Steps taken to boost domestic tourism sector: Kishan Reddy

Hyderabad: Union Minister of Culture, Tourism and Development of North East Region (DoNER), G Kishan Reddy, said that the tourism sector plays an important role across the world.

Addressing B2B Meet-2023 on "Investment Opportunities in Hospitality and Tourism Sector in South India and North Eastern States with Special Focus on Health Care Tourism" here on Sunday, attended by the representatives from Andhra Pradesh Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Assam and Meghalaya tourism officials, he said several countries have been increasing their revenue flows with the impetus to the tourism sector to boost their progress and development.

Insisting on the need to boost domestic tourism in the country, he said, the Centre, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched a series of initiatives for the same. It boosted phenomenal growth in the footfall of the foreign tourists to the country.

He recalled how organising G-20 had garnered the attention of people from across the world to India to the country's culture, customs, traditions and tourist places.

Kishan Reddy said all the tourist destinations have to be modelled on international standards, besides attracting foreign direct investments into the tourism sector.

As part of the initiatives, the Centre has taken steps to increase the density of connectivity to all the tourist destinations in the country. A Global Tourist Investment Summit will be organised in Delhi soon.

The Union Minister said that the Vibrant Villages programme has been taken to develop the border villages of the country into tourist destinations. Similarly, Marriage in India is another new idea that is being introduced. Efforts are also on to encourage homestays in many places in the country to create employment for lakhs of people. For this, the Centre is working with all the states to develop the Indian tourism sector, he said. G KakalVardhana Rao, CEO, FSSAI, MR Synrem Managing Director, Indian Tourism Development Corporation, Dr Manivasan, Principal Secretary of Tourism of Tamil Nadu, Shailaja Ramaiyer, Principal Secretary of Tourism and Culture of Telangana and corporate heads from several prominent chains of hotels, tourist, investment banking and industries attended the meet.