JOIN USThe Centre will unveil a new national tourism policy by the end of this year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently made certain suggestions after going through a draft of the policy formulated by the Tourism Ministry after consultation with the stakeholders.
"We will incorporate those suggestions and finalise the policy after holding another round of discussion with the Prime Minister," Tourism Minister K Alphons said.
The policy will be unveiled "in three months," a senior Tourism Ministry official said.
According to official sources, the draft of the national tourism policy seeks to focus on employment generation and community participation with development of tourism infrastructure and products “in a sustainable and responsible manner.”
“It is an all-encompassing policy to boost tourism sector in India by involving linkages with various ministries, departments, States, Union territories and other stakeholders,” they said.
While the draft policy enshrines the vision of developing and positioning India as a “must experience” and must re-visit” destination for the foreign tourists, it seeks to lay equal focus on boosting domestic tourism.
“The policy recognizes domestic tourism as a major driver of tourism growth and lays emphasis on the need to have a new marketing strategy to boost the sector,” sources said.
It stipulates for launch of a “targeted and country specific campaigns” with focus on promotions in established source markets and potential markets which are contributing significantly to the global tourist traffic.
The draft policy calls for developing “quality human resources” in the tourism and hospitality sectors across the spectrum of vocational to professional skills development and opportunity creation. It also stipulates for creation of an “enabling environment” for investment in tourism and tourism-related infrastructure, sources added.
The last national tourism policy was formulated in 2002.