NEW DELHI: The tourism ministry is planning a host of community engagement initiatives to enhance understanding about heritage and culture with Yuva Tourism Clubs (YTCs), set up in schools and educational institutions, in focus.
The activities such as workshops and discussions will include a mix of educational, cultural, awareness related, and career-focused events. The idea is to highlight the importance of youth in tourism and linkage of the sector with employment opportunities.
The ministry will also develop an online platform that will serve as a comprehensive repository for collating and showcasing information about tangible and intangible culture and heritage from various regions, communities and traditions.
The platform will promote cultural diversity, preserve cultural heritage, and facilitate knowledge sharing among users. To carry out engagement activities, the ministry will explore partnerships with museums, cultural organisations, academic institutions, heritage and local communities to source authentic and verified content.
As part of the programme, the plans are afoot to tie up with stakeholders to seek support to specific activities. Till April, 30,000 Yuva Tourism Clubs had been set up in schools, colleges, Indian hotel management institutions. The vision of the clubs is to nurture and develop young ambassadors of Indian tourism, who would become aware of tourism possibilities in India, appreciate our rich cultural heritage and develope an interest and passion for tourism.
According to the officials, the ministry may engage a private entity for development of a comprehensive strategy and implementation plan for establishing and boosting community engagements and YTCs. The selected agency will be entrusted with a task to prepare a roadmap and guidelines for development of YTC in different youth categories, their roles and responsibilities to actively contribute to the growth of the tourism industry. The agency will also provide regular updates to government stakeholders on the project’s progress, risks and outcomes.
Strategic objective
The concept of the club was introduced with the strategic objective of creating interest, awareness and a sense of responsibility towards our country’s natural, cultural heritage and tourism amongst children and youth as part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’—commemoration and celebrations of 75 years of India’s independence. The ministry has proposed to increase the number of Yuva Tourism Clubs to 50,000.