TBM Staff - Mumbai A parliamentary panel has recommended that the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) identify and develop revenue generating domestic tourist destinations in states to promote innovation in production and service in the tourism sector.
The standing committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, which submitted its 331st report on Tuesday on “Action Taken by the government on the recommendations/ observations as contained in its Three Hundred Twentieth Report on the subject ‘Development of Tourism Infrastructure in the country’, said that despite the fact that India offers a diverse portfolio for travel, tourism and hospitality, the share of its International Tourist Arrivals (ITAs) was merely 1.59 per cent in 2021.
“Proper revenue-generation in a developing country leads to innovation – in the production, services and pricing sectors, opens new gates of employment, resource sharing, education, empowerment of general people, improvement of political relations and reforming the system of food and aid distribution. The committee feels that identification and development of revenue-generating domestic tourist destinations in States is necessary,” the report said.
It also said that with the increased competition among various countries to attract more foreign visitors, it is an imperative need for India to prepare a better marketing strategy by hiring marketing experts to attract foreign visitors.
“The committee, therefore, recommends that the Ministry should formulate an integrated marketing and promotional strategy in collaboration with a professional body to carry out market research to identify expectations, requirements, psychographics, demographics and many other aspects of a foreign tourist willing to travel to India, thereby enabling to create a strategic plan to revive the pandemic-hit tourism sector,” the report said.
The committee also said that one of the effective steps in this direction would be recasting the website of the Ministry in an attractive and user-friendly manner. (Source: PTI)
