Thrust will be on 5 priority areas of tourism during G-20 i.e greening of the tourism sector, power of digitisation, empowering youth with skills, nurturing tourism MSMEs/ startups and strategic management of destinations: Tourism Secretary

Under the framework of G-20, the Ministry of Tourism will organise its first Tourism Working Group meeting from 7^th to 9^th February 2023 in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat.

Briefing the Media in New Delhi yesterday, the Secretary, of the Ministry of Tourism, Shri Arvind Singh said that in G20, there are 5 interrelated priority areas for tourism. Accordingly, the thrust will be on these five priority areas i.e. greening of the tourism sector, harnessing the power of digitisation, empowering youth with skills, nurturing tourism MSMEs/ startups and rethinking the strategic management of destinations. He further explained that side events on Rural and Archaeological tourism would be organised to promote tourism during the first Working Group Meeting. He also informed that success stories of Indian tourism would be showcased to the foreign delegates during the same.

The Secretary disclosed that one of the priorities through the G-20 platform is to reach a consensus on how the SDG goals will be achieved by 2030. As a part of this, there will be an emphasis on sustainable tourism which is essential not only for the environment but also for creating opportunities for local enterprise.  

Shri Arvind Singh said that G-20 will help in raising awareness about the tourism potential of India at the global level as the delegates of the meetings at 55 different locations will be exposed to Indian culture and tourist destinations. He also informed us that representatives of Rann of Kutch meeting will be taken to Dholavira which is a UNESCO world heritage site and through this people in our own country and in other countries will come to know about such sites which will help in enhancing tourism.

The Secretary also added that the improvement in hospitality and management skills of the local populace, especially the youth who would attend to the influx of tourists is also an agenda. The same has also been one of the key highlights of the budget for FY2023-24. He also mentioned that there will be live demonstrations of the local arts and handicrafts before the delegates and also the farewell gifts to the delegates will be under the One District One Product initiative.

Giving more details, Shri Arvind Singh said that 3 mega tourism-related events are being organised to take advantage of the G20 Presidency. These include the Global Investors’ Summit in April, the MICE Convention and the meeting of the World Tourism CEOs Forum.  These are in addition to the G20-related events.

Shri Arvind Singh also informed that the Ministerial level Communique, entailing the direction that the different countries have agreed upon to take forward during G20 meetings,  will be presented at the end of the summit. The other places chosen for the G20 events will encompass different flavours like rural, archaeological, historical etc.