The Prime Minister’s speech on the occasion of Independence Day 2019 propelling people towards the idea ‘Pehle Desh Fir Videsh’ has caused much hustle in the tourism industry, all for good. At the recently concluded IATO convention, industry stalwarts and officials from various state tourism boards were invited to divulge and discuss on whether tourism is simply growing or thriving in our country. As many talked and highlighted various aspects of this subject, a dynamic lady officer from the ministry – Mrs. Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, shared some extremely beneficial insights and points on how we can reach the “thriving” stage from the presently “growing” one. Excerpts.
Arushi Bajaj
As part of the panel of the very first business session of this year’s convention, sharing her thoughts Mrs. Meenakshi Sharma said, “Tourism is a sector that grows with the economy and there is no point thinking about the potential in tourism India holds, because we all know that it is immense. Tourism is growing or thriving is a question we need to ask ourselves. The industry needs to address this question. We as a destination have already crossed the 10 million mark but the growth has not shown us the numbers we were hoping for.”
Commenting on the high rates of GST (the new GST slabs weren’t announced by then), she adds, “Taxation has been an ongoing issue. Ministry of Tourism is completely in agreement with the industry on the same. Tourism is a sector of happiness and leisure and we long to turn India into a 365 days destination.” Mrs. Sharma further went on to question the influencers and stake holders on the Plan of Action that they have in mind for future and suggested them to analyse the increasing numbers in Thailand and Malaysia.
She went to state that the Ministry of Tourism is working closely with the civil aviation transport, an example of which is the UDAN scheme, which is entirely focussed on tourism and is a project that was floated to promote domestic tourism. India has witnessed huge surge in its air connectivity in the recent past, all thanks to this scheme. Sharing a new perspective on the inbound traffic coming in form of NRIs. She says, “NRIs should come to India to not just attend the weddings but also to indulge in tourism. Every time they come to India, they should add few more days to their visit and see a bit of India,” adding, “We also need to see more women getting involved in tourism. I feel that out hotels are still not very women-friendly and there is a lot that can be done to change that. Remember, in every family, it is ultimately the lady who decides where they would be going for a holiday.”
Today we are all abreast with the digital era. It is something that cannot be ignored. These means of digital media are used by people to plan their holidays. However, we are lucky that Incredible India 2.0 has been taken care of wisely. “How we communicate and take the message forward needs to be given a thought. We have formulated new initiatives pertaining to making India a hassle free destination with our robust feedback system, etc. Paryatak Sahyogi – an online learning programme aims to change our primitive thoughts on tourism,” she said.
Mrs. Meenakshi Sharma concluded her viewpoint with the remarks, “Tourism is growing but not thriving as there is so much more to do. We need to work on the new products and destinations. Let us work together and look at the digital part more closely. Male dominated holidays need to be replaced by that of women by looking at women’s point of view. Both domestic as well as inbound tourism needs to be given importance.”
