Shayan Mallick | New Delhi According to Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, one crore (10 million) foreign tourists are expected to visit India this year, reaching almost the pre-Covid peak tourists arrival of 2019 when little over 1 crore 9 lakhs (10.9million) foreign tourists visited the country. India welcomed around 61 lakhs (6.1 million) FTAs in 2022. Reddy was addressing the press on key achievements of the Ministry of Tourism during the last few years, and future strategy for promoting tourism in the country.
The Union Tourism Minister highlighted the approach followed by the Government in promoting and developing tourism sector in the country with focus on connectivity, civic infrastructure, tourist amenities and soft infrastructure. He said that the country is taking a new flight of development with the mantra of “Vikas Bhi aur Virasat bhi” under the guidance of the Prime Minister.
Citing example of the phenomenal spurt in domestic tourism, Reddy pointed that in 2022, J&K received a staggering 1.84 crore tourists breaking all previous records since Independence. He also said that India is seeing a rapid revival of FTAs post Covid, and India will soon become a major destination of the world with the Whole of Government approach policy.
The Union Tourism Minister also announced initiatives for tourism promotion in the country in the presence of MoS, Tourism Ajay Bhatt. He launched a unique initiative ‘Best Tourism Village Competition Portal’ and Rural Tourism Portal. The Global Tourism Investor Summit 2023 portal was also launched on the occasion.
The MoT is organising 1st Global Tourism Investors’ Summit from May 17-19, 2023 to showcase investible projects and opportunities in tourism and hospitality sector in India to domestic and international investors. This is being organised in the backdrop of India’s G20 Presidency this year.
India is also observing ‘Visit India Year 2023’ on which a presentation was made. In order to develop tourism in mission mode and to accelerate India’s rise towards world leadership in tourism sector, the MoT has launched Visit India Year 2023. It is a unique, collective movement that invites the world to explore India during 2023 – a historical year of India’s G20 presidency as well as grand celebrations of India@75 Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Reddy also shared information on various developments under PRASHAD, Swadesh Darshan and other Centrally-funded schemes for tourism development as well as MoT’s engagement with other ministries such as Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways; Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways; Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, among others, for the development of tourism that comes under other ministries ambit.
Furthermore, keeping in view the role of youth in all spheres of nation building, MoT has launched a programme for Yuva Tourism Club across the country to engage youth with tourism. It will provide youth with better understanding of their culture, heritage and tourism by engaging in a variety of activities. It will also create awareness about the career opportunities in the field of tourism and hospitality.
