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National tourism policy to be launched before budget session: G Kishan Reddy
Union minister was addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the three-day national conference of state tourism ministers that began at Dharamshala.
The government of India will launch a comprehensive national tourism policy before the upcoming budget session of the Parliament, said G Kishan Reddy, Union minister for tourism, culture and development of the north-east region (DoNER) on Sunday.
Reddy was addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the three-day national conference of state tourism ministers that began at Dharamshala.
Reddy said the conference would discuss ways to promote tourism, development of tourist destinations, attract foreign tourists, and increase indigenous activities in domestic tourism.
“Discussion will also be held on eco-tourism, green tourism, folk tourism, medical tourism and wildlife tourism etc,” he said.
On the policy front, he said that the tourism ministry prepared a draft of the national tourism policy after discussion with multiple stockholders, inputs from the states and various union ministries.
It was also uploaded on the website of the tourism ministry for suggestions from the public. The policy will be launched before the upcoming budget session, he said.
He said 99% of the tourism in the world countries has been developed on the PPP model and the government of India is also trying to bring big investment in the sector on this model.
The motto of the government is ‘Vikas Bhi-Virasat Bhi,’ which aims at the development of tourism infrastructure and preservation, promotion and international recognition for the culture and heritage, he said.
He said tourism was the worst affected sector due to the Covid-19 pandemic and was slowly returning to normalcy.
“Foreign tourism is yet to pick up, but domestic tourism has gathered pace and in HP, Uttarakhand, North-East and Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
He said the union cabinet recently allocated an additional ₹50,000 crore fund under the emergency credit line guarantee scheme for tourism sector.
He said the visa fee for the first 5-lakh foreign tourists coming to India has been waived off, while embassies will also work to promote Indian tourism.
