Destination-centric approach is key

A number of suggestions and ideations for tourism promotion come out of the deliberations held at the webinar on ‘Developing Tourism in Mission Mode’, moderated by Tourism Secretary and other senior officials of the MOT.

TT Bureau

The webinar on ‘Developing Tourism in Mission Mode’, organised by the Ministry of Tourism as a part of the series of webinars being held after the presentation of the Union Budget, aimed to brainstorm ideas for effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Budget.

The webinar had six breakout sessions, where the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, State tourism boards, industry associations, district administrations, local bodies, experts in the field of tourism and hospitality and Invest India deliberated on various themes namely ‘Destination Centric Approach for Tourism Development, Convergence – The Power of Collaboration, Strengthening Public Private Participation in Tourism Sector, Driving Innovation and Digitalization in Tourism Sector, Impacting Lives at Grassroots Level Through Tourism and Cultural Heritage for Promotion of Tourism.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, underlined that this year’s budget has given a new vision for tourism development and it focuses on promotion of tourism in mission mode, with active participation of states, convergence of government programs and public-private partnerships. He also said that the budget proposes facilitation of tourism infrastructure and amenities in border villages under the Vibrant Village Programme and encourages setting up Unity Mall in the state capital or most prominent tourism centre or the financial capital for promotion and sale of their own ODOPs (One District, One Product), GI products and other handicraft products, and for providing space for such products of all other states. He also claimed that the budget advocates a shift from department centric and scheme centric approach to a destination centric approach for planning, development and management of tourism.

All the sessions came up with many suggestions and recommendations, which were communicated to G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER. It was suggested that planning of the destinations is crucial for the development of the destinations. The model on the lines of Ekta Nagar needs to be replicated. It was also recommended that destination management is important, which should be done considering the government agencies, private partners and local communities. Also, the Minister was told that it is important to device a mechanism which institutionalises an enabling framework for promoting public private partnership in the tourism and hospitality sector.

It was said that there is a need for expeditious role of national digital tourism mission, which can provide a similar tourism interface between tourism stakeholders and services to the tourists.