National Tourism Policy looks to add suggestions from the FAITH Group

Monday, March 14, 2022

In a detailed multi- stakeholder discussion with the leadership of Ministry Of Tourism, FAITH, national associations ADTOI, ATOAI, FHRAI, HAI, IATO, ICPB, IHHA, ITTA, TAAI & TAFI, complimented their efforts on the drafting of the National Tourist Policy. The NTP has tried to incorporate FAITH associations’ cumulative suggestions over the years. They also the suggestions from the tourism vision workshops that was proposed earlier.

Vision & Goal Alignment

The policy must be aligned and state upfront and state upfront the vision targets for 100 mn foreign tourists and 15 bn + domestic tourists. The 20 crore Indians who are to be directly and indirectly employed by FAITH must also have a clear vision.

Duration & Implementability

Currently the policy document mentions a 10-year duration. It is however suggested that it be a rolling document of 5 years with a quarterly review mechanism with the industry. This will ensure the institutionalization of the policy and it be upgraded on a rolling basis every 5 years towards the vision 2047. A quarterly review and feedback mechanism of what is working what is not must also be in place.

Tourism as a National Priority sector

Agriculture has been a national priority of all successive governments and gets vital focus of the PM & the CMs. The goal is to let tourism get due national domestic priority if it is declared as such in the NTP. If it is recognised as a national priority sector, then it will ensure tourism will focused channelised domestic investments as such measures are more so needed after the pandemic and the lockdown.

Classification of Concurrent status

The constitution needs to be rightfully ammended to recognise tourism as a joint and collectible responsibility of centre & states. This will ensure the shared national vision and development, marketing & skilling synergies. In order to achieve it to get that status.

Treatment at par with merchandise exports

Tourism contributes a huge amount of forex to the national budget. But has not been fully recognised in letter despite tourism catering to foreign buyers and foreign exchange earnings. The NTP should address this key gap and position tourism as a vital export sector at par with merchandise exports. This will ensure the industry its due support and that the various taxes that they pay are not exported to foreign buyers.

Segment & State wise targets

Indian tourism experiences exist across segments and states which is unparalleled unique. It must be prudent to mention headline targets to be achieved for each of the unique segments and for states.

Holistic marketing mix targeting the changing tourism consumer

The pandemic has accelerated the pace of change and tourism consumption behaviour will reflect accordingly. The NTP should clearly identify this marketing mix and lay down dynamic principles, allocating of budgets and resources accordingly to this market mix.

Sensitisation

Sensitisation and also citizens of the criticality and the contribution of tourism is a must and all actions must be designed to support this sector. NTP should lay out the mechanism and budgeting of a targeted sensitisation program on an ongoing basis to ensure tourism and tourism entrepreneurs are treated with the due respect that they must get.

QCRT

In an increasingly volatile world, situations can be  amplified to the extent of the narrative behind it . This will impacting first and foremost tourism. amplified to the extent of the narrative behind it but impacting first and foremost tourism. Quick crisis response team for tourism must be a stated objective of the NTP to proactively counter any negative narrative with a positive narrative of its own with a quick response time.

Centres of Excellence

India is a country with a billion plus experiences. As a policy target 748 district COEs, 28 state COEs, 8 UT COEs and 5 mega national COEs must be encouraged which will at all levels capture uniqueness and diversity of Indian tourism products for both domestic & global tourists.

Multi modal hub & spoke development model

Tourism best works in clusters. the NTP should encourage a multi modal cluster-based development approach Integrated air, roads, rail, water or roap way approach for an integrated approach to first mile and last mile development of tourism in and across India by tying up with the PM Gatishakti programme.

Industry mapping

It is an industry of micro small and medium enterprises who capture the local essence of their region. The NTP should look at supporting these local, regional MSME efforts by mapping them through unique national ids through perhaps a self-certification recognition mode which will not only enable all our tourism MSMEs for support but will also give confidence to tourists in dealing with recognised players.

Task Forces

It is suggested that NTP provides the instruments of multiple inter-ministerial and intra state   task forces headed by Secretary Tourism. These task forces need to be task and time based to address all pending issues which currently exist and which may come up.

Sustainability & Carrying Capacity

All subsequent tourism projects must be built with sustainability and carrying capacity into the design stage of the project. This will ensure that all tourism development, right from the initial stage is balanced across sustainable development goal.

Organisation Structure

The NTP should clearly identify the going forward organisation structure of the MOT to deal with the complete and complex challenges that NTP has to address in movement towards our tourism vision. 

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