NEW DELHI: The NDA government is keen to launch Incredible India’s new Avtaar, Incredible India 2.0 by the end of this year. Sources said the proposal has been moved to the Prime Minister Office (PMO) which had pushed for revival of country’s tourism sector earlier this year. A copy of the note accessed by The Sunday Standard reveals that India currently attracts only 1.2 per cent of the global foreign tourist’s arrivals. As per UNWTO barometer on tourism industry, India is ranked 40th in terms of International Tourists Arrivals. The United States, China, Spain and France remain the world’s top tourism destinations.
“India has the potential to become a preferred tourist destination and the sector can support a much higher employment of around 12 per cent of workforce in 2019, as against 9.4 per cent of the workforce in 2014, if the right policy environment is created,” the note said.
According to the proposal, government plans to provide infrastructure status to tourism by 2016 and to create last mile connectivity to all major heritage sites and destinations by 2017.
The government note said ‘Infrastructure Status’ would increase the availability of finances for this sector.
The proposal further indicated government plan to create world class infrastructure in 20 heritage destinations by 2017.
Subsequently, it has planned to formally launch 10 tourist circuits by 2018.
“Incredible India 2.0, backed by creation of world class infrastructure at various sites and locations could also attract tourists by sustained publicity of possibilities of adventure sports in the country.”
“For tourism, including medical tourism to flourish facilitation in visa, an interactive web-portal, and better connectivity has to be created by 2017,” the note further said.
A senior government official said India is one of the few countries which seem to have made the transition from agriculture to a service based economy with the share of manufacturing in national income remaining almost stagnant.
“The major worry is employment. Tourism sector share in total employment continues to be low. This sector requires skilled manpower for which improvement in quality of education and skill development is essential,” the official said.
The proposal also emphasised the need for creating necessary infrastructure to promote India’s medical tourism. It said medical tourism, both for curative care and travel as well as for rejuvenation and wellness purposes has increased significantly in the last 10 years. The government note says India is projected to be the fastest growing nation in the wellness tourism sector in the next five years and the stakeholders must expedite the infrastructure building to exploit the opportunity.
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was announced as the brand ambassador of Incredible India.