Ministry of Tourism has taken the programme of integrated development of mega destinations and circuits further. During the first quarter of 2008-09 mega tourism projects have been sanctioned at a cost of Rs.8474.20 lakh for development of the following 3 tourist circuits in the country:
1. Bhubaneshwar-Puri-Chilka Tourist Circuit in Orissa
2. Dwarka-Nageshwar-Bet Dwarka Tourist Circuit in Gujarat
3. Heritage Tourist Circuit at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh
The project for development of Bhubaneshwar-Puri-Chilka circuit includes development of interchange nodes, upgradation of protected/ unprotected monuments, development of parking/anchor points, upgradation of approach roads to monuments/temples, lighting of monuments/temples and creation of a multimedia museum.
The project for development of Dwarka-Nageshwar-Bet Dwarka as a mega tourist circuit includes development of beach area, development of parikarama path and lakes, repair and restoration of ghats, development of camping sites for eco tourism and development of a village haat.
The heritage circuit project at Tirupati includes construction of tourist arrival centres/tourist information centres, landscaping, street lighting, drinking water points, relaxation huts, public conveniences and children park with all amusement facilities.
These projects are expected to greatly enhance visitors’ experience in all the mega destinations.
The Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni has said that tourism industry needs to guard itself against volatile economic trends and unforeseen natural disasters to maintain high growth rates in the sector.
She was addressing the two day 83rd Session of the Executive Council meeting of United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) at Jeju Islands in South Korea today. India is currently Chairperson of the Executive Council of the world body.
Full text of Ambika Soni’s speech:
“It is a great privilege for me to address this 83rd Session of the Executive Council Meeting in this beautiful island city of Jeju. At the outset, on behalf of all the members of the Executive Council and in my own capacity as Chairperson of the Executive Council, I would like to express sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to the Government of the Republic of Korea for hosting this Executive Council Meeting. I would also like to thank members of the Executive Council for reposing their confidence in India and electing it as the Chairperson of the Executive Council at the last General Assembly Session of UNWTO held in Cartagena in November 2007.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with anguish when I speak of the world having witnessed two devastating natural calamities recently (i) cyclone in Myanmar and (ii) earthquake in China. They caused unprecedented sorrow and misery in terms of loss of lives and destruction of wealth. I would like to on all our behalf express our deepest condolences to the governments of the Peoples of Republic of China and to the Government of Myanmar, and to all the bereaved families.
Ladies and Gentlemen, World Tourism has enjoyed its fourth consecutive year of growth in 2007. International tourist arrivals grew by 6% during this period to reach a record number of nearly 900 million. While all regions in the world registered increase in tourist arrivals, the Middle East region registered the highest increase. Asia and Pacific region too registered sustained growth in tourist traffic, thanks mainly to continuing favourable economic environment. The situation in South Asia too was very promising with tourist traffic registering an 8% growth. But concerns are now being expressed as to how tourism can possibly maintain high growth rates in the backdrop of increasing oil prices and economic recession. It is against these volatile economic trends and unforeseen natural disasters that tourism industry needs to guard itself. While I urge the UNWTO to work in close coordination with international organizations that are working on Early Warning Systems and Disaster Management in order to prevent loss of life and essential infrastructure, we have to find ways & methods to offset this high cost of oil – the last was $138 per barrel!!
Ladies and gentlemen, a climate of safety and security is also very important for the growth of tourism industry. Incidents of harassment of tourists and terrorist attacks, even though they may be isolated, can severely undermine tourism. All the effort that goes into image building of tourism gets washed out because of these incidents. I wish to emphasize here today the importance of cooperation amongst all the UNWTO member countries on sharing of information on terrorists’ movement across borders and cooperation amongst police forces against criminal nexus networks. In the spirit of cooperation, may I urge all the member countries to consciously resist “pressure” for issuing of Advisories immediately following untoward incidents of crime or terrorism because such incidents are unpredictable in any region. Moreover, Travel Advisories by major source countries would have an adverse impact on the livelihood of the local populations in countries whose economies are wholly dependant on tourism.
Ladies and gentlemen, the worldwide debate on Climate Change has taken into account the long term impact of tourism on environment. Notwithstanding that tourism contributes to climate change even if it is only 5%, we all agreed at the UNWTO General Assembly Cartegana in November 2007 the need for a collective and consensual strategy to tackle climate change. I appreciate the UNWTO efforts, in particular, that of General Secretary Mr. Francisco Frangilli, in presenting a balanced approach at the UNFCCC in Bali last December. It is important that UNWTO continues to work in close consultation with UNFCCC on this very pertinent subject that concerns the global community today.
