India considers tourism development as National Priority Activity

By Satish Gupta | eTN Asia
Major policy initiatives such as liberalization in aviation sector; pricing policy for aviation turbine fuel which influences internal airfares, tourist police etc highlight the diligence with which India has approached development of tourism industry in the last few years.
India is positioning tourism as a major engine of economic growth and to harness its direct and multiplier effects for employment and poverty eradication in an environmentally sustainable manner.

This is the objective of the existing Tourism Policy of the Indian government, according to Minister of Tourism and Culture, Ambika Soni.

Soni underlined that tourism is a priority sector because, among others, it is able to maximize the productivity of India's natural, human, cultural and technical resources; it is labour intensive and cottage or small industry based providing employment; it is capable of being primarily focused on rural areas with appropriate and relatively low cost programmes and it has extensive forward and backward economic linkages that build overall income and employment, especially for women and youth.

India's share in world tourism, which was 0.37 percent during 2001 end, is likely to increase to 0.53 percent during 2006, Soni said. The Minister added further that as per the estimates, on an average, about 3.1 million additional jobs per year have been created directly and in-directly in the tourism sector in the last four years.

While the foreign tourist arrivals are expected to witness a growth of 78 percent in 2006 over 2001 (last five years), growth in the foreign exchange earnings is expected to be of the order of 122 percent during this period.

Soni said that a concerted effort has been made through the National Development Council (NDC) and other important forums by emphasizing that tourism is now considered the world over as a major engine of economic growth and several countries of the world have transformed their economies using the tourism potential to the fullest.

According to the Ministry, other initiatives include the setting up of National Tourism Advisory Council as a `think tank', the constitution of a Group of Ministers on tourism to improve policy integration and co-ordination. The development of a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) to gauge precisely the contribution of tourism to the national economy using the methodology given by UN-World Tourism Organisation and UN Statistical Division has provided an authentic tool to assess the success of the strategies.

On the initiatives, she said Soni the proposal to introduce Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) at airports to reduce delays in clearance of passengers at the immigration counters has already been accepted by the Ministry of Home affairs and notified. The system is being tested at Delhi Airport at present. This system, as ad when introduced, will not only reduce delays in clearance but would also facilitate introduction of the scheme of visa-on-arrival.

All the States have been requested to deploy tourist Police at major tourist destinations in the States. The States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, J&K, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi have already deployed such police force.

October 31, 2006   Posted in: India