NEW DELHI: Following a request from the tourism ministry, the Centre has given approval for the appointment of ‘tourism officers’ and creation of ‘tourism sub divisions’ in embassies and missions aboard to promote Indian tourist destinations.
These designated officers will be entrusted with the responsibilities of branding and marketing of local sites or cities to draw more foreign visitors. Countries from where India receives high footfall will be priority. This is the first time that such an initiative is being taken by the government.
Speaking about the steps taken to revive the tourism industry in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy told this daily that decisions to appoint special officers and create tourist sub-offices in foreign countries had been taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Based on the count of tourist influx, tourist officers will be appointed in embassies and missions and sub-offices will be opened in foreign countries. I was holding discussions with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on how to go about this — setting up tourist offices abroad for tourism promotion. He has agreed. We haven’t fixed a deadline for this, but are committed to provide one officer and office in all countries if required,” said Reddy.
The minister added that tourist officers have already been appointed in 20 countries from where tourist arrival is highest such as Bangladesh, US, UK, Canada, Russia, Australia, France and Germany.
In addition to promotional activities such as round-the-clock multilingual tourist helpline, e-visa facilities for 156 countries and training for creating a pool of certified tourist facilitators, the tourism ministry has also decided to develop 75 destinations. “In consonance with commemoration of 75 years of Independence, top 75 destinations in the country are to be developed on international standards as icon projects,” the minister added.