Tourism Working Group under G20 organizes vibrant meet

The first day of the meeting began at the foothills of the Himalayas with a side event of a panel discussion on ‘Adventure Tourism as a vehicle for achieving Sustainable Development Goals’. 

The keynote address was delivered by India’sTourism Minister G.K Reddy. 

The discussion was around ways and efforts to position India as an adventure tourism destination. 

Reddy announced that the vision is to make India a one trillion dollar tourism economy by 2047 - our 100th year of Independence.

He also informed that the Ministry of Tourism has also formulated a Draft National Tourism Policy. 

The new Policy is a holistic framework for sustainable and responsible growth of the tourism sector in the country and aims at improving framework conditions for tourism development in the country, supporting tourism industries, and strengthening tourism to highlight India’s commitment to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2030. 

He said India offers many avenues for adventure tourism across the four elements of land, water, sky and air. 

He highlighted that India has in its possession 70 percent of the Himalayas, more than 7,000 Kilometres of coastline, 70,000 square miles of sand desert apart from the white salt desert in Kutch and cold desert in Ladakh, 700 sanctuaries and national parks including tiger reserves, as reported by NewsonAir. 

The G20 Chief Coordinator Harsh Shringla delivered the welcome remark by highlighting the 3Ts mentioned by PM Modi.

He said, “Tourism along with trade and technology are the 3Ts that the Prime Minister has stressed foraccelerating development in India.” 

As the meeting is conducted at the foothills of the Himalayas, the ChiefCoordinator said, “This part of the country affords visitors with the opportunity to see how people can co-exist with nature and nurture it in a sustainable way.” 

He further added that with its rolling mountain slopes, lush green forests, famous tea gardens and quaint temples and monasteries, this part of India is ideal for mountain and adventure sports as much as for spiritual rejuvenation. 

The delegates and participants tasted the beauty of the host destination of Siliguri by visiting the Tea Estate and participated in the moonlight tea leaf plucking and tea tasting. 
At the panel discussion panelists held discussions highlighting the best practices, success stories, prospects, and issues in the field of Adventure tourism. 

The panel discussion was attended by representatives from United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Japan, Brazil. Among other topics discussions were held on promoting Adventure tourism and presentations on Global and Indian scenario of Adventure tourism were given. 

All the G20 member States (including Troika – Indonesia & Brazil) shared their comments and suggestions on the 1st Draft Outcome and the five priorities introduced by India. 

The second session of the tourism working group meeting was planned in Presentation & Open Discussion format. 

The session discussed all five priorities one by one. A presentation on each priority was made by Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Indonesia and Italy on Green Tourism, Digitalization, Skills, TourismMSMEs, and Destination Management respectively. 

Each presentation was followed by a detailed discussion among member countries, invitee countries and international organizations. 

In another side event, on "Tourism in Mission Mode: Advantage of AdventureTourism" presentations by the participants highlighted the benefits, issues and challenges in the promotion of adventure tourism.

Ideas were discussed with respect to making India a globally competitive Adventure Tourism hub. 

The model law on Adventure safety and way of developing vibrant villages as adventure destinations were discussed.