Draft National Tourism Policy

Draft National Tourism Policy

News: The Ministry of Tourism has drafted a National Tourism Policy with key strategic objectives to enhance tourism’s contribution to the economy.

What are the objectives of policy?
• The policy aims to enhance tourism’s contribution to the economy, employment, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.
• It seeks to enhance the contribution of tourism to the Indian economy by increasing visitation, stay and spend and making India a year-round tourist destination
• The policy intends to attract private sector participation for competitiveness of the sector.
• The policy has five national missions on green tourism, digital tourism, hospitality sector skills, tourism micro, small and medium enterprises and destination management.

What are the key recommendations?
• Create a National tourism council on the lines of GST council.
• Include Tourism in the concurrent list (Currently state subject).
• Grant the tourism sector an Industry status to attract investments.
• Open up new avenues in hospitality and travel sector. Formalize infrastructure for hotels.

Way Forward
• Faster development of all types of infrastructure to enhance tourism sector and activities is important and additionally safety of tourists both local and international should be topmost priority.