CII Tourism Summit, ET TravelWorld

The 18th annual tourism summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Delhi had a single message – revive Incredible India overseas marketing. While speaker after speaker stressed the need for reviving brand marketing and promotion of the country in the overseas source markets, the Union Culture and Tourism Minister, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, reiterated the government’s confidence in the power of domestic tourism in leading the way for India.

Drawing a clear distinction between the imperatives of countries which heavily focus on promoting and marketing their destinations with India, the Tourism Minister said that while those countries have negligible domestic travel bases and, therefore, highly dependent on international visitors, India has a robust domestic travel market which is growing with the economic growth and strength the country is gaining due to the reforms that the government has unleashed over the last one decade.

The Tourism Minister said that it is time for Indian tourism to identify the gaps that exist in the ecosystem which deter the country from achieving its real potential in tourism and work on addressing those gaps. He said the government’s vision is to make tourism contribute 10 per cent (USD 3 trillion) when the country’s economy marches to the targeted USD 30 trillion in 2047.

Participating in an important panel discussion at the tourism summit, Amitabh Kant said that the brand Incredible India is “dead and gone” as international promotions have stopped completely for nearly 5 years now. He said there is a dire need for “more energy and dynamism” in external promotions as travellers move away from the sun, sand, and sea to more “experiential tourism.”

However, India as a destination has to get its acts together in destination management as high-value international travellers expect a certain level of safety and hygiene at their destinations. He said the Centre should insist states legislate a strong destination management structure with a CEO at the top. To make states comply, he suggested that the funding of projects should be withheld. He also said that tourism happens in the states of India. Therefore, the tourism industry should put its energy into convincing the political leadership in the states about the huge potential of tourism in generating employment at all levels, which is the biggest challenge before the states.

Taking part in the deliberations at the summit, Suman Billa, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, also conceded that while the government has shut down the Indiatourism marketing offices overseas as part of the structural reforms and given the mandate of tourism promotions to Indian missions, the new system will take time to take off and show results.

Mugdha Sinha, Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India participated in one of the business sessions and said that the biggest challenge Indian tourism faces is information asymmetry, which must be addressed only by putting data and information together. She said that the ministry has started working with the support of expert agencies to bridge this gap.

Earlier, delivering his welcome speech, Puneet Chhatwal, Chairman of the Tourism Committee of CII and MD & CEO of IHCL, said that governments should not see tourism from the narrow eyes of economic value and employment generation, but as a big platform for cultural diplomacy for the country.

Nakul Anand, Patron of FAITH, said that while the country can set big targets for tourism, like USD 3 trillion by 2047, business as usual cannot make the country realise such big targets. He advocated for a National Tourism Council independent of the government to lobby, influence, and bring policy alignment among various government ministries.

A report on the Employment landscape in tourism and hospitality in India was released on the occasion.