New Delhi, October 2, 2023: Acknowledging the findings of a study conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), which projected that India’s tourism sector would not recover to its pre-pandemic levels until 2026, a Parliamentary panel has underscored the importance of Indian missions abroad actively promoting and marketing the country’s tourist destinations and products.
The Standing Panel on Transport, Tourism, and Culture recently issued this recommendation in response to data revealing that foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India during the pre-pandemic year of 2019 reached 10.93 million. However, the current numbers of FTAs still lag significantly behind the pre-pandemic figures.
Upon being informed by representatives from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that tourism officers stationed in Indian missions abroad were additionally responsible for tourism promotion, the panel suggested that given the transition from overseas tourist offices to missions in many countries and to instill confidence among stakeholders, tourism officers should ideally be assigned sole responsibility for tourism promotion, as it is now exclusively within the purview of Indian missions.
These tourism officers were designated by the MEA in October 2021, but the panel learned that they had held only one meeting with Indian stakeholders a year ago.
Stakeholders also raised concerns that, following the closure of overseas tourist offices, India was conspicuously absent from the brochures of overseas tourism agents, negatively impacting Indian tourism prospects. During discussions with the MEA, the committee discovered that overseas tourist offices had substantial funds allocated for this purpose. The Ministry of Tourism was in talks with the MEA to establish a separate budget for tourism, enabling them to provide brochure support to agents and conduct other promotional activities.
The panel expressed surprise that budgetary matters and campaign schedules for the missions had not been resolved despite the gradual closure of overseas Indian tourism offices over the past two years, with the final eight offices shutting down in March 2023. The committee emphasized that there was ample time for both ministries to establish transition protocols.
In response to further inquiries, the panel learned that the MEA was collaborating with the Ministry of Tourism to jointly address concerns stemming from the closure of overseas India tourism offices.
The committee recommended that the Ministry of Tourism promptly resolve these issues to provide the MEA with both the necessary funds and a comprehensive program for advancing tourism promotion.
Furthermore, the panel emphasized that the exclusion of India from tourism brochures posed a significant challenge, as the visibility of Indian tourist destinations would be compromised in its absence.
This report is based on the latest information available as of October 2, 2023.
