After the vaccination campaign, the country is now ready for international tourists. In 2019, India’s contribution to GDP in travel and tourism was 5.19% of the total economy. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry has been helped in a gradual recovery following the continuous efforts of the Central and State Governments.

A total of 16 stakeholders, including State Governments, other Central Ministries, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as the industry partner, DMCs, tour operators, hoteliers, travel agents, online travel agents, facilitators of medical value travel are participating as co-exhibitors in the India Pavilion. The objective is to showcase the diverse tourism products and services including Medical Value travel, luxury trains and the gamut of tourism products to the international business community.

This year, Shri Arvind Singh, Secretary (Tourism), Government of India, is leading the Indian delegation, which includes Shri Rakesh Verma, and other senior officers. Along with this, representatives of Indian travel are also involved in this. G20 Presidency is scheduled to start on December 01, 2022, and India is ready for G20. More than 200 meetings are expected to be held in 55 cities of the country. The Ministry of Tourism aims to take the tourism sector to new heights and accelerate the transition to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, especially after the COVID pandemic.

After the COVID pandemic, the entire focus of the Ministry of Tourism is to take the tourism sector to greater heights and accelerate the process to achieve this target by 2030.

The youthful ambassadors of Yuva Tourism Club will act as catalysts in the promotion of Indian tourism. Participation in Tourism Clubs is also supposed to promote the development of soft skills such as teamwork, management, and leadership, as well as the adoption of responsible tourism practises and a concern for long-term sustainability.

Speaking on this, Union Tourism Minister Shri G. Kishan Reddy said that youth are the best Ambassadors of India and its rich cultural, spiritual and natural heritage. The Yuva Tourism clubs that are being set up in various schools will promote national integration and build on the Prime Minister’s vision of Ek Bharat Shreshtha  Bharat.  Shri Reddy further added that students will now be aware of domestic destinations and equipped with the tools to promote the tourism sector. This further builds on the clarion call of Dekho Apna Desh by the Prime Minister.

As the youth become tourist ambassadors, India will become the favoured tourist destination of the world which will then have a cascading impact on our economy.

Also, YUVA Tourism Clubs would also enable learners to appreciate the importance of travel and tourism, ignite a passion for tourism and its value in learners, sensitize learners to various elements of travel, encourage, teach and propagate responsible tourism practices, improve physical & mental health through exploratory, adventure and sports tourism and spread awareness about tourism opportunities at an early stage and encourage learners to be skilled professionals and entrepreneurs in the hospitality and tourism sector.

The first webinar series unfolded Delhi’s long history with the title city of cities- Delhi’s Personal diary conducted by India city walks. The second webinar series under was held on 16 April on Calcutta- a confluence of cultures conducted by Calcutta Talks.

The third webinar series will be held on 18 April on the occasion of World Heritage Day. Two webinars for that day have been finalized. The first session will be on the topic The Monuments of Mamallapuram– Stories Etched in Stone conducted by storytrails from 11 a.m. to 12 noon.

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the second session will be on world heritage and sustainable tourism at Humayun’s tomb presented by Aga khan trust for culture.

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The webinar will soon be available in the public domain. One can watch it on the official links of the Ministry’s social media handles, IncredibleIndia on Instagram and Facebook page. The Ministry of Tourism is organizing the series to encourage Indians to explore their own country and to enrich the knowledge of stakeholders in the tourism industry, students and general public on various aspects of the tourism sector.