Warming up to wildlife
Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism, shares they will work on guidelines and offer information to tourists in wildlife areas.
The Ministry of Tourism is leaving no stone unturned in making sure that India establishes itself as a wildlife tourism destination for tourists in the country and outside promote it and sensitise people about it, claims Meenakshi
Sharma. She adds, “We are promoting adventure tourism, and wildlife is an integral part of it. Apart from that, a lot of state governments have taken a lot of initiatives for wildlife tourism.”
She reveals that as part of its tourist facilitator course, MoT is also going to have an advanced adventure. Hence, we are going to encourage people to learn more about wildlife. There are many naturalists in the country, to afford them. Hence, we want to create the basic information available in these areas, through various mediums,” she shares. Sharma also believes that it’s important to sensitise people about wildlife and adventure. “As part of our adventure guidelines, there is a need to ensure safety and right guidance for wildlife, especially because it is an area where one has to be ecologically sensitive. That is something we are trying to encourage the government to now adopt. Hence, we are planning that at the upcoming meeting with State tourism ministers on August 20, one of the subjects would be to work towards making the State governments to adopt these guidelines in a written form. We are looking at their commitment,” she insists.
There is a need to ensure safety and give the right guidance for wildlife, especially because it is an area where one has to be ecologically sensitive