OVERSEAS MARKETING MEET ON INDIAN TOURISM BEGINS
SMT. AMBIKA SONI UNDERLINES NEED FOR GREATER INTER-MINISTERIAL COORDINATION
The Minister of Tourism & Culture, Smt. Ambika Soni has underlined the need for better coordination between the Ministries of External Affairs, Home Affairs, Civil Aviation so as to smoothen various procedures relating to grant of visa and clearances etc. to foreign tourists desiring to visit India. Inaugurating the 2-day Meet on Overseas Marketing of Indian Tourism, here today, Smt. Soni said that very often these are the constraints that result in avoidable delays in grant of visa and other necessary clearances to tour operators for bringing foreign tourists to India on chartered flights etc. and affect the growth of Indian tourism.
Smt. Soni said that Tourism is not merely a commercial activity. We have to provide the tourists a lifetime experience of visiting India in a manner so that he is induced to come again and again. If somebody has visited the Taj and other cultural monuments in his first visit, let him be attracted to come again for experiencing other tourists circuits like the Buddhist Circuit, Tea Garden Tourism, Rural Tourism, Adventure Tourism and so on. For this it is necessary that we provide clean room, clean water, improve cleanliness by removing garbage etc. which is often seen in the vicinity of cultural monuments. We have to provide for budget hotels so that the middle class segment of tourists can be attracted in a big way.
Underlining the need for reviewing the functioning of overseas marketing offices of the Indian tourism, Smt. Soni said that we may have to open some more offices or relocate some other keeping in view the emerging tourism industry. She called upon the Overseas Tourist Offices to recognize that the modern day tourist very often does not come to the Tourist office for information and booking etc. rather he prefers to do this from the Internet. etc. As such we have to be more imaginative and pro-active besides being focused on the needs, aspirations and requirements of the prospective tourists. ‘Those who have the responsibility of promoting India have to do it in a spirit of mission and with a passion’ so that more and more people are attracted towards India, she added
Smt. Soni released a report on the Incredible India Campaign-2005-06 on this occasion. A number of promotional films produced by BBC and CNN on different aspects of Indian Culture & Tourism like Heritage India, Contemporary India, India as a Golfing Destination, India as an Ayurvedic Destination, India as a Medical Tourism Destination etc. were also released by the Minister in the Inaugural session.
Earlier, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Shri Ashok Kumar Mishra said that the rate of growth in tourism sector has been commendable in the last few years as tourism accounts for roughly 6% of the GDP and about 9% of the total employment. Nevertheless, in volume terms we are way behind. Whereas a small city like Macau with 4.5 lakh of population is handling 17.5 million tourists, our country with such a great variety of tourism products received only 3.92 million tourists last year, he added.
Shri Mishra said that since the private sector is the driver of real growth in the Hospitality and Travel industry, our strategy should be to function as a facilitator for them to the extent that we extend support both to the overseas and domestic tour operators, arrange interface between the two. We are contemplating to broad base the overseas brochure and advertisement support scheme. We propose to create a revolving fund for this purpose. The Ministry also proposes to increase the allocation under market development assistance scheme to enable larger number of domestic tour operators and hoteliers to take part in travel marts, road shows abroad so that we may realize our aim of achieving an overall target of 25% growth in Tourism sector, he said.
Apart from Heads of Overseas offices of India Tourism, various stakeholders in travel industry are participating in the 2-day Meet, which has been organized by the Ministry of Tourism. A number of Interactive Sessions and Presentations by representatives of Central/State Governments and members of the Travel Industry are being held with a view to getting inputs and perspective on international tourism trends and marketing strategies vis-à-vis India. There will also be country/regional presentations by the Overseas officers of Indian Tourism coming from places like Sydney, Tokyo, London, New York, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, Dubai and various other places highlighting the potential and current travel trends in certain important and emerging overseas markets and proposed strategies for further growth.
AK/JA