Tourism Task Force for revival
Ministry of Tourism has constituted a National Tourism Task Force in a bid to revive the industry from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, which has taken a toll on travel and tourism sector in an unprecedented way. The task force, headed by the tourism mi
Citing the importance of reviving the travel and tourism industry in India, Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has taken a big step to work with the industry in its revival.
“The outbreak of COVID-19 will have a major impact on the tourism sector and its revival is of paramount importance, as it’s the major contributor of employment as well as GDP. MOT has constituted the National Tourism Task Force to meet the challenge posed by the outbreak of
COVID-19 and make appropriate recommendations for the revival of the tourism sector in the country. The task force will be headed by Minister
Prahlad Singh Patel,
of State for Tourism and Culture (I/C), Government of India, and it will include state tourism ministers; Joint Secretary-level officers of the concerned central ministries; industry associations such as CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and WTTC; and the heads of tourism and hospitality associations. Ministry of Tourism shall hold the first meeting of the National Tourism Task Force shortly,” reads the statement released by MOT.
Rupinder Brar,
Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, said, “The National Tourism Task
Force is part of the ongoing initiative the MOT to continue its dialogue with different stakeholders. These are unprecedented times for everyone and the MOT wants to hear the industry’s problems and also some ideas on what can be the way forward, what can be done, and how do we take tourism forward and take care of all our stakeholders. This is the time for us to create value and improve our way of functioning.”
She added that the task force will also be discussing and laying out the kind of safety measures and protocols that will be followed by tourism stakeholders, including hotels, agents, tour operators, etc. This is the reason various associations will be part of the task force. Agrees Brar, “We want to widen the ambit of inputs because there are so many people to value add to tourism and hospitality as an industry. We would be benefitted by wider participation and inputs, as each sector would have something different to say and each sector would have its own issues. The Hon. Minister is keen that the we work on this task force with different sectors.” She added that they would be discussing the protocols, safety measures and other things once the task force meets, but in the meantime, will depend on the protocols that the Ministry of Health will come up with.
These are unprecedented times for everyone; this is also the time for us to create value and improve our way of functioning