Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
Before a decade ago, it was very common to hear about Indian tourism needing a brand ambassador to position itself at par and above other nations in tourism. Much like how other countries were spending advertising money on attracting the most famous of film-stars and the best of sportspersons to promote tourism in their country, it was also felt that Incredible India needed a facelift.
Over the last decade and having heldcharge as the Union Minister for Tourism in India over the past 100 days, I have only heard everyone sayhow for the first time in the history of this country, that we have a Leader who is not only our Prime Minister buthas also been Incredible India's biggest Global Brand Ambassador and champion.In every role that he plays for the betterment of Bharat, I have been amazed and inspired to seethe extent to whichthe Hon'ble Prime Minister goes to ensure that tourism never takes a back seat.
As the Hon'ble Prime Minister, he constantly reminds us to work in a ‘Whole-of-Government' for the overall growth and development of tourism in the country. As a result of around 1,50,000 kilometres of road network laid, ~500 new air routes& ~150 airportshaving opened up air connectivity,high speed Vande Bharat trains introduced, and completion of around 100 tourism infrastructure projects, India registered Domestic Tourist Visits (DTV) of 250 crores, almost double of the 128 crore Domestic Tourist Visits (DTV) India registered in 2014.
As the Nation's global representative, he never misses an opportunity to showcase the wonders of Incredible India to the world. Under his leadership, India's G20 Presidency was unique to the aspect that meetings were conducted at 60 different locations across the country. It was the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision to ensure that tourism offerings at these 60 destinations, along with their cultures, cuisines, and crafts become globally visible through the lens of India's G20 Presidency. Owing to the tourism boom set in by G20last year, it is heartening to know that the tourism sector in India saw the highest amount of new hotel rooms added in 2023.
As the People's Leader, he has inspired the nation to Dekho Apna Desh – to explore and discover our very own Bharat before exploring the world. He has ensured that responsible tourism becomes second nature to all of us by instilling the importance of Swacchatain our minds. On every occasion, he constantly reminds the global Indian diaspora on their role in becoming Ambassadors of Incredible India by making their foreigner friends and acquaintancesaware of how memorable a trip to India could be.As one of the most followed global leaders on social media, just the act of him visiting places like Lakshadweep, Kaziranga, Kanniyakumari, Srinagar, and many others – have led to record-breaking interest amongst domestic and international tourists to visit such destinations and experience India's lesser-known tourism offerings.
To draw more light to the Hon'ble Prime Minister's personal interest and involvement in tourism, I fondly recall him saying that he was giving a piece of his heart to me, while giving me an opportunity to serve in the Tourism portfolio of his Cabinet.Since then, it has been my constant endeavour that we must develop a business plan for the tourism sector in India, while recognizing its importance in being a driver for inclusive socio-economic growth and development.
One of the most important components of this business plan is the aspect of developing new tourism destinations, by taking advantage of the rapid strides India is making in infrastructure growth. By representing New India and taking inspiration from our incredible past, these new destinations are envisioned to elevate the overall experience of tourists in an end-to-end manner.Since our independence in 1947 to 2014, India didn't have a single example of developing a tourist destination from scratch in a holistic and encompassing manner. This changed when the Hon'ble Prime Minister gave to the world Ekta Nagar and the Statue of Unity in 2018.
To develop tourism as a mainstay in Ekta Nagar based on the vision of the Hon'ble Prime Minister, various steps and measures were taken.Last-mile connectivity was ensured along with setting up of a dedicated Statue of Unity Area Development and Governance Authority to oversee and manage the destination on a day-to-day basis. Skill Development Centres were set up to train locals and youth on tourism related services and tasks. Private investments were grounded to establish quality hotels, resorts, and other accommodation. Several new attractions, activities and experiences across various themes were introduced in PPP mode. Owing to all this and more, footfalls at Ekta Nagar increased from 4.5 lakhs in 2018 to 45 lakhs in 2023 – a 10x increase.Additionally, all these efforts have resulted in creation of new livelihoods for locals at Ekta Nagar through a tourism economy which didn't exist in the area prior to 2014.Through Ekta Nagar, the Hon'ble Prime Minister gave to us a model for tourism development and growth – a model which could be replicated and scaled up across the Nation to create such iconic tourist destinations.
Taking inspiration from the model established by the Hon'ble Prime Minister, through various schemes such as Swadesh Darshan and Development of Iconic Tourist Destinations, Ministry of Tourism is now spearheading tourism related destination development in the country by converging efforts to develop select destinationsin ‘Whole of Government' approach.Efforts are being placed on introducing high-impact interventions which can transform the overall visitor experience in destinations. Special focus is being placed on enabling private investments to complement public investments, so that both can operate as a combined force for tourism related destination development in India.Through various Ministry initiatives in these destinations, actionis also being taken onimproving tourism enablers like skilling and digitalization, so that benefits of tourism remain within the destination and accrue to local communities and individuals.
Inspired by the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision for Jan Bhagidari (citizen partnership), the Ministry has launched Dekho Apna Desh People's Choice 2024 – a nation-wide poll for citizens to provide their most preferred tourist attractions and destinations in India across 5 categories. To include the voice of the people in our efforts going forward, destinations which feature ontop in the People's Choice 2024 will receive dedicated support and funding to be transformed into global tourism destinations representing the best of Incredible India to the world.
Not a day goes by without the Hon'ble Prime Minister reminding us of his vision of Viksit Bharat. Tourism offers us a way to contribute to that grand vision in ways more than one.On this World Tourism Day, I call upon all of us to play our part in achieving the achievement of this vision, thereby making us worthy of the title ‘Incredible Indians', like our Hon'ble Prime Minister already is.
The author is Union Minister of Culture
and Tourism, Government of India
