Women: Enterprising & motivating

For Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, the effort put in by women in the tourism industry somehow doesn’t get the credit it deserves. She believes that bringing women in the limelight and encouraging them to not be shy of recognition will really help boost their participation in the industry.

Nisha Verma

A voice of authority and responsibility in the Ministry of Tourism, Rupinder Brar believes that while there are a lot of women who are part of the industry, most play roles that hardly ever get the limelight. “That definitely needs to change,” she asserts, adding, “We need to increase their participation and showcase it more. For this, MOT hopes to do more workshops soon. We did a workshop in Darjeeling with 700-plus homestay owners, a significant number out of those being women. We want to showcase that these women, who have been enterprising, also give encouragement to other women. I must share that during our recent visit to Kevadia and Statue of Unity for ADTOI, it was so heartening to see women golf cart drivers. There were also young girls who were showcasing that all the museums and cafeterias were being run by women who were part of self-help groups from local villages, trained in running these cafeterias. They have learnt the skills of micro-financing and how to manage an enterprise. I think, we are taking baby steps to bringing women into the more organised segment of tourism and hospitality.”

Women in leadership

Brar says that there is a need to showcase all the work that women are already doing. “There is a debate on whether we should even be saying that there is a need to empower women. I think women are powerful, but we need to bring forth the efforts that women are putting in. The government, through its various initiatives, supports women in a big way, but let me also say that through tourism, we will be creating some more direct initiatives that women can benefit from. This year we are also working on what we call the ‘Nirbhaya Fund’. There was a keen understanding that the government would need to spend more on security and safety for women. Hence, MOT, this year, is supporting and financing a project in Madhya Pradesh. We are also working with the Bureau of Police Research and Development in making sure that travel becomes safe. Everything must happen together. Thus, doing workshops, engaging women in those workshops, making them believe what they really can do and allowing them to come forward is an important part of learning. And, it is not just women who have to think about themselves, it’s also the men who need to start thinking about bringing women forward because they are already making tremendous contributions everywhere,” she says.

The recovery of tourism

Claiming that infrastructure drives tourism, Brar says that connectivity as part of infrastructure is crucial. “The other thing is social infrastructure. In current times, building health infrastructure and making sure that there are enough people that are vaccinated or have testing facilities is crucial. Also, it’s important to make sure that hospitality units and all other segments of tourism are well provided for to take care of COVID-19. Hence, both hard infrastructure and soft infrastructure have tremendous value to drive tourism forward,” she believes.

Brar also claims that it is important to organise events to encourage tourists to travel, albeit while following necessary safety norms. “One major learning from the ADTOI Convention and the hybrid ITM is that we need to do far more physical events. We had started this with boutique roadshows across India in November. There is going to be more focus on the Northeast. TAAI is hosting another event with MOT and Gujarat Tourism in Kevadia from March 9-12. Such events need to take place frequently to compensate for everything we could not do in terms of physical travel in the last 11 months. It will also give a sense of confidence to prospective travellers that since industry, government and stakeholders themselves are travelling and creating a message that one needs to wear masks, maintain social distancing, sanitise and be safe, we are getting there,” she shares.