He felt that there are a lot of useful things written in this document. However, with more than sixty pages it is rather a very long statement for a National Policy document. It is a bit difficult to find the pertinent policy matters at one place or join these assertions cogently. This document seems an amalgam of various exercises, all together. I think a policy statement more than ten pages is bound not to be succinct, punchy and is liable to lose focus.
A government policy is a profound statement of principled intent, underpinned by the need to achieve economic development, social justice and the excellence in the chosen field of activity. In case of tourism, besides the usual attributes, there would always be an element of projection of history, heritage and culture too. The concomitant and universal spinoffs could be national integration and international understanding.
To accelerate the growth in inbound and domestic tourism, welcome a tourist, develop new circuits etc. and many more regular and routine matters are not a matter of policy. These could feature in reports like action plans for the year or achievements of the year.
Policy matters are profound, unique and are departure from the past. A new initiative, new direction, new inclusions are policy matters.
Frankly speaking, the document needs to be reworked, made succinct and focus of the policy elements brought back. This will bring in clarity. The current document can be treated as a working document or explanatory document and treated as an annexure to the policy document and also should have proposed action plan.
The New Tourism Policy 2020 which has been formulated revolves around ten strategic pillars which are – welcome the visitor, seamless connectivity, destination planning, investment promotion, develop and diversify tourism products, market India, quality assurance & standards, market research and intelligence and skill development said sources privy to the development. The draft new tourism policy 2020 has been floated to ministries for comments and is awaiting cabinet approval.
The policy marks a decisive shift from department and scheme centric approach to a tourist and destination centric approach. The government is looking at providing incentives to attract investors to make investments viable and competitive. Incentives like Infrastructure status to hospitality projects by central government, Industry status to the hospitality projects under industrial policies of the state, rationalisation of taxes, GST refund to tourists while they leave the country are being proposed said sources. Specific strategies will be chalked out to promote investments in various tourism sectors like accommodation, travel agents, tour operators, adventure tour operators, cruise etc. With the New Tourism Policy in place the government estimates increase in domestic visits to 3.6 billion.
