Speaking post successful completion of the 2nd Tourism Working Group Meeting held in Darjeeling’s Siliguri, the Secretary Tourism, Arvind Singh announced May 22 to 24 as the dates for the next TWG meeting.
Host city and the venue will be confirmed soon, he added.
The Tourism Working Group (TWG) meetings, helmed by the Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India, are happening on the backdrop of India’s G20 presidency. Keeping at core the five priority areas including Green Tourism, Digitalisation, Skills, Tourism MSMEs and Destination Management, key discussions are being initiated with the member and invitee countries and the international organisations such as UNEP, ILO and UNWTO.
Singh said that the deliberations that are carried forward from the first two Tourism Working Group meetings are ‘progressing in the right direction’ for drafting the final Goa Communique.
This ministerial level Communique and a Goa Roadmap for Tourism are being planned as vehicles for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This will be adopted during the Tourism Ministerial meeting at Goa in June 2023, to be reconvened after the last Tourism Working Group meeting.
While briefing the media about the takeaways from the Siliguri’s TWG meeting, Singh said the participating countries and organisations like UNWTO also shared their comments on the 1st Draft of GOA Roadmap, besides presentations by Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Indonesia, Italy on five priorities.
All the countries unanimously adopted ‘Green Tourism’ to be the most important priority for all the participating countries, Singh informed.
During the session on Adventure Tourism, presentations by the participants at 2nd TWG meeting in Siliguri highlighted the benefits, issues and challenges in the promotion of adventure tourism. Ideas were discussed with respect to making India a globally competitive Adventure Tourism hub, creating a model law of adventure safety and mega adventure trails.
The working group meeting in Siliguri was attended by 56 Delegates from 17 Member Countries, eight invitee countries and four international organisations, besides the Ambassadors of seven G20 countries viz. Australia, Bangladesh, Japan, Singapore, Mexico, Indonesia and Korea.
Taking the center stage during the two side events, Adventure Tourism and its potential opportunities were discussed elaborately, shifting a special focus on the Northeast, Singh shared.
In coordination with the states and stakeholders, there were deliberations on best practices and existing strategy and policies of Adventure Tourism, prospects of India as adventure destination, developing vibrant villages and sharpening the aspects of adventure tourism in the Northeast states.
The new initiatives like State Ranking Criteria for the Adventure Tourism sites, Model Adventure Tourism Law, Development of Mega Trails, Development of Adventure Activity Guidelines, Adventure Tourism Rescue Centers, and Development of dedicated Website and social media pages for Adventure Tourism were also shared by G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER during the event.
Delegates also participated in the Art and Craft Bazaar organised by the state government showcasing local handicrafts, work of artisans, signifying the importance of community participation.
“This engagement of delegates encouraged the participating artisans in the craft bazaar,” Singh said.
- Published On Apr 7, 2023 at 01:40 PM IST