Question : Observation of World Tourism Day

(a) whether the Government has observed World Tourism Day recently and if so, the details thereof along with the aims and objectives;
(b) the details of the theme of the event along with the programmes/events organized by the Government on this occasion;
(c) the number of foreign tourists especially from neighbouring countries travelling to India during last three years and the current year and the quantum of foreign exchange earned specially in Andaman & Nicobar Islands;
(d) whether the Government has been able to achieve the target fixed for foreign tourist inflow during the last three years and if not, the corrective steps taken in this direction; and
(e) whether domestic tourism has been on decline, if so, whether the Government has looked into the problem and the remedial steps taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR TOURISM (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)
(SHRI PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL)

(a): Yes, Sir. The United Nations World Tourism organization (UNWTO) had designated India as the host for celebrating the World Tourism Day on 27th September 2019. The aim and objective of the World Tourism Day celebration is to foster awareness among the global community of tourism’s social, cultural, political and economic value and the contribution the sector can make in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.

(b): The theme of the World Tourism Day 2019 was ‘Tourism and Jobs: a better future for all’. The programme held in New Delhi included an opening session where in, a workshop on ‘Tourism Jobs of the Future’ organized by UNWTO in collaboration with Outlook Responsible Tourism Initiative, Panel discussion on ‘Maximizing Tourism’s potential to create more and better Jobs’ in addition to a presentation ‘The Future is Now-The UNWTO Online Academy’ by UNWTO. As part of the World Tourism Day celebrations, the National Tourism awards were presented to various segments of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. An MoU on Tourism Cooperation between India and Paraguay was also signed during the World Tourism Day celebrations.

Hon’ble Vice President of India was the chief guest for opening session and the event was attended by Union Minister of State for Tourism & Culture (IC) Secretary-General of UNWTO, Tourism Minister of Paraguay among others.

(c): The details of number of foreign tourist including those from neighbouring countries who had travelled to India during last three years and foreign exchange earnings is at Annexure I & II. The Ministry of Tourism does not compile State/UT wise foreign exchange earnings through tourism activity.

(d): Arrival of tourists depends on many factors therefore, there is no fixed target set by the Ministry of Tourism for foreign tourist arrivals. However to improve the growth of foreign tourist arrivals the government of India has taken a slew of measures like relaxation in the Visa rules, introduction of E-Visa for 5 year duration in addition to one year e-Visa, e-visa for private conferences organized by private persons/companies/ organizations and above all reduction in visa fee which has considerably brought down the cost of travel to India and bound to boost arrivals during the lean months and increase tourism competitiveness of the country. The Government of India has also considerably reduced GST rates on hotel tariffs.

(e): The number of Domestic Tourist visits has been on rise. The Domestic Tourist Visits in 2018 was 1854.9 million as against 1657.6 million in 2017 there by registering a growth of 11.9%.
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