MOT steps up safety and cleanliness
In 2015, the Ministry of Tourism implemented measures to make India safer and cleaner, including Swachh Bharat Mission, Incredible India Helpline and Tourist Police.
Encouraging tourist arrivals, cleanliness and safety schemes have been adopted by MOT. This supports the simplified visa- on- arrival policy and the government is leaving no stone unturned to increase foreign tourist arrivals.
The number of arrivals are already on the rise as FTAs during January-November 2015 are 71 lakh with a growth of 4.5 per cent, as compared to 67 lakh in the same period last year.
As part of the national cleanliness campaign, a theme based cleaning drive focused on tourism sites was undertaken from December 1- 15, 2015. To keep the focus on cleanliness, MOT encouraged practices including the installation of flex board messages in religious places and heritage sites on importance of cleanliness and print entry
tickets to these sites with a cleanliness message.
In order to counteract and regulate crime against tourists, the Ministry of Tourism has come up with several guidelines to ensure their safety and security. On pilot basis, the Incredible India Helpline has been set up by the Ministry to guide and provide assistance to tourists in need.
Additionally, a set of guidelines that serve as a code of conduct for safe and honourable tourism has been adopted which encourages tourism activities to be undertaken, with respect to basic rights like dignity, safety and freedom from exploitation of tourists and local residents, women and children in particular.
The state governments and union territory administrations of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha have deployed Tourist Police. Moreover, the immediate implementation of effective steps have been requested to all the chief ministers and administrators of state governments and union territories, along with the provision of central financial assistance to state governments of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra for setting up of the Tourist Facilitation and Security Organisation (TFSO).