiatives in support of job creation, quality
work, poverty reduction and global growth.”
Growth of Tourism
The benchmark for the sector is
the growth in the number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals and generating valuable
Foreign Exchange. The Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) in
India
in 2011 were 6.29 million with a growth of 8.9%, as compared to the FTAs of
5.78 million with a growth of 11.8% during the year 2010. The growth rate of
8.9% in 2011 for India is
better than UNWTO’s projected growth rate of 4% to 5% for the world in 2011 and
7% to 9% for Asia and the Pacific.
The number of domestic tourist visits increased from 740.21
million in 2010 as compared to 668.80 million in 2009 showing a growth of 10.7
percent. Thus, the domestic tourism witnessed impressive growth during this
period. Foreign Exchange Earnings from tourism during
2011 were Rs. 77591 crore with a growth of 19.6 %, as compared to the Foreign
Exchange Earnings of Rs. 64889 crore with a growth of 18.1% during the year
2010 over 2009.
The objective of the
Ministry is to increase India’s
share in world tourist arrivals to 1% from the present 0.6 % by the end of the
12th Five Year Plan. This would result in achieving 11.37 million
Foreign Tourist Arrivals by 2016. Also, the Ministry has targeted 1495.82
million Domestic Tourism Visits by 2016. For achieving this objective, the
Ministry has stepped up its promotional activities in important as well as
potential source markets overseas and is taking several initiatives for overall
growth in the sector.
Infrastructure Development
Infrastructure development holds the key to the sustained
growth in India’s
tourism sector. Therefore, the Ministry has been making efforts to develop
quality tourism infrastructure at tourist destinations and circuits.
A scheme for development of nationally and internationally
important destinations and circuits through Mega Projects has been initiated.
So far, 47 mega projects have been identified out of which 32 projects have
already been sanctioned. The mega projects are a judicious mix of culture,
heritage, spiritual and ecotourism in order to give tourists a holistic
perspective.
Tourism development depends on synergy and convergence
between various sectors and the Ministry is continuing in its efforts to
achieve such synergy. Due to its efforts, an Inter-ministerial Coordination
Committee for the Tourism Sector has been set up under the chairmanship of the
Principal Secretary to Prime Minister. The Committee will facilitate resolution
of inter-ministerial issues involved in the development of tourism in the
country, as well as issues raised by industry associations in the tourism
sector. The first meeting of this Committee was held on 19th
January 2012 in which various issues were taken up.
Hunar Se Rozgar
Hunar Se Rozgar (HSR) is an important means to achieve the goal
of the 12th Plan – of promoting faster, sustainable and more inclusive economic
growth. .The programme aims at creation of employable skills amongst
youth in the age group of 18 to 28 years with a minimum qualification of
passing Class 8 and provides training in programmes ranging from 6 to 8 weeks
covering Food and Beverage service and Food Production, Housekeeping Utility
and Bakery and Patisserie as well as acquiring driving skills. This programme
has been recognized as a key central initiative for skill development. The Ministry has
been working tirelessly towards broad-basing the implementation of this
initiative so as to reach youth in a much larger number all across the country.
The approach in this has been both conventional and innovative.
One of the
innovative approaches for this Hunar Se Rozgar scheme is the tie up with the
Indian Army entitled- ‘Hunar Se Rozgar- Sena Ke Sahyog Se’ in which Army units will provide
training infrastructure free of cost and also administer the programmes. The
trainees will be expected to imbibe the spirit of military discipline and
hardiness. The academic support will be provided by the Institutes of Hotel Management
designated for the purpose. The first training programme within this
sub-initiative is already underway since 14th June at the Army Unit
at Uri. The Institute of Hotel management at Srinagar is the partner Institute.
Campaign Clean India
One aspect that has
adversely impacted tourism in our country, both international and domestic,
relates to unsatisfactory hygiene and cleanliness at important tourist
destinations. This factor has emerged as a major road-block to full realization
of our tourism potential. The Ministry of Tourism has taken the initiative to
put in place a comprehensive strategy to effect cleanliness at tourist
destinations under the “Campaign
Clean India”. The
Campaign will employ a balance of persuasion, education, sensitization, training,
demonstration and regulation for achieving its goal and will be implemented in
collaboration with Central and State Governments, Ministries, the Corporate
Sector, Travel Trade, NGOs, Educational Institutions, Media and Stakeholders.
The Campaign was
launched with a Workshop organized in New Delhi which was attended by
dignitaries including Former President of India Shri A P J Abdul Kalam,
Government Ministers, Members of Parliament, Media Luminaries as well as stars
from the Film world in addition to members of the Travel and Hospitality trade
NGOs, Corporate Sector and Media houses. Very useful suggestions were obtained
from the participants in the workshop which would be taken in to account while
detailing the strategy for taking the campaign forward. The entire
exercise aims to undertake both sensitization
and action at the sites to create an acceptable level of cleanliness and hygiene. The objective is also to ensure that these levels are sustained through
ownership and involvement of private and public sector stakeholders. The
Ministry would also sign MoUs with 14 ministries seeking their intervention for
synergy of efforts.
Thirty six monuments have been identified by ASI
for the pilot project and ten of these have already been adopted by Institute
of Hotel Management/IITTM.
Schools and institutes will undertake 'Shramdan' at the destination. They would
also critically analyze the solid waste management system and propose
improvements. The Pilot Project of the Campaign Clean India was launched at
Qutub Minar in Delhi
on 19th June 2012 by Shri Subodh Kant Sahai, Minister for Tourism
along with Kumar Selja, Minister for Culture and Minister for Housing and Urban
Poverty Alleviation and Shri Shankersinh Vaghela, Chairman of India Tourism
Development Corporation. The project has been undertaken by ITDC in cooperation
with the various stakeholder associations and the ASI. The event also saw the
release of the publicity material for the campaign including posters, slogans
and Radio Commercials. The innovative Radio Commercials of this campaign are
being run of the major FM channels in the country.
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