Tap the new, nurture the old
Sharing his opinion on the workings of the board, he adds, “We need to bring in experienced people from the private sector and work in an empowered structure, where it doesn’t mean visiting the ministry once in two weeks and having a one-hour meeting, but to actually sit there and work for the industry. It is not just about
Not a one-way street
Talking about a partnership with the industry, Meenakshi Sharma says, “Today, what we lack is a structure and commitment that we must work together. Currently,
I don’t believe that our traditional markets will disappear. We don’t have to put money into them but we still need to nurture them. While China was considered a potential new market, the situation has changed. But Asia is our new source market with Vietnam, Thailand, and Australia as these countries have wealth and we need to bring in tourists from there. The Middle East is going to get affected badly because of a crash in oil prices. But please continue to nurture your existing markets. There may be a short-term dip, but they are the ones we should support more because they have supported us. However, with new markets, I think what people refer to is new messaging, new products and experiences like the great Indian ayurveda story, the Indian Himalaya story, or the Indian spiritual story. There is going to be a change in what people will travel for. Hence, experiences have to be repackaged and repositioned. need to do so. This is the kind of structure we need to formalise. The difficulty is that it is not a well-defined sector. We need to talk to civil aviation, railways, home affairs, health and travel operators. In fact, even outbound tour operators are part of the system. The industry can develop a structure and see what we need to do together, how to do it, and divide the responsibilities. It’s not just about funding. Today, if we talk about the unorganised workforce during the crisis, we can’t tell who all would be out of a job. A lot of people are there at the bottom of the pyramid. Hence, a tourism board will be a good entity to define who the stakeholders are, where do they stand in the pyramid
– Arjun Sharma
be a keyword going forward. “How will it be defined and what will attract the tourists will be part of the messaging by the various service providers. Everybody is going to be a little wary of travel in future, while thinking of physical distancing and hygiene protocols. We have already released the operational requirements, in addition to the SOPs by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare that is mandatory for all service providers to follow. We are also working on a kind of certification for facilities, destinations, service providers to indicate that they are safe and hygienic in order to create confidence among tourists. Hence, sustainable tourism will be encouraged by the industry. I
I will be happy if the industry takes that initiative and brings everyone together so that we can talk. Regulations create limitations for the industry to grow. The ministry is not interested in any kind of regulation anymore. The industry should recommend that it should be one of the jobs of the tourism board,” she suggests.
To this, Arjun Sharma adds, “I think the time has come that the associations take up selfregulation. We need to collect our data better and make sure stepping on each other’s toes, and deliberations. But we must start somewhere.”
Asserting the point further Najeeb, says, “We need a complete change from the past and look at a new way of conducting these processes. We have excellent examples in Dubai and Singapore, who have made radical changes in conducting tourism activities in their respective countries. We need to reach that level. The ministry should be formulating policies and the board should be conducting and running the show for the country and that is the only way we can change and grow. Instead of 20 million tourists, we can reach 40-50 million tourists!”
Start a dialogue with the MOT
Commenting on the way forward, Meenakshi Sharma advises, “We need to list down our expectations from the tourism board. Having a tourism board without a target in mind is not a fruitful exercise. Hence, we need an outcome, so that we can propose it to the government. Once we have an outcome, we can look at how it will function, work towards empowerment, funding, its structure and how everybody in the pyramid can get involved. It’s a great idea to have partnerships and collaboration, but it’s not a good idea to have more regulation. We are open to ideas, but we need a structure. The MOT is a very open ministry. We may not be able to do many things but we listen to everyone.”