As we move further, we should examine various ways of helping developing economies to adapt to climate change challenges by removing obstacles that come in the way of their development. Since critical technologies, especially the Clean Development Mechanisms that would help to adapt to climate change are in the domain of the private sector it is not so easy for developing countries to access them. As discussed at the last Cartegena General Assembly Meeting, we should collectively aim at supporting developing economies obtain clean technologies through financial assistance. May I urge the UNWTO to take a lead in this regard.
Ladies and gentlemen, UNWTO has taken up on itself the responsibility to fulfill the objectives of the UN Millennium Development Goals, one of which is eradication of poverty through tourism. You are all aware that the UNWTO programme ‘STEP-Foundation’ is addressing the issue of poverty reduction and employment generation through sustainable tourism. Popular opinion that development-oriented poverty reduction programmes are environmentally unfriendly is proving to be a misnomer. Our own experience in India has shown that tourism pursued in a responsible manner could actually help in environmental sustainability. Rural tourism, Adventure tourism, Eco tourism, Wild life tourism etc all pursued in a responsible manner will conserve the environment in a big way. By contributing to creation of jobs at the local level it prevents migration of people from rural to urban centres, thus limiting carbon footprint. It also helps in promoting and preserving traditional art and craft in villages which otherwise would disappear in the face of modernization and globalization. It is through these activities that we hope to make tourism inclusive. We should, therefore, emphasize on pursuit of responsible tourism globally.
Ladies and Gentlemen, It is extremely important for all of us to address severe manpower shortage in the hospitality sector. I believe the UNWTO should take a lead in organizing adequate training programmes for capacity building in member States wherever possible.
Ladies and gentlemen, UNWTO has invited inputs from member States to prepare the programme of work for 2010-2011. I would like to place on record here our deep appreciation and gratitude to the Secretary General, Mr. Francisco Frangialli and his team for their untiring efforts in drawing up a new programme of work. Inputs were also invited by UNWTO to study the feasibility of creating legal instruments to deal with the issue of facilitation of tourist travel. You will all agree that seamless travel across continents will not only help tourism grow further but also encourage people to people contacts for lasting global harmony.
I would like to thank once again the Government of Republic of Korea for hosting this Executive Council Meeting”.
As reported, India was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the Executive Council at the 82nd meeting of the UNWTO Executive Council held at Cartagena de Indias, Colombia in November 2007 for a period of one year. The Executive Council meets between sessions of the UN General Assembly and takes all administrative and technical decisions as may be necessary. The decisions taken by the Executive Council are reported to the Assembly at its following session, for approval.
After getting elected as the Chairman of the Executive Council, India has worked proactively to highlight various tourism issues in the Organization. India participated in the Meeting of the Programme Committee of the UNWTO. Inputs on identification of priority areas and preferred means of delivery for the Programme of Work for 2010-2011 were provided by India. Some of the areas which were identified by India as areas of priority are as follows:
(a) Education-Human Resource Development
(b) Promotion of Public Private Partnership
(c) Environmental Issues and Tourism
(d) New Tourism Product Development/ Innovation in Tourism (Though the Questionnaire has labeled these as two separate priority areas but we feel that these two areas are interlinked and could therefore be taken as one priority area)
(e) Collecting and Disseminating worldwide tourism documentation
(f) Promotion of the Image and Importance of Tourism
(g) Travel facilitation and Travel Advisories
Spurred by the success of the Palace on Wheels and other luxury train services in India, Kazakhstan has sought help from India’s tourism ministry for similar packages along the famous Silk Route that dates back over two millennia. “We would like to have a luxury train along the Silk Route, which is similar to India’s luxury trains, including the Palace on Wheels,” Kazakh Vice Minister for Tourism and Sports Kairbek Uskenbayev said.
“We could even consider joint partnerships to improve the quality of our product,” Uskenbayev told a private news agency after attending a presentation organised in Astana by the Indian tourism ministry.
The presentation, at the invitation of the Kazakh government, was to address tour operators, hoteliers, investors and officials on brand and logo development for the hospitality industry and share their expertise in luxury trains.
Officials said a train service on the Silk Route via Kazakhstan runs through Central Asia covering Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, but the tracks needed to be standardised to broad gauge and wagons upgraded.
The new luxury train will be a part of five tourism projects on Kazakhstan’s list of priorities for which it has a budget exceeding $30 billion, explained the Kazakh tourism and sports minister.
The Silk Route, which dates back to around 110 BC, stretched from China and the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia and Europe. It was used not only by the traders to transport their merchandise but also by monks, pilgrims and soldiers.
Kazakhstan’s economy is expanding as fast as India’s and China’s with a growth of 10 percent expected this year, due mainly to its huge hydrocarbon reserves and mineral resources.
M.N Javed, deputy director with India’s ministry of tourism, said as part of the growing bilateral ties, a two-day road show will be held in Almaty this September to push the relationship further, especially in the hospitality sector.
The event will coincide with a meeting of mayors from cities falling on the Silk Route train service to discuss common visas to present the region as a single tourist destination.
“We would like to learn from India’s experience in brand building to build our own brand,” said Uskenbayev, referring to the Incredible India campaign of the Indian tourism ministry that has secured worldwide acclaim.
At present Kazakhstan receives around six million visitors a year with a target to grow to 10 million by upgrading its infrastructure over the next four years.
With business and tourism traffic between India and Kazakhstan expected to grow further in the near future, Air Astana is hoping to expand its services to India, the airline’s President Peter Foster said.
The airline, 51 percent owned by the Kazakh government and the rest with BAE Systems of Britain, wants to step up its scheduled services to New Delhi to three this summer from the present two, Foster said.
The professionally managed Air Astana was recently declared the fourth fastest growing airline in the world by Airline Business magazine. It plans to induct two more A-320s in the next two months to expand its fleet to 21 aircraft.
India may like to think that it draws a lot of foreign tourists, but the fact is that the many-splendoured land of the Taj Mahal gets far fewer visitors than much smaller nations like Ukraine, Tunisia, Croatia and Saudi Arabia, says a report.
While India received 4.44 million tourists in 2006, it lagged far behind Ukraine, which got 15.62 million tourists, Tunisia (6.55 million), Croatia (8.65 million) and Saudi Arabia (8.03 million).
The findings were from the World Tourism Organisation, a UN agency that compiles global tourism rankings, and put out in the ministry of tourism’s annual publication India Tourism Statistics.
In 1998, India stood 47th in the world ranking, which went up to 54 in 2002, 44 in 2004, 41 in 2005 and 42 in 2006.
“India’s share in international tourist arrivals, though increasing in recent years, is still quite low at 0.52 percent in 2006,” the report states.
On top of the list is France (79.08 million), followed by Spain (58.45 million), the US (51.06 million), China (49.6 million), Italy (41.05 million), Britain (30.65 million), Germany (23.56 million) and Mexico (21.35 million).
According to the report, international tourist arrivals worldwide registered a growth of 5.4 percent during the year 2006 compared to 5.5 per cent during 2005 and 10 percent during 2004 over previous years. The total international tourist arrivals in 2006 was 846 million.
The top 10 international tourist attracting countries in 2006 accounted for around 47 percent share. Region-wise, the highest tourist arrivals were in Europe, which attracted 461.0 million tourists in 2006, a 5.1 per cent growth over 2005.
In terms of foreign exchange earnings, however, the country has fared better. In 2006, India earned $8.93 billion against $7.49 billion in 2005 - surging ahead of countries like Tunisia and Croatia.
“In recent years, there has been significant growth in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) and foreign exchange earnings (FEE) from tourism.
In 2007, the number of FTAs and FEE from tourism was about five million and $12 billion respectively,” said Tourism Secretary S. Banerjee.
France tops the list in terms of foreign exchange earnings too, with Spain, the US, Italy, China, Britain, Germany, Australia and Turkey following behind.
Come monsoon and the God’s own country is blessed with nature’s bounty. Tourists arrivals during this beautiful season, however, dwindle.
The state now has redrawn its strategies and has begun promoting the rainy season as ‘Dream season’.
In an innovative way to promote the state as all season destination, the ‘Dream season’ campaign was drawn up, says Tourism secretary, Dr V Venu. The state is targeting a 10 percent increase in tourist arrivals this season compared to last year.
The unique programme, kicked off last year was well received. “We are evolving as we go,” Dr Venu told a news agency. This is a tactical campaign during off-season combining monsoon and the lean period which begins in May and lasts till September, he said.
The main thrust of the campaign is to position the state as a value for money destination. “During this time there will be intense competition from other destinations. We want the industry to offer better deals to the tourists and sweaten the proposal with many offers.” Dr Venu said the main aim of the campaign was to dispel the notion that Kerala was an expensive destination. The industry has offered great deals, he said.
Great value packages ranging from Backwater houseboat cruises to Hill station holidays, Ayurvedic Rejuvenation packages to monsoon Honeymoon trips are being offered by the hotels, resorts and tour operators in the state.